Asm. Diane Papan

The Hazardous Waste Control Law regulates the use and disposal of hazardous materials. Existing law permits the Department of Toxic Substances Control or any local officer or agency authorized to enforce the Hazardous Waste Control Law to require specified parties to furnish and transmit certain information relating to hazardous substances, hazardous wastes, and hazardous materials. A violation of the Hazardous Waste Control Law is a crime. Existing law, beginning January 1, 2025, prohibits a person or entity from manufacturing, selling, delivering, holding, or offering for sale in commerce any cosmetic product that contains intentionally added perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) , as defined. This bill would similarly prohibit any person from manufacturing, distributing, selling, or offering for sale in the state any menstrual products that contain regulated PFAS, as defined. The bill would require the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt regulations on or before January 1, 2029, as specified, for the purposes of implementing, interpreting, enforcing, or making specific these provisions. The bill would require the department to publish on its internet website, on or before January 1, 2027, a list of accepted testing methods for testing for regulated PFAS in menstrual products. The bill would require a manufacturer of menstrual products to register with the department, on or before July 1, 2029, and to provide to the department specified information and a registration fee. The bill would require the department to issue a notice of violation of the above provisions under specified circumstances, including that the department determines that a violation of the regulations described above has occurred or the department receives a report of an alleged violation and verifies that the violation alleged in the report occurred through its own independent testing, verification, or inspection. The bill would make a violation of these provisions punishable by administrative or civil penalties, as specified, and would authorize the Attorney General, on behalf of the department or on behalf of the people of the state at the request of the department, to bring an action to enforce these provisions. The bill would create, and would require all moneys collected from penalties to be deposited in, the T.A.M.P.O.N. Act Fund. The bill would make the department's duties to initiate, implement, or enforce any of these requirements contingent upon sufficient funds in the Toxic Substances Control Account, as determined by the Department of Finance, and an appropriation by the Legislature for the purposes of implementing and enforcing the requirements. By expanding the scope of 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.

Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality and prescribe waste discharge requirements in accordance with the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act and the federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program established by the federal Clean Water Act. Existing law requires each regional board to formulate and adopt water quality control plans for all areas within the region, as provided. Existing law requires specified moneys to be paid into the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account, which is established in the State Water Quality Control Fund, including, among other moneys, the proceeds of civil penalties for violations of certain waste discharge requirements. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys in the account for specified purposes, including, among others, the payment of grant moneys to eligible entities to assist in cleaning up a waste, abating the effects of a waste on waters of the state, or addressing an urgent drinking water need. This bill would require the State Water Resources Control Board, no later than January 1 of each year, to post on its internet website a report describing the receipts and expenditures of the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account, as provided. The bill would require the board to provide the initial report no later than January 1, 2026, and to include data for the period from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2025, inclusive, in that report, as provided. The bill would require the board, no later than June 30, 2025, to separately account within the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account all categories of receipts, including, among other categories, enforcement fines.

