Sen. Sabrina Cervantes

Existing law authorizes the operation of an autonomous vehicle on public roads for testing purposes by a driver who possesses the proper class of license for the type of vehicle operated if specified requirements are satisfied. Existing law prohibits the operation of an autonomous vehicle on public roads until the manufacturer submits an application to the Department of Motor Vehicles, as specified, and that application is approved. A violation of the Vehicle Code or a local ordinance adopted pursuant to that code is an infraction. This bill would prohibit the delivery of commercial goods, as defined, directly to a residence or to a business for its use or retail sale through the operation of an autonomous vehicle without a human safety operator on any highway within the State of California. The bill would make a first violation of this provision subject to a $10,000 administrative fine and a $25,000 administrative fine for subsequent violations. The bill would authorize the department to suspend or revoke the permit of an autonomous vehicle manufacturer for repeated violations of this provision. The bill would require the department to submit a report to the Legislature evaluating the performance of autonomous vehicle technology and its impact on public safety and employment, as specified. This bill would require all relevant state agencies, including, among others, the Department of Transportation and the State Air Resources Board, to provide information to the department to research this report. The bill would prohibit the department from issuing a deployment permit for the use of an autonomous vehicle to deliver commercial goods without a human safety operator until a later enacted statute authorizes the issuance of a permit for that purpose. The bill would also make certain findings and declarations related to these provisions.

