Asm. Lori Wilson

Existing law, the California Healthy Youth Act, requires school districts, defined to include county boards of education, county superintendents of schools, the California School for the Deaf, the California School for the Blind, and charter schools, to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive comprehensive sexual health education and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention education, as specified. The act defines "comprehensive sexual health education" for these purposes to mean education regarding human development and sexuality, including education on pregnancy, contraception, and sexually transmitted infections. This bill would additionally include in that definition of "comprehensive sexual health education" the topic of menstrual health. To the extent the bill would impose 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.

Existing sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. Those laws provide various exemptions from those taxes. This bill, beginning January 1, 2025, and until January 1, 2030, would exempt from those taxes the gross receipts from the sale in this state of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, zero-emission public transportation ferries, as defined, sold to a public agency, as specified. Existing law requires a bill that would authorize a new tax expenditure under the Sales and Use Tax Law to identify specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, and detailed performance indicators and data collection requirements for determining whether the tax expenditure achieves these goals, purposes, and objectives. The bill would provide findings and declarations relating to the goals of the exemption for zero-emission public transportation ferries. Existing law imposes or dedicates certain state sales and use tax rates for local funding, including through the Local Revenue Fund 2011. This bill would specify that this exemption does not apply to those state sales and use tax rates imposed or dedicated for local government funding, including those rates for which revenues are deposited into the Local Revenue Fund 2011. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing laws authorize districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which generally conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to the Sales and Use Tax Law are automatically incorporated into the local tax laws. This bill would specify that this exemption does not apply to local sales and use taxes or transactions and use taxes. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, provides that all persons within the jurisdiction of this state are entitled to full and equal accommodations in all business establishments regardless of their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status. Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, makes it unlawful to engage in specified discriminatory employment practices based on certain protected characteristics, including race, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification or applicable security regulations, and prohibits housing discrimination based on specified personal characteristics, including race. Existing law states the policy of the State of California to afford all persons in public schools, regardless of their disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other specified characteristic, equal rights and opportunities in the educational institutions of the state, and to prohibit acts that are contrary to that policy and to provide remedies therefor. Existing law prohibits discrimination because of a perception that a person has one of those protected characteristics or is associated with a person who has, or is perceived to have, any of those characteristics. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act and public school policy define the term race for purposes of those provisions to include traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, as defined. This bill would remove the term "historically" from the definitions of race, thus defining race to include traits associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, as defined, and would add those definitions for "race" and "protective hairstyle" to the Unruh Civil Rights Act. This bill would declare that its provisions are declaratory of existing law. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 51 of the Civil Code proposed by SB 1137 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1137 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12926 of the Government Code proposed by SB 1022 and SB 1137 to be operative only if this bill and either or both of those bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law grants a person sentenced to imprisonment the right to purchase, receive, and read any and all newspapers, periodicals, and books, as specified, subject to restrictions reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. Existing law authorizes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to prescribe and amend rules and regulations for the administration of state prisons, including determining which materials are a threat to legitimate penological interests. Existing law creates the Office of the Inspector General and grants the Inspector General responsibility for oversight of the department, as specified. This bill would require the Office of the Inspector General to post the Centralized List of Disapproved Publications maintained by the department on the office's internet website and would require the department to notify the office each time a change is made to that list. The bill would authorize the office, upon request, to review publications on the list to determine if it concurs with the department's determination that the publication violates department regulations. The bill would require the office to notify the department if it does not concur with the department's determination. The bill would also require the office to include information relating to those notifications in an annual report the Inspector General provides to the Governor and Legislature.

Former law established, until July 1, 2023, the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States. Former law required the Task Force to, among other things, identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies that became the United States, and to recommend appropriate remedies in consideration of the Task Force's findings, as specified. Former law required the Task Force to submit a written report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature, as specified. This bill would provide that the State of California recognizes and accepts responsibility for all of the harms and atrocities committed by the state, its representatives thereof, and entities under its jurisdiction who promoted, facilitated, enforced, and permitted the institution of chattel slavery and the enduring legacy of ongoing badges and incidents from which the systemic structures of discrimination have come to exist. The bill would further provide that the State of California apologizes for perpetuating the harms African Americans have faced and affirms its role in protecting the descendants of enslaved people and all Black Californians. The bill would require a plaque memorializing this apology to be publicly and conspicuously installed and maintained in the State Capitol Building. The bill would impose various duties on the Department of General Services and the Joint Rules Committee relating to the installation and maintenance of the plaque. The bill would authorize the Department of General Services and the Joint Rules Committee to receive money from grants and private donations and would continuously appropriate those funds for this purpose, as specified. The bill would require the Legislature to prepare the formal apology and would request it be signed by specified state leaders. The bill would require the Secretary of State to submit a final copy of this formal apology to the State Archives, where it would be available for viewing by the general public in perpetuity. The bill would include related legislative findings.

