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 disability insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan or disability insurer to allow an individual to enroll in or change their health benefit plan as a result of a specified triggering event. This bill would make pregnancy a triggering event for purposes of enrollment or changing a health benefit plan. Because a willful violation of this provision 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.
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Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires the commission to evaluate the full effect of the enactment of federal House Resolution 1 (Public Law 115-97) on the expenses and tax liabilities incurred by certain public utilities for the payment of federal taxes, and, if the commission determines that the projected expenses and tax liabilities for federal taxes that the commission has authorized in the rates for a public utility are materially affected by its enactment, to adjust the rates of the public utility to reflect the changes in projected expenses and tax liabilities in light of the changes in federal law. This bill would require the commission to evaluate the full effect of all federal legislation that becomes law, including the recent federal House Resolution 1 (Public Law 119-21) , on the expenses and tax liabilities incurred by those public utilities for the payment of federal taxes and, if the commission determines that the projected expenses and tax liabilities for federal taxes that the commission has authorized in the rates for a public utility are materially affected by the enactment, to adjust the rates of the public utility to reflect the changes in projected expenses and tax liabilities in light of the changes in federal law, as specified.
Existing law authorizes a borrower who is experiencing financial hardship that prevents the borrower from making timely payments on a specified residential mortgage loan due directly to a specified state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor, or a specified federally declared disaster, to request forbearance on their residential mortgage loan, as prescribed. Existing law requires a mortgage servicer, except as specified, to offer mortgage payment forbearance for an initial 90-day period that may be extended up to a maximum forbearance period of 12 months and prohibits a mortgage servicer from assessing any late fees to the borrower's account or charging a default rate of interest during the forbearance period. This bill would, among other things, similarly authorize a borrower to request forbearance on a residential mortgage loan, as defined, secured by residential real property that has become uninhabitable as a direct result of a disaster, which the bill would define to mean the conditions described in a declaration of a disaster issued by the federal government. The bill would require the borrower to affirm that as a direct result of a disaster, a residential unit is uninhabitable. Because the bill would expand the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would, except as specified, require a mortgage servicer to offer mortgage payment forbearance of a period of up to an initial 180 days, to be extended at the request of the borrower in 90-day increments, up to a maximum forbearance period of 12 months. The bill would provide that the forbearance period includes any period of forbearance related to the disaster that a mortgage servicer has provided to a borrower before the date upon which a declaration of a disaster was issued. The bill would also prohibit a mortgage servicer from assessing any late fees to the borrower's account or charging a default rate of interest during the forbearance period. This bill would require a mortgage servicer to report the credit obligations of borrowers under a disaster-related forbearance plan in compliance with the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. For an account granted disaster-related mortgage payment relief, the bill would prohibit a mortgage servicer from furnishing information during the forbearance period indicating that the payments are in forbearance and would require the mortgage servicer to report the credit obligation or account as current. This bill would authorize a civil action to enforce these provisions to be brought by the Attorney General, a district attorney, or a county counsel. 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 vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. This bill would, until January 1, 2030, exempt a portable solar generation device, as defined, from all interconnection requirements imposed by state law, the commission, electrical corporation rules, or local publicly owned electric utility rules, as specified. The bill would, until January 1, 2030, prohibit an electrical corporation or a local publicly owned electric utility from requiring a customer using a portable solar generation device to take specified actions, including, among other things, paying any fee or charge related to the device or the electricity the device feeds into a building's electrical system. The bill would, until January 1, 2030, authorize an electrical corporation or a local publicly owned electric utility to require a customer using a portable solar generation device to notify the electrical corporation or local publicly owned electric utility, using a simple online registration form, of the address, make, model, and size of the portable solar generation device, as provided. Beginning January 1, 2030, the bill would prohibit the sale of a portable photovoltaic energy generation device that is designed to be connected to and disconnected from a building's electrical system through a receptacle and does not meet the definition of a portable solar generation device, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of any 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, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Additionally, by imposing new duties on local publicly owned electric utilities, 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 specified reasons.
Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to have general control of, and be responsible for, all aspects of the interscholastic athletic policies, programs, and activities in its school district, as provided, and requires the governing board of a school district to ensure that all interscholastic policies, programs, and activities in the school district comply with state and federal law. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to enter into associations or consortia with other governing boards for purposes of governing regional or statewide interscholastic athletics, as provided. Existing law describes the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) as a voluntary organization that consists of school and school-related personnel with responsibility for administering interscholastic athletic activities in secondary schools and states the intent of the Legislature that the CIF, in consultation with the State Department of Education, implement specified policies relating to interscholastic athletics. Existing law, the 1998 California High School Coaching Education and Training Program, declares the intent of the Legislature to establish a California High School Coaching Education and Training Program, to be administered by school districts with an emphasis on specific components, including, among other components, sports psychology. Existing law requires every high school sports coach to complete, at their own expense, a coaching education program that meets the guidelines established by the California High School Coaching Education and Training Program. This bill would add a component on mental health training, as specified, to the list of components to be emphasized by the 1998 California High School Coaching Education and Training Program. The bill, commencing with the 2027–28 school year, would require a person who serves as a coach in an interscholastic athletic program at a high school, including a private school, that is a member of the California Interscholastic Federation to complete an initial training, and a subsequent training every 2 years, on mental health, as provided. The bill, commencing with the 2027–28 school year, would also require a school district, county office of education, or charter school that elects to offer an athletic program, other than an interscholastic athletic program, to ensure that the athletic program's coaches complete an initial training, and a subsequent training every 2 years, that covers sudden cardiac arrest, as provided, and youth athletics behavioral and mental health training, as provided. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 35179.1 of the Education Code proposed by AB 1626 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1626 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would make the operation of its provisions contingent upon the enactment of AB 1626 of the 2025–26 Regular Session.
(1) Existing law regulates the manufacture, sale, and disposal of various single-use products, including single-use foodware accessories and condiments and single-use carryout bags. Existing law prohibits a store from, among other things, providing, distributing, or selling a carryout bag at the point of sale, except as specified. Existing law defines terms for these purposes. This bill would prohibit, beginning January 1, 2027, a person from importing or manufacturing for sale in this state a new or refurbished disposable, battery-embedded vapor inhalation device, and, beginning January 1, 2028, a person from selling, distributing, or offering for sale a new or refurbished disposable, battery-embedded vapor inhalation device in this state. The bill would define a "disposable, battery-embedded vapor inhalation device" to mean a vaporization device that contains a tobacco product, as defined, but not cannabis or a cannabis product, as defined, and that is not designed or intended to be reused, as specified. Existing law authorizes a city, county, city and county, or the state, to impose civil liability on a person or entity that knowingly violated, or reasonably should have known that it violated, provisions relating to the above-described carryout bag prohibition in specified fine amounts, including $1,000 per day for the first violation. Existing law requires any civil penalties collected to be paid to whichever office brought the action, as specified, and authorizes the Attorney General to expend any penalties it collects, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to enforce those provisions. This bill would authorize a city, a county, a city and county, or the state, to enforce the above-described disposable, battery-embedded vapor inhalation device prohibition and to impose civil liability on a person or entity in violation of the prohibition in specified fine amounts, including $500 for the first violation. The bill would require any civil penalties collected to be paid to whichever office brought the action, as specified, and would authorize the Attorney General to expend any penalties it collects, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to enforce these provisions. The bill would specify that any remedies provided pursuant to these provisions are not exclusive and are in addition to the remedies that may be available pursuant to specified provisions relating to unfair competition. The bill would make any person who violates the above-described disposable battery-embedded vapor inhalation device prohibition guilty of an infraction punishable by a fine of not more than $500. By expanding the scope of an infraction, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would specify that any penalty described above is in addition to the other penalties authorized by the bill. The bill would require costs incurred by a state agency in carrying out these provisions to be recoverable by the Attorney General, upon the request of the agency, from the liable person or persons. The bill would make its provisions severable. (2) Existing law, the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003, provides for the licensure and regulation of manufacturers, importers, distributers, wholesalers, and retailers of cigarettes and tobacco products. Existing law prohibits the retail sale of any flavored tobacco product or tobacco product flavor enhancer, as specified. Existing law authorizes the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration or a law enforcement agency, upon discovery that a retailer possesses, stores, owns, or has made a retail sale of flavored tobacco products or tobacco product flavor enhancers, to seize those products, as specified. Existing law requires the department to issue a civil penalty against the retailer equal to $50 per individual package of flavored tobacco product or tobacco product flavor enhancer seized or delivered to the department, with increasing penalties for subsequent seizures. Existing law requires those civil penalties be deposited into the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Compliance Fund, which is available upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2028, also include the unlawful sale or offering for sale, as specified, of a disposable battery-embedded vapor inhalation device containing a tobacco product by a retailer within the conduct subject to those provisions. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 22974.2 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by AB 2667 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2667 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (3) 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 authorizes an unmarried person who is under 18 years of age to marry upon obtaining a court order granting permission and the written consent of at least one of the parents or the guardian of each underage party to the marriage, as specified. Existing law requires the court, if it considers it necessary, as part of the court order granting permission to marry, to require the parties to the prospective marriage of a minor to participate in premarital counseling, as specified. Existing law provides that 2 unmarried, unrelated adults who have chosen to share one another's lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring may establish a domestic partnership by filing a declaration with the Secretary of State, if certain requirements are met. Existing law provides that a person under 18 years of age who, together with the person with whom the person proposes to establish a domestic partnership, meets the requirements for a domestic partnership other than the requirement of being at least 18 years of age, is capable of consenting to and establishing a domestic partnership upon obtaining a court order granting permission to the underage person or persons to establish a domestic partnership. Under existing law, registered domestic partners have the same rights, protections, and benefits as spouses. This bill would repeal the authorization for a person under 18 years of age to be issued a marriage license or to establish a domestic partnership, thereby prohibiting a person under 18 years of age from being issued a marriage license or from establishing a domestic partnership. The bill would make conforming changes. Existing law requires the State Registrar to create a document, no later than March 1, 2020, concerning marriage certificates in which one or both of the parties were minors at the time of solemnization of the marriage. Existing law requires the State Registrar to update that document annually, as specified. Existing law requires the local registrar to submit specified information for the purposes of that report. This bill would repeal those provisions.
Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to appoint and commission notaries public. Existing law requires a notary public who holds a California notary public commission, when applying for reappointment, to have completed a 3-hour refresher course of study prior to reappointment. This bill would also require the applicant to have satisfactorily completed a written examination prescribed by the Secretary of State, as specified. Existing law establishes the duties of a notary public, which include taking the acknowledgment or proof of specified legal documents, taking depositions and affidavits, administering oaths, and certifying copies of powers of attorney. Existing law requires a notary, in performing these duties, to give a certificate of proof or acknowledgment, endorsed or attached to the instrument, signed by the notary in their own handwriting. This bill would authorize a notary to instead sign with their electronic signature when performing these duties. The bill would require the electronic signature to include an image of the notary public's handwritten signature and would allow that electronic signature to be kept on a storage device or online media that is accessed by the notary public with a secure means of multifactor authentication and protection, as prescribed. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to issue a permit with a sequential identification number to each manufacturer or vendor authorized to issue notary seals, and authorizes the Secretary of State to establish a fee for issuing the permit. This bill would instead require the fee to be $100. Existing law, the Online Notarization Act, establishes a framework for authorizing and regulating online notarizations that become operative after the Secretary of State completes a technology project necessary to implement those provisions no later than January 1, 2030, unless further delayed, as specified. After completion of the technology project, the Online Notarization Act authorizes an applicant for a commission as a notary public to apply for registration with the Secretary of State to perform online notarizations and establishes requirements for application and qualification and for performing online notarizations. The act requires a notary public to record each online notarial act performed by the notary public in one tangible sequential journal and one or more secure electronic journals. The act authorizes a person or entity to apply for registration with the Secretary of State to be an online notarization platform or depository, and establishes requirements for application and for conducting business as an online notarization platform or depository. The Online Notarization Act requires an applicant for registration to perform online notarizations to have satisfactorily completed a specified 2-hour course of study approved by the Secretary of State concerning the functions and duties of a notary public authorized to perform online notarizations. This bill would require the Secretary of State to review the course of study proposed by any vendor to be offered pursuant to those provisions. The Online Notarization Act requires a notary public's electronic signature to include an image of the notary public's handwritten signature. This bill would require the signature to match the notary public's handwritten signature on their official oath, as specified. The Online Notarization Act limits the fee amounts that a notary public may charge for taking the acknowledgment of a deed or other instrument and for administering an oath or affirmation to one person and executing the jurat, as specified. This bill would prohibit a notary public from charging a fee for these services unless the online notarial act is completed. The bill would authorize a notary public to charge a technology fee for a terminated online notarial act session if the termination is due to one of specified reasons, and would limit that fee to the actual and reasonable cost incurred by the notary public for the use of the online notarization platform. The Online Notarization Act requires a person or entity to apply for registration with the Secretary of State to be an online notarization platform or depository on an application for registration that includes specified information. The act authorizes the Secretary of State to charge a fee for an application for registration. This bill would require the person or entity to apply annually thereafter for renewal of registration during the applicable time period, as specified. The bill would authorize an online notarization platform or depository, if there has been no change in the information in the last filed application for registration, to advise the Secretary of State that no changes in the required information have occurred during the applicable filing period. The bill would require an online notarization platform or depository to file an updated application for registration whenever any of the information required in the application is changed, and would require the Secretary of State to charge a fee of $50 to file an updated application. The bill would require the Secretary of State to charge a fee of $5,000 for an initial application for registration and a $1,000 fee for a renewal of registration. The Online Notarization Act requires an online notarization platform or depository, if certain events occur, to notify each notary public that used the online notarization platform or depository at least 30 days before the event, including if the online notarization platform ceases to provide an online notarization system or depository for use within California. This bill would require the online notarization platform or depository to also notify the Secretary of State at least 30 days before those events by submitting the notice electronically through the Secretary of State's web portal. The bill would require the Secretary of State to post information on its internet website demonstrating that a notarization platform or depository is registered with the Secretary of State to perform online notarization, as specified. The bill would make other technical, conforming, and nonsubstantive changes to the provisions regulating notaries public.
