Asm. Jacqui Irwin

Existing law establishes the Multifamily Housing Program administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development. Existing law requires assistance for projects under the program to be provided in the form of deferred payment loans to pay for eligible costs of specified types of development, as provided. Existing law requires that specified funds appropriated to provide housing for individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness and who are inherently impacted by or at increased risk for medical diseases or conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic or other communicable diseases be disbursed in accordance with the Multifamily Housing Program for specified uses. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA does not apply to the approval of ministerial projects. Existing law, until July 1, 2024, exempts from CEQA a project funded to provide housing for individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness, as described above, if certain requirements are satisfied, including if the project proponent obtains an enforceable commitment to use a skilled and trained workforce for any proposed rehabilitation, construction, or major alterations, as specified. This bill would provide that projects funded by the Behavioral Health Infrastructure Bond Act of 2024 that provide housing for individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness and who are inherently impacted by or at increased risk for medical diseases or conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic or other communicable diseases and are disbursed in accordance with the Multifamily Housing Program, or projects that are disbursed in accordance with the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program, are a use by right and subject to the streamlined, ministerial review process. The bill would define use by right for these purposes to mean that the local government's review of the project does not require a conditional use permit, planned unit development permit, or other discretionary local government review or approval that would constitute a project subject to the approval process in CEQA. Because the bill would revise the approval process of specified projects, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes the State Department of Health Care Services to, subject to an appropriation, establish a Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program to award grants as specified for the construction, acquisition, and rehabilitation of behavioral health treatment resources, as described. Existing law repeals this program on January 1, 2027. This bill would continue that program indefinitely. Existing law, the Bronzan-McCorquodale Act, contains provisions governing the operation and financing of community mental health services in every county through locally administered and locally controlled community mental health programs. Existing law, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) , an initiative measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 in the November 2, 2004, statewide general election, establishes the Mental Health Services Fund to fund various county mental health programs. This bill would enact the Behavioral Health Infrastructure Bond Act of 2024 which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $6,380,000,000 to finance loans or grants for the acquisition of capital assets for the conversion, rehabilitation, or new construction of permanent supportive housing for veterans and others who are homeless and meet specified criteria, and for grants for the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program, 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. The bill would provide for the submission of specified sections of this bill and SB 326 to the voters at the March 5, 2024, statewide primary election.

Existing law requires an individual taxable under the Personal Income Tax Law to make a return to the Franchise Tax Board stating specifically the items of the individual's gross income from all sources and the deductions and credits allowable, as prescribed. This bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to include a checkbox on resident income returns for purposes of allowing individuals to provide written consent for Donate Life California to enroll the individual in a specified organ and tissue donor registry and for the Franchise Tax Board to share the individual's information, as described. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Donate Life California Organ and Tissue Donor Registry for purposes of mutually agreeing on the language to be used on the returns. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for the Franchise Tax Board or any member thereof, or any of specified individuals who in the course of their employment or duty has or had access to returns, reports, or documents required to be filed under specified law, to disclose or make known in any manner information as to the amount of income or any particulars set forth or disclosed in those returns, reports, or documents. Commencing January 1, 2026, this bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to annually send, notwithstanding the above-described prohibition, specified information to Donate Life California with respect to an individual who provides written consent to enroll in the registry and share their information with Donate Life California. The bill would require Donate Life California to only use that information to administer the registry and to add individuals consenting to enrollment within 30 days of receiving their information from the Franchise Tax Board. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board and Donate Life California to enter into a data sharing agreement, as specified, by January 1, 2025.

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. Existing law defines "newly constructed" and "new construction" to mean any addition to real property since the last lien date and any alteration of land or of any improvement since the last lien date that constitutes a major rehabilitation thereof or that converts the property to a different use. Existing law, where real property has been damaged or destroyed by misfortune or calamity, excludes from the definition of "newly constructed" and "new construction" any timely reconstruction of the real property, or portion thereof, where the property after reconstruction is substantially equivalent to the property prior to damage or destruction. Existing law, pursuant to the authorization of the California Constitution, authorizes the transfer of the base year value of property that is substantially damaged or destroyed by a disaster, as declared by the Governor, to comparable replacement property within the same county that is acquired or newly constructed within 5 years after the disaster, as provided. Existing law authorizes the owner of property substantially damaged or destroyed by a disaster, as declared by the Governor, to apply the base year value of that property to replacement property reconstructed on the same site of the damaged or destroyed property within 5 years after the disaster if the reconstructed property is comparable to the substantially damaged or destroyed property, determined as provided. This bill would extend the 5-year time period described above by 3 years if the property was substantially damaged or destroyed by the 2018 Woolsey Fire or by the 2018 Camp Fire on or after November 1, 2018, but on or before November 30, 2018. The bill would make these provisions applicable to the determination of base year values for the 2018–19 fiscal year and fiscal years thereafter. By imposing additional duties on local tax officials, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the public purpose served by 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. Existing law requires the state to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

