Asm. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry

The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use and development within its boundaries that includes, among other things, a housing element. The housing element is required to include an analysis of potential and actual governmental constraints upon the maintenance, improvement, or development of housing for all income levels and for persons with disabilities, as provided. This bill would additionally authorize an analysis, at the department's discretion, of those constraints upon housing for persons with a characteristic identified by a specified provision of the Unruh Civil Rights Act. By increasing the duties of local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires a lead agency to consult with a California Native American tribe prior to releasing a negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or environmental impact report for a project where the California Native American tribe is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area and the tribe responds in writing within 30 days. This bill would extend the California Native American tribe's time for response by an additional 30 days for any housing development project application completed between March 4, 2020, and December 31, 2021. Existing law, the Permit Streamlining Act, among other things, requires a public agency that is the lead agency for a development project to approve or disapprove that project within specified time periods. This bill would extend by 18 months the period for the expiration, effectuation, or utilization of a housing entitlement, as defined, that was issued before, and was in effect on, March 4, 2020, and that will expire before December 31, 2021, except as specified. The bill would also provide that if the state or a local agency extends, on or after March 4, 2020, but before the effective date of the bill, the otherwise applicable time for the expiration, effectuation, or utilization of a housing entitlement for not less than 18 months and pursuant to the same conditions provided by this bill, that housing entitlement shall not be extended an additional 18 months pursuant to this bill. This bill clarifies that nothing in these provisions is intended to preclude a local government from exercising its existing authority to provide an extension to an entitlement. By adding to the duties of local officials with respect to housing entitlements, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65583 of the Government Code proposed by SB 1138 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1138 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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 Department of Housing and Community Development in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, and requires the department to administer various housing programs throughout the state, including programs that address the needs of homeless individuals and families, and to review local ordinances for the design, development, and operation of homeless shelters in cities and counties that have declared a shelter crisis. Existing law also requires a state agency or department that funds, implements, or administers a state program that provides housing or housing-related services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness to revise or adopt guidelines and regulations to incorporate the core components of Housing First, an evidence-based model that uses housing as a tool, rather than a reward, for recovery. This bill would declare that it is the policy of the state that every individual has the right to safe, decent, and affordable housing, and would require the policy to consider homelessness prevention, emergency accommodations, and permanent housing, as specified. The bill would, among other things, require all relevant state agencies and departments, including, but not limited to, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the State Department of Social Services, and the Office of Emergency Services to consider that state policy when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, and grant criteria when those policies, regulations, and criteria are pertinent to advancing the guidelines listed as core components of Housing First. The bill would make these provisions operative on January 1, 2026, and would make implementation of these provisions subject to an appropriation of funds in the annual Budget Act for these purposes.

Existing law requires every secondhand dealer and coin dealer to report daily the receipt of all secondhand tangible personal property, except for firearms, which they have purchased, taken in trade or pawn, or accepted for sale on consignment or for auctioning, in accordance with certain provisions, to the statewide uniform electronic reporting system known as the California Pawn and SecondhandDealer System (CAPSS) , operated by the Department of Justice. Existing law requires the report to contain specified information, including the name and current address of the intended seller or pledger, and a form of identification for that person, which may include a Matricula Consular, in addition to another item of identification bearing an address. Existing law makes it a crime to commit perjury and also imposes various criminal penalties for violations of the secondhand goods provisions. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2023, exempt a seller or pledger who verifies their identity using a Matricula Consular from the requirements that their name and current address be included in the report. The bill would specify that in these cases no personal identifying information would be reported to CAPSS. The bill would instead require each secondhand dealer or coin dealer to record and maintain the name, current address, and the Matricula Consular number of the seller or pledger for 3 years from the date the item was reported to CAPSS, and to also record and maintain a certification by the intended seller or pledger that they are the owner of the property or have the authority of the owner to seller or pledge the property, along with taking a legible fingerprint from that person. The bill would also require each secondhand dealer or coin dealer, upon receiving notification from local law enforcement that the item has been reported lost, stolen, or embezzled, to provide law enforcement with the information collected from the identification used by the intended seller or pledger. By expanding the scope of existing crimes, 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.

