Asm. Thurston "Smitty" Smith

The California Healthy Youth Act requires school districts, defined to include county boards of education, county superintendents of schools, the California School for the Deaf, the California School for the Blind, and, commencing with the 2019–20 school year, charter schools, to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive comprehensive sexual health education and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention education, as specified. The act authorizes a school district to provide that education earlier than grade 7 with age-appropriate and medically accurate information. The act requires each school district to notify parents and guardians of pupils about its plan to provide sexual health education and HIV prevention instruction for the upcoming school year and to inform them, among other things, that the written and audiovisual educational materials used in comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education are available for inspection. This bill would require the governing board of a school district to adopt a policy at a publicly noticed meeting specifying how parents and guardians of pupils may inspect the written and audiovisual educational materials used in comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education, including that the materials, including updates or changes to the materials, are made available, within prescribed timeframes, at each schoolsite and, except as provided, publicly posted on the school district's internet website or, if applicable, on a school district's parent or guardian portal, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the 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.

The hazardous waste control laws regulate the handling and management of hazardous materials and hazardous waste. Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to list and to develop and adopt by regulation criteria and guidelines for the identification of hazardous wastes and extremely hazardous wastes, as provided. Existing law requires the department, when identifying such wastes, to consider the immediate or persistent toxic effects to man and wildlife and the resistance to natural degradation or detoxification of the wastes. Existing law exempts certain kinds of waste from regulation under the hazardous waste control laws under specified conditions. A violation of the hazardous waste control laws is a crime. Existing law requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection to implement a unified hazardous waste and hazardous materials management regulatory program, also known as the unified program. Existing law requires every county to apply to the secretary to be certified to implement the unified program, and authorizes a city or local agency that meets specified requirements to apply to the secretary to be certified to implement the unified program, as a certified unified program agency. Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to develop and implement a comprehensive training, education, and enforcement program for, among others, certified unified program agencies to increase awareness of the requirements governing the determination on whether a waste is hazardous, as specified. The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, which is administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, requires the department to identify and recommend actions to encourage the continued viability of the state's organic waste processing and recycling infrastructure, in partnership with specified agencies, including the Department of Food and Agriculture, as provided. The act defines "organic waste" for its purposes to mean food waste, green waste, landscape and pruning waste, nonhazardous wood waste, and food-soiled paper waste that is mixed in with food waste. The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act of 2016 (AUMA) , an initiative measure approved as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, authorizes a person who obtains a state license to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. Under existing administrative law, cannabis waste is a type of organic waste, and is required to be disposed of and otherwise managed under various specified methods. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2023, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, in consultation with the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery and the Department of Food and Agriculture, to provide guidance to certified unified program agencies on how to characterize cannabis waste, as defined, under the hazardous waste control laws and regulations. The bill would authorize the department to adopt regulations within its jurisdiction establishing management standards for cannabis waste as an alternative to the requirements specified in the hazardous waste control laws and implementing regulations.

Existing law defines an alternative certification program as a program operated by certain entities that is designed to provide a concentrated program leading to a permanent teaching credential. Existing law requires alternative certification programs to address geographic and subject matter shortage areas and be targeted toward people with work experience and others who already have a bachelor's degree in the field in which they plan to teach. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to the provision relating to subject matter shortage areas.

Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, establishes the Medical Board of California within the Department of Consumer Affairs and sets forth its powers and duties over the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons. Existing law requires all applicants for a physician's and surgeon's certificate, except as provided, obtain a passing score on all parts of Step 3 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination within not more than 4 attempts in order to be eligible for a physician's and surgeon's certificate. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

Existing law, the Veterans' Homes Bond Act of 2000, requires the proceeds from the sale of bonds issued under the act to be deposited in the Veterans' Home Fund. Existing law requires money in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be used by the Department of Veterans Affairs for the purpose of designing and constructing veterans' homes, as specified. Under existing law, an amount not to exceed $31,000,000 is continuously appropriated to the department, as specified, for the funding of the state's matching requirement for the design, equipping, and construction of specified veterans' homes. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision.

Existing law requires the governing board of any school district to give diligent care to the health and physical development of pupils and authorizes the governing board of a school district to employ properly certified persons for the work, including school psychologists and counselors. This bill would require the State Department of Education, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to provide up to $500,000,000 in grants each year for the purpose of providing mental health services for all pupils, including those affected by school closures and distance learning requirements resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill would require the department to allocate those grants to local educational agencies, as specified. The bill would be implemented only to the extent that funds for its purposes are appropriated by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, and would authorize that appropriation to come from any available state and federal funds.

Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, provides for the regulation of the practice of medicine and defines the term "licensee" for these purposes. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that definition.

Existing law, the Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act, establishes the Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) and authorizes it to, among other things, issue bonds, make loans, and provide other financial assistance to various types of projects that constitute economic development facilities or public development facilities. The act establishes in the State Treasury the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Fund (I-Bank Fund) for the purpose of implementing the objectives and provisions of the act and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund, except as prescribed. This bill, the Rural California Infrastructure Act, would authorize the I-Bank to establish the Rural California Infrastructure Program for the purpose of making competitive grant awards to eligible local agencies for rural infrastructure projects, as prescribed. The act would require the Controller to transfer a sum of $1,000,000,000 to the Rural California Infrastructure Account in the I-Bank Fund, which the bill would create and continuously appropriate for purposes of the act. By requiring the Controller to transfer moneys from the General Fund to the Rural California Infrastructure Account for purposes of the program, the bill would make an appropriation. The act would require the I-Bank to submit a specified report to the Governor and the Legislature regarding program activity in any fiscal year that the account receives funding or in which the I-Bank administers the program.