Existing law provides that all property has an owner, whether that owner is the state, and the property is public, or the owner is an individual, and the property is private. Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, establishes the Office of Emergency Services, which is responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or man-made disasters and emergencies, among other duties. This bill would prohibit a foreign government from purchasing, acquiring, leasing, or holding a controlling interest, as defined, in agricultural land within the State of California. The bill would exempt land held by foreign governments before January 1, 2024, from that prohibition. The bill would provide that land transferred in violation of these provisions would be subject to divestiture, as specified. Existing federal law requires any foreign person, defined to include foreign governments, who acquires or transfers any interest, other than a security interest, in agricultural land to submit to the United States Secretary of Agriculture a report containing specified information relating to, among other things, the type of interest the foreign person acquired or transferred and their legal name, address, and citizenship or country in which they are created or organized. Existing federal law requires the secretary every 6 months to transmit to each state department of agriculture a copy of each report that was submitted to the secretary in the most recent 6-month period and that involved agricultural land located in that state. This bill would require the Office of Emergency Services, in consultation with the appropriate boards or departments and based on the above-described reports from the United States Secretary of Agriculture, and other information the office deems appropriate, to compile an annual report containing, among other information, the total amount of agricultural land that is under foreign ownership, how that land is currently being put to use, and any legislative, regulatory, or administrative policy recommendations in light of the information from the annual report. The bill would require the office to publish the inaugural annual report on its website by December 31, 2024, and by March 31 every year thereafter. The bill would require the office to deliver copies of any recommendations for legislative policy changes contained in the report to the Governor and the Assembly and Senate Committees on Agriculture. The bill would require the office to be reimbursed for costs incurred for compiling data, printing, and mailing the report, as specified. The bill would make its provisions operative upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each county and each city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city, and specified land outside its boundaries, that includes specified mandatory elements, including a housing element. Existing law also establishes a planning agency in each city and each county with the powers necessary to carry out the Planning and Zoning Law. Existing law requires the housing element to include, among other things, an inventory of land suitable and available for residential development. For a housing element or amendment adopted on or after January 1, 2021, existing law requires the planning agency to submit to the Department of Housing and Community Development an electronic copy of its inventory, as specified. Existing law requires a county or city to submit each revision or amendment of its housing element to the department promptly following adoption of the revision or amendment and requires the department, within 90 days, to review the adopted housing element or amendment and report its findings to the planning agency. Existing law requires the department to determine the existing and projected need for housing for each region, as specified. Existing law requires the appropriate council of governments, or for cities and counties without a council of governments, to adopt a final regional housing need plan that allocates a share of the regional housing need to each city, county, or city and county, as provided. Existing law requires a city or county to determine whether each site in its inventory of land can accommodate the development of some portion of its share of the regional housing need, as specified. This bill would expand the requirement to submit an electronic copy of the above-described inventory to the department to additionally require the planning agency to submit a housing element or amendment prepared on or after January 1, 2021. The bill would additionally require a planning agency to post the most recent version of the inventory on its internet website, as specified. The bill would require the posting to include a notice describing how property owners and other members of the public can submit information to the planning agency indicating an interest in adding a site to the land inventory and developing the site for housing. The bill, on or before an unspecified date, would require the department to establish a pilot program to develop a methodology to analyze if the inventory of suitable land has identified adequate sites to accommodate a city's or county's regional housing need, as specified. The bill would require the pilot program to include (1) methods for estimating the likely number of units that can be accommodated on sites in the land inventory during the planning period using a probability analysis and (2) methods for estimating the likely number of units that can be accommodated on the sites in the land inventory during the planning period under existing conditions and potential policy and other changes. By adding duties of local officials, 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 gives public school employees the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. Existing law establishes the Public Employment Relations Board and gives the board specified powers and duties relating to employer-employee relations. Existing law authorizes the board to conduct studies relating to employer-employee relations, including the collection, analysis, and making available of data relating to wages, benefits, and employment practices in public and private employment, and to recommend legislation. This bill would specifically authorize the board to conduct employer-employee relations studies concerning the impact on public employees of net-zero carbon emissions initiatives, including collecting, analyzing, and making available related data.
