Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge children to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances, including when the child suffered or there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer serious physical harm, or a parent fails to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment. Existing law establishes the grounds for removal of a dependent child from the custody of their parents or guardian, and establishes procedures to determine temporary placement of a dependent child. Existing law generally governs the provision of child welfare services, which is defined to mean public social services that are directed toward the accomplishment of specified purposes, including protecting and promoting the welfare of all children and preventing the unnecessary separation of children from their families. This bill would, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, require the State Department of Social Services to establish a 3-year pilot program for the purpose of addressing racial disparities in the child welfare system in at least 5 counties, which shall be selected to participate on a voluntary basis in the pilot program according to criteria developed by the department. The bill would require a program that receives funding pursuant to these provisions to utilize a blind removal strategy when deciding whether a child should be removed from their parents' home, as specified. The bill would require the department to submit to the Legislature an evaluation of the pilot programs and their impact and effectiveness, including, but not be limited to, monitoring the program's effect on the rate of Black, Native American, and Latinx children who were removed.
Sponsored bills
Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and makes the department responsible for administering various housing programs throughout the state, including, among others, the Multifamily Housing Program, the Housing for a Healthy California Program, and the California Emergency Solutions Grants Program. This bill would establish the Reentry Housing and Workforce Development Program. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2022, to take specified actions to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, provide grants to applicants, as defined, for innovative or evidence-based housing, housing-based services, and employment interventions to allow people with recent histories of incarceration to exit homelessness and remain stably housed. The bill would require the department to establish a process, in collaboration with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and with counties in which recipients are operating, for referral of participants, in accordance with certain guidelines and procedures. The bill would require the department to score applicants to the program competitively according to specified criteria. The bill would require recipients of funds from the program to use those funds for, among other things, long-term rental assistance in permanent housing, incentives to landlords, and innovative or evidence-based services to assist participants in accessing permanent supportive housing. The bill would require the department to distribute funds allocated by executing contracts with awarded entities for a term of 5 years, subject to automatic renewal. The bill would require a recipient of the program to submit an annual report to the department. The bill would require the department to hire an independent evaluator to assess outcomes from the program and would require the department to submit that analysis to specified committees of the Legislature.
(1) Existing law requires the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement literacy programs in the state prison. Existing law requires the department to offer college programs through voluntary education programs or their equivalent. This bill would instead require the department to make college programs available for the benefit of inmates with a general education development certificate or equivalent or a high school diploma and would require those college programs to only be provided by the California Community Colleges, the California State University, the University of California, or other regionally accredited, nonprofit colleges or universities. The bill would provide a set of criteria to prioritize various college programs, including face-to-face instruction, comprehensive in-person support, and coordination with nonprofit postsecondary programs serving formerly incarcerated students. The bill would require the education providers to be responsible for determining and developing their curricula and degree pathways, determining certificate pathways, providing instructional staff, and determining what services will be offered to ensure incarcerated students can successfully complete the course of study. (2) Existing law allows the department to create regulations for the administration of the state prison. Existing regulations authorize an inmate enrolled in a full-time college program, as defined, to combine that program with a half-time work or career program to equate to a full-time work assignment. This bill would require an inmate enrolled in a full-time college program, as specified, to be deemed by the department to be assigned to a full-time work or training assignment.
