Sen. Eloise Reyes

The California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access For All Act of 2018, approved by the voters as Proposition 68 at the June 5, 2018, statewide direct primary election, authorizes the issuance of bonds in the amount of $4,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance a drought, water, parks, climate, coastal protection, and outdoor access for all program. This bill would enact the Economic Recovery, Wildfire Prevention, Safe Drinking Water, Drought Preparation, and Flood Protection Bond Act of 2020, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $6,980,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance projects for an economic recovery, wildfire prevention, safe drinking water, drought preparation, and flood protection program. This bill would provide for the submission of these provisions to the voters at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law provides that a child may be adjudged to be a dependent of the juvenile court because of abuse or neglect. Existing law requires the court to review the status of every dependent child in foster care no less frequently than once every 6 months and requires a supplemental report to be filed as part of that review. Existing law also requires, if a child or nonminor dependent is in a placement other than the home of a legal guardian and jurisdiction has not been dismissed, the status of the child to be reviewed at least every 6 months by the court or a local agency, and requires, at the periodic review regarding a child who has been ordered placed for adoption, as specified, the county welfare department to prepare and present a report. Existing law, as part of those reviews and reports, requires the court, appropriate local agency, or county welfare department to determine or discuss the extent of a county's efforts to identify and maintain relationships between a child who is 10 years of age or older and who has been in an out-of-home placement, as specified, and individuals who are important to the child. Existing law also requires a social worker to ask the child to identify individuals who are important to the child. Existing law states the intent of the Legislature for siblings to be placed in foster care together, except as specified, and requires the responsible local agency to make a diligent effort in all out-of-home placements of dependent children and wards in foster care, to place siblings together in the same placement, and to develop and maintain sibling relationships. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to maintain a foster sibling relationship for dependent and nonminor dependent children in out-of-home placement when they are no longer placed together, and would define "foster sibling relationship" to mean a relationship between dependent or nonminor dependent children who are placed together in foster care and develop a sibling-like bond, despite having no relationship through blood, adoption, or affinity. The bill would require the court, appropriate local agency, or county welfare department to determine or discuss in the above-described reviews and reports the county's efforts in identifying and maintaining relationships between a child who is 10 years of age or older and who has been in an out-of-home placement, as specified, and any dependent child or nonminor dependent in an out-of-home placement with whom the child has developed a foster sibling relationship. The bill would also require a social worker to ask the child to identify any dependent child or nonminor dependent in an out-of-home placement with whom the child has developed a foster sibling relationship. By imposing additional duties on county officials, 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.

This measure would proclaim March 15, 2020, to March 22, 2020, as California Down Syndrome Awareness Week and March 21, 2020, as California Down Syndrome Day, and would encourage all Californians to support and participate in related activities.

Existing law, the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act of 1991, establishes the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program (Program) , which is administered by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires the department to collect and analyze information to monitor appropriate case management efforts, to prepare a biennial report on the effectiveness of those efforts, and to post the report on the department's internet website. Existing law requires the report to include specified information, including the total number of children tested for lead poisoning in each county, identified sources of lead exposure for those children having lead poisoning, and whether the sources of lead exposure identified in, on, or around a residence or location associated with a child with lead poisoning have been removed, remediated, or abated. This bill would require the department to design, implement, and maintain an online lead information registry on the department internet website that enables the public to determine the lead inspection and abatement status for properties, and to use information it maintains for the registry to the extent that the department ensures that any personally identifying information is made unavailable to the public.

Existing law establishes various environmental and economic policies. This bill would enact the California COVID-19 Recovery Deal. The bill would make a series of legislative findings and declarations pertaining to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and various economic, environmental, and social conditions in the state. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the state adopt a policy framework with principles and goals committed to accomplish specified economic, environmental, and social objectives and priorities as part of the state's COVID-19 recovery spending. The bill would state that the Legislature establishes various spending rules for the COVID-19 recovery, including adopting spending measures that prohibit businesses, organizations, or agencies from accepting public funds for any long-term projects that prolong the emission of greenhouses gases or lead to the expansion of fossil fuel projects and ensuring that recovery spending includes specific measures for California populations and communities most negatively impacted by COVID-19.

