Sen. Sabrina Cervantes

Existing law establishes the Office of Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as GO-Biz, to advocate for causes of small business and to provide small businesses with the information they need to survive in the marketplace. Existing law authorizes counties, cities, and other local agencies to impose various taxes and fees in connection with activity or property within those jurisdictions. This bill would enact the California Small Business Rent Relief Act, which would authorize a county to establish a local small business rent forgiveness and tax relief program, as provided, for the purpose of providing credits to qualified taxpayers, as defined, to be used against any tax or fee owed to the county by the qualified taxpayer, and for which the county has authority to collect a credit in lieu of cash. The bill would authorize CalOSBA to establish the California Small Business Rent Forgiveness and Tax Relief Program, as provided, for the purpose of allocating credit authority to qualified counties, as defined, to implement a small business rent forgiveness and tax relief program. The bill would create the Small Business Rent Forgiveness and Tax Relief Account within the California Economic Development Fund, for the purpose of receiving moneys transferred to the account, and would require all moneys in the account to be available for expenditure, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of implementing the California Small Business Rent Forgiveness and Tax Relief Program. The bill would require CalOSBA to submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on program activities, as provided.

Existing law establishes within the Transportation Agency the California Transportation Commission. Existing law requires the commission to appoint an executive director for the commission who serves at the pleasure of the commission. This bill would instead require the executive director of the commission to be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and subject to removal at the discretion of the Governor.

(1) Existing laws defines persons who are peace officers and the entities authorized to appoint them. Existing law requires certain minimum training requirements for peace officers including the completion of a basic training course, as specified. Existing law prescribes certain minimum standards for a person to be appointed as a peace officer, including moral character and physical and mental condition, and certain disqualifying factors for a person to be employed as a peace officer, including a felony conviction. This bill would disqualify a person from being employed as a peace officer if that person has been convicted of, or has been adjudicated by a military tribunal as having committed an offense that would have been a felony if committed in this state. The bill would also disqualify any person who has been certified as a peace officer by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training and has had that certification revoked by the commission. (2) Existing law establishes the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to set minimum standards for the recruitment and training of peace officers and to develop training courses and curriculum. Existing law authorizes the commission to establish a professional certificate program that awards basic, intermediate, advanced, supervisory, management, and executive certificates on the basis of a combination of training, education, experience, and other prerequisites, for the purpose of fostering the professionalization, education, and experience necessary to adequately accomplish the general police service duties performed by peace officers. Existing law authorizes the commission to cancel a certificate that was awarded in error or obtained through misrepresentation or fraud, but otherwise prohibits the commission from canceling a certificate that has properly been issued. This bill would require the commission to create a certification program for specified peace officers. The bill would make all records related to the revocation of a peace officer's certification public. This bill would require a peace officer's certificate to be suspended, revoked, or canceled when the person is ineligible to be a peace officer or when the person has been subject to a sustained termination for serious misconduct, as defined, on or after January 1, 2022. The bill would make each law enforcement agency responsible for investigation, findings, and actions by the agency on allegations of serious misconduct and would give the commission access to the agency files. The bill would require the commission to be notified of and to review a peace officer's file after 3 allegations of serious misconduct within 5 years. The bill would establish the Peace Officer Standards Accountability Advisory Board, as specified, to make recommendations on the decertification of peace officers to the commission. The bill would require every law enforcement agency to notify the commission when a peace officer employed by that agency separates from employment. When a peace officer resigns or retires with a pending complaint, charge, or investigation of serious misconduct, the bill would require the law enforcement agency to complete the investigation into the serious misconduct within 90 days and report to the commission whether the complaint of serious misconduct was sustained, not sustained, unfounded, frivolous, or exonerated. The bill would require the commission to refer the files of peace officers whose termination for serious misconduct was sustained to the board to make a recommendation regarding the status of the officer's certificate and would require the commission to accept that recommendation or set forth the analysis and reasons for reaching a different result in writing. (3) Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to consider specified best practices when establishing policies and procedures for downloading and storing data from body-worn cameras, including, among other things, prohibiting the unauthorized use, duplication, or distribution of the data, and establishing storage periods for evidentiary and nonevidentiary data, as defined. This bill would make those requirements applicable to data obtained from unmanned aircraft systems. By imposing new requirements on local 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 establishes the Office of Emergency Services within the office of the Governor and under the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services and makes the office responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or human-made disasters and emergencies. Existing law, the California Disaster Assistance Act, authorizes the office to establish a model process to assist a community in recovering from an emergency proclaimed by the Governor which may include, among other things, the role of the office to facilitate the establishment of temporary structures, including local assistance centers, showers and bathroom facilities, and temporary administrative offices. Existing law defines the term "emergency plan" for purposes of emergency services provided by local governments. Existing law requires a county, upon the next update to its emergency plan, to integrate access and functional needs into its emergency plan by addressing, at a minimum, how the access and functional needs population is served by, among other things, emergency sheltering, including ensuring that designated shelters are compliant with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or can be made compliant through modification and that showers and bathrooms are fully accessible to all occupants. This bill would require a county, including a city and county, to ensure that local assistance centers are accessible to people with access and functional needs, provide accessible notifications about local assistance centers, and provide diverse communication services through partnerships with the county homeless and housing services. The bill would require a county, including a city and county, to designate, prearrange, and procure space, as necessary, to aid in sheltering and transporting its homeless population during local and state emergencies and emergency evacuations. Because the bill would require local governments to provide additional services, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require a county, including a city and county, to, upon the next update to its emergency plan, integrate transportation and sheltering plans that include strategies for ensuring that shelters and local assistance centers are accessible to its homeless population and that service providers trained in outreach and engagement strategies for homeless individuals are available at those locations to ensure that proper measures are employed for the safety of homeless individuals in those settings. The bill would also require a county, including a city and county, to enter into agreements with transportation agencies, as necessary, to transport its homeless population to shelters and local assistance centers in the event of a local or state emergency. Because the bill would require local governments to provide additional services, 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 State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. The California State University comprises 23 institutions of higher education located throughout the state. Existing law authorizes the trustees to require the payment of fees, rents, deposits, and charges for services, facilities, or materials provided by the trustees. Existing law establishes the California Promise, which requires at least 20 individual campuses of the California State University to establish a California Promise program through which each campus would enter into a pledge with a student who satisfies specified criteria to support the student in earning a baccalaureate degree in limited time. 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 waive some or all of the fees for 2 academic years for certain first-time students. This bill would prohibit the charging of tuition or mandatory systemwide fees for enrollment at a campus of the California State University for any academic year, for up to 2 academic years, to a California Community College resident transfer student who has completed an associate degree for transfer, has received a fee waiver pursuant to the California College Promise, and is at least 28 years of age, as specified. Upon the enactment of an appropriation for this purpose, the bill would require the Chancellor of the California State University to distribute funding to each California State University campus to offset the costs of waiving tuition and mandatory systemwide fees to transfer students pursuant to this bill. The bill would make implementation of its provisions contingent upon the enactment of an appropriation for its purposes.

