Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical and gas corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law, until January 1, 2021, required the commission, no later than July 1, 2017, to open a proceeding to determine the feasibility of minimizing or eliminating use of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility located in the County of Los Angeles while still maintaining energy and electric reliability for the region. This bill would require the commission, as part of that proceeding, to continue to consider minimizing or closing the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility while maintaining reliability and affordability for customers, and to annually submit a report on its findings and any efforts to reduce customer energy demand in the Los Angeles Basin through investments in clean hydrogen projects to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the commission to undertake an analysis of potential alternatives to the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility that includes using multiple planning horizons and determining if each potential alternative would satisfy specified objectives, as provided. Existing law requires a local publicly owned electric utility providing electric service to 250,000 or more customers within the Los Angeles Basin to maximize the use of demand response, renewable energy resources, and energy efficiency to reduce demand in the area where electrical reliability has been impacted as a result of reductions in gas storage capacity and gas deliverability resulting from the well failure at the Aliso Canyon facility. Existing law requires each local publicly owned electric utility serving end-use customers to prudently plan for and procure resources that are adequate to meet its planning reserve margin and peak demand and operating reserves, sufficient to provide reliable electric service to its customers. This bill would require the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a local publicly owned electric utility, to establish a local reliability plan, taking into consideration 2- to 3-day extreme weather events, to provide modeling, scenarios, and analysis to evaluate the local reliability needs to maintain electrical service to the customers it serves. The bill would authorize the department, working with the Independent System Operator, to use resource sharing, building electrification programs, and firm zero-carbon energy resources in the Los Angeles Basin to achieve local reliability. To the extent this bill would mandate that the department provide a new program or higher level of service, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain of the above provisions would be a part of the act and because a violation of a commission action implementing its requirements 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 specified reasons.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, referred to as the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 (MICRA) , prohibits an attorney from contracting for or collecting a contingency fee for representing any person seeking damages in connection with an action for injury or damage against a health care provider based upon alleged professional negligence in excess of specified limits. This bill would recast those provisions and base the amount of contingency fee that may be contracted for upon whether recovery is pursuant to settlement agreement and release of all claims executed before a civil complaint or demand for arbitration is filed, or pursuant to settlement, arbitration, or judgment after a civil complaint or demand for arbitration is filed, as specified. The bill would add and revise definitions for these purposes. Existing law provides that in any action against a health care provider based upon professional negligence, the injured plaintiff is entitled to recover noneconomic losses to compensate for pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, and other nonpecuniary damage. Existing law limits the amount of damages for noneconomic losses in an action for injury against a health care provider based on professional negligence to $250,000. This bill would remove the $250,000 limit on noneconomic damages and expand the recast provisions to include an action for injury against a health care institution, as defined. The bill would increase the applicable limitation based upon whether the action for injury involved wrongful death. The bill would specify that these limitations would increase by $40,000 each January 1st for 10 years and beginning on January 1, 2034, the applicable limitations on noneconomic damages for personal injury and for wrongful death would be adjusted for inflation on January 1st of each year by 2%. Existing law specifies that in any action for injury or damages against a provider of health care services, a superior court shall, at the request of either party, enter a judgment ordering that money damages or its equivalent for future damages of the judgment creditor be paid in whole or in part by periodic payments rather than by a lump-sum payment if the award equals or exceeds $50,000. This bill would increase the minimum amount of the judgment required to request periodic payments to $250,000. Existing law makes statements, writings, or benevolent gestures expressing sympathy or a general sense of benevolence relating to the pain, suffering, or death of a person involved in an accident and made to that person, or to the family of that person, inadmissible as evidence of an admission of liability in a civil action. This bill would specify that statements, writings, or benevolent gestures expressing sympathy, regret, a general sense of benevolence, or suggesting, reflecting, or accepting fault relating to the pain, suffering, or death of a person, or to an adverse patient safety event or unexpected health care outcome, as specified, shall be confidential, privileged, protected, not subject to subpoena, discovery, or disclosure, and shall not be used or admitted into evidence in any civil, administrative, regulatory, licensing, or disciplinary board, agency, or body action or proceeding, and shall not be used or admitted in relation to any sanction, penalty, or other liability, as evidence of an admission of liability or for any other purpose.
