Under existing law, a registered voter may vote by mail by requesting a vote by mail ballot for a specific election or by becoming a permanent vote by mail voter. County elections officials must begin mailing ballots and other required materials to these voters no later than 29 days before the day of the election. Existing law, the California Voter's Choice Act, authorizes any county to conduct any election occurring on or after January 1, 2020, as an all-mailed ballot election if specified conditions are met. In an all-mailed ballot election held under the act, the county elections official must mail a ballot to every registered voter, regardless of whether the voter requested a vote by mail ballot or is a permanent vote by mail voter. This bill would require county elections officials to mail a ballot to every registered voter for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election. Existing law requires county elections officials to permit voters with a disability, and military or overseas voters, to cast a ballot using a certified remote accessible vote by mail system. This bill would require county elections officials to permit any voter to cast a ballot using a certified remote accessible vote by mail system for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to establish, by January 1, 2020, a system that a county elections official may use to allow a voter to track the voter's vote by mail ballot through the mail system and processing by the county elections official. County elections officials are not required to use the system, however. This bill would require county elections officials to use the Secretary of State's system, or a system that meets the same specifications, for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election. Under existing law, a vote by mail ballot is timely cast if it is voted on or before election day and, if returned by mail, received by the voter's elections official via the United States Postal Service, or a bona fide private mail delivery company, no later than 3 days after election day. This bill would, for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, extend the deadline by which vote by mail ballots must be received by the county elections official to the 17th day after election day. Under existing law, any jurisdiction having the necessary computer capability may start to process vote by mail ballots on the 10th business day before the election. This processing includes opening vote by mail ballot return envelopes, removing ballots, duplicating any damaged ballots, and preparing the ballots to be machine read, or machine reading them, including processing write-in votes so that they can be tallied by the machine, but under no circumstances may a vote count be accessed or released until 8 p.m. on the day of the election. This bill would authorize these jurisdictions, for the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, to begin processing vote by mail ballots on the 29th day before the election. By requiring county elections officials to mail a ballot to every registered voter, and to take other actions expanding vote by mail voting, including making remote accessible voting available to all voters, 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
This measure would declare the week of February 17 to February 21, 2020, inclusive, as California Fitness Week, and would encourage Californians to enrich their lives through proper nutrition and exercise.
This measure would proclaim February 20, 2020, as Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day.
This measure would recognize February 2020 as Black History Month, urge all citizens to join in celebrating the accomplishments of African Americans during Black History Month, 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, and recognize the significance in protecting citizens' right to vote and remedying racial discrimination in voting.
The California Constitution requires the Legislature to convene in regular session on specified dates and provides that a majority of the membership constitutes a quorum, although a lesser number may recess from day to day and compel the attendance of absent members. The California Constitution requires the proceedings of each house of the Legislature to be open and public and recognizes the right of the public to attend, record, and broadcast those proceedings. The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature to provide for the convening of the Legislature to meet the needs resulting from a war-caused or enemy-caused disaster in the state. This measure would permit Members to remotely attend and vote in a legislative proceeding, or to vote by proxy in a legislative proceeding if permitted by their house, during the pendency of a state of emergency declared by the Governor or the President of the United States, under specified conditions. The measure would provide, among other conditions, that a Member may remotely attend and vote, or vote by proxy as authorized, in a proceeding only if the state of emergency prevents the Member from safely attending the proceeding in person. The measure would also provide that a Member attending remotely would be included in the determination of a quorum. The measure would provide that if 15 or more of the Members of a house cannot attend a proceeding during a state of emergency because they are deceased, disabled, or missing, a quorum may be established by a majority of those Members able to attend. The measure would specify that the Legislature may provide by statute for temporarily filling the vacant offices of Members with pro tempore members in the event that 15 or more of the Members of a house are deceased, disabled, or missing during a state of emergency. The measure would require the Legislature by concurrent resolution, or each house by separate resolutions, 23 of the membership concurring, to adopt rules to implement this provision no later than the end of the biennial legislative session in which this measure takes effect, except as specified.
