Sen. Melissa Hurtado

Under existing law, Members of the Legislature, elected state officers, and designated employees of state administrative agencies are subject to various restrictions on their activities following their departure from state service. This bill would, for a period of one year after leaving office, prohibit the head of a state administrative agency from acting as an agent or attorney for any other person by making an appearance before, or making an oral or written communication to, a state administrative agency or the Legislature if the appearance or communication is made for compensation and for the purpose of influencing legislative or administrative action. A violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 is punishable as a misdemeanor. By expanding the scope of an existing 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. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.

Existing law requires the Governor to appoint every officer whose mode of appointment is not prescribed by law. Existing law also prescribes the manner of the Governor's appointment of those officers. This bill would require the office of the Governor, commencing January 1, 2026, to maintain on its internet website a list of every state board and commission that includes, for each state board or commission, the membership list, stated purpose, duties, meeting frequency, internet website, and vacancies in the membership. The bill would require the office of the Governor, on or before January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, to create and publish on its internet website a report containing aggregate demographic information of appointments made by the office during the prior calendar year, as specified.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health to implement and administer various programs relating to public health. The department administers the California Overdose Surveillance Dashboard that provides data on state- and local-level drug-related overdose outcomes for California, including, among other data, the number of deaths related to fentanyl overdoses. Existing law requires the department to update the dashboard to reflect additional information, as specified. This bill would require the department to use best efforts to utilize all of its relevant data regarding overdoses in the state to monitor and identify current trends of fentanyl-related deaths of children 0 to 5 years of age, inclusive. The bill would require the department to develop guidance and spread awareness of the trends to protect and prevent children from fentanyl exposure. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2026, to annually distribute its findings and guidance to local health departments, county boards of supervisors, and the Legislature. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029.

