Asm. Ed Chau

Existing law requires, when a witness is incapable of understanding the English language or expressing himself or herself in the English language so as to be understood directly by counsel, court, and jury, an interpreter to be sworn to interpret for him or her. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to conduct a study of language and interpreter use and need in court proceedings, with commentary, and to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and to the Legislature every 5 years. Existing law requires that this study serve as the basis for determining the need to establish interpreter programs and certification and for establishing these programs and examinations through the normal budgetary process. This bill would require the Judicial Council, by March 1, 2014, to establish a working group to review, identify, and develop best practices to provide interpreters in civil actions and proceedings, as specified. The bill would require the Judicial Council to select up to 3 courts to participate in a pilot project, to commence on July 1, 2014, to provide interpreters in civil proceedings and would require the Judicial Council to report to the Legislature findings related to the pilot project by July 1, 2018. The pilot project would be funded by an amount not to exceed $6 million dollars from the Trial Court Trust Fund, upon allocation by the Judicial Council pursuant to the Judicial Council's existing expenditure authority, or upon appropriation by the Legislature, from unexpended funds previously allocated for court interpreter services. The bill would also require the working group to act as an advisory body to any Judicial Council committee, advisory board, or joint committee charged with developing a comprehensive statewide Language Access Plan (LAP) for use by courts to address the needs of all limited-English-proficient individuals in conformance with state and federal law. The bill would require the working group to make recommendations relating to the establishment of standards for meaningful and timely provision of language services in all court proceedings and at all public points of contact within the courts, and the establishment of a statewide plan to provide for the translation of court documents using competent and qualified interpreters. The bill would require the Judicial Council and its advisory bodies to submit an interim report to the Legislature on the status of the LAP by September 1, 2014. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2020.

The Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act establishes a trial court employee personnel system that provides authority to hire trial court personnel, regulates the classification and compensation of trial court employees, labor relations, and personnel files, and requires each trial court to establish a system of employment selection and advancement and an employment protection system. Existing law authorizes state agencies to use personal services contracts to achieve cost savings if specified standards are satisfied, including, among other things, the contract does not cause the displacement of civil service employees and the contract is awarded through a publicized, competitive bidding process. The State Personnel Board is required to review a proposed contract upon the request of an employee organization for compliance with those standards. This bill, until January 1, 2020, would establish specified standards if a trial court intends to enter into a new contract, or renew or extend an existing contract, for any services that are currently or customarily performed by that trial court's employees. Among other things, the bill would require the trial court to clearly demonstrate that the contract will result in actual overall cost savings to the trial court for the duration of the entire contract as compared with the trial court's actual costs of providing the same services. The bill would require a contract for services in excess of $100,000 annually to include specific, measurable performance standards and provisions for audits on performance and cost savings, as specified. This bill would provide that these standards apply to any contract entered into, renewed, or extended after the effective date of this measure. The bill would provide that its provisions do not apply to a contract under specified circumstances, including when services are incidental to a contract for the purchase or lease of real or personal property. This bill would require each trial court to provide a report by February 1, 2014, to the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the chairpersons of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Assembly Judiciary Committee if the trial court entered into a contract between July 1, 2013, and the effective date of this measure for services that were provided or are customarily provided by its trial court employees if the contract has a term extending beyond March 31, 2014. This report would be required to include specified information relating to these contracts, including an analysis of whether the contract resulted in the displacement of trial court employees. The bill would provide that its provisions are severable.

Existing law, the Financial Elder Abuse Reporting Act of 2005, establishes procedures for the reporting of suspected financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult, as defined. These procedures require mandated reporters of suspected financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult, as defined, to report known or suspected instances of financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult, as specified. Existing law makes a violation of the reporting requirements subject to a civil penalty. This bill would include notaries public in the definition of mandated reporters of suspected financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult and would require a notary public, if he or she has observed or has knowledge of suspected financial abuse in connection with providing notary services, to report the known or suspected instance of financial abuse. The bill would provide that this requirement is applicable only when the notary public knows that the victim of the suspected financial abuse is an elder or dependent adult. Existing law makes specified reports, including reports of known or suspected financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult, confidential. Any violation of the confidentiality of these reports is a misdemeanor. This bill would extend that confidentiality to a notary public's report of known or suspected financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult. By increasing the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes a care custodian, clergy member, health practitioner, and an employee of an adult protective services agency or a law enforcement agency to present a claim to the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board for reasonable attorney's fees incurred in any action against that person for making a report of known or suspected abuse of an elder or dependent adult, as specified. This bill would additionally authorize a notary public to present a claim to the board for reasonable attorney's fees incurred in an action against that person for making a report pursuant to these provisions. Existing law requires a county adult protective services agency to report every known or suspected instance of abuse of an elder or dependent adult, as specified, to any public agency given responsibility for investigation in that jurisdiction of cases of elder and dependent adult abuse. Existing law also requires a county adult protective services agency to provide mandated reporters of suspected financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult with instructional materials regarding abuse and neglect of an elder or dependent adult and their obligation to report under these provisions. The bill would require a county adult protective services agency to additionally report a known or suspected instance of abuse reported by a notary public and to additionally provide instructional materials to notaries public. By increasing the duties of local agencies, 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 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.

