Asm. Kevin Mullin

(1) Existing law, the Veterinary Medicine Practice Act, provides for the licensure and registration of veterinarians and the regulation of the practice of veterinary medicine by the Veterinary Medical Board in the Department of Consumer Affairs. Under the act, prescribed actions constitute the practice of veterinary medicine. The act makes a violation of its provisions a crime. This bill would include in the actions that constitute the practice of veterinary medicine the collection of blood from an animal for the purpose of transferring or selling that blood and blood component products, as defined, to a licensed veterinarian for use at a registered premises, except in certain circumstances. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law permits a registered veterinary technician or a veterinary assistant to administer a drug, including a controlled substance, under the direct or indirect supervision of a licensed veterinarian when done pursuant to the order, control, and full professional responsibility of a licensed veterinarian. This bill would also permit a registered veterinary technician or veterinary assistant to collect blood from an animal for the purpose of transferring or selling the blood and blood component products to a licensed veterinarian at a registered premises, under the direct or indirect supervision of a licensed veterinarian, as specified. (3) Existing law provides for the licensure of commercial blood banks for animals by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture. Existing law also defines a "commercial blood bank for animals" to mean an establishment that produces animal blood or blood component products to market and sell for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of injury or disease in animals. This bill would establish, within the Veterinary Medicine Practice Act, new procedures governing community blood banks for animals and would impose new requirements on veterinarians engaged in the production of animal blood and blood component products. The bill would define a "community blood bank" as a commercial blood bank for animals that produces animal blood or blood component products solely from community-sourced animals whose owners voluntarily consent to the donation. The bill would require each veterinarian who is licensed in California and engages in the production of animal blood or blood component products to meet specified conditions, including following current and best practices on community animal blood banking, using methods of production that are consistent with current standards of care and practice for the field of veterinary transfusion medicine, and obtaining informed written consent of the owner of the animal blood donor. The bill would prohibit a veterinarian or a community blood bank operating under these provisions from providing payment to a person who provides an animal for the purpose of donating that animal's blood and blood component products for use in their practice and for retail sale and distribution. The bill would authorize the Veterinary Medical Board to establish a community blood bank registration fee and an annual renewal fee to be paid by community blood banks to cover the costs associated with oversight and inspection of the premises. The bill would prohibit the fees from exceeding the reasonable regulatory costs of administering, implementing, and enforcing these provisions. The bill would require a community blood bank operating under the above-described provisions to comply with specified blood and blood component product registration requirements imposed under existing Food and Agricultural Code provisions. The bill would also require a community blood bank to submit a quarterly report to the Department of Food and Agriculture every 3 months that includes, among other information, the number of donations from community-sourced animals during that quarter, by species of animal. The bill would provide that a violation of these provisions by a community blood bank constitutes cause for corrective action or various other actions by the Veterinary Medical Board. The bill would define related terms, for purposes of carrying out these provisions, including "captive closed colony" and "community sourced." (4) Existing law prohibits a person from engaging in the production of animal blood and blood component products for retail sale and distribution except in a commercial blood bank for animals licensed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture that meet certain criteria. A violation of these provisions is a crime. This bill would instead prohibit a person from engaging in the production of animal blood and blood component products for retail sale and distribution except in a captive closed-colony commercial blood bank for animals licensed by the secretary or in accordance with the above-described provisions governing community blood banks for animals. The bill would require each community blood bank to register blood and blood component products with the secretary in accordance with existing procedures. The bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture to discontinue its licensing program for commercial blood banks for animals that produce canine blood, as defined, and blood component products sourced from captive closed-colony dogs within 18 months of the secretary making specified findings about the amount of canine blood sold in the state, and satisfying other conditions. The bill would require the calculation of canine blood to be done separately, with whole blood, packed red blood cells, and fresh frozen plasma being measured as separate amounts in estimated milliliters based on weight in grams. The bill would require the department to annually submit specified canine blood collection information to specified members of the Legislature and the Veterinary Medical Board. The bill would require the department, in collaboration with the Veterinary Medical Board, technical experts in animal blood banking, and any other relevant stakeholders, by March 1, 2023, to develop and publish on its internet website a "Community Animal Blood Banking Guidance Resource" or other documents that provide veterinarians, at a minimum, accurate, clear, and concise information regarding best management practices for operating community blood banks. The bill would also prohibit the secretary from accepting new applications to license a commercial blood bank for animals that produce canine blood or blood component products sourced from captive closed-colony dogs. The bill would also require that the secretary, when licensing establishments as captive closed-colony commercial blood banks, to only license establishments that, among other conditions, keep, house, or maintain all animal donors within California state boundaries. The bill would authorize closed-colony blood banks to transition to community-sourced models and continue to operate in accordance with specified provisions. