Asm. Ash Kalra

Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. Under existing law, the department is responsible for administering various housing programs throughout the state, including, among others, the California Emergency Solutions and Housing Program, which, among other things, provides rental assistance and housing relocation and stabilization services to ensure housing affordability for people who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness. Existing law, the Housing Authorities Law, creates a housing authority in each county and each city, which is authorized to transact business and exercise specified powers upon adoption of a resolution by the governing body of the county or city declaring that there is a need for the authority to function. Among other things, existing law authorizes a housing authority to provide leased housing to persons of low income. This bill would require all public housing authorities to report specified data, including their monthly success rates as of the first of each month, to the department beginning on July 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, as specified. Because the bill would require local housing authorities to perform additional duties, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department to make the data publicly available, beginning on January 1, 2026, and each year thereafter. The bill would require the department, beginning on July 1, 2025, and bi-annually thereafter until June 30, 2027, to convene a group of public housing authorities to discuss factors that impact success rates and recommendations for state and local intervention. The bill would also require the department, in consultation with participants in the Housing Choice Voucher program and other stakeholders, to publish a report, which shall be made publicly available, with recommendations for state and local interventions to improve success rates, on or before July 1, 2026. 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.

(1) Existing law, commonly known as the Lake and Streambed Alteration Program, prohibits an entity from substantially diverting or obstructing the natural flow of, or substantially changing or using any material from the bed, channel, or bank of, any river, stream, or lake, or from depositing or disposing of certain material where it may pass into any river, stream, or lake, unless certain requirements are met. Existing law also prohibits the take or possession of certain species, including, among others, a fully protected fish, except as provided. This bill, the Restoration Management Permit Act, would authorize the department to (1) issue a restoration management permit to authorize the take, possession, import, or export of any species or subspecies of fish, wildlife, or plants in association with a management or propagation project that, among other things, has the primary purpose of restoring native fish, wildlife, plants, or their habitat and (2) authorize any impacts to fish and wildlife resources as a result of activities otherwise subject to the Lake and Streambed Alteration Program, as provided. The bill would exempt these management or propagation projects from various legal requirements, including, among others, the above-described prohibitions regarding the take or possession of fully protected fish, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to develop permit applications for restoration management permits and would require permit applications to contain specified information. The bill would prohibit the department from issuing a restoration management permit for the design, construction, operation, mitigation, or maintenance of isolated Delta conveyance facilities. This bill would establish the Restoration Management Permit Program Fund in the State Treasury. The bill would authorize the department to establish a schedule of fees to be charged for all or a portion of the department's costs relating to the administration of restoration management permits, as provided. The bill would require the department to post on its internet website a list and description of every qualifying restoration project permitted by the department and would require the department to, on or before January 1, 2034, submit a report to the Legislature that evaluates the impacts and outcomes of the act on the pace and scale of restoration projects. The bill would repeal the above-described provisions on January 1, 2035. The bill would also make related findings and declarations. (2) The California State Safe Harbor Agreement Program Act establishes a program to encourage landowners to manage their lands voluntarily, by means of state safe harbor agreements approved by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, to benefit endangered, threatened, or candidate species, or declining or vulnerable species, without being subject to additional regulatory restrictions as a result of their conservation efforts. Existing law, for purposes of the California State Safe Harbor Agreement Program Act, defines "landowner" to mean any person or nonstate or federal entity or entities that lawfully hold any interest in land or water to which they are committing to implement the requirements of the act. The act provides that, if a federal safe harbor agreement or a federal candidate conservation agreement with assurances contains species that are endangered, threatened, candidate, or declining or vulnerable species pursuant to the California Endangered Species Act, no further authorization or approval is necessary to take the species in accordance with the federal agreement, as provided. This bill would revise the definition of "landowner" for these purposes to additionally include state entities. The bill would additionally provide that, if a federal conservation benefit agreement with an enhancement of survival permit contains species that are endangered, threatened, candidate, or declining or vulnerable species pursuant to the California Endangered Species Act, no further authorization or approval is necessary to take the species identified in and in accordance with the federal agreement, as specified. (3) Under existing law, any violation of the Fish and Game Code, or of any rule, regulation, or order made or adopted under that code, is a misdemeanor, unless otherwise specified. To the extent that this bill's provisions create new crimes, 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.

