(1) The hazardous waste control laws require the Department of Toxic Substances Control to regulate the handling and management of hazardous materials and hazardous waste. Existing law, known as the Green Chemistry program, requires the department to adopt regulations to establish a process to identify and prioritize chemicals or chemical ingredients in consumer products that may be considered as being chemicals of concern. Regulations adopted by the department refer to a chemical-product combination that has been identified and prioritized pursuant to that provision as a "priority product." Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations that establish a process for evaluating chemicals of concern in priority products, and their potential alternatives, to determine how best to limit exposure to or to reduce the level of hazard posed by chemicals of concern, as specified. Regulations adopted by the department require a responsible entity, defined to mean a manufacturer, importer, assembler, or retailer, for a priority product to conduct an analysis of alternatives for the priority product. Existing law requires the department's regulations to specify the range of regulatory responses that the department may take following the completion of the analysis of alternatives. A violation of the hazardous waste control laws, including the Green Chemistry program, is a crime. This bill would authorize the department, in lieu of requiring the analysis of alternatives, following public notice and an opportunity for public comment, to instead rely on all or part of one or more applicable publicly available studies or evaluations of alternatives to the chemical of concern under consideration in a consumer product, in existence at the time of consideration, and to proceed directly to a regulatory response, as provided. The bill would require the department to amend specified regulations to conform to these provisions. The bill would authorize the department to issue a formal request for information from product manufacturers, as defined, and would require a product manufacturer to provide to the department data and information on the ingredients and use of a consumer product upon the department's request within a specified timeframe, including, among other specified data and information, information on ingredient chemical identity, concentration, and functional use. The bill would require a product manufacturer, if the product manufacturer certifies in writing that it does not have access to information requested, in whole or in part, and has attempted to, but cannot, obtain that information from the supplier or chemical manufacturer, as defined, to provide the identity and contact information of the supplier or chemical manufacturer to the department. The bill would authorize the department to issue an independent information request to the supplier or chemical manufacturer for the unknown information that the product manufacturer certifies it does not have access to and for the identity and contact information of other suppliers or chemical manufacturers, as necessary to access the information requested. The bill would require the chemical manufacturer or supplier to provide that information to the department. The bill would impose, except as provided, a civil penalty of no more than $50,000 on a person who violates any of these provisions for each separate violation or, for continuing violations, for each day that violation continues, and would require that any penalties collected be deposited in the Toxic Substances Control Account. Because a violation of these requirements would also be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would declare that it is the policy goal of the state to ensure the safety of consumer products sold in California through timely administrative and legislative action on consumer products and chemicals of concern in those products, particularly those products that may have disproportionate impacts on sensitive populations. (2) Regulations adopted by the department require the department to issue a "Priority Product Work Plan" every 3 years that identifies and describes the product categories that the department will evaluate to identify product-chemical combinations to be added to the priority products list during the 3 years following the issuance of the work plan. This bill would require, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose, the department to include in each work plan, commencing with the 2024–26 work plan, in addition to any other information that the department is required to include pursuant to the regulations, a brief description of specified information, including any additional ingredient information that is needed for the department to evaluate the safety of the consumer products, as provided. (3) Regulations adopted by the department provide for an informal dispute resolution procedure that authorizes a responsible entity to request that the department informally resolve a dispute regarding a decision made by the department and requires the department to provide the responsible entity with an opportunity to resolve the dispute informally. The regulations also provide for an appeal process, following completion of the informal dispute resolution process, as provided. This bill would provide that, if the department provides public notice of a proposed regulation pursuant to the Green Chemistry program, and an opportunity to comment prior to the adoption of the regulation, that dispute resolution procedure and appeal process is not available to a person who seeks to dispute the regulation. (4) 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.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, establishes the California Building Standards Commission within the Department of General Services. Existing law requires the commission to approve and adopt building standards and to codify those standards in the California Building Standards Code. Existing law requires the commission to adopt, approve, codify, and publish mandatory building standards for the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure for parking spaces in multifamily dwellings and nonresidential development. Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to propose mandatory building standards for the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure for parking spaces in multifamily dwellings and submit the proposed mandatory building standards to the commission for consideration. Existing law requires the department and the commission, in proposing and adopting these standards, to actively consult with specified parties. This bill, for purposes of the requirements described above, would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to research and develop, and would authorize the department to propose to the commission for adoption, mandatory building standards for parking spaces in multifamily dwellings that achieve specified objectives. In this regard, the bill would require those mandatory building standards to require that each multifamily dwelling unit with access to parking have at least one parking space served by a dedicated branch circuit terminating in a receptacle or an electric vehicle charging station and to include specified signage. The bill would additionally require the commission and the department to consult with interested parties, including multifamily dwelling residents and electric vehicle equity advocate groups, in researching and developing these standards.
