Asm. Devon Mathis

This measure would declare the month of May 2019 as Foster Care Month.

This measure would recognize June 19, 2019, as Juneteenth and would urge the people of California to join in celebrating Juneteenth as a day to honor and reflect on the significant role that African Americans have played in the history of the United States and how they have enriched society through their steadfast commitment to promoting unity and equality.

This measure would declare June 6, 2019, as Secure Your Load Day in California.

The federal Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, subject to the availability of appropriations, to provide financial assistance to the State of Maryland and the State of Louisiana for a program to implement measures to eradicate or control nutria and restore marshland damaged by nutria. Under the federal act, the federal share of the costs of the program is prohibited from exceeding 75% of the total costs of the program. This measure would urge the United States Congress to reauthorize and specifically add California to the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 and to authorize an appropriation of $4,000,000 to help the state implement a nutria eradication program.

This measure would designate the portion of Interstate 505 between the Interstate 80 interchange and the Vaca Valley Parkway in the County of Solano as the CHP Officer Kirk Griess Memorial Highway. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

Existing law requires every person 16 years of age or older who takes any fish, reptile, or amphibian for any purpose other than profit to first obtain a sport fishing license for that purpose, with specified exceptions, and to have that license on their person or in their immediate possession when engaged in carrying out any activity authorized by the license. Existing law requires a resident or a nonresident, 16 years of age or older, upon payment of a specified fee, to be issued a sport fishing license for the period of a calendar year, or, if issued after the beginning of the year, for the remainder thereof. Existing law also requires the issuance of shorter term licenses upon payment of a specified lesser fee. Existing law requires the Fish and Game Commission to adjust the amount of the fees, as prescribed, to fully recover, but not exceed, all reasonable administrative and implementation costs of the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the commission relating to those licenses. This bill, in addition to sport fishing licenses for the periods specified above, would require a sport fishing license to be issued to a resident or nonresident for the period of 12 consecutive months, upon payment of a fee that is equal to 130% of the fees for issuance of resident or nonresident calendar-year sport fishing licenses, as applicable. The bill would require the department to provide applicants for these licenses the option of signing up for automatic renewal of the license by electronic payment and would set the fee for licenses issued upon automatic renewal at the same price as a calendar-year sport fishing license issued to residents or nonresidents, as applicable. The bill would require the commission to adjust the amount of the fees as necessary to fully recover, but not exceed, all reasonable implementation and administrative costs of the department and the commission relating to these licenses, including all costs related to their establishment and enforcement. The bill would require the department to collect all relevant, appropriate, and sufficient data necessary to justify the amount of the fees, as provided. The bill would require the department to submit to the Legislature a written report on the implementation of these provisions, as provided. The bill would make these provisions operative beginning January 1, 2021, until January 1, 2026.

Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , it is an unlawful employment practice for an employer, unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification or applicable security regulations established by the United States or the State of California, to refuse to hire or employ a person or to refuse to select a person for a training program leading to employment, or to bar or discharge a person from employment or a training program leading to employment, or to discriminate against a person in compensation or in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of the race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military and veteran status of that person. FEHA provides that nothing in that act relating to discrimination on account of sex affects the right of an employer to use veteran status as a factor in employee selection or to give special consideration to Vietnam-era veterans. This bill would enact the Voluntary Veterans' Preference Employment Policy Act to authorize a private employer to establish and maintain a written veterans' preference employment policy, to be applied uniformly to hiring decisions, to give a voluntary preference for hiring or retaining a veteran over another qualified applicant or employee. The bill would provide that the granting of a veterans' preference pursuant to the bill, in and of itself, shall be deemed not to violate any local or state equal employment opportunity law or regulation, including, but not limited to, the antidiscrimination provisions of FEHA. The bill would revise the existing veteran status provision in FEHA to remove references to discrimination on account of sex and to Vietnam-era veterans, and would, instead, provide that nothing in that act relating to discrimination affects the right of an employer to use veteran status as a factor in hiring decisions if the employer maintains a veterans' preference employment policy established in accordance with the Voluntary Veterans' Preference Employment Policy Act. The bill would prohibit a veterans' preference employment policy from being established or applied for the purpose of discriminating against an employment applicant on the basis of a protected classification, as specified. The bill would make the Voluntary Veterans' Preference Employment Policy Act contingent upon the United States Department of Defense rescinding a specified policy prohibiting transgender individuals from serving in the United States Armed Forces, as provided.

This measure would recognize the month of June 2019 as Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month and Friday, June 21, 2019, as The Longest Day, and would urge all Californians to commemorate the month of June 2019 as Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month.

Existing federal law establishes the federal Pell Grant Program under Title IV of the federal Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide need-based grant awards to low-income students in order to promote access to postsecondary education. This measure would respectfully request the Congress and the President of the United States to immediately take action to increase the maximum annual amount of the federal Pell Grant Program award from $6,195 to at least $7,500 to further help low-income college students alleviate the burden of postsecondary education debt.