Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as 2 of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing federal law requires an educational institution to treat pregnancy, childbirth, recovery from childbirth, and other specified conditions in the same manner and under the same policies as any other temporary disability. Existing law also prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability, gender, or other specified characteristics in any program or activity conducted by any postsecondary educational institution that receives, or benefits from, state financial assistance or enrolls students who receive state financial aid. Existing law requires a school operated by a school district or a county office of education, the California School for the Deaf, the California School for the Blind, or a charter school to provide, if there is at least one lactating pupil on the school campus, reasonable accommodations to a lactating pupil on a school campus to express breast milk, breast-feed an infant child, or address other needs related to breast-feeding, as prescribed. This bill would require the California Community Colleges and the California State University, and encourage a satellite campus of these systems and the University of California, to provide reasonable accommodations to a lactating student on their respective campuses to express breast milk, breast-feed an infant child, or address other needs related to breast-feeding, as specified. The bill would require the respective educational institution to provide a sink, in addition to the accommodations described above, upon the construction of a new campus of the California Community Colleges or the California State University, the replacement, expansion, or renovation of an existing building regularly used by students, or the construction of a new building designed for use by students, as specified. This bill would not require an existing room designated for the specified purposes to contain a sink. The bill would also require that a lactating student on a college or university campus be given a reasonable amount of time to accommodate the need to express breast milk or breast-feed an infant child, and that the accommodation be available whenever a student is required to be on campus. The bill would prohibit students from incurring an academic penalty as a result of their use of these reasonable accommodations. The bill would authorize a complaint of noncompliance with the requirements of the bill to be filed in accordance with specified procedures, and, if the complaint is found to have merit, would require the respective campus or appellate body to provide a remedy to the affected student. This bill would require that these accommodations be implemented no later than January 1, 2020, and urge the University of California to implement the bill provisions by this date. By imposing additional duties on community college districts, 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, 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.
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Existing law imposes various restrictions on employers with respect to contracts and applications for employment. A violation of those restrictions is a misdemeanor. Existing law creates the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which is under the direction of the Labor Commissioner, and generally commits to the commissioner the authority and responsibility for the enforcement of employment laws. This bill would prohibit a person from, as a condition of employment, continued employment, the receipt of any employment-related benefit, or as a condition of entering into a contractual agreement, prohibiting an applicant for employment, employee, or independent contractor from disclosing to any person an instance of sexual harassment that the employee or independent contractor suffers, witnesses, or discovers in the workplace or in the performance of the contract, or otherwise opposing any lawful practice, or from exercising any right or obligation or participating in any investigation or proceeding with respect to unlawful harassment or discrimination. The bill would also prohibit an employer from requiring any applicant for employment or any employee to waive any right, forum, or procedure for a violation of any provision of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) or other specific statutes governing employment, as a condition of employment, continued employment, the receipt of any employment-related benefit, or as a condition of entering into a contractual agreement. The bill would also prohibit an employer from threatening, retaliating or discriminating against, or terminating any applicant for employment or any employee because of the refusal to consent to the waiver of any right, forum, or procedure for a violation of specific statutes governing employment. The bill would establish a specific exemption from those prohibitions. Because a violation of these prohibitions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. FEHA makes specified employment and housing practices unlawful and provides procedures for enforcement by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. FEHA authorizes a person alleging a violation of specified provisions of the act relating to employment discrimination to submit a verified complaint to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, and requires the department to take actions to investigate and conciliate that complaint. FEHA authorizes the department to bring a civil action on behalf of the person who submitted the complaint upon the failure to eliminate an unlawful practice under these provisions. FEHA requires the department to issue a right-to-sue notice to a person who submitted the complaint if certain conditions occur, and FEHA requires a person who has been issued a right-to-sue notice to bring an action within one year from when the department issued that notice. This bill would additionally make violations of the prohibitions described above, relating to sexual harassment and waivers, unlawful employment practices under FEHA. 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, the Youth Bill of Rights, enumerates various rights for youth confined in a facility of the Division of Juvenile Justice, including, among others, the right to maintain frequent and continuing contact with family members and the right to receive a quality education. This bill would require a minor detained in or committed to a juvenile hall or juvenile ranch, camp, or forestry camp, to be provided with access to computer technology and the Internet for the purposes of education, and would allow him or her to be provided with access to computer technology and the Internet for the purpose of maintaining relationships with family. The bill would specify that these provisions do not limit the authority of the chief probation officer, or his or her designee, to limit or deny access to computer technology or the Internet for safety and security or staffing reasons. By requiring counties to provide minors in their custody access to computer technology and the Internet, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Under existing law, (1) every child adjudged a dependent child of the juvenile court, and (2) every minor adjudged a ward of the juvenile court who is placed in a specified care setting by a probation agency, is entitled to participate in age-appropriate extracurricular, enrichment, and social activities. This bill would require that these age-appropriate extracurricular, enrichment, and social activities include access to computer technology and the Internet. By requiring counties to provide access to computer technology and Internet to dependent children and wards of the juvenile court, 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 California Fair Employment and Housing Act, prohibits an employer from taking steps that constitute harassment against an employee, including sexual harassment, as defined. The act also prohibits an employer from failing to take corrective action to remedy harassment in the workplace if the employer knows or should have known of the harassment. The act also prohibits an employer from failing to take all reasonable steps necessary to prevent discrimination and harassment from occurring. The act requires the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to provide employers with a poster and an information sheet regarding sexual harassment, including, among other components, the internal complaint process of the employer available to the employee and the legal remedies and complaint process available through the department, and requires employers to post the poster in an accessible area of the workplace and either provide each employee with a copy of the information sheet or provide a specified minimum curriculum of sexual harassment education. The act requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide at least 2 hours of prescribed training and education regarding sexual harassment to all supervisory employees within 6 months of their assumption of a supervisory position and once every 2 years, as specified. The act prohibits failure to maintain and preserve records relating to a verified complaint under the department complaint process until the complaint proceedings, including appeals, are terminated. This bill would require an employer with 50 or more employees to maintain internal complaint records of employee complaints alleging sexual harassment for a minimum of 5 years after the last day of employment of the complainant or any alleged harasser named in the complaint, whichever is later. The bill would authorize the department to seek an order requiring an employer that violates this recordkeeping requirement to comply.
