Asm. Lori Wilson

Existing law, the Real Estate Law, establishes the Department of Real Estate in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, with the Real Estate Commissioner as its chief officer, and sets forth the powers and duties of the commissioner relating to the licensure and regulation of real estate brokers and salespersons. A willful violation of these provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. Under existing law, when a licensee prepares or has prepared an agreement authorizing or employing such licensee to perform any of the acts for which a broker is required to hold a license, or when such licensee secures the signature of any person to any contract pertaining to such services or transaction, the broker is required to deliver a copy of the agreement to the person signing it as soon as reasonably practicable after the time the signature is obtained, as specified. This bill would prohibit a real estate broker from entering into a contract that grants an agent the exclusive right to list or sell in excess of one year. The bill would prohibit the total damages or other compensation to be collected from a consumer for breach of a contract in violation of this limit, from exceeding the compensation, if any, paid to the consumer to enter into the contract. The bill would exempt a violation of the one-year maximum from the criminal sanctions. Existing law requires the county recorder to accept, upon payment of proper fees and taxes, for recordation certain instruments, papers, notices, or other documents. Existing law provides that a person who receives a form from the recorder stating that the proffered document is unrecordable, and who subsequently attempts to record the document without an order from the court requiring recordation of that document, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable as specified. This bill would prohibit a person from knowingly presenting for a recording or filing with a county recorder an exclusive right to list or sell document that is not in with this one-year maximum. The bill would subject a person who presents a document in violation of this prohibition to civil penalties, as specified.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to take specified actions related to housing that include, among other things, investigating housing and community development in the state, calling conferences to discuss housing and community development problems, studying the operation and enforcement of housing, building, zoning, and subdivision laws, as related to housing and community development, and promoting the formation of organizations intended to increase the supply of adequate housing and the proper living environment for people. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change in that provision.

Existing law prohibits discrimination and harassment in employment and housing based on certain factors, including, among others, sex and gender. This bill would require all state agencies, in consultation with the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, to conduct an evaluation of their own departments to ensure that the state does not discriminate against women through the allocation of funding and the delivery of services. The bill, on or before January 1, 2025, and on or before January 1 every 2 years thereafter, would require state agencies to report their findings and recommendations, as specified, to the commission.

Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth in various placement settings. Existing law requires the status of every dependent child in foster care to be reviewed periodically, and requires the county welfare department social worker to prepare a supplemental report with supplemental information regarding the child for purposes of the status review hearing. Existing law also requires a probation officer to prepare a social study for purposes of the status review hearing of a ward who is placed in foster care or recommended for placement in foster care. This bill would require the social worker and probation officer to include in the supplemental report or social study, respectively, information on the likely emotional and social benefits from one-to-one mentoring services for the child or nonminmor dependant, and a recommendation for one-to-one mentoring, as specified. The bill would, if the supplemental report includes a referral for mentoring, require the court to ask the foster youth, at any status hearing, whether participation in a mentoring program has been offered to them and whether they are interested in participating in a mentoring program, and would specify that in this case the foster youth shall only be referred for mentoring if they agree to participate. The bill would, if the social study includes a referral for mentoring, require the court or probation officer to include a mentoring program in the foster youth's case plan if the foster youth agrees to participate in such a program. The bill would specify that participation in the mentoring program is on a purely voluntary basis and would prohibit a foster youth from being subject to discipline or other adverse action based on the foster youth's subsequent decision to discontinue participation in the mentoring program. The bill would authorize a court to refer or order the foster youth to participate in a one-to-one mentoring program through a nonprofit organization that meets specified criteria, including, among other things, having experience serving foster children and youth. The bill would require a social worker or probation officer to make their best efforts to identify and refer a foster youth for whom mentoring has been recommended and accepted or for whom mentoring has been ordered to a nonprofit organization. By imposing new duties on counties, 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 establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and makes the department responsible for administering various housing programs throughout the state, including, among others, the Multifamily Housing Program, the CalHOME Program, and the California Emergency Solutions Grants Program. This bill would require the department to administer a program to provide financing assistance for the creation of affordable rental housing for employees of a qualified school district, as defined. The bill would require financing of rental housing assistance be in the form of specified types of loans. The bill would require the department, when making loans to qualified developers under these provisions, to establish and use a project selection process that meets specified requirements. The bill would create in the State Treasury the California School Employee Housing Assistance Fund for these purposes. The bill would make implementation of these provisions subject to appropriation by the Legislature.

