Existing law prohibits a pupil from being suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed a specified act, including, among other acts, disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. Existing law prohibits the suspension of a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 3, inclusive, and recommending the expulsion of a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, for disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of those school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. This bill, commencing July 1, 2019, would also prohibit the suspension of a pupil enrolled in grades 4 and 5 for disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of those school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. The bill, commencing July 1, 2019, until July 1, 2023, would prohibit the suspension of a pupil enrolled in grades 6 to 8, inclusive, for those acts. The bill, commencing July 1, 2019, would also prohibit the suspension of a pupil enrolled in a charter school in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive, and recommending the expulsion of a pupil enrolled in a charter school in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, for those acts. The bill, commencing July 1, 2019, until July 1, 2023, would prohibit the suspension of a pupil enrolled in a charter school in grades 6 to 8, inclusive, for those acts. The bill would make other related changes.
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Existing law requires the court, when imposing a sentence for a serious felony, in addition and consecutive to the term imposed for that serious felony, to impose a 5-year enhancement for each prior conviction of a serious felony. Existing law generally authorizes a judge, in the interests of justice, to order an action dismissed, but precludes a judge from striking any prior serious felony conviction in connection with imposition of the 5-year enhancement. This bill would delete the restriction prohibiting a judge from striking a prior serious felony conviction in connection with imposition of the 5-year enhancement described above and would make conforming changes. The bill would make additional technical nonsubstantive changes.
Existing law establishes the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state, including the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California. This bill would request the Regents of the University of California to record and report to the Legislature, through a publicly accessible Internet Web site maintained by the university and updated each January 1 and July 1, specified information regarding service work performed by a contractor pursuant to an outsource contract, as defined, with links to specified related documents. To qualify as the lowest responsible bidder or the best value awardee, or otherwise to perform any service work for the University of California, the bill would require that a contractor agree to provide the university with specified information. If a contractor fails to provide any of the required information, or provides information that is false, the contractor would be disqualified from bidding on any contract with the university for a period of 2 calendar years from the date that the accurate information should have been provided or the date on which the violation was discovered, whichever is later.
(1) Existing law, the California Financing Law, generally provides for the licensure and regulation of finance lenders, brokers, and, beginning on January 1, 2019, program administrators, by the Commissioner of Business Oversight. The CFL makes a willful violation of specified provisions a crime. The CFL, until January 1, 2023, establishes the Pilot Program for Increased Access to Responsible Small Dollar Loans (pilot program) , which requires licensees and other entities that wish to participate in the pilot program to file an application and pay a specified fee to the commissioner to participate in the pilot program. The pilot program authorizes a licensee approved by the commissioner to participate in the pilot program to impose specified alternative interest rates and charges, including an administrative fee and delinquency fees, on unsecured loans of at least $300 and less than $2,500, subject to certain requirements. This bill would increase the upper limit on the amount of a permissible loan under the pilot program from $2,500 to $7,500 and make corresponding changes. (2) Under the pilot program, a licensee is prohibited from making a loan if that licensee determines, through its underwriting, that the borrower's total monthly debt service payments exceed 50% of the borrower's monthly gross income. This bill would instead prohibit a licensee from making a loan under these circumstances if the borrower's total monthly debt service payments exceed 50% of the borrower's gross monthly income for a loan of no more than $2,500, or exceed 36% of the borrower's gross monthly income for a loan in excess of $2,500. (3) The pilot program establishes that a loan with a principal balance, upon origination, of at least $1,500 is required to have a term of not less than 180 days. As an alternative to other authorized charges, a licensee approved by the commissioner to participate in the pilot program may contract for and receive charges at an annual simple interest rate not exceeding specified amounts. This bill would additionally require a loan under the pilot program that has a principal balance exceeding $2,500 to have a minimum term of one year and a maximum term of 5 years. The bill would also require licensees to reduce the interest rates on each subsequent loan to the same borrower by a minimum of one percentage point and subject to additional reductions, if specified conditions are satisfied. (4) Under the pilot program, licensees are required to develop and implement policies and procedures designed to respond to questions raised by applicants and borrowers regarding their loans, including those involving