Asm. Jim Patterson

This measure would designate Monday, May 4, 2020, as California Peace Officers' Memorial Day, urge all Californians to use that day to honor California peace officers, and recognize specified California peace officers who were killed in defense of their communities.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, among other things, requires the Office of Emergency Services to update the State Emergency Plan on or before January 1, 2019, and every 5 years thereafter. The act also requires the office, on or before July 31, 2015, to update the State Emergency Plan to include proposed best practices for local governments and nongovernmental entities to use to mobilize and evacuate people with access and functional needs during emergency or natural disasters. This bill would require the office, in the next update of the plan, to include the best practices provisions, described above. The bill would also require the office to develop and update annually, in coordination with organizations representing the access and functional needs population, as defined, a guidance document for local governments based, in part, on a review of recent emergency and natural disaster incidents and what did or did not go well in the response efforts. The bill would also require the office to post the guidance document, and its annual update, on the office internet website. The bill would require the office to review the emergency plans of all local governments to determine if they are consistent with the proposed best practices provisions and, upon request by a local government, provide necessary technical assistance to that local government.

The Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, approved by the voters as Proposition 1A at the November 4, 2008, statewide general election, provides for the issuance of $9,000,000,000 in general obligation bonds for high-speed rail purposes. Existing law requires the High-Speed Rail Authority, before committing those bond proceeds for expenditure for construction and real property and equipment acquisition, to have approved and concurrently submitted to the Director of Finance and the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee both a detailed funding plan and a report, prepared by one or more financial services firms, financial consulting firms, or other consultants involved in funding or constructing the high-speed train system, indicating that, among other things, the planned passenger train service to be provided by the authority, or pursuant to its authority, will not require an operating subsidy. This bill would state that passenger train service is provided by the authority, or pursuant to its authority for those purposes when high-speed train service uses the high-speed train system owned by the authority, regardless of whether the service is provided directly by the authority or provided by a third party pursuant to a lease agreement with the authority.

This measure would proclaim March 15, 2020, to March 22, 2020, as California Down Syndrome Awareness Week and March 21, 2020, as California Down Syndrome Day, and would encourage all Californians to support and participate in related activities.

This measure, in accordance with specified law, would declare that the state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor on March 4, 2020, is at an end and terminate the emergency powers granted to the Governor as a result of that proclamation.

