Existing law establishes in each county, except a county that is also a city and county, a county committee on school district organization, and authorizes the committee to take certain actions regarding the organization of school districts and community college districts in the territory under the committee's jurisdiction. Existing law authorizes, in any school district or community college district, a county committee on school district organization to establish trustee areas, rearrange the boundaries of trustee areas, abolish trustee areas, and increase to 7 or decrease to 5 the number of members of a governing board, or to adopt an alternative method of electing governing board members, as specified, except in a school district governed by a board of education provided for in the charter of a city or city and county. This bill would delete the exception for a school district governed by a board of education provided for in the charter of a city or city and county, for purposes of that provision. The bill would prohibit a county committee on school district organization from rearranging trustee area boundaries in a school district or community college district that has established a hybrid or independent redistricting commission, as specified. The California Voting Rights Act of 2001 prohibits an at-large method of election from being imposed or applied in a political subdivision, as defined, in a manner that impairs the ability of a protected class, as defined, to elect candidates of its choice or its ability to influence the outcome of an election, as a result of the dilution or the abridgment of the rights of voters who are members of a protected class. Existing law establishes procedures for transitioning from at-large elections to district-based or trustee elections. Existing law requires a resolution of the county committee approving a proposal to establish trustee areas to constitute an order of election, and requires the proposal to be presented to the electors of the district not later than the next succeeding election for members of the governing board. This bill would authorize the county committee, by resolution, to approve a proposal to establish trustee areas and elect governing board members using district-based elections without submitting the resolution to the electors of the district for approval. The bill would require such a resolution to include a declaration that the change in the method of electing members of the governing board is being made in furtherance of the purposes of the California Voting Rights Act of 2001, and would require the resolution to govern all elections for governing board members occurring at least 125 days after the adoption of the resolution. The bill would also make conforming changes. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a community college district to change election systems upon the adoption by the board of trustees of a resolution in support of that change and upon the approval of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as specified. As part of the change in election systems, existing law authorizes the governing board of a community college district to determine the number of trustees. If the number of members of a governing board of a community college district is increased, existing law requires additional members of the governing board to be elected at the next regular district election of board members occurring at least 123 days after the governing board approved the increased number of board members. This bill would instead require the additional members of the governing board of a community college district to be elected at the next regular district election of board members occurring at least 125 days after the governing board approved the increased number of board members.
Sponsored bills
The Unfair Competition Law (UCL) makes various practices unlawful and provides that a person who engages, has engaged, or proposes to engage in unfair competition is liable for a civil penalty, as specified. For actions for relief prosecuted under the UCL, existing law authorizes those actions to be brought by certain public attorneys, including the Attorney General, a city attorney of a city having a population in excess of 750,000, and a county counsel authorized by agreement with the district attorney in actions involving violation of a county ordinance. This bill would additionally authorize an action under the UCL to be brought by a county counsel of a county within which a city has a population in excess of 750,000 people.
Existing law establishes the Domestic Violence Prevention Act for the purpose of preventing acts of domestic violence, abuse, and sexual abuse and providing for a separation of the persons involved in the domestic violence for a period sufficient to enable those persons to seek a resolution of the causes of the violence. Existing law authorizes a court to issue a protective order enjoining a party from engaging in specified acts, including threatening or harassing the other party or disturbing the peace of the other party. Existing law defines "disturbing the peace of the other party" as conduct that destroys the mental or emotional calm of the other party, including coercive control, which is a pattern of behavior that unreasonably interferes with a person's free will and personal liberty and includes, among other things, unreasonably isolating a victim from friends, relatives, or other sources of support. A knowing and intentional violation of a protective order is punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would add engaging in reproductive coercion, as described, to the definition of disturbing the peace of the other party. Because a violation of a protective order is punishable as a crime, by expanding the bases for the issuance of these orders, this bill would expand an existing crime, thereby imposing 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, the Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) , creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , which provides pension and disability benefits to its members and prescribes their rights and duties. Existing law, the Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) , prescribed various limitations on public employees, employers, and retirement systems concerning, among other things, work after retirement. PERL generally prohibits retired PERS members from working for an agency participating in the system without reinstatement in the system, unless that employment is otherwise specifically authorized. PEPRA also prohibits retirees from serving or being employed directly, or through a contract, with a public employer, as defined, in the same retirement system from which they receive their benefits, except as expressly permitted. Both PERL and PEPRA generally prescribe limits on the manner and duration that retired members may be employed without reinstatement. PERL requires a person who is employed in violation of its reinstatement requirements to be reinstated in the member category previously held and on the date on which the unlawful employment occurred. In these circumstances, PERL requires that a retired member reimburse the system for the person's allowance received during the periods of the unlawful employment, to pay to the system employee contributions that otherwise should have been paid, and to contribute for associated administrative expenses, as specified. PERL requires employers in these circumstances to pay to the system the employer contributions that otherwise should have been paid and to contribute for associated administrative expenses, as specified. This bill would eliminate the above-described requirement that a person employed without reinstatement in a manner other than authorized by PERL be reinstated, instead providing that reinstatement is permissive. The bill would limit the circumstances pursuant to which retired members and employers are obligated to pay employee and employer contributions, which would have otherwise been paid, plus interest, to apply only to specified reinstatements. The bill would make conforming changes and make specific reference to the duties of employees and employers regarding reinstatement after retirement in violation of PEPRA.
