Existing law establishes the Civil Rights Department within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to enforce civil rights laws with respect to housing and employment and to protect and safeguard the right of all persons to obtain and hold employment without discrimination based on specified characteristics or status. Existing law requires a private employer that has 100 or more employees and is required to file an annual Employer Information Report (EEO-1) pursuant to federal law to submit a pay data report to the department that contains specified employee information on or before March 31, 2021, and on or before March 31 each year thereafter. Existing law prescribes the information that must be included in the pay data report, including the number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex in specified job categories. Existing law requires employers with multiple establishments to submit a report for each establishment and a consolidated report that includes all employees. Existing law permits the department to develop, publish on an annual basis, and publicize aggregate reports, provided that the aggregate reports are reasonably calculated to prevent the association of any data with any individual business or person. Existing law provides that an employer is in compliance with the requirement that it submit a pay data report if it submits an EEO-1 to the department containing the same or substantially similar pay data information. Existing law permits the department to seek an order requiring an employer to comply with these provisions and permits it to recover the costs associated with seeking the order for compliance. This bill would, instead, require a private employer that has 100 or more employees to submit a pay data report to the department. This bill would revise the timeframe in which a private employer is required to submit this information to require that it be provided on or before the second Wednesday of May 2023, and for each year thereafter on or before the second Wednesday of May. This bill would also require a private employer that has 100 or more employees hired through labor contractors, as defined, to also submit a separate pay data report to the department for those employees in accordance with the above timeframe, as specified. This bill would require the pay data reports to include the median and mean hourly rate for each combination of race, ethnicity, and sex within each job category. This bill would delete a provision requiring employers with multiple establishments to submit a consolidated report. This bill would delete the provision authorizing an employer to submit an EEO-1 in lieu of a pay data report. This bill would permit a court to impose a civil penalty not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100) per employee upon any employer who fails to file the required report and not to exceed two hundred dollars ($200) per employee upon any employer for a subsequent failure to file the required report. The bill would require those penalties to be deposited in the Civil Rights Enforcement and Litigation Fund. Existing law creates the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, under the direction of the Labor Commissioner, within the Department of Industrial Relations to enforce labor laws. Existing law requires an employer, upon reasonable request, to provide the pay scale for a position to an applicant applying for employment. Existing law defines pay scale for these purposes to mean salary or hourly wage range. This bill would also require an employer, upon request, to provide to an employee the pay scale for the position in which the employee is currently employed. The bill would require an employer with 15 or more employees to include the pay scale for a position in any job posting. The bill would require an employer to maintain records of a job title and wage rate history for each employee for a specified timeframe, to be open to inspection by the Labor Commissioner. The bill would create a rebuttable presumption in favor of an employee's claim if an employer fails to keep records in violation of these provisions. The bill would require an employer with 15 or more employees that engages a third party to announce, post, publish, or otherwise make known a job posting to provide the pay scale to the third party and would require the third party to include the pay scale in the job posting. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to investigate complaints alleging violations of these requirements and would authorize the commissioner to order an employer to pay a civil penalty upon finding an employer has violated these provisions. The bill would also authorize a person aggrieved by a violation of these provisions to bring a civil action for injunctive and any other appropriate relief. This bill would require deposit of the civil penalties collected pursuant to these provisions into the Labor Enforcement and Compliance Fund, and would authorize these funds to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for administration and enforcement of these provisions.
