Asm. Robert Rivas

Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a city or a county to propose the establishment of an enhanced infrastructure financing district, in accordance with specified procedures, to finance public capital facilities or other specified projects of communitywide significance, including, but not limited to, the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of housing for persons of low and moderate income for rent or purchase. This bill would establish the Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Funding Program, to be administered by the Treasurer's office. The bill would authorize the city council of a city, or the board of supervisors of a city and county, to participate in the program by enactment of an ordinance establishing a transit-oriented affordable housing district, as provided. The bill would require that the city council or board of supervisors serve as the governing board of the district and, in that capacity, prepare and adopt a transit-oriented affordable housing financing plan. The bill would authorize a district to designate program areas. The bill would authorize the district to provide program funding to multifamily housing developments, as defined, within those program areas that meet specified requirements, including that the housing include a minimum percentage of units that are restricted to very lower, low, or moderate income households, and that the development receives to preliminary approval from the office, as provided. The bill would require that program funding be used for the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of housing for very low income households and persons and families of low or moderate income. The bill would authorize the transit-oriented affordable housing financing plan to include a provision for the division of taxes with respect to those properties selected for participation. The bill would establish an unspecified maximum amount of program funding, and an unspecified maximum term for the division of taxes, for multifamily housing developments based on the percentage of very low, lower, or moderate income units included. The bill would authorize a transit-oriented affordable housing district to enter into a contract with the Treasurer's office that includes specified provisions, including a provision requiring the district to remit the entirety of the amount allocated to it by a division of taxes to the office and a provision requiring that the office deposit the remitted amount into the Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Trust Fund (trust fund) , which this bill would create and continuously appropriate to the office. The bill would require the office to issue revenue bonds, in accordance with specified procedures, secured by moneys in the trust fund and allocate the proceeds of those bonds to districts with which it has a contract in proportion to the amount remitted by each district. The bill would specify that moneys in the trust fund are nonstate moneys and are instead the property of, and held in trust on behalf of, the districts that contract with the office under these provisions. The bill would require that a district use the proceeds of revenue bonds allocated to it pursuant to these provisions for those purposes to provide program funding to participating multifamily housing developments. The bill would make various conforming changes to other laws relating to state moneys and the division of taxes by local agencies. By adding to the duties of county auditors with respect to the allocation of property tax revenues, 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 requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. Existing law under Article XVI of the California Constitution requires measures authorizing general obligation bonds to specify the single object or work to be funded by the bonds and further requires a bond act to be approved by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and a majority of the voters. This bill would enact the Equitable Economic Recovery, Healthy Food Access, Climate Resilient Farms, and Worker Protection Bond Act of 2022, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $3,302,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law, to finance programs related to, among other things, agricultural lands, food and fiber infrastructure, climate resilience, agricultural professionals, including farmers, ranchers, and farmworkers, workforce development and training, air quality, tribes, disadvantaged communities, nutrition, food aid, meat processing facilities, fishing facilities, and fairgrounds. The bill would provide for the submission of the bond act to the voters at the November 8, 2022, statewide general election.

