Existing law establishes the Elderly Parole Program for the purpose of reviewing the parole suitability of inmates who are 50 years of age or older and who have served a minimum of 20 years of continuous incarceration on their sentence. Existing law requires the Board of Parole Hearings, when considering the release of qualifying inmates, to give special consideration to whether certain criteria have reduced the elderly inmate's risk for future violence. Existing law excludes various persons from these provisions, including persons sentenced pursuant to existing sentencing provisions commonly known as the three strikes law. Under an existing court order, although statutorily excluded, an individual may be eligible for parole under the Elderly Parole Program when they are 60 years of age or older and have been continuously incarcerated for at least 25 years. This bill would instead specify that persons required to register as sexual offenders, habitual sexual offenders, and persons convicted of various sexual offenses, including rape or sodomy, are not suitable for parole under the Elderly Parole Program until the person is 60 years of age or older and has served a minimum of 25 years of continuous incarceration on their current sentence.
Existing law generally provides for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of specified types of crimes by the California Victim Compensation Board from the Restitution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the California Victim Compensation Board. Existing law defines terms for the purpose of determining the eligibility of victims of crime for compensation from the Restitution Fund. This bill would make changes to the definition of "derivative victim" and "victim" and would define "victim of violent crime advocate" for purposes of these provisions. Existing law requires an application for compensation to be filed with the board in a manner determined by the board, authorizes the board to require submission of additional information, and requires the board to communicate any determination made with respect to the adequacy of the information received from the applicant, as specified. Existing law also requires the board to verify information with various entities, including hospitals and law enforcement officials, as specified. Existing law also creates a process for the board's verification of information, including by requiring the applicant to cooperate with the board, as specified. This bill would authorize the board to verify information, but not require the board to do so, and would prohibit the board from seeking or requiring additional information solely to verify that the qualifying crime occurred if the board has already received a valid form of verification, as specified. The bill would also change the verification procedure in various ways. The bill would also require the board to accept certain information as evidence to verify that a qualifying crime occurred and that the injury or death on which the claim is based is a result of the qualifying crime, as specified. Existing law authorizes the board to deny an application based on the nature of the victim's or other applicant's involvement in the events leading up to the crime, as specified, and requires the board to deny an application for compensation if it finds that the victim or derivative victim failed to cooperate reasonably with a law enforcement agency in the apprehension and conviction of a criminal committing the crime. Existing law also prohibits a person who is convicted of a violent felony to receive compensation, as specified. This bill would delete those provisions. By expanding the pool of persons eligible to receive moneys from a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. Existing law authorizes to board to take certain actions in authorizing compensation for loss of income and support pursuant to specified law, including authorization to compensate an adult derivative victim for loss of income if certain conditions are satisfied and to compensate a victim who is a minor at the time of the crime, as specified. Existing law prohibits the amount payable to derivative victims pursuant to these provisions from exceeding $100,000. This bill would change some of the conditions that must be satisfied for compensating an adult derivative victim for loss of income, and remove the authorization to compensate a victim who is a minor at the time of the crime. The bill would reduce the cap on the amount payable to derivative victims pursuant to these provisions to $70,000.
(1) Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act, authorizes the involuntary commitment and treatment of persons with specified mental disorders. Under the act, when a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to themselves or others, or is gravely disabled, the person may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody by specified individuals, including, among others, a peace officer and a designated member of a mobile crisis team, and placed in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Health Care Services for up to 72 hours for evaluation and treatment. Existing law defines "assessment" for those purposes to mean the determination of whether a person shall be evaluated and treated. This bill would require an assessment to consider reasonably available, relevant information as specified. The bill would also authorize an assessment to be used to assist specified individuals in developing an aftercare plan for an individual, if that individual has agreed to an aftercare plan and can be properly served without being detained. (2) Existing law provides a procedure for the appointment of a conservator for a person who is determined to be gravely disabled as a result of a mental disorder or an impairment by chronic alcoholism (hereafter LPS conservatorship) . Under existing law, a professional person in charge of an agency providing comprehensive evaluation or a facility providing intensive treatment may recommend a LPS conservatorship for a gravely disabled person in their care if the professional person determines that the person is unwilling to accept, or is incapable of accepting, treatment voluntarily. Under existing law, a professional person in charge of an agency providing comprehensive evaluation or a facility providing intensive treatment or a professional person in charge of providing mental health treatment at a county jail, or their designee, may recommend a conservatorship for a gravely disabled person without that person being an inpatient in a facility providing comprehensive evaluation or intensive treatment if specified conditions are met. This bill would additionally authorize recommendations for an LPS conservatorship if a determination is made that the gravely disabled person has demonstrated an inability to accept voluntary treatment due to apparent incapacity. The bill would expand the list of