Sen. Sabrina Cervantes

The California Constitution and existing statutory law provide for the electors to propose statutes or amendments to the Constitution by initiative. Existing law authorizes a person who is a voter or who is qualified to register to vote in California to circulate an initiative or referendum petition within the state. The California Constitution enables electors to initiate a recall of state or local officers by gathering sufficient signatures within a specified time period. Existing statutory law requires that the proponents of a recall be registered voters of the electoral jurisdiction of the officer they seek to recall. Existing law requires that an initiative petition contain specified language advising the public of its right to determine whether the person circulating the petition is a paid signature gatherer or a volunteer. Existing law prescribes other requirements regarding the form, content, and presentation of initiative and referendum petitions. This bill would require, for a state or local initiative, referendum, or recall petition that requires voter signatures and for which the circulation is paid for by a committee, as specified, that an Official Top Funders disclosure be made, either on the petition or on a separate sheet, that identifies the name of the committee, any top contributors, as defined, and the month and year during which the Official Top Funders disclosure is valid, among other things. The bill would require the committee to create an Official Top Funders sheet meeting certain requirements and would authorize the committee to create a page on an internet website that includes a link to the most recent Official Top Funders sheet and a link to the full text of the measure. The bill would require the committee to submit the Official Top Funders sheet and any updates to the Secretary of State, who would be required to post that statement on the Secretary of State's internet website along with the previous versions the committee submitted. The bill would amend existing provisions to make certain misrepresentations with regard to the Official Top Funders disclosures a crime. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the circulator to certify under the penalty of perjury that the circulator showed each signer a valid and unfalsified Official Top Funders sheet if the petition does not include a specified disclosure statement. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the pages of a petition to be bound together by any reasonable method, including the use of staples. By expanding the duties of local elections 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 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 governs the procedure by which crime victims may obtain compensation from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Existing law establishes eligibility for compensation when prescribed requirements are met and authorizes the California Victim Compensation Board to grant compensation from the fund for pecuniary loss when the board determines it will best aid the person seeking compensation. Existing law authorizes the board to provide compensation equal to the loss of income or loss of support, or both, that a victim or derivative victim incurs as a direct result of the victim's or derivative victim's injury or the victim's death. Under existing law, as amended by Proposition 35, the Californians Against Sexual Exploitation Act, an initiative measure approved by the voters at the November 6, 2012, statewide general election, a person who deprives or violates another person's personal liberty with the intent to obtain forced labor or services or who deprives or violates another person's personal liberty for the purpose of prostitution or sexual exploitation is guilty of human trafficking, a felony. This bill would authorize the board to provide compensation equal to loss of income or support that a victim incurs as a direct result of the victim's deprivation of liberty during the crime, if the qualifying crime is human trafficking, in an amount not exceeding the value of the victim's labor as guaranteed under California law for up to 40 hours per week, as specified. The bill would require the board to adopt guidelines on or before July 1, 2020, that allow the board to rely on evidence other than official employment documentation in considering and approving an application for loss of income or support, including any reliable corroborating information approved by the board. The bill would prohibit compensation for loss of income paid by the board if the qualifying crime is human trafficking from exceeding $10,000 per year that the services were performed, for a maximum of 2 years. By expanding the authorizations for use of moneys in the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 13957 of the Government Code proposed by AB 415 to be operative only if this bill and AB 415 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and activities. The act defines "mass mailing" to mean over two hundred substantially similar pieces of mail, and defines "mass electronic mailing" to mean sending more than 200 substantially similar pieces of electronic mail within a calendar month. The act prohibits a candidate or committee from sending a mass mailing or mass electronic mailing unless certain information regarding the source of the mailing is shown in or on the mailing, as specified. The act also regulates political advertisements. The act requires certain advertisements paid for by a committee to include the words "Ad paid for by" in the advertisement. The act requires electronic media advertisements, other than email messages or internet websites, paid for by a committee, other than a political party committee or a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office of the controlling candidate, to comply with certain disclosure requirements. The act requires certain committees to include a hyperlink to an internet website disclosing, among other things, the committee's "top contributors," as defined, in an electronic media advertisement. This bill would authorize a committee to instead include the words "Paid for by" or "With" in an advertisement that is a text message. The bill would require a committee other than a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office of the controlling candidate to include in certain text message advertisements that are not individually sent without the assistance of mass distribution technology the text "Paid for by" or "With" followed by either the name of the committee or a hyperlink or URL for an internet website containing certain disclosures, as specified. The bill would require a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office of the controlling candidate to disclose the name of the candidate and the office sought in those same types of text messages. The bill would require a committee with top contributors, other than a political party committee or a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office of the controlling candidate, to include the text "Top funders:" followed by the name of the single top contributor of $50,000 or more, or the names of the top two contributors of $50,000 or more, to the committee paying for the advertisement, as specified. The bill would prescribe certain requirements for the color and size of the text in the text message and the disclosures on the internet website. Because a violation of the requirements of the bill would be a crime under an existing provision of the act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the definition of a crime. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 84502 of the Government Code proposed by AB 864 to be operative only if this bill and AB 864 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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 Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.

