Asm. Diane Dixon

Maddy summaryThis bill officially recognizes June 21, 2024, as the 2024 International Day of Yoga within the state of California. It does not create new laws or change existing regulations but serves as a formal acknowledgment of the global event. The measure is intended to highlight the history and benefits of yoga as a wellness practice.

This measure would designate the week of June 23, 2024, to June 29, 2024, inclusive, and every third week of June thereafter, as Roadside Assistance Worker Appreciation Week.

Existing law authorizes the Governor to appoint and commission individuals designated by a railroad company to serve as police officers. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, requires the Department of the California Highway Patrol to coordinate with the Department of Justice to convene a regional property crimes task force to identify geographic areas experiencing increased levels of property crimes and assist local law enforcement with resources, such as personnel and equipment. This bill would require the task force to assist railroad police and would specify cargo theft as a property crime for consideration by the regional property crimes task force. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

(1) Existing law governs the operation of animal shelters by, among other things, setting a minimum holding period for stray dogs and cats and requiring animal shelters to ensure that dogs and cats, if adopted, are spayed or neutered. This bill would require, beginning January 1, 2026, public animal control agencies or shelters or private animal shelters with local contracts for animal care to update any data that they make available on their internet website at least once per month, and would require those agencies and shelters to publish specified information on their internet website, including the number of animals taken in during the prior month and the outcomes for animals over the prior month. By expanding the duties of public animal control agencies and shelters, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) 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 various commissions within state government. This bill would, until January 1, 2028, establish the California Commission on the United States Semiquincentennial in state government to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States of America. The bill would require the commission to plan and coordinate commemorations and observances of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. The bill would require the commission to be solely supported by private or federal funds made available for the purpose of supporting the commission. The bill would require that these funds be deposited in the Semiquincentennial Fund, and would create that fund in the State Treasury. The bill would require funds in the Semiquincentennial Fund to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, as specified. The bill would require the records, files, and other memoranda of the commission, other than any private possessions, to be deposited and filed with the State Archives before January 1, 2028, and would require the State Archives to receive those materials. These provisions would become operative only if the Treasurer determines that sufficient private or federal funds have been made available.

Under existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , it is an unlawful employment practice for an employer, unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification or applicable security regulations established by the United States or the State of California, to refuse to hire or employ a person or to refuse to select a person for a training program leading to employment, or to bar or discharge a person from employment or a training program leading to employment, or to discriminate against a person in compensation or in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of the race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military and veteran status of that person. FEHA provides that nothing in that act relating to discrimination on account of sex affects the right of an employer to use veteran status as a factor in employee selection or to give special consideration to Vietnam-era veterans. FEHA is enforced by the Civil Rights Department, which is in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, and is under the direction of an executive officer known as the Director of Civil Rights. This bill would enact the Voluntary Veterans' Preference Employment Policy Act to authorize a private employer to establish and maintain a written veterans' preference employment policy, to be applied uniformly to hiring decisions, to give a voluntary preference for hiring a veteran over another qualified applicant. The bill would require a private employer with a veterans' preference employment policy to annually report to the Civil Rights Department the number of veterans hired under the preference policy and any demographic information about those veterans that the employer obtained in response to the department's reporting requirements. Under the bill, failure to submit that report would render any preference granted by the employer ineligible for the protections provided by this bill. The bill would require the department to report that information, in addition to the number of discrimination claims received based on an employer's veterans' preference employment policy, to specified legislative policy committees by July 1, 2026, and July 1, 2028. This bill would provide that the granting of a veterans' preference pursuant to the bill, in and of itself, shall be deemed not to violate any local or state equal employment opportunity law or regulation, including, but not limited to, the antidiscrimination provisions of FEHA. The bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to assist any private employer in determining if an applicant is a veteran, to the extent permitted by law. The bill would prohibit a veterans' preference employment policy from being established or applied for the purpose or with the effect of unlawfully discriminating against an employment applicant on the basis of a protected classification, as specified. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029.

Existing law generally regulates formation and enforcement of contracts, including what constitutes an unlawful contract. Existing law provides that, except as provided, a contract entered into on or after January 1, 2018, to transfer ownership of a dog or cat in which ownership is contingent upon the making of payments over a period of time subsequent to the transfer of possession of the dog or cat is void as against public policy. Existing law provides that a contract entered into on or after January 1, 2018, for the lease of a dog or cat that provides for or offers the option of transferring ownership of the dog or cat at the end of the lease term is void as against public policy. This bill would provide that a contract entered into on or after January 1, 2025, to transfer ownership of a dog or cat that is offered, negotiated, brokered, or otherwise arranged by a broker and where the buyer is located in California is void as against public policy if specified conditions are met, including that the contract requires a nonrefundable deposit. The bill would require a contract entered into on or after January 1, 2025, between a broker and a buyer who is located in California to include specified information, including that the broker is required to disclose the original source of the dog or cat involved in the contract. The bill would authorize any court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin a person who offers a contract that contains a term that violates the above-described provisions. The bill would authorize a buyer harmed by a violation to bring a civil action pursuant to that provision against any person in violation of the above-described provisions, and would entitle a prevailing plaintiff to reasonable attorney's fees and costs. The bill would require, if money has been exchanged pursuant to a contract that is void pursuant to these provisions, the seller to refund the money to the buyer within 30 days of receiving notice that the contract is void. The bill would specify that nothing in its provisions are to be construed to limit a contract for the transfer of ownership of an animal trained as a service animal or police dog, and would define various terms for these purposes.

Existing law makes it a crime to, among other things, possess any matter, representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film or filmstrip, the production of which involves the use of a person under 18 years of age, knowing that the matter depicts a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or simulating sexual conduct. This bill would, for the purposes of those provisions, include an image generated through the use of artificial intelligence, as defined, as a computer-generated image. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law imposes specified duties on the Department of Justice relating to the collection and analysis of criminal statistical data, including, among other things, a requirement to make information relating to criminal justice statistics available to the public through the department's OpenJustice internet portal. This bill would require the Department of Justice to include in its collection and analysis of criminal statistical data violations based on materials generated through the use of artificial intelligence. 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 Personal Income Tax Law imposes a tax on individual taxpayers measured by the taxpayer's taxable income for the taxable year, but excludes certain items of income from the computation of tax, including an exclusion for combat-related special compensation. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2024, and before January 1, 2034, would exclude from gross income retirement pay received by a taxpayer from the federal government for service performed in the uniformed services, as defined, during the taxable year. The bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2024, and before January 1, 2034, would also exclude from gross income annuity payments received by a qualified taxpayer, as defined, pursuant to a United States Department of Defense Survivor Benefit Plan during the taxable year. The bill would make related findings and declarations. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board and the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide any data requested by the Legislative Analyst to write the report, as provided, and would make taxpayer information received by the Legislative Analyst subject to limitation on the collection and use of that information. By expanding the scope of 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law classifies certain substances, including cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl, as controlled substances and generally prohibits the possession, sale, transportation, and use of these substances. Existing law additionally prohibits the possession of certain of these controlled substances including cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine while armed with a loaded and operable firearm. A violation of this prohibition is punishable as a felony punishable by incarceration in the state prison. This bill would additionally prohibit the possession of fentanyl, as specified, while armed with a loaded and operable firearm if the person has knowledge that the specific controlled substance is fentanyl. By expanding the application 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.