Existing law specifies the time period within which various proceedings may be commenced under provisions of law relating to workers' compensation. With certain exceptions, a proceeding to collect death benefits is required to be commenced within one year from several circumstances, including, but not limited to, from the date of death if it occurs within one year from the date of injury. Existing law prohibits proceedings from being commenced more than one year after the date of death, and generally not more than 240 weeks from the date of injury. Existing law, for specified deceased members, including peace officers and active firefighting members, extends until January 1, 2019, the time period to commence proceedings to collect death benefits, if the proceedings are brought by, or on behalf of, a person who was a dependent on the date of death, from 240 weeks from the date of injury to no later than 420 weeks from the date of injury, not to exceed one year after the date of death for certain injuries, as specified. This bill would delete the January 1, 2019, date of repeal operation of the above-referenced extension.
Sponsored bills
Existing law provides for apprenticeship programs within the Division of Apprenticeship Standards (division) within the Department of Industrial Relations, sponsored by specific entities and employers, and requires the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards to perform various functions with respect to apprenticeship programs and the welfare of apprentices. Existing law also establishes the California Apprenticeship Council within the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, and requires the council to aid the director in formulating policies with respect to apprentice regulation. Existing law prohibits discrimination and harassment in employment and apprenticeship training programs based on certain factors, including race, religious creed, gender, or sex. This bill would expressly prohibit discrimination in any building and construction trades apprenticeship program on the basis of certain enumerated categories, including, race, sex, religious creed, or national origin, with regard to acceptance into, or participation in, the program, as specified. The bill, among other things, would require an apprenticeship program to designate one or more individuals to oversee the commitment to equal opportunity in the program and to maintain records regarding compliance with certain requirements, as specified. The bill would require the apprenticeship program to develop and implement procedures to ensure that its apprentices are not harassed or discriminated against. The bill would also require each apprenticeship program to include a specified equal opportunity pledge in its apprenticeship standards and other publications and would require a program to reach compliance with these provisions within a specified timeframe. The bill would authorize the council to issue rules and regulations as necessary to implement these provisions.
Existing law provides that every person who willfully obtains personal identifying information, as defined, of another person without the authorization of that person, and uses that information for any unlawful purpose in the name of the other person without the consent of that person is guilty of a public offense. Existing law further provides that a person who learns or reasonably suspects that his or her personal identifying information has been used by another to commit a crime may initiate a law enforcement investigation by contacting the local law enforcement agency. Under existing law, the law enforcement agency must take a police report of the matter and provide the complainant with a copy of that report. This bill would authorize a person who has learned or reasonably suspects that his or her personal identifying information has been used unlawfully in a business entity filing, as defined, and has obtained the police report described above, to petition a court for a determination of unlawful use of his or her personal identifying information in the filing. Upon making that determination, the bill would require the court to order that the name and personal identifying information in the business entity filing be redacted or labeled to show the data is impersonated and to order the removal of, or label, the personal identifying information from publicly accessible electronic indexes and databases. The bill would require the Judicial Council to develop a form for issuing that order and would require that the order be filed with the Secretary of State.
The California Emergency Services Act establishes the Office of Emergency Services in the office of the Governor and provides that the office is responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies, including responsibility for activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property. Existing law defines "emergency plan" for purposes of emergency services provided by local governments and requires each county, including a city and county, upon the next update to its emergency plan, to integrate access and functional needs into its emergency plan by addressing, at a minimum, how the access and functional needs population, as defined, is served by emergency communications, evacuation, and sheltering. This bill would authorize each county, including a city and county, to enter into an agreement to access the contact information of resident accountholders through the records of a public utility or other agency responsible for water service, waste and recycling services, or other property-related services for the sole purpose of enrolling county residents in a county-operated public emergency warning system. The bill would require any county that enters into such an agreement to include procedures to enable any resident to opt out of the warning system and a process to terminate the receiving agency's access to the resident's contact information. The bill would prohibit the use of the information gathered for any purpose other than for emergency notification.
