Sen. Caroline Menjivar

(1) Existing law requires the State Department of Education to develop resources or, as appropriate, update existing resources for in-service training on schoolsite and community resources for the support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) pupils, and strategies to increase support for LGBTQ pupils, as specified. This bill would require the State Department of Education to develop resources or, as appropriate, update existing resources, for supports and community resources for the support of parents, guardians, and families of LGBTQ pupils and strategies to increase support for LGBTQ pupils, as specified. (2) Existing law prohibits discrimination on the basis of, among other characteristics, gender, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation in any program or activity conducted by an educational institution that receives, or benefits from, state financial assistance, or enrolls pupils who receive state student financial aid. Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt regulations to implement these provisions. This bill would prohibit school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and the state special schools, and a member of the governing board or body of those educational entities, from enacting or enforcing any policy, rule, or administrative regulation that requires an employee or a contractor to disclose any information related to a pupil's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to any other person without the pupil's consent unless otherwise required by law, as provided. The bill would prohibit employees or contractors of those educational entities from being required to make such a disclosure unless otherwise required by law, as provided. The bill would prohibit employees or contractors of school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, or the state special schools, or members of the governing boards or bodies of those educational entities, from retaliating or taking adverse action against an employee on the basis that the employee supported a pupil in the exercise of specified rights, work activities, or providing certain instruction, as provided.

Maddy summaryThis Senate Concurrent Resolution recognizes June 14, 2024, as Flag Day in California. The measure serves as a formal declaration to encourage citizens to celebrate the American flag and remember the sacrifices made for freedom. It does not create new laws or impose any requirements on individuals or organizations. The text includes historical background on the flag's design and the origins of Flag Day observances.