Existing law, Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act, establishes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) in the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, that is governed by a board of directors. The act, among other things, authorizes the I-Bank to make loans, issue bonds, and provide financial assistance for various types of projects that qualify as economic development or public development facilities. This bill, the End the Foster Care-to-Homelessness Pipeline Act, would establish the End the Foster Care-to-Homelessness Pipeline Program within the I-Bank to guarantee qualified loans made by financial institutions to qualified nonprofit and for-profit businesses for the construction, acquisition, and renovation of housing for current and former foster youth between 18 and 25 years of age and who qualify for specified programs. The bill would authorize the bank, in determining whether to guarantee a qualified loan, to give preference to counties with high housing inelasticity and high rates of foster youth, as specified. The bill would authorize the bank to reimburse up to 80% of the guaranteed portion of principal and interest that result from a qualified loan that is in default, not to exceed $250,000,000, and would require the Controller to transfer moneys from the General Fund to the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Fund, at the direction of the bank, for that purpose. By requiring the Controller to transfer moneys into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
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. Existing law authorizes the San Mateo County Community College District, among other things, 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 to provide assistance to students for the total cost of attendance. This bill would authorize the governing board of a 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 if the community college district complies with certain requirements, including that 100% of its students complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid or California Dream Act application, that the community college district has established a fully staffed Basic Needs Center, and that the community college district prepares a fiscal impact statement, including a 3-year projection of the fiscal impact of the fee waiver on the community college district, as specified. The bill would require, on or before October 10, 2024, and annually thereafter, a community college district to certify to the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges that it has complied with all of those requirements, and would require, on or before December 31, 2024, and annually thereafter, the chancellor's office to verify the information submitted and authorize the governing board of that community college district to adopt a policy that uses local unrestricted general funds to provide fee waivers to students with the greatest financial need. The bill would authorize the governing board of a community college district that receives authorization to use local unrestricted general funds to provide assistance to students for the total cost of attendance, as defined.
Existing law creates the State Department of Public Health and vests it with duties, powers, functions, jurisdiction, and responsibilities with regard to the advancement of public health. Existing law requires the department, subject to an appropriation in the Budget Act of 2016, to award funding to local health departments, local governmental agencies, or on a competitive basis to other organizations, as specified, to support or establish programs that provide naloxone to first responders and to at-risk opioid users through programs that serve at-risk drug users. Existing law exempts from civil liability any person who, in good faith and not for compensation, renders emergency medical or nonmedical care or assistance at the scene of an emergency other than an act or omission constituting gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct. This bill would require a person or entity that owns or is responsible for a designated facility, defined as a bar, gas station, public library, or residential hotel, after receiving an opioid antagonist kit from the department, to post an opioid antagonist kit, which includes an instructional poster and opioid antagonist nasal spray, in areas that are readily accessible only by employees, to restock the opioid antagonist kit after each use or upon expiration of the opioid antagonist nasal spray contained in the opioid antagonist kit, and to request a replacement kit from the department, as specified. The bill would exempt from civil liability a person or designated facility that provides, or omits to provide, aid with the opioid antagonist kit, as specified. The bill would prohibit an employer from requiring its employees to render aid, or from disciplining an employee for not rendering aid, or from prohibiting employees to render aid with an opioid antagonist in the event of an apparent overdose. The bill would clarify, among other things, that a designated facility and its employees have no obligation to provide an opioid antagonist in the event of an apparent overdose. This bill would require the department to compile a list of all counties that are experiencing an opioid overdose crisis, as defined, and publish the list on its internet website. The bill would also require the department to provide opioid antagonist kits free of charge to as many designated facilities as possible in the counties on the list, to create the opioid antagonist poster with easy-to-understand instructions and graphics on the administration of the attached opioid antagonist nasal spray, and to make the determination on how best to allocate and distribute its limited supply of opioid antagonist among its various programs in the event of an opioid antagonist supply shortage. This bill would make a violation of these provisions subject to a civil penalty of not more than $100, except for public entities or public employees. The bill would require these provisions to be effective 6 months after the department publishes the list of counties experiencing an opioid crisis on its internet website. The bill would require these provisions to be implemented only upon an appropriation being made for these purposes by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute. Existing law grants the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, which is within the Department of Industrial Relations, jurisdiction over all employment and places of employment, with the power necessary to enforce and administer all occupational health and safety laws and standards. This bill would require the division to investigate and enforce the provisions in this act. By requiring public libraries to provide opioid antagonist kits, 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.
