Sen. Monique Limón

Existing law requires a bank, savings association, credit union, industrial loan company, savings bank, or other business entity, or a person who operates an automated teller machine to adopt procedures for evaluating the safety of an automated teller machine, including the incidence of crimes of violence in the immediate neighborhood of the automated teller machine as reflected in the records of the local law enforcement agency and of which the operator has actual knowledge. This bill would provide for the regulation of digital financial asset transaction kiosks, as defined, by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. The bill would, among other things, prohibit an operator, as defined, from accepting or dispensing more than $1,000 in a day from or to a customer via a digital financial asset transaction kiosk. The bill would require, on or after January 1, 2025, an operator, before a digital financial asset transaction, to provide a written disclosure in English and in the same language principally used by the operator to advertise, solicit, or negotiate with a customer containing the terms and conditions of the transaction, including the amount of a digital financial asset involved in the transaction. The bill would require an operator to provide a customer with a receipt for any transaction made at the operator's digital financial asset transaction kiosk that includes certain information, including the name of the customer and the date and time of the transaction. The bill would require an operator to provide to the department a list of all locations of digital financial asset transaction kiosks that the operator owns, operates, or manages in this state and would require the department to make that list for each operator available to the public on the department's internet website. This bill would become operative only if AB 39 of the 2023–24 Regular Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2024.

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, the Money Transmission Act, generally prohibits a person from engaging in the business of money transmission, as defined, without a license from the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation. This bill, the Digital Financial Assets Law, would, on and after July 1, 2025, prohibit a person from engaging in digital financial asset business activity, or holding itself out as being able to engage in digital financial asset business activity, with or on behalf of a resident unless any of certain criteria are met, including the person is licensed with the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, as prescribed. The bill would define "digital financial asset" to mean a digital representation of value that is used as a medium of exchange, unit of account, or store of value, and that is not legal tender, whether or not denominated in legal tender, except as specified. The bill would exempt activity by specified entities, and would authorize the commissioner, by regulation or order, to further exempt any person or transaction, if the commissioner finds the exemption to be in the public interest, as provided. This bill would, among other things, authorize the department to conduct examinations of a licensee, as prescribed, and would require a licensee to maintain, for all digital financial asset business activity with, or on behalf of, a resident for 5 years after the date of the activity, certain records, including a general ledger maintained at least monthly that lists all assets, liabilities, capital, income, and expenses of the licensee. This bill would authorize the department to take an enforcement measure against a licensee or person that is not a licensee but has engaged, is engaging, or is about to engage in digital financial asset business activity with, or on behalf of, a resident in any of certain instances, including the licensee or person materially violates the provisions of the bill, a rule adopted or order issued under the bill, or a law of this state other than the bill that applies to digital financial asset business activity of the violator with, or on behalf of, a resident. The bill would prescribe certain civil penalties for violations of its provisions. This bill would require a covered person, before engaging in digital financial asset business activity with a resident, to make certain disclosures to the resident, including a schedule of fees and charges the covered person may assess, the manner by which fees and charges will be calculated if they are not set in advance and disclosed, and the timing of the fees and charges. The bill would define "covered person" to mean a person required to obtain a license under the Digital Financial Assets Law. This bill would require an applicant, before submitting an application, to create and, during licensure, maintain in a record policies and procedures for, among other things, an information security program and an operational security program. This bill would become operative only if SB 401 of the 2023–24 Regular Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2024.

The Unfair Competition Law (UCL) makes various unfair competition practices unlawful, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice. Existing law regulates consumer refunds specific to certain industries under specified circumstances. This bill would require a hotel, third-party booking service, hosting platform, or short-term rental, as defined, to allow a reservation for a hotel accommodation or a short-term rental located in California to be canceled without penalty for at least 24 hours after the reservation is confirmed if the reservation is made 72 hours or more before the time of check-in. This bill would require, if a consumer cancels a reservation pursuant to that provision, the hotel, third-party booking service, hosting platform, or short-term rental to issue a refund to a consumer for all amounts paid to the hosting platform, hotel, third-party booking service, or short-term rental to the original form of payment within 30 days of the cancellation of the reservation. This bill would authorize certain public attorneys, including the Attorney General, to bring an enforcement action, as provided. The bill would require a court to impose a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each violation pursuant to consideration of specified factors. The bill would exempt certain types of reservations from its provisions, including a reservation made for a negotiated rate that was not advertised, or otherwise made available, for booking by the general public.