(1) Existing law provides for the establishment of various special districts that may support and finance housing development, including affordable housing special beneficiary districts that are authorized to promote affordable housing development with certain property tax revenues that a city or county would otherwise be entitled to receive. Existing law, the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Housing Finance Act, establishes the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority to raise, administer, and allocate funding for affordable housing in the San Francisco Bay area, as defined, and provide technical assistance at a regional level for tenant protection, affordable housing preservation, and new affordable housing production. This bill, the Los Angeles County Regional Housing Finance Act, would establish the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency and would state that the agency's purpose is to increase the supply of affordable housing in Los Angeles County by providing for significantly enhanced funding and technical assistance at a regional level for renter protections, affordable housing preservation, and new affordable housing production, as specified. The bill would require a board composed of 21 voting members and one nonvoting member from Los Angeles County, as specified, to govern the agency. This bill would permit the board to determine its organizational structure and to delegate specified powers. The bill would require the board to form an oversight committee composed of 11 members and one nonvoting member to assist in the development of funding guidelines, implementation of agency programs, and approval of an expenditure plan, as specified. The bill would require the board to provide for annual audits of the agency's general administration, accounts, and records, including an independent financial and performance audit for bonds secured by ad valorem property taxes, and provide for financial reports. The bill would include findings that the provisions proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities within Los Angeles County, including charter cities. This bill would authorize the agency to, among other things, raise and allocate new revenue, incur and issue bonds and other indebtedness, and place on the ballot in Los Angeles County, including all of its incorporated cities, funding measures, in accordance with applicable constitutional and statutory requirements, to raise and allocate funds to the county, the cities in the county, and other public agencies and affordable housing projects within its jurisdiction for purposes of preserving and enhancing existing housing, funding renter protection programs, and financing new construction of housing developments, as specified. In this regard, the bill would authorize the entity, among other things, to impose various special taxes, including a parcel tax and a documentary transfer tax, within its jurisdiction, and to issue bonds secured by the levy of ad valorem property taxes, in accordance with applicable constitutional requirements, and revenue bonds payable from the revenues of the agency, other than revenues generated from ad valorem property taxes. The bill would require that revenue generated by the agency pursuant to these provisions be used for specified housing purposes and would require the agency to distribute those funds in accordance with specified requirements, including the adoption of an annual plan by the board. This bill would require that revenue be allocated according to a geographic distribution schedule, as specified. Existing law defines "public works," for the purposes of regulating public works contracts, as, among other things, construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for, in whole or in part, out of public funds. Existing law further requires that, except as specified, not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages be paid to workers employed on public works and imposes misdemeanor penalties for a willful violation of this requirement. Under this bill, a construction or rehabilitation project receiving certain funding associated with the agency, as described, would constitute a public work for which prevailing wages are required to be paid. The bill would also provide that certain projects with 40 units or greater are eligible to receive funding or financing from the agency only if all construction and rehabilitation is subject to the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works PLA, as defined and specified, except that if a specific countywide project labor agreement, as defined, is negotiated, then the bill would provide that those projects are eligible for funding or financing from the agency only if all construction and rehabilitation is subject to that labor agreement rather than the Department of Public Works PLA, as specified. Because the willful violation of prevailing wage requirements when engaged in these public works projects would result in the imposition of misdemeanor penalties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA includes exemptions from its environmental review requirements for numerous categories of projects. This bill would exempt from the CEQA requirements certain actions taken by the agency. (3) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Los Angeles County. (4) By adding to the duties of local officials with respect to elections procedures for revenue measures on behalf of the agency, 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 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.
