Asm. Steve Bennett

(1) Existing law provides that every individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to their personal reproductive decisions. Existing law prohibits the state from denying or interfering with a person's right to choose or obtain an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, or when the abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the person. Existing law requires a health insurer to take specified steps to protect the confidentiality of an insured's medical information, and prohibits an insurer from disclosing medical information related to sensitive health care services to the policyholder or any insureds other than the protected individual receiving care. Existing law generally prohibits a provider of health care, a health care service plan, or a contractor from disclosing medical information regarding a patient, enrollee, or subscriber without first obtaining an authorization, unless a specified exception applies, including that the disclosure is in response to a subpoena. Existing law prohibits an employer from using or disclosing medical information that it possesses pertaining to its employees without the patient having first signed an authorization, unless a specified exception applies, including that the disclosure is compelled by judicial or administrative process or by any other specific provision of law. Existing law authorizes a California court or attorney to issue a subpoena if a foreign subpoena has been sought in this state. This bill would prohibit compelling a person to identify or provide information that would identify or that is related to an individual who has sought or obtained an abortion in a state, county, city, or other local criminal, administrative, legislative, or other proceeding if the information is being requested based on another state's laws that interfere with a person's right to choose or obtain an abortion or a foreign penal civil action, as defined. The bill would authorize the Insurance Commissioner to assess a civil penalty, as specified, against an insurer that has disclosed an insured's confidential medical information. The bill would prohibit a provider of health care, a health care service plan, a contractor, or an employer from releasing medical information that would identify an individual or related to an individual seeking or obtaining an abortion in response to a subpoena or a request or to law enforcement if that subpoena, request, or the purpose of law enforcement for the medical information is based on, or for the purpose of enforcement of, either another state's laws that interfere with a person's rights to choose or obtain an abortion or a foreign penal civil action. The bill would prohibit issuance of a subpoena if the submitted foreign subpoena relates to a foreign penal civil action and the submitted foreign subpoena would require disclosure of information related to sensitive services, as defined. (2) Existing law sets forth the health care access rights of an incarcerated pregnant person and an incarcerated person who is identified as possibly pregnant or capable of becoming pregnant. Existing law prohibits the imposition of conditions or restrictions on an incarcerated person's ability to obtain an abortion. This bill would prohibit prison staff from disclosing identifying medical information related to an incarcerated person's right to seek and obtain an abortion if the information is being requested based on another state's law that interferes with a person's rights to choose or obtain an abortion or a foreign penal civil action. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 2029.300 and 2029.350 of the Code of Civil Procedure proposed by SB 107 to be operative only if this bill and SB 107 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California. Existing law authorizes the board to take action against all persons guilty of violating the Medical Practice Act. Existing law requires the board to enforce and administer various disciplinary provisions as to physician and surgeon certificate holders. Existing law, the Osteopathic Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of osteopathic physicians and surgeons by the Osteopathic Medical Board of California. Under existing law, the board has disciplinary functions pursuant to the act. Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of the practice of nursing by the Board of Registered Nursing. Existing law provides for the certification of nurse-midwives by the Board of Registered Nursing. Existing law, the Physician Assistant Practice Act, establishes the Physician Assistant Board for the licensure and regulation of physician assistants. Existing law requires the Board of Registered Nursing and the Physician Assistant Board to enforce and administer various disciplinary provisions as to nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, and physician assistants. Existing law, the Reproductive Privacy Act, provides that every individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to their personal reproductive decisions. Under existing law, an abortion is unauthorized if either the person performing the abortion is not an authorized health care provider, as specified, or the fetus is viable. Under existing law, the failure of a physician and surgeon to comply with the Reproductive Privacy Act constitutes unprofessional conduct. This bill would prohibit the Medical Board of California and the Osteopathic Medical Board of California from suspending or revoking the certificate of a physician and surgeon solely for performing an abortion if they performed the abortion in accordance with the provisions of the Medical Practice Act and the Reproductive Privacy Act. The bill would also prohibit those boards from denying an application for licensure as a physician and surgeon, or suspending, revoking, or otherwise imposing discipline upon a physician and surgeon because the person was disciplined in another state in which they are licensed or certified solely for performing an abortion in that state, or the person was convicted in that state for an offense related solely to the performance of an abortion in that state. The bill would additionally prohibit the Board of Registered Nursing and the Physician Assistant Board from suspending or revoking the certification or license of a nurse practitioner, nurse-midwife, or a physician assistant for performing an abortion if they performed the abortion in accordance with the provisions of the Nursing Practice Act or the Physician Assistant Practice Act, as applicable, and the Reproductive Privacy Act. The bill would also prohibit those boards from denying an application for certification or licensure as a nurse practitioner, nurse-midwife, or a physician assistant, or suspending, revoking, or otherwise imposing discipline upon a nurse practitioner, nurse-midwife, or a physician assistant because the person was disciplined in another state in which they are licensed or certified solely for performing an abortion in that state, or the person was convicted in that state for an offense related solely to the performance of an abortion in that state. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes within the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Parks and Recreation, which is under the control of the Director of Parks and Recreation. Existing law requires the director to cause to be prepared, and continuously maintained, a comprehensive plan for the development and operation of a statewide system of recreation trails, which is known as the California Recreational Trails System Plan. Existing law requires the plan to be continuously reviewed, revised, and updated by the director. Existing law requires the director to submit a report every 2 years to the Legislature describing the progress in carrying out the plan, as provided. This bill would require the plan to include recommended priorities for funding to improve and expand, among other things, nonmotorized natural surface trails, as provided. The bill would require the director, among other things, on or before January 1, 2024, to prepare and provide to the Legislature a full update of the plan. The bill would instead require the director to submit a report every 3 years following an update to the plan to the Legislature describing the progress in carrying out the plan, as provided. The bill would make other changes regarding the plan and the updates to the plan. Existing law requires the director to prepare a list of recommended priority system projects for the state park system. Existing law requires projects recommended for funding during each fiscal year to be submitted to the Governor for consideration for inclusion in the Budget Bill. When acquisition of private lands for state trail purposes is proposed, existing law requires the director to provide information supporting the necessity for that acquisition to the Governor and to any standing committee of the Legislature that requests that information, as provided. This bill would delete these provisions. This bill would also make nonsubstantive changes and delete obsolete provisions.

The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, generally regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of solid waste. Existing law relating to public contracting establishes the State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign (SABRC) , which requires state agencies to ensure specific percentages of reportable purchases from prescribed product categories to be recycled products. Existing law requires, if fitness and quality are equal, each state agency to purchase recycled products instead of nonrecycled products whenever recycled products are available at the same or a lesser total cost than nonrecycled products. Existing law establishes minimum content requirements for recycled products. Existing law requires a state agency to report annually to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery its progress in meeting the recycled product purchasing requirements using a SABRC report format. Existing law requires the Department of General Services (DGS) , if a requirement has not been met, in consultation with the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, to review purchasing policies and make recommendations for immediate revisions to ensure that the recycled product purchasing requirements are met. This bill would require a state agency, if fitness and quality are equal, to purchase recycled products instead of nonrecycled products whenever recycled products are available at no more than 10% greater total cost than nonrecycled products, and specified circumstances exist. The bill would substantially revise product categories. The bill would require the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, in concurrence with the DGS and in consultation with impacted agencies, to update a list of products and minimum recycled content percentages, as determined to be appropriate, commencing January 1, 2026, and every 3 years thereafter. The bill would require the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery and the DGS to incorporate the updated list of products and minimum recycled content requirements into the State Contracting Manual, the Financial Information System for California, and the financial system of any department not utilizing the Financial Information System for California. The bill would require the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to maintain an internet website with current SABRC products and minimum recycled content requirements. The bill would establish product categories and minimum content and recyclability requirements, effective January 1, 2023, until updated by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. The bill would delete the DGS review and recommendation process for unmet requirements and, instead, would require the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to report a state agency that does not meet SABRC purchasing requirements in each product category to the DGS. The bill would require all state agency procurement and contracting officers, or their designees, to participate in mandatory annual training, as prescribed, conducted by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. The bill would require the DGS and the Prison Industry Authority to prioritize the use of recycled content products. The bill would require the DGS to continue to make products that meet the SABRC postconsumer minimum percentage requirements available through statewide contracts, and provide information to state agencies regarding contracted products that meet these requirements. The bill would require the Prison Industry Authority, in collaboration with the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, to make every attempt to procure parts that meet the SABRC postconsumer minimum percentage requirements for the products it creates and sells to state agencies. Existing law relating to SABRC applies to prescribed state agencies, including the California State University. This bill would provide that the University of California is not subject to the SABRC procurement requirements, but would require the University of California to report on purchases of products reportable under SABRC and what percentage of those purchases meet the associated minimum recycled content requirements. Existing law relating to the state acquisition of goods and services authorizes DGS to delegate purchasing authority to a state agency that meets specified requirements. Existing law relating to the acquisition of information technology goods and services authorizes the delegation of acquisition authority by the Director of General Services, in consultation with the Department of Technology, to a state agency that has been determined to be capable of effective use of that authority, as prescribed. This bill would, with regard to both the state acquisition of goods and services and the acquisition of information technology goods and services, require the DGS to maintain procedures for complying with SABRC, including procedures for meeting the minimum recycled content requirements and for complying with reporting requirements.