individuals or entities that may recommend a conservatorship for a gravely disabled person without that person being an inpatient in a facility providing comprehensive evaluation or intensive treatment to include, among others, the county agency providing investigations for conservatorships of the person. (3) Existing law separately provides for the establishment of a conservatorship for a person who is unable to properly provide for their personal needs or is substantially unable to manage their finances (hereafter probate conservatorship) . Existing law requires the officer providing conservatorship investigation, if they concur with the recommendation of the professional person or facility, to petition the superior court in the patient's county of residence to establish a conservatorship. Existing law requires the officer providing conservator investigation to investigate all available alternatives to conservatorship, including, among other things, assisted outpatient treatment, as specified, and the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment Act program. Existing law requires the officer to recommended conservatorship to the court only if no suitable alternatives are available. Existing law requires the officer to render to the court a comprehensive written report of investigation prior to the hearing and to set forth all alternatives available if the officer recommends either for or against conservatorship. This bill would specify probate conservatorships with or without major neurocognitive disorder powers in the list of available alternatives that the officer providing conservatorship investigation is required to investigate. In a county where probate conservatorship and LPS conservatorship duties are split between separate agencies, the bill would require LPS conservatorship referrals that include the presence of a major neurocognitive disorder to be reviewed by both agencies to ensure the continuity of evaluations. The bill would additionally require an officer providing conservatorship investigation to include a recommended individualized plan for treatment and care drawn from the documented list of less-restrictive alternatives in the written report described above if the officer recommends against an LPS conservatorship. The bill would also make various clarifying changes. By expanding the duties of county agencies that provide services related to probate conservatorships and LPS conservatorships, and by expanding the duties of the county officer providing conservatorship investigation, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law authorizes a conservator of the person, the estate, or the person and the estate to be appointed for a person who is gravely disabled as a result of a mental health disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism for the purpose of providing individualized treatment, supervision, and placement. Existing law requires the creation of an individualized treatment plan within 10 days of the establishment of a conservatorship, as specified. Existing law requires the treatment plan to specify goals for the conservatee's treatment, the criteria by which the accomplishment of those goals can be adjudged, and a plan for reviewing the progress of the treatment. If a treatment plan is not developed or if the conservator fails to report to the court that the conservatee is no longer gravely disabled, existing law requires specified individuals, including a person designated by the county, to refer the matter to the court. Existing law requires the court, upon report by a person designated by the county that the goals have been reached and the person is no longer gravely disabled, to terminate the conservatorship. This bill would require an individualized treatment plan to specify goals for stabilization, the individual's evidenced-based treatment, and movement to a less-restrictive setting. The bill would require those goals to include the criteria by which accomplishment can be judged. The bill would require the treatment plan to be filed with the court, as specified, after it is developed. The bill would require the court to order the treating agency to remedy any perceived defects in a treatment plan if the plan does not meet the specified goals and criteria and would create procedures for remedying those defects and terminating the conservatorship. The bill would authorize the court, upon termination of the conservatorship, to refer the individual to assisted outpatient treatment or CARE court, as specified. This bill would prohibit the court from terminating the conservatorship prior to the end of the conservator's one-year mark if the conservatee cannot be located at any point during that one-year period, except as specified. The bill would require, when a county is filing a petition and the county is aware that the subject of the petition was, within the prior 6 months, a conservatee whose conservatorship was terminated before the one-year termination date, to include in its petition the circumstances that gave rise to the termination. Because this bill would increase the duties on county personnel, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law, the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act, authorizes specified people to petition a civil court to create a CARE plan to provide an individualized, appropriate range of community-based services and supports to an eligible individual. Under the CARE Act, all reports, evaluations, diagnoses, and other information filed with the court that are related to the respondent are confidential, except as specified. This bill would authorize that information to be shared only by a court order or as approved by the respondent. If the information is used outside of the above-described proceedings, the bill requires a court order for that information to be shared. This bill would authorize a court, at any point after entry of a CARE agreement or adoption of a CARE plan, to order the respondent to an evaluation under the LPS without a petition from the county if the court believes the respondent has become gravely disabled. The bill would establish the procedures required before a court could issue an order pursuant to these provisions. (6) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of community care facilities, including foster family homes and foster family agencies, by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law requires a criminal record check of applicants for a license, special permit, or certificate of approval for a foster family home or certified family home, and other persons, including nonclients who reside in those homes and staff and employees. Existing law requires the department to check the child abuse and neglect registry of a different state for a licensee of a community care facility who has lived in another state in the preceding 5 years. Existing law generally makes violations of these requirements a crime. This bill would authorize a licensee of a community care facility to approve an individual to care for children before the completion of another state's child abuse and neglect registry check if certain specified conditions are met, including that the community care facility has submitted a request for the out-of-state abuse and neglect registry check to the department. The bill would require a licensee to remove an applicant from the community care facility immediately upon receipt of information that would disqualify the applicant from approval and notify the department of the removal within 3 business days. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law requires a law enforcement agency, as defined, to obtain specific approval of a governing body prior to acquiring military equipment, as specified. Existing law defines "military equipment" to include an unmanned, remotely piloted, powered aerial or ground vehicle. This bill would prohibit a law enforcement agency from purchasing, on or after January 1, 2027, an uncrewed, remotely piloted, powered aerial or ground vehicle unless the vehicle contains an option to turn off any data collection programs that are not necessary for the vehicle to function and the law enforcement agency uses an American data storage company, as defined, to house all data collected, including, but not limited to, video and photographic images, as specified, or both. For uncrewed, remotely piloted, powered aerial or ground vehicles purchased on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2027, the bill would require a law enforcement agency to use an American data storage company. For uncrewed aerial or ground vehicles owned or possessed by a law enforcement agency prior to January 1, 2026, the bill would require the law enforcement agency to use an American data storage company after the current contract to house the data expires. The bill would require contracts entered into pursuant to these provisions with an American data storage company to prohibit the American data storage company from using, selling, renting, trading, or otherwise sharing this data with any other entity.
Existing law establishes the California Conservation Corps in the Natural Resources Agency and requires the corps to implement and administer the conservation corps program. Existing law authorizes the Director of the California Conservation Corps to establish various training and educational program, including, among others, the Education and Employment Reentry Program, within the corps, to provide education and training to formerly incarcerated individuals who successfully served on a California Conservation Camp program crew. This bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to jointly evaluate the Ventura Training Center and would require the evaluation to include specified components, including, among others, an evaluation of ways to increase the rate of graduated trainees entering the firefighter workforce. The bill would require the departments to submit a report describing the evaluation to certain legislative committees by January 1, 2026, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , an initiative measure, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. Existing law establishes the California Cannabis Tax Fund as a continuously appropriated fund consisting of specified taxes, interest, penalties, and other amounts related to commercial cannabis activity. Each fiscal year, AUMA requires the Controller to make specified disbursements from the fund, including, through the 2022–23 fiscal year, reasonable costs incurred by the Department of Cannabis Control for implementing, administering, and enforcing MAUCRSA. This bill would require the Controller to make a disbursement from the fund for reasonable costs incurred by the Department of Cannabis Control for maintaining and operating the track and trace program and for conducting civil or criminal enforcement against unauthorized commercial cannabis activity, as specified. By requiring moneys in the California Cannabis Tax Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, to be used for a new purpose, the bill would make an appropriation. AUMA also requires the Controller to make a disbursement from the fund to the Board of State and Community Corrections for making grants to local governments to assist with law enforcement, fire protection, or other local programs addressing public health and safety associated with the implementation of AUMA. AUMA prohibits the board from making grants to local governments that ban both indoor and outdoor commercial cannabis cultivation, or ban retail sale of cannabis or cannabis products. This bill would repeal that prohibition, thereby authorizing the Board of State and Community Corrections to make grants to local governments that ban both indoor and outdoor commercial cannabis cultivation or ban retail sale of cannabis or cannabis products. In order to be eligible for a grant, the bill would require a local government either to allow the retail sale of cannabis in storefronts or, for jurisdictions with a population of 10,000 residents or less, to allow cannabis delivery, as specified. The bill would require the board to prioritize grant awards for local governments whose grant application includes illicit cannabis enforcement, and would authorize the board to award grants both competitively and based on a formula to provide consistent and ongoing funding for local governments, as provided. AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend its provisions with a 23 vote of both houses to further its purposes and intent, except as specified. This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of AUMA. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
Existing law establishes the Elderly Parole Program for the purpose of reviewing the parole suitability of inmates who are 50 years of age or older and who have served a minimum of 20 years of continuous incarceration on their sentence. Existing law requires the Board of Parole Hearings, when considering the release of qualifying inmates, to give special consideration to whether certain criteria have reduced the elderly inmate's risk for future violence. Existing law excludes various persons from these provisions, including, among others, persons convicted of serious felonies, persons convicted of first-degree murder of a peace officer, or persons sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. This bill would additionally exclude, among others, persons receiving an enhancement to their sentence for committing certain sexual offenses including, among others, rape, sodomy, or lewd and lascivious acts, and habitual sex offenders. The bill would specify that these exclusions apply to all persons incarcerated as of January 1, 2026, regardless of the person's previous eligibility for parole or the status of any parole petition filed prior to that date.
