(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law requires the commission to develop, implement, and administer the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) program to encourage deployment of high-quality advanced communications services to all Californians. Existing law provides that the goal of the program is to, no later than December 31, 2022, approve funding for infrastructure projects that will provide broadband access to no less than 98% of California households, as provided. Existing law requires the commission, in approving infrastructure projects, to approve projects that provide last-mile broadband access to households that are unserved by an existing facility-based broadband provider, and give preference to projects in areas where internet connectivity is only available through dial-up service, as provided. Existing law authorizes the commission to collect a sum not to exceed $330,000,000 to implement the CASF program through the imposition of a surcharge that is collected starting on January 1, 2018, and continuing through the 2022 calendar year. Existing law prohibits the surcharge collected for the CASF program from exceeding $66,000,000 unless the commission determines that collecting a higher amount of surcharge for the CASF program in any year will not result in an increase in all surcharges collected from telephone customers for that year. This bill would instead require the commission to develop, implement, and administer the California Advanced Services Fund program to encourage deployment of 21st century-ready communications, as provided. The bill would provide that the goal of the program is instead to, no later than December 31, 2024, approve funding for infrastructure projects that will provide high-capacity, future-proof infrastructure, as defined, based on current engineering and scientific information available at the time of program application, to no less than 98% of California households, as provided. The bill would require the commission, in approving infrastructure projects, to approve projects with a goal of providing high-capacity, future-proof infrastructure to households that are unserved areas, as defined, or unserved high-poverty areas, as defined, prioritize projects in unserved areas and unserved high-poverty areas where internet connectivity is available only below specified speed thresholds or not at all, and ensure that no awardee receives a grant for an infrastructure project for which the awardee has already received the full cost of the project from a federal grant. The bill would repeal the authority of the commission to increase the maximum amount of the surcharge collected for the CASF program in any year if the commission makes the above-described determination. Existing law establishes the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account in the CASF, and makes moneys in the account available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for grants for projects that deploy infrastructure capable of providing broadband access at speeds of at least 10 megabits per second (mbps) downstream and one mbps upstream to unserved households and provide last-mile infrastructure to unserved households, as specified. Existing law requires the commission to annually offer an existing facility-based broadband provider the opportunity to demonstrate that it will deploy broadband or upgrade existing facilities to a delineated unserved area within 180 days, with opportunity for extension beyond the 180 days, as provided, if the commission makes a specified finding. This bill would revise the requirements applicable to grants awarded from the account. The bill would require an eligible project to deploy infrastructure capable of providing broadband access at speeds of at least 25 mbps downstream and 25 mbps upstream and with a latency that is sufficiently low to allow real-time interactive applications to unserved areas and unserved high-poverty areas, and provide last-mile infrastructure to unserved areas and unserved high-poverty areas. The bill would require the commission to annually offer an existing facility-based broadband provider the opportunity to demonstrate that it will deploy broadband or upgrade existing facilities to a delineated unserved area within 90 days, rather than 180 days. Existing law authorizes an individual household or property owner to be eligible to apply for a grant from the account to offset the costs of connecting the household or property to an existing or proposed facility-based broadband provider. Existing law requires the aggregate amount of these grants to not exceed $5,000,000. This bill would delete these provisions. (2) Existing law requires the commission to conduct various interim and final audits of the California Advanced Services Fund to ensure that funds have been expended in accordance with the approved terms of the grant awards and loan agreements, as specified. Existing law requires the commission to report the interim findings to the Legislature by April 1, 2020. This bill would require the commission to also report interim findings by April 1, 2022. (3) Existing law requires the commission to, until April 1, 2023, annually provide a report to the Legislature that includes certain information, including the remaining unserved areas in the state, the status of the California Advanced Services Fund balance, and the projected amount to be collected in each year through 2022. This bill would instead require the commission to provide this report until April 1, 2025. The bill would require that the information specified above include the remaining unserved areas and unserved high-poverty areas in the state and the status of the fund balance and the projected amount to be collected in each year through 2024.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law establishes the State Department of Education in state government, and vests the department with specified powers and duties relating to the state's public school system. This bill would authorize local educational agencies to report to the department their pupils' estimated needs for computing devices and internet connectivity adequate for at-home learning. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, to compile that information and to annually post that compiled information on the department's internet website. (2) Existing law expressly authorizes a county service area to acquire, construct, improve, maintain, and operate broadband internet access services, and requires a county service area that does so to take certain actions regarding the accessing of content on the internet by end users of that service. This bill would similarly authorize the board of supervisors of a county to acquire, construct, improve, maintain, or operate broadband internet access service, and any other communications service necessary to obtain federal or state support for the acquisition, construction, improvement, maintenance, or operation of broadband internet access service, and would require a board that does so to take certain actions regarding the accessing of content on the internet by end users of that service. (3) Existing law establishes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, known as "GO-Biz," within the Governor's office to serve the Governor as the lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth. This bill would require the office, on or before June 30, 2021, to develop recommendations and a model for streamlined local land use approval and construction permit processes for projects related to broadband infrastructure deployment and connectivity and to adopt, and post on its internet website, the recommendations and model, as specified. (4) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law requires the commission to develop, implement, and administer the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) program to encourage deployment of high-quality advanced communications services to all Californians that will promote economic growth, job creation, and the substantial social benefits of