Asm. Avelino Valencia

Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to license and regulate home health agencies and to certify and regulate home health aides. Under existing law, a violation of these provisions or the rules and regulations promulgated under these provisions is a misdemeanor. Existing law specifically requires an applicant for certification as a home health aide to complete, among other requirements, a training program approved by the department. Under existing law, a certification for a home health aide is renewed every two years, and to renew an unexpired certificate, the certificate holder is required to apply for renewal on a form provided by the state, as specified. This bill would require that either a registered nurse or a licensed vocational nurse, as specified, provide the classroom or supervised practical training required for qualification as a certified home health aide. The bill would require an online or distance learning training program for home health aide certification or in-service training for certified home health aides to include specific requirements, including, among others, requiring a trainee to sign an affidavit attesting under penalty of perjury to confirm their identity while completing the program. By expanding the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require these training programs, among other things, to allow the department access to monitor online or distance learning sessions. This bill would require a certified home health aide, seeking to renew their unexpired certificate, to submit evidence of completing at least 12 hours of in-service training during each 12-month period of the certification. By expanding the duties on home health agencies, applicants for certification as a certified home health aide, or certified home health aides, this bill would expand an existing crime, thereby imposing 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, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which is administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the application, issuance, and suspension of alcoholic beverage licenses. Existing law imposes requirements on a successor beer manufacturer, defined as a beer manufacturer that acquires the rights to manufacture, import, or distribute a product, who cancels any of the existing beer wholesaler's rights to distribute the product, as provided, and defines terms for this purpose. This bill would modify the definition of "successor beer manufacturer" to specify that a successor beer manufacturer may be a beer manufacturer or any person, as defined, whether licensed or unlicensed, who acquires the rights to manufacture, import, or distribute a product. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act provides that a violation of specified provisions of the act is a misdemeanor. This bill, by expanding the scope of entities subject to the requirements applicable to successor beer manufacturers, 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.

Under existing law, the State Department of Health Care Services is responsible for administering prevention, treatment, and recovery services for alcohol and drug abuse and problem gambling. Existing law authorizes the department to issue a license to operate an alcohol or other drug recovery or treatment facility upon receipt of a completed written application, fire clearance, and licensing fee, as specified. This bill would require the department, whenever it issues a license to operate an alcohol or other drug recovery or treatment facility, to concurrently provide written notification of the issuance of the license to the city or county in which the facility is located. The bill would require the notice to include the name and mailing address of the licensee and the location of the facility.

Existing law, the Architects Practice Act, establishes the California Architects Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs for licensing and regulation of persons engaged in the practice of architecture, and defines the term "architect" for those purposes. That act requires an applicant for licensure as an architect to, among other things, take an examination. The act imposes various fees on licensees and applicants for a license, which are deposited in the California Architects Board Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would authorize a person to apply to the board and obtain authorization to use the title "architect-in-training" after they have been identified as a candidate for licensure by the board and certain requirements are met, including that they successfully passed at least one division of the above-described examination. The bill would require, before the board approves an authorization to an applicant to use that title, the licensed architect who will be responsible for supervising the applicant while using the title to submit to the board a form agreeing to be responsible for the work to be performed by the applicant while using the title, as specified, and require a person using the title, if the licensed architect responsible for supervising the person while using the title changes, to notify the board of the change within 30 days of the change, as specified. The bill would authorize a person using the title, during any period in which the person is not under supervision of a licensed architect, to request the board to place their authorization to use the title on inactive status, as specified. The bill would prohibit the use of an abbreviation or derivative of that title, other than "AIT," and would prohibit a person from using that title to independently offer or provide architectural services to the public. The bill would authorize the board to disclose a person's authorization to use that title to a member of the public upon request. The bill would provide that the use of that title in violation of these provisions may constitute unprofessional conduct and subject the user of the title to administrative action, including denial of a license. The bill would authorize the board to charge a reasonable fee to evaluate whether a person meets the requirements to use the title "architect-in-training." By increasing moneys deposited into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would authorize a person to use the title "architect-in-training" for no more than 4 years after approval by the board. The bill would authorize a person to apply to the board and obtain authorization to use the title "architect-in-training" a 2nd time if the person has passed a division of the above-described exam in the 4 years immediately