Asm. John Harabedian

Maddy summaryThis House Resolution recognizes May 17, 2026, as the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia within the California Legislature. The measure formally acknowledges the ongoing discrimination faced by LGBTQ+ individuals globally and reaffirms the state's commitment to equality and civil rights. By adopting this resolution, the Assembly encourages all Californians to support inclusive practices and stand against hate toward the LGBTQ+ community.

Existing law requires the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to develop and implement an International Trade and Investment Program, which among other things, attracts employment-producing direct foreign investment, and states related findings and declarations of the Legislature. Existing law requires the Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to provide to the Legislature, and update every 5 years, a strategy for international trade and investment, as specified. This bill would recast these provisions to, among other things, expand the required program activities. The bill would also require the office to convene the Global Partnership Advisory Body, a statewide business partnership for international trade and investment, that would advise the director, as specified. The bill would require the director to provide to the Legislature a 5-year strategy for the implementation of the international trade and investment program, developed in consultation with the advisory body, which would give input on goals, performance metrics, and implementation tactics. The bill would require the strategy to be reviewed in at least one public hearing, as specified, and would make other conforming changes. Existing law authorizes GO-Biz to establish an international trade and investment office outside the United States if specified conditions are met. This bill would also authorize GO-Biz to establish regional trade assistance hubs within California to facilitate international trade and investment if specified conditions are met through a specified competitive designation process, and would make other conforming changes. Existing law establishes the Economic Development and Trade Promotion Account in the Special Deposit Fund within the State Treasury. Existing law authorizes the director to expend funds in the account, and any other state, federal, or private funds for international trade and investment offices or international trade shows or activities related to promoting international trade and investment events by entering into contracts to support international market development activities, including, but not limited to, trade shows, trade missions, promotional events, and seminars, as well as staffing support for those activities, in an amount not exceeding $200,000, except as specified. Existing law authorizes GO-Biz to accept moneys, including, but not limited to, state, federal, and private sector funds, for the purposes of operating any international trade and investment office or international trade show or activity related to promoting international trade and investment events. This bill would increase the amount that the director can expend from the account as described above to $500,000 and would expand the purposes for which the funds can be spent, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would make other conforming changes relating to funds donated by a private donor for an international trade and investment office.

Existing law, the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act, classifies controlled substances into 5 designated schedules, with the most restrictive limitations generally placed on controlled substances classified in Schedule I, and the least restrictive limitations generally placed on controlled substances in Schedule V. Existing law creates the Research Advisory Panel, as specified, to conduct hearings on, and in other ways study, research projects concerning controlled substances. Existing law authorizes the panel to approve research projects that have been registered with the Attorney General concerning the nature and effects of cannabis or hallucinogenic drugs and the treatment of abuse of controlled substances. Existing law authorizes a person who, under federal law, is entitled to use controlled substances for the purpose of research, instruction, or analysis to lawfully obtain and use those controlled substances upon approval by the panel, as specified. This bill, the California Veterans' Right to Try Act, would, until January 1, 2032, authorize the Research Advisory Panel to submit an investigational new drug application to the United States Food and Drug Administration requesting approval for a clinical trial of Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substances to study the administration and efficacy of those compounds among a patient pool comprised exclusively of veteran subjects with comorbidities that commonly overlap with the incidence of suicidality among veterans. This bill would make technical changes and would make related findings and declarations.

The Corporation Tax Law imposes on every corporation doing business in the state, as defined, a tax according to or measured by net income and, in the case of a corporation with income derived from or attributable to sources both within and without this state, apportions the income between this state and other states and foreign countries in accordance with a single sales formula based on the sales within and without this state, except that in the case of an apportioning trade or business that derives more than 50% of its gross business receipts from conducting one or more qualified business activities, as defined, business income is apportioned in accordance with a specified 3-factor formula. Existing federal law, for purposes of determining a taxpayer's gross income for federal income tax purposes, requires that a person who is a United States shareholder of any controlled foreign corporation, as defined, to include in their gross income the net CFC tested income, as provided. The Corporation Tax Law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2003, for purposes of determining income derived from or attributable to sources within this state, allows corporations to make a statutory election as to whether their income is determined on a "water's-edge" basis or on a worldwide unitary basis. Under existing law, the election to report income on a water's-edge basis remains in effect until terminated, and provides conditions for the termination of the election. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, would require a taxpayer that files on a water's-edge basis to account for net CFC tested income within the water's-edge group, as provided. The bill would require a taxpayer that files on a water's-edge basis to include all income and apportionment factors of any corporation, other than a bank, whose sales factor, instead of the average of 3 factors, in the United States is at least 20%. The bill would also terminate all water's-edge elections for the first taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2028, and would not allow a taxpayer to make a water's-edge election, or file on a water's-edge basis, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2028. The bill would authorize any taxpayer that has made a water's-edge election to terminate that election without the consent of the Franchise Tax Board for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2028. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law requires, beginning on or before July 1, 2028, the Department of Transportation, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health and in collaboration with impacted local governments, to incorporate suicide deterrent considerations in the updates of applicable guidance documents, as provided. This bill would require the Department of Transportation to additionally develop and maintain, beginning on or before July 1, 2029, a set of preapproved suicide prevention safety-barrier designs that local governments may use to install suicide prevention barriers, as provided.