(1) Existing law establishes the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, which is administered by the State Department of Social Services, counties, and other entities, under which qualified aged, blind, or disabled persons are provided with supportive services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes. Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors to elect to contract with a nonprofit consortium to provide for the delivery of in-home supportive services or to establish, by ordinance, a public authority to provide for the delivery of those services, in accordance with certain procedures. Existing law deems a public authority created under these provisions to be the employer of in-home supportive services personnel under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, which governs labor relations between local public employers and employees. Existing law also deems a nonprofit consortium contracting with a county to be the employer of in-home supportive services personnel for purposes of collective bargaining over wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. Existing law grants recipients of in-home supportive services the right to hire, fire, and supervise the work of any in-home supportive services personnel providing services for them. Existing law prohibits the state and specified local public employers from deterring or discouraging public employees from becoming or remaining members of an employee organization. Existing law also requires specified public employers to provide exclusive employee representatives access to new employee orientations. Existing law generally grants the Public Employment Relations Board jurisdiction over violations of these provisions. Existing law defines "public employers" who are subject to these provisions as including, among others, public agencies, cities, counties, and districts. This bill would expand the definition of "public employer," for purposes of those provisions, to include an employer who is subject to the In-Home Supportive Services Employer-Employee Relations Act, which the bill would create. The bill would establish a method for resolving disputes regarding wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment between the state and recognized employee organizations representing individual providers. The bill would provide for the right of employees, also known as individual providers under the act, to form, join, and participate in activities of employee organizations for the purposes of representation on all matters within the scope of employee organizations. The bill would define "employee" or "individual provider" for these purposes to mean a person authorized to provide in-home supportive services pursuant to the individual provider mode or waiver personal care services, as prescribed. This bill would, for purposes of collective bargaining, deem the state to be the employer of record of individual providers in each county. The bill would grant the in-home supportive services recipient with the right to hire, fire, and supervise the work of the individual providers providing services to them. Among other things, the bill would specify that individual providers employed by a predecessor agency before January 1, 2026, shall retain employee status and not be required by the state to requalify to receive payment for providing in-home supportive services. Among other things, for purposes of collective bargaining, this bill would provide that existing bargaining units consisting of individual providers in a single county that are represented by the same recognized employee organization shall be deemed merged into the largest possible multicounty bargaining units represented by that employee organization. In counties where no recognized employee organization exists as of January 1, 2026, the bill would specify that a bargaining unit consisting of all employees in that county shall be deemed an appropriate unit for collective bargaining. Under the bill, if individual providers in a county bargaining unit are represented by a recognized employee organization on January 1, 2026, the state would be deemed the successor employer of the predecessor agency for purposes of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement, subject to the obligation to meet and confer in good faith and meet other related legal requirements. This bill would require all recognized employee organizations, as of January 1, 2026, to negotiate jointly on behalf of all bargaining units they represent to reach a single memorandum of understanding with the employer. The bill would authorize the memorandum of understanding to contain addenda reflecting regional or county-level terms and conditions. The bill would establish procedures for voting and ratification of a memorandum of understanding, and for the employer to assume a predecessor agency's rights and obligations under a memorandum of understanding or agreement between a predecessor agency and a recognized employee organization that is in effect on January 1, 2026. This bill would prescribe the duties of the state under the bill, including requiring the Governor to meet and confer in good faith, and to follow specified procedures regarding collective bargaining. If an agreement is reached by a representative of the Governor and the recognized employee organizations, the bill would require those parties to jointly prepare a written memorandum of understanding and present it to the Legislature for determination by majority vote. The bill would require the Governor, for any side letter, appendix, or other addendum to a memorandum of understanding that requires the expenditure of $250,000 or more related to salary and benefits not included in the original memorandum or the Budget Act, to provide that to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, as specified. The bill would also establish mediation and arbitration procedures that would apply when the parties fail to reach an agreement. This bill would make certain actions by an employer and other entities involved in administering the IHSS program unlawful, including imposing or threatening to impose reprisals on employees or otherwise interfering with the exercise of their rights. The bill would authorize the Public Employment Relations Board to adopt reasonable rules and regulations pursuant to the bill, including the adoption of emergency regulations, as prescribed. (2) Existing law requires the Controller to provide for the administration of payroll deductions and salary reductions, and authorizes the Controller to establish procedures for that purpose. This bill would require the Controller to honor a written authorization for payroll deductions executed by an employee before January 1, 2026, and to make deductions for payments of dues to a recognized employee organization pursuant to the bill consistent with the above-described payroll deduction procedures. (3) Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires public records to be open to inspection at all times during the office hours of the state or local agency that retains those records, and provides that every person has a right to inspect any public record, except as provided. Existing law provides that certain information regarding persons paid by the state to provide in-home supportive services, or other related public services, are not subject to disclosure under those provisions. Existing law further provides that copies of names, addresses, home telephone numbers, and other identifying information are required to be made available, upon request, to an exclusive bargaining agent and to any employee organization seeking representation rights under specified collective bargaining provisions. This bill would, with respect to the above-described personal identifying information, instead require this information to be made available to the exclusive bargaining agent and any employee organization seeking representation under the bill. The bill would require the state, or a county, public authority, or nonprofit consortium organized pursuant to the IHSS program, to promptly make the information available to the requesting entity. This bill would revise the IHSS program provisions to require the state to assume responsibilities as set forth in the bill. The bill would also require a county or city and county to continue to have certain IHSS program-related functions set forth in county ordinance or contract performed in accordance with specified provisions. (4) Existing law requires prospective providers of in-home supportive services to complete an in-person provider orientation at the time of enrollment that is developed by the department, in consultation with counties, that includes requirements to be an eligible IHSS provider and other related matters. This bill additionally would require that in-person provider orientation include any other information required to be communicated to prospective providers by a memorandum of understanding, appendix, or side letter between recognized employee organizations and the state. Existing law requires a specified mediation process, including a factfinding panel recommending settlement terms, to be held if a public authority or nonprofit consortium and an employee organization fail to reach agreement on a bargaining contract with in-home supportive service (IHSS) workers on or after October 1, 2023. This bill would make that provision inoperative. The bill would also require the department to appoint an IHSS Advisory Committee to provide ongoing advice and recommendations regarding in-home supportive services, as specified. The bill would require the employer, prior to finalizing a memorandum of understanding with one or more organizations that are the designated representatives of in-home services providers, to consult with specified advisory committee representatives to obtain input on county and public authority programmatic and fiscal implications. Existing law requires the state and counties to share the annual cost of providing IHSS pursuant to a specified cost ratio. Existing law requires all counties to have a rebased County IHSS Maintenance of Effort (MOE) , and requires the rebased MOE to be adjusted only by an inflation factor of 4% and for the annualized cost of increases in provider wages, health benefits, or other benefits that are locally negotiated, mediated, or imposed, as prescribed. This bill would prohibit the rebased County IHSS MOE from being adjusted based on any provision of any memorandum of understanding, or addenda, appendices, or side letters thereto, between the state and recognized employee organizations. Existing law requires the state to pay 100% of the allowable nonfederal share of county administration and public authority administration costs for each county, until the county's share of the General Fund moneys appropriated for this purpose is exhausted, and then requires the county to pay 100% of the remaining nonfederal share of county administration and public authority administration costs, as specified. This bill would require the state to also pay 100% of the nonfederal share of county administration and public authority administration costs for each county of any administration costs resulting from the provisions of any memorandum of understanding, or addenda, appendices, or side letters thereto, between the state and recognized employee organizations. Existing law, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a state body be open and public. This bill would exempt the IHSS Advisory Committee from the act. This bill would make other related changes. By imposing new duties on local government officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) This bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern and, therefore, apply to all counties. (6) The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (7) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (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 California Constitution establishes certain conditions of employment for state officers and employees. Existing law, the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act, grants specified employment rights to firefighters, as defined, including temporary, seasonal firefighters employed by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) . This bill would require the Department of Human Resources, the State Personnel Board, and any other relevant state agency to take the necessary actions to transition the Firefighter I classification within CAL FIRE to a permanent firefighter employment classification.

