Existing law provides that a minor may be adjudged a dependent child or a ward of the juvenile court under specified circumstances. Existing law authorizes the court to place a minor who has been removed from the custody of his or her parent or guardian in foster care, among other placements. Existing law allows, in an adoption proceeding, for continuing contact between the birth relatives and a child if a postadoption contact agreement is entered into voluntarily and is in the best interests of the child at the time the adoption petition is granted. Existing law requires, if parental rights are terminated and the court orders a dependent child or ward to be placed for adoption, the county adoption agency or the State Department of Social Services to take specified steps, with exceptions, to facilitate ongoing sibling contact, including the encouragement of prospective adoptive parents to make a plan for facilitating postadoptive contact, as specified. This bill would instead require the county placing agency, as part of the above steps, to the extent practicable, to convene a meeting with the child, the sibling or siblings of the child, the prospective adoptive parent or parents, and a facilitator for the purpose of deciding whether to voluntarily execute a postadoption sibling contact agreement. The bill would provide that the county placing agency is not required to convene a meeting to decide whether to voluntarily execute a postadoption sibling contact agreement if specified circumstances occur. The bill would authorize the child to petition the court for an order requiring the county placing agency to convene a meeting to decide whether to voluntarily execute a postadoption sibling contact agreement. The bill would provide that the meeting is not required to occur if the court determines by a preponderance of the evidence that a postadoption sibling contact agreement or a meeting for the purpose of deciding whether to voluntarily execute such an agreement is contrary to the safety and well-being of the child and notes the determination in the court order. By requiring new duties on a county placing agency relating to meetings on postadoption sibling contact agreements, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the court, at least every 6 months, to review the status of a dependent child for whom the court has ordered parental rights terminated and who has been ordered placed for adoption. This bill would require the court to inquire into the status of the development of a voluntary postadoption sibling contact agreement at the time of the first review hearing conducted pursuant to the above-described provision. Existing law requires a juvenile court, in the case of a minor declared a ward and ordered to be placed in foster care, and where the minor has continuing involvement with his or her parents or legal guardians, to include in its order placing the minor in a permanent placement a specification of the nature and frequency of visiting arrangements with the parents or legal guardians. This bill would expand this provision to also apply to visiting arrangements with siblings of the minor. This bill would also make conforming changes to related provisions. 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.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013, establishes the California Small Business Expansion Fund, a continuously appropriated fund that includes General Fund moneys. The act requires guarantees made by small business financial development corporations to be backed by funds on deposit in the corporation's trust fund account or by receivables due from funds loaned from the corporation's trust fund account to another fund in state government, as specified, and requires these loan guarantees to be secured by a reserve of at least 20%, until January 1, 2018, and 25% thereafter, as specified. This bill would reduce the required reserve to 10% indefinitely and would make conforming changes with respect to related statements of legislative intent. Existing law prohibits the amount of guarantee liability outstanding at any one time from exceeding 5 times the amount of funds on deposit in the expansion fund plus any receivables due from funds loaned from the expansion fund to another fund in state government, as specified, until January 1, 2018, and 4 times thereafter. This bill would increase that maximum amount to 10 times the amount of funds on deposit in the expansion fund plus any receivables due from funds loaned from the expansion fund to another fund in state government, as specified, would apply that increased amount indefinitely, and would make conforming changes. Existing law requires the program manager under the guidance of the executive director of the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, to, among other things, authorize the distribution, transfer, and withholding of moneys in the expansion fund and trust funds. This bill would also require the program manager to leverage moneys in the expansion fund and trust funds.
Existing law authorizes certain persons, including, among others, any person 16 years of age or older, to have his or her proficiency in basic skills taught in public high schools verified according to criteria established by the State Department of Education. Existing law requires the State Board of Education to award a certificate of proficiency to persons who demonstrate that proficiency. Existing law requires the department to develop standards of competency in basic skills taught in public high schools and to provide for the administration of examinations prepared by, or with the approval of, the department to verify competency. Existing law authorizes the department to charge a fee for each examination application in an amount sufficient to recover the costs of administering the requirements of these provisions but prohibits the fee from exceeding an amount equal to the cost of test renewal and administration per examination application. Existing law prohibits the department from charging the fee to an examinee who qualifies as a homeless child or youth and meets other specified criteria. This bill would additionally prohibit the department from charging the fee to a foster youth, as defined, who is under 25 years of age. Existing law separately requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to issue a high school equivalency certificate and an official score report, or an official score report only, to a person who has not completed high school and who meets specified requirements, including, among others, having taken all or a portion of a general education development test that has been approved by the state board and administered by a testing center approved by the department, with a score determined by the state board to be equal to the standard of performance expected from high school graduates. Existing law authorizes the Superintendent to charge an examinee a one-time fee to pay costs related to administering these provisions and issuing a certificate, as specified. Existing law limits the amount of the fee to $20 per person and requires each scoring contractor to forward that fee to the Superintendent. Existing law prohibits a scoring contractor or testing center that charges its own separate fee from charging that separate fee to an examinee who qualifies as a homeless child or youth, is under 25 years of age, and can verify his or her status as a homeless child or youth. This bill would additionally prohibit the scoring contractor or testing center from charging the fee to a foster youth, as defined, who is under 25 years of age. Existing law requires the Superintendent, on or before December 1, 2018, to submit 2 reports to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, one relating to high school proficiency tests, and one relating to high school equivalency tests, that each include, among other things, the number of homeless youth that took a high school proficiency or equivalency test in each of the 2016, 2017, and 2018 calendar years, and the impact of the opportunity to take a high school proficiency or equivalency test at no cost on the number and percentage of homeless youth taking a high school proficiency or equivalency test. This bill would require the Superintendent to also incorporate data on high school proficiency or equivalency test examinees who are foster youth, as defined, into each report.