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law requires an application for a license for an establishment that produces, or proposes to produce, animal blood and blood component products to be made on a form issued by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture and to contain specific information, including a written protocol that addresses the length of time for donation by animals, among other requirements. This bill would specify that the application for a license applies to any establishment that produces, or proposes to produce, animal blood and blood component products from a closed-colony blood bank. The bill would require the written protocol to be consistent with current standards of care and practice for the field of veterinary transfusion medicine and would require that protocol to include bloodborne pathogen testing for all dog and cat blood donors, as prescribed. The bill would prohibit a commercial blood bank for animals from discriminating against veterinarians licensed in California in the sale of animal blood or blood component products. The bill would specify that a commercial blood bank for animals that refuses to sell animal blood or blood component products to a veterinarian in circumstances in which that blood bank has an available supply may be deemed by the secretary to be in violation of this provision. (6) Existing law requires the licensee application fee and license renewal fee for an establishment proposing to produce or producing animal blood and blood component products to be $250 for each establishment. This bill would increase the application and annual license fees to $1,000 for each establishment proposing to produce or producing animal blood and blood component products from a closed-colony blood bank and would allow for these fees to be adjusted annually for inflation. The bill would authorize the Department of Food and Agriculture to set inspection fees, as specified. (7) Existing law prohibits a person from offering a blood or blood component product for sale unless it is produced in an establishment licensed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture. This bill would also permit a person to offer a blood or blood component product that is in accordance with the procedures governing blood banks for animals or imported into the state from an out-of-state blood bank that the secretary would be required to track, administer, and enforce, in compliance with California standards. The bill would require that the importation and sale of canine blood and blood component products from out-of-state sources is only permitted from community blood banks and would additionally require out-of-state community blood banks that sell canine blood and blood component products in the state to submit a quarterly report to the Department of Food and Agriculture every 3 months that includes specified information. (8) Existing law requires an application for registration of blood or a blood component product to include both a protocol of the methods of production in detail that is followed in the production of the product and a sample of the label to be placed on the blood or blood component product. This bill would also require that application to include the name and address of the person who owns the property, establishment, institution, or business that sells the blood, and various other information about the products for sale and the facilities. The bill would impose a registration application fee and annual renewal fee in the amount of $500 for each blood or blood component product for retail sale or use in California. The bill would authorize the Department of Food and Agriculture to increase or decrease the fees in an amount that does not exceed the department's reasonable regulatory costs incurred to administer and enforce product safety standards. The bill would also require each licensed closed-colony blood bank to maintain an onsite record of the number of donations collected from captive animals, the amount of blood collected per donation in estimated milliliters based on weight in grams, any adverse events, and other specified information. The bill would further require a licensed closed-colony blood bank to submit quarterly reports to the department every 3 months including specified information. The bill would make a violation of this provision and other specified provisions a cause for corrective action, suspension, restriction, or the nonrenewal or revocation of a license by the department. The bill would require proceedings to be conducted in conformity with formal administrative adjudication procedures. (9) Existing law provides that all records held by the Department of Food and Agriculture relating to the provisions on commercial blood banks for animals and biologics are confidential and not subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act, except that those records are accessible to law enforcement officers with jurisdiction over a matter covered by these provisions. This bill would provide that "identifying personal information," as defined, would be kept confidential and not subject to disclosure under the act. The bill, however, would allow for the disclosure of certain information so long as the data does not contain individually identifiable information and would require disclosure of information that is already in the public domain. The bill would define "identifying personal information" to mean certain information pertaining to the owner of an animal donor, as specified, including social security number, date of birth, and related information. (10) Existing law exempts from the provisions governing commercial blood banks for animals and biologics certain entities and also licensed private veterinarians who collect blood or blood products solely for their own practice. This bill would also exempt from those provisions licensed veterinarians engaged in the production of animal blood and blood component products for community blood banks for animals, except as specified. (11) 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. (12) 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 imposes various limitations on the emissions of air contaminants for the control of air pollution from vehicular and nonvehicular sources. Existing law assigns the responsibility for controlling vehicular sources of air pollution to the State Air Resources Board. This bill would require the state board, by July 1, 2022, consistent with federal law, to adopt cost-effective and technologically feasible regulations to prohibit engine exhaust and evaporative emissions from new small off-road engines, as defined by the state board. The bill would require the state board to identify and, to the extent feasible, make available funding for commercial rebates or similar incentive funding as part of any updates to existing applicable funding program guidelines to local air pollution control districts and air quality management districts to implement to support the transition to zero-emission small off-road equipment operations.