This measure would encourage all Californians to participate in the High School Voter Education Weeks of April 14 to 25, 2025, and September 15 to 26, 2025.

Existing law establishes the Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program, the goals of which are to decrease and maintain the decreased level of perinatal, maternal, and infant mortality and morbidity in the State of California and to support methods of providing comprehensive prenatal care that prevent prematurity and the incidence of low birth weight infants. Under the program, the State Department of Public Health is required to develop and maintain a statewide comprehensive community-based perinatal services program and enter into contracts, grants, or agreements with health care providers to deliver these services in a coordinated effort. Existing law also requires the department to monitor the delivery of services under those contracts, grants, and agreements through a uniform health data collection system that utilizes epidemiologic methodology. This bill would specify that the State Department of Health Care Services is responsible for implementing comprehensive community-based perinatal services for purposes of the Medi-Cal program. By July 1, 2027, the bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health, to clarify each department's roles and responsibilities in the Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program by regulation. The bill would, among other things, require the State Department of Health Care Services to develop a training on administering the program, require all perinatal providers in the program to attend the training, and require all Medi-Cal managed care plans to ensure providers receive the training. The bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services, no later than July 15, 2026, to submit to the Assembly Health Committee and the Senate Health Committee, and post on its internet website, reports that identify the number of pregnant and postpartum individuals that received and were offered Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program services from January 1, 2022, to January 1, 2025, inclusive. The bill would also require the State Department of Health Care Services, commencing January 1, 2028, and every 3 years thereafter, to submit to those committees, and post on its internet website, reports that identify the number of pregnant and postpartum individuals that received and were offered Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program services during the previous 3 years. The bill would also state the intent of the Legislature to enact additional legislation relating to the program in order to implement several legislative recommendations made in a specified report issued by the California State Auditor's office including by, among other things, requiring the State Department of Health Care Services to create and use a perinatal services data form to engage in additional data collection duties, as specified.

Existing law exempts a student, other than a nonimmigrant alien, as defined, from paying nonresident tuition at the California State University and the California Community Colleges if the student meets certain requirements. Existing law makes a student who meets these requirements for exemption from nonresident tuition, or who meets equivalent requirements adopted by the Regents of the University of California, eligible to apply for, and participate in, any student financial aid program administered by the state to the full extent permitted by federal law. Existing law requires the Student Aid Commission to establish procedures and forms that enable these students to apply for, and participate in, those student financial aid programs. This bill would require the commission, by the start of the 2026–27 financial aid cycle, to amend the California Dream Act application, and any of its grant processing systems, to clarify and ensure that the application can be used by any student eligible for state financial aid programs, regardless of their eligibility for federal financial aid. The bill would also require the commission to consult with California's public and private colleges and universities to promote the California Dream Act application effectively and inform students and their families of their available financial aid application options, as provided.

