Asm. Patrick Ahrens

Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law requires the commission to issue a single subject teaching credential only in specified subjects and authorizes the commission to issue an authorization to teach a subject other than the one authorized by a single subject teaching credential if the holder of the credential meets certain requirements. Existing law, upon appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose, requires the commission, on or before July 1, 2024, to convene a workgroup on credentialing for instruction in computer science, as provided. Existing law also requires the commission, on or before July 1, 2025, to provide a report of the workgroup's findings and recommendations, as provided. Existing law repeals these provisions as of January 1, 2028. This bill would extend the above-referenced deadlines by 2 years and delay the repeal date of those provisions by 2 years.

Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of the state highway system and requires the department to update the Highway Design Manual to incorporate the "complete streets" design concept. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2026, to update the Highway Design Manual to direct local governments to consult with local fire departments when making road improvements to ensure the improvements do not negatively impact emergency response times.

Existing law authorizes a peace officer, as defined, or a regularly employed and salaried employee, who is engaged in directing traffic or enforcing parking laws and regulations, of a city, county, or jurisdiction of a state agency in which a vehicle is located, to remove a vehicle located within the territorial limits in which the officer or employee may act, under designated circumstances, including, but not limited to, when a vehicle is found upon a highway or public land, or removed pursuant to the Vehicle Code, and it is known that the vehicle has been issued 5 or more notices of parking violations to which the owner or person in control of the vehicle has not responded within designated time periods, or the registered owner of the vehicle is known to have been issued 5 or more notices for failure to pay or failure to appear in court for traffic violations for which a certificate has not been issued by the magistrate or clerk of the court hearing the case, as specified. Under existing law, a vehicle that has been removed and impounded under those circumstances that is not released may be subject to a lien sale to compensate for the costs of towage and for caring for and keeping safe the vehicle. This bill would remove the authority of a peace officer or public employee, as appropriate, to remove a vehicle under the above-described circumstances, and make conforming changes. Existing law similarly authorizes a peace officer, as defined, or a regularly employed and salaried employee, who is engaged in directing traffic or enforcing parking laws and regulations, of a city, county, or jurisdiction of a state agency in which a vehicle is located, to remove a vehicle from an off-street parking facility located within the territorial limits in which the officer or employee may act, when the vehicle is known to have been issued 5 or more notices of parking violation over a period of 5 or more days, to which the owner or person in control of the vehicle has not responded or when any vehicle is illegally parked so as to prevent the movement of a legally parked vehicle. Existing law authorizes the vehicle to be impounded until the owner or person in control of the vehicle furnishes to the impounding law enforcement agency evidence of their identity and an address within this state at which they can be located and furnishes satisfactory evidence that bail has been deposited for all notices of parking violation issued for the vehicle. In lieu of requiring satisfactory evidence that the bail has been deposited, existing law authorizes the impounding law enforcement agency to, in its discretion, issue a notice to appear for the offenses charged, as specified. In lieu of either furnishing satisfactory evidence that the bail has been deposited or accepting the notice to appear, existing law authorizes the owner or person in control of the vehicle to demand to be taken without unnecessary delay before a magistrate within the county in which the offenses charged are alleged to have been committed and who has jurisdiction of the offenses and is nearest or most accessible with reference to the place where the vehicle is impounded. This bill would delete the authorization to remove a vehicle from an off-street parking facility when the vehicle is known to have been issued 5 or more notices of parking violation over a period of 5 or more days, to which the owner or person in control of the vehicle has not responded. The bill would also delete the impounding provisions described above. Existing law authorizes a peace officer, as defined, or a regularly employed and salaried employee who is engaged in directing traffic or enforcing parking laws and regulations of the jurisdiction in which a vehicle is located, to immobilize the vehicle that is located on a highway or public lands located within the territorial limits in which the officer or employee may act, if the vehicle is found upon a highway or public lands and it is known to have been issued 5 or more notices of parking violations that are delinquent because the owner or person in control of the vehicle has not responded to the agency responsible for processing notices of parking violation within designated time periods, or the registered owner of the vehicle is known to have been issued 5 or more notices for failure to pay or failure to appear in court for traffic violations for which no certificate has been issued by the magistrate or clerk of the court hearing the case, as specified. Existing law authorizes the vehicle to be immobilized until the person furnishes to the immobilizing law enforcement agency evidence of their identity and an address within this state at which they can be located and furnishes satisfactory evidence that the full amount of parking penalties been deposited for all notices of parking violation issued for the vehicle and any other vehicle registered to the registered owner of the immobilized vehicle and that bail has been deposited for all traffic violations of the registered owner that have not been cleared. This bill would delete that provision.

Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district that determines during a fiscal year that its revenues are less than the amount necessary to meet its current year expenditure obligations to request an emergency apportionment through the Superintendent of Public Instruction, subject to specified requirements. Existing law authorizes emergency apportionments to be provided through an interim loan from the General Fund and lease financing made available by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, which is authorized to issue bonds for purposes of the emergency apportionments and related costs, or as an alternative to lease financing, as an emergency apportionment from the General Fund. Existing law prescribes the financing conditions on emergency apportionments, including the calculation of the interest rate. Existing law, notwithstanding any other law, authorizes the Inglewood Unified School District, through the State Department of Education, to request cashflow loans from the General Fund for a total of up to $55,000,000 for emergency operational purposes, as provided. Existing law requires the interest on these loans to be charged at the annual rate of return of the Pooled Money Investment Account, plus an additional 2%. This bill, notwithstanding any other law, and once the Inglewood Unified School District has successfully repaid at least 10 years of a General Fund cashflow loan made pursuant to those provisions, would authorize the school district to seek, and would require the Department of Finance to grant, a waiver of interest on that loan for the next succeeding fiscal year if specified conditions are met, including, among other conditions, that the Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools, in consultation with the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, determines that the school district is making substantial progress towards fiscal solvency and that a waiver of interest would help the school district to exit receivership, as provided. In each subsequent fiscal year, the bill would authorize the school district to seek, and would require the Department of Finance to grant, a subsequent waiver of interest for the applicable fiscal year if the school district again meets those same requirements. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on the Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools, 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 Inglewood Unified School District. 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 requires the State Board of Education to adopt statewide academically rigorous content standards in the core curriculum areas of reading, writing, mathematics, history/social science, and science, as specified. Existing law requires the Instructional Quality Commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks to the state board and develop criteria for evaluating instructional materials. This bill would require the state board to, on or before January 1, 2028, develop and adopt academically rigorous content standards for ethnic studies instruction in high school. The bill would require the commission, on or before January 1, 2028, to review and recommend to the state board curriculum frameworks and instructional materials for ethnic studies instruction in high school, as specified. The bill would require the state board to provide the commission with evaluation criteria to use in providing its review and recommendations. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to establish an advisory committee with a majority of the advisory committee's members being experts in African American studies, Asian American and Pacific Islander studies, Native American studies, and Latino and Chicanx studies, to provide input to the state board on proposed content standards and to the commission on proposed curriculum frameworks and instructional materials for ethnic studies instruction in high school. Existing law requires a pupil to complete designated coursework while in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, in order to receive a diploma of graduation from high school. These graduation requirements include, commencing for pupils graduating in the 2029–30 school year, the completion of a one-semester course in ethnic studies meeting specified requirements. Under existing law, the requirement to complete an ethnic studies course may be fulfilled by the completion of, among others, a course based on the model curriculum developed by the Instructional Quality Commission, an ethnic studies course taught as part of a course that has been approved as meeting the A–G requirements of the University of California and the California State University, or a locally developed ethnic studies course approved by the governing board of a school district or the governing body of a charter school. Existing law requires the curriculum, instruction, and instructional materials for these ethnic studies courses to meet specified requirements, including that they not reflect or promote any bias, bigotry, or discrimination against any person or group of persons on the basis of certain characteristics. Existing law makes these provisions relating to ethnic studies courses operative only upon an appropriation of funds by the Legislature for purposes of these provisions. This bill would require the curriculum, instruction, and instructional materials for any high school ethnic studies course, including ethnic studies courses meeting high school graduation requirements, to meet the above-described requirements, and would require the curriculum, instruction, and instructional materials for all high school ethnic studies courses to additionally, among other things, foster multicultural respect and understanding and focus on the domestic experience and stories of historically marginalized peoples in American society. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require a school district, county office of education, or charter school to provide, on or before June 30, 2026, the State Department of Education with a copy of all curricula, instruction, and instructional materials in ethnic studies that schools offer or plan to offer to pupils in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, and the adoption calendar for curricula, instruction, and instructional materials in ethnic studies proposed for adoption by the governing board or body of the local educational agency for instruction to these pupils. The bill would require a local educational agency that does not have an ethnic studies course in place for its pupils in any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, on or before June 30, 2026, to provide the department with a copy of all curricula, instruction, and instructional materials in ethnic studies that its schools seek to adopt at least 60 days before being first presented at a public meeting of the governing board or body of the local educational agency for instruction to these pupils. The bill would require the department to post the information received pursuant to these requirements on its internet website. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on local educational agencies, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department to monitor compliance with the requirements of this bill as part of its annual compliance monitoring of state and federal programs and to provide a report to the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature summarizing the data collected through compliance monitoring, as specified. 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 Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including a young child tax credit to a qualified taxpayer in a specified amount multiplied by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor, as provided. That law also allows a payment from the continuously appropriated Tax Relief and Refund Account for an amount in excess of tax liability. Existing law defines "qualified taxpayer" for this purpose to include an eligible individual, as defined, who has a qualifying child, defined to be a child younger than 6 years of age as of the last day of the taxable year, and who meets other specified criteria. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, would instead define a "qualifying child" to mean a child younger than a specified age as of the last day of the taxable year, as described. By increasing the payments from the Tax Relief and Refund Account, a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure.

