(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law requires the commission to develop, implement, and administer the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to encourage deployment of high-quality advanced communications services to all Californians that will promote economic growth, job creation, and the substantial social benefits of advanced information and communications technologies. Existing law authorizes the commission to impose a surcharge to collect $330,000,000 for deposit into the CASF beginning January 1, 2018, and continuing through the 2022 calendar year. Existing law specifies the amount of surcharge revenues to be deposited into each account within the CASF, subject to appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would authorize the commission to impose the surcharge to fund the CASF until December 31, 2032, as specified. Existing law requires the commission, until April 1, 2023, to annually report specified information to the Legislature, including the remaining unserved areas in the state, the status of the CASF balance, and the projected amount to be collected in each year. This bill would require the commission to report that information in perpetuity. This bill would authorize the commission to require each internet service provider, as defined, to report specified information regarding each free, low-cost, income-qualified, or affordable internet service plan advertised by the provider. (2) Existing law requires the commission to require interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol service providers to collect and remit surcharges on their California intrastate revenues in support of specified public purpose program funds. Existing law authorizes those providers to use certain methodologies to identify their intrastate revenues subject to the surcharge. This bill would repeal that authorization to use those methodologies. (3) Existing law establishes the deaf and disabled telecommunications program and requires the commission to establish a rate recovery mechanism through a surcharge not to exceed 12 of 1% uniformly applied to a subscriber's intrastate telephone service, other than one-way radio paging service and universal telephone service, until January 1, 2025, to allow providers of equipment and service pursuant to that program to recover their costs as they are incurred. This bill would revise those requirements to instead require the commission to administer a surcharge to collect revenues of up to $100,000,000 per year until January 1, 2025, subject to annual appropriation of moneys by the Legislature, to allow providers of equipment and service pursuant to the deaf and disabled telecommunications program to recover their costs as they are incurred. (4) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain of the above provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements would be a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (5) This bill would become effective only if SB 4 of the 2021–22 Regular Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2022. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
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(1) 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, among others, the completion of 3 years of courses in English and 3 years of courses in social studies, including one-year courses in United States history and geography and world history, culture, and geography, a one-semester course in American government and civics, and a one-semester course in economics. Existing law requires the Instructional Quality Commission to develop, and the State Board of Education to adopt, modify, or revise, a model curriculum in ethnic studies. Existing law also encourages each school district and charter school that maintains any of grades 9 to 12, inclusive, and that does not otherwise offer a standards-based ethnic studies curriculum to offer, beginning in the school year following the adoption of the model curriculum, a course of study in ethnic studies based on the model curriculum. This bill would add the completion of a one-semester course in ethnic studies, meeting specified requirements, to the graduation requirements commencing with pupils graduating in the 2029–30 school year, including for pupils enrolled in a charter school. The bill would expressly authorize local educational agencies, including charter schools, to require a full-year course in ethnic studies at their discretion. The bill would require local educational agencies, including charter schools, to offer an ethnic studies course commencing with the 2025–26 school year, as specified. The bill would authorize, subject to the course offerings of a local educational agency, including a charter school, a pupil to satisfy the ethnic studies course requirement by completing either (A) a course based on the model curriculum in ethnic studies developed by the commission, (B) an existing ethnic studies course, (C) 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 (D) a locally developed ethnic studies course approved by the governing board of the school district or the governing body of the charter school. The bill would prohibit a course that does not use ethnic studies content as the primary content through which the subject is taught from being used to satisfy the ethnic studies course requirement. The bill would require a pupil who completes a course described above to also accrue credit for coursework in the subject that the course is offered, including, if applicable, credit towards satisfying a course required for a diploma of graduation from high school. These provisions would become operative only upon an appropriation of funds by the Legislature for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute. Because the bill would add new duties to local educational agencies, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. (2) 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 requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Department of Motor Vehicles to ensure that any eligible inmate released from state prison has a valid identification card. Existing law defines "eligible inmate," in part, as a person who has previously held a California driver's license