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, generally regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of solid waste. The act establishes stewardship programs for various products, including, among others, carpet, mattresses, and pharmaceutical and sharps waste. This bill would require the department to establish a pilot project of up to 3 years located in the Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura in partnership with garment manufacturers in order to study and report on the feasibility of recycling fabric, as specified. The bill would require the pilot project to be submitted by an applicant jurisdiction and designed to create a circular economy for the highest and best use of waste textiles. The bill would require the pilot project operator to annually report to the department, the amount, in pounds, of textiles that were collected and that were diverted from disposal in the prior year of the pilot project, among other information. The bill would require the pilot project to conclude no later than January 1, 2027. The bill would specify that any state funding provided for the pilot project is subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura.
Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, establishes the California Building Standards Commission within the Department of General Services and sets forth its powers and duties, including approval and adoption of building standards and codification of those standards into the California Building Standards Code. Existing law, the Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act, requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to adopt, among other regulations, lighting and other building design and construction standards that increase efficiency in the use of energy for new residential and nonresidential buildings to reduce the wasteful, uneconomic, inefficient, or unnecessary consumption of energy, including energy associated with the use of water, and to manage energy loads to help maintain electrical grid reliability. Existing law also requires the commission to adopt standards for minimum levels of operating efficiency and other cost-effective measures to promote the use of certain energy- and water-efficient appliances. This bill would require, with certain exceptions, a state agency, as defined, to ensure that an outdoor lighting fixture that is installed or replaced on or after January 1, 2023, on a structure or land that is owned, leased, or managed by the state agency is shielded, as defined, and meets additional specified criteria.
Under existing law, the State Lands Commission has jurisdiction over tidelands and submerged lands of the state. Existing law also makes a local trustee of granted public trust lands, as defined, a trustee of state lands and confers upon that trustee specified powers regarding the leasing or granting of rights or privileges in relation to those lands. When it appears to be in the public interest, existing law authorizes the commission to grant by competitive bidding leases for the extraction of minerals other than oil and gas from tidelands and submerged lands of the state under specified circumstances. This bill would repeal that authorization and would instead prohibit the commission or a local trustee of granted public trust lands from granting leases or issuing permits for the extraction or removal of hard minerals, as defined, from state waters subject to tidal influence, except as provided. The bill would also set forth legislative findings and declarations and make a conforming change.
(1) Existing law, the Joint Exercise of Powers Act, authorizes 2 or more public agencies by agreement to exercise any power common to the contracting parties. Existing law requires the agreement to state the purposes of the agreement or the power to be exercised, and provides that the agency or entity provided by the agreement to administer or execute the agreement may be one or more of the parties to the agreement, a commission or board constituted pursuant to the agreement, or a person, firm, or corporation, including a nonprofit corporation, designated in the agreement. Existing law authorizes the agreement to, among other things, provide for the repayment or return to the parties of all or any part of any contributions, payments, or advances made by the parties and for payment to the parties of any sum or sums derived from the revenues of said facilities and authorizes the contracting parties to the agreement to issue revenue bonds to pay the cost and expenses of acquiring or constructing a project or conducting a program for specified purposes. This bill, notwithstanding any other provision of the act, would authorize a private, nonprofit corporation formed for the purposes of providing services to zero-emission transportation systems or facilities, including, but not limited to, finance, design, construction, operation, or maintenance, or authorized by their board of directors to provide such services, to join a joint powers authority or enter into a joint powers agreement with a public agency to facilitate the development, construction, and operation of zero-emission transportation systems or facilities that lower greenhouse gases, reduce vehicle congestion and vehicle miles traveled, and improve public transit connections. The bill, notwithstanding any other law, would prohibit a joint powers authority formed pursuant to these provisions from incurring debt. Under the bill, the authority would be governed by a board of directors, composed as determined by the participating public agency or agencies. The bill would prohibit the representation of private, nonprofit mutual benefit corporations on the board of directors from exceeding 50%. The bill would define terms for its purposes. The bill's provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2032. (2) Existing law sets forth requirements for the solicitation and evaluation of bids and the awarding of contracts by public entities, including requirements applicable if the public entity is required by statute or regulation to obtain an enforceable commitment that a bidder, contractor, or other entity will use a skilled and trained workforce, as defined, to complete a contract or project. Except as specified, existing law requires that, for workers employed on public works, as defined, not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages, determined as provided by the Director of Industrial Relations, for work of a similar character in the locality in which