Existing law defines rape as an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person not the spouse of the perpetrator under certain circumstances, including where the victim is incapable of giving legal consent because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, where the victim is not aware of the essential characteristics of the act due to the perpetrator's fraudulent representation that the act serves a professional purpose, and where the victim submits to the act under the belief that the perpetrator is someone known to the victim other than the perpetrator, and the perpetrator intentionally and fraudulently induces that belief. Existing law separately defines rape of a spouse as an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with the spouse of the perpetrator under similar circumstances as nonspousal rape, except that spousal rape does not include acts of sexual intercourse accomplished under the specific circumstances described above. This bill would repeal the provisions relating to spousal rape and make conforming changes, thereby making an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a spouse punishable as rape if the act otherwise meets the definition of rape. By changing the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes an employer to request from the Department of Justice records of all convictions or any arrest pending adjudication for specified offenses for a person who applies for a license, employment, or volunteer position, in which the person would have supervisory or disciplinary power over a minor and requires the employer to notify the parent or guardian of a child if a person with specified convictions will have supervisory or disciplinary power over that child. Existing law exempts certain convictions, including spousal rape, from that notification requirement. This bill would remove the exemption for spousal rape or any other felony conviction and would instead exempt only misdemeanor convictions from that notification. The bill would make numerous conforming changes. 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 law classifies certain felonies as violent felonies for purposes of various provisions of the Penal Code. Existing law imposes an additional one-year term for a sexually violent felony and a 3-year term for a violent felony for each prior separate prison term served for a violent felony. This bill would additionally define felony hate crimes as a violent felony, as specified. By increasing the punishment for 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.

(1) Existing law, the Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A Entitlement Awards, the Cal Grant B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement Awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards, the Cal Grant C Awards, and the Cal Grant T Awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs for participating students attending qualifying institutions. This bill would require that, in a state of emergency, as defined, resulting from the COVID-19 public health crisis, specified Cal Grant Program eligibility requirements related to time limits for award eligibility and to the age of an award recipient would not apply. This bill would make this provision inoperative on July 1, 2023, and would repeal it as of January 1, 2024. (2) Existing law requires applicants for Cal Grant A Entitlement Awards and Cal Grant B Entitlement Awards to submit complete financial aid applications in the academic year of high school graduation or equivalent for the immediately following award year. Existing law also requires applicants for Cal Grant A Entitlement Awards and Cal Grant B Entitlement Awards to submit complete financial aid applications for the 2nd award year in the award year immediately following high school graduation or equivalent. This bill would instead, for applications made in the 2021–22 and 2022–23 academic years only, authorize applicants for these awards to submit complete financial aid applications for the first award year in the academic year immediately following their high school graduation or equivalent for the immediately following award year, and to submit complete financial aid applications for the 2nd award year in the 2nd academic year after high school graduation or its equivalent. (3) Existing law prohibits persons who will be 28 years of age or older by December 31 of an award year from receiving California Community College Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement Awards. For applications submitted in the 2021–22 and 2022–23 academic years only, this bill would provide that prohibition would instead apply to students who will not be 29 years of age or older by December 31 of the award year. (4) Under existing law, with an exception applicable only to students who attended a California community college in the 2011–12 academic year, a recipient of a California Community College Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement Award is required to have attended a California community college in the academic year immediately preceding the academic year for which the award will be used. This bill would authorize a student otherwise eligible to receive a California Community College Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement Award who attended a California community college in the 2019–20 academic year to use the award for the 2021–22 and 2022–23 academic years. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law provides for the implementation by the State Department of Public Health of a statewide, comprehensive community‑based perinatal services program and requires the department to enter into contracts, grants, or agreements with health care providers to deliver those services in a coordinated effort, as specified, in medically underserved areas or areas with demonstrated need. This bill would require the department, for purposes of that program, to develop and maintain on its internet website a referral network of community-based mental health providers and support services addressing postpartum depression, prenatal, delivery, and postpartum care, neonatal and infant care services, and support groups, to improve access to postpartum depression screening, referral, treatment, and support services in medically underserved areas and areas with demonstrated need.