Existing law authorizes a borrower to request forbearance on their residential mortgage loan for a period of 12 months if, among other things, the borrower affirms that they are experiencing financial hardship that prevents them from making timely payments on the loan due directly to the wildfire disaster described in the proclamation of a state of emergency issued by Governor Gavin Newsom on January 7, 2025, or the federally declared disaster, declared on January 8, 2025, related to the Eaton Wildfire, the Palisades Fire, and the Straight-line Winds. Existing law requires an applicant requesting forbearance on their residential mortgage loan to affirm that they are experiencing a financial hardship due to the wildfire disaster. Existing law requires that request to be made before the earlier of either 6 months after the date upon which the state of emergency is terminated or January 7, 2027. Existing law requires a borrower to be notified by the mortgage servicer within 10 business days whether their request for forbearance has been approved. Existing law prohibits any late fees from being assessed to the borrower's account during the period of forbearance, and the borrower from being charged a default rate of interest. This bill would extend the period of mortgage forbearance to 24 months and extend the latest possible deadline for a borrower's request for forbearance to January 7, 2029. The bill would require an applicant requesting forbearance on their residential mortgage loan to further affirm that the property securing the loan is uninhabitable due to the wildfire disaster. Because the bill would expand the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. If the borrower has requested an extension of a forbearance period that would result in a total forbearance period of more than 12 months, the bill would authorize a mortgage servicer to request certain related documentation from the borrower, as specified. The bill would extend the amount of time the mortgage servicer has to notify the borrower whether their request for forbearance has been approved to 21 days or longer, as specified. During the period in which the borrower is waiting to be notified, the bill would prohibit any late fees from being assessed to the borrower's account, and the borrower from being charged a default rate of interest. Existing law requires a mortgage servicer to disclose to a borrower to whom a forbearance has been granted that the forborne mortgage payments are required to be repaid. Existing law prohibits requiring a borrower who was current on the residential mortgage loan when they entered forbearance to make a lump sum payment. This bill would require a mortgage servicer to offer the borrower the option to defer repayment of forborne amounts to the end of the loan term, as specified. 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 Reproductive Privacy Act, declares as contrary to the public policy of this state a law of another state that authorizes a person to bring a civil action against a person or entity that engages in certain activities relating to obtaining or performing an abortion. Existing law prohibits the state from applying an out-of-state law to a case or controversy in state court or enforcing or satisfying a civil judgment under the out-of-state law. This bill would specify that the protections applicable to persons who engage in legally protected health care activity, as defined, apply to a person who previously has undertaken one or more acts or omissions while in another United States jurisdiction to aid or encourage, or attempt to aid or encourage, any person in the exercise and enjoyment, or attempted exercise and enjoyment, of rights to reproductive health care services or gender affirming health care services if the acts or omissions were permissible under the laws of the jurisdiction in which the person was located at the time of the acts or omissions. Existing law prohibits a state or local law enforcement agency or officer from knowingly arresting or knowingly participating in the arrest of any person for performing, supporting, or aiding in the performance of legally protected health care activity, if the health care activity is lawful in this state. Existing law prohibits a state or local public agency from cooperating with or providing information to an individual or agency from another state or a federal law enforcement agency, as specified, regarding a legally protected health care activity that is lawful in this state. Under existing law, the Governor may surrender, on demand of executive authority of any other state, any person in this state charged in the other state, as specified, with committing an act in this state, or in a 3rd state, intentionally resulting in a crime in the state whose executive authority is making the demand. This bill would prohibit the Governor from recognizing a request for extradition of a person subject to criminal liability based on the alleged provision or receipt of, assistance in the provision or receipt of, material support for, or in any theory of vicarious, joint, several, or conspiracy liability for any legally protected health care activity, except as specified.