Sen. Monique Limón

Maddy summaryThis bill, Senate Concurrent Resolution 133, officially designates April 2024 as American Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month in California. The resolution aims to highlight the contributions of the state's Muslim community, which includes over one million residents, and to foster greater understanding among students and the public. By moving the observance from August to April, the measure ensures the event aligns with the K-12 school year to facilitate educational engagement. The text also acknowledges the historical and contemporary challenges faced by Muslims in California, including hate crimes and past government surveillance, while celebrating their diverse roles in society.

Maddy summarySenate Resolution 92 officially designates May 2024 as Lupus and Fibromyalgia Awareness Month in California. This legislative measure aims to increase public understanding of these conditions by highlighting their symptoms, diagnostic challenges, and prevalence among specific demographics. The resolution does not alter laws or funding but serves to encourage education and research into these chronic health issues.

Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, establishes the Medical Board of California and the Osteopathic Medical Board of California to license and regulate the practice of medicine, and establishes examination, training, and other requirements for licensure as a physician and surgeon. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor. This bill, through November 30, 2024, would authorize a physician licensed to practice medicine in Arizona who meets certain requirements to practice medicine in California for the purpose of providing abortions and abortion-related care to patients who are Arizona residents traveling from Arizona, upon application for registration with the Medical Board of California or the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, as applicable. The bill would prohibit the physician from providing care or consultation for other purposes or to other patients, except under specified circumstances. The bill would require an Arizona physician, before practicing in California, to submit specified information to the Medical Board of California or the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, as applicable, including, among other information, written verification from the Arizona Medical Board or the Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners in Medicine and Surgery, or documentation printed from an online licensing system, that the physician's Arizona license to practice medicine is in good standing and confers on the physician the authority to practice abortions and abortion-related care. The bill would require the applicant to provide an affidavit attesting that, among other things, the applicant meets all of the requirements for registration, as specified, and would make it a misdemeanor for a person to provide false information. The bill would limit the information the California boards are required to disclose about a registrant. The bill would deem a physician registered pursuant to the bill's provisions a licensee of the applicable board, would authorize the applicable board to take enforcement against a person registered pursuant to the bill's provisions, and would prohibit the applicable boards from collecting any fees for registration. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would repeal the bill's provisions on January 1, 2025. 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 declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. 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.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education to issue a request for proposals to contract for the development of standards for professional development for educators and instructional leaders. Existing law requires those standards to, among other things, present a vision of ongoing, high-quality professional development, give special attention to high-need schools and school districts, and build on existing work on quality professional development, including the Designs for Learning system. Existing law requires the entity contracted by the department for these purposes to submit the standards to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for approval, and requires the Superintendent to submit the standards to the State Board of Education for approval, as specified. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2026, to identify and recommend high-quality professional learning programs for certificated and classified staff that support pupil development in mathematics and literacy and that meet specified requirements. The bill would, among other things, appropriate an unspecified amount from the General Fund to the Superintendent for allocation to school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and the state special schools for these purposes, and would authorize those local educational agencies to use those allocated funds for any high-quality professional learning programs for certificated and classified staff that support pupil development in mathematics and literacy, including, but not limited to, those identified and recommended by the department, if they comply with the specified requirements. The bill would authorize the department to, among other things, establish, where appropriate, project partnerships with other public and private agencies, to support the use of high-quality professional learning programs for certificated and classified staff that support pupil development in mathematics and literacy, as specified. Certain funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.

Existing law, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include in its regulation of those emissions the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Existing law continuously appropriates the annual proceeds of the fund to the various purposes. This bill, in the 2025–26 fiscal year through the 2035–36 fiscal year, would transfer 1% of the annual proceeds of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, not to exceed $120,000,000 per fiscal year, to the California Compost Tax Credit Fund, which the bill would establish. Existing law, the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, allows various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2036, would allow a credit against those taxes for each taxable year to a qualified taxpayer in an amount equal to amounts paid or incurred during the taxable year for the application of compost on agricultural lands, ranchlands, or rangelands to improve soils, sequester carbon, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture to allocate the credits to qualified taxpayers through an application process, as specified, and would limit the aggregate amount of credits allocated per fiscal year to the amount appropriated from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the California Compost Tax Credit Fund, minus specified distributions, as provided. This bill would require the moneys from the California Compost Tax Credit Fund to be used for the purpose of refunding the General Fund for tax revenue lost due to the credits claimed and would continuously appropriate moneys in the fund to the Department of Food and Agriculture for refunds to qualified taxpayers whose credit exceeds their tax liability, as provided. This bill would additionally continuously appropriate up to 20% of moneys in the California Compost Tax Credit Fund, not to exceed $24,000,000 per fiscal year, for existing composting infrastructure grant programs and existing healthy soils programs, as specified. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would also make findings and declarations related to a gift of public funds.

