Sen. Sabrina Cervantes

(1) Existing law, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, enacted by Proposition 47, as approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, defines and prohibits an act of shoplifting and prohibits prosecution for an act of shoplifting under any other law. This bill would refine the definition of shoplifting and would specifically exclude certain offenses from prosecution as shoplifting, including, among others, the theft of a firearm or vehicle, identity theft, and credit card fraud. (2) Existing law requires, except as excluded, the theft of any property valued below $950 to be charged as petty theft, a misdemeanor. This bill would similarly exclude certain offenses from this provision, including, among others, the theft of a vehicle, identity theft, and credit card fraud. (3) Existing law provides that a person with a prior conviction for specified sex offenses may be charged with a felony for shoplifting or for theft of property not exceeding $950 in value. This bill would require a person convicted of petty theft or shoplifting, if the person has 2 or more prior convictions for specified theft-related offenses, to be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year, or for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years. (4) 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 pursuant to this section for persons who commit a theft offense or repeat theft offenses, as specified. This bill would authorize a city or county prosecuting authority or county probation department to create a diversion program for persons who commit theft or repeat theft offenses, as specified. (5) This bill would provide that the provisions of the bill that amend Proposition 47 would become effective only upon approval of the voters, and would provide for the submission of those provisions to the voters for approval at the next statewide general election.

The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax law, allows an earned income tax credit against the taxes imposed under that law to an eligible individual that is equal to that portion of the earned income tax credit allowed by federal law as determined by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor, as specified, and allows a payment from the Tax Relief and Refund Account for an allowable credit in excess of tax liability. The Personal Income Tax Law also allows a young child tax credit against the taxes imposed under that law to a qualified taxpayer in a specified amount multiplied by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor, and allows a payment from the Tax Relief and Refund Account for an amount in excess of tax liability. Existing law defines "qualified taxpayer" for this purpose to include an eligible individual, as defined, who has a qualifying child, defined to be a child younger than 6 years of age as of the last day of the taxable year, and who meets other specified criteria. This bill would remove the requirement that a qualifying child has to be younger than 6 years of age as of the last day of the taxable year. By increasing the payments from the Tax Relief and Refund Account, a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.

Existing law prohibits discrimination and harassment in employment and housing based on certain factors, including, among others, sex and gender. This bill would require all state agencies, in consultation with the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, to conduct an evaluation of their own departments to ensure that the state does not discriminate against women through the allocation of funding and the delivery of services. The bill, on or before January 1, 2025, and on or before January 1 every 2 years thereafter, would require state agencies to report their findings and recommendations, as specified, to the commission.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law authorizes the establishment of community college districts under the administration of community college governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at community college campuses throughout the state. Existing law authorizes these districts to establish compensation levels for academic employees, as provided. Existing law requires community college districts, as a condition of receiving funding allocated for the Student Success and Support Program, to negotiate in good faith with the exclusive representatives for part-time, temporary faculty, the terms of reemployment preference for part-time, temporary faculty assignments based on minimum standards up to the range of 60% to 67% of a full-time equivalent load and a regular evaluation process for part-time, temporary faculty, as specified. Existing law establishes procedures for community college districts to demonstrate compliance with these requirements. This bill would require persons who are employed to teach adult or community college classes part time, as provided, to receive compensation in at least an amount that bears the same ratio to the amount provided to full-time employees as the time actually served by those part-time employees bears to the time actually served by full-time employees with comparable duties. The bill would impose this pay requirement upon the expiration or renewal of existing collective bargaining agreements, as provided. This bill would also require community college districts, as a condition of receiving funds allocated for the Student Success and Support Program in the annual Budget Act, to commence the negotiation of terms of compensation consistent with the proportional pay requirement for part-time employees, as well as terms governing reemployment preferences and evaluation processes, no later than the expiration of any negotiated agreement in effect on January 1, 2024, and for any community college district that does not have a collective bargaining agreement in effect as of January 1, 2024, on January 1, 2024.

Existing law prescribes certain maxims of jurisprudence to aid in the just application of the provisions of the Civil Code. One maxim states that something that does not appear to exist is to be regarded as if it did not exist. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that provision.

