Asm. Sharon Quirk-Silva

Existing law, the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, provides that specified unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices undertaken by any person in a transaction intended to result or that result in the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer are unlawful. Existing law includes the home solicitation of a consumer who is a senior citizen as an unfair method of competition and unfair or deceptive act or practices if a loan is made encumbering the primary residence of the consumer for purposes of paying for home improvements and the transaction is part of a pattern or practice in violation of specified provisions of federal law. Existing law, known commonly as the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program, authorizes a public agency, by making specified findings, to authorize public agency officials and property owners to enter into voluntary contractual assessments and voluntary special taxes to finance the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources or energy or water efficiency improvements that are permanently fixed to real property. Existing law defines a "program administrator" as an entity administering a PACE program on behalf of, and with the written consent of, a public agency, and prescribes a variety of requirements, authorizations, and prohibitions in connection with PACE program contract assessments and the actions of program administrators. Existing law, the California Financing Law (CFL) , provides for the licensing and regulation of PACE program administrators by the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation and prohibits a person from engaging in the business of a PACE solicitor unless that person is enrolled with a program administrator, as specified. Existing law prohibits a program administrator from executing an assessment contract, and generally prohibits work under a home improvement contract that is financed by a PACE assessment contract, unless specified criteria are satisfied and the program administrator makes a reasonable good faith determination that the property owner has a reasonable ability to pay the annual payment obligations for the PACE assessment. This bill would extend the above-described provisions of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act relating to home solicitations of a senior citizen where a loan encumbers the primary residence of the consumer for purposes of paying for home improvement to also apply to assessments. Under the bill, if transactions are part of a pattern or practice in violation of specified provisions relating to the PACE program, or specified provisions regulating PACE program administrators under the California Financing Law, they would be unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices.

(1) Existing law prohibits, during the prosecution of specified sex crimes, the admission of evidence of the manner in which the victim was dressed, when offered by either the prosecution or the defendant on the issue of consent, unless the court finds the evidence relevant and admissible in the interests of justice. This bill would prohibit the court from admitting evidence, in the above circumstances, of the manner in which the victim was dressed, upon a finding that the evidence is relevant and admissible in the interests of justice. (2) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1103 of the Evidence Code proposed by AB 1171 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1171 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (3) The California Constitution provides that relevant evidence shall not be excluded in any criminal proceeding except as provided by statute enacted by a 23 vote of the membership of each house of the Legislature. Because this bill would limit the admissibility of evidence in criminal proceedings, it would require a 23 vote.

(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Health Care Access and Information and requires the department to maintain a Health Professions Career Opportunity Program to, among other things, implement programs at colleges and universities selected by the department and include in those programs pipeline programs that provide comprehensive academic enrichment, career development, mentorship, and advising in order to support students from underrepresented regions and backgrounds to pursue health careers. Existing law requires, in accordance with the compliance schedule approved by the department, but in any case no later than January 1, 2030, owners of all acute care inpatient hospitals to either demolish, replace, or change to nonacute care use all hospital buildings not in substantial compliance with certain regulations and standards developed by the department related to seismic safety or to seismically retrofit all acute care inpatient hospital buildings so that they are in substantial compliance with those regulations and standards. This bill would authorize the department to enter into contracts, to meet the requirements of the Health Professions Career Opportunity Program, with nonprofit entities headquartered in California that have previous experience with administering statewide workforce programs aimed at building a diverse provider workforce. This bill would establish the Small and Rural Hospital Relief Program under the administration of the department for the purpose of funding seismic safety compliance with respect to small hospitals, rural hospitals, and critical access hospitals in the state. The bill would require the department to provide grants to small, rural, and critical access hospital applicants that meet certain criteria, including that seismic safety compliance, as defined, imposes a financial burden on the applicant that may result in hospital closure. The bill would also create the Small and Rural Hospital Relief Fund and would continuously appropriate the moneys in the fund for the purposes of administering and funding the grant program. (2) The Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law imposes a tax on distributors of cigarettes at the rate of $2.87 per package of 20 cigarettes and a tax on distributors of tobacco products, based on wholesale cost, at a rate determined annually that is equivalent to the combined rate of all taxes imposed on cigarettes plus an additional rate equivalent to $0.50 per package of 20 cigarettes. These taxes are inclusive of the taxes imposed under the Tobacco Tax and Health Protection Act of 1988, the California Families and Children Act of 1998, and the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016. The California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016 (Proposition 56) , an initiative measure approved at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, revised the definition of tobacco products to include electronic cigarettes, thereby extending the taxes on distributors of tobacco products to distributors of electronic cigarettes, which is based on the wholesale cost of these products. Proposition 56 requires the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to adopt regulations providing for the implementation of the equivalent tax on electronic cigarettes and the methods for collection of the tax. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2022, require a purchaser of electronic cigarettes, as defined, at retail to pay a tax on the purchase for use in this state of an electronic cigarette from a retailer of 12.5% of the sales price from the sale of an electronic cigarette. The bill would require a retailer to collect the tax from the purchaser at the time of the retail sale of an electronic cigarette. The bill would require all revenues, interest, and penalties, less refunds, collected from the tax described above to be deposited into the California Electronic Cigarette Excise Tax Fund, a continuously appropriated fund created by the bill, and would require all amounts in the fund to be distributed to the Health Education Account in the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Surtax Fund, the California Children and Families Trust Fund, to fund the Proposition 56 Medi-Cal Physicians and Dentists Loan Repayment Act, the University of California, to support the joint program in medical education between the University of California, Merced and the University of California, San Francisco at Fresno, the Small and Rural Hospital Relief Fund created by this bill, and to the Department of Health Care Access and Information to fund the Health Professions Career Opportunity Program described above, as specified. By creating a continuously appropriated fund and allocating additional moneys to continuously appropriated funds, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would provide for the administration and collection of this tax pursuant to procedures set forth in the Fee Collection Procedures Law. By expanding the application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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 requires the Governor to proclaim certain days each year for specified reasons. This bill would designate August 26 of each year as California Farmworker Day, and require the Governor to annually proclaim August 26 as California Farmworker Day. The bill would make legislative findings in this regard.

