Asm. Bill Quirk

(1) Existing law establishes the Office of Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as GO-Biz, to advocate for causes of small business and to provide small businesses with the information they need to survive in the marketplace. Existing law prescribes the duties and functions of the Small Business Advocate, who is also the Director of the Office of Small Business Advocate. This bill would establish the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program within CalOSBA to assist qualified small businesses affected by COVID-19 through administration of grants. The bill would require CalOSBA to provide grants to qualified small businesses, as defined, in accordance with specified criteria, including geographic distribution based on COVID-19 restrictions, industry sectors most impacted by the pandemic, and underserved small businesses. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2024. This bill would appropriate $2,075,000,000 from the General Fund to the Golden State Stimulus Emergency Fund to be transferred to the Office of Small Business Advocate for purposes of the program, and would allocate $50,000,000 of those funds for eligible nonprofit cultural institutions, as defined. (2) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally define "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provide various exclusions from gross income. This bill would exclude, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2030, from gross income specified grant allocations, including grant allocations received by a taxpayer pursuant to a grant program funded by Executive Order No. 20/21-182 and pursuant to the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program. The bill would authorize the Franchise Tax Board to adopt regulations that are necessary and appropriate to implement the exclusions, and would provide the Administrative Procedure Act does not apply to any regulation, standard, criterion, procedure, determination, rule, notice, guideline, or any other guidance established or issued by the board pursuant to the exclusions. The bill would also authorize the board to include in audits the grants that are excluded from gross income by the bill's provisions. The bill would set forth procedures for recapturing grant amounts if CalOSBA determines that the grantee has failed to meet the criteria for a qualified small business. (3) This bill would also make findings and declarations related to a gift of public funds. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

The California Safe Drinking Water Act provides for the operation of public water systems and imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board various duties and responsibilities for the regulation and control of drinking water in the state. The act requires the state board to adopt drinking water standards for contaminants in drinking water based upon specified criteria and requires any person who owns a public water system to ensure that the system, among other things, complies with those drinking water standards. The act requires a public water system to provide prescribed notices within 30 days after it is first informed of a confirmed detection of a contaminant found in drinking water delivered by the public water system for human consumption that is in excess of a maximum contaminant level, a notification level, or a response level established by the state board. This bill would require the state board to comply with specified public notice and comment procedures when establishing or revising a notification level or response level, except as specified for a contaminant that the Division of Drinking Water of the state board finds presents the potential for imminent harm to public health and safety.

Existing law authorizes courts that have jurisdiction in misdemeanor cases to suspend the sentence and make and enforce terms of probation in those cases, for a period not to exceed 3 years, except when the period of the maximum sentence imposed by law exceeds 3 years, in which case the terms of probation may be imposed for a longer period than 3 years, but not to exceed the time for which the person may be imprisoned. This bill would instead restrict the period of probation for a misdemeanor to no longer than one year, except as specified. Existing law authorizes the court, in the order granting probation, to suspend the imposition or execution of sentence and direct the suspension to continue for a period of time not exceeding the maximum term for which the person could be imprisoned, except as specified. This bill would instead authorize a court to impose a term of probation not longer than 2 years, except as specified.

Existing law creates the Office of Emergency Services within the office of the Governor. The office is responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or man-made disasters and emergencies. Existing law requires the office to establish by rule and regulation various classes of disaster service workers, the scope of the duties of each class, and to adopt rules and regulations for the registration of each class of these workers. Existing law requires the office to work with advocacy groups representing the deaf and hard of hearing for the purpose of improving accessibility to emergency information and services for the populations that they serve. Existing law requires the office to develop a plan for state and local utilization of volunteers during a state of emergency. This bill would, until January 1, 2024, enact the Community Response Initiative to Strengthen Emergency Systems Act or the C.R.I.S.E.S. Act for the purpose of creating, implementing, and evaluating the C.R.I.S.E.S. Act Grant Pilot Program, which the act would establish. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to establish rules and regulations for the act with the goal of making grants to community organizations, over 3 years, for the purpose of expanding the participation of community organizations in emergency response for specified vulnerable populations. The bill would require that grantees receive a minimum award of $250,000 per year. The bill would require a community organization receiving funds pursuant to the program to use the grant to stimulate and support involvement in emergency response activities that do not require a law enforcement officer, as specified. The bill would require the director of the office to assemble staff and resources to carry out certain duties in support of the program. The bill would require the office to support an 11-member C.R.I.S.E.S. Advisory Committee, selected by the Governor, the Chair of the Senate Rules Committee, and the Speaker of the Assembly, as specified, to be inclusive of community organizations with a proven history of leadership and partnership on emergency response. The committee would establish grant application criteria and parameters for eligible community organizations, review and decide upon grant proposals, ensure grants are adhering to standards, and make recommendations to the office, among other things. The bill would establish the Community Response Initiative to Strengthen Emergency Systems Act Fund in the State Treasury in support of the program, to be administered by the director. The bill would require that the act be implemented only if appropriate funding is made available to the office, which would make a determination to this effect, to be published on its internet website. The bill would provide that if the appropriation was not made, the office would bear no responsibility for implementing the act. The bill would make findings and declarations in regard to innovative approaches to emergency responses.

