Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson

Existing law authorizes the State Lands Commission to let leases for the extraction and removal of oil and gas deposits from state lands, including tidelands or submerged lands, in accordance with specified provisions of law. Existing law vests exclusive jurisdiction over ungranted tidelands and submerged lands owned by the state to the State Lands Commission. Existing law confers the powers of the State Lands Commission as to leasing or granting of rights or privileges to lands owned by the state upon a local trustee of granted public trust lands to which those lands have been granted. This bill, notwithstanding the leasing authority described above or any other law, and to the extent not prohibited by federal law, would prohibit any state agency, department, or commission, or any local trustee, as defined, with leasing authority over public lands within the state from entering into any new lease or other conveyance authorizing new construction of oil- and gas-related infrastructure upon public lands, including tidelands and submerged lands, to support production of oil and natural gas upon federal lands that are designated as, or were at any time designated as, federally protected lands, as defined. The bill would provide that these provisions do not prevent specified activities, including, among others, any activity undertaken to convey oil or natural gas produced from state lands or waters.

Under existing law, the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources in the Department of Conservation regulates the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state. Existing law requires the department to report on October 1, 2020, to the Legislature on the number of hazardous wells, idle-deserted wells, deserted facilities, and hazardous facilities remaining, the estimated costs of abandoning or decommissioning those wells and facilities, and a timeline for future abandonment and decommissioning of those wells and facilities with a specific schedule of goals. This bill would extend that reporting date from October 1, 2020, to April 1, 2021. The bill would require the division, in collecting the information for the report, to conduct field inspections of hazardous wells, idle-deserted wells, deserted facilities, and hazardous facilities and to include information in the report from the field inspections that can be used to prioritize those wells and facilities in the specific schedule of goals. Existing law requires the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, on or before July 1, 2019, and annually thereafter until July 1, 2026, to prepare and transmit to the Legislature a comprehensive report containing specified information on the status of idle and long-term idle wells for the preceding calendar year. This bill would require the division, for the report due on or before July 1, 2021, and each report thereafter, to conduct inspections of production facilities attendant to long-term idle wells to ensure compliance with the applicable statutory requirements. The bill would require information summarizing violations and pertinent findings in these inspections to be included in the applicable reports. Under existing law, a person who fails to comply with requirements relating to the regulation of oil or gas operations is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would require the division, commencing July 1, 2022, to begin requiring each operator of an oil or gas well to submit a report to the supervisor that demonstrates the operator's total liability to plug and abandon all wells and to decommission all attendant production facilities, including site remediation, on a schedule determined by the supervisor. The bill would require the supervisor to set the schedule in a manner that staggers the initial reports by operators to ensure that some reporting commences on July 1, 2022, that at least 12 of required operators will have submitted their initial report by July 1, 2024, that all initial reporting is completed by July 1, 2026, and that followup reporting is required for each operator on a continual basis that is no less frequent than every 5 years after the initial report. The bill would require the division to develop criteria, including certain requirements, to be used by operators for estimating costs to plug and abandon wells and decommission attendant production facilities, including site remediation. If the supervisor determines that the operator has failed to use the requisite criteria or has otherwise provided estimates in the report that are neither credible nor accurate, the bill would authorize the supervisor to request the operator to submit revised estimates for review and approval on a timely schedule to be determined by the supervisor. Because a violation of these reporting requirements by an operator 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 a specified reason.