Existing law establishes the Department of Technology within the Government Operations Agency and charges it with specified duties, including approval and oversight of information technology projects by state agencies. On or before January 1, 2024, this bill would require the Department of Technology to create a California Trust Framework to provide industry standards and best practices regarding the issuance of credentials to verify information about a person or a legal entity. The bill would require the California Trust Framework to be designed, to the greatest extent possible, to be interoperable with other government trust and governance frameworks for verifiable credentials.
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. The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, an independent entity within the department, has the exclusive authority to adopt occupational safety and health standards within the state. Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, requires employers to comply with certain standards ensuring healthy and safe working conditions, as specified, and charges the division with enforcement of the act. Other existing law relating to occupational safety imposes special provisions on certain industries and charges the division with enforcement of these provisions. This bill would require a motion picture production employer to hire a qualified set safety supervisor for all motion picture productions to perform a risk assessment, as specified, to be completed prior to the first day of production on a feature, an episode of a series, or a program, and to be on set daily to ensure cast and crew are not engaged in or exposed to an environment or activity that puts workers' health and safety at risk. The bill would allow the use of a firearm and blank ammunition containing gunpowder or other explosive charge on motion picture productions only for specified purposes and under specified safety conditions. The bill would require a qualified armorer, property master, or designee handling a firearm in the course of the motion picture production to have a specified state permit, to have completed certain training in firearms, and to have a specified federal document for the possession and custody of the firearm. The bill would require an employer to document and report to certain entities any incident involving a firearm or blank ammunition that occurs during a film or television production, as prescribed. This bill would prohibit ammunition on film, television, and commercial sets, except in prescribed circumstances, subject to certain safety rules and laws. The bill would require an employer to ensure that any employee responsible for handling, or in proximity to, firearms on set completes a specific firearm training or equivalent training, as prescribed. The bill would require an employer to comply with the bill and all safety standards adopted by the standards board. The bill would establish exemptions from its provisions for specified registered security guards and peace officers when they are on the perimeter of a set where motion picture production is happening. This bill would require the division to enforce its provisions and, before July 1, 2023, to propose to the standards board, for its review and adoption on or before January 1, 2024, a standard that protects the health and safety of motion picture production employees with regard to the storage, handling, and use of firearms and blanks on set and for use of ammunition. The bill would require the division, in the development of the proposed safety standard, to consider and incorporate, to the extent feasible and consistent with the bill, the provisions of specified joint industry-labor safety bulletins. The bill would also require the division to consider certain other safety standards as it determines to be relevant. The bill would establish civil penalties for specified violations. The bill would define terms for its purposes.
Existing law requires the Governor to establish the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, formerly known as the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, and to appoint specified members of that coordinating council. Existing law requires agencies and departments administering state programs created on or after July 1, 2017, to collaborate with the council to adopt guidelines and regulations to incorporate core components of Housing First, as defined. Existing law establishes the goals of the council, which include identifying mainstream resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California. Existing law requires that the coordinating council be under the direction of an executive director, who is under the direction of the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, and staffed by employees of that agency. This bill would place the California Interagency Council on Homelessness under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Interagency Council on Homelessness, which the bill would establish within the Governor's office, under the control of a director, on or before September 30, 2023. The bill would require the Governor to appoint a director of the office to perform specified duties and responsibilities in connection with overseeing the work of the office. The bill would specify the primary purposes of the office, which would include coordinating homelessness programs, services, data, and policies. The bill would require state agencies and departments with representatives on the council, or workgroups established by the council, to report to and coordinate with the director of the office and would require the director to coordinate with the chairs of the council. The bill would require the office to serve the Governor as the lead entity for ending homelessness in California. The bill would require the office to fulfill various duties including convening a funding workgroup, comprised of council staff and staff working for agencies or departments represented on the council to accomplish specified goals, including, among others, aligning requests for proposals, all-county letters, and notices of funding proposals with standards following evidence-based housing and housing-based service models. The bill would require the documents and meetings of the funding workgroup to be confidential, as provided. The bill would also require the workgroup to coordinate with relevant state agencies and departments to reduce the risk of long-term homelessness by developing specific protocols and procedures to accomplish various goals, including connecting older adults to programs and services that assist independent living. The bill would also require the council, as part of its goals, to develop and implement a statewide strategic plan on homelessness that establishes measurable objective and strategies to enhance state-level accountability, coordination, and best practices. The bill would provide for the transfer of employees who are engaged in the performance of functions for the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, as well as the transfer of debts and liabilities of the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency with respect to overseeing and supporting the council to the Office of the Interagency Council on Homelessness. The bill would require the Deputy Secretary on Homelessness within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to be the director of the office, subject to appointment by the Governor and Senate confirmation. The bill would require all unexpended balances of appropriations and other funds available for use in connection with the council to be transferred to the office, as specified, upon appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose. The bill would make other related, conforming changes to these provisions. 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.
