Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to fix the rates and charges for public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations, and requires those rates and charges to be just and reasonable. Under existing law, a regulated public utility is prohibited from using ratepayer funds for advocacy-related activities that are political or do not otherwise benefit ratepayers. Existing law prohibits each electrical corporation or gas corporation from recording to an above-the-line account, or otherwise recovering from ratepayers, direct or indirect costs of specified activities. This bill would include in those activities for which costs may not be recovered from ratepayers any activities related to opposing the municipalization of electrical or gas utility service, as specified. Existing law authorizes the commission, each commissioner, and each officer and person employed by the commission to inspect the accounts, books, papers, and documents of any public utility. Existing law establishes within the commission an independent Public Advocate's Office of the Public Utilities Commission and authorizes the office to require an entity regulated by the commission to produce or disclose any information the office deems necessary to perform its duties, as provided. This bill would additionally authorize the office to require an entity regulated by the commission to produce or disclose any information the office deems necessary to support the commission's duties. The bill would also specify that the office has the same authority to discover information and review the accounts of a public utility as the commission and would change the timing of a specified annual report by the office to the Legislature. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the above-described provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing the bill's requirements would be 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 generally designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution, and designates air pollution control districts and air quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. Existing law requires the state board to inventory sources of air pollution within the air basins of the state, determine the kinds and quantity of air pollutants, and monitor air pollutants in cooperation with districts and other agencies. Existing law requires the state board to adopt standards of ambient air quality for each air basin in consideration of the public health, safety, and welfare, including, but not limited to, health, illness, irritation to the senses, aesthetic value, interference with visibility, and effects on the economy. Existing law authorizes these standards to vary from one air basin to another. This bill would require the state board, in consultation with specified entities, to develop, as provided, a response framework that establishes best practices and guidance for addressing fugitive and natural sources of hydrogen sulfide gas and for community preparation and response to hydrogen sulfide exposure events originating from these sources. The bill would require the state board, in developing the response framework, to conduct at least 3 public workshops, including at least one located in the Tijuana River Valley region, at least one located in the Salton Sea region, and at least one selected in consultation with a community that has experienced significant hydrogen sulfide exposure. The bill would require the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to update the acute and chronic reference exposure levels for hydrogen sulfide and to develop additional health guidance values for hydrogen sulfide, if the need is identified by the state board, in consultation with the office, during development of the response framework.
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, which is administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, establishes an integrated waste management program. The act requires the department to initiate a program for the cleanup of solid waste disposal sites and for cleanup of solid waste at codisposal sites where no responsible party is available to pay for timely remediation, and where cleanup is needed to protect public health and safety or the environment. This bill would authorize the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to develop regulations and expend funds to remove and dispose of recreational vehicles, as defined, to develop enforcement strategies, and to develop local enforcement teams and illegal dumping enforcement officers, as specified.
The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, approved by the voters as Proposition 4 at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election, authorized the issuance of bonds in the amount of $10,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance projects for safe drinking water, drought, flood, and water resilience, wildfire and forest resilience, coastal resilience, extreme heat mitigation, biodiversity protection and nature-based climate solutions, climate-smart, sustainable, and resilient farms, ranches, and working lands, park creation and outdoor access, and clean air programs. Of these funds, the act makes $300,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for improving climate resilience and sustainability of agricultural lands, including, among other things, by making $15,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture, for purposes of providing grants to public postsecondary educational institutions that are designated as Agricultural Experiment Stations or Agricultural Research Institutes, to develop research farms to improve climate resiliency, as specified. Existing law authorizes a state agency to furnish services, materials, or equipment to, or perform work for, any other state agency upon terms and conditions and for the consideration as they may determine, and to enter into agreements for that purpose, subject to approval of the Director of General Services. Existing law requires a state agency that furnishes the services, materials, or equipment to, or performs the work for, the other state agency to compute charges in a manner approved by the Director of Finance. Existing law authorizes a state agency to provide for the advancing of funds, as provided, to defray those charges. This bill would authorize the State Department of Education to advance a payment for a contract or agreement made with the Department of Food and Agriculture pursuant to the research farm provisions of Proposition 4, described above, in the 2026–27 and 2027–28 fiscal years. The bill would exempt those contracts and agreements from the above-described requirement of approval by the Director of General Services. The bill would provide, for purposes of those contracts and agreements, that developing a research farm pursuant to the research farm provisions of Proposition 4 includes constructing a new research farm and maintaining, altering, or improving an existing research farm previously constructed by the Agricultural Experiment Station or the Agricultural Research Institute. This bill would provide, for purposes of the research farm grants, that Agricultural Experiment Stations and Agricultural Research Institutes are designated by the University of California and the California State University.
