Photo of Josh Becker
D California Senate · District 13

Sen. Josh Becker

Compare
Total votes
14,289
all sessions
Attendance
96%
411 missed
Near the chamber average
With party
99%
of cast votes
Near the chamber average
Bipartisan score
0%
crosses aisle rarely
Near the chamber average
Sponsored
499
bills & resolutions
Near the chamber average
Committees
9
assignments
499 bills and resolutions

Sponsored bills

Total
499
Primary
130
Co-sponsor
369
This page
499
matching current filters
Co-sponsor AB 3158
Signed into law · California House · Co-sponsor
Community colleges: West Valley-Mission Community College District.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law requires community college districts to charge students an enrollment fee of $46 per unit per semester, except as provided. Existing law authorizes, until July 1, 2028, the governing board of the San Mateo County Community College District to, among other things, adopt a policy that uses local unrestricted general funds to provide fee waivers to students with the greatest financial need when other fee waivers are not provided to those students, and to provide assistance to students for the total cost of attendance. This bill would authorize the governing board of the West Valley-Mission Community College District to adopt a policy that uses local unrestricted general funds to provide fee waivers to students with the greatest financial need when other fee waivers are not provided to those students, and would require the policy to include a requirement to prepare a fiscal impact statement, including a 3-year projection of the fiscal impact of the fee waiver on the community college district, as specified. Existing law establishes the California College Promise, to be administered by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law requires the chancellor to distribute funding, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to community college districts to fund colleges that meet prescribed requirements. Existing law authorizes a community college that receives funding under the program to, among other things, waive some or all of the fees for up to 2 academic years for first-time students and returning students who are enrolled in 12 or more semester units or the equivalent at the college and complete and submit either a Free Application for Federal Student Aid or a California Dream Act application. This bill would authorize the West Valley-Mission Community College District to use local unrestricted general funds, in addition to funding received under the California College Promise, to provide assistance to students for the total cost of attendance, as defined. This bill would require the West Valley-Mission Community College District to use local unrestricted general funds for purposes of these provisions only for students who reside within the boundary of the community college district. This bill would require the governing board of the West Valley-Mission Community College District, on or before March 1, 2028, to submit a report to the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, the Department of Finance, and the appropriate committees of the Legislature on the implementation of these provisions, as specified. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2030, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2031. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for West Valley-Mission Community College District.

Signed into law Sep 22, 2024 1 co-sponsor
Co-sponsor SB 1319
Vetoed · California Senate · Co-sponsor
Skilled nursing facilities: approval to provide therapeutic behavioral health programs.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities, including, but not limited to, skilled nursing facilities, by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) , a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and after March 7, 1973. The act requires the governing board or other governing authority of a hospital, before adopting plans for the hospital building, as defined, to submit to HCAI an application for approval, accompanied by the plans, as prescribed. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) , and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law authorizes DHCS to adopt regulations to certify providers enrolled in the Medi-Cal program, and applicants for enrollment as providers, including providers and applicants licensed as health care facilities. This bill would require a licensed skilled nursing facility that proposes to provide therapeutic behavioral health programs in an identifiable and physically separate unit of a skilled nursing facility, and that is required to submit an application and receive approvals from multiple departments, as specified above, to apply simultaneously to those departments for review and approval of application materials. The bill, when an applicant for approval from one of the specified departments is unable to complete the approval process because the applicant has not obtained required approvals and documentation from one or both of the other departments, would authorize the applicant to submit all available forms and supporting documentation, along with a letter estimating when the remaining materials will be submitted. The bill would require the receiving department to initiate review of the application, and would require final approval of the application to be granted only when all required documentation has been submitted by the applicant to each department from which approval is required. The bill would require the departments to work jointly to develop processes to allow applications to be reviewed simultaneously and in a coordinated manner, as specified.

Vetoed Sep 20, 2024 1 co-sponsor
Co-sponsor SB 1207
Signed into law · California Senate · Co-sponsor
Buy Clean California Act: eligible materials.

Existing law, the Buy Clean California Act, requires the Department of General Services, by January 1, 2022, to establish and publish in the State Contracting Manual, in a department management memorandum, or on the department's internet website, a maximum acceptable global warming potential for each category of eligible materials, as defined, in accordance with specified requirements. Existing law defines "eligible materials" for those purposes to mean carbon steel rebar, flat glass, mineral wool board insulation, or structural steel. By January 1, 2025, and every 3 years thereafter, existing law requires the department to review the maximum acceptable global warming potential for each category of eligible materials, as provided. This bill would revise the definition of "eligible materials" to delete mineral wool board insulation and additionally include insulation, and would make various nonsubstantive changes to the definition provisions of the act.

