Asm. Shirley N. Weber

Existing law creates within the state government various commissions, including the Native American Heritage Commission and the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. Existing law establishes the California African American Museum for the purpose of preserving, collecting, and displaying samples of African American contributions to the arts, sciences, religion, education, literature, entertainment, politics, sports, and history of the state and the nation. This bill would establish the California Commission for the Preservation of African American History, Culture, and Institutions in state government, with membership appointed as specified, to be headquartered in the museum. The bill would require the commission to conduct public hearings to identify the contributions of African Americans to California history and culture, chronicle the activities of African Americans who have made significant contributions to the history and culture of California in all fields of endeavor, and identify institutions and places of significance in the contributions of African Americans to the history and culture of California and provide for the placement of an appropriate marker at these sites.

Existing law, the Charter Schools Act of 1992, provides for the establishment and operation of charter schools and authorizes the governing board of a school district, a county board of education, and the State Board of Education to approve a petition for the establishment of a charter school and to act as a chartering authority. This bill would require a chartering authority to look to specified foundational principles in implementing the act, including, among others, that charter schools are to be governed with transparency and according to the highest ethical standards. To the extent the bill would impose additional requirements on certain local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also make a nonsubstantive change by updating a cross reference. 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.

(1) Existing law requires the clerk of the court to retain all exhibits introduced or filed in a criminal action or proceeding, except as specified, until final determination of the actions or proceedings. Existing law authorizes the court, if requested by a party, to order an exhibit delivered to that party if no prejudice will be suffered by either party, a full and complete photographic record is made of the exhibits, and release of the exhibit is not prohibited by law. Existing law requires the court to return an exhibit to the party offering it when the exhibit poses a security, storage, or safety problem, as specified. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to ensure that exhibits are preserved by the court in cases that may be reviewed in a postconviction, judicial, or extrajudicial process, and that biological evidence is retained for potential testing and retesting. The bill would require the court to retain in its custody and control any exhibit introduced or filed in a criminal action or proceeding, as specified. The bill would authorize a party to whom an exhibit is released, either upon request, or for security, storage, or safety reasons, to make a digital record instead of a photographic record of the exhibit. (2) Existing law prohibits a court from ordering the destruction of an exhibit before the final determination of an action or proceeding, as specified. Existing law requires the clerk of the court to dispose of all exhibits, as specified, 60 days after that final determination. Existing law requires the court to notify specified parties, not less than 15 days before any proposed disposition of an exhibit, of the proposed disposition, and authorizes the party to prepare a photographic record of the exhibit at his or her own expense. This bill would prohibit a court from ordering the destruction of an exhibit before the expiration of a specified time period. In a case charging a violent felony, a specified sex offense, an aggravated assault on a child, or any charge that results in a life sentence, the bill would prohibit the court from ordering the destruction of an exhibit before one year after the term of imprisonment ends. The bill would require the clerk of the court to dispose of all exhibits, as specified, 60 days after the expiration of a specified time period. The bill would authorize a party to make a digital record instead of a photographic record of any exhibit when the court notifies specified parties of an order to destroy the exhibit. To the extent that a governmental entity may be required to retain certain evidence for a greater period of time under related provisions, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires the appropriate governmental entity to retain all biological material that is secured in connection with a criminal case for the period of time that any person remains incarcerated in connection with that case, except as specified. Existing law authorizes the governmental entity to dispose of the biological material while a person remains incarcerated if the entity notifies specified persons of its intention to dispose of the material and does not receive a response, as specified, within 180 days of sending the notification. This bill would require the governmental entity, when notifying a person who is serving a term of imprisonment and who remains incarcerated of the intention to dispose of any object or material that contains or includes biological material while the person remains incarcerated, to obtain proof of service of that notice. The bill would authorize the governmental entity to dispose of any object or material that contains or includes biological material that entity it does not receive a response, as specified, within one year of sending the notification. Because the bill would require the governmental entity to obtain proof of service of notice under these provisions, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) The bill would make conforming changes. (5) 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 requires school districts and county offices of education to be responsible for the overall development of comprehensive school safety plans for its schools operating kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to establish a school police department under the supervision of a school chief of police and to employ peace officers. This bill would require the governing board of a school district to adopt and annually review a policy regarding the scope of peace officer interactions, including, but not limited to, those employed by a school police department or by a local law enforcement agency, with pupils and to consider how to reduce the presence of peace officers on campus. By imposing additional duties on school districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require a school district, before the beginning of the 2018–19 school year, as a condition of having a school police department to adopt specified policies, or as a condition of entering into or continuing an agreement with a local law enforcement agency to have one or more regularly assigned peace officers at any of its schools to enter into a memorandum of understanding containing specified policies, regarding the scope of peace officer interactions with pupils. The bill would require those policies to include specified elements, including, among others, that school staff only call a peace officer when there is a real and immediate physical threat to pupils, teachers, or public safety or when mandated by existing law, that a peace officer not arrest or discipline pupils for violations of school rules or for low-level misconduct, and that a peace officer not interview or arrest a pupil on a school campus during school hours absent a real and immediate physical threat to pupils, teachers, or public safety. 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, the Charter Schools Act of 1992, authorizes a charter school petitioner, if the governing board of a school district denies a petition for the establishment of a charter school, to submit the petition to the county board of education, and, if the county board of education denies the petition, to then submit the petition to the State Board of Education. A charter school that is granted its charter through an appeal to the state board is required to submit a petition for renewal of the charter to the governing board of the school district that initially denied the charter. This bill would instead authorize the petitioner to submit a petition for renewal to either the governing board of the school district that initially denied the charter or directly to the state board. Existing law authorizes a county board of education to approve a petition for a countywide charter if the county board of education finds, among other things, that the pupil population cannot be served as well by a charter school that operates in only one school district and only if it is reasonably satisfied that the charter school has reasonable justification for why the charter school could not be established by petition to a school district. This bill would delete those requirements. The bill would require a charter school petition to demonstrate that the charter school will provide a high-quality education program and that it will seek to share best and promising practices of the charter school with other traditional and charter public schools that have low academic performance. The bill would authorize a charter school petitioner, if a county board of education denies or revokes a petition, to submit the petition directly to the state board. To the extent the bill imposes additional duties on county boards of education, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the state board, as a condition of approving a petition for the operation of a charter school, to find that the charter school will provide instructional services of statewide benefit that cannot be provided by the operation of the charter school in only one school district or county. The bill would delete the requirement that the statewide benefit cannot be provided by a charter school operating in only one school district or county and would instead require, as part of the determination of the statewide benefit, to ensure that the charter school has described the manner in which the charter school will seek to share best and promising practices with other traditional and charter public schools with low academic performance, and would authorize the state board to establish other criteria or conditions to define a statewide benefit. 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.

