Existing law, commonly known as the California Family Rights Act, which is a part of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer, as defined, to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid protected leave during any 12-month period for family care and medical leave, as specified. This bill would additionally make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 5 days of bereavement leave upon the death of a family member, as defined. The bill would require that leave be completed within 3 months of the date of death. The bill would require that leave be taken pursuant to any existing bereavement leave policy of the employer. Under the bill, in the absence of an existing policy, the bereavement leave may be unpaid. However, the bill would authorize an employee to use certain other leave balances otherwise available to the employee, including accrued and available paid sick leave. This bill would require, if an existing leave policy provides for less than 5 days of bereavement leave, a total of at least 5 days of bereavement leave for the employee, as prescribed. The bill would make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to engage in specified acts of discrimination, interference, or retaliation relating to an individual's exercise of rights under the bill. The bill would require the employer to maintain employee confidentiality relating to bereavement leave, as specified. The bill would not apply to an employee who is covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement that provides for prescribed bereavement leave and other specified working conditions. Existing law requires the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to create a small employer family leave mediation pilot program for alleged violations of specified family care and medical leave provisions, applicable to employers with between 5 and 19 employees. This bill would require the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to expand the program to include mediation for alleged violations of these provisions. Existing law grants specified permanent employees of the state up to 3 days of bereavement leave, with up to 2 additional days of bereavement leave upon request if the death is out of state. Existing law specifies that these 2 additional days are to be without pay or are to be charged against existing sick leave credits. This bill would recast those provisions to specify that the first 3 days of bereavement leave are to be paid leave, and to remove the condition that the death be out of state for the additional 2 days. 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.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law establishes the Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund, administered by the Office of Health Equity within the State Department of Public Health, for the purpose of grant funding focused on coordinating trans-inclusive health care for individuals who identify as transgender, gender nonconforming, or intersex. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services through various health care delivery systems, including managed care. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law establishes the California Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE program) to provide community-based, long-term care services for older individuals under the Medi-Cal State Plan. Under existing law, certain entities that exclusively serve PACE participants are exempt from licensure by the State Department of Public Health and are subject to oversight and regulation as PACE organizations by the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. This bill would require a Medi-Cal managed care plan, a PACE organization, a health care service plan, or a health insurer, and delegated entities, as specified, to require its staff to complete evidence-based cultural competency training for the purpose of providing trans-inclusive health care, as defined, for individuals who identify as transgender, gender diverse, or intersex (TGI) . The bill would specify the required components of the training and would make use of any training curricula subject to approval by the respective departments. The bill would require an individual to complete a refresher course if a complaint has been filed, and a decision has been made in favor of the complainant, against that individual for not providing trans-inclusive health care, or on a more frequent basis if deemed necessary. The bill would require the respective departments to develop and implement procedures, and would authorize them to impose sanctions, to ensure compliance with the above-described provisions. The bill would also require the departments to track and monitor complaints received by the departments related to trans-inclusive health care and to publicly report this data, as specified. Because a violation of these new requirements by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the respective departments to implement these provisions without taking any regulatory action, and would require them to adopt regulations by July 1, 2027 providing semiannual status reports to the Legislature until regulations are adopted. (2) Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California. Under the act, a physician and surgeon is required to demonstrate satisfaction of continuing education requirements, including cultural and linguistic competency in the practice of medicine, as specified. This bill would expand cultural competency training to include, as appropriate, information and evidence-based cultural competency training pertinent to the treatment of, and provision of care to, individuals who identify as queer, questioning, asexual, or gender diverse, and the processes specific to those seeking gender-affirming care services. The bill would provide specific components, including health inequities within the TGI community, that would be suitable for evidence-based cultural competency training pursuant to these provisions. (3) Existing law requires a health care service plan and specified health insurers to publish and maintain a provider directory or directories and to make them publicly available on the plan's or insurer's internet website. Existing law requires a full-service health care service plan and an insurer to include the area of specialty and other certain information in the provider directory or directories. This bill would require a full service health care service plan, an insurer, and a Medi-Cal managed care plan, no later than March 1, 2025, to include information, within or accessible from the plan's or insurer's provider directory, that identifies which of a plan's or insurer's in-network providers have affirmed that they offer and have provided gender-affirming services, as specified. Because a violation of these new requirements would be a crime under the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law establishes the California Health and Human Services Agency, which includes the State Department of Public Health, among other state departments charged with the administration of health, social, and other human services. This bill would require, no later than March 1, 2023, the California Health and Human Services Agency to convene a working group that includes representatives from various departments, TGI-serving organizations, residents who identify as TGI, and health care providers to develop a quality standard for patient experience in order to measure cultural competency related to the TGI community and recommend training curriculum to provide trans-inclusive health care, as specified. (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.