Federal Executive Order 13888 generally prohibits a refugee from being resettled in a state or locality if the state or locality has not consented, in writing, to the resettlement of refugees. The Executive Order requires the United States Secretary of State and the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to implement a process to determine if a state or locality consents. The bill would prohibit a refugee from being denied resettlement in California based on any criterion, method of administration, or practice that has the purpose or effect of discriminating on the basis of specified protected characteristics.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health within the California Health and Human Services Agency. This bill would authorize the State Department of Public Health to establish the Office of Suicide Prevention within the department, would require the office to perform specified duties, including providing information and technical assistance to statewide and regional partners regarding best practices on suicide prevention policies and programs and reporting on progress to reduce rates of suicide, and authorize the office to apply for and use federal, state, and foundation grants. The bill would require the office to consult with the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission to implement suicide prevention efforts. The bill would require that the duties and responsibilities of the office be accomplished with existing staff and resources. The bill would make these provisions operative subject to an appropriation for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute.

Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of disability insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law, known as the California Mental Health Parity Act, requires every health care service plan contract or disability insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after July 1, 2000, that provides hospital, medical, or surgical coverage to provide coverage for the diagnosis and medically necessary treatment of severe mental illnesses of a person of any age, and of serious emotional disturbances of a child under the same terms and conditions applied to other medical conditions, as specified. Existing law requires those benefits to include, among other things, outpatient services, inpatient hospital services, partial hospital services, and prescription drugs, if the plan contract or policy includes coverage for prescription drugs. This bill would revise and recast those provisions, and would instead require a health care service plan contract or disability insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, to provide coverage for medically necessary treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, as defined, under the same terms and conditions applied to other medical conditions. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan or disability insurer from limiting benefits or coverage for mental health and substance use disorders to short-term or acute treatment. The bill would revise the covered benefits to include basic health care services, as defined, intermediate services, and prescription drugs. This bill would require a health care service plan or disability insurer that provides hospital, medical, or surgical coverage to base medical necessity determinations and the utilization review criteria the plan or insurer, and any entity acting on the plan's or insurer's behalf, applies to determine the medical necessity of health care services and benefits for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, on current generally accepted standards of mental health and substance use disorder care. The bill would require the health care service plan or insurer to apply specified clinical criteria and guidelines in conducting utilization review of the covered health care services and benefits and would prohibit the plan or insurer from applying different, additional, or conflicting criteria than the criteria and guidelines in the specified sources. The bill would authorize the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care or the Insurance Commissioner, as applicable, to assess administrative or civil penalties, as specified, for violation of the requirements relating to utilization review. The bill would make any provision in a health care service plan issued, delivered, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, that reserves discretionary authority to the plan, or an agent of the plan, to determine eligibility for benefits or coverage, interprets the terms of the contract, or provides standards of interpretation or review that are inconsistent with California law, void and unenforceable, as specified. The bill would declare that its provisions are severable. Because a willful violation of these requirements with respect to health care service plans would be a crime, this 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.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income persons receive health care benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law establishes a schedule of benefits under the Medi-Cal program and provides for various services, including behavioral and mental health services that are rendered by Medi-Cal enrolled providers. This bill would require the department, by July 1, 2022, subject to any necessary federal waivers or approvals, to establish statewide requirements for counties or their representatives to use in developing certification programs for the certification of peer support specialists, who are individuals who self-identify as having lived experience with the process of recovery from mental illness, substance use disorder, or both. The bill would authorize a county, or an agency that represents a county, to develop a peer support specialist certification program and certification fee schedule, both of which would be subject to department approval. The bill would require the department to seek any federal waivers it deems necessary to establish a demonstration or pilot project for the provision of peer support services in a county that agrees to participate in and fund the project, as specified.

