Asm. Brian Maienschein

Existing law, the Guardianship-Conservatorship Law, generally establishes the standards and procedures for the appointment of, and termination of an appointment for, a guardian or conservator of a person, an estate, or both. Under existing law, a court may appoint the Director of Developmental Services as guardian or conservator of the person and estate, or person or estate, of a developmentally disabled person, in which case a specified order of preferences for deciding between equally qualified prospective conservators does not apply. Existing law authorizes the director to have these conservatorship duties performed through a regional center, or an agency or individual designated by the regional center, as specified. This bill would revise various procedures in the conservatorship process. Among other provisions, the bill would provide that, when equally qualified as other potential conservators, the conservatee's preference and the prior conservator's preference, to a prescribed extent, should prevail. For petitions filed after January 1, 2023, the bill would prohibit a regional center from acting as a conservator but would authorize the regional center to act as a designee of the director, as specified. The bill would require the Director of Developmental Services to develop guidelines to mitigate conflicts that may arise when a regional center is acting as designee while at the same time providing service coordination activities to the same person. The bill would also require the petition for conservatorship to include alternatives to conservatorship considered by the petitioner or proposed conservator and reasons why those alternatives are not suitable, alternatives tried by the petitioner or proposed conservators, if any, and the reasons why those alternatives do not meet the conservatee's needs. This bill would require the court to provide conservators with written information concerning the conservator's obligations to support the conservatee. The bill would require the court, within 30 days of the establishment of a conservatorship and annually thereafter, to provide conservatees under the court's jurisdiction with written information regarding their rights, including a personalized list of the rights the conservatee retains. The bill would expand the annual duties and reporting requirements of court investigators conducting required visits to assess the progress of the conservatorship. The bill would revise the procedures for termination of a limited conservatorship by requiring the court to terminate an uncontested petition for termination under specified circumstances, and without a hearing. The bill, upon appropriation, would require the Judicial Council to establish a conservatorship alternatives program within each self-help center in each superior court. Among other goals, the conservatorship alternatives program would provide information relating to less restrictive alternatives to conservatorship. The bill would designate the duties of court staff reviewing petitions under the conservatorship alternatives program. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to adopt a rule of court that specifies educational requirements for staff attorneys, examiners, investigators, and attorneys appointed as legal counsel in guardianship and conservatorship cases, as well as judges who are regularly assigned to hear probate matters. This bill would require the Judicial Council to include the less restrictive alternatives to conservatorship in the required subject matter to meet those educational requirements. The bill would establish a supported decisionmaking process and a process for entering into a supported decisionmaking agreement for adults with disabilities, as defined. The bill would define "supported decisionmaking" as an individualized process of supporting and accommodating an adult with a disability to enable them to make life decisions without impeding the self-determination of the adult. The bill would authorize an adult with a disability to request and have present one or more adults, including supporters, in any meeting or communication. The bill would set forth the duties of supporters and would specify the elements of a written supported decisionmaking agreement, if one is used.

Existing law requires a marketplace, as defined, to ensure that its terms and conditions regarding commercial relationships with marketplace sellers meet certain criteria, including that they are drafted in plain and intelligible language. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, makes a person guilty of organized retail theft if the person acted in concert with one or more persons to steal merchandise from one or more merchant's premises or online marketplaces with the intent to sell or return the merchandise for value, as specified. Existing law 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 Attorney General to establish a reporting location on its internet website for individuals to report items found on online marketplaces, as defined, that they suspect are stolen goods, and would require the Attorney General to provide that information to the applicable local law enforcement agency and regional property crimes task force. The bill would additionally require online marketplaces to display on their electronically based or accessed platform a link to the Attorney General's online marketplace suspected stolen goods reporting location.

Existing law establishes and regulates the state prison for the confinement of persons convicted of certain felony offenses. Existing law also regulates county jails used for the confinement of persons awaiting trial and persons convicted of misdemeanors and certain felony offenses. Existing law establishes the Board of State and Community Corrections to provide statewide leadership, coordination, and technical assistance to promote effective state and local efforts and partnerships in California's adult and juvenile criminal justice system. The duties of the board, among others, include establishing standards for local correctional facilities and correctional officers. Under existing law, the board is composed of 13 members, as specified. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2023, add 2 additional members to the board, a licensed health care provider and a licensed mental health care provider, each appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate. The bill would also, commencing July 1, 2023, require the board to develop and adopt regulations pertaining to standards of care for incarcerated persons with mental health issues by local correctional facilities, including requirements for training of correctional staff, requirements for mental health screening, and requirements for safety checks of incarcerated persons.