Existing law defines the measure of indemnity for a loss under an open fire insurance policy and specifies time limits under which an insured must collect the full replacement cost of the loss. In the event of a loss relating to a state of emergency, as defined, existing law establishes a minimum time limit of not less than 24 months from the date that the first payment toward the actual cash value is made during which the insured may collect the full replacement cost of the loss, subject to the policy limit, as specified. This bill would extend the minimum time limit during which an insured may collect the full replacement cost of a loss relating to a state of emergency to 36 months. The bill would require that additional extensions of 6 months be provided to policyholders for good cause under that circumstance. The bill would also require that policy forms issued by an insurer be in compliance with these changes on and after July 1, 2019. The bill would also make technical changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 2051.5 of the Insurance Code proposed by AB 1800 and SB 894 to be operative only if this bill, AB 1800, and SB 894 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The California Emergency Services Act establishes the Office of Emergency Services within the Governor's office under the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services and makes the office responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies. Existing law requires the Governor to coordinate a State Emergency Plan, which is in effect in each political subdivision of the state, and requires the governing body of each political subdivision, as defined, to take actions necessary to carry out the provisions of that plan. This bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to create a library of translated emergency notifications and a translation style guide, as specified, and would require designated alerting authorities, as defined, to consider using the library and translation style guide that may be used by designated alerting authorities when issuing emergency notifications to the public. The bill would authorize the office to require a city, county, or city and county to translate emergency notifications as a condition of approving its application to receive any voluntary grant funds with a nexus to emergency management performance.
Existing law regulates insurance and the business of insurance in the state. Under existing law, an insurer is liable for a loss of which a peril insured against was the proximate cause, although a peril not contemplated by the contract may have been a remote cause of the loss. Under existing law, an insurer is not liable for a loss of which the peril insured was only the remote cause. This bill would require coverage to be provided if a loss or damage results from a combination of perils, one of which is a landslide, mudslide, mudflow, or debris flow, if an insured peril is the efficient proximate cause of the loss or damage and coverage would otherwise be provided for the insured peril. The bill would require coverage to be provided under the same terms and conditions as would be provided for the insured peril. The bill would state that it does not constitute a change in, but is declaratory of, existing law, and that it does not alter or abrogate any coverage or defenses, either in contract or law, that existed prior to January 1, 2019.
(1) Existing law requires a local agency to designate, by ordinance, very high fire hazard severity zones in its jurisdiction within 120 days of receiving recommendations from the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection and exempts a local agency, as defined, from that requirement if ordinances of the local agency, adopted on or before December 31, 1992, impose standards that are equivalent to, or more restrictive than, specified state standards. Existing law authorizes a local agency, at its discretion, to exclude from specified requirements governing fire risk reduction an area identified as a very high fire hazard severity zone by the director within the jurisdiction of the local agency, following a specified finding supported by substantial evidence that those requirements are not necessary for effective fire protection within the area. This bill would eliminate the above-described exemption and exclusion and would require the local agency to transmit a copy of the adopted ordinance to the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection within 30 days of adoption. By imposing a new duty on a local agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires each planning agency to prepare, and the legislative body of each county and city to adopt, a comprehensive, long-term general plan, including a safety element, for the physical development of the county or city, as provided. Existing law requires the draft element of, or draft amendment to, the safety element of a county or city's general plan to be submitted to the state board and to every local agency that provides fire protection to territory in the city or county, as provided. Existing law requires the state board to review and recommend changes to the safety element, as provided. Existing law requires the board of supervisors or the city council to consider the recommendations made by the state board. This bill would authorize the state board to request a consultation with the board of supervisors or city council if the local agency decides not to adopt the board's recommendations, as provided. Because the bill would require local officials to consult with the board, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires, before a legislative body takes action to adopt or substantially amend a general plan, the planning agency to refer the proposed action to specified entities. This bill would also require the planning agency to refer the proposed action to the state board and every local agency that provides fire protection to territory in the city or county, as provided. By requiring a higher level of service from a local agency with respect to the referral of the proposed action, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The Subdivision Map Act vests the authority to regulate and control the design and improvement of subdivisions in the legislative body of a local agency, and sets forth procedures governing the local agency's processing, approval, conditional approval, or disapproval, and filing of tentative, final, and parcel maps, and the modification thereof. The act generally requires a subdivider to file a tentative map or vesting tentative map with the local agency, as specified, and the local agency, in turn, to approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove the map within a specified time period. Before approving a tentative map, or a parcel map for which a tentative map was not required, for an area located in a state responsibility area or a very high fire hazard severity zone, existing law requires the local agency to make specified findings, including that the design and location of each lot in the subdivision and the subdivision as a whole are consistent with any regulations adopted by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection relating to buildings or structures in hazardous fire areas or mountainous, forest, brush, and grass-covered lands, as specified. This bill would instead require a finding that the subdivision is consistent with any regulations adopted by the board relating to buildings or structures in the areas described above, or consistent with local ordinances, as provided. The bill would require the local agency, upon approval of the tentative map in specified situations, to transmit a copy of the findings and maps to the board, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. The act also requires the local agency to make a finding that, to the extent practicable, ingress and egress for the subdivision meet regulations regarding road standards for fire equipment access, as provided. This bill would delete this provision. (4) Existing law authorizes the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to enter into an agreement, including a grant agreement, for prescribed burning operations or other hazardous fuel reduction efforts, with either the owner or any other person who has legal control of any property, any public agency with regulatory or natural resource management authority over any property that is included within any wildland, or any nonprofit organization for specified purposes. Existing law provides that an agreement shall not be entered into unless the director makes a specified determination. Existing law authorizes private burning of lands under specified circumstances, as described in (6) . Existing law provides that a person who allows a fire upon his or her property to escape to the public or private property of another, without exercising due diligence to control the fire, is liable to the owner of the property for the damages to the property caused by the fire. This bill would instead provide that the director may enter into an agreement, including a grant agreement, for prescribed burning or other hazardous fuel reduction efforts with any person, as described, to conduct prescribed burning operations, as provided. The bill would delete the requirement that the director make a specified determination before entering into the agreement. This bill would provide that compliance with the provisions of law relating to prescribed burning-operation agreements with the director or with a permit authorizing the private burning of lands under specified circumstances shall constitute prima facie evidence of due diligence with respect to the above provision relating to fire liability. The bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to cooperate with private and public landowners in prescribed fire activities, as provided. The bill would require, to the extent feasible, the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection's Vegetation Treatment Program Programmatic Environmental Impact Report, when certified, to serve as the programmatic environmental document for prescribed burns, as provided. Existing law requires any contract entered into pursuant to the above provisions to clearly state the obligations of each party, specify the value assigned, as provided, and specify the total costs of the prescribed burning operation or other hazardous fuel reduction, as provided. Existing law provides that in certain situations, the amount of moneys due to the state shall become a lien upon the property and that any money recovered shall be credited to the department's current support appropriation as a reimbursement. This bill would delete these provisions. Existing law requires a prescribed burning or other hazardous fuel reduction agreement to designate an officer of the department as the fire boss, as provided. This bill would also authorize the department to designate a burn boss. Existing law authorizes the director, in certain circumstances, and with the approval of the Director of Finance, to enter into an agreement with private consultants or contractors or with other public agencies for furnishing all or a part of the state's share of the responsibility for a burning operation, as provided. Existing law prohibits an agreement from being entered into unless the director determines that it will enable the prescribed burning operation to be conducted at a cost equal to, or less than, the cost that would otherwise be incurred by the state. This bill would delete the above prohibition as well as the requirement that the Department of Finance approve the agreement. Existing law authorizes the department to purchase 3rd-party liability policy of insurance, as provided. Existing law provides that if the department elects not to purchase insurance, the department shall agree to indemnify and hold harmless the person or public agency contracting with the department with respect to liability arising out of performance of the contract. This bill would also give the department the option, if it elects not to purchase insurance, to provide a maximum of liability for the department or provide for the proportionate share of liability between the department and the person contracting with the department, as provided. The bill would require the agreements described above to provide that the department shall be fully responsible for prescribed burns initiated at the department's request, with the consent of the landowner, for training or other purposes on lands owned by a nonprofit organization or other public agencies. Existing law provides that any costs incurred by the department in suppressing any wildland fire originating or spreading from a prescribed burning operation conducted by the department pursuant to a contract shall not be governed by a specified provision of law that prohibits the department from collecting costs from a party to the contract, as specified. This bill would provide that this provision does not apply when the department is applying for federal assistance. (5) Existing law generally designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution, and air pollution control and air quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. Existing law authorizes the air pollution control officer of any district in a county with a population of 6,000,000 or less, upon