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 and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law sets forth specified coverage requirements for health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies. This bill, the Let California Kids Hear Act, would require a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, to include coverage for hearing aids for enrollees and insureds under 21 years of age, if medically necessary. The bill would limit the maximum required coverage amount to $3,000 per individual hearing aid, as specified. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements relative to a health care service plan 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.
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Existing law makes it unlawful for any owner or operator of a motel, motor court, or like establishment to post or maintain outdoor advertising signs relating to room rates that has any untrue, misleading, false, or fraudulent representations, and specified other requirements on outdoor signs for those establishments. Existing law also prohibits an owner or operator of a hotel or motel from increasing the hotel or motel's rates upon the proclamation of a state of emergency by the President of the United States or the Governor or upon the declaration of a local emergency, as specified. This bill would prohibit a place of short-term lodging, as defined, from advertising or offering a room rate that does not include all fees or charges required to stay at the short-term lodging except taxes and fees imposed by a government on the stay, as specified. The bill would also require a place of short-term lodging to include in the total price to be paid, before the consumer reserves a stay, all taxes and fees imposed by a government on the stay. The bill would make a violation of those provisions subject to a specified civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 and would authorize an action to enforce those provisions to be brought by a city attorney, district attorney, county counsel, or the Attorney General. The bill would make the bill's provisions operative on July 1, 2024.
Under existing law, if more than one violation of specified crimes, including unlawful intercourse with a minor and child abuse, occurs in more than one jurisdictional territory and the defendant and the victim are the same for all offenses, the jurisdiction of any of those offenses, and for any other offenses properly joinable with that offense, is in any jurisdiction where at least one of the offenses occurred. Existing law makes joinder of other specified crimes, including rape and rape of a minor, in any jurisdiction where at least one of the offenses occurred, subject to a hearing on consolidation of the offenses. This bill would also make this provision applicable to any crime of domestic violence, as defined, and would also make the joinder in the jurisdiction where at least one of the crimes occurred subject to a hearing on consolidation of the offenses.
Existing law generally regulates false advertising and makes it a crime for a person or a firm, corporation, or association, or any employee thereof, to engage in specified false or misleading advertising practices. Existing unfair competition laws make various unfair competition practices unlawful, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising. Existing law authorizes certain public officials, including the Attorney General, to take specified actions upon failure of the advertiser to adequately substantiate a claim within a reasonable time or if the requesting official has reason to believe that an advertising claim is false or misleading. Existing law requires a person who engages or proposes to engage in unfair competition to be liable for a civil penalty of not more than $2,500, per violation, which is assessed and recovered in an action brought by certain public officials, including the Attorney General. This bill would authorize the court, in an action brought by the Attorney General under specified false advertising and unfair competition laws, to award the remedy of disgorgement, in addition to the other remedies provided under those false advertising and unfair competition laws. The bill would require the funds recovered by the Attorney General under these provisions to be deposited into the Victims of Consumer Fraud Restitution Fund, which the bill would establish in the State Treasury. The bill would make the funds, upon appropriation by the Legislature, available to the Attorney General to provide restitution to victims of acts or practices for which consumer restitution has been ordered but not paid in an action brought by the Attorney General, as specified. The bill would authorize funds recovered by the Attorney General from a defendant after payment from the fund has been made to be used by the Attorney General to reimburse the fund. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to promulgate regulations in furtherance of these provisions.
(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, administered by the Director of Industrial Relations, and vests it with various powers and duties to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of California, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment. Existing law establishes within the department, among other entities, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, the Division of Workers' Compensation, and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, with enforcement duties and powers, as prescribed. Existing law authorizes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, the head of which is the Labor Commissioner, to enforce the Labor Code and all labor laws of the state the enforcement of which is not specifically vested in any other officer, board, or commission. Existing law relating to payment of wages for general occupations provides that nothing in those provisions limits the authority of the district attorney of any county or prosecuting attorney of any city to prosecute actions, either civil or criminal, for violations or to enforce those provisions independently and without specific direction of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. This bill, until January 1, 2029, would authorize a public prosecutor, as defined, to prosecute an action, either civil or criminal, for a violation of specified provisions of the Labor Code or to enforce those provisions independently. The bill would require moneys recovered by public prosecutors under the Labor Code to be applied first to payments due to affected workers. The bill would also require all civil penalties recovered pursuant to those provisions to be paid to the General Fund of the state, unless otherwise specified. The bill, except as specified, would limit the action of a public prosecutor under the bill to redressing violations occurring within the public prosecutor's geographic jurisdiction. The bill would authorize a public prosecutor, in addition to any other remedies available, to seek injunctive relief to prevent continued violations. This bill would provide that, in any action initiated by a public prosecutor or the Labor Commissioner to enforce the Labor Code, any individual agreement between a worker and employer that purports to limit representative actions or to mandate private arbitration shall have no effect on the authority of the public prosecutor or the Labor Commissioner to enforce the code. The bill would further provide that any subsequent appeal of the denial of any motion or other court filing to impose such restrictions on a public prosecutor, a division, or the Department of Justice shall not stay the trial court proceedings, notwithstanding specified law. (2) Existing law prohibits any person or employer from engaging in willful misclassification, as defined, of an individual as an independent contractor instead of an employee and in specified acts relating to the misclassified individual's compensation. Existing law, if the Labor and Workforce Development Agency or a court makes one of several prescribed determinations regarding the violation of those prohibitions, subjects the violator to specified civil penalties. Existing law also authorizes the Labor Commissioner to determine such a violation through investigation and informal hearing and, on making that determination, to issue a citation to assess those civil penalties pursuant to prescribed procedures for issuing, contesting, and enforcing judgments. This bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner or a public prosecutor, as defined, to enforce these willful misclassification provisions through specified methods, including by investigating an alleged violation, ordering temporary relief, issuance of a citation, and filing a civil action. The bill would also permit specified employees, the Labor Commissioner, or a public prosecutor to alternatively recover certain penalties as damages payable to the employee.
