Asm. Jim Cooper

The federal Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, subject to the availability of appropriations, to provide financial assistance to the State of Maryland and the State of Louisiana for a program to implement measures to eradicate or control nutria and restore marshland damaged by nutria. Under the federal act, the federal share of the costs of the program is prohibited from exceeding 75% of the total costs of the program. This measure would urge the United States Congress to reauthorize and specifically add California to the Nutria Eradication and Control Act of 2003 and to authorize an appropriation of $4,000,000 to help the state implement a nutria eradication program.

This measure would urge the United States Department of Health and Human Services to rescind the new Title X regulations that will impede access to essential, time-sensitive health care for low-income individuals across California and the nation.

Existing law prohibits a person who is under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or the combined influence of alcohol or drugs from driving a vehicle. A violation of this prohibition is a crime. This bill would exempt from that prohibition a person who is under the influence of a drug or the combined influence of an alcoholic beverage and a drug for purposes of conducting research on impaired driving while driving a vehicle under the supervision of, and on the property of, the Department of the California Highway Patrol. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes the Air Quality Improvement Program that is administered by the State Air Resources Board for the purposes of funding projects related to, among other things, the reduction of criteria air pollutants and improvement of air quality. Pursuant to its existing statutory authority, the state board has established the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, as a part of the Air Quality Improvement Program, to promote the production and use of zero-emission vehicles by providing rebates for the purchase of new zero-emission vehicles. Existing law requires the state board, for the purposes of the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, to provide outreach to low-income households and low-income communities to increase consumer awareness of the rebate project and, until January 1, 2022, to prioritize rebate payments to low-income applicants. This bill would require the state board, for the purposes of the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project and until January 1, 2022, to increase rebate payments by $500 for low-income applicants and to only offer rebates for plug-in hybrids that have an electric range of at least 40 miles. This bill also would require the state board, for the purposes of the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project and until January 1, 2022, through a public process, to consider changing the eligibility requirements to increase the number of rebates provided to people who qualify as being low income, live in low-income communities, live in disadvantaged communities, and live in an air basin that is designated as being in nonattainment for any criteria air pollutant. The bill would require the state board, when considering changing those eligibility requirements, to consider specified requirements, impacts, and purposes.

Existing law states the policy of the State of California to afford all persons in public schools, regardless of their disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other specified characteristic, equal rights and opportunities in the educational institutions of the state, and states that the purpose of related existing law is to prohibit acts that are contrary to that policy and to provide remedies therefor. Existing law defines race or ethnicity for these purposes. Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, it is unlawful to engage in specified discriminatory employment practices, including hiring, promotion, and termination based on certain protected characteristics, including race, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification or applicable security regulations. The act also prohibits housing discrimination based on specified personal characteristics, including race. The act also prohibits discrimination because of a perception that a person has one of those protected characteristics or is associated with a person who has, or is perceived to have, any of those characteristics. Existing law defines terms such as race, religious beliefs, and sex, among others, for purposes of the act. This bill would provide that the definition of race for these purposes also include traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, and would define protective hairstyles for purposes of these provisions.

This measure would urge Congress to swiftly enact House Resolution 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, to require background checks for all firearm sales.

Existing law generally prohibits the unauthorized use, possession, and sale of controlled substances, and regulates programs and facilities that provide treatment and other services to persons affected by narcotic, alcohol, and other drug abuse. Under existing law, it is unlawful to deliver, furnish, or transfer, possess with intent to deliver, furnish, or transfer, or manufacture with intent to deliver, furnish, or transfer, drug paraphernalia, as defined, knowing, or under circumstances where a person reasonably should know, that it will be used to engage in specified acts relating to controlled substances. This bill would prohibit a person from distributing, delivering, or selling, or possessing with intent to distribute, deliver, or sell, a drug masking product. The bill would define a "drug masking product" to mean synthetic urine, as defined, or any other substance designed to be added to human urine or hair for the purpose of defrauding an alcohol or drug screening test.

This measure would recognize the month of June 2019 as Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month and Friday, June 21, 2019, as The Longest Day, and would urge all Californians to commemorate the month of June 2019 as Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month.

This measure would declare the month of June 2019 as Portuguese National Heritage Month.

This measure would dedicate the month of May 2019 as Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month.