advanced information and communications technologies. Existing law requires the commission, in approving CASF infrastructure projects, to give preference to projects in areas where only dial-up internet service is available or where no internet service is available. Existing law authorizes the commission to impose a surcharge to collect $330,000,000 for deposit into the CASF beginning January 1, 2018, and continuing through the 2022 calendar year. Existing law establishes 4 accounts, the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account, the Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia Grant Account, the Broadband Public Housing Account, and the Broadband Adoption Account within the CASF and specifies the amount of moneys to be deposited into each account, subject to appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law specifies, among other things, eligibility criteria for grants awarded from each of those accounts. Existing law requires moneys in the Broadband Public Housing Account that have not been awarded by December 31, 2020, be transferred back to the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account. This bill would require that the CASF program promote remote learning and telehealth, in addition to economic growth, job creation, and the substantial social benefits of advanced information and communications technologies. The bill would require the commission, in approving CASF infrastructure projects, to instead prioritize projects that reach the greatest number of unserved and underserved households, as defined, and to further prioritize projects based on other specified attributes. The bill would revise, among other things, the eligibility criteria for grants awarded from each account in the CASF, as specified. The bill would repeal the requirement that moneys in the Broadband Public Housing Account not awarded by December 31, 2020, be transferred back to the Broadband Infrastructure Grant Account. The bill would establish the State Agency Direct Allocation Account in the CASF for specified purposes relating to the deployment of broadband infrastructure. The bill would require the commission to improve the efficiency of the administration of the CASF program to ensure for the most cost-effective and timely achievement of the goal of the program. The bill would authorize the commission to convene a peer review panel to review grant applications submitted under the CASF program. This bill would require the commission to engage all relevant state agencies to facilitate planning and accelerate deployment of broadband infrastructure through both projects funded pursuant to the CASF program and other infrastructure construction projects that can incorporate high-speed broadband. This bill would authorize the commission to require each internet service provider, as defined, to report specified information regarding each affordable internet service plan advertised by the provider. (5) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements would be a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act establishes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) . Among other things, the act authorizes I-Bank to make loans, issue bonds, and provide financial assistance to economic development or public development facilities. Under existing law, the Disaster Assistance Fund is continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal year, for purposes of the California Disaster Assistance Act. That act provides that when funds are available for purposes of the act, the Governor may allocate the funds, in connection with relief provided, in affected areas during the period of federal disaster relief, to the Small Business Expansion Fund for use by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) , to provide guarantees for low-interest interim loans to be made by lending institutions for the purpose of providing interim financing to enable small businesses that have suffered actual physical damage or significant economic losses, as a result of the disaster or state of emergency for which funding is made available. This bill would enact the California Manufacturing Emergency Preparedness Act of 2020, which would authorize I-Bank to establish the California Manufacturing Disaster Loan and Loan Guarantee Program for the purpose of attracting, retaining, retooling, establishing, and expanding manufacturing and logistics capacity in the state, and would require I-Bank to establish guidelines for the implementation and oversight of the program. The bill would prohibit I-Bank from commencing the program until it adopts a resolution finding that there is sufficient funding in the account to cover the costs of implementing the program and that the I-Bank has sufficient direction from the Director of the Office of Emergency Services, as provided. The bill would require I-Bank to provide for the development and administration of the program, as specified, and would require program applicants to demonstrate satisfaction of specified requirements. The bill would also require each applicant to pay a nonrefundable application fee, as provided. The bill would create the Manufacturing Program Account within the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Fund. The bill would authorize the Governor to allocate disaster relief funds, including funds in the Disaster Assistance Fund, to the Manufacturing Program Account for use by I-Bank, to cover the costs of administering the program and to provide direct loans or guarantees, or both, made by lending institutions, and to forgive those loans in appropriate circumstances, for the purpose of providing financing to enable the manufacturing and logistics sectors to support the emergency needs of Californians. The bill would provide that the moneys in the account be made available to I-Bank, upon a transfer of funds by the Director of Finance pursuant to an allocation by the Governor under the California Disaster Assistance Act, for specified purposes. The bill would authorize moneys in the account to be allocated to a lending institution or financial company that will act as trustee of the funds, with the approval of the Department of Finance. The bill would authorize I-Bank to create subaccounts in the account for specified purposes. Because this bill would expand the purposes for which a continuously appropriated fund is expended and would deposit moneys and fees into a new, continuously appropriated account, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require I-Bank to annually report, commencing with January 1, 2022, to the Governor and the Legislature on program activity, as specified, in any fiscal year that the program receives funding or has active loans. The bill would further provide that the above described provisions will be implemented only to the extent that sufficient moneys are available to I-Bank to implement the California Manufacturing Disaster Loan and Loan Guarantee Program. The bill would permit these provisions to be used to respond to, and recover from, the conditions arising from the state of emergency declared by the Governor on March 4, 2020, related to the COVID-19 virus. The bill would prohibit I-Bank from entering into loans or loan guarantees pursuant to the bill's provisions on or after January 1, 2026. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 2001, requires all agencies and museums that receive state funding and have possession or control over collections of California Native American human remains and associated funerary objects to inventory those remains and objects for repatriation to the appropriate tribes, as specified. This bill would authorize the owner or operator of any public school, state or local park, library, or museum, or other state or local government building in this state to adopt a land acknowledgment process by which Native American tribes are properly recognized as traditional stewards of the land on which the public school, state or local park, library, or museum, or other state or local government building is located, as specified.
