Asm. Laura Friedman

Existing law requires the driver of any vehicle, including a person riding a bicycle, when approaching a stop sign at the entrance of an intersection, to stop before entering the intersection. A violation of this requirement is an infraction. This bill would require a person who is 18 years of age or older riding a bicycle upon a two-lane highway when approaching a stop sign at the entrance of an intersection with another roadway with two or fewer lanes, where stop signs are erected upon all approaches, to yield the right-of-way to any vehicles that have either stopped at or entered the intersection, or that are approaching on the intersecting highway close enough to constitute an immediate hazard, and to pedestrians, as specified, and continue to yield the right-of-way to those vehicles and pedestrians until reasonably safe to proceed. The bill would require other vehicles to yield the right-of-way to a bicycle that, having yielded as prescribed, has entered the intersection. The bill would state that these provisions do not affect the liability of a driver of a motor vehicle as a result of the driver's negligent or wrongful act or omission in the operation of a motor vehicle. The bill would impose a warning citation for a first violation by a person who is under 18 years of age and fails to stop when approaching a stop sign at the entrance of an intersection. The bill would also require the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol to submit a report to the Legislature, as specified, regarding the effects of this bill. These provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2031. By changing the elements of an existing 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.

This measure would proclaim October 5, 2023, as Latina Equal Pay Day in California, in recognition of the need to eliminate the gender gap in earnings by women and to promote policies to ensure equal pay for all.

(1) Existing law authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to assume the responsibilities of the United States Secretary of Transportation under the federal National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and other federal environmental laws for any railroad, public transportation, or multimodal project undertaken by state agencies, as specified. Existing law provides that the State of California consents to the jurisdiction of the federal courts with regard to the compliance, discharge, or enforcement of these responsibilities. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2025. This bill would extend the above authorization to December 31, 2033. The bill would additionally authorize the Secretary of Transportation, consistent with, and subject to the requirements of, any memorandum of understanding between the state and federal government and upon the request of a local or regional agency with the authority to implement transportation projects, to assume responsibilities under the NEPA and other federal environmental laws for any railroad, local public transportation, or multimodal project implemented by the requesting local or regional agency. The bill would impose terms and conditions similar to those with respect to the above-described authority to assume those responsibilities for projects undertaken by state agencies, including providing consent for the jurisdiction of the federal courts, as provided. The bill would require the secretary to report to the transportation policy committees of the Legislature regarding the assumption of responsibilities under the NEPA requested by a local or regional agency by December 31, 2033. The bill would repeal these provisions on December 31, 2033. (2) Existing law authorizes the Director of General Services to use the progressive design-build procurement process for the construction of up to 3 capital outlay projects, as jointly determined by the Department of General Services and the Department of Finance, and prescribes that process. Existing law defines "progressive design-build" as a project delivery process in which both the design and construction of a project are procured from a single entity that is selected through a qualifications-based selection at the earliest feasible stage of the project. Existing law, pursuant to the process, after selection of a design-build entity, authorizes the Department of General Services to contract for design and preconstruction services sufficient to establish a guaranteed maximum price, as defined. Existing law authorizes the department, upon agreement on a guaranteed maximum price, to amend the contract in its sole discretion, as specified. Existing law requires specified information to be verified under penalty of perjury. This bill would authorize the Department of Water Resources and the Department of Transportation (departments) to use the progressive design-build procurement process for the construction of up to 8 public works projects per department for a project that is estimated to exceed $25,000,000 in total price, and would prescribe that process. The bill would require each design-build entity, as defined, to submit specified information in a statement of qualifications that is to be verified under penalty of perjury. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would prescribe the process for the departments to determine which design-build entity offers the best value to the public for the design-build project, as defined. The bill would require the selected design-build entity to provide payment and performance bonds and errors and omissions insurance coverage, as specified. The bill would, pursuant to the process, authorize the departments to contract for design and preconstruction services sufficient to establish a guaranteed maximum price, as defined. Upon agreement on a guaranteed maximum price, the bill would authorize the departments to amend a contract, as specified. The bill would also authorize the departments to solicit additional proposals if the departments and the design-build entity are unable to reach an agreement on a guaranteed maximum price. The bill would require the departments to submit, on or before January 1, 2034, to the Legislature a report containing specified information regarding the public works projects, commenced before January 1, 2033, that used the progressive design-build procurement process. This bill would specify that the above provisions do not apply to procurement by the Department of Water Resources for the design or construction of through-Delta conveyance facilities of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta or seawater desalination projects. (3) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to improve and maintain state highways. The State Contract Act generally provides for a contracting process by state agencies for public works of improvement pursuant to a competitive bidding process, under which bids are awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, with specified alternative procurement procedures authorized in certain cases. Other existing law authorizes certain state and local agencies to engage in job order contracting, as prescribed. This bill, until December 31, 2033, would authorize the Department of Transportation to use job order contracting for certain transportation and public works projects, including, among others, those related to highway maintenance, installation of stormwater pollution control devices, and for facilities, systems, and traffic control devices needed to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as provided. The bill would require the department to establish a procedure to prequalify job order contractors and to prepare a set of documents for each job order contract, as provided. The bill would require the department to prepare a request for bids for job order contracts that invites job order contractors to submit sealed bids in the manner prescribed by the department. The bill would also authorize the department, notwithstanding those other procedures, to award job order contracts for contracts within a specified cost range after obtaining written bid submittals from 2 or more certified small businesses or from 2 or more disabled veteran business enterprises, as provided. This bill would authorize job order contracts to be executed for an initial contract term of no more than 12 months, with the option of extending or renewing the job order contract for 2 additional 12-month periods, as provided. The bill would require job order contractors to possess or obtain sufficient bonding and risk and liability insurance, as provided. The bill would require the department to publish, on or before July 1 of each year, until July 1, 2033, on its internet website regarding the status of all active job order contracts and those job order contracts that expired in the previous year, and to monitor job order contracts for compliance with federal and state labor laws. This bill would repeal the above-described provisions relating to job order contracting on December 31, 2033. (4) 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. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

