This measure would acknowledge April 2024 as Child Abuse Prevention Month and encourage Californians to work together to support youth-serving child abuse prevention activities in their communities and schools.
This measure would proclaim March 12, 2024, as Women's Equal Pay Day in California, in recognition of the need to eliminate the gender gap in earnings by women and to promote policies to ensure equal pay for all.
Maddy summaryThis bill, Senate Concurrent Resolution 133, officially designates April 2024 as American Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month in California. The resolution aims to highlight the contributions of the state's Muslim community, which includes over one million residents, and to foster greater understanding among students and the public. By moving the observance from August to April, the measure ensures the event aligns with the K-12 school year to facilitate educational engagement. The text also acknowledges the historical and contemporary challenges faced by Muslims in California, including hate crimes and past government surveillance, while celebrating their diverse roles in society.
Existing law establishes the Geologic Energy Management Division within the Department of Conservation, under the direction of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, who is required to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities related to oil and gas production within an oil and gas field, so as to prevent damage to life, health, property, and natural resources. Existing law requires the operator of any well, before commencing the work of drilling the well, to file with the supervisor or the district deputy a written notice of intention to commence drilling and prohibits drilling from commencing until approval is given, as provided. Existing law prohibits the division from approving any notice of intention within a health protection zone, except for approvals of notices of intention necessary for specified purposes. Existing law defines a "health protection zone" to mean the area within 3,200 feet of a sensitive receptor, which is defined to include a residence, education resource, as described, health care facility, or live-in housing, among other places, as provided. This bill would, after January 1, 2025, make an operator or owner of an oil or gas production facility or well with a wellhead presumptively, jointly and severally liable for a respiratory ailment in a senior or child, a preterm birth or high-risk pregnancy suffered by a pregnant person, and a person's cancer diagnosis if specified requirements are met, including the senior, child, pregnant person, or person diagnosed with cancer domiciled more than 24 cumulative months in a health protection zone, as defined, and was diagnosed after January 1, 2025. The bill would authorize certain affirmative defenses to be available to the operator or owner of an oil or gas production facility or well with a wellhead. This bill would authorize the Attorney General, a district attorney, a county counsel, or a city attorney to bring a civil action seeking reimbursement and reasonable interest for health care-related expenditures incurred by state or local taxpayer funded health care programs for treatment of respiratory illness suffered by seniors and children, preterm birth and high-risk pregnancies suffered by pregnant persons, and residents diagnosed with cancer. If a settlement or motion to dismiss an action brought pursuant to these provisions is brought by a person or entity that is not a public prosecutor, as described, the bill would prohibit the settlement or motion to dismiss from being effective or heard, until 30 days after a copy of the settlement or notice of motion has been served on the Attorney General and the city attorney, county counsel, and district attorney with jurisdiction over the health protection zone involved in the action. The bill would also require a civil penalty of not less than $250,000 and not more than $1,000,000 per senior, child, pregnant person, or person diagnosed with cancer to be imposed on an operator or owner of an oil or gas production facility or well with a wellhead in an action brought pursuant to these provisions. This bill would state that any waiver of these provisions is contrary to public policy and is void and unenforceable. The bill would also state that duties and obligations imposed by these provisions are cumulative and in addition to any other duties or obligations imposed pursuant to any other law. The bill would also state that its provisions are severable.
Maddy summarySenate Resolution 94 officially designates June 1, 2024, as California Adopt-a-Pet Day to encourage pet adoptions across the state. This proclamation aims to help shelters find homes for 2,024 animals during a special event organized by animal welfare groups. The resolution does not change any laws or policies but serves as a formal declaration to support a one-day campaign. It is intended to raise awareness and facilitate adoptions without altering existing regulations or funding.
Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, establishes the Medical Board of California and the Osteopathic Medical Board of California to license and regulate the practice of medicine, and establishes examination, training, and other requirements for licensure as a physician and surgeon. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor. This bill, through November 30, 2024, would authorize a physician licensed to practice medicine in Arizona who meets certain requirements to practice medicine in California for the purpose of providing abortions and abortion-related care to patients who are Arizona residents traveling from Arizona, upon application for registration with the Medical Board of California or the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, as applicable. The bill would prohibit the physician from providing care or consultation for other purposes or to other patients, except under specified circumstances. The bill would require an Arizona physician, before practicing in California, to submit specified information to the Medical Board of California or the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, as applicable, including, among other information, written verification from the Arizona Medical Board or the Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners in Medicine and Surgery, or documentation printed from an online licensing system, that the physician's Arizona license to practice medicine is in good standing and confers on the physician the authority to practice abortions and abortion-related care. The bill would require the applicant to provide an affidavit attesting that, among other things, the applicant meets all of the requirements for registration, as specified, and would make it a misdemeanor for a person to provide false information. The bill would limit the information the California boards are required to disclose about a registrant. The bill would deem a physician registered pursuant to the bill's provisions a licensee of the applicable board, would authorize the applicable board to take enforcement against a person registered pursuant to the bill's provisions, and would prohibit the applicable boards from collecting any fees for registration. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would repeal the bill's provisions on January 1, 2025. 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 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.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, until January 1, 2031, authorizes the State Air Resources Board to adopt a regulation establishing a system of market-based declining aggregate emissions limits for sources or categories of sources that emit greenhouse gases (market-based compliance mechanism) that meets certain requirements. Existing law establishes the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sales of allowance as a part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited into the fund and requires the Legislature to appropriate moneys in the fund for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state, as provided. Existing law, the California Climate Crisis Act, declares that it is the policy of the state both to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, but no later than 2045, and achieve and maintain net-negative greenhouse gas emissions thereafter, and to ensure that by 2045, statewide anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 85% below the 1990 levels. This bill would enact the Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act of 2024 and would establish the Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Program to be administered by the California Environmental Protection Agency to require fossil fuel polluters to pay their fair share of the damage caused by the sale of their products during the covered period, which the bill would define as the time period between the 2000 and 2020 calendar years, inclusive, to relieve a portion of the burden from climate harms that is borne by California taxpayers. The bill would require the agency, within 90 days of the effective date of the act, to determine and publish a list of responsible parties, which the bill would define as an entity with a majority ownership interest in a business engaged in extracting or refining fossil fuel that, during the covered period, did business in the state or otherwise had sufficient contact with the state and is determined by the agency to be responsible for more than 1,000,000,000 metric tons of covered fossil fuel emissions, as defined, in aggregate, globally during the covered period. This bill would require the agency, within one year of the effective date of the act, to conduct a climate cost study to, at a minimum, quantify the total damage amount, which the bill would define as all past and future climate harms and damages to the state through December 31, 2045. The bill would require the agency to update the climate cost study, not less frequently than every 2 years, through January 1, 2046. The bill would require the agency, within 60 days of the completion of the climate cost study, to determine and assess, as provided, a cost recovery demand for each responsible party listed, which represents the responsible party's proportionate share of the total damage amount that is fairly and reasonably attributable to the covered fossil fuel emissions of the responsible party. The bill would require responsible parties to pay their cost recovery demand, as provided. The bill would require the collected cost recovery demands to be deposited in the Polluters Pay Climate Fund, which the bill would create in the State Treasury. The bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, require moneys in the fund be expended for, among other things, qualifying expenditures, which the bill would define as expenditures for projects and programs to mitigate, adapt, or respond to the damages and costs caused to the state from climate change. The bill would require the agency to determine the initial implementation costs for the act, as provided, and would require the agency to assess an amount allocated equitably among responsible parties to cover those costs. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Local Agency Public Construction Act, sets forth the requirements for competitive bidding on various types of contracts awarded by local agencies. Existing law, the State Contract Act, requires the Department of General Services to make available a report on state contracting activity containing specified information. This bill would require a participating local public entity, as defined, commencing January 1, 2026, and monthly thereafter, to compile and submit to the Office of Planning and Research prescribed information on the entity's contracting activity similar to the information required for the State Contract Act report. The bill would require the Office of Planning and Research, commencing July 1, 2026, to develop and maintain a public online database and accompanying data dictionary compiling the submitted data on its internet website. Commencing January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, the bill would require the Office of Planning and Research to review the database established pursuant to the bill and, together with the participating local public entities, make recommendations to the Legislature on further transparency and reporting improvements for requiring local public entities to submit similar data, as specified. The bill would require the California State Auditor, if approved by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, to conduct an audit of the program on or before January 1, 2029. The bill would repeal its provisions on January 1, 2030. By imposing additional duties on specified local public entities, the bill would create 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 various programs for the enforcement of environmental protection. Existing law defines environmental justice, for certain purposes, as the fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Existing law makes legislative findings and declarations that it is in the public interest to provide the people of the state through the Attorney General with adequate remedy to protect the natural resources of the state from pollution, impairment, or destruction. Existing law authorizes the Attorney General to intervene in any judicial or administrative proceeding in which facts are alleged concerning pollution or adverse environmental effects that could affect the public generally. This bill would continue in existence, within the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Environmental Justice for the purpose of protecting people and communities that endure a disproportionate share of environmental pollution and public health hazards. The bill would require the bureau to ensure fair treatment of people of all races, cultures, and incomes with respect to the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies, pursuant to the existing authority of the Attorney General, as specified. The bill would require the Attorney General to ensure the bureau is staffed with a minimum of 12 attorneys and an appropriate number of support staff.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law establishes a schedule of covered benefits under the Medi-Cal program. This bill would add menstrual products, as defined, to that schedule of covered benefits. The bill would require the department to seek any necessary federal approvals to implement this coverage. The bill would require the department to seek, and would authorize the department to use, any and all available federal funding, as specified, to implement this coverage.
