Existing law grants the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, which is within the Department of Industrial Relations, jurisdiction over all employment and places of employment, with the power necessary to enforce and administer all occupational health and safety laws and standards. The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, an independent entity within the department, has the exclusive authority to adopt occupational safety and health standards within the state. Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 (OSHA) , requires employers to comply with certain safety and health standards, as specified, and charges the division with enforcement of the act. Under OSHA, certain knowing, negligent, or willful violations of safety and health standards are punishable as a misdemeanor. The existing Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez heat illness standard provides for the prevention of heat-related illness of employees in outdoor places of employment, as prescribed. There is also an existing standard for workplace protection from wildfire smoke. This bill would require the division, before December 1, 2025, to submit to the standards board a rulemaking proposal to consider revising the heat illness standard and wildfire smoke standard. The bill would require the division, in preparing the proposed regulations, to consider revising the heat illness standard to require employers to distribute copies of the Heat Illness Prevention Plan, as provided. The bill would similarly require a rulemaking proposal to consider revising the wildfire smoke standard, with regard to farmworkers, to reduce the existing air quality index threshold for PM2.5 particulate matter at which control by respiratory protective equipment becomes mandatory for farmworkers. The bill would require the standards board to review the proposed changes and consider adopting revised standards on or before December 31, 2025. The bill would further require the division to consider regulations, or revising existing regulations, relating to protections related to acclimatization to higher temperatures, as provided.
Sponsored bills
Existing provisions of the California Constitution provide that the University of California constitutes a public trust and require the university to be administered by the Regents of the University of California (regents) , a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers of organization and government, subject to legislative control only for specified purposes, including any competitive bidding procedures as may be applicable to the university by statute for specified purposes, including the purchasing of materials, goods, and services. Existing law requires the regents, except as provided, to let all contracts involving an expenditure of $100,000 or more annually for goods and materials or services, excepting personal or professional services, to the lowest responsible bidder meeting certain specifications, or to reject all bids. Existing policy of the regents establishes a general prohibition on contracting out for services and functions that can be performed by university staff, with certain exceptions, establishes employment standards for contract employees, and provides for the conversion of contract employees to university employment under prescribed circumstances. This bill would make it unlawful for any vendor, as defined, to accept payment above a specified threshold from the university pursuant to a contract for prescribed services if the vendor is performing services or supplying the university with employees to perform services who are paid less than the higher of the total compensation rate specified in the vendor's contract with the university or as required by university policy. The bill would require a vendor to provide those employees with prescribed written notice relating to compensation. The bill would require a vendor, twice yearly, to provide basic payroll information, as defined, to the university and members of any joint labor-management committee or similar meeting body established with the exclusive representative of university employees who perform the same or similar services. The bill would also require a vendor to provide specified additional written notice, including specific text, relating to the release of basic payroll information, to all employees who agree to perform services for the university or continue doing so. The bill would also require basic payroll information for an individual employee who performs services for the university, on request, to be made available for inspection by that individual employee or that individual employee's designated representative or to be furnished to that individual employee or that individual employee's authorized representative. This bill would authorize an employee or university employee to provide a vendor with written notice of a violation of the bill and the opportunity to correct and cure the violation and thereafter file suit only if the vendor fails to provide prescribed documentation. The bill would establish remedies, including civil penalties and restitution, for prevailing claimants and would provide for the disqualification of the vendor, for a minimum of 5 years, from submitting any bid to the university, or executing, renewing, or extending any contract with or otherwise receiving payment from the university in exchange for services. The bill would make its provisions severable.