Signed into law Sep 20, 2024 1 co-sponsor
Primary SB 1395
Signed into law · California Senate · Lead sponsor
Shelter crisis: Low Barrier Navigation Center: use by right: building standards.

(1) Existing law authorizes a governing body of a political subdivision, as those terms are defined, to declare a shelter crisis if the governing body makes a specified finding. Upon declaration of a shelter crisis, existing law, among other things, suspends certain state and local laws, regulations, and ordinances to the extent that strict compliance would prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of the shelter crisis and allows a city, county, or city and county, in lieu of compliance, to adopt by ordinance reasonable local standards and procedures for the design, site development, and operation of homeless shelters and the structures and facilities therein. Existing law, among other things, exempts from the California Environmental Quality Act specified actions by a state agency or a city, county, or city and county to lease, convey, or encumber land owned by a city, county, or city and county, or to facilitate the lease, conveyance, or encumbrance of land owned by the local government for, or to provide financial assistance to, a homeless shelter constructed or allowed by these provisions. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2026. This bill would expand the exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act described above to include action taken by a state agency or a city, county, or city and county, to approve a contract to provide services for people experiencing homelessness to a homeless shelter constructed pursuant to, or authorized by, these provisions, as specified. This bill would extend the repeal date of these provisions to January 1, 2036. The bill would make other nonsubstantive, conforming changes. (2) Existing law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) , requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires that a Low Barrier Navigation Center development be a use by right in areas zoned for mixed uses and nonresidential zones permitting multifamily uses if it meets prescribed requirements. Existing law provides that the CEQA does not apply to an action taken by a public agency to lease, convey, or encumber land owned by a public entity or to facilitate the lease, conveyance, or encumbrance of land owned by a public agency, or to provide financial assistance to, or otherwise approve, a Low Barrier Navigation Center constructed or allowed by existing law. Existing law defines the term "Low Barrier Navigation Center" for these purposes to mean a Housing First, low-barrier, service-enriched shelter focused on moving people into permanent housing that provides temporary living facilities while case managers connect individuals experiencing homelessness to income, public benefits, health services, shelter, and housing. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2027. This bill would revise the definition of "Low Barrier Navigation Center" by specifying that a Low Barrier Navigation Center may be non-congregate and relocatable. The bill would also delete the January 1, 2027, repeal date, thereby extending operation of these provisions indefinitely. By indefinitely changing the local permitting process and increasing the duties of local planning officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would exempt from CEQA specified activities by local agencies relating to low barrier navigation centers. To the extent this bill would impose additional duties on county clerks, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires agencies and departments administering state programs related to homelessness to adopt guidelines and regulations to incorporate core components of Housing First, as defined. Existing law defines "state programs" for this purpose as any program a California state agency or department funds, implements, or administers for the purpose of providing housing or housing-based services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, except as provided. This bill would expand the definition of "state programs" to include programs a California state agency or department funds, implements, or administers for the purpose of providing emergency shelter or interim housing. (4) 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.

Signed into law Sep 19, 2024 0 co-sponsors
Co-sponsor SB 926
Signed into law · California Senate · Co-sponsor
Crimes: distribution of intimate images.

Existing law defines certain acts as disorderly conduct, punishable as a misdemeanor. Under existing law, it is disorderly conduct to intentionally distribute or cause to be distributed the image of the intimate body part or parts of another identifiable person, or an image of the person depicted engaged in an act of sexual intercourse, sodomy, oral copulation, sexual penetration, or an image of masturbation by the person depicted or in which the person depicted participates, under circumstances in which the persons agree or understand that the image shall remain private, the person distributing the image knows or should know that distribution of the image will cause serious emotional distress, and the person depicted suffers that distress. This bill would make it a crime for a person who is 18 years of age or older to intentionally create and distribute or cause to be distributed any photo realistic image, digital image, electronic image, computer image, computer-generated image, or other pictorial representation of an intimate body part or parts of another identifiable person, or an image of the person depicted engaged in an act of sexual intercourse, sodomy, oral copulation, sexual penetration, or an image of masturbation by the person depicted or in which the person depicted participates that was created in a manner that would cause a reasonable person to believe the image is an authentic image of the person depicted, under circumstances in which the person distributing the image knows or should know that distribution of the image will cause serious emotional distress, and the person depicted suffers that distress. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 647 of the Penal Code proposed by AB 1874, AB 1962, and SB 1414, to be operative only if this bill and some or all of those other bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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.

