Existing law, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, enacted as an initiative statute by Proposition 47, as approved by the electors at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, makes the theft of money, labor, or property petty theft punishable as a misdemeanor, whenever the value of the property taken does not exceed $950. Under existing law, if the value of the property taken exceeds $950, the theft is grand theft, punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. Proposition 47 requires shoplifting, defined as entering a commercial establishment with the intent to commit larceny if the value of the property taken does not exceed $950, to be punished as a misdemeanor. This bill would reduce the threshold amount for petty theft and shoplifting from $950 to $450. The bill would make a person guilty of petty theft with a prior offense if the person is convicted of petty theft or shoplifting and has one or more prior convictions for specified theft-related offenses and would make the crime punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year or as a felony for a term of 3, 5, or 7 years. This bill would make a person guilty of aggregated theft if the person commits 2 or more offenses of shoplifting within a 12-month period. The bill would require aggregated theft to be punished as a misdemeanor by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year or as a felony for 16 months or for 2 or 3 years. The bill would require each additional offense of shoplifting after a conviction of aggregated theft to be punished as a felony for a term of 3, 5, or 7 years. The bill would make the above provisions effective only upon submission to, and approval by, the voters, as specified. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, makes a person guilty of organized retail theft if the person acts in concert with one or more persons to steal merchandise from one or more merchant's premises or online marketplace with the intent to sell, exchange, or return the merchandise for value, acts in concert with 2 or more persons to receive, purchase, or possess merchandise knowing or believing it to have been stolen, or acts as an agent of another to steal merchandise from one or more merchant's premises or online marketplaces as part of an organized plan to commit theft. Under existing law, these crimes are punishable as either misdemeanors or felonies if the violations are committed on 2 or more separate occasions within a 12-month period and the aggregated value of the merchandise stolen, received, purchased, or possessed within that 12-month period exceeds $950. This bill would reduce the amount of the aggregated value of the merchandise stolen, received, purchased, or possessed from $950 to $450. The bill would repeal the sunset provision, thereby extending the crime indefinitely. By extending the time that organized retail theft would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, authorizes a city or county prosecuting authority or county probation department to create a diversion or deferred entry of judgment program for persons who commit a theft offense or repeat theft offenses, as specified. This bill would repeal the sunset provision, thereby extending the authorization of the program indefinitely. 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.
Sponsored bills
This measure would declare the month of September 2023 as California Emergency Preparedness Month.
This measure would recognize the month of January 2024 as National Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
This measure would designate, in perpetuity, the 4th week of January as Data Privacy Week and the last Sunday of January as Data Privacy Day.
Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacists by the California State Board of Pharmacy. Existing law authorizes a pharmacist to furnish at least a 30-day supply of HIV preexposure prophylaxis, and up to a 60-day supply of those drugs if certain conditions are met. Existing law also authorizes a pharmacist to furnish postexposure prophylaxis to a patient if certain conditions are met. This bill would authorize a pharmacist to furnish up to a 90-day course of preexposure prophylaxis, or preexposure prophylaxis beyond a 90-day course, if specified conditions are met. The bill would require the California State Board of Pharmacy to adopt emergency regulations to implement these provisions by October 31, 2024. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law prohibits a health care service plan or health insurer from covering preexposure prophylaxis that has been furnished by a pharmacist in excess of a 60-day supply once every 2 years, except as specified. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services pursuant to a schedule of benefits. The existing schedule of benefits includes coverage for preexposure prophylaxis as pharmacist services, limited to no more than a 60-day supply furnished by a pharmacist once every 2 years, and includes coverage for postexposure prophylaxis, subject to approval by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. This bill would require a health care service plan and health insurer to cover preexposure prophylaxis and postexposure prophylaxis furnished by a pharmacist, including the pharmacist's services and related testing ordered by the pharmacist, and to pay or reimburse for the service performed by a pharmacist at an in-network pharmacy or a pharmacist at an out-of-network pharmacy if the health care service plan or health insurer has an out-of-network pharmacy benefit, except as specified. The bill would include preexposure prophylaxis furnished by a pharmacist as pharmacist services on the Medi-Cal schedule of benefits. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the Board of State and Community Corrections. Existing law charges the board with providing the statewide leadership, coordination, and technical assistance to promote effective state and local efforts and partnerships in California's adult and juvenile criminal justice system. This bill would create the Public Safety Collaborative Fund in the State Treasury. The bill would require the board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to administer public safety collaborative grants from the fund to regional public safety collaboratives established for violence prevention, intervention, and suppression activities. The bill would require a collaborative applying for a grant to establish a coordinating and advisory board with membership, including city officials, local law enforcement, and local stakeholders, to prioritize the use of the funds. The bill would authorize grant funds to be utilized for a range of programs, services, and activities designed to reduce violence, including programs to address youth violence prevention and intervention in K–12 schools and homeless outreach and intervention efforts. The bill would require a public safety collaborative to distribute at least 60% of the funds to one or more community-based organizations to assist with violence prevention, intervention, and suppression activities. The bill would require a public safety collaborative to report to the board annually by June 30 on the use of the funds and the effectiveness of the collaborative and the board to report annually to the Governor and Legislature by December 31.