preceding the person's application. The bill would prohibit a person from applying to the board to use the title "architect-in training" on or after January 1, 2033. The act authorizes the board, upon its own motion, and requires the board, upon the verified complaint in writing of any person, to investigate the actions of any architect. In this regard, the act authorizes the board to temporarily suspend or permanently revoke the license of any architect who is guilty of, or commits one or more of, certain acts or omissions constituting grounds for disciplinary action under the act, including the conviction of a crime substantially related to the qualifications, functions, and duties of an architect by the holder of a license. This bill would authorize the board, upon its own initiative or upon the receipt of a complaint, to investigate the actions of any person using the title "architect-in-training" as described above, and to make findings for those purposes. In this regard, the bill would authorize the board to suspend or revoke an active authorization to use the title "architect-in-training" for certain reasons, including that the person using the title committed any act of fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation in obtaining the authorization to use that title. The bill would specify that a licensed architect who is responsible for supervising a person using the title "architect-in-training" as described above is subject to disciplinary actions for any violations of the act committed by the person using that title within the course and scope of their employment. The bill would make its provisions operative on January 1, 2027, and would repeal its provisions on January 1, 2037.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. The Moore Universal Telephone Service Act establishes the Universal Lifeline Telephone Service program in order to provide low-income households with access to affordable basic residential telephone service. Existing law requires the commission to accept applications for lifeline telephone service according to procedures specified by the commission. This bill would prohibit the commission, its staff, the lifeline program's third-party administrator, and lifeline service providers, and their contractors, agents, successors, or assignees, from sharing, disclosing, or otherwise making accessible any information provided by an applicant or subscriber to the lifeline program, or a subprogram or pilot program of the lifeline program, to any agency of a local government, a state government, or the federal government, or to an immigration authority, as defined, without a court-ordered subpoena or valid judicial warrant, except as specified. The bill would authorize the commission, its staff, the lifeline program's third-party administrator, and lifeline service providers, and the providers' agents, successors, or assignees, to request, but would prohibit those entities from requiring, applicants and subscribers to provide social security numbers to apply to, or participate in, the lifeline program. Existing law prohibits a telephone or telegraph corporation from making certain categories of personal information available to any other person or corporation without first obtaining the residential subscriber's consent in writing. Existing law exempts information provided to a law enforcement agency in response to lawful process from that prohibition. This bill would define "lawful process," for that purpose, to mean an action taken pursuant to a court-ordered subpoena or judicial warrant. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain provisions of this bill would be part of the act and therefore a violation of the bill's requirements, or a violation of a commission action implementing its requirements, would be 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.

Existing law provides for the regulation of charter-party carriers of passengers by the Public Utilities Commission and includes specific requirements applicable to transportation network companies and their participating drivers. Existing law defines transportation network companies as certain organizations that, using an online-enabled application or platform, connect passengers with drivers using a personal vehicle. Existing law imposes specified requirements for liability insurance coverage on transportation network companies and their drivers, including a requirement that the insurance coverage provide for uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage in the amount of $1,000,000 from the moment a passenger enters the vehicle of a participating driver until the passenger exits the vehicle. Under existing law, that coverage may be satisfied by insurance maintained by the participating driver, the transportation network company, or a combination of insurance maintained by the participating driver and transportation network company. This bill would lower that amount to $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident. The bill would also make the transportation network company responsible for maintaining the uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage. The bill would require the commission and the Department of Insurance to collaborate on a study of the impacts of the requirements established for uninsured motorist coverage and underinsured motorist coverage to assess whether those requirements are appropriate to the risk of transportation network company services, and to report the findings of this study to specified committees of the Legislature on or before December 31, 2030. Existing law requires the commission to develop, publish, and annually update a report containing specified information, including, among other things, the commission's annual work plan and an accounting of the commission's transactions and proceedings from the prior year. Existing law requires the commission to submit that report to the Governor and Legislature no later than February 1 of each year. This bill would require the report submitted on or before February 1, 2026, to also contain certain information regarding automobile accidents reported to the commission by transportation network companies and uninsured motorist and underinsured motorist claims resulting from those accidents, as specified. The bill would require the report submitted on or before February 1, 2027, to specify the average transportation network company rider fare paid during certain time periods, as provided. This bill would make the operation of its provisions contingent upon the enactment of AB 1340 of the 2025–26 Regular Session.

