This measure would recognize August 26, 2026, as Women's Equality Day and its historic importance to women's rights, including the battle to attain those rights in the past, present, and future.
Maddy summaryThis bill designates 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer to acknowledge the vital contributions of women in agriculture. It functions as a formal proclamation rather than a law that changes regulations or allocates funding. The measure directly affects the state by officially recognizing the importance of female agricultural workers during that year.
This measure would affirm the fundamental importance of indigent defense to due process, equal justice, and democratic governance, recognize public defenders as essential protectors of constitutional rights and the rule of law, and encourage the development of statewide approaches to indigent defense.
Maddy summaryThis bill designates June 2026 as Electronic Dance Music Month to recognize the genre's cultural significance. It directly affects communities and organizations involved in the electronic dance music scene by encouraging public awareness and celebration during that period. The measure requires no new funding or legal changes, serving instead as a symbolic declaration to highlight the month's theme.
Maddy summaryThis bill designates the month of June as Dairy Month throughout California. It directly affects the state by officially recognizing the dairy industry during this specific time period. The measure requires no changes to laws or regulations, as it serves only as a symbolic proclamation.
This measure would encourage the chief administrator of each public building or facility owned by the state, a county, or a municipality to display the 9/11 Remembrance Flag on September 11 of each year and to prescribe procedures necessary for its display. The measure would declare that any public official or chief administrator of a public building or facility may accept a donation of one or more 9/11 Remembrance Flags for the purpose of display at a public building or facility owned by the state, a county, or a municipality.
(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (department) and sets forth its powers and duties regarding the administration of correctional facilities and the care and custody of inmates. Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to consider specified best practices when establishing policies and procedures for downloading and storing data from body-worn cameras, including, among other things, prohibiting the unauthorized use, duplication, or distribution of the data, and establishing storage periods for evidentiary and nonevidentiary data, as defined. This bill would require the department, by July 1, 2027, to establish policies and procedures that include circumstances under which a body-worn camera may be deactivated and would require the department to ensure that those policies and procedures reflect a minimum amount of time per shift that a body-worn camera be activated, and that the camera is activated when interacting with incarcerated persons. The bill would require the department to develop audit protocols to ensure compliance. The bill would require the department's policies and procedures to authorize deactivation of a body-worn camera during specified confidential interactions and would require staff to inform the subject the reason for the deactivation and to document the time of the deactivation, the reason for the deactivation, and the time of reactivation. This bill would require the department to adopt, and update regularly, a Prison Sexual Violence Elimination policy that would outline specified principles, including, among others, that the department maintains zero tolerance for sexual violence, staff sexual misconduct, and sexual harassment in its institutions, community correctional facilities, and conservation camps, and for all offenders under its jurisdiction. (2) Under existing law, a person sentenced to imprisonment in a state prison for a felony offense, as specified, may, during that period of confinement, be deprived only of those rights as is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. Existing law enumerates certain civil rights of these prisoners. This bill would, by January 1, 2028, require the department to develop and implement protocols for when an incarcerated person is subject to a nonroutine search or scan, including, among other things, obtaining approval from a supervising officer of rank sergeant or above before the search or scan, documenting specified information about the search or scan, and providing the incarcerated person with a written receipt or other documentation with this information. The bill would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to establish a pilot program at 3 institutions to evaluate the effectiveness of replacing unclothed body searches with scanning technology, as specified. (3) Existing law requires members of the department's Office of Internal Affairs to possess certification from the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training for investigators, except as specified. Existing law requires the department to conduct a complete and thorough background check prior to training a peace officer who is selected to conduct internal affairs investigations and requires each person to satisfactorily pass the background check. Existing law states that any person who has been the subject of a sustained, serious disciplinary action, as specified, shall not pass the background check. This bill would require an investigator to disclose an actual or potential conflict of interest they may have in an investigation in which they are participating. The bill would require the department to take appropriate action to remedy that conflict. The bill would require an investigator to recuse themselves from participating in an investigation or a decision related to an investigation if they have a conflict of interest involving a staff member with whom they have a personal relationship, as defined. (4) Existing law authorizes the secretary of the department to