(1) Existing law establishes the Farm to Community Food Hub Program, which is administered by the Office of Farm to Fork in the Department of Food and Agriculture, which is under the control of the Secretary of Food and Agriculture. Existing law requires the secretary to establish the Farm to Community Food Hub Advisory Committee for the purpose of advising the secretary with respect to their responsibilities regarding the program. Existing law requires the advisory committee to comprise 10 members from specified regions, including 4 members who are executives or managers of a food supply chain business headquartered in California, 4 members who are executives or directors of a civil society organization or representatives of academic institution with certain expertise, and one member who is a farmer or rancher meets specified qualifications. Existing law requires the program to be administered in 2 phases, and requires the office, for the first phase, to solicit and select proposals throughout the state to create farm to community food hubs and award planning grants to selected proposals and, for the second phase, to select at least 3 of the proposals that were awarded planning grants during the first phase and award to those proposals development grants for capital and operating expenses of the farm to community food hub for a 5-year period. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2028. This bill would eliminate the advisory committee and instead require the office to develop and consult with a working group comprising at least 7 individuals who possess expertise in the operation of food hubs and other specified areas, as provided. The bill would exempt the working group from the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. The bill would require that the program prioritize the creation of new farm to community food hubs and would authorize, instead of require, the program to be administered in the 2 above-described phases. The bill would extend the operation of the program until January 1, 2034. (2) Existing law appropriated $1,000,000 to the Strategic Growth Council to establish the California Agricultural Land Equity Task Force to develop recommendations on how to equitably increase access to agricultural land for food production and traditional tribal agricultural uses. Existing law requires the task force, on or before January 1, 2026, to submit a report to the Legislature and Governor that includes a set of policy recommendations on how to address the agricultural land equity crisis. This bill would authorize the council, using existing or private funds, to provide public task force members a reasonable per diem allowance, as specified, or at a higher rate authorized by the task force, for each day's attendance at a noticed meeting of the task force. The bill would require the report to be posted on the council's internet website. (3) 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. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to license, regulate, and inspect health facilities, as specified, including general acute care hospitals. A violation of these provisions is a crime. Under existing law, a general acute care hospital is required to provide certain basic services, including medical, nursing, surgical, anesthesia, laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, and dietary services. Existing law authorizes a general acute care hospital to provide various special or supplemental services if certain conditions are met. Existing regulations define a supplemental service as an organized inpatient or outpatient service that is not required to be provided by law or regulation. Existing law requires a health facility to provide 90 days of public notice of the proposed closure or elimination of a supplemental service, and 120 days of public notice of the proposed closure or elimination of an acute psychiatric hospital. This bill would change the notice period required before proposed closure or elimination of the supplemental service of inpatient psychiatric unit or a perinatal unit from 90 days to 120 days. By changing the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the health facility to provide public notice of the proposed elimination of the supplemental service of either inpatient psychiatric unit or perinatal unit, as specified. The bill would require the health facility to conduct at least one noticed public hearing within 60 days of providing public notice of the proposed elimination of the inpatient psychiatric unit or perinatal unit and would require the health facility to accept public comment. The bill would require the health facility to post the public hearing notice and the agenda along with the public notice. The bill would require the health facility holding the public hearing to meet prescribed requirements, including notifying the board of supervisors of the county in which the health facility is located when a public hearing is scheduled and inviting the board of supervisors to provide testimony on the impacts of the elimination of the services to the county and community health systems. 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 requires a nonprofit corporation that operates or controls a health facility or other facility that provides similar health care to provide written notice to, and to obtain the written consent of, the Attorney General prior to entering into any agreement or transaction to sell, transfer, lease, exchange, option, convey, or otherwise dispose of the asset, or to transfer control, responsibility, or governance of the asset or operation, to a for-profit corporation or entity, to a mutual benefit corporation or entity, or to a nonprofit corporation, as specified. This bill would require a private equity group or a hedge fund, as defined, to provide written notice to, and obtain the written consent of, the Attorney General before a transaction between the private equity group or hedge fund and a health care facility, provider, or provider group, as those terms are defined, and any of those entities that directly or indirectly control, are controlled by, are under common control of, or are otherwise affiliated with a payor, except as specified. The bill would require the notice to be submitted at the same time that any other state or federal agency is notified pursuant to state or federal law, and otherwise at least 90 days before the transaction. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to extend that 90-day period under certain circumstances. The bill would additionally require a private equity group or hedge fund to provide advance written notice to the Attorney General before a transaction between a private equity group or hedge fund and a nonphysician provider or a provider, with specified gross annual revenue. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to give the private equity group or hedge fund a written waiver or the notice and consent requirements if specified conditions apply, including, but not limited to, that the party makes a written waiver request, the health care facility's, provider group's, or provider's operating costs have exceeded its operating revenue in the relevant market for 3 or more years and the party cannot meet its debts, and the transaction will ensure continued health care access in the relevant markets. The bill would require the Attorney General to grant or deny the waiver within 45 days, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to consent to, give conditional consent to, or not consent to a transaction between a private equity group or hedge fund and a health care facility, provider group, or provider if the transaction may have a substantial likelihood of anticompetitive effects or may create a significant effect on the access or availability of health care services to the affected community, applying a public interest standard, as defined. The bill would authorize the private equity group or hedge fund to elect to participate in an evidentiary hearing before an administrative law judge assigned to the Office of Administrative Hearings, and would set forth the requirements for that hearing. The bill would require the administrative law judge to issue a statement of decision after the close of the hearing, and would require the Attorney General to issue a final determination accepting or rejecting the statement of decision, as specified. The bill would authorize the private equity group or hedge fund to seek subsequent judicial review, as specified, of the Attorney General's final determination if the Attorney General does not consent or gives conditional consent to a transaction. The bill would prohibit a private equity group or hedge fund involved in any manner with a physician, psychiatric, or dental practice doing business in this state from interfering with the professional judgment of physicians, psychiatrists, or dentists in making health care decisions, among other things. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to adopt regulations and contract with state agencies, experts, or consultants to implement its requirements, as specified. Existing law requires a health care entity to provide the Office of Health Care Affordability with written notice of agreements and transactions that would sell, transfer, lease, exchange, option, encumber, convey, or otherwise dispose of a material amount of assets, or that would transfer control, responsibility, or governance of a material amount of the assets or operations to one or more entities, except as specified. This bill would exempt transactions involving private equity groups or hedge funds that are subject to Attorney General review pursuant to the bill from this notice requirement.

The existing federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 provides for the negotiation and execution of tribal-state gaming compacts for the purpose of authorizing certain types of gaming on Indian lands within a state. The California Constitution prohibits the Legislature from authorizing casinos of the type operating in Nevada and New Jersey and authorizes the Governor to negotiate and conclude tribal-state gaming compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law expressly ratifies a number of tribal-state gaming compacts between the State of California and specified Indian tribes. Existing law, the Gambling Control Act, provides for the regulation, oversight, and licensure of gambling establishments by the California Gambling Control Commission. Existing law prohibits a list of specified gambling games or any banking or percentage game played with cards, dice, or any device, for money, checks, credit, or any representative of value, and provides that any person who offers for play or participates in these games is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable as specified. Existing law authorizes gambling establishments to operate controlled games utilizing a player-dealer position, as defined, and to contract with a third party for the provision of proposition player services subject to specified conditions and regulatory requirements. Existing law generally specifies the persons or entities that may bring a civil action as prescribed for relief. Existing law authorizes a court to grant a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order at any time prior to judgment, if the verified complaint or affidavits provide sufficient grounds to do so and the opposing party has been given notice. This bill would authorize a California Indian tribe, under certain conditions, to bring an action solely against licensed California card clubs and third-party proposition player services providers to seek a declaration as to whether a controlled game operated by a licensed California card club and banked by a third-party proposition player services provider constitutes a banking card game that violates state law, including tribal gaming rights under the constitutional provisions described above, and to request injunctive relief. The bill would require that any review of such a challenge be conducted de novo. The bill would prohibit a claim for money damages, penalties, or attorney's fees and would require that actions be filed no later than April 1, 2025, as specified. The bill would clarify that it does not intend to authorize an action, or otherwise impose any liability, against the state and would prohibit a court from issuing a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order under certain circumstances. This bill would provide that its provisions are severable.