(1) Existing law establishes the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources within the Department of Conservation. Under existing law, the division regulates the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state. This bill would change the name of the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources within the Department of Conservation to the Geologic Energy Management Division and make conforming changes. This bill would specify that the purposes of provisions relating to oil and gas conservation include protecting public health and safety and environmental quality, including reduction and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the development of hydrocarbon and geothermal resources in a manner that meets the energy needs of the state. The bill would require the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to coordinate with other state agencies and certain entities in furtherance of the goals of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 and to help support the state's clean energy goals. (2) Existing law requires an operator who engages in the drilling, redrilling, deepening, or in any operation permanently altering the casing, of a well, or who acquires a well, to file with the supervisor an individual indemnity bond for each well so drilled, redrilled, deepened, permanently altered, or acquired in specified amounts depending on the depth of the well. Existing law authorizes an operator who engages in the drilling, redrilling, deepening, or in any operation permanently altering the casing, of 20 or more wells at any time to file with the supervisor one blanket indemnity bond to cover all the operations in any of its wells in the state, in a specified amount depending on the total number of wells in the state, in lieu of the above-described requirement for an individual indemnity bond for each operation. Existing law provides that a person who fails to comply with these and other specific laws relating to the regulation of oil or gas operations is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would authorize the division to require an operator filing an individual or blanket indemnity bond, as applicable, to provide an additional amount of security acceptable to the division based on the division's evaluation of the risk that the operator will desert its well or wells and the potential threats the operator's well or wells pose to life, health, property, and natural resources, and would prohibit that amount from exceeding the lesser of the division's estimation of the reasonable costs of properly plugging and abandoning all of the operator's wells and decommissioning any attendant production facilities, or $30,000,000. The bill would require the division, when making an estimation of the reasonable costs of properly plugging and abandoning an operator's well or wells and decommissioning any attendant production facilities, to provide the operator with an opportunity to submit the operator's own estimation and to consider specified factors. The bill would require the division, in evaluating the risk that the operator will desert its well or wells and the potential threats the operator's well or wells pose to life, health, property, and natural resources, to consider specified factors. The bill would require the division to provide the operator with notice of the requirement to provide additional security, as specified, and would require the operator to provide the additional security within 180 days of service of notice. The bill would require the division to increase or decrease the amount of additional security required under these provisions to account for changed circumstances or new information. The bill would authorize the operator to, at any time, petition the division to reevaluate the division's evaluation of the risk or cost estimates, and would require the division to respond to the petition in writing within 60 days of receipt of the petition. The bill would require an operator to provide the additional security using one of specified methods, including, among others, an indemnity bond or an equally effective means of financial assurance approved by the division. The bill would authorize the division to approve self-insurance as an equally effective means of financial assurance only if certain conditions are satisfied, and would require the division to maintain as confidential any financial information received from an operator pursuant to these provisions that is not otherwise publicly available. The bill would authorize any 2 or more operators to elect to enter into a liability sharing agreement and would require the division to treat all operators that participate in the liability sharing agreement as a single operator when requiring additional security under these provisions, as provided. Because a violation of these provisions relating to providing an additional amount of security would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires the operator of a well or production facility to notify the supervisor or the district deputy, in writing, in the form that the supervisor or the district deputy may direct, of the sale, assignment, transfer, conveyance, exchange, or other disposition of the well or production facility by the operator of the well or production facility within a prescribed time period and requires that notice to contain specified information. This bill would require, upon request of the supervisor, a former operator to provide certain additional information about the disposition to the division, as specified. Because a violation of these provisions relating to providing additional information would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires a person who acquires the right to operate a well or production facility, whether by purchase, transfer, assignment, conveyance, exchange, or other disposition, to notify the supervisor or the district deputy, in writing, of the person's operation within a prescribed time period and requires that person to provide specified material. This bill would require, upon request of the supervisor, a new operator to provide certain additional information about the disposition to the division, as specified. The bill would require the new operator, after notice of operations and until another person acquires the well or production facility, to notify the supervisor, in writing and by July 1 every other year, whether any of the rights have changed, and would require the new operator to also notify the supervisor within 30 days of any quitclaim of a well or production facility. Because a violation of these provisions relating to providing additional information and notice would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law provides that a person who violates certain requirements related to the regulation of oil and gas is subject to specified civil penalties. Existing law authorizes the supervisor to allow a supplemental environmental project in lieu of a portion of the civil penalty amount. Existing law, until January 1, 2021, requires the portion of the civil penalty amount that is not allocated for a supplemental environmental project be deposited in the Oil and Gas Environmental Remediation Account and, after January 1, 2021, in the Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Administrative Fund. Existing law, until January 1, 2021, establishes that account in the Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Administrative Fund to be administered and managed by the division, and requires that the moneys in the