The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, including an exclusion for the amount of student loan indebtedness repaid or canceled pursuant to a specified federal law. This bill would exclude from an individual's gross income, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, the amount of certain student loans discharged, in whole or in part, after December 31, 2020, and before January 1, 2026, in conformity with federal law. Existing law requires any 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. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would make findings and declarations related to a gift of public funds.
Existing law establishes the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection within the Natural Resources Agency. Existing law vests the department with specified responsibilities, including providing fire protection, fire prevention, pest control, and forest and range protection and enhancement implements and apparatus as necessary. Existing law, the California Urban Forestry Act of 1978, has as a stated purpose the promotion of the use of urban forest resources for purposes of increasing integrated projects with multiple benefits in urban communities. This bill would establish the California Pocket Forest Initiative in the department and would authorize the department to coordinate implementation of the initiative in conjunction with the act. The bill would authorize the department to offer grants to cities, counties, districts, nonprofit organizations, the California Conservation Corps or certified community conservation corps, public universities, public community colleges, and public schools to establish pocket forests on public lands, as provided. The bill would require the department to prioritize disadvantaged communities and communities that lack publicly accessible green space for these grants. The bill would require the department to partner with one or more academic institutions to test, and submit a report on or before January 1, 2030, to the Legislature that evaluates, the applicability and effectiveness of the Miyawaki method, as defined, to restore degraded lands and reforest urban areas in multiple regions throughout California. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2031.
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, as specified. This bill would exempt from those provisions lands inundated by navigable waters temporarily flowing outside the established banks of a river, stream, slough, or other waterway that float a boat, canoe, kayak, or any other watercraft. The bill would also state that these provisions do not restrict the public's right under the California Constitution to use navigable waters for hunting, fishing, or other public purposes. The bill would specify that for the purposes of these provisions navigable waters can include ordinary, seasonal flooding. The bill would also specify that nothing in the above-mentioned provisions permits entry over legally restricted land on waters that are not, in fact, navigable.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to develop contingency plans to deal with possible shortages of electrical energy or fuel supplies to protect public health, safety, and welfare. Existing law establishes the Clean Energy Job Creation Program for purposes of funding projects for energy efficiency retrofits and clean energy installations, along with related improvements and repairs that contribute to reduced operating costs and improved health and safety conditions, on public schools. Existing law requires certain moneys appropriated for purposes of the program to be allocated to local educational agencies, as specified. Existing law authorizes the commission to adjust the funding allocation to local educational agencies and requires the commission, in allocating grants to local educational agencies, to give priority to certain local educational agencies, as provided. This bill would require, if an appropriation is made for this purpose, the commission to develop a Master Plan for Healthy, Sustainable, and Climate-Resilient Schools on or before March 31, 2025, or 15 months after the appropriation is made, whichever is later. The bill would require the commission to consult with specified state agencies and engage with a diverse group of stakeholders and experts regarding the development of the master plan, as provided. The bill would require the master plan to include specified elements, including, but not limited to, assessments of a representative sample of the state's public elementary and secondary school buildings and grounds, as provided, and a set of priorities, benchmarks, and milestones for health, resilience, and decarbonization of public school campuses and support facilities.