Existing law establishes and requires the State Department of Social Services to administer the CalFood Program to provide food and funding to food banks whose primary function is to facilitate the distribution of food to low-income households, as specified. This bill would establish a program to provide emergency food assistance. The program would require, upon the appropriation of funds by the Legislature for this purpose, or upon a determination by the Governor that specified funds available to the Governor may be used for this purpose, the department to contract with a Feeding America partner state organization with the capacity to provide a food assistance benefit statewide, or another nonprofit entity that the department deems appropriate, to issue food assistance benefits in the form of a one-time use, prepaid card preloaded with $600 for use at retailers that sell groceries. The bill would require the cards to be issued on 2 different distribution periods at least one month apart to any adult who self-attests to eligibility for specified assistance programs. The bill would specify the procedures for administering this program. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, requires employers to comply with certain standards ensuring healthy and safe working conditions, as specified. Existing law charges the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the Department of Industrial Relations with enforcement of the act, subject to oversight by the Chief of the Division of Occupational Safety (chief) . Existing law makes a violation of the act a crime. Existing law defines "employment," for purposes of the act, to include the carrying on of any trade, enterprise, project, industry, business, occupation, or work, including all excavation, demolition, and construction work, or any process or operation in any way related thereto, in which any person is engaged or permitted to work for hire, except household domestic service. This bill would delete the above-described exception for household domestic service, thereby making it subject to the act. The bill would provide, however, that "employment" does not include household domestic service that is publicly funded, as specified, unless it is subject to certain regulatory provisions. The bill would make coverage for household domestic service operative on January 1, 2022, as specified. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the chief or a representative of the chief to convene an advisory committee and, within 6 months of convening, in consultation with the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation, make findings and recommendations to the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board for industry-specific regulations related to household domestic service. The bill would require the board to adopt industry-specific regulations pursuant to these provisions within a reasonable time and no later than January 1, 2022. Existing law authorizes the chief and all qualified and authorized division inspectors and investigators to have free access to any place of employment to make an investigation or inspection during regular working hours, and at other reasonable times when necessary, for the protection of safety and health. This bill would require the chief or their representative, when the workplace is a residential dwelling, to initiate telephone contact with the employer in response to an alleged violation received from a domestic service employee within a specified timeframe. The bill would require the chief or their representative to provide specified notice to the employer about the alleged violation and to investigate the violation in accordance with certain procedures. The bill would require the employer to provide specified information to the division regarding mitigation efforts to correct the violation and to provide copies of all correspondence received from the division to the domestic service employee or to post the correspondence, as specified. The bill would authorize the chief or their authorized representative, for complaints alleging serious illness or injury or death in household domestic service, to enter the premises with permission or with an inspection warrant without first initiating telephone contact, as specified. The bill would require investigations of complaints in household domestic service employment to be conducted in a manner that avoids any unwarranted invasion of personal privacy and to not contain any personal, financial, or medical information of residents residing in the residential dwelling that is not pertinent to the investigation of the complaint. 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 makes it a crime to commit various acts of sexual assault, including sexual battery and rape. Existing law makes it a crime to possess or use various controlled substances or for a person who is under 21 years of age to purchase or consume alcohol, as specified. Existing law provides, with respect to specified proceedings or investigations regarding felony offenses, that if a person refuses to answer a question or produce evidence on the ground that the person may be incriminated and if the person is ordered to comply but would have been privileged to withhold the answer given or the evidence produced except for the order, the person shall not be prosecuted or subjected to any penalty or forfeiture for, or on account of, any fact or act concerning which the person was required to answer or produce evidence, except as specified. Under existing law, a district attorney or other prosecuting agency may request an order granting use immunity or transactional immunity to a witness compelled to give testimony or produce evidence. This bill would make the testimony of a victim or witness in a felony prosecution for a violation or attempted violation of specified crimes of sexual assault that states that the victim or witness, at or around the time of the violation or attempted violation, unlawfully possessed or used a controlled substance or alcohol inadmissible in a separate prosecution of that victim or witness to prove illegal possession or use of that controlled substance or alcohol. The bill would specify that evidence that the testifying witness unlawfully possessed or used a controlled substance or alcohol is not excluded from use in the felony prosecution for a violation or attempted violation of specified crimes of sexual assault. The bill would specify that evidence that a witness received use immunity for testimony is not excluded in the felony prosecution of a violation or attempted violation of specified crimes of sexual assault. The California Constitution provides for the Right to Truth-In-Evidence, which requires a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature to exclude any relevant evidence from any criminal proceeding, as specified. Because this bill would exclude from a criminal action a person's statement regarding their use of controlled substances or alcohol that would otherwise be admissible, it requires a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature.
Prior law, until January 1, 2020, suspended a money judgment or order for child support for any period exceeding 90 consecutive days in which the person ordered to pay support was incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized, except as specified. Under that law, a suspended child support obligation resumed on the first day of the first full month after the release of the person owing the child support. This bill, until January 1, 2023, would reenact those repealed provisions. The bill would also require the Department of Child Support Services, in consultation with the Judicial Council, to develop forms to implement these provisions by January 1, 2022. The bill would require the department and the Judicial Council to conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of the administrative adjustment process authorized according to these provisions, as specified.
Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, and requires the department to administer various housing programs throughout the state, including programs that address the needs of homeless individuals and families, and to review local ordinances for the design, development, and operation of homeless shelters in cities and counties that have declared a shelter crisis. Existing law also 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 incorporate the core components of Housing First, an evidence-based model that uses housing as a tool, rather than a reward, for recovery. This bill would declare that it is the policy of the state that every individual has the right to safe, decent, and affordable housing, and would require the policy to consider homelessness prevention, emergency accommodations, and permanent housing, as specified. The bill would, among other things, require all relevant state agencies and departments, including, but not limited to, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the State Department of Social Services, and the Office of Emergency Services to consider that state policy when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, and grant criteria when those policies, regulations, and criteria are pertinent to advancing the guidelines listed as core components of Housing First. The bill would make these provisions operative on January 1, 2026, and would make implementation of these provisions subject to an appropriation of funds in the annual Budget Act for these purposes.
Existing law requires every secondhand dealer and coin dealer to report daily the receipt of all secondhand tangible personal property, except for firearms, which they have purchased, taken in trade or pawn, or accepted for sale on consignment or for auctioning, in accordance with certain provisions, to the statewide uniform electronic reporting system known as the California Pawn and SecondhandDealer System (CAPSS) , operated by the Department of Justice. Existing law requires the report to contain specified information, including the name and current address of the intended seller or pledger, and a form of identification for that person, which may include a Matricula Consular, in addition to another item of identification bearing an address. Existing law makes it a crime to commit perjury and also imposes various criminal penalties for violations of the secondhand goods provisions. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2023, exempt a seller or pledger who verifies their identity using a Matricula Consular from the requirements that their name and current address be included in the report. The bill would specify that in these cases no personal identifying information would be reported to CAPSS. The bill would instead require each secondhand dealer or coin dealer to record and maintain the name, current address, and the Matricula Consular number of the seller or pledger for 3 years from the date the item was reported to CAPSS, and to also record and maintain a certification by the intended seller or pledger that they are the owner of the property or have the authority of the owner to seller or pledge the property, along with taking a legible fingerprint from that person. The bill would also require each secondhand dealer or coin dealer, upon receiving notification from local law enforcement that the item has been reported lost, stolen, or embezzled, to provide law enforcement with the information collected from the identification used by the intended seller or pledger. By expanding the scope of existing crimes, the 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.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law prohibits an electrical corporation, gas corporation, or local publicly owned electric utility from sharing, disclosing, or otherwise making accessible to any third party a customer's electrical or gas consumption data, as defined, except as specified. This bill would prohibit an electrical corporation, gas corporation, or local publicly owned electric utility from sharing, disclosing, or otherwise making accessible to any immigration authority a customer's electrical or gas consumption data without a court-ordered subpoena or judicial warrant.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law prohibits a board within the department from denying licensure to an applicant based upon their citizenship or immigration status. This bill, notwithstanding any other law, would require a board within the department to expedite, and authorize it to assist, the initial licensure process for an applicant who supplies satisfactory evidence to the board that they are a refugee, have been granted asylum, or have a special immigrant visa, as specified. The bill would authorize a board to adopt regulations necessary to administer these provisions.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the department, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, including federally qualified health center (FQHC) services and rural health clinic (RHC) services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. FQHC and RHC services are reimbursed, to the extent that federal financial participation is obtained, to providers on a per-visit basis, and a "visit" is defined as a face-to-face encounter between a patient of an FQHC or RHC and specified health care professionals, including dental providers. Existing law prohibits a requirement of in-person contact between a health care provider and a Medi-Cal patient when the service may be provided by telehealth, and, for purposes of telehealth, prohibits the department from limiting the type of setting where Medi-Cal services are provided. Existing law authorizes, to the extent that federal financial participation is available, the use of health care services by store and forward under the Medi-Cal program, subject to billing and reimbursement policies developed by the department, and prohibits a requirement of in-person contact between a health care provider and a Medi-Cal patient when these services are provided by store and forward. This bill would provide that an FQHC or RHC "visit" includes an encounter between an FQHC or RHC patient and a health care provider using telehealth by synchronous interaction or asynchronous store and forward. The bill would specify that an FQHC or RHC is not precluded from establishing a patient who is located within the FQHC's or RHC's federal designated service area through synchronous interaction or asynchronous store and forward as of the date of service if specified requirements are met. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations, as specified, and to provide a status report to the Legislature on a semiannual basis until those regulations have been adopted. The bill would make these provisions inoperative 180 days after the state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic has been terminated, as specified.
Existing law establishes an Office of Health Equity in the State Department of Public Health for purposes of aligning state resources, decisionmaking, and programs to accomplish certain goals related to health equity and protecting vulnerable communities. Existing law requires the office to develop department-wide plans to close the gaps in health status and access to care among the state's diverse racial and ethnic communities, women, persons with disabilities, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning communities, as specified. This bill would establish the Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund, under the administration of the office, for the purpose of funding grants, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to organizations serving people that identify as transgender, gender nonconforming, or intersex (TGI) , to create or fund TGI-specific housing programs and partnerships with hospitals, health care clinics, and other medical providers to provide TGI-focused health care, as defined, and related education programs for health care providers.