(1) Existing law, in a criminal trial, allows evidence of mental disease, mental defect, or mental disorder solely for the issue of whether or not the accused actually formed a required specific intent, premeditated, deliberated, or harbored malice aforethought, when a specific intent crime is charged. This bill would instead allow that evidence for the issue of whether or not the accused actually formed the required mental state for the crime that is charged, including whether or not the accused committed a willful act, premeditated, deliberated, harbored malice aforethought, acted knowingly, acted maliciously, or acted with conscious disregard for human life. (2) Existing law allows a person who was arrested or convicted of a nonviolent offense while they were a victim of human trafficking, intimate partner violence, or sexual violence, to petition the court, under penalty of perjury, for vacatur relief. To receive that relief, existing law requires that the person establish, by clear and convincing evidence, that the arrest or conviction was the direct result of being a victim of human trafficking, intimate partner violence, or sexual violence, which demonstrates that the person lacked the requisite intent to commit the offense. Existing law requires the court, under those circumstances, to find that the person lacked the requisite intent to commit the offense and to vacate the conviction as invalid due to legal defect at the time of the arrest or conviction. This bill would allow that relief for a person arrested or convicted of any offense. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law creates an affirmative defense against a charge of a crime that the person was coerced to commit the offense as a direct result of being a victim of human trafficking, intimate partner violence, or sexual violence at the time of the offense and when the person had reasonable fear of harm. Existing law prohibits this defense from being used with respect to a violent felony, as defined. This bill would allow that defense to be used with respect to a violent felony. (4) If a court issues an order for a person who was arrested or convicted of an offense while they were a victim of intimate partner violence or sexual violence, existing law requires the court to order the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the offense, the Department of Justice, and any law enforcement agency that arrested the petitioner or participated in the arrest of the petitioner to seal their records of the arrest and the court order to seal and destroy the records within 3 years from the date of the arrest, or within one year after the court order is granted, whichever occurs later, and thereafter to destroy their records of the arrest and the court order to seal and destroy those records. This bill would require the court to also order any law enforcement agency that has taken action or maintains records because of the offense, including, but not limited to, departments of probation, rehabilitation, corrections, and parole, to seal and destroy their records. The bill would require the agencies mentioned above to seal their records of arrest and court order to seal and destroy the records within one year from the date of arrest, or within 90 days after the court order is granted, whichever occurs later. The bill would require the agencies to destroy these records within one year of the date of the court order. The bill would also require the Department of Justice to notify the petitioner and the petitioner's counsel that the department has complied with the order to seal the arrest records by the applicable deadline. (5) Existing law requires the court, when a judgment of imprisonment is imposed and specifies 3 possible terms, to impose the middle term unless there are circumstances in aggravation or mitigation of the crime. Existing law requires the court to order imposition of a lower term if the person has experienced psychological, physical, or childhood trauma, is or was a youth, as defined, at the time of the commission of the offense, or was a victim of intimate partner violence or human trafficking, unless the aggravating circumstances so far outweigh the mitigating circumstances that the imposition of the lower term would be contrary to the interests of justice. This bill would require the court, when deciding whether the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances, to only consider those aggravating circumstances that have been stipulated to by the defendant, or have been found true beyond a reasonable doubt at trial by the jury or by the judge in a court trial. The bill would require the court, except in specified circumstances, to, upon the request of the defendant, bifurcate the trial on the circumstances in aggravation from the trial of charges and enhancements. (6) Existing law requires a person convicted of 2 or more felonies to be sentenced to an aggregate term of imprisonment for all convictions at a sum of the principal term, the subordinate term, and any additional term imposed for applicable enhancements, prior convictions, and prior prison terms. Under existing law, a principal term consists of the greatest term of imprisonment imposed by the court for any of the crimes, including any term imposed for applicable enhancements. Under existing law, the subordinate term for each consecutive offense is 1/3 of the middle term of imprisonment prescribed for each other felony conviction for which a consecutive term of imprisonment is imposed, including 1/3 of the term imposed for any specific enhancements applicable to those subordinate offenses. This bill would, unless contrary to the interests of justice, prohibit a court from imposing consecutive terms for 2 or more felonies if the person has experienced psychological, physical, or childhood trauma, is or was a youth at the time of the commission of the offense, or was a victim of intimate partner violence or human trafficking prior to the instant offense, or at the time of the commission of the offense. (7) Existing law imposes various sentence enhancements, consisting of additional and consecutive terms of imprisonment. This bill would prohibit a court, unless contrary to the interests of justice, from imposing a term of imprisonment for any sentence enhancement if the person has experienced psychological, physical, or childhood trauma, is or was a youth at the time of the commission of the offense, or was a victim of intimate partner violence or human trafficking prior to the instant offense, or at the time of the commission of the offense. (8) 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 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, 2024, and until January 1, 2029, 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 requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish the California Legacy License Plate Program, and to create and issue a series of specialized license plates, consisting of one or more of 3 specified designs that replicate license plates from the state's past. Existing law requires the department to collect and hold paid applications for the plates, as specified, and prohibits the department from issuing a specialized license plate until it has received not less than 7,500 paid applications for any one of the particular plates on or before January 1, 2015. This bill would extend the deadline for receipt of the required number of paid applications to January 1, 2025, for plate designs that did not receive the required number of applications by January 1, 2015.