Existing law establishes various crimes relating to computer services and systems, including, but not limited to, knowingly introducing a computer contaminant, as defined. Existing law makes a violation of those crimes punishable by specified fines or terms of imprisonment, or by both those fines and imprisonment. Existing law defines extortion as obtaining the property of another, with his or her consent, induced by a wrongful use of force or fear. Existing law makes extortion a crime, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years. This bill would define ransomware as a computer contaminant or lock placed or introduced without authorization into a computer, computer system, or computer network that restricts access by an authorized person to the computer, computer system, computer network, or any data therein under circumstances in which the person responsible for the placement or introduction of the ransomware demands payment of money or other consideration to remove the computer contaminant, restore access to the computer, computer system, computer network, or data, or otherwise remediate the impact of the computer contaminant or lock. The bill would provide that a person is responsible for placing or introducing ransomware into a computer, computer system, or computer network if the person directly places or introduces the ransomware or directs or induces another person do so, with the intent of demanding payment or other consideration to remove the ransomware, restore access, or otherwise remediate the impact of the ransomware. The bill would provide that a person who, with intent to extort money or other consideration from another, introduces ransomware into any computer, computer system, or computer network is punishable as if that money or other consideration were actually obtained by means of the ransomware. By expanding the scope of a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law authorizes the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to issue single subject teaching credentials only in specific subjects. This bill would add dance and theatre to the list of authorized subjects. Existing law authorizes the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to authorize a person who holds a certain teaching credential and who has completed 20 semester hours of coursework or 10 semester hours of upper division or graduate coursework approved by the commission at an accredited institution in any subject commonly taught in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, other than the subject for which he or she is already certificated to teach, to have this subject appear on the credential as an authorization to teach this subject. This bill would provide that a person issued a single subject teaching credential in physical education or English before the establishment of a single subject teaching credential in dance or theatre, respectively, is authorized to teach in dance or theatre, respectively. The bill would also provide that a person pursuing a single subject teaching credential in physical education or English before the establishment of a single subject teaching credential in dance or theatre shall not become subject to additional requirements for the single subject teaching credential in physical education or English, respectively, as a result of the authorization provided by this bill.
The existing Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Act defines the term "venereal disease" to mean syphilis, gonorrhea, chancroid, lymphopathia venereum, granuloma inguinale, and chlamydia. Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to develop and review plans and participate in a program for the prevention and control of venereal disease, and authorizes the department to establish, maintain, and subsidize clinics, dispensaries, and prophylactic stations for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of venereal disease. This bill would delete the term "venereal disease" and would instead use the term "sexually transmitted diseases" (STDs) , which would be defined as diseases that are primarily transmitted through sexual contact. The bill would require the department, to the extent funds are appropriated by the Legislature, to allocate grants to local health jurisdictions for STD outreach, screening, and other core services. The bill would target and prioritize the allocation of funds to counties based on population and incidence of STDs and would require the allocation of funds to targeted counties to balance the need to spread funding to as many counties as possible and the need to provide meaningful services to each funded county. The bill would make specified mandates and accountability measures applicable to the county when providing the outreach, screening, and other core services. This bill would provide that the department, in awarding funds pursuant to these provisions, may authorize innovative and impactful outreach, screening, and other core services, such as voluntary screening of inmates and wards of county adult and juvenile corrections facilities, and use of state-of-the-art testing modalities. The bill would require the department to use the accountability measures developed under the bill in order to monitor the activities funded by the bill and would limit the department's expenditures on administrative costs to no more than 10% of the funds appropriated by the Legislature for this purpose. The bill would also delete obsolete provisions and make conforming changes.
