Asm. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry

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.

(1) Existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, prohibits the manufacture, sale, delivery, holding, or offer for sale of adulterated foods, beverages, or cosmetics. Existing law prescribes when a food or beverage is adulterated, including if it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to the health of a person or other animal that may consume it. Existing law prescribes when a cosmetic is adulterated, including when it bears or contains a poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to users under the conditions of use prescribed in the labeling or advertisement of the cosmetic, under customary or usual conditions. The Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, among other things, regulates the labeling of food, beverages, and cosmetics and makes it a crime to distribute in commerce any food, drug, device, or cosmetic if its packaging or labeling does not conform to these provisions. Existing law also makes it unlawful for a person to disseminate any false advertisement of any food, drug, device, or cosmetic. Violation of the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law is a misdemeanor. Existing law requires a person who manufactures pet food in California to obtain a license from the State Department of Public Health. Existing law also prohibits the manufacture, sale, or delivery of a pet food ingredient or processed pet food that is adulterated and defines "adulterated" for this purpose. This bill would require a manufacturer of dietary supplements and food that includes industrial hemp to be able to demonstrate that all parts of the plant used come from a state or country that has an established and approved industrial hemp program, as defined, that inspects or regulates hemp under a food safety program or equivalent criteria to ensure safety for human or animal consumption and that the industrial hemp cultivator or grower is in good standing and compliance with the governing laws of the state or country of origin. This bill would state that a dietary supplement, food, beverage, cosmetic, or pet food is not adulterated by the inclusion of industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp if those substances meet specified requirements, and would prohibit restrictions on the sale of dietary supplements, food, beverages, cosmetics, or pet food that include industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp based solely on the inclusion of those substances. The bill would also prohibit a manufacturer, distributor, or seller of an industrial hemp product from including on the label, or publishing or disseminating in advertising or marketing, a health-related statement, as defined, that is untrue in any particular manner as to the effects on health of consuming products containing industrial hemp or cannabinoids, extracts, or derivatives from industrial hemp. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would create an authorization process for hemp manufacturers who produce specified products that include industrial hemp or who produce raw hemp extract, as defined, including requirements for testing and labeling on products. The bill would authorize the department to collect specified fees, which would be used, upon appropriation, to implement the program. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also impose a $250 fee on each manufacturer who produces industrial hemp products or raw hemp extract, to be used, upon appropriation, to fund an Industrial Hemp Research Program at the University of California. The bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture and the State Department of Public Health, in consultation with the Bureau of Cannabis Control, if necessary, to develop a process to share license, registration, cultivar, and enforcement information to facilitate compliance and enforcement against unlicensed industrial hemp manufacturers or the sale of industrial hemp that does not meet specified requirements. The bill would make communications shared between these agencies and local law enforcement for this purpose exempt from the California Public Records Act. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. Existing law provides that, except as otherwise provided by statute, all relevant evidence is admissible. The California Constitution provides for the Right to Truth-in-Evidence, which requires a 23 vote of the Legislature to exclude any relevant evidence from any criminal proceeding, as specified. This bill would make communications shared between agencies pursuant to the above provisions official information, which may be privileged and made inadmissible in an action or proceeding, thereby requiring a 23 vote. (2) Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , added by Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of marijuana for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. The existing 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. Existing law, for purposes of commercial cannabis regulation, defines "cannabis" as derivatives of the cannabis plant, not including industrial hemp. Existing law defines industrial hemp, for this purpose, as cannabis plants having no more than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) contained in the dried flowering tops, whether growing or not; the seeds of the plant; the resin extracted from any part of the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation of the plant, its seeds, or resin produced therefrom. Industrial hemp is exempt from the provisions of MAUCRSA. AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend the act to further the purposes and intent of the act with a 23 vote of the membership of both houses of the Legislature, except as provided. This bill would amend AUMA by changing the definition of "industrial hemp" to include cannabis plants and any part of that plant, including the seeds of the plant and all derivatives, extracts, the resin extracted from any part of the plant, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of no more than 0.3% on a dry weight basis. (3) 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. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

(1) Existing law establishes the Elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) Program within the State Department of Public Health to allow the department to certify certain general acute care hospitals that are licensed to provide urgent and emergent cardiac catheterization laboratory service, and to perform scheduled, elective percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and stent placement for eligible patients. This bill would enact the California Outpatient Cardiology Patient Safety, Cost Reduction, and Quality Improvement Act. The bill would authorize the department, within the PCI Program, to certify an ambulatory surgical center to provide elective cardiac catheterization laboratory services that meet certain requirements to perform scheduled, elective percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and stent placement for eligible patients. The bill would authorize the department to, among other things, charge a certified ambulatory surgical center a fee for the reasonable regulatory costs to the state incident to granting this certification and to retain experts or establish one or more committees to analyze reports and advise the department, as specified. The bill would only allow the department to certify a maximum of 50 ambulatory surgical centers and would only allow the department to accept an application from an ambulatory surgical center for certification or renewal of participation until December 31, 2031. The bill would require the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to annually report each certified ambulatory surgical center's performance on mortality and stroke rate. (2) Existing law authorizes the State Department of Public Health to license a freestanding cardiac catheterization laboratory that meets certain requirements, including having been active in a completed pilot program as a freestanding cardiac catheterization laboratory. This bill would authorize, beginning on January 1, 2022, an ambulatory surgical center certified to participate in the Medicare Program to perform cardiac catheterization laboratory services if certain requirements are met, including, among others, that the ambulatory surgical center complies with specified department regulations and only performs procedures on adults in an outpatient basis. (3) This bill would also make legislative findings and declarations in support of its provisions.

Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. Existing law under Article XVI of the California Constitution requires measures authorizing general obligation bonds to specify the single object or work to be funded by the bonds and further requires a bond act to be approved by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and a majority of the voters. This bill would enact the Equitable Economic Recovery, Healthy Food Access, Climate Resilient Farms, and Worker Protection Bond Act of 2022, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $3,302,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law, to finance programs related to, among other things, agricultural lands, food and fiber infrastructure, climate resilience, agricultural professionals, including farmers, ranchers, and farmworkers, workforce development and training, air quality, tribes, disadvantaged communities, nutrition, food aid, meat processing facilities, fishing facilities, and fairgrounds. The bill would provide for the submission of the bond act to the voters at the November 8, 2022, statewide general election.

Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, vests the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the Department of Industrial Relations with the power, jurisdiction, and supervision over every employment and place of employment, which is necessary adequately to enforce and administer all laws and lawful standards and orders, or special orders requiring such employment and place of employment to be safe, and requiring the protection of the life, safety, and health of every employee in such employment or place of employment, including to inspect and investigate employments and places of employment, as prescribed. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) , except as provided, prohibits a person or employer from being given advance warning of an inspection or investigation by any authorized representative of the division. OSHA authorizes the Chief of the Division of Occupational Safety and Health or an authorized representative to permit advance notice of an inspection or investigation as prescribed by the Director of Industrial Relations. OSHA prohibits the authorization of advance notice when the investigation or inspection is to be made as a result of an employee complaint, unless there is imminent danger to the health or safety of an employee or employees. OSHA makes it a crime, punishable as prescribed, for any person to give unauthorized advance notice of any inspection to be conducted. This bill would revise those advance warning provisions to prohibit any representative of the division from giving advance notice of an inspection or investigation to an employer or other person unless authorized under OSHA. The bill would authorize the chief or their authorized representatives to permit advance notice of an inspection or investigation when advance notice is necessary to ensure availability of essential personnel or access to the site, equipment, or process, as prescribed by the director. The bill would delete the prohibition on the authorization of advance notice when the investigation or inspection is to be made as a result of an employee complaint. The bill would expand the crime to apply to unauthorized advance notice of an investigation to be conducted, thereby imposing 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.

Existing law, the Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, generally allow various deductions in computing the income that is subject to taxes imposed by those laws, including a deduction for a net operating loss as specified. Existing law suspends the deduction for a net operating loss, as specified, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2023. The Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law generally authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. Existing law provides that, except as specified, the total credits allowable under those laws may not reduce the taxes imposed by those laws by more than $5,000,000, as provided, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2023. This bill, the Golden State Innovation Act of 2021, would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2023, exclude a taxpayer that performs research and development in biotechnology, as described, from the above-described suspension of the deduction for net operating losses and the above-described limitation on the total credits allowable. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. The bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

(1) The California Child Day Care Facilities Act generally requires the State Department of Social Services to license, inspect, and regulate various types of child daycare facilities, defined to include, among others, family daycare homes and daycare centers. The act generally requires licensees and certain employees of licensees to complete specified education and training requirements, including, among others, preventive health practices and pediatric first aid. Willful or repeated violation of the act is a crime. This bill would encourage a licensee under the act and each employee of a licensee to complete trauma-informed childcare training. (2) The Child Care and Development Services Act requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer childcare and development programs. The act requires the Superintendent to administer an early learning quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) block grant, allocated to local consortia, as defined, for support of local early learning quality rating and improvement systems, as specified. To be eligible for a QRIS block grant, local consortia are required to develop an action plan that includes a continuous quality improvement process that is tied to improving child outcomes. The act also establishes an Early Learning and Care Workforce Development Grants Program under the administration of the Superintendent to expand the number of qualified early learning and care professionals and increase the educational credentials of existing early learning and care professionals across the state, as provided. This bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Superintendent to administer the Trauma-Informed Childcare Training Grants Program, which the bill would establish, to expand access to trauma-informed childcare training across the state. The bill would require a local consortium to submit an addendum to its QRIS block grant action plan to be eligible for a trauma-informed childcare training grant, as provided.

Existing law establishes within state government the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. Existing law also establishes various public health programs, including grant programs, throughout the state for purposes of promoting maternal, child, and adolescent health. This bill would require the office, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to establish, develop, implement, and administer the Project ECHO (registered trademark) Grant Program. Under the grant program, the bill would require participating children's hospitals to establish yearlong pediatric behavioral health teleECHO (trademark) clinics for specified individuals, including primary care clinicians and educators, to help them develop expertise and tools to better serve the youth that they work with by addressing their mental health needs stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. The bill would authorize an eligible children's hospital to partner with another eligible children's hospital, or with another general acute care hospital, to implement its project. The bill would require the office to ensure that the grant program includes a maximum of 8 grants that support pediatric behavioral health teleECHO (trademark) clinics to be administered and operated by an eligible children's hospital, and that grant funding be made available, at a minimum, to participants for specified purposes, such as recruiting efforts and funding salaries and fringe benefits for pediatric behavioral health teleECHO (trademark) clinic personnel. The bill would require a pediatric behavioral health teleECHO (trademark) clinic to target specified audiences, including school-based health care professionals who serve kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and would require a participant to perform prescribed duties, such as preparing a report that evaluates the grant program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027.