Sponsored bills
(1) The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act defines the term "beverage" to include certain types of products in liquid, ready-to-drink form and excludes, among other things, wine or wine from which alcohol has been removed in whole or in part, whether or not sparkling or carbonated. The act defines the term "beverage container" to mean the individual, separate bottle, can, jar, carton, or other receptacle, however denominated, in which a beverage is sold, and which is constructed of metal, glass, or plastic, or other material, or any combination of these materials. The act requires a distributor to pay a redemption payment for every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the state of $0.05 for a beverage container with a capacity of less than 24 fluid ounces and $0.10 for a beverage container with a capacity of 24 fluid ounces or more to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and requires the department to deposit those amounts in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The act also requires those beverage containers to have a refund value of $0.05 and $0.10, respectively. The money in the fund, except for civil penalties, fines, and administrative costs, is continuously appropriated to the department to pay refund values and administrative fees to processors, defined to mean persons certified by the department who purchase empty beverage containers from recycling centers and process the containers in a prescribed manner, to fund a reserve for contingencies and, after setting specified funds aside, for various purposes relating to beverage container recycling, litter cleanup and prevention, and education, including up to $10,000,000 annually for quality incentive payments for empty glass beverage containers. Under the act, the department is required to calculate a processing fee for each beverage container with a specified scrap value, which is required to be paid by beverage manufacturers for each beverage container sold or transferred to a distributor or dealer. The act requires processors and distributors of beverage containers to report specified information to the department, in the form and manner prescribed by the department. The act imposes certain requirements on the invoice or other form of accounting of a transaction submitted by a beverage distributor of beverages to a dealer, but authorizes a distributor of beer and malt beverages or wine or distilled spirit coolers to separately identify certain information. The act prohibits a person from offering to sell, or selling, to a consumer a beverage container that has not been labeled as required by the act. The act defines "wine and distilled spirit cooler" as a beverage containing wine or distilled spirits to which is added concentrated or unconcentrated juice or flavoring material and containing not more than 7% alcohol by volume. The act requires the total number of filled plastic beverage containers sold by a beverage manufacturer to contain specified amounts of postconsumer recycled plastic content per year, as provided. The act authorizes the department to impose a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for a violation of the act, and up to $5,000 for a violation that is intentional or negligent. A violation of the act is a crime. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which is administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the application, issuance, and suspension of alcoholic beverage licenses. Existing law authorizes a person licensed in California or any other state as a winegrower who obtains a wine direct shipper permit to sell and ship wine directly to a resident of California, who is 21 years of age or older, for the resident's personal use and not for resale. A violation of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act is a crime. This bill would require a wine direct shipper permitholder, before sending any shipment to a resident of California, to register with the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery as a beverage manufacturer and distributor under the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act. The bill would require a wine direct shipper permitholder to comply with the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, including, but not limited to, the reporting and payment provisions applicable to the permitholder as a beverage manufacturer and distributor, and would authorize the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to suspend or revoke the wine direct shipper permit if the permitholder fails to comply with certain provisions of the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act. The bill would also authorize the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to adopt regulations related to the wine direct shipper permit. The bill would thereby impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act. The bill would require, with respect to the payment of processing fees and redemption payments for beverages manufactured outside the state and sold directly to consumers within the state with a direct shipper permit, the beverage manufacturer or distributor to be deemed to be the person or entity named on the direct shipper permit issued pursuant to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, and would require the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to provide related notice. The bill would require the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery and the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to enter into a contract concerning the implementation of that requirement for redemption payments, and would authorize the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to expend from the fund the amount necessary for reimbursing the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for its costs incurred in implementing the requirement. The bill would thereby make an appropriation by authorizing the expenditure of moneys from the continuously appropriated fund for a new purpose. The bill would explicitly authorize the department to require the information reported to the department by a processor or distributor of beverage containers to be submitted electronically. The bill would, as of January 1, 2024, revise the definition of "beverage" to include distilled spirits, wine, or wine from which alcohol has been removed in whole or in part, whether or not sparkling or carbonated, and wine or distilled spirits contained in a beverage container that is a box, bladder, or pouch, or similar container, regardless of the material type from which the beverage container is made. The bill would require a beverage container that is a box, bladder, or