(1) Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, authorizes a development proponent to submit an application for a multifamily housing development that is subject to a streamlined, ministerial approval process, as provided, and not subject to a conditional use permit, if the development satisfies specified objective planning standards, including, among others, that the development is subject to a requirement mandating a minimum percentage of below market rate housing based on, among other things, that (1) the locality's latest production report reflects that there were fewer units of housing issued building permits affordable to either very low income or low-income households by income category than were required for the regional housing needs assessment cycle for that reporting period and (2) the project seeking approval dedicates 50% of the total number of units, as specified, to housing affordable to households making at or below 80% of the area median income. This bill would also include as an objective planning standard that (1) the locality's latest production report reflects the requirements described above and (2) the project application was submitted prior to January 1, 2019, and the project includes at least 500 units of housing, that the project dedicates 20% of the total number of units, as specified, as affordable units, with at least 9% affordable to households making at or below 50% of the area median income and the remainder affordable to households making at or below 80% of the area median income. For these purposes, the bill would include units affordable to acutely low income and extremely low income households, as those terms are defined, as units affordable to very low income households, as that term is referenced. Existing law requires a local government or relevant local planning and permitting department if the local government's planning director or equivalent position determines that a housing development project is in conflict with any of the above-described objective planning standards to provide to the development proponent written documentation of the standards with which the development conflicts and an explanation for the reasoning within 60 days or 90 days of the submittal of the development proposal, depending on the number of housing units. This bill would also require a local government or relevant local planning and permitting department to provide to the development proponent written documentation of the standards with which the development conflicts and an explanation for the reasoning as described above within 30 days of the submittal of any development proposal that was resubmitted to address written feedback provided by the local government. Existing law authorizes a development proponent to request a modification to a development that has been approved under the streamlined, ministerial approval process if that request is submitted to the local government before the issuance of the final building permit. Existing law authorizes a local government to apply objective planning standards adopted after the development application was first submitted to the requested modification if the development is revised such that (1) the total number of residential units or total square footage of construction changes by 15% or more or (2) the development is revised such that the total number of residential units or total square footage of construction changes by 5% or more and it is necessary to impose an objective standard beyond those in effect when the development application was submitted in order to mitigate or avoid a specific, adverse impact upon the public health or safety. This bill would instead authorize a local government to apply objective planning standards adopted after the development application was first submitted to the requested modification if the development is revised such that (1) the total square footage of construction increases by 15% or more or the total number of residential units decreases by 15% or more or (2) the total square footage of construction increases by 5% or more or the total number of residential units decreases by 5% or more and it is necessary to impose an objective standard beyond those in effect when the development application was submitted in order to mitigate or avoid a specific, adverse impact upon the public health or safety. By reducing the ability of a local government to impose objective planning standards adopted after the development application was first submitted when reviewing a requested modification, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law includes as an objective planning standard that the house development and site on which it is located satisfy specified requirements, including that at least 75% of the perimeter of the development site is adjoined with parcels that are developed with urban uses. Existing law defines "urban uses" for purposes of that provision to include any current or former residential, commercial, public institutional, transit or transportation passenger facility, or retail use, or any combination of those uses. This bill would also include within the definition of "urban uses" any current or former public park that is surrounded by other urban uses, and parking lot or structure. (2) Existing law, the Subdivision Map Act, vests the authority to regulate and control the design and improvement of subdivisions in the legislative body of a local agency and sets forth procedures governing the local agency's processing, approval, conditional approval or disapproval, and filing of tentative, final, and parcel maps, and the modification thereof. The act generally requires a subdivider to file a tentative map or vesting tentative map with the local agency, as specified, and the local agency, in turn, to approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove the map within a specified time period. 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 it finds that the project will not have that effect. Existing law exempts from the requirements of CEQA, and requires specified public oversight timelines for, an application for a subdivision pursuant to the Subdivision Map Act that is submitted pursuant to the streamlined, ministerial approval process described above if the development is consistent with specified requirements. In this regard, existing law requires the development to consist of 10 or fewer units and to not be a public work, as specified, and to be consistent with all objective subdivision standards in the local subdivision ordinance. This bill would remove the above-described requirement that the development consists of 10 or fewer units and is not a public work, as specified, and would instead require the development to comply with specified provisions relating to the streamlined, ministerial approval process and to meet at least one of other specified requirements, including that the development has received or will receive financing or funding by means of a low-income housing tax credit. By modifying the duties of a local agency in reviewing applications for a subdivision, 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.