(1) Existing law generally provides for the confidentiality of information regarding a minor in proceedings in the juvenile court and related court proceedings and limits access to juvenile case files, as defined. Existing law authorizes only certain individuals to inspect a juvenile case file, including members of children's multidisciplinary teams, persons, or agencies providing treatment or supervision of the minor, and a judge, commissioner, or other hearing officer assigned to a family law case with issues concerning custody or visitation, or both, involving the minor, and specified individuals if actively participating in the family law case. Under existing law, if a juvenile case file or portion thereof is otherwise privileged or confidential pursuant to state or federal law or regulation, an individual not otherwise entitled to access the file or portions thereof without a court order must petition the juvenile court for release of the portion of, or information relating to the contents of, juvenile case files otherwise protected, as specified. This bill would, among other things, additionally authorize members of the parents' treatment teams to access a juvenile case file, as specified. The bill would additionally authorize a judge, commissioner, or other hearing officer assigned to a probate case, as well as specified persons if actively involved in a probate case, including counsel for the parents, to inspect the file, as specified. The bill would specify requirements for the use records or information received from the file. The bill would also require, if a juvenile case file, or portion thereof, is privileged or confidential pursuant to other state or federal law or regulation, if a petition is filed and the records are not released within 30 days after the filing of the petition, the juvenile court to set the matter for hearing. (2) Existing law authorizes a child welfare agency to permit its files and records relating to a minor who is the subject of a family law or probate guardianship case involving custody or visitation issues to be inspected by, and to provide copies to, specified individuals actively participating in the family law or probate case, including an attorney for a party to the family law or probate case. Existing law requires any records or information, including the testimony of a social worker, to be maintained solely in the confidential portion of the family law or probate file. The bill would instead require the child welfare agency to permit its files and records relating to a minor, who is the subject of a family law, probate guardianship case, or child welfare agency involvement, to be inspected by, and to provide copies to, specified individuals if the individuals are participating in these cases within 2 weeks of their written request, after an investigation has been closed. The bill would expand the individuals who qualify pursuant to this provision to include an attorney who is assisting a parent of a child who is subject to child welfare involvement, regardless of whether a petition is filed. The bill would require records or information to be filed under seal in a family law or probate matter. By increasing duties on child welfare agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize any person permitted to access records or information to release the records or information to any other person entitled to access the records or information. The bill would authorize attorneys to release any records or information, as necessary under certain circumstances. The bill would prohibit the juvenile case file, as specified, from being made as an attachment to any other documents without the prior approval of the presiding judge of the juvenile court, unless certain conditions are met. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
The California Control of Profits of Organized Crime Act provides the procedure for the forfeiture of property and proceeds acquired through a pattern of criminal profiteering activity. Under the act, "criminal profiteering activity" includes human trafficking, and a "pattern of criminal profiteering activity" means engaging in at least 2 incidents of criminal profiteering that meet specific requirements. Under existing law other the act, an interest in a vehicle, real property, or other thing of value that was put to substantial use for the purpose of facilitating the crime of human trafficking that involves a commercial sex act where the victim was less than 18 years of age at the time of the commission of the crime, may be seized and ordered forfeited by the court upon the conviction of a person guilty of human trafficking that involves a commercial sex act where the victim is an individual under 18 years of age. This bill would rename the act as the "California Control of Profits of Organized Crime and Human Trafficking Act" and recast its provisions to authorize the forfeiture of property and proceeds acquired through human trafficking without the requirement to establish a pattern of criminal profiteering activity. The bill would reallocate the proceeds of forfeiture related to human trafficking to the Victim-Witness Assistance Fund and the Board of State and Community Corrections, as specified. The bill would specify that the provisions of the act are prohibited from being deemed to modify the provisions for forfeiture applicable to an interest in property that was put to substantial use for the purpose of facilitating the crime of human trafficking that involves a commercial sex act where the victim was less than 18 years of age at the time of the commission.