Existing law designates specific days as holidays in this state. Existing law requires the Governor annually to proclaim the date corresponding with the second new moon following the winter solstice, or the third new moon following the winter solstice should an intercalary month intervene, as the "Lunar New Year." Existing law entitles state employees, with specified exceptions, to elect to receive 8 hours of holiday credit for "Native American Day," in lieu of receiving 8 hours of personal holiday credit, and to elect to use 8 hours of vacation, annual leave, or compensating time off, consistent with departmental operational needs and collective bargaining agreements, for "Native American Day," as specified. This bill would repeal provisions requiring the Governor to annually proclaim the "Lunar New Year," and would instead recognize the "Lunar New Year" as a state holiday. The bill would authorize state employees, with specified exceptions, to elect to receive 8 hours of holiday credit for the "Lunar New Year" in lieu of receiving 8 hours of personal holiday credit, and to elect to use 8 hours of vacation, annual leave, or compensating time off, consistent with departmental operational needs and collective bargaining agreements, for "Lunar New Year," as specified. Existing law designates specific days designated as holidays in this state, every Saturday and the day after Thanksgiving Day as judicial holidays, except "Admission Day," "Columbus Day," and any other day appointed by the President, but not by the Governor, for a public fast, thanksgiving, or holiday. This bill would additionally exclude "Lunar New Year" from designation as a judicial holiday. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 135 of the Code of Civil Procedure proposed by AB 1801 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1801 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 6700, 19853, and 19853.1 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1655 and AB 1801 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1655, AB 1801, or both are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law, the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining with respect to wages, terms of employment, and other employment conditions, and authorizes employees to elect exclusive bargaining representatives for these purposes. Existing law creates the Agricultural Labor Relations Board and prescribes its composition, duties, and powers. Existing law authorizes the board to hold hearings and conduct investigations and requires that certain procedures be the exclusive method of redressing unfair labor practices. Under existing law, any person who willfully resists, prevents, or interferes with a member of the board or its agents or agencies in the performance of their duties is guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law requires the board to certify the results of an election conducted by secret ballot of employees in a collective bargaining unit to designate a collective bargaining representative, unless the board determines there are sufficient grounds to refuse to do so. Existing law further provides that if the board refuses to certify an election because of employer misconduct that would render slight the chances of a new election reflecting the free and fair choice of employees, the labor organization shall be certified as the bargaining representative for the bargaining unit. This bill would refer to the election by secret ballot process as a polling place election. The bill would establish alternative procedures to the polling place election and authorize a labor organization to be certified as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit through either a labor peace election or a non-labor peace election, as prescribed, dependent on whether an employer enrolls and agrees to a labor peace election for labor organization representation campaigns. The bill would provide that a labor peace election or a non-labor peace election permits a bargaining unit to summarily select a labor organization as its representative for collective bargaining purposes without using the existing polling place process. Under the bill, a labor peace election would be a mail ballot election and a non-labor peace election would establish a process for the submission of a petition with proof of majority support, subject to certification by the board. Among other provisions, the bill would require for both alternative procedures that an employer respond to the board with regard to a petition, including providing a specified list of employees to the board. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would establish a schedule for agricultural employers to indicate to the board whether they agree to a labor peace compact, defined to mean an agreement by the employer to, among other things, make no statements for or against union representation to its employees or publicly, in any written or oral form, at any time during employee hire, rehire, or orientation, or after certain documents regarding organization are filed with the board. The bill would prohibit a labor peace compact from prohibiting an employer from communicating truthful statements to employees regarding workplace policies or benefits, as specified. The bill would require the board to develop an online web-based labor peace election process that will allow employers to indicate their labor peace choice online, and that will allow labor organizations to see whether a specific agricultural employer has agreed to a labor peace election campaign. This bill would repeal the above provisions on January 1, 2028. This bill would prescribe civil penalties to be imposed upon an agricultural employer who commits an unfair labor practice in an amount not to exceed $10,000 for each violation, and would increase that sum to an amount not to exceed $25,000 for specified violations. The bill would require the board to consider specified factors in determining the amount of a civil penalty pursuant to these provisions. The bill would also authorize the board to impose personal liability for these penalties upon a director or officer of an employer in certain circumstances. Existing law authorizes a person aggrieved by the final order of the board granting or denying in whole or in part the relief sought for an unfair labor practice, to obtain a review of the order in a specified court of appeal by filing in the court a written petition requesting that the order of the board be modified or set aside. This bill would require an employer who appeals or petitions for a writ of review of any order of the board involving make-whole, backpay, or other monetary awards to employees, to post an appeal bond in the amount of the entire economic value of the order, as specified, and would provide for the bond to be forfeited under specified conditions. This bill would state that its provisions are severable. 