Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan

Existing law generally regulates pesticide use by the Department of Pesticide Regulation, and requires the Director of Pesticide Regulation to endeavor to eliminate from use any pesticide that endangers the agricultural or nonagricultural environment. A violation of those provisions and regulations adopted pursuant to those provisions is generally a misdemeanor. Existing law requires the department, on or before July 1, 2018, to issue a determination with respect to its reevaluation of neonicotinoids, and to adopt control measures necessary to protect pollinator health within 2 years, as specified. This bill would prohibit the use a of neonicotinoid on a seed, as specified. Because a violation of this prohibition would be a misdemeanor, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require fine or penalty moneys collected for a violation of this provision to be deposited in the Department of Pesticide Regulation Fund and to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the administration and enforcement of this provision. 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.

(1) Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary education in this state, and authorizes local educational agencies throughout the state to provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law establishes procedures for the apportionment of state funds to these local educational agencies. Existing law, for purposes of calculating apportionments for the 2020–21 fiscal year, requires a local educational agency to offer in-person instruction and authorizes these agencies to offer distance learning, as specified. This bill would specify that the requirement to provide in-person instruction applies when that instruction is allowed under state and local public health orders. (2) Existing law establishes criteria for local educational agencies to offer distance learning for the 2020–21 school year, including as a result of an order or guidance from a state public health officer or local public health officer, or for pupils who are medically fragile or would be put at risk by in-person instruction or who are self-quarantining. This bill would specify that, from March 1, 2021, to June 30, 2021, inclusive, distance learning is authorized on an agency-wide or schoolwide level as a result of an order from a state public health officer or a local public health officer requiring school campus closure. The bill would also include, in addition to pupils, certificated employees who are medically fragile or who are self-quarantining within the scope of this provision. (3) Existing law requires local educational agencies to offer in-person instruction to the greatest extent possible and to develop written procedures for tiered reengagement strategies for all pupils who are absent from distance learning for more than 3 schooldays or 60% of the instructional days in a school week. This bill would require local educational agencies to publicly adopt plans that offer in-person instruction within 2 weeks of local or state public health orders allowing school campuses to be open, and that outline all local educational agency plans to meet local and state public health school campus safety standards. The bill would also require each local educational agency to implement the written procedures for the tiered reengagement strategies for all pupils who are absent from distance learning for more than 3 schooldays or 60% of the instructional days in a school week, as specified. The bill would also require local educational agencies to develop and implement written procedures for tiered reengagement strategies for all unduplicated pupils who are performing significantly below grade level, with a priority for pupils in kindergarten or grades 1 to 3, inclusive, and pupils at risk of not graduating from high school. Because these provisions would impose new duties on local educational agencies, they would create a state-mandated local program. (4) 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. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over electrical corporations, local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards, and electrical cooperatives are subject to the regulatory authority of the commission, except as specified. Existing law requires each electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, or electrical cooperative to construct, maintain, and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfire posed by those electrical lines and equipment. This bill would require each electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, or electrical cooperative engaging in fire safety, prevention, or mitigation services in a high fire-risk area, as defined, to notify the fire protection district responsible for that area at least 48 hours before work is commenced, except when waiting to commence critical or emergency repairs in order to provide that notification would endanger public health or safety, as specified. The bill would require those electrical utilities to also provide the fire protection district with a copy of any form used to document any daily safety briefing at those worksites no later than 72 hours after the completion of that workday. By placing additional duties upon local publicly owned electric utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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 the 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 specified reasons.

Existing law, the Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, generally allow various deductions in computing the income that is subject to taxes imposed by those laws, including a deduction for a net operating loss as specified. Existing law suspends the deduction for a net operating loss, as specified, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2023. The Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law generally authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. Existing law provides that, except as specified, the total credits allowable under those laws may not reduce the taxes imposed by those laws by more than $5,000,000, as provided, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2023. This bill, the Golden State Innovation Act of 2021, would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2023, exclude a taxpayer that performs research and development in biotechnology, as described, from the above-described suspension of the deduction for net operating losses and the above-described limitation on the total credits allowable. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. The bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the Independent System Operator (ISO) , to establish resource adequacy requirements for all load-serving entities, defined to include electrical corporations, community choice aggregators, and electric service providers. Existing law requires that the resource adequacy program achieve specified objectives, including to establish new or maintain existing demand response products and tariffs that facilitate the economic dispatch and use of demand response that can either meet or reduce an electrical corporation's resource adequacy requirements, as determined by the PUC. This bill would require the PUC, by July 1, 2022, to establish a capacity valuation methodology for customer-sited energy storage resources and customer-sited hybrid resources, as defined, in consultation with the ISO and the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, for the 2023 resource adequacy year.