finders. Existing law describes a finder as an entity that brings a licensee and a prospective borrower together for the purpose of negotiating a loan contract. This bill would also require licensees to perform reasonable background checks on any finders associated with a licensee's participation in the pilot program. (5) The pilot program authorizes a licensee who is approved to participate in the program to use the services of one or more finders. Existing law defines a "finder" for these purposes as an entity that, at the finder's physical location for business, brings a licensee and a prospective borrower together for the purpose of negotiating a loan contract. This bill would authorize the commissioner to charge a licensee participating in the program an additional fee to offset the commissioner's costs to oversee and examine the activities of that licensee's finder or finders. (6) Existing law requires the Commissioner of Business Oversight to examine each licensee that is accepted into the program at least once every 24 months. This bill would require the commissioner also to examine each finder whose services were used by the licensee at least once every 24 months. (7) Existing law requires the Commissioner of Business Oversight to post reports containing specified information on his or her Internet Web site that summarize utilization of the Pilot Program for Increased Access to Responsible Small Dollar Loans. If more than one licensee is approved to participate in the program, existing law requires that information in the report to be stated in aggregate to avoid identifying data by specific licensee. This bill would require that these reports also contain specified information for each finder whose services were used by a licensee in connection with the loans or loan applications, along with the finder's identity. By increasing the scope of the program, the bill would expand the definition of a crime, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. (8) 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 requires the Attorney General to furnish state summary criminal history information to specified persons or entities, including courts and probation officers, if needed in the course of their duties, and authorizes the Attorney General to furnish state or federal summary criminal history information upon a showing of a compelling need to other persons or entities, including an illegal dumping enforcement officer or a peace officer of another country. Existing law requires the Department of Justice to disseminate specified information, including every conviction rendered against an applicant, whenever state or federal summary criminal history information is furnished by the Department of Justice as the result of an application by an authorized agency or organization and the information is to be used for certain purposes, including for peace officer employment or certification purposes. Under existing law, the Attorney General shall furnish summary criminal history information to a public defender or attorney of record when representing a person in a criminal case. This bill would state that this authority extends to a public defender or attorney of record when representing a person in a criminal case or a juvenile delinquency proceeding, including on appeal or during any postconviction motions, if the information is requested in the course of representation.
Existing law, the Integrated Regional Water Management Planning Act, authorizes a regional water management group to prepare and adopt an integrated regional water management plan with specified components relating to water supply and water quality. Existing law provides that an integrated regional water management plan is eligible for funding allocated specifically for implementation of integrated regional water management. Existing law, until January 1, 2025, requires a regional water management group, within 90 days of notice that a grant has been awarded, to provide the Department of Water Resources with a list of projects to be funded by the grant funds if the project proponent is a nonprofit organization or a disadvantaged community or the project benefits a disadvantaged community. Existing law requires the department, within 60 days of receiving this project information, to provide advanced payment of 50% of the grant award for those projects that satisfy specified criteria, including that the grant award for the project is less than $1,000,000, and requires the advanced funds to be handled as prescribed, including that the funds are required to be spent within 6 months of the date of receipt unless the department waives this requirement. The bill, until January 1, 2025, would require the department to provide a project proponent that requests advanced payment and satisfies certain criteria with advanced payment for those projects of $500,000 or 50% of the grant award, whichever is less. The bill would eliminate the requirement that the grant award for the project be less than $1,000,000 to obtain advanced payment. The bill would require a project proponent, upon completion of the first one-half of a project receiving an above-described grant award, to provide a first one-half project accountability report to the department that reports the completion of objectives for the first one-half of the project and documents the expenditure and use of advanced grant funds. The bill would require the department to provide advanced payment of the remaining grant award for a project that received advanced payment for the first one-half of the project within 60 days of receiving the report if the project meets certain criteria. The bill would require the department to withhold 10% of the grant award as retention proceeds that the department is required to release fully to the project proponent upon verification by the department of project completion. The bill would require a project proponent to submit a final project accountability report to the department upon completion of the project.
