Asm. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry

The California Constitution provides that a proposed constitutional amendment and a statewide initiative measure each take effect only if approved by a majority of the votes cast on the amendment or measure. This measure would further provide that an initiative measure that includes one or more provisions that would amend the Constitution to increase the voter approval requirement to adopt any state or local measure would be approved by the voters only if the proportion of votes cast in favor of the initiative measure is equal to or greater than the highest voter approval requirement that the initiative measure would impose. The measure would specify that this voter approval requirement would apply to statewide initiative measures that appear on the ballot on or after January 1, 2024. The California Constitution also permits initiative and referendum powers to be exercised by the voters of each city or county under procedures provided by the Legislature. This measure would expressly authorize a local governing body to hold an advisory vote concerning any issue of governance for the purpose of allowing voters within the jurisdiction to voice their opinions on the issue. The measure would specify that an advisory question is approved only if a majority of the votes cast on the question are in favor. This measure would further declare that its provisions are severable and that if any provision is held invalid, the other provisions of the act remain valid, as specified.

Existing law prohibits a local authority from enacting or enforcing an ordinance on matters covered by the Vehicle Code unless expressly authorized by the Vehicle Code. Existing law authorizes local authorities to adopt rules and regulations by ordinance or resolution regarding specified matters, including, among others, crossing guards, the operation of bicycles, the removal of illegally parked vehicles, and cruising, as defined. This bill would remove the authorization for a local authority to adopt rules and regulations by ordinance or regulation regarding cruising. Existing law makes it unlawful to operate a passenger vehicle, or commercial vehicle under 6,000 pounds, that has been modified from its original design so that any portion of the vehicle, other than the wheels, has less clearance from the surface of a level roadway than the clearance between the roadway and the lowermost portion of any rim of any wheel in contact with the roadway. This bill would repeal that prohibition. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 21100 of the Vehicle Code proposed by AB 825 and SB 50 to be operative only if this bill and AB 825, this bill and SB 50, or this bill, AB 825, and SB 50 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing state sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. The Sales and Use Tax Law provides various exemptions from those taxes. This bill, on or after April 1, 2024, and before April 1, 2029, would exempt the gross receipts from the sale in this state of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, breast pumps, breast pump collection and storage supplies, breast pump kits, and breast pads. Existing law requires a 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. This bill would make findings detailing the goals of the above-described tax expenditure and performance indicators for determining whether the tax expenditure meets those goals. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing laws authorize districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which generally conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to the Sales and Use Tax Law are automatically incorporated into the local tax laws. Existing law requires the state to reimburse counties and cities for revenue losses caused by the enactment of sales and use tax exemptions. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse any local agencies for sales and use tax revenues lost by them pursuant to this bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law makes it unlawful for any owner or operator of a motel, motor court, or like establishment to post or maintain outdoor advertising signs relating to room rates that has any untrue, misleading, false, or fraudulent representations, and specified other requirements on outdoor signs for those establishments. Existing law also prohibits an owner or operator of a hotel or motel from increasing the hotel or motel's rates upon the proclamation of a state of emergency by the President of the United States or the Governor or upon the declaration of a local emergency, as specified. This bill would prohibit a place of short-term lodging, as defined, from advertising or offering a room rate that does not include all fees or charges required to stay at the short-term lodging except taxes and fees imposed by a government on the stay, as specified. The bill would also require a place of short-term lodging to include in the total price to be paid, before the consumer reserves a stay, all taxes and fees imposed by a government on the stay. The bill would make a violation of those provisions subject to a specified civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 and would authorize an action to enforce those provisions to be brought by a city attorney, district attorney, county counsel, or the Attorney General. The bill would make the bill's provisions operative on July 1, 2024.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities, including skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities, by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities to have written policies regarding the rights of patients. This bill would add to these rights the right of every resident to receive the information that is material to an individual's informed consent decision concerning whether to accept or refuse the administration of psychotherapeutic drugs, as specified. This bill would also add the right to be free from psychotherapeutic drugs used for the purpose of resident discipline or convenience, or from psychotherapeutic drugs used as a chemical restraint except in an emergency, as specified. Under the bill, all residents of skilled nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities, and hospice facilities would have the right to appeal an involuntary transfer or discharge through the appeal process, as specified, regardless of a resident's payment source or the Medi-Cal or Medicare certification status of the facility in which the resident resides. The bill would make the prescriber responsible for disclosing the material information relating to psychotherapeutic drugs to the resident and obtaining their informed consent, as defined. The bill would require facility staff to verify that a resident's health record contains a signed, written consent form before initiating treatment with psychotherapeutic drugs, except as specified. The bill would require the facility, within 6 months after the consent form is signed, and every 6 months thereafter, to provide a written notice to the resident and their representative of any recommended dosage adjustments and the resident's right to revoke consent, as specified. The bill would permit the use of remote technology, including telehealth, to allow a prescriber to examine and obtain informed written consent. The bill would declare the willful or repeated violation of these provisions to be punishable as a misdemeanor. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health, in consultation with interested stakeholders, to develop a standardized informed consent form. The bill would require the informed consent form to be available to skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities by December 31, 2025, and would exempt the facilities from including the written consent form in the resident's health record until the informed consent form is available. Under the bill, the above-described provisions would be inapplicable to an individual under the care of the State Department of State Hospitals. 