The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to approve a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020 and to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. The act requires the state board to prepare and approve a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and to update the scoping plan at least once every 5 years. This bill would require the state board to adopt a regulation defining carbon neutrality, as specified.
Sponsored bills
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 Economic Revitalization Act, establishes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as "GO-Biz," in state government within the Governor's office under the control of a director. The act requires GO-Biz to serve as the Governor's lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth. This bill would establish within GO-Biz the Restaurant Equity and Desegregation Program for a specified purpose related to fostering workplace equity in California restaurants. The bill would require GO-Biz to annually promote a restaurant week during the month of January in order to highlight eligible restaurants, which the bill would define as restaurants whose owner enters into an agreement with GO-Biz to commit to improving workplace equity and mobility and provides Go-Biz with assessments of the level of segregation in the restaurant, and whose owner, general manager, or upper management completes a qualifying training and technical assistance course, as provided. The bill would require GO-Biz to develop the course and to publish on its internet website a current list of all eligible restaurants. The bill would require GO-Biz to adopt rules and regulations to develop a procedure for restaurants to apply to participate in the program and would require GO-Biz to provide eligible restaurants with signage identifying the eligible restaurant as an equitable employer and a participant in the program. The bill would make various related findings.
(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.
Existing law establishes various programs, including, among others, the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program, to provide assistance to homeless persons. Existing law also establishes the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to, among other things, create a statewide data system or warehouse that collects local data through homeless management information systems, with the ultimate goal of matching data on homelessness programs to programs impacting homeless recipients of state programs, as specified. This bill would establish the California Flexible Housing Subsidy Pool Program within the Department of Housing and Community Development for the purpose of making grants available to applicants, defined to include a city, county, city and county, or continuum of care, for eligible activities including, among other things, rental assistance, operating subsidies in new and existing affordable or supportive housing units, and specified outreach services. The bill would continuously appropriate $450,000,000 from the General Fund every fiscal year to the department for purposes of the program, and set forth how these funds must be allocated. The bill would require the department to, on or before January 1, 2023, and every year thereafter, evaluate the outcomes of the program and report the outcomes to the Senate Committee on Housing and the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development. The bill would also require the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to work with the department to create a California Funder's Collaborative that would, among other things, establish a process for incorporating private contributions into state programs to create local innovations, establish pilot programs, or evaluate programs.
Existing law requires that specified persons who have been released on parole from state prison who were not imprisoned for a violent felony, a serious felony, or an offense requiring registration as a sex offender, and who have been on parole for a period of 6 months, be discharged from parole unless the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation recommends to the Board of Parole Hearings that the person should be retained, and the board, for good cause, determines that the person is to be retained. This bill would instead require those persons, if they have been scored as low or moderate risk by the department's risk assessment tool, to be released if they have been on parole continuously for 180 days and have not committed any new offenses. The bill would require those persons, if they have not been scored as low or moderate risk by the department's risk assessment tool, to be released if they have been on parole continuously for 180 days, have been compliant with the terms and conditions of their parole, and have not committed any new offenses, unless the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation determines, for good cause, that the person be retained. Existing law requires that specified persons who have been released on parole from state prison who were imprisoned for a serious felony or an offense requiring registration as a sex offender, and who have been on parole continuously for one year since release from confinement, be discharged from parole unless the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation recommends to the Board of Parole Hearings that the person should be retained, and the board, for good cause, determines that the person be retained. This bill would instead require those persons, if they have been scored as low or moderate risk by the department's risk assessment tool, to be released if they have been on parole continuously for 180 days, have been compliant with the terms and conditions of their parole, and have not committed any new offenses, unless the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation determines, for good cause, that the person is to be retained. The bill would require those persons, if they have not been scored as low or moderate risk by the department's risk assessment tool, to be released if they have been on parole continuously for one year, have been compliant with the terms and conditions of their parole, and have not committed any new offenses, unless the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation recommends to the Board of Parole Hearings that the person should be retained, and the board, for good cause, determines that the person be retained. Existing law requires that specified persons who have been released on parole from state prison who were imprisoned for a violent felony, and who have been released on parole for a period not exceeding 3 years and have been on parole continuously for 2 years since release from confinement, or who have been released on parole for a period not exceeding 5 years and have been on parole continuously for 3 years since release from confinement, be discharged from parole unless the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation recommends to the Board of Parole Hearings that the person should be retained, and the board, for good cause, determines that the person be retained. This bill would instead require those persons, if they have been scored as low or moderate risk by the department's risk assessment tool, to be released if they have been on parole continuously for 180 days, have been compliant with the terms and conditions of their parole, and have not committed any new offenses, unless the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation determines, for good cause, that the person is to be retained. Existing law requires that a person who has been released to county postrelease supervision, that has been on postrelease supervision for 6 consecutive months without a violation of their conditions of postrelease supervision, may be considered for discharge. This bill would instead require those persons to be reviewed and considered for discharge. This bill would additionally define "good cause" for these purposes. The bill would require the department or the county agency responsible for postrelease supervision, when good cause is found, to draft and adopt a supervision plan to address the issues that gave rise to the good cause finding, as specified. By imposing additional duties on a county agency, this bill would create 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 prohibits an employer from paying any of its employees at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of the opposite sex for substantially similar work, when viewed as a composite of skill, effort, and responsibility, and performed under similar working conditions, unless the employer demonstrates that one or more specific factors, reasonably applied, account for the entire wage differential. Existing law also similarly prohibits an employer from paying any employee a wage rate less than the rate paid to an employee of another race or ethnicity for substantially similar work. Existing law also prohibits prior salary, by itself, from justifying any disparity in compensation. Existing law requires a civil action for violations of these provisions be brought within one year after the cause of action arises. Existing law also makes it a misdemeanor for an employer to refuse or neglect to comply with the above provisions of law. This bill would state that, for purposes of these provisions, "sex" also includes a person's gender identity or gender-related appearance. The bill would also require that an administrative action for violations of these provisions be brought within one year after the cause of action arises. The bill would state that these amendments do not constitute a change in, but are declaratory of, existing law.
