Sen. Kelly Seyarto

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to adopt new, or expand existing, fixed charges, as defined, for the purpose of collecting a reasonable portion of the fixed costs of providing electrical service to residential customers. Under existing law, the commission may authorize fixed charges for any rate schedule applicable to a residential customer account, and is required, no later than July 1, 2024, to authorize a fixed charge for default residential rates. Existing law requires these fixed charges to be established on an income-graduated basis, with no fewer than 3 income thresholds, so that low-income ratepayers in each baseline territory would realize a lower average monthly bill without making any changes in usage. Existing law requires the PUC to continue the California Alternative Rates for Energy (CARE) program to provide assistance to low-income electric and gas customers with annual household incomes that are no greater than 200% of the federal poverty guideline levels, as specified. This bill would require the PUC to require each electrical corporation to offer default rates to residential customers with at least 2 usage tiers, as provided. The bill would eliminate the requirement that the fixed charges be established on an income-graduated basis as described above, repeal related findings and declarations of the Legislature, and authorize the commission to instead authorize fixed charges that, as of January 1, 2015, do not exceed $10 per residential customer account per month for customers not enrolled in the CARE program and $5 per residential customer account per month for customers enrolled in the CARE program. The bill would authorize the maximum allowable fixed charge to be adjusted by no more than the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for the prior calendar year, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing the above-described requirements would be a crime, 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.

Existing law sets wage, hour, meal break requirements, and other working conditions for employees and requires an employer to pay overtime wages as specified to an employee who works in excess of a workday or workweek, as defined, and imposes criminal penalties for the violation of these requirements. Existing law, the Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016, imposes a schedule that phases in overtime requirements for agricultural workers each year, over the course of 4 years, from 2019 to 2022, inclusive. Existing law provides employers who employ 25 or fewer employees an additional 3 years to comply with the phasing in of these overtime requirements. In this regard, existing 1 2 times their regular rate of pay for the hours they worked in excess of certain numbers in a workday or workweek, depending on the year and the size of the employer."?> law, beginning on January 1, 2022, and January 1, 2025, in the case of smaller employers, prohibits any person employed in an agricultural occupation from being employed more than 8 hours in a work day or 40 hours in a work week unless they receive 1 12 times their regular rate of pay for the excess hours they worked. This bill would 1 2 hours in a workday and from 50 to 45 hours in a workweek. The bill would also delete the provision that, beginning on January 1, 2022, and January 1, 2025, in the case of smaller employers, further decreases those hours to 8 hours in a workday and 40 hours in a workweek."?> increase the number of hours worked in a work week before that overtime rate of pay becomes applicable from 40 to 48 hours in a workweek.

Under existing law, a person who lodges in a public or private place without permission is guilty of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. Existing law also provides that a person who willfully and maliciously obstructs the free movement of any person on any street, sidewalk, or other public place is guilty of a misdemeanor. Under existing law, a nuisance is anything that is injurious to health or indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property. Existing law also provides that a nuisance is anything that obstructs the free passage or use of any public park, square, street, or highway, among other things. Under existing law, a public nuisance is a nuisance that affects the entire community, neighborhood, or a considerable number of persons. Existing law provides various remedies against a public nuisance, including abatement by any public body or officer authorized by law. This bill would prohibit a person from sitting, lying, sleeping, or storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property upon a street or sidewalk if a homeless shelter, as defined, is available to the person. The bill would also prohibit sitting, lying, sleeping, or storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property within 500 feet of a public or private school, open space, or major transit stop, as specified. The bill would specify that a violation of this prohibition is a public nuisance that can be abated and prevented, as specified. The bill would also provide that a violation of the prohibition may be charged as a misdemeanor or an infraction, at the discretion of the prosecutor. The bill would prohibit a person from being found in violation of the bill's provisions unless provided notice, at least 72 hours before commencement of any enforcement action, as specified. By imposing criminal penalties for a violation of these provisions, 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.

This measure would proclaim the month of September 2024 as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

This measure would designate March 2024 as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in California.

This measure would declare May 23, 2024, as GM1 Gangliosidosis Awareness Day in California.

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. Existing law defines shoplifting as entering a commercial establishment with intent to commit larceny while the establishment is open during regular business hours. This bill would revise the definition of shoplifting to require an intent to steal retail property or merchandise. 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, and would make conforming changes. This bill would provide that its provisions would become effective only upon approval of the voters, and would provide for the submission of its provisions to the voters for approval at the next statewide general election.

Existing sales and use tax laws impose taxes on retailers measured by gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state, measured by sales price. The Sales and Use Tax Law defines the term "gross receipts" for these purposes to mean the total amount of the sale or lease or rental price of the retail sales of retailers, valued in money, whether received in money or otherwise, as specified, unless an exclusion applies. The Sales and Use Tax Law defines the term "sales price" for these purposes to mean the total amount for which tangible personal property is sold or leased or rented, valued in money, whether received in money or otherwise, as specified, unless an exclusion applies. The Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law, administered by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, imposes a tax upon each gallon of motor vehicle fuel removed from a refinery or terminal rack in this state, entered into this state, or sold in this state, at a specified rate per gallon. Existing sales and use tax laws provide a partial exemption from the taxes imposed by those laws for motor vehicle fuel that is subject to the taxes imposed by the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law. This bill, beginning January 1, 2025, would exclude from the terms "gross receipts" and "sales price" under the Sales and Use Tax Law the amount of any motor vehicle fuel tax imposed pursuant to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law, until January 1, 2023, prohibited loitering in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution, as defined, and made that crime a misdemeanor. Existing law defines specified behavior as disorderly conduct and prohibits that behavior. Under existing law, disorderly conduct includes, among other things, soliciting prostitution, prowling, peeping, surreptitious photographing or filming of an identifiable person, and the distribution of certain images of another person taken under circumstances in which the person understands that the image shall remain private, the distribution of which causes serious emotional distress. This bill would make it a misdemeanor to loiter in a public place with the intent to commit prostitution, as defined, and would make other conforming changes. The bill would make a person guilty of disorderly conduct if they operate a motor vehicle in any public place and repeatedly beckon to, contact, or attempt to contact or stop pedestrians or other motorists, or impede traffic, with the intent to solicit prostitution. The bill would authorize a court to suspend, for not more than 30 days, the privilege of a person to operate a motor vehicle for a first conviction of these offenses. The bill would, for a 2nd or subsequent conviction, require the vehicle used in the commission of the crime to be impounded for 30 days, as specified. By creating a new crime and expanding the scope of an existing 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 law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law prohibits an electrical corporation from beginning the construction of a line, plant, or system, or any extension of a line, plant, or system, without having first obtained from the commission a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity require its construction. Southern California Edison Company has submitted an application to the commission for that certificate for the proposed Riverside Transmission Reliability Project (RTRP) in the County of Riverside. This bill would require the commission, as part of the proceeding on that application, to suspend the implementation of a commission decision regarding the project, as described, until a supplemental environmental impact report has been prepared and submitted for the commission's consideration to address updated information on the wildfire risk associated with the construction and operation of the RTRP, as specified. The bill would require the supplemental environmental impact report to reconsider the feasibility and environmental impacts of alternatives to the adopted RTRP route and to consider the social and economic impact on the communities adjacent to the RTRP route. The bill would require the commission to consider the environmental impacts of the RTRP in determining whether to certify the new supplemental environmental impact report, and to accept testimony from affected communities and stakeholders on the feasibility and cost of the RTRP and any other feasible alternatives as part of its determination of whether the project is in the public interest.