The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of child care and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law also requires the department to ensure that eligible children with exceptional needs are given equal access to all child care and development programs and requires all child care and development programs to include plans or programs, or both, for the care of the children when they are sick. This bill would, upon appropriation, establish the Specialized Inclusivity Training for Child Care Staff Grant Program, to be administered by the department. The bill would require the department, in administering the program, to award grants to child care centers and family child care homes to fund staff training on including children with disabilities and to collect data from child care centers and family child care homes that receive grants to determine whether the training provides better access to childcare for children with disabilities. The bill would make a related finding and declaration.

The Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 establishes a procedure for the Public Utilities Commission to issue state franchises for the provision of video service, defined as video programming services, cable service, or open-video system service, except any video programming provided by a commercial mobile service provider, as defined in federal law, or video programming provided as part of, and via, a service that enables users to access content, information, email, or other services offered over the public internet. The act provides that the holder of a state franchise is not a public utility as a result of providing video services and that the act does not authorize the commission to regulate the rates, terms, and conditions of video service, except as explicitly set forth in the act. The act establishes a state franchise fee to be remitted to a local entity based on the franchiseholder's gross revenues, as defined, derived from the provision of cable or video service within that jurisdiction. The act prohibits a cable operator or video service provider that has been granted a state franchise from discriminating against, or denying access to service to, any group of potential residential subscribers because of the income of the residents in the local area in which the group resides, as specified. The act limits the maximum amount of a penalty that a local entity is authorized to assess on a holder of a state franchise for a material breach of certain customer service and consumer protection standards, as specified. This bill would revise and recast the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006 to, among other things, rename the act as the Digital Equity in Video Franchising Act of 2023, require the commission to conduct any hearings and issue a state franchise or a reject each application for a state franchise not more than 120 days after the commission has deemed the application complete, and extend deadlines related to the commission's review of applications for state franchises. This bill would establish a policy of the state that subscribers and potential subscribers of a state video franchiseholder should benefit from equal access, as defined, to video service within the franchise service area, and expand the prohibition on certain cable operators or video service providers from discriminating against, or denying access to service to, any group of potential residential subscribers to include denial of equal access, as specified. The bill would require the commission to enforce customer service requirements for a holder of a state franchise and would increase the maximum amount of a penalty that a local entity is authorized to assess on a holder of a state franchise for a material breach of certain customer service and consumer protection standards, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements 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.