(1) 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 federal law, the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018 (federal FFPSA) , among other things, provides states with an option to use federal funds under Title IV of the federal Social Security Act to provide mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment services and in-home parent skill-based programs to a child who is a candidate for foster care or a child in foster care who is a pregnant or parenting foster youth, as specified. This bill would, among other things, state the intent of the Legislature to exercise the option afforded to states in the federal FFPSA to receive federal financial participation for the above-described prevention services that are provided for a candidate for foster care or a pregnant or parenting foster youth, and the allowable costs for the proper and efficient administration of the program. The bill would authorize a county, or Indian tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal organization that has entered into an agreement with the state regarding the care and custody of Indian children to elect to provide those prevention services, as prescribed. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to have oversight of those prevention services and to seek all necessary federal approvals to obtain federal financial participation for those prevention services. (2) Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensing and regulation of community care facilities, including short-term residential therapeutic programs, by the State Department of Social Services, and defines short-term residential therapeutic program as a residential facility licensed by the department and operated by any public agency or private organization that provides an integrated program of specialized and intensive care and supervision, services and supports, treatment, and short-term, 24-hour care and supervision to children, including foster children. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor. The federal FFPSA, among other things, prohibits foster care maintenance payments to be made on behalf of a child placed in a qualified residential treatment program, among other childcare institutions, unless a court assesses the placement within 30 days of the placement being made and the program meets specified requirements, including the utilization of a trauma-informed treatment model, the participation of family members in the child's treatment program, and the provision of registered or licensed nursing staff and discharge planning and postdischarge supports and services. The federal FFPSA also requires, in the case of placement in a qualified residential treatment program, an assessment and determination by a qualified individual of which placement would best meet the needs of the child, and documentation in the child's case plan of these assessments, among other things. This bill would make various changes to provisions relating to the licensing of, and the placement of foster youth in, short-term residential therapeutic programs in order to conform those provisions to the above-described federal FFPSA requirements, including requiring each county to designate an individual or individuals to serve as a qualified individual, requiring county social workers and probation officers to include certain information in specified social studies, reports, and case plans, and establishing a process for the juvenile court to review the placement of a dependent child, ward, or nonminor dependent in a short-term residential therapeutic program. By creating requirements for short-term residential therapeutic programs, the violation of which is a crime, and by imposing new duties on county officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific the provisions of this act through all-county letters or similar written instructions from the department until regulations are adopted. (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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons. 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.