The Personal Income Tax Law imposes taxes based upon taxable income at specified rates. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, impose an additional tax of 1% on income that exceeds $1,000,000, as provided. The bill would deposit the revenues derived from this tax into the Higher Education Assistance Fund, a continuously appropriated fund established by this bill, for the purposes of funding student financial assistance for tuition and fees required of specified students enrolled at the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges. This bill would become operative only if ACA 13 of the 2017–18 Regular Session is approved by the voters and becomes operative.

Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. The California State University (CSU) comprises, and provides instruction at, 23 institutions of higher education throughout the state. This bill would express legislative findings and declarations relating to the CSU faculty. This bill would require the Office of the CSU Chancellor, together with the Academic Senate of the CSU and the California Faculty Association, to implement an executive plan developed pursuant to a specified concurrent resolution of the Legislature to increase the percentage of tenured and tenure-track CSU faculty to 75%. The bill would specify, for each academic year from 2018–19 to 2025–26, inclusive, target numbers of new tenure-track positions. The bill would require additional conditions to be met in implementing this executive plan. Commencing with the 2018–19 academic year, the bill would further require CSU to issue annual reports relating to implementation efforts, funding, and effective strategies and best practices, as specified.

Existing law provides that each school district and county office of education is responsible for the development of all comprehensive school safety plans for its schools operating kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law requires a schoolsite council or a school safety planning committee comprised of specified members to write and develop a comprehensive school safety plan relevant to the needs and resources of a particular school, and exempts a small school district from this requirement if certain conditions are met. Existing law authorizes a school district or county office of education to elect to have the portions of the plan that include tactical responses to criminal incidents to be developed by the administrators of the school district or county office of education in consultation with law enforcement officials. This bill would require the comprehensive school safety plan to be aligned with the school climate state priority and the local control and accountability plan. The bill would add to the list of members on the school safety planning committee one or more individuals with expertise in the social-emotional health of children and youth, as specified. Existing law states that the Legislature encourages all comprehensive school safety plans, to the extent that resources are available, to include specified guidelines relating to the roles and responsibilities of various professionals, and encourages the guidelines developed to include specified strategies and prioritize certain services and programs. This bill would add community schools among the priorities. The bill would require the State Department of Education to post certain information relating to best practices for community school models, restorative justice programs, and certain other programs on its Internet Web site and to provide technical assistance and professional development to educators and administrators. By imposing new duties on school districts and county offices of education, 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, 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.