Sen. Henry Stern

This measure would proclaim August 2023 as Breastfeeding Awareness Month of 2023 in California. The measure would recognize the unique benefits that breastfeeding provides, as specified, and would affirm that Californians should work to ensure that barriers to initiation and continuation of breastfeeding are removed. The measure would encourage Californians to work together to explore ways to, among other things, improve women's access to breastfeeding support services in medical, social, and employment settings.

The Water Conservation in Landscaping Act provides for a Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance that is adopted and updated at least every 3 years by the Department of Water Resources, unless the department makes a specified finding. Existing law requires a local agency to adopt the model ordinance or to adopt a water efficient landscape ordinance that is at least as effective in conserving water as the updated model ordinance, except as specified. Existing law specifies the provisions of the updated model ordinance, as provided. Existing law includes a related statement of legislative findings and declarations. This bill would require the updated model ordinance to include provisions that require that plants included in a landscape design plan be selected based on their adaptability to climatic, geological, and topographical conditions of the project site, as specified. The bill would also exempt landscaping that is part of a culturally specific project, as defined, ecological restoration projects that do not require a permanent irrigation system, mined-land reclamation projects that do not require a permanent irrigation system, and existing plant collections, as part of botanical gardens and arboretums open to the public, from the model ordinance. The bill would require the updated model ordinance to include provisions that, among other changes, prohibit the use of traditional overhead sprinklers on all new and rehabilitated landscapes and require that new and rehabilitated landscapes use only water efficient irrigation devices. The bill would also require the model ordinance, at the next update initiated after January 1, 2029, to require that all new or renovated nonresidential areas install in the project footprint not less than 10% California native plants, as provided, and to prohibit the inclusion of nonfunctional turf in nonresidential landscape projects. The bill would make other clarifying changes to the updated model ordinance. The bill would also revise the legislative findings and declarations to state, among other things, that the model ordinance furthers the state's goal to conserve biodiversity and provide for climate resilience consistent with state drought efforts to eliminate the use of irrigation of nonfunctional turf. Because the bill would revise requirements imposed on certain local agencies in connection with water efficient landscape ordinances, 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, 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.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The act requires all state agencies to consider and implement strategies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. This bill would additionally require state agencies to prioritize strategies to reduce methane emissions, including emissions from imported natural gas, where feasible and cost effective. The bill would require the state board, no later than December 31, 2024, to establish a certification standard for natural gas producing low methane emissions. The bill would require the state board to encourage natural gas procurement on behalf of the state to shift to certified natural gas producing low methane emissions. The bill would also require the state board, the Public Utilities Commission, and other relevant agencies to timely consider programs, or changes to existing programs, to reduce methane emissions, including emissions from imported natural gas procured by utilities and other large gas users. Existing law requires the state board to inventory sources of air pollution within the air basins of the state and determine the kinds and quantity of air pollutants. Existing law requires the state board to make available, and update at least annually, on its internet website the emissions of greenhouse gases, criteria air pollutants, and toxic air contaminants for each facility that reports to the state board and air pollution control and air quality management districts as well as the emissions of greenhouse gases, criteria air pollutants, and toxic air contaminants throughout the state broken down to a local and subcounty level for stationary sources and to at least a county level for mobile sources, as specified. Existing law also requires the state board to quantify and publish annually the amount of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the loss or release of uncombusted natural gas to the atmosphere and emissions from natural gas flares during all processes associated with the production, processing, and transporting of natural gas imported into the state from out-of-state sources. This bill would require the state board to annually request and incorporate, as part of this quantification for annual publication, information from utilities and other large gas users regarding any contract for and use of natural gas certified to have a methane emissions intensity of less than 0.2% across the natural gas supply chain, as data are available, or the use of other best practices to minimize emissions of methane and greenhouse gases from natural gas supplying California. The bill would also require the state board to quantify and publish annually, commencing January 1, 2025, an estimate of potential greenhouse gas emissions reductions associated with the use of natural gas certified to have a methane emissions intensity of less than 0.2% across the natural gas supply chain, as data are available, or the use of other best practices applied to natural gas supplies to California.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, including federally qualified health center (FQHC) services and rural health clinic (RHC) services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, to the extent that federal financial participation is available, FQHC and RHC services are reimbursed on a per-visit basis, as specified. "Visit" is defined as a face-to-face encounter between a patient of an FQHC or RHC and a physician or other specified health care professionals. Under existing law, "visit" also includes an encounter using video or audio-only synchronous interaction or an asynchronous store and forward modality, as specified. This bill would authorize reimbursement for a maximum of 2 visits that take place on the same day at a single site, whether through a face-to-face or telehealth-based encounter, if after the first visit the patient suffers illness or injury that requires additional diagnosis or treatment, or if the patient has a medical visit and either a mental health visit or a dental visit, as defined. The bill would require the department, by July 1, 2024, to submit a state plan amendment to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reflecting those provisions. The bill would include a licensed acupuncturist within those health care professionals covered under the definition of a "visit." The bill would also make a change to the provision relating to physicians and would make other technical changes.

Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth in various placement settings and governs the provision of child welfare services, which is defined to mean public social services that are directed toward the accomplishment of specified purposes, including protecting and promoting the welfare of all children, preventing the unnecessary separation of children from their families, and restoring to their families children who have been removed. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to ensure that, among other things, emergency response services are coordinated with the implementation of specified program models. Existing law also requires each county to provide the department with a disaster response plan describing how county programs that receive federal assistance for child and family services would respond to a disaster. Existing law also requires the department to review its disaster plan, revise the plan to clarify the role and responsibilities of the state in the event of a disaster, and consult with counties to identify opportunities for collaboration in the event of a disaster. This bill would establish the Child Welfare Disaster Response Program, to be administered by the department. The bill would establish the Child Welfare Disaster Response Account to fund the program. The bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, $2,000,000 to be allocated from the General Fund to the Child Welfare Disaster Response Account for purposes of the program and to support the needs of foster children and youth and their caregivers during a disaster. The bill would require the department to determine eligibility criteria for applicants and would authorize county child welfare departments to apply for funds. The bill would require funds awarded pursuant those provisions to be available to meet the housing, clothing, transportation, and other tangible needs of foster children and youth and their caregivers that occur within 180 days of a local emergency proclamation by a local government or a state of emergency proclamation by the Governor.

Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of child daycare facilities, daycare centers, and family daycare homes by the State Department of Social Services. The act exempts from its provisions certain types of these facilities and certain programs, including, among others, a California state preschool program operated by a local educational agency under contract with the State Department of Education and that meets specified conditions and operates in a school building. Existing law requires the governing board of any school district to, among other things, repair its school property. This bill, the School Extreme Heat Action Plan Act of 2023, would, among other things, require all schoolsites, as defined, the next time outdoor surfaces are resurfaced or replaced at the schoolsite, to replace low specific heat surfaces, such as cement, asphalt, brick, pebbles, sand, aggregates, rubber, and synthetic turf, with high specific heat surfaces, such as cool pavement technologies, natural grass, shrubs, trees, wood chips, or other natural systems that mitigate heat and pollution, as provided. The bill would require all schoolsite decisionmaking personnel involved in the replacement or resurfacing of outdoor surfaces at a schoolsite to be trained in extreme heat mitigation measures. By imposing additional duties on local educational entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the State Department of Social Services, as appropriate, to develop a template for an extreme heat action plan to be used by schoolsites, and to make a model program guidebook available to schoolsites and establish a process for systematically updating the guidebook and supporting documentation. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to identify a liaison for child daycare facilities, as defined, for these purposes. This bill would, on or before January 1, 2025, require all schoolsites, as defined, to develop an extreme heat action plan, as specified. The bill would require the plan to address the installation or planting of (1) shade trees or mini-forests, positioned on schoolsites where pupils can access them when in attendance, (2) school garden infrastructure and plantings, and (3) green barriers between the schoolsite and any adjacent high-polluting streets or commercial projects. By imposing additional duties on local educational entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would also require, on or before January 1, 2027, schoolsites to begin implementation of their extreme heat action plan. The bill would make implementation of the plan contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature. By imposing additional duties on local educational entities, 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, 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.

Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to prescribe, by regulation, building design and construction standards and energy and water conservation design standards for new residential and nonresidential buildings. Existing law requires the commission to prescribe, by regulation, standards for minimum levels of operating efficiency to promote the use of energy-efficient and water-efficient appliances whose use requires a significant amount of energy or water on a statewide basis. Existing law requires the commission to approve a plan that will promote compliance with specified regulations in the installation of central air-conditioning and heat pumps and authorizes the commission to adopt regulations to increase compliance with permitting and inspection requirements for central air-conditioning and heat pumps, and associated sales and installations, consistent with that plan. This bill would require the commission to develop and implement an electronic statewide heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment sales registry and compliance tracking system to allow the Contractors State License Board and other responsible enforcement agencies to cross-check the purchase of HVAC equipment with the submittal of permit compliance verification documents in order to identify contractors and other installers that fail to comply with the law. The bill would specify that the HVAC equipment sales registry and compliance tracking system is not to be publicly available, that certain information in the system is confidential and not to be disclosed to the public, and that other information that is in the system is a public record and shall be made available to the public in an electronic format upon request. This bill would also require the commission to develop and implement an electronic statewide compliance documentation data repository for the installation of HVAC equipment and lighting controls with certain capabilities. The bill would specify that the repository is not to be publicly available and that certain information in the data repository is confidential and not to be disclosed to the public. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to undertake various actions in furtherance of meeting the state's clean energy and pollution reduction objectives. Existing law requires the commission to gather or develop, and publish on the commission's internet website, guidance and best practices to help building owners, the construction industry, and local governments overcome barriers to electrification of buildings and installation of electric vehicle charging equipment, as specified. This bill would require the commission, on or before January 1, 2025, to submit to the Legislature an Industrial Heat Electrification Roadmap, which would, among other things, identify the industrial subsectors for various California facilities that use heat application equipment operating at or below 1,000 degrees Celsius and their locations and evaluate various issues related to industrial electrification, as specified. The bill would authorize the commission to consult with the State Air Resources Board to include in the roadmap an estimate of the reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases and criteria air pollutants, and commensurate health benefits, from electrifying the identified industrial subsectors.

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 requires each state agency to establish, by resolution or order, time limits for completing the environmental review of a project where the state agency is the lead agency for the project, as specified. This bill, until January 1, 2031, would require a state agency, acting as the lead agency, to complete its environmental review for an electrical infrastructure project and to approve or deny the project within 2 years of the submission and acceptance of a complete application for the issuance of a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use for electrical infrastructure to the state agency. If the state agency fails to meet this deadline, the bill would require the state agency to submit to the Legislature a report setting forth the reasons that the review could not be completed within the time period and identifying potential impacts to the electrical system that could result from the delay.

The California Urban Forestry Act of 1978 has a purpose of, among other things, promoting the use of urban forest resources for purposes of increasing integrated projects with multiple benefits in urban communities. The act requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to implement a program in urban forestry to encourage better tree management and planting in urban areas to increase integrated, multiple-benefit projects by assisting urban areas with innovative solutions to problems, as provided. The act authorizes the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to make grants to provide assistance of 25% to 90% of costs for projects, as provided. This bill would require funds appropriated or allocated to the department for the bill's purposes to be administered to support school greening, as defined, by providing grants to eligible local educational agencies, as defined, nonprofit organizations, cities, counties, and districts, including special districts, through a competitive grant process that the bill would require the department to develop, including guidelines and selection criteria, as specified, on or before July 1, 2024. The bill would require the department, before developing the grant process, to hold at least 2 public hearings to gather public input on the grant process development. The bill would, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, require funding for these purposes to be transferred to the School Greening and Resiliency Fund, which the bill would establish in the State Treasury.