Sen. Melissa Hurtado

Existing law establishes the Apprenticeship Innovation Funding Program, to be operative and implemented only upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature. Existing law requires the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, within the Department of Industrial Relations, to administer the program to provide grants, reimbursements, or other funding for the support of an apprenticeship program or training of apprentices. This bill, during the first 5 years of the program's grant funding period, would require the division to prioritize at least 20% of grant funds to be dedicated to reimbursing wage loss of farmworkers transitioning to AgTech, as defined, or a related career, incurred while enrolled in a farmworker-related training program.

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.

Existing law declares that groundwater recharge is an effective way to maximize availability of scarce water supplies throughout the state. Existing law further declares that it is necessary for the health, safety, and welfare of the people of the state that the groundwater basins of the state be recharged. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to capture floodwater to recharge groundwater basins and to require the Department of Water Resources and the State Water Resources Control Board to work together to expedite the regulatory steps necessary to store significant rainfall and excess water underground, while still ensuring protections for the environment and other water users as required by state law.

The General Corporation Law (GCL) prohibits a foreign corporation from transacting intrastate business, as defined, without having first obtained from the Secretary of State a certificate of qualification and stating, as prescribed, certain information, including the state or place of its incorporation or organization and a statement that the foreign corporation is authorized to exercise its powers and privileges in that state or place of its incorporation or organization. The GCL makes a foreign corporation that transacts intrastate business without complying with the GCL guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill, the Corporate Transparency Act, would require a foreign corporation to additionally disclose certain information with respect to any beneficial owner, as defined, of the foreign corporation, including the owner's full legal name. By expanding the scope of the misdemeanor described above, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act authorizes a foreign limited liability company to apply for a certificate of registration to transact business in this state by delivering an application to the Secretary of State for filing on a form prescribed by the Secretary of State that states certain information, including the state or other jurisdiction under whose law the foreign limited liability company is organized and a statement that the foreign limited liability company is authorized to exercise its powers and privileges in that state or other jurisdiction. This bill would require a foreign limited liability company to additionally disclose certain information with respect to any beneficial owner, as defined, of the foreign limited liability company, including the owner's full legal name. 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 authorizes a school district, county office of education, and charter school to provide emergency naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist to school nurses or trained personnel who have volunteered, and authorizes school nurses or trained personnel to use naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist to provide emergency medical aid to persons suffering, or reasonably believed to be suffering, from an opioid overdose, as provided. This bill would require each individual public school operated by a school district, county office of education, or charter school that has made a person who has received instruction in the administration of naloxone hydrochloride or any other opioid antagonist available at the school, as provided, to maintain at least 2 doses of naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist for purposes of those authorizations. The bill would require each school district, county office of education, and charter school that has made a person who has received instruction in the administration of naloxone hydrochloride or any other opioid antagonist available at its schools, as provided, to report to the State Department of Education and the State Department of Health Care Services on or before July 31, 2024, and annually thereafter, certain information regarding opioid antagonists. The bill would provide that it is the intent of the Legislature that school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools share information from the State Department of Public Health regarding naloxone hydrochloride or other opioid antagonists with parents or guardians of pupils.

(1) Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services and requires the department to administer various public social services programs, including the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals, and the CalFresh program, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. This bill would require the department, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, to administer the California Farmworkers Drought and Flood Resilience Pilot Project to provide supplemental pay in the form of cash assistance for eligible households to help meet their basic needs. The bill would define eligible household to mean a household in which one member of the household is a farmworker, as specified, and would define supplemental pay to mean unconditional cash payments of equal amounts issued monthly to eligible households with the intention of ensuring the economic security of those households. The bill would require the department to implement the pilot project by awarding grants to eligible entities, as defined, for the purpose of issuing the supplemental pay, and would require the department, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, to determine the methodology for, and manner of, distributing those grants. The bill would require an eligible entity, in order to receive a grant, to, among other things, present commitments of additional nongovernmental funding to supplement the grant in an amount equal to or greater than 50% of the amount of funding to be provided to the entity from the grant pursuant to the pilot project. The bill would prohibit supplemental pay received by an eligible household from being considered income or resources for purposes of determining the household's eligibility for benefits or assistance, or the amount or extent of benefits or assistance, under any state or local means-tested program. The bill would require the department, in consultation with stakeholders, and after consultation with the Legislature, to identify federal benefit and assistance programs that require an exemption or waiver in order for supplemental pay received by an eligible household pursuant to the pilot project to be excluded from consideration as income or resources for purposes of the federal program. The bill would require a state department or agency that administers a program identified by the State Department of Social Services to, if possible, approve an exemption or waiver or seek one from the federal government. The bill would require the department to work with at least one independent, research-based institution to identify existing, and establish additional, outcome measurements, and to submit a specified report relating to the pilot project to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2027. The bill would authorize the department to accept and expend funds from nongovernmental sources for the pilot project, as specified, and would authorize the department to accept in-kind contributions, including, but not limited to, financial mentorship services for households that receive supplemental pay pursuant to the pilot project. The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific the pilot project by means of a departmental directive or similar instruction. (2) The Personal Income Tax Law imposes taxes based upon taxable income at specified rates. Existing law, in modified conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded. The bill would exclude from gross income, for purposes of the personal income tax, any supplemental pay received by a household pursuant to the pilot project described above. (3) This bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2028. (4) Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure or tax exemption to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax exemption will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. The bill would state that it is the intent of the Legislature to apply those requirements to the bill and would set forth specified information related to those requirements.

