The California Constitution prohibits the state from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. The Donahoe Higher Education Act sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California's public and independent segments of higher education and their respective institutions of higher education. A provision of the act applies to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, act to make the provision applicable. This bill would state that the California State University, the University of California, independent institutions of higher education, and private postsecondary educational institutions may consider providing a preference in admissions to an applicant who is a descendant of slavery, as defined, to the extent it does not conflict with federal law.
Sponsored bills
Existing law establishes the Department of Consumer Affairs, which is composed of specified boards that license and regulate various professions. Existing law requires those boards to expedite the licensure process for an applicant who holds a current license in another jurisdiction in the same profession or vocation and supplies evidence that they are married to or in a domestic partnership or other legal union with an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States who is assigned to a duty station in this state under official active duty military orders. This bill would require those boards to expedite applications for applicants seeking licensure who are descendants of American slaves once a process to certify descendants of American slaves is implemented, as specified. This bill would make these provisions operative only if SB 518 of the 2025–26 Regular Session is enacted establishing the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery, and would make these provisions operative when the certification process is implemented pursuant to that measure. The bill would repeal these provisions 4 years from the date on which they become operative or on January 1, 2032, whichever is earlier.
The State Government Strategic Planning and Performance and Review Act requires each agency, department, office, or commission for which strategic planning efforts are recommended, as specified, to develop a strategic plan and to report to the Governor and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee by April 1 each year on the steps being taken to develop and adopt a strategic plan. The act requires the report to include a description of the elements to be included in the strategic plan, the process for developing and adopting the strategic plan, and the timetable for the plan's completion. This bill would instead require each agency, department, office, or commission subject to the Governor's authority to develop and report on the above-described strategic plan. The bill would also require each agency, department, office, or commission subject to the Governor's authority to, for any strategic plans applicable and if feasible, develop or update the strategic plan to reflect the use of data analysis and inclusive practices to more effectively advance racial equity and to respond to identified disparities with changes to the organization's policies, programs, and operations, among other things.
(1) Existing law creates the Metropolitan Transportation Commission as a local area planning agency for the 9-county San Francisco Bay area with comprehensive regional transportation planning and other related responsibilities. Existing law creates various transit districts located in the San Francisco Bay area, with specified powers and duties relating to providing public transit services. This bill would establish the Public Transit Revenue Measure District with jurisdiction extending throughout the boundaries of the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Santa Clara and the City and County of San Francisco and would require the district to be governed by the same board that governs the commission, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize a retail transactions and use tax applicable to the entire district to be imposed by the board of the district or by a qualified voter initiative for a duration of 14 years, and in an amount of 0.5% in each of the above-described counties located within the district and 1% in the City and County of San Francisco, subject to voter approval at the November 3, 2026, statewide general election. After payments are made for various administrative expenses, the bill would require the district to transfer specified portions of the proceeds of the tax to the commission for allocation to certain programs and other purposes and for allocation to the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, commonly known as Caltrain, the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and other specified transit agencies, for transit operations expenses, and would require the district to transfer specified portions of the proceeds of the tax directly to other specified local transportation agencies, including the San Mateo County Transit District and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, for public transit expenses, as prescribed. By adding to the duties of local officials with respect to elections procedures for this bill on behalf of the district, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires the commission to develop regional transit service objectives, develop performance measures of efficiency and effectiveness, specify uniform data requirements to assess public transit service benefits and costs, and formulate procedures for establishing regional transportation priorities in the allocation of funds for transportation purposes. This bill would require the commission to contract with, and manage, a third-party consultant to conduct a financial efficiency review of the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, Caltrain, the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, as specified. The bill would require the review to be completed in 2 phases, with the analysis for the 2nd phase only required if the tax measure is approved by the voters of the Public Transit Revenue Measure District. The bill would require the consultant to transmit the analysis for each phase to an oversight committee, which the bill would create with a prescribed membership, for review and adoption. The bill would require a transit operator subject to the financial efficiency review to take specified actions in response to the analysis for the first phase and, subject to review of the oversight committee, to adopt an implementation plan that describes the cost-saving measures identified in