(1) Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth in various placement settings. Existing law provides for the implementation of the resource family approval process and defines a resource family as an individual or family who has successfully met both the home environment assessment standards and permanency assessment criteria, as specified, necessary for providing care for a child placed by a public or private child placement agency by court order, or voluntarily placed by a parent or legal guardian. Under existing law, the resource family permanency standards include a family evaluation, including, but not limited to, interviews of an applicant, as specified, and a risk assessment. This bill would require a resource family to demonstrate an ability and willingness to meet the needs of a child, regardless of the child's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, as specified. To the extent this bill would create new duties for counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires counties to ensure resource family applicants and resource families have the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to support children in foster care by completing caregiver training. Existing law requires that training to include a curriculum that supports the role of a resource family in parenting vulnerable children and should be ongoing in order to provide resource families with information on trauma-informed practices and requirements and other topics within the foster care system. This bill would require counties to ensure that the caregiver training described above supports children of all races, ethnic group identifications, ancestries, national origins, colors, religions, sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities, mental or physical disabilities, or HIV statuses in foster care. To the extent this bill would create new duties for counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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.
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Existing law requires the State Department of Education to develop resources or, as appropriate, update existing resources for in-service training on schoolsite and community resources for the support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) pupils, and strategies to increase support for LGBTQ pupils and thereby improve overall school climate. Existing law requires those resources to be designed for use in schools operated by a school district or county office of education and charter schools serving pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive. This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction, on or before July 1, 2024, to convene an advisory task force to identify the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and plus (LGBTQ+) pupils and to make recommendations to assist in implementing supportive policies and initiatives to address LGBTQ+ pupil education and well-being, as provided. The bill would require advisory task force members to be selected by the Superintendent, as provided. The bill would require the advisory task force to, on or before January 1, 2026, report their findings and recommendations to the Legislature, the Superintendent, and the Governor.
Existing law requires every restroom of every public and private school maintaining any combination of classes from kindergarten to grade 12, inclusive, to be maintained and cleaned regularly, fully operational, and stocked at all times with toilet paper, soap, and paper towels or functional hand dryers, and kept open during school hours when pupils are not in classes. Existing law requires that a sufficient number of restrooms be kept open during school hours when pupils are in classes. Existing law authorizes a school to temporarily close a restroom as necessary for pupil safety or as necessary to repair the facility. This bill would revise the conditions under which a restroom is authorized to be temporarily closed to instead be as necessary (1) for a documented pupil safety concern, (2) for an immediate threat to pupil safety, or (3) to repair the facility. The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2026, each school district, county office of education, and charter school, including charter schools operating in a school district facility, maintaining any combination of classes from grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to provide and maintain at least one all-gender restroom for voluntary pupil use at each of its schoolsites that meet specified criteria. The bill would require the all-gender restroom to meet certain requirements, including, among other things, that it has signage identifying the bathroom facility as being open to all genders and is unlocked, unobstructed, and easily accessible by any pupil. The bill would require the local educational agency to designate a staff member to serve as a point of contact for these purposes and to post a notice regarding these requirements in a prominent and conspicuous location outside at least one all-gender restroom. The bill would require these requirements to be subject to compliance review, as specified. By imposing additional requirements on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize a local educational agency to use an existing restroom to satisfy these requirements, as provided. The bill would require the State Department of Education to post on its internet website guidance for implementation of these provisions. Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 (the Greene Act) , requires the State Allocation Board to allocate to applicant school districts prescribed per-unhoused-pupil state funding for the construction and modernization of school facilities, including hardship funding, and supplemental funding for site development and acquisition. This bill would require the governing board of a school district, a county board of education, or the governing body of a charter school that applies for state funding pursuant to the Greene Act for a school modernization project to include, as part of the modernization project, an all-gender restroom designed exclusively for pupil use for specified schoolsites, as provided. The bill would provide that these provisions apply only to those projects that are submitted for approval on or after 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.
Existing law authorizes a person to file a petition with the superior court seeking a judgment recognizing their change of gender to female, male, or nonbinary, including a person who is under 18 years of age. Existing law authorizes a person to file a single petition to simultaneously change the petitioner's name and recognize the change to the petitioner's gender and sex identifier, as specified. This bill would require any petition for a change of gender and sex identifier or a petition for change of gender, sex identifier, and name filed by a person under 18 years of age, and any papers associated with the proceeding, to be kept confidential by the court. The bill would require the court to limit access to these records to specified individuals, including, among others, the minor, the minor's parents, and their attorneys. 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.
Existing law establishes the system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state and provides for the establishment of local educational agencies to operate these schools and provide instruction to pupils. 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. Existing law requires, no later than July 1, 2021, the State Department of Education to develop resources or, as appropriate, update existing resources for in-service training on schoolsite and community resources for the support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) pupils, and strategies to increase support for LGBTQ pupils, as specified. Existing law encourages schools operated by a school district or county office of education and charter schools to use those resources to provide training at least once every 2 years to teachers and other certificated employees of those schools that serve pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive. This bill would require the State Department of Education, on or before July 1, 2025, to finalize the development of an online training delivery platform and an online training curriculum to support LGBTQ cultural competency training for teachers and other certificated employees, as specified. The bill would delete the above-described encouragement and instead would require, commencing with the 2025–26 school year and ending with the completion of the 2029–30 school year, each local educational agency, as defined, serving pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to use the online training delivery platform and curriculum, or an in-service alternative, to provide at least one hour of required training annually to teachers and other certificated employees at those schools, as provided. The bill would require each local educational agency to maintain records documenting the training, as provided. The bill would require the department to monitor compliance with the training requirement as part of the department's annual compliance monitoring of state and federal programs. The bill would require the department, within 9 months of the completion of the 5-year training period, to report data from that compliance monitoring to the Legislature, and post the report on the department's internet website, as provided. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require these provisions to be known as the Safe and Supportive Schools Act. This bill would make these requirements inoperative on July 1, 2031, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2032. 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.