Existing law provides for the certification of registered environmental health specialists by the State Department of Public Health and establishes application, examination, and renewal fees for this certification. Existing law prescribes educational requirements for the registration of an environmental health specialist and requires all basic science coursework to be equal to what is acceptable in an approved environmental health degree program. Existing law provides that only a person who meets those educational and experience requirements is eligible for admission to the environmental health specialist examination. Existing law prohibits an applicant who fails to pass the written examination twice from taking the examination additional times unless specified time periods have elapsed. Existing law prohibits a person from taking the examination more than once in a 2-year period. Existing law requires the department to maintain a current registry of all registered environmental health specialists and environmental health specialist trainees in the state. Existing law defines the scope of practice for a registered environmental health professional to include, but not be limited to, the prevention of environmental health hazards and the promotion and protection of the public health and the environment in specified areas, including, among others, food protection, housing, and hazardous materials management. Existing law authorizes a local health department to employ a registered environmental health specialist to enforce public health laws, as specified. Existing law authorizes an environmental health specialist trainee to work under the supervision of a registered environmental health specialist for a period not to exceed 3 years. Existing law defines "environmental health specialist trainee" as a person who possesses a bachelor's degree, as specified, and who is engaged in an approved environmental health training plan. Existing law requires an environmental health training plan to include specified elements. This bill would instead prohibit an applicant from being reexamined for 90 days after failing to pass the written examination. The bill would revise the educational requirements for the registration of an environmental health specialist, as specified, and would delete the requirement that basic science coursework be equal to what is acceptable in an approved environmental health degree program. This bill would extend the period of required supervision to instead not exceed 5 years. The bill would include body art and medical waste in the scope of practice of registered environmental health specialists and would revise the environmental health training plan elements, as specified. The bill would require the department to make its registry of registered specialists and trainees publicly available on its internet website within 90 days of the administration of an exam. Existing law requires an Environmental Health Specialist Registration Committee to be appointed to advise and to make recommendations to the department. Existing law prescribes the membership of the committee, including 2 members with experience as local directors of environmental health, as specified, 2 members from environmental health faculty from California universities and colleges, 2 public members who have not been engaged in the field of environmental health in the 5 years preceding their appointment, and the Chief of the Environmental Planning and Local Health Services Branch, who serves as executive officer in a nonvoting role. Existing law prohibits a committee member from serving no more than 2 successive terms and requires a committee member to serve until the appointment and qualification of their successor or until one year after their term has expired, whichever occurs first. This bill would instead make the State Environmental Health Director serve as the executive officer of the committee and would revise the committee membership, as specified. The bill would delete the prohibition on a committee member serving more than 2 consecutive terms. The bill would delete the requirement that a committee member serve until one year after the expiration of their term. The bill would make clarifying technical changes to the terminology used in those and related provisions to distinguish local directors of environmental health from the State Environmental Health Director. Existing law requires the committee to meet at least twice annually and defines a quorum for these purposes as 6 members of the committee. Existing law requires the committee to keep a record of its proceedings. This bill would require the committee to meet at least quarterly, in person or virtually, and would redefine a quorum of the committee to mean a simple majority of the filled committee seats. The bill would authorize the chairperson to cancel a committee meeting, as specified. The bill would also require the committee to keep a record of its meetings.

