Existing law prohibits a store, as defined, from providing a single-use carryout bag to a customer at the point of sale, with specified exceptions, including an exemption for bags used to contain unwrapped food. Existing law defines a "single-use carryout bag" as a bag made of plastic, paper, or other material that is provided by a store to a customer at the point of sale and that is not a recycled paper bag or a reusable grocery bag that meets specified requirements, including that the bag be made by a certified reusable grocery bag producer and meets specified requirements with regard to the bag's durability, material, labeling, heavy metal content, and, with regard to reusable grocery bags made from plastic film, recycled material content. Existing law prohibits a producer of reusable grocery bags made from plastic film from selling or distributing those bags unless the producer is certified by a third-party certification entity, and provides proof of that certification and a certification fee to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, as specified. Existing law also prohibits a store from selling or distributing a recycled paper bag at the point of sale unless the store makes that bag available for purchase for not less than $0.10. Existing law defines "recycled paper bag," in part, as a paper carryout bag that contains a minimum of 40% postconsumer recycled materials, except as provided, and meets other requirements. Existing law allows a retail establishment to voluntarily comply with these requirements, if the retail establishment provides the department with irrevocable notice. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2026, revise and recast those provisions to, among other things, recast the definition of a "single-use carryout bag" to a "carryout bag," and would revise the definition to mean a bag made of plastic, paper, or other material that is provided by a store to a customer at the point of sale for the purpose of carrying purchased goods and that is not a recycled paper bag. The bill would create a carryout bag exception to include a bag provided to a customer before the customer reaches the point of sale, that is designed to protect a purchased item from damaging or contaminating other purchased items in a checkout bag, or to contain an unwrapped food item, as specified. The bill would revise the definition of "recycled paper bag" to require it be made from a minimum of 50% postconsumer recycled materials on and after January 1, 2028, without exception. The bill would also prohibit a store from providing, distributing, or selling a carryout bag to a customer at the point of sale, except as provided. The bill would also repeal the provisions relating to standards for and the certification of reusable grocery bags, and would repeal a provision relating to certain obsolete at-store recycling program requirements. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations and would make related conforming changes.
Asm. Tasha Boerner
Sponsored bills
Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as 2 of the public segments of postsecondary education in the state. Existing law provides for the employment and retention of faculty at these institutions. Existing law requires the governing board of a community college district to employ each academic employee as a contract employee, regular employee, or temporary employee. Existing law authorizes the Trustees of the California State University to establish rules and regulations that allow academic teaching employees, librarians, counselors, and student affairs officers to reduce their workload from full-time to part-time duties, as specified. Existing law expresses various policy preferences of the Legislature with respect to part-time community college faculty, including preferences related to advance notice of assignments, pay for the first week of an assignment, the listing of names in the schedule of classes, and other rights normally afforded to full-time faculty, as provided. This bill would revise the policy preferences of the Legislature with respect to part-time community college faculty to express the preference that the names of part-time faculty be listed in the schedule of classes and the course schedule provided to students, faculty, and staff, once they are assigned to a course. The bill also would express all of the community college part-time faculty preferences, as amended by the bill, with respect to part-time California State University faculty.
Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, including electrical and gas corporations, and requires those rates and charges to be just and reasonable. This bill would require the commission, following the approval of each general rate case, to review which costs, if any, differed from the general rate case forecasts for each electrical corporation or gas corporation, and to adjust the authorized revenue requirement in the subsequent general rate case, as appropriate, based on the actual past costs the corporation records. The bill would require the commission to establish guidelines for electrical corporations and gas corporations to calculate and report annually their actual rates of return to the commission. The bill would require the commission to adopt processes to adequately track those corporations' actual rates of return relative to their forecasted rates of return and to require those corporations to identify the cost categories where projected costs differed from actual costs. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act, and because a violation of a commission action implementing its requirements 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.
(1) The California Constitution provides that the civil service includes every officer and employee of the state, except as provided, and requires that in the civil service, permanent appointment and promotion be made under a merit-based system ascertained by competitive examination. Existing law, the State Civil Service Act, prescribes a comprehensive personnel system for the state with appointments to be based on merit and fitness established by competitive tests. Existing law states the purposes of the State Civil Service Act, including, among others, to provide a comprehensive personnel system in which positions involving comparable duties and responsibilities are similarly classified and compensated. This bill would expand that purpose to include that the compensation relationship between state civil positions with comparable duties and responsibilities is maintained. (2) The State Civil Service Act requires each state agency to establish an equal opportunity plan that includes, at a minimum, identifying the areas of significant underutilization of specific groups based on race, ethnicity, and gender within each department and job category level, as provided. This bill would additionally require the plan to identify the areas of significant overutilization of specific groups, as provided. (3) Existing law requires the Department of Human Resources to establish and adjust salary ranges for each class of position in the state civil service based on the principle that like salaries should be paid for comparable duties and responsibilities, as specified. Existing law prohibits the department from making an adjustment that would require expenditures in excess of existing appropriations that may be used for salary increase purposes. This bill would require the department to consider any relevant factor, including the origins and history of the work, including the manner in which wages have been set, in determining whether compensation and classification inequities exist between bargaining units within the state civil service. The bill would require the department to ensure that the principle that like salaries be paid for comparable duties and responsibilities is maintained when determining the distribution of appropriations used for adjusting salaries and would authorize the department to make adjustments requiring expenditures in excess of existing appropriations if the adjustments are necessary to maintain or restore historical salary relationships, as specified. The bill would require the department to make a change in salary range retroactive if made for that purpose. Existing law requires the department to submit to parties meeting and conferring, and to the Legislature, reports on 2 groups of bargaining units biennially, beginning on either February 1, 2025, or February 1, 2026, depending on the group, on the findings of the department relating to the salaries of employees in comparable occupations in private industry and other governmental agencies. This bill would, instead, require the reports to include findings of the department relating to the salaries of employees in comparable classifications, occupational groups, or bargaining units within state civil service, in private business, and other public employment, as specified. (4) Existing law requires the Department of Human Resources to evaluate all state civil service classifications in the Personnel Classification Plan and prepare a detailed report, as specified, on gender and ethnicity pay equity in each classification where there is an underrepresentation of women and minorities. This bill would additionally require the report to include where there is an overrepresentation of women and minorities and statistical information for each bargaining unit, as specified. The bill would require the department to negotiate salaries to close any gaps found, as specified, and would require that an increase in total compensation resulting from this evaluation be implemented through a memorandum of understanding, as specified. The bill would require the department, in determining whether inequities exist, to consider any relevant factor, including the origins and history of the work, including the manner in which wages have been set.
