Asm. Patrick Ahrens

Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensing and regulation of community care facilities by the State Department of Social Services, including adult day programs and residential facilities. A violation of provisions relating to these facilities is a misdemeanor. This bill would authorize a licensed facility or licensee, as defined, upon receipt of a request from a client, or the authorized representative of a client, who has been diagnosed with seizures, a seizure disorder, or epilepsy and who has been prescribed intranasal emergency antiseizure medication, to allow an administrator or authorized volunteer, as defined, to administer intranasal emergency antiseizure medication to the client during a seizure emergency. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, to establish minimum standards for this training, as specified. The bill would prohibit intranasal emergency antiseizure medication from being administered to a client unless the licensee has a seizure action plan for the client that contains specified information, including, among other things, a signed written authorization verifying that a seizure experienced by the client may be responded to at the licensee by a nonmedical professional, including through the administration of emergency antiseizure medication, as specified. The bill would require licensees to maintain with the client's seizure action plan a description of how the licensee will coordinate care for a client in the absence of an administrator or authorized volunteer and what actions will be taken to ensure the continued safety of the client. The bill would require licensed facilities to provide a specified notice to all administrators and authorized volunteers that, among other things, informs them of their right to rescind an offer to volunteer at any time, as specified, and explains the liability protections and indemnification requirements described below. The bill would require any licensee that authorizes administrators or authorized volunteers to ensure that each administrator or authorized volunteer will be provided defense and indemnification for any and all civil liability, as specified. The bill would prohibit an administrator or authorized volunteer who administers intranasal emergency antiseizure medication, any person who provides training to an administrator or authorized volunteer, or any person who otherwise complies with the requirements of the above-described provisions, in good faith and not for compensation, from being subject to professional review, civil liability, or criminal prosecution for their actions or omissions, or the actions or omissions of a volunteer, as specified. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law designates specific days as holidays in this state. Existing law designates holidays on which community colleges and public schools are authorized to close pursuant to a memorandum of understanding between the governing board and represented employees, including "Native American Day" on the 4th Friday in September. Existing law entitles state employees, with specified exceptions, and authorizes certain community college and public school employees, to be given time off with pay for specified holidays, as specified. This bill would add "Diwali" to the list of state holidays. The bill would authorize community colleges and public schools to close on "Diwali," as specified. The bill would authorize state employees to elect to take, and would authorize certain community college and public school employees to be given, time off with pay in recognition of "Diwali," as specified. The bill would authorize public schools and educational institutions throughout the state to include exercises acknowledging and celebrating the meaning and importance of Diwali, as specified. Existing law adopts state holidays as judicial holidays, with certain exceptions, including Admission Day and Columbus Day. This bill would add "Diwali" to the list of holidays that are excluded from designation as a judicial holiday. This bill would make related findings and declarations.

Existing law requires state agencies, boards, and commissions that collect demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians to use separate collection categories and tabulations for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group and to include that data in every demographic report published on or after July 1, 2012, as specified. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2028, require state and local agencies, as defined, that collect demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians to use separate collection categories and tabulations for major Middle Eastern or North African groups, as specified, and, with certain exceptions, to include that data in every demographic report published on or after January 1, 2029, and to make the aggregated data available to the public. 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 bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. 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 California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 provides the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the Department of Industrial Relations with the power, jurisdiction, and supervision over all employment and places of employment necessary to enforce and administer all occupational health and safety laws and to protect employees. The act grants to the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, an independent entity within the department, exclusive authority to adopt occupational safety and health standards within the state. Beginning July 1, 2018, and every 5 years thereafter, the act requires the board, in consultation with the department, to complete a comprehensive review of all revisions to National Fire Protection Association standards pertaining to certain personal protective equipment (PPE) and requires the board to consider modifying existing safety orders and to render a decision regarding the adoption of necessary changes to safety orders, or other applicable standards and regulations, no later than July 1 of the subsequent year, if the review finds that the revisions to applicable National Fire Protection Association standards provide a greater degree of personal protection than the safety orders. This bill would, in addition to the above-described requirement, require the board to consider modifying its existing safety order regarding firefighter personal protective equipment by January 1, 2028, to address National Fire Protection Association performance standards for PPE that are not relevant or applicable to how firefighters utilize their PPE and that result in the use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, fluoropolymers, flame retardants, and other hazardous substances in firefighting personal protective garments and auxiliary firefighting PPE, as provided. The bill would also require, by July 1, 2026, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to report on progress toward implementation of the modified PPE safety standards, as provided. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.