Under existing law, a person who deprives or violates another person's personal liberty with the intent to obtain forced labor or services or who deprives or violates another person's personal liberty for the purpose of prostitution or sexual exploitation is guilty of human trafficking, a felony. This bill would require, in a case involving a charge of human trafficking, that a minor who is a victim of the human trafficking be provided with assistance from the local county Victim Witness Assistance Center if the minor so desires that assistance.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to determine appropriate targets, if any, for each load-serving entity to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems to be achieved by December 31, 2020. This bill would require the PUC, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board and the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to direct the state's 3 largest electrical corporations to file applications for programs and investments to accelerate widespread deployment of distributed energy storage systems, as defined. The bill would authorize the PUC to approve, or modify and approve, programs and investments in distributed energy storage systems, as provided, and would require the PUC to prioritize those programs and investments that provide distributed energy storage systems to public sector and low-income customers. Because a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC implementing these requirements would be a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law makes it a crime to solicit or engage in any act of prostitution. Existing law makes it a crime to loiter in any public place with the intent to commit prostitution. This bill would make the above provisions inapplicable to a child under 18 years of age who is alleged to have engaged in conduct that would, if committed by an adult, violate the above provisions. The bill would authorize the minor to be taken into temporary custody under limited circumstances. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 647 of the Penal Code, proposed by SB 420, SB 1129, and AB 1708, that would become operative only if this bill and one or more of those other bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 653.22 of the Penal Code, proposed by AB 1771, that would become operative only if this bill and AB 1771 are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.
Existing law prohibits a person from disposing, or attempting to dispose, of a lead-acid battery at a solid waste facility or on or in any land, surface waters, watercourses, or marine waters, but authorizes a person to dispose of a lead-acid battery at certain locations. Existing law requires a dealer to accept, when offered at the point of transfer, a lead-acid battery from a consumer in exchange for the new lead-acid battery purchased by that consumer from the dealer. A violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor. This bill, the Lead-Acid Battery Recycling Act of 2016, would, as of January 1, 2017, revise these provisions to require a dealer to accept, at the point of transfer, specified types of used lead-acid batteries and would prohibit the dealer from charging any fee to accept these used lead-acid batteries. The bill, on and after April 1, 2017, would require a dealer to collect a refundable deposit for each new lead-acid battery of these types from a person who purchases the battery and who does not simultaneously provide a used lead-acid battery of the same size and type, and would require the dealer to refund the deposit to the person if, within 45 days of the sale of that lead-acid battery, the person presents a used lead-acid battery of the same type and size. The bill would require a dealer to post a specified notice or include specified information on the purchaser's receipt for one of these lead-acid batteries with regard to these provisions. The bill would allow the dealer to keep any lead-acid battery refundable deposit that is not properly claimed within 45 days after the date of sale of the new lead-acid battery. This bill, on and after April 1, 2017, until March 31, 2022, would require a California battery fee in the amount of $1 to be imposed on a person, except as specified, for each replacement lead-acid battery purchased that is of one of the specified types. The bill would authorize the dealer to retain 112% of the fee as reimbursement for any costs associated with the collection of the fee and would require the dealer to remit the remainder to the State Board of Equalization (state board) for deposit into the Lead-Acid Battery Cleanup Fund, except as specified. On and after April 1, 2022, the bill would increase the California battery fee to $2. This bill, on and after April 1, 2017, until March 31, 2022, would require a manufacturer battery fee of $1 to be imposed on a manufacturer of lead-acid batteries for each lead-acid battery it sells at retail to a person in California, or that it sells to a dealer, wholesaler, distributor, or other person for retail sale in California, for deposit into the Lead-Acid Battery Cleanup Fund. The bill would require manufacturer battery fees remitted pursuant to these provisions to be credited against amounts owed by the manufacturer to the state under a judgment or determination of liability under specific hazardous materials provisions or any other law for removal, remediation, or other response costs relating to a release of a hazardous substance from a lead-acid battery recycling facility. The bill would require that the amount paid by a manufacturer for a manufacturer battery fee be considered to reduce the manufacturer's share of liability in the allocation of costs among potentially responsible parties in a contribution action brought by a private party related to a release of hazardous substances from a lead-acid battery recycling facility. Of moneys collected pursuant to this act, the bill would require the board to retain moneys necessary for the payment of refunds and to reimburse the board for expenses in the collection of the California battery fee and the manufacturer battery fee. The bill would require that the remaining moneys be deposited into the Lead-Acid Battery Cleanup Fund, which would be created by the bill, and would make the moneys available upon appropriation by the Legislature for purposes of response actions at any area of the state that is reasonably suspected to have been contaminated by the operation of a lead-acid battery recycling facility, administration of the fund, the department's administration and implementation of the act's provisions, and reimbursement of certain loans for lead cleanup. The bill would make the reimbursement money available for further loans, as specified. The bill would require $1,200,000 be loaned from the California Tire Recycling Management Fund to the board for implementing the collection of the California battery fee and the manufacturer battery fee and would require that the loan be repaid before October 1, 2017. This bill would require, on and after July 1, 2017, a manufacturer to place a recycling symbol, as specified, and other information on all replacement lead-acid batteries sold in California. This bill would require, by February 1, 2018, and annually thereafter, the department to report to the Legislature on the status of the Lead-Acid Battery Cleanup Fund and on the department's progress in implementing these provisions. This bill would authorize the board to adopt regulations to implement these lead-acid battery management provisions. Because a violation of these regulations would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2017, manufacturers to notify distributors, wholesalers, and dealers of the lead-acid batteries it manufactures of the bill's requirements, as specified. 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.