This measure would honor the late civil rights pioneer and icon Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state. Existing law requires suspension to be imposed on a pupil only when other means of correction fail to bring about proper conduct, and specifies that other means of correction may include, among other things, participation in a restorative justice program. This bill would require the State Department of Education to develop evidence-based best practices for restorative justice practice implementation on a school campus and to make these best practices available on the department's internet website on or before June 1, 2024, as specified. The bill would require the department to take specified actions in developing best practices and would encourage the department to, to the extent feasible, take into account resources and best practices that have been identified or developed as part of aligned efforts, as specified.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission, in establishing rates for water service, to consider separate charges for costs associated with customer service, facilities, variable operating costs, or other components of the water service provided to water users. Existing law requires the commission to consider, and authorizes the commission to authorize, a water corporation to establish programs, including rate designs, for achieving conservation of water and recovering the cost of these programs through the rates. This bill would, upon application by a water corporation with more than 10,000 service connections, require the commission to consider, and authorize the commission to authorize, the implementation of a mechanism that separates the water corporation's revenues and its water sales, as provided. 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 the above provision would be part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's 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.
The Water Replenishment District Act provides for the formation of water replenishment districts with prescribed powers for the purposes of replenishing the groundwater supplies within the district. The act requires a district to advertise for bids before making any contract totaling $25,000 or more within any 12-month period and, when work is to be done, to give notice calling for bids by publication, as prescribed. The act requires contracts and other documents executed by a district that require or authorize the district to expend $10,000 or more to be authorized by the board of directors and signed by the president and the secretary, except as specified. This bill would revise and recast the provisions establishing the competitive bidding and related public notice procedures for water replenishment districts, including, among other revisions, only until January 1, 2028, deleting the requirement that a district advertise for bids before making any contract totaling $25,000 or more within any 12-month period, and instead requiring a district expenditure for the erection, construction, alteration, repair, or improvement of a public structure or building of $25,000 or more be let by contract by formal bidding procedure. The bill would also require, only until January 1, 2028, a district to adopt policies and procedures governing contracts for professional services, materials, supplies, and equipment. The bill would prohibit the estimated cost of any improvement or unit of work done by district personnel from exceeding $25,000, except as specified. The bill would increase from $10,000 to $40,000 the threshold amount for contracts and other documents that require authorization by the board of directors and would make related changes.
Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, and the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as 2 of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law provides for the missions and functions of these segments, and states that the University of California has the sole authority in public higher education to award doctoral degrees in all fields of learning, except that it may agree with the California State University to award joint doctoral degrees in selected fields. However, existing law authorizes the California State University to offer doctoral programs in education, audiology, physical therapy, and occupational therapy without that agreement. This bill would authorize the California State University to award the Doctor of Public Health degree. The bill would require the Doctor of Public Health degree programs to be focused on health and scientific knowledge translation and transformative community leadership, and to be designed to address the community public health workforce needs of California and prepare qualified professionals to be leaders and experienced practitioners who apply their advanced knowledge in service to California's diverse communities. The bill would require each student in these degree programs to be charged fees comparable to, but no higher than, those fees charged for the Doctor of Public Health degree at the University of California.
Existing law requires a clerk of the superior court to keep an index of any action or proceeding filed in the court. Existing law requires a separate index for plaintiffs and defendants in civil actions and for defendants in criminal actions. This bill would require publicly accessible electronic indexes of defendants in criminal cases to permit searches and filtering of results based on a defendant's driver's license number or date of birth, or both.