the analysis for the 2nd phase that the operator plans to implement, as specified. The bill would require a transit operator subject to the financial efficiency review to verify its compliance with the requirements of the review as a condition of receiving funds from the tax measure approved by the voters of the district. The bill would require each transit operator to which the commission allocates funds to comply with a maintenance of effort requirement as a condition of receiving those funds, as provided. This bill would require the commission, if the tax measure is approved by the voters of the district and other conditions are satisfied, to establish an ad hoc adjudication committee for a transit operator subject to the above-described financial efficiency review to assess and adjudicate petitions submitted by a participating county transportation entity, as defined, or a county board of supervisors with regard to the performance of the transit operator within the geographic jurisdiction of the entity submitting the petition, as provided. As part of this process, the bill would require an ad hoc adjudication committee, among other things, to determine whether to direct the commission to withhold funding from the tax measure allocated to the transit operator if the committee agrees with a claim regarding the performance of the transit operator, as specified. This bill would require the commission to submit a report to the Legislature on or before March 31, 2026, on its forecast of the impacts to ridership on the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, Caltrain, the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency from planned transportation projects and strategies included in its adopted regional transportation plan. By adding to the duties of the commission, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The Bay Area County Traffic and Transportation Funding Act authorizes the formation of county transportation authorities in each of the 9 bay area counties, and provides for the imposition of a retail transaction and use tax in each of those counties of either 12 of 1% or 1%, subject to voter approval, with revenues to be used for various transportation purposes. This bill would instead provide that a retail transaction and use tax imposed under those provisions in the County of San Mateo or the City and County of San Francisco may be imposed in 18 of 1% increments up to 1%. (4) This bill would declare that its provisions are severable. (5) 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 requires the State Controller's Office, to the extent the office has completed the functionality necessary, and the Department of Human Resources, when collecting demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians hired into state employment, to use additional collection categories and tabulations for specified Black or African American groups. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2027, require a city, county, or city and county, including a charter city, when collecting demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of persons hired for employment by a city, county, or city and county, to include the additional collection categories and tabulations for specified Black or African American groups, as described above. The bill would make related findings and declarations. By imposing new duties on cities, counties, or a city and county, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. 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 requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, in accordance with policies established by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, to assist local governments in preventing future high-intensity wildland fires and instituting appropriate fuels management by making its wildland fire prevention and vegetation management expertise available to local governments, as provided. This bill would define an environmentally sensitive vegetation management project to mean vegetation management that reduces catastrophic wildfire risk over the long term while supporting native wildlife and biodiversity. The bill would require a state public entity to consider incorporating specified criteria into its funding guidelines for a grant program that funds environmentally sensitive vegetation management projects.
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 the state. Existing law requires the trustees to control and expend all money appropriated for the support and maintenance of the university. Former law, until July 1, 2023, established the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force) . Former law required the Task Force, among other things, to identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation. This bill would authorize the use of up to $6,000,000, as specified, for the purpose of enabling the California State University to conduct research in furtherance of the recommendations of the Task Force, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would authorize the California State University to partner with other universities or nonprofit institutions in furtherance of the bill. The bill would require, before the start of each fiscal year, the California State University to consult with the California Legislative Black Caucus to propose a list of research components to be addressed through the appropriation, as provided. This bill would require the California State University to explore options to determine how to confirm an individual's status as a descendant of an enslaved person, as defined. The bill would also require the California State University to establish a process for conducting or verifying genealogical research for the purpose of confirming an individual's status as a descendant of an enslaved person for eligibility for reparative claims on or before the start of the 2029–30 academic year and to commence the work of establishing the process on or before the start of the 2026–27 academic year. The bill would authorize the funding described above to be used to support student participation in support of this goal. The bill would require the California State University, on or before October 1 of each year and until funding is exhausted, to submit to the Legislature and Governor a report with a status update of pending research projects, and any research projects that have been completed within the prior year. The bill would require the final report to include research findings, recommendations with options, and timelines for statewide implementation, including costs, developed pursuant to these provisions.