The California Constitution generally limits ad valorem taxes on real property to 1% of the full cash value of that property. For purposes of this limitation, "full cash value" is defined as the assessor's valuation of real property as shown on the 1975–76 tax bill under "full cash value" or, thereafter, the appraised value of that real property when purchased, newly constructed, or a change in ownership has occurred. The California Constitution specifies that "newly constructed" does not include the construction or reconstruction of seismic retrofitting components, as defined by the Legislature. Existing law, pursuant to that constitutional authorization, defines seismic retrofitting components to mean seismic retrofitting improvements and improvements utilizing earthquake hazard mitigation technologies. Existing law, pursuant to constitutional authorization, also excludes from the definition of "newly constructed" the construction or installation of certain fire sprinkler systems, or other fire extinguishing systems, fire detection systems, or fire-related egress improvements. This bill would require the State Board of Equalization to clarify that a home hardening retrofitting improvement, as defined, to an existing structure is considered nonassessable repair and maintenance, provided that the improvement does not add square footage, change the property's use, include structural reconfigurations, or include substantial rehabilitation.

Existing law requires an electrical corporation to submit to the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety a wildfire mitigation plan at least once every 4 years for review. Existing law requires the office to approve or deny each wildfire mitigation plan within 9 months of its submission. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to assess a penalty on an electrical corporation that fails to substantially comply with its wildfire mitigation plan. Existing law prohibits a large electrical corporation from including in its equity rate base its share for the first $5,000,000,000 expended in aggregate by large electrical corporations on fire risk mitigation capital expenditure, as provided, and authorizes those expenditures to be financed through a financing order, as described. Existing law requires the commission, in addition to the $5,000,000,000, to prohibit a large electrical corporation from including in its equity rate base its share of the first $6,000,000,000 expended in aggregate by large electrical corporations on fire risk mitigation capital expenditures approved by the commission on or after January 1, 2026, and authorizes the electrical corporation's share of the fire risk mitigation capital expenditures and the debt financing cost of these fire risk mitigation capital expenditures to be financed through a financing order, as provided. This bill would require the commission, on or before June 30, 2027, to complete a one-time independent audit of all wildfire mitigation expenditures incurred by each electrical corporation between January 1, 2021, and January 1, 2027, as provided. The bill would require that the audit be conducted by an independent third-party auditor. The bill would require the commission, in the next appropriate proceeding following the audit, to consider the findings of the audit in determining the terms and conditions under which an electrical corporation's requested cost recovery may be authorized, as provided. The bill would require the commission to establish a schedule for conducting future independent audits of each electrical corporation's wildfire mitigation expenditures incurred during the preceding 4 calendar years. The bill would require the commission, pursuant to that schedule, to conduct an independent audit of an electrical corporation's prior wildfire mitigation expenditures before any proceeding in which the electrical corporation seeks to recover, collect, or expend ratepayer funds for wildfire mitigation programs, including, but not limited to, expenditures authorized pursuant to an approved wildfire mitigation plan. Under existing law, a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing the bill's requirements 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.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates the week of May 17 to May 24, 2026, as National Public Works Week throughout California to honor the contributions of public works professionals. It directly affects engineers, managers, and employees in government and the private sector who maintain essential infrastructure like transportation systems, water supplies, and public buildings. The resolution requests that the Governor issue a proclamation encouraging the public to observe the week with educational programs and activities that highlight the importance of these workers.

Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law authorizes the division, which is headed by the Labor Commissioner, to enforce the Labor Code and all labor laws of the state, the enforcement of which is not specifically vested in any other officer, board, or commission. This bill would prohibit an employer from using a worker's personal information, as defined, to train an artificial intelligence system to replicate, automate, or replace a worker's job, and would prohibit an employer from selling, disclosing, or otherwise providing access to a worker's personal information to a third party for the purpose of training an artificial intelligence system to replicate, automate, or replace a worker's job. The bill would prohibit a vendor providing services to an employer under a contract from providing access to the personal information of an employer's worker to a third party or using the personal information of an employer's worker to train artificial intelligence, as specified. The bill would require a contract between an employer and vendor to include a requirement that the vendor implement and maintain reasonable security procedures to protect the worker's personal information from, among other things, unauthorized or illegal access. The bill would define terms for these provisions, including "employer" and "personal information." The bill would require the Labor Commissioner and authorize a public prosecutor to enforce these provisions. The bill would authorize a worker, or their exclusive representative, who suffered a violation of these provisions to bring a civil action for damages, injunctive relief, punitive damages, and attorney's fees and costs. The bill would establish a statutory penalty for a violation of these provisions of up to $500 for each violation. 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.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the PUC to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. This bill would require the PUC to establish a special rate structure for data centers, as defined, taking transmission level electrical service with an estimated peak demand of at least 75 megawatts of electricity to, among other things, protect other customers of electrical corporations, prohibit cost shifts to those other customers, and require data centers to pay for the electrical corporations' upfront costs of transmission or distribution infrastructure upgrades necessary for the provision of electrical service to the data centers. The bill would require the construction of data centers subject to the special rate structure to comply with certain labor requirements. Existing law establishes the policy of the state that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 90% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2035, 95% by December 31, 2040, and 100% by December 31, 2045. Existing law requires the PUC, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, and the State Air Resources Board, in consultation with all California balancing authorities, to annually issue a joint report related to meeting that state policy. This bill would require that the joint report also includes the impacts of data centers subject to the special rate structure on the state's ability to achieve the above-described state policy. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because the provisions of the bill would be part of the act and a violation of a PUC action implementing the bill's requirements 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.