Existing law vests the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission with the exclusive power to certify all locations on which an electrical transmission line or thermal powerplant is constructed, or is proposed to be constructed, and related electrical transmission lines or thermal powerplants. Existing law authorizes the commission to exempt from certification a thermal powerplant with a generating capacity of up to 100 megawatts, and modifications to existing generating facilities that do not add capacity in excess of 100 megawatts, if the commission finds that no substantial adverse impact on the environment or energy resources will result from the construction or operation of the proposed facility or from the modifications. This bill would additionally authorize the commission to exempt from certification a thermal powerplant with a generating capacity of up to 150 megawatts if specified requirements are met, including that it is used solely as a backup generation facility for a data center, it is located on the customer side of the meter and is not interconnected to the distribution system, a skilled and trained workforce is used to perform all construction work on the facility, as specified, the commission finds that no substantial adverse impact on the environment or energy resources will result from the construction and operation of the facility, and the commission obtains a determination from the applicable air pollution control district or air quality management district that the facility's backup generation technology meets the best available control technology requirements. The bill would require the owner or operator of a facility granted an exemption under the bill to fully mitigate the facility's impacts on air quality, as provided. The bill would repeal its provisions on January 1, 2027.
Sponsored bills
This measure would designate the month of October 2024 as California Hindu American Awareness and Appreciation Month. The measure would also recognize and acknowledge the significant contributions made by Californians of Hindu heritage to the state and seek to increase awareness and understanding of the Hindu American community, and would condemn all hate crimes and bias incidents against Hindu Americans, Hindu temples and centers, and places of significance to the Hindu American community.
Existing law makes it unlawful to enter land for the purpose of discharging a firearm or taking or destroying any mammal or bird, including waterfowl, on that land, without having first obtained written permission from the owner, the owner's agent, or the person in lawful possession of that land, if either of the following applies: (1) the land belongs to, or is occupied by, another person and is either under cultivation or enclosed by a fence, or (2) there are signs forbidding trespass or hunting or both displayed at intervals not less than 3 to the mile along all exterior boundaries and at all roads and trails entering those lands, including land temporarily inundated by water flowing outside the established banks of a waterway. This bill would restrict the application of the provisions regarding land temporarily inundated by water flowing outside the established banks of a waterway to non-navigable waters. The bill would also state that these provisions do not restrict the public's right to use navigable waters for hunting, fishing, or other public purposes under the California Constitution.
Existing law, until January 1, 2025, authorizes a school district, with the approval of the governing board of the school district, to procure design-build contracts for projects in excess of $1,000,000, awarding the contract to either the low bid or the best value, as provided. Existing law requires specified information to be certified under penalty of perjury, as provided. This bill would delete the provision making this authorization inoperative on January 1, 2025, thereby extending it indefinitely. By extending the operation of provisions of law expanding a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law prohibits unlawfully causing a fire by recklessly setting fire to, burning, or causing to be burned, any structure, forest land, or property. A violation of this prohibition is punishable as either a misdemeanor or a felony. This bill would, for the purposes of sentencing for a violation of these provisions, make it a factor in aggravation that the offense was carried out within a merchant's premises in order to facilitate organized retail theft. By increasing the punishment for a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law defines types of theft, including petty theft, grand theft, and shoplifting. Existing law also defines the crime of burglary, which consists of entering specified buildings, places, or vehicles with the intent to commit grand or petty theft or a felony. This bill would, until January 1, 2030, create sentencing enhancements for selling, exchanging, or returning for value, or attempting to sell, exchange, or return for value, any property acquired through one or more acts of shoplifting, theft, or burglary from a retail business, if the property value exceeds specified amounts. The bill would additionally make these enhancements apply to any person acting in concert with another person to violate these provisions. By adding new sentencing enhancements, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law, until January 1, 2026, makes a person guilty of organized retail theft, punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony, as specified, if the person acts in concert with one or more persons to steal merchandise from one or more merchant's premises or online marketplaces with the intent to sell or return the merchandise for value, acts in concert with 2 or more persons to receive, purchase, or possess merchandise knowing or believing it to have been stolen, acts as an agent of another to steal merchandise from one or more merchant's premises or online marketplaces as part of an organized plan to commit theft, or recruits, coordinates, organizes, supervises, directs, manages, or finances another to undertake acts of theft. This bill would extend the operation of the crime of organized retail theft