Existing law authorizes the Controller, upon approval of a claim for the postponement of ad valorem property taxes, to directly pay a county tax collector for the property taxes owed by the claimant, as provided. Existing law establishes the Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the Controller for specified purposes, including disbursements relating to the postponement of property taxes pursuant to the Property Tax Postponement Law. Existing law requires the Controller, on June 30, 2018, and on June 30 each year thereafter, to transfer any moneys in the fund in excess of $15,000,000 to the General Fund. This bill would require money to be transferred, on June 30, 2025, and on June 30 each year thereafter, from the General Fund to the Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund when the balance in the latter fund is less than $15,000,000. The bill would require the amount of money transferred each year to be equal to the sum needed to bring the balance of the Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund to $15,000,000. By requiring the transfer of moneys into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, generally requires that all meetings of a legislative body of a local agency be open and public and that all persons be permitted to attend and participate. Existing law authorizes a legislative body to hold a closed session with specified individuals on, among other things, matters posing a threat to the security of essential public services, as specified. This bill would additionally authorize a legislative body to hold a closed session with other law enforcement or security personnel and to hold a closed session on a threat to critical infrastructure controls or critical infrastructure information, as defined, relating to cybersecurity. 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 local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
This measure would, among other things, urge the United States Congress and President Joseph R. Biden to fully fund the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Comprehensive Infrastructure Solution for the Tijuana River due to the ongoing impacts to public health, the environment, and the local economy caused by cross-border pollution and would urge President Joseph R. Biden to declare a national emergency due to those ongoing impacts.
This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to repeal the state and local tax deduction limitation so that residents of California and married taxpayers are no longer penalized by the federal tax code.
This measure would proclaim September 20, 2024, and September 20 of each year thereafter, as California Youth Climate Action Day to honor and support the efforts of young people in their pursuit of environmental sustainability, climate justice, and the preservation of biodiversity.
Existing law prohibits a store, as defined, from providing a single-use carryout bag to a customer at the point of sale, with specified exceptions, including an exemption for bags used to contain unwrapped food. Existing law defines a "single-use carryout bag" as a bag made of plastic, paper, or other material that is provided by a store to a customer at the point of sale and that is not a recycled paper bag or a reusable grocery bag that meets specified requirements, including that the bag be made by a certified reusable grocery bag producer and meets specified requirements with regard to the bag's durability, material, labeling, heavy metal content, and, with regard to reusable grocery bags made from plastic film, recycled material content. Existing law prohibits a producer of reusable grocery bags made from plastic film from selling or distributing those bags unless the producer is certified by a third-party certification entity, and provides proof of that certification and a certification fee to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, as specified. Existing law also prohibits a store from selling or distributing a recycled paper bag at the point of sale unless the store makes that bag available for purchase for not less than $0.10. Existing law defines "recycled paper bag," in part, as a paper carryout bag that contains a minimum of 40% postconsumer recycled materials, except as provided, and meets other requirements. Existing law allows a retail establishment to voluntarily comply with these requirements, if the retail establishment provides the department with irrevocable notice. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2026, revise and recast those provisions to, among other things, recast the definition of a "single-use carryout bag" to a "carryout bag," and would revise the definition to mean a bag made of plastic, paper, or other material that is provided by a store to a customer at the point of sale for the purpose of carrying purchased goods and that is not a recycled paper bag. The bill would create a carryout bag exception to include a bag provided to a customer before the customer reaches the point of sale, that is designed to protect a purchased item from damaging or contaminating other purchased items in a checkout bag, or to contain an unwrapped food item, as specified. The bill would revise the definition of "recycled paper bag" to require it be made from a minimum of 50% postconsumer recycled materials on and after January 1, 2028, without exception. The bill would also prohibit a store from providing, distributing, or selling a carryout bag to a customer at the point of sale, except as provided. The bill would also repeal the provisions relating to standards for and the certification of reusable grocery bags, and would repeal a provision relating to certain obsolete at-store recycling program requirements. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations and would make related conforming changes.