pouch, or similar container, containing wine or distilled spirits to have a redemption payment and refund value of $0.25, would exclude a licensed wine or distilled spirits tasting room from the act's definition of "dealer," and would limit the exclusions in the act's definition of "dealer" to the sale of beverages in beverage containers to consumers for consumption onsite, as provided. The bill would grant wine and distilled spirits contained in a beverage container that is a box, bladder, or pouch, or similar container, an additional 2 years to comply with the act's postconsumer recycled plastic content requirements. The bill would require, commencing January 1, 2024, and until January 1, 2026, a processing fee equivalent to the processing fee applied to high-density polyethylene beverage containers to be applied to a beverage container that is a box, bladder, or pouch, or similar container, containing wine or distilled spirits. The bill would, as of January 1, 2024, revise the act's definition of "wine and distilled spirit cooler" by eliminating the requirement that the beverage contain not more than 7% alcohol by volume. Since the additional payments for the beverage containers that this bill would make subject to the act would be deposited in a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would additionally authorize a distributor of wine, or wine from which alcohol has been removed in whole or in part, whether or not sparkling or carbonated, or distilled spirits to separately identify specified information on an invoice or other form of accounting of a transaction submitted to a dealer. The bill would require the department, to the extent feasible, to make efforts to streamline and consolidate forms used by wineries who are also distributors to register and provide payments under the act. The bill would increase from $10,000,000 to $15,000,000 the annual amount authorized to be expended from the fund for quality incentive payments for empty glass beverage containers, thereby making an appropriation, and would restrict those payments to beverage containers that are used for the manufacturing of glass beverage containers in this state. The bill would exempt a beverage container included within the scope of the act beginning on January 1, 2024, from the act's labeling requirements until July 1, 2025. The bill would require the department to create the Recycled Glass Processing Incentive Grant Program to provide grants to applicants who demonstrate the ability to expand glass cullet processing in the state, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the department to expend from the fund up to $4,000,000 annually for those grants, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the department to create the Increased Recycling of Empty Glass Beverage Containers Grant Program to assist in funding regional pilot programs furnishing bins for collection of empty glass beverage containers from restaurants and on-sale retail licensed establishments, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the department to expend from the fund up to $4,000,000 annually for those grants, thereby making an appropriation. The bill also would require the department to create the Empty Glass Beverage Transportation Grant Program to facilitate the use of rail transportation of empty glass beverage containers to glass processing facilities within the state, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the department to expend from the fund up to $1,000,000 annually for those grants, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would authorize the department to pay a market development payment to a glass beverage container manufacturer who purchases recycled glass collected within this state for use in manufacturing new beverage containers in this state. The bill would authorize the department to expend from the fund up to $60,000,000 annually for these glass market development payments, as prescribed, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would repeal these glass market development payment provisions as of January 1, 2028. The bill would appropriate $10,000,000 from the fund to the department to disburse to community conservation corps in the form of grants for beverage container litter reduction programs and recycling programs, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would increase from $1,000 to $5,000 the amount of the civil penalty that the department may impose for a violation of the act and would increase from $5,000 to $10,000 the amount for an intentional or negligent violation. (2) The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to annually designate convenience zones statewide and requires at least one certified recycling center or location within every convenience zone that accepts all types of empty beverage containers and pays the refund value, if any, at one location. The act defines "convenience zone" as an area within a 12-mile radius of a supermarket or, alternatively, authorizes the department, in a rural region and upon petition by an interested person, if certain conditions are met, to increase a convenience zone to include the area within a 3-mile radius of a supermarket or to designate as a convenience zone the area within a 3-mile radius of a dealer. The act requires dealers within a convenience zone where no recycling location has been established, or within a convenience zone that is unserved for 60 days and not exempt from convenience zone requirements, to either (A) submit an affidavit to the department stating that the dealer has met specified standards for empty beverage container redemption or (B) pay $100 per day to the department, for deposit into the fund, until a recycling location is established or until the dealer meets the standards for redemption specified in the affidavit provisions. The act authorizes the department to grant a convenience zone an exemption from certain redemption requirements, including certain dealer and recycling center redemption requirements, based on certain factors. The act limits the total number of exemptions that may be granted to 35% of the total number of convenience zones identified as having one or more of those factors applicable. This bill would revise the act's definition of "convenience zone" to expand that area from a 12-mile radius to a one-mile radius of a supermarket. The bill would expand the area to which the department may increase a convenience zone in a rural region from a 3-mile radius to up to a 5-mile radius of a supermarket. The bill would decrease from 35% to 15% the percentage of the total number of those convenience zones that may be granted an extension. The bill would, as of January 1, 2025, eliminate