Asm. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry

Existing law requires an automatic garage door opener that is manufactured for sale, purchased, sold, offered for sale, or installed in a residence to comply with specified safety requirements, including that the automatic garage door opener have an automatic reverse safety device. This bill, beginning July 1, 2019, would also require an automatic garage door opener that is manufactured for sale, sold, offered for sale, or installed in a residence to have a battery backup function that is designed to operate when activated because of an electrical outage. The bill would make a violation of those provisions subject to a civil penalty of $1,000. The bill would, on and after July 1, 2019, prohibit a replacement residential garage door from being installed in a manner that connects the door to an existing garage door opener that does not meet the requirements of these provisions.

Existing law defines the measure of indemnity for a loss under an open fire insurance policy and specifies time limits under which an insured must collect the full replacement cost of the loss. In the event of a loss relating to a state of emergency, as defined, existing law establishes a minimum time limit of not less than 24 months from the date that the first payment toward the actual cash value is made during which the insured may collect the full replacement cost of the loss, subject to the policy limit, as specified. This bill would extend the minimum time limit during which an insured may collect the full replacement cost of a loss relating to a state of emergency to 36 months. The bill would require that additional extensions of 6 months be provided to policyholders for good cause under that circumstance. The bill would also require that policy forms issued by an insurer be in compliance with these changes on and after July 1, 2019. The bill would also make technical changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 2051.5 of the Insurance Code proposed by AB 1800 and SB 894 to be operative only if this bill, AB 1800, and SB 894 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in the Natural Resources Agency. Existing law declares that a thriving in-state forest products sector provides public benefits, including employment opportunities in both rural and urban areas, and economic development for rural communities. Existing law requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to establish a working group on expanding wood product markets, as provided. This bill would require, on or before January 31, 2020, the department, in consultation with the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, to identify barriers to in-state production of mass timber and other innovative forest products, as those terms are defined, and develop solutions that are consistent with the state's climate objectives on forest lands. The bill would require the department to collaborate with the working group described above, other state agencies, and independent experts, including with apprenticeship programs of organized labor, community colleges, and others with similar expertise, on innovative forest products and mass timber workforce training and job creation. This bill would require the Forest Management Task Force, in consultation with specified entities, to develop recommendations for the siting of additional wood product manufacturing facilities in the state.

The California Emergency Services Act establishes the Office of Emergency Services within the Governor's office under the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services and makes the office responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies. Existing law requires the Governor to coordinate a State Emergency Plan, which is in effect in each political subdivision of the state, and requires the governing body of each political subdivision, as defined, to take actions necessary to carry out the provisions of that plan. This bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to create a library of translated emergency notifications and a translation style guide, as specified, and would require designated alerting authorities, as defined, to consider using the library and translation style guide that may be used by designated alerting authorities when issuing emergency notifications to the public. The bill would authorize the office to require a city, county, or city and county to translate emergency notifications as a condition of approving its application to receive any voluntary grant funds with a nexus to emergency management performance.

The California Emergency Services Act establishes the Office of Emergency Services (OES) in the office of the Governor and provides that OES is responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies. The act also provides for systems for the public dissemination of alerts regarding missing children, attacks upon law enforcement officers, and missing persons who are 65 years of age or older, among others, and requires the Department of the California Highway Patrol to activate these systems and issue alerts upon the request of a law enforcement agency if certain conditions are met. This bill, on or before July 1, 2019, would require OES, in consultation with specified entities, to develop voluntary guidelines for alerting and warning the public of an emergency. The bill would require OES to provide each city, county, and city and county with a copy of the guidelines. This bill would authorize OES to impose conditions upon application for voluntary grant funding that it administers requiring operation of alert and warning activities consistent with the guidelines. The bill would also require OES, within 6 months of making the statewide guidelines available and at least annually thereafter and through its California Specialized Training Institute, to develop an alert and warning training, as specified. This bill would authorize OES to adopt emergency regulations for these purposes, as specified.

