Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson

This measure would designate the month of April 2016 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and would recognize April 27, 2016, as Denim Day California.

This measure would designate the month of April 2016 as Autism Awareness Month and would encourage residents to show support for autism awareness by lighting their homes, businesses, schools, and places of worship with blue light bulbs.

This measure would recognize and honor the men and women of California agriculture for their dedication and productivity by observing March 15, 2016, as National Agriculture Day, and designating March 16, 2016, as California Agriculture Day.

The Moore-Brown-Roberti Family Rights Act makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid protected leave during any 12-month period (1) to bond with a child who was born to, adopted by, or placed for foster care with, the employee, (2) to care for the employee's parent, spouse, or child who has a serious health condition, as defined, or (3) because the employee is suffering from a serious health condition rendering him or her unable to perform the functions of the job. The act provides that if the same employer employs both parents entitled to leave under the act, the employer is not required to grant leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care of a child that would allow the parents family care and medical leave totaling more than the amount specified in the act. The act defines "child" to mean a biological, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in loco parentis who is either under 18 years of age or an adult dependent child. The act defines "family care and medical leave" to mean, among other things, leave for reason of the serious health condition of a child, and leave to care for a parent or a spouse who has a serious health condition. The act defines "parent" to mean a biological, foster, or adoptive parent, a stepparent, a legal guardian, or other person who stood in loco parentis to the employee when the employee was a child. This bill would make various changes to the definitions described above, thereby expanding the persons and purposes for which leave is required to be provided under the act. The bill would redefine the term "child" to include a biological, adopted, or foster son or daughter, a stepchild, a legal ward, a son or daughter of a domestic partner, or a person to whom the employee stands in loco parentis, and would remove the restriction on age or dependent status. The bill would expand the definition of leave with regard to caring for persons with a serious health condition to also include leave to care for a grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or domestic partner who has a serious health condition. The bill would include a parent-in-law in the definition of "parent."

Existing law generally prohibits a person who has been convicted of certain specified misdemeanors from possessing a firearm within 10 years of the conviction. Under existing law, a violation of this prohibition is a crime, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years, by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by both that imprisonment and fine. This bill would add to the list of misdemeanors, the conviction for which is subject to the above prohibition on possessing a firearm within 10 years of the conviction, the petty theft of a firearm, and convictions on or after January 1, 2016, for the misdemeanor offenses of carrying ammunition onto school grounds and receiving stolen property consisting of a firearm. The bill would make other technical, nonsubstantive changes. Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, and because this bill would expand the application of the crime to a larger class of potential offenders, this 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.

Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of family day care homes by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer child care and development programs that offer a full range of services for eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, including, among others, resource and referral programs, alternative payment programs, and family child care home education networks. This bill would require the State Department of Education to ensure that all family child care providers, as defined, attend an in-person orientation training, as provided. The bill would require the orientation training to include at least 4 hours of instruction and include specified information, including minimum health and safety standards, as provided. The bill would authorize the Superintendent to adopt rules and regulations regarding the orientation training. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Education, with the assistance of specified state departments and agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors, to make specified information regarding family child care providers available to provider organizations, and would require the provider organization requesting the information to bear the costs of collecting the information, as provided. The bill would provide that the above provisions are contingent upon an appropriation of funds for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute.

(1) Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to engage in disorderly conduct that delays or prevents a fire from being timely extinguished or to resist or interfere with the lawful efforts of a firefighter in the discharge of an official duty. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to impede police officers, firefighters, emergency personnel, or military personnel in the performance of their duties in coping with an emergency. This bill would make it unlawful to knowingly, intentionally, or recklessly operate an unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft system, as defined, in a manner that prevents or delays the extinguishment of a fire, or in any way interferes with the efforts of firefighters to control, contain, or extinguish a fire. The bill would make a violation of this prohibition punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed 6 months, by a fine not to exceed $5,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law provides certain individuals with immunity from civil liability under specific circumstances, including, among others, limiting the civil liability of a person who in good faith, and not for compensation, renders emergency medical or nonmedical care at the scene of an emergency, as specified. This bill would further limit the exposure to civil liability of an emergency responder, defined as an unpaid volunteer or private entity acting within the scope of authority implicitly or expressly provided by a public entity or a public employee to provide emergency services, for damages to an unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft system, if the damage was caused while the emergency responder was performing specific emergency services and the unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft system was interfering with the provision of those emergency services. (3) The Government Claims Act sets forth the general procedure for the presentation of a claim as a prerequisite to the commencement of an action for money or damages against a "public entity" or a "public employee," and defines those terms for its purposes. The act prohibits liability against a public entity or public employee for, among other things, certain acts relating to the provision of fire protection and police and correctional activities, as specified. This bill would further limit the exposure to civil liability of a public entity or public employee for damage to an unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft system, if the damage was caused while the public entity or public employee was performing specific emergency services and the unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft system was interfering with the provision of those emergency services. (4) 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. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing federal law, the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, provides for the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems, commonly known as drones, into the national airspace system by September 30, 2015. Existing federal law requires the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to develop and implement operational and certification requirements for the operation of public unmanned aircraft systems in the national airspace system by December 31, 2015. Existing law deems the detriment caused by wrongful occupation of real property to be the value of the use of the property for the time of the wrongful occupation, the reasonable cost of repair or restoration of the property, and the costs of recovering the possession. This bill would extend liability for wrongful occupation of real property and damages to a person who operates an unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft system, as defined, less than 350 feet above ground level within the airspace overlaying the real property, without the express permission of the person or entity with the legal authority to grant access or without legal authority.

Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to establish and oversee an environmental farming program that provides incentives to farmers whose practices promote the well-being of ecosystems, air quality, and wildlife and their habitat. This bill would, by January 1, 2018, require the Department of Pesticide Regulation, in consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture, to establish a voluntary incentive program for farmers who use environmental farming practices, as defined, within an agricultural innovation zone, as defined. The bill would require priority be given to projects in agricultural innovation zones located in disadvantaged communities, as defined. The bill would require the Department of Pesticide Regulation, by January 1, 2021, and by January 1 every 3 years thereafter, to issue a report to the Legislature that details the impacts of the voluntary agricultural innovation zones incentive program and includes successes and challenges regarding the process for distributing incentives and the projects that use the incentives. The bill would require the departments to conduct these activities with existing resources, to the extent they are available.