Maddy summaryThis Senate Resolution formally recognizes May as Maternal and Mental Health Awareness Month in California to highlight critical issues facing women and birthing people. The document draws attention to disparities in reproductive care, noting that many women lack access to hospitals with obstetrics services and that costs for fertility treatments remain a significant barrier. It also emphasizes the high prevalence of untreated mental health conditions among new mothers, particularly within communities of color and those with lower incomes. While the resolution does not create new laws, it serves to raise public awareness about the need for equitable access to both physical and mental health services during the reproductive years.

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines gross income as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2023, and before January 1, 2033, would provide an exclusion from gross income for amounts received from a settlement entity, as defined, by a qualified taxpayer, as defined, to replace property damaged or destroyed by a natural disaster that was declared a state of emergency by both the Governor and the President of the United States. Existing law requires a bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law makes possession of a firearm by certain classes of persons, including a convicted felon, a person convicted of specified misdemeanors, a person that has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial, a person that has been found not guilty of specified crimes by reason of insanity, or a person that has been placed under conservatorship, a crime. Existing law additionally makes it a crime to sell or give possession of a firearm to these classes of persons prohibited from owning a firearm. Existing law requires the Department of Justice, upon submission of firearm purchaser information by a licensed firearm dealer, to examine its records to determine whether a potential firearm purchaser is prohibited by state of federal law from possessing, receiving, owning, or purchasing a firearm. Existing law requires the department to participate in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. This bill would require the Department of Justice to develop and launch a system to allow a person who resides in California to voluntarily add their own name to, and subsequently remove their own name from, the California Do Not Sell List, with the purpose of preventing the sale or transfer of a firearm to the person who adds their name, as specified.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, empowers the Governor to proclaim a state of emergency under certain circumstances. Existing law defines a state of emergency to mean the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state caused by conditions such as, among others, air pollution, fire, flood, and storm. Existing law defines a local emergency to mean the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the territorial limits of a county, city and county, or city, caused by conditions such as, among others, air pollution, fire, flood, and storm. This bill would add climate change and climate change exacerbated conditions to the list of conditions for which a state of emergency or local emergency may be proclaimed. Existing law, the California Disaster Assistance Act, requires the Director of Emergency Services to provide financial assistance to local agencies for their personnel costs, equipment costs, and the cost of supplies and materials used during disaster response activities, incurred as a result of a state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor, subject to specified criteria. The act continuously appropriates moneys in the Disaster Assistance Fund and its subsidiary account, the Earthquake Emergency Investigations Account, without regard to fiscal year, for purposes of the act. Existing law, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would enact the California Individual Assistance Act to establish a grant program to provide funds to community-based organizations for specified costs related to a disaster, as prescribed. The bill would require the Director of Social Services to allocate moneys from the California Individual Assistance Act Account, which the bill would establish as a special account within the Disaster Assistance Fund, for purposes of the program. The bill would authorize the Director of Social Services to adopt regulations, as determined to be necessary, to govern the administration of the program. The bill would require the Controller to transfer $100,000,000 of the moneys in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the California Individual Assistance Act Account for purposes of the act. By transferring moneys into a continuously appropriated fund, and by authorizing increased expenditure of moneys from a continuously appropriated fund for a new purpose, the bill would make an appropriation. This bill would additionally enact the California Local Assistance Act to establish a grant program to provide funds to local and tribal governments, transportation systems, and communities for specified costs related to a disaster, as prescribed. The bill would require the Strategic Growth Council to allocate moneys from the California Local Assistance Act Account, which the bill would establish as a special account within the Disaster Assistance Fund, for purposes of the program. The bill would authorize the Strategic Growth Council to adopt regulations, as determined to be necessary, to govern the administration of the program. The bill would require the Controller to transfer $400,000,000 of the moneys in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the California Local Assistance Act Account for purposes of the act. By transferring moneys into a continuously appropriated fund, and by authorizing increased expenditure of moneys from a continuously appropriated fund for a new purpose, the bill would make an appropriation.