Under existing law, upon the proclamation of a state of emergency, as defined, declared by the President of the United States or the Governor, or upon the declaration of a local emergency, as defined, by the executive officer of any county, city, or city and county, and for a period of 30 days following that declaration, it is a misdemeanor with specified penalties for a person, contractor, business, or other entity to sell or offer to sell certain goods and services, including housing, for a price that exceeds by 10% the price charged by that person immediately prior to the proclamation of emergency, except as specified. Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, establishes the Office of Emergency Services and vests the office with responsibility for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies, as specified. This bill would additionally, upon the proclamation or declaration of an emergency as described above, make it a misdemeanor for a person, business, or other entity to increase the rental price, as defined, advertised, offered, or charged for housing to an existing or prospective tenant by more than 10%. The bill would extend the prohibition with regards to housing for any period that the proclamation or declaration is extended. The bill would additionally make it a misdemeanor for a person, business, or entity to evict a housing tenant after the proclamation of a state of emergency and then rent or offer to rent to another person at a rental price higher than the evicted tenant could be charged. By creating a new crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services, upon the proclamation of an emergency by the Governor, to include information about these provisions and guidance to property owners, as specified, on an appropriate Internet Web site. 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.
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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. Existing law prohibits, in the event of a total loss of the insured structure, a fire insurance policy issued or delivered in the state from limiting or denying payment of the replacement cost of property if the insured decides to rebuild or replace the property at a location other than the insured premises. Existing law requires the measure of indemnity to be based upon the replacement cost of the insured property and prohibits it from being based upon the cost to repair, rebuild, or replace at a location other than the insured premises. This bill would instead prohibit, in the event of a total loss of an insured structure, a fire insurance policy issued or delivered in this state from containing a provision that limits or denies, on the basis that the insured has decided to rebuild at a new location or to purchase an already built home at a new location, payment of the building code upgrade cost or the replacement cost, including any extended replacement cost coverage, to the extent those costs are otherwise covered by the terms of the policy or any policy endorsement. The bill would prohibit the measure of indemnity from exceeding, rather than requiring it to be based upon, the replacement cost, as specified. The bill would require all policy forms issued or renewed on and after July 1, 2019, to contain these provisions. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 2051.5 of the Insurance Code proposed by AB 1772 and SB 894 to be operative only if this bill, AB 1772, 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.
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.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to establish rules for all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law prohibits a gas corporation from recovering any fine or penalty in any rate approved by the commission. This bill would additionally prohibit an electrical corporation from recovering a fine or penalty through a rate approved by the commission and would make related nonsubstantive changes. The Public Utilities Act authorizes the commission to ascertain and fix just and reasonable standards, classifications, regulations, practices, measurements, or service to be furnished, imposed, observed, and followed by specified public utilities, including all electrical corporations and gas corporations. If the commission finds, after a hearing, that the rules, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, or service of any public utility, or the methods of manufacture, distribution, transmission, storage, or supply employed by the public utility, are unjust, unreasonable, unsafe, improper, inadequate, or insufficient, the act requires that the commission determine and, by order or rule, fix the rules, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, service, or methods to be observed, furnished, constructed, enforced, or employed. This bill would prohibit an electrical corporation or gas corporation from recovering through a rate approved by the commission costs or expenses arising from damages caused by the electrical corporation's electric plant or the gas corporation's gas plant if the commission determines that the electrical or gas corporation, or its agent, did not reasonably construct, maintain, manage, control, or operate the plant and this unreasonable act or omission by the electrical or gas corporation, or its agent, increased the risk of the plant causing those damages. The bill would authorize the commission, for an electrical or gas corporation's rate application to recover costs or expenses, to authorize the recovery of those costs or expenses, in full or in part, and would specify that only those costs or expenses that are just and reasonable, which may comprise only a portion of those costs or expenses, are recoverable. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature and make legislative findings and declarations regarding the commission's rate recovery functions.