The California Constitution provides that the people have the right to petition government for redress of grievances and to assemble freely to consult for the common good. The California Constitution provides that every person may freely speak, write, and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of this right. Existing law generally regulates formation and enforcement of contracts, including what constitutes an unlawful contract. Under existing law, a contract is unlawful if it is contrary to an express provision of law, contrary to the policy of express law, though not expressly prohibited, or otherwise contrary to good morals. A contract is also void to the extent that it restrains a person from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind. This bill would make a provision in a contract or settlement agreement void and unenforceable if it waives a party's right to testify in an administrative, legislative, or judicial proceeding concerning alleged criminal conduct or sexual harassment.
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 (EIR) 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 prohibits a lead agency from approving or carrying out a project for which a certified EIR identifies one or more significant effects on the environment unless the lead agency makes certain findings. This bill would, except as provided, require a lead agency that is preparing an EIR or a negative declaration to provide certain notices required by CEQA to owners and occupants of property located within 12 mile of any parcel or parcels, and to any schools located within one mile of any parcel or parcels, on which is located a project involving an industrial or equivalent land use, as defined, within a disadvantaged community or within 12 mile of a disadvantaged community. The bill would also require the lead agency to provide those notices to those entities for a project involving the adoption of municipal regulations, zoning, or land use designations that authorize an industrial or equivalent land use within a disadvantaged community or within 12 mile of a disadvantaged community. The bill would require the lead agency to call at least one scoping meeting for those projects, as provided. The bill would require the lead agency to provide a specified notice in English and in other languages, as provided. Because the bill would impose additional duties on a lead agency, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to publish a specified map relating to disadvantaged communities no later than June 30, 2019, and to update the map, as specified. 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 prohibits a pupil from being suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed a specified act, including, among other acts, disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. Existing law prohibits the suspension of a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 3, inclusive, and recommending the expulsion of a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, for disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of those school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. This bill, commencing July 1, 2019, would also prohibit the suspension of a pupil enrolled in grades 4 and 5 for disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of those school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. The bill, commencing July 1, 2019, until July 1, 2023, would prohibit the suspension of a pupil enrolled in grades 6 to 8, inclusive, for those acts. The bill, commencing July 1, 2019, would also prohibit the suspension of a pupil enrolled in a charter school in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 5, inclusive, and recommending the expulsion of a pupil enrolled in a charter school in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, for those acts. The bill, commencing July 1, 2019, until July 1, 2023, would prohibit the suspension of a pupil enrolled in a charter school in grades 6 to 8, inclusive, for those acts. The bill would make other related changes.
Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Under existing law, the University of California provides instruction at 10 campuses, which are located in Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. The regents have established the Office of the Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) and have assigned to that office the task of responsibly investing various funds of the university, including, but not limited to, endowment and pension funds. This bill would urge the regents to require the OCIO to use reasonable efforts to encourage diversity, to request partner firms to use reasonable efforts to encourage diversity, and to launch an emerging manager program. The bill would also require the OCIO to submit, on or before January 1, 2020, a report to the chairs of the appropriate policy committees of each house of the Legislature that includes specified information relating to any requirements the regents direct the OCIO to perform pursuant to the bill.
Existing law establishes a program within all cities and all counties and portions thereof located within seismic zone 4, as defined, to identify all potentially hazardous buildings and to establish a mitigation program for these buildings. The mitigation program may include, among other things, the adoption by ordinance of a hazardous buildings program, measures to strengthen buildings, and the application of structural standards necessary to provide for life safety above current code requirements. This bill would, upon the identification of funding by the Office of Emergency Services, require the building department of a city or county that meets specified requirements to create an inventory of potentially vulnerable buildings, as defined, within its jurisdiction, based on age and other publicly available information, and submit that inventory to the office, as specified. By increasing the duties of local officials, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the office to, among other things, maintain a statewide inventory, identify funding mechanisms to offset costs to building departments and building owners in complying with these provisions, and report to the Legislature on the number of potentially vulnerable buildings and compliance of building departments with these provisions. The bill would require the owner of a building identified by a building department as a potentially vulnerable building to retain a licensed professional engineer to identify whether the building meets the definition of a potentially vulnerable building, and provide a letter to the building department stating the licensed professional engineer's findings. The bill would specify the date by which each requirement must be met. 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 authorizes state and local agencies to establish procedures governing employment within their respective jurisdictions, subject to applicable civil service rules. Existing law requires state agencies, when hiring for internships and student assistant positions, to give preference to a qualified applicant who is, or has been, a dependent child in foster care, a homeless youth, or a formerly incarcerated youth. Existing law requires the preference to be granted to applicants up to 26 years of age and requires county welfare departments, in connection with termination of dependency proceedings, to provide dependent children with information notifying them that they may be eligible for this preference. This bill would similarly require each county to develop a hiring preference program for disadvantaged groups, as defined, when hiring for internship and student assistant positions. The bill would also require county welfare departments to notify dependent children, who are subject to termination of dependency proceedings, that they may be eligible for the program. By imposing new duties on counties, the bill would create 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.