the option to pay $100 per day to the department rather than submit that affidavit to the department. The bill would require a dealer, as an alternative to submitting that affidavit, to join a dealer cooperative, as defined, to provide a dealer cooperative redemption plan to the department and implement the approved plan to serve that convenience zone. The bill would exempt from those requirements a dealer that has demonstrated to the department that the dealer has gross annual sales of less than $1,500,000, excluding sales of fuel, or is less than 5,000 square feet. The bill would, by January 1, 2024, authorize the department to provide one or more model dealer cooperative redemption plans for dealer cooperatives to adopt and require the department to adopt emergency regulations that provide access and convenience for consumers that are comparable to specified existing law. The bill would impose requirements on a dealer cooperative, including, among others, assessing fees on the dealers in the zone or zones covered by the redemption plan necessary to cover operational costs and implementation of the approved plan and redeeming all material types and offering one or more redemption locations within the dealer cooperative zone. The bill would make a dealer cooperative eligible for reimbursement of California Redemption Value funds paid to consumers, processing payments, handling fees, and administrative fees unless a certified recycling center operates in a convenience zone in which a dealer participating in the dealer cooperative is located. By authorizing the expenditure of moneys from the continuously appropriated fund for a new purpose, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would provide for enforcement of these provisions by the department, including requiring the department to audit each cooperative at least once every 24 months. (3) The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act authorizes the department to pay a market development payment to a reclaimer for empty plastic beverage containers that have been collected for recycling in the state, and that the reclaimer washes and processes into flake, pellet, sheet, or any other form that is then usable as input for the manufacture of new plastic products by product manufacturers in the state. The act also authorizes the department to pay a market development payment to a product manufacturer for plastic flake, pellet, sheet, or any other form of plastic purchased from a reclaimer and used by that product manufacturer to manufacture a plastic product in the state. The act makes these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2022. The act authorizes the department, for the 2019–20 fiscal year to the 2021–22 fiscal year, inclusive, to expend up to $10,000,000 each fiscal year from the fund for market development payments to reclaimers and product manufacturers for the activities described above. This bill would extend the market development payment inoperative date from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2025. The bill would also instead authorize the department to expend an unspecified amount of funds for market development payments until the 2025–26 fiscal year. By extending the term of a continuous appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. (4) This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes under the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act relating to the regulation of beverage containers. The bill would also make conforming changes. (5) 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) Under existing law, a person between the ages of 6 and 18 years who is not exempted by law is subject to compulsory full-time education. Existing law excludes a child under 6 years of age from the public schools, subject to specified exceptions. Existing law requires a school district maintaining a kindergarten to admit a child who will have their 5th birthday on or before September 1 of the school year. Existing law also requires a child who will have their 6th birthday on or before September 1 of the school year to be admitted to the first grade of an elementary school. Existing law authorizes a child who has been lawfully admitted to a public school kindergarten or a private school kindergarten in California and who is judged by the administration of the school district to be ready for first-grade work to be admitted to the first grade, as specified. This bill, beginning with the 2024–25 school year, would require a child to have completed one year of kindergarten before that child may be admitted to the first grade at a public elementary school, except for a child who has been lawfully admitted to a public school kindergarten or a private school kindergarten in California, but has not yet completed one school year, and is judged to be ready for first-grade work, as specified, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. (2) 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, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes use of the Emergency Alert System to inform the public of local, state, and national emergencies. Existing law requires a law enforcement agency to activate the Emergency Alert System within the appropriate area if that agency determines that a child 17 years of age or younger, or an individual with a proven mental or physical disability, has been abducted and is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death, and there is information available that, if disseminated to the general public, could assist in the safe recovery of that person. Existing law also authorizes the issuance and coordination of a Blue Alert following an attack upon a law enforcement officer or a Silver Alert relating to a person who is 65 years of age or older who is reported missing. This bill would authorize a law enforcement agency to request the Department of the California Highway Patrol to activate a "Feather Alert," as defined, if specified criteria are satisfied with respect to an endangered indigenous person who has been reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances. The bill would require the department, if it concurs that specified requirements are met, to activate a Feather Alert within the appropriate geographical area requested by the investigating law enforcement agency and to assist the agency by disseminating specified alert messages and signs. The bill would require the department to create and submit a report to the Governor's Office and the Legislature that includes an evaluation of the notification system established pursuant to these provisions no later than January 1, 2027. The bill would also make related legislative findings and declarations.