(1) Existing law prohibits a person from using or operating, or assisting in using or operating, a boat, aircraft, net, trap, line, or other appliance to take fish for commercial purposes unless the person holds a commercial fishing license issued by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Existing law generally requires any person who engages in any business for profit involving fish to have a commercial fish business license issued by the department, and requires specialty licenses for specified classes of fish business. Existing law requires all fish taken or otherwise dealt with under the law to be exhibited upon demand to any person authorized by the department to enforce any law relating to the protection and conservation of fish. A violation of the Fish and Game Code or a regulation adopted pursuant to the code is a crime. This bill would require a person who holds a commercial fishing license or a commercial fish business license, upon request of an authorized agent or employee of the department, to immediately relinquish, at no charge, fish or parts of fish caught or landed in California to the department for the purpose of collecting a biological sample. Because a violation of this provision would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires the Ocean Protection Council to make a grant, upon appropriation of funding by the Legislature, for the development and administration of a Dungeness crab task force. Under existing law, the task force is comprised of 21 voting members and 6 nonvoting members, with the voting members representing various fishing and crab processing interests. Existing law requires the task force, among other things, to make recommendations on various topics and requires these recommendations to be forwarded to the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Fish and Game Commission upon an affirmative vote of at least 23 of the task force members. Existing law also authorizes a proposed recommendation of the Dungeness crab task force regarding a modification to the Dungeness crab trap limit program to be transmitted to the Director of Fish and Wildlife and the Legislature if the recommendation receives an affirmative vote of at least 15 of the non-ex officio members of the Dungeness crab task force. This bill would revise the vote threshold for these purposes by requiring an affirmative vote of at least 23 of the voting members of the task force to forward or transmit a recommendation. (3) Existing law prohibits a person from using a vessel to take, possess, or land Dungeness crab for commercial purposes using Dungeness crab traps without a Dungeness crab vessel permit. Existing law prohibits the transfer of a Dungeness crab vessel permit except under certain circumstances. Existing law authorizes, upon written approval of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the owner of a vessel to whom a Dungeness crab vessel permit has been issued to retain that permit upon the sale of that permitted vessel for the purpose of transferring the permit to another vessel to be purchased by that individual within one year of the time of sale of the vessel for which the permit was originally issued if certain requirements are satisfied. This bill would delete the requirement that the vessel to which the permit will be transferred be purchased by that individual within one year of the time of sale of the vessel for which the permit was originally issued, and would provide that if the permit is not transferred to a new vessel within one year of the sale of the permitted vessel, the permit shall become void by operation of law. Existing law authorizes, in the event of loss or destruction of a vessel for which a Dungeness crab vessel permit was issued, or serious damage that renders the vessel inoperable, and upon written approval of the department, the owner of the vessel to whom the permit was issued to retain the permit and to transfer the permit to another equivalent vessel during the period of 2 years after the loss or damage of the vessel for which the permit was originally issued. Existing law provides that, if the permit is not permanently transferred to another vessel owned by the person to whom the vessel permit was originally issued within 2 years of the loss or damage, the permit shall become void by operation of law. This bill would delete the requirement that the vessel to which the permit will be transferred be owned by the person to whom the vessel permit was originally issued. (4) Existing law prohibits a person from taking, possessing onboard, or landing Dungeness crab for commercial purposes from a vessel in any ocean waters for 30 days after the opening of those waters for the commercial Dungeness crab fishing season if the opening of the season for those waters has been delayed and the same vessel was used to take, possess onboard, or land Dungeness crab for commercial purposes, from ocean waters outside of the delayed waters, before the opening of the delayed waters for the season. This law is commonly referred to as "fair start." Existing law specifies the circumstances in which a delay has occurred for the purposes of the fair start law. Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife, on or before November 1, 2020, to adopt regulations establishing criteria and protocols to evaluate and respond to potential risk of marine life entanglement, as prescribed. Upon the effective date of these regulations, existing law authorizes the Director of Fish and Wildlife to restrict the take of Dungeness crab pursuant to the criteria and protocols. This bill would specify that a delay in the opening of waters implemented pursuant to these criteria and protocols or a delay in the opening of waters in Oregon or Washington by a closure to prevent a risk of marine life entanglement constitutes a delay for purposes of the fair start law. (5) Existing law authorizes crab traps to be set and baited 64 hours prior to the opening date of the Dungeness crab season in Fish and Game Districts 6, 7, 8, and 9. Existing law also authorizes crab traps to be set and baited in advance of that opening date in those districts if no other attempt is made to take or possess Dungeness crab in those districts. Existing law also provides, except in Fish and Game Districts 6, 7, 8, and 9, that crab traps may be set and baited 18 hours in advance of the opening date of the Dungeness crab season if no other attempt is made to take or possess Dungeness crab. This bill would instead authorize crab traps to be set and baited 64 hours before the opening date of the Dungeness crab season regardless of the Fish and Game District. The bill would also make conforming changes. (6) Existing state law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, makes it unlawful to manufacture, sell, deliver, hold, or offer for sale adulterated food. Existing law prescribes when a food is adulterated, including if it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to the health of a person or other animal that may consume it. Existing law makes a violation of the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law or a regulation adopted pursuant to that law a misdemeanor. Existing law authorizes the Director of Fish and Wildlife to order the closure of any waters or otherwise restrict the taking in state waters of any species of fish if the Director of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, in consultation with the State Public Health Officer, determines that the species or subspecies of fish is likely to pose a human health risk from high levels of toxic substances. Existing law requires the Director of Fish and Wildlife, upon receiving notification from the Director of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment that a human health risk no longer exists and a request to reopen those waters, to reopen those waters in a manner that promotes a fair and orderly fishery. A violation of the Fish and Game Code or a regulation adopted pursuant to the code is a crime. This bill would authorize a fishing vessel to transit closed waters in possession of species where take is otherwise restricted pursuant to those provisions if the vessel adheres to electronic monitoring requirements specified by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to issue an order authorizing the evisceration, as defined, of Dungeness crab or rock crab if the domoic acid for Dungeness crab or rock crab exceeds the allowable levels for viscera in certain areas when specified criteria exist. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to only authorize the evisceration of Dungeness crab or rock crab by a licensed processor, as defined, that also has a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point plan approved by the State Department of Public Health for handling and preparing eviscerated crab. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to collect from a processor a fee of $350 for the cost of reviewing the processor's Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point plan for handling and preparing eviscerated crab, to be deposited in the Food Safety Fund for expenditure by the State Department of Public Health, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the costs of reviewing the plans. The bill would also require the State Department of Public Health to establish labeling requirements for eviscerated crab, as specified, and to require the processor to maintain written recall procedures. Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to consult with the Dungeness crab task force or a successor task force or committee to establish the criteria for the manufacture, sale, delivery, holding, or offering for sale of Dungeness crab or rock crab caught in areas subject to an evisceration order by the State Department of Public Health. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to publish notice of the proposed criteria, as specified, and make the criteria effective by operation of law as regulations 90 days after the notice is published. Because a violation of these regulations would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the Director of Fish and Wildlife, in accordance with specified requirements, to open waters that are otherwise restricted for the commercial take of Dungeness crab or rock crab during a time period when the State Department of Public Health authorizes the manufacture, sale, delivery, holding, or offering for sale of eviscerated Dungeness crab or rock crab pursuant to the above-described provisions. The bill would require the holder of a Dungeness crab vessel permit or rock crab permit to submit to electronic monitoring of the vessel while engaged in the take of Dungeness crab or rock crab, as specified. The bill would authorize a person who takes Dungeness crab or rock crab to sell or provide the Dungeness crab or rock crab only to a processor licensed and approved by the State Department of Public Health, as specified. The bill would require the Director of Fish and Wildlife, when evisceration procedures established pursuant to the bill are no longer in effect, to lift related restrictions in a manner that promotes a fair and orderly fishery. Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (7) 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. (8) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the University of California under the administration of the Regents of the University of California. Existing law, the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, contains provisions relating to employer-employee relations between the State of California and the employees of the University of California. The act assigns major responsibilities for its implementation to the Public Employment Relations Board. A provision of the act relates to the factors to be considered in the determination of the appropriateness of an employee representation unit. The act specifies that the only appropriate representation units that include members of the Academic Senate of the University of California are either a single statewide unit consisting of all eligible members of the senate or divisional units consisting of all eligible members of a division of the senate. If the University of California adds to the academic senate an existing job classification that was previously outside of the academic senate, and employees in that job classification were represented by an exclusive representative, this bill would instead require continued representation of that job classification and those employees by that exclusive representative.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services in the Health and Welfare Agency and sets forth its powers and duties relating to the administration of various programs relating to public social services. This bill would enact the Community Response Initiative to Strengthen Emergency Systems Act, or the C.R.I.S.E.S. Act, for purposes of creating, implementing, and evaluating the C.R.I.S.E.S. Grant Pilot Program, which the act would establish. The bill would require the department to administer the program if appropriate funding is made available to the department. The bill would require the department to award grants to qualified grantees, which include city, county, and tribal departments of social services, disability services, health services, public health, or behavioral health, based on grant eligibility criteria developed in partnership with a stakeholder workgroup. This bill would require each grantee to receive a minimum award of $250,000 per year under the program. The bill would require a grantee to award at least 90% of grant funds received to one or more qualifying community-based organizations, as defined. The bill would require funds awarded under the program to be utilized to create and strengthen community-based alternatives to law enforcement to lessen the reliance on law enforcement agencies as first responders to crisis situations unrelated to a fire department or emergency medical service response. This bill would require a grantee to report at least annually to the department on the use of funding awarded under the program. The bill would require the department to convene a stakeholder workgroup consisting of specified individuals to make recommendations to the department regarding the implementation of the program, as specified. This bill would establish the Community Response Initiative to Strengthen Emergency Systems Program Fund within the State Treasury, and would provide that, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the moneys may be expended by the department for purposes of the program. The bill would prohibit the department from expending more than 5% of appropriated funds on administrative costs, as specified. The bill would require the department to award all grants by January 1, 2023. This bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific the provisions of the program without taking regulatory action, as specified. The bill would grant immunity to the state from liability resulting from the activities of a grantee or community-based organization under the program. This bill would repeal these provisions on June 30, 2026.
