Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh

Existing law, the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act, classifies controlled substances into 5 schedules and places the greatest restrictions and penalties on the use of those substances placed in Schedule I. The act classifies the drug fentanyl in Schedule II. Existing law prohibits a person from possessing for sale or purchasing for purposes of sale, specified controlled substances, including fentanyl, and provides for imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years for a violation of this provision. Existing law also requires a local health officer to assume that the fentanyl manufacturing process has led to some degree of chemical contamination and take action, as prescribed, if a fentanyl laboratory activity has taken place at a property. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, establish the Fentanyl Misuse and Overdose Prevention Task Force to undertake various duties relating to fentanyl misuse including, among others, collecting and organizing data on the nature and extent of fentanyl misuse in California and evaluating approaches to increase public awareness of fentanyl misuse. The bill would require the task force to be co-chaired by the Attorney General and the State Public Health Officer or their designees, and would specify the membership of the task force. The bill would require the first meeting of the task force to take place no later than June 1, 2024, and would require the task force to meet at least once every 2 months. The bill would require the task force to submit an interim report on its findings and recommendations to the Attorney General, the Governor, and the Legislature by July 1, 2025, and submit a final report by December 1, 2025. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2026.

Existing law provides that 8 hours of labor constitute a day's work unless it is otherwise expressly stipulated in a collective bargaining agreement, and requires that any work in excess of specified hours in one workday or one workweek be compensated at a rate higher than the regular rate of pay for the employee, as specified. Existing law authorizes, upon the proposal of an employer, employees of an employer to adopt a regularly scheduled alternative workweek that authorizes work by the affected employees for no longer than 10 hours per day within a 40-hour workweek without the payment to the affected employees of an overtime rate of compensation, as specified. Existing law prohibits an employer from employing an employee for a work period of more than 5 hours per day without providing the employee with a meal period, as specified, but, notwithstanding these provisions, existing law authorizes the Industrial Welfare Commission to adopt a working condition order permitting a meal period to commence after 6 hours of work if specified conditions are met. Under existing law, the Industrial Welfare Commission issues wage orders that regulates wages, hours, and working conditions in various occupations, including Wage Order No. 10-2001, which regulates the amusement and recreation industry. This bill would provide that these provisions do not apply to a person who is covered by a contract to play baseball at the minor league level with a labor organization that has at least 10 years of experience representing baseball players and who is compensated pursuant to the terms of a valid collective bargaining agreement that expressly provides for the wages, hours of work, working conditions of employees, payment for time worked during the off-season and spring training, and final and binding arbitration of disputes. The bill would require the Department of Industrial Relations to amend and republish Wage Order No. 10-2001 to provide that specified provisions of the wage order do not apply to a person subject to these provisions, as specified. Existing law requires an employer, semimonthly or at the time of payment of wages, to furnish an employee an accurate, itemized, written statement containing specified information regarding the amounts earned, hours worked, and the employee's identity, among other things, subject to certain variations. Existing law provides that an itemized wage statement furnished by an employer pursuant to these provisions is not required to show total hours worked by the employee if, among other things, the employee is exempt from the payment of minimum wage and overtime under specified law. This bill would provide that an itemized wage statement furnished by an employer pursuant to these provisions is not required to show total hours worked by an employee if the employee is exempt from the payment of minimum wage and overtime under the bill's provisions described above. Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, governs, among other things, the procedures for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies. Existing law also describes procedures for the promulgation of regulations by the Industrial Welfare Commission. This bill would exempt these provisions from the rulemaking procedures described above. 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law prohibits the possession, sale, and transport, as specified, of certain controlled substances. Existing law requires a person granted probation for controlled substance offenses to, as a condition of probation, secure education or treatment from a local community agency designated by the court, if the service is available and the person is likely to benefit from the service. This bill would require the court to order a person granted probation pursuant to those provisions for a violation of specified laws involving any amount of fentanyl, carfentanil, benzimidazole opiate, or any analog thereof, to successfully complete a fentanyl and synthetic opiate education program, if one is available. The bill would prohibit a defendant from being charged a fee for enrollment in that education program. The bill would require a court ordering a defendant to complete those courses to only order the defendant to participate in programs that include, among other things, information regarding the nature and addictive elements of fentanyl and other synthetic opiates and their danger to a person's life and health. The bill would require program providers to report an unexcused absence by a defendant from a fentanyl and synthetic opiate education program to the court and the probation department within 2 business days. The bill would require the court to only refer defendants to programs that are available at no cost to the participants. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 11373 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by SB 46 to be operative only if this bill and SB 46 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law includes the terms "mentally retarded persons," "mentally retarded children," "retardation," and "handicap." This bill, The Dignity for All Act, would make nonsubstantive changes to those provisions to eliminate this obsolete terminology. The bill would repeal obsolete provisions of law.

