Existing law imposes renewal fee penalties for late payment of vehicle registration except in limited specified cases. Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to waive the registration penalties accrued before the purchase of a vehicle upon payment for the fees for registration due, if the transferee or purchaser was not aware that the fees were unpaid. Existing law also authorizes the department to waive the registration fees that became due before the purchase of the vehicle if the transferee or purchaser was not aware that the fees were unpaid and the license plate assigned to the vehicle displays a validating device issued by the department that contains the year number of the registration year for which the transferee or purchaser is requesting a waiver of fees. Existing law further provides that these unpaid fees and penalties are the personal debt of the transferor of the vehicle and may be collected by the department in an appropriate civil action if the department has waived the fees and penalties. This bill would instead require the department to waive delinquent registration fees and penalties when a transferee or purchaser of a vehicle applies for a transfer of registration if the department determines that the fees became due or the penalties accrued before the purchase of the vehicle. The bill would require the department to create a system to collect these delinquent fees and penalties from the seller or transferor. The bill would repeal the provision authorizing the department to collect the waived fees and penalties in a civil action. These provisions would become operative on January 1, 2028.
Sponsored bills
Existing law makes it a crime to solicit or encourage a minor to commit specified crimes relating to controlled substances, to hire or employ a minor to transport or sell controlled substances, or to sell or give controlled substances to minors and imposes a punishment of imprisonment for a period of 3, 6, or 9 years. Existing law makes a person who is 18 years of age or older who violates these provisions with respect to heroin, cocaine, or cocaine base on the grounds of, or within certain locations, such as a church, synagogue, or a public swimming pool, among others, or on the grounds of, or within 1,000 feet of, public or private schools, as specified, subject to punishment with an additional enhancement in the state prison of one or 2 years. This bill would make the above-described enhancement applicable to offenses involving fentanyl if the person had knowledge that the specific controlled substance involved was fentanyl. By increasing the penalties for a crime, this bill would create 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 makes theft a crime, and distinguishes between grand theft and petty theft. Existing law makes the theft of money, labor, or property petty theft punishable as a misdemeanor, whenever the value of the property taken does not exceed $950. Under existing law, if the value of the property taken exceeds $950, the theft is grand theft, punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. Existing law makes a first conviction for petty theft involving merchandise taken from a merchant's premises punishable by a mandatory fine and as a misdemeanor. This bill would require the Department of Justice to determine the number of misdemeanor convictions for a crime of theft for which the property was taken from a retail establishment during the Governor's declared state of emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to report that information to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2026.
Existing law makes it a crime to possess for sale or purchase for purpose of sale, transport, or sell, various controlled substances, including, among others, fentanyl. Existing law requires the court, when granting probation after conviction of any controlled substance offense, as specified, to order as a condition of probation that the defendant secure education or treatment from a local community agency and requires the court or probation department to refer defendants to controlled substance education or treatment programs that adhere to specified standards. Existing law permits a defendant to withdraw their plea of guilty or plea of nolo contendere and enter a plea of not guilty and authorizes a court to set aside a verdict of guilty, if the defendant has met certain requirements. This bill would require a person who is convicted of, or who pleads guilty or no contest to, the above-described crimes as they relate to fentanyl to receive a written advisory of the danger of distribution of controlled substances and that, if a person dies as a result of that action, the distributor can be charged with homicide or murder. The bill would require that the fact the advisory was given be on the record and recorded on the abstract of the conviction. This bill would require a defendant who is charged with the above-described crimes to be ordered to complete a substance education or treatment program, as described above, and would state that a defendant who successfully completes an education or treatment program is eligible for the relief described above. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law provides for the civil commitment of criminal offenders who have been determined to be sexually violent predators for treatment in a secure state hospital facility, as specified. Existing law authorizes the conditional release of a sexually violent predator under specified circumstances, and requires the State Department of State Hospitals to make the necessary placement arrangements to place the person in a community, as specified. This bill would prohibit the department or its designee from placing a person who has been conditionally released in a community if the person does not have housing in a qualified dwelling, and would define "qualified dwelling" to mean a structure intended for human habitation by one person or a single family and that is not within 10 feet of another dwelling.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to adopt new, or expand existing, fixed charges, as defined, for the purpose of collecting a reasonable portion of the fixed costs of providing electrical service to residential customers. Under existing law, the commission may authorize fixed charges for any rate schedule applicable to a residential customer account, and is required, no later than July 1, 2024, to authorize a fixed charge for default residential rates. Existing law requires these fixed charges to be established on an income-graduated basis, with no fewer than 3 income thresholds, so that low-income ratepayers in each baseline territory would realize a lower average monthly bill without making any changes in usage. Existing law requires the PUC to continue the California Alternative Rates for Energy (CARE) program to provide assistance to low-income electric and gas customers with annual household incomes that are no greater than 200% of the federal poverty guideline levels, as specified. This bill would require the PUC to require each electrical corporation to offer default rates to residential customers with at least 2 usage tiers, as provided. The bill would eliminate the requirement that the fixed charges be established on an income-graduated basis as described above, repeal related findings and declarations of the Legislature, and authorize the commission to instead authorize fixed charges that, as of January 1, 2015, do not exceed $10 per residential customer account per month for customers not enrolled in the CARE program and $5 per residential customer account per month for customers enrolled in the CARE program. The bill would authorize the maximum allowable fixed charge to be adjusted by no more than the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for the prior calendar year, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing the above-described requirements would be a crime, 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) grants a consumer various rights with respect to personal information that is collected or sold by a business, including the right to request that a business delete personal information about the consumer that the business has collected from the consumer, as specified. The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA) , approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the CCPA and establishes the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) and vests the agency with full administrative power, authority, and jurisdiction to enforce the CCPA. Existing law defines and requires the CPPA to regulate data brokers. Existing law, by January 1, 2026, requires the CPPA to establish an accessible deletion mechanism that meets certain requirements, including that it support the ability of a consumer's authorized agents to aid in the deletion request. This bill would impose additional requirements on the accessible deletion mechanism regarding authorized agents. In this regard, the bill would, among other things, require an authorized agent aiding in a deletion request to be registered with, and certified by, the CPPA, and would prohibit the authorized agent from charging the consumer a fee, as specified. The bill would also require the accessible deletion mechanism to include certain information for a data broker to directly contact the consumer requesting the deletion, and procedures to authenticate the identity of the consumer, as specified. Existing law requires a data broker, when denying a consumer's deletion request because the request cannot be verified, to process the request as an opt out of the sale or sharing of the consumer's personal information, as specified, and to direct all service providers or contractors associated with the data broker to process the request in the same way. This bill would recast that provision to instead authorize a data broker that denies a consumer request to delete because the request cannot be verified to ask if the consumer wants the data broker to process the request as an opt out, as specified. The bill would also authorize the data broker to deny the request if the data broker has a good faith, reasonable, and documented belief that the request is fraudulent, as specified, or if the request was submitted through an authorized agent who has not provided the consumer's signed permission demonstrating the agent's authority to act on the consumer's behalf. Existing law authorizes the CPPA to adopt regulations to implement and administer this title, as specified. This bill would instead require the CPPA to adopt those regulations on or before August 1, 2025. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes and intent of the CPRA for specified reasons.