(1) Existing federal law, the Victims of Crime Act of 1984, creates the Crime Victims Fund and authorizes federal financial assistance to states for the purpose of supporting eligible crime victim assistance programs. Existing law creates various programs under the Office of Emergency Services related to crime prevention and education, including, among other things, programs concerning family violence prevention and domestic violence prevention. This bill, the California Victims of Crime Act, would establish the California Crime Victims Fund in the State Treasury and would require that moneys deposited in the fund be continuously appropriated to the Office of Emergency Services to support crime victims services. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to seek advisement from the Victims of Crime Act Steering Committee on priorities for utilizing the funds and would require the Treasurer to provide an annual report to the Legislature on the amounts deposited into the fund. By continuously appropriating moneys to the Office of Emergency Services for the support of crime victim services, the bill would make an appropriation. (2) Existing law establishes the aggravated white-collar crime enhancement which imposes enhanced penalties against a person who commits 2 or more related felonies, a material element of which is fraud or embezzlement, that involve a pattern of related felony conduct, and the pattern of related felony conduct involves the taking or loss of more than $100,000, as specified. This bill would authorize a court to impose an additional fine, known as the corporate white collar criminal enhancement, against a corporation that is convicted of a misdemeanor or felony. The bill would authorize the court to determine the amount of the fine, but would set specified limits. The bill would require the court to consider certain factors when determining the amount of the fine, including, among other things, the nature and seriousness of the offense and the corporation's assets, liabilities, and net worth, as specified. The bill would require that any moneys collected under this provision be deposited into the California Crime Victims Fund. (3) The California Constitution entitles the victim of a crime to restitution. Existing law requires the court in each criminal case to order a convicted defendant to pay full restitution to the victim and a separate restitution fine, as specified. This bill would, if a corporation is convicted of a misdemeanor or felony offense, require the court to impose a separate and additional restitution fine, as specified. The bill would authorize the court to determine the amount of the restitution fine, but would impose specified maximums. The bill would require any moneys collected under this provision to be distributed to the California Crime Victims Fund and the prosecuting agency that brought the criminal prosecution, as specified.

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 establishes the Invasive Species Council of California to help coordinate a comprehensive effort to prevent the introduction of invasive species in the state and to advise state agencies how to facilitate coordinated, complementary, and cost-effective control or eradication of invasive species that have entered or are already established in the state, as specified. This bill would require the council to prioritize specified activities, including integrated pest management for controlling invasive species already established in the state, in all of its activities. The bill would define "integrated pest management" and "invasive species" for those purposes.