(1) The California Constitution authorizes cities and counties to make and enforce within their limits all local, police, sanitary, and other ordinances and regulations not in conflict with general laws and further authorizes cities organized under a charter to make and enforce all ordinances and regulations in respect to municipal affairs, which supersede inconsistent general laws. The California Public Records Act requires a local agency to make public records available for inspection and allows a local agency to comply by posting the record on its internet website and directing a member of the public to the internet website, as specified. This bill, no later than January 1, 2029, would require a local agency, as defined, that maintains an internet website for use by the public to ensure that the internet website utilizes a ".gov" top-level domain or a ".ca.gov" second-level domain and would require a local agency that maintains an internet website that is noncompliant with that requirement to redirect that internet website to a domain name that does utilize a ".gov" or ".ca.gov" domain. This bill, no later than January 1, 2029, would also require a local agency that maintains public email addresses to ensure that each email address provided to its employees utilizes a ".gov" domain name or a ".ca.gov" domain name. By adding to the duties of local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) 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. (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, 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.

Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of employment, which, in the case of the death of an employee, includes a death benefit. Existing law provides, however, that no benefits, except reasonable expenses of burial not exceeding $1,000, shall be awarded under the workers' compensation laws on account of the death of an employee who is an active member of the Public Employees' Retirement System, unless the death benefits available under the Public Employees' Retirement Law are less than the workers' compensation death benefits. In that case, the surviving spouse and children of the employee are also entitled to the difference between the 2 death benefit amounts. Existing law exempts local safety members and patrol members, as defined, from this limitation. This bill would expand that exemption to include state safety members, peace officers, and firefighters for the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection who are members of Bargaining Unit 8 and would apply the exemption for these employees retroactively to January 1, 2019, for injuries not previously claimed or resolved.

Existing law classifies controlled substances into 5 schedules and places the greatest restrictions and penalties on the use of those substances placed in Schedule I. Existing law classifies the drug fentanyl in Schedule II. Existing law prohibits a person from possessing for sale or purchasing for purposes of sale specified controlled substances, including fentanyl, and provides for imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years for a violation of this provision. Existing law also imposes an additional term, and authorizes a trial court to impose a specified fine, upon a person who is convicted of a violation of, or of a conspiracy to violate, specified provisions of law with respect to a substance containing heroin, cocaine base, and cocaine, if the substance exceeds a specified weight. This bill would add fentanyl to the substances for which additional terms or fines can be imposed and would require a defendant who violates those laws with respect to a substance containing heroin, fentanyl, or cocaine, as specified, to know of the substance's nature or character as a controlled substance to be subjected to an additional term and authorized fine. By increasing the penalty for, and by changing the definition of, 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 federal law, the Stephen Beck, Jr., Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014 (ABLE Act) , encourages and assists individuals and families to save private funds for the purpose of supporting eligible individuals with disabilities to maintain their health, independence, and quality of life by excluding from gross income distributions used for qualified disability expenses by a beneficiary of a qualified ABLE program established and maintained by a state, as specified. Under the ABLE Act, pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, an eligible individual for a taxable year is an individual entitled to specified benefits based on blindness or disability or for whom there is a disability certification filed with the Secretary of the Treasury, and such blindness or disability occurred before the date on which the individual attained 26 years of age, or, on and after January 1, 2026, 46 years of age. Existing law establishes the Qualified ABLE Program, administered by the California ABLE Act Board, in this state for purposes of implementing the federal ABLE Act, and provides the same definition for "eligible individual." Existing law, the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, conforms to the exclusions from gross income provided under federal income tax law provisions relating to the ABLE Act, as those exclusions read in specified federal law prior to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2026, revise the definition of "eligible individual" under the Qualified ABLE Program by increasing the age limit for when an eligible individual's blindness or disability occurred to 46 years of age to conform with federal ABLE Act. This bill would also conform, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, state tax law to those changes relating to qualified ABLE programs made by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would make specified findings complying with this requirement for the above-described tax expenditure. The bill would require the Treasurer's office to submit, no later than January 1, 2030, a report to the Legislature, detailing the number of ABLE accounts that are created for individuals who are made newly eligible by the raised age limit.