(1) The Child Care and Development Services Act establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to implement a plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates, which vary with the length of the program year and the hours of service. Existing law requires the reimbursement system to be submitted to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. This bill would require the Superintendent to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates that would vary with additional factors, including a quality adjustment factor to address the cost of staffing ratios, as provided. The bill would require the reimbursement system plan, including methodology, standards, county rate targets as provided, and the total statewide funding amount necessary to reach annual rate targets for all agencies to be annually submitted to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, on or before November 10. The bill would require the plan to include a formula for annually adjusting reimbursement rates, as provided. The bill would require the department, by July 1, 2020, and annually thereafter, as provided, to establish a reimbursement rate target for each contracting agency that meets specific quality standards based on specified elements, including quality adjustment factors for the age range of children proposed to be served by the contracting agency, as a multiplier, which the bill would also require the department to establish. (2) Existing law establishes adjustment factors for a provider agency's reported child days of enrollment in order to reflect the additional expense of serving specified children, including an adjustment factor for infants and toddlers who are 0 to 36 months and are served in a child daycare center or family childcare home, as provided. This bill would, as of July 1, 2020, delete the above adjustment factors and would make conforming changes. (3) Existing law requires reimbursement rates to be adjusted by specified adjustment factors for childcare and development programs and, for childcare and development providers serving children for less than 4 hours per day, requires the reimbursement factor to be 55% of the standard reimbursement rate. This bill would instead require the above-described reimbursement factor to be 50% of the standard reimbursement rate. (4) The bill would make its operation contingent on the enactment of SB 174 of the 2019–20 Regular Session on or before January 1, 2020.
Existing law establishes the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program to be administered by the Office of Planning and Research to coordinate regional and local efforts with state climate adaptation strategies to adapt to the impacts of climate change, as specified. Existing law requires the office to coordinate with appropriate entities, including state, regional, or local agencies, to establish a clearinghouse for climate adaptation information for use by state, regional, and local entities. Existing law establishes the Transformative Climate Communities Program and a regional climate collaborative program to be administered by the Strategic Growth Council to award grants and provide technical assistance, respectively, to facilitate the response of local communities to climate change. This bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture to administer a program for the disbursement of grants, known as the Agricultural Climate Adaptation Tools Program, as specified, to provide funding for activities that include the development of specified planning tools for adapting to climate change and developing resiliency strategies in the agricultural sector, using the best available science, as specified. The bill would require the department to conduct specified pilot projects in the central valley, central coast, and desert regions of the state, and hold trainings for technical assistance providers on how to use the specified planning tools with an emphasis on meeting the needs of small and moderately scaled farmers and ranchers, socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, and female farmers and ranchers. The bill would require the department to make available, upon appropriation, up to $2,000,000 to fund the grant program, as specified. The bill would not require the department to implement the program if the appropriation is not made. The bill would require the department to provide to the office the planning tools developed as part of the grant program, as well as information on any projects funded pursuant to these provisions, for possible incorporation into the clearinghouse for climate adaptation information. The bill would require the department to provide the council with regular updates on the implementation of the program.
(1) The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer childcare and development programs that offer a full range of services to eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, inclusive. The act requires that families meet specified requirements to be eligible for federal- and state-subsidized childcare and development services. This bill would extend eligibility to a family in which a member of that family has been certified as fully eligible to receive CalFresh or Medi-Cal benefits. The bill would require a parent to provide documentation of current enrollment in CalFresh or Medi-Cal, unless the contractor providing childcare and development services has, and elects to use, other means of obtaining verification of that enrollment. The bill would authorize a family to submit a self-certification of income that is signed by the parent for the purpose of prioritizing enrollment and calculating family fees. (2) Existing law requires the department to arrange intraagency adjustments between California state preschool contracts and general childcare contracts for the same agency and funding allocation, and to establish timelines for intraagency contract fund transfers. This bill would additionally require the department to allow and arrange for interagency adjustments between those contracts for the same agency or different agencies and the same funding allocation, and to establish timelines for those interagency contract fund transfers. (3) Existing law requires the Superintendent to implement a plan establishing assigned reimbursement rates, per unit of average daily enrollment, to be paid by the state to provider agencies for the provision of childcare and development services. Existing law provides for an adjustment factor to be applied to units of average daily enrollment if a provider agency serves children who meet specified criteria. Existing law sets the adjustment factor based on the age of the child served, among other criteria. This bill would require those adjustment factors to continue to apply irrespective of whether a child is served in a commingled classroom that serves children from 0 to 12 years of age. The bill, during the 2020–21 fiscal year, would authorize a contractor providing childcare and development services under the act to provide those services to children from 0 to 12 years of age in classrooms with children of varying ages. (4) Existing law requires the Superintendent to establish a fee schedule for families using preschool and childcare and development services, as specified, and requires family fees to be assessed at initial enrollment and reassessed at the update of certification or recertification. Existing law encourages child development contractors to develop and maintain a reserve within the child development fund in the county treasury, derived from earned but unexpended funds. Existing law authorizes reserve funds to be expended for specified purposes. Existing law requires that 10% of specified reserve funds to be used solely for the purpose of professional development for California state preschool program instructional staff. This bill would authorize a contractor to waive family fees for families who are enrolled but who receive services only through distance learning. The bill would provide that the cost of waiving family fees under the above-described provision is an allowable use of contract funds received for providing childcare and development services, and would authorize a contractor to use reserve funds to cover the costs of a waiver. The bill would also delete the requirement that 10% of the specified reserve funds be used for that professional development purpose.
Existing law requires the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in injury to a person, other than that driver, or in the death of a person to immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of the accident and provide specified personal information to the injured person or the occupants of the other vehicle and to any traffic or police officer at the scene of the accident. Under existing law, if a vehicle accident results in permanent, serious injury or death, a person who violates the requirement to stop is subject to punishment by imprisonment in the state prison for 2, 3, or 4 years, or in a county jail for not less than 90 days nor more than one year, or by a specified fine, or both the imprisonment and fine. Existing law authorizes the court, in the interests of justice and for other reasons stated in the record, to reduce or eliminate the minimum imprisonment or fine requirements. This bill would instead make a person who fails to immediately stop, as required, at the scene of an accident that resulted in a permanent, serious injury subject to punishment by imprisonment in the state prison for 2, 3, or 4 years, or in a county jail for not less than 90 days nor more than one year, and a specified fine, and if the accident resulted in death, the violation of those requirements would be punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 3, 4, or 6 years, or in a county jail for not less than 90 days nor more than one year, and a specified fine.
Existing law, until January 1, 2023, prohibits a person, committee, or other entity, within 60 days of an election at which a candidate for elective office will appear on the ballot, from distributing with actual malice materially deceptive audio or visual media of the candidate with the intent to injure the candidate's reputation or to deceive a voter into voting for or against the candidate, unless the media includes a disclosure stating that the media has been manipulated. This bill, until January 1, 2025, would prohibit a committee, within 60 days of an election at which a candidate or measure will appear on the ballot, from distributing, with actual malice, a false material statement of fact relating to the candidate or measure with the intent to deceive a voter into voting for or against the candidate or measure. The bill would authorize a person to seek injunctive or other equitable relief, and general or special damages, and would authorize the court to award a prevailing party reasonable attorney's fees and costs. The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and activities by the Fair Political Practices Commission. Under the act, political advertisements on online platforms are required to contain certain disclosure statements. This bill would require an online platform to maintain and make available for online public inspection a description of the audience requested by the committee and the types of personal information, as defined, used by the online platform to target the advertisement, including use by the online platform of characteristics such as age, gender, race, or other protected classifications under law. The online platform's chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, chief privacy officer, or the equivalent position of any of these officers, if applicable, would be required to personally certify, under penalty of perjury, that to their knowledge the online platform has correctly disclosed all activity under this law. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. In addition, because a violation of the act is subject to criminal penalties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the act's criminal penalties. 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. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.