Rep. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry

Existing law, the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) , 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. Existing law makes a violation of the CMIA that results in economic loss or personal injury to a patient punishable as a misdemeanor. Existing law requires specified businesses that electronically store or maintain medical information on the provision of sensitive services on behalf of a provider of health care, health care service plan, pharmaceutical company, contractor, or employer to develop capabilities, policies, and procedures, on or before July 1, 2024, to enable certain security features, including limiting user access privileges and segregating medical information related to gender affirming care, abortion and abortion-related services, and contraception, as specified. This bill would also require those specified businesses to enable the above-specified capabilities, policies, and procedures for those security features, as specified. Because the bill would expand the scope of an existing crime, it 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 federal law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, replaced the federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with the federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program. Existing federal law provides for allocation of federal funds through the federal TANF block grant program to eligible states. Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which, through a combination of state and county funds and federal funds received through the TANF program, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Existing law requires aid to be granted to a family with a related child under 18 years of age who has been deprived of parental support or care due to the unemployment, continued absence, death, incapacity, or incarceration of a parent. Existing law considers a child to be deprived of parental support or care due to unemployment of the child's parent or parents when the child's parent or parents have worked less than 100 hours in the preceding 4 weeks and meets specified requirements related to the federal AFDC program. This bill would, for purposes of determining a child's deprivation of parental support or care, delete the requirements that the parent or parents work less than 100 hours in the preceding 4 weeks and meet the federal AFDC program requirements. The bill would instead disregard the number of hours that the child's parent or parents work, provided the family does not exceed the applicable gross or net income limits. The bill would make these provisions operative on July 1, 2027, or when the State Department of Social Services notifies the Legislature that the Statewide Automated Welfare System can perform the necessary automation to implement the provisions, whichever is later. To the extent that the bill would expand eligibility for the CalWORKs program, thereby imposing a higher level of service on counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would instead provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing these 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, 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.

This measure would proclaim the month of October 2026 as California Firefighter Appreciation Month and October 3, 2026, as California Firefighters Memorial Day.

