Existing law authorizes a defendant to apply, prior to the commencement of trial, for an order directing that a hearing to determine intellectual disability be conducted when the prosecution in a criminal case seeks the death penalty. Existing law requires the court to order a hearing to determine whether the defendant has an intellectual disability upon the submission of a declaration by a qualified expert stating the expert's opinion that the defendant is a person with an intellectual disability. Existing law defines "intellectual disability" for these purposes as a condition of significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested before 18 years of age. This bill would change the definition of "intellectual disability" to include conditions that manifest before the end of the developmental period, as defined by clinical standards. The bill would also prohibit the results of a test measuring intellectual functioning to be changed or adjusted based on race, ethnicity, national origin, or socioeconomic status. The bill would require the court to order a hearing to determine whether the defendant is a person with an intellectual disability upon a prima facie showing, as defined, that the defendant is a person with an intellectual disability. The bill would authorize a person in custody pursuant to a judgment of death to apply for an order directing that a hearing to determine intellectual disability be conducted as part of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and would specify the procedure for making the determination as to whether the defendant is a person with an intellectual disability.
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Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to maintain a policy on the use of force, as specified. Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to implement courses of instruction for the regular and periodic training of law enforcement officers in the use of force. Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to report to the Department of Justice, as specified, any incident in which a peace officer is involved in a shooting or use of force that results in death or serious bodily injury. This bill would create a division within the Department of Justice to, upon the request of a law enforcement agency, review the use-of-force policy of the agency and make recommendations, as specified. This bill would require a state prosecutor to investigate incidents of an officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of an unarmed civilian, as defined. The bill would make the Attorney General the state prosecutor unless otherwise specified or named. The bill would authorize the state prosecutor to prepare a written report, and would require the state prosecutor to post any reports made on a public internet website. The bill would require, commencing July 1, 2023, the Attorney General to operate a Police Practices Division within the department to review, upon the request of a local law enforcement agency, the use of deadly force policies of that law enforcement agency and make recommendations, as specified. The bill would require the department to implement these provisions subject to an appropriation for this purpose.
Existing law authorizes a peace officer to take a minor into temporary custody when that officer has reasonable cause to believe that the minor has committed a crime or violated an order of the juvenile court. In these circumstances, existing law requires the peace officer to advise the minor that anything the minor says can be used against the minor, that the minor has the right to remain silent, that the minor has the right to have counsel present during any interrogation, and that the minor has the right to have counsel appointed if the minor is unable to afford counsel. Existing law requires, until January 1, 2025, that a youth 15 years of age or younger consult with legal counsel in person, by telephone, or by video conference prior to a custodial interrogation and before waiving any of the above-specified rights. Existing law directs a court deciding the admissibility of statements made by a youth 15 years of age or younger during or after a custodial interrogation to consider the effects of failing to provide counsel before the custodial interrogation. Existing law directs the Governor to convene a panel of experts to examine the effects and outcomes of these provisions, including the appropriate age of youth to whom these provisions should apply. This bill would instead apply these provisions to a youth 17 years of age or younger, and would indefinitely extend the operation of these provisions. The bill would direct a court to consider any willful failure of a law enforcement officer to allow a youth 17 years of age or younger to speak with counsel before a custodial interrogation in determining the credibility of that law enforcement officer, and would eliminate the above-specified provisions requiring the Governor to convene a panel of experts.
Existing law provides for the exclusion of a prospective juror from a trial jury by peremptory challenge. Existing law prohibits a party from using a peremptory challenge to remove a prospective juror on the basis of an assumption that the prospective juror is biased merely because of the sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, ethnic group identification, age, mental disability, physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, or sexual orientation of the prospective juror, or on similar grounds. This bill would, for all jury trials in which jury selection begins on or after January 1, 2022, prohibit a party from using a peremptory challenge to remove a prospective juror on the basis of the prospective juror's race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, or religious affiliation, or the perceived membership of the prospective juror in any of those groups. The bill would allow a party, or the trial court on its own motion, to object to the use of a peremptory challenge based on these criteria. Upon objection, the bill would require the party exercising the challenge to state the reasons the peremptory challenge has been exercised. The bill would require the court to evaluate the reasons given, as specified, and, if the court grants the objection, would authorize the court to take certain actions, including, but not limited to, starting a new jury selection, declaring a mistrial at the request of the objecting party, seating the challenged juror, or providing another remedy as the court deems appropriate. The bill would subject the denial of an objection to de novo review by an appellate court, as specified. The bill would, until January 1, 2026, specify that its provisions do not apply to civil cases.
Existing law governs employment relations, defines the contract of employment, and establishes the obligations of employers to their employees. This bill would require an employer, as defined, to offer its laid-off employees specified information about job positions that become available for which the laid-off employees are qualified, and to offer positions to those laid-off employees based on a preference system, in accordance with specified timelines and procedures. The bill would define the term "laid-off employee" to mean any employee who was employed by the employer for 6 months or more in the 12 months preceding the state of emergency giving rise to the application of the bill's provisions, and whose most recent separation from active service was due to a public health directive, government shutdown order, lack of business, a reduction in force, or other economic, nondisciplinary reason related to the state of emergency, as defined. The bill would also require an incumbent employer, within 15 days after the execution of a transfer document, to provide to the successor employer specified information pertaining to eligible employees and would require the successor employer to maintain and hire from a preferential hiring list for a specified time period. The bill would authorize an employee to enforce violations of these provisions by filing an action with the Division of Labor Standards and would authorize various remedies, including hiring and reinstatement rights and awarding of back pay.