Existing law defines the crime of burglary to include entering a vehicle when the doors are locked with the intent to commit grand or petit larceny or a felony. Existing law makes the burglary of a vehicle punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. This bill would make forcibly entering a vehicle, as defined, with the intent to commit a theft therein a crime punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year or imprisonment in a county jail for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years. By creating a new 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.

Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to either submit sexual assault forensic evidence received on or after January 1, 2016, to a crime lab within 20 days after it is booked into evidence or to ensure that a rapid turnaround deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) program is in place, as specified. Existing law also requires a crime lab that receives sexual assault forensic evidence on or after January 1, 2016, to either process the evidence, create DNA profiles when able, and upload qualifying DNA profiles into the Combined DNA Index System, as specified, or transmit the sexual assault forensic evidence to another crime lab as soon as practically possible, but no later than 30 days after receiving the evidence, for processing of the evidence for the presence of DNA. This bill would require a law enforcement agency, for any sexual assault forensic evidence received by the law enforcement agency prior to January 1, 2016, to submit that evidence to the crime lab on or before January 31, 2023. The bill would additionally require a crime lab, for any sexual assault evidence kit received by a law enforcement agency prior to January 1, 2016, and submitted to the crime lab on or after January 1, 2022, to process that evidence kit no later than January 31, 2024, except as specified. Because the bill would impose a higher level of service on local law enforcement agencies in processing that evidence, it 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 law defines rape as an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person not the spouse of the perpetrator under certain circumstances, including where the victim is incapable of giving legal consent because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, where the victim is not aware of the essential characteristics of the act due to the perpetrator's fraudulent representation that the act serves a professional purpose, and where the victim submits to the act under the belief that the perpetrator is someone known to the victim other than the perpetrator, and the perpetrator intentionally and fraudulently induces that belief. Existing law separately defines rape of a spouse as an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with the spouse of the perpetrator under similar circumstances as nonspousal rape, except that spousal rape does not include acts of sexual intercourse accomplished under the specific circumstances described above. This bill would repeal the provisions relating to spousal rape and make conforming changes, thereby making an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a spouse punishable as rape if the act otherwise meets the definition of rape. By changing the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes an employer to request from the Department of Justice records of all convictions or any arrest pending adjudication for specified offenses for a person who applies for a license, employment, or volunteer position, in which the person would have supervisory or disciplinary power over a minor and requires the employer to notify the parent or guardian of a child if a person with specified convictions will have supervisory or disciplinary power over that child. Existing law exempts certain convictions, including spousal rape, from that notification requirement. This bill would remove the exemption for spousal rape or any other felony conviction and would instead exempt only misdemeanor convictions from that notification. The bill would make numerous conforming changes. 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 makes it a misdemeanor to, by force or threat of force, willfully injure, intimidate, interfere with, oppress, or threaten another person in the free exercise or enjoyment of a right or privilege secured by the Constitution or laws of this state or by the Constitution or laws of the United States in whole or in part because of one or more of specified actual or perceived characteristics of the victim, including disability, gender, religion, race, or sexual orientation. Existing law also makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly deface, damage, or destroy the real or personal property of another person for the purpose of intimidating or interfering with the free exercise or enjoyment of a right or privilege secured by the Constitution or laws of this state or by the Constitution or laws of the United States, in whole or in part because of one or more of the same actual or perceived characteristics of the victim. This bill would make the above crimes punishable either as a misdemeanor or as a felony, to be served in county jail for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years. By increasing the punishment for 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.

Existing law prohibits a jury or judge from convicting a defendant, finding a special circumstance true, or using a fact in aggravation based on the uncorroborated testimony of an in-custody informant. Existing law defines "in-custody informant" for these purposes as a person, other than a codefendant, percipient witness, accomplice, or coconspirator, whose testimony is based on statements allegedly made by the defendant while both the defendant and the informant were held within a city or county jail, state penal institution, or correctional institution. Existing law provides that, except as otherwise provided by statute, all relevant evidence is admissible. The California Constitution provides for the Right to Truth-In-Evidence, which requires a 23 vote of the Legislature to exclude any relevant evidence from any criminal proceeding, as specified. This bill would instead make testimony by, or information obtained by, an in-custody informant, as defined, regarding statements made by the defendant while the defendant was in custody, inadmissible, as specified. The bill would provide an exemption for such testimony relating to a crime or incident occurring within a correctional facility and testimony obtained pursuant to a law enforcement operation, as described, that meets specified criteria.