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 prohibits the governing authority of a school or other institution from unconditionally admitting any person as a pupil of any private or public elementary or secondary school, childcare center, day nursery, nursery school, family daycare home, or development center, unless prior to their admission to that institution they have been fully immunized. Existing law requires the documentation of immunizations for certain diseases, including, among others, measles, mumps, pertussis, and any other disease deemed appropriate by the State Department of Public Health, as specified. Existing law authorizes certain exemptions from these provisions subject to specified conditions. This bill, the Cancer Prevention Act, would declare that pupils in the state are advised to adhere to current immunization guidelines, as recommended by specified health entities, regarding full human papillomavirus (HPV) immunization before admission or advancement to the 8th grade level of any private or public elementary or secondary school. The bill would, upon a pupil's admission or advancement to the 6th grade level, require the governing authority to submit to the pupil and their parent or guardian a notification containing a statement about that public policy and advising that the pupil adhere to current HPV immunization guidelines before admission or advancement to the 8th grade level, as specified. The bill would require that the notification also include a statement containing certain health information. The bill would incorporate that notification into existing provisions relating to notifications by school districts. By creating new notification duties for school districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the Trustees of the California State University and, subject to a resolution, the Regents of the University of California to require the first-time enrollees at those institutions who are 18 years of age or younger to provide proof of full immunization against the hepatitis B virus prior to enrollment, with certain exemptions. This bill would declare the public policy of the state that students who are 26 years of age or younger are advised to adhere to current immunization guidelines, as specified, regarding full HPV immunization before first-time enrollment at an institution of the California State University, the University of California, or the California Community Colleges. The bill would make a conforming change to a consultation-related provision. 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 contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2002, as specified, to provide coverage for an annual cervical cancer screening test, including an HPV screening test that is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) . This bill would expand the coverage requirement for an annual cervical cancer screening test to disability insurance policies that provide coverage for hospital, medical, or surgical benefits and would require a health care service plan contract, or a disability insurance policy that provides coverage for hospital, medical, or surgical benefits, issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2024, to provide coverage without cost sharing for the HPV vaccine for persons for whom the vaccine is FDA approved. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements relative to health care service plans 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law, until January 1, 2024, 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 $8,300,000, or the fire caused damage to, or the destruction of, 5 or more inhabited structures. Existing law, commencing January 1, 2024, deletes the aggravating factor of property damage and other losses in excess of $8,300,000 from the definition of aggravated arson. This bill would increase the dollar amount of property damages and other losses required to be an aggravating factor to $10,100,000, exclusive of damage to, or destruction of, inhabited dwellings. The bill would extend the operation of the former aggravated arson offense until January 1, 2029. The bill would delay operation of the latter aggravated arson offense that deletes the threshold dollar amount of property damages and other losses as an aggravating factor until January 1, 2029. 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 requires certain transportation planning agencies, including the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) , to prepare and adopt a regional transportation plan directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system. Certain of these agencies are designated under federal law as metropolitan planning organizations. Existing law requires each regional transportation plan to include, among other things, a sustainable communities strategy prepared by each metropolitan planning organization, as specified, which is designed to achieve certain targets for 2020 and 2035 established by the State Air Resources Board for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and light trucks in the region. After adopting a sustainable communities strategy, existing law requires a metropolitan planning organization to submit the strategy to the state board for review to determine whether the strategy, if implemented, would achieve the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. Existing law requires each transportation planning agency to adopt and submit to the California Transportation Commission and the Department of Transportation an updated regional transportation plan every 4 or 5 years, as specified. This bill would require the updated regional transportation plan, sustainable communities strategy, and environmental impact report adopted by the SACOG on November 18, 2019, to remain in effect for all purposes until the SACOG adopts its next update to its regional transportation plan, which the bill would require it to adopt and submit on or before December 31, 2025, as specified. The bill would require the SACOG, on or before July 1, 2026, and biennially thereafter, to report on the regional implementation of its most recently adopted sustainable communities strategy in a publicly available format on its internet website, as provided, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. Existing law creates the Solutions for Congested Corridors Program to fund projects designed to achieve a balanced set of transportation, environmental, and community access improvements within highly congested travel corridors throughout the state, as specified. Existing law authorizes regional transportation planning agencies, county transportation commissions, certain transportation authorities, and the Department of Transportation to nominate projects for funding through the program, as specified. This bill would, until December 31, 2025, authorize a project located in the region within the jurisdiction of the SACOG to be nominated for funding through the Solutions for Congested Corridors Program only if the project would also satisfy the eligibility requirements of one or more specified programs. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the SACOG. 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 Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act, the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act, and the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Act, generally govern the provision of marriage and family therapy services, clinical social work services, and professional clinical counseling services, respectively, in the state and prohibit a person from practicing those healing arts without a license granted pursuant to the respective provisions of each act. This bill, until January 1, 2026, would, under all of the acts described above, authorize a person who holds a license in another jurisdiction of the United States as a marriage and family therapist, clinical social worker, or professional clinical counselor to provide services in the state for a period not to exceed 30 consecutive days in any calendar year if certain conditions are met, including the license from another jurisdiction is at the highest level for independent clinical practice in the jurisdiction in which the license was granted, the client is located in California during the time the person seeks to provide care in California, and the client is a current client of the person and had an established, ongoing client-provider relationship with the person at the time the client became located in California. The bill would require a person who intends to provide services pursuant to those provisions to provide the Board of Behavioral Sciences with certain information before providing services, including the jurisdiction in which the person is licensed, the type of license held, and the license number. The bill would also make various nonsubstantive and conforming changes.

Existing law provides that libel is a false and unprivileged written publication that injures the reputation and that slander is a false and unprivileged publication, orally uttered, that injures the reputation, as specified. Existing law makes certain publications and communications privileged and therefore protected from civil action, including complaints of sexual harassment by an employee, without malice, to an employer based on credible evidence and communications between the employer and interested persons regarding a complaint of sexual harassment. This bill would include among those privileged communications a communication made by an individual, without malice, regarding an incident of sexual assault, harassment, or discrimination, as defined, and would specify the attorney's fees and damages available to a prevailing defendant in any defamation action brought against that defendant for making that communication.