Under existing law, the Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement Act, an enforcing agency, as defined, may assess civil penalties against any person, firm, or corporation that sells, gives, or furnishes specified tobacco and cigarette related items, including cigarette papers, to a person who is under 21 years of age, except as specified. The existing civil penalties range from $400 to $600 for a first violation, up to $5,000 to $6,000 for a 5th violation within a 5-year period. Existing law prohibits the sale, distribution, or nonsale distribution of tobacco products directly or indirectly to any person under 21 years of age through the United States Postal Service or other public or private postal or package delivery service. Under existing law, a district attorney, city attorney, or the Attorney General may assess civil penalties against a violator of not less than $1,000 or more than $2,000 for the first violation and up to $10,000 for a 5th or subsequent violation within a 5-year period. Under existing law, every person, firm, or corporation that knowingly or under circumstances in which it has knowledge, or should otherwise have grounds for knowledge, sells, gives, or furnishes a cigarette, among other specified items, to another person who is under 21 years of age is, except as specified, subject to either a criminal action for a misdemeanor or to a civil action brought by a city attorney, a county counsel, or a district attorney, punishable by a fine of $200 for the first offense, $500 for the 2nd offense, and $1,000 for the 3rd offense. This bill would prohibit a person or entity from selling, giving, or furnishing to another person of any age in this state a single-use electronic cigarette, as defined, except as specified. The bill would prohibit that selling, giving, or furnishing, whether conducted directly or indirectly through an in-person transaction, or by means of any public or private method of shipment or delivery to an address in this state. This bill would authorize a city attorney, county counsel, or district attorney to assess a $500 civil fine against each person determined to have violated those prohibitions in a proceeding conducted pursuant to the procedures of the enforcing agency, as specified. This bill would make its provisions operative on January 1, 2024.
This measure would proclaim March 7, 2022, to March 11, 2022, inclusive, as School Breakfast Week and would recognize the importance of school nutrition programs and school nutrition staff in addressing the needs of the state's pupils.
Existing law establishes requirements that apply when a public entity is required by statute or regulation to obtain an enforceable commitment that a bidder, contractor, or other entity will use a skilled and trained workforce to complete a contract or project. Existing law also authorizes a public entity to require that a bidder, contractor, or other entity use a skilled and trained workforce to complete a contract or project, regardless of whether the public entity is required to do so by a statute or regulation. This bill would require a public entity, if contractors and subcontractors are required to use a skilled and trained workforce on a project, to use, or require the use of, a prescribed prequalification procedure to determine eligibility for bidding and contract awards. The bill would require contractors and subcontractors to certify to the public entity that they meet the prequalification requirements. By expanding the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would authorize an interested party, including a labor organization that represents workers in the relevant labor market area, to file a petition for a writ of mandate to compel a public agency to comply with its obligations under existing law and the bill if the public entity has failed to do so, if certain requirements for notice and an opportunity to respond or cure have been met. 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.