Existing federal law requires the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to establish a Housing Trust Fund to provide grants to states to increase the supply of rental housing for extremely low and very low income families, including homeless families, and home ownership for extremely low and very low income families. Existing federal law establishes regulations for the implementation of these grants. Existing state law designates the Department of Housing and Community Development as the state agency responsible for administering funds received by the state from the federal Housing Trust Fund. The department is required to administer the funds through existing or newly created programs that produce, preserve, rehabilitate, or support the operation of rental housing for extremely low income and very low income households, except that up to 10% of funding may be used to support home ownership for extremely low income and very low income households. Existing law requires the department to collaborate with the California Housing Finance Agency to develop an allocation plan to demonstrate how the funds will be distributed, based on the priority housing needs identified in the state's consolidated plan, and to convene a stakeholder process to inform the development of the plan. Existing law requires the allocation plan and program guidelines to prioritize projects based on enumerated factors such as the extent to which project rents are affordable. The department is required to submit this plan to the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development and the Senate Transportation and Housing Committees 30 days after receipt of the federal funds. This bill would require the department to prioritize funding for projects that serve people experiencing homelessness, to the extent that a sufficient number of projects exist. The bill would authorize the department to alter priority for funding to align eligibility for possible benefits, including Medi-Cal benefits that are intended to assist people experiencing homelessness.

