Rep. Chris Ward

Existing law authorizes an unmarried person who is under 18 years of age to marry upon obtaining a court order granting permission and the written consent of at least one of the parents or the guardian of each underage party to the marriage, as specified. Existing law requires the court, if it considers it necessary, as part of the court order granting permission to marry, to require the parties to the prospective marriage of a minor to participate in premarital counseling, as specified. Existing law provides that 2 unmarried, unrelated adults who have chosen to share one another's lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring may establish a domestic partnership by filing a declaration with the Secretary of State, if certain requirements are met. Existing law provides that a person under 18 years of age who, together with the person with whom the person proposes to establish a domestic partnership, meets the requirements for a domestic partnership other than the requirement of being at least 18 years of age, is capable of consenting to and establishing a domestic partnership upon obtaining a court order granting permission to the underage person or persons to establish a domestic partnership. Under existing law, registered domestic partners have the same rights, protections, and benefits as spouses. This bill would repeal the authorization for a person under 18 years of age to be issued a marriage license or to establish a domestic partnership, thereby prohibiting a person under 18 years of age from being issued a marriage license or from establishing a domestic partnership. The bill would make conforming changes. Existing law requires the State Registrar to create a document, no later than March 1, 2020, concerning marriage certificates in which one or both of the parties were minors at the time of solemnization of the marriage. Existing law requires the State Registrar to update that document annually, as specified. Existing law requires the local registrar to submit specified information for the purposes of that report. This bill would repeal those provisions.

Existing law establishes the Department of Consumer Affairs under the direction of the Director of Consumer Affairs and sets forth its powers and duties relating to the administration of the various boards under its jurisdiction that license and regulate various professions and vocations. Existing law requires those boards to expedite, and authorizes them to assist, the initial licensure process for an applicant who supplies satisfactory evidence to the board that the applicant has served as an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States and was honorably discharged. This bill would extend that requirement and authorization to also include members who were discharged or received a discharge solely as a result of a specified executive order. The bill would extend the requirement and authorization for the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers Board, commencing June 1, 2027. The bill would make additional conforming changes. Existing law requires the department, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, to establish the Veteran's Military Discharge Upgrade Grant Program to help fund service providers who, for free or at low cost, will educate veterans about discharge upgrades and assist veterans in filing discharge upgrade applications, as specified. Existing law authorizes the department to prioritize veteran recipients of the services, such as prioritizing those who are able to demonstrate their less than honorable characterization of service was connected to a mental health condition, traumatic brain injury, sexual assault or harassment, or sexual orientation. This bill would instead require the program to help fund service providers who will educate veterans on the above-described services at no cost. The bill would additionally require the department to prioritize veteran recipients, regardless of discharge status, who are able to demonstrate that their less than honorable characterization of service was connected to a behavioral health condition, traumatic brain injury, sexual assault or harassment, or sexual orientation or who are able to demonstrate their characterization of service was connected to gender identity. This bill would additionally require the department, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, to establish the Veteran's Housing and Supportive Services Grant Program to help fund service providers who, for at no cost, will provide housing supports for veterans. The bill would require the department to develop criteria, procedures, and accountability measures as may be necessary to implement the grant program, and to prioritize veteran recipients, regardless of discharge status, who are able to demonstrate their less than honorable characterization of service was connected to a behavioral health condition, traumatic brain injury, sexual assault or harassment, or sexual orientation or who are able to demonstrate their characterization of service was connected to gender identity.

The California Constitution specifies various requirements with respect to the levying of assessments and property-related fees and charges by a local agency. As part of those requirements, the California Constitution mandates that such fees or charges that are extended, imposed, or increased satisfy certain requirements, including, but not limited to, that the amount of the fee or charge imposed upon any parcel or person as an incident of property ownership not exceed the proportional cost of the service attributable to the parcel. Existing law, known as the Proposition 218 Omnibus Implementation Act (act) , prescribes specific procedures and parameters for local jurisdictions to comply with these requirements and, among other things, authorizes an agency providing water, wastewater, sewer, or refuse collection services to adopt a schedule of fees or charges authorizing automatic adjustments that pass through increases in wholesale charges for water, sewage treatment, or wastewater treatment or adjustments for inflation under certain circumstances. This bill would authorize a local government to demonstrate the proportional cost of the service attributable to the parcel by any method that reasonably allocates the ascertainable cost of providing service to all parcels, if substantiated as provided. The bill would, however, provide that for water or sewer service fee or charge impositions, a local government is not required to provide an exact measure of the cost of the service at each parcel and may instead impose uniform or tiered rates to parcel or customer classes that are defined based on common characteristics indicative of likely water or sewer use. The bill would provide that the proportional cost of service within each tier of water service may be substantiated by using any reasonable basis for allocating costs attributed to the tier, as described, and would provide a local government discretion to determine the costs allocated to each tier as long as the rate for each tier does not exceed the proportional cost of service reasonably allocated to parcels subject to that tier. The bill would specify that its provisions do not apply to fees for water connections or sewer connections, or capacity charges, as specified.