The California Constitution provides that the University of California constitutes a public trust, and requires the university to be administered by the Regents of the University of California, a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers of organization and government, subject to legislative control only for specified purposes. Existing law establishes the Hastings College of the Law, under the governance of an 11-member Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, within the University of California. Existing law provides that the college shall forever be known and designated as the Hastings College of the Law. Under existing law, six directors constitutes a quorum for the transaction of all business of the college's board of directors. Existing law requires one of the directors to always be an heir or representative of Serranus Clinton (S.C.) Hastings and all other directors to serve 12-year terms. Existing law requires vacancies occurring in the board of directors other than the death or resignation of the heir or representative of S.C. Hastings to be filled by the Governor and approved by the Senate. This bill would instead provide that the college shall be designated as the College of the Law, San Francisco, as provided. The bill would make conforming changes. The bill would specify that a majority of directors constitutes a quorum for the transaction of all of the board of directors' business, and would require all directors to serve 12-year terms, except as provided. The bill would require all vacancies occurring on the board of directors, including a vacancy of the heir or representative of S.C. Hastings, to be filled by the Governor and approved by the Senate. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 67385 of the Education Code proposed by AB 1467 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1467 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency, which consists of various departments and commissions, including the Department of Conservation, Department of Parks and Recreation, and State Lands Commission. Existing law vests in the agency various powers, including those related to conservation of lands. Pursuant to the agency's general authority, the agency established the California Advisory Committee on Geographic Names to be a liaison to the United States Board on Geographic Names. The duties, powers, and responsibilities of the committee are established by its internal charter. Commencing on January 1, 2025, this bill would require the term "squaw" to be removed from all geographic features and place names in the state. The bill would require the Natural Resources Agency to direct the committee to revise its existing charter to perform specified responsibilities, including notifying public agencies, as defined, of each geographic feature and place name that includes the term "squaw." The bill would require the committee to choose a replacement name, under its discretion, and in consultation with advisory bodies, if the local governing body fails to recommend a replacement name within the allotted 180 days. The bill would require the committee to work in formal consultation with California Native American tribes on the list maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission to establish a procedure for receiving name recommendations. This bill would require public agencies to no longer replace signs, interpretive markers, or any other marker or printed material with the discontinued name containing the word "squaw." The bill would require each agency or local governing body to ensure that map updates and sign replacements use the new name. Commencing January 1, 2025, the bill would require the committee to annually report to the Legislature regarding the implementation of these provisions, and would require that report to include specified information, including each geographic feature and place name that uses the term "squaw" in that public agency's jurisdiction and the proposed replacement name. By imposing requirements on local governments to remove the term "squaw" from geographic features and place names and to report specified information to the committee, 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, 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 provides for the establishment of California American Indian education centers by any tribal group or incorporated American Indian association to meet specified objectives, and further provides for the administration of grants, upon application, by the State Department of Education for those purposes in accordance with specified provisions. Existing law requires each center to annually submit specified data to the department that reflects each center's ability to meet its stated objectives and any other objectives chosen by the center. Existing law requires the department to enter into a contract with a county office of education or a consortium of county offices of education for the purpose of developing model curriculum related to Native American studies, as provided. This bill would establish the California Indian Education Act and encourage school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to form California Indian Education Task Forces with California tribes local to their regions or tribes historically located in the region. The bill would encourage task force participants to discuss issues of mutual concern and to undertake certain work. The bill would require California Indian Education Task Forces to submit, within one year of formation and annually thereafter, a report of findings to the department, as provided. The bill would require the department to submit, within one year of receiving task force reports and annually thereafter, a report to certain education committees of both houses of the Legislature regarding the narrowing of the achievement gap and the adoption of curriculum, as provided. The bill would authorize California Indian Education Task Forces to submit curricular materials to the county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, that contracted to develop the model curricula related to Native American studies. The bill would require the contracted county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, to consider these submitted materials for inclusion in the model curriculum. To the