(1) Existing federal law, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, provides grants to states to carry out activities relating to the education of homeless children and youths, as defined, including, among others, providing services and activities to improve the identification of homeless children and youths and to enable them to enroll in, attend, and succeed in school. The act requires a state plan submitted for the receipt of the grant to include assurances that local educational agencies will designate an appropriate staff person to act as a local educational agency liaison for homeless children and youths and a description of how the state will ensure that local educational agencies and their liaisons will comply with specified requirements of the act, including the identification of homeless children and youths. Under existing state law, public schools, including charter schools, and county offices of education are required to immediately enroll a homeless child or youth seeking enrollment, except as specified. Existing law requires a local educational agency liaison for homeless children and youths to ensure that public notice of the educational rights of homeless children and youths is disseminated in schools within the liaison's local educational agency that provide services pursuant to the act. This bill would require a local educational agency to ensure that each school within the local educational agency identifies all homeless children and youths and unaccompanied youths, as defined, enrolled at the school. The bill would also require local educational agencies receiving designated federal funds to administer a housing questionnaire, as specified, for purposes of identifying homeless children and youths and unaccompanied youths, and to annually provide the housing questionnaire to all parents or guardians of pupils and unaccompanied youths of the local educational agency. This bill would require a school district, charter school, or county office of education to create an internet web page or post on its internet website a list of the local educational agency liaisons for homeless children and youths and unaccompanied youths in that school district, charter school, or county office of education, respectively, the contact information for those liaisons, and specific information regarding the educational rights and resources available to persons experiencing homelessness. The bill would require a school to post on its internet website, if the school has an internet website, the contact information for the liaison, if available. The bill would also require, if a school has an employee or person under contract whose duties include assisting the liaison in completing the liaison's duties under the federal act, the school to post on its internet website, if the school has an internet website, the contact information for that employee or person under contract. The bill would require data collected by the department or by a local educational agency under these provisions to be used in accordance with all state and federal laws regarding pupil privacy and the collection and use of pupil data. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would authorize $1,500,000 to be allocated to up to 3 county offices of education in different regions throughout the state for purposes of establishing technical assistance centers to foster relationships with community partners and other local educational agencies in each region, as provided. The bill would require the department to determine which county offices of education to allocate those funds to through a competitive process, as provided, and to take into account geographic diversity and concentrations of homeless children and youths and unaccompanied youths. The bill would require the technical assistance centers to be operative only for the duration of a specified federal grant period. (2) Existing law requires the department to provide, among other things, informational and training materials to local educational agency liaisons regarding the educational rights of homeless children and youths and the responsibilities of the liaisons. This bill would require the department to develop, as specified, best practices and a model housing questionnaire that a local educational agency may use to identify and obtain accurate data on all homeless children and youths and unaccompanied youths enrolled in schools of the local educational agency. The bill would require the department to post the best practices and model housing questionnaire on its internet website. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 48852.5 of the Education Code proposed by SB 400 to be operative only if this bill and SB 400 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (4) 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. (5) This bill would provide that, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the department would be authorized to use designated federal funds or the General Fund, or a combination of funds from these sources, to implement the provisions of the bill commencing with the 2021–22 school year. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The State Housing Law, among other things, requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to adopt, amend, or repeal rules and regulations for the protection of the health, safety, and general welfare of the occupant and the public relating to specified residential structures, as provided, which apply throughout the state. Existing law requires the housing or building department of every city or county, or the health department if there is no building department, to enforce within its jurisdiction the provisions of the State Housing Law, building standards, and the other rules and regulations adopted by the department pertaining to the maintenance, sanitation, ventilation, use, or occupancy of apartment houses, hotels, or dwellings. A violation of the State Housing Law, or of the building standards or rules and regulations adopted pursuant to that law, is a misdemeanor. Existing law establishes, among various other programs intended to address homelessness in this state, the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program for the purpose of providing jurisdictions with one-time grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges informed by a best-practices framework focused on moving homeless individuals and families into permanent housing and supporting the efforts of those individuals and families to maintain their permanent housing. This bill would require a city or county that receives a complaint from an occupant of a homeless shelter, as defined, or an agent of an occupant, alleging that a homeless shelter is substandard to inspect the homeless shelter, as specified. The bill would require a city or county that determines that a homeless shelter is substandard to issue a notice to correct the violation to the owner or operator of the homeless shelter within 10 business days of the inspection, or issue the notice to correct the violation immediately if the violation constitutes an imminent threat to the health and safety of the occupants of the homeless shelter. The bill would authorize a city or county to issue an emergency order directing the owner or operator to take immediate action to rectify violations if the city determines that the violations are dangerous, hazardous, imminently detrimental to life or health, or otherwise render the homeless shelter unfit for human habitation. The bill would require a city or county to provide free, certified copies of any inspection report or citation issued pursuant to these provisions to a complaining occupant or their agent, as specified. This bill would make the owner or operator of a homeless shelter responsible for correcting any violation cited pursuant to these provisions. The bill would require the owner or operator of a homeless shelter to correct each violation within 30 days of receipt of the citation, subject to a 30-day extension, as specified. This bill would authorize a city or county to impose additional civil penalties on the owner or operator that fails to correct a violation within the required time period. The bill would prohibit a city or county from awarding or distributing any state funding, as defined, to the owner or operator of a homeless shelter for purposes of operating the homeless shelter if, among other things, the owner or operator fails to correct a violation within the required time period. This bill would require each city and county to submit a report by April 1 of each year that provides specified information, including, among other things, any pending uncorrected violations cited under these provisions, a list of emergency orders issued, and a list of any owners or operators who received 3 or more violations within any 6-month period, except as specified. The bill would authorize the Department of Housing and Community Development or the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to deem an owner or operator of a shelter ineligible for state funding, as defined, for shelter operations based on the information provided in the report. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. By adding to the duties of local officials with respect to enforcement of the State Housing Law, the violation of which is 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

