Asm. Gregg Hart

Maddy summaryThis bill designates February 2026 as Unclaimed Property Month in California to raise awareness about state-held financial assets. It encourages residents to check the state Controller's website to claim unclaimed funds such as uncashed checks and insurance proceeds. The resolution does not change any laws or policies but serves as a public awareness campaign to help people locate and claim their abandoned property. It directs the Assembly Chief Clerk to distribute copies of the resolution for public distribution.

Maddy summaryThis House Resolution declares January 2026 as School Board Recognition Month to honor the nearly 5,000 school board members across California's 1,000 school districts and county offices of education. The resolution recognizes these locally elected officials for their work in guiding public education and serving diverse communities, emphasizing their role in ensuring students' academic, social-emotional, and health needs are met. It calls on community members to join in acknowledging the dedication of school board members and collaborate to improve the education system. The bill has no operational effect beyond this symbolic recognition and does not change any laws or policies.

Maddy summaryThis House Resolution formally recognizes the importance of affordable homeownership for California families, particularly those with lower incomes, and highlights how nonprofit-led programs help build generational wealth and reduce economic disparities. The document emphasizes that existing state programs like CalHome support the construction and preservation of affordable homes through competitive funding to cities, counties, indigenous communities, and nonprofit builders such as Habitat for Humanity. While the resolution does not create new laws or funding, it serves as an official acknowledgment of homeownership's role in improving educational outcomes, health, civic participation, and neighborhood stability. The text also notes California's significant housing deficit and racial wealth gaps as context for why expanding affordable ownership opportunities is a priority for state policy.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, requires all public water systems, as defined, with 10,000 or more service connections to review and revise their disaster preparedness plans in conjunction with related agencies, including, but not limited to, local fire departments and the Office of Emergency Services to ensure that the plans are sufficient to address possible disaster scenarios. Existing law requires these public water systems to, following a declared state of emergency, furnish an assessment of their emergency response and recommendations to the Legislature within 6 months after each disaster, and to implement the recommendations in a timely manner. Existing law requires the office to establish emergency response and recovery plans in coordination with these public water systems. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

Existing law creates within the Ocean Protection Council the California Sea Level Rise State and Regional Support Collaborative to provide state and regional information to the public and support to local, regional, and other state agencies for the identification, assessment, planning, and, where feasible, the mitigation of the adverse environmental, social, and economic effects of sea level rise within the coastal zone, as provided. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to this provision.

Existing law requires the Employment Development Department to administer a program for the payment of unemployment compensation to the eligible unemployed. Existing law requires the department to periodically review policies and practices used to determine eligibility and benefits that result in delayed eligibility unemployment determinations or benefit payments and that fail to identify or prevent fraud. Existing law required the department to provide specified committees of the Legislature with a plan for assessing the effectiveness of its fraud prevention and detection tools by May 1, 2022, and to provide a report to those committees with an update on its progress on performing this assessment by July 1, 2022. Existing law requires the department to annually analyze and assess the effectiveness of its fraud prevention and detection tools and to submit this analysis and assessment to those committees, as specified. This bill would revise those annual requirements to, instead, require the department to analyze and assess the effectiveness of its fraud prevention and detection tools and to submit this analysis and assessment to those committees, biennially commencing on January 1, 2027.

Existing law, the California Library Services Act, states the intent of the Legislature to provide all residents with the opportunity to obtain from their public libraries needed materials and informational services by facilitating access to the resources of all libraries in this state. The act establishes the California Library Services Board consisting of 13 members, appointed as provided, with the State Librarian as the chief executive officer of the state board. Under the act, the powers and duties of the state board include, among other things, the adoption of rules, regulations, and general policies for the implementation of the act, as provided. This bill would rename the California Library Services Act as the California Library Services, Equity in Opportunity Act, and would revise and recast the act to, among other things, state the intent of the Legislature to create access to opportunity for all Californians at public libraries, as provided. The bill would rename the California Library Services Board as the California Library Services, Equity in Opportunity Board and would reduce the size of the board to 11 members, appointed as provided. The bill would prescribe the duties of the state board to instead be to, among other things, advise the State Librarian on the adoption of rules, regulations, and general policies for the implementation of the act, as provided. The bill would require the State Librarian to ensure staff support for the state board.

Existing law, the Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, governs local emergency medical services (EMS) systems, authorizes each county to develop an EMS program and designate a local EMS agency, and requires the Emergency Medical Services Authority to receive plans for the implementation of EMS systems from local EMS agencies, as specified. Existing law requires a county to enter into a written agreement with a city or fire district that contracted for or provided prehospital EMS as of June 1, 1980. Existing law requires, until that written agreement is reached, prehospital EMS to be continued at not less than the existing level and the administration of prehospital EMS by cities and fire districts contracting for or providing those services as of June 1, 1980, to be retained by those cities and fire districts, as specified. This bill would authorize a county board of supervisors or the governing body of an entity or a joint powers agency designated as the local EMS agency by the board of supervisors to provide ambulance services to persons located within the county's jurisdiction by specified means, including assigning the duty of providing ambulance services to residents of the county to an existing county department and providing the department with the necessary staffing, vehicles, and equipment to provide ambulance services. The bill would require a county board of supervisors or a local EMS agency to adopt a written policy, including specified requirements, for an emergency ambulance services provider in order to enter into a contract with a provider for emergency ambulance services and would include required provisions for those contracts. The bill would make related findings and declarations.

Existing law authorizes the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, in consultation with the California State University and the University of California, to authorize the establishment of community college district baccalaureate degree programs, as provided. Existing law requires a baccalaureate degree program offered by a community college district to (1) be offered in a subject area with unmet workforce needs in the local community or region of the district, (2) not offer a program or program curricula already offered by the California State University or University of California, and (3) have the expertise, resources, and student interest to offer a quality baccalaureate degree in the chosen field of study. If, during the consultation process related to a proposed baccalaureate degree program, the California State University or the University of California believes there is program duplication and the applicable segment submits written objections, existing law requires the objecting segment and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to establish a written agreement before the program is approved, as provided. This bill would authorize the board of governors to approve a baccalaureate degree program at Allan Hancock College without a written agreement between the objecting segment and the chancellor if the board of governors determines the proposed baccalaureate degree program satisfies the baccalaureate degree program requirements described above. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Allan Hancock College.

Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the trustees to control and expend all money appropriated for the support and maintenance of the university. This bill, the California State University Transparency Act of 2025, would require the California State University, on or before July 1, 2027, to include on its internet website certain information about each expenditure of state funds, as defined, by the California State University for expenditures that exceed $10,000, in a format that allows the public to search and aggregate that information, and to also include on its internet website, among other things, the capability for a user to give input to the California State University regarding the utility of the information and to give recommendations to the California State University for improvements to the manner in which the information is provided on the internet website.