prescribe and amend rules and regulations for the administration of prisons. Under existing law, the State Civil Service Act, certain acts, including convictions of certain crimes, are cause for discipline of a state employee or of a person whose name appears on an employment list. This bill would prohibit the department from appointing a person to a position that may involve any contact with incarcerated persons, or engaging a contractor for services that may involve contact with incarcerated persons, if the department obtains information that substantiated allegations of sexual abuse in the course of their employment have been reported against them, as specified. The bill would prohibit the department from appointing any person to a position that may involve contact with incarcerated persons, or engaging a contractor for services that may involve contact with incarcerated persons, if the department learns that the person or contractor has been convicted of certain offenses, including felony domestic battery and specified sex offenses, among others. The bill would also prohibit the department from appointing any person to a position that may involve contact with incarcerated persons, or engaging a contractor for any services, if it obtains information that the person or contractor has been civilly or administratively adjudicated to have engaged in that conduct. The bill would require the department to make best efforts to contact all prior institutional employers for information on substantiated allegations of sexual abuse, among other things. The bill would require the department to conduct criminal background checks every 5 years of existing employees or implement a system to otherwise capture that information. (5) Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for an employee or officer of a public entity health facility, or an employee, officer, or agent of a private person or entity that provides a health facility or staff for a health facility under contract with a public entity, to engage in sexual activity with a consenting adult who is confined in a health facility. Existing law additionally makes it a misdemeanor for specified individuals, including an employee or officer of a public entity detention facility or an employee with a department, board, or authority under the department, to engage in sexual activity with a consenting adult who is confined in a detention facility or who is an inmate, ward, or parolee, as specified. Existing law makes it a felony for any subsequent violations for a person who was previously convicted of these violations. Existing law requires a person convicted of a felony violation of the above-described provisions who is employed by a department, board, or authority within the department to be terminated, as specified, and prohibits that person from being eligible to be hired or reinstated by the department. Existing law requires administrators to report criminal sexual abuse by staff to law enforcement authorities. This bill would instead require that a person convicted of any violation of these provisions be terminated and prohibited from being reinstated by the department. The bill would also require that a person convicted of any violation of these provisions who is employed by a public entity health facility be terminated and made ineligible to be hired or reinstated by a public entity health facility. This bill would require administrators to report any known or suspected sexual abuse by staff to a local law enforcement agency. (6) Existing law establishes the Office of the Inspector General that is responsible for, among other things, contemporaneous public oversight of internal affairs investigations and staff grievance inquiries conducted by the department's Office of Internal Affairs. Existing law requires the Office of the Inspector General to have investigatory authority over all staff misconduct cases that involve sexual misconduct with an incarcerated person, as specified. This bill would authorize an incarcerated person to file an anonymous grievance relating to an allegation of sexual misconduct directly to the Office of the Inspector General, and would authorize the Inspector General to review any grievance filed from an incarcerated person, whether or not that grievance had been previously filed with the institution or hiring authority where the grievance occurred. (7) Existing regulations establish a grievance procedure for individuals in the custody of, or under the supervision of, the department. Under those regulations, a claimant is required to submit a grievance no later than 60 calendar days after discovering an adverse policy, decision, action, condition, or omission by the department. This bill would extend that time period to 120 calendar days.
This measure would call on the state's Representatives in Congress to continue to support investments in the federal Local Food for Schools and Child Care program and would call on the President of the United States to work with Congress to support family farmers who produce fresh, locally sourced food for school meals.
Maddy summaryACR 61 designates April 9-15, 2025, as Filicide Awareness Week through a formal proclamation. This resolution does not create new laws or affect specific groups; it simply establishes a designated week for public awareness. The key mechanism is the official naming of the dates by the legislature to encourage community education about filicide (the killing of a child by a parent or caregiver). The bill has no policy changes or funding provisions, serving solely as a commemorative measure.
Maddy summaryCalifornia House Resolution 138 designates the week of October 4 through October 10, 2026, as National 4-H Week throughout the state. The resolution encourages citizens to recognize the impact of the 4-H program, which is described as the largest youth development organization in the United States. It highlights how the program, delivered by the University of California Cooperative Extension, helps young people develop leadership skills through hands-on projects in health, science, agriculture, and civic engagement.