(1) Existing law, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, enacted as an initiative statute by Proposition 47, as approved by the electors at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, requires shoplifting, defined as entering a commercial establishment with the intent to commit larceny where the property taken does not exceed $950, to be punished as a misdemeanor. Proposition 47 requires that the act of shoplifting be charged as shoplifting and prohibits a person who is charged with shoplifting from being charged with burglary or theft of the same property. This bill would, until January 1, 2021, create the crime of organized retail theft which would be defined as acting in concert with one or more persons to steal merchandise from one or more merchant's premises or online marketplace with the intent to sell, exchange, or return the merchandise for value, acting in concert with 2 or more persons to receive, purchase, or possess merchandise knowing or believing it to have been stolen, acting as the agent of another individual or group of individuals to steal merchandise from one or more merchant's premises or online marketplaces as part of a plan to commit theft, or recruiting, coordinating, organizing, supervising, directing, managing, or financing another to undertake acts of theft. The bill would make these crimes punishable as either misdemeanors or felonies, as specified. By creating new crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Under existing law, when a public offense is committed in part in one jurisdictional territory and in part in another jurisdictional territory, or the acts constituting or requisite to the consummation of the offense occur in 2 or more jurisdictional territories, the jurisdiction for the offense is in any competent court within either jurisdictional territory. This bill would, until January 1, 2021, additionally establish the jurisdiction of a criminal action for theft, organized retail theft, or receipt of stolen property as including the county where an offense involving the theft or receipt of the stolen merchandise occurred, the county in which the merchandise was recovered, or the county where any act was done by the defendant in instigating, procuring, promoting, or aiding in the commission of the offense. The bill would also, if multiple offenses of theft or other specified crimes all involving the same defendant or defendants and the same merchandise or the same defendant or defendants and the scheme or substantially similar activity occur in multiple jurisdictions, establish that any of those jurisdictions is a proper jurisdiction for all of the offenses. (3) Existing law generally requires that a person arrested for a misdemeanor be released on written notice to appear in court. Existing law allows a peace officer to retain a person in custody on an arrest for a misdemeanor if, among other reasons, there are one or more outstanding arrest warrants for the person, there is reason to believe the person will not appear in court, or there is a reasonable likelihood that the offense will continue or resume. This bill would, until January 1, 2021, allow a peace officer to retain a person arrested for a misdemeanor if there are unresolved failures to appear in court on previous misdemeanor citations, if he or she has been cited, arrested, or convicted for misdemeanor or felony theft from a store or from a vehicle in the previous 6 months, or if there is probable cause to believe that the person arrested is guilty of committing organized retail theft, as defined. By increasing the number of persons subject to detention at the county jail, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law authorizes a court to issue a bench warrant whenever a defendant fails to appear in court as required by law, as specified. This bill would, until January 1, 2021, authorize the issuance of a bench warrant if a defendant has been cited or arrested for misdemeanor or felony theft from a store or vehicle and has failed to appear in court in connection with that charge or those charges in the previous 6 months. (5) Existing law authorizes a court, with the consent of the defendant and a waiver of the defendant's speedy trial right, to postpone prosecution of a misdemeanor and place the defendant in a pretrial diversion program or a deferred entry of judgment program under specified situations. This bill would, until January 1, 2021, authorize a city or county prosecuting attorney or a county probation department to create a diversion or deferred entry of judgment program for persons who commit repeat theft offenses, as specified. Under the program, the prosecuting attorney may enter into a written agreement to refrain from or defer prosecution on the offense or offenses if the person completes program requirements such as community service and makes adequate restitution or an appropriate substitute for restitution to the establishment or person from which property was stolen. (6) 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. This bill would, until January 1, 2021, additionally require the board to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, award funding for a grant program to 4 or more county superior courts or county probation departments to create demonstration projects to reduce the recidivism of high-risk misdemeanor probationers through the use of risk assessments at sentencing and formal probation. The bill would require the board to develop reporting requirements for each county, as specified, and would require the board to prepare and distribute a report that compiles this information, as specified. The bill would also, until January 1, 2021, require the Department of the California Highway Patrol to, in coordination with the Department of Justice, convene a regional property crimes task force to assist local law enforcement in counties identified by the Department of the California Highway Patrol as having elevated levels of property crime, including, but not limited to, organized retail theft and vehicle burglary. The bill would require the task force to provide local law enforcement in the identified region with logistical support and other law enforcement resources, including, but not limited to, personnel and equipment, as determined to be appropriate by the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol in consultation with task force members. (7) The bill would provide that its provisions are severable. (8) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