(1) The California Endangered Species Act (CESA) requires the Fish and Game Commission to establish a list of endangered species and a list of threatened species and to add or remove species from either list if it finds, upon the receipt of sufficient scientific information, as specified, that the action is warranted. CESA prohibits the taking of an endangered, threatened, or candidate species, except as specified. Under the act, the Department of Fish and Wildlife may authorize the take of listed species if the take is incidental to an otherwise lawful activity, the impacts are minimized and fully mitigated, and the applicant ensures adequate funding for implementing the mitigation measures and for monitoring compliance with, and the effectiveness of, those measures. This bill would specify that any transportation funding identified in the State Highway System Management Plan for purposes of these provisions is presumed to provide adequate funding for the long-term maintenance of a habitat connectivity or wildlife corridor structure on the state highway system, but not for the habitat on or around the structure, and would require an applicant to provide an endowment. (2) Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of the state highways and associated properties. Existing law authorizes the department to acquire any real property that it considers necessary for state highway purposes. This bill would authorize the department to purchase property for specified environmental mitigation purposes, to be called environmental mitigation property, and to transfer that property to specified governmental and nongovernmental entities, or to purchase the property in the name of those entities. This bill would authorize the department to create an endowment or enter into an agreement with the transferee of an environmental mitigation property or another party to provide funding for the establishment, preservation, restoration, and maintenance of the property consistent with certain permit conditions or mitigation requirements. The bill would authorize the department to enter into a cooperative agreement with certain other parties to hold, manage, and invest an endowment for an environmental mitigation property and disburse payments from the endowment to the holder of the property consistent with the fund agreement. The bill would repeal these provisions on December 31, 2033. This bill would also authorize the department to purchase, exempt from specified advertising or bidding requirements, environmental mitigation credits in a mitigation credit agreement or from a mitigation bank, conservation bank, in-lieu fee program, or from another mitigation credit provider in certain circumstances. The bill would authorize the department to purchase, exempt from those same advertising or bidding requirements, environmental mitigation credits from a mitigation bank, conservation bank, in-lieu fee program, mitigation credit agreement, or from another mitigation credit provider for the purpose of fulfilling mitigation responsibilities for natural resources or for advance mitigation purposes, using an alternative solicitation method, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to enter into agreements with governmental, nonprofit, and for-profit entities for the purpose of mitigating environmental impacts caused by transportation projects or for advance mitigation purposes. The bill would repeal these provisions on December 31, 2033. This bill would require, by July 1, 2025, and annually thereafter until July 1, 2033, the department to provide a written report to the relevant legislative policy and budget committees that includes specified information related to its environmental mitigation program. (3) Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to make and enter into any contracts in the manner provided by law that are required for the performance of its duties. Existing law, the State Contract Act, governs the bidding and award of public works contracts by specific state departments, including the Department of Transportation. This bill would, if an intercity passenger rail project is constructed within the Interstate 15 right-of-way, require the department to ensure the construction of 3 wildlife crossings and appurtenances at 3 priority locations, as provided. The bill would authorize the department to solicit proposals for, accept unsolicited proposals for, negotiate, or enter into an agreement with a rail entity, as defined, to develop and construct the wildlife crossings and appurtenances, as specified. The bill would establish parameters for this authorization. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

This measure would proclaim and acknowledge the month of June 2023 as Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse Awareness Month in California and would reiterate the importance of annually recognizing Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse Awareness Month in the state.