Asm. Lori Wilson

Maddy summaryThis bill is a House Resolution that formally recognizes the work of school board members across California by designating January 2025 as School Board Recognition Month. It directly affects local school districts and county offices of education by honoring the nearly 5,000 elected school board members who serve in these roles. The resolution expresses appreciation for their dedication to public education and encourages community members to support these local officials in their efforts to serve students. This is a commemorative measure rather than a policy change, as it does not alter laws or regulations but instead highlights the importance of school governance.

Existing law establishes independent institutions of higher education as one of the segments of postsecondary education in the state. Existing law, the Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A Entitlement Awards, the Cal Grant B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Expanded Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement Awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards, the Cal Grant C Awards, and the Cal Grant T Awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission. The Cal Grant Reform Act revises and recasts the provisions establishing and governing the existing Cal Grant Program into a new Cal Grant Program. Existing law specifies that the act becomes operative only if General Fund moneys over the multiyear forecasts beginning in the 2024–25 fiscal year are available to support ongoing augmentations and actions, and if funding is provided in the annual Budget Act to implement the act. This bill would prohibit, commencing September 1, 2025, an independent institution of higher education, as defined, from providing a legacy preference or donor preference in admissions, as defined, to an applicant as part of the regular or early action admissions process. The bill would require, on or before June 30, 2026, and annually thereafter, an independent institution of higher education to report to the Legislature and the Department of Justice on whether it is in compliance or violation of these provisions, and if in violation of these provisions, to also report, for that academic year, (1) specified information about newly enrolled students and (2) the admission rate of students who are provided a legacy preference or donor preference in admissions, as compared to the admission rate of students who are not provided a legacy preference or donor preference in admissions. The bill would require the department to post the names of the independent institutions of higher education that violate the prohibition on its internet website by the next fiscal year.

The Public Employees' Retirement Law creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , which provides pension and other benefits to members of the system and prescribes limitations on the service that retired members may perform, without the member reinstating in the system, for employers that participate in the system. The California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) also prescribes limitations on the activities of retired members of these retirement systems, which supersede the provisions of PERS with which they conflict. Under both PERS and PEPRA, a retired member is generally subject to a limit of 960 hours of employment within a calendar or fiscal year, depending on the administrator of the system, for specified employers without reinstating in the system. This bill would create an exception from the above-described limit for hours worked by a retired person in an appointment by the Solano County Sheriff's Office to perform a function or functions regularly performed by a deputy sheriff, evidence technician, or communications operator, subject to meeting certain requirements. The bill would limit the number of appointments made under these provisions to 20. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Solano. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law prohibits the production, development, duplication, distribution, or possession, as specified, of matter, in specified formats, that depicts a person under 18 years of age engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, as defined. Existing law separately prohibits this conduct where it is done for consideration or where such matter is shared with a minor. Existing law provides an enhanced punishment when these offenses are committed using government property. This bill would expand the scope of certain of these provisions to include matter that is digitally altered or generated by the use of artificial intelligence, as such matter is defined. By expanding the scope of an existing 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. This bill would become operative only if SB 1381 of the 2023–24 Regular Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2025.

Existing law requires the Governor to appoint every officer whose mode of appointment is not prescribed by law. Existing law also prescribes the manner of the Governor's appointment of those officers. This bill would require the office of the Governor, commencing January 1, 2026, to maintain on its internet website a list of every state board and commission that includes, for each state board or commission, the membership list, stated purpose, duties, meeting frequency, internet website, and vacancies in the membership. The bill would require the office of the Governor, on or before January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, to create and publish on its internet website a report containing aggregate demographic information of appointments made by the office during the prior calendar year, as specified.