The California Emergency Services Act establishes the Office of Emergency Services (OES) in the office of the Governor and provides that OES is responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies. The act also provides for systems for the public dissemination of alerts regarding missing children, attacks upon law enforcement officers, and missing persons who are 65 years of age or older, among others, and requires the Department of the California Highway Patrol to activate these systems and issue alerts upon the request of a law enforcement agency if certain conditions are met. This bill, on or before July 1, 2019, would require OES, in consultation with specified entities, to develop voluntary guidelines for alerting and warning the public of an emergency. The bill would require OES to provide each city, county, and city and county with a copy of the guidelines. This bill would authorize OES to impose conditions upon application for voluntary grant funding that it administers requiring operation of alert and warning activities consistent with the guidelines. The bill would also require OES, within 6 months of making the statewide guidelines available and at least annually thereafter and through its California Specialized Training Institute, to develop an alert and warning training, as specified. This bill would authorize OES to adopt emergency regulations for these purposes, as specified.
(1) Existing law requires an insurer to comply with certain procedures relating to the cancellation of insurance policies, except as specified, in the case of a total loss to the primary insured structure under a residential policy. Among other requirements, an insurer may not cancel coverage while the primary insured structure is being rebuilt, as specified, nor use the fact that the primary insured structure is in damaged condition as a result of the total loss as the sole basis for a decision to cancel the policy, and must offer, at least once, to renew the policy, as specified, if the total loss to the primary insured structure was caused by a disaster. This bill would prohibit, subject to certain exceptions, an insurer from canceling or refusing to renew a policy of residential property insurance for one year after the declaration of a state of emergency based solely on the fact that the insured structure is located in an area in which a wildfire has occurred, with respect to an insured property located within or adjacent to the fire perimeter, as specified. (2) Existing law creates the Department of Insurance, headed by the Insurance Commissioner, and prescribes the department's and commissioner's powers and duties. Existing law authorizes the commissioner to require reports from insurers concerning risks and solvency, and authorizes the commissioner to impose civil penalties for failure to submit reports or data to the commissioner. Under existing law, the acts and orders of the commissioner are subject to a court's review or other action. This bill would require an admitted insurer with written California premiums above a specified threshold to submit a report with specified fire risk information on its residential property policies to the commissioner on or before April 1, 2020, and every 2 years thereafter. The bill would require the commissioner to post a report on wildfire risk compiled from the submitted data to the department's Internet Web site every 2 years. The bill would authorize the commissioner to specify the manner of submission and the format of the report submitted by the insurer and would authorize the commissioner to grant a submission extension to an insurer. The bill would subject an admitted insurer that fails to submit a report to a civil penalty to be fixed by the commissioner, not to exceed $5,000, or $10,000 if the act was willful, and would specify the appeals process. The bill would provide that fire risk information submitted to the commissioner is confidential and not subject to subpoena, as specified. (3) 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. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 675.1 of the Insurance Code proposed by SB 894 to be operative only if this bill and SB 894 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law generally regulates classes of insurance, including residential property insurance. Under existing law, the California FAIR (fair access to insurance requirements) Plan Association, a joint reinsurance association in which all insurers licensed to write basic property insurance participate, administers a program for the equitable apportionment of basic property insurance for persons who are unable to obtain that coverage through normal channels. Existing law requires the association to establish and maintain an Internet Web site and a toll-free telephone number through which a person may receive assistance in applying for basic property insurance. Existing law requires an insurer member of the plan to provide the Internet Web site address and toll-free telephone number to an applicant who is denied coverage. This bill would require the Department of Insurance to establish the California Home Insurance Finder on its Internet Web site to help homeowners connect with an insurance agent or broker for residential property insurance. The bill would require the department to annually survey agents, brokers, and insurers about inclusion in the finder, and post participants' names, addresses, phone numbers, and Internet Web sites, if available, to the finder on or before July 1, 2020. The bill would require the commissioner to use social media and other tools to promote the finder, and to create materials in the most common languages used in California. The bill would require an insurer to disclose specified information to an applicant who is denied coverage or a policyholder whose policy is canceled or not renewed, including, on or after July 1, 2020, information about the finder. The bill would require specified information, including the Internet Web site address of the department's Homeowners Coverage Comparison Tool, to be disclosed on or after July 1, 2020, upon an offer of a policy of residential property insurance if specified conditions are met. The bill would require a residential property insurer to notify the department on or before February 1 of each year of the amount of extended replacement cost coverage it offers in California, if the amount is different from that of the previous year, and would require the department to use this information to annually update the Homeowners Coverage Comparison Tool.
