Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , approved by the voters as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of marijuana for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. Under AUMA, a person 18 years of age or older who plants, cultivates, harvests, dries, or processes more than 6 living cannabis plants, or any part thereof, may be charged with a felony if specified conditions exist, including when the offense causes substantial environmental harm to public lands or other public resources. AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend its provisions by a 23 vote of each house if the amendment furthers its purposes and intent. This bill would amend AUMA by adding to the above-described conditions planting, cultivating, harvesting, drying, or processing marijuana that results in substantial environmental harm to surface or groundwater. By expanding the scope of 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.
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The Field Act requires the Department of General Services under the police power of the state to supervise the design and construction of any school building or the reconstruction or alteration of or addition to any school building, if not exempted, to ensure that plans and specifications comply with adopted rules and regulations and building standards published in regulations, and to ensure that the work of construction is performed in accordance with the approved plans and specifications for the protection of life and property. The California Building Standards Code requires that specified buildings, structures, and facilities be accessible to, and useable by, persons with disabilities, including that when alterations or additions are made to existing buildings or facilities, an accessible path of travel to the specific area of alteration or addition is provided. This bill would limit the cost of complying with the requirement to provide an accessible path of travel to a free-standing, open-sided shade structure project that meets specified requirements and that is on a school district, county office of education, charter school, or community college campus to 20% of the adjusted construction cost, as defined, of the shade structure project.
The Regional Planning Law provides that the people of California have a fundamental interest in the orderly development of the urban regions of the state in which large segments of the state's population are concentrated. Existing law requires, in order to facilitate effective and harmonious planning and development of an area included in a regional planning district, all county and city legislative bodies, and all county, city, or other planning agencies within the regional planning district to file with the regional planning board, for its information, among other things, all published development plans. Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Water Resources and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. Existing law authorizes the department, either independently or in cooperation with any person or any county, state, federal, or other agency, to collect hydrologic data necessary for river forecasting, to make forecasts of stream flow, to provide for flood warning, and to provide for communication necessary for the collection and dissemination of that information. Existing law authorizes the conservancy to award grants or make interest-free loans to cities, counties, resource conservation districts, and recreation and park districts for the purpose of restoring areas which, because of scattered ownerships, poor lot layout, inadequate lot size, inadequate park and open space, incompatible land uses, or other conditions, are adversely affecting the Santa Monica Mountains environment or are impeding orderly development. This bill would require the department and the conservancy to provide assistance to the City of Los Angeles and the United States Army Corps of Engineers, to the extent requested, in order to integrate nature-based climate solutions, as defined, into the planning process for the Sepulveda Basin, as defined. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Sepulveda Basin.
Existing law, the Compassionate Access to Medical Cannabis Act or Ryan's Law, requires specified types of health care facilities to allow a terminally ill patient's use of medicinal cannabis within the health care facility, as defined, subject to certain restrictions. Existing law requires that health care facilities permitting patient use of medicinal cannabis comply with other drug and medication requirements, as specified, and makes those facilities subject to enforcement actions by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law authorizes a health care facility to suspend compliance with these provisions if a regulatory agency, the United States Department of Justice, or the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services takes specified actions, including initiating an enforcement action against a health care facility related to the facility's compliance with a state-regulated medical marijuana program. This bill would expand those provisions to a patient who is over 65 years of age with a chronic disease. The bill would expand the definition of health care facility to also include a home health agency, as defined. The bill would additionally require a health care facility permitting patient use of medicinal cannabis, as specified, to ensure a denial of admission to the health care facility is not because of the patient's use of medicinal cannabis. The bill would also authorize a health care facility to suspend compliance with these provisions if a regulatory agency, the United States Department of Justice, or the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services makes an inquiry about the health care facility's activities.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to implement and administer the Distributed Electricity Backup Assets Program to incentivize the construction of distributed energy assets that would serve as on-call emergency supply or load reduction for the electrical grid during extreme events. Existing law requires the commission to also implement and administer the Demand Side Grid Support Program to incentivize dispatchable customer load reduction and backup generation operation as on-call emergency supply or load reduction for the electrical grid during extreme events. Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to implement projects, purchases, and contracts to carry out the purposes of those programs. Existing law authorizes the department to construct, own and operate, or contract for specified types of electrical generation and energy storage facilities for these purposes. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act requires the state board to adopt regulations to require the reporting and verification of statewide greenhouse gas emissions, as provided. The act also requires the state board to adopt greenhouse gas emissions limits and emissions reduction measures by regulation, including the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. This bill would expressly require facilities constructed by the department or under a contract with the department for purposes of the Distributed Electricity Backup Assets Program or the Demand Side Grid Support Program to comply with the regulations adopted by the state board.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of clinics, including primary care clinics and specialty clinics, by the State Department of Public Health. A violation of these provisions is a crime. Existing law excludes certain facilities from those provisions, including a clinic that is operated by a primary care community or free clinic and that is operated on separate premises from the licensed clinic and is only open for limited services of no more than 40 hours a week, also referred to as an intermittent clinic. Existing law imposes various reporting requirements on clinics, including requiring a clinic to provide a verified report to the Department of Health Care Access and Information including information relating to the previous calendar year, such as the number of patients served and specified descriptive information, medical and other health services provided, total clinic operating expenses, and gross patient charges by payer category. Existing law specifies that the reporting requirements apply to all primary care clinics. Existing law requires the Department of Health Care Access and Information to be the single state agency designated to collect certain health facility or clinic data for use by all state agencies, as prescribed. Commencing January 1, 2027, this bill would repeal and recast these reporting requirements, including, but not limited to, extending their application to intermittent clinics operated by licensed clinics. The bill would establish specific reporting requirements for specialty clinics, as defined. The bill would require an organization that operates, conducts, owns, or maintains a primary care clinic or intermittent clinic, and its officers, to file specified reports with the Department of Health Care Access and Information for every primary care clinic and every intermittent clinic that it operates, conducts, owns, or maintains, on or before the 15th day of February each year, including, but not limited to, a report of all mergers and acquisitions, a detailed labor report, and a report of quality and equity measures. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations necessary to implement these reporting requirements and to require the first annual reports to be submitted on or before February 15, 2028, using information relating to the calendar year beginning January 1, 2027. Because a violation of certain provisions of the bill by a primary care clinic or intermittent clinic 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.