Existing law, the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining with respect to wages, terms of employment, and other employment conditions, and authorizes employees to elect exclusive bargaining representatives for these purposes. Existing law creates the Agricultural Labor Relations Board and prescribes its composition, duties, and powers. Existing law authorizes the board to hold hearings and conduct investigations and requires that certain procedures be the exclusive method of redressing unfair labor practices. Under existing law, any person who willfully resists, prevents, or interferes with a member of the board or its agents or agencies in the performance of their duties is guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law requires the board to certify the results of an election conducted by secret ballot of employees in a collective bargaining unit to designate a collective bargaining representative, unless the board determines there are sufficient grounds to refuse to do so. Existing law further provides that if the board refuses to certify an election because of employer misconduct that would render slight the chances of a new election reflecting the free and fair choice of employees, the labor organization shall be certified as the bargaining representative for the bargaining unit. This bill would refer to the election by secret ballot process as a polling place election. The bill would establish alternative procedures to the polling place election and authorize a labor organization to be certified as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit through either a labor peace election or a non-labor peace election, as prescribed, dependent on whether an employer enrolls and agrees to a labor peace election for labor organization representation campaigns. The bill would provide that a labor peace election or a non-labor peace election permits a bargaining unit to summarily select a labor organization as its representative for collective bargaining purposes without using the existing polling place process. Under the bill, a labor peace election would be a mail ballot election and a non-labor peace election would establish a process for the submission of a petition with proof of majority support, subject to certification by the board. Among other provisions, the bill would require for both alternative procedures that an employer respond to the board with regard to a petition, including providing a specified list of employees to the board. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would establish a schedule for agricultural employers to indicate to the board whether they agree to a labor peace compact, defined to mean an agreement by the employer to, among other things, make no statements for or against union representation to its employees or publicly, in any written or oral form, at any time during employee hire, rehire, or orientation, or after certain documents regarding organization are filed with the board. The bill would prohibit a labor peace compact from prohibiting an employer from communicating truthful statements to employees regarding workplace policies or benefits, as specified. The bill would require the board to develop an online web-based labor peace election process that will allow employers to indicate their labor peace choice online, and that will allow labor organizations to see whether a specific agricultural employer has agreed to a labor peace election campaign. This bill would repeal the above provisions on January 1, 2028. This bill would prescribe civil penalties to be imposed upon an agricultural employer who commits an unfair labor practice in an amount not to exceed $10,000 for each violation, and would increase that sum to an amount not to exceed $25,000 for specified violations. The bill would require the board to consider specified factors in determining the amount of a civil penalty pursuant to these provisions. The bill would also authorize the board to impose personal liability for these penalties upon a director or officer of an employer in certain circumstances. Existing law authorizes a person aggrieved by the final order of the board granting or denying in whole or in part the relief sought for an unfair labor practice, to obtain a review of the order in a specified court of appeal by filing in the court a written petition requesting that the order of the board be modified or set aside. This bill would require an employer who appeals or petitions for a writ of review of any order of the board involving make-whole, backpay, or other monetary awards to employees, to post an appeal bond in the amount of the entire economic value of the order, as specified, and would provide for the bond to be forfeited under specified conditions. This bill would state that its provisions are severable. 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 states the Legislature's intention that a county or city general plan and the elements and parts of that general plan comprise an integrated, internally consistent and compatible statement of policies for the adopting agency. This bill would emphasize the intent of the Legislature to support and encourage communities in reaching environmental and climate change objectives with these provisions. Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires the legislative body of a city or county to adopt a comprehensive general plan that includes various elements, including a circulation element. Existing law requires the circulation element to consist of the general location and extent of existing and proposed major thoroughfares, transportation routes, terminals, any military airports and ports, and other local public utilities and facilities. Existing law requires the legislative body, upon any substantive revision of the circulation element, to modify the circulation element to plan for a balanced, multimodal transportation network that meets the needs of all users of streets, roads, and highways for safe and convenient travel in a manner that is suitable to the rural, suburban, or urban context of the general plan. Existing law defines "users of streets, roads, and highways" to mean bicyclists, children, persons with disabilities, motorists, movers of commercial goods, pedestrians, users of public transportation, and seniors. This bill would require the legislative body, upon any substantive revision of the circulation element, on or after January 1, 2025, to incorporate the principles of the Federal Highway Administration's Safe System Approach and to develop bicycle plans, pedestrian plans, and traffic calming plans based on the policies and goals in the circulation element that, among other things, sets goals for initiation and completion of all actions identified in the plans within 25 years of the date of adoption of the modified circulation element, as specified. By adding to the duties of county and city officials in the administration of their land use planning duties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require a county or city to begin implementation of the plan within 2 years of the date of adoption of the plan, to regularly review its progress towards completing implementation of the modified circulation element, and to consider revising the circulation element if it determines it will not reach the goals of the bicycle, pedestrian, or traffic calming plans within 25 years of the date of adoption of the modified circulation element. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that cities and counties use existing transportation funding to achieve the goals of these provisions. The bill would define various terms for its purposes. 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 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources that are designated as basins subject to critical conditions of overdraft to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2020, and requires all other groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2022, except as specified. This bill would provide that the approval of a groundwater sustainability plan by the department shall not be construed to be a determination by or otherwise an opinion of the department that the allocation of groundwater pumping rights in the plan are consistent with groundwater rights law.