(1) Existing law creates the Santa Clara Valley Open-Space Authority, and prescribes the jurisdiction and functions and duties of the authority. Existing law authorizes the authority, among other things, to acquire, hold, use, enjoy, and lease or dispose of real and personal property, within or without the authority's jurisdiction, necessary to the full exercise of its powers. Existing law requires the authority to acquire remote ranchlands east of the westernmost ridgeline of the Diablo Range as permanent open space only through conservation easement purchases or the granting of lands or conservation easements by owners to the authority. This bill would instead require the authority to acquire remote ranchlands east of the westernmost ridgeline of the Diablo Range as permanent open space only from willing sellers through conservation easement or fee title purchases or the granting of lands or conservation easements by owners to the authority. (2) Existing law authorizes the governing board of the authority to contract with any person or public agency for any services, supplies, equipment, or materials, or for the construction or completion of any building, structure, or improvement. Existing law requires a contract for any supplies, equipment, or materials that exceeds $25,000 to be contracted for and let to the lowest responsible bidder. Existing law requires a contract of $75,000 or less to be let by informal bidding procedures, but requires a contract of more than $75,000 to be let by formal bidding procedures. This bill, among other things, would authorize the governing board to also contract for the maintenance or repair of any building, structure, or improvement. The bill would increase the amount by which a contract for any supplies, equipment, or materials may be contracted for and let to the lowest responsible bidder to $50,000. The bill would increase the amount by which a contract for any supplies, equipment, or materials to be let by informal bidding procedures to $100,000 or less, and would increase the amount by which a contract for any supplies, equipment, or materials to be let by formal bidding procedures to more than $100,000. The bill would require a contract for the construction, completion, maintenance, or repair of any building, structure, or improvement that exceeds $25,000 to be contracted for and let to the lowest responsible bidder. The bill would require a contract for the construction, completion, maintenance, or repair of any building, structure, or improvement of $75,000 or less to be let by informal bidding procedures, and would require a contract for the construction, completion, maintenance, or repair of any building, structure, or improvement of more than $75,000 to be let by formal bidding procedures. The bill would authorize the governing board to appoint a general manager to be the authority's chief administrative officer. The bill would authorize the governing board to authorize the general manager to bind the authority, in accordance with governing board policy adopted in an open meeting and without advertising, for contracts for any services, supplies, equipment, or materials, or for the construction, completion, maintenance, or repair of any building, structure, or improvement, not exceeding $50,000. The bill would require all expenditures related to contracts for any services, supplies, equipment, or materials, or for the construction, completion, maintenance, or repair of any building, structure, or improvement, approved by the general manager to be reported to the governing board at its next regular meeting. (3) Existing law authorizes the authority to impose special taxes, as specified. This bill instead would authorize the authority to impose qualified special taxes, as defined, subject to specified constitutional and statutory provisions, and to provide for an exemption for persons who are 65 years of age or older, for persons receiving Supplemental Security Income for a disability, or for persons receiving Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, as specified. The bill would authorize the authority to enter into an agreement with a county to collect any special tax on behalf of the authority. The bill would require the authority, if it provides for an exemption from a qualified special tax described above, and contracts or enters into an agreement with the county to collect the qualified special tax within the authority's jurisdiction, to annually provide specified information relating to that exemption to the county tax collector. The bill would require a county tax collector that contracts or enters into an agreement with the authority and receives that information to include a hyperlink, identified as "Parcel Tax Exemptions," on the tax collector's internet website home page to another location on the tax collector's internet website that contains the information submitted by the authority to the tax collector relating to that exemption, except as specified. (4) Existing law authorizes the authority, for its purposes, to levy assessments, as provided, and incur indebtedness to finance capital improvements, as specified. This bill would authorize the authority to finance facilities and issue bonds for its purposes pursuant to the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982.

Existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, provides that all persons within the jurisdiction of this state are entitled to full and equal accommodations in all business establishments regardless of their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status. Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, makes it unlawful to engage in specified discriminatory employment practices based on certain protected characteristics, including race, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification or applicable security regulations, and prohibits housing discrimination based on specified personal characteristics, including race. Existing law states the policy of the State of California to afford all persons in public schools, regardless of their disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other specified characteristic, equal rights and opportunities in the educational institutions of the state, and to prohibit acts that are contrary to that policy and to provide remedies therefor. Existing law prohibits discrimination because of a perception that a person has one of those protected characteristics or is associated with a person who has, or is perceived to have, any of those characteristics. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act and public school policy define the term race for purposes of those provisions to include traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, as defined. This bill would remove the term "historically" from the definitions of race, thus defining race to include traits associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, as defined, and would add those definitions for "race" and "protective hairstyle" to the Unruh Civil Rights Act. This bill would declare that its provisions are declaratory of existing law. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 51 of the Civil Code proposed by SB 1137 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1137 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12926 of the Government Code proposed by SB 1022 and SB 1137 to be operative only if this bill and either or both of those bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Former law established, until July 1, 2023, the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States. Former law required the Task Force to, among other things, identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies that became the United States, and to recommend appropriate remedies in consideration of the Task Force's findings, as specified. Former law required the Task Force to submit a written report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature, as specified. This bill would provide that the State of California recognizes and accepts responsibility for all of the harms and atrocities committed by the state, its representatives thereof, and entities under its jurisdiction who promoted, facilitated, enforced, and permitted the institution of chattel slavery and the enduring legacy of ongoing badges and incidents from which the systemic structures of discrimination have come to exist. The bill would further provide that the State of California apologizes for perpetuating the harms African Americans have faced and affirms its role in protecting the descendants of enslaved people and all Black Californians. The bill would require a plaque memorializing this apology to be publicly and conspicuously installed and maintained in the State Capitol Building. The bill would impose various duties on the Department of General Services and the Joint Rules Committee relating to the installation and maintenance of the plaque. The bill would authorize the Department of General Services and the Joint Rules Committee to receive money from grants and private donations and would continuously appropriate those funds for this purpose, as specified. The bill would require the Legislature to prepare the formal apology and would request it be signed by specified state leaders. The bill would require the Secretary of State to submit a final copy of this formal apology to the State Archives, where it would be available for viewing by the general public in perpetuity. The bill would include related legislative findings.

(1) Existing law authorizes the agricultural commissioner of a county to adopt regulations applicable in the county that are supplemental to those of the Director of Pesticide Regulation that govern the conduct of pest control operations and records and reports of those operations. Existing law authorizes the commissioner to adopt regulations on the agricultural use of any pesticide for agricultural production within 14 mile of a school with respect to the timing, notification, and method of application. Existing regulations restrict specified applications of pesticides made for the production of an agricultural commodity within 14 mile of a schoolsite. This bill would require the Department of Pesticide Regulation to require a separate site identification number for the portion of an agricultural field that lies within 14 mile of a schoolsite. The bill would also require the department, for permit applications for agricultural use of pesticides designated as restricted materials, notices of intent for use of a pesticide designated as a restricted material, and pesticide use reporting forms and procedures, as they pertain to an agricultural field of which any portion lies within 14 mile of a schoolsite, to require reporting on the specific method, or the specific anticipated method, of applying the pesticide, as applicable, and certain information relating to the dates and times of the pesticide application, as applicable, as specified. The bill would require the director, in evaluating a county's pesticide use enforcement program, to evaluate the county's effectiveness in enforcing specified laws and regulations regarding applying pesticides near schoolsites. The bill would require the director, on or before December 31, 2026, to expand the scope of specified related regulations to also apply to private schools serving pupils in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, with an enrollment of 6 or more pupils. The bill would require the department and the county agricultural commissioners to use private school directory information and maps available on the internet website of the State Department of Education to determine the location of private schools serving pupils in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, with an enrollment of 6 or more pupils. The bill would exempt a school conducted in a person's residence from these provisions. (2) Existing law, unless a different penalty is expressly provided, makes a violation of the Food and Agricultural Code a crime. By expanding the duties of county agricultural commissioners, and 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 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.