Asm. Cristina Garcia

This measure would urge the United States Congress and the President of the United States to permit states to extend burial and memorial benefits in state veterans cemeteries to Republic of Korea veterans and Republic of Vietnam veterans who served in the Vietnam War and who subsequently became United States citizens. The measure would urge the United States Congress and the President of the United States to extend the same benefits in national cemeteries.

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 provides for the payment of unemployment compensation benefits to eligible persons who are unemployed through no fault of their own through a federal-state unemployment insurance program administered by the Employment Development Department, subject to oversight by the Director of Employment Development. Under existing law, the expenses of administering the unemployment insurance program are paid from the Unemployment Administration Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Existing law requires the Department of Justice to maintain state summary criminal history information, including the identification and criminal history of a person, including name, date of birth, social security number, physical description, fingerprints, photographs, dates of arrests, arresting agencies and booking numbers, charges, dispositions, sentencing information, and similar data about the person. Existing law requires the Attorney General to furnish this information to specified persons, agencies, or organizations, including the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, if needed in the course of their duties. Existing law makes it a crime for any person authorized by law to receive state summary criminal history information to knowingly furnish the information to a person who is not authorized by law to receive it. This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide the names and social security numbers of current inmates to the Employment Development Department for the purposes of preventing payments on fraudulent claims for unemployment compensation benefits. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide the information to the Employment Development Department at least every 90 calendar days and upon that department's request. Because this bill would expand the group of persons who can be convicted for knowingly furnishing state summary criminal history information to unauthorized persons, it would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require, for the purpose of preventing payments on fraudulent claims for unemployment compensation benefits, for any unemployment compensation benefits paid on and after July 1, 2021, the Director of Employment Development to verify with the information provided by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation before making any payment of unemployment compensation benefits that the claimant is not an inmate currently incarcerated in the state prisons. The bill would also prohibit the department from using the information provided by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation unless the information of current inmates is equal to or less than 90 calendar days old. This bill would require, if the department determines a claimant is an inmate currently incarcerated in the state prisons, the department to notify the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Department of Justice of the attempt to make a fraudulent claim for unemployment compensation benefits. The bill would authorize the Employment Development Department to disseminate social security numbers to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for this purpose. By expanding the purposes of a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. 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.

Existing law designates 8 agencies in state government and requires the secretary of an agency to be generally responsible for the sound fiscal management of each department, office, or other unit within the agency. Existing law further requires the secretary of an agency to, among other duties, continually seek to improve the organization structure, the operating policies, and the management information systems of each department, office, or other unit. This bill would, until January 1, 2029, establish the Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Agency as an agency within state government, to be headed by a secretary who is appointed by the Governor and subject to Senate confirmation. The bill would specify that the purpose of the agency is to reduce obstacles and enhance immigrant integration, as defined, into the social, cultural, economic, and civic life of the state. The bill would establish the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs within the agency. The bill would transfer functions relating to immigrants and refugees to the office and would declare the intent to incorporate existing and future programs created to assist immigrants and refugees into the office. The bill would transfer the property of any office, agency, or department that relates to functions transferred to the office by these provisions and would transfer the unencumbered balance of any appropriation and any other funds that are available for use in connection with any function transferred to the office. The bill would also provide that every officer and employee who is serving in the state civil service, as provided, and who is transferred to the office, shall retain the status position, and rights. The bill would create the Immigrant and Refugee Integration Fund within the State Treasury, and would make the moneys available in the fund available to the secretary of the office to administer the duties of the office. This bill would establish the duties and responsibilities of the agency and the office which includes, among other duties, establishing a permanent structure within the state to serve immigrants, assisting other state agencies in evaluating their programs for accessibility and effectiveness in providing services to immigrants and refugees, and recommending policy and budget mechanisms for meeting immigrant and refugee integration goals. The bill would prohibit interagency sharing of personal information and would prohibit use of agency resources to directly or indirectly participate or assist in immigration enforcement activity. Existing law establishes the Statewide Director of Immigrant Integration and requires the director serve as the statewide lead for the planning and coordination of immigrant services and policies in California. Existing law requires, among other things, that the director develop a comprehensive statewide report on programs and services that serve immigrants, develop an online clearinghouse of immigrant services, resources, and programs, and monitor the implementation of statewide laws and regulations that serve immigrants. This bill would recast those provisions to rename the director as the Statewide Director of Immigrant and Refugee Integration. The bill would place the director in charge of the office, and would require the director to report to the Governor and the Legislature on programs and services that serve immigrants and refugees by January 1, 2023, and require the director to provide a statewide plan for better implementation and coordination of immigrant and refugee assistance policies and programs. The bill would require the director to incorporate refugee services, resources, and programs into the online clearinghouse by January 1, 2023, and would require the director to monitor statewide laws and regulations that serve refugees, in addition to immigrants. The changes made by this bill would be in effect until January 1, 2029, and as of that date would be repealed. The provisions of this bill would only become operative if funds have been appropriated for the purposes described in the bill in the annual Budget Act or another statute. 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 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 requires the Natural Resources Agency every 3 years to update the Safeguarding California Plan, the state's climate adaptation strategy. As part of the update, existing law requires the agency to coordinate with other state agencies to identify a lead agency or group of agencies to lead adaptation efforts in each sector. Existing law requires state agencies to work to maximize specified objectives related to climate change. Existing law establishes the Office of Planning and Research in state government in the Governor's office. Existing law establishes the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program, to be administered by the Office of Planning and Research, to coordinate regional and local efforts with state climate adaptation strategies to adapt to the impacts of climate change in order to facilitate the development of holistic, complimentary strategies for adapting to climate change impacts. This bill would establish the Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program for the purpose of coordinating state efforts and supporting local and regional efforts to mitigate the impacts of, and reduce the public health risks of, extreme heat and the urban heat island effect, and would require the Office of Planning and Research to administer the program through the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program. Under the Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program, the bill would require the Office of Planning and Research to coordinate the state's efforts to address extreme heat and the urban heat island effect and to provide financial and technical assistance to eligible entities to support local and regional efforts to mitigate the impacts of, and reduce the public health risks of, extreme heat or the urban heat island effect, as provided. The bill would require the Office of Planning and Research to submit a report to the Legislature by July 1, 2023, on certain matters relating to extreme heat and the urban heat island effect. The bill would require the Office of Planning and Research, before awarding grants under the Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program, to adopt certain guidelines for the program and would require the Office of Planning and Research to seek input from the public, academic and technical experts, and relevant state agencies, as appropriate, in the drafting of those guidelines. The bill would establish the Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Fund in the State Treasury and would require the Office of Planning and Research, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to expend moneys in the fund for the implementation of the Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program.