Sen. Suzette Valladares

Existing law requires the governing board of any school district to give diligent care to the health and physical development of pupils and authorizes the governing board of a school district to employ properly certified persons for the work, including school psychologists and counselors. This bill would require the State Department of Education, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to provide up to $500,000,000 in grants each year for the purpose of providing mental health services for all pupils, including those affected by school closures and distance learning requirements resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill would require the department to allocate those grants to local educational agencies, as specified. The bill would be implemented only to the extent that funds for its purposes are appropriated by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, and would authorize that appropriation to come from any available state and federal funds.

Existing law authorizes the Employment Development Department (department) to administer the federal-state unemployment insurance program and provides for the payment of unemployment compensation benefits to eligible individuals who are unemployed through no fault of their own. Existing law establishes procedures for the filing, determination, and payment of benefit claims, and those benefits are payable from the Unemployment Fund. Existing law requires the department to promptly pay benefits if it finds the claimant is eligible and to promptly deny benefits if it finds the claimant is ineligible for benefits. Existing law requires the department to consider facts submitted by an employer in making this determination and also provides for the department to audit claims, as specified. Existing law provides a procedure for a claimant or a base employer to challenge a determination of the computation or recomputation of the benefits. This bill would require the department to provide a claimant with a notification of the computation used to determine their benefits within 30 days of the receipt of the claim and to respond to a challenge by the claimant or the base employer based on the computation or recomputation of benefits within 15 days of the receipt of the protest, except as specified. This bill would also make technical changes to these provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law imposes an annual minimum franchise tax of $800, except as provided, on every corporation incorporated in this state, qualified to transact intrastate business in this state, or doing business in this state. Existing law also imposes an annual tax in an amount equal to the minimum franchise tax on every limited partnership, limited liability partnership, and limited liability company doing business in this state, as specified. Existing law requires any 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, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2022, and before January 1, 2027, would reduce the minimum franchise tax to $400 for small businesses, as defined, and to $200 for microbusinesses, as defined. The bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2022, and before January 1, 2027, would also reduce the annual tax for the limited liability companies described above that are small businesses to $400 and that are microbusinesses to $200. The bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new income tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to distribute intimate images of another person, as specified, that were intended to remain private, and that results in the serious emotional distress of the person depicted. This bill would expand that crime by removing the requirement that the person depicted suffer serious emotional distress. The bill would additionally require a person who violates this provision to register as a sex offender. By expanding the scope of 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 provides for unemployment compensation benefits to eligible persons who are unemployed through no fault of their own. These provisions are generally administered by the Employment Development Department. Existing law requires unemployment compensation benefits that are directly deposited to an account of the recipient's choice to be deposited to a qualifying account. Existing law defines "qualifying account" for these purposes to mean a demand deposit or savings account at an insured financial institution in the name of the person entitled to receipt of public assistance payments or a prepaid card account that meets certain requirements, including that the prepaid card account may not be attached to any credit or overdraft feature that is automatically repaid from the account after delivery of the payment. This bill would, by July 1, 2021, provide that the recipient of the unemployment compensation benefits has the right to choose whether the benefits payments are directly deposited into a qualifying account or applied to a prepaid debit card. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, generally allow various deductions in computing the income that is subject to taxes imposed by those laws, including a deduction for a net operating loss as specified. Existing law suspends the deduction for a net operating loss, as specified, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2023. The Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law generally authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. Existing law provides that, except as specified, the total credits allowable under those laws may not reduce the taxes imposed by those laws by more than $5,000,000, as provided, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2023. This bill, the Golden State Innovation Act of 2021, would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2023, exclude a taxpayer that performs research and development in biotechnology, as described, from the above-described suspension of the deduction for net operating losses and the above-described limitation on the total credits allowable. 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. The bill also 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 authorizes the Employment Development Department (department) to administer the federal-state unemployment insurance program and provides for the payment of unemployment compensation benefits to eligible individuals who are unemployed through no fault of their own. Existing law establishes procedures for the filing, determination, and payment of benefit claims, and those benefits are payable from the Unemployment Fund. Existing law requires the department to promptly pay benefits if it finds the claimant is eligible and to promptly deny benefits if it finds the claimant is ineligible for benefits. Existing law requires the department to consider facts submitted by an employer in making this determination and also provides for the department to audit claims, as specified. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2021, require the department, as part of its process for determining eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits, cross-check all claimant information with state and county correctional facility inmate data in an effort to detect fraudulent applications. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes the Governor to declare a state of emergency during conditions of disaster or extreme peril to persons or property, including epidemics. Pursuant to this authority, on March 4, 2020, the Governor declared a state of emergency relating to the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. On August 28, 2020, the executive branch implemented a 4-tier "Blueprint for a Safer Economy," which identifies a county's COVID-19 risk level for business operations on a scale from widespread risk to minimal risk. On October 20, 2020, the State Department of Public Health and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health issued a guidance document, "COVID-19 INDUSTRY GUIDANCE: Amusement Parks and Theme Parks," which authorizes a small amusement park to operate at limited capacity when its county is in the moderate tier, and authorizes any other amusement park to operate at 25% capacity when its county is in the minimal tier. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature that the executive branch adjust the "COVID-19 INDUSTRY GUIDANCE: Amusement Parks and Theme Parks" document and place all amusement parks, regardless of size, within the moderate risk tier, rather than the minimal risk tier. If the executive branch takes those actions, the bill would require the Department of Industrial Relations to administer a competitive grant for amusement parks to be used by amusement parks to purchase personal protective equipment for their employees. The bill would appropriate $500,000 from the General Fund for the grant program. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.

Existing state and federal law defines and regulates the provision of consumer credit reports. Existing state law requires a consumer credit reporting agency to place a security freeze on the provision of consumer reports for certain protected consumers, as defined, if specified requirements are met. For these purposes, existing law defines a "protected consumer" as including, among others, an individual under the jurisdiction of a county welfare department or a county probation department who has been placed in foster care and is under 16 years of age at the time the security freeze request is made. This bill would revise the definition of a protected consumer, as described above, to include individuals under the jurisdiction of a county welfare department or a county probation department who have been placed in foster care and are under 18 years of age at the time the security freeze request is made.

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 authorizes community colleges to charge students a fee of $46 per unit per semester, and also authorizes the waiver of this fee for students who meet specified criteria. This bill would require the governing board of each community college district to waive the fee requirement for any student enrolled in certain child development courses who has declared a specified child development major and who has completed and submitted either a Free Application for Federal Student Aid or a California Dream Act application. To the extent this bill would impose a new duty on a community college district, 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, 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.