Rep. Kansen Chu

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to establish rules for all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the commission for review and approval, as specified. Following approval, the commission is required to oversee compliance with the plans. Existing law requires a wildfire mitigation plan of an electrical corporation to include, among other things, protocols for deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety, as well as protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of those protocols, including impacts on critical first responders and on health and communications infrastructure. Existing law requires a wildfire mitigation plan of an electrical corporation to also include appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines and requires these procedures to consider the need to notify, as a priority, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of a potential deenergization event. If the commission approves a wildfire mitigation plan that authorizes an electrical corporation to deenergize portions of the electrical grid, this bill would require the commission to adopt rules setting forth the circumstances under which a deenergization event may be undertaken and continued in effect and the appropriate geographic range of a deenergization event. Following a deenergization event, the bill would require the commission to determine whether the electrical corporation complied with the rules and also determine if the entire duration and geographic range of the deenergization event was reasonable, as specified. If the commission determines that the electrical corporation complied with the rules, but that either the duration or geographic range of the deenergization event exceeded that which was reasonable, the commission would be required to consider whether to modify its rules to appropriately limit the circumstances under which a deenergization event shall be undertaken and the geographic range of further deenergization events. If the commission determines that the electrical corporation failed to comply with the rules and the failure resulted in customers of the electrical corporation incurring losses, the bill would require the commission to order the electrical corporation to open an account from which to pay customers for those losses. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because this bill requires action by the commission to implement its requirements, and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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, notwithstanding the requirement that each person between 6 and 18 years of age who is not otherwise exempted is subject to compulsory full-time education, requires a pupil to be excused from school for specified types of absences, including, among others, if the absence was due to the pupil's illness or if the absence was for the purpose of having medical, dental, optometrical, or chiropractic services rendered. This bill would include as another type of required excused absence an absence that is due to the behavioral health of the pupil or for the purposes of having behavioral health services rendered. To the extent that this bill would impose additional duties on local educational entities, 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.

This measure would recognize September 2020 as Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month and encourage the Legislature to appropriate funds for research, treatment, and monitoring of sickle cell disease, and for related education and outreach.

This measure would urge specified state departments and the Attorney General to use their authority to ensure that health care service plans and health insurers subject to their authority comply with the federal Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.

(1) Existing law requires a manufacturer of carpets sold in this state to submit, either individually or through a carpet stewardship organization, a carpet stewardship plan that meets specified requirements to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and requires the department to approve or disapprove the plan. Existing law imposes a carpet stewardship assessment per unit of carpet sold in the state that is remitted by carpet manufacturers to the carpet stewardship organization and may be expended to carry out the organization's carpet stewardship plan. This bill would, among other things, require a carpet stewardship organization to include in the carpet stewardship plan a contingency plan should the carpet stewardship plan expire without approval of a new carpet stewardship plan or should the carpet stewardship plan be revoked. The bill would require a carpet stewardship organization to set up a trust fund or an escrow account, into which the bill would require the organization to deposit all unexpended funds and ongoing consumer assessments, for use in the event that the carpet stewardship plan terminates or is revoked. The bill would require, if a carpet stewardship plan is revoked or terminated, the trustee or escrow agent to accept carpet stewardship assessment payments directly from manufacturers and to make payments from the trust fund or escrow account as the department directs, in writing, to implement the most recently approved carpet stewardship plan. The bill would authorize the department, if a new carpet stewardship plan has not been approved within one year after termination or revocation, to make modifications to the previously approved plan, as it deems necessary, and continue to direct payments from the trust fund or escrow account to implement the modified plan. This bill would repeal certain provisions relating to the carpet stewardship assessment and would replace the assessment with differential assessments that take into account the financial burden that a particular carpet material has on the stewardship program, and the amount of postconsumer recycled content contained in a particular carpet, as prescribed. (2) Existing law requires a carpet stewardship organization submitting a carpet stewardship plan to pay to the department a quarterly administrative fee, as specified. Existing law prohibits the total amount of the administrative fees paid for a calendar year from exceeding 5% of the aggregate assessments collected for the preceding calendar year. This bill would repeal that prohibition. (3) Existing law authorizes the department to administratively impose civil penalties on any person who is in violation of any provision of the carpet stewardship laws, of up to $1,000 per day or $10,000 per day if the violation is intentional, knowing, or negligent. This bill would increase the former penalty amount to $5,000 per day. (4) This bill would also make conforming changes and repeal obsolete provisions.

The Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 provides the authority and procedure for the initiation, conduct, and completion of changes of organization, reorganization, and sphere of influence changes for cities and districts, as specified. Existing law prohibits a local agency formation commission from approving an annexation to a city of any territory greater than 10 acres, or as determined by commission policy, where there exists a disadvantaged unincorporated community that is contiguous to the area of proposed annexation, unless an application to annex the disadvantaged unincorporated community into the subject city has been filed. Under existing law, an application to annex a contiguous disadvantaged community is not required if, among other things, the commission finds that a majority of the registered voters within the disadvantaged unincorporated community are opposed to the annexation, as specified. This bill would clarify that the prohibition on approving an annexation involving a disadvantaged unincorporated community, as described above, applies to the annexation of territory greater than 10 acres, or smaller as determined by commission policy. The bill would also provide that the existing approval prohibition and the exemptions to the application requirement apply to the annexation of two or more contiguous areas that take place within 5 years of each other and that are individually less than 10 acres but cumulatively more than 10 acres.