authorization of the district board, to authorize, by permit, open outdoor fires for disposing of specified wastes in a mechanized burner under certain conditions. This bill would allow these fires to be authorized, as provided above, in any county, regardless of population. The bill would make other technical, nonsubstantive changes. (6) Existing law authorizes a person, firm, corporation, or a group or combination thereof, that owns or controls brush-covered land, forest land, woodland, grassland, shrubland, or any combination thereof, within a state responsibility area to apply to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for permission to utilize prescribed burning operations for specified public purposes. Existing law authorizes various public agencies to use fire to abate fire hazards. Existing law provides that the issuance of a permit by the department does not relieve the permit holder from the duty of exercising due diligence to avoid damage to property of others in conducting the burning, as provided. This bill would provide that a person, firm, corporation, or a group or combination thereof, that owns or controls brush-covered land, forest land, woodland, grassland, shrubland, or any combination thereof, within a state responsibility area authorized by the department to utilize prescribed burning operations for specified public purposes is also authorized to use fire to abate a fire hazard, as provided. This bill would authorize a person, until January 1, 2039, with a valid fire boss certificate, as provided, to apply for the prescribed burning permit on behalf of the person or entities described above, and would authorize the department, in specified situations, to appoint a burn boss. The bill would provide that compliance with a permit issued pursuant these provisions would constitute prima facie evidence of due diligence. The bill would require the department and the State Air Resources Board, in coordination with local air pollution control and air quality management districts, to develop and fund a program, upon appropriation, to enhance air quality and smoke monitoring, and to provide a public awareness campaign regarding prescribed burns, among other things. (7) Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to establish a program of fire prevention training for fire prevention inspectors employed by local fire protection agencies. This bill would require the State Fire Marshal, on or before January 1, 2021, with the involvement of the Statewide Training and Education Advisory Committee, to develop a curriculum, or amend an existing curriculum, for a certification program for fire bosses, as provided. The bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop a training program for prescribed fire users to certify professionals in any agency or organization as fire bosses. The bill would require the department to certify these individuals to a common standard. (8) Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to do certain things, including, but not limited to, providing fire prevention and firefighting implements and apparatus. This bill would require the department, by working with specified entities, to enhance the department's education efforts regarding fire prevention and public safety. (9) Existing law authorizes the state to assume a proportionate share of the costs of site preparation, prescribed burning operations, or other hazardous fuel reduction efforts conducted on wildlands other than wildlands under the jurisdiction of the federal government. Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish regulations establishing standards to be used by the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection in determining the state's share of the cost. Existing law authorizes the director to accept grants and donations of equipment, materials, or funds from any source for the purpose of supporting or facilitating prescribed burning or other hazardous fuels reduction work, as provided. Existing law authorizes the director to enter into a master agreement with federal land management agencies to conduct joint prescribed burning operations on wildlands and federal lands, as provided. This bill would delete these provisions. (10) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law, the California Wounded Warriors Transitional Leave Act, grants a state officer or employee who is a veteran hired on or after January 1, 2016, with a service-connected disability rated at 30% or more by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, an additional credit for sick leave with pay of up to 96 hours for the purpose of undergoing medical treatment for his or her military service-related disability. Existing law requires that the sick leave be credited to a qualifying officer or employee on the first day of employment and remain available for use for the following 12 months of employment. This bill would extend that benefit to a state officer or employee employed on or after January 1, 2016, who is a veteran with a service-connected disability rated at 30% or more by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The bill would require credit for leave of absence under this provision to be credited to a state officer or employee on the effective date of the officer's or employee's disability rating decision from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, or on the first day the officer or employee begins, or returns to, employment after active duty, whichever is later, except under specified circumstances when provisions authorizing alternative leave arrangements would be applicable. The bill would state that sick leave credited under these provisions is ineligible for conversion to service credit, as specified.
Existing law provides for a system of public schools and requires the adopted course of study for grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to include instruction in specified areas of study. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2021, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in consultation with the State Board of Education, to identify best practices and recommendations for instruction in digital citizenship, Internet safety, and media literacy and to report to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature on strategies to implement the best practices and recommendations statewide. The bill would require the Superintendent to convene and consult with an advisory committee consisting of specified representatives in developing the best practices and recommendations. The bill would require the members of the advisory committee to serve without compensation, including compensation for travel and per diem expenses.