Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas

Existing law, after a tenant has continuously and lawfully occupied a residential real property for 12 months, prohibits the owner of the residential real property from terminating the tenancy without just cause and requires that just cause to be stated in the written notice to terminate tenancy. Existing law distinguishes between at-fault just cause and no-fault just cause and defines no-fault just cause to mean intent to occupy the residential real property by the owner or the owner's spouse, domestic partner, children, grandchildren, parents, or grandparents, withdrawal of the residential real property from the rental market, the owner complying with specified government orders that necessitate vacating the real property, and intent to demolish or to substantially remodel the residential real property. This bill would, with respect to the no-fault just cause related to an eviction based on an intent to occupy the residential real property, require, among other things, that the owner, as defined, or the owner's spouse, domestic partner, children, grandchildren, parents, or grandparents occupy the residential real property for a minimum of 12 continuous months as the person's primary residence, as provided. The bill would also, with respect to the no-fault just cause related to withdrawal of the residential real property from the rental market, require the rental units at the rental property be withdrawn from the rental market, as prescribed. The bill would require an owner who displaces a tenant to substantially remodel or demolish a unit to provide the tenant with written notice providing the tenant with specified information, including a description of the substantial remodel to be completed and the expected duration of the repairs, or the expected date by which the property will be demolished, and a copy of permits required to undertake the substantial remodel or demolition, as specified. This bill would also prescribe new enforcement mechanisms with respect to the provisions described above, including by making an owner who attempts to recover possession of a rental unit in material violation of those provisions liable to the tenant in a civil action for damages of up to 3 times the actual damages, in addition to punitive damages. The bill would authorize the Attorney General and the city attorney or county counsel, within whose jurisdiction the rental unit is located, to bring actions for injunctive relief against the owner, as specified. Existing law, until January 1, 2030, prohibits an owner of residential real property from, over the course of any 12-month period, increasing the gross rental rate for a dwelling or a unit more than 5% plus the percentage change in the cost of living, or 10%, whichever is lower, of the lowest gross rental rate charged for that dwelling or unit at any time during the 12 months before the effective date of the increase, subject to specified conditions. This bill would make an owner who demands, accepts, receives, or retains any payment of rent in excess of the maximum rent increase allowed, as prescribed, liable in a civil action to the tenant from whom those payments are demanded, accepted, received, or retained for certain relief, including, upon a showing that the owner has acted willfully or with oppression, fraud, or malice, damages up to 3 times the amount by which any payment demanded, accepted, received, or retained exceeds the maximum allowable rent. This bill would authorize the Attorney General and the city attorney or county counsel, within whose jurisdiction the residential property is located, to enforce the bill's provisions and bring an action for injunctive relief, as specified. This bill would also make a technical, nonsubstantive change to those provisions. The bill would provide that its provisions become effective on April 1, 2024.

Existing law establishes the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) Grant Program, administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections, to award competitive grants for the purpose of violence intervention and prevention. Existing law imposes various taxes, including taxes on the privilege of engaging in certain activities. The Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges. This bill, the Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Act, would, commencing July 1, 2024, impose an excise tax in the amount of 11% of the gross receipts from the retail sale in this state of a firearm, firearm precursor part, and ammunition, as specified. The tax would be collected by the state pursuant to the Fee Collection Procedures Law. The bill would require that the revenues collected be deposited in the Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Fund, which the bill would establish in the State Treasury. The bill would require the moneys received in the fund to be used to fund various gun violence prevention, education, research, response, and investigation programs, as specified. The bill would require the Director of Finance to transfer, as a loan, $2,400,000 from the General Fund to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to implement these provisions, as specified. The bill would require each licensed firearms dealer, firearms manufacturer, and ammunition vendor to register with the department for a certificate, as specified. The bill would also provide procedures for the issuance, revocation, and reinstatement of a permit. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. Because this bill would expand the scope of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is 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.

The measure would apply to the United States Congress to call a constitutional convention under Article V of the Constitution of the United States for the purpose of proposing a constitutional amendment relating to firearms, as specified.

This measure would denounce the actions of the Tennessee House of Representatives in expelling two African-American Democratic Representatives.

The California Constitution authorizes a person to vote if the person is a United States citizen, at least 18 years of age, and a resident of the state. The California Constitution requires the Legislature to provide for the disqualification of electors while serving a state or federal prison term for the conviction of a felony. This measure would repeal that requirement regarding the disqualification of electors incarcerated for felony convictions, thereby authorizing an otherwise qualified elector serving a state or federal prison term for the conviction of a felony to vote.

Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, prohibits smoking of tobacco products inside an enclosed space, as defined, at a place of employment. The violation of the prohibition against smoking in enclosed spaces of places of employment is an infraction punishable by a specified fine. Existing law establishes specified exemptions from "place of employment" that allow smoking in certain work environments, including an exemption for up to 20% of the guestroom accommodations in a hotel, motel, or similar transient lodging establishment. This bill would eliminate the exemption for up to 20% of guestroom accommodations in transient lodging establishments. By expanding the scope of an infraction, 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.