(1) Existing law regulates the employment of workers in grocery establishments, as defined, including requiring an incumbent grocery employer, as defined, where there is a change of control, as defined, to post a public notice of the change in control at the location of the affected grocery establishment within 5 business days following the execution of the transfer document, as specified. Existing law requires the notice to include, among other specified information, the name of the incumbent grocery employer, and to be posted in a conspicuous place at the grocery establishment in a manner where it can be readily viewed by specified persons, including eligible grocery workers. Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacies by the California State Board of Pharmacy. Existing law authorizes a pharmacy to furnish prescription drugs only to certain entities, including specific health care entities, and individual patients or another pharmacy either pursuant to prescription or as otherwise authorized by law. Existing law defines a pharmacy as an area, place, or premises licensed by the board in which the profession of pharmacy is practiced and where prescriptions are compounded. This bill would require a covered establishment, defined to include a grocery establishment or a pharmacy establishment, to satisfy specified requirements no later than 45 days before its closure, as defined, takes effect, including providing written notice of the closure to specified entities, including the employees of the covered establishment affected by the closure and their authorized representatives if the covered establishment employs more than 5 employees, and the Employment Development Department. The bill would require, notwithstanding that provision, a covered establishment that employs 5 or fewer employees to, no later than 30 days before a closure of the covered establishment takes effect, provide written notice of the closure to the employees of the covered establishment affected by the closure. The bill would exempt, notwithstanding the same provision, specified covered establishments, including a covered establishment that, among other things, is a pharmacy and is owned by a person or entity who owns 15 or fewer pharmacies nationwide, from providing written notice to specified persons and entities, including the Employment Development Department. The bill would exempt a covered establishment from these requirements if specified circumstances apply, including that the closure is necessitated by a physical calamity or an act of war, except as specified. (2) Existing law authorizes an aggrieved employee of a grocery establishment or their representative, as described, to bring an action, as specified, for violations of the above-described change of control provisions to recover, among other awards, reasonable attorney's fees and costs, if specified requirements are met, including that the employee provided written notice to the employer of the violations, as specified. Existing law also authorizes a civil penalty not to exceed $100 against, among other specified entities, the grocery employer for each employee whose rights are violated under those provisions. Existing law also authorizes an additional amount of $100 per employee payable as liquidated damages for each day of the violation until the violation is cured, as specified, and authorizes that amount to be recovered by the Labor Commissioner, as specified, and paid to the employee as compensatory damages. This bill would authorize a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each closure to be assessed and collected in a civil action against a covered establishment that violates the above-described written notice provisions brought by specified persons or entities, including any person injured by the violation, except as specified. The bill would require the court, in assessing the amount of the civil penalty, to consider relevant circumstances, including the nature and severity of the misconduct, and require the court to award a prevailing plaintiff reasonable attorney's fees and costs. The bill would require, if the action is pursued by specified entities, including the Attorney General, that specified portions of the civil penalty collected be paid to, among other specified sources, the treasurer of the county in which the judgment was entered. The bill would entitle an employee that does not receive the written notice to recover in a civil action an additional sum of $100 payable as liquidated damages per employee for each day of the violation until the violation is cured, as specified. The bill would specify that these provisions do not preempt or alter any other rights or remedies, including any causes of action, available under any other federal or state law, except as specified. (3) Existing law, the California Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, establishes local workforce development boards to perform duties related to the planning, oversight, and evaluation of local workforce investment, including identifying workforce training programs. This bill would require a county, after receiving a written notice described above from any covered establishment, to provide the local workforce development board of the county in which the covered establishment is located with information about safety net programs, including the CalWORKs program, and would require a local workforce development board to provide the covered establishment with information about safety net programs and the availability of local workforce training services. The bill would require a covered establishment that receives information from a county or a local workforce development board as described above, no later than 30 days before its closure, to provide any of that information it receives to each of its employees. By increasing the duties of a county and a local workforce development board, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law provides for various public social services programs in the state, which are administered by the State Department of Social Services, including the CalFresh program, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county, and the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals. This bill would require the department, after receiving a written notice described above from a grocery establishment, to transmit to the Food and Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture information stating that the grocery establishment will be closing and the closing date. (5) This bill would make findings and declarations relating 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 requires the State Department of Public Health to maintain a program of maternal and child health, which may include, among other things, facilitating services directed toward reducing infant mortality and improving the health