the public work is performed be paid to those workers, as provided. This bill, except as specified, would require a joint powers authority formed pursuant to the bill that undertakes a project to obtain an enforceable commitment that any entity undertaking the project will use a skilled and trained workforce. The bill would require a private entity performing the work on a project for the joint powers authority to certify, in writing and under penalty of perjury, that prevailing wages will be paid to workers on the project, as provided, and that a skilled and trained workforce will be used to perform all construction work on the project. By requiring private entities performing work on a project under these provisions to certify this information, thereby expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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, until January 1, 2025, establishes the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program under the administration of the Director of the Office of Emergency Services to improve the physical security of nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of violent attacks or hate crimes due to ideology, beliefs, or mission, and repeals these provisions on that date. Existing law authorizes award recipients to use grant funds for various security enhancements, as specified. Under existing law, the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program limits the amount of any award to $200,000. This bill would additionally include as eligible security training. The bill would increase the amount an award recipient may be awarded from $200,000 to $500,000 and would authorize an award recipient to use up to 5% of grant funds towards management and administration, as described. The bill would limit the amount an award recipient may use on construction and renovation to $100,000 of the funds awarded. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to provide ongoing assistance to applicants that require a vulnerability or threat assessment, as specified. This bill would delete the above-described January 1, 2025, repeal date, thereby extending the operation of the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program indefinitely.
Existing law establishes various offenses for a person who places or displays certain symbols, marks, signs, emblems, and other physical impressions, including, but not limited to, a Nazi swastika, hangs nooses, or burns or desecrates crosses or other religious symbols on private and nonprivate property, as specified, with the intent to terrorize a person, as specified. Existing law, for the first conviction, punishes a person who hangs a noose or places or displays a sign, mark, symbol, emblem, or other physical impression with the intent to terrorize a person, as specified, with imprisonment in county jail not to exceed one year, a fine not more than $5,000, or both the fine and imprisonment, and with imprisonment in county jail not to exceed one year, a fine not to exceed $15,000, or both the fine and imprisonment for a subsequent conviction. Existing law, for a person who engages in a pattern of conduct by placing or displaying certain symbols, as specified, allows a person's punishment to be increased to imprisonment of 16 months or 2 or 3 years, a fine not more than $10,000, or both. Existing law punishes a person convicted of burning or desecrating a religious symbol with imprisonment for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, by a fine of not more than $10,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment, or imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, by a fine not to exceed $5,000, or both the fine and imprisonment for the first conviction, and the same punishment for a subsequent conviction except the misdemeanor fine increases to $15,000. This bill would expand these offenses to include hanging a noose, placing or displaying a sign, mark, symbol, emblem, or other physical impression, including, but not limited to, a Nazi swastika, and burning, desecrating, or destroying a religious symbol, such as a cross, at schools and public places, generally, as specified, for the purpose of terrorizing a person, as specified. The bill would, for the first conviction, punish a person who hangs a noose, places or displays certain symbols, or burns or desecrates a religious symbol, as specified, with imprisonment for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, by a fine of not more than $10,000, or both the fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, by a fine not to exceed $5,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment. For a 2nd or subsequent conviction under these provisions, the bill would punish a person with imprisonment for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, by a fine of not more than $15,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, by a fine not to exceed $10,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature is to criminalize, for the purpose of terrorizing a person, the display or placement of the Nazi swastika and not swastikas associated with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. 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.
Existing law requires the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities attendant to oil and gas production. The federal Safe Drinking Water Act regulates certain wells as Class II injection wells. Under existing federal law, the authority to regulate Class II injection wells is delegated to the Geologic Energy Management Division. Under existing regulations, a well operator is required to obtain approval from the supervisor or a district deputy for a subsurface injection or disposal project, including Class II injection wells, and is required to file a notice of intention whenever a new well is to be drilled for use as an injection well or whenever an existing well is converted to an injection well. This bill would prohibit an operator from injecting a concentrated carbon dioxide fluid produced by a carbon dioxide capture project or a carbon dioxide capture and sequestration project into a Class II injection well for purposes of enhanced oil recovery, including the facilitation of enhanced oil recovery from another well. Under existing law, a person who fails to comply with specified requirements relating to the regulation of oil or gas operations is guilty of a misdemeanor. Because a violation of the prohibition specified in the 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.