Existing law establishes the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board within the Department of Industrial Relations to promulgate and enforce occupational safety and health standards for the state, including standards dealing with exposure to harmful airborne contaminants. Existing law requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the department to enforce all occupational safety and health standards, as specified. A violation of these standards and regulations under specific circumstances is a crime. This bill would prohibit a person engaged in fabrication activities or fabrication shops from using dry methods, and require the use of effective wet methods in any fabrication activities. The bill would make a violation of these provisions grounds for, among other disciplinary action, an immediate order prohibiting continued fabrication activities. The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2025, the department to consult with representatives of approved apprenticeship programs to adopt a training curriculum regarding the safe performance of fabrication activities that meets specified requirements, including classroom instruction, and to certify an individual who has completed that curriculum immediately upon completion. The bill would prohibit, beginning July 1, 2026, an owner or operator of a slab product fabrication shop from permitting any individual from performing fabrication activities or employing an individual to perform work on the shop floor where those activities are conducted, unless the individual is certified by the department as having completed the training curriculum, except as specified. The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2026, the department to develop an application and licensing process for fabrication shops to lawfully engage in fabrication activities known as a "slab product fabrication activity" license. The bill would authorize fabrication shops to engage in fabrication activities during the pendency of the application development and licensing process. The bill would require, beginning January 1, 2026, the department to grant a 3-year license to a fabrication shop that demonstrates satisfaction of specified criteria involving workplace safety conditions and precautions, and would authorize license renewal, as specified. Among other conditions, the bill would establish certain regulatory fees in specified amounts for the license and renewal thereof. The bill would authorize the department to suspend or revoke a licensee in certain cases, including for gross negligence, as specified. The bill would prohibit a person or entity, or an employee thereof, from engaging in fabrication activities unless the person or entity has a license. The bill would prohibit, beginning January 1, 2026, a person from supplying a slab product directly to a person or entity engaged in fabrication activities if the person or entity does not have a valid license. The bill would require a person that, among other things, supplies a slab product to a person or entity engaged in fabrication services to verify the person or entity has a license, as specified. The bill would require a person that supplies a slab product to a person or entity that is not engaged in fabrication activities to rely on written certification issued under penalty of perjury that, among other things, they will not directly engage in fabrication activities with the product without a license. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would specify that a violation of any of the above-described provisions may be grounds for disciplinary action, as specified, but is not a crime. The bill would establish the Slab Fabrication Activity Account in the Occupational Safety and Health Fund in the State Treasury, and require all fees, penalties, or other moneys collected by the department under the above-described provisions to be deposited into the account. The bill would authorize moneys in the account to be expended by the department for the purposes of administering the above-described provisions, and would make that authorization contingent on an appropriation of funds for that express purpose. The bill would require, beginning January 1, 2026, the Director of Industrial Relations to maintain a publicly accessible database on the department's internet website that includes, among other things, information on any active orders issued by the department in the prior 12 months prohibiting an activity at a fabrication shop, as specified. On or before July 1, 2025, the bill would require the department, in consultation with specified agencies, to submit a report to the Legislature pursuant to prescribed requirements, including specifying the number of violations issued for failure to comply with any temporary or future standards relating to respirable crystalline silica adopted by the board, and the geographic areas in the state with the highest numbers of those violations. On or before January 1, 2027, and January 1, 2029, the bill would require the department, in consultation with other specified entities, to submit a report to the Legislature pursuant to prescribed requirements, including, in addition to the information contained in the initial report, the number of licenses issued by the department pursuant to the above-described provisions. The bill would require the department to collect and include in those reports the disaggregation of applicable data by stone industry, as specified. The bill would also require the department and the division to consider the findings of the reports to prioritize enforcement of the requirements of the bill's provisions in geographic areas with the highest numbers of violations or other penalties issued by the department relating to respirable crystalline silica. The bill would define various terms for these purposes. The bill would make findings and declarations related to these provisions. 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 Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) , authorizes an aggrieved employee, as defined, to bring a civil action, on behalf of that employee and other current or former employees, to enforce a violation of any provision of the Labor Code that provides for a civil penalty to be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency or any of its departments, divisions, commissions, boards, agencies, or employees pursuant to certain notice and cure provisions, as prescribed. This bill would, among other things, authorize, on or after October 1, 2024, an employer that employed fewer than 100 employees in total during the period covered by the required notice to, within 33 days of receipt of the notice submit to the agency a confidential proposal to cure one or more of the alleged violations and, upon completing the cure, provide a sworn notification to the employee and agency that the cure is completed, as prescribed. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the agency to verify whether the cure is complete within 20 days of receiving the employer's notification, as specified. This bill would also authorize an employer who employed at least 100 employees in total during the period covered by the required notice to, upon being served with a summons and complaint asserting a claim under PAGA, file a request and participate in, as prescribed, an early evaluation conference in the proceedings of the claim and a request for a stay of court proceedings before, or simultaneous with, that defendant's responsive pleading or other initial appearance in the action that includes the claim. This bill would apply its provisions to a civil action brought on or after June 19, 2024, except as specified. 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. 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. This bill would become operative only if AB 2288 of the 2023–24 Regular Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2025. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) , authorizes an aggrieved employee, as defined, to bring a civil action, on behalf of that employee and other current or former employees, to enforce a violation of any provision of the Labor Code that provides for a civil penalty to be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency or any of its departments, divisions, commissions, boards, agencies, or employees pursuant to certain notice and cure provisions, as prescribed. This bill would, among other things, instead authorize an aggrieved employee to bring a civil action as described above on behalf of the employee and other current or former employees against whom a violation of the same provision was committed. With respect to a violation by a person of a provision that does not provide for a civil penalty, PAGA makes that person liable for a civil penalty of $500 if, at the time of the alleged violation, the person does not employ one or more employees. If, at the time of the alleged violation, the person employed one or more employees, PAGA makes that person liable for a civil penalty of $100 for each aggrieved employee per pay period for the initial violation and $200 for each aggrieved employee per pay period for each subsequent violation. PAGA requires 75% of civil penalties recovered by aggrieved employees to be distributed to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency for enforcement of labor laws, including the administration of PAGA, and for education of employers and employees about their rights and responsibilities under the Labor Code, as specified, and requires 25% of civil penalties recovered by aggrieved employees to be distributed to the aggrieved employees, except as prescribed. This bill would instead, if, at the time of the alleged violation, the person employed one or more employees, make that person liable for a civil penalty of $100 for each aggrieved employee per pay period, except if certain mitigating factors apply, including that the alleged violation resulted from an isolated, nonrecurring event that did not extend beyond the lesser of 30 consecutive days or 4 consecutive pay periods, in which case the bill would make the civil penalty $25 or $50, except as provided. The bill would, subject to an exception, also reduce the civil penalties prescribed by PAGA by 15% or 30%, as specified, if a person accused of a violation has taken all reasonable steps to comply with the provisions alleged to have been violated in the required notice provided by the aggrieved employee, as prescribed. This bill would apply its provisions to a civil action brought on or after June 19, 2024, except as specified. This bill would become operative only if SB 92 of the 2023–24 Regular Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2025. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2018, which was approved by the voters as Proposition 1 at the November 6, 2018, statewide general election, authorizes the issuance of bonds in the amount of $4,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law and requires the proceeds from the sale of these bonds to be used to finance various housing programs and a specified program for farm, home, and mobilehome purchase assistance for veterans, as provided. Existing law establishes, among various other programs intended to address homelessness in this state, the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program for the purpose of providing jurisdictions with one-time grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges informed by a best-practices framework focused on moving homeless individuals and families into permanent housing and supporting the efforts of those individuals and families to maintain their permanent housing. This bill would enact the Youth Housing Bond Act of 2024 (bond act) , which, if adopted, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $1,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance the Youth Housing Program, established as part of the bond act. The bill, as a part of the program, would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to make awards to local agencies, nonprofit organizations, and joint ventures for the purpose of acquiring, renovating, constructing, and purchasing equipment for youth centers or youth housing, as those terms are defined. This bill would provide for submission of the bond act to the voters at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election in accordance with specified law. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law requires the Governor to proclaim various days as holidays and days of remembrance. This bill would require the Governor to annually proclaim December 1 as World AIDS Day.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires a private duty nursing agency, as defined, to be a provider of skilled nursing services covered under certain Medicaid waiver programs, subject to federal approval and availability of federal financial participation. Existing law requires the agency, in addition to satisfying any other requirements as a condition for participation in the Medi-Cal program, to satisfy specified requirements, including the provision of skilled nursing services on a shift basis in a patient's home or other community-based site appropriate for patient care. This bill would require, by January 10, 2026, the department to develop and submit a cost estimate, on private duty nursing services provided to pediatric patients, to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the cost estimate to estimate the cost of raising the Medi-Cal rates of private duty nursing services provided to pediatric patients to 87% of, and to 100% of, rates for corresponding services under the federal Medicare Program. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities, including congregate living health facilities, by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law defines "congregate living health facility" as a residential home with a capacity of no more than 18 beds, with exceptions, that provides inpatient care that is generally less intense than that provided in general acute care hospitals but more intense than that provided in skilled nursing facilities. Existing law, the Medi-Cal Long-Term Care Reimbursement Act, requires the State Department of Health Care Services to implement a facility-specific ratesetting system for nursing facilities using a cost-based reimbursement rate methodology and to update these rates annually. This bill would require, under Medi-Cal provisions, by January 10, 2026, the State Department of Health Care Services to prepare and submit a cost study, on licensed congregate living health facilities, to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the cost study to evaluate all financial and operational costs associated with those facilities, as specified. The bill would require the department to consult with facility providers, patients or families, caregivers, and other relevant parties in developing the study.

Maddy summaryThis Senate Concurrent Resolution officially designates May 2024 as National Mental Health Awareness Month within the state of California. The measure does not alter laws or allocate funding but serves to formally recognize the importance of mental well-being and highlight statistics regarding mental illness prevalence and its impact on various communities. By establishing this designation, the resolution aims to encourage public focus on mental health issues during the month of May.

The California Constitution provides that the University of California constitutes a public trust, and requires the university to be administered by the Regents of the University of California, a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers of organization and government, subject to legislative control only for specified purposes. These provisions grant the regents all the powers necessary or convenient for the effective administration of its trust. This measure would require employees of the Regents of the University of California to have the right to, and be covered by, certain basic state labor standards, as provided. The measure would require individuals who perform certain work for the regents to have the right to the payment of a prevailing wage. The measure would authorize the Legislature to enact laws that further these rights, establish, define, or specify the basic state labor standards applicable to the regents, or establish other health, safety, and labor protections for individuals performing work for the regents.