Under existing law, classified employees of school districts and community college districts subject to layoff as a result of the expiration of a specially funded program at the end of a school year are required to be given written notice on or before April 29 informing them of certain rights. Existing law also requires that notice be given not less than 60 days before the effective layoff date if the termination date of a specially funded program is other than June 30, or if classified employees are subject to layoff as a result of a bona fide reduction or elimination of a service performed by a department. This bill instead would revise and recast provisions relating to the layoff of classified employees of school districts and community college districts to require certain notices and opportunities for a hearing when a permanent classified employee's services will not be required for the ensuing year due to lack of work or lack of funds. The bill would, for the purposes of specified notice and hearing rights, define "permanent classified employee" to include both an employee who was permanent at the time the notice or right to a hearing was required and an employee who became permanent after the date of the required notice. The bill would express the intent of the Legislature in enacting the bill to provide permanent classified school employees and those who become permanent classified school employees with the same rights to notice and hearing with respect to layoffs as are provided to certificated employees of school districts, including teachers and administrators, and academic employees of community college districts. If classified positions must be eliminated as a result of the expiration of a specially funded program, the bill would require written notice of the layoff date and certain rights be given to the classified employees not less than 60 days before the effective layoff date. If, after January 1, 2021, the Legislature provides certificated or academic employees with any additional rights to notice or hearing as to layoffs, the bill would require the respective permanent classified employees, as described, to be afforded the same rights by the school district or community college district, as applicable. To the extent school districts and community college districts are required to perform additional duties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to license and regulate health facilities, and requires the department to define specified bed classifications for health facilities, including general acute care, intermediate care, and specialized care, among others. Existing law generally authorizes the department or the Department of Health Care Access and Information to permit program flexibility as to various prescribed standards relating to a health facility's physical plant or staffing as long as statutory requirements are met and the program flexibility has prior written approval. A person who violates specified licensing provisions related to these health facilities is guilty of a crime. This bill would additionally require any program flexibility granted by the department or the Department of Health Care Access and Information to not jeopardize the health, safety, and well-being of patients. The bill would specifically authorize the department to grant a critical care unit program flexibility request pursuant to a prescribed procedure that includes, among other things, a requirement that, on and after January 1, 2023, the department post a critical care unit program flexibility request on the department's publicly accessible internet website and solicit public comment on the request. On and after January 1, 2023, the bill would also require a health facility that submits a critical care unit program flexibility request to also post its critical care unit program flexibility request form and immediately notify affected employees, as specified. The bill would require the department to post on its internet website specified information, including a list of health facilities with approved critical care unit program flexibility, on or before February 1, 2023. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1276 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by SB 637 to be operative only if this bill and SB 637 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law generally regulates the transfer and possession of firearms. Existing law defines a firearm as a device, designed to be used as a weapon, from which a projectile is expelled through a barrel by force of an explosion or other form of combustion. Existing law also defines a firearm precursor part as a component of a firearm that is necessary to build or assemble a firearm and is either an unfinished handgun frame or an unfinished receiver, as specified. Existing law authorizes an immediate family member of a person or a law enforcement officer to request that a court, after notice and a hearing, issue a gun violence restraining order against that person, prohibiting the subject of the petition from having in their custody or control, or owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving, a firearm or ammunition, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of a gun violence restraining order is a crime. Existing law permits a person to seek a restraining order to protect against domestic violence, as specified. Existing law prohibits a person subject to that restraining order from owning, possessing, purchasing, or receiving a firearm, and makes a violation of that prohibition a crime. The bill would, on and after July 1, 2022, define a firearm, for the purpose of the specified gun violence and domestic violence restraining order provisions, to include a frame or receiver of the weapon or a firearm precursor part. By expanding the scope of existing crimes, 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.