(1) Existing law imposes ballot layout specifications, including, among other things, the content of the ballot label, defined as that portion of the ballot containing the names of the candidates or the statement of a measure. Existing law requires the ballot label to include, among other things, a condensed version of the ballot title and summary and a list of the names of supporters and opponents, as specified. Existing law defines the ballot title and summary and requires that it include a summary of the chief purpose and points, including the fiscal impact, of any measure that appears in the state voter information guide. Existing law requires the ballots used when voting on a statute referred to the voters as a referendum measure to use words asking the voter whether the statute that is the subject to referendum should be adopted, followed by the choices "Yes" and "No." This bill would revise the ballot title and summary and ballot label requirements for statewide referendum measures by instead requiring that the ballot title and summary be posed in the form of a question asking whether the state should keep or overturn the law that is proposed to be overturned, followed by a summary of the chief purposes and points of the law. The bill would require this question and a condensed version of the summary to be included on the ballot label. The bill would require the ballot title and summary that appears in the state voter information guide for a statewide referendum measure to be followed by the measure's top funders, as specified. Commencing January 1, 2025, the bill would additionally require the names of supporters and opponents in the ballot arguments printed in the state voter information guide to be listed on the ballot label, as specified. The bill would require the ballot label for statewide referendum measures to be followed by the choices "Keep the law" and "Overturn the law." (2) Existing law requires the Secretary of State, upon receipt of a referendum measure petition certified to have been signed by the requisite number of qualified voters to issue a certificate of qualification certifying that the referendum measure is qualified for the ballot, notify the proponents of the referendum measure and the elections official of each county that the measure is qualified for the ballot, and include the referendum measure in a list of all statewide referendum measures that have qualified for the ballot, as specified. This bill would, for a referendum measure, require the Secretary of State to identify the date of the next statewide general election or the next special statewide election that will occur not less than 31 days after the date the Secretary of State receives a petition certified to have been signed by the requisite number of qualified voters. The bill would, on the 131st day prior to the date of the identified election, or upon receipt of a certified petition described above, require the Secretary of State to take the steps described above. The bill would void a certificate of qualification for a referendum measure pending on the effective date of this bill and would require the Secretary of State to reissue a new certificate pursuant to these provisions, and permit the proponents of the measure to withdraw the measure, as specified. The bill would, upon the Secretary of State's transmission of notification to the proponents and elections officials, provide that the statute that is the subject of the referendum measure ceases to have effect unless and until the Secretary of State or a court of competent jurisdiction concludes that the petition was not signed by the requisite number of qualified voters, the proponents of the referendum measure withdraw the measure, or the voters vote to keep the statute that is the subject of the referendum at the statewide election in which the referendum measure appears on the ballot. This bill would require any judicial action or proceeding to challenge, review, set aside, void, or annul this bill or any portion of this bill to be commenced within 45 days after the date this bill would become effective, and would prohibit relief granted by the court from interfering with the November 5, 2024, statewide general election or any special election held after the date this bill would become effective. (3) Existing law requires the state voter information guide to contain, as to each state measure to be voted upon, the official summary prepared by the Attorney General, among other things. This bill would require, in the state voter information guide for a statewide referendum measure, that the official summary prepared by the Attorney General be followed by a blank horizontal line and a listing of the top funders of the petition to overturn the law, as specified. The bill would require the Secretary of State to determine the list of top funders no later than the date a referendum qualifies for the ballot. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, authorizes the Legislature, without following the procedures required for amending the act absent voter approval, to add to the ballot pamphlet information regarding candidates or other information. This bill would declare that it permits or requires the inclusion of additional information in the ballot pamphlet in accordance with the above-described authority. (4) Because this bill would impose new requirements on local elections officials, it 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. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

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 Unruh Civil Rights Act generally prohibits business establishments from discriminating on specified bases. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (act) prohibits discrimination in housing and employment on specified bases and provides procedures for enforcement by the Civil Rights Department. Existing law specifies that while it is the intent of the Legislature that the act occupy the field of regulation of discrimination in employment and housing, nothing in the act shall be construed to limit or restrict the application of the Unruh Civil Rights Act. This bill would, commencing on January 1, 2025, also specify that nothing in the act shall be construed to limit or restrict efforts by local entities to enforce state law prohibiting discrimination against classes of persons covered by the act in employment and housing, provided that the enforcement complies with regulations governing local enforcement of the act that the bill would require the Civil Rights Department to promulgate by____. The bill would require those regulations, at a minimum, to ensure consistent application of employment and housing discrimination laws across the state, protect complainants against inadvertent loss of federal or state legal claims, avoid duplication of investigatory work, and minimize any possible loss of federal funding for the Civil Rights Department's work.

Existing law establishes the California Workforce Development Board as the body responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system and the alignment of the education and workforce investment systems to the needs of the 21st century economy and workforce. Existing law requires the board to assist the Governor with specified tasks in that regard, including the identification and dissemination of information on best practices, including the development and review of statewide policies affecting the coordinated provision of services through the state's one-stop delivery system, as specified. The federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act requires local workforce development boards to be established in each local area of a state to assist the local chief elected official in planning, oversight, and evaluation of local workforce investment, and requires each local board to perform various duties consistent with the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Existing law requires each local board to develop and submit to the Governor a comprehensive 4-year local plan, in partnership with the appropriate chief local elected official, that includes specified elements. This bill would require the California Workforce Development Board to assist the Governor with partnering with the Labor Commissioner and other subject matter experts in developing workplace rights curriculum to be provided to all individuals receiving individualized career services, supportive services, or training services through the California workforce system, as specified. The bill would require each local workforce development board to ensure the provision of workplace rights training consistent with that workplace rights curriculum. The bill would require the comprehensive 4-year local plan to include a description of how the local board plans to comply with this requirement. By imposing additional duties on local workforce development boards, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the California Workforce Development Board to partner with the Employment Development Department and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to ensure that local workforce development boards and one-stop career center providers are complying with those requirements. Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature that universal access to career services is available to adult residents, regardless of income, education, employment barriers, or other eligibility requirements, and requires career services to include specified components, including job search and placement assistance. This bill would require career services to include workplace rights training consistent with the curriculum developed by the California Workforce Development Board for all individuals receiving individualized career services, supportive services, or training services through the one-stop system. 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.