or identification card, who has a usable photo on file with the Department of Motor Vehicles that is not more than 10 years old, who has no outstanding fees due for a prior identification card, and who meets certain requirements, including that they have provided, and the Department of Motor Vehicles has verified, specified information, such as the inmate's true full name. This bill would delete the requirements that the usable photo on file be no more than 10 years old and that the person have no outstanding fees due for a prior identification card, would require a new photo to be taken if the photo on file is deemed unusable, and would require the inmate to provide, and the Department of Motor Vehicles to verify, their California residency for purposes of obtaining an identification card. The bill would expand the definition of "eligible inmate" to include a person who has not previously held a California driver's license or identification card, and who meets specified requirements, including that they have signed and verified their application for an identification card. The bill would also authorize the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Department of Motor Vehicles to provide a renewed driver's license in lieu of an identification card if the inmate meets specified criteria. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide an inmate with a photo prison identification card if a valid identification card is not obtained prior to release. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, to the extent administratively feasible and within available resources, to facilitate the process between an eligible inmate and the agencies holding documentation required for the issuance of an identification card, as specified. (2) Existing law requires, upon an application for an identification card, a fee of $26 to be paid to the Department of Motor Vehicles, except as specified, including that a fee not be charged for an original or replacement identification card for certain individuals, such as senior citizens or a person who can verify their status as a homeless person or homeless child or youth. Existing law provides for a reduced fee of $8 for a replacement identification card issued to an eligible inmate, as defined, upon release from a state or federal correctional facility or a county jail facility. Existing law requires, as part of eligibility for the reduced fee, among other things, that the person previously held a California driver's license or identification card, and that the person has provided the Department of Motor Vehicles, upon application, a specified verification. In the case of an inmate, existing law requires that verification to be on state or federal correctional facility letterhead or county sheriff letterhead, and to contain the original signature of an official from those respective entities. Upon release from a state correctional facility, this bill would instead establish a fee of $8 for an original or replacement identification card issued to an eligible inmate, as defined, who meets certain requirements, including that the inmate has provided the department, upon application, a specified verification on state correctional facility letterhead that contains a signature of an official from the facility. This bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.
The California Constitution grants the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation the authority to award credits earned for good behavior and approved rehabilitative or educational achievements and requires the department to adopt regulations in furtherance of this grant of authority. The bill would require the department to conduct rehabilitative programming in a manner that meets specified requirements, such as prioritizing a person who has transferred between facilities to resume rehabilitative programming, if the transfer was for nonadverse reasons, minimizing program wait times, and offering a variety of program opportunities to inmates regardless of security level or sentence length.
Existing law, the Student Loan Servicing Act, provides for the licensure, regulation, and oversight of student loan servicers by the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation, who is the head of the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. The act prohibits a person from engaging in the business of servicing a student loan in this state without a license, unless the person falls within certain exceptions. Existing law, the Student Borrower Bill of Rights, imposes requirements on a student loan servicer, including, among others, the timely posting, processing, and crediting of student loan payments, and applying overpayments consistent with the best financial interest of a student loan borrower. Existing law also prohibits a student loan servicer from engaging in unfair or deceptive practices, or abusive acts or practices in connection with the servicing of a student loan, and authorizes a person to bring an action for actual damages, injunctive relief, restitution, punitive damages, attorney's fees, and other relief, including treble damages in certain circumstances. This bill would enact the Private Student Loan Collections Reform Act, which would become operative July 1, 2022. The act would prohibit a private education lender or a private education loan collector, as defined, from making any written statement to a debtor in an attempt to collect a private education loan unless the private education lender or private education loan collector possesses certain information regarding the loan and provides this information to the debtor, as specified. The act would require all settlement agreements between a private education lender or private education loan collector and a debtor to be documented in open court or otherwise reduced to writing, as specified. The act would also require a private education lender or private education loan collector that accepts a payment as payment in full or as a full and final compromise of a private education loan, within 30 calendar days, to provide specified information to the debtor regarding the loan. The act would also prohibit a private education lender or private education loan collector from bringing suit or initiating an arbitration or other legal proceeding to collect a private education loan if the applicable statute of limitations on the claim has expired. The act would require a complaint, with respect to an action brought by a private education lender or private education loan collector to collect a private education loan, to contain specified information and would prohibit a default or other judgment from being entered against a defendant unless documents submitted to the court establish the facts alleged. The act would require a plaintiff seeking an exemption, as an exempt entity, from those requirements to attach to the complaint a declaration or affidavit, signed under penalty of perjury, stating certain information. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. The act would also authorize a person to bring a cause of action against a creditor, private education lender, or private education loan collector for violating the act for actual damages, statutory damages, restitution, and other specified relief. 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 establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, under which a minor may be adjudged to be a dependent of the court if the minor has been abused or neglected, as specified. Existing law authorizes the juvenile court to order a legal guardianship, appoint a legal guardian, or issue letters of guardianship with respect to a minor adjudged to be a dependent. Existing law also authorizes a social worker to undertake a program of supervision of the minor in lieu of filing a dependency petition with the juvenile court, with the consent of the minor's parent or guardian. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to prepare a pamphlet in dependency cases that assists potential legal guardians with understanding their rights, duties, and obligations as a guardian of a minor. Existing law, the Guardianship-Conservatorship Law, authorizes a probate court, upon hearing of a petition by a parent, relative, or other person, to appoint a guardian of a minor in accordance with specified provisions of law governing the custody of a minor child. Existing law authorizes a court hearing a guardianship petition, if the proposed ward is or may be abused or neglected, to refer the matter to the local child welfare services agency to initiate an investigation to determine whether proceedings in juvenile court should be commenced. This bill would revise the probate court guardianship process by requiring, among other things, the probate court to have good cause to waive the investigation and prohibiting the probate court from hearing and determining the petition to appoint a guardian until the child welfare agency has completed its investigation and submitted its report to the probate court. The bill would instead require the Judicial Council to develop a form for use in both dependency cases and probate guardianships that assists potential legal guardians with understanding their rights, duties, and obligations as a guardian of a minor, and additionally provides information about the services and supports available to a probate guardian and how they differ from the services and supports available to a caregiver in the child welfare system or a guardian appointed by the juvenile court. Existing law requires a proceeding in the juvenile court to declare a child to be a dependent child of the court to be commenced by a social worker's filing of a petition with the court. Under existing law, if a person applies to a social worker to commence juvenile court proceedings and the social worker fails to file a petition within 3 weeks after the application, the person may, within one month after making the application, apply to the juvenile court to review the decision of the social worker, and the court may either affirm the decision of the social worker or order the social worker to commence juvenile court proceedings. If the probate court has referred a matter to juvenile court, this bill would require the social worker to immediately investigate and to report the findings and conclusions of the investigation to the probate court. When a probate court has referred a matter to the child welfare agency, the bill would authorize the probate court or appointed counsel, within one month after the referral, to request that the juvenile court review the decision of the social worker not to file a petition and would authorize the juvenile court to either affirm the decision of the social worker or, if the juvenile court finds that the child is, prima facie, a dependent child of the court, to order the social worker to commence juvenile court proceedings. By imposing a higher level of service on county officials, 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 provides for the implementation of the resource family approval process, which replaces the multiple processes for licensing foster family homes, certifying foster homes by foster family agencies, approving relatives and nonrelative extended family members as foster care providers, and approving guardians and adoptive families. Existing law defines a resource family as an individual or family who has successfully met both the home environment assessment standards and permanency assessment criteria, as specified, necessary for providing care for a child placed by a public or private child placement agency by court order, or voluntarily placed by a parent or legal guardian. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to adopt standards pertaining to the home environment and permanency assessments of a resource family according to specified standards, including that the total number of children residing in the home of a resource family be no more than the total number of children the resource family can properly care for, regardless of status, and may not exceed 6 children, except as specified. Existing law states the intent of the Legislature for siblings to be placed in foster care together, unless it has been determined that placement together is contrary to the safety or well-being of any sibling, and requires the responsible local agency to make a diligent effort in all out-of-home placements of dependent children and wards in foster care, including those with relatives, to place siblings together in the same placement, and to develop and maintain sibling relationships. Existing law requires the court to suspend sibling interaction if it determines by clear and convincing evidence that sibling interaction is detrimental to the well-being of any of the siblings. This bill would prohibit the physical capacity of the home from being the sole reason to deny placement of a sibling group if each child in the home has an age-appropriate place to sleep and there are no other safety risks. The bill would repeal an obsolete requirement on the department to provide specified recommendations and would make conforming changes consistent with the implementation of the resource family approval process. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 16519.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by SB 354 and SB 584 to be operative only if this bill and SB 354, this bill and SB 584, or all 3 bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law prohibits an entity from substantially diverting or obstructing the natural flow of, or substantially changing or using any material from the bed, channel, or bank of, any river, stream, or lake, or from depositing certain material where it may pass into any river, stream, or lake, without first notifying the Department of Fish and Wildlife of that project, and entering into a lake or streambed alteration agreement if required by the department to protect fish and wildlife resources. Existing law authorizes a habitat restoration or enhancement project proponent to submit a written request for approval of the project to the Director of Fish and Wildlife. Existing law requires the director to approve the project if the written request includes certain information, as specified, and provides for an alternate authorization process by the State Water Resources Control Board. The Government Claims Act sets forth the general procedure for claims and actions against public entities and public employees. Existing law requires the Department of General Services to carry out various duties, including processing certain types of claims against the state. This bill would require a qualifying state agency, as defined, that funds a project to restore fish and wildlife habitats to indemnify and hold harmless a real property owner who voluntarily allows their real property to be used for such a project from civil liability for property damage or personal injury resulting from the project if the project qualifies for a specified exemption and meets specified requirements, including that the liability arises from, and the real property owner or any person or entity retained by the real property owner does not perform, the construction, design specifications, surveying, planning, supervision, testing, or observation of construction related to the project. The bill would authorize a qualifying state agency to indemnify and hold harmless a real property owner who voluntarily allows their real property to be used for that project from civil liability for property damage or personal injury resulting from the project in the case the project does not meet the specified exemption. The bill would authorize a qualifying state agency to enter into an agreement with the United States government, or subdivision thereof, to share the cost of any civil liability incurred. The bill would require the costs of any civil liability incurred by a qualifying state agency to be promptly paid from the General Fund, and those costs to be submitted as a claim by the real property owner to the Department of General Services, as specified. The bill would require the costs incurred by a qualifying state agency in investigating and defending against any claim to be paid from the General Fund.
Existing law requires a school district, county office of education, or charter school to ensure that a grade 12 pupil who has not opted out, as specified, completes and submits a Free Application for Federal Student Aid or, if the pupil is exempt from paying nonresident tuition under existing law, completes and submits a form for purposes of the California Dream Act. Existing law requires the Student Aid Commission, on or before July 1, 2022, to adopt regulations that include, but are not limited to, model opt-out forms and acceptable use policies for the purpose of providing guidance on applicable state laws. Existing law requires the school district, county office of education, or charter school to exempt a pupil or the pupil's parent or legal guardian from completing a form if the local educational agency determines the pupil is unable to complete the form, and prohibits a pupil's ability to graduate from being affected by a pupil's failure to fill out a form. This bill would require, on or before September 1, 2022, and each year thereafter, the commission and the State Department of Education to facilitate the completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and the form established for purposes of the California Dream Act, by requiring the department to share the current school year's roster of pupils with the commission, and requiring the commission to match data on pupil completion of financial aid forms, as specified.
Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of marijuana for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. The existing 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. MAUCRSA prohibits cannabis and cannabis products from being sold unless a representative sample of specified batches has been tested by a licensed testing laboratory. MAUCRSA requires the testing laboratory to issue a certificate of analysis for selected lots of each batch to report specified information, including the content of specified compounds and contaminants. AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend by majority vote certain provisions of the act to implement specified substantive provisions, provided that the amendments are consistent with and further the purposes and intent of AUMA. This bill would implement the above provisions of AUMA by requiring the Department of Cannabis Control, on or before January 1, 2023, to establish one or more standardized cannabinoids test methods to be used by all testing laboratories.