Existing law establishes, within the state disability insurance program, a family temporary disability insurance program, also known as the paid family leave program, for the provision of wage replacement benefits to workers who take time off work to care for certain seriously ill family members, to bond with a minor child within one year of birth or placement, as specified, or to participate in a qualifying exigency related to the covered active duty or call to covered active duty of certain family members. Existing law authorizes an employer to require an employee to take up to 2 weeks of earned but unused vacation before, and as a condition of, the employee's initial receipt of these benefits during any 12-month period in which the employee is eligible for these benefits. This bill would make that authorization and related provisions inapplicable to any disability commencing on or after January 1, 2025. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, 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 may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if the lead agency finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. Existing law establishes the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation, under the direction of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, who is required to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells so as to permit the owners or operators of those wells to utilize all methods and practices known to the industry for the purpose of increasing the ultimate recovery of geothermal resources, as provided. Existing law requires the division to be the lead agency for all geothermal exploratory projects for purposes of CEQA, as specified, and authorizes the division to delegate its lead agency responsibility for geothermal exploratory projects to a county that has adopted a geothermal element for its general plan. Existing law requires the delegation to provide that the county complete its lead agency responsibility within 135 days of the receipt of the application for the project. This bill would delete the requirement of the delegation to provide that the county complete its lead agency responsibility within 135 days. The bill would specify, upon the request of an applicant of a geothermal exploratory project, that the county in which the project is located is to assume the responsibilities of a lead agency regardless of whether the county has adopted a geothermal element for its general plan. The bill would require the applicant to make the request to the county and the division. If a county assumes lead agency responsibility for a geothermal exploratory project, the bill would require the county and the division to confer regarding necessary information that should be included in the environmental review for the project to facilitate the division's exercise of its authority as a responsible agency. Because the bill would require a county, upon the request of an applicant, to assume the responsibilities of a lead agency under CEQA, and would, if a county assumes lead agency responsibility, require the county and division to confer, as specified, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by increasing the duties of a county. 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 regulates advertising that indicates the price of motor vehicle fuel, including electricity sold as a motor vehicle fuel. Existing law requires a county sealer to enforce the advertising requirements. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions a crime. Existing law defines "correct," for purposes of testing and verifying the accuracy of a weighing or measuring device, as a weight or measure or a weighing, measuring, or counting instrument that meets certain tolerance and specification requirements. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2026, authorize a county sealer to test and verify as correct any electric vehicle charger operated by a public agency, as defined, that is located in the county in which the sealer has jurisdiction. The bill would require a county sealer, upon testing and finding that an electric vehicle charger operated by a public agency is incorrect, as defined, to cause it to be marked with the words "out of order" and require the charger to be repaired or corrected, as specified. The bill would authorize a county board of supervisors to charge an annual registration fee for the cost of inspecting and testing an electric vehicle charger operated by a public agency, as specified. The bill would authorize a county sealer to levy a civil penalty against a public agency, or a vendor or entity contracted by the public agency to provide and maintain electric vehicle charger services on behalf of the public agency, that removes or obliterates a tag or device placed on an electric vehicle charger operated by a public agency, as specified. The bill would exempt an electric vehicle charger from testing and verification by a county sealer if it is owned by a local publicly owned electric utility, as defined, and if certain requirements are met. By expanding the scope of a crime, and to the extent it would impose additional duties on a county sealer, 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law, the California Healthy Youth Act, requires school districts, defined to include county boards of education, county superintendents of schools, the California School for the Deaf, the California School for the Blind, and charter schools, to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive comprehensive sexual health education and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention education, as specified. The act defines "comprehensive sexual health education" for these purposes to mean education regarding human development and sexuality, including education on pregnancy, contraception, and sexually transmitted infections. This bill would additionally include in that definition of "comprehensive sexual health education" the topic of menstrual health. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on local educational agencies, 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 operation of an autonomous vehicle on public roads for testing purposes by a driver who possesses the proper class of license for the type of vehicle operated if specified requirements are satisfied. Existing law prohibits the operation of an autonomous vehicle on public roads until the manufacturer submits an application to the Department of Motor Vehicles, as specified, and that application is approved. This bill would require a manufacturer of an autonomous vehicle to report to the department a collision on a public road that involved one of its autonomous vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 10,001 pounds or more that is operating under a testing or deployment permit that resulted in damage of property, bodily injury, or death within 10 days of the collision. The bill would require a manufacturer of an autonomous vehicle to annually submit to the department specified information regarding the deactivation of the autonomous mode for its autonomous vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 10,001 pounds or more that were operating under a testing or deployment permit that authorized the vehicle to operate on public roads. The bill would prohibit the operation of an autonomous vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of 10,001 pounds or more on public roads for testing purposes, transporting goods, or transporting passengers without a human safety operator physically present in the autonomous vehicle at the time of operation. The bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles, by January 1, 2030, or 5 years after commencement of testing, whichever occurs later, and upon appropriation by the Legislature, to submit a report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature evaluating the performance of autonomous vehicle technology and its impact on public safety and employment in the transportation sector for autonomous vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 10,001 pounds or more. The bill would require the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, the Department of Transportation, the State Air Resources Board, and other relevant state agencies to provide additional information needed to research the report.

Existing law defines a "renewable electrical generation facility" as a facility that uses biomass, solar thermal, photovoltaic, wind, geothermal, fuel cells using renewable fuels, small hydroelectric generation of 30 megawatts or less, digester gas, municipal solid waste conversion, landfill gas, ocean wave, ocean thermal, or tidal current, and that meets other specified requirements. Existing law incorporates that definition into various programs, including the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, which requires the Public Utilities Commission to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from electrical generating facilities that meet the definition of "renewable electrical generation facility," and the net energy metering program, in which residential customers, small commercial customers, and commercial, industrial, or agricultural customers of an electrical utility, who use a renewable electrical generation facility, are eligible to participate, as specified. This bill would revise the definition of "renewable electrical generation facility" to include a facility that uses fuel cells or linear generators that use specified fuels. 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 this 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 a specified reason.

Existing law requires that a weapon acquired by a specified governmental entity under specified circumstances, including as part of a "gun-buyback" program, be destroyed. This bill would require a law enforcement agency that contracts with a third party for the destruction of firearms or weapons to ensure that the contract for those services prohibits the sale of any parts of, or attachments to, the firearm or other weapon, as specified. The bill would also exempt from the destruction requirement, any firearm obtained through a "gun-buyback" program that is donated to a historical society, museum, or institutional collection, as specified. By requiring a higher level of service for local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 18005 of the Penal Code proposed by SB 1019 and AB 2739 to be operative only if this bill and either one or both of those bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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 establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and requires the department to be responsible for, among other things, fire protection and prevention, as provided. Existing law establishes the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force and requires the task force to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the state's "Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan" issued by the task force in January 2021. Existing law declares that the department has extensive technical expertise in wildland fire prevention and vegetation management on forest, range, and watershed land, and, when appropriately applied, this expertise can have significant public resource benefits, including decreasing high-intensity wildland fires, improving watershed management, and improving carbon resilience, among other benefits. This bill would require the task force, or its successor, to develop, in partnership with the agency and its member entities, an interagency funding strategy that promotes integrated, multiple benefit projects that address wildfire, watershed function, biodiversity, and climate adaptation and mitigation, to achieve landscape resilience on fire-prone lands and outcomes more aligned with an ecosystem-based approach, as defined. The bill would require the agency and other relevant state entities to review and update relevant grant guidelines for certain climate change, biodiversity, conservation, fire, and watershed restoration programs to encourage multiple benefit projects. The bill would also require the programs to review and revise relevant grant guidelines to reinforce the program alignment to integrate conservation action with landscape restoration actions to ensure that landscapes are protected and well managed for climate, biodiversity, water security, and fire resilience. The bill would further require, to the extent feasible, investments in natural and working lands to be guided by California's Nature-Based Solutions Climate Targets and the Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy.