Existing law establishes the Employment Development Department within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and sets forth its powers and duties, including administration of the unemployment and disability insurance programs for California. Existing law requires the department to pay unemployment compensation benefits to unemployed individuals meeting specified requirements, to periodically review policies and practices used to determine eligibility for and the amount of benefits in the unemployment insurance program, and to report to the Legislature, as specified. Under existing law, unemployment compensation benefits are paid from the Unemployment Fund, and the expenses for administering these provisions are paid from the Unemployment Administration Fund, which is continuously appropriated for these purposes. This bill would establish the Unemployment Insurance Reform Project to be administered by the Director of Employment Development. Under the bill, the Employment Development Department would be required to comply with various reporting and review processes. In this regard, the bill would require the department to report specified information regarding overpayments at least once every 6 months on its internet website, to immediately perform a risk assessment of its deferred workloads, and to develop a workload plan that prioritizes its deferred workloads based on that risk assessment. The bill would require the department to develop a recession plan so that it is well prepared to provide services during future economic downturns, as specified. The bill would require the department to, by March 1, 2021, revise its public dashboards with regard to the number of backlogged claims, as specified. This bill would require the department to convene a working group to assess the lessons learned from claim surges and identify the processes that the department can still improve and issue a report by January 1, 2022, as specified. The bill would require the department, by June 1, 2021, to determine the reasons that claimants cannot successfully complete their identity verification, as specified, and to identify the elements of the Benefit System Modernization that can assist the department in making timely payments. This bill would require the department to, by May 1, 2021, implement a formal policy that establishes a process for tracking and periodically analyzing the reasons why unemployment insurance claimants call for assistance and, by October 1, 2021, and every 6 months thereafter, to analyze this data to improve its call center. Because this bill would authorize the expenditure of funds from the Unemployment Administration Fund for new purposes, the bill would make an appropriation.
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Existing law establishes the Office of Small Business Advocate within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development for the purpose of advocating for the causes of small business and to provide small businesses with the information they need to survive in the marketplace. This bill, the Keep California Working Act, would establish the Keep California Working Grant Program. The act would require the Small Business Advocate to administer the program and award grants, as specified, to small businesses and nonprofit entities that meet specified criteria, including that the entity has experienced economic hardship resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The act would specify that grant money awarded pursuant to the program may be used only for specified purposes, including payroll costs, health care benefits, paid sick, medical, or family leave, and insurance premiums. The act would appropriate $2.6 billion dollars to the Office of Small Business Advocate for those purposes. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally define "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provide various exclusions from gross income. This bill would exclude from gross income, for state income tax purposes, the amount of a grant awarded pursuant to the Keep California Working Grant Program. Existing law requires a bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. The bill also would include additional information required for a bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the California Health and Human Services Agency, which includes the State Department of Public Health, among other state departments charged with the administration of health, social, and other human services. Under existing law, the State Department of Public Health has authority over various programs promoting public health, including genetic disease testing and newborn screenings. This bill would establish the Rare Disease Advisory Council within the California Health and Human Services Agency. This bill would specify the purposes of the Rare Disease Advisory Council, including, among others, coordinating statewide efforts for the study of the incidence of rare diseases within the state, and acting as the advisory body on rare diseases to the Legislature and state and private agencies that provide services to persons with rare diseases. Under the bill, the duties of the advisory council would include, among others, adopting implementing regulations, researching and determining the most appropriate method to collect data on rare diseases, and identifying best practices for rare disease care. The bill would specify the composition of the advisory council, including members appointed by the Secretary of California Health and Human Services and the State Public Health Officer. Before any appointments are made, the bill would require the agency to research and report to the Legislature on existing sources of funding that may be used to finance the formation and operation of the advisory council. The bill would require the advisory council to apply for, and accept, any grant of funds from the federal government, private foundations, or other sources. The bill would prohibit the advisory council from accepting funds from the employer of any sitting council member. The bill would require the advisory council to meet at least 3 times annually and to report to the agency and the Legislature every 2 years on its activities, findings, and recommendations.
Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to require an examination for issuance of a driver's license. The examination is required to be appropriate to the type of motor vehicle or combination of vehicles the applicant desires a license to drive or tow, in accordance with certain license classifications. A class C driver's license includes the operation of, among other vehicles, a 2-axle vehicle weighing 4,000 pounds or more unladen when towing either a trailer coach or a 5th-wheel travel trailer not exceeding 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating when the towing of the trailer is not for compensation. If the towed 5th-wheel trailer exceeds 10,000 pounds, but is less than 15,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, and towing is not for compensation, existing law requires the holder of a class C driver's license to also pass a specialized written examination. Existing law authorizes the department to issue a restricted class A driver's license for the operation of a two-axle vehicle weighing 4,000 pounds or more unladen when towing either a trailer coach exceeding 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating or a 5th-wheel travel trailer exceeding 15,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, when the towing of the trailer is not for compensation. This bill, instead, would permit a class C driver's licenseholder to operate a vehicle when towing a trailer between 10,000 and 15,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight, if the towing is not for compensation or commercial purposes, the trailer is used exclusively for recreational purposes and for the transportation of property or human habitation, a specified coupling is used, and the person has passed a specialized written examination. The bill would also include within a class C driver's license the operation of a vehicle when towing a 5th-wheel travel trailer between 10,000 and 15,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight when the towing is not for compensation and the licenseholder passes a specialized written examination. The bill would authorize the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a restricted class A driver's license for a vehicle towing a trailer of a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight exceeding 10,000 pounds, if specified circumstances are met, including that the trailer is used exclusively for recreation and the towing is not for compensation or commercial purposes. The bill would make these provisions operative on January 1, 2027. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12804.9 of the Vehicle Code proposed by AB 723 to be operative only if this bill and AB 723 are enacted, as specified.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, and the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Under existing law, the board of governors appoints the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to serve as the chief executive officer of that segment, the trustees appoint the Chancellor of the California State University to serve as the chief executive officer of that segment, and the regents appoint the President of the University of California to serve as the chief executive officer of that segment. Existing law requires, by September 1, 2019, the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, in collaboration with the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges, to develop a consistent policy to award military personnel and veterans who have an official Joint Services Transcript course credit for California Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum, California State University General Education Breadth, or local community college general education requirements, as specified. Existing law also requires the office of the chancellor and the academic senate to review and adjust this uniform policy to align it with policies of other public postsecondary educational institutions. Existing law further requires, by December 31, 2020, each community college district to have a policy consistent with the policy developed by the chancellor, and requires each community college campus to post on its internet website the most recent policy. This bill would require the Office of the Chancellor of the California State University, in collaboration with the Academic Senate of the California State University, and request the University of California, to develop, by September 1, 2022, a consistent policy to award military personnel and veterans who have an official Joint Services Transcript course credit in a course taught at the campus where the student matriculates with subject matter similar, or equivalent, subject to academic and faculty review, to that of the student's military education, training, and service. The bill would also require that each campus of the California State University, and request that the University of California, have in effect, by December 31, 2023, a policy consistent with the respective policies developed by the Office of the Chancellor of the California State University and the University of California and post on its internet website the most recent policy adopted pursuant to the bill.
(1) Existing law prohibits a state agency from sending any outgoing United States mail, as defined, to an individual that contains personal information about that individual, including, but not limited to, the individual's social security number, unless that personal information is contained within sealed correspondence and cannot be viewed from the outside of that sealed correspondence. Existing law also prohibits, commencing on or before January 1, 2023, a state agency from sending any outgoing United States mail to an individual that contains the individual's social security number, except as provided. Existing law requires state agencies that are unable to comply with this prohibition to submit an annual corrective action plan to the Legislature until it is in compliance. Existing law makes the corrective action plan and related correspondence confidential and prohibits their public disclosure. This bill would require an annual corrective action plan to contain specified information and to be submitted to the Legislature every December 15. If the Employment Development Department fails to comply by January 1, 2023, the bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the department to provide access to and pay for identity theft monitoring for any individual who receives outgoing United States mail from the department that contains full social security numbers in violation of the bill's provisions. (2) Existing law establishes the department within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and sets forth its powers and duties, including administration of the unemployment and disability insurance programs for California. Existing law requires the department to pay unemployment compensation benefits to unemployed individuals