Existing law requires all California state-owned or state-run institutions, except public universities and colleges and school districts, to purchase an agricultural product grown in California when the bid or price of the California-grown agricultural product does not exceed by more than 5% the lowest bid or price for an agricultural product produced outside the state and the quality of the California-grown agricultural product is comparable. Existing law also requires the institutions, when they solicit or intend to accept a bid or price for agricultural products grown outside the state, to accept the bid or price from a vendor that packs or processes these agricultural products in the state before accepting a bid or price from a vendor that packs or processes these agricultural products outside of the state when specified conditions are met, including that the bid or price of the agricultural product grown outside the state and packed or processed in the state does not exceed by more than 5% the lowest bid or price for the agricultural product packed or processed outside the state. Existing law requires a school district that solicits bids for the purchase of an agricultural product to accept a bid or price for that agricultural product when it is grown in California before accepting a bid or price for an agricultural product that is grown outside the state when the bid or price of the California-grown agricultural product does not exceed the lowest bid or price for an agricultural product produced outside the state and the quality of the California-grown agricultural product is comparable. Under existing law, these provisions only apply to a contract to purchase agricultural products for a value that is less than the value of the threshold for supplies and services for which California has obligated itself under the Agreement on Government Procurement of the World Trade Organization. This bill would instead require all California state-owned or state-run institutions, all segments of public postsecondary education, and all local educational agencies that solicit bids for the purchase of an agricultural food product to purchase agricultural food products grown, packed, or processed domestically, unless either the bid or price of the nondomestic agricultural food product is more than 25% lower than the bid or price of the domestic agricultural food product or the quality of the domestic agricultural food product is inferior to the quality of the agricultural food product grown, packed, or produced nondomestically. The bill would provide that the bill's provisions neither limit nor expand California's obligations under the Agreement on Government Procurement of the World Trade Organization. The bill would define "agricultural food product" for these purposes. By creating new duties for school districts and community colleges, 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, 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 establishes the California Farmland Conservancy Program Act, to be administered generally by the Department of Conservation, and provides that it is the intent of the act to, among other things, encourage voluntary, long-term private stewardship of agricultural lands by offering landowners financial incentives, encourage local land use planning for orderly and efficient urban growth and conservation of agricultural land, and encourage improvements to enhance long-term sustainable agricultural uses. The act establishes the California Farmland Conservancy Program Fund and requires, except as provided, moneys in the fund, upon appropriation, to be used for the purposes of the California Farmland Conservancy Program, which include, among other things, the purchase of agricultural conservation easements, fee title acquisition grants, and land improvement and planning grants. The act requires an agricultural conservation easement to be granted to any organization or entity authorized to acquire and hold conservation easements, as specified. The act provides a process for the termination of an agricultural conservation easement. The bill would revise and recast provisions of the California Farmland Conservancy Program Act to, among other things, specify legislative intent to remove barriers to socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, as defined, participating in the agricultural economy and stewarding working lands under conservation. The bill would expand the use of moneys in the fund for the program to include technical assistance grants, as described, to eligible assistance entities, as defined, and acquisition assistance grants to eligible assistance entities for the sole purpose of reducing barriers to land access for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, as specified. The bill would require that not less than 25% of the program funds be provided to applicants that lease or sell to socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. The bill would also expand the conditions that an applicant must agree to for a grant for the acquisition of fee title to agricultural land to include, among other things, a farmer-purchaser preference, as defined, in the text of the agricultural conservation easement used to encumber the acquired property. The bill would provide that grants made for land improvements may include the financial and technical involvement of the University of California Cooperative Extension and would revise the selection criteria for an agricultural conservation easement or fee title acquisition grant to, among other things, include whether the proposal reduces barriers to land access for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers through ownership or long-term leases. The bill would delete the provisions relating to the termination of an agricultural conservation easement. The bill would also make other conforming and nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and State Lands Commission to lease certain lands for specified purposes, including agricultural purposes and grazing, as specified. This bill would require that a management plan for an area to be leased pursuant to certain of those leases include detailed habitat objectives that must be achieved and maintained by the lessee and set minimum requirements for monitoring to ensure those objectives are met, or that the lease specify minimum agricultural and animal husbandry practices to ensure the protection of ecological resources, as specified. The bill would require those agencies, in issuing certain of those leases, to give preference to certain farmers and ranchers and other applicants. The bill would prohibit certain of those leases from being for a period of less than 5 years, except as specified, and from being for a period of more than 20 years. The bill would require those agencies, upon the expiration of a grazing lease, to offer a subsequent grazing lease for those lands to the lessee if the agency plans to sell another grazing lease for those lands and the lessee has substantially complied with all terms of the expiring grazing lease. The bill would also change certain references from "grazing permits" to "grazing leases." The bill would expressly authorize those agencies to lease certain of those lands for grazing to mitigate the risks of wildland fire, as specified.

Existing law authorizes a person in custody who has been charged with, or convicted of, a criminal offense to apply for inpatient or outpatient mental health services. Existing law establishes various grant programs to help local governments provide mental health services, including the primary intervention program and the California Emergency Solutions Grant Program. This bill would, upon appropriation, establish the Mental Health Response and Treatment Challenge Grant Pilot Program. The bill would provide that the purpose of the pilot program is to provide a statewide investment program to provide funds and flexibility to cities, counties, cities and counties, or other local governmental agencies that interact with the criminal justice system to develop programs that seek to improve services in 3 areas, as specified. The bill would require the Board of State and Community Corrections to administer the pilot program and award grants on a competitive basis.

Existing law provides for the regulation and development of aquaculture and requires the owner of each aquaculture facility to register with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Existing law authorizes the department, among other powers, to assess annual registration fees on owners of aquaculture facilities and to prohibit an aquaculture operation or the culturing of any species at any location where it would be detrimental to adjacent native wildlife. Existing law authorizes the Fish and Game Commission to lease state water bottoms or the water column to any person for aquaculture, as prescribed, and requires the department to notify the State Lands Commission of all applications for water bottom leases and of all leases for aquaculture executed, renewed, or assigned. Under existing law, the California Coastal Act of 1976, the California Coastal Commission is responsible for the implementation of the act and for state coastal zone planning and management. This bill would require the department, in collaboration with the California Coastal Commission, to, by January 1, 2024, create a pilot program in state waters to further develop shellfish and seaweed mariculture production and restoration capacity in California. The bill would require the department to establish a process to designate tracts for shellfish and seaweed mariculture production and restoration as part of the pilot program, as specified. The bill would authorize an applicant with a proposed shellfish, seaweed, or shellfish and seaweed mariculture production and restoration project to apply for a lease of any pilot program tract, or a portion thereof. The bill would require the State Lands Commission or the Fish and Game Commission, or both, if applicable to approve, deny, or return for revision a lease application within 4 months. The bill would authorize a local government to apply for a shellfish and seaweed mariculture production and restoration lease and designate individual mariculturalists as sublessees without authorization from the department, the State Lands Commission, or the Fish and Game Commission. A local government would be required to notify the department, the State Lands Commission, or the Fish and Game Commission of a sublease within 2 months of the beginning of the sublease. The bill would provide the department, by January 1, 2024, within the pilot program tracts, with sole authority or jurisdiction to approve, deny, or otherwise affect the ability of shellfish and seaweed mariculture production and restoration projects to operate, as well as to enforce compliance with relevant regulations, excluding the roles and responsibilities of the State Water Resources Control Board and the relevant leasing authorities. The bill would authorize a mariculturalist holding a lease to a pilot program tract to be able to begin cultivation without a permit under the regulations established by the department, except any permit required by the State Water Resources Control Board. The bill would require the department to conduct ongoing monitoring and enforce compliance with the rules and regulations of the pilot program and to work with noncompliant aquaculturalists to resolve any noncompliance issues if possible. The bill would authorize the department to close any operation in the pilot program due to noncompliance if no other reasonable resolution is possible. The bill would require, when sufficient data has been collected, the department to make recommendations to the Legislature on any relevant changes to the mariculture and restoration permitting and regulatory processes, as specified. The bill would repeal the provisions establishing the pilot program on January 1, 2036, and upon termination, would require the department to offer participants in the pilot program, one year from the date of termination, to come into compliance with any rules and regulations not applicable in the pilot program tracts in order to keep operating. The bill would require the department to consider and, if appropriate, investigate whether and how to seek state verification authority from the United States Army Corps of Engineers and any other federal agencies offering state verification authority in order to streamline the review and approval of federal permits issued by the United States Army Corps of Engineers or another federal agency that may be required by a mariculture project intending to operate in this state. The bill would require the department to ensure the inclusion of socially disadvantaged aquaculturalists in the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of laws, regulations, and policies and programs relating to aquaculture production and restoration. The bill would also make legislative findings and declarations and adopt definitions to implement its provisions.

Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to examine the causes of communicable diseases occurring, or likely to occur, in the state and grants the department certain powers to quarantine, isolate, and inspect persons or places, as necessary to protect or preserve the public health. Existing law sets forth the mechanisms for proclaiming a state of emergency by the Governor or declaring a health emergency by the State Public Health Officer. Existing law requires the department and the Office of Emergency Services (OES) , in coordination with other state agencies, to establish a personal protective equipment (PPE) stockpile, upon appropriation and as necessary. Existing law requires the department to establish guidelines for the procurement, management, and distribution of PPE, as specified. Existing law generally requires a health care employer to maintain an inventory of new, unexpired PPE for use in the event of a declared state of emergency or a local emergency for a pandemic or other health emergency. This bill would make findings and declarations relating to California's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill would, during a state of emergency or health emergency in response to a viral pandemic or any other health crisis, as specified, require the department to include federally qualified health centers in the organizational response structure established by OES. The bill would require the department and the California Health and Human Services Agency to, among other things, coordinate in maintaining an annual inventory of the PPE and all other related medical supplies that the state maintains in its stockpiles. The bill would require the department to ensure that all elements in the stockpiles are viable and can be activated and distributed within a reasonable timeframe to address the level of need established by any public health crisis, as specified. No later than December 1, 2023, and every 2 years thereafter, the bill would require the department and the agency to submit a report on the utilization of the equipment and supplies in the state stockpiles to the health and budget legislative committees. The bill would, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, require the department to develop a statewide, comprehensive plan to conduct an outreach and education campaign relating to COVID-19. The bill would require the campaign to include components on preventing infections, encouraging vaccination, correcting false information efforts, and addressing health disparities among certain communities. Under the bill, the campaign would commence on November 1, 2023, and operate for at least 3 years.

Existing law provides for officers and employees of the state to receive travel expenses when away from their headquarters for state business. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would prohibit state-sponsored travel to any state that enacts any law that limits or reduces access to voting.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that the lead agency proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA establishes a procedure by which a person may seek judicial review of the decision of the lead agency made pursuant to CEQA. Under existing law, a lead agency's decision to adopt a negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration is reviewed by the courts under the fair argument standard while the lead agency's decision to certify an EIR is reviewed under the substantial evidence standard. This bill would authorize the Governor to certify a new hospital project or hospital expansion or modernization project as an environmental leadership hospital project if the project meets certain requirements. The bill would require the project applicant to certify compliance with certain labor standards in regards to the implementation of the project. The bill would require the lead agency to concurrently prepare the record of proceedings for a project certified by the Governor, as applicable. By requiring the concurrent preparation of the record of proceedings, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would specify that the review of a lead agency's decision to adopt or certify an environmental review document, as defined, for a certified project is the substantial evidence standard. The bill would provide that, if the lead agency fails to adopt or certify an environmental review document on or before June 1, 2028, for a certified project, the provisions of the bill do not apply to that project. The provisions of the bill would be repealed by their own terms on January 1, 2029. 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.