(1) Existing law creates the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which is headed by the Labor Commissioner, and commits to it the general authority to enforce the requirements of the Labor Code. Existing law generally authorizes people who believe that they have been discharged or otherwise discriminated against in violation of any law enforced by the Labor Commissioner to file a complaint with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within 6 months after the occurrence of the violation. Existing law generally requires the Labor Commissioner to commence actions to enforce labor standards within 3 years of their accrual, as specified. This bill would extend the period of time within which people may file complaints subject to the 6-month deadline, described above, to within one year after the occurrence of the violations. (2) Existing law prohibits employers and their agents from making, adopting, or enforcing a rule, regulation, or policy preventing an employee from disclosing information to certain entities or from providing information to, or testifying before, any public body conducting an investigation, hearing, or inquiry if the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of a law, as specified. Existing law also prohibits retaliation against an employee for various reasons. This bill would authorize a court to award reasonable attorney's fees to a plaintiff who brings a successful action for a violation of the provisions described above.
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Existing law authorizes a peace officer to make an arrest pursuant to a warrant or based upon probable cause, as specified. Under existing law, an arrest is made by the actual restraint of the person or by submission to the custody of the arresting officer. Existing law authorizes a peace officer to use reasonable force to effect the arrest, to prevent escape, or to overcome resistance. Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to maintain a policy on the use of force, as specified. Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to implement courses of instruction for the regular and periodic training of law enforcement officers in the use of force. This bill would prohibit a law enforcement agency from authorizing the use of a carotid restraint or a choke hold, as defined. By requiring local agencies to amend use of force policies, 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.
Existing law generally subjects any person under 18 years of age who commits a crime to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge that person to be a ward of the court. Under existing law, juvenile court proceedings to declare a minor a ward of the court are commenced by the filing of a petition by the probation officer, the district attorney after consultation with the probation officer, or the prosecuting attorney, as specified. Existing law requires the juvenile court to order the petition of a minor who is subject to the jurisdiction of the court dismissed if the minor satisfactorily completes a term of probation or an informal program of supervision, as specified, and requires the court to seal all records pertaining to that dismissed petition in the custody of the juvenile court and in the custody of law enforcement agencies, the probation department, or the Department of Justice in accordance with a specified procedure. Existing law also generally authorizes a person who is the subject of a juvenile court record, or the county probation officer, to petition the court to seal the person's records, including records of arrest, relating to the person's case in the custody of the juvenile court and the probation officer and any other agencies, including law enforcement agencies and public officials. This bill would authorize a judge or prosecutor to access specified sealed records under these provisions for the limited purpose of processing the request of a victim or victim's family member to certify victim helpfulness on specified United States Department of Homeland Security forms. By imposing additional duties on local entities to provide access to these records, 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 incorporate additional changes to Section 786 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by SB 1126 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1126 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to maintain a policy on the use of force, as specified. Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to implement courses of instruction for the regular and periodic training of law enforcement officers in the use of force. Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to report to the Department of Justice, as specified, any incident in which a peace officer is involved in a shooting or use of force that results in death or serious bodily injury. This bill would create a division within the Department of Justice to, upon the request of a law enforcement agency, review the use-of-force policy of the agency and make recommendations, as specified. This bill would require a state prosecutor to investigate incidents of an officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of an unarmed civilian, as defined. The bill would make the Attorney General the state prosecutor unless otherwise specified or named. The bill would authorize the state prosecutor to prepare a written report, and would require the state prosecutor to post any reports made on a public internet website. The bill would require, commencing July 1, 2023, the Attorney General to operate a Police Practices Division within the department to review, upon the request of a local law enforcement agency, the use of deadly force policies of that law enforcement agency and make recommendations, as specified. The bill would require the department to implement these provisions subject to an appropriation for this purpose.
