Rep. Josh Lowenthal

Existing law establishes the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) to enforce various laws protecting the privacy of individuals. If a business knowingly collects and sells to third parties the personal information of a consumer with whom the business does not have a direct relationship, existing law requires the business to register with the CPPA as a data broker, except as specified. Existing law requires the CPPA to establish an accessible deletion mechanism that allows a consumer to request that every data broker delete any personal information related to that consumer held by the data broker or associated service provider or contractor, as prescribed. Existing law requires, beginning August 1, 2026, a data broker to access that deletion mechanism at least once every 45 days and, among other things, process all deletion requests and delete all personal information related to the consumers making the requests, as specified. This bill would change the above-described 45-day period to a 30-day period and make conforming changes. This bill would require the Secretary of State, certain local government officials, the Judicial Council, and the State Bar of California to notify any state elected official, local elected official, or judge, as applicable, that the person may submit a request to delete that person's personal information through the above-described accessible deletion mechanism, as prescribed. By imposing additional duties on local government officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would authorize the Attorney General, a county counsel, or a city attorney to bring a civil action, on behalf of an elected official or judge, against a data broker who violates certain personal information deletion requirements, as prescribed. This bill would make its provisions relating to the notice and enforcement of requests for deletion of personal information of elected officials and judges operative on July 1, 2027. 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 establishes the California Reproductive and TGI Health Equity Program within the Department of Health Care Access and Information for the purpose of ensuring abortion, contraception, and gender-affirming care are affordable for and accessible to all patients, regardless of their ability to pay, and to provide financial support for safety net providers of these services to offset the costs of providing uncompensated care to patients with low incomes who would otherwise lack access to care. Existing law authorizes a Medi-Cal enrolled provider to apply for a grant, and a continuation award after the initial grant, if they agree to provide abortion, contraception, and gender-affirming care services in accordance with specified requirements, including that the services are provided at no cost or a reduced cost to individuals with a household income at or below 400% of the federal poverty level who are uninsured or have health care coverage that does not include both abortion and contraception or does not include gender-affirming care and are not otherwise eligible to receive both abortion and contraception care at no cost through the Medi-Cal and Family PACT programs or receive gender-affirming care at no cost through the Medi-Cal program. This bill would additionally authorize a Medi-Cal enrolled provider to apply for a grant or a continuation of a grant if they provide the above-described services to patients who are veterans, as defined, who are uninsured or have health care coverage that does not include both abortion and contraception and are not otherwise eligible to receive both abortion and contraception care at no cost through the Medi-Cal and Family PACT programs. The bill would make other conforming changes and would make related findings and declarations. Existing law establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs and vests the department with specified duties related to veterans in the state, including the development of a transition program to assist veterans in successfully transitioning from military to civilian life by providing information related to, among other things, health care programs and services. This bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to publish a link to the State Department of Public Health's abortion information internet website on the women veterans resources page of its internet website.

The California Fair Employment and Housing Act makes specified employment practices unlawful, including the harassment of an employee directly by the employer or indirectly by agents of the employer with the employer's knowledge. Under existing law, the Civil Rights Department administers these provisions. Existing law requires a specified employer with 5 or more employees to, by January 1, 2021, provide at least 2 hours of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding sexual harassment to all supervisory employees and at least one hour of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding sexual harassment to all nonsupervisory employees in California and, after that date, once every 2 years. Existing law requires an employer to include prevention of abusive conduct as a component of that training and education. This bill would additionally require that, beginning January 1, 2028, the above-described training and education include, as a component of the training and education, anti-hate speech training, as specified.

Existing law provides that the State of California recognizes and accepts responsibility for the harms and atrocities committed by the state in promoting, facilitating, enforcing, and permitting chattel slavery and apologizes for perpetuating the harms African Americans have faced, as specified. Existing law requires a plaque memorializing this apology to be publicly and conspicuously installed and maintained in the State Capitol Building. This bill, the Rowena Mae Ramos Act, would provide that the State of California recognizes and accepts responsibility for all of the harms and atrocities committed by its representatives who promoted, permitted, facilitated, and enforced policies of violence against California Native Americans. The bill would further provide that the State of California apologizes for perpetuating the harms experienced by California Native Americans as a result of policies enacted, sanctioned, or tolerated by the Legislature. The bill would require a plaque memorializing this apology to be publicly and conspicuously installed and maintained in the State Capitol Building. The bill would impose specified duties on the Department of General Services and the Joint Rules Committee relating to the installation and maintenance of the plaque. The bill would authorize the Department of General Services and the Joint Rules Committee to receive money from grants and private donations and would continuously appropriate those funds for this purpose, as specified. The bill would require the Legislature to prepare the formal apology and would request it be signed by specified state leaders. The bill would require the Secretary of State to submit a final copy of this formal apology to the State Archives, where it would be available for viewing by the general public in perpetuity. The bill would include related legislative findings.