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. Existing law requires the governing board of each community college district to charge students a fee of $46 per unit per semester, and requires or authorizes, as provided, the governing board to waive that fee for certain students. This bill would require community college districts to waive the fees for specified courses for students who are employed as childcare providers, as defined, at the time of enrollment. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on community college districts, 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, 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 establishes the California School for the Deaf, Northern California, the California School for the Deaf, Southern California, and the California School for the Blind, known as the state special schools, under the administration of the State Department of Education, and 3 related diagnostic centers under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, as provided. Existing law establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for county superintendents of schools, school districts, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula, as specified. Existing law requires specified components of the local funding formula to be adjusted by the percentage change in the annual average value of the Implicit Price Deflator for State and Local Government Purchases of Goods and Services for the United States, as published by the United States Department of Commerce for the 12-month period ending in the 3rd quarter of the prior fiscal year, as specified. Existing law requires the Superintendent to annually apportion any entitlement provided to the state special schools from specified former categorical programs to the state special schools in the same amount as the state special schools received from those categorical programs in the 2012–13 fiscal year. Commencing with the 2024–25 fiscal year, this bill would require that amount be adjusted each fiscal year by the same percentage change applied to specified components of the local control funding formula, as described above. Existing law appropriates additional funding to the state special schools and centers in the annual Budget Act. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to increase the amount of state funding appropriated for the state special schools and diagnostic centers in the annual Budget Act by the same percentage change applied to specified components of the local control funding formula, as described above. The bill would require the Superintendent to calculate, for the 2024−25 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, an adjustment amount to the amount appropriated for the state special schools and diagnostic centers in a specified item of the annual Budget Act for the preceding fiscal year that is equivalent to the percentage change applied to specified components of the local control funding formula, as described above, for the fiscal year that is being calculated. The bill would, contingent upon an appropriation for these purposes, require the Superintendent to proportionately allocate those funds appropriated for the adjustment amount to the state special schools and diagnostic centers.

The California Constitution provides that the University of California constitutes a public trust, and requires the university to be administered by the Regents of the University of California, a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers of organization and government, subject to legislative control only for specified purposes. These provisions grant the regents all the powers necessary or convenient for the effective administration of its trust. This bill would request the University of California to establish an ethnic studies undergraduate graduation requirement at the university.

Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth in various placement settings and governs the provision of child welfare services, which is defined to mean public social services that are directed toward the accomplishment of specified purposes, including protecting and promoting the welfare of all children, preventing the unnecessary separation of children from their families, and restoring to their families children who have been removed. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with county child welfare agencies and other specified entities, to implement a unified, family friendly, and child-centered resource family approval process to replace the existing multiple processes for licensing foster family homes, certifying foster homes by licensed foster family agencies, approving relatives and nonrelative extended family members as foster care providers, and approving guardians and adoptive families. This bill would require the department to convene a workgroup to create a report with recommendations to prevent housing instability among LGBTQ youth in foster care. The bill would require the workgroup to submit that report on or before January 1, 2025, as specified.

(1) Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to, among other duties, establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law requires the commission to issue a preliminary multiple subject, single subject, or education specialist teaching credential to an out-of-state applicant who satisfies specified requirements and, as part of one of those requirements, authorizes the commission to require an applicant to meet California subject matter requirements before issuing a clear credential if the subject area listed on the out-of-state credential does not correspond to a California subject area, as specified. Existing law requires the commission to issue a clear multiple subject, single subject, or education specialist teaching credential to an applicant who satisfies specified requirements, including, among other things, providing 2 satisfactory performance evaluations for verification of 2 or more years of teaching experience. This bill would eliminate the provision that authorizes the commission to require an out-of-state preliminary teaching credential applicant to meet California subject matter requirements before issuing a clear credential and would require the commission to instead issue a preliminary multiple subject teaching credential to an out-of-state prepared teacher in general education and issue a preliminary education specialist credential in mild to moderate support needs to an out-of-state prepared teacher in special education, as provided. The bill would eliminate the provision that requires an out-of-state clear teaching credential applicant to provide 2 satisfactory performance evaluations and would instead authorize those out-of-state applicants to provide an experience verification letter, as specified, or a copy of a signed teaching contract to meet the requirement of verifying 2 or more years of teaching experience. (2) Existing law requires an out-of-state applicant who is issued a preliminary or clear teaching credential pursuant to the above-described provisions to meet the basic skills proficiency requirement within one year of the date the credential is issued or the credential becomes invalid. The bill would eliminate the requirement that an out-of-state applicant meet the basic skills proficiency requirement within one year of the date the credential is issued.