account be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to plug and abandon oil and gas wells, decommission attendant facilities, or otherwise remediate sites that the supervisor determines could pose a danger to life, health, water quality, wildlife, or natural resources if there is no operator determined by the supervisor to be responsible for remediation or who is able to respond. This bill would indefinitely establish the Oil and Gas Environmental Remediation Account as well as the requirements of how the moneys in the account are to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would indefinitely require the portion of the civil penalty amount that is not allocated for a supplemental environmental project to be deposited in the Oil and Gas Environmental Remediation Account. (5) 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 establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, and the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as 2 of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. This bill would express findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to the availability of abortion by medication techniques at on-campus student health centers at public postsecondary educational institutions in the state. The bill would require, on and after January 1, 2023, each student health care services clinic on a California State University or University of California campus to offer abortion by medication techniques, as specified. The bill would require the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls to administer the College Student Health Center Sexual and Reproductive Health Preparation Fund, which the bill would establish. The bill would continuously appropriate the moneys in that fund to the commission for allocations to each public university student health care services clinic for specified activities in preparation for providing abortion by medication techniques, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would provide that its requirements would be implemented only if, and to the extent that, a total of at least $10,290,000 in private moneys is made available to the fund in a timely manner on or after January 1, 2020. The bill would require the commission to submit a report to the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2021, and on or before December 31 of every year thereafter until December 31, 2026, that includes, but is not necessarily limited to, specified information relating to abortion by medication techniques at these student health clinics.

Existing law establishes the Office of Emergency Services within the office of the Governor and under the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services and makes the Office of Emergency Services responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies. This bill would establish the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program under the administration of the director to improve the physical security of nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of violent attacks or hate crimes due to ideology, beliefs, or mission, as specified. The bill would make the operation of the program contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act for these purposes. The bill would repeal those provisions on January 1, 2025. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law requests the University of California to compile specified information, including a survey of existing resources throughout California's governmental and administrative structure that are available to address the needs of an aging society. Existing law requires the Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, based upon the information compiled by the University of California and with the consultation or advice of specified entities, to develop a statewide strategic plan on aging for long-term planning purposes and submit the plan to the Legislature. By executive order, the Governor ordered that a master plan for aging be developed and issued to serve as a blueprint to implement strategies and partnerships that promote healthy aging and prepare the state for upcoming demographic changes. The executive order requires the Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency to convene a Cabinet-level Workgroup for Aging to advise the secretary in developing and issuing the master plan. This bill would require the secretary, in coordination with the Director of the California Department of Aging, to lead the development and implementation of the master plan established pursuant to that executive order. The bill would require the secretary and the director, with the assistance of the workgroup, to work with specified agencies, as needed, to identify policies, efficiencies, and strategies necessary to implement the master plan. The bill would also require the workgroup to solicit input and gather information to assist with the implementation of the master plan. The bill would require the department to submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature by October 1, 2020, and submit updates annually thereafter, until October 1, 2030, regarding the master plan.

Existing law prohibits an employer, who is required by law to give an employee a rest period during a workday, from requiring the employee to work during the rest period. Existing law requires an employer to pay the employee one additional hour of pay, at the employee's regular rate of compensation, for each rest period not provided. Existing law requires employers to provide a reasonable amount of break time to employees desiring to express milk for the employee's infant child. Existing law also requires an employer to make reasonable efforts to provide the employee with the use of a room, or other location, other than a bathroom, in close proximity to the employee's work area, for the employee to express milk in private. Existing law exempts an employer from the break time requirement if the employer's operations would be seriously disrupted by providing that time to employees desiring to express milk. Existing law subjects employers who violate these provisions to a civil penalty of $100 per violation and authorizes the Labor Commissioner to issue citations for those violations. This bill would instead require an employer to provide a lactation room or location that includes prescribed features and would require an employer, among other things, to provide access to a sink and refrigerator in close proximity to the employee's workspace, as specified. The bill would deem denial of reasonable break time or adequate space to express milk a failure to provide a rest period in accordance with state law. The bill would prohibit an employer from discharging, or in any other manner discriminating or retaliating against, an employee for exercising or attempting to exercise rights under these provisions and would establish remedies that include filing a complaint with the Labor Commissioner. The bill would authorize employers with fewer than 50 employees to seek an exemption from the requirements of these provisions if the employer demonstrates that the requirement posed an undue hardship by causing the employer significant difficulty or expense, as specified. The bill would require an employer who obtains an exemption to make a reasonable effort to provide a place for an employee to express milk in private, as specified. The bill would require an employer to develop and implement a policy regarding lactation accommodation and make it available to employees, as specified.