(1) Existing law establishes various grant and loan programs for research, including, among others, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, California Firefighter Cancer Prevention and Research Program, and the Public Interest Research, Development, and Demonstration Program. This bill would establish the California Foundation for Science and Health Research within the Government Operations Agency. The bill would require the Secretary of Government Operations to oversee the process of appointing the director of the foundation, and would authorize the Secretary of Government Operations to delegate the task of hiring and determining the salaries, bonuses, and benefits of additional personnel to the director, as specified. The bill would require the director and personnel of the foundation to be responsible for implementing the strategic objectives of the California Foundation for Science and Health Research Council, as described below, administering grants, loans, and contracts awarded by the council, and all other duties as deemed necessary for the operation of the foundation. This bill would create the California Foundation for Science and Health Research and Innovation Acceleration Fund and require the moneys in the fund to be used by the foundation to award grants and make loans to, and enter into contracts with, public or private research companies, universities, academic medical centers, institutes, and organizations for scientific research and development and for certain economic sectors, as specified, in specific areas of research, including, but not limited to, biomedical, behavioral health, and climate research. The bill would also create the California Foundation for Science and Health Research and Innovation Acceleration Benefit Fund, to consist solely of private donations. The bill would make the moneys in the benefit fund available for the same purposes as the California Foundation for Science and Health Research and Innovation Acceleration Fund. This bill would require that, prior to the first grant from the foundation and no later than one year from the date the bill takes effect, the council develop various provisions and requirements to facilitate the foundation's goals of affordability and equitable access. The foundation shall impose various requirements on the grantees, loan recipients, and contractors, as specified, including, among other things, developing strategies to promote equitable access to the subject invention in various specified communities and making the data resulting from the bond-funded research available to the broader scientific community, except in cases involving national security interests. The council shall also establish standards requiring that all grants, awards, and contracts be subject to intellectual property agreements that balance the opportunity for the State of California to benefit from the inventions, technologies, patents, royalties, and licenses that result from research funded by certain public and private grants, as specified. This bill would create the California Foundation for Science and Health Research Council, as specified, which shall be vested with full power, authority, and jurisdiction over the foundation. The bill would require the council to, among other things, develop the strategic objectives and priorities of the foundation and provide the opportunity for public comment on the foundation's priorities, as specified, determine the research projects that will be funded by the California Foundation for Science and Health Research and Innovation Acceleration Fund, develop objectives and opportunities that offer support to early career researchers, and adopt certain regulations and standards, as specified. The bill would also require the council to consider how the foundation's research priorities relate to or support various economic and industry considerations, as specified. The bill would provide that a majority of the members of the council constitutes a quorum for the transaction of any business, for the performance of any duty, or for the exercise of any power of the council, except as otherwise provided. The bill would authorize the council to establish one or more scientific peer review panels consisting of experts in specified fields of research for the purposes of reviewing and prioritizing proposals on the basis of the scientific merit of the proposal, the potential benefit to the health and well-being of the population, natural resources, and environment of the state, and the demonstrated background, training, and expertise of the researchers and investigators to conduct the proposed work. This bill would require all research and development funded by the California Foundation for Science and Health Research and Innovation Acceleration Fund to be conducted under established standards of open scientific exchange, peer review, and public oversight. The bill would require the funds and contracts to be awarded on the basis of the research priorities established for the foundation by the council and the scientific merit of the proposed research, as determined by an open, competitive, scientific peer review process that ensures objectivity, consistency, and high quality. This bill would enact the California Science and Health Research Bond Act, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $7,500,000,000, pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law, to finance grants and loans to fund research and operate and maintain facilities for research. The bill would provide for the submission of the bond act to the voters at the March 7, 2028, statewide primary election. (2) Existing law establishes prohibitions and penalties with respect to ethical obligations and conflicts of interest for public officials, including a prohibition on engaging in activities that are incompatible with their official duties and a prohibition on being financially interested in a contract made by them in their official capacity or the board of which they are a part. This bill would authorize a council member to participate in a decision to approve or award a grant, loan, or contract for the purpose of research into a disease in which the member or their immediate family member has a personal interest, as specified. The bill would provide that service with specified educational institutions and organizations is not incompatible with a council member's duties. The bill would provide that the prohibition on being financially interested in a contract, as specified, does not apply if the council member recuses themself from a decision to award or approve a grant, loan, or contract that would otherwise be subject to the prohibition. The bill would provide that council members are subject to certain disclosure requirements relating to personal investments and potential conflicts of interest, as specified. (3) Existing law, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, requires that all meetings of a state body be open and public and all persons be permitted to attend any meeting of a state body, with specified exceptions for authorized closed sessions. This bill would require the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act to apply to all meetings of the council and scientific peer review panels, except as specified for when the council or scientific peer review panels meet to consider or discuss specified matters in closed sessions, including matters involving information relating to patients or medical or scientific research subjects, the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. 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. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law defines a safe-surrender site to mean a location designated by the board of supervisors of a county or by a local fire agency, or a location within a public or private hospital that is designated by that hospital, to be responsible for accepting physical custody of a minor child who is 72 hours old or younger from a parent or individual who has lawful custody of that child and who surrenders the child. Existing law requires personnel on duty at a safe-surrender site to accept physical custody of the minor child, and to notify child protective services or a county agency providing child welfare services as soon as possible, but no later than 48 hours after accepting custody of the child. Under existing law, a parent or other individual with lawful custody of a minor child 72 hours old or younger who voluntarily surrenders physical custody of the child to personnel on duty at a safe-surrender site cannot be prosecuted for child abandonment. This bill, the Keeping Infants from Danger (KID) Act, would expand the scope of these provisions to apply to children who are 30 days of age or younger. By imposing new duties on local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would also make a conforming change. 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.

(1) Existing law tolls the periods of limitation to bring specific civil actions for up to 2 years, if during that time that the claimant is imprisoned on a criminal charge, as specified. However, under existing law these tolling provisions do not apply to an action brought against a public entity or public employee, as specified. This bill would, notwithstanding any other law, provide that the period for bringing an action for sexual assault against a public entity or public employee that is alleged to have occurred while the claimant was imprisoned on a criminal charge, or in execution under the sentence of a criminal court, is tolled during the entire period of the claimant's imprisonment or sentence. Under the bill, any claim for sexual assault against a public entity or public employee subject to that provision is exempt from all state and local government claim presentation requirements. (2) Existing law establishes the Office of the Sexual Abuse in Detention Elimination Ombudsperson with the authority to inspect all of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation institutions and to interview all inmates and wards. Under existing law, if an investigation confirms that any employee of the department has sexually abused an inmate or ward, that employee is required to be terminated. Existing law prohibits retaliation against an inmate or ward for making an allegation of sexual abuse. Existing law requires the department to keep statistics on the sexual abuse of inmates and wards and make that data available to the Office of the Sexual Abuse in Detention Elimination Ombudsperson. This bill would prohibit an employee who has been terminated after an investigation confirms that the employee has sexually abused an incarcerated person or ward from future employment with the department. This bill would require the department to monitor for 90 days an incarcerated person who reports sexual assault, and the incarcerated person reported to have suffered the sexual assault, by a staff member for possible retaliation. The bill would require the department to make specific notifications and reporting after an incarcerated person is reported to have suffered a sexual assault. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, to develop and implement procedures for notifications of an incarcerated person's contact person, as defined. The bill would require the department to minimize the transfer of an incarcerated person who is reported to have suffered a sexual assault by a staff member for 90 days following the report, unless there is an operational need to do so or there are safety, security, or health concerns. The bill would define terms for its purposes and declare these provisions are severable.