Existing law, the Financial Institutions Law, regulates the activities of various financial entities, including commercial banks, industrial banks, trust companies, credit unions, and savings associations. The Banking Law defines and regulates state banks and commits the enforcement of banking laws to the Commissioner of Business Oversight. Existing law prohibits a county from giving or loaning its credit to, or in aid of, any person or corporation. Existing law requires a local agency, as defined, to deposit all money belonging to, or in the custody of, that local agency into specified state or national banks, as defined. Existing law regulates the investment of public funds by local agencies. Existing law, the Nonprofit Corporation Law, regulates the formation and conduct of a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation and a nonprofit public benefit corporation. This bill would define the term "bank" for purposes of the Financial Institutions Law and the Banking Law to include a public bank. The bill would define the term "public bank" to mean a corporation, organized as either a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation or a nonprofit public benefit corporation for the purpose of engaging in the commercial banking business or industrial banking business, that is wholly owned by a local agency, as specified, local agencies, or a joint powers authority. The bill would require a public bank to obtain a certificate of authorization to transact business as a bank from the commissioner and to obtain and maintain insurance, subject to specified requirements. The bill would prohibit the commissioner from issuing more than 2 public bank licenses, as defined, in a calendar year and would prohibit the commissioner from authorizing more than 10 public banks at one time. The bill would require a public bank to include a specified purpose statement in its articles of incorporation and make conforming changes. The bill would require a local agency to conduct and approve, as specified, a study of the viability of a public bank containing specified elements before submitting an application to the commissioner to organize and establish a public bank and would require the local agency to include a copy of that study in the application submitted to the commissioner. The bill would require a local agency that is not a charter city to obtain voter approval of a motion to submit an application to the commissioner, as specified. The bill would authorize a county to lend its available funds to a public bank. The bill also would authorize a local agency to deposit funds in a public bank, and to invest in a public bank, subject to certain requirements. The bill would authorize a public bank to make distributions to its members. The bill would require, as specified, a public bank to conduct retail activities in partnership with local financial institutions and would prohibit a public bank from competing with local financial institutions. The Corporation Tax Law imposes a franchise tax on financial corporations, but provides that the tax is in lieu of all other state and local taxes and licenses, with certain exceptions. That law also exempts specified classes of entities from the franchise and income taxes imposed by that law, including state-chartered credit unions. This bill would additionally exempt from those franchise and income taxes any public bank. This bill would also exempt a public bank from all other state and local taxes and licenses, with certain exceptions. Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires that all meetings of the legislative body, as defined, of a local agency be open and public and all persons be permitted to attend unless a closed session is authorized. This bill would authorize the governing board of a public bank or a committee of that governing board to meet in a closed session to consider and take action on matters pertaining to a loan or investment decision, a decision of the internal audit committee, the compliance committee, or the governance committee, and a meeting with a state or federal regulator. The bill would authorize a public bank to make all information received by a shareholder, member, or owner of a public bank confidential, as specified. Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires that public records, as defined, be available to the public for inspection and made promptly available to any person. This bill would exempt specified information and records of a public bank, and related decisions of the directors, officers, and managers of the public bank, from the disclosure requirements of the act, including, among others, records related to alternative investments of the bank, as specified, meeting materials of any closed session, a record containing information regarding a portfolio position in which the public bank invests, information related to a specific account in the bank, and specified correspondence related to meetings with, or a memorandum or letter received from, state and federal banking regulators. 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. The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Existing law requires a civil action to be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest, except as otherwise provided by statute. Existing law permits a person who has been the victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, or elder or dependent adult abuse, to apply to the Secretary of State to participate in an address confidentiality program, as specified. This bill would permit a person who is a participant in the address confidentiality program and a party to a civil action to proceed using a pseudonym and to exclude or redact other identifying characteristics of the person from all pleadings and documents filed in the action, as specified. Parties to the action would be required to use the pseudonym at proceedings open to the public and to exclude and redact other identifying characteristics of the plaintiff from documents filed with the court.

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, and dispose of real and personal property, within the authority's jurisdiction, necessary to the full exercise of its powers. This bill would authorize the authority to establish and administer the Coyote Valley Conservation Program to address resource and recreational goals of the Coyote Valley, as defined. The bill would authorize the authority to collaborate with state, regional, and local partners to help achieve specified goals of the program. The bill would authorize the authority to, among other things, acquire and dispose of interests and options in real property. The bill would require a proponent or party to a certain proposed development project within Coyote Valley to provide notice to the authority of the proposed project, and would authorize the authority to provide analysis of the environmental values and potential impacts of the proposed project. The bill would require Coyote Valley to be acknowledged as an area of statewide significance in local planning documents developed or updated on or after January 1, 2020, affecting land use within Coyote Valley. To the extent that this bill would impose new duties on local entities, it 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.