Existing law provides for various memorials and monuments on the grounds of the State Capitol. Existing law requires the Department of General Services to maintain state buildings and grounds. Existing law, the Apology Act for the 1930s Mexican Repatriation Program, makes findings and declarations regarding the unconstitutional removal and coerced emigration of United States citizens and legal residents of Mexican descent, between the years 1929 and 1944, to Mexico from the United States during the 1930s "Mexican Repatriation" Program. Existing law expresses the apology of the State of California to those individuals who were illegally deported and coerced into emigrating to Mexico and requires that a plaque to commemorate those individuals be installed and maintained by the Department of Parks and Recreation in an appropriate public place in the City or County of Los Angeles. This bill would authorize a nonprofit organization representing Mexican Americans or Mexican immigrants to enter into negotiations to plan, construct, and maintain a memorial to Mexican Americans and Mexican immigrants who were forcibly deported from the United States during the Great Depression, as provided. The bill would require the memorial to be located at an appropriate public place in the City or County of Los Angeles. The bill would require the nonprofit organization to enter into negotiations with the Department of General Services and the state agency with jurisdiction over the state property where the memorial is proposed, where applicable, if the nonprofit organization proposes to locate the memorial on state property. The bill would require the nonprofit organization to submit a plan for the memorial to the department and the applicable state agency for review and approval. The bill would require these provisions to be funded exclusively through private sources. This bill would, if the nonprofit organization proposes a site owned by the City of Los Angeles or the County of Los Angeles for location of the memorial, require the nonprofit organization to follow any procedures that the City of Los Angeles or the County of Los Angeles require to consider approving the proposed memorial. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles.

(1) Existing federal law, the Victims of Crime Act of 1984, creates the Crime Victims Fund and authorizes federal financial assistance to states for the purpose of supporting eligible crime victim assistance programs. Existing law creates various programs under the Office of Emergency Services related to crime prevention and education, including, among other things, programs concerning family violence prevention and domestic violence prevention. This bill, the California Victims of Crime Act, would establish the California Crime Victims Fund in the State Treasury and would require that moneys deposited in the fund be continuously appropriated to the Office of Emergency Services to support crime victims services. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to seek advisement from the Victims of Crime Act Steering Committee on priorities for utilizing the funds and would require the Treasurer to provide an annual report to the Legislature on the amounts deposited into the fund. By continuously appropriating moneys to the Office of Emergency Services for the support of crime victim services, the bill would make an appropriation. (2) Existing law establishes the aggravated white-collar crime enhancement which imposes enhanced penalties against a person who commits 2 or more related felonies, a material element of which is fraud or embezzlement, that involve a pattern of related felony conduct, and the pattern of related felony conduct involves the taking or loss of more than $100,000, as specified. This bill would authorize a court to impose an additional fine, known as the corporate white collar criminal enhancement, against a corporation that is convicted of a misdemeanor or felony. The bill would authorize the court to determine the amount of the fine, but would set specified limits. The bill would require the court to consider certain factors when determining the amount of the fine, including, among other things, the nature and seriousness of the offense and the corporation's assets, liabilities, and net worth, as specified. The bill would require that any moneys collected under this provision be deposited into the California Crime Victims Fund. (3) The California Constitution entitles the victim of a crime to restitution. Existing law requires the court in each criminal case to order a convicted defendant to pay full restitution to the victim and a separate restitution fine, as specified. This bill would, if a corporation is convicted of a misdemeanor or felony offense, require the court to impose a separate and additional restitution fine, as specified. The bill would authorize the court to determine the amount of the restitution fine, but would impose specified maximums. The bill would require any moneys collected under this provision to be distributed to the California Crime Victims Fund and the prosecuting agency that brought the criminal prosecution, as specified.

Existing law authorizes a community college registered nursing program that determines that the number of applicants to the program exceeds its capacity to admit students using a multicriteria screening process, a random selection process, or a blended combination of random selection and a multicriteria screening process, as specified. Existing law requires that the criteria applied in a multicriteria screening process include, among other criteria, consideration of the life experiences or special circumstances of an applicant, as listed, and proficiency or advanced level coursework in languages other than English, as provided. Existing law requires credit to be received for languages identified by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges as high-frequency languages. Existing law requires the chancellor to report annually to the Legislature and the Governor on students admitted to community college registered nursing programs through a multicriteria screening process, as provided. Existing law repeals these provisions relating to admission to community college registered nursing programs on January 1, 2025. This bill would add living in a medically underserved area or population, as designated by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, to the list of life experiences or special circumstances specified for consideration in a multicriteria screening process. The bill would explicitly reference the various languages of the African continent as languages that may be identified by the chancellor as high-frequency languages. The bill would extend operation of these provisions relating to admission to community college registered nursing programs until January 1, 2030.