(1) The California Endangered Species Act (CESA) requires the Fish and Game Commission to establish a list of endangered species and a list of threatened species and to add or remove species from either list if it finds, upon the receipt of sufficient scientific information, as specified, that the action is warranted. CESA prohibits the taking of an endangered, threatened, or candidate species, except as specified. Under the act, the Department of Fish and Wildlife may authorize the take of listed species if the take is incidental to an otherwise lawful activity, the impacts are minimized and fully mitigated, and the applicant ensures adequate funding for implementing the mitigation measures and for monitoring compliance with, and the effectiveness of, those measures. This bill would specify that any transportation funding identified in the State Highway System Management Plan for purposes of these provisions is presumed to provide adequate funding for the long-term maintenance of a habitat connectivity or wildlife corridor structure on the state highway system, but not for the habitat on or around the structure, and would require an applicant to provide an endowment. (2) Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of the state highways and associated properties. Existing law authorizes the department to acquire any real property that it considers necessary for state highway purposes. This bill would authorize the department to purchase property for specified environmental mitigation purposes, to be called environmental mitigation property, and to transfer that property to specified governmental and nongovernmental entities, or to purchase the property in the name of those entities. This bill would authorize the department to create an endowment or enter into an agreement with the transferee of an environmental mitigation property or another party to provide funding for the establishment, preservation, restoration, and maintenance of the property consistent with certain permit conditions or mitigation requirements. The bill would authorize the department to enter into a cooperative agreement with certain other parties to hold, manage, and invest an endowment for an environmental mitigation property and disburse payments from the endowment to the holder of the property consistent with the fund agreement. The bill would repeal these provisions on December 31, 2033. This bill would also authorize the department to purchase, exempt from specified advertising or bidding requirements, environmental mitigation credits in a mitigation credit agreement or from a mitigation bank, conservation bank, in-lieu fee program, or from another mitigation credit provider in certain circumstances. The bill would authorize the department to purchase, exempt from those same advertising or bidding requirements, environmental mitigation credits from a mitigation bank, conservation bank, in-lieu fee program, mitigation credit agreement, or from another mitigation credit provider for the purpose of fulfilling mitigation responsibilities for natural resources or for advance mitigation purposes, using an alternative solicitation method, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to enter into agreements with governmental, nonprofit, and for-profit entities for the purpose of mitigating environmental impacts caused by transportation projects or for advance mitigation purposes. The bill would repeal these provisions on December 31, 2033. This bill would require, by July 1, 2025, and annually thereafter until July 1, 2033, the department to provide a written report to the relevant legislative policy and budget committees that includes specified information related to its environmental mitigation program. (3) Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to make and enter into any contracts in the manner provided by law that are required for the performance of its duties. Existing law, the State Contract Act, governs the bidding and award of public works contracts by specific state departments, including the Department of Transportation. This bill would, if an intercity passenger rail project is constructed within the Interstate 15 right-of-way, require the department to ensure the construction of 3 wildlife crossings and appurtenances at 3 priority locations, as provided. The bill would authorize the department to solicit proposals for, accept unsolicited proposals for, negotiate, or enter into an agreement with a rail entity, as defined, to develop and construct the wildlife crossings and appurtenances, as specified. The bill would establish parameters for this authorization. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
The California Constitution establishes the State Board of Equalization, consisting of the Controller and 4 other members elected from districts, and provides for the election, recall, impeachment, filling of vacancies, and salaries and benefits of those board members elected from districts. The California Constitution vests the board with various powers, duties, and responsibilities related to the administration of taxes imposed on property, insurance, and alcoholic beverages. This measure would abolish the State Board of Equalization and instead require the Legislature to create a state tax agency by statute for purposes of carrying out those powers, duties, and responsibilities previously vested in the State Board of Equalization by the California Constitution and by statute. The bill would authorize the Legislature to vest all powers, duties, and responsibilities in a single state tax agency or separately in multiple state tax agencies. The measure would deem the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and the Office of Tax Appeals to be state tax agencies for purposes of these provisions and vest in those entities specified powers, duties, and responsibilities currently vested in the State Board of Equalization. The measure would make conforming changes by deleting various references to the State Board of Equalization throughout the California Constitution, including in those provisions regarding the election, recall, impeachment, filling of vacancies, and salaries and benefits of members of the board, and make other nonsubstantive changes. The measure would provide that these changes are operative as of January 1, 2027.
Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which is permitted to adjudge certain children to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances until the dependent child attains 21 years of age. Existing law also authorizes the juvenile court to resume jurisdiction over a nonminor who has attained 18 years of age, but not yet attained 21 years of age, and for whom the court has dismissed dependency, delinquency, or transition jurisdiction. Existing law, the California Fostering Connections to Success Act, revises and expands the scope of various programs relating to the provision of cash assistance and other services to and for the benefit of certain foster and adopted children, and other children who have been placed in out-of-home care, including children who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) , Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) , California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) , and Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) benefits. Among other provisions, the act extends specified foster care benefits to nonminor dependents up to 21 years of age, if specified conditions are met. Existing law defines a nonminor dependent for these purposes as a foster child who is a current dependent child or ward of the juvenile court, or who is a nonminor under the transition jurisdiction of the juvenile court pursuant to a voluntary reentry agreement, and in accordance with a transitional independent living case plan who has attained 18 years of age while under an order of foster care placement by the juvenile court and is not older than 21 years of age. This bill would, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute for this purpose, require the State Department of Social Services to administer a 3-year pilot program in at least 3 counties that choose to participate to extend foster care services to nonminor dependents up to 22 years of age if the nonminor dependent is experiencing homelessness or is at reasonable risk of homelessness if they are not under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. Under the pilot program, the bill would expand the jurisdiction of the juvenile court to include, as a nonminor dependent, a nonminor who is 21 years of age and who was previously under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court if the juvenile court makes a finding on the record by a preponderance of the evidence that the nonminor is experiencing homelessness or is at reasonable risk of homelessness if they are not under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, among other requirements, would expand the eligibility of foster care by revising the definition of nonminor dependent to include a foster child who meets the above-described requirements and is 21 years of age if the court makes that same finding, and would make these nonminor dependents eligible for benefits under AFDC-FC, CalWORKs, Kin-GAP, and AAP. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill.
Existing law prohibits a well operator from injecting a concentrated carbon dioxide fluid produced by a carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration project into a Class II well for purposes of enhanced oil recovery, including the facilitation of enhanced oil recovery from another well. This bill would exclude from the definition of enhanced oil recovery for purposes of the above prohibition the incidental and unintentional residual oil produced at the surface from a Class VI well, as defined, resulting from the injection of a concentrated carbon dioxide fluid into the Class VI well during the execution of a carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration project. The bill would prohibit the carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration project from selling, bartering, exchanging, or trading any incidental and unintentional residual oil produced at the surface and would require any oil produced from a Class VI well to be reported to the State Air Resources Board and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9, within 60 days of its production. Because a violation of this reporting requirement 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.
Existing state law forbids a public employer from deterring or discouraging public employees from becoming or remaining members of an employee organization. Existing federal law forbids employers from interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees in the exercise of rights relating to organizing, forming, joining, or assisting a labor organization for collective bargaining purposes, or from working together to improve terms and conditions of employment, or refraining from any such activity. This measure, the Right to Organize and Negotiate Act, would ensure that all Californians have the right to join a union and to negotiate with their employers, through their legally chosen representative, to protect their economic well-being and safety at work. This measure would require the Legislature to provide for the enforcement of these rights. This measure would also prohibit, after January 1, 2023, the passing of any statute or ordinance that interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively over their wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment and workplace safety.
This measure would designate the month of May 2023 as National Bike Month in California and would encourage Californians to ride bicycles for commuting and recreation, and California cities and counties to make streets safer for cycling.
This measure would proclaim May 10, 2023, as the Day of the Teacher.
This measure would designate the week of March 26, 2023, to April 2, 2023, inclusive, as Family Physician Week.