Existing law creates the California Transportation Commission, with various powers and duties relative to the programming of transportation capital projects and allocation of funds to those projects pursuant to the state transportation improvement program and various other transportation funding programs. Existing law requires the commission and the State Air Resources Board to hold at least 2 joint meetings per calendar year to coordinate their implementation of transportation policies. This bill would instead require the commission, the state board, and a representative from the Department of Housing and Community Development to hold those joint meetings to coordinate their implementation of policies that jointly affect transportation, housing, and air quality.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Under existing law, the board appoints the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to serve as the chief executive officer of the segment. This bill would require the chancellor's office to develop and provide to community college districts specified materials designed to increase awareness of the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program among community college faculty members. The bill would require the governing board of a community college district to annually provide the materials to those faculty members. The bill would require a community college district to annually provide a faculty member who is enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program with notice of renewal and a copy of the employment certification form required to be completed for purposes of the program, with the employer portion of the form already completed. The bill would require a community college district to make specified determinations relating to the work completed by faculty members for purposes of the program.

Existing law establishes the California College Promise, under the administration of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, to provide funding, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to each community college meeting prescribed requirements. Existing law authorizes a community college to use that funding to accomplish specified policy goals and to waive some or all of the fees for 2 academic years for certain first-time students who are enrolled in 12 or more semester units or the equivalent at the college and complete and submit either a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or a California Dream Act application. This bill would make ineligible for the fee waiver a community college student who has previously earned a degree or certificate from a postsecondary educational institution. The bill would authorize an institution to deem as full time, for the purposes of eligibility for a fee waiver, specified students who are not enrolled in 12 or more semester units. The bill would require the chancellor's office to submit a report to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2024, evaluating the use of funding for the California College Promise to waive student fees, with specified content.

Existing law sets the time for commencement of any civil action for recovery of damages suffered as a result of sexual assault, as defined, to the later of within 10 years from the date of the last act, attempted act, or assault with intent to commit an act, of sexual assault by the defendant against the plaintiff or within 3 years from the date the plaintiff discovers or reasonably should have discovered that an injury or illness resulted from an act, attempted act, or assault with intent to commit an act, of sexual assault by the defendant against the plaintiff. Existing law provides that this limitation applies to any action of that type that is commenced on or after January 1, 2019. The bill would clarify that it is not necessary that a criminal prosecution or other proceeding have been brought as a result of the sexual assault or, if a criminal prosecution or other proceeding was brought, that the prosecution or proceeding resulted in a conviction or adjudication. The bill would revive claims for damages of more than $250,000 arising out of a sexual assault or other inappropriate contact, communication, or activity of a sexual nature by a physician occurring at a student health center between January 1, 1988, and January 1, 2017, that would otherwise be barred prior to January 1, 2020, solely because the applicable statute of limitations has or had expired, and would authorize a cause of action to proceed if already pending in court on the effective date of the bill or, if not filed by the effective date of the bill, to be commenced between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. The bill would require an attorney representing a claimant seeking to recover under this provision to file a declaration with the court under penalty of perjury stating that the attorney has reviewed the facts of the case and consulted with a mental health practitioner, and that the attorney has concluded on the basis of this review and consultation that it is the attorney's good faith belief that the claim value is more than $250,000. By expanding the crime of perjury, 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 bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

This measure would condemn regulations recently adopted by the Department of Homeland Security to prescribe how a determination of inadmissibility for a person who is not a citizen or national is made based on the likelihood that the person will become a public charge. This measure would also urge the federal government to repeal the new regulations.

This measure would state that the Legislature strongly and unequivocally supports the existing fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards, the preservation of California's authority to enact stricter air pollution standards pursuant to its federal Clean Air Act waiver, and the enactment of a voluntary agreement between the State Air Resources Board and automobile manufacturers that preserves California's status as a leader in the fight for clean air; will consider any and all appropriate actions to maintain and enact vehicle emissions standards for the protection of public health, California residents, and the economy; supports any and all appropriate actions that enhance longstanding protections for the public's health, California residents, and the economy; and strongly urges the President and Vice President of the United States, the Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation, and the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency to reject the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Proposed Rule for Model Years 2021–2026.

This measure would call upon all Californians to embrace the individual and social benefits of family and community acceptance, upon religious leaders to counsel on LGBTQ matters from a place of love, compassion, and knowledge of the psychological and other harms of conversion therapy, and upon the people of California and the institutions of California with great moral influence to model equitable treatment of all people of the state.