(1) Existing law establishes the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to, among other things, issue teaching and services credentials. Existing law requires the commission to appoint a Committee of Credentials and requires allegations of acts or omissions for which adverse action may be taken against applicants or holders of teaching or services credentials to be reported to the committee, including conviction for a controlled substance offense, as defined. Existing law requires the commission to deny an application for the issuance of a credential or the renewal of a credential for a person who has been convicted of a controlled substance offense. This bill would prohibit the record of a conviction for possession of specified controlled substances that is more than 5 years old and for which relief was granted from being presented to the committee or from being used to deny a credential. (2) Existing law authorizes a defendant who was sentenced to a county jail for the commission of a felony and who has met specified criteria to petition to withdraw their plea of guilty or nolo contendere and enter a plea of not guilty after the completion of their sentence, as specified. Existing law requires the court to dismiss the accusations or information against the defendant and release them from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the offense, except as specified. This bill would make this relief available to a defendant who has been convicted of a felony, as long as that conviction does not require registration as a sex offender. Existing law requires the Department of Justice, on a monthly basis, to review the records in the statewide criminal justice databases and identify persons who are eligible for records of arrest relief without requiring the filing of a petition or motion. Under existing law, a person is eligible for arrest record relief if they were arrested on or after January 1, 1973, and the arrest was for a misdemeanor and the charge was dismissed or criminal proceedings have not been initiated within one year after the arrest, or the arrest was for a felony punishable in the county jail and criminal proceedings have not been initiated within 3 years after the date of the arrest. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2023, generally make this arrest record relief available to a person who has been arrested for a felony, including a felony punishable in the state prison, as specified. Existing law, commencing January 1, 2022, and subject to appropriation, requires the Department of Justice, on a monthly basis, to review the records in the statewide criminal justice databases and identify persons who are eligible for automatic conviction record relief. Under existing law, a person is eligible for automatic conviction record relief if, on or after January 1, 1973, they were sentenced to probation, and completed it without revocation, or if they were convicted of an infraction or a misdemeanor, and other criteria are met, as specified. The bill, commencing July 1, 2023, would additionally make this conviction record relief available for a defendant convicted, on or after January 1, 2005, of a felony for which they did not complete probation without revocation if the defendant appears to have completed all terms of incarceration, probation, mandatory supervision, postrelease community supervision, and parole, and a period of 4 years has elapsed during which the defendant was not convicted of a new felony offense, except as specified. The bill would specify that conviction record relief does not release the defendant from the terms and conditions of unexpired criminal protective orders. This bill would state that conviction record relief does not affect the authority to receive, or take adverse action based on, criminal history information for purposes of teacher credentialing or employment in public education, as specified. The bill would prohibit disclosure of information relating to a conviction for possession of specified controlled substances when the conviction is more than 5 years old and when relief has been granted under these provisions. (3) Existing law requires the Department of Justice to maintain state summary criminal history information, as defined, and to furnish this information to various state and local government officers, officials, and other prescribed entities, if needed in the course of their duties. Existing law requires the department to provide the Commission on Teacher Credentialing with every conviction rendered against an applicant, retroactive to January 1, 2020, regardless of relief granted. Existing law makes it a crime for a person authorized by law to receive state summary criminal history information to knowingly furnish that information to a person who is not authorized to receive it. This bill would require the department to also provide that information to school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, private schools, state special schools for the blind and deaf, or any other entity required to have a background check because of a contract with any of those entities. The bill would prohibit the department from disseminating information for a conviction for possession of specified controlled substances if that conviction is more than 5 years old and relief has been granted. By expanding the scope of 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.
Existing law requires an employer to provide an employee with a meal period during a work period of more than 5 hours per day, except as prescribed. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions a misdemeanor. Existing law prohibits an employer from requiring an employee to work during a meal or rest or recovery period mandated pursuant to an applicable statute, or applicable regulation, standard, or order of the Industrial Welfare Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, or the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. Existing law requires an employer who fails to provide an employee a mandated meal or rest or recovery period to pay the employee one additional hour of pay at the employee's regular rate of compensation for each workday that the meal or rest or recovery period was not provided. Existing law provides certain exemptions from these requirements. This bill would entitle employees who provide direct patient care or support direct patient care in a general acute care hospital, clinic, or public health setting directly employed by specified public sector employers to one unpaid 30-minute meal period on shifts over 5 hours and a 2nd unpaid 30-minute meal period on shifts over 10 hours, as provided by specified existing law. The bill would authorize these employees to waive those meal periods and would provide for on-duty meal periods, as provided by specified existing law. The bill would entitle these employees to a rest period based on the total hours worked daily at the rate of 10 minutes net rest time per 4 hours or major fraction thereof, as provided. The bill would require these employers, if they fail to provide an employee a meal period or rest period in accordance with the bill, to pay the employee one additional hour of pay at the employee's regular rate of compensation for each workday that the meal or rest period is not provided. The bill would exempt employees who are covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement that provides for meal and rest periods and, if the employee does not receive a meal or rest period as required by the agreement, includes a prescribed monetary remedy. By establishing these requirements, the violation of which would be 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.
Existing law, the Financial Institutions Law, requires the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation to cause every California state bank and every foreign bank to be examined to the extent and whenever and as often as the commissioner shall deem it advisable, but in no case less frequently than once every 12 months, except as prescribed. Existing law, the California Credit Union Law (CCUL) , authorizes the commissioner to, at any time, investigate into the affairs and examine the books, accounts, records, files, and any office within or outside of this state used in the business of every credit union, whether it acts or claims to act under, or without authority of, the CCUL. This bill would require a bank or credit union subject to the examination authority of the commissioner to report annually, on or before March 1, to the commissioner on the amount of revenue earned from overdraft fees and nonsufficient funds fees collected in the most recently completed calendar year and the percentage of that revenue as a proportion of the net income of the bank or credit union. The bill would require the commissioner to publish, as prescribed, in a report the data for each bank or credit union reported pursuant to the bill and make the report available on the department's internet website.