Existing law provides the State Department of Public Health with the authority to pursue all actions necessary to protect public health, including areas of product safety. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2025, prohibit a person or entity from manufacturing, selling, delivering, holding, or offering for sale, in commerce any cosmetic product that contains any of several specified intentionally added ingredients, except under specified circumstances.

Existing law authorizes a defendant to apply, prior to the commencement of trial, for an order directing that a hearing to determine intellectual disability be conducted when the prosecution in a criminal case seeks the death penalty. Existing law requires the court to order a hearing to determine whether the defendant has an intellectual disability upon the submission of a declaration by a qualified expert stating the expert's opinion that the defendant is a person with an intellectual disability. Existing law defines "intellectual disability" for these purposes as a condition of significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested before 18 years of age. This bill would change the definition of "intellectual disability" to include conditions that manifest before the end of the developmental period, as defined by clinical standards. The bill would also prohibit the results of a test measuring intellectual functioning to be changed or adjusted based on race, ethnicity, national origin, or socioeconomic status. The bill would require the court to order a hearing to determine whether the defendant is a person with an intellectual disability upon a prima facie showing, as defined, that the defendant is a person with an intellectual disability. The bill would authorize a person in custody pursuant to a judgment of death to apply for an order directing that a hearing to determine intellectual disability be conducted as part of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and would specify the procedure for making the determination as to whether the defendant is a person with an intellectual disability.

Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to maintain a policy on the use of force, as specified. Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to implement courses of instruction for the regular and periodic training of law enforcement officers in the use of force. Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to report to the Department of Justice, as specified, any incident in which a peace officer is involved in a shooting or use of force that results in death or serious bodily injury. This bill would create a division within the Department of Justice to, upon the request of a law enforcement agency, review the use-of-force policy of the agency and make recommendations, as specified. This bill would require a state prosecutor to investigate incidents of an officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of an unarmed civilian, as defined. The bill would make the Attorney General the state prosecutor unless otherwise specified or named. The bill would authorize the state prosecutor to prepare a written report, and would require the state prosecutor to post any reports made on a public internet website. The bill would require, commencing July 1, 2023, the Attorney General to operate a Police Practices Division within the department to review, upon the request of a local law enforcement agency, the use of deadly force policies of that law enforcement agency and make recommendations, as specified. The bill would require the department to implement these provisions subject to an appropriation for this purpose.

Under existing law, a wireless telecommunications collocation facility, as specified, is subject to a city or county discretionary permit and is required to comply with specified criteria, but a collocation facility, which is the placement or installation of wireless facilities, including antennas and related equipment, on or immediately adjacent to that wireless telecommunications collocation facility, is a permitted use not subject to a city or county discretionary permit. Existing law defines various terms for these purposes. This bill would, until January 1, 2024, require local agencies to make the installation of an emergency standby generator to serve a macro cell tower site, as defined, that meets specified requirements a permitted use and require a local agency to review an application for installation on an administrative, nondiscretionary basis. The bill would specify procedures for the processing of permit applications by a local agency and would authorize a local agency to impose a fee to cover costs associated with administering the bill's provisions. Because the bill would impose new duties on local agencies, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would define terms for purposes of these provisions and provide legislative findings and declarations in support of these provisions in order to maintain cellular communications during implemented power shutoffs. Existing law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a local agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that might have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA does not apply to ministerial approval of projects. By requiring administrative approval of the installation of emergency standby generators, this bill would expand the CEQA ministerial approval exemption. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. 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.