indefinitely. By extending the operation of an existing crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law defines the crime of burglary to include entering a vehicle when the doors are locked with the intent to commit grand or petit larceny or a felony. Existing law makes the burglary of a vehicle punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. This bill would make forcibly entering a vehicle, as defined, with the intent to commit a theft or a felony therein a crime punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year or imprisonment in a county jail for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law prohibits the taking of the personal property of another, as specified, prohibits removing any part of a vehicle without the consent of the owner, and prohibits the possession or receipt of stolen property, as specified. A violation of these prohibitions is punishable as either a misdemeanor or a felony. This bill would make it a crime for a person to unlawfully possess property that was acquired through one or more acts of theft from a vehicle, unlawful entry of a vehicle, burglary of a locked vehicle, or vehicle tampering, if the property is not possessed for personal use and the person has the intent to sell or exchange the property, or the intent to act with another person to sell or exchange the property, and the value of the possessed property exceeds $950. The bill would, for the purpose of determining the value, allow the aggregation of the value of other illegally obtained property possessed by the person within the past 2 years. The bill would make this crime punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. By creating a new crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law generally requires an online marketplace to require a high-volume third-party seller on the online marketplace to make certain disclosures. Existing law requires an online marketplace to suspend future sales activity of a high-volume third-party seller that is not in compliance with those information sharing requirements, as specified. Existing law imposes certain information retention and security requirements on an online marketplace and prohibits specified uses of that information. Existing law generally defines a "high-volume third-party seller," for purposes of the above-described provisions, as a third-party seller who has entered into a certain number of consumer product sales transactions through an online marketplace for which payment is processed by the online marketplace, as specified. Existing law defines an "online marketplace," for purposes of those provisions, as a consumer-directed, electronically accessed platform that includes features that allow for, facilitate, or enable, and are used by, a third-party seller to engage in the sale, purchase, payment, storage, shipment, or delivery of a consumer product and that has a contractual relationship with consumers governing their use of the platform to purchase consumer products. This bill would revise the types of transactions that qualify a third-party seller as a "high-volume third-party seller," for those purposes. Specifically, the bill would remove the conditions that the transactions be made through an online marketplace and that the online marketplace process the payment and, instead, would add the condition that the transactions were made utilizing an online marketplace. The bill would also revise the definition of "online marketplace" by removing the conditions that the above-described features be used by third-party sellers, and that the platform have the above-described contractual relationship with consumers. Existing law requires a high-volume third-party seller to disclose and certify to the online marketplace certain identification, contact, and payment information of the seller, as specified. This bill would require an online marketplace to establish and maintain a policy prohibiting the sale of stolen goods on the marketplace and to provide a mechanism to notify the marketplace of the sale of stolen goods, as specified. The bill would require an online marketplace to alert local, regional, or state law enforcement agencies in California if it knows or should know that a third-party seller is selling or attempting to sell stolen goods to a California resident, except as specified. Existing law requires a person or entity who violates the above-described provisions to be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each violation and reasonable attorney's fees and costs and to be subject to preventive relief, as specified. Existing law limits recovery and relief to a civil action brought by the Attorney General, as specified. This bill would expand recovery and relief to a civil action brought by a district attorney in any county, a city attorney in any city or city and county, or a county counsel in any county. The bill would make these changes operative on July 1, 2025.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, requires the Department of Managed Health Care to license and regulate health care service plans and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also requires the Department of Insurance to regulate health insurers. Existing law requires a health care service plan or disability insurer, as specified, to base medical necessity determinations and the utilization review criteria the plan or insurer, and any entity acting on the plan's or insurer's behalf, applies to determine the medical necessity of health care services and benefits for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, on current generally accepted standards of mental health and substance use disorder care. This bill would require a health care service plan and a disability insurer, and an entity acting on a plan's or insurer's behalf, to ensure compliance with specific requirements for utilization review, including maintaining telephone access and other direct communication access during California business hours for a health care provider to request authorization for mental health and substance use disorder care and conducting peer-to-peer discussions regarding specific patient issues related to treatment. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.