(1) Existing law establishes the Multifamily Housing Program administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development. Existing law requires assistance for projects under the program to be provided in the form of deferred payment loans to pay for eligible costs of the development, as provided. Existing law also requires that funds appropriated in the 2020 Budget Act or an act related to the 2020 Budget Act, including moneys received from the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, to provide housing for individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness and who are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, be disbursed in accordance with the Multifamily Housing Program for specified uses, and provides that the above-described deferred payment loan requirement under the program does not apply to assistance provided pursuant to these provisions, as specified. Existing law, the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Act of 2014, requires the California Housing Finance Agency, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish and implement programs that focus on veterans at risk for homelessness or experiencing temporary or chronic homelessness, as specified. In this regard, existing law requires those departments to establish and implement programs that, among other things, prioritize projects that combine housing and supportive services. Existing law, the No Place Like Home Program, as ratified and amended by Proposition 2, which was approved by the voters at the November 6, 2018, statewide general election, provides funding to provide permanent supportive housing for the target population, which is defined to include individuals who have a serious mental disorder and who are homeless, chronically homeless, or at risk of chronic homelessness. Existing law authorizes the Legislature to amend Proposition 2 by a 23 vote, so long as the amendment is consistent with and furthers the intent of that measure. This bill would require, beginning January 1, 2023, that a grantee or entity operating specified state homelessness programs, including the No Place Like Home Program, as a condition of receiving state funds, to enter Universal Data Elements and Common Data Elements, as defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Homeless Management Information System Data Standards, on the individuals and families it serves into its local Homeless Management Information System, unless otherwise exempted by state or federal law. The bill would require the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to specify the format and disclosure frequency of the required data elements. The bill would apply the data entry requirements to all new state homelessness programs that commence on or after July 1, 2021. The bill would require the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to provide technical assistance and guidance to any grantee or entity that operates a program subject to the bill, if the grantee or entity does not already collect and enter into the local Homeless Management Information System the data elements required. The bill would require the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to provide the aggregate data summaries collected under these provisions to specified state agencies or departments within 45 days of receipt, as specified. Existing law creates the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council and requires it, among other things, to 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 to programs impacting homeless recipients of state programs. This bill would specify that the statewide data storage system described above be known as the Homeless Data Integration System and would grant staff of the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council specified powers in regard to its operation. The bill would require that a continuum of care, as defined in federal law, provide collected data elements, including health information, as specified, to the Homeless Data Integration System, and would except health information and personal identifying information from disclosure to the public. By imposing new duties on local entities to provide information to the state, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law authorizes the Legislature to amend Proposition 2 by a 23 vote, so long as the amendment is consistent with and furthers the intent of that measure. The bill would state the findings of the Legislature that these provisions are consistent with, and further the intent of, the No Place Like Home Act. (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. 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. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 8256 and 8257 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 1220 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1220 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law establishes the California Housing Finance Agency within the Department of Housing and Community Development, with the primary purpose of meeting the housing needs of persons and families of low or moderate income. Existing law prescribes requirements for the disposal of surplus land by a local agency. Existing law defines "surplus land" for these purposes to mean land owned in fee simple by any local agency for which the local agency's governing body takes formal action in a regular public meeting declaring that the land is surplus and is not necessary for the agency's use. Existing law authorizes the governing board of any school district to sell or lease, for a term not exceeding 99 years, any real property belonging to the school district which is not or will not be needed by the district for school classroom buildings at the time of delivery of title or possession. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, establish the California Surplus Land Unit within the Department of Housing and Community Development with the primary purpose of facilitating the development and construction of residential housing on local surplus land, as defined. In this regard, the bill would authorize the unit to, among other things, facilitate agreements between housing developers and local agencies that seek to dispose of surplus land; provide advice, technical assistance, and consultative and technical service to local agencies with surplus land and developers that seek to develop housing on the surplus land; and collaborate with specified state agencies to assist housing developers and local agencies with obtaining grants, loans, tax credits, credit enhancements, and other types of financing that facilitate the construction of housing on surplus land. The bill would require the unit to, by December 31 of each year, submit an annual report of its activities under these provisions for the preceding year to the Governor, the Secretary of Business, Consumer Services, and Housing, the Director of Housing and Community Development, the Treasurer, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Legislative Analyst, and the Legislature, as specified.

The Planning and Zoning Law authorizes a local agency to provide, by ordinance, for the creation of accessory dwelling units in single-family and multifamily residential zones and requires a local agency that has not adopted an ordinance to ministerially approve an application for an accessory dwelling unit, and sets forth required ordinance standards, including that the ordinance prohibit the sale or conveyance of the accessory dwelling unit separately from the primary residence. Existing law, notwithstanding the prohibition described above, authorizes a local agency to, by ordinance, allow an accessory dwelling unit to be sold or conveyed separately from the primary residence to a qualified buyer if certain conditions are met, including that the property was built or developed by a qualified nonprofit corporation and that the property is held pursuant to a recorded tenancy in common agreement. Existing law requires that tenancy in common agreement to, among other things, allocate to each qualified buyer an undivided, unequal interest in the property based on the size of the dwelling each qualified buyer occupies. This bill would require each local agency to allow an accessory dwelling unit to be sold or conveyed separately from the primary residence to a qualified buyer if the above-described conditions are met. The bill would impose an additional condition on a tenancy in common agreement subject to these provisions and recorded on or after December 31, 2021, to include specified information, including a delineation of all areas of the property that are for the exclusive use of a cotenant, delineation of each cotenant's responsibility for the costs of taxes, insurance, utilities, general maintenance and repair, and improvements associated with the property, and procedures for dispute resolution among cotenants before resorting to legal action. By imposing additional duties on local governments in the administration of the development of accessory dwelling units, 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, 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.