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 (EIR) 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 it 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. CEQA establishes a procedure by which a person may seek judicial review of the decision of the lead agency made pursuant to CEQA. This bill would, until January 1, 2025, establish specified procedures for the administrative and judicial review of the environmental review and approvals granted for an environmental leadership transit project, as defined, proposed by a public or private entity or its affiliates that is located wholly within the County of Los Angeles or connects to an existing transit project wholly located in that county and that is approved by the lead agency on or before January 1, 2024. The bill would require the project applicant of the environmental leadership transit project to take certain actions in order for those specified procedures to apply to the project. The bill would require the Judicial Council, on or before January 1, 2023, to adopt rules of court establishing procedures requiring actions or proceedings seeking judicial review of the certification of an environmental impact report for an environmental leadership transit project or the granting of any project approval, including any appeals to the court of appeal or the Supreme Court, to be resolved, to the extent feasible, within 365 calendar days of the filing of the certified record of proceedings with the court to an action or proceeding seeking judicial review of the lead agency's action related to an environmental leadership transit project. The bill would require the environmental leadership transit project to meet certain labor requirements. The bill would require the lead agency to prepare the EIR for an environmental leadership transit project in a specified manner and would require the concurrent preparation of the record of proceedings. The bill would specify that these requirements would only apply to the first 7 environmental leadership transit projects obtaining a certified environmental impact report. Because the bill would impose additional duties on the lead agency, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles. 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 establishes categories of peace officers with varying powers and authority to make arrests and carry firearms. Under existing law, in certain counties, including the counties of Butte and Calaveras, a deputy sheriff, who is employed to perform duties exclusively or initially relating to custodial assignments with responsibilities for maintaining the operations of county custodial facilities, is a peace officer whose authority extends to any place in the state only while engaged in the performance of the duties of the officer's employment and for the purpose of carrying out the primary function of employment relating to the officer's custodial assignments, or when performing other law enforcement duties directed by the officer's employing agency during a local state of emergency. This bill would include a deputy sheriff employed by the County of Del Norte, the County of Madera, the County of Mono, or the County of San Mateo within that definition of peace officer.