of mothers and children. Existing law requires the Office of Health Equity within the department to serve as a resource for ensuring that programs collect and keep data and information regarding ethnic and racial health statistics, and strategies and programs that address multicultural health issues, including, but not limited to, infant and maternal mortality. Existing law makes legislative findings relating to implicit bias and racial disparities in maternal mortality rates. Existing law requires a hospital that provides perinatal care, and an alternative birth center or a primary clinic that provides services as an alternative birth center, to implement an evidence-based implicit bias program, as specified, for all health care providers involved in perinatal care of patients within those facilities. Existing law requires the health care provider to complete initial basic training through the program and a refresher course every 2 years thereafter, or on a more frequent basis if deemed necessary by the facility. Existing law requires the facility to provide a certificate of training completion upon request, to accept certificates of completion from other facilities, and to offer training to physicians not directly employed by the facility. Existing law requires the department to track and publish data on pregnancy-related death and severe maternal morbidity, as specified. This bill would make a legislative finding that the Legislature recognizes all birthing people, including nonbinary persons and persons of transgender experience. The bill would extend the evidence-based implicit bias training requirements to specified health care providers at hospitals that provide perinatal care, alternative birth centers, or primary care clinics, as specified. The bill would require an implicit bias program to include recognition of intersecting identities and the potential associated biases. The bill would require initial basic training for the implicit bias program to be completed by June 1, 2025, for current health care providers, and within 6 months of their start date for new health care providers, unless exempted. The bill would require specified facilities to, by February 1 of each year, commencing in 2026, provide the Attorney General with proof of compliance with these provisions, as specified. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to pursue civil penalties for violations of these provisions, as specified. The bill would require that Attorney General be awarded all attorney's fees and costs in any civil action in which a court imposes any of those civil penalties. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to post on its internet website a list of facilities that did not timely submit proof of compliance or were assessed penalties under these provisions, as specified. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to post any other compliance data they deem necessary and would authorize the Attorney General to biennially publish a report outlining compliance data related to these provisions. The bill would make the provisions of the act severable.

(1) Existing law authorizes a city, county, or city and county auditor or controller to maintain a whistleblower hotline to receive calls from persons who have information regarding fraud, waste, or abuse by local government employees, as specified. Existing law authorizes the auditor or controller to refer calls received on the whistleblower hotline to the appropriate government authority for review and possible investigation. During the initial review of a call, existing law requires the auditor, controller, or other appropriate governmental agency to hold in confidence information disclosed through the whistleblower hotline, as specified. Upon receiving specific information that an employee or local government has engaged in an improper government activity, existing law authorizes a city or county auditor or controller to conduct an investigative audit of the matter, as specified. Existing law requires the identity of the individual or individuals reporting the improper government activity and the subject employee or employees to be kept confidential, except as specified. Existing law defines "fraud, waste, or abuse" to mean any activity by a local agency or employee that is undertaken in the performance of the employee's official duties, as described, that is in violation of any local, state, or federal law or regulation relating to, among other things, corruption. This bill would also authorize a city, county, or city and county auditor or controller to maintain a whistleblower hotline to receive calls from persons who have information regarding improper governmental activity, and would recast information regarding fraud, waste, or abuse by local government employees as improper governmental activity. The bill would instead authorize a city or county auditor or controller, or auditor's or controller's designee, to conduct an investigative audit of the matter upon receiving specific information that an employee or local government has engaged in a fraud, waste, or abuse or improper governmental activity, as specified. The bill would also require the identity of the individual or individuals reporting the fraud, waste, or abuse and the subject employee or employees to be kept confidential, except as specified. The bill would expand the above-described duties and authorizations to the auditor's or controller's designee, as specified. The bill would revise the definition of "fraud, waste, or abuse" to also define "improper governmental activity," and expand the scope of those terms to include activity by a local agency, employee, or contractor or subcontractor. (2) Existing law, the California Whistleblower Protection Act, prohibits an employee from directly or indirectly using or attempting to use the official authority or influence of the employee to interfere with a person's rights to disclose improper activity. The act requires the California State Auditor to administer these provisions and to investigate and report on improper governmental activities. The act defines "improper governmental activity" to mean an activity by a state agency or by an employee that is, among other things, undertaken in the performance of the employee's duties and that meets specified criteria, including that it is in violation of any state or federal law or regulation, including, among other things, corruption. This bill would specify that the list of violations of any state or federal law or regulation within the definition of an "improper governmental activity" also includes the misuse of state expenditures, including allocations, loans, or grants. The act requires the California State Auditor to create the means for the submission of allegations of improper governmental activity by, among other things, electronic submission through an internet website