Asm. Lori Wilson

Existing law prohibits a person or entity from providing the operation of a voice recognition feature within this state without prominently informing, during the initial setup or installation of a connected television, either the user or the person designated by the user to perform the initial setup or installation of the connected television. Existing law further prohibits any actual recordings of spoken word collected through the operation of a voice recognition feature by the manufacturer of a connected television, or a third party contracting with a manufacturer of a connected television, from being sold or used for any advertising purpose. Existing law prohibits a person or entity from compelling a manufacturer or other entity providing the operation of a voice recognition feature to build specific features for the purpose of allowing an investigative or law enforcement officer to monitor communications through that feature. Existing law prohibits a waiver of these prohibitions and authorizes their enforcement by injunction or civil penalty in a court of competent jurisdiction by the Attorney General or a district attorney. This bill would require a manufacturer of a new motor vehicle that is equipped with one or more in-vehicle cameras to disclose that fact, as specified. The bill would prohibit a dealer, as defined, from providing for the sale or lease of a new motor vehicle with one or more in-vehicle cameras in this state without prominently informing the user or the person designated by the user to purchase the vehicle, as specified, and would grant the buyer or lessee of a vehicle the right to review the owner's manual or any other document, if any is provided by the manufacturer, prior to purchase to determine if an in-vehicle camera exists. This bill would further prohibit any images or video recordings collected through the operation of an in-vehicle camera from being used for any advertising purpose or being sold to any third party. The bill would also prohibit these images or video recordings from being shared with third parties, except as provided. The bill would also prohibit any recording obtained through operation of an in-vehicle camera from being retained at any location other than the vehicle itself, or being downloaded, retrieved, or otherwise accessed by a person or entity other than the user, as defined, without affirmative prior consent, as defined, or unless the images and videos are accessed to diagnose, service, repair, or improve specified equipment and systems, except as provided. The bill would require a person or entity that provides the operation of an in-vehicle camera in this state to provide effective mechanisms for a consumer to revoke consent. The bill would provide an exception to the above prohibitions to comply with a lawful subpoena, court order, search warrant, or preservation request, as specified. The bill would prohibit a person or entity from compelling a manufacturer or other entity providing the operation of an in-vehicle camera to build specific features for the purpose of allowing an investigative or law enforcement officer to monitor images through that feature. This bill would prohibit a waiver of the above protections, and would authorize their enforcement by injunction or civil penalty in a court of competent jurisdiction by the Attorney General or a district attorney. The bill would specify that those provisions do not apply to cameras installed in vehicles that are primarily for commercial use, as specified, and do not reduce the rights afforded to a consumer or the obligations imposed on a business under any applicable state or federal law, and that in the case of a conflict between these provisions and any other law, the law providing for the greater protection for the right of privacy for consumers controls.

Existing law makes it unlawful for any owner or operator of a motel, motor court, or like establishment to post or maintain outdoor advertising signs relating to room rates that has any untrue, misleading, false, or fraudulent representations, and specified other requirements on outdoor signs for those establishments. Existing law also prohibits an owner or operator of a hotel or motel from increasing the hotel or motel's rates upon the proclamation of a state of emergency by the President of the United States or the Governor or upon the declaration of a local emergency, as specified. This bill would prohibit a place of short-term lodging, as defined, from advertising or offering a room rate that does not include all fees or charges required to stay at the short-term lodging except taxes and fees imposed by a government on the stay, as specified. The bill would also require a place of short-term lodging to include in the total price to be paid, before the consumer reserves a stay, all taxes and fees imposed by a government on the stay. The bill would make a violation of those provisions subject to a specified civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 and would authorize an action to enforce those provisions to be brought by a city attorney, district attorney, county counsel, or the Attorney General. The bill would make the bill's provisions operative on July 1, 2024.