(1) The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the city or county and specified lands outside its boundaries that includes, among other things, a housing element. That law requires the planning agency of a city or county to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to the legislative body of the city or county, the Office of Planning and Research, and the Department of Housing and Community Development that includes, among other specified information, the status of the general plan and progress in its implementation. This bill would additionally require that this annual report include information on the progress of the city or county in adopting or amending its general plan or local open-space element in compliance with its obligations to consult with California Native American tribes, and to identify and protect, preserve, and mitigate impacts to specified places, features, and objects, pursuant to specified law. (2) Existing law, until January 1, 2026, authorizes a development proponent to submit an application for a multifamily housing development that is subject to a streamlined, ministerial approval process, as provided, and not subject to a conditional use permit, if the development satisfies specified objective planning standards. Under existing law, the objective planning standards include, among others, (A) a requirement that the development not be located on specified sites, including those within a coastal zone, very high fire hazard severity zone, delineated earthquake fault zone, or special flood hazard area, and sites designated as prime farmland, wetlands, or a habitat for a protected species, and (B) a requirement that the development be consistent with objective zoning standards, objective subdivision standards, and objective design review standards in effect at the time that the development is submitted to the local government. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. Prior to the release of a negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or an EIR for a project, CEQA requires the lead agency to begin consultation with a California Native American tribe that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area of the proposed project, as provided. Under existing law, a development subject to the streamlined, ministerial approval process described above is not subject to CEQA. This bill would require a development proponent, before submitting an application for streamlined approval described above, to submit notice of its intent to submit an application under these provisions, which must be in the form of a preliminary application, as described below. The bill would revise the above-described provisions to instead require the development to be consistent with objective zoning standards, objective subdivision standards, and objective design review standards in effect at the time that the development is submitted to the local government or at the time the notice of intent is submitted, whichever occurs earlier. The bill would require, after that notice is received by the local government, a local government to provide formal notice, as provided, to each California Native American tribe that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area of the proposed development and to engage in a scoping consultation, as provided, regarding the potential effects the proposed development could have on a potential tribal cultural resource. The bill would exempt a scoping consultation conducted pursuant to its provisions from CEQA. This bill would deem a project ineligible for the streamlined, ministerial approval process described above, and thereby subject to CEQA, if (A) the site of the proposed development is a tribal cultural resource that is on a national, state, tribal, or local historic register list, (B) the local government and the California Native American tribe do not agree that no potential tribal cultural resource would be affected by the proposed development, or (C) the local government and California Native American tribe find that a potential tribal cultural resource could be affected by the proposed development and the parties do not document an enforceable agreement regarding the methods, measures, and conditions for treatment of those tribal cultural resources, as provided. If the proposed development is not eligible for streamlined, ministerial approval because the parties do not agree that a potential tribal cultural resource would be affected or do not document an enforceable agreement regarding methods, measures, and conditions for tribal cultural resource treatment, the bill would require the local government to provide written documentation of that fact to the development proponent and to any California Native American tribe that is a party to that scoping consultation, as provided. The bill would require a local government to notify a California Native American tribe if the development or environmental setting substantially changes after the completion of the scoping consultation, and would require the local government to engage in a subsequent scoping consultation if requested by the California Native American tribe. The bill would specify that its provisions do not apply to any project that is approved under the streamlined, ministerial approval process described above before the bill's effective date. (3) The Permit Streamlining Act, which is part of the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each state agency and each local agency to compile one or more lists that specify in detail the information that will be required from any applicant for a development project. That act, until January 1, 2025, provides that an applicant for a housing development project, as defined, is deemed to have submitted a preliminary application upon providing specified information about the proposed project to the city, county, or city and county from which approval for the project is sought. Under existing law, the Housing Accountability Act, a housing development may only be subject to the ordinances, policies, and standards adopted and in effect when a preliminary application was submitted, except as specified. This bill would provide that submission of a preliminary application pursuant to these provisions does not preclude the listing of a tribal cultural resource on a national, state, tribal, or local historic register list on or after the date that the preliminary application is submitted. For purposes of the Housing Accountability Act or any other law, the bill would provide that the listing of a tribal cultural site on a national, state, tribal, or local historic register on or after the preliminary application was submitted is not a change to the ordinances, policies, and standards adopted and in effect at the time that the preliminary application was submitted. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65400 of the Government Code proposed by AB 2345 and SB 1085 to be operative only if this bill and either or both AB 2345 and SB 1085 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65913.4 of the Government Code proposed by AB 831 to be operative only if this bill and AB 831 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (5) By imposing new requirements on local planning officials with respect to the annual report and the streamlined, ministerial approval process, as described above, 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.

Existing law, the Contractors' State License Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of contractors. Existing law creates the Contractors' State License Board, within the Department of Consumer Affairs and authorizes the board to impose discipline on contractors for violations of laws and to impose, among other penalties, civil penalties. Existing law authorizes the board to appoint a registrar as the executive officer and secretary to carry out all of the administrative duties of the board. Existing law provides that a cause for disciplinary action against a contractor arises for violations of specified safety provisions that result in death or serious injury to a person. This bill would also authorize disciplinary action against a contractor for violations of specified regulations regarding tree work, including maintenance or removal, without regard to whether death or serious injury to an employee resulted. Existing law requires the registrar to initiate disciplinary action against a contractor within 180 days of receipt of notification from the Labor Commissioner that a contractor has made a willful or deliberate violation of the Labor Code. This bill would also require the registrar to initiate disciplinary action against a contractor upon transmission to the Contractors' State License Board of copies of any citations or other actions for willful or deliberate violations of specified tree trimming regulations. The bill would also extend the time for the registrar to bring the disciplinary action from 180 days to 18 months.

This measure would designate a specified portion of State Route 50 in the County of El Dorado as the Deputy Sheriff Brian "Ish" Ishmael Memorial Highway. The measure would request that the Department of Transportation determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, erect those signs.