Sen. Steve Bradford

This measure would recognize February 2022 as Black History Month, urge all citizens to join in celebrating the accomplishments of African Americans during Black History Month, and encourage the people of California to recognize the many talents of African Americans and the achievements and contributions they make to their communities to create equity and equality for education, economics, and social justice. The measure would also recognize the significance in protecting citizens' right to vote and remedying racial discrimination in voting.

This measure would, among other things, honor the late civil rights pioneer and icon Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Existing law authorizes certain local agencies to form a community revitalization authority within a community revitalization and investment area to carry out provisions of the Community Redevelopment Law for purposes related to, among other things, infrastructure, affordable housing, and economic revitalization. Under existing law, the Department of Parks and Recreation controls the state park system, which is made up of units, one of which is the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation to invest in the African American community, including infrastructure and economic revitalization projects, and Colonel Allen State Historic Park.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law obligates an electric service provider or a community choice aggregator to pay any reentry fee imposed on a customer that is involuntarily returned to service provided by an electrical corporation designated as the provider of last resort, except as specified. Existing law requires an electric service provider or a community choice aggregator to meet a financial security requirement as a condition of registration by posting a bond or demonstrating insurance in an amount deemed sufficient by the commission to cover the costs of those reentry fees. Existing law, commission Decision 18-05-022, creates a formula for calculating the financial security requirement, which adds a per-customer administrative cost for returning customers to service by the electrical corporation to the costs for 6 months of incremental procurement, multiplied by the number of returning customers. Existing law obligates customers to pay the reentry fees if the electric service provider or community choice aggregator becomes insolvent, as provided. This bill would require the posted bond amount, or demonstrated insurance amount, at the time of registration by an electric service provider or a community choice aggregator to be no less than $500,000. The bill would also require the commission to update the financial security requirements for electric service providers and community choice aggregators to instead include costs for no less than 12 months of incremental procurement incurred by the provider of last resort, upon the customers' involuntary return. By requiring the commission to increase the financial security amount required to be paid by community choice aggregators to cover the cost of customer reentry fees upon the customer's involuntary return to service provided by an electrical corporation, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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 provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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 specified reasons.

This measure would, among other things, honor the late civil rights pioneer and icon Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Existing law, the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013, requires the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank to administer the Small Business Finance Center, which administers programs that assist businesses seeking new capital resources, including, but not limited to, the Small Business Loan Guarantee Program. Existing law establishes the Small Business Expansion Fund and requires, among other things, that the fund provide guarantees to loans offered by financial institutions and financial companies, as those terms are defined, to small businesses, as provided. Existing law, the California Pollution Control Financing Authority Act, establishes the California Pollution Control Financing Authority, with specified powers and duties, and authorizes the authority to approve financing for projects or pollution control facilities to prevent or reduce environmental pollution. This bill would enact the Equity in Lending and Fair Recovery Act to require the California Pollution Control Financing Authority to establish and administer the Equity in Lending and Fair Recovery Program, in accordance with specified requirements, for the purpose of supporting and expanding eligible lender access to lending capital and borrower access to responsible installment loans for low- to moderate-income individuals and communities. The bill would require the program to provide partial loan guarantees and other credit enhancements for eligible lenders, as defined, to access additional capital to expand the availability of eligible loans, as defined. This bill would, among other things, require the authority to require that participating eligible lenders pay premiums, fees, and interest sufficient to cover the reasonable administrative costs of the program and manage the risk of defaults associated with the program. The bill would require that these premiums, fees, and interest payments be deposited into the Equity in Lending and Fair Recovery Fund, which this bill would establish as a continuously appropriated fund, thereby making an appropriation. This bill would authorize the authority to establish and operate a program to provide grants to support minority-owned small businesses, as defined, allocated through a competitive application process in accordance with specified requirements. The bill would make moneys in the fund available for these grants only to the extent that there are sufficient moneys in the fund for purposes of this bill's provisions. The bill would require the authority to charge an application fee to each grantee under this program, in an amount sufficient to cover the reasonable costs of the authority in administering that program. This bill would appropriate $25,000,000 to the authority for deposit into the fund, to be used for initial startup costs relating to the establishment and operation of the Equity in Lending and Fair Recovery Program.

Existing law prohibits a person who is under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or the combined influence of alcohol or drugs from driving a vehicle. A violation of this prohibition, generally, is punishable as a misdemeanor. Existing law authorizes a court to offer misdemeanor diversion to criminal defendants which, contingent on successful completion of specified terms and conditions imposed by the court, results in the dismissal of charges prior to adjudication. This bill would place requirements on misdemeanor diversion for persons charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs (DUI) , as specified. The bill would limit diversion to persons who have no prior convictions for DUI, and who have not completed diversion for DUI within the past 10 years. The bill would require, as a condition of diversion, for the defendant to install an ignition interlock device, as specified, and to participate in education and counseling programs, as specified. This bill would require the department to include diverted arrests in its tracking of DUI arrest and conviction data. This bill would also require a violation for DUI that is dismissed pursuant to this diversion program to count as a prior conviction for purposes of subsequent convictions for driving under the influence, as specified. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, requires a person, upon a criminal conviction for DUI with a prior conviction for DUI or for driving under the influence and causing injury, to install and maintain an ignition interlock device (IID) for a specified period of time. Existing law also authorizes a court, upon the first criminal conviction of a person for driving under the influence, to order the person to install and maintain an IID for a specified period of time, or, if the court does not order the installation of such a device, authorizes the person to apply for a restricted license. This bill would instead require a person, upon the person's first criminal conviction for DUI, to install and maintain an IID for a specified period of time. The bill would delete those provisions authorizing a restricted license in lieu of an IID for first offenders. This bill would give credit towards the court-ordered term of IID installation for any period of time after the arrest that the person voluntarily installs and operates an IID. This bill would place specified recordkeeping requirements upon manufacturers of IIDs. The bill would also would extend the required term of IID installation by 60 days if, within the final 60 days of installation, a driver attempts to start the vehicle when a specified level of alcohol is detected.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the commission, in consultation with the Independent System Operator, to establish resource adequacy requirements for electrical corporations, community choice aggregators, and electric service providers. Existing law requires that the resource adequacy program achieve specified objectives, including that it establish new or maintain existing demand response products and tariffs, as specified. This bill would require those demand response products and tariffs to be cost effective.

Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to require each electrical corporation, gas corporation, water corporation, wireless telecommunication service provider, electric service provider, and telephone corporation with gross annual California revenues exceeding $25,000,000 and their commission-regulated subsidiaries and affiliates, to submit annually a detailed and verifiable plan for increasing procurement from women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises in all categories. That law specifies certain categories of procurement that are expressly required to be included in the plan, like renewable energy projects and smart grid projects. Existing law requires those entities with gross annual California revenues between $15,000,000 and $25,000,000 to annually submit data to the commission on its procurement from enterprises in all categories, expressly including all of the same categories as are required for the higher grossing regulated entities. This bill would expressly include microgrids as one of the categories for purposes of this annual submission of procurement data to the commission.