Existing law establishes the Capital Access Loan Program for Small Businesses, which is administered by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority, to assist qualifying small businesses in financing the costs of complying with environmental mandates and the remediation of contamination on their properties. Under the program, the authority may enter into contracts with participating financial institutions and is required to establish a loss reserve account with participating financial institutions. Existing law authorizes a participating financial institution that experiences a default on a qualified loan enrolled in the Capital Access Loan Program to obtain reimbursement from the authority by submitting a claim for reimbursement for a specified amount of the loss covered by that loan, subject to certain procedures. Existing law also establishes other capital access loan programs that are administered by the authority, including the California Americans with Disabilities Small Business Capital Access Loan Program and the California Seismic Safety Capital Access Loan Program. Under the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013, the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, administers specific programs relating to small business, either administered directly by the bank or under contract with small business financial development corporations. Existing law establishes within the bank the California Small Business Finance Center and authorizes the center to administer programs to assist businesses seeking new capital resources under the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013, and establishes other related provisions. The act establishes the program manager as the manager of the California Small Business Finance Center, and requires each small business financial development corporation formed pursuant to the act to submit specified information to the program manager related to their activities. Existing law requires the program manager, no later than January 1 of each year, to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature a report for the preceding fiscal year ending June 30 containing the financial product activity of each small business financial development corporation formed. Existing law establishes the Small Business Expansion Fund in the State Treasury, and continuously appropriates specified moneys into the fund for purposes related to the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013. This bill would create the Loan Loss Reserve Account in the California Small Business Expansion Fund to be under the administrative and management control of the California Small Business Finance Center within the bank, and would continuously appropriate all moneys deposited into the account to the center for purposes of the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013. By establishing a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require that the account be established and maintained by the bank for the benefit of qualified financial companies or financial institutions participating as a lender in the loan loss reserve program or another program authorized pursuant to Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013. The bill would authorize the program to hold funds in the loan loss reserve account in a financial institution or company that establishes a trust fund, as specified. The bill would prescribe a process for the transfer of specified moneys held by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority to the Capital Access Reserve Fund. The bill would require the bank to create holding accounts and loss reserve accounts and would prescribe the purposes for which they may be used. The bill would provide that the state or the bank are not liable or obligated in any way beyond the money that is allocated and deposited into the Loan Loss Reserve Account or the trust fund account, as specified. The bill would create the California Loan Loss Reserve Program for Small Business, a loan loss reserve and credit enhancement program, within the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013. The bill would provide for the transfer of the loss reserve loan portfolio of the California Capital Access Loan Program, administered by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority, to the California Small Business Finance Center for purposes of the California Loan Loss Reserve Program for Small Business, pursuant to a specified process. The bill would authorize the bank to contract with a qualified financial company or financial institution to participate as a lender in the program, and would state a specified priority for loans to be enrolled. The bill would require the bank to develop directives and requirements to implement the program. The bill would provide for the maintenance of regulations adopted by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority in connection with the management and control of loan loss reserve funds, as specified. The bill would prescribe a process pursuant to which a financial company or institution participating as a lender may withdraw from the program. The bill would also provide for the transfer of the collateral support loan portfolio of the California Capital Access Loan Program, administered by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority, to the bank pursuant to a specified process. The bill would make conforming and technical changes. The bill would modify the requirements of the annual report described above by requiring the program manager to include in its annual report the financial product activity of each financial institution or company that participates in the loan loss reserve program specified information, and would require the program manager, for one year following the creation of the loan loss reserve program, to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature a semi-annual progress report relating to the transfer of the loan loss reserve program from the California Pollution Control Financing Authority to the California Small Business Finance Center at the bank. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would name the public street, circle, and plaza at 914 and 915 Capitol Mall in the City of Sacramento as the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Circle and Plaza. The measure would request the Department of General Services to determine the cost of erecting the appropriate signage commemorating this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources, to cover that cost to erect that signage.