portal, as specified, and requires the auditor to create an alternative system for submission to an independent investigator of allegations of improper governmental activity engaged or participated in by employees of the California State Auditor's Office, as specified. The act requires the independent investigator to conduct those investigations, as specified, and to, if the independent investigator determines it to be appropriate, report that information to the Attorney General, specified policy committees of the Senate and Assembly, and other authorities, as specified. This bill would require the independent investigator to, as described above, also report information to the Assembly and Senate budget committees and the Joint Committee on Legislative Audit. The act requires the California State Auditor to, after investigating an allegation and finding that a state agency or employee may have engaged or participated in an improper governmental activity, prepare an investigative report and send a copy of the report to, if appropriate, the Attorney General, specified policy committees of the Senate and Assembly, and other authorities, as specified. This bill would require the California State Auditor to, if appropriate, also send a copy of the report to the Assembly and Senate budget committees and the Joint Committee on Legislative Audit. Existing law authorizes a city, county, or city and county auditor or controller who is elected to office to maintain a whistleblower hotline to receive calls from persons who have information regarding specified conduct by local government employees, and requires a city, county, or city and county auditor or controller who is appointed by, or is an employee of, a legislative body or the government agency that is governed by the city, county, or city and county, to obtain approval of that legislative body or the government agency prior to establishing the whistleblower hotline. This bill would authorize a city, county, or city and county auditor or controller to identify a designee within the office responsible for the maintenance of the whistleblower hotline as described above. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Existing law, the Teacher Housing Act of 2016, authorizes a school district to establish and implement programs that address the housing needs of teachers and school district employees who face challenges in securing affordable housing, as specified. The act provides that the purpose of the act is to facilitate the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation and preservation of affordable rental housing for teachers and school district employees to allow teachers or school district employees to access and maintain housing stability. The act provides that it specifically creates a state policy supporting housing for teachers and school district employees as described by specified federal law and permits school districts and developers in receipt of local or state funds or tax credits designated for affordable rental housing to restrict occupancy to teachers and school district employees on land owned by school districts, so long as that housing does not violate any other applicable laws. The act defines various terms for these purposes. This bill would authorize the California State University to establish and implement programs that address the housing needs of faculty or California State University employees who face challenges in securing affordable housing, as specified. The bill would provide that the purpose of its provisions are to facilitate the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation and preservation of affordable rental housing for faculty or California State University employees to allow them to access and maintain housing stability. The bill would provide that it specifically creates a state policy supporting housing for faculty or California State University campus employees as described by specified federal law and permits the California State University developers in receipt of local or state funds or tax credits designated for affordable rental housing to restrict occupancy to faculty or California State University employees on land owned by the California State University or a California State University auxiliary organization, as defined, so long as that housing does not violate any other applicable laws. The bill would define various terms for these purposes.

Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with possession and control of the state highway system and associated property. Existing law prohibits each state agency that has responsibility for roadside vegetation control operations on, or along, a roadway, including a state highway, from conducting a roadside vegetation control operation on a portion of the roadway for which a property owner has made a request for information related to the roadside vegetation control operation until certain conditions are satisfied, as specified. This bill would require the Department of Transportation to adopt, on or before January 1, 2026, a statewide policy to use integrated pest management, as defined, on state roads and highways, as specified, and to implement the statewide policy in cities or counties that have adopted integrated pest management approaches to roadside vegetation management. The bill would require the Department of Transportation, in developing the statewide policy, to consult with the Department of Pesticide Regulation and the University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program. The bill would require the Department of Transportation, when operating in a city or a county that has adopted an integrated pest management policy that is more restrictive than the statewide policy, to the extent feasible, to operate in a manner consistent with the city's or county's integrated pest management policy, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Transportation, on or before December 31, 2026, and annually thereafter, to make publicly available on its internet website the amount, location, and type of pesticides, and the pesticide formulation, by city and county, it uses, and, at least 24 hours before applying a pesticide, would require the Department of Transportation to provide on its internet website and mobile application, and through any other means of communication deemed appropriate by the applicable state transportation district, information on when and where it plans to apply the pesticide. Under existing law, a violation of certain provisions and regulations related to pesticides is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $5,000 and not more than $50,000, or by imprisonment of not more than 6 months, or by both the fine and imprisonment. Because a violation of this bill's requirements would be a crime subject to the provision above, 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.