(1) Existing law establishes the Safe Drinking Water Account to be available to the State Water Resources Control Board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of providing funds necessary to administer the California Safe Drinking Water Act. This bill would expand the use of available funds in the account to be used by the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to include the administration of the Water Shutoff Protection Act. The bill would, subject to the availability of funding, require the state board to make funds available for providing training statewide to community water systems with between 15 and 200 service connections to assist in compliance with the Water Shutoff Protection Act. (2) Existing law, the Water Shutoff Protection Act, prohibits an urban and community water system, defined as a public water system that supplies water to more than 200 service connections, from discontinuing residential service for nonpayment, as specified, and requires specified procedures before it can discontinue residential service for nonpayment. Existing law defines a community water system as a public water system that serves at least 15 service connections used by yearlong residents or regularly serves at least 25 yearlong residents of the area served by the system. Existing law requires an urban and community water system to have a written policy on discontinuation of residential service for nonpayment available in English, other designated languages, and any other language spoken by at least 10% of the people residing in its service area. This bill would expand the scope of the Water Shutoff Protection Act by requiring that it instead apply to a covered water system, defined to include specified water systems and suppliers, including a community water system. The bill would require a community water system, that is not otherwise required to comply, to comply with the act's provisions on and after August 1, 2024. The bill would instead apply the above-described language requirements for the written policy of discontinuation of residential service for nonpayment to a covered water system that serves 200 or more service connections. The bill would require a covered water system that serves fewer than 200 service connections to have a written policy on disconnection of residential service for nonpayment available in English, any language spoken by at least 10% of the people residing in its service area, and, upon request of a customer, other designated languages. The bill would authorize, as part of the act, the Attorney General, at the request of the board or upon the Attorney General's own motion, to bring an action in state court to restore to any person in interest any money or property, real or personal, that may have been acquired by any method, act, or practice prohibited by the act. The bill would make related changes.

Existing law prohibits a person from being considered a legally qualified candidate for specified county offices and the office judge of the superior court unless the person has filed a declaration of candidacy, nomination paper, or statement of write-in candidacy, accompanied by documentation, which includes, among other things, declarations under penalty of perjury, sufficient to establish, in the determination of the official with whom the declaration or statement is filed, that the person meets each qualification established by specified provisions for service in that office. This bill would recast these provisions to expand the documentation to include college transcripts that include training courses taken, degrees, and other supporting documents and to specify that the filed documentation establish that the person meets the above-described qualifications for service in that office. The bill would require the person to file a declaration, under penalty of perjury, that the information contained within the filed documents is true and correct. The bill would specify that the official receiving the documentation is not required to verify specified information, including, the authenticity or accuracy of the submitted documentation. Existing law prohibits a candidate's name from being printed on a ballot for a direct primary unless specified documents are filed with the county elections official. This bill would require that the above-described documentation be filed with the county elections official, if applicable. By imposing new duties on local election officials and by expanding the crime of perjury, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. For a county that has elected to enact an ordinance that adopts certain provisions relative to the county auditor, existing law requires a person elected or appointed to the office of county auditor to meet at least one of specified criteria, including possession of a valid certificate showing a person to be a certified public accountant or a public accountant, as specified. This bill would require that the certificate be an active certificate. The bill would remove public accountant from the above-described criteria. Existing law also includes in the above-described criteria the possession of a baccalaureate degree with a major in accounting, or its equivalent, as specified, if a person has served within the last 5 years in a senior fiscal management position in specified organizations, including a private firm, with similar fiscal responsibilities, as specified. This bill would instead require the person to possess a baccalaureate degree with a major in accounting or a business-related degree, as specified, if the person has served within the last 5 years in a senior fiscal management position in a county, city, or other public agency, or a nonprofit organization, dealing with similar fiscal responsibilities, as described. Existing law also includes in the above-described criteria possession of a certificate issued by the Institute of Internal Auditors showing the person to be a designated professional auditor with 16 college semester units, or their equivalent, in accounting, auditing, or finance. This bill would delete the requirement for possession of a certificate relation to 16 college semester units. Existing law also includes in the above-described criteria service as a county auditor, chief deputy county auditor, or chief assistant county auditor for a continuous period of not less than 3 years. This bill would revise this criteria to delete service as a chief assistant county auditor, and instead include service as an assistant county auditor or an equivalent position. 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 provides that libel is a false and unprivileged written publication that injures the reputation and that slander is a false and unprivileged publication, orally uttered, that injures the reputation, as specified. Existing law makes certain publications and communications privileged and therefore protected from civil action, including complaints of sexual harassment by an employee, without malice, to an employer based on credible evidence and communications between the employer and interested persons regarding a complaint of sexual harassment. This bill would include among those privileged communications a communication made by an individual, without malice, regarding an incident of sexual assault, harassment, or discrimination, as defined, and would specify the attorney's fees and damages available to a prevailing defendant in any defamation action brought against that defendant for making that communication.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Water Resources to make examinations of lands subject to inundation and overflow by floodwaters and of the waters causing the inundation or overflow and to make plans and estimates of the cost of works to regulate and control the floodwaters. Existing law also vests in the department charge of all expenditures unless otherwise provided by law for all public works relating to general river and harbor improvements, including reclamation and drainage of lands. Existing law authorizes the department to cooperate and contract with any agency of the state or of the United States in order to carry out its powers and purposes. Existing law establishes the Central Valley Flood Protection Board and authorizes the board to engage in various flood control activities along the Sacramento River, the San Joaquin River, their tributaries, and related areas. This bill would authorize the department or the board to provide advance payments, as defined, to local agencies for projects that restore habitat for threatened and endangered species under state or federal law or improve flood protection, as provided. The bill would prohibit the amount of funds advanced by the department or the board to the local agency at any one time from exceeding 25% of the entire amount authorized to be provided under the funding agreement. The bill would require the project proponent to demonstrate a need for an advance payment and that the project proponent is sufficiently qualified to manage the project and the project's finances. The bill would require the funds to be spent within 6 months and would require the recipient to provide an accountability report to the department or the board on a quarterly basis, as specified.