(1) For purposes of state apportionments to public schools, if the average daily attendance of a school district, county office of education, or charter school during a fiscal year has been materially decreased during a fiscal year because of a specified event, including an epidemic, existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to estimate the average daily attendance in a manner that credits to the school district, county office of education, or charter school the total average daily attendance that would have been credited had the emergency not occurred. This bill would revise the above-described triggering event to be an epidemic, pandemic, or outbreak of infectious disease, and would provide that the various specified triggering events apply to decreases in average daily attendance due to illness, quarantine, social isolation, and social distancing, absences taken as preemptive measures, independent study and distance learning requests, and pupils who are absent due to quarantine, but cannot provide the appropriate documentation. Existing law requires each school district or county superintendent of schools maintaining any kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to provide for each needy pupil, as defined, one nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal during each schoolday, and authorizes them to use funds made available through any federal or state program the purpose of which includes the provision of meals to a pupil. The Charter Schools Act of 1992 requires a charter school to provide each needy pupil with one nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal during each schoolday, except as provided. This bill would require each school district or county superintendent of schools maintaining any kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to continue to provide each needy pupil with one nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal during each day that, had it not been declared a state of emergency or a major disaster, would have been considered a schoolday, except for family daycare homes that are required to be reimbursed for 75% of the meals served. The bill would require a charter school also to continue to provide each needy pupil with one nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal during each day that, had it not been declared a state of emergency or a major disaster, would have been considered a schoolday. The bill would require meals to be distributed, with an option to deliver to the home of each needy pupil, in a manner that complies with local, state, and federal agency guidelines regarding the declared state of emergency or major disaster. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law establishes a procedure, known as an unlawful detainer action, that a landlord must follow in order to evict a tenant. A tenant is subject to an unlawful detainer action if the tenant continues to possess the property without permission of the landlord in specified circumstances, including when the tenant has violated the lease or rental agreement by defaulting on rent. A landlord commences an unlawful detainer action by filing and serving the defendant with a complaint. The California Emergency Services Act authorizes the Governor to declare a state of emergency, and local officials and local governments to declare a local emergency, when specified conditions of disaster or extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist, and authorizes the Governor or the appropriate local government to exercise certain powers in response to that emergency. This bill would, during a state-declared state of emergency, establish a moratorium of the collection of rent from a tenant that is a small business and a moratorium on the filing of an unlawful detainer action due to a default in the payment of rent against a small business, as defined. (3) Under the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013, the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, administers specific programs relating to small business, either administered directly by the bank or under contract with small business financial development corporations. This bill would require the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, during a state-declared public health state of emergency or a prolonged medical emergency or natural disaster, to provide zero-interest rate loans directly to small businesses and nonprofit organizations affected by the emergency or disaster, as specified, from the California Small Business Expansion Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. The bill would require the bank to establish an application process and a selection criteria for the loans awarded pursuant to these provisions. (4) Under existing law, the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, an employee who, on or after July 1, 2015, works in California for the same employer for 30 or more days within a year from the commencement of employment is entitled to paid sick days, as specified. Existing law requires an employee to accrue paid sick days at the rate of not less than one hour per every 30 hours worked subject to specified use and accrual limitations. This bill, in the event of a state-declared public health state of emergency, including the COVID-19 pandemic, would provide each employee with paid sick days for immediate use, regardless of how long the employee has been employed. The bill would provide a full-time salaried employee paid sick days in an amount sufficient to provide the employee with 14 continuous days away from work, and would provide a part-time or hourly employee with paid sick days in an amount equal to the number of hours that the employee was scheduled to work, or, if not scheduled to work, regularly works in a 14-day period, as specified. The bill would authorize an employee to use those paid sick days to care for a family member affected by the public health crisis, to care for a child because of a school closing related to the public health crisis, or because the employee has been affected by the public health crisis. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, require the Department of Industrial Relations to establish a program to provide paid sick days for family care and medical leave due to a public health crisis to independent contractors and day laborers. The bill would require the program to provide paid sick days in an amount equal to the number of hours that the independent contractor or day laborer was scheduled to work or, if not scheduled, regularly works in a 14-day period, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish an application process for independent contractors and day laborers to apply for the paid sick days provided under these provisions. (5) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, gas corporations, and water corporations. Existing law prohibits an electrical, gas, or water corporation from terminating residential service (A) during the pendency of an investigation by the utility of a customer or subscriber dispute or complaint, (B) when a customer has been granted an extension of the period for payment of a bill, or (C) on the certification of a licensed physician and surgeon that to do so will be life threatening to the customer and the customer is financially unable to pay for service within the normal payment period and is willing to enter into an amortization agreement with the utility with respect to all charges that the customer is unable to pay prior to delinquency. Existing law requires that a customer that meets the requirements of (C) , upon request, be permitted to amortize, over a period not to exceed 12 months, the unpaid balance of any bill asserted to be beyond the means of the customer to pay within the normal period for payment. Existing law requires that a residential customer who has, before termination of service, made a request for extension of the payment period of a bill asserted to be beyond the means of the customer to pay in full within the normal period for payment, be given an opportunity for review of the request by a review manager of the utility and that the review include consideration of whether the customer will be permitted to amortize any unpaid balance of the delinquent account over a reasonable period of time, not to exceed 12 months. Existing law prohibits termination of the service of any customer complying with an amortization agreement, if the customer also keeps the account current as charges accrue in each subsequent billing period. Existing law authorizes the furnishing of utility services by publicly owned entities that are subject to control by their governing bodies, including municipal corporations, municipal utility districts, and public utility districts. Existing law places restrictions upon a municipal corporation, municipal utility district, or public utility district that provides light, water, power, or heat from terminating service identical to those above-described restrictions that are applicable to electrical, gas, and water corporations. This bill would prohibit an electrical corporation, gas corporation, water corporation, municipal corporation, municipal utility district, or public utility district from terminating residential or small commercial electrical, gas, or water service for nonpayment for the first 3 billing cycles following a state of emergency or major disaster, as defined, for a customer that may have been affected by the emergency or major disaster, except in compliance with the bill's requirements. The bill would require those utilities, following a state of emergency or major disaster, to include a notice in the first 3 billing statements made to those residential and small commercial customers that may have been affected by the state of emergency or major disaster, informing those customers that if, as a result of conditions associated with the state of emergency or major disaster, the customer suffered financially and is unable to pay for service in full within the normal period for payment, the customer may apply for an amortization agreement or other extension, to pay the unpaid balance within a reasonable period of time, not to exceed 12 months. The bill would require the utility to grant an extension or amortization request if the residential or small commercial customer represents to the utility that the customer suffered financially as a result of the conditions associated with the state of emergency or major disaster and that as a result the customer is unable to pay for service in full within the normal period for payment. The bill would prohibit the utility from terminating the service of any customer complying with an amortization agreement or other extension, if the customer also keeps the account current as charges accrue in each subsequent filling period following the first 3 billing statements made following the state of emergency or major disaster. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements with respect to an electrical, gas, or water corporation would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. By placing additional requirements upon municipal corporations, municipal utility districts, and public utility districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (6) The Irrigation District Law authorizes the formation of irrigation districts and authorizes those districts to provide various utility services, including providing water service and the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity for use inside or outside the boundaries of the district. Existing law authorizes an irrigation district to refuse service to any land if outstanding charges for services already rendered to that land have not been paid within a reasonable time. Existing law authorizes the formation of municipal water districts, county water districts, and California water districts and authorizes those districts to adopt ordinances fixing the charges for the furnishing of commodities or services, to enforce district rules or regulations pertaining to the sale or distribution of water, and to petition the superior court for the issuance of an order stopping or disconnecting a service if the charges for that service are unpaid at the time specified in an ordinance, rule, or regulation. This bill would prohibit an irrigation district from terminating residential or small commercial electrical or water service, and would prohibit a municipal water district, county water district, or California water district from terminating residential or small commercial water service for nonpayment for the first 3 billing cycles following a state of emergency or major disaster for a customer that may have been affected by the emergency or major disaster, except in compliance with the bill's requirements, which are identical to the obligations and restrictions that the bill places upon an electrical corporation, gas corporation, water corporation, municipal corporation, municipal utility district, and public utility district. (7) This bill would declare that its provisions are severable. (8) 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 Personal Income Tax Law, beginning on or after January 1, 2015, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows an earned income tax credit against personal income tax, and a payment from the Tax Relief and Refund Account for an allowable credit in excess of tax liability, to an eligible individual that is equal to that portion of the earned income tax credit allowed by federal law as determined by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor, as specified. The Personal Income Tax Law allows a refundable young child tax credit against the taxes imposed under that law, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2019, in an amount equal to $1,176 multiplied by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor, not to exceed $1,000 per each qualified taxpayer per taxable year and requires amounts of this credit in excess of the qualified taxpayer's tax liability to be paid to the qualified taxpayer from the Tax Relief and Refund Account, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill, under the Personal Income Tax Law, would additionally allow a refundable child poverty tax credit against the taxes imposed under that law for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2020, in an amount equal to either (1) $2,940 multiplied by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor for qualified taxpayers, as defined, residing in a "Region 1" county on the last day of the taxable year, not to exceed $2,500 per each qualified taxpayer per taxable year, or (2) $2,353 multiplied by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor for qualified taxpayers, as defined, residing in a "Region 2" county on the last day of the taxable year, not to exceed $2,000 per each qualified taxpayer per taxable year, as specified. The bill would require amounts of this credit in excess of the qualified taxpayer's tax liability to be paid to the qualified taxpayer from the Tax Relief and Refund Account, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would specify that the credit is only operative for taxable years for which resources are authorized in the annual Budget Act for the Franchise Tax Board to oversee and audit returns associated with the earned income tax credit.

