Existing law establishes the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) , the State Board of Equalization (BOE) , and the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) to administer specified taxes. Existing law establishes in state government the Office of Tax Appeals (OTA) to conduct tax appeals hearings. This bill, until January 1, 2035, would establish in the Government Operations Agency the California Tax Policy Oversight Board, consisting of the Controller, Director of Finance, Chairperson of the State Board of Equalization, the Treasurer, and the Secretary of the Government Operations Agency, to work collaboratively with the above-described tax agencies to promote clarity and communication and to consider recommendations regarding input brought by the tax agencies, taxpayers, or other state or local entities, as specified. This bill would require the board to provide transparent, open, and accessible forums, meeting at least 2 times each year, and would require the boards to report on findings after each hearing, together with recommendations, to all participants, tax agencies, and the Governor. The bill would also require the board to issue an annual report to the Governor, the Legislative Analyst's Office, and the Legislature, as specified.
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Under existing law, a nonprofit organization that regularly organizes and hosts travel for elected officials and spends more than $10,000 in a calendar year, or more than $5,000 in a calendar year for a single person, for travel by an elected state officer or local elected officeholder, must disclose to the Fair Political Practices Commission the names of donors who, in the preceding year, donated more than $1,000 to the nonprofit organization and accompanied an elected state officer or local elected officeholder for any portion of the travel, as specified. Under existing law, this requirement applies only if the sum of the organization's expenses relating to travel, study tours, or conferences, conventions, and meetings, was greater than one-third of the organization's total expenses, as specified. This bill would instead require any person that regularly organizes and hosts travel for elected officials and spends more than $10,000 in a calendar year, or more than $5,000 in a calendar year for a single person, for travel by an elected state officer or local elected officeholder, to file certain disclosures with the commission. A violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 is punishable as a misdemeanor. By creating a new crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Existing law establishes the Low-Income Oversight Board to advise the Public Utilities Commission on low-income electricity, gas, and water customer issues and to serve as a liaison for the commission to low-income ratepayers and representatives. Existing law requires the board to carry out certain duties to advise the commission, including monitoring and evaluating implementation of all programs provided to low-income electricity, gas, and water customers. Existing law requires the commission, in conjunction with the board, among other things, to ensure that the energy burden of low-income electricity and gas customers is reduced. The board is comprised of 11 members, including 5 members selected by the commission who have expertise in the low-income community and who are not affiliated with any state agency or utility group, one member selected by the Governor, and one member selected by the Department of Community Services and Development. This bill would expand the membership of the board to 12 members by adding one member selected by the commission who is a representative of a low-income telecommunications provider. The bill would expand the duties of the board to include monitoring and evaluating implementation of all programs provided to low-income telecommunications customers. The bill would require the commission, in conjunction with the board, to ensure that the financial burden, rather than the energy burden, of low-income electricity, gas, water, and telecommunications customers is reduced. The bill would also require the commission, on or before January 1, 2026, to adopt a process by which a consumer enrolled in a commission-administered low-income utility program receives a notification at enrollment providing information about other utility assistance programs for which the consumer may be presumptively eligible, and information about how to apply for those programs. The bill would require the commission to work with the Low Income Oversight Board to develop an outreach strategy to improve enrollment of eligible households across low-income utility assistance programs. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing certain provisions of this bill would be a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities. Existing law provides compensation for reasonable advocate's fees, reasonable expert witness fees, and other reasonable costs to public utility customers for preparation for and participation in a hearing or proceeding of the commission. Existing law requires the commission to award a customer compensation if certain requirements are satisfied, including that the customer's presentation makes a substantial contribution to the adoption of the commission's order or decision. Existing law requires a customer who intends to seek compensation to file and serve on all parties to the proceeding, within 30 days after the prehearing conference is held, a notice of intent to claim compensation. This bill would instead require a customer who intends to seek compensation to file and serve on all parties to the proceeding a notice of intent to claim compensation within 30 days after the prehearing conference is held or within 30 days of becoming a party to the proceeding, whichever is later.
Existing law imposes on the Department of Water Resources various duties with respect to water in the state. Existing law, the Open and Transparent Water Data Act, requires the department, in consultation with the California Water Quality Monitoring Council, the State Water Resources Control Board, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife, to create, operate, and maintain a statewide integrated water data platform that, among other things, integrates existing water and ecological data information from multiple databases and provides data on completed water transfers and exchanges. This bill would require the department, while seeking input from the California Water Data Consortium, as defined, to create a water data dashboard that is accessible through its internet website, as specified. The bill would include related findings and declarations.