The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows an earned income tax credit against personal income tax and a payment from the Tax Relief and Refund Account, a continuously appropriated fund, for an allowable credit in excess of tax liability to an eligible individual that is equal to that portion of the earned income tax credit allowed by federal law, as determined by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor, as specified. The law provides that the amount of the credit is calculated as a percentage of the eligible individual's earned income and is phased out above a specified amount as income increases, and provides alternative calculation factors under specified circumstances. Existing law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and until and including the taxable year in which the minimum wage is set at $15 per hour, requires the phaseout percentage for eligible individuals to be recalculated by the Franchise Tax Board so that the calculated amount of credit for a taxpayer with an earned income of $30,000 is equal to zero. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, if the amount of credit computed for an eligible individual is less than $355, as specified, would allow the credit for the eligible individual to be $355 instead, except as otherwise specified. By authorizing additional payments from a continuously appropriated account, this bill would make an appropriation. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure.

Existing law sets forth various provisions on the wearing of a mask for health purposes. These circumstances include, among others, a statewide stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the event of a pandemic, wildfire smoke event, or other health emergency; employer-supplied PPE to employees who provide direct patient care in a general acute care hospital; employees of commercial cannabis businesses wearing a mask for respiration; and providing peace officers with an appropriate portable manual mask and airway assembly for use when applying cardiopulmonary resuscitation to prevent the spread of communicable disease. Under this bill, an individual would have the right to wear a health mask on their face in a public place for the purpose of protecting their individual health or the public health, with regard to communicable disease, air quality, or other health factors. The bill would define a health mask and a public place for purposes of this provision. Under the bill, the above-described right would not be construed as limiting or otherwise modifying the application or implementation of certain requirements for the removal of a health mask relating to, among other contexts, security protocols to identify an individual, essential functions in the workplace, or emergency health care protocols, as specified, without limiting certain nondiscrimination protections on the basis of disability or medical condition.