(1) The Baldwin Hills Conservancy Act establishes, until January 1, 2026, in the Natural Resources Agency, the Baldwin Hills Conservancy, created with the purpose, among other purposes, to acquire and manage public lands within the Baldwin Hills area, as defined. This bill would provide that the purposes of the conservancy additionally include acquiring and managing public lands within the southern Ballona Creek Watershed and Upper Dominguez Channel area, rename the conservancy the Baldwin Hills and Urban Watersheds Conservancy, and make conforming changes. The bill would repeal the January 1, 2026, sunset date, thereby extending the act indefinitely. (2) The act requires the conservancy's governing board to consist of 13 voting members, including one member from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors within whose district the majority of the Baldwin Hills area is located. The act requires 6 of these members to be appointed by the Governor with 4 out of that 6 to be residents of specified areas. This bill would delete the above provisions relating to those members and expand the voting membership of the conservancy's board to consist of 15 voting members by including the mayors of the Cities of Los Angeles and Culver City, an appointee from the South Bay Cities Council of Governments, and a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors representing District 2. The bill would require the Governor to appoint 5 of the voting members, who are nominated by a city council or a neighborhood empowerment group, as provided. The act requires the conservancy's board to also consist of 7 nonvoting members. This bill would expand the nonvoting membership of the conservancy's board to consist of 12 nonvoting members by including the Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, among others, as provided. (3) The act requires the conservancy to do certain things, including develop and coordinate an integrated program of resource stewardship so that the entire area is managed for optimum recreational and natural resource values, as provided. This bill would also require the entire area to be managed for optimum climate resilience. The act also requires the conservancy, as part of its duties, to approve conservancy funded projects, enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Parks and Recreation, and approve a specified master, plan by May 1, 2002, as provided. This bill would delete these duties and would instead require the conservancy to carry out projects and activities to further the purposes of the act, study the potential environmental and recreational uses of the Baldwin Hills, southern Ballona Creek Watershed, and Upper Dominguez Channel area, and develop and adopt a proposed watershed and open-space plan for improvements in the conservancy territory, as provided. The bill would require a report on this plan to be provided to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2024. The bill would establish the Baldwin Hills, Southern Ballona Creek Watershed, and Upper Dominguez Channel Urban Watershed Improvement Program, to be administered by the conservancy, for climate change adaptation improvements and to protect, conserve, and restore the health and resilience of the watersheds and communities of the region, in support of the requirements described above, as provided. (4) The act requires the conservancy to administer any funds appropriated to it and any revenue generated by public agencies for the Baldwin Hills area and contributed to the conservancy, and authorizes the conservancy to expend those funds for capital improvements, land acquisition, or support of the conservancy's operations. This bill would expressly require the conservancy to additionally administer any funds appropriated to it from a future bond act or local initiative measure, as provided.