meeting specified requirements, to periodically review policies and practices used to determine eligibility for and the amount of benefits in the unemployment insurance program, and to report to the Legislature, as specified. Under existing law, unemployment compensation benefits are paid from the Unemployment Fund, and the expenses for administering these provisions are paid from the Unemployment Administration Fund, which is continuously appropriated for these purposes. This bill would require the department, for purposes of unemployment compensation, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to comply with various reporting and review processes. The bill would set forth a timeline for the department to follow in implementing these tasks. In this regard, the bill would require the department, among other things, to report specified information regarding overpayments at least once every 6 months on its internet website, to immediately perform a risk assessment of its deferred workloads, and to develop a workload plan that prioritizes its deferred workloads based on that risk assessment. The bill would require the department to immediately begin modeling workload projections that account for possible scenarios that would cause a spike in unemployment insurance claims, as provided. This bill would require the department to revise its public dashboards with regard to the number of backlogged claims, as specified. The bill would require the department to determine the reasons that claimants cannot successfully complete their identity verification, as specified, and to identify the elements of the Benefit System Modernization that can assist the department in making timely payments. The bill would require the department to implement a formal policy that establishes a process for tracking and periodically analyzing the reasons why unemployment insurance claimants call for assistance and to regularly analyze this data, as specified, to improve its call center. This bill would require the department, by March 1, 2022, to designate a unit as responsible for coordinating all fraud prevention and detection, as specified. Existing law requires the Director of Employment Development to report to various committees of the Legislature by June 30 of each year on the department's fraud deterrence and detection activities. This bill would require that report to include an assessment of the effectiveness of the department's system of cross matching claims against information about incarcerated individuals, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to generalize, exclude, or redact details on fraud methods and tools to protect the fraud deterrence practices of the department. The bill would also remove an obsolete reference to a predecessor committee and would instead refer to the Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement. This bill would also require the department to request any personal identification information required from the claimant in accordance with the most recent federal National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-63 standards, as specified. 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.
Existing law authorizes a person who has been convicted and incarcerated for a felony and later pardoned on the basis of innocence or found to be factually innocent of that crime, as specified, to present a claim against the state to the California Victim Compensation Board for the pecuniary injury sustained by the person through the erroneous conviction and incarceration. Existing law requires the board to recommend to the Legislature that an appropriation be made and the claim paid if a court has made a finding that the person is factually innocent or if the person proves to the board that they are factually innocent. Existing law specifies that there is no presumption in any other proceeding for failure to make a motion or obtain a favorable ruling pursuant to these provisions. Existing law establishes the process and timeframes for the Attorney General to respond to a claim and for the board to set a hearing and make a recommendation on the claim. Under existing law, the person is considered factually innocent if the crime with which they were charged was either not committed at all, or if committed, was not committed by that person. This bill would revise and recast these provisions to instead require the board, upon application by a person whose writ of habeas corpus was granted in state or federal court, or whose motion to vacate the charges was granted by a state court and the charges were dismissed, or if the person was acquitted of the charges on retrial, to recommend to the Legislature that an appropriation be made without a hearing, unless the Attorney General establishes that the claimant is not entitled to compensation. The bill would require the Attorney General, for claims brought under specified provisions, to establish by clear and convincing evidence that the claimant committed the acts constituting the offense in order to establish that the claimant is not entitled to compensation. The bill would prohibit the Attorney General, from relying solely on the trial record of a conviction that has been reversed or dismissed to establish that the claimant is not entitled to compensation. This bill would specify that no res judicata or collateral estoppel finding can be made in any other proceeding for failure to make a motion or obtain a favorable ruling under these provisions.
Existing law authorizes the State Department of Public Health to take measures, such as ordering isolation, quarantine, and disinfection of persons and places, to study and prevent the spread of a communicable disease. Existing law requires a local health officer to take similar measures in the territory under their jurisdiction to prevent the spread of disease. Under existing law, these measures can be issued to be effective immediately and have the force and effect of law. This bill would require, when the State Department of Public Health issues a statewide order or mandatory guidance, or when a local health officer issues an order, related to preventing the spread of COVID-19, as defined, or protecting public health against a threat of COVID-19, that they publish on their internet website the order or guidance and the date that the order or guidance takes effect. The bill would also require the department or local health officer to create an opportunity for local communities, businesses, nonprofit organizations, individuals, and others to sign up for an email distribution list relative to changes to the order or guidance. By creating new duties for local health officers, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make these provisions operative while an order or mandatory guidance issued by the department or a local health officer is in effect, as provided. 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
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.