Existing law requires an operator of a commercial Web site or online service that collects personally identifiable information through the Internet, about individual consumers residing in California who use or visit its commercial Web site or online service, to make its privacy policy available to consumers, as specified. This bill would eliminate references to "privacy policy," and instead refer to a privacy policy as a "policy." The bill would require these policies to include hyperlinks to the Web pages where a consumer may file a complaint, as specified, if an operator collects personal information about an individual consumer.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, hereafter the Global Warming Solutions Act, designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law requires the Department of Finance, in consultation with the state board and any other relevant state agency, to develop, as specified, a 3-year investment plan for the moneys deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Existing law permits moneys from the fund be allocated for the research, development, and deployment of innovative technologies, measures, and practices related to programs and projects funded under the Global Warming Solutions Act. This bill would create the Clean Technology Investment Account within the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and would require the Legislature to annually appropriate moneys from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund into the Clean Technology Investment Account. This bill would make those moneys available to the state board for the purposes of accelerating the development, demonstration, and deployment of clean technologies that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and foster job creation in the state. The bill would require the implementation of these provisions be contingent on the appropriation of moneys by the Legislature for these purposes.

(1) Existing law requires a business to ensure the privacy of a customer's personal information, as defined, contained in records by destroying, or arranging for the destruction of, the records, as specified. Any customer injured by a business' violation of these provisions is entitled to recover damages, obtain injunctive relief, or seek other remedies. This bill would create the Right to Know Act of 2013, would repeal and reorganize certain provisions of existing law, and would provide legislative findings in support thereof. (2) Existing law also requires a business that collects customer information for marketing purposes and that discloses a customer's personal information to a 3rd party for direct marketing purposes, to provide the customer with whom it had a business relationship, as defined, within 30 days after the customer's request, as specified, in writing or by e-mail, the names and addresses of the recipients of that information and specified details regarding the information disclosed, except as specified. Existing law requires a business subject to these provisions to provide an address, electronic address, or toll-free telephone or facsimile number that a customer may use to deliver requests for copies of his or her personal information. This bill would instead require any business that retains a customer's personal information, as defined, or discloses that information to a 3rd party, to provide at no charge, within 30 days of the customer's specified request, a copy of that information to the customer as well as the names and contact information for all 3rd parties with which the business has shared the information during the previous 12 months, regardless of any business relationship with the customer. This bill would require that a business subject to these provisions choose one of several specified options to provide the customer with a designated address for use in making a request for copies of information under these provisions. (3) Existing law also requires a business that is required to comply with these provisions to provide information to customers regarding its privacy policy and to provide a designated means of preventing disclosure of personal information. This bill would require a business that is required to comply with these provisions to provide specified notice to the customer of its privacy policies. (4) Existing law provides that a customer who sustains injury as a result of a violation of these provisions is entitled to specified remedies, including civil penalties. This bill would also provide that a violation of these provisions is deemed to constitute an injury to the customer for purposes of seeking remedies available under law.

(1) 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 his or her employment. Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law seeks to prevent workers' compensation fraud through various procedures. This bill would require the employer, commencing January 1, 2014, and January 1, 2015, to submit to its workers' compensation insurer specified reports that it is required to submit to the Employment Development Department, and the insurer would be required to include the names of all covered employees in the workers' compensation insurance policy. The employer would also be required to make a list of all employees covered by its workers' compensation policy, which would include specified identifying information for each covered employee, to be available in written and electronic form, as specified, upon request, to specified governmental entities and the workers' compensation insurer. The bill would provide that these lists are not public records subject to the California Public Records Act. (2) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.