Existing law generally regulates pesticide use by the Department of Pesticide Regulation, and requires the Director of Pesticide Regulation to endeavor to eliminate from use a pesticide that endangers the agricultural or nonagricultural environment. A violation of those provisions and regulations adopted pursuant to those provisions is generally a misdemeanor. Existing law requires the department, on or before July 1, 2018, to issue a determination with respect to its reevaluation of neonicotinoids, and to adopt control measures necessary to protect pollinator health within 2 years, as specified. This bill would prohibit, beginning January 1, 2024, the sale, possession, or use of neonicotinoid pesticides, as defined, for application to outdoor ornamental plants, trees, or turf, except for use on, or for the protection of, an agricultural commodity, as defined. The bill would authorize the director, in consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture, to authorize, by written order, the sale, possession, or use of these prohibited pesticides if the director finds that it would address a valid environmental emergency and there are no other, less harmful alternatives, as specified, and would require the director to make reasonable efforts to inform the public of an environmental emergency finding. The bill would also authorize a certified qualified applicator to possess or use a neonicotinoid pesticide for specified purposes, and a licensed pest control dealer to sell a neonicotinoid pesticide, as provided. The bill would provide that these provisions do not apply to certain actions and applications of these pesticides. Because a violation of these provisions and the regulations adopted pursuant to these provisions would be a misdemeanor, 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.
(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.
Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, provides for the involuntary commitment and treatment of persons with specified mental disorders for the protection of the persons committed. Under the act, when a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to others, or to themselves, or gravely disabled, the person may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody and placed in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Health Care Services for up to 72 hours for evaluation and treatment. Under existing law, if a person is detained for 72 hours under those provisions, and has received an evaluation, the person may be certified for not more than 14 days of intensive treatment, as specified. Existing law further authorizes a person to be certified for an additional period of not more than 30 days of intensive treatment if the person remains gravely disabled and is unwilling or unable to accept treatment voluntarily. Existing law requires the person to be released at the end of the 30 days, except under specified circumstances, including, but not limited to, when the patient is subject to a conservatorship petition filed pursuant to specified provisions. Existing law requires an evaluation to be made when a gravely disabled person may need to be detained beyond the initial 14-day period, as to whether the person is likely to qualify for appointment of a conservator, and, if so, requires that referral to be made, as specified. This bill would authorize the professional person in charge of the facility providing intensive treatment to the person to file a petition in the superior court for the county in which the facility is located, seeking approval for up to an additional 30 days of intensive treatment. The bill would require the petition to be filed after 15 days of the first 30-day period, but at least 7 days before expiration of the 30 days. The bill would require reasonable attempts to be made by the facility to notify family members or any other person designated by the patient of the time and place of the judicial review, unless the patient requests that the information not be provided. The bill would require the facility treating the patient to advise the patient of the patient's right to request that the information not be provided. The bill would require the court to either deny the petition or order an evidentiary hearing to be held within 2 court days after the petition is filed. The bill would authorize the court to order the person to be held for up to an additional 30 days of intensive treatment if, at the evidentiary hearing, the court makes specified findings, based on the evidence presented, including a finding that the person, as a result of mental disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism, is gravely disabled. The bill would require the person to be released no later than the expiration of the original 30-day period if the court does not make all of the required findings. The bill also would make conforming changes to the evaluation requirements for determining whether the patient is likely to qualify for appointment of a conservator.
Existing law establishes various state and local programs for the provision of behavioral health and housing assistance services within the jurisdiction of the State Department of Health Care Services, the State Department of Public Health, the State Department of Social Services, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the California Behavioral Health Planning Council, the California Housing Finance Agency, and county public health or behavioral health departments, among other entities. Existing law authorizes the State Department of Health Care Services, subject to an appropriation and until January 1, 2027, to establish an infrastructure program to award competitive grants to, among other things, expand the community continuum of behavioral health treatment resources to build new capacity or expand existing capacity, as specified. Existing law also requires the department to maintain a behavioral health services and supports virtual platform for children and youth 25 years of age and younger, as specified. This bill would declare that it is the public policy of the state that the State Department of Health Care Services when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, or grant program criteria relating to access to behavioral health-related treatment, housing that heals, or other services or supports, are required to ensure that any individual with a severe behavioral health disorder who, as a result, lacks supportive housing and behavioral health services and is otherwise not living safely in the community receives an individualized, clinically appropriate range of behavioral health-related treatment, housing that heals, as defined, and other services or supports. The bill would specify that these provisions do not expand any obligation of the state or other entities to provide access to services or supports beyond requiring the department to consider the state policy, as specified.