Existing law, the Farmer Equity Act of 2017, requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to ensure the inclusion of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, as defined, in the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of food and agriculture laws, regulations, and policies and programs, as specified. This bill would authorize the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to establish 2 advisory committees, known as the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Producer Advisory Committee and the Small-Scale Producer Advisory Committee, for the purpose of advising the secretary and the department with respect to their responsibilities under the Farmer Equity Act of 2017. The bill would authorize the advisory committees to advise the secretary and the department on programs, policies, education, outreach, technical assistance, and general needs for small-scale producers, medium-scale producers, and socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers in California. The bill would require the members of the advisory committees to be small-scale or medium-scale socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers, as provided.

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 provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan and a health insurer that contracts with providers for alternative rates of payment to publish and maintain a provider directory or directories with information on contracting providers that deliver health care services enrollees or insureds, and requires a health care service plan and health insurer to regularly update its printed and online provider directory or directories, as specified. Existing law authorizes the departments to require a plan or insurer to provide coverage for all covered health care services provided to an enrollee or insured who reasonably relied on materially inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information contained in a plan's or insurer's provider directory or directories. This bill would require the Department of Managed Health Care to select a central utility and develop uniform provider directory standards requiring a health care service plan to use the designated central utility to collect, manage, and verify the consistency and completeness of their provider directories. The bill would also require health insurers to use the designated central utility and follow the uniform provider directory standards. The bill would require plans and health insurers to submit their provider directories to the central utility for analysis, and would require the central utility to create a consistency report for each directory. This bill would require a plan or insurer to provide coverage for all covered benefits provided to an enrollee or insured who reasonably relied on inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information contained in the plan's or insurer's provider directory or directories and to reimburse the provider the agreed upon amount, or, if none, a reasonable and customary amount, as specified, for those services. The bill would prohibit a provider from collecting an additional amount from an enrollee or insured other than the applicable in-network cost sharing, which would count toward the in-network deductible and out-of-pocket maximum. The bill would require the health care service plan or the insurer, as applicable, to ensure the accuracy of a request to add back a provider who was previously removed from a directory and approve the request within 10 business days of receipt, if accurate. The bill would authorize a health care service plan or insurer to include a specified statement in the provider listing before removing the provider from the directory if the provider does not respond within 5 calendar days of the plan's or insurer's annual notification. The bill would require a plan or insurer to comply with its provisions on and after July 1, 2027. Because a violation of the bill's requirements by a health care service plan would be a crime, 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.

Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL-FIRE) and makes CAL-FIRE responsible for, among other things, fire protection and prevention, as provided. Existing law establishes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection in CAL-FIRE to represent the state's interest in the acquisition and management of state forests and requires the board to maintain an adequate forest policy. Former Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., issued a proclamation of a state of emergency on October 30, 2015, that required CAL-FIRE, the Natural Resources Agency, the Department of Transportation, and the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , among other things, to identify areas of the state that represent high hazard zones for wildfire and falling trees, known as Tier 1 and Tier 2 high hazard zones. Existing law creates the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund (Timber Fund) in the State Treasury and imposes an assessment on the purchase of a lumber product or an engineered wood product for storage, use, or other consumption in this state, at the rate of 1% of the sales price, for deposit into the Timber Fund. Existing law requires that moneys deposited in the Timber Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, only be expended for specified purposes, including, among other things, as a loan to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for activities to address environmental damage occurring on forest lands resulting from marijuana cultivation. Existing law specifies the funding priorities of the Timber Fund. Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires every electrical corporation to file with the PUC a standard tariff for electricity generated by an electric generation facility, as defined, that qualifies for the tariff, is owned and operated by a retail customer of the electrical corporation, and is located within the service territory of, and developed to sell electricity to, the electrical corporation. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, make moneys from the Timber Fund or from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund available to the state board to establish and implement the Forest Organic Residue Energy and Safety Transformation (FOREST) program in order to maintain and expand biomass power generation in the state, to revitalize idle facilities for biomass power generation, and to support biomass power generation facilities by creating additional capacity for power generation or feedstock utilization in strategically located regions of the state. The bill would make a facility's electrical generation eligible for reimbursement at an incentive rate determined by the state board if, among other things, the facility uses forest biomass waste, as defined, to generate electricity and the electricity is sold to specified retail sellers. The bill would require, among other things, that no less than 60% of the feedstock used by a facility originate from Tier 1 and Tier 2 high hazard zones, as defined, and would require the facility to be located in specified counties or meet specified emission limits. The bill would create an application process for an operator of a facility to seek this reimbursement that also requires the operator to demonstrate the facility is certified by the Energy Commission as an eligible renewable energy resource for purposes of the California Renewable Portfolio Standards Program, as provided, and would require the state board to adopt regulations to implement the FOREST program, as provided. This bill would establish the FOREST and Wildfire Prevention Fund (FOREST Fund) in the State Treasury, and would make moneys in the FOREST Fund available, upon appropriation, to the Natural Resources Agency for the FOREST program, as specified. The bill would repeal the authorization to loan moneys in the Timber Fund for addressing marijuana cultivation damage, as described above, and would instead, in the same funding priority, authorize the Timber Fund to be expended to support the FOREST Fund and FOREST program, as specified. The bill would also specify certain procedures regarding the funding priorities of the Timber Fund so that each purpose identified in a higher priority is funded before a lower priority, as specified. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 4629.6 and 4629.8 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 2494 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2494 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Chapter 248 of the Statutes of 2025 (AB 8) revised the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law to prohibit industrial hemp raw extract from being incorporated into food, food additives, beverages, or dietary supplements unless the industrial hemp raw extract is comprised of cannabidiol (CBD) or cannabinol (CBN) isolate with a purity level greater than 99% and does not contain any tetrahydrocannabinols or synthetic cannabinoids. AB 8, beginning January 1, 2028, revises and recasts various provisions in conformity with that prohibition. Among those conforming changes, AB 8 excludes CBD isolate from the definition of "cannabis concentrate" for purposes of the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act, which imposes various penalties for the unlawful possession or sale of cannabis concentrate. This bill, beginning on January 1, 2028, would also exclude CBN isolate from that definition of "cannabis concentrate." AB 8 revised certain Cannabis Tax Law enforcement provisions by establishing a presumption that a product that contains or purports to contain a cannabinoid is a cannabis product, as specified. AB 8 authorized this presumption to be rebutted by evidence showing either that the product complies with the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law provisions regulating industrial hemp or that it meets the definition of industrial hemp as defined in the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act. This bill would make organizational and clarifying changes to those presumption provisions. The bill would consolidate and make other clarifying changes to definitional provisions of the Cannabis Tax Law revised by AB 8. The Cannabis Tax Law authorizes the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration or a law enforcement agency to seize cannabis or cannabis products from a person who possesses, stores, owns, or has made a sale of those cannabis or cannabis products under certain circumstances. AB 8 expanded the seizure authority under the Cannabis Tax Law to include a circumstance in which the product is possessed, stored, offered for sale, or sold by an unlicensed person or at an unlicensed premises, and is presumed to be a cannabis product for containing or purporting to contain a cannabinoid, including a synthetic cannabinoid, as defined. This bill would remove that AB 8 provision and, instead, would expand that seizure authority to include a circumstance in which the cannabis or cannabis product is possessed, stored, offered for sale, or sold at an unlicensed premises. AB 8 revised the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) to subject industrial hemp that enters the licensed market under MAUCRSA or is used in a cannabis product to the regulatory requirements of cannabis or cannabis products under MAUCRSA, including identification in a track and trace program established by the Department of Cannabis Control for reporting the movement of cannabis and cannabis products throughout the distribution chain, as specified. MAUCRSA, as revised by AB 8, requires the track and trace program to include an electronic software tracking system to capture data and track movement of cannabis through the commercial supply chain from cultivation to sale. This bill would specify that the data captured and movement tracked includes cultivation, harvest, processing, manufacturing, distribution, inventory, sale, and delivery. AB 8 revised the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003 (act) to prohibit a person that is engaged in the business of selling cigarettes or tobacco products from possessing, storing, owning, or making a retail sale of cannabis, cannabis products, or a product presumed to be cannabis, and makes a violation of that prohibition subject to a specified fine and license suspension or revocation, as applicable. The act authorizes the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to seize cannabis or cannabis products that were possessed, stored, owned, or sold at retail by a person in violation of that prohibition. The act also makes a violation of its provisions a crime, as specified. This bill would expand the above-described prohibition on making a retail sale of cannabis, cannabis products, or a product presumed to be cannabis to, instead, prohibit a person that is engaged in the business of selling cigarettes or tobacco products from making any sale of cannabis, cannabis products, or a product presumed to be cannabis. By expanding the scope of a crime under the act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also expand the department's seizure authority to include the seizure of cannabis, cannabis products, or a product presumed to be cannabis that a person sells in violation of the prohibition, as expanded by the bill. Existing law requires all moneys collected pursuant to the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003 to be deposited in the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Compliance Fund and makes all moneys in the fund available for expenditure, upon appropriation by the Legislature, solely for the purpose of implementing, enforcing, and administering the act, including the seizure and destruction of cigarettes and tobacco products. This bill would revise that funding provision to specify that the purpose of implementing, enforcing, and administering the act includes the seizure and destruction of any product seized pursuant to the act. The bill would make clarifying changes, including to the definitions of cannabis and cannabis product for purposes of those 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.