Existing law, until January 1, 2019, defines the offense of aggravated arson, and defines the aggravating factors for the offense as, the person has been previously convicted of arson on one or more occasions within the past 10 years, the fire caused property damage and other losses in excess of $7,000,000, or the fire caused damage to, or the destruction of, 5 or more inhabited structures. Existing law, commencing January 1, 2019, deletes the aggravating factor of property damage and other losses in excess of $7,000,000 from the definition of aggravated arson. This bill would extend the operation of the former aggravated arson offense until January 1, 2024, and would increase the threshold of property damage and other losses constituting an aggravating factor for aggravated arson to $8,300,000. The bill would delay operation of the latter aggravated arson offense that deletes the threshold dollar amount of property damages or losses as an aggravating factor until January 1, 2024. By extending the operation of law defining a crime, 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.
(1) Existing law regulating commercial fishing imposes, or authorizes the imposition of, various license, permit, and registration fees. Existing law requires specified persons to pay commercial fishing fees, referred to as landing fees, and sets forth requirements for the documentation of those landing fees in the form of a landing receipt, as prescribed. Existing law requires that a person required to be licensed as a marine aquaria receiver make a legible, true, and complete record of the landing receipts on a form and in a manner prescribed by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and deliver copies of those receipts to the department on or before the first and 16th day of each month, as provided. Existing law requires a person licensed as a commercial fish business who takes his or her own fish to make a legible record in the form of a landing receipt, as specified, at the time the fish are brought ashore, and requires that the original signed copy of the landing receipt be delivered by the licensee to the department on or before the 16th day or the last day of the month in which the fish were landed, whichever date occurs first after landing. Under existing law, a violation of the Fish and Game Code is a crime. This bill would specify that the original signed copy of the paper landing receipt made under those provisions governing landing receipts for a licensed marine aquaria and a commercial fish business who takes his or her own fish shall be delivered to the department on or before the 16th or last day of the month in which the fish were landed, whichever date occurs first after the landing, as prescribed, and would require that landing receipt records that are completed and submitted electronically be submitted to the department within 3 business days, as defined, of the landing. Because a violation of this requirement expands the definition of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) 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 California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law requires the board of governors to appoint a chief executive officer, to be known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts, administered by governing boards, throughout the state, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction to students at the community college campuses maintained by the districts. Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to, among other duties, establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law establishes minimum requirements for the preliminary multiple or single subject teaching credential, including satisfactory completion of a program of professional preparation, as provided. This bill would establish the California Community College Teacher Credentialing Partnership Pilot Program under which the commission, in coordination with the chancellor, would award up to 3 grants, in the amount of $500,000 each, to collaboratives, that would be comprised of at least one accredited degree-granting institution of higher education with a physical presence in this state and at least one community college, for the purpose of offering teacher credential coursework remotely at participating community college or colleges. The bill would require these degree programs to be accredited by the commission's Committee on Accreditation on the basis of standards of program quality and effectiveness. The bill would authorize priority for the receipt of grants to be given to a collaborative that is located in areas of the state with low rates of K–12 credentialed public school teachers, demonstrates that its degree program or programs meet the documented labor market demand of its target region, and identifies the resources necessary to offer its degree program or programs. The bill would provide that grants shall be awarded only to the extent that funding for the statewide pilot program is provided in the annual Budget Act. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to submit a report on the implementation of the statewide pilot program to the Legislature and the Department of Finance on or before April 1, 2023.