Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan

Existing law, the Corporation Tax Law, exempts organizations that are organized and operated for nonprofit purposes, as specified, from taxes imposed by that law if the Franchise Tax Board issues a determination exempting the organization from tax, except as provided. To receive a determination of exemption from the board, existing law requires the organization to either submit an application for exemption or to submit documentation of exemption from federal income tax law, as provided. For organizations that submit documentation of their federal exemption, existing law requires the board to suspend or revoke, as applicable, an organization's state exemption upon notification that the organization's federal exemption is suspended or revoked. This bill would instead authorize the board, in its discretion, to retain the organization's tax-exempt status for state income tax purposes if it determines this suspension or revocation occurred for reasons other than fraud, intentional misrepresentation, misuse or diversion of organizational funds, failure to file necessary returns or reports, or other breaches of organizational reporting or governance requirements. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

This measure would recognize and affirm the important role of artists, arts organizations, creative arts therapists, and arts for health initiatives in supporting behavioral health, promoting recovery, strengthening community resilience, and contributing to public safety. The measure would encourage and recognize exploration, support, and integration of arts and behavioral health within California's health care, behavioral health, and community-based systems.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law finds and declares that the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) was organized as a nonprofit corporation at the request of the Legislature for the specific purpose of offering expert advice to the state government on public policy issues significantly related to science and technology. Existing law requests the CCST, every 3 years, to assess the infrastructure project types, scale, and pace necessary to achieve the state's energy, climate change, and air quality goals, as specified. This bill would require the CCST to establish, on or before March 1, 2027, upon appropriation by the Legislature, a program to, upon request of the Legislature, analyze legislation that would establish a mandated requirement or program, as defined, or otherwise affect electrical corporation or gas corporation ratepayers, as specified. The bill would require the analysis to include, among other things, whether the legislation will increase electricity or natural gas utility rates, and if so, would require an assessment of specified financial impacts. The bill would require the CCST to develop and implement conflict-of-interest provisions to prohibit a person from participating in an analysis for which the person knows or has reasons to know that the person has a material financial interest. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2032.

Existing law makes a person who knowingly uses another's name, voice, signature, photograph, or likeness, in any manner, on or in products, merchandise, or goods, or for purposes of advertising or selling, or soliciting purchases of, products, merchandise, goods, or services, without that person's prior consent, or, in the case of a minor, the prior consent of the person's parent or legal guardian, liable for damages, as specified, among other remedies, as prescribed. Existing law generally regulates organizations and businesses that provide athletic, instructional, or other services to minors by imposing disclosure, training, background check, and child abuse prevention requirements on those entities and their personnel. This bill would prohibit an entity or organization that operates a specified nonschool youth program from using certain identifying information of a youth, including their picture, video, audio recording, likeness, and attributed statements, for communications, marketing, or other purpose that exposes that information to the public unless the entity or organization obtains the parent or guardian's express written consent on a specified notice. The bill would prohibit the entity or organization from making a youth's enrollment or participation in the program contingent upon a parent or guardian consenting to the program's use of the youth's information for any communications, marketing, or other purpose that exposes that information to the public. The bill would authorize a parent or guardian to revoke consent, as specified. This bill would authorize a parent or guardian to bring a civil action against an entity or organization for noncompliance with these provisions and would provide for specified remedies, including, among others, specified civil penalties per youth who has had the youth's information disclosed and injunctive or declaratory relief.

Existing law, the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) , generally prohibits a provider of health care, a health care service plan, or a contractor from disclosing medical information regarding a patient, enrollee, or subscriber without first obtaining an authorization, unless a specified exception applies. Existing law makes a violation of the CMIA that results in economic loss or personal injury to a patient punishable as a misdemeanor. Existing law requires specified businesses that electronically store or maintain medical information on the provision of sensitive services on behalf of a provider of health care, health care service plan, pharmaceutical company, contractor, or employer to develop capabilities, policies, and procedures, on or before July 1, 2024, to enable certain security features, including limiting user access privileges and segregating medical information related to gender affirming care, abortion and abortion-related services, and contraception, as specified. This bill would also require those specified businesses to enable the above-specified capabilities, policies, and procedures for those security features, as specified. Because the bill would expand the scope of an existing crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