Signed into law Sep 19, 2024 1 co-sponsor
Primary SB 942
Signed into law · California Senate · Lead sponsor
California AI Transparency Act.

Existing law requires the Secretary of Government Operations to develop a coordinated plan to, among other things, investigate the feasibility of, and obstacles to, developing standards and technologies for state departments to determine digital content provenance. For the purpose of informing that coordinated plan, existing law requires the secretary to evaluate, among other things, the impact of the proliferation of deepfakes, defined to mean audio or visual content that has been generated or manipulated by artificial intelligence that would falsely appear to be authentic or truthful and that features depictions of people appearing to say or do things they did not say or do without their consent, on state government, California-based businesses, and residents of the state. This bill, the California AI Transparency Act, would, among other things, require a covered provider, as defined, to make available an artificial intelligence (AI) detection tool at no cost to the user that meets certain criteria, including that the AI detection tool is publicly accessible. The bill would require a covered provider to offer the user an option to include a manifest disclosure in image, video, or audio content, or content that is any combination thereof, created or altered by the covered provider's generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) system that, among other things, identifies content as AI-generated content and is clear, conspicuous, appropriate for the medium of the content, and understandable to a reasonable person. The bill would require a covered provider to include a latent disclosure in AI-generated image, video, audio content, or content that is any combination thereof, created by the covered provider's GenAI system that, among other things, to the extent that it is technically feasible and reasonable conveys certain information, either directly or through a link to a permanent internet website, regarding the provenance of the content. The bill would require a covered provider that knows a third-party licensee modified a licensed GenAI system such that it is no longer capable of including the disclosures described above in content the system creates or alters to revoke the license within 96 hours of discovering the licensee's action and would require a third-party licensee to cease using a licensed GenAI system after the license for the system has been revoked by the covered provider. This bill would make a covered provider that violates these provisions liable for a civil penalty in the amount of $5,000 per violation to be collected in a civil action filed by the Attorney General, a city attorney, or a county counsel, as prescribed. The bill would, for a violation by a third-party licensee of the requirement to cease using a licensed GenAI system after the license of the system has been revoked, authorize the Attorney General, a county counsel, or a city attorney to bring a civil action for injunctive relief and reasonable attorney's fees and costs. This bill would make its provisions operative on January 1, 2026.

Signed into law Sep 19, 2024 0 co-sponsors
Co-sponsor AB 2839
Signed into law · California House · Co-sponsor
Elections: deceptive media in advertisements.

Existing law prohibits certain distribution of materially deceptive audio or visual media of a candidate within 60 days of an election at which the candidate will appear on the ballot, unless the media includes a disclosure stating that the media has been manipulated, subject to specified exemptions. Existing law authorizes a candidate whose voice or likeness appears in audio or visual media distributed in violation of these provisions to file specified actions, and it requires a court to place such proceedings on the calendar in the order of their date of filing and give the proceedings precedence. This bill would prohibit a person, committee, or other entity from knowingly distributing an advertisement or other election communication, as defined, that contains certain materially deceptive content, as defined, with malice, as defined, subject to specified exemptions. The bill would apply this prohibition within 120 days of an election in California and, in specified cases, 60 days after an election. The bill would authorize a recipient of materially deceptive content distributed in violation of this section, candidate or committee participating in the election, or elections official, as defined, to file a civil action to enjoin the distribution of the media and to seek damages against the person, committee, or other entity that distributed it, except as specified. The bill would require a court to place such proceedings on the calendar in the order of their date of filing and give the proceedings precedence. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 35 of the Code of Civil Procedure proposed by AB 2655 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2655 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Signed into law Sep 17, 2024 1 co-sponsor
Co-sponsor SB 1432
Vetoed · California Senate · Co-sponsor
Health facilities: seismic standards.

Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Health Care Access and Information, a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and after March 7, 1973. Existing law requires that, by January 1, 2030, owners of these hospitals must either demolish, replace, or change to nonacute care use all hospital buildings that are not in compliance with these standards or seismically retrofit all acute care inpatient hospital buildings so they are in substantial compliance with these standards, unless subject to an abeyance. This bill would authorize a hospital owner or operator to submit an application, by specified dates, to the department for additional extensions to the compliance deadline. The bill would require the department to grant or deny an extension of the deadline for substantial compliance with seismic safety regulations or standards up to January 1, 2035. The bill would require the application to contain a seismic compliance plan, a specified evaluation report, a financial plan, and an attestation to the department that the appropriate governing board of that hospital is aware that the hospital building is required to be in substantial compliance with the seismic safety regulations or standards. By imposing the above-described attestation, this bill would expand the crime of perjury and impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the hospital and the department to identify specified milestones that are used for determining whether the hospital is making progress towards meeting the hospital's seismic compliance deadline. The bill would require the hospital to demonstrate efforts to comply with the seismic compliance deadline by providing the department with a plan outlining how seismic construction costs and other financial responsibilities will be met and what funding sources will be used if the hospital fails to meet an agreed-upon milestone due to circumstances that were within the hospital owner's or operator's control. The bill would require the owner or operator of that hospital to submit to the department an attestation that the appropriate governing board of that hospital is aware of the hospital's responsibility to comply with the associated construction costs to meet the seismic compliance deadlines. By requiring the owner or operator of a hospital to submit to the department an attestation, this bill would expand the crime of perjury and impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the department, before granting an extension past January 1, 2030, to provide public notice of a hospital's request for an extension, provide copies, upon request, of any publicly available material submitted by the hospital in support of their extension to interested parties, and allow the public to submit written comments on the extension proposal, as specified. The bill would require the department, beginning January 1, 2027, to post on the department's internet website specified information, including, among other things, its decision to grant or deny any extension. The bill would require the department to notify the county board of supervisors, the city council, and the Assembly and Senate representative in writing and electronically if a hospital within their district has been granted or denied an extension. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2026, to adopt regulations and standards or revise regulations and standards, or both, to extend the deadlines for meeting the structural performance and nonstructural performance requirements. The bill would specify that regulatory submissions made by the department to the California Building Standards Commission are deemed to be emergency regulations and that the adoption of these regulations are to be deemed an emergency and necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, and general welfare. Existing law requires, before January 1, 2024, the owner of an acute care inpatient hospital that includes a building that does not substantially comply with seismic safety regulations or standards to post in a lobby or waiting area generally accessible to patients or the public a notice provided by the department that the hospital is not in compliance with the seismic safety requirements the hospital is required to meet by January 1, 2030. Existing law requires, on or before January 1, 2024, and annually thereafter, the owner of an acute care inpatient hospital that includes a building that does not substantially comply with seismic safety regulations or standards to provide an annual status update on the Structural Performance Category ratings of the buildings and the services provided in each hospital building on the hospital campus to specified entities until each of the hospital buildings owned by that hospital building owner is compliant. This bill would require, before January 1, 2025, the owner or operator of an acute care inpatient hospital that includes a building that does not substantially comply with the seismic safety regulations or standards to post in any lobby or waiting area generally accessible to patients or the public the notice mentioned above. The bill would also require, on or before January 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, the owner or operator to provide an annual status update, as specified. This bill would specify that the provisions of this act are severable. 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.

Vetoed Sep 12, 2024 1 co-sponsor
Co-sponsor SCR 169
Signed into law · California Senate · Co-sponsor
Relative to the Willie Mays Highway.

This measure would designate a specified portion of Interstate 80 in the City and County of San Francisco as the Willie Mays Highway. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

Signed into law Sep 10, 2024 1 co-sponsor
Primary SB 762
Passed · California Senate · Lead sponsor
Local detention facilities: safety checks.

Existing law establishes the Board of State and Community Corrections and declares that the mission of the board is to provide statewide leadership, coordination, and technical assistance to promote effective state and local efforts and partnerships in California's adult and juvenile criminal justice system consistent with the statewide goal of improved public safety through cost-effective, promising, and evidence-based strategies for managing criminal justice populations. Existing law requires the board to establish minimum standards for local correctional facilities, including the safety of incarcerated individuals, and to biennially review and make appropriate revisions to those standards. This bill would require the board to revise those standards during the next regularly scheduled review to require a local detention facility to include a procedure for affirming that an incarcerated individual is alive during a safety check. By imposing additional requirements on local correctional facilities, this 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.

Passed Aug 31, 2024 0 co-sponsors
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