Existing law authorizes the Department of General Services to dispose of surplus state real property, as defined, as authorized by the Legislature, upon any terms and conditions and subject to any reservations and exceptions the department deems to be in the best interests of the state. Existing law requires the department to first offer surplus state real property to a local agency, as defined, and then to nonprofit affordable housing sponsors, as defined, prior to being offered for sale to private entities or individuals. Existing law requires a local agency or nonprofit affordable housing sponsor to satisfy certain requirements to be considered as a potential priority buyer of the surplus state real property, including that the local agency or nonprofit affordable housing sponsor demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the department, that the surplus state real property, or portion of that surplus state real property, is to be used by the local agency or nonprofit affordable housing sponsor for open space, public parks, affordable housing projects, or development of local government-owned facilities. Existing law authorizes the department to sell surplus state real property, or a portion of surplus state real property, to a local agency, or to a nonprofit affordable housing sponsor if no local agency is interested in the surplus state real property, for affordable housing projects at a sales price less than fair market value if the department determines that such a discount will enable the provision of housing for persons and families of low or moderate income. This bill would additionally authorize a local agency or nonprofit affordable housing sponsor to be considered as a potential priority buyer of surplus state real property upon demonstration that the property is to be used by the agency or sponsor for housing for formerly incarcerated individuals, subject to the same provisions described above, as specified. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA does not apply to the approval of ministerial projects. This bill would provide that development of surplus state real property by a local agency or nonprofit affordable housing sponsor for an affordable housing project is by right, making the development ministerial in nature and exempt from CEQA requirements.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing, including requiring the reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures and imposing other reporting and recordkeeping requirements on campaign committees. Under existing law, the Fair Political Practices Commission has primary responsibility for the impartial, effective administration and implementation of the Political Reform Act of 1974. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. Under existing law, a person who files an original statement or report after a deadline imposed by the Political Reform Act of 1974 is liable in the amount of $10 per day after the deadline until the statement or report is filed, as specified. Existing law authorizes a filing officer to not impose this liability if the officer determines that the late filing was not willful and that enforcement of the liability will not further the purposes of the act, except as specified. Existing regulation directs the commission to develop a diversion program to allow for the education of a person who commits a minor violation of the act, as specified. This bill would authorize the commission to establish and administer a political reform education program as an alternative to an administrative proceeding, as specified. The bill would establish eligibility requirements for the political reform education program, including that the person has little or no experience with the act and that the violation resulted in minimal or no public harm. If a person meets the requirements to participate in the political reform education program and completes the program, this bill would exempt the person from administrative, civil, or criminal penalties for the applicable violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974, as specified. The bill would authorize the commission to impose additional eligibility requirements for participation in the program. The bill would authorize the commission to charge a fee to program participants in an amount not to exceed the reasonable cost to administer the political reform education program. The bill would require the fee be paid to the General Fund. The bill would express the intent of the Legislature to appropriate funds annually to the commission to administer the political reform education program. The bill would prohibit a filing officer from imposing the $10 per day liability if the person who filed the late report or statement was unable to timely file due to serious illness or hospitalization or if the person completes the political reform education program, as specified. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The Planning and Zoning Law, among other things, provides for the creation of accessory dwelling units by local ordinance, or, if a local agency has not adopted an ordinance, by ministerial approval, in accordance with specified standards and conditions. Existing law prohibits a local agency from requiring an accessory dwelling unit to provide fire sprinklers, if they are not required for the primary residence. The State Housing Law, among other things, requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to adopt, amend, or repeal rules and regulations for the protection of the health, safety, and general welfare of the occupant and the public relating to specified residential structures, as provided, which apply throughout the state. A violation of the State Housing Law, or of the building standards or rules and regulations adopted pursuant to that law, is a misdemeanor. This bill, until January 1, 2027, would prohibit a local agency from imposing or enforcing any requirement to provide fire sprinklers for a temporary sleeping cabin that is on a site with 50 or fewer temporary sleeping cabins. The bill would define "temporary sleeping cabin" to mean a nonpermanent structure that is intended to provide temporary housing to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, has a total floor area of less than 250 feet, and does not include plumbing. The bill would require a temporary sleeping cabin that does not include fire sprinklers to comply with alternative fire life and safety standards that include providing, among other things, a smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm in the unit, a fire extinguisher in the unit, and ingress and egress that facilitates rapid exit of the temporary sleeping cabin. By requiring local agencies to impose alternative fire life and safety standards for these units, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require violations of those alternative fire and life safety standards to be handled pursuant to specified provisions of the State Housing Law. By adding to the duties of local officials with respect to enforcement of the State Housing Law, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. 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.

Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. The California State University comprises 23 institutions of higher education located throughout the state. The California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 2001 requires all agencies and museums, which is defined to include higher education institutions, that receive state funding and have possession or control over collections of California Native American human remains and associated funerary objects to inventory those remains and objects for repatriation to the appropriate California Indian tribes, as specified. This bill would require the California State University to comply with various requirements regarding the handling, maintenance, and repatriation of Native American human remains and cultural items under the California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 2001, including adopting and implementing systemwide policies that, among other things, prohibit the use of any Native American human remains or cultural items for purposes of teaching or research at the California State University while in the possession of a California State University campus or museum. The bill would make its provisions severable.

Existing law authorizes victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, and elder or dependent adult abuse, and members of their households, to complete an application to be approved by the Secretary of State for the purpose of enabling state and local agencies to respond to requests for public records without disclosing a program participant's changed name or location, subject to specified conditions. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for any person to make a false statement in an application. This bill, beginning on July 1, 2024, would make victims of child abduction, as defined, and members of their households eligible for the protections of this address confidentiality program. By expanding the scope of the program to include victims of child abduction and their household members, this bill would impose new duties on local public officials and expand the scope of an existing crime, thereby imposing 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 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, until January 1, 2027, establishes the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs and requires the board to license and regulate speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and hearing aid dispensers, among others. Existing law prohibits a licensed speech-language pathologist from performing a flexible fiber optic transnasal endoscopic procedure unless they have received written verification from one otolaryngologist certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology that the licensed speech-language pathologist has performed a minimum of 25 supervised flexible fiber optic transnasal endoscopic procedures and that the licensed speech-language pathologist is competent to perform those procedures, as provided. By operation of law, these provisions became operative on January 1, 2023. This bill would specify that a licensed speech-language pathologist who holds a written verification pursuant to the above-described provisions that was issued before January 1, 2023, shall be deemed to meet specified requirements regarding flexible fiber optic transnasal endoscopic procedures, as provided.