Existing law establishes within the Government Operations Agency the Department of Technology, under the supervision of the Director of Technology, also known as the State Chief Information Officer. Existing law requires the director to, among other things, provide technology direction to agency and department chief information officers to ensure the integration of statewide technology initiatives, compliance with information technology policies and standards, and the promotion of the alignment and effective management of information technology services. This bill would enact the California AI-ware Act, which would establish, within the Department of Technology, the Office of Artificial Intelligence, and would grant the office the power and authority necessary to guide the design, use, and deployment of automated systems by a state agency to ensure that all AI systems are designed and deployed in a manner that is consistent with state and federal laws and regulations regarding privacy and civil liberties and that minimizes bias and promotes equitable outcomes for all Californians. Existing law imposes various requirements on state agencies concerning technological matters, including requiring every state agency that utilizes any method, device, identifier, or other database application on the internet to electronically collect personal information regarding any user to prominently display a prescribed notice at an initial point of communication with a potential user. This bill would require any state agency that utilizes generative artificial intelligence to directly communicate with a natural person to provide notice to that person that the interaction with the state agency is being communicated through artificial intelligence, as specified. This bill would require the state agency to provide instructions, as specified, to inform the natural person how they can directly communicate with a natural person from the state agency. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations.

Existing law, the California Endangered Species Act, prohibits the taking of an endangered or threatened species, except in certain situations. Under the act, the Department of Fish and Wildlife may authorize the take of listed species pursuant to an incidental take permit if the take is incidental to an otherwise lawful activity, the impacts are minimized and fully mitigated, and the issuance of the permit would not jeopardize the continued existence of the species. The act requires the department to adopt regulations for issuance of incidental take permits. Existing law prohibits the department from issuing an incidental take permit if issuance of the permit would jeopardize the continued existence of the species. Existing law requires the department to make this determination based on the best scientific and other information that is reasonably available, and to include consideration of the species' capability to survive and reproduce, and any adverse impacts of the taking on those abilities in light of (1) known population trends; (2) known threats to the species; and (3) reasonably foreseeable impacts on the species from other related projects and activities. This bill would require the department to make that decision based on a real-time monitoring system, rather than a calendar-based schedule, and to additionally consider the proximity of the species relative to the operation of a facility subject to the permit conditions and the known location of the population relative to the facility subject to the permit. The bill would also set forth legislative declarations and findings.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health to implement various programs throughout the state relating to public health. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health and the Office of Emergency Services, in coordination with other state agencies as appropriate, to, upon appropriation and as necessary, establish an infant formula stockpile. The bill would require the department to establish guidelines for the procurement, management, and distribution of infant formula, taking into account, among other things, the amount of each type of infant formula that would be required to meet shortages, as specified. The bill would also establish the Infant Formula Advisory Committee to, among other things, make recommendations for the development of guidelines for the procurement, management, and distribution of infant formula, as specified, and advise the development and implementation of the program. The bill would require the committee to provide an annual report to the Legislature with feedback regarding the implementation of the program and updates regarding policy changes and public comments.

Existing law describes the California Interscholastic Federation as a voluntary organization that consists of school and school-related personnel with responsibility for administering interscholastic athletic activities in secondary schools, and sets forth the Legislature's intent regarding the California Interscholastic Federation's implementation of certain policies. This bill would require the California Interscholastic Federation to hold all state football championship games at a neutral location, as defined, that is comparable to the location of all other championship games, except as provided.