Asm. Richard Bloom

Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Water Resources, which is under the control of the Director of Water Resources. Existing law provides for the appointment of the director by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that provision.

Existing law governs the bidding and awarding of public contracts by various state agencies. Existing law imposes requirements on contractors awarded various public contracts, including, among others, certifying that no equipment, materials, supplies, apparel, garments, or accessories provided under specified contracts are produced by sweatshop labor, forced labor, convict labor, indentured labor under penal sanction, abusive forms of child labor, or exploitation of children in sweatshop labor. This bill would establish the California Deforestation-Free Procurement Act. The bill would require a contractor, as defined, and specified subcontractors, for any contract entered into, extended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2024, contracting with a state agency for the procurement of products comprised wholly or in part of forest-risk commodities to certify that the commodities were not grown, derived, harvested, reared, or produced on land where tropical deforestation occurred on or after January 1, 2022. The bill would exempt a credit card purchase of goods of $2,500 or less, not to exceed a total of $7,500 of goods per contractor per year, from these certification requirements. The bill would require specified contractors to have a No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation policy, as specified, and would require the contractors to make the policy and corresponding data publicly available. The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2023, the Department of General Services to issue an informational notice or memorandum on a Deforestation-Free Code of Conduct to be used by contractors that includes, among other things, a list of forest-risk commodities subject to these provisions. This bill would impose sanctions on contractors who knew or should have known that a product furnished to the state was comprised wholly or in part of a forest-risk commodity in violation of these provisions. The bill would specify that any person who certifies as true any material matter that the person knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The State Contract Act governs the bidding and award of public works contracts by specific state agencies and requires an awarding department, before entering into any contract for a project, to prepare full, complete, and accurate plans, specifications, and estimates of cost. The act prohibits, except in specified circumstances, a state agency responsible for letting public works contracts from drafting bid specifications in a manner that limits the bidding to any one concern or product, except under certain circumstances. This bill would prohibit a state agency from including in bid specifications for public works projects any wood or wood products whose importation and use are prohibited under the federal Lacey Act. 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.

(1) The Personal Income Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines gross income as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income. Existing federal law, for purposes of determining a taxpayer's gross income for federal income taxation, requires that a person who is a United States shareholder of any controlled foreign corporation to include in their gross income the global intangible low-taxed income for that taxable year, as provided. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2022, would include a taxpayer's global intangible low-taxed income in their gross income for purposes of the Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with the above-described federal provisions. The bill would exempt any regulation, standard, criterion, procedure, determination, rule, notice, or guideline established or issued by the Franchise Tax Board to implement its provisions from the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. The Corporation Tax Law, when the income of a taxpayer subject to tax under that law is derived from or attributable to sources both within and without the state, generally requires that the tax be measured by the net income derived from or attributable to sources within this state, as provided. Notwithstanding this requirement, the Corporation Tax Law authorizes a qualified taxpayer, as defined, to elect to determine its income derived from or attributable to sources within this state pursuant to a water's-edge election, as provided. For taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2003, existing law requires that a water's-edge election be made on an original, timely filed return for the year of the election, as provided, and provides for the continued effect or termination of that election. This bill, beginning January 1, 2022, would require that a taxpayer that makes a water's-edge election under these provisions take into account 50% of the global intangible low-taxed income and 40% of the repatriation income of its affiliated corporations, as those terms are defined. The bill would allow a taxpayer, for calendar year 2022 only, the opportunity to revoke a water's-edge election if the taxpayer includes global intangible low-taxed income pursuant to these provisions. The bill would prohibit the total of all business credits, as defined, and all credits allowed under specified provisions of the Corporation Tax Law, with specified exceptions, from reducing the additional tax liability added by this bill's provisions by more than $5,000,000, as provided. The bill would exempt any regulation, standard, criterion, procedure, determination, rule, notice, or guideline established or issued by the Franchise Tax Board to implement its provisions from the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that any revenue resulting from the above-described changes to the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law be used for purposes of the Bring California Home Act, as described below. (2) Existing law requires the Governor to create the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council (council) . Existing law specifies the duties of the coordinating council, including creating partnerships among state agencies and departments, local government agencies, and specified federal agencies and private entities, for the purpose of arriving at specific strategies to end homelessness. Existing law requires the Governor to appoint up to 19 members of the council, including representatives from specified state agencies and departments, and a formerly homeless person and a formerly homeless youth who both live in California, and requires