Existing law establishes procedures for authors to submit arguments for and against local ballot measures, and rebuttals to those arguments, in accordance with deadlines set by local elections officials. Existing law requires elections officials to select arguments from those submitted for publication in the voter information guide. This bill would establish a lead county, as defined, for the purposes of district or school district elections when the boundaries of the district or school district encompass more than one county. The bill would require authors of arguments for or against district or school district measures, and related rebuttal arguments, to submit the arguments to the elections official of the lead county. The bill would require the elections official of the lead county to work with the other counties within the district bounds to establish deadlines for receipt of the arguments. The bill would require the elections official of the lead county to select the arguments for publication in the county voter information guide, and to transmit copies of the selected arguments to elections officials in the other counties within the district or school district, as specified. The bill would require an elections official who receives arguments selected by the lead county to include the arguments in their county voter information guide. Existing law permits an elections official to post a form on their internet website for a candidate to use to submit the candidate's statement for the voter information portion of the county voter information guide. If the elections official posts the form, existing law requires the elections official to accept that form by electronic submission if it is submitted in accordance with certain timeframes and procedures for the preparation of the voter information portion of the county voter information guide. Existing law requires a candidate running in a multicounty district to provide to each county a hardcopy of the candidate statement form from the candidate's county of residence and payment of the requisite fee. This bill would require elections officials to post and accept electronic submission of a form for candidates to submit a candidate statement for the voter information portion of the county voter information guide. The bill would authorize a candidate running in a multicounty district to submit to each county an electronic copy of the form from the candidate's county of residence, and would require the candidate to transmit hardcopies of the candidate statement form, any accompanying form, and payment of the requisite fee to each county by overnight mail within 72 hours of filing the statement electronically. By increasing the duties of local elections officials, 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law authorizes a person who has been the victim of human trafficking to bring a civil action for damages, as specified, and also to be awarded attorney's fees and costs. Existing law authorizes a plaintiff to be awarded up to 3 times the plaintiff's actual damages or $10,000, whichever is greater. This bill would authorize the plaintiff to seek from the court a finding that specific debts attributed to the plaintiff were incurred as a result of trafficking and without the consent of the plaintiff. The bill would authorize the court to base its finding upon evidence that a debt attributed to the plaintiff was incurred as the result of any illegal act in which the plaintiff was the victim. The bill would provide that the finding would not affect the priority of any lien or other security interest. Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, establishes the Civil Rights Department under the direction of an executive officer known as the Director of Civil Rights to enforce civil rights laws, including laws relating to human trafficking. Existing law authorizes the director to bring a civil action in the name of the department, acting in the public interest, on behalf of an aggrieved person if conference, conciliation, mediation, or persuasion fails to eliminate an unlawful practice. Existing law requires the department to issue the person claiming to be aggrieved a right-to-sue notice if a civil action is not brought by the department, as specified. Existing law authorizes a court to grant relief, including awarding attorney's fees and costs and granting any relief a court is empowered to grant in a civil action, such as requiring an employer to conduct training for all employees, supervisors, and management, and assessing a civil penalty. This bill would provide that the court may grant any relief available under any of the civil rights laws enforced by the department. This bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health, subject to an appropriation in the Budget Act of 2016, to award funding to local health departments, local governmental agencies, or on a competitive basis to other organizations, as specified, to support or establish programs that provide naloxone or another opioid antagonist to first responders and at-risk opioid users through programs that serve at-risk drug users. Existing law exempts from civil liability a person who, in good faith and not for compensation, renders emergency medical or nonmedical care or assistance at the scene of an emergency other than an act or omission constituting gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct, as provided. This bill would require each stadium, concert venue, and amusement park to maintain unexpired doses of naloxone hydrochloride or any other opioid antagonist on its premises at all times, and to ensure that at least 2 employees are aware of the location of the naloxone hydrochloride or other opioid antagonist. The bill would exempt from civil or criminal liability a person who, in good faith, administers naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist by nasal spray or auto-injector on the premises of a stadium, concert venue, or amusement park, other than an act or omission constituting gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct, except as specified. The bill would exempt from civil or criminal liability a stadium, concert venue, or amusement park, or its employees, or an entity that owns, occupies, or operates a stadium, concert venue, or amusement park, or its employees, for the administration of naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist, or the failure to administer naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist, on the premises of the stadium, concert venue, or amusement park, as provided.

Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care, and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law prohibits, until January 1, 2024, an individual or group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2015, that provides coverage for prescribed, orally administered anticancer medications used to kill or slow the growth of cancerous cells from requiring an enrollee or insured to pay a total amount of copayments and coinsurance that exceeds $250 for an individual prescription of up to a 30-day supply of a prescribed orally administered anticancer medication, as specified. This bill would extend the duration of that prohibition indefinitely. By indefinitely extending the operation of the prohibition, and thus indefinitely extending the applicability of a crime for a willful violation by a health care service plan, 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.

Existing law, the California Retail Food Code, provides for the regulation of health and sanitation standards for retail food facilities by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law, with specified exceptions, requires a food handler to obtain a food handler card within 30 days of their date of hire and to maintain a valid food handler card for the duration of their employment as a food handler. Under existing law, a food handler card is issued only upon successful completion of a food handler training course and examination that meets certain requirements. Existing law requires that at least one food handler training course and examination cost no more than $15, including a food handler card. A violation of the California Retail Food Code is generally a misdemeanor. This bill would require an employer to consider the time that it takes for the employee to complete the training and the examination as compensable "hours worked," for which the employer would pay, and to pay the employee for any necessary expenditures or losses associated with the employee obtaining a food handler card. The bill would require the employer to relieve an employee of all other work duties while the employee is taking the training course and examination. The bill would prohibit an employer from conditioning employment on the applicant or employee having an existing food handler card. Under existing law, the provisions relating to a food handler card do not apply to a food handler subject to an existing local food handler program that took effect before January 1, 2009. This bill would make the new provisions described above also applicable to a food handler who is subject to one of those existing programs. The bill would require the department, by January 1, 2025, to post on its internet website a link to the internet website of certain accredited food handler training programs. The bill would require a local public health department to provide a link to that web page on its own internet website. By increasing the scope of a crime and creating new duties for local public health departments, 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 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.