Existing law appropriates funds to the State Department of Public Health for various programs related to the safe reopening of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, including funds to support COVID-19 testing in schools allocated from the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and funds from the General Fund for the Safe Schools For All Team to coordinate technical assistance, community engagement, increased transparency, and enforcement by the appropriate entity for public school health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing law authorizes certain school apportionments to be used for any purpose consistent with providing in-person instruction for any pupil participating in in-person instruction, including, but not limited to, COVID-19 testing, as provided. Existing law prescribes public health reporting requirements related to COVID-19 for local educational agencies, including the development of a COVID-19 safety plan, as provided. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health to coordinate specified school district, county office of education, and charter school COVID-19 testing programs that are currently federally funded or organized under the California COVID-19 Testing Task Force, as provided. The bill would authorize the department to provide supportive services, including technical assistance, vendor support, guidance, monitoring, and testing education, related to testing programs for teachers, staff, and pupils to help schools reopen and keep schools operating safely for in-person learning. The bill would also encourage the department to expand its contagious, infectious, or communicable disease testing guidance and other public health mitigation efforts to include prekindergarten and childcare centers, as provided. This bill would require each local educational agency, defined to mean a school district, county office of education, or charter school, after consulting with its local health department, as defined, to create a COVID-19 testing plan, or adopt the State Department of Public Health's framework, as defined, that is consistent with guidance from the department, as provided. The bill would require each local educational agency to publish the testing plan on its internet website. The bill would authorize each local educational agency to designate one staff member to report information on its COVID-19 testing program to the department, as provided. The bill would require that all COVID-19 testing data be in a format that facilitates a simple process by which parents and local educational agencies may report data to the department or a local health department, as provided. By imposing new obligations on local educational agencies, and to the extent new duties are imposed on local health departments, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department to determine which COVID-19 tests are appropriate for the testing program. The bill would make the implementation of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature, and would repeal these provisions on January 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 establishes the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) in state government as a means of resolving disputes and enforcing the statutory duties and rights of specified public employers and employees under various acts regulating collective bargaining, including the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act. Existing law includes within PERB's jurisdiction the resolution of disputes alleging violation of rules and regulations adopted by a public agency, as defined, concerning unit determinations, representations, recognition, and elections, as specified. Existing law authorizes PERB to adopt rules and regulations to carry out its purposes, as provided. Existing law, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Act, establishes the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority with various powers and duties relative to transportation projects and services and the operation of public transit in the County of Santa Clara. Under existing law, the authority's employees have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. Existing law requires that any question as to whether a majority of authority employees desire to be represented by a labor organization be submitted to PERB, as specified. This bill would vest PERB with jurisdiction to enforce certain provisions related to the authority's employees, over charges of unfair practices for represented authority employees, subject to a selection by an exclusive representative. The bill, in the case of such a selection, would give PERB jurisdiction over the initial determination as to whether those charges are justified and, if so, the appropriate remedy, subject to certain restrictions. The bill would require that PERB's regulations apply, as appropriate, to the authority, and authorize PERB to make additional emergency regulations applicable to the authority. The bill would require the authority to give reasonable written notice to an exclusive representative of its employees of its intent to make any change to matters within the scope of representation of the employees represented by the exclusive representative, as specified. By imposing new duties on the authority, the 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 authority. 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 registered voter of an electoral jurisdiction to seek the recall of an officer of that jurisdiction by publishing or posting a notice of intention to circulate a recall petition. Existing law requires the notice of intention to contain, among other things, a statement of the reasons for the proposed recall and the signatures of a specified number of proponents of the recall. Under existing law, within 7 days of the filing of the notice of intention, the officer sought to be recalled may file an answer to the proponents' statement of reasons for the recall. Existing law requires a recall petition to include, among other things, the notice of intention and the officer's answer. This bill would increase the number of signatures required to be included in the notice of intention, with the total number of necessary signatures determined by the type of office held by the officer sought to be recalled, as provided. The bill would require, for a recall of a member of the governing board of a school district, the recall petition to include an estimate of the cost of conducting the special election. The bill would require, for a recall of a local officer, the county elections official to make a copy of the recall petition available for public examination for 10 days, as provided. The bill would authorize a voter of the applicable