Asm. Avelino Valencia

Maddy summaryThis bill is a House Resolution that formally recognizes the work of school board members across California by designating January 2025 as School Board Recognition Month. It directly affects local school districts and county offices of education by honoring the nearly 5,000 elected school board members who serve in these roles. The resolution expresses appreciation for their dedication to public education and encourages community members to support these local officials in their efforts to serve students. This is a commemorative measure rather than a policy change, as it does not alter laws or regulations but instead highlights the importance of school governance.

The California Constitution prohibits the total annual appropriations subject to limitation of the State and of each local government from exceeding the appropriations limit of the entity of government for the prior year adjusted for the change in the cost of living and the change in population. The California Constitution defines "appropriations subject to limitation" of the State for these purposes. The California Constitution establishes the Budget Stabilization Account and requires, for every fiscal year and based on the Budget Act for that fiscal year, the Controller to transfer from the General Fund to the Budget Stabilization Account, no later than October 1, a sum equal to 1.5% of the estimated amount of General Fund revenues for that fiscal year. The California Constitution requires other transfers between the General Fund and the Budget Stabilization Account, as specified. The California Constitution prohibits the amount transferred pursuant to these provisions for any fiscal year from exceeding an amount that would result in a balance in the account that, when the transfer is made, exceeds 10% of the amount of the General Fund proceeds of taxes for the fiscal year estimate, as specified. This measure would change the 1.5% required transfer to an undetermined percentage of the estimated amount of General Fund revenues for that fiscal year. The measure would change the 10% limit on the balance in the Budget Stabilization Account to 20% of the amount of the General Fund proceeds of taxes for the fiscal year estimate, as specified. The measure would specify that funds transferred under these provisions to the Budget Stabilization Account do not constitute appropriations subject to the above-described annual appropriations limit.

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) grants a consumer various rights with respect to personal information that is collected or sold by a business, as defined, including the right to direct a business that sells or shares personal information about the consumer to third parties not to sell or share the consumer's personal information, as specified. The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the CCPA. This bill would require a business to which another business transfers the personal information of a consumer as an asset that is part of a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, or other transaction in which the transferee assumes control of all or part of the transferor to comply with a consumer's opt out direction to the transferor. This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1798.120 of the Civil Code proposed by AB 1949 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1949 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires the trustees to control and expend all money appropriated for the support and maintenance of the university. This bill, the California State University Transparency Act of 2024, would require the California State University to develop and maintain, on or before July 1, 2026, an internet website that allows the public to search and aggregate information on the expenditures and transfers of any state funds by the California State University in amounts that exceed $25,000, as specified. The bill would require the internet website to include, among other things, the ability of a user to provide input to the California State University regarding the internet website's utility and the ability of a user to provide recommendations to the California State University for internet website improvements.

Existing law requires the Governor to appoint every officer whose mode of appointment is not prescribed by law. Existing law also prescribes the manner of the Governor's appointment of those officers. This bill would require the office of the Governor, commencing January 1, 2026, to maintain on its internet website a list of every state board and commission that includes, for each state board or commission, the membership list, stated purpose, duties, meeting frequency, internet website, and vacancies in the membership. The bill would require the office of the Governor, on or before January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, to create and publish on its internet website a report containing aggregate demographic information of appointments made by the office during the prior calendar year, as specified.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education to develop and maintain nutrition guidelines for school lunches and breakfasts, and for all food and beverages sold on public school campuses. Existing law requires those nutrition guidelines to be consistent with the requirements for a nutritionally adequate breakfast and a nutritionally adequate lunch. Existing law defines a nutritionally adequate breakfast and a nutritionally adequate lunch for these purposes to mean those that qualify for reimbursement under the most current meal pattern for the federal School Breakfast Program and the federal National School Lunch Program, respectively. Existing law requires a school district, county superintendent of schools, or charter school maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to make available a nutritionally adequate breakfast and a nutritionally adequate lunch, free of charge, during each schoolday to any pupil who requests a meal without consideration of the pupil's eligibility for a federally funded free or reduced-price meal. Existing law authorizes a school operated and maintained by a school district or county office of education, from the midnight before to 30 minutes after the end of the official schoolday, to sell food and beverages other than meals reimbursed by specified federal nutrition programs, only if the food or beverages meet dietary guidelines, as specified, depending on grade level. This bill, beginning December 31, 2027, would prohibit a school district, county superintendent of schools, or charter school maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, from offering a nutritionally adequate breakfast or lunch containing specified substances, including, among others, red 40 and yellow 5 and would prohibit a school operated and maintained by a school district or county office of education from selling food or beverages, except for food items sold as part of a school fundraising event, containing those specified substances, as provided. To the extent this bill would impose additional requirements on public schools, 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.

