Asm. Freddie Rodriguez

Existing law prohibits an employer from asking an applicant to disclose, or from utilizing as a factor in determining any condition of employment, information concerning an arrest or detention that did not result in a conviction, or information concerning a referral or participation in, any pretrial or posttrial diversion program, except as specified. Existing law also prohibits an employer, as specified, from asking an applicant to disclose, or from utilizing as a factor in determining any condition of employment, information concerning a conviction that has been judicially dismissed or ordered sealed, except in specified circumstances. Applicants for employment as peace officers, or with the Department of Justice, or with other criminal justice agencies, or persons already employed as peace officers, are an exception to these prohibitions, so that information about applicants for these positions or employees may be disclosed or sought. Existing law makes it a crime to intentionally violate these provisions. This bill would additionally include persons already employed as nonsworn members of a criminal justice agency, as specified, within the exception to these prohibitions, so that information regarding arrests or detentions regarding specified crimes about these employees may be disclosed or sought. Existing law authorizes a criminal justice agency to release criminal history information under certain circumstances, including the release of information concerning an arrest or detention of a peace officer, or applicant for a position as a peace officer, that did not result in conviction or information concerning a referral to and participation in any postarrest diversion program or deferred entry of judgment program to a governmental agency employer of that peace officer or applicant. This bill would also authorize a criminal justice agency to release that information concerning a nonsworn employee of a criminal justice agency, or an applicant for a nonsworn position within a criminal justice agency, to a governmental agency employer of that nonsworn employee or applicant.

This measure would, on June 23, 2021, commemorate the 49th anniversary of the enactment of Title IX, and would urge Californians to continue to work together to achieve the goals set by Title IX, as specified.

This measure would designate the month of June 2021 as Healthy Homes Awareness Month.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, creates, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services, which is responsible for addressing natural, technological, or man-made disasters and emergencies, including responsibility for activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property. This bill would require the office to prepare a gap analysis of the state's mutual aid systems on a biennial basis, beginning on January 1, 2022. The bill would require the gap analysis to be prepared as specified and would require the gap analysis to be provided to specified committees of the Legislature no later than February 1, 2022, and by February 1 thereafter on a biennial basis.

Existing law requires the Instructional Quality Commission to develop and submit to the State Board of Education, on or before December 31, 2022, and the state board to adopt, modify, or revise or reject, as prescribed, on or before March 31, 2023, a model curriculum relative to (1) the Vietnamese American refugee experience, (2) the Cambodian genocide, and (3) Hmong history and cultural studies, as specified, for use in elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. Existing law requires implementation of these provisions to be subject to the receipt of grants, donations, or other financial support from private or public sources for its purposes, including, but not limited to, an appropriation in the annual Budget Act or another statute. This bill instead would extend the timelines for the development and submission by the commission of, and the adoption, modification, or revision by the state board of, the above-described model curricula by 4 years.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes the Governor to proclaim a state of emergency, and local officials and local governments to proclaim a local emergency, when specified conditions of disaster or extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist. Existing law establishes the Office of Emergency Services (OES) within the office of the Governor and sets forth its powers and duties relating to responsibility over the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies, including responsibility for activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property. This bill would require OES to biennially convene key personnel and agencies that have emergency management roles and responsibilities to participate in tabletop exercises in which the participant's emergency preparedness plans are discussed and evaluated under various simulated catastrophic disaster situations, as specified. This bill would require the tabletop exercises to be designed by OES to enhance the capabilities of the participants to do various things, including to engage the communities that they each serve, as appropriate, in the development of executable strategic, operational, or tactical-level approaches to meet defined disaster response objectives. This bill would require OES to report on each tabletop exercise it conducts to the committees on budget, the Assembly Committee on Emergency Management, and the Senate Committee on Governmental Organization by February 1, 2023, and biennially thereafter of the calendar year following each biennial simulation and evaluation. The bill would require OES to use federal preparedness grant funding to offset the state, local, and tribal government costs associated with participation in the tabletop exercises to the greatest extent possible. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law sets forth safety and health requirements for employers and employees. Existing law requires a public or private employer of workers in a general acute care hospital, as defined, to supply personal protective equipment, as defined, to employees who provide direct patient care or who provide services that directly support patient care. Existing law provides that, except where another penalty is specifically provided, every employer and every officer, management official, or supervisor having direction, management, control, or custody of any employment, place of employment, or of any other employee, who repeatedly violates any standard, order, or special order, or any provision of specified employment safety laws so that such repeated violation creates a real and apparent hazard to employees is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would require the employer to supply personal protective equipment to an employee, regardless of whether or not the employee has received a vaccination for COVID-19. This bill would also require a public or private employer of workers in a general acute care hospital to develop and implement a program to offer weekly COVID-19 screening testing for health care personnel, as defined. The bill would require the program to meet certain requirements, including requiring the employer to conduct the COVID-19 screening testing by administering to participating health care personnel a specified COVID-19 test with results obtained within 48 hours, offering all health care personnel the opportunity to participate in the screening testing program, and offering health care personnel who have signs or symptoms consistent with COVID-19 the opportunity to be tested for COVID-19 within 24 hours. The bill would require an employer to develop and implement health care personnel screening testing guidelines that include policies and procedures that address the use of COVID-19 test results, as specified. The bill would require an employer to develop a COVID-19 mitigation and testing plan containing the requirements described above and to make the plan available to the department and health care personnel and their representatives upon request. The bill would also require an employer to test all patients for COVID-19 prior to admission to the hospital, except as provided, and to monitor all patients during their hospital stay for the development of COVID-19 symptoms. The bill would require a patient that is not tested prior to admission to the hospital to be considered a potential COVID-19 patient, as defined, and would require health care personnel to be provided and to wear full personal protective equipment when providing care to such a patient. The bill would, if an employer provides emergency services and direct patient care services in a general acute care hospital controlled by another employer, impose the requirements of this section only on the employer who controls the general acute care hospital and would require that employer to meet those requirements in that hospital. The bill would impose these requirements only until January 1, 2025. Because the bill would expand the scope of 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.