Existing law establishes the Classified School Employee Summer Assistance Program. Existing law authorizes local educational agencies to elect to participate in the program and authorizes a classified employee of a participating local educational agency who meets specified requirements to withhold an amount from the employee's monthly paycheck during the school year to be paid out during the summer recess period, as provided. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to apportion funds to participating local educational agencies within 30 days of receiving a request for payment by the participating local educational agency, as provided. Existing law provides that operation of the program is contingent upon an appropriation for the program in the annual Budget Act or another statute. Existing law defines "local educational agency" for these purposes as a school district or county office of education. Existing law, the Joint Exercise of Powers Act, authorizes 2 or more public agencies, if authorized by their legislative or other governing bodies, to enter into an agreement to jointly exercise any power common to the contracting parties, as provided. That act requires, among other things, that the agreement state the purpose of the agreement or power to be exercised and provide for the method by which the purpose will be accomplished or the manner in which the power will be exercised. This bill would add a joint powers authority formed pursuant to that act consisting solely of school districts and county offices of education to the definition of a local educational agency for purposes of the program, thereby authorizing a joint powers authority and its classified employees to participate in the program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 45500 of the Education Code proposed by AB 147 and SB 147 to be operative only if this bill and either AB 147 or SB 147 is enacted and this bill is enacted last.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA exempts from its requirements various projects, including, but not limited to, housing projects that meet certain requirements and activities and approvals related to certain prison facilities. This bill would exempt from the requirements of CEQA any activity or approval necessary for the completion of the Gypsum Canyon Veterans Cemetery in the County of Orange if specified conditions are met. To the extent that a local agency would be required to determine whether an activity or approval qualifies for this exemption, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2030. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Gypsum Canyon Veterans Cemetery in the County of Orange. 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 declares the public policy of the state regarding labor organization, including, among other things, that it is necessary for a worker to have full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, to negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment, and to be free from the interference, restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection. Existing law establishes the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) in state government as a means of resolving disputes and enforcing the statutory duties and rights of specified public employers and employees under various acts regulating collective bargaining. Under existing law, PERB has the power and duty to investigate an unfair practice charge and to determine whether the charge is justified and the appropriate remedy for the unfair practice. Existing law, the federal National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) , establishes a comprehensive statutory scheme regulating unfair labor practices on the part of employers and labor organizations in industries affecting interstate commerce, and vests in the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) the power to conduct elections to determine employee representatives and to prevent unfair labor practices affecting commerce. Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires that public records, as defined, be available to the public for inspection and made promptly available to any person. This bill would expand PERB's jurisdiction by authorizing a worker, to petition PERB to protect and enforce prescribed rights under specified circumstances, including if the worker is employed in a position subject to the NLRA but the NLRB has expressly or impliedly ceded jurisdiction. The bill would authorize PERB to, among other things, decide unfair labor practice cases pursuant to a specified timeline and order all appropriate relief for a violation, including civil penalties, as prescribed. In order to pursue relief from PERB, the bill would require a covered worker or their representative to file an unfair practice charge or petition that includes specified information, including, where applicable, the original charge or petition filed with the NLRB. The bill would require PERB to hold the supporting documentation and evidence confidential and maintain it as part of its investigatory file and would exempt this documentation and evidence from the California Public Records Act. If PERB determines, among other things, it has insufficient resources to process certain cases or doing so would prevent it from meeting specified statutory deadlines, the bill would require PERB to process and prioritize charges, as specified. The bill would also establish the Public Employment Relations Board Enforcement Fund (fund) in the State Treasury, would require the above-described civil penalties to be deposited into the fund, and would make moneys in the fund available upon appropriation by the Legislature to PERB for the purpose of administering the above-specified provisions. The bill would authorize PERB to rely on its own decisions and precedent under the NLRA and would authorize review of its decisions by a state appellate court, as specified. Existing law, the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining, as specified, and prohibits agricultural employers and labor organizations from engaging in unfair labor practices. Those provisions establish the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) and empower the ALRB to prevent any person from engaging in those practices. Existing law establishes various definitions for these purposes. Existing law requires the ALRB to follow applicable precedents of the NLRA. This bill would specify that the ALRB has exclusive jurisdiction in all phases of the administration of the act, and to determine whether any person or entity meets one or more of those definitions. The bill would instead authorize the board to follow applicable precedents of the NLRA, but would not obligate the board to follow precedents where the ALRB deems it inappropriate to do so. This bill would make related findings and declarations and would make its provisions severable. 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.