This measure would declare the week of May 10 to May 16, 2021, inclusive, as Food Allergy Awareness Week and request that the Governor issue a proclamation to observe the week with appropriate understanding and awareness of food allergies and anaphylaxis.
Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop program guidelines for dyslexia to be used to assist regular education teachers, special education teachers, and parents to identify and assess pupils with dyslexia, as provided. Existing law requires a pupil who is assessed as being dyslexic and meets specified eligibility criteria to be entitled to special education and related services. This bill would require, on or before June 30, 2022, the State Board of Education to establish an approved list of evidence-based culturally, linguistically, and developmentally appropriate screening instruments to be used by a local educational agency, as defined, to screen pupils for risk of dyslexia, as provided. The bill would require, beginning in the 2022–23 school year, and annually thereafter, a local educational agency serving pupils in any of the grades kindergarten to grade 2, inclusive, to screen each pupil in those grades for risk of dyslexia by using the screening instrument or instruments identified above, as provided. The bill would also require, during the 2022–23 school year, a local educational agency serving pupils in grade 3 to screen each pupil. The bill would require results from the screening, among other things, to be made available to a pupil's parent or guardian in a timely manner, but no more than 45 calendar days from administering the screening. The bill would require a local educational agency to provide a pupil identified as being at risk for dyslexia with appropriate instruction, progress monitoring, and early intervention in the regular general education program. By expanding the duties of a local educational agency, 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, 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 measure would declare the week of May 9, 2021, to May 15, 2021, inclusive, as Food Allergy Awareness Week.
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 the state. Under existing law, the board of governors appoints the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to serve as the chief executive officer of the segment. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a community college district to enter into a College and Career Access Pathways partnership with the governing board of a school district with the goal of developing seamless pathways from high school to community college for career technical education or preparation for transfer, improving high school graduation rates, or helping high school pupils achieve college and career readiness. This bill would make $10,000,000 available to the chancellor, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, for the purpose of expanding pathways to law school programs. The bill would specify that this purpose includes, but is not limited to, supporting opportunities for dual enrollment partnerships between community colleges and local high school law academies, implementing partnerships with the California State University system that incorporate associate degree for transfer programs, expanding existing transfer agreements with the University of California, and providing student advising and guidance to help participants in the Community College Pathway to Law School initiative successfully transfer into the California State University or the University of California. The bill would authorize the board of governors to contract with the Foundation for California Community Colleges to provide administrative support for the expansion of these pathways. The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2025, the office of the chancellor to submit a report to the appropriate budget and policy committees of the Legislature regarding outcomes resulting from the use of funds.
This measure would proclaim April 21, 2021, as King Hùng Vương Commemorative Day and would recognize it as a day of cultural festivals commemorating the roots of Vietnamese Americans in California.
(1) 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 (EIR) on a project that the lead agency 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. The Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2011 (former leadership act) , which was repealed by its own terms on January 1, 2021, authorized the Governor, until January 1, 2020, to certify projects that meet certain requirements, including specified labor-related requirements and a requirement that the project applicant agrees to pay the costs of the court of appeal in hearing and deciding a case challenging a lead agency's action on a certified project, for streamlining benefits provided by the former leadership act related to CEQA. The former leadership act also required resolution, to the extent feasible, of judicial review of action taken by a lead agency within 270 days of the filing of the certified record of proceedings with the court. The former leadership act provided that if a lead agency fails to approve a project certified by the Governor before January 1, 2021, the certification expires and is no longer valid. The former leadership act required a lead agency to prepare the record of proceedings for the certified project concurrent with the preparation of the EIR. This bill would enact the Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021, which would reenact the former leadership act, with certain changes, and would authorize the Governor, until January 1, 2024, to certify projects that meet specified requirements for streamlining benefits related to CEQA. The bill would additionally include housing development projects, as defined, meeting certain conditions as projects eligible for certification. The bill would, except for those housing development projects, require the quantification and mitigation of the impacts of a project from the emissions of greenhouse gases, as provided. The bill would revise and recast the labor-related requirements for projects undertaken by both public agencies and private entities. The bill would provide that the Governor is authorized to certify a project before the lead agency certifies the final EIR for the project. The bill would provide for the certification by the Governor of a project alternative described in an EIR for a certified project, as provided. The bill would additionally require an applicant for certification of a project for which the environmental review has begun to demonstrate that the record of proceedings for the project is being prepared concurrently with the administrative process. The bill would require the project applicant, as a condition of certification, to agree to pay the costs of the trial court in hearing and deciding a case challenging a lead agency's action on a certified project. The bill would authorize the Office of Planning and Research to charge a fee to an applicant seeking certification for costs incurred by the Governor's office in the implementation of the Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021. The bill would require resolution, to the extent feasible, of judicial review of action taken by a lead agency within 270 days after the filing of the record of proceedings with the court. The bill would provide that if a lead agency fails to approve a project certified by the Governor under the Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021 before January 1, 2025, the certification is no longer valid. The bill would repeal the Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021 on January 1, 2026. Because the bill would require the lead agency to prepare concurrently the record of proceedings for projects that are certified by the Governor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would further provide that projects certified by the Governor under the former leadership act before January 1, 2020, and that are approved by a lead agency on or before January 1, 2022, are entitled to the benefits of and are required to comply with the requirements set forth in the former leadership act as it read on January 1, 2020. (2) 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. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.