Existing law allows a court to issue an order restraining an individual from possessing a firearm for the duration of the order. Existing law allows the court to issue a temporary emergency gun violence restraining order on an ex parte basis if the possession of a firearm by the subject of the petition poses an immediate and present danger. Existing law requires a law enforcement officer who requests a temporary emergency gun violence restraining order to take certain steps, including filing a copy of the order with the court as soon as practicable after issuance. This bill would instead require the law enforcement officer to file a copy of the order with the court as soon as practicable, but not later than 3 court days, after issuance. Under existing law, a person who owns or possesses a firearm or ammunition with the knowledge that they are prohibited from doing so by a gun violence restraining order is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be prohibited from having custody or control of, owning, purchasing, possessing, or receiving, or attempting to purchase or receive, a firearm or ammunition for a 5-year period, commencing upon the expiration of the existing gun violence restraining order. This bill would specify that this offense also applies to persons who are subject to certain gun violence restraining orders, as described, issued by an out-of-state jurisdiction. This bill would state that its provisions are severable. By expanding the application 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, subject to exceptions, generally makes it an offense to manufacture or sell an unsafe handgun, as defined, and requires the Department of Justice to compile a roster listing all of the handguns that have been tested and determined not to be unsafe handguns. Existing law establishes criteria for determining if a handgun is an unsafe handgun, including, for firearms manufactured after a certain date and not already listed on the roster, the lack of a chamber load indicator, magazine disconnect mechanism, and technology that transfers a microscopic array of characters from the firearm to the cartridge case when the firearm is fired, known as a microstamp. Existing law requires the microstamp to be transferred to the cartridge upon firing and to be imprinted in 2 or more places on the internal working parts of the handgun. This bill, effective July 1, 2022, would revise the criteria for unsafe handguns by requiring the microstamp to be imprinted in one place on the interior of the handgun, and would require the department, for every new firearm added to the roster, to remove, as specified, 3 firearms from the roster that are not compliant with current requirements. By expanding the number of firearms the sale or manufacture of which would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the department to adopt emergency regulations, as specified, to implement the provisions of this bill. 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 Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program, under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to provide supplemental funding to county offices of education, or a consortium of county offices of education, to coordinate and ensure that local educational agencies within its jurisdiction are providing services to foster youth pupils pursuant to a foster youth services coordinating plan with the purpose of ensuring positive educational outcomes. As part of the program, existing law authorizes a county office of education, or a consortium of county offices of education, to apply to the Superintendent for grant funding to operate an education-based foster youth services coordinating program. As a condition of receiving funds, existing law requires a program to develop and implement a foster youth services plan that includes, among other things, a description of how the local program will facilitate coordination with local postsecondary educational institutions to ensure foster youth pupils meet admission requirements and access programs that support their matriculation needs. This bill would require the plan to also describe how the program will coordinate efforts to ensure, to the extent possible, the completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or the California Dream Act Application for foster youth pupils who are in grade 12. Existing law requires the Superintendent, by July 1 of each even-numbered year, to report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature and the Governor on the Foster Youth Services Coordinating Program. Existing law requires the report to include aggregate educational outcome data for each county in which there were at least 15 pupils in foster care who attended school in the county with information on, among other things, the number of participating foster youth pupils who successfully transition to postsecondary education. This bill would require the report to also include the number and percentage of pupils in foster care who successfully complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid or California Dream Act Application while in grade 12.
The California Endangered Species Act prohibits the taking of an endangered or threatened species, except as specified. The act permits the Department of Fish and Wildlife to authorize, by permit, the take of listed species if the take is incidental to an otherwise lawful activity and the impacts are minimized and fully mitigated. This bill would permit the department to authorize under the act, by permit, the take of the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander (Ambystoma macrodactylum croceum) resulting from impacts attributable to the construction along the State Route 156 corridor through Moro Cojo Slough in the County of Monterey for the purpose of enhancing safety and access, if certain conditions are satisfied. The bill would also provide that those conditions are subject to amendment if required by a certain monitoring program and adaptive management process. The bill would also make a related change.
Existing law establishes the state prisons under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law authorizes a person sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison or a county jail for a felony to be, during the period of confinement, deprived of those rights, and only those rights, as is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to, during initial intake and classification, and in a private setting, ask each individual entering into the custody of the department to specify the individual's gender identity whether the individual identifies as transgender, nonbinary, or intersex, and their gender pronoun and honorific. The bill would prohibit the department from disciplining a person for refusing to answer or not disclosing complete information in response to these questions. The bill would authorize a person under the jurisdiction of the department to update this information. The bill would prohibit staff, contractors, and volunteers of the department from failing to consistently use the gender pronoun and honorific an individual has specified in verbal and written communications with or regarding that individual that involve the use of a pronoun or honorific. The bill would require the department, for a person who is transgender, nonbinary, or intersex to only conduct a search of that person according to the search policy for their gender identity or according to the gender designation of the facility where they are housed, based on the individual's search preference. The bill would additionally require the department to house the person in a correctional facility designated for men or women based on the individual's preference, except as specified.