Asm. Buffy Wicks

Existing law generally designates air pollution control and air quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. Existing law establishes maximum civil penalties for any person for violations of air pollution laws from nonvehicular sources. A person who violates these laws and who acts negligently is liable for a civil penalty in a greater amount, as specified. Existing law annually adjusts the maximum penalties for violations of these laws based on the California Consumer Price Index. This bill would increase the maximum amount of those civil penalties and would subject those maximum amounts to the annual adjustment based on the California Consumer Price Index, as specified. This bill would also require any moneys, above the costs of prosecution and other specified costs, collected from penalties assessed by specified air pollution control districts and air quality management districts in excess of $10,000 for violations of air pollution control laws from nonvehicular sources that occurred in disadvantaged communities to be used to mitigate air pollution in the community or communities affected by the violation.

(1) Existing law provides for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of specified types of crimes by the California Victim Compensation Board from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for specified losses suffered as a result of those crimes. Existing law defines various terms for purposes of these provisions. This bill would define "law enforcement officer" consistently with specified provisions. The bill would define "victim services provider" to mean an individual, whether paid or serving as a volunteer, who provides services to victims under the supervision of either an agency or organization that has a documented record of providing services to victims, or a law enforcement or prosecution agency. (2) Existing law requires that a person be ineligible for compensation under specified conditions, including, among other things, if the board determines that denial of the claim for compensation is appropriate because of the nature of the victim's involvement in the events leading to the crime or the involvement of the person whose injury or death gives rise to the application. Existing law requires the board to deny an application if it finds that the victim failed to cooperate reasonably with a law enforcement agency in the apprehension and conviction of a criminal committing the crime. This bill, in the case of a claim based on a victim's serious bodily injury or death that resulted from a law enforcement officer's use of force, would prohibit the board from denying an application based on the victim's or other applicant's involvement in the crime, except as specified, or the victim's failure to cooperate. The bill would require the board, solely for the purposes of eligibility for compensation, to accept as sufficient evidence forms of documentation, as described, that describe or demonstrate a person suffered serious bodily injury or death as a result of a law enforcement officer's use of force. The bill, in the case of a claim based on a victim's death as a result of a crime, would prohibit the board from denying an application based on the deceased victim's involvement in the crime or the victim's or derivative victim's failure to cooperate, except as provided. By expanding the types of crime for which compensation can be paid from a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. (3) Existing law requires that the California Victim Compensation Board be subrogated to the rights of the recipient to the extent of any compensation granted by the board. This bill would specify that the above-described subrogation of the board applies to compensation by the board for a claim based on serious bodily injury or death that resulted from a law enforcement officer's use of force, as specified.

Existing law prescribes various circumstances under which a minor may consent to their medical care and treatment without the consent of a parent or guardian. These circumstances include, among others, authorizing a minor 12 years of age or older who may have come into contact with an infectious, contagious, or communicable disease to consent to medical care related to the diagnosis or treatment of the disease, if the disease or condition is one that is required by law or regulation to be reported to the local health officer, or is a related sexually transmitted disease, as may be determined by the State Public Health Officer. This bill would additionally authorize a minor 15 years of age or older to consent to vaccines that meet specified federal agency criteria. The bill would authorize a vaccine provider, as defined, to administer a vaccine pursuant to the bill, but would not authorize the vaccine provider to provide any service that is otherwise outside the vaccine provider's scope of practice.

The California Constitution prohibits slavery. The California Constitution also prohibits involuntary servitude except as punishment to a crime. This measure would define slavery to include involuntary servitude and forced labor compelled by the use or threat of physical or legal coercion. The measure would clarify that the provisions are not intended to have any effect on voluntary work programs in corrections settings.