(1) Existing law prohibits sterilization of a person with developmental disabilities without the person's consent, if the person has the ability to consent to sterilization, as defined, unless a limited conservator authorized to consent to the sterilization of an adult with a developmental disability is appointed and obtains court authorization to consent to the sterilization, as specified. Existing law prohibits sterilization for the purpose of birth control in county jails and state prison facilities, as specified. Existing law establishes a procedure for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of certain crimes by the California Victim Compensation Board from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund consisting of General Fund moneys, for specified losses suffered as a result of those crimes. Existing law sets forth eligibility requirements and specified limits on the amount of compensation the board may award, and requires applications for compensation to be verified under penalty of perjury. Under existing law, certain property is exempt from enforcement of money judgments, including benefits from a disability or health insurance policy or program. This bill would establish the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program, to be administered by the California Victim Compensation Board for the purpose of providing victim compensation to survivors of state-sponsored sterilization conducted pursuant to eugenics laws that existed in California between 1909 and 1979 and to survivors of coerced sterilizations of people in prisons after 1979. The bill would require the board, in consultation with community-based organizations, to conduct outreach to locate qualified recipients, as defined, disclose a coerced sterilization to that person if the person was sterilized while imprisoned, notify that person of the process to apply for victim compensation, and review and verify all applications for victim compensation, as specified. The bill would require the board to keep confidential and not disclose to the public a record pertaining to a person's application for victim compensation or the board's verification of the application. The bill would exempt victim compensation payments from, among other things, being considered taxable income for state tax purposes or being subject to enforcement of a money judgment, as specified. The bill would provide that these provisions would become operative only upon an appropriation to the board, the State Department of State Hospitals, the State Department of Developmental Services, and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for the purpose of implementing the program. The bill would also require the board and departments to post a notice on their internet websites once the appropriation described above is made to inform the public of the operative date of the program. (2) Existing law provides that information and records obtained in the course of providing specified mental health and developmental services are confidential, but allows the disclosure of the information and records under specified circumstances. This bill would additionally authorize the State Department of Developmental Services and the State Department of State Hospitals to disclose the above-described information and records to authorized employees of the board for the purposes of verifying the identity and eligibility of individuals claiming compensation under the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program, or to an attorney for a person who was sterilized or alleges a person was sterilized. The bill would require the board to maintain the confidentiality of the information and records received from the departments. (3) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or 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.
(1) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, would allow a credit against those taxes to a taxpayer that is transferred, and allocated, credits pursuant to the sale of a multifamily rental housing development or mobilehome park to a qualified developer, as defined, that has received a credit reservation from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, in specified amounts. The bill would require the credits to be reserved on a first-come-first-served basis. The bill would limit the aggregate amount of credit that may be allocated by the committee, as provided. The bill would also provide that the credit amount shall be $0 for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, unless otherwise specified in a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Act. (2) Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax credit to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new income tax credit. (3) This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
This measure would proclaim March 15, 2020, to March 22, 2020, as California Down Syndrome Awareness Week and March 21, 2020, as California Down Syndrome Day, and would encourage all Californians to support and participate in related activities.
Existing law provides for the licensure of health facilities by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires a health facility to comply with specified infection control protocols, including reporting specified infections to the department and having a health facility infection control officer or their designee available 24 hours per day. A violation of the licensing requirements for health facilities is a crime. This bill would require a health facility to limit the possible introduction of the pathogen, infection, or illness that is the subject of a declared pandemic or health-related state of emergency or local emergency into the facility by indefinitely postponing routine medical appointments and prohibiting visitor access, as specified. The bill would also require a health facility to institute universal precautions based on scientific evidence and universal source control procedures to reduce potential for transmission of the pathogen, infection, or illness within the whole facility by implementing specified protocols, including establishing a contaminated zone, a potentially contaminated zone, and a clean zone, with separate passageways from each zone. Because a violation of the bill's provisions would be a crime, 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.