This measure would, among other things, honor the late civil rights pioneer and icon Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
(1) Existing law establishes the Cal Grant A and B Entitlement awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B awards, the Cal Grant C awards, and the Cal Grant T awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for these awards for participating students attending qualifying institutions. This bill would enact the Cal Grant Reform Act, which would revise and recast the provisions establishing and governing the existing Cal Grant Program into a new Cal Grant Program. The bill would specify that the Cal Grant Reform Act would only become operative upon the appropriation by the Legislature, in the annual Budget Act or another statute, of sufficient funds to fully implement its provisions. The bill would authorize the commission to adopt emergency regulations to implement the Cal Grant Reform Act. The new Cal Grant Program would also include a Cal Grant 2 Program and a Cal Grant 4 Program, with eligibility requirements as specified. The provisions rendering several existing provisions of the Cal Grant Program inoperative would take effect on July 1, 2024, or on a date determined in the annual Budget Act, whichever date is later. The Cal Grant Reform Act would become operative for students to apply for aid beginning October 1, 2023, and to receive aid for the 2024–25 academic year. The bill would require the Trustees of the California State University, and request the Regents of the University of California, to adopt a statement of policy on or before June 30, 2023, on how their institutional aid programs address student basic needs and how these institutional funds are prioritized for disbursement. The bill would require the University of California, the California State University, private nonprofit and for-profit institutions of higher education, and community college districts whose students receive Cal Grant aid to report specified data to the Department of Finance, the Legislative Analyst's Office, and the higher education policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature for each academic year, starting with the 2021–22 academic year, by March 31 of the subsequent academic year. To the extent that this provision would impose new duties on community college districts, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. (2) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 66025.9 of the Education Code proposed by SB 512 to be operative only if this bill and SB 512 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 76300 of the Education Code proposed by AB 1113 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1113 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (4) 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, the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000, provides the authority and procedures for the initiation, conduct, and completion of changes of organization and reorganization of cities and districts by local agency formation commissions. This bill would create the Pajaro Valley Health Care District, as specified, except that the bill would authorize the Pajaro Valley Health Care District to be organized, incorporated, and managed, only if the relevant county board of supervisors chooses to appoint an initial board of directors. The bill would require, within 5 years of the date of the first meeting of the Board of Directors of the Pajaro Valley Health Care District, the board of directors to divide the district into zones and number the zones consecutively. The bill would require that, after formation, the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 govern any organizational changes for the Pajaro Valley Health Care District. The bill would require the district to notify the County of Santa Cruz local agency formation commission (LAFCO) when the district, or any other entity, acquires the Watsonville Community Hospital. The bill would require the LAFCO to order the dissolution of the district if the hospital has not been acquired by January 1, 2024. The bill would require the district to notify the LAFCO if the district sells the Watsonville Community Hospital to another entity or stops providing health care services at the facility, and would require the LAFCO to dissolve the district under those circumstances, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the creation of the Pajaro Valley Health Care District within the Counties of Santa Cruz and Monterey. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining with respect to wages, terms of employment, and other employment conditions, and authorizes employees to elect exclusive bargaining representatives for these purposes. Existing law requires the Agricultural Labor Relations Board to certify the results of an election conducted by secret ballot of employees in a collective bargaining unit to designate a collective bargaining representative, unless the board determines there are sufficient grounds to refuse to do so. Existing law further provides that if the board refuses to certify an election because of employer misconduct that would render slight the chances of a new election reflecting the free and fair choice of employees, the labor organization shall be certified as the bargaining representative for the bargaining unit. This bill would refer to the secret ballot election as a polling place election. This bill would also permit agricultural employees, as an alternative election procedure, to select their labor representatives through a representation ballot card election by submitting a petition to the board supported by representation ballot cards signed by a majority of employees in the bargaining unit. This bill would require the board to conduct an immediate investigation regarding the validity of the petition and the supporting representation ballot cards and, within 5 days after receiving a petition, to make an administrative decision as to whether the petition meets certain requirements and as to whether the labor organization submitted the requisite number of cards. The bill would require the board to certify the labor organization as the exclusive bargaining representative if the board determines that the labor organization has submitted the required number of representation ballot cards and the cards meet specified criteria. Existing law authorizes a person aggrieved by the final order of the board granting or denying in whole or in part the relief sought for an unfair labor practice, to obtain a review of the order in a specified court of appeal by filing in the court a written petition requesting that the order of the board be modified or set aside. This bill would require an employer who appeals or petitions for a writ of review of any order of the board involving make-whole, backpay, or other monetary awards to employees, to post an appeal bond in the amount of the entire economic value of the order, as specified, and would provide for the bond to be forfeited under specified conditions. This bill would state that its provisions are severable.
The California Constitution prohibits the state, including any political subdivision or government instrumentality of or within the state, from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. Existing law establishes in state government various commissions and committees, including, among others, the California Commission on Disability Access, the Healthy California for All Commission, the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, and the Committee on Revision of the Penal Code to study and recommend reforms on certain topics, including issues related to equality and justice. This bill would establish in state government the California Commission on Human Rights, as an advisory commission, and would require it to, among other things, identify and evaluate California's successes and failures in protecting human rights of individuals living within the state, determine statutory, regulatory, or budgetary solutions to better protect human rights, and report, at least annually, on the status of human rights to the Legislature and the Governor with statutory and regulatory recommendations. The bill would require the commission to consist of 17 members, including, among others, Members of the Assembly and the Senate. The bill would also create the California Commission on Human Rights Fund in the General Fund to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, carry out these provisions and support the commission. The bill would make related findings and declarations. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027.
Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a legislative body of a local agency, as those terms are defined, be open and public and that all persons be permitted to attend and participate. Under existing law, a member of the legislative body who attends a meeting where action is taken in violation of this provision, with the intent to deprive the public of information that the member knows the public is entitled to, is guilty of a crime. This bill would require local agencies to conduct meetings subject to the act consistent with applicable state and federal civil rights laws, as specified. This bill would, until December 31, 2023, require all open and public meetings of a city council or a county board of supervisors that governs a jurisdiction containing least 250,000 people to include an opportunity for members of the public to attend via a two-way telephonic option or a two-way internet-based service option, as specified, and would require a city council or county board of supervisors that has, as of June 15, 2021, provided video streaming, as defined, of at least one of its meetings to continue to provide that video streaming. The bill would require all open and public meetings to include an in-person public comment opportunity, except in specified circumstances during a declared state or local emergency. The bill would require all meetings to provide the public with an opportunity to comment on proposed legislation in person and remotely via a telephonic or an internet-based service option, as provided. By imposing new duties on local governments and expanding the application of a crime with respect to meetings, 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 specified reasons. The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. 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 and counties, including charter cities and counties. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 54953 of the Government Code proposed by AB 361 to be operative only if this bill and AB 361 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