Existing law establishes the Department of Consumer Affairs, which is composed of boards that license and regulate various professions and vocations to ensure that certain businesses and professions that have potential impact upon the public health, safety, and welfare are adequately regulated. Existing law makes a violation of some of those licensure provisions a crime. Existing law authorizes certain boards, for purposes of reciprocity, to waive examination or other requirements and issue a license to an applicant who holds a valid license in another state and meets specified other requirements, including, among others, a license to practice veterinary medicine. This bill, with exceptions, would require each board within the department to issue a license to an applicant in the discipline for which the applicant applies if the person meets certain requirements, including, but not limited to, that the person is married to, or is in a domestic partnership or other legal union with, an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States, who is assigned to a duty station in this state, the person currently holds a license in good standing in another state in the discipline and practice level and with the same scope of practice for which the person applies, the person has held the license and has practiced in the licensed field in another state or jurisdiction for at least 3 of the last 5 years, and the person pays all applicable fees and complies with any applicable surety bond and insurance requirements. By expanding the applicants who are authorized to be licensed and who may be prosecuted for a violation of those licensure provisions constituting a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated 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 Uniform Parentage Act defines the parent and child relationship as the legal relationship existing between a child and the child's parents, and provides rebuttable presumptions as to the parentage of a child born under the circumstances of conception through assisted reproduction using donated ova, sperm, or both. The act defines "assisted reproduction" for these purposes to mean conception by any means other than sexual intercourse. This bill would establish that a provider of an embryo for use in assisted reproduction to an intended parent who is not the provider's spouse or nonmarital partner is treated in law as if the provider is not the natural parent of a child thereby conceived unless the court finds satisfactory evidence that the provider and the intended parent intended for the provider to be a parent. If a donated embryo includes ova or sperm from a person other than a provider of the embryo, the bill would require that person's consent to the donation unless the person has executed a writing to consent, waive, or relinquish their right to the embryo, or as otherwise ordered by a court of law. (2) Existing law permits a proceeding to be brought for the purpose of having a child under 18 years of age declared free from the custody and control of either or both parents when the child's parent or parents have been convicted of a felony of a nature that proves the unfitness of the parent or parents to have future custody and control of the child. Existing law authorizes the court to consider the parent's criminal record prior to the felony conviction for these purposes. This bill instead would require the court to consider the parent's criminal record, and would not restrict that consideration to the period prior to the felony conviction. Existing law authorizes specified individuals to provide the court with a written recommendation of the proper disposition to be made in the best interest of the child, and specifies the contents of that report. This bill would recast and revise those provisions and would add to the required contents of the report a summary of the child's past and current living circumstances and residence history, a background summary regarding each nonagency party to the case, and a recommendation whether granting or denying the petition would serve the child's best interest. The bill would require each party to cooperate with the investigation. (3) Existing law authorizes an adoption request for the adoption of a nondependent minor to be filed with the court in the county in which one of specified criteria applies and sets forth those individuals who may file an adoption request. Under existing law, an order of adoption is required to contain the child's adopted name, but not the name of the child before the adoption. This bill would add to the list of persons authorized to file an adoption request a person named in a court order terminating parental rights as the child's legal guardian or prospective adoptive parent. The bill would require the adoption order to include both the child's adopted name and the name of the child before the adoption. The bill would replace references to an adoption petition and refer instead to an adoption request. (4) Existing law declares that some adoptive children may benefit from contact with birth relatives, as specified, after being adopted, and that postadoption contact agreements are intended to ensure children of an achievable level of continuing contact when contact is beneficial to the children and the agreements are voluntarily executed by the parties. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to adopt rules of court and forms for motions to enforce, terminate, or modify postadoption contact agreements. This bill would specify the party responsible for filing the executed postadoption contact agreement with the court prior to the finalization of the adoption, in the case of agency adoptions, independent adoptions, and stepparent adoptions. If the responsible person or entity fails to file the executed postadoption contact agreement with the court prior to the finalization of the adoption, the bill would authorize any party to file the executed agreement in the court that finalized the adoption, as specified. The bill would make related conforming changes. (5) Under existing law, when a parent is seeking to relinquish a child for adoption, the department or agency is required to ask the child and the child's parent or custodian whether the child is, or may be, a member of, or eligible for membership in an Indian tribe or whether the child has been identified as a member of an Indian organization, and, if so, to obtain specified additional information and notify the Indian tribe of the right to intervene in the proceeding on its own behalf or on behalf of a tribal member relative of the child. Existing law specifies procedures under which an Indian child may be relinquished for adoption, in compliance with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) . Existing department regulations require an adoption agency to inform all parents of the option to place a holding period on the filing of a signed relinquishment, during which time the parent is permitted to revoke the relinquishment. This bill would codify those regulations and would further require the agency, if the child is, or may be, a member of, or eligible for membership in, a tribal organization, to hold the signed relinquishment form until it is determined, as specified, whether the child is subject to the ICWA, in which case the agency would be required to void the relinquishment and inform the parent that they may proceed with relinquishment of the Indian child in accordance with the applicable provisions of existing law or request the return of the Indian child, as specified. By imposing additional requirements on county adoption agencies, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. (6) Existing law provides, for purposes of intestate succession, that adoption severs the parent-child relationship. This bill would except from that requirement a final adoption order that provides otherwise. (7) 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 Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 prohibits a person from conducting timber operations unless a timber harvesting plan prepared by a registered professional Forester has been submitted for those operations to 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 engaged in specified forest management activities, including, until January 1, 2022, a person engaged in forest management whose activities are limited to the cutting or removal of trees on the person's property in compliance with specified laws relating to defensible space. This bill would extend the above exemption to January 1, 2026. The bill would also make nonsubstantive and conforming changes.

Existing law, the Gambling Control Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of various legalized gambling activities and establishments by the California Gambling Control Commission and the investigation and enforcement of those activities and establishments by the Department of Justice. Existing law authorizes the commission and the department to impose and collect fees for various actions related to the licensure and regulation of gambling. Existing law authorizes the commission and the department to adopt regulations regarding the fees. This bill would require the commission and the department, when increasing a fee amount, to include a clear statement justifying the need for the fee increase and explaining how the funds will be used, in the regulation updating the fee. Existing law authorizes the department to require an applicant to deposit money adequate to pay the costs of an investigation associated with an application for a license, and allows the department to require additional funds to be deposited during the investigation, as needed. Existing law requires the department, at the conclusion of the investigation, to refund any unused portion of this deposit and to provide a written accounting of costs and charges. This bill would require a more detailed accounting of charges and would require this accounting to be provided whenever an additional deposit of funds is requested by the department.