Existing law provides for the establishment of air pollution control districts and air quality management districts and prescribes the membership of the governing boards of air pollution control districts and air quality management districts. Those governing boards comprise combinations of mayors, city council members, and county supervisors, selected as prescribed, except for the governing board of the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District, which has a differently prescribed membership and certain specified duties. This bill would, as of July 1, 2027, prescribe the membership of the governing board of the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District (air district) and prescribe many of those same duties as are required for the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District. In particular, the bill would require the air district to appoint a specified liaison to consult with the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps, as specified, and create and maintain an internet website providing access to specified information, including, among other information, the agendas and minutes of the governing board of the air district and all current and pending permit information and settled enforcement actions. The bill would require the district, in establishing the internet website, to establish a process for permitholders that have sensitive operations to request that physical identifying information be redacted from the publicly posted information. The bill would require that air monitoring data be made available to the public on the internet website within a reasonable period of time, as specified, and would require the governing board of the district to establish an air monitoring data program, as provided. The bill would require the air district, by January 1, 2029, to post all applications for an authority to construct or permit to operate. By requiring local governments to appoint members to the air district governing board in a specified manner and by adding to the duties of the air district, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would specify the continuing funding sources for the air district. This bill would make certain provisions inoperative on July 1, 2027, and would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2028. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District. The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. 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, with regard to certain mandates, no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to license and regulate clinics, as defined. A violation of these provisions is a crime. Existing law requires any person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation desiring a license for a clinic to file with the department a verified application containing, among other things, the name and address of the clinic and the class of clinic to be operated. Existing law authorizes a clinic corporation, on behalf of a primary care clinic that has held a valid, unrevoked, and unsuspended license for at least the immediately preceding 5 years, with no demonstrated history of repeated or uncorrected violations of specified provisions that pose immediate jeopardy to a patient, and that has no pending action to suspend or revoke its license, to file an affiliate clinic application to establish a primary care clinic at an additional site or a mobile health care unit, which are referred to as affiliate clinics. Existing law requires the department, upon receipt of the completed affiliate clinic application, to approve the license for the affiliate clinic, without the necessity of first conducting an initial onsite survey if specified conditions are met, including, among other things, the clinic corporation that operates the existing licensed primary care clinic has submitted a completed affiliate clinic application and the associated application fee. Existing law refers to the existing licensed primary care clinic as the parent clinic. Existing law requires the department to issue a clinic license within 30 days of receipt of a completed affiliate clinic application. This bill would authorize a clinic corporation on behalf of at least one primary care clinic to file an affiliate clinic application pursuant to the above-described provisions for any of its primary care clinic locations to establish a new affiliate clinic. The bill would additionally require the affiliate clinic application to be signed by an officer of the clinic corporation's board of directors or the clinic corporation's chief executive officer or executive director. The bill would require the department to approve a license for the affiliate clinic if the conditions described above are met and the parent clinic is not itself an affiliate clinic. This bill would authorize a primary care clinic that has held a valid, unrevoked, and unsuspended license for at least the immediately preceding five years, with no demonstrated history of repeated or uncorrected violations of specified provisions that pose immediate jeopardy to a patient, and that has no pending action to suspend or revoke its license, to apply to the department for a change of location using the affiliate clinic application mentioned above. The bill would authorize the department to approve the application and issue an updated license, consistent with the timeline mentioned above, without the necessity of first conducting an onsite survey. Existing law requires the department to maintain a complete corporate file containing information about each clinic corporation operating one or more affiliate clinics, including, among other things, a copy of the clinic corporation's articles of incorporation and bylaws. Existing law prohibits a clinic corporation from being required to resubmit specified information as part of an affiliate clinic application, unless the information, materials, or documents are necessary to complete the corporate file. This bill would require a clinic corporation, before the closure of a parent clinic, to submit a request to the department to establish another primary care clinic as the parent clinic. The bill would prohibit the department from requiring the clinic corporation to resubmit specified information or materials unless there are any changes to the information in the corporate file maintained by the department. The bill would require the department to approve the request consistent with the timeline mentioned above provided the new parent clinic meets all of the requirements for a parent clinic, as mentioned above. This bill would require any changes to the information provided to the department for a clinic to be filed on forms established and furnished by the department. Because this bill would change 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.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA provides that when an EIR has been prepared for a project, no subsequent or supplemental EIR shall be required by a lead agency or responsible agency, unless specified events occur. This bill would require a lead agency, before issuing the initial discretionary approval for a large-volume bulk coal facility, defined as a facility with a design capacity exceeding 5,000,000 short tons per year of coal handling, storage, or export to prepare or cause to be prepared an EIR. The bill would prohibit a lead agency, air pollution control district, or air quality management district from relying on an existing EIR to issue a discretionary approval for, or to, a large-volume bulk coal facility, and would require a subsequent or new EIR to be prepared, if any of a list of specified conditions are met, including that there is an increase in design capacity of a project that did not previously meet the definition of a large-volume bulk coal facility, as provided; there is a change in the type of coal handled, stored, or exported, or the EIR did not explicitly address the type of coal handled, stored, or exported; or there is a significant increase in the quantity of coal handled, stored, or exported, or the EIR did not explicitly disclose the quantity of coal to be handled, stored, or exported. The bill would require an EIR or subsequent EIR prepared pursuant to these provisions to, among other things, evaluate the large-volume bulk coal facility's potential to generate PM2.5 and PM10 fugitive dust emissions during construction and operations, and to require mitigation measures, as provided. The bill would apply these provisions to a discretionary approval that is pending or made after June 4, 2026, as specified. Because the bill would create new duties for a lead agency, the 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.