Existing law prohibits manufacturers and contract testing facilities from using traditional animal test methods within the state for which an appropriate alternative test method has been scientifically validated and recommended by the Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) and adopted, as specified. Existing law excepts certain animal tests from these provisions, including animal tests performed for the purpose of medical research. Existing law provides that the exclusive remedy for a violation of these provisions is a civil action for injunctive relief brought by, among others, the Attorney General and makes a violation of these provisions punishable by a specified civil penalty. Existing law defines various terms for purposes of these provisions. This bill would instead prohibit manufacturers and contract testing facilities from using traditional animal test methods, as defined, within this state for which an appropriate alternative test method or strategy exists, or a waiver has been granted by the agency responsible for regulating the specific product or activity for which the test is being conducted. If an appropriate alternative test method or strategy is unavailable, the bill would require a testing facility to use a traditional animal test method pursuant to prescribed standards, including using the fewest number of animals possible. The bill would define alternative test method or strategy as a test method that does not use animals, provides information of equivalent or better scientific quality and relevance compared to traditional animal test methods, and has been identified and accepted for use by a federal agency or program, as specified. The bill would except from these provisions traditional animal tests performed for the purpose of medical research, as defined, and make conforming changes. This bill would delete the provision that the exclusive remedy for a violation of these provisions is a civil action for injunctive relief brought by, among others, the Attorney General, and would instead provide that these provisions shall be enforced in a civil action brought by those specified individuals, as prescribed. The bill would also, starting January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, require a manufacturer or contract testing facility that uses traditional animal test methods to report specified information to the State Department of Public Health, and would require the department to make that information publicly available on its internet website. The bill would require the department to ensure that information made available to the public does not include personally identifiable information or proprietary information. 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.
Existing law, upon change in control of a grocery establishment, establishes a transitional period of employment for eligible grocery workers, as specified. This bill would prohibit a person from acquiring any voting securities or assets of a retail grocery firm or retail drug firm, as those terms are defined, unless both parties give, or in the case of a tender offer, the acquiring party gives, specified notice to the Attorney General no less than 180 days before the acquisition is made effective. The bill would require an acquiring party who is required to file notice pursuant to the federal Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 to submit the form and documentary material required to be submitted under that federal act, and would specify information to be included in the notice for a party who is not required to file notice pursuant to that federal act, including information required to assess the competitive effects of the proposed acquisition and to assess the economic and community impact of any planned divestiture or store closures. The bill would require the notice to be given under oath and affirmation. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would give the Attorney General 180 days to evaluate the transaction, and would require the Attorney General to charge the acquiring party a filing fee, as specified, incident to the cost for the Attorney General to receive, review, and analyze the notice. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to adopt regulations to effectuate the bill's provisions. The bill would deem as confidential any information submitted to the Attorney General under provisions of federal law rendering them confidential. The bill would make a violation of the bill's provisions subject to injunctive relief and other equitable remedies, and would entitle Attorney General to recover attorney's fees and costs and impose civil penalties of up to $20,000 for each day of noncompliance. 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. 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 authorizes the legislative body of a local agency, as defined, to make, by ordinance, any violation of an ordinance subject to an administrative fine or penalty, as specified. Existing law requires the ordinance adopted by the local agency to provide for a reasonable period of time, as specified in the ordinance, for a person responsible for a continuing violation to correct or otherwise remedy the violation prior to the imposition of administrative fines or penalties, when the violation pertains to building, plumbing, electrical, or other similar structural or zoning issues that do not create an immediate danger to health or safety. Existing law authorizes the ordinance to provide for the immediate imposition of administrative fines or penalties for the violation of building, plumbing, electrical, or other similar structural, health and safety, or zoning requirements if the violation exists as a result of, or to facilitate, the illegal cultivation of cannabis, except as specified. This bill would expand the authorization for an ordinance providing for the immediate imposition of administrative fines or penalties to include all unlicensed commercial cannabis activity, including cultivation, manufacturing, processing, distribution, or retail sale of cannabis, and would authorize the ordinance to declare unlicensed commercial cannabis activity a public nuisance. The bill would prohibit the ordinance from imposing an administrative fine or penalty exceeding $1,000 per violation or $10,000 per day. The bill would authorize the ordinance to impose the administrative fine or penalty on the property owner and each owner of the occupant business entity engaging in unlicensed commercial cannabis activity and to hold them jointly and severally liable. The bill would authorize a local agency that adopts an ordinance authorized by this provision to refer a case involving unlicensed commercial cannabis activity to the Attorney General, as specified.