Existing law authorizes a city to purchase, lease, receive, hold, and enjoy real and personal property, and control and dispose of that property for the common benefit. Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a city to acquire property needed for specified purposes, including golf courses. This bill would prohibit an operator of a third-party golf reservation service platform from listing, advertising, promoting, selling, or transferring reservations for a golf course owned by a local public agency without a written authorization from the golf course operator, as specified. The bill would exempt from this prohibition the sale or transfer of a reservation, for no more than the amount paid, by an individual who purchased the reservation, if the golf course operator does not clearly post their cancellation policy on the internet website where the reservation is secured. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.

This measure would urge the President of the United States and Congress of the United States to immediately restore full and consistent funding and staffing for the National Park Service.

Maddy summaryCalifornia Assembly Resolution 140 designates August 2026 as Children's Get Offline and Get Outdoors Month to promote awareness of the benefits of screen-free play for child development. The resolution cites research linking excessive social media use and reduced free play time to increased rates of anxiety, depression, and other behavioral issues among teenagers. It encourages families and communities to support unstructured outdoor activities and highlights ongoing federal efforts to protect children's mental health through technology guardrails.

Existing law requires a claimant for unemployment compensation disability benefits to establish medical eligibility for each uninterrupted period of disability by filing a first claim for disability benefits supported by a certificate of a treating physician or practitioner that establishes the sickness, injury, or pregnancy of the employee, or the condition of the family member that warrants the care of the employee. For subsequent periods of uninterrupted disability after the period covered by the initial certificate or any preceding continued claim, existing law requires a claimant to file a continued claim for those benefits supported by the certificate of a treating physician or practitioner. This bill would prohibit a physician or practitioner from charging an administrative fee to complete a form for a certificate. The bill would also prohibit a physician or practitioner from charging an administrative fee to complete a recertification examination or for a form that is required to maintain continued eligibility for disability benefits. The bill would provide that these provisions do not prohibit a physician or practitioner from billing for medical services provided in connection with an examination or collecting an applicable copayment, coinsurance, or deductible, as specified.

This measure would memorialize the Legislature's strong disagreement with the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and encourage states to adopt policies to limit the powers of corporations to contribute to political campaigns, consistent with the United States Constitution.

Existing law, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) , grants a consumer various rights with respect to personal information that is collected or sold by a business, as defined, including the right to direct a business that sells or shares personal information about the consumer to third parties not to sell or share the consumer's personal information, as specified. Existing law, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the CCPA and establishes the California Privacy Protection Agency and vests the agency with full administrative power, authority, and jurisdiction to enforce those provisions. Existing law requires a retail grocery store or grocery department within a general retail merchandise store that uses a point-of-sale system to have a clearly readable price indicated on 85% of the total number of packaged consumer commodities offered for sale, subject to specified exemptions. This bill would, subject to certain exceptions, prohibit a retailer from engaging in surveillance pricing. The bill would define "surveillance pricing" to mean offering or setting a customized price for a good for a specific consumer or group of consumers, based, in whole or in part, on personally identifiable information, as specified, and determined in whole or in part through the use of any technology, software, program, machine-based system, or computational process that uses statistical modeling, data analytics, artificial intelligence, or other data processing techniques. The bill would also define "surveillance pricing" to mean random variations in prices to different consumers using a website, mobile application, or comparable online technology. The bill would provide that its provisions do not limit or impair any consumer right or remedy available under any other state or federal law. The bill would declare that any waiver of these provisions is against public policy and is void and unenforceable. This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020.

Existing law makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse to grant a request by any employee to take up to 5 days of bereavement leave upon the death of a family member, as defined, to refuse to hire, or to discharge, demote, fine, suspend, expel, or discriminate against, an individual because of the individual's exercise of the right to bereavement leave or because of the individual's giving information or testimony as to their own or another person's bereavement leave, or to interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, any of these rights, as specified. This bill would include a designated person identified by the employee, as specified, in the definition of "family member" and authorize an employer to limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period for purposes of these provisions relating to bereavement leave.