Existing law provides that an inmate in state prison has specified civil rights, including, among others, the right to confidentially correspond with a member of the State Bar of California. Existing regulations adopted by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation permit an inmate to make a confidential call, as defined, with the inmate's attorney only as approved on a case-by-case basis by the institution head or their designee, as specified. This bill would require the department to approve an attorney's request to make confidential calls, as specified. The bill would require the department to provide the inmate at least 30 minutes once per month, per case, to make those calls, unless the inmate or attorney requests less time.
Existing law requests the Regents of the University of California to assemble a colloquium of scholars to draft a research proposal to analyze the economic benefits of slavery that accrued to owners and the businesses, including insurance companies and their subsidiaries, that received those benefits, and to make recommendations to the Legislature regarding those findings. Existing law requires the Insurance Commissioner to request and obtain information from insurers licensed and doing business in this state regarding any records of slaveholder insurance policies issued by any predecessor corporation during the slavery era. Existing law requires insurers to research and report to the commissioner on insurance policies that provided coverage for injury to, or death of, enslaved people. This bill would establish the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States, consisting of 9 members, appointed as provided. The bill would require the Task Force to, among other things, identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies. The bill would require the Task Force to recommend, among other things, the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation. The bill would require the Task Force to submit a written report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature. The bill would authorize reimbursement of the members' expenses only to the extent an appropriation therefor is made in the Budget Act. The bill would state that any state level reparations authorized under these provisions are not to be considered a replacement for any reparations enacted at the federal level. The bill would repeal these provisions on July 1, 2023.
Existing law governs employment relations, defines the contract of employment, and establishes the obligations of employers to their employees. This bill would require an employer, as defined, to offer its laid-off employees specified information about job positions that become available for which the laid-off employees are qualified, and to offer positions to those laid-off employees based on a preference system, in accordance with specified timelines and procedures. The bill would define the term "laid-off employee" to mean any employee who was employed by the employer for 6 months or more in the 12 months preceding the state of emergency giving rise to the application of the bill's provisions, and whose most recent separation from active service was due to a public health directive, government shutdown order, lack of business, a reduction in force, or other economic, nondisciplinary reason related to the state of emergency, as defined. The bill would also require an incumbent employer, within 15 days after the execution of a transfer document, to provide to the successor employer specified information pertaining to eligible employees and would require the successor employer to maintain and hire from a preferential hiring list for a specified time period. The bill would authorize an employee to enforce violations of these provisions by filing an action with the Division of Labor Standards and would authorize various remedies, including hiring and reinstatement rights and awarding of back pay.
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, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , approved by the voters as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of marijuana for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. MAUCRSA imposes duties on the Bureau of Cannabis Control in the Department of Consumer Affairs with respect to the creation, issuance, denial, suspension, and revocation of licenses issued for microbusinesses, transportation, storage, distribution, testing, and sale of cannabis and cannabis products pursuant to MAUCRSA. MAUCRSA requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, in consultation with the bureau, to establish a track and trace program for reporting the movement of cannabis and cannabis products throughout the distribution chain, as provided. This bill would provide that an entity, as defined, that receives deposits, extends credit, conducts fund transfers, transports cash or financial instruments, or provides other financial services, including public accounting, as provided, does not commit a crime under any California law solely by virtue of the fact that the person receiving the benefit of any of those services engages in commercial cannabis activity as a licensee. The bill would authorize a person licensed to engage in commercial cannabis activity to request, in writing, that a state or local licensing authority, state or local agency, or joint powers authority share the person's application, license, and other regulatory and financial information, as specified, with a financial institution of the person's designation and would require the request to include a waiver authorizing the transfer of that information and waiving any confidentiality or privilege that applies to that information. The bill would further authorize a state or local licensing authority, state or local agency, or joint powers authority upon receipt of a written request and waiver as described above, to share regulatory and financial information with the designated financial institution for the purpose of facilitating the provision of financial services for the requesting licensee until such time that the state or local licensing authority, state or local agency, or joint powers authority receives a withdrawal of the waiver.
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.