The measure would apply to the United States Congress to call a constitutional convention under Article V of the Constitution of the United States for the purpose of proposing a constitutional amendment relating to firearms, as specified.
This measure would denounce the actions of the Tennessee House of Representatives in expelling two African-American Democratic Representatives.
(1) The California Constitution prohibits the ad valorem tax rate on real property from exceeding 1% of the full cash value of the property, subject to certain exceptions. This measure would create an additional exception to the 1% limit that would authorize a city, county, city and county, or special district to levy an ad valorem tax to service bonded indebtedness incurred to fund the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of public infrastructure, affordable housing, including downpayment assistance, or permanent supportive housing, or the acquisition or lease of real property for those purposes, if the proposition proposing that tax is approved by 55% of the voters of the city, county, city and county, or special district, as applicable, and the proposition includes specified accountability requirements. The measure would prohibit a city, county, city and county, or special district from placing a proposition on the ballot pursuant to these provisions if the voters have previously approved a proposition pursuant to these provisions or the below special tax provisions until all funds from the previous proposition are committed to programs and projects listed in the specific local program or ordinance, as described. The measure, subject to certain vote thresholds, would authorize the Legislature to enact laws establishing additional accountability measures and laws for the downpayment assistance programs authorized by the measure, as specified. The measure would specify that these provisions apply to any city, county, city and county, or special district measure imposing an ad valorem tax to pay the interest and redemption charges on bonded indebtedness for these purposes that is submitted at the same election as this measure. (2) The California Constitution conditions the imposition of a special tax by a local government upon the approval of 23 of the voters of the local government voting on that tax. This measure would authorize a local government to impose, extend, or increase a sales and use tax or transactions and use tax imposed in accordance with specified law or a parcel tax for the purposes of funding the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of public infrastructure, affordable housing, including downpayment assistance, or permanent supportive housing, or the acquisition or lease of real property for those purposes, if the proposition proposing that tax is approved by a majority vote of the membership of the governing board of the local government and by 55% of its voters voting on the proposition and the proposition includes specified accountability requirements. The measure would prohibit a local government from placing a proposition on the ballot pursuant to these provisions if the voters have previously approved a proposition pursuant to these provisions or the above ad valorem tax provisions until all funds from the previous proposition are committed to programs and projects listed in the specific local program or ordinance, as described. The measure, subject to certain vote thresholds, would authorize the Legislature to enact laws establishing additional accountability measures and laws for the downpayment assistance programs authorized by the measure, as specified. This measure would also make conforming changes to related provisions. The measure would specify that these provisions apply to any local measure imposing, extending, or increasing a sales and use tax, transactions and use tax, or parcel tax for these purposes that is submitted at the same election as this measure. (3) The California Constitution prohibits specified local government agencies from incurring any indebtedness exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided in that year, without the assent of 23 of the voters and subject to other conditions. In the case of a school district, community college district, or county office of education, the California Constitution permits a proposition for the incurrence of indebtedness in the form of general obligation bonds for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of school facilities, including the furnishing and equipping of school facilities, or the acquisition or lease of real property for school facilities, to be adopted upon the approval of 55% of the voters of the district or county, as appropriate, voting on the proposition at an election. This measure would expressly prohibit a special district, other than a board of education or school district, from incurring any indebtedness or liability exceeding any applicable statutory limit, as prescribed by the statutes governing the special district. The measure would also similarly require the approval of 55% of the voters of the city, county, city and county, or special district, as applicable, to incur bonded indebtedness, exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided in that year, that is in the form of general obligation bonds issued to fund the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of public infrastructure, affordable housing, or permanent supportive housing projects, if the proposition proposing that bond includes specified accountability requirements. The measure would specify that this 55% threshold applies to any proposition for the incurrence of indebtedness by a city, county, city and county, or special district for these purposes that is submitted at the same election as this measure. (4) This measure would deem another measure on the same statewide election ballot relating to state or local requirements for the imposition, adoption, creation, or establishment of taxes, charges, and other revenue measures in conflict with it and would make the other measure null and void if this measure receives more affirmative votes.
The California Constitution authorizes a person to vote if the person is a United States citizen, at least 18 years of age, and a resident of the state. The California Constitution requires the Legislature to provide for the disqualification of electors while serving a state or federal prison term for the conviction of a felony. This measure would repeal that requirement regarding the disqualification of electors incarcerated for felony convictions, thereby authorizing an otherwise qualified elector serving a state or federal prison term for the conviction of a felony to vote.
This measure would proclaim the month of September 2023 as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.