Asm. Joshua Hoover

Existing law, the Parent's Accountability and Child Protection Act, requires a person or business that conducts business in California and that seeks to sell specified products or services to take reasonable steps to ensure that the purchaser is of legal age at the time of purchase or delivery, including verifying the age of the purchaser. Existing law prohibits a person or business that is required to comply with these provisions from retaining, using, or disclosing any information it receives in an effort to verify age from a purchaser or recipient for any other purpose, except as specified, and subjects a business or person that violates these provisions to a civil penalty. This bill would require a commercial entity that knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes sexually explicit material on the internet from a sexually explicit website to use an age verification method that prevents minors from accessing sexually explicit material. The bill would make a commercial entity that violates these provisions liable to the parent or legal guardian of a minor who accessed the sexually explicit material, as specified. The bill would prohibit a commercial entity or third party that performs age verification required by these provisions from retaining any identifying information of an individual after age verification has been accomplished. The bill would make a commercial entity that knowingly retains the identifying information of an individual in violation of these provisions liable, as specified. The bill would provide specified exceptions to these provisions, including for a bona fide news or public interest broadcast, website video, report, or event. The bill would define several terms for purposes of these provisions.

Existing federal law establishes the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) , which provides specified services for older individuals at a PACE center so that they may continue living in the community. Federal law authorizes states to implement PACE as a Medicaid state option. Existing state law establishes the California Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE program) to provide community-based, risk-based, and capitated long-term care services as optional services under the state's Medi-Cal state plan. Existing law authorizes the State Department of Health Care Services to enter into contracts with public or private organizations for implementation of the PACE program and sets out mandatory requirements of the PACE model, as provided under federal law. This bill would require the department to perform program audits of PACE organizations and to develop and maintain standards, rules, and auditing protocols. The bill would require the protocol to include data collection procedures and formal decision rules and procedures for enforcement consequences when the requirements of law are not met.

Existing law authorizes the governing boards of 2 or more school districts to enter into an agreement, for a term not to exceed 5 school years, for the interdistrict attendance of pupils who are residents of the school districts. Existing law requires a school district of residence to approve an intradistrict transfer request for a victim of an act of bullying, as provided. If there is no available school for an intradistrict transfer, existing law authorizes a victim of an act of bullying to apply for an interdistrict transfer and prohibits a school district of residence from prohibiting that transfer if the school district of proposed enrollment approves the application for transfer. This bill would require a school district of residence to also approve an intradistrict transfer request for a low-performing pupil, as defined, of that school district if the school of attendance has been identified for comprehensive support and improvement or identified as low performing pursuant to specified federal laws, as provided. If there is no available school for an intradistrict transfer, the bill would authorize a low-performing pupil of a school district, if the school of attendance has been identified for comprehensive support and improvement or identified as low performing pursuant to specified federal laws, to apply for an interdistrict transfer and would prohibit the school district of residence from prohibiting that transfer if the school district of proposed enrollment approves the application for transfer. The bill would prohibit a school district of proposed enrollment from approving those transfer requests if the requested school has been identified for comprehensive support and improvement or identified as low performing pursuant to specified federal laws. By requiring school districts to approve intradistrict transfers for certain pupils, 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 establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for county superintendents of schools, school districts, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula, as specified. Existing law requires funding pursuant to the local control funding formula to include, in addition to a base grant, supplemental and concentration grant add-ons that are based on the percentage of unduplicated pupils, defined as those pupils who are English learners, foster youth, or eligible for free or reduced-price meals, served by the county superintendent of schools, school district, or charter school, as specified. Existing law, commencing with the 2021–22 fiscal year, requires the concentration grant add-on to be equal to 65% of the base grant for each school district's or charter school's percentage of unduplicated pupils in excess of 55% of the school district's or charter school's total enrollment. Commencing with the 2024–25 fiscal year, this bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to, for each school district that is not eligible for a concentration grant add-on pursuant to the above-described provisions, but whose boundaries include 2 or more cities, disaggregate the school district's unduplicated pupil enrollment by city, and, if the percentage of unduplicated pupils residing in any single city of the school district is in excess of 55% of the school district's total enrollment from that city, compute an alternative concentration grant add-on for that school district that is attributable only to the unduplicated pupils enrolled from that city, as specified. The bill would require the Superintendent to make this computation for each city within the school district. The bill would authorize the State Department of Education to adopt regulations in order to effectuate the calculation of this alternative concentration grant add-on, which may include, among other things, any necessary reporting requirements. To the extent these provisions would impose additional duties on school districts, 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 establishes the Educational Innovation and Planning Commission to assist the State Board of Education and the State Department of Education in the planning, development, and improvement of educational programs, to evaluate all programs and projects assisted by federal funds provided pursuant to a repealed federal program, and to advise the department on the state plan for the use of those unavailable federal funds, as specified. Existing law requires the commission to submit projects it recommends to the state board for approval and the state board is required to allocate and reserve those unavailable federal funds for various educational projects, as specified. This bill would repeal those provisions and thereby eliminate the commission.

The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act of 2006 requires every retailer, as defined, to have in place a system for the acceptance and collection of used rechargeable batteries for reuse, recycling, or proper disposal. The act requires each July 1, the Department of Toxic Substances Control to survey battery handling or battery recycling facilities, or both, and to post on its internet website the estimated amount, by weight, of each type of rechargeable battery returned for recycling in California during the previous calendar year. Existing law makes the act inoperative on September 30, 2026, and repeals the act on January 1, 2027. This bill would require the department to continue to post that information on its internet website on and after October 1, 2026. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law provides that title to specified legislative office facilities is vested in the Legislature. Existing law requires that the space in the legislative office facilities be allocated from time to time by the Senate Committee on Rules and the Assembly Committee on Rules in accordance with their determination of the needs of the Legislature, as specified. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that provision.

The Joint Exercise of Powers Act authorizes 2 or more public agencies, by agreement, to form a joint powers authority to exercise any power common to the contracting parties, as specified. Existing law requires the agreement to set forth its purpose or the power to be exercised, among other things. This bill would authorize the County of Sacramento and the Cities of Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove, Citrus Heights, and Folsom to enter into a joint powers agreement pursuant to the act to create and operate a joint powers agency, named the Sacramento County Partnership on Homelessness, to assist the homeless population, to coordinate homelessness response, and to develop and manage a comprehensive strategic plan to address homelessness within the jurisdiction of its member cities and county. The bill would set forth the composition and voting procedures of the partnership's board of directors and would require the partnership to comply with the regulatory guidelines of each specific state funding source received. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Sacramento and the Cities of Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove, Citrus Heights, and Folsom.

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. This bill would specify that population growth, in and of itself, resulting from a housing project and noise impacts of a housing project are not an effect on the environment for purposes of CEQA.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education to comply with the federal "Buy American provision," as provided. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that provision.