Existing law, 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. Existing law establishes the Disaster Assistance Fund and continuously appropriates the fund for these purposes. Existing law provides that when funds are available for these purposes, 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 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 2021, which would authorize I-Bank to establish the California Manufacturing Disaster Loan Program (disaster 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 directives and requirements for the implementation of the program. The bill would prohibit I-Bank from commencing the disaster program until it adopts a resolution finding that there is sufficient funding in the California Manufacturing Disaster Loan Program Subaccount 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. This bill would also authorize I-Bank to establish the California Manufacturing Competitiveness Loan Program (competitiveness program) for the purpose of attracting, retaining, and expanding manufacturing facilities and other companies in the state. The bill would prohibit the commencement of the competitiveness program unless there is sufficient money in the California Manufacturing Competitiveness Loan Program Subaccount, as specified. This bill would establish the Manufacturing Program Account within the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Fund, a California Manufacturing Disaster Loan Program Subaccount (disaster subaccount) , and a California Manufacturing Competitiveness Loan Program Subaccount (competitiveness subaccount) within that account. The bill would create the competitiveness subaccount for purposes of providing direct loans issued pursuant to the competitiveness program, as provided. This bill would authorize the Governor to activate one or more programs to provide loans to private business enterprises for the creation, maintenance, expansion, protection, or restoration of capacity or the production of essential materials. This bill would also authorize the Governor to allocate disaster relief funds, including funds in the Disaster Assistance Fund, to the disaster subaccount for use by I-Bank, to cover the costs of administering the disaster program and to provide direct loans 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. This bill would provide that the moneys in the disaster subaccount 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 Manufacturing Program Account to be allocated to a lending institution or financial company to act as trustee of the funds, with the approval of the Department of Finance. The bill would authorize I-Bank to create additional 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. This bill would require I-Bank to annually report, commencing with January 1, 2023, to the Governor and the Legislature on program activity, as specified, in any fiscal year that the program receives funding or has active loans. This bill would further provide that specified provisions of the bill would be implemented only to the extent that sufficient moneys are available to I-Bank to implement the disaster or competitiveness program. The bill would permit these provisions to be used to meet California's manufacturing and logistics needs in response to 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 lines of credit pursuant to the bill on or after January 1, 2030.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining with respect to wages, terms of employment, and other employment conditions, and authorizes employees to elect exclusive bargaining representatives for these purposes. Existing law requires the Agricultural Labor Relations Board to certify the results of an election conducted by secret ballot of employees in a collective bargaining unit to designate a collective bargaining representative, unless the board determines there are sufficient grounds to refuse to do so. Existing law further provides that if the board refuses to certify an election because of employer misconduct that would render slight the chances of a new election reflecting the free and fair choice of employees, the labor organization shall be certified as the bargaining representative for the bargaining unit. This bill would refer to the secret ballot election as a polling place election. This bill would also permit agricultural employees, as an alternative election procedure, to select their labor representatives through a representation ballot card election by submitting a petition to the board supported by representation ballot cards signed by a majority of employees in the bargaining unit. This bill would require the board to conduct an immediate investigation regarding the validity of the petition and the supporting representation ballot cards and, within 5 days after receiving a petition, to make an administrative decision as to whether the petition meets certain requirements and as to whether the labor organization submitted the requisite number of cards. The bill would require the board to certify the labor organization as the exclusive bargaining representative if the board determines that the labor organization has submitted the required number of representation ballot cards and the cards meet specified criteria. Existing law authorizes a person aggrieved by the final order of the board granting or denying in whole or in part the relief sought for an unfair labor practice, to obtain a review of the order in a specified court of appeal by filing in the court a written petition requesting that the order of the board be modified or set aside. This bill would require an employer who appeals or petitions for a writ of review of any order of the board involving make-whole, backpay, or other monetary awards to employees, to post an appeal bond in the amount of the entire economic value of the order, as specified, and would provide for the bond to be forfeited under specified conditions. This bill would state that its provisions are severable.
The California Constitution prohibits the state, including any political subdivision or government instrumentality of or within the state, from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. Existing law establishes in state government various commissions and committees, including, among others, the California Commission on Disability Access, the Healthy California for All Commission, the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, and the Committee on Revision of the Penal Code to study and recommend reforms on certain topics, including issues related to equality and justice. This bill would establish in state government the California Commission on Human Rights, as an advisory commission, and would require it to, among other things, identify and evaluate California's successes and failures in protecting human rights of individuals living within the state, determine statutory, regulatory, or budgetary solutions to better protect human rights, and report, at least annually, on the status of human rights to the Legislature and the Governor with statutory and regulatory recommendations. The bill would require the commission to consist of 17 members, including, among others, Members of the Assembly and the Senate. The bill would also create the California Commission on Human Rights Fund in the General Fund to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, carry out these provisions and support the commission. The bill would make related findings and declarations. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027.
Existing law governs the bidding and awarding of public contracts by various state agencies. Existing law imposes requirements on contractors awarded various public contracts, including, among others, certifying that no equipment, materials, supplies, apparel, garments, or accessories provided under specified contracts are produced by sweatshop labor, forced labor, convict labor, indentured labor under penal sanction, abusive forms of child labor, or exploitation of children in sweatshop labor. This bill would establish the California Deforestation-Free Procurement Act. The bill would require a contractor, as defined, and specified subcontractors, for any contract entered into, extended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2024, contracting with a state agency for the procurement of products comprised wholly or in part of forest-risk commodities to certify that the commodities were not grown, derived, harvested, reared, or produced on land where tropical deforestation occurred on or after January 1, 2022. The bill would exempt a credit card purchase of goods of $2,500 or less, not to exceed a total of $7,500 of goods per contractor per year, from these certification requirements. The bill would require specified contractors to have a No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation policy, as specified, and would require the contractors to make the policy and corresponding data publicly available. The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2023, the Department of General Services to issue an informational notice or memorandum on a Deforestation-Free Code of Conduct to be used by contractors that includes, among other things, a list of forest-risk commodities subject to these provisions. This bill would impose sanctions on contractors who knew or should have known that a product furnished to the state was comprised wholly or in part of a forest-risk commodity in violation of these provisions. The bill would specify that any person who certifies as true any material matter that the person knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The State Contract Act governs the bidding and award of public works contracts by specific state agencies and requires an awarding department, before entering into any contract for a project, to prepare full, complete, and accurate plans, specifications, and estimates of cost. The act prohibits, except in specified circumstances, a state agency responsible for letting public works contracts from drafting bid specifications in a manner that limits the bidding to any one concern or product, except under certain circumstances. This bill would prohibit a state agency from including in bid specifications for public works projects any wood or wood products whose importation and use are prohibited under the federal Lacey Act. 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, the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013, requires the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank to administer the Small Business Finance Center, which administers programs that assist businesses seeking new capital resources, including, but not limited to, the Small Business Loan Guarantee Program. Existing law establishes the Small Business Expansion Fund and requires, among other things, that the fund provide guarantees to loans offered by financial institutions and financial companies, as those terms are defined, to small businesses, as provided. Existing law, the California Pollution Control Financing Authority Act, establishes the California Pollution Control Financing Authority, with specified powers and duties, and authorizes the authority to approve financing for projects or pollution control facilities to prevent or reduce environmental pollution. This bill would enact the Equity in Lending and Fair Recovery Act to require the California Pollution Control Financing Authority to establish and administer the Equity in Lending and Fair Recovery Program, in accordance with specified requirements, for the purpose of supporting and expanding eligible lender access to lending capital and borrower access to responsible installment loans for low- to moderate-income individuals and communities. The bill would require the program to provide partial loan guarantees and other credit enhancements for eligible lenders, as defined, to access additional capital to expand the availability of eligible loans, as defined. This bill would, among other things, require the authority to require that participating eligible lenders pay premiums, fees, and interest sufficient to cover the reasonable administrative costs of the program and manage the risk of defaults associated with the program. The bill would require that these premiums, fees, and interest payments be deposited into the Equity in Lending and Fair Recovery Fund, which this bill would establish as a continuously appropriated fund, thereby making an appropriation. This bill would authorize the authority to establish and operate a program to provide grants to support minority-owned small businesses, as defined, allocated through a competitive application process in accordance with specified requirements. The bill would make moneys in the fund available for these grants only to the extent that there are sufficient moneys in the fund for purposes of this bill's provisions. The bill would require the authority to charge an application fee to each grantee under this program, in an amount sufficient to cover the reasonable costs of the authority in administering that program. This bill would appropriate $25,000,000 to the authority for deposit into the fund, to be used for initial startup costs relating to the establishment and operation of the Equity in Lending and Fair Recovery Program.
Existing law, the Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act) , governs collective bargaining between the state and recognized state public employee organizations. Existing law excludes certain employees from coverage under the Dills Act, including, among others, managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees, as defined. Existing law creates the Public Employment Relations Board and authorizes it, among other things, to determine appropriate state employee bargaining units, as specified. This bill would enact the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act, to provide employees of the Legislature, including some supervisory and managerial employees, the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. The bill would prescribe rights, duties, and prohibitions in this context that parallel those in the Dills Act. The bill would prohibit the Public Employment Relations Board from including employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature. The bill would make it a misdemeanor for any person to willfully resist, prevent, impede, or interfere with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to its provisions. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that the provisions of the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act are severable. 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 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. This bill would establish the California Conservation Ranching Incentive Program as a separate component of the California Farmland Conservancy Program. The bill would authorize the Director of Conservation to, subject to appropriation, enter into contracts for an initial term of 3 years with nonpublic entities that are owners of record or lessees of productive rangelands, grazing lands, or grasslands that are determined by the director to be important for the conservation of grassland birds, soil health, and biodiversity. The bill would require these contracts to include an agreement by the owner and any lessee to restore, enhance, and protect the grassland habitat character of the land subject to the contract and to require the Department of Conservation to pay a specified amount to the owner or lessee for undertaking conservation obligations under the contract. The bill would create the California Conservation Ranching Incentive Program Account in the California Farmland Conservancy Program Fund and would make funds deposited in the account available for expenditure, upon appropriation, to the department for purposes of the program. The bill would authorize the department to use up to 30% of the funds to provide grants to nonprofit organizations, regional conservancies, or resource conservation districts for specified purposes relating to the program, including assisting owners or lessees with enrollment or implementation of the program or preparation of management plans, as specified.