the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly to each appoint one member to the council from 2 different stakeholder organizations. This bill would delete the provisions relating to the appointment authority of the Governor and the Legislature, and would instead restructure the council, including requiring the council to be composed of prescribed individuals, including the directors of specified state agencies and departments, such as the State Department of Public Health. The bill would require the council to seek guidance from, and meet with, an advisory committee composed of specified individuals, including a survivor of gender-based violence who formerly experienced homelessness and a formerly homeless person who lives in California. This bill would require the council, its technical services provider, or an entity with which the council contracts to identify, analyze, and collect various data in regards to homelessness in this state, including identifying state programs that provide housing or housing-based services to persons experiencing homelessness, as provided. The bill would require the council to report on this information to specified committees of the Legislature by July 31, 2022. The bill would require the council to seek technical assistance offered by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, if available, for purposes of conducting this statewide needs and gaps analysis. The bill would require a state department or agency with a member on the council to assist in data collection for the analysis by responding to data requests within 180 days, as specified. The bill would require the council to convene a funder's workgroup, composed of specified individuals, including staff of the council and staff working for agencies or departments represented on the council, to accomplish prescribed goals, and would authorize that workgroup to invite philanthropic organizations focused on ending homelessness, reducing health disparities, ending domestic violence, or ensuring Californians do not exit foster care or incarceration to homelessness to participate in specific meetings. The bill would require the workgroup to perform specified duties, including collaborating with state agency staff to develop a universal application for service providers and other entities to apply to agencies and departments represented on the council for funding for homeless services and housing, and to coordinate state agencies and departments to reduce the risk of long-term homelessness by developing specific protocols and procedures that accomplish prescribed goals, such as assisting individuals reentering communities from jails and prisons with housing navigation, housing acquisition support, and obtaining permanent housing. Existing law requires agencies and departments administering state programs to collaborate with the council to adopt guidelines to revise or adopt guidelines and regulations to incorporate core components of Housing First, as provided. Existing law defines "state programs" for these purposes to mean any programs a California state agency or department funds, implements, or administers for the purpose of providing housing or housing-based services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, but excludes federally funded programs with inconsistent requirements or programs that fund emergency shelters. This bill would delete the exclusion for programs that fund emergency shelters from this definition of "state programs," thereby expanding the scope of programs required to incorporate core components of Housing First, as described above. (3) Existing law establishes, among various other programs intended to address homelessness in this state, the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program for the purpose of providing jurisdictions with one-time grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges informed by a best-practices framework focused on moving homeless individuals and families into permanent housing and supporting the efforts of those individuals and families to maintain their permanent housing. Existing law provides for the allocation of funding under the program among continuums of care, cities, and counties in 2 rounds, the first of which is administered by the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and the second of which is administered by the coordinating council. This bill would enact the Bring California Home Act, which would establish the Bring California Home Fund in the State Treasury and continuously appropriate moneys in that fund for the purpose of implementing that act. The bill would require the Controller to annually transfer specified amounts, determined as provided by the Franchise Tax Board based on the above-described changes made by this bill to the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, to the Bring California Home Fund. The bill would require that recipients and subrecipients under the program ensure that any expenditure of moneys allocated to them serve the eligible population, unless otherwise expressly provided in the bill. The bill would define various terms for these purposes. The bill would require the council to administer allocations to counties and continuums of care that apply jointly and to large cities, as provided. The bill would require the council to set aside $200,000,000 for bonus awards, as provided. Of the remaining amount in the fund, the bill would require the council to allocate 60% to counties and continuums of care applying jointly and 40% to large cities, in accordance with a specified formula and subject to certain requirements. The bill would establish eligibility criteria for a county and continuum of care or a large city to receive an allocation under these provisions and specify the eligible uses for those moneys. The bill would authorize a jointly applying county and continuum of care to request that the State Department of Social Services contract with local agencies or nonprofit organizations providing the housing and housing-based services under the program in exchange for a percentage of the allocation to the county and continuum of care for administrative costs, as provided. The bill would require the council to allocate available funding in 2-year cycles, with the first round allocated no later than March 31, 2023, and to develop a simple application that an eligible entity may use to apply for funding, as well as common standards for recipients to monitor, report, and ensure accountability, provide services, and subsidize housing. The bill would require the council and each recipient to establish performance outcomes for the initial cycle and to establish outcome goals before each subsequent grant cycle, as provided, and require the council to award bonus funding to a recipient, if the recipient has achieved those performance