Existing law establishes the Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program, under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to provide supplemental funding to county offices of education to coordinate and ensure that local educational agencies within a county office of education's jurisdiction are providing services to pupils in foster care pursuant to a foster youth services coordinating plan with the purpose of ensuring positive educational outcomes. Existing law defines "pupil in foster care" for these purposes. This bill would add to the definition of "pupil in foster care" a child who is the subject of a juvenile court petition and has been identified by a county child welfare agency, a probation department, or an Indian tribe meeting specified criteria as being at imminent risk of removal and placement into foster care, as provided. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 42921 of the Education Code proposed by AB 2137 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2137 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law authorizes cities and counties, subject to certain limitations and approval requirements, to levy a transactions and use tax for general or specific purposes, in accordance with the procedures and requirements set forth in the Transactions and Use Tax Law, including a requirement that the combined rate of all taxes that may be imposed in accordance with that law in the county not exceed 2%. This bill would authorize the City of Campbell, the City of Pinole, the County of Solano, or any city in the County of Solano, by ordinance or by citizens' initiative, to impose a transactions and use tax for general or specific purposes, at a rate of no more than 0.5% that, in combination with other transactions and use taxes, would exceed the above-described combined rate limit of 2%, if certain requirements are met. The bill would provide that a transactions and use tax rate imposed pursuant to the bill will not be considered for purposes of the combined rate limit described above. The bill would repeal this authorization on January 1, 2029, if an ordinance or citizens' initiative proposing the tax has not been approved by that date, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Campbell, the City of Pinole, and the County of Solano. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law requires a vehicle to display a license plate, issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles, with tabs that indicate the month and year the vehicle registration expires. Existing law requires the department to issue a registration card upon registering a vehicle that includes, among other information, the name of the owner and the vehicle registration number. Existing law authorizes the department to establish a program allowing an entity to issue devices as alternatives to the conventional license plates, stickers, tabs, and registration cards, subject to specific requirements that include limitations on how vehicle location technology is used with an alternative device and how an alternative device may display certain specialized license plates. Existing law imposes requirements and restrictions on electronic information generated by an alternative device. Commencing January 1, 2027, this bill would modify the limitations on the use of vehicle location technology. This bill would authorize any vehicle, beginning on January 1, 2027, to be offered an alternative device to a license plate or registration card that includes vehicle location technology. The bill would specify requirements for how vehicle location technology is disabled or enabled and prohibit an alternative device from recording or transmitting personal identifiable information, as specified. The bill would require the department to delete data from an alternative device or the provider of an alternative device that the department is not authorized to receive. The bill would expand the types of specialized license plates that may be replicated on an alternative device.

Existing law requires the governing board or body of a local educational agency, defined as a county office of education, school district, state special school, or charter school, that serves pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to adopt a policy on pupil suicide prevention that specifically addresses, among other things, procedures relating to suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention, and any training on suicide awareness and prevention to be provided to teachers of pupils in all of the grades served by the local educational agency. Existing law requires the governing board or body of a local educational agency that serves pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to review, at minimum every 5th year, its policy on pupil suicide prevention and, if necessary, update its policy. To assist local educational agencies in developing policies for pupil suicide prevention, existing law requires the State Department of Education to develop and maintain a model policy to serve as a guide for local educational agencies, as provided. This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2026, the department to update the model policy to address crisis intervention protocols in the event of a pupil suicide crisis, as defined, including the process by which staff and external agencies are deployed to address a pupil suicide crisis, limiting the involvement and notification of law enforcement to situations in which a pupil's life is in imminent danger and their needs cannot be addressed by a mental health professional, and the assessment process that law enforcement officers should follow to determine whether the pupil experiencing a suicide crisis is endangered by parental notification. The bill would require, on or after July 1, 2026, the governing board or body of a local educational agency to update their pupil suicide prevention policy to include these crisis intervention protocols, as provided. The bill would encourage, when the governing board or body of a local educational agency reviews its policy on pupil suicide prevention, if the local educational agency does not have a school mental health professional, as defined, or contract with a mental health professional, as defined, the governing board or body to consider whether funding should be identified for purposes of hiring a school mental health professional. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, 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, 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.

(1) Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, among other things, requires the legislative body of each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city and of any land outside its boundaries that relates to its planning. Existing law authorizes the legislative body, if it deems it to be in the public interest, to amend all or part of an adopted general plan, as provided. Existing law also authorizes the legislative body of any county or city, pursuant to specified procedures, to adopt ordinances that, among other things, regulate the use of buildings, structures, and land as between industry, business, residences, open space, and other purposes. This bill would prohibit a local agency, as defined, from treating a thrift retail store, as defined, differently from a nonthrift retail store engaged in the sale of new items that are similar to items sold by a thrift retail store for purposes of zoning, development standards, or permitting, except as specified. The bill would allow a local agency to require that thrift retail stores meet certain aesthetic or design standards, as prescribed. The bill would prohibit a local agency from prohibiting a thrift retail store from receiving used and donated items for sale in the store or other thrift retail stores, or reuse or recycling, or both reuse and recycling, through other means. By imposing additional duties on local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would specify that nothing in its provisions shall be construed to, among other things, prohibit the adoption or enforcement of reasonable local rules or ordinances on retail establishments engaged in the sale of new items that are similar to items sold by a thrift retail store. (2) The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. (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.