For purposes of state apportionments based on average daily attendance, as provided, if the average daily attendance of a school district, county office of education, or charter school has been materially decreased during a fiscal year because of a specified emergency, including, among others, the imminence of a major safety hazard as determined by a local law enforcement agency, existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to estimate the average daily attendance in a manner that credits to the school district, county office of education, or charter school approximately the total average daily attendance that would have been credited to the school district, county office of education, or charter school had the emergency not occurred. This bill, for the above-described purposes, would additionally allow a local fire agency to make a determination of the imminence of a major safety hazard. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law requires a vlogger to compensate a minor under 18 years of age if the minor is engaged in the work of vlogging, as specified. Existing law generally provides for the protection of minors on the internet, including by imposing certain requirements on an operator of an internet website, online service, online application, or mobile application if it is directed to minors or the operator has actual knowledge that a minor is using it. Among those provisions, existing law requires the operator to permit a minor who is a registered user to remove content or information that the user posted on the operator's internet website, online service, online application, or mobile application, as specified. This bill would require a social media platform to provide a clear and conspicuous mechanism by which a child influencer, as defined, can request a vlogger, either directly or through a specified notice process, to delete or edit certain paid content that features the child influencer as a minor, as prescribed. The bill would require the vlogger to delete or edit the content so that the child influencer is no longer featured within 10 business days of receiving the request. The bill would define "vlogger" to mean a person who is a parent, legal guardian, or family member of a child influencer who shared images or video content featuring that child influencer constituting at least 30% of the person's content shared on social media platforms and who received compensation for sharing that content featuring the child influencer. The bill would authorize a child influencer to bring a specified civil action against a vlogger who violates the bill.

This measure would proclaim the month of October 2026 as California Firefighter Appreciation Month and October 3, 2026, as California Firefighters Memorial Day.

Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and vests the commission with various responsibilities with respect to developing and implementing the state's energy policies. Existing law requires the commission to biennially adopt an integrated energy policy report, as specified, and to make the reports accessible to state, local, and federal entities and to the general public. This bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner or operator of a data center, as defined, to submit specified information to the commission, including, among other information, the data center's location and size, the data center's power usage effectiveness, as defined, and the quantity of fuel consumed by onsite generators or other fuel-based energy systems, as specified. The bill would require the owner or operator of a data center to submit the required information in the manner and timeframe specified by the commission. The bill would require the commission, beginning with the 2029 integrated energy policy report, and in subsequent biennial reports thereafter as determined by the commission, to include an assessment of electrical load trends for data centers, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually publish the information submitted in an anonymized and aggregated format on its internet website. The bill would require the commission to establish a process for the owner or operator of a data center to identify information that the owner or operator claims is exempted or prohibited from disclosure pursuant to federal or state law, as provided. The bill would require the owner or operator of a data center, upon applying for a discretionary permit, entitlement, or land use authorization required for the construction or operation of the data center, to submit to the applicable local agency, as defined, specified information, including the expected annual energy consumption, as specified, and the expected sound levels attributable to the operation of the data center, as provided. The bill would authorize the local agency to use this information for various purposes, including, but not limited to, land use planning, infrastructure planning, energy supply assessment, and environmental review. The bill would exempt a publicly funded research facility, public safety facility, publicly funded national security facility, publicly owned facility, or other utility facility, as provided, from the above-described provisions. The bill would prohibit the commission or a local agency from disclosing the information described above in a manner that would result in the disclosure of personally identifiable information or energy consumption data for a data center customer, as provided. 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 defines "sexual orientation change efforts" as practices by mental health providers that seek to change an individual's sexual orientation, as specified. Existing law prohibits a mental health provider, as defined, from engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with a patient under 18 years of age, and provides that such efforts attempted by a mental health provider are considered unprofessional conduct and must subject the mental health provider to discipline by that provider's licensing entity. This bill would define "sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts" as any practices of a licensed mental health provider that seek, during the provision of mental health services, to direct a patient toward a predetermined sexual orientation or gender identity, as specified, and would apply the prohibitions described above to such efforts. The bill would exclude specified practices, including age-appropriate interventions to address unlawful conduct or unsafe practices that do not seek to direct the patient toward a particular sexual orientation or gender identity, from this definition.