Asm. Richard Bloom

This measure would designate the month of January 2018 as Gang Awareness and Prevention Month in the State of California and would encourage cities and constituents across the state to observe the month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities to prevent future gang activity and honor those who lost their lives due to gang activity.

Existing law authorizes a court to order a continuance of proceedings against a person who has received a notice to appear for a violation of statute relating to the safe operation of a vehicle and subsequently deposits and forfeits bail, pleads guilty or no contest, or is convicted, in consideration for completion of a program for traffic violators, or traffic school. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to license traffic violator schools. Existing law prescribes the requirements for a traffic violator school to be licensed, authorizes the department to charge a fee for licensing, and authorizes the department to suspend or revoke a license, as specified. This bill would require the department to conduct a study on the impact of the traffic violator school program on reducing subsequent traffic offenses by a violator. The bill would also require the department to submit a report on the findings of the study to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2020. This bill would also require the department to collect specified data regarding enrollment, completion, and fees from traffic violator schools licensed in the state and to annually report that data to the Legislature.

The Planning and Zoning Law, among other things, requires the legislative body of each county and city to adopt a general plan for the physical development of the county or city and authorizes the adoption and administration of zoning laws, ordinances, rules, and regulations by counties and cities. The State Housing Law regulates buildings used for human habitation and requires specified local agencies to enforce building standards. This bill, on or before July 1, 2018, would require a city and county to establish a safe creative work and live program. The program, among other things, would require a landlord to register an illegal building with the city or county and to renovate the illegal building to meet habitability standards consistent with building standards and zoning laws and would provide certain protections for tenants. By imposing new duties upon local government officials, 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, 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 regulates the use of pesticides and authorizes the Director of Pesticide Regulation to adopt regulations to govern the possession, sale, or use of any pesticide, as prescribed. Existing law prohibits the use of any pesticide that contains one or more of specified anticoagulants in wildlife habitat areas, as defined. Existing law exempts from this prohibition the use of these pesticides for agricultural activities, as defined. Existing law requires the director, and each county agricultural commissioner under the direction and supervision of the director, to enforce the provisions regulating the use of pesticides. A violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor. This bill would expand this prohibition to include a pesticide containing additional specified anticoagulants and would also prohibit the use of a pesticide containing one of those anticoagulants in the entire state. The bill would expand the exemption for agricultural activities to include activities conducted in certain locations. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on county agricultural commissioners, and because the bill would expand the definition of a 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 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.

(1) Existing law, the California Coastal Act of 1976, establishes the California Coastal Commission and prescribes the powers and responsibilities of the commission with regard to the regulation of development along the California coast. The act requires any person wishing to perform or undertake any development in the coastal zone, as defined, to obtain a coastal development permit, except as provided. The act requires that lower cost visitor and recreational facilities be protected, encouraged, and, where feasible, provided. This bill would, until January 1, 2023, also require housing opportunities for persons of low and moderate income in the coastal zone to be protected, encouraged, and, where feasible, provided. The bill would require the commission, no later than January 1, 2019, to adopt interpretive guidelines for the development, implementation, and construction of housing opportunities for persons of low- and moderate-income in the coastal zone. (2) The act prescribes procedures for the approval and certification of a local coastal program by the commission, and provides for the delegation of development review authority to a local government, as defined, with a certified local coastal program. The act provides that no local coastal program shall be required to include housing policies and programs. This bill would suspend the operation of that provision specifying that local coastal programs are not required to include housing policies and programs beginning January 1, 2018, until January 1, 2023. (3) Provisions of the Planning and Zoning Law, known as the Mello Act, prohibit the conversion or demolition of residential dwelling units within a coastal zone, as defined and delineated in the Coastal Act, occupied by persons and families of low or moderate income unless provision has been made for the replacement of those dwelling units, as specified, and also requires that new housing developments constructed within a coastal zone provide, where feasible, housing units for persons and families of low or moderate income. That law also prohibits the conversion or demolition of any residential structure for purposes of a nonresidential use which is not "coastal dependent," as that term is defined in the Coastal Act, unless the local government first determines that residential use is no longer feasible in that location. In the event an application for a coastal development permit has not been acted upon prior to January 1, 1982, existing law prohibits the commission from imposing any condition or requirement with respect to housing for persons or families of low or moderate income on the proposed development when processing an application for a coastal development permit. Existing law requires an applicant for a coastal development permit to apply to the appropriate local government, as provided, to have that local government apply the requirements of the Mello Act to the proposed development. This bill would provide that the above provisions do not apply to a coastal development permit application acted upon between January 1, 2018, and January 1, 2023. (4) Existing property tax law establishes a partial exemption for properties used exclusively for rental housing and related facilities that are owned and operated by certain types of nonprofit entities or veterans' organizations and that meet specified requirements. Existing law, on or after January 1, 2015, prohibits a local government from entering into a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement with a property owner of a low-income housing project that is eligible for the exemption described above, and makes any PILOT agreement entered into in violation of this provision void and unenforceable. This bill would, on or after January 1, 2018, prohibit the commission from entering into a PILOT agreement with a property owner of a low-income housing project that is eligible for that exemption, and would make any PILOT agreement entered into in violation of that provision void and unenforceable.

Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies to provide coverage for specified benefits. This bill, until January 1, 2020, would, to the extent permitted under federal law, require a health care service plan contract or a health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2018, to include coverage for hearing aids for an enrollee or insured under 18 years of age, as specified. Because a willful violation of these requirements by a health care service plan would be a 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.

Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to administer the Significant Natural Areas Program, and requires the department, among other things, to develop and maintain a spatial data system that identifies those areas in the state that are most essential for maintaining habitat connectivity, including wildlife corridors and habitat linkages. Existing law requires the department, contingent upon the provision of certain funding, to investigate, study, and identify those areas in the state that are most essential as wildlife corridors and habitat linkages and prioritize vegetative data development in those areas. Existing law requires the department to seek input from representatives of other state agencies, local government, federal agencies, nongovernmental conservation organizations, landowners, agriculture, recreation, scientific entities, and industry in determining essential wildlife corridors and habitat linkages. Existing law also declares that it is the policy of the state to encourage, wherever feasible and practicable, voluntary steps to protect the functioning of wildlife corridors through various means. This bill, on or before January 1, 2020, would require the department to update the California Essential Habitat Connectivity Project and create a formal avenue for scientific data on wildlife movements gathered by universities, nonprofit corporations, public agencies, and independent biologists to be submitted to the department, as specified.

Existing law provides for the procedure of approving and accepting bail, and issuing an order for the appearance and release of an arrested person. Existing law requires that bail be set in a fixed amount, as specified, and requires, in setting, reducing, or denying bail, a judge or magistrate to take into consideration the protection of the public, the seriousness of the offense charged, the previous criminal record of the defendant, and the probability of his or her appearing at trial or at a hearing of the case. Under existing law, the magistrate or commissioner to whom the application is made is authorized to set bail in an amount that he or she deems sufficient to ensure the defendant's appearance or to ensure the protection of a victim, or family member of a victim, of domestic violence, and to set bail on the terms and conditions that he or she, in his or her discretion, deems appropriate, or he or she may authorize the defendant's release on his or her own recognizance. Existing law provides that a defendant being held for a misdemeanor offense is entitled to be released on his or her own recognizance, unless the court makes a finding on the record that his or her release would compromise public safety or would not reasonably ensure the appearance of the defendant as required. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to safely reduce the number of people detained pretrial, while addressing racial and economic disparities in the pretrial system, to ensure that people are not held in pretrial detention simply because of their inability to afford money bail. This bill would implement a revised pretrial release procedure. The bill would require, except when a person is arrested for certain felonies, that a pretrial services agency conduct a pretrial risk assessment on an arrested person and prepare a pretrial services report that includes the results of the pretrial risk assessment and recommendations on conditions of release for the person immediately upon booking. The bill would require the pretrial services agency to transmit the report to a magistrate, judge, or court commissioner and the magistrate, judge, or court commissioner, within an unspecified number of hours, to issue an oral or written order to release the person, with or without release conditions, subject to the person signing a specified release agreement. The bill would require, if a person is in custody at the time of his or her arraignment, the judge or magistrate to consider the pretrial services report and any relevant information provided by the prosecuting attorney or the defendant and to order the pretrial release of the person, with or without conditions, subject to the person signing a specified release agreement. If the judge or magistrate determines that pretrial release, with or without conditions, will not reasonably ensure the appearance of the person in court as required, the bill would require the judge or magistrate to set monetary bail at the least restrictive level necessary to ensure the appearance of the defendant in court as required. The bill would authorize, if the judge or magistrate has set monetary bail, the person to execute an unsecured appearance bond, execute a secured appearance bond, or deposit a percentage of the sum mentioned in the order setting monetary bail. The bill would authorize a prosecuting attorney to file a motion seeking the pretrial detention of a person in certain circumstances, including when the person has been charged with a capital crime and the prosecuting attorney alleges that the facts are evident or the presumption great. The bill would require, if this motion has been filed, a hearing to be held to determine whether to release the person pending trial, unless the person waives the hearing. The bill would authorize the person to be detained pretrial only if the court makes one of several specified findings. The bill would require each county to establish a pretrial services agency that would be responsible for gathering information about newly arrested persons, conducting pretrial risk assessments, preparing individually tailored recommendations to the court regarding release options and conditions, and providing pretrial services and supervision to persons on pretrial release. The bill would require an unspecified agency to take certain actions relating to the implementation of the revised pretrial release procedure, including, among others, selecting a pretrial risk assessment tool to be used in conducting pretrial risk assessments that meets specified requirements and reviewing collected data to monitor compliance with state law and guidelines relating to pretrial release. The bill would also authorize that agency to take certain actions relating to the implementation of the revised pretrial release procedure, including, among other things, providing training and assistance to judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, pretrial services agencies, jail staff, and law enforcement agencies. The bill would require the Board of State and Community Corrections, in consultation with that unspecified agency, to develop a plan that establishes statewide requirements for counties relating to annual reporting of pretrial release and detention information. By imposing additional duties on 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, 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.