Existing law requires that each application for an original or a renewal of a driver's license contain certain information, including the applicant's true full name, age, and gender. Existing law also requires the application for a driver's license or identification card to contain certain specified elements, including, among other things, whether the applicant has served in the Armed Forces of the United States and a space for an applicant to enroll in the Donate Life California Organ and Tissue Donor Registry. This bill would require the application forms for a driver's license or identification card to contain a space for a person to voluntarily disclose that the applicant has a disability, as defined by the federal American with Disabilities Act (ADA) , and that the disability interferes with the person's ability to effectively communicate with a peace officer. The bill would require the disclosed disability to be certified by a licensed health professional, as specified, on appropriate forms to be developed by the Department of Motor Vehicles. The bill would require the department to develop an appropriate disability identifier symbol to be placed on a driver's license or identification card that is discreet and represents all types of disabilities, as specified. The bill would provide that a person may choose to no longer have a disability identifier symbol placed on the person's driver's license or identification card and would prohibit the department from retaining any information related to the person's disability. The bill would require the department to issue a new driver's license or identification card without a disability identifier symbol upon request. The bill would require the department to work with the Department of the California Highway Patrol and other relevant stakeholders to develop peace officer training on the meaning of the voluntary disability identifier symbol. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, to provide a report to the Legislature and relevant policy committees detailing the disability identifier symbol program and the percentage of persons issued a driver's license or identification card who requested a disability identifier symbol. This bill would make the above provisions operative on January 1, 2027.
Existing law regulates the sale of subdivided lands and prescribes definitions for this purpose. Existing law defines a subdivision to include, among other things, condominium projects and planned developments, as specified, and other common interest developments. Existing law requires a person who intends to offer subdivided lands for sale or lease to file with the Department of Real Estate an application for a public report, as specified. Existing law prescribes various restrictions on the sale or lease of lots in a subdivision. In certain instances, existing law permits lots to be sold or leased only if the money paid or advanced by a purchaser or lessee is placed into an escrow account or a bond furnished for the purpose of protecting purchasers or lessees. This bill would permit a purchaser's deposit that is held in escrow pursuant to a binding sales contract for a lot or parcel within a subdivision that is not yet constructed or developed to be disbursed before closing to pay for project construction costs, as specified. The bill would permit the disbursement of a purchaser's deposit before closing and the conveyance or leasing of any unit before completion of construction if specified conditions are met, including, among other things, that the developer has submitted to the Department of Real Estate a project budget showing all costs required to be paid in order to complete the project, the department has reviewed and approved the proposed disbursement, and the purchaser provides express informed consent to the disbursement, as specified. If a purchaser's funds are to be disbursed before the completion of construction of the project, the bill would require the developer to submit specified information to the Department of Real Estate, including, among other things, a copy of the purchaser's express informed consent to the disbursement. The bill would permit the disbursement of a purchaser's deposit before closing and the disbursement of moneys from the conveyance or leasing of units before completion of construction to pay any cost set forth in the project budget, as specified. The bill would require a specified notice to be prominently displayed in the developer's public report for the project if a purchaser's deposit is to be disbursed before closing or if moneys from the conveyance or leasing of units before completion of construction are to be disbursed to pay for project costs. The bill would require the Department of Real Estate to complete a review required by these provisions within 30 days of receipt of the document to be reviewed. Existing law provides that a provision in a contract to purchase and sell residential property that provides that all or any part of a payment made by the buyer constitutes liquidated damages to the seller upon the buyer's failure to complete the purchase of the property is valid if certain conditions are satisfied, including certain conditions pertaining to whether the amount actually paid pursuant to the liquidated damages provision does or does not exceed 3% of the purchase price. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding the provisions described above, the amount actually paid pursuant to a liquidated damages provision may exceed 3% of the purchase price if the bill's provisions described above are satisfied, in which case the bill would require that the liquidated damages equal the amount of the deposit.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission 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. Existing law requires the commission, 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. This bill would prohibit modifications to the amount of the income-graduated fixed charge from exceeding changes in inflation, as provided. The bill would make the provisions authorizing the income-graduated fixed charge inoperative on July 1, 2028. The bill, commencing July 1, 2028, would instead permit the commission to authorize fixed charges that, as of January 1, 2015, do not exceed $5 per residential customer account per month for low-income customers enrolled in the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program and that do not exceed $10 per residential customer account per month for customers not enrolled in the CARE program. The bill would authorize these maximum allowable fixed charges to be adjusted by no more than the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for the prior calendar year, beginning January 1, 2016. The bill would require the commission to adopt any modification to an existing fixed charge for the collection of a reasonable portion of the fixed costs of providing electrical service to residential customers in a stand-alone proceeding. The bill would prohibit a fixed charge from resulting in an increase to an electrical corporation's revenue requirement. The bill would require the commission, on or before July 1, 2027, but no sooner than 2 years after the adoption of the income-graduated fixed charge, to submit a public report to the relevant policy committees of both houses of the Legislature on the electrical corporations' implementation of the income-graduated fixed charge and other cost-saving options, 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 the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and therefore a violation of the bill's requirements or of a commission action implementing its 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.
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.