The California Endangered Species Act requires the Fish and Game Commission to establish a list of endangered species and a list of threatened species and to add or remove species from either list if it finds, upon the receipt of sufficient scientific information, as specified, that the action is warranted. The act prohibits the taking of an endangered or threatened species, except under certain circumstances. The violation of the act is a crime. This bill would prohibit the imposition of a civil, administrative, or criminal penalty for a violation of the take prohibition if the defendant used necessary and reasonable force to protect themselves, a member of their family, or any other individual from immediate bodily harm from a species listed pursuant to the act. The bill would require a person who committed a take, or an attempted take, of a species listed pursuant to the act under these circumstances to notify the Department of Fish and Wildlife within 24 hours after the take. Because a violation of this requirement would be a crime, the 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 designates the Department of Food and Agriculture as the lead department in noxious weed management and requires the department, in cooperation with the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, to implement provisions relating to noxious weed management. Existing law prohibits a person from selling, distributing, or transporting into, or within, a weed-free area any seed of a noxious weed that the secretary has declared the area to be practically free from. This bill would prohibit an online marketplace, as defined, from facilitating the sale or shipment of a noxious weed for delivery to an address located in the state. The bill would authorize the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, if the secretary or a county agricultural commissioner identifies a shipment of a noxious weed and the secretary determines that the shipment originated from or occurred through a transaction conducted through an online marketplace in violation of this prohibition, to provide written notice, including specified information, to the online marketplace that it may be subject to an administrative penalty for violating this prohibition. The bill would authorize the secretary to levy a specified administrative penalty against an online marketplace for violating this prohibition if both the online marketplace received that written notice and, after any written notice, the secretary or a county agricultural commissioner identifies a shipment of a noxious weed and the secretary determines that the shipment originated from or occurred through a transaction conducted through an online marketplace in violation of this prohibition, unless the marketplace demonstrates to the secretary that it has implemented and maintains reasonable controls, as defined. The bill would also authorize the secretary to levy a separate administrative penalty against an online marketplace to recover all reasonable costs associated with remediating any damage caused by a violation of this prohibition in an amount equal to those reasonable costs. The bill would provide that review of the secretary's decision to impose an administrative penalty pursuant to these provisions may be sought by the online marketplace within 30 days of the date of the decision, as specified. The bill would require all moneys collected pursuant to these provisions to be deposited into the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, cover costs related to the enforcement of provisions relating to plant quarantine and pest control. The bill would prohibit an online marketplace subject to an administrative penalty pursuant to these provisions from being subject to other fines or penalties for a violation of this prohibition. The bill would make its provisions operative on April 1, 2027.
Existing law authorizes a person that owns or controls brush-covered land, forest lands, woodland, grassland, and shrubland within a state responsibility area to apply to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for permission to use prescribed burning for certain public purposes. Existing law authorizes the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to enter into an agreement for prescribed burning with a person to conduct the prescribed burning operations for certain purposes. Existing law requires the department to develop a training program for prescribed fire users to certify professionals as burn bosses. Existing law requires the department to conduct an experimental program of wildland resources management through prescribed burning and other methods in 2 areas of wildlands. This bill would require the department, on an annual basis, to allocate not less than 10% of funding appropriated to the department for local assistance and other grant programs where prescribed or beneficial fire is an eligible activity, consistent with the term of the appropriation, to expand training, organizational capacity, and support for community-led beneficial fire programs, including, but not limited to, those developed by California Native American tribes, nongovernmental organizations, universities and colleges, resources conservation districts, volunteer fire districts, and other local or special districts, as provided. The bill would require at least 25% of that allocation be awarded to California Native American tribes or tribally led or indigenous-led organizations, except as specified.