Existing law authorizes an unmarried person who is under 18 years of age to marry upon obtaining a court order granting permission and the written consent of at least one of the parents or the guardian of each underage party to the marriage, as specified. Existing law requires the court, if it considers it necessary, as part of the court order granting permission to marry, to require the parties to the prospective marriage of a minor to participate in premarital counseling, as specified. Existing law provides that 2 unmarried, unrelated adults who have chosen to share one another's lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring may establish a domestic partnership by filing a declaration with the Secretary of State, if certain requirements are met. Existing law provides that a person under 18 years of age who, together with the person with whom the person proposes to establish a domestic partnership, meets the requirements for a domestic partnership other than the requirement of being at least 18 years of age, is capable of consenting to and establishing a domestic partnership upon obtaining a court order granting permission to the underage person or persons to establish a domestic partnership. Under existing law, registered domestic partners have the same rights, protections, and benefits as spouses. This bill would repeal the authorization for a person under 18 years of age to be issued a marriage license or to establish a domestic partnership, thereby prohibiting a person under 18 years of age from being issued a marriage license or from establishing a domestic partnership. The bill would make conforming changes. Existing law requires the State Registrar to create a document, no later than March 1, 2020, concerning marriage certificates in which one or both of the parties were minors at the time of solemnization of the marriage. Existing law requires the State Registrar to update that document annually, as specified. Existing law requires the local registrar to submit specified information for the purposes of that report. This bill would repeal those provisions.

Existing law requires a person or business that conducts business in California and that seeks to sell specified products or services, to take reasonable steps, as specified, to ensure that the purchaser is of legal age at the time of purchase or delivery, including, but not limited to, verifying the age of the purchaser. That law specifies that a person or business that violates these provisions is subject to a civil penalty not exceeding $7,500 for each violation. This bill would add nitrous oxide, as provided, to the above-referenced list of specified products or services. The bill would prohibit an online seller from allowing a purchaser to use a gift card or store credit for specified products or services that are illegal to sell to a minor. The bill would increase the amount of the civil penalty that may be imposed upon a person or business that violates these provisions to $7,500 for each violation, and would also authorize a court to exercise its discretion to increase the civil penalty imposed upon a business if it had annual gross revenues in excess of $25,000,000 in the preceding calendar year, to an amount not exceeding $250,000 per violation if it finds that doing so is necessary to deter future violations. The bill would specify that a public prosecutor that brings an action for violation of these provisions may also seek injunctive relief and attorney's fees and costs.

Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. Existing law authorizes the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care to authorize a pilot program in southern California under which approved providers may undertake risk-bearing arrangements with a voluntary employees' beneficiary association with enrollment of more than 100,000 lives, as specified, beginning no earlier than January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2027, inclusive, if certain criteria are met. Existing law requires the association and each participating health care provider to report to the department information regarding cost savings and clinical patient outcomes compared to a fee-for-service payment model. Existing law requires the department to report those findings to the Legislature after the termination of the pilot program and before January 1, 2027. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2030. This bill would extend that repeal date to January 1, 2031. The bill would extend the end date of the pilot program to December 31, 2030, but would authorize the department to terminate the pilot program for specified reasons and would require the department to terminate the pilot program prior to the pilot program's end date based on any significant negative findings in any report, including if the department identifies any serious deficiencies that could cause enrollee harm. The bill would, instead of requiring the department to report findings to the Legislature after the termination of the pilot program, require the department to submit an interim report of the findings described above and policy recommendations regarding the continuation of the pilot program to the Legislature before January 1, 2029.

Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and requires the department to be responsible for, among other things, fire protection and prevention, as provided. Existing law establishes the California Conservation Camp program for the purpose of having inmates and wards work on projects supervised by the department. Existing law requires the department to utilize inmates and wards assigned to conservation camps in performing fire prevention, fire control, and other work at the department. This bill would require, on and after July 1, 2027, the department to, in partnership with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the California Conservation Camp program, implement a standardized process to ensure that all eligible individuals who successfully complete training in a department firefighting training camp while incarcerated receive official written certification reflective of the training completed before their release, as specified. This bill would require the department, on and after January 1, 2028, if a qualified formerly incarcerated individual, as defined, applies for a Fire Fighter 1 Classification position, or any successor classifications, and has the required training and meets the minimum qualifications for the position, to award hiring preference under Category Placement 2 to the qualified formerly incarcerated individual, as specified. The bill would require the department, on and after January 1, 2028, if a qualified formerly incarcerated individual applies for a Forestry Technician Classification position, or any successor classifications, to count the duration of specified training and fieldwork as an incarcerated hand crew member towards the minimum qualifications for the classification.

This measure would urge the President of the United States and Congress of the United States to immediately restore full and consistent funding and staffing for the National Park Service.

Maddy summaryCalifornia Assembly Resolution 140 designates August 2026 as Children's Get Offline and Get Outdoors Month to promote awareness of the benefits of screen-free play for child development. The resolution cites research linking excessive social media use and reduced free play time to increased rates of anxiety, depression, and other behavioral issues among teenagers. It encourages families and communities to support unstructured outdoor activities and highlights ongoing federal efforts to protect children's mental health through technology guardrails.