(1) Existing law establishes various methods and procedures for a comprehensive adjudication of groundwater rights in civil court. This bill would require the court, in an adjudication action for a basin required to have a groundwater sustainability plan, to appoint one party to forward all case management orders, judgments, and interlocutory orders to the groundwater sustainability agency within 10 business days of issuance. The bill would require the court to allocate payment of the costs incurred by the party appointed to forward all case management orders, judgments, and interlocutory orders to the groundwater sustainability agency among the parties in an amount and a manner that the court deems equitable. The bill would require the groundwater sustainability agency to post the documents on its internet website in the interest of transparency and accessibility within 20 business days of receipt from a party, as specified. The bill would authorize the court to refer the matter to the State Water Resources Control Board for investigation and report in order to assist the court in making findings pursuant to these provisions, and would authorize a party to request that the court refer the matter to the board for these purposes, as specified. The bill would require the court to consider the water use of and accessibility of water for small farmers and disadvantaged communities, as those terms are defined, before entering a judgment. (2) Existing law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans, except as specified. Existing law authorizes any local agency or combination of local agencies overlying a groundwater basin to decide to become a groundwater sustainability agency for that basin and imposes specified duties upon that agency or combination of agencies, as provided. Existing law requires, among other duties, a groundwater sustainability agency to evaluate its groundwater sustainability plan periodically. Existing law requires a groundwater sustainability agency, on the April 1 following the adoption of a groundwater sustainability plan and annually thereafter, to report specified information about the groundwater basin to the department. This bill would require a groundwater sustainability agency to submit copies of those reports to the court during the duration of an adjudication proceeding. The bill would require all monitoring and reporting required under a groundwater sustainability plan or an interim plan for a basin subject to an adjudication to continue throughout the duration of the adjudication proceeding. The bill would require a groundwater sustainability agency, upon receiving notice that an adjudication has commenced in its basin, to host a public meeting to explain the adjudication process and the status of the adjudication to water users within the basin and the public. The bill would require a recording or summary of the meeting to be posted to a public internet website hosted by either the groundwater sustainability agency or the watermaster of the basin. The bill would authorize a groundwater sustainability agency to invite the state board or the department to send a representative to the meeting in order to help explain the adjudication process. The bill would apply these provisions only to basins in which a comprehensive adjudication has not been commenced by January 1, 2024.

Existing law governs the determination of child custody and visitation in contested proceedings. Existing law requires the court, for purposes of deciding custody or visitation, to determine the best interests of the child based on certain factors, including the health, safety, and welfare of the child, and the nature and amount of contact with both parents, except as specified. Existing law also requires the court to determine, under designated circumstances, whether to require that visitation to be supervised, suspended, limited, or denied. Under existing law, if the court finds that a party is staying in a domestic violence shelter or other confidential location, the court is required to design a visitation order to prevent disclosure of the location of the shelter or other confidential location. This bill, among other things, would require the court, in determining whether to require the above-described limitations on visitation, to consider virtual visitation, as defined. The bill would require a court, if it finds that a party is staying at one of the above-described locations due to domestic violence or fear of domestic violence from the other parent, to order in-person visitation only if the court finds that in-person visitation is in the best interest of the child and taking into consideration, among other things, the potential for disclosure of the confidential location. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to develop standards for supervised visitation providers in accordance with specified guidelines. When developing standards, existing law requires the Judicial Council to consider, among other things, the provider's qualifications, experience, and education. Under existing law, the term "provider" includes any individual who functions as a visitation monitor, as well as supervised visitation centers. This bill would authorize superior court locations to serve as supervised visitation and exchange locations, and would also authorize the court to designate employees and contractors to provide supervised visitation and exchange services or assistance with those services. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 3011 of the Family Code proposed by AB 957 to be operative only if this bill and AB 957 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.