(1) Existing law declares that it is the public policy of the state that environmental marketing claims, whether explicit or implied, should be substantiated by competent and reliable evidence to prevent deceiving or misleading consumers about the environmental impact of plastic products and that, for consumers to have accurate and useful information about the environmental impact of plastic products, environmental marketing claims should adhere to uniform and recognized standards. This bill would further declare that it is the public policy of the state that claims related to the recyclability of a product or packaging be truthful and that consumers deserve accurate and useful information related to how to properly handle the end of life of a product or packaging. This bill would require the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, on or before January 1, 2024, in order to provide information to the public to evaluate whether a product or packaging is recyclable in the state and is of a material type and form that routinely become feedstock used in the production of new products and packaging, to update specified regulations to require disposal facility operators, among other operations and facilities, to provide information to the department regarding how material collected or processed by the operations and facilities was collected and what material types and forms are actively recovered, and not considered contaminants, by the operation or facility. The bill would require the department to conduct, publish on its internet website, and update as provided, a characterization study of material types and forms that are collected, sorted, sold, or transferred by solid waste facilities identified by the department for inclusion in the study. The bill would provide that, except as specified, a product or packaging is considered recyclable in the state if, based on the information published by the department, the product or packaging is of a material type and form collected for recycling by recycling programs for jurisdictions that collectively encompass at least 60% of the population of the state, among other statewide recyclability criteria. (2) Under existing law, it is unlawful for any person to make any untruthful, deceptive, or misleading environmental marketing claim, whether explicit or implied. A violation of this requirement is a misdemeanor. This bill would prohibit a person from offering for sale, selling, distributing, or importing into the state any product or packaging for which a deceptive or misleading claim about the recyclability of the product or packaging is made. The bill would provide that, except as specified, a product or packaging that displays a chasing arrows symbol, among other symbols, statements, or directions, is deemed to be a deceptive or misleading claim unless the product or packaging is considered recyclable pursuant to statewide recyclability criteria and is of a material type and form that routinely becomes feedstock used in the production of new products or packaging, as provided. The bill would therefore expand the scope of an existing crime and impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Under existing law, a person who represents in advertising or on the label or container of a consumer good that the consumer good that it manufactures or distributes is not harmful to, or is beneficial to, the natural environment, through the use of environmental terms, is required to maintain in its records specified information and documentation supporting the validity of the representation, including, if applicable, whether the consumer good conforms with the uniform standards contained in the Federal Trade Commission Guidelines for Environmental Marketing Claims for the use of the term "recyclable," among other terms. A violation of this requirement is a misdemeanor. This bill would apply that recordkeeping requirement to a person who makes those representations through the use of a chasing arrows symbol, as defined, or by otherwise directing a consumer to recycle a consumer good. The bill would add to the required information and documentation for the use of the term "recyclable," the use of a chasing arrows symbol, or other representation that advises consumers to recycle a consumer good, whether the consumer good meets the criteria for statewide recyclability. The bill would provide that a direction to a consumer that accurately instructs the consumer to properly dispose of or otherwise properly handle a consumer good at the end of its useful life shall not be considered "otherwise directing a consumer to recycle a consumer good" if the consumer good is subject to one of several enumerated programs. The bill would provide that directing a consumer to compost or properly dispose of a consumer good through an organics recycling program is also not considered "otherwise directing a consumer to recycle a consumer good." A violation of these provisions would be a misdemeanor. The bill would therefore create a new crime and impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law requires all rigid plastic bottles and rigid plastic containers sold in the state to be labeled with a code that indicates the resin used to produce the bottles or containers, with specified numbers and letters placed in relation to a triangle. This bill would prohibit the resin identification code from being placed inside a chasing arrows symbol, unless the rigid plastic bottle or rigid plastic container meets the requirements for statewide recyclability. (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.

The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development within its boundaries that includes, among other things, a housing element. That law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to determine whether the housing element is in substantial compliance with specified provisions of that law. Existing law, for award cycles commenced after July 1, 2021, awards a city, county, or city and county, that has adopted a housing element determined by the department to be in substantial compliance with specified provisions of the Planning and Zoning Law and that has been designated by the department as prohousing based upon their adoption of prohousing local policies, as specified, additional points in the scoring of program applications for housing and infrastructure programs pursuant to guidelines adopted by the department, as provided. Existing law defines "prohousing local policies" as policies that facilitate the planning, approval, or construction of housing, including, but not limited to, local financial incentives for housing, reduced parking requirements for sites that are zoned for residential development, and the adoption of zoning allowing for use by right for residential and mixed-use development. This bill would add the preservation of affordable housing units through the extension of existing project-based rental assistance covenants to avoid the displacement of affected tenants and a reduction in available affordable housing units to the list of specified prohousing local policies. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes the Marine Managed Areas Improvement Act (MMAIA) , which, among other things, prescribes 6 classifications for designating managed areas in the marine and estuarine environments to ensure the long-term ecological viability and biological productivity of marine and estuarine ecosystems and to preserve cultural resources in the coastal sea. Under the MMAIA, in a state marine conservation area, it is unlawful to injure, damage, take, or possess any living, geological, or cultural marine resource for commercial or recreational purposes, or a combination of commercial and recreational purposes, that the designating entity or managing agency determines would compromise protection of the species of interest, natural community, habitat, or geological features. The MMAIA authorizes the designating entity or managing agency to permit, among other things, research, education, and recreational activities. This bill would authorize the designating entity or managing agency to also permit restoration and monitoring activities.

Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency. Existing law requires the agency, by July 1, 2017, and every 3 years thereafter, to update the state's climate adaptation strategy to identify vulnerabilities to climate change by sectors and priority actions needed to reduce the risks in those sectors. This bill would enact the Coastal Adaptation Permitting Act of 2021. The bill would require the agency to explore, and authorize it to implement, options within the agency's jurisdiction to establish a more coordinated and efficient regulatory review and permitting process for coastal adaptation projects that use natural infrastructure, as defined. The bill would require the agency to submit, by July 1, 2023, a report to the Legislature with suggestions and recommendations for improving and expediting the coordination between appropriate agencies in their regulatory review and permitting process for coastal adaptation projects that use natural infrastructure.

Existing law requires county elections officials to mail a ballot to every registered voter for all elections proclaimed or conducted prior to January 1, 2022. Existing law requires county elections officials to use a specified Secretary of State vote by mail tracking system or a system that meets the same specifications. This bill would extend the requirements to mail a ballot to every registered voter to all elections and apply them to all local elections officials. This bill would require a vote by mail tracking system to be accessible to voters with disabilities. The bill would also make various conforming and technical changes. Existing law requires county elections officials to permit voters with a disability, and military or overseas voters, to cast a ballot using a certified remote accessible vote by mail system, and required county elections officials to permit any voter to cast a ballot using a certified remote accessible vote by mail system for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election. This bill would require county elections officials to permit any voter to cast a ballot using a certified remote accessible vote by mail system for any election. Under existing law, a vote by mail ballot is timely cast if it is voted on or before election day and, if returned by mail, received by the voter's elections official via the United States Postal Service, or a bona fide private mail delivery company, no later than 3 days after election day. This bill would provide instead that a vote by mail ballot is timely cast if it is voted on or before election day and, if returned by mail, received no later than 7 days after election day. This bill would authorize an elections official to consider any information from the United States Postal Service or a bona fide private mail delivery company that indicates the date on which the ballot was mailed, in order to determine whether a vote by mail ballot was timely cast. Existing law authorizes a jurisdiction in which vote by mail ballots are cast to begin processing vote by mail ballot return envelopes 29 days before the election. Existing law authorizes a jurisdiction having the necessary computer capability to start processing vote by mail ballots on the 15th business day before the election, except, for the statewide general election held on November 3, 2020, these jurisdictions were authorized to start processing the ballots on the 29th day before the election. Existing law authorizes all other jurisdictions to start processing vote by mail ballots at 5 p.m. on the day before the election. Existing law authorizes a county elections official to establish vote by mail ballot drop-off locations, as defined. Existing law authorizes a county to conduct any election as an all-mailed ballot election under certain specified conditions. This bill would require any county that does not conduct an all-mailed ballot election to provide at least two vote by mail ballot drop-off locations within the jurisdiction where the election is held, or at least one vote by mail ballot drop-off location for every 30,000 registered voters within the jurisdiction where the election is held, whichever results in more vote by mail ballot drop-off locations. In a jurisdiction with fewer than 30,000 registered voters, the bill would require at least one vote by mail ballot drop-off location, and would require the elections official to make a reasonable effort to provide a ballot drop-off location in the jurisdiction where the election is held. This bill would require the operation of vote by mail ballot drop-off locations to meet certain specified criteria. This bill would authorize a jurisdiction having the necessary computer capability to start processing vote by mail ballots the 29th day before any election. By requiring local elections officials to mail a ballot to every registered voter, and to take other actions, 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.