The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of 1981 requires the State Fire Marshal to administer provisions regulating the inspection of intrastate pipelines that transport hazardous liquids. The act requires a pipeline operator to make available to the State Fire Marshal, or any officers or employees authorized by the State Fire Marshal, upon presentation of appropriate credentials, any records, maps, or written procedures that are required by the act to be kept by the pipeline operator and that concern accident reporting, design, construction, testing, or operation and maintenance. The act authorizes the State Fire Marshal, or any officer or employee authorized by the State Fire Marshal, to enter, inspect, and examine, at reasonable times and in a reasonable manner, the records and properties of any pipeline operators that are required to be inspected and examined to determine whether the pipeline operator is in compliance with the act. A person who willfully and knowingly violates the act or a regulation issued pursuant to the act is, upon conviction, subject to a fine, imprisonment, or both a fine and imprisonment, as provided. Existing law authorizes the State Fire Marshal to act as agent for the United States Secretary of Transportation to implement the federal Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act of 1979 and federal pipeline safety regulations as to those portions of interstate pipelines located within the state, as necessary to obtain annual federal certification. This bill would revise and recast those state provisions relating to record maintenance and inspection and would authorize the State Fire Marshal, for purposes of carrying out the requirements of state or federal law relating to hazardous liquid pipeline safety, to require the owner or operator of a pipeline to establish and maintain records, make reports, and provide any information that the State Fire Marshal reasonably requires, as provided. The bill would authorize the State Fire Marshal to disclose records, reports, or other information required to be maintained pursuant to the act to an officer, employee, or authorized representative of the state or the United States for purposes of carrying out the requirements of the act or the federal act, or when relevant to a proceeding pursuant to the act. Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would revise the act to conform references to the federal act. The bill would make other nonsubstantive changes to, and repeal an obsolete provision of, the act. The act defines "pipeline" for its purposes, and excludes from that definition a pipeline for the transportation of crude oil that operates by gravity or at a stress level of 20 percent or less of the specified minimum yield strength of the pipe. This bill would expand the definition of "pipeline" by repealing that exclusion, subjecting these additional pipelines to regulation pursuant to the act. Because the bill would expand the application of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires pressure tests on certain pipelines be conducted in accordance with certain federal pipeline safety regulations and requires results from those pressure tests not show an hourly change for each section of the pipeline under test at the time that violates specified standards. This bill would repeal those specific test result requirements. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to establish and maintain a centralized database containing information and data regarding certain intrastate pipelines. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to regularly update the database and to make the information in the database available to the public. Existing law provides that the cost of implementing this requirement is to be funded from federal block grant funds and is operative only upon receipt of the federal block grant funds as determined by the State Fire Marshal. This bill would repeal the funding and contingent operation provisions. 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 California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 establishes in the California Environmental Protection Agency the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery with specified powers and duties relating to waste management. This bill would establish the Office of Environmental Justice and Tribal Relations within the department. The bill would prescribe the duties of the office, including, among others, ensuring that the department's programs effectively address the needs of disadvantaged communities, low-income communities, California Native American tribes, and farmworkers.

The California Constitution provides that the University of California constitutes a public trust, and requires the university to be administered by the Regents of the University of California, a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers of organization and government, subject to legislative control only for specified purposes. Existing law establishes the Hastings College of the Law, under the governance of an 11-member Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, within the University of California. Existing law provides that the college shall forever be known and designated as the Hastings College of the Law. Under existing law, six directors constitutes a quorum for the transaction of all business of the college's board of directors. Existing law requires one of the directors to always be an heir or representative of Serranus Clinton (S.C.) Hastings and all other directors to serve 12-year terms. Existing law requires vacancies occurring in the board of directors other than the death or resignation of the heir or representative of S.C. Hastings to be filled by the Governor and approved by the Senate. This bill would instead provide that the college shall be designated as the College of the Law, San Francisco, as provided. The bill would make conforming changes. The bill would specify that a majority of directors constitutes a quorum for the transaction of all of the board of directors' business, and would require all directors to serve 12-year terms, except as provided. The bill would require all vacancies occurring on the board of directors, including a vacancy of the heir or representative of S.C. Hastings, to be filled by the Governor and approved by the Senate. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 67385 of the Education Code proposed by AB 1467 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1467 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law provides for the establishment of California American Indian education centers by any tribal group or incorporated American Indian association to meet specified objectives, and further provides for the administration of grants, upon application, by the State Department of Education for those purposes in accordance with specified provisions. Existing law requires each center to annually submit specified data to the department that reflects each center's ability to meet its stated objectives and any other objectives chosen by the center. Existing law requires the department to enter into a contract with a county office of education or a consortium of county offices of education for the purpose of developing model curriculum related to Native American studies, as provided. This bill would establish the California Indian Education Act and encourage school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to form California Indian Education Task Forces with California tribes local to their regions or tribes historically located in the region. The bill would encourage task force participants to discuss issues of mutual concern and to undertake certain work. The bill would require California Indian Education Task Forces to submit, within one year of formation and annually thereafter, a report of findings to the department, as provided. The bill would require the department to submit, within one year of receiving task force reports and annually thereafter, a report to certain education committees of both houses of the Legislature regarding the narrowing of the achievement gap and the adoption of curriculum, as provided. The bill would authorize California Indian Education Task Forces to submit curricular materials to the county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, that contracted to develop the model curricula related to Native American studies. The bill would require the contracted county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, to consider these submitted materials for inclusion in the model curriculum. To the extent that this bill imposes new duties on the county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, that contracted to develop the model curriculum, 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.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue and renew driver's licenses, as specified. Existing law also authorizes the department to issue identification cards. Existing law requires the department to issue a restricted driver's license to an eligible applicant who is unable to submit satisfactory proof that their presence in the United States is authorized under federal law if they meet all other qualifications for licensure and provide satisfactory proof of identity and California residency. Existing law also authorizes the department to issue an identification card to a person documented under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. This bill would, among other things, require the department to, by no later than July 1, 2027, issue a restricted identification card to an eligible applicant who is unable to submit satisfactory proof that their presence in the United States is authorized under federal law if they provide satisfactory proof of identity and California residency, as specified. Existing law requires the restricted licenses and identification cards to include a recognizable feature on the front of the cards, such as the letters "DP" instead of "DL" and "IC" instead of "ID." This bill would delete the provision requiring a recognizable feature on the cards. Existing law prohibits California law enforcement agencies from cooperating, as specified, with federal immigration authorities. Existing law prohibits the disclosure of certain documents provided by an applicant to the department, except in response to a subpoena for individual records in a criminal proceeding or a court order, or in response to a law enforcement request to address an urgent health or safety need, as specified. This bill would specify that immigration enforcement, as defined, does not constitute an urgent health and safety need for those purposes, and would prohibit a government agency or department, law enforcement agency, commercial entity, or other person from obtaining, accessing, using, or otherwise disclosing, noncriminal history information maintained by the department, for the purpose of immigration enforcement. The bill would make other conforming changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12926 of the Government Code proposed by SB 523 to be operative only if this bill and SB 523 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law establishes the California Health and Human Services Agency, which includes the State Department of Public Health, among other state departments, and is charged with the administration of health, social, and other human services. This bill, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute for these purposes and until January 1, 2028, would require the agency, or an entity designated by the agency, to establish and administer a pilot program to direct funds to primary care clinics that provide reproductive health care services in 5 counties. The bill would require a participating primary care clinic to implement at least one of a number of specified activities to improve health care delivery for marginalized patients, and to annually report to the agency over 2 years regarding its efforts and progress with those activities. The bill would require the agency to report to the Legislature on the program on or before June 1, 2026.