Existing law provides for the regulation of charter-party carriers of passengers by the Public Utilities Commission and includes specific requirements applicable to transportation network companies and their participating drivers. Existing law defines transportation network companies as certain organizations that, using an online-enabled application or platform, connect passengers with drivers using a personal vehicle. Existing law imposes specified requirements for liability insurance coverage on transportation network companies and their drivers, including a requirement that the insurance coverage provide for uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage in the amount of $1,000,000 from the moment a passenger enters the vehicle of a participating driver until the passenger exits the vehicle. Under existing law, that coverage may be satisfied by insurance maintained by the participating driver, the transportation network company, or a combination of insurance maintained by the participating driver and transportation network company. This bill would lower that amount to $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident. The bill would also make the transportation network company responsible for maintaining the uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage. The bill would require the commission and the Department of Insurance to collaborate on a study of the impacts of the requirements established for uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage to assess whether those requirements are appropriate to the risk of transportation network company services, and to report the findings of this study to specified committees of the Legislature on or before December 31, 2030. Existing law requires the commission to develop, publish, and annually update a report containing specified information, including, among other things, the commission's annual work plan and an accounting of the commission's transactions and proceedings from the prior year. Existing law requires the commission to submit that report to the Governor and Legislature no later than February 1 of each year. This bill would require the report submitted on or before February 1, 2026, to also contain certain information regarding automobile accidents reported to the commission by transportation network companies and uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist claims resulting from those accidents, as specified. The bill would require the report submitted on or before February 1, 2027, to specify the average transportation network company rider fare paid during certain time periods, as provided. This bill would make the operation of its provisions contingent upon the enactment of AB 1340 of the 2025–26 Regular Session.

The Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003 requires the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to administer a statewide program to license manufacturers, distributers, and retailers of cigarettes and tobacco products. The act requires a retailer to have in place and maintain a license to engage in the sale of cigarettes or tobacco products. The act requires a $265 fee to be submitted with the application for the license. Existing law requires every retailer to file an application for renewal of the license accompanied by a $265 fee per retail location. This bill would make conforming changes to the provisions describing the application process for the license described above and recast that license as a retailer license. The bill would require each application for a retailer license filed on or after July 1, 2026, to be accompanied by a fee of $450 per retail location. The bill would increase the fee for renewal of a retailer license to $450 for renewal applications filed on or after July 1, 2026. The bill would authorize the department to adjust application and renewal fees applicable after July 1, 2026, to an amount not exceeding $600 per retail location to maintain the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Compliance Fund at a level that is no more than necessary to cover the reasonable costs of the department to administer the act. The act requires a retailer who sells tobacco products that are exempt from taxation under the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law to pay a fee of $265 for the issuance or renewal of a license. This bill would recast that license as a retailer license and make other conforming changes. The bill would require each application for a retailer license filed on or after July 1, 2026, to be accompanied by a fee of $450 per retail location. The bill would increase the fee for renewal of a retailer license to $450 for renewal applications filed on or after July 1, 2026. The bill would authorize the department to adjust application and renewal fees applicable after July 1, 2026, to an amount not exceeding $600 per retail location to maintain the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Compliance Fund at a level that is no more than necessary to cover the reasonable costs of the department to administer the act. This bill would require the Legislative Analyst, on or before December 1, 2027, and again on or before December 1, 2029, to prepare and submit reports to the Legislature on the tobacco retailer enforcement landscape, including enforcement of California's flavor, youth access, taxation, and licensing laws. The bill would require specified state agencies to cooperate with the Legislative Analyst in the preparation and production of the report. The bill would repeal those reporting requirements on January 1, 2034. Chapter 849 of the Statutes of 2024 (AB 3218) revised the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003 by, among other things, authorizing the department or a law enforcement agency to seize illegal flavored tobacco products or tobacco product flavor enhancers that a wholesaler or retailer possesses, stores, owns, or sold, as specified. Existing law further requires the department to impose on the wholesaler or retailer a specified civil penalty per individual package of flavored tobacco product or tobacco product flavor enhancer. Existing law defines "package" for purposes of the penalty provision applicable to retailers. This bill would define "flavored tobacco product" and "tobacco product flavor enhancer" for these purposes and would add the same definition of "package" for purposes of the penalty provision applicable to wholesalers. Chapter 462 of the Statutes of 2024 (SB 1230) , among other things, added a provision to the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003 similar to the above-described provision relating to the seizure of a retailer's products added by AB 3218. Specifically, SB 1230 authorizes the department to seize illegal flavored tobacco products or tobacco product flavor enhancers if the department discovers that a retailer sells, offers for sale, or possesses with the intent to sell or offer for sale, those products, and deems the seized products as forfeited. This bill would repeal the above-described provision added by SB 1230. 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 California Department of Aging within the California Health and Human Services Agency. Existing law authorizes the department to make specified funds available for nutrition projects serving the needs of individuals 60 years of age or older and their spouses, as specified. Existing law, the McCarthy-Kennick Nutrition Program for the Elderly Act of 1972, among other things, establishes the Nutrition Reserve Fund for the purpose of maintaining existing nutrition services and lending moneys to senior nutrition projects, as specified. Existing law requires the California Commission on Aging, with the approval of the Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, to develop and submit to the federal government a state plan for implementing the federal Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended, by May 1 of each year. Existing law requires the state plan to include the establishment of projects that provide at least one hot meal per day for 5 or more days per week, and any additional meals that the agency or organization elects to provide, that ensure recommended dietary allowances. This bill would instead require that the projects provide those meals either served in an in-person setting, or provided for to-go pickup to be consumed in a virtual congregate setting by eligible individuals, and removes the requirements that any additional meals provided have to ensure recommended dietary allowances.

Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, requires the State Department of Social Services to license and regulate transitional housing placement providers, which is defined as organizations licensed by the department to provide transitional housing to foster children at least 16 years of age and not more than 18 years of age and to nonminor dependents to promote their transition to adulthood. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations governing transitional housing placement living arrangement requirements for minors and nonminor dependents, including allowing a participant to share a bedroom or unit with certain other individuals and requiring all counties and program contracts to allow participants and those certain other individuals to share bedrooms, bathrooms, and units together, regardless of gender identity. Under existing law, a violation of the act is a misdemeanor. This bill would require all counties and program contracts to also ensure that decisions about sharing bedrooms, bathrooms, and units together are led by the program participant and agreed upon in collaboration with the provider. By increasing county duties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires an applicant to obtain certification from a county specifying the population that will be served by the facility in order to be licensed as a transitional housing placement provider. Existing law requires the certification to confirm that the program includes specified components, depending on the population served. This bill would specify contract requirements if a county contracts with a transitional housing placement provider, including prohibiting the contract from containing terms that create unreasonable barriers for a qualified foster youth's admission into or participation in the 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.

Existing law, the Compulsory Education Law, generally makes persons between the ages of 6 and 18 years of age subject to compulsory full-time education, unless exempted. Existing law makes a parent or guardian of a pupil of 6 years of age or more who is in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, and subject to compulsory full-time or continuing education, whose child is a chronic truant, as defined, who has failed to reasonably supervise and encourage the pupil's school attendance, and who has been offered support services to address the pupil's truancy, guilty of a misdemeanor that is punishable by a fine of up to $2,000, or imprisonment in a county jail for up to one year, or both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would repeal that criminal offense.

(1) The California Constitution generally limits ad valorem taxes on real property to 1% of the full cash value of that property. For purposes of this limitation, "full cash value" is defined as the assessor's valuation of real property as shown on the 1975–76 tax bill under "full cash value" or, thereafter, the appraised value of that real property when purchased, newly constructed, or a change in ownership has occurred. The California Constitution authorizes the full cash value base to be reduced to reflect substantial damage, destruction, or other factors causing a decline in value. This bill would require each property located within a 5-mile radius of the center of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill in the County of Los Angeles to be reassessed so that the full cash value base of the property reflects any decline in value of the property arising from the Chiquita Canyon elevated temperature landfill event, as defined. The bill would require reassessments to be retroactive to the January 1, 2022, lien date. The bill would require, following reassessment, the assessor to send a specified notice of the assessment value change to the taxpayer. By imposing additional duties on local tax officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing property tax law authorizes any person to elect to pay delinquent taxes in installments (installment redemption plan) by a certain date before the tax collector obtains the power to sell the property in order to redeem certain tax-defaulted property. Existing property tax law prohibits restarting installment payments if those payments are started under these provisions and the amount required to be paid in any fiscal year is not paid as required (default) . This bill would prohibit an installment redemption plan, for which all payments due on or before January 7, 2025, have been timely made, from being considered in default until April 10, 2030, for property located within a 5-mile radius of the center of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill in the County of Los Angeles. By imposing additional duties on local tax officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing property tax law authorizes, for taxes due on escape assessments for prior fiscal years, those taxes to be paid over a four-year period (installment plan) at the option of the assessee if the additional tax is over $500 and a written request for installment payment is filed by the assessee with the tax collector by a certain time. This bill would suspend the taxes due on a property making payments pursuant to an installment plan as described above, would prohibit their collection, and would prohibit the taxes from being considered delinquent, all until April 10, 2030, for property located within a 5-mile radius of the center of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill in the County of Los Angeles, provided that, on or before April 1, 2025, all payments required by the plan were timely made. By imposing additional duties on local tax officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes the auditor or tax collector to cancel any penalty, costs, or other charges resulting from tax delinquency upon certain findings, including if the cancellation was ordered by a local, state, or federal court. This bill would also authorize any penalty, costs, or other charges resulting from tax delinquency to be canceled if failure to make a timely payment is due to a documented hardship, as determined by the tax collector, arising from the Chiquita Canyon elevated temperature landfill event, as defined. (3) This bill would make findings and declarations related to a gift of public funds. (4) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles. (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, 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. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.