Existing law requires a city, county, or city and county to administratively approve an application to install an electric vehicle charging station through the issuance of a building permit or similar nondiscretionary permit subject to a limited review by the building official of that city, county, or city and county. Existing law allows the building official to require the applicant to apply for a use permit if the official finds that the station could have a specific adverse impact upon the public health or safety and prohibits the city, county, or city and county from denying the application for a use permit to install an electric vehicle charging station unless it makes written findings that the proposed installation would have a specific adverse impact upon the public health or safety, and there is no feasible method to satisfactorily mitigate or avoid the specific adverse impact. Existing law requires every city, county, and city and county to create an expedited, streamlined permitting process for electric vehicle charging stations and to adopt a checklist pursuant to which an applicant that satisfies the information requirements shall be deemed complete and therefore eligible for expedited review. This bill would require an application to install an electric vehicle charging station to be deemed complete if, 5 business days after the application was submitted, the building official of the city, county, or city and county has not deemed the application complete, as specified, and if the building official has not issued a one-written correction notice, as specified. The bill would require an application to install an electric vehicle charging station to be deemed approved if 15 business days after the application was deemed complete certain conditions are met, including that the building official of the city, county, or city and county has not approved the application, as specified, and the building official has not made findings that the proposed installation could have an adverse impact, as described above, and required the applicant to apply for a use permit. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.