Existing law requires each participating community college to provide a Student Success Completion Grant award to a student attending a community college if the student receives a Cal Grant B or C award, makes satisfactory academic progress, and is a California resident or is exempt from paying nonresident tuition. Existing law awards $1,298 per semester, or the quarterly equivalent, for eligible students who enroll in 12, 13, or 14 units per semester, or the quarterly equivalent number of units, awards $4,000 per semester, or the quarterly equivalent, for eligible students who enroll in 15 units per semester, or the quarterly equivalent number of units, and, commencing with the 2023–24 academic year, awards $5,250 per semester, or the quarterly equivalent, to eligible students who are current or former foster youth who enroll in 12 or more units per semester, or the quarterly equivalent number of units. This bill would require each participating community college to also award $1,298 per semester, or the quarterly equivalent, to eligible students who enroll in 9 or more units per semester, or the quarterly equivalent number of units, who are considered full-time as part of a disabled student programs and services Academic Accommodation Plan, as described.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes use of the Emergency Alert System to inform the public of local, state, and national emergencies. Existing law authorizes a law enforcement agency to request the Department of the California Highway Patrol to activate a "Feather Alert," as defined, if the law enforcement agency determines that specified criteria are satisfied with respect to an endangered indigenous person who has been reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances. Existing law requires the department, if it concurs that those specified requirements are met, to activate a Feather Alert within the appropriate geographical area requested by the investigating law enforcement agency and to assist the agency by disseminating specified alert messages and signs. Existing law requires the department to create and submit a report to the Governor's office and the Legislature that includes an evaluation of the Feather Alert, as specified. This bill would require the department, in consultation with specified groups including tribal nations, to develop policies and procedures providing instruction specifying how a law enforcement agency and certain entities involved in emergency warnings are required to proceed after a missing person has been reported to a law enforcement agency, as defined, and prescribed conditions are met. The bill would require those policies and procedures to include, among other things, procedures for the transfer of information regarding the missing person and the circumstances surrounding the missing person's disappearance, as specified. This bill would require the department to respond to a law enforcement agency's or tribe's request to activate a Feather Alert within 48 hours of receiving the request. The bill would require the department to take reasonable steps to confirm that a report from a missing person's family members is not an attempt to locate an indigenous person who is intentionally avoiding or evading abuse, as specified. If the department declines to activate a Feather Alert, the bill would require it to provide written notice to the requesting law enforcement agency or tribe, as specified. This bill would revise the conditions under which a law enforcement agency may request the department to activate a Feather Alert. In this regard, the bill would authorize the agency to make that request if it determines a Feather Alert would be an effective tool in the investigation of missing and murdered indigenous persons. To make that determination, the bill would require a law enforcement agency to consider prescribed factors, including, among other things, that the agency or tribe believes that the person is in danger and is missing under specified circumstances. This bill would revise the reporting requirement described above to require the department to work with law enforcement agencies and tribal nations to create the report and to submit the report no later than January 1, 2027. The bill would require the report to include information on the efficacy and advantages of the Feather Alert, including, but not limited to, statistical data on the number of cases closed and the number of cases that remain open, and the impact of the Feather Alert on other alert programs.

Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, deems all campaign contributions to be held in trust for expenses associated with seeking or holding office, and generally authorizes expenditures associated therewith if they are reasonably related to a political, legislative, or governmental purpose. Existing law prohibits the use of campaign funds to pay or reimburse fines, penalties, judgments, or settlements, except as specified. Existing law provides that the expenditure of campaign funds for attorney's fees and other costs in connection with administrative, civil, or criminal litigation are not related to a political, legislative, or governmental purpose unless the litigation is directly related to activities of a committee that are consistent with its primary objectives or arises directly out of a candidate's or elected officer's activities, duties, or status as a candidate or elected officer, as specified. This bill would prohibit campaign funds from being used to reimburse expenditures for attorney's fees and other costs in connection with criminal litigation if the litigation results in a conviction of the candidate or elected officer for a felony involving certain types of offenses, as specified. The bill would prohibit the use of campaign funds to pay or reimburse a candidate or elected officer for a fine, penalty, judgment, or settlement relating to a conviction for a felony involving such specified offenses. The bill would require the candidate or elected officer, if convicted, to reimburse the campaign for all funds used in connection with other legal costs and expenses related to claims of criminal acts. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 89513 of the Government Code proposed by SB 1170 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1170 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. A violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 is punishable as a misdemeanor. By expanding the scope of an existing 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. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.

Existing law requires that a weapon acquired by a specified governmental entity under specified circumstances, including as part of a "gun-buyback" program, be destroyed. This bill would require a law enforcement agency that contracts with a third party for the destruction of firearms or weapons to ensure that the contract for those services prohibits the sale of any parts of, or attachments to, the firearm or other weapon, as specified. The bill would also exempt from the destruction requirement, any firearm obtained through a "gun-buyback" program that is donated to a historical society, museum, or institutional collection, as specified. By requiring a higher level of service for local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 18005 of the Penal Code proposed by SB 1019 and AB 2739 to be operative only if this bill and either one or both of those bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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.