Existing law establishes the Department of Justice, and makes the department responsible, in part, for overseeing statewide criminal justice programs. Existing law requires the Department of Justice to provide technical assistance to local law enforcement agencies and tribal governments relating to, among other things, providing guidance for law enforcement education and training on policing and criminal investigations on Indian lands, providing guidance on improving crime reporting, crime statistics, criminal procedures, and investigative tools, and facilitating and supporting improved communication between local law enforcement agencies and tribal governments. This bill would establish a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Justice Program within and under the discretion of the Department of Justice. The bill would impose specified responsibilities on the program, including facilitating collaboration and acting as a liaison between tribal victims' families, tribal governments, and federal, tribal, state, and out-of-state law enforcement agencies, where appropriate, regarding active and inactive cases involving missing and murdered indigenous persons in California, including cases involving human trafficking. The bill, until January 1, 2028, would require the program to submit an annual report to both houses of the Legislature containing, among other things, data on the number of and facts about cases involving missing and murdered indigenous persons in California.

Existing law, the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act, establishes, among others, the California Department of Aging in the California Health and Human Services Agency, also known as CalHHS and headed by the Secretary of CalHHS, and sets forth its mission to provide leadership to the area agencies on aging in developing systems of home- and community-based services that maintain individuals in their own homes or least restrictive homelike environments. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of long-term health care facilities, including skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities, by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires, among other things, the department to administer the Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) program. No later than July 1, 2026, this bill would require the Secretary of CalHHS, in coordination with various state departments, offices, and other entities, as specified, to develop a working group to make recommendations regarding the evacuation and sheltering needs of older adults and persons with disabilities living in long-term care facilities during natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies. The bill would require the Secretary of CalHHS to submit the recommendations no later than July 1, 2027, and would repeal that requirement on January 1, 2030.

(1) Existing law establishes procedures by which a person may petition the court for certain protective or restraining orders, including civil harassment restraining orders, domestic violence restraining orders, elder or dependent adult abuse restraining orders, gun violence restraining orders, postsecondary school restraining orders, and workplace violence restraining orders, to enjoin a restrained person from taking specified actions. Beginning January 1, 2026, upon a court's issuance of such a protective order, existing law will require the restrained person to relinquish any firearm and ammunition in that person's immediate possession or control, according to specified procedures. Existing law prescribes procedures by which the restrained person must certify compliance with the court, and for the court to determine, by a preponderance of the evidence, whether the person has a firearm in violation of the order. This bill would make clarifying and conforming changes to the procedures relating to the protective or restraining orders described above by explicitly requiring the restrained person to relinquish, in addition to any firearm, any ammunition in that person's immediate possession or control. The bill would require courts to permit a party, support person, or witness to appear remotely at a hearing for a postsecondary educational institution or workplace violence restraining order at no cost. This bill would also require courts to develop rules and instructions for such remote appearances and to post them on its website. (2) Existing law requires a peace officer who is at the scene of a domestic violence incident or enforcing a domestic violence restraining order or gun violence restraining order to take temporary custody of any firearm or other deadly weapon in plain sight or discovered pursuant to a consensual or otherwise lawful search, as specified. This bill would additionally require a peace officer to take temporary custody of any ammunition in plain sight or discovered pursuant to such a search. By expanding the duties of local law enforcement agencies, 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.

Existing law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) , also known as Covered California, to facilitate the enrollment of qualified individuals and qualified small employers in qualified health plans as required under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Existing law requires the Exchange to enroll an individual in the lowest cost silver plan or another plan, as specified, upon receiving the individual's electronic account from an insurance affordability program. Existing law requires enrollment to occur before coverage through the insurance affordability program is terminated, and prohibits the premium due date from being sooner than the last day of the first month of enrollment. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2026, additionally authorize the Exchange to enroll an individual in the plan in which other members of the individual's household are enrolled, as specified, or the lowest cost plan available to an Indian who is eligible for specified reduced cost sharing, as determined by the Exchange, and would require the Exchange to enroll an individual in any of the plans described above upon receipt of a complete application for an insurance affordability program submitted through the Statewide Automated Welfare System. The bill would require the Exchange to enroll the individual either before coverage through the insurance affordability program is terminated as described above or upon the receipt of a complete application for an insurance affordability program through the Statewide Automated Welfare System as described above. Existing law requires the Exchange to provide an individual who is enrolled in a plan described above with a notice that includes specified information, including a statement that services received during the first month of enrollment will only be covered by the plan if the premium is paid by the due date. This bill would require the Exchange to provide the notice described above prior to the individual's effective date of coverage, and to provide, instead of the statement described above, instructions on how to effectuate coverage in the selected plan, including by paying the premium on or before the due date, or, if there is no premium due, instructions on how to opt into the selected plan.