outcomes, or reduce or deny that bonus funding the if the recipient has not achieved those performance outcomes. The bill, except as otherwise provided, would require each recipient to contractually obligate 100% of the amount allocated to it within 3 years, for the first grant cycle, or 1 year, for each subsequent cycle, and to expend the entirety of that amount within 4 years, for the first grant cycle, or 2 years, for each subsequent cycle. If a recipient fails to comply with these deadlines, uses moneys allocated to it for an unauthorized purpose, or fails to apply for an allocation within the initial award cycle, the bill would require the council to either select an alternative entity to administer the recipient's allocation in accordance with specified requirements or solely establish performance outcomes and program priorities for that recipient jurisdiction and work with local, regional, or statewide entities to administer the allocation on behalf of the recipient. The bill would require each recipient to annually report to the council specified information relating to allocations made under these provisions. The bill would require the council to conduct regular monitoring and audits of the activities and outcomes of recipients that are joint county-continuum of care applicants or large cities. No later than January 1, 2024, and every 5th January 1 thereafter, the bill would require the council to evaluate the outcomes of this program and submit a report, containing specified information, to specified committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the council to establish an advisory committee to inform state and local policies, practices, and programs with respect to the experiences of specified demographic groups experiencing homelessness. (4) Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services pursuant to a schedule of benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. By January 1, 2025, this bill would require the department to seek federal approval for a Medi-Cal benefit to fund prescribed services, including housing navigation and housing acquisition support services, for beneficiaries experiencing homelessness, to convene a stakeholder advisory group representing counties, health care consumers, and homeless advocates in developing this plan, to work with counties to determine an effective process for funding the state's share of the federal medical assistance percentage, and to pursue philanthropic funding to carry out the administrative duties related to these provisions. The bill would authorize the department to use up to 20% of the county-continuum allocation from the Bring California Home Fund, as described above, to pay for the state's federal medical assistance percentage associated with this benefit. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the Ralph C. Dills Act (Dills Act) , governs collective bargaining between the state and recognized state public employee organizations. Existing law excludes certain employees from coverage under the Dills Act, including, among others, managerial employees, supervisory employees, and confidential employees, as defined. Existing law creates the Public Employment Relations Board and authorizes it, among other things, to determine appropriate state employee bargaining units, as specified. This bill would enact the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act, to provide employees of the Legislature, including some supervisory and managerial employees, the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. The bill would prescribe rights, duties, and prohibitions in this context that parallel those in the Dills Act. The bill would prohibit the Public Employment Relations Board from including employees of the Legislature in a bargaining unit that includes employees other than those of the Legislature. The bill would make it a misdemeanor for any person to willfully resist, prevent, impede, or interfere with any member of the board, or any of its agents, in the performance of duties pursuant to its provisions. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that the provisions of the Legislature Employer-Employee Relations Act are severable. 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, the California Tourism and Marketing Act, establishes a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation named the California Travel and Tourism Commission under the direction of a board of commissioners composed of 37 members, including the Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development. This bill, the California Tourism Recovery Act, would require the commission to, upon a determination by the State Department of Public Health that it is safe to resume travel in California, implement a strategic media and jobs recovery campaign known as the "Calling All Californians" program for the purpose of reversing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the travel and tourism industry in California, as specified. The bill would require the commission to report to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2024, regarding the cost of the program and the impact of the program on the tourism industry in California. The bill would require, only upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Controller to transfer $45,000,000 to the commission for the purpose of implementing the "Calling All Californians" program.

Existing law requires, by July 1, 2018, a community water system to compile an inventory of known lead user service lines in use in its distribution system and identify areas that may have lead user service lines in use in its distribution system. Existing law requires, by July 1, 2020, a community water system with known lead user service lines in use in its distribution system to provide a timeline for replacement of those lines to the State Water Resources Control Board. Existing law requires the state board to review and approve an established timeline, and requires, if the state board fails to act within 30 days of the submission of the timeline, the timeline to be deemed approved. Existing law authorizes the state board to enforce these requirements, as specified, and a violation is considered a violation of the California Safe Drinking Water Act, subjecting the violator to specified civil and criminal penalties. This bill would, until January 1, 2025, require a community water system to remove or replace the full lead user service line, if the community water system disturbs, removes, or replaces a portion thereof. The bill would apply the above-described enforcement provisions to a violation of the requirements of the bill, thereby creating a state-mandated local program by expanding the scope of crimes under the California Safe Drinking Water Act. 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.