Existing law requires, upon an Indian tribe's request, the State Department of Social Services to enter into an agreement with a tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal organization regarding the care and custody of Indian children and jurisdiction over Indian child custody proceedings, and requires the department to negotiate in good faith with the Indian tribe, organization, or consortium in the state that requests development of an agreement with the state to administer all or part of the programs under Title IV-E of the Social Security Act on behalf of the Indian children who are under the authority of the tribe, organization, or consortium. Existing law makes an Indian tribe, tribal organization, or tribal consortium that is a party to an agreement eligible to receive allocations of child welfare services funds, in accordance with the agreement. Existing federal law, the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018, among other things, provides states with an option to use federal funds under Title IV of the federal Social Security Act to provide mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services and in-home parent skill-based programs to a child who is a candidate for foster care or a child in foster care who is a pregnant or parenting foster youth, as specified. Existing law establishes the Family First Prevention Services program, and requires the department to have oversight of the program. Existing law authorizes a county or Indian tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal organization that has entered into the above-described agreement with the state that elects to provide prevention services to provide those services for certain individuals for a certain period. This bill would provide that agreements between the department and a tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal organization regarding the care and custody of Indian children and jurisdiction over Indian child custody proceedings include agreements that prevent entry into foster care, and would authorize such an agreement to be made for the sole purpose of the administration of prevention programs under the Family First Prevention Services program. The bill would also, subject to an appropriation for these purposes, require the department to provide funding to tribes, tribal organizations, or tribal consortiums to support the cost of independent legal representation provided by an attorney for a child and the child's parent, guardian, and Indian custodian pursuant to an agreement under the above-described provisions. The bill would require the department, by March 31, 2026, and in consultation with Indian tribes, to develop a cost allocation plan to allow specified funds to support the costs of independent legal representation.

Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, an initiative measure enacted by Proposition 215 at the November 6, 1996, statewide general election, declares that its purpose is, among other things, to ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes, as specified, and exempts from state criminal liability certain patients and their primary caregivers who possess or cultivate marijuana for the personal medical purposes of the patient. The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult-Use of Marijuana Act of 2016 (AUMA) , an initiative measure approved as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, established a comprehensive system to legalize, control, and regulate the cultivation, processing, manufacture, distribution, testing, and sale of nonmedical marijuana. Existing law, the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities, including the retail sale of medicinal cannabis. MAUCRSA also authorizes specified licensees to provide free medicinal cannabis or medicinal cannabis products to medicinal cannabis patients if specified criteria are met. Existing law, the Medicinal Cannabis Patients' Right of Access Act, prohibits a local jurisdiction from adopting or enforcing any regulation that prohibits the retail sale by delivery within the local jurisdiction of medicinal cannabis to medicinal cannabis patients or their primary caregivers by medicinal cannabis businesses, as defined, or that has the effect of prohibiting the retail sale by delivery within the local jurisdiction of medicinal cannabis to medicinal cannabis patients or their primary caregivers, as specified. This bill, until January 1, 2029, would authorize a licensed microbusiness with an M-license, as defined, whose licensed activities include retail sale, manufacturing, distribution, and outdoor cultivation to directly ship certain medicinal cannabis or medicinal cannabis products to a medicinal cannabis patient in the state, if the licensed microbusiness complies with specified requirements, including that the medicinal cannabis is shipped by a common carrier, as described, the amount shipped to a medicinal cannabis patient in a single day does not exceed specified possession limits, and the package is received and signed for by someone 21 years of age or older. The bill would require the shipment to comply with specified laws and regulations governing cannabis and cannabis products sold by licensed retailers, as provided. If the medicinal cannabis patient is a qualified patient that possesses a valid physician's recommendation, the bill would require the licensed microbusiness to certify in writing that they verified the recommendation and would require the retailer to keep a copy of that certification for no less than 7 years. The bill would amend the Medicinal Cannabis Patients' Right of Access Act to, among other things, prohibit a local jurisdiction from adopting or enforcing any regulation that prohibits the retail sale by delivery within or shipment into the local jurisdiction of medicinal cannabis to medicinal cannabis patients or their primary caregivers by a licensed microbusiness, as specified. The bill would also authorize free medicinal cannabis or medicinal cannabis products provided to medicinal cannabis patients in compliance with MAUCRSA to be shipped to those patients by a licensed microbusiness with an M-license, as provided. To the extent this bill would impose additional duties on local jurisdictions, and to the extent the bill would expand the crime of perjury by requiring the licensed microbusiness to certify verification of physician recommendations, 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 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.