Existing law classifies controlled substances into 5 schedules and places the greatest restrictions and penalties on the use of those substances placed in Schedule I. Existing law classifies the drug fentanyl in Schedule II. Existing law prohibits a person from possessing for sale or purchasing for purposes of sale specified controlled substances, including fentanyl, and provides for imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years for a violation of this provision. Existing law also imposes an additional term, and authorizes a trial court to impose a specified fine, upon a person who is convicted of a violation of, or of a conspiracy to violate, specified provisions of law with respect to a substance containing heroin, cocaine base, and cocaine, if the substance exceeds a specified weight. This bill would add fentanyl to the substances for which additional terms or fines can be imposed and would require a defendant who violates those laws with respect to a substance containing heroin, fentanyl, or cocaine, as specified, to know of the substance's nature or character as a controlled substance to be subjected to an additional term and authorized fine. By increasing the penalty for, and by changing the definition of, 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.
By Executive Order No. N-82-20, Governor Gavin Newsom directed the Natural Resources Agency to combat the biodiversity and climate crises by, among other things, establishing the California Biodiversity Collaborative and conserving at least 30% of California's lands and coastal waters by 2030. Existing law requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to prepare and submit, on or before March 31, 2024, and annually thereafter, a report to the Legislature on the progress made in the prior calendar year toward achieving the goal to conserve 30% of California's lands and coastal waters by 2030. This bill would codify the goal of the state to conserve at least 30% of California's lands and coastal waters by 2030.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to undertake various actions in furtherance of meeting the state's clean energy and pollution reduction objectives, including actions related to energy infrastructure. This bill would require the Energy Commission, as part of a specified 2024 energy policy review, in consultation with other appropriate state agencies to evaluate the feasibility, costs, and benefits of using wave energy and tidal energy, as specified. The bill would require the commission, in coordination and consultation with the California Coastal Commission, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Ocean Protection Council, and the State Lands Commission, to work with other state and local agencies and stakeholders to identify suitable sea space for offshore wave energy and tidal energy projects in state and federal waters. The bill would require the Energy Commission to submit a written report to the Governor and the Legislature on or before January 1, 2025, that includes a summary of findings from the evaluation and considerations that may inform legislative and executive actions, as specified.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to require the reporting and verification of statewide greenhouse gas emissions and to monitor and enforce compliance with the act. The act requires the state board to make available, and update at least annually, on its internet website the emissions of greenhouse gases, criteria pollutants, and toxic air contaminants for each facility that reports to the state board, as provided. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2026, and biennially thereafter, a covered entity, as defined, to prepare a climate-related financial risk report disclosing the entity's climate-related financial risk and measures adopted to reduce and adapt to climate-related financial risk. The bill would require the covered entity to make a copy of the report available to the public on its own internet website. The bill would require the state board to contract with a climate reporting organization, as defined, to biennially prepare a public report that contains specified information, including a review of the disclosure of climate-related financial risk contained in a subset of publicly available climate-related financial risk reports and an analysis of the systemic and sectorwide climate-related financial risks facing the state. The bill would require the state board to adopt regulations that authorize it to seek administrative penalties from covered entities for failing to make the report publicly available on its internet website or publishing an inadequate or insufficient report, as specified. The bill would require covered entities to pay an annual fee for the state board's actual and reasonable costs to administer and implement the bill. The bill would create the Climate-Related Financial Risk Disclosure Fund, require the proceeds of the fees to be deposited in the fund, and continuously appropriate the moneys in the fund to the state board for purposes of the bill. By creating a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.