Existing law generally regulates classes of insurance, including residential property insurance. Under existing law, the California FAIR (fair access to insurance requirements) Plan Association, a joint reinsurance association in which all insurers licensed to write basic property insurance participate, administers a program for the equitable apportionment of basic property insurance for persons who are unable to obtain that coverage through normal channels. Existing law requires the association to establish and maintain an Internet Web site and a toll-free telephone number through which a person may receive assistance in applying for basic property insurance. Existing law requires an insurer member of the plan to provide the Internet Web site address and toll-free telephone number to an applicant who is denied coverage. This bill would require the Department of Insurance to establish the California Home Insurance Finder on its Internet Web site to help homeowners connect with an insurance agent or broker for residential property insurance. The bill would require the department to annually survey agents, brokers, and insurers about inclusion in the finder, and post participants' names, addresses, phone numbers, and Internet Web sites, if available, to the finder on or before July 1, 2020. The bill would require the commissioner to use social media and other tools to promote the finder, and to create materials in the most common languages used in California. The bill would require an insurer to disclose specified information to an applicant who is denied coverage or a policyholder whose policy is canceled or not renewed, including, on or after July 1, 2020, information about the finder. The bill would require specified information, including the Internet Web site address of the department's Homeowners Coverage Comparison Tool, to be disclosed on or after July 1, 2020, upon an offer of a policy of residential property insurance if specified conditions are met. The bill would require a residential property insurer to notify the department on or before February 1 of each year of the amount of extended replacement cost coverage it offers in California, if the amount is different from that of the previous year, and would require the department to use this information to annually update the Homeowners Coverage Comparison Tool.

Existing law, until January 1, 2019, defines the offense of aggravated arson, and defines the aggravating factors for the offense as, the person has been previously convicted of arson on one or more occasions within the past 10 years, the fire caused property damage and other losses in excess of $7,000,000, or the fire caused damage to, or the destruction of, 5 or more inhabited structures. Existing law, commencing January 1, 2019, deletes the aggravating factor of property damage and other losses in excess of $7,000,000 from the definition of aggravated arson. This bill would extend the operation of the former aggravated arson offense until January 1, 2024, and would increase the threshold of property damage and other losses constituting an aggravating factor for aggravated arson to $8,300,000. The bill would delay operation of the latter aggravated arson offense that deletes the threshold dollar amount of property damages or losses as an aggravating factor until January 1, 2024. By extending the operation of law defining 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 California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law requires the board of governors to appoint a chief executive officer, to be known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts, administered by governing boards, throughout the state, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction to students at the community college campuses maintained by the districts. Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to, among other duties, establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law establishes minimum requirements for the preliminary multiple or single subject teaching credential, including satisfactory completion of a program of professional preparation, as provided. This bill would establish the California Community College Teacher Credentialing Partnership Pilot Program under which the commission, in coordination with the chancellor, would award up to 3 grants, in the amount of $500,000 each, to collaboratives, that would be comprised of at least one accredited degree-granting institution of higher education with a physical presence in this state and at least one community college, for the purpose of offering teacher credential coursework remotely at participating community college or colleges. The bill would require these degree programs to be accredited by the commission's Committee on Accreditation on the basis of standards of program quality and effectiveness. The bill would authorize priority for the receipt of grants to be given to a collaborative that is located in areas of the state with low rates of K–12 credentialed public school teachers, demonstrates that its degree program or programs meet the documented labor market demand of its target region, and identifies the resources necessary to offer its degree program or programs. The bill would provide that grants shall be awarded only to the extent that funding for the statewide pilot program is provided in the annual Budget Act. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to submit a report on the implementation of the statewide pilot program to the Legislature and the Department of Finance on or before April 1, 2023.

Existing law establishes the Licensed Mental Health Service Provider Education Program within the Health Professions Education Foundation. Existing law authorizes a licensed mental health service provider, as defined, including, among others, a psychologist and a marriage and family therapist, who provides direct patient care in a publicly funded facility or a mental health professional shortage area to apply for grants under the program to reimburse his or her educational loans related to a career as a licensed mental health service provider, as specified. Existing law establishes the Mental Health Practitioner Education Fund in the State Treasury and provides that moneys in that fund are available, upon appropriation, for expenditure by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development for purposes of the program. This bill would expand the program to apply to persons eligible under existing law who attain further education in order to practice as psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners or physician assistants in psychiatric mental health settings, thereby allowing those practitioners to apply for grants under the program for reimbursement of those later-incurred educational loans.

The Charge Ahead California Initiative, administered by the State Air Resources Board, includes goals of, among other things, placing in service at least 1,000,000 zero-emission and near-zero-emission vehicles by January 1, 2023, and increasing access for disadvantaged, low-income, and moderate-income communities and consumers to zero-emission and near-zero-emission vehicles. This bill would require the state board, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, air pollution control and air quality management districts, and the public, to require existing agricultural vanpool programs to serve disadvantaged communities, as defined, and low-income communities, as defined, and to allocate a minimum of 25% of the moneys appropriated for agricultural vanpool programs to those programs servicing low-income communities.