Asm. Joe Patterson

This measure would recognize February 2, 2024, as Wear Red Day and the month of February 2024 as American Heart Month.

This measure would recognize February 2024 as Black History Month, urge all citizens to join in celebrating the accomplishments of African Americans during Black History Month, and encourage the people of California to recognize the many talents of African Americans and the achievements and contributions they make to their communities to create equity and equality for education, economics, and social justice. The measure would also recognize the significance in protecting citizens' right to vote and remedying racial discrimination in voting.

This measure would proclaim February 16, 2024, as California Almond Day.

This measure would designate March 2024 as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in California.

This measure would declare May 23, 2024, as GM1 Gangliosidosis Awareness Day in California.

Existing law establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to oversee the implementation of Housing First guidelines and regulations, and, among other things, identify resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California. Existing law requires a state agency or department that funds, implements, or administers a state program that provides housing or housing-related services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness to revise or adopt guidelines and regulations to include enumerated Housing First policies. Existing law specifies the core components of Housing First, including, among others, services that are informed by a harm reduction philosophy that recognizes drug and alcohol use and addiction as a part of tenants' lives, where tenants are engaged in nonjudgmental communication regarding drug and alcohol use, and where tenants are offered education regarding how to avoid risky behaviors and engage in safer practices, as specified, and prohibiting the use of alcohol or drugs, in and of itself, without other lease violations, from constituting a reason for eviction. This bill would provide an exception to the eviction prohibition described above to authorize a tenant's eviction based upon the use of drugs or alcohol, without other lease violations, when children are housed in the same location. The bill would also authorize a state department or agency to authorize programs to fund recovery housing or housing models that, in conjunction with nonclinical substance use-specific services, peer support, and physical design features that support individuals and families on a path to recovery from addiction, emphasize abstinence from substance use, if the program uses at least 75% of its funding in each county on housing or housing-based services that use a harm reduction model and meets other specified requirements. The bill would require the authorizing state department or agency to conduct periodic monitoring of the abstinence-focused recovery housing to ensure compliance with these requirements.

Existing law, until January 1, 2023, prohibited loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution, as defined, and made that crime a misdemeanor. Existing law defines specified behavior as disorderly conduct and prohibits that behavior. Under existing law, disorderly conduct includes, among other things, soliciting prostitution, prowling, peeping, surreptitious photographing or filming of an identifiable person, and the distribution of certain images of another person taken under circumstances in which the person understands that the image shall remain private, the distribution of which causes serious emotional distress. This bill would make it a misdemeanor to loiter in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution, as defined, and would make other conforming changes. The bill would make a person guilty of disorderly conduct if they operate a motor vehicle in any public place and repeatedly beckon to, contact, or attempt to contact or stop pedestrians or other motorists, or impede traffic, with the intent to solicit prostitution. The bill would authorize a court to suspend, for not more than 30 days, the privilege of a person to operate a motor vehicle for a first conviction of these offenses. The bill would, for a 2nd or subsequent conviction, require the vehicle used in the commission of the crime to be impounded for 30 days, as specified. By creating a new crime and expanding the scope 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 March 2024 as American Red Cross Month and would dedicate it to all those who continue to advance the noble legacy of the organization's founder. The measure would encourage all Californians to reach out, support the organization's humanitarian mission, and join in their commitment to care for people in need.