Existing law, the California Values Act, prohibits a California law enforcement agency from providing a person's release date, or responding to a request for notification of a release date, unless that information is available to the public, and prohibits the transfer of an individual to immigration authorities, as specified, unless the person has been convicted of specified crimes or arrested for a serious or violent felony. This bill would prohibit any state or local agency from arresting or assisting with the arrest, confinement, detention, transfer, interrogation, or deportation of an individual for an immigration enforcement purpose, except as specified. The bill would additionally prohibit state or local agencies or courts from using immigration status as a factor to deny or to recommend denial of probation or participation in any diversion, rehabilitation, mental health program, or placement in a credit-earning program or class, or to determine custodial classification level, to deny mandatory supervision, or to lengthen the portion of supervision served in custody. The bill would authorize a person to bring an action for equitable or declaratory relief in a court of competent jurisdiction against a state or local agency or state or local official that violates these provisions, and would make those agencies or officials liable for actual and general damages and reasonable attorney's fees. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement and maintain procedures to identify inmates serving terms in state prison who are undocumented felons subject to deportation. Existing law requires the department to annually report to the Legislature the number of persons identified as undocumented aliens, as specified. This bill would repeal those provisions. Existing law requires all basic information stored in state or local criminal offender record information systems to be recorded in the form of specified standard data elements, including, among other things, place of birth. This bill would no longer require that information to include place of birth.

Existing law establishes the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) Grant Program, administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections, to award competitive grants for the purpose of violence intervention and prevention. Existing law imposes various taxes, including taxes on the privilege of engaging in certain activities. The Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges. This bill, the Gun Violence Prevention, Healing, and Recovery Act, would, commencing July 1, 2023, impose an excise tax in the amount of 10% of the gross receipts from the retail sale in this state of a handgun and 11% of the gross receipts from the retail sale in this state of a long gun, rifle, firearm precursor part, and ammunition, as specified. The tax would be collected by the state pursuant to the Fee Collection Procedures Law. The bill would require that the revenues collected be deposited in the Gun Violence Prevention, Healing, and Recovery Fund, which the bill would establish in the State Treasury. The bill would require that 12 of the moneys received in the fund be used to fund gun violence prevention programs, gun violence prevention education, and gun violence prevention research, upon appropriation by the Legislature, and would continuously appropriate the other 12 of the moneys received in the fund to the Board of State and Community Corrections for the CalVIP Grant Program, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the Director of Finance to transfer, as a loan, $2,400,000 from the General Fund to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to implement these provisions, as specified. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. Because this bill would expand the scope of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act) , governs collective bargaining between the state and recognized state public employee organizations. Existing law excludes certain employees from coverage under the Dills Act, including, among others, managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees, as defined. Existing law creates the Public Employment Relations Board and authorizes it, among other things, to determine appropriate state employee bargaining units, as specified. This bill would enact the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act, to provide employees of the Legislature the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. The bill would prescribe rights, duties, and prohibitions in this context that parallel those in the Dills Act. The bill would prohibit the Public Employment Relations Board from including employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature. The bill would make it a misdemeanor for any person to willfully resist, prevent, impede, or interfere with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to its provisions. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that the provisions of the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act are severable. The bill would become operative on July 1, 2024. 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 Housing for a Healthy California Program, and the California Emergency Solutions Grants Program. Upon appropriation by the Legislature for this express purpose, this bill would require the department to create the Reentry Housing and Workforce Development Program, and would require the department to take specified actions to provide grants to applicants, as defined, for innovative or evidence-based housing, housing-based services, and employment interventions to allow people with recent histories of incarceration to exit homelessness and remain stably housed. The bill would require the department to establish a process, in collaboration with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and with counties in which recipients are operating, for referral of participants, in accordance with certain guidelines and procedures. The bill would require the department to score applicants to the program competitively according to specified criteria. The bill would require recipients of funds from the program to use those funds for, among other things, long-term rental assistance in permanent housing, incentives to landlords, and innovative or evidence-based services to assist participants in accessing permanent supportive housing. The bill would require the department to distribute funds allocated by executing contracts with awarded entities for a term of 5 years, subject to automatic renewal. The bill would require a recipient of the program to submit an annual report to the department. The bill would require the department to hire an independent evaluator to assess outcomes from the program and would require the department to submit the analysis of that assessment to specified committees of the Legislature.

This measure would celebrate the history and culture of cruising and encourage local officials and law enforcement to work with local car clubs to conduct safe cruising events.

This measure would commend the Congress of the United States for enacting legislation that will alleviate and remedy the congestion of California's ports. The measure also would urge the Congress of the United States to enact further legislation to ensure that the state's importing and exporting capabilities are returned to prepandemic levels.