electoral jurisdiction or the elections official, during those 10 days, to seek a writ of mandate or injunction requiring any or all of the statement of the proponents or the answer of the officer to be amended or deleted. The bill would require a court to issue a writ of mandate or injunction only upon clear and convincing proof that the material in question is false, misleading, or inconsistent with the applicable requirements for recall petitions. By requiring local elections officials to make recall petitions available for public inspection, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the governing board of a local government entity to issue an order calling an election if the elections official certifies to the board that the recall proponents gathered sufficient signatures to hold a recall election for an officer of the local government entity. Existing law requires the election to be held not less than 88 days and not more than 125 days from the issuance of the order. This bill would permit the election to be consolidated with a regularly scheduled election conducted within 180 days after the issuance of the order. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 11041 of the Elections Code proposed by AB 2582 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2582 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
(1) Existing law, the Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act, requires every local public agency, as defined, to have an emergency communication system and requires the digits "911" to be the primary emergency telephone number within the system. Existing law specifies provisions governing the operation and financing of community mental health services for the mentally disordered in every county through locally administered and locally controlled community mental health programs. Existing law specifies that county mental health services should be organized to provide immediate response to individuals in precrisis and crisis and to members of the individual's support system on a 24-hour, 7-day-per-week basis and authorizes provision of crisis services offsite as mobile services. Existing federal law, the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, designates the 3-digit telephone number "988" as the universal number within the United States for the purpose of the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system operating through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline maintained by the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Abuse and the Veterans Crisis Line maintained by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. This bill would enact the Miles Hall Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Act. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to verify, no later than July 16, 2022, that technology that allows for transfers between 988 centers as well as between 988 centers and 911 public safety answering points, is available to 988 centers and 911 public safety answering points throughout the state. The bill would require, no later than 90 days after passage of the act, the office to appoint a 988 system director, among other things. The bill would require, no later than July 1, 2024, the office to verify interoperability between and across 911 and 988. The bill would require the office to consult with specified entities on any technology requirements for 988 centers. This bill would require the California Health and Human Services Agency to create, no later than December 31, 2023, a set of recommendations to support a 5-year implementation plan for a comprehensive 988 system. The bill would require that agency to convene a state 988 advisory group, as described, for purposes of advising the agency on the set of recommendations. The bill would require the agency to report annually, on or before December 31, beginning December 31, 2024, and until December 31, 2029, to the Legislature on the status of 988 implementation in the state, as described. The Administrative Procedure Act generally governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. The bill would provide that regulations and other similar instruments made pursuant to these provisions by the Office of Emergency Services and the California Health and Human Services Agency are not subject to the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. (2) Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan contract or disability insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, to provide coverage for medically necessary treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, as defined, under the same terms and conditions applied to other medical conditions. This bill would require health care service plans and insurers to cover medically necessary treatment of a mental health or substance use disorder, including behavioral health crisis services, provided by a 988 center or mobile crisis team, regardless of whether the service is provided by an in-network or out-of-network provider, at the in-network cost-sharing amount, as defined. By creating a new crime under the Knox-Keene Act, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law, the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharges Act, generally imposes a surcharge on each access line for each month or part thereof for which a service user subscribes with a service supplier, at an amount no greater than $0.80, based on the Office of Emergency Services' estimate of the number of access lines to which the surcharge will be applied per month for a calendar year period that it estimates, pursuant to a specified formula, will produce sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal year's 911 costs. Existing law imposes a surcharge on the purchase of prepaid mobile telephony services at the time of each retail transaction in this state, at the rate equal to the monthly surcharge amount per access line, to be paid by prepaid consumers and collected by sellers, as defined. Existing law exempts certain lines from the surcharge, including lines supplying lifeline service. Existing law requires the surcharge to be remitted to, and administered by, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, in accordance with specified provisions. Existing law makes certain violations of the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act a crime. Existing law requires amounts to be paid to the state pursuant to the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act to be deposited into the State Emergency Telephone Number Account and that the amounts deposited, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be spent solely for specified purposes, including payment for the installation of, and ongoing expenses for, a basic system. This bill would create a separate surcharge, beginning January 1, 2023, on each access line for each month or part thereof for which a service user subscribes with a service supplier. The bill would set the 988 surcharge for the 2023 and 2024 calendar years at $0.08 per access line per month and, for years beginning January 1, 2025, at an amount based on a specified formula, but no greater than $0.30 per access line per month. This bill would make applicable relevant provisions of the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act to the 988 surcharge, as provided, including existing surcharge exemptions. The bill would authorize the 911 and 988 surcharges to be combined into a single-line item, as described. The bill would provide for specified costs to be paid by the fees prior to distribution to the Office of Emergency Services. The bill would make conforming changes in regard to the 988 surcharge. This bill would create the 988 State Suicide and Behavioral Health Crisis Services Fund and would require the fees to be deposited along with other specified moneys into the fund. The bill would provide that the funds be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified purposes and in accordance with specified priorities. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to require an entity seeking moneys available through the fund to annually file an expenditure and outcomes report containing specified information. (4) This bill would appropriate $300,000 from the General Fund to the 988 State Suicide and Behavioral Health Crisis Services Fund for expenditure by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration in the 2022–23 fiscal year for purposes of implementing the amendments to the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act. (5) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 41100 of the Revenue and Taxation Code proposed by SB 1496 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1496 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (6) By expanding the scope of crimes imposed by the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act, 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. (7) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) The United States Constitution generally requires a state to give full faith and credit to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. Existing law authorizes, upon the demand made by another state, the extradition of a person charged with committing an act in this state that results in a crime in the demanding state, as specified. Existing law sets forth procedures by which a person may enforce a judgment for the payment of money and child custody orders issued by the court of a state other than California. Existing law authorizes a California court or attorney to issue a subpoena if a foreign subpoena has been sought in this state. Existing law generally prohibits a provider of health care, a health care service plan, or a contractor from disclosing medical information regarding a patient, enrollee, or subscriber without first obtaining an authorization, unless a specified exception applies, including that the disclosure is in response to a subpoena. This bill would prohibit a provider of health care, a health care service plan, or a contractor from releasing medical information related to a person or entity allowing a child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care in response to a criminal or civil action, including a foreign subpoena, based on another state's law that authorizes a person to bring a civil or criminal action against a person or entity that allows a child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care. The bill additionally would prohibit law enforcement agencies from knowingly making or participating in the arrest or extradition of an individual pursuant to an out-of-state arrest warrant based on another state's law against providing, receiving, or allowing a child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care in this state, as specified. (2) Existing law, known as the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, provides the state exclusive jurisdictional basis for making an initial child custody determination, and permits a California court to assume temporary emergency jurisdiction in specified circumstances. Existing law permits a court to decline to exercise its jurisdiction if it determines that it is an inconvenient forum and a court in another state is a more appropriate forum. Existing law permits a California court to decline to exercise its jurisdiction if the petitioner has wrongfully taken the child from another state or engaged in similar reprehensible conduct, except as specified. Existing law prohibits a court from considering the taking or retention of a child from a person who has legal custody of the child if there is evidence that the taking or retention was a result of domestic violence. The bill would prohibit the enforcement of an order based on another state's law authorizing a child to be removed from their parent or guardian based on that parent or guardian allowing their child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care. The bill would prohibit a court from finding that it is an inconvenient forum where the law or policy of another state that may take jurisdiction limits the ability of a parent to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care, as defined, and the provision of such care is at issue in the case before the court. The bill would authorize a court to take temporary jurisdiction because a child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care. The bill would additionally prohibit a court from considering the taking or retention of a child from a person who has legal custody of the child, if the taking or retention was for obtaining gender-affirming health care or mental health care. The bill would declare its provisions to be severable. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 2029.300 and 2029.350 of the Code of Civil Procedure proposed by AB 2091 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2091 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law designates specific days as holidays in this state. Existing law requires the Governor annually to proclaim the date corresponding with the second new moon following the winter solstice, or the third new moon following the winter solstice should an intercalary month intervene, as the "Lunar New Year." Existing law entitles state employees, with specified exceptions, to elect to receive 8 hours of holiday credit for "Native American Day," in lieu of receiving 8 hours of personal holiday credit, and to elect to use 8 hours of vacation, annual leave, or compensating time off, consistent with departmental operational needs and collective bargaining agreements, for "Native American Day," as specified. This bill would repeal provisions requiring the Governor to annually proclaim the "Lunar New Year," and would instead recognize the "Lunar New Year" as a state holiday. The bill would authorize state employees, with specified exceptions, to elect to receive 8 hours of holiday credit for the "Lunar New Year" in lieu of receiving 8 hours of personal holiday credit, and to elect to use 8 hours of vacation, annual leave, or compensating time off, consistent with departmental operational needs and collective bargaining agreements, for "Lunar New Year," as specified. Existing law designates specific days designated as holidays in this state, every Saturday and the day after Thanksgiving Day as judicial holidays, except "Admission Day," "Columbus Day," and any other day appointed by the President, but not by the Governor, for a public fast, thanksgiving, or holiday. This bill would additionally exclude "Lunar New Year" from designation as a judicial holiday. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 135 of the Code of Civil Procedure proposed by AB 1801 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1801 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 6700, 19853, and 19853.1 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1655 and AB 1801 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1655, AB 1801, or both are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law requires a telephone medical advice service, as defined, to be responsible for, among other requirements, ensuring that all health care professionals who provide medical advice services are appropriately licensed, certified, or registered, as specified. Existing law requires the respective healing arts licensing board to be responsible for enforcing specified provisions related to telephone medical advice services. Existing law requires a telephone medical advice service to ensure that all health care professionals who provide telephone medical advice services from an out-of-state location are licensed, registered, or certified in the state within which they are providing the telephone medical advice services and are operating consistent with the laws governing their respective scopes of practice. Existing law further requires a telephone medical advice service to comply with all directions and requests for information made by the Department of Consumer Affairs, and to notify the department within 30 days of any change of name, physical location, mailing address, or telephone number of any business, owner, partner, corporate officer, or agent for service of process in California, as specified. This bill would specify that a telephone medical advice service is required to ensure that all health care professionals who provide telephone medical advice services from an out-of-state location are operating consistent with the laws governing their respective licenses. The bill would specify that a telephone medical advice service is required to comply with all directions and requests for information made by the respective healing arts licensing boards. The bill would also eliminate the above-specified notification requirement.
Existing law, the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining with respect to wages, terms of employment, and other employment conditions, and authorizes employees to elect exclusive bargaining representatives for these purposes. Existing law creates the Agricultural Labor Relations Board and prescribes its composition, duties, and powers. Existing law authorizes the board to hold hearings and conduct investigations and requires that certain procedures be the exclusive method of redressing unfair labor practices. Under existing law, any person who willfully resists, prevents, or interferes with a member of the board or its agents or agencies in the performance of their duties is guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law requires the board to certify the results of an election conducted by secret ballot of employees in a collective bargaining unit to designate a collective bargaining representative, unless the board determines there are sufficient grounds to refuse to do so. Existing law further provides that if the board refuses to certify an election because of employer misconduct that would render slight the chances of a new election reflecting the free and fair choice of employees, the labor organization shall be certified as the bargaining representative for the bargaining unit. This bill would refer to the election by secret ballot process as a polling place election. The bill would establish alternative procedures to the polling place election and authorize a labor organization to be certified as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit through either a labor peace election or a non-labor peace election, as prescribed, dependent on whether an employer enrolls and agrees to a labor peace election for labor organization representation campaigns. The bill would provide that a labor peace election or a non-labor peace election permits a bargaining unit to summarily select a labor organization as its representative for collective bargaining purposes without using the existing polling place process. Under the bill, a labor peace election would be a mail ballot election and a non-labor peace election would establish a process for the submission of a petition with proof of majority support, subject to certification by the board. Among other provisions, the bill would require for both alternative procedures that an employer respond to the board with regard to a petition, including providing a specified list of employees to the board. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would establish a schedule for agricultural employers to indicate to the board whether they agree to a labor peace compact, defined to mean an agreement by the employer to, among other things, make no statements for or against union representation to its employees or publicly, in any written or oral form, at any time during employee hire, rehire, or orientation, or after certain documents regarding organization are filed with the board. The bill would prohibit a labor peace compact from prohibiting an employer from communicating truthful statements to employees regarding workplace policies or benefits, as specified. The bill would require the board to develop an online web-based labor peace election process that will allow employers to indicate their labor peace choice online, and that will allow labor organizations to see whether a specific agricultural employer has agreed to a labor peace election campaign. This bill would repeal the above provisions on January 1, 2028. This bill would prescribe civil penalties to be imposed upon an agricultural employer who commits an unfair labor practice in an amount not to exceed $10,000 for each violation, and would increase that sum to an amount not to exceed $25,000 for specified violations. The bill would require the board to consider specified factors in determining the amount of a civil penalty pursuant to these provisions. The bill would also authorize the board to impose personal liability for these penalties upon a director or officer of an employer in certain circumstances. Existing law authorizes a person aggrieved by the final order of the board granting or denying in whole or in part the relief sought for an unfair labor practice, to obtain a review of the order in a specified court of appeal by filing in the court a written petition requesting that the order of the board be modified or set aside. This bill would require an employer who appeals or petitions for a writ of review of any order of the board involving make-whole, backpay, or other monetary awards to employees, to post an appeal bond in the amount of the entire economic value of the order, as specified, and would provide for the bond to be forfeited under specified conditions. This bill would state that its provisions are severable. 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.