This measure would urge the federal Office of Management and Budget to update its Uniform Guidance in order to improve job creation, quality, and equity.
This measure would recognize the month of January 2024 as National Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
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 on a project that it 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 requires the lead agency to consult with a public agency that is a responsible agency or a trustee agency during the environmental review process. Existing law authorizes the Department of Fish and Wildlife to impose and collect filing fees in specified amounts to defray the costs of managing and protecting fish and wildlife trust resources, including, but not limited to, consulting with other public agencies, reviewing environmental documents, recommending mitigation measures, developing monitoring requirements for purposes of CEQA, and other activities protecting those trust resources identified in a review pursuant to CEQA. This bill would require the department to separately track and account for all revenues collected under the above filing fee provision and all costs incurred in its role as a responsible agency or trustee agency under CEQA.
Existing law provides that all property has an owner, whether that owner is the state, and the property is public, or the owner is an individual, and the property is private. Existing law establishes the California National Guard and regulates the operation of that force. The United States Constitution authorizes Congress to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. This bill would prohibit a prohibited foreign actor, as defined, from purchasing, acquiring, leasing, or holding an interest, as defined, in any land that is located within 50 miles of a United States military base or California National Guard base within the State of California. The bill would exempt land held by a prohibited foreign actor before January 1, 2024, from that prohibition. The bill would provide land transferred in violation of these provisions would be subject to divestiture, as specified. The bill would provide that these provisions may not be applied in a manner inconsistent with any provision of any treaty between the United States and another country.
Existing law requires the court to refrain from making an order granting or modifying a child custody order on an ex parte basis unless there has been a showing of immediate harm, as defined, to the child or immediate risk that the child will be removed from the State of California. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision.
Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to issue lifetime hunting licenses and lifetime sport fishing licenses, and grants certain lifetime privileges to holders of those licenses, upon the one-time payment of specified fees. This bill would require, upon application to the department, lifetime hunting licenses and lifetime sport fishing licenses to be issued at no cost to Gold Star Family members who meet certain eligibility requirements.
Existing federal law establishes the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing law establishes a statewide electronic benefits transfer (EBT) system, administered by the State Department of Social Services, for the purpose of providing financial and food assistance benefits, including CalFresh benefits. Existing law establishes the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Pilot Project and requires the department, in consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture and specified stakeholders, to include within the EBT system a supplemental benefits mechanism that allows an authorized retailer to deliver and redeem supplemental benefits. Existing law defines the term "supplemental benefits" for these purposes to mean additional funds delivered to a CalFresh recipient's EBT card upon purchase of California-grown fresh fruits and vegetables using CalFresh benefits. Existing law requires the department, upon the deposit of sufficient moneys into the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Grant Fund, and upon the appropriation of moneys from the fund by the Legislature for this purpose, to provide a minimum of 3 grants to nonprofit organizations or governmental agencies for pilot projects to implement and test the supplemental benefits mechanism, as specified. This bill would establish the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable Supplemental Benefits Expansion Program and create the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Expansion Fund in the State Treasury. The program would include a process and guidelines for the State Department of Social Services to, upon the deposit of sufficient moneys in the fund, enroll authorized retailers to enable those authorized retailers to provide supplemental benefits to CalFresh recipients who purchase fresh fruits and vegetables. The bill would authorize the department to initially allocate from any appropriation made for the purposes of the program, $40,000,000 for large authorized retailers that are not direct farm-to-consumer authorized retailers to provide supplemental benefits, $20,000,000 for small authorized retailers that are not direct farm-to-consumer authorized retailers to provide supplemental benefits, and $30,000,000 for direct farm-to-consumer authorized retailers to provide supplemental benefits. The bill would also require the department to provide grants to small authorized retailers that are not direct farm-to-consumer authorized retailers to offset the cost of technological upgrades required to offer supplemental benefits and would authorize the department to allocate up to $1,000,000 from any appropriation made for the purposes of the program to provide those grants. The bill would authorize the department, 6 months or later after the enrollment of authorized retailers as a result of the first round of application solicitation, to reallocate those funds. The bill would require supplemental benefits to be provided using the EBT system supplemental benefits mechanism established for purposes of the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Pilot Project. The bill would also require the department, as part of the program, to contract with one or more vendors to develop at least 2 technology solutions that allow authorized retailers to wirelessly accept EBT CalFresh benefits and offer supplemental benefits, to develop marketing materials that authorized retailers that have been enrolled in the program and community groups can use for outreach efforts to promote supplemental benefits, and to submit specified reports to the Legislature. The bill would require, if the department fails to submit one of the reports, if the report recommends stopping further expansion of supplemental benefits programs, or if supplemental benefits are not distributed pursuant to the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Pilot Project, all unencumbered state funds in the CalFresh Fruit and Vegetable EBT Expansion Fund to revert to the General Fund. The bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture to develop a grant program to award funds to nonprofit organizations to recruit, train, and support authorized retailers participating in supplemental benefit programs. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to seek any necessary federal waivers or approvals to implement these provisions.
Existing law establishes various energy and environmental goals for the state, including to (1) reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 40% below 1990 levels by no later than December 31, 2030, (2) achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions and reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions by a specified percentage by no later than 2045, (3) procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources so that the total kilowatthours of those products sold to retail end-use customers in California achieves 44% of retail sales by December 31, 2024, 52% by December 31, 2027, and 60% by December 31, 2030, (4) supply certain percentages of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by certain dates and 100% of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2035, with eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources, (5) employ statewide energy efficiency savings and demand reduction that will achieve a cumulative doubling of statewide energy efficiency savings in electricity and natural gas final end uses of retail customers by January 1, 2030, compared to those achieved by January 1, 2016, (6) reduce statewide emissions of methane by 40%, hydrofluorocarbon gases by 40%, and anthropogenic black carbon by 50% below 2013 levels by 2030, and (7) reduce the statewide level of disposal of organic waste by 75% below the 2014 level by 2025. This bill would create the Energy, Environment, and Economy Council with 16 members, as specified. The bill would require the council to engage with stakeholders, subject matter experts, and state and local agencies with jurisdiction relevant to environmental protection and economic vitality in order to determine the policies that can be implemented to meet the state's environmental goals, while avoiding harm to the state's economy and maintaining specified protections. The bill would require the council, by July 1, 2024, to submit a report to the Legislature that makes recommendations on appropriate policies to achieve the above-stated environmental goals and policies, while maintaining specified protections, ensuring consumer choice is not compromised, and avoiding harm to the state's economy.