extent that this bill imposes new duties on the county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, that contracted to develop the model curriculum, 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, 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 authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue and renew driver's licenses, as specified. Existing law also authorizes the department to issue identification cards. Existing law requires the department to issue a restricted driver's license to an eligible applicant who is unable to submit satisfactory proof that their presence in the United States is authorized under federal law if they meet all other qualifications for licensure and provide satisfactory proof of identity and California residency. Existing law also authorizes the department to issue an identification card to a person documented under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. This bill would, among other things, require the department to, by no later than July 1, 2027, issue a restricted identification card to an eligible applicant who is unable to submit satisfactory proof that their presence in the United States is authorized under federal law if they provide satisfactory proof of identity and California residency, as specified. Existing law requires the restricted licenses and identification cards to include a recognizable feature on the front of the cards, such as the letters "DP" instead of "DL" and "IC" instead of "ID." This bill would delete the provision requiring a recognizable feature on the cards. Existing law prohibits California law enforcement agencies from cooperating, as specified, with federal immigration authorities. Existing law prohibits the disclosure of certain documents provided by an applicant to the department, except in response to a subpoena for individual records in a criminal proceeding or a court order, or in response to a law enforcement request to address an urgent health or safety need, as specified. This bill would specify that immigration enforcement, as defined, does not constitute an urgent health and safety need for those purposes, and would prohibit a government agency or department, law enforcement agency, commercial entity, or other person from obtaining, accessing, using, or otherwise disclosing, noncriminal history information maintained by the department, for the purpose of immigration enforcement. The bill would make other conforming changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12926 of the Government Code proposed by SB 523 to be operative only if this bill and SB 523 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
The Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal law, provides an exemption from the taxes imposed by those laws for specified organizations. Existing law provides that tax-exempt status, under certain circumstances, may be suspended or revoked. Existing federal law defines various crimes against the established republican form of government, including treason, insurrection, and seditious conspiracy, as provided. This bill would authorize the Attorney General to make a finding that a tax-exempt organization has actively engaged in, or incited the active engagement in, acts or conspiracies defined as criminal under specified federal law, and likely to produce imminent violation of that federal law. The bill would require the Attorney General to notify the Franchise Tax Board of such a finding, and would state the existing authority of the Franchise Tax Board to revoke the tax-exempt status of the organization found to be in violation.
(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, requires a rigid plastic packaging container, as defined, sold or offered for sale in this state, to meet, on average, at least one of 5 specified criteria, including that the container be made from 25% postconsumer material. This bill, commencing January 1, 2025, would require the total thermoform plastic containers sold or imported by a producer, as defined, to contain, on average, specified amounts of postconsumer thermoform recycled plastic, as defined, per year pursuant to a tiered plan that would require the total thermoform plastic containers to contain, on average, and depending on the recycling rate, no less than 20% or 30% postconsumer recycled plastic per year on and after July 1, 2030. The bill would exempt from these requirements, as specified, thermoform plastic containers used to package dairy products if the department determines pursuant to an application submitted by one or more dairy products manufacturers that certain conditions exist. The bill would require, on or before March 1 of each year, a producer to report to the department, under penalty of perjury, the amount in pounds of all thermoform plastic containers sold in or imported into the state for the preceding calendar year, the number of containers returned and refilled, and the amount in pounds of each type of postconsumer resin used in those containers. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require certain importers and manufacturers of thermoform plastic containers to register and pay a fee to the department and would require those entities and certain purchasers and exporters to report to the department specified sales and other information. The bill would require the department to post the reported information on its internet website. The bill would require certain entities to maintain specified records and documentation. This bill would authorize the department to conduct audits and investigations and take enforcement action against a producer to ensure compliance. The bill would exempt from the California Public Records Act trade secrets and proprietary information obtained from those audits and investigations. The bill would impose annual administrative penalties in a specified amount, calculated and authorized to be adjusted by the department, for violating these requirements. The bill would require collected administrative penalties to be deposited into the Thermoform Recycling Enhancement Penalty Account, which the bill would create. The bill would make funds in the penalty account available only upon appropriation by the Legislature. (2) 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. (3) 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.