The State Bar Act provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation governed by a board of trustees, and provides that protection of the public is the highest priority of the State Bar and the board of trustees in exercising their licensing, regulatory, and disciplinary functions. (1) Existing law creates within the State Bar the Governance in the Public Interest Task Force, comprised of the Chair of the State Bar and 6 other members of the Board of Trustees of the State Bar, 4 of whom are attorney members and 2 of whom are public members, appointed as specified. This bill would revise the composition of the 6 appointed members of the task force to include 3 attorney members and 3 public members, and would revise the manner of appointment of those task force members. (2) Existing law requires the secretary of the State Bar to be selected annually by the board, and specifies that the secretary need not be a licensee. Existing law requires the board by rule to set meetings and to determine what constitutes a quorum, as specified. Existing law requires, at the annual meeting of the board, reports to be received and authorizes matters pertaining to the State Bar and the administration of justice to be acted upon. This bill would repeal those provisions. (3) Existing law requires the board to establish a State Bar Court to act in its place and stead in the determination of specified disciplinary proceedings. Existing law authorizes the State Bar Court to, among other things, take and hear evidence pertaining to the proceeding, to administer oaths and affirmations, and to compel, by subpoena, the attendance of witnesses and the production of books, papers, and documents pertaining to the proceeding. Existing law authorizes a member of the board, or of a committee, unit, or section of the board having jurisdiction, to administer oaths and issue a subpoena pursuant to the provisions described above. This bill would remove this authority of a member of the board, or of a committee, unit, or section of the board having jurisdiction, and would, instead, provide that the State Bar Court is authorized to administer oaths and issue a subpoena pursuant to the aforementioned provisions. (4) Existing law authorizes the board to formulate and enforce rules of professional conduct for all licensees. Existing law provides that rules of professional conduct adopted by the board, when approved by the Supreme Court, are binding upon all licensees. Existing law additionally authorizes licensees to formulate by initiative rules of professional conduct for all licensees of the State Bar, as specified, and requires the rules of professional conduct approved by a majority of licensees and the Supreme Court have the same force and effect as the rules of professional conduct formulated and approved by the above-described provisions. Existing law authorizes the board, without petition, to direct the secretary to cause an initiative measure embodying a rule of professional conduct formulated by the board to be submitted to all active licensees for mail vote, as specified. This bill would remove the authority of licensees to formulate, and submit to licensees for a vote, rules of professional conduct and remove the authority of the board to submit to licensees for a vote, rules of professional conduct. (5) Under existing law, the board has the power to discipline licensees of the State Bar for willful breach of a rule of professional conduct approved by the Supreme Court, as specified. This bill would remove this power of the board, and would, instead, give this power to the State Bar Court. (6) Existing law provides that conviction of a licensee of a felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude constitutes cause for disbarment or suspension. Existing law requires the district attorney, city attorney, or other prosecuting agency to notify the State Bar of the pendency of the action, requires the clerk of the court in which a licensee is convicted to transmit a certified copy of the record of conviction to the State Bar, and requires the State Bar to transmit the record of conviction to the Supreme Court within 5 days. This bill would instead require the State Bar of California's Office of Chief Trial Counsel to be notified of the pendency of the action, would require the clerk of the court to transmit a certified copy of the record of conviction to the Office of Chief Trial Counsel, and would require the Office of Chief Trial Counsel to transmit the record of conviction to the Supreme Court within 30 days. (7) Existing law, until January 1, 2020, requires the board to charge an annual license fee for active licensees at a sum not exceeding $315 for 2019. Existing law requires the board to fix the annual license fee for inactive licensees at a sum not exceeding $75. Existing law authorizes the board to waive the payment by a licensee of the annual license fee, any portion thereof, or any penalty thereon, as the board is authorized to provide by rule. Existing law requires the board to adopt a rule or rules providing that an active licensee who can demonstrate total gross annual individual income from all sources of less than $40,000 presumptively qualifies for a waiver of 25% of the annual license fee. This bill would require the board to charge an annual license fee for active licensees at a sum not exceeding $438 for 2020. The bill would require the board to fix the annual license fee for inactive licensees