(1) Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL-FIRE) , and requires CAL-FIRE to be responsible for, among other things, fire protection and prevention, as provided. Existing law establishes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection in CAL-FIRE to represent the state's interest in the acquisition and management of state forests and requires the board to maintain an adequate forest policy. The former Governor, Edmund G. Brown Jr., issued Executive Order No. B-52-18 that, among other things, established a Forest Management Task Force, now known as the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, involving specified state agencies to create the action plan for wildfire and forest resilience. The executive order also established a Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation, to be located within the state board. This bill would establish the Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Program to be administered by the state board's Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation to develop an implementation plan to meet the goals and recommendations of, and the comprehensive framework to align with the state's wood utilization policies and priorities and focused market strategy of, specified statewide forest management plans, and to develop a workforce training program to complement the workforce needs associated with the implementation plan. The bill would require the state board, in coordination with the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, to submit an annual report to the Legislature, beginning January 1, 2025, on the progress made on implementing the implementation plan. This bill would require the Natural Resources Agency, in furtherance of the program, to facilitate the integration of recommendations for forest biomass waste utilization in relevant, state climate adaptation plans. (2) The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and requires the Energy Commission to undertake various actions in furtherance of meeting the state's clean energy and pollution reduction objectives. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in consultation with specified state and federal agencies and at least every 2 years, to conduct assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry supply, production, transportation, delivery and distribution, demand, and prices. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in consultation with specified entities, to adopt a biennial integrated energy policy report containing certain information. This bill would require the Energy Commission, in furtherance of the Forest Biomass Waste Utilization Program, to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2024, that evaluates innovative bioenergy technologies that use forest biomass waste, as specified. The bill would also require the Energy Commission to include, as part of the 2025 edition of the integrated policy report, an assessment of the potential for forest biomass waste energy to provide firm renewable power. (3) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board (state air board) as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act requires the state air board to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as specified, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions. The act requires the state air board to develop, on or before December 31, 2020, and every 5 years thereafter, a report that assesses greenhouse gas emission associated with wildfire and forest management activities. This bill would require the state air board, in the report developed on or before December 31, 2025, and every 5 years thereafter, to include, among other things, a methodology to quantify the greenhouse gas and short-lived climate pollutant emissions from wildfire, pile burning, and forest management activities, as specified. (4) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires every electrical corporation to file with the PUC a standard tariff for electricity generated by an electric generation facility, as defined, that qualifies for the tariff, is owned and operated by a retail customer of the electrical corporation, and is located within the service territory of, and developed to sell electricity to, the electrical corporation. The PUC refers to this requirement as the renewable feed-in tariff. The renewable feed-in tariff law, in part, requires the PUC to direct the electrical corporations, collectively, to procure at least 250 megawatts of cumulative rated generating capacity from developers of bioenergy projects that commence operation on or after June 1, 2013. Pursuant to this requirement, the PUC has established and revised the Bioenergy Market Adjusting Tariff (BioMAT) program. Existing law authorizes a community choice aggregator to submit eligible projects for cost recovery pursuant to the BioMAT program, as specified. This bill would require the PUC to continue the BioMAT program until the implementation of the provisions authorizing community choice aggregators to participate in the program has been resolved as specified, and adequate time is given to community choice aggregators to participate in the program. 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 a commission action implementing the bill's requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) 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.