Existing law provides for the licensing and regulation of an adult alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facility, a psychiatric health facility, or a mental health rehabilitation facility by the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law authorizes the department to impose specified penalties on a facility that is in violation of applicable laws and regulations governing the facility. Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensing and regulation of a community care facility, including, among others, a social rehabilitation facility, by the State Department of Social Services. A violation of the act may be subject to specified civil penalties, license suspension or revocation, or misdemeanor charges. This bill would prohibit an operator of a licensed alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facility, a certified alcohol or other drug program, and a licensed mental health rehabilitation center, psychiatric health facility, or social rehabilitation facility, from engaging in various acts, including making a false or misleading statement about the entity's products, goods, services, or geographical locations. The bill would also prohibit a picture, description, staff information, or the location of an entity from being included on an internet website along with false contact information that surreptitiously directs the reader to a business that does not have a contract with the entity. The bill would authorize the department responsible for the facility's licensure or certification to investigate allegations of a violation of these provisions and, upon finding a violation, to impose the civil sanctions and other penalties available pursuant to existing law, but would not make a violation of these provisions a crime.
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Existing law establishes the California State University, administered by the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. The California State University comprises 23 campuses and 8 off-campus branches. This bill would create the Agricultural Biosecurity Fund, the moneys in which would be continuously appropriated to the California State University Agricultural Research Institute for purposes of supporting research on biosecurity related to agriculture, and establishing best practices to mitigate the introduction and effects of infectious agents upon the animal and plant agricultural system of California. The bill would require the California State University Agricultural Research Institute to administer a grant program, with research grants to be awarded, as specified, to campuses of the California State University associated with the California State University Agricultural Research Institute. The bill would authorize federal, state, local, and private sources to be received by the Agricultural Biosecurity Fund.
(1) Existing law requires the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson to be established in the State Department of Social Services with prescribed powers and duties relating to the management of foster children, including the dissemination of information on the rights of children and youth in foster care. Existing law requires the Director of Social Services, in consultation with a committee of interested individuals chosen by the director, to appoint the ombudsperson for a term of 4 years. Under existing law, the office is required to keep information obtained by the office from a complaint confidential. This bill would define "foster care" for purposes of the ombudsperson's duties to include voluntary or governmental placements in certain residential facilities, with a resource family, or with a family pending approval as a resource family, or placement pursuant to a juvenile court order, as specified. The bill would revise existing selection requirements for the position. The bill would also require the ombudsperson, in the performance of the duties and for the duration of the appointment, to be independent and would prohibit the ombudsperson, in exercising discretion, from being directly or indirectly controlled, supervised, or directed by the director. The bill would prohibit removal of the ombudsperson from their office for exercising their independence and discretion in furtherance of their duties and powers, and would set forth criteria for replacement of the ombudsperson in the event of a vacancy in the office. The bill would require the ombudsperson to maintain confidentiality with respect to the identities of the complainants or witnesses coming before the ombudsperson, except as specified. The bill would authorize the office to establish policies and procedures for receiving and processing complaints, conducting investigations, and reporting findings. The bill would authorize the ombudsperson to access and inspect premises within the control of a state or local agency or a contractor with a state and local agency, and access and inspect a licensed or approved children's residential facility, as specified, for the purpose of carrying out the duties of the office. (2) Existing law provides that, except as otherwise provided by statute, all relevant evidence is admissible. The California Constitution provides for the Right to Truth-In-Evidence, which requires a 23 vote of the Legislature to exclude any relevant evidence from any criminal proceeding, as specified. This bill would prohibit the ombudsperson or their staff from being compelled to testify or be deposed, or to disclose specified records, in a judicial or administrative proceeding. Because this prohibition would affect the admissibility of relevant evidence in criminal proceedings, the bill would require a ⅔ vote of the Legislature. The bill would also immunize the ombudsperson and any representative of the office from liability for exercising the investigative, complaint resolution, and technical assistance functions of the office, as specified. (3) Existing law requires a toll-free telephone number to be established for the office and requires social workers to provide foster children with that telephone number and verbal or written information regarding the existence and purpose of the office. This bill would require probation officers, as well as social workers, to provide foster children with the toll-free telephone number and additional information. By expanding the duties of probation officers, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 16164 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 1140 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1140 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
The Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 prohibits a person from conducting timber operations, as defined, unless a timber harvesting plan prepared by a registered professional forester has been submitted to, and approved by, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The act authorizes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to exempt from some or all of those provisions of the act a person engaging in specified forest management activities, as prescribed, including, only until January 1, 2022, the cutting or removal of trees on the person's property in compliance with specified defensible space requirements, as provided. This bill would extend to January 1, 2026, the board's authorization to exempt a person engaging in the cutting or removal of trees on the person's property in compliance with the specified defensible space requirements, as provided.
Existing law allows a person who was arrested or convicted of a nonviolent offense while they were a victim of human trafficking to petition the court for vacatur relief. Existing law requires the petitioner to establish by clear and convincing evidence that the arrest and conviction were the direct result of being a victim of human trafficking. Existing law requires that a petition be made and heard within a reasonable time after the person has ceased to be a victim of human trafficking, or within a reasonable time after the petitioner has sought services, whichever is later. Existing law allows a petitioner, or the petitioner's attorney, to be excused from appearing in person at a hearing on the petition only if the court finds a compelling reason why the petitioner cannot attend, in which case existing law allows the petitioner to appear by electronic means. This bill would prohibit a court from refusing to hear the petition on the basis of the petitioner's outstanding fines and fees or the petitioner's failure to meet the conditions of probation. With the exception of restitution, the bill would require that the collection of fines imposed as a result of a nonviolent offense that is the subject of the petition be stayed while the petition is pending. This bill would also allow the petitioner to appear at all hearings on the petition by counsel if the petition is unopposed. The bill would allow a petition to be made and heard at any time after the person has ceased to be a victim of human trafficking, or at any time after the petitioner has sought services for being a victim of human trafficking. The bill would specify that the right to petition for relief pursuant to these provisions does not expire with the passage of time. Existing law requires the court, for petitioners who qualify for vacatur relief, to order designated law enforcement agencies to seal their records of the petitioner's arrest and the court order to seal and destroy the records within 3 years from the date of arrest, or within one year after the court order for vacatur relief is granted, whichever is later, and thereafter destroy those records. Existing law requires the court to provide the petitioner with a copy of any court order concerning the destruction of the arrest records. This bill would designate additional agencies required to seal and destroy arrest records and require all designated agencies to seal and destroy the arrest records within one year of the date of arrest, or 90 days from the date the court order for vacatur relief is granted, whichever is later. The bill would also require the court to provide the petitioner and their counsel with a copy of any form the court submits to any agency related to the sealing and destruction of arrest records. The bill would require the department to notify the petitioner and their counsel that the department has complied with the order to seal the arrest records.
This measure would designate a specified portion of State Highway Route 41 in the County of Fresno as the Tom Seaver Memorial Highway. The measure would request that the Department of Transportation determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, erect those signs.
This measure would proclaim November 3, 2021, as One Health Day, to celebrate and bring attention to the need for a One Health approach to address shared health threats at the human-animal-environmental interface.
This measure would designate the month of September 2021 as Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Myeloma Awareness Month and Blood Cancer Awareness Month and the first week of September 2021 as Blood Donation Week.
This measure would declare August 2021 as Valley Fever Awareness Month.
This measure would designate a specified portion of Westside Parkway on State Route 58 in the County of Kern as the Harvey L. Hall Memorial Highway. The measure would request that the Department of Transportation determine the costs of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering those costs, erect those signs.