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 each county to establish an interagency child death review team to assist local agencies in identifying and reviewing suspicious child deaths and facilitating communication among persons who perform autopsies and the various persons and agencies involved in child abuse or neglect cases. Existing law also authorizes each county to develop a protocol to be used as a guideline by persons performing autopsies on children to assist coroners and other persons who perform autopsies in the identification of child abuse or neglect, in the determination of whether child abuse or neglect contributed to death or whether child abuse or neglect had occurred prior to but was not the actual cause of death, and in the proper written reporting procedures for child abuse or neglect, including the designation of the cause and mode of death. This bill would make the establishment of an interagency child death review team and the development or adoption of a protocol mandatory for each county no later than January 1, 2025. By making these requirements on counties mandatory, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires each child death review team to, no less than once each year, make available to the public findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the team, including aggregate statistical data on the incidences and causes of child deaths. This bill would instead require each child death review team to meet these requirements no later than July 1 of each year and to post this report on the internet website of the county. Existing law requires the Attorney General, subject to available funding, to develop a protocol for the development and implementation of interagency child death teams that could be used by counties. This bill would require the Attorney General to complete and publish the protocol on their internet website and to update it every 4 years no later than January 1, regardless of the available funding. Existing law requires multiple state departments to share data and other information necessary to establish accurate information on the nature and extent of child abuse- or neglect-related fatalities in California as those documents relate to child fatality cases. Existing law also requires the California State Child Death Review Council, among other things, to oversee the statewide coordination and integration of state and local efforts. This bill would require the Department of Justice and other agencies and organizations involved to collaborate on allocating statewide responsibilities for these provisions between, at a minimum, the State Department of Health, the State Department of Social Services, and the Department of Justice. The bill would require the Attorney General to submit a budget to the Governor and the Legislature that is sufficient to fund the council, among other things. 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 Department of Housing and Community Development and requires it to administer various programs intended to promote the development of housing, including the Multifamily Housing Program, pursuant to which the department provides financial assistance in the form of deferred payment loans to pay for the eligible costs of development of specified types of housing projects. This bill would require the department, by December 31, 2023, to award incentives, as specified, to Multifamily Housing Program project applicants that agree to set aside at least 20% of the project's units, or no more than 50% of the projects units if the project includes more than 100 units, for individuals that are either experiencing homelessness, as defined, or eligible to receive specified services, including, among others, those received under the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly. The bill would also require the department to partner with the State Department of Health Care Services to determine the most effective way to align qualifying services in housing projects funded by the Multifamily Housing Program. The bill would require the department to assess tenant outcomes and engage with an evaluator to identify specified information with respect to projects receiving incentives under these provisions, including the number and demographics, including age, race, or ethnicity, and presubsidy housing status, of people being served. Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of community care and residential facilities by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law authorizes counties to contract with agencies or individuals to assist persons with disabilities in securing their own homes and to provide persons with disabilities with the supports needed to live in their own homes, including supportive housing. Existing law defines "community living support services" to include, among others, supports that are designed to develop and improve independent living and problem solving skills and assistance with arrangements to meet the individual's basic needs, such as financial benefits, food, and housing. This bill would authorize the state to contract with agencies or individuals to assist persons with disabilities in securing their own homes and to provide persons with disabilities with the supports needed to live in their own homes, including supportive housing. This bill would additionally include assistance with independent activities of daily living or personal care, when needed, in the definition of "community living support services."