at a sum not exceeding $108. The bill would require the board to adopt a rule or rules providing that an active licensee who can demonstrate total gross annual individual income from all sources of less than $60,478.35 presumptively qualifies for a waiver of 25% of the annual license fee. (8) Existing law requires the annual license fees for active and inactive licensees to be increased by an additional $40 to be allocated to fund qualified legal services projects and support centers that provide free legal services to persons of limited means, and further authorizes a licensee to deduct $40 from their invoice if the licensee elects not to have the amount allocated for those purposes. This bill would require the State Bar to report to the Senate and Assembly Committees on Judiciary the total amount of fees received pursuant to those provisions and the percentage of licensees who elected to opt out of the fees for specified time periods. (9) Existing law requires a fee of $10 for active licensees and a fee of $5 for inactive licensees to be paid for purposes of funding the Attorney Diversion and Assistance Program. Existing law requires certain amounts of those fees to be transferred by the State Bar to a nonprofit corporation to fund the support of recovery efforts of the nonprofit corporation. This bill would provide that, for 2020 only, the fee shall be $1 for active licensees, which would be paid to the nonprofit corporation, and no fee for inactive licensees. (10) Existing law authorizes the State Bar to collect voluntary fees on behalf of and for the purpose of funding the California Supreme Court Historical Society, which advances the science of jurisprudence by preserving and disseminating to the general public the history of the Supreme Court and the Judicial Branch. This bill would authorize the State Bar to collect voluntary donations on behalf of and for the purposes of funding California ChangeLawyers, which promotes a better justice system for all Californians. (11) Existing law requires the State Bar to provide offers of discounts and other benefits to active and inactive licensees of the State Bar, including insurance and affinity programs. Existing law requires revenue received from the affinity programs to support the programs of the California Bar Foundation. Existing law authorizes the State Bar, if approved by the board and the California Bar Foundation, to transfer administration of those programs offering discounts and other benefits to active and inactive licensees to the California Bar Foundation, subject to specified distributions of the revenue received from those programs, as provided. This bill would provide that the State Bar was authorized to provide noninsurance affinity programs until December 31, 2018, and has been authorized to provide insurance affinity programs only, after December 31, 2018. The bill would make other related changes, including revising the expiration date of provisions relating to the distribution of revenues from those programs from December 31, 2018, to December 31, 2019. The bill would authorize the State Bar to transfer administration of these programs to Cal Bar Affinity, subject to specified approval, provided that revenue has been distributed as specified from January 1, 2019, until December 31, 2019. The bill would require, subject to approval by the California Lawyers Association, California ChangeLawyers, and Cal Bar Affinity, all revenue received from the noninsurance affinity programs and the insurance affinity programs, less the administrative costs of the State Bar and Cal Bar Affinity in operating the programs, up to 12% of revenue received, and less taxes incurred by Cal Bar Affinity in operating the programs, to be distributed in a specified manner. The bill would prohibit the California Lawyers Association, if it elects to accept affinity fund revenue, from creating or operating an affinity or royalty program involving the sale of insurance or noninsurance products or services with a percentage or share of costs being distributed to the California Lawyers Association and, if the California Lawyers Association does so, would require all funds that would have been provided to the California Lawyers Association from affinity or royalty programs that transferred from the State Bar or are similar to programs that transferred from the State Bar to be provided to California ChangeLawyers and distributed as specified.

Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, provides for the adoption of building standards by state agencies by requiring all state agencies that adopt or propose adoption of any building standard to submit the building standard to the California Building Standards Commission for approval and adoption. Existing law requires the commission to publish, or cause to be published, editions of the code in its entirety once every 3 years. Existing law, the State Housing Law, requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to propose the adoption, amendment, or repeal of building standards to the California Building Standards Commission. This bill would, at the next triennial building standards rulemaking cycle that commences on or after January 1, 2020, require the Department of Housing and Community Development to investigate possible changes to the building standards in the California Residential Code for adoption by the California Building Standards Commission to promote aging-in-place design, as specified.