Existing law establishes the Civil Rights Department within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to enforce civil rights laws with respect to housing and employment and to protect and safeguard the right of all persons to obtain and hold employment without discrimination based on specified characteristics or status. Existing law requires a private employer that has 100 or more employees to submit an annual pay data report to the Civil Rights Department that includes the number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex in 10 specified job categories, the number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex whose pay falls within federal pay bands, within each job category the median and mean hourly rate for employees having any combination of those characteristics, and the total number of hours worked by each employee counted in each pay band during the "Reporting Year," as specified. This bill would require an employer to collect and store any demographic information gathered by an employer or labor contractor for the purpose of submitting the pay data report separately from employees' personnel records, and, beginning January 1, 2027, increase the number of job categories, as specified above, to 23. Existing law authorizes the department, if it does not receive the pay data report, to seek an order requiring an employer to comply with these provisions. Existing law provides that upon the request of the department, a court may impose a civil penalty upon any employer for failure to file the required report, which shall be payable to the Civil Rights Enforcement and Litigation Fund. This bill would require a court to impose a civil penalty against an employer that fails to file the report if requested to do so by the department.
Existing law establishes the Charter School Revolving Loan Fund, under the administration of the California School Finance Authority, and authorizes loans to be made from the fund to (1) a chartering authority for charter schools that are not a conversion of an existing school or (2) directly to a charter school that qualifies to receive specified funding and is not a conversion of an existing school. Under existing law, moneys appropriated to the fund remain available for purposes of the fund until reappropriated or reverted by the Legislature. Existing law limits the amount loaned to a qualifying charter school from the fund to $250,000 over the lifetime of the charter school and authorizes a qualifying charter school to receive money obtained from multiple loans made directly to the charter school or to the school's chartering authority from the fund, as long as the total amount received from the fund over the lifetime of the charter school does not exceed $250,000. Existing law requires the Controller, commencing with the first fiscal year following the fiscal year the charter school receives the loan, to deduct from apportionments made to the chartering authority or charter school, as appropriate, an amount equal to the annual repayment of the amount loaned to the chartering authority or charter school for the charter school and to pay the same amount into the fund, as provided. Existing law requires moneys in the fund to be loaned at the interest rate earned by the moneys in the Pooled Money Investment Account as of the date of disbursement of the funds to the charter school. This bill, among other things, would increase the maximum loan amount and the maximum lifetime loan limitation by $250,000 to instead be $500,000, would revise and recast the maximum repayment period of a loan, as specified, would no longer make the charter school solely liable for repayment of a loan in the event of a default, and would revise criteria for receiving priority in the granting of loans. The bill would require moneys in the fund to instead be loaned at the interest rate described above or at a rate equal to 50% of the interest rate paid by the state on the most recent sale of state general obligation bonds, whichever is less, except that the bill would prohibit the interest rate from being set at a rate lower than 3%. Existing law creates the Charter School Security Fund, under the administration of the California School Finance Authority, and requires moneys in the fund to be available for deposit into the Charter School Revolving Loan Fund in case of default on any loan made from the Charter School Revolving Loan Fund. Existing law requires the California School Finance Authority, by October 1 of each year, to provide detailed fund condition information for the Charter School Revolving Loan Fund and the Charter School Security Fund to the Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst's Office. This bill would require the above-described annual report to also be provided to specified committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the report due by October 1, 2029, to additionally include an analysis and summary of the expenditures of loan funds made by the charter school loan recipient for loans issued on or after July 1, 2026, as provided.
Existing law prohibits requiring a person desiring to use an electric vehicle charging station that requires payment of a fee from paying a subscription fee in order to use the station, or requiring the person to obtain membership in any club, association, or organization as a condition of using the station. Existing law authorizes an electric vehicle charging station to offer services on a subscription- or membership-only basis, if the station provides nonsubscribers or nonmembers the ability to use the station through a contactless payment method that accepts major credit and debit cards, as specified, and either an automated toll-free telephone number or a short message system (SMS) that provides the electric vehicle charging customer with the option to initiate a charging session and submit payment. Existing law requires a direct current fast charging station that is first installed or made publicly available on or after July 10, 2023, to also include Plug and Charge payment capabilities, as specified. Existing law authorizes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to add to or subtract from these payment methods by regulation that is effective no earlier than January 1, 2028, as provided. This bill would create an exception to the above-described provisions to authorize an electric vehicle charging station to require that payment for charging services be made through the use of an internet-based application if the charging station is on the premises of an arena that has a seating capacity of at least 15,000 seats and can only be accessed through the use of that internet-based application. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 44268.2 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by AB 1423 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1423 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.