Under existing law, a person who drives a vehicle upon a highway or in an offstreet parking facility in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving, punishable by imprisonment in the county jail or by the payment of a fine, or both imprisonment and a fine, as specified. Existing law makes it a crime to engage in a motor vehicle speed contest on a highway. If a person is convicted of engaging in a motor vehicle speed contest on a highway and the vehicle used in the violation is registered to that person, existing law allows the vehicle to be impounded at the registered owner's expense for not less than one day and not more than 30 days. Existing law allows a peace officer to arrest a person and seize the motor vehicle of the person if a peace officer determines that the person was engaged in a motor vehicle speed contest, reckless driving, or an exhibition of speed on a highway. Existing law allows a vehicle seized under this provision to be impounded for up to 30 days. This bill would, with respect to a conviction for reckless driving, or a conviction for engaging in a speed contest, if the person convicted is the registered owner of the vehicle, allow the vehicle to be impounded for 30 days for a first offense and require the vehicle to be impounded for 30 days for a 2nd or subsequent offense, at the registered owner's expense. The bill would allow the impoundment period to be reduced by the number of days, if any, that the vehicle was previously impounded, and would authorize the court to decline to impound the vehicle if it would cause undue hardship for the defendant's family, as specified. The bill would authorize the release of the vehicle to the legal owner before the 30th day of impoundment, if specified conditions are met. With regard to speed contests, this bill would authorize an officer to issue a notice to correct for violation of a mechanical or safety requirement and require correction to be made within 30 days after the date upon which the vehicle was released from impoundment. The bill would require the violation to be dismissed upon correction, as specified. By imposing new requirements on local agencies responsible for vehicle impoundment, the bill would create 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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(1) Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to identify areas in the state as very high fire hazard severity zones based on specified criteria and the severity of the fire hazard. Existing law requires that a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains an occupied dwelling or structure in, upon, or adjoining a mountainous area, forest-covered land, brush-covered land, grass-covered land, or land that is covered with flammable material that is within a very high fire hazard severity zone, as designated by a local agency, or a building or structure in, upon, or adjoining those areas or lands within a state responsibility area, to maintain a defensible space of 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structure, as specified. A repeated violation within a specified timeframe of those requirements is a crime. This bill would require a person described above to utilize more intense fuel reductions between 5 and 30 feet around the structure, and to create an ember-resistant zone within 5 feet of the structure, as provided. Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime or expand the scope of an existing crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require each local agency having jurisdiction of property upon which conditions that are regulated by the defensible space provisions described above apply and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to make reasonable efforts to provide notice to affected residents of the above requirements before imposing penalties for a violation of those requirements. By imposing additional duties on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would authorize the department, subject to availability of funding, to make local fire prevention grants available to certain entities to improve compliance with defensible space requirements in very high fire hazard severity zones through the creation of defensible space assessment or inspection programs. This bill would require the director to establish a statewide program to allow qualified entities, as defined, to support and augment the department in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and education efforts and to establish a common reporting platform for participating qualified entities to report defensible space and home hardening assessment data to the department. The bill would require the department to develop and implement a training program to train individuals to support and augment the department in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and education efforts. The bill would require the department to issue to individuals who have successfully completed the training program a certification of completion. The bill would require the director, by January 1, 2024, to submit to the Legislature a report on the effectiveness of the statewide program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2025. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop, periodically update, and post on its internet website a guidance document on fuels management for purposes of very high fire hazard severity zones, as designated by a local agency, and requires the guidance document to include, but not be limited to, regionally appropriate vegetation management suggestions that preserve and restore native species. This bill would limit these native species, for purposes of the guidance document, to those that are fire resistant or drought tolerant, or both. (3) Existing law requires a person that owns, controls, operates, or maintains an electrical transmission or distribution line upon mountainous land, or in forest-covered land, brush-covered land, or grass-covered land, to maintain certain clearances between all vegetation and all conductors that are carrying electric current during those times and in those areas determined to be necessary by the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection or the agency with primary responsibility for the fire protection of those areas. A violation of this provision and other specified provisions relating to fire prevention requirements is a crime. This bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission and any person who owns, controls, operates, or maintains any electrical transmission or distribution lines, on or before July 1, 2021, to develop, through a public process, an online guidebook of vegetation, including tree and shrub species, that, if planted in the vicinity of electrical transmission and distribution lines, cannot encroach within the vicinity of overhead conductors, as provided. For purposes of this provision, and other specified provisions related to firebreaks and vegetation clearance around electrical transmission or distribution lines, as provided, the bill would define person to mean, among other things, a county, city, district, or other local public agency. By expanding the duties of a local public agency, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the guidebook to include, but not be limited to, guidelines for planting underneath and to the side of conductors of varying voltages, as provided. The bill would require the department, the Public Utilities Commission, an electrical corporation, and a local publicly owned electric utility to make available on their respective internet websites the above-described guidebook. (4) Existing law sets forth findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to the benefits of the state's expertise in wildland fire prevention and vegetation management on forest, range, and watershed lands. This bill would revise those findings and declarations of the Legislature. (5) Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to assist local governments in preventing future wildland fire and vegetation management problems by making its wildland fire prevention and vegetation management expertise available to local governments to the extent possible within the department's budgetary limitations. This bill instead would require the department to assist local governments in preventing future high-intensity wildland fires and instituting appropriate fuels management by making its wildland fire prevention and vegetation management expertise available to local governments to the extent possible within the department's budgetary limitations. The bill would explicitly define, for these purposes, "local governments" to include cities, counties, and special districts. (6) Existing law authorizes a county, by resolution, to loan moneys to certain local and regional districts to enable those districts to perform their functions and meet their obligations. This bill would include a resource conservation district as a district eligible for a loan from a county. (7) 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.