(1) Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University; the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California; the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges; and independent institutions of higher education as the 4 segments of postsecondary education in this state. Existing law requires each public and private postsecondary educational institution that is located in a county that participates in the Restaurant Meals Program (RMP) to apply to become an approved food vendor for the program, if the institution operates any qualifying food facilities, as defined, on campus, or to provide contracting on-campus food vendors, as defined, with specified information about the program. This bill would require an approved on-campus qualifying food facility that participates in the RMP pursuant to the bill to meet all of the requirements for participation in that program. The bill would also provide that, for purposes of this provision, a qualifying food facility is a facility administered by the postsecondary educational institution. (2) Existing federal law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, formerly the Food Stamp Program, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing state law authorizes a county to deliver CalFresh benefits through the use of an electronic benefits transfer (EBT) system. Existing federal law authorizes eligible counties to participate in the RMP, which allows eligible recipients to purchase meals at qualified restaurants. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to issue an annual all-county letter providing guidance that lists which counties or regions are eligible to participate in the RMP and the instructions for how a county may choose to participate in RMP or appeal a noneligible determination by the department. Existing law also requires the department to design the EBT system to, automatically and upon issuance of an EBT card, allow all CalFresh recipients who are eligible for RMP to utilize their benefits in all restaurants that have been approved to participate in RMP. This bill would authorize the State Department of Social Services to enter into a statewide memorandum of understanding with the Chancellor of the California State University to prevent hunger among college students who are homeless, elderly, and disabled and to facilitate compliance with the provision described in (1) above. The bill would also authorize any qualifying food facility located on a campus of the California State University to participate in the CalFresh RMP through this statewide memorandum of understanding, even if the facility is located in a county that does not participate in the RMP. The bill would define "restaurant" for purposes of the bill to include an in-campus food facility, as defined. The bill would also require the State Department of Social Services to implement this act by all-county letters or similar instructions until regulations are adopted. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations implementing the bill on or before October 1, 2020.
(1) Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state and authorizes local educational agencies throughout the state to operate schools and provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law, the Charter Schools Act of 1992, provides for the establishment and operation of charter schools, as provided. Existing law, the California Healthy Youth Act, requires school districts, as defined, to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive comprehensive sexual health education and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention education, as specified. This bill would also require, commencing with the 2019–20 school year, charter schools to ensure that all pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, receive comprehensive sexual health education and HIV prevention education, as specified. By imposing additional requirements on charter schools, 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 authorizes school districts to impose qualified special taxes, subject to specified constitutional and statutory provisions. Existing law defines "qualified special taxes" for those purposes as taxes that apply uniformly to all taxpayers or all real property within a school district but may provide for an exemption for persons who are 65 years of age or older, for persons receiving Supplemental Security Income for a disability, or for persons receiving Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, as specified. Existing law authorizes a school district to enter into an agreement with the county to collect any special tax on behalf of the district. Existing property tax law requires that each county tax bill, or a statement accompanying that bill, include specified information. This bill would, commencing on January 1, 2020, require a school district that provides for an exemption from a qualified special tax described above, and contracts or enters into an agreement with the county to collect the qualified special tax within the district, to annually provide specified information relating to that exemption to the county tax collector. The bill would require a county tax collector that receives that information to include a hyperlink, identified as "Parcel Tax Exemptions," on the tax collector's Internet Web site homepage to another location on the tax collector's Internet Web site that contains the information submitted by the school district to the tax collector relating to that exemption, except as specified. The bill would, if a school district provides for an exemption from a qualified special tax and enters into an agreement with the county to collect the tax as described above, require a county tax collector to include on each county tax bill information indicating that school district parcel tax exemption information is available on the tax collector's Internet Web site, except as specified. By imposing new duties on county officials relating to property tax administration, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 50079 of the Government Code proposed by AB 2954 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2954 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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.