This measure would recognize September 2020 as Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month and encourage the Legislature to appropriate funds for research, treatment, and monitoring of sickle cell disease, and for related education and outreach.
(1) Existing law provides that the Department of Transportation has full possession and control over the highways of the state and is responsible for preparing the State Highway Operation and Protection Program for the expenditure of transportation funds for major capital improvements that are necessary to preserve and protect the state highway system. Existing law also creates the California Transportation Commission, with specified powers and duties relative to the programming of transportation capital improvement projects and the allocation of state transportation funds for state transportation improvement projects. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the commission, to prepare an asset management plan to guide selection of projects for the State Highway Operation and Protection Program consistent with any applicable state and federal requirements. Existing law requires the commission, in connection with the asset management plan, to adopt targets and performance measures reflecting state transportation goals and objectives. This bill would require the asset management plan to prioritize the implementation of safe and connected facilities for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users on all State Highway Operation and Protection Program projects, as specified. The bill would require the department to include complete streets elements in the asset management plan, as specified. The bill would require the commission, in connection with the asset management plan, to adopt performance measures that include conditions of bicycle and pedestrian facilities, accessibility and safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users on the state highway system. The bill would require that the plain language performance report developed by the department, in consultation with the commission, include a description of pedestrian and bicycle facilities on each project, including the number, extent, and type of elements. The bill would require the department, commencing with the 2022 State Highway Operation and Protection Program, when undertaking a specified capital improvement project on a state highway or on a local street crossing a state highway that is funded through the State Highway Operation and Protection Program, to include new pedestrian and bicycle facilities, or improve existing facilities, as part of the project, consistent with specified requirements. For each project development team that the department establishes for a project, the bill would require the department to include specified representatives on the team. (2) Existing law requires funds in the State Highway Account to be programmed, budgeted, and expended to maximize the use of federal funds and to be based on a specified sequence of priorities, including, among others, safety improvements where physical changes, other than adding additional lanes, would reduce fatalities and the number and severity of injuries. This bill would require those safety improvements to prioritize reducing fatalities and severe injuries, including fatalities and injuries of pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users on the state highway system.
This measure would urge specified state departments and the Attorney General to use their authority to ensure that health care service plans and health insurers subject to their authority comply with the federal Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
Existing law delegates to the Fish and Game Commission the power to regulate the taking or possession of birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, and reptiles, except as provided. Under existing law, a mammal occurring naturally in California that is not a game mammal, fully protected mammal, or fur-bearing mammal is a nongame mammal and may not be taken or possessed except as provided in the Fish and Game Code or in accordance with regulations adopted by the commission. Under existing law, bobcats are not designated as a game mammal, fully protected mammal, or fur-bearing mammal. Existing law prohibits, or authorizes the commission to prohibit, the trapping of bobcats under certain circumstances, as specified. Existing law authorizes any owner or tenant of land or property that is being damaged or destroyed, or is in danger of being damaged or destroyed, by specified animals, not including bobcats, to apply to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for a depredation permit to kill the animals. Existing law requires the department, upon satisfactory evidence of the damage or destruction, actual or immediately threatened, to issue a revocable depredation permit for the taking and disposition of the animals under regulations adopted by the commission. Existing law authorizes nongame mammals, among other specified species, that are found to be injuring growing crops or other property to be taken at any time or in any manner by specified persons in accordance with the Fish and Game Code and regulations adopted pursuant to that code. Existing law authorizes the department to enter into cooperative agreements with any state or federal agency for the purpose of controlling harmful nongame mammals. Existing law also authorizes the department to enter into cooperative contracts with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for the control of nongame mammals. Under existing law, a violation of the Fish and Game Code is a crime. This bill would make it unlawful to hunt, trap, or otherwise take a bobcat, except under specified circumstances, including under a depredation permit. The bill, upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature for this purpose, commencing January 1, 2025, would authorize the commission to open a bobcat hunting season in any area determined by the commission to require a hunt, as specified. The bill would prohibit the take of bobcats under the above-described authorizations for the take of nongame mammals. The bill would require the department, before opening a bobcat season and in consultation with specified entities, to develop, upon appropriation by the Legislature, a bobcat management plan to inform and coordinate management decisions regarding bobcat populations, as specified. The bill would require the department to submit the bobcat management plan to the commission and the Legislature. Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that its provisions are severable. 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 requires that fur products be labeled with the names of any animals used, the manufacturer, the country of origin, and other specified information. Existing state law makes it unlawful to import into this state for commercial purposes, to possess with intent to sell, or to sell within the state, the dead body, or any part or product thereof, of specified species of animals. Existing state law, except as specified, requires every person, other than a fur dealer, who traps fur-bearing mammals or nongame mammals, designated by the Fish and Game Commission, or who sells raw furs of those mammals, to procure a trapping license from the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Existing law provides that products or handicraft items made from fur-bearing mammals and nongame mammals lawfully taken under the authority of a trapping license may be purchased or sold at any time. Existing law authorizes the commission to adopt regulations regarding the taking and sale of mammals taken under a trapping license. Under existing law, the provisions governing trapping in the Fish and Game Code do not apply to, or prohibit the propagation of, fur-bearing mammals that are confined in accordance with regulations of the commission. Existing law generally makes violations of provisions relating to fish and wildlife a crime. This bill would make it unlawful to sell, offer for sale, display for sale, trade, or otherwise distribute for monetary or nonmonetary consideration a fur product, as defined, in the state. The bill would also make it unlawful to manufacture a fur product in the state for sale. The bill would exempt from these prohibitions used fur products, as defined, fur products used for specified purposes, and any activity expressly authorized by federal law. The bill would require a person that sells or trades any fur product exempt from this prohibition to maintain records of each sale or trade of an exempt fur product for at least one year, except as provided. The bill would provide that a person who violates these prohibitions may be subject to specified civil penalties. The bill would, in lieu of seeking criminal prosecution, authorize the department, the Attorney General, or the city attorney of the city or the district attorney or county counsel of the county in which a violation of one of these prohibitions occurs to bring a civil action to recover the civil penalty. The bill would require the civil penalty to be deposited in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund and to be used exclusively for specified purposes, including for the enforcement of these provisions. The bill would also authorize the recovery of the reasonable costs of investigation, reasonable attorney's fees, and reasonable expert witness' fees, which would be required to be credited to the same operating funds as that from which the expenditures for those purposes were derived. The bill would provide that these provisions are severable. The bill would make a conforming change. The bill would make these provisions operative on January 1, 2023. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 3039 of the Fish and Game Code proposed by AB 273 to be operative only if this bill and AB 273 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law establishes the policy of the Legislature to ensure equal access to specific information about the many local regulating and advisory boards, commissions, and committees and to ensure equal opportunity to be informed of vacancies on those boards. Existing law requires each legislative body of a local agency to prepare an appointments list of all regular and ongoing boards, commissions, and committees that are appointed by the legislative body of the local agency. This bill, on and after January 1, 2030, would require, with respect to a city with a population of 50,000 or more, that the city not appoint members of nonsalaried, nonelected boards or commissions consisting of 5 or more members such that individuals of the same gender identity comprise more than 60% of the board or commission's membership. The bill would also prohibit a board or commission with 4 or fewer nonelected and nonsalaried members from being comprised exclusively of people with the same gender identity. The bill would define "gender identity" for purposes of the bill, and would exclude from its provisions a board or commission that has as its primary purpose addressing issues of relevance to a particular gender identity. By imposing new requirements on cities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would include findings that the 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. 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 Department of Justice to maintain a statewide telecommunications system for use by law enforcement agencies. Existing law also requires the Attorney General, upon the advice of an advisory committee, to adopt policies, practices and procedures, and conditions of qualification for connection to the system. Existing law, the California Values Act, generally prohibits, with exceptions, a California law enforcement agency from using its moneys or personnel to investigate, detain, or arrest persons for immigration enforcement purposes. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2020, consistent with the California Values Act, prohibit subscribers to the system from using information other than criminal history information transmitted through the system for immigration enforcement purposes, as defined. The bill would also prohibit subscribers to the system from using the system for purposes of investigating violations of a specified federal law if a violation of that federal law is the only criminal history in an individual's record. The bill would, commencing July 1, 2021, with exceptions, require any inquiry submitted through the statewide telecommunications system for information other than criminal history information to include a reason for the inquiry. The bill would also, commencing July 1, 2021, authorize the Attorney General, and personnel they so authorize, to conduct investigations, as provided, as the Attorney General deems appropriate to monitor compliance with these provisions.