Existing law classifies controlled substances into 5 schedules and places the greatest restrictions and penalties on the use of those substances placed in Schedule I. Existing law classifies the drug fentanyl in Schedule II. Existing law prohibits a person from possessing for sale or purchasing for purposes of sale, specified controlled substances, including fentanyl, and provides for imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years for a violation of this provision. Existing law also imposes an additional term, and authorizes a trial court to impose a specified fine, upon a person who is convicted of a violation of, or of a conspiracy to violate, specified provisions of law with respect to a substance containing heroin, cocaine base, and cocaine, if the substance exceeds a specified weight. This bill would impose that additional term upon, and authorize a fine against, a defendant who violates those laws with respect to a substance containing fentanyl. By increasing the penalty for 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.
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Existing law authorizes the Director of Employment Development to apply for an advance to the Unemployment Fund and accept the responsibility for the repayment of the advance in accordance with the conditions specified in Title XII of the Social Security Act, as amended, to secure the advantages available under the provisions of that title. Existing law authorizes the federal government to make advances to the states from the federal unemployment account in the federal Unemployment Trust Fund and requires repayment of those advances, with interest, as specified. Existing law authorizes the governor of any state to request that funds be transferred from a state account to the federal unemployment account in repayment of part or all of the balance of advances, as specified. This bill would appropriate $19,300,000,000 from the General Fund to the Employment Development Department for the purpose of repaying all advances from the federal unemployment account, as specified.
Existing law prescribes certain criminal sentencing enhancements that increase the term of imprisonment for specified criminal offenses committed under circumstances including those committed using a firearm, those committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang, those committed by a repeat offender, and those determined to be hate crimes. Existing law requires a sentencing court to dismiss an enhancement if, after considering specified mitigating circumstances, the court determines that it is in the furtherance of justice to do so. This bill would exempt from this requirement an enhancement imposed for an offense determined to be a hate crime.
The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, enacted as an initiative statute by Proposition 47, as approved by the electors at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, made various changes relating to theft and the possession of controlled substances, including by, among other things, generally reducing the penalty for those crimes, including reducing the penalty for possession of concentrated cannabis, establishing a procedure by which individuals convicted of those crimes prior to the passage of the act may petition for resentencing under the act, and creating the crime of shoplifting. The act also requires the Director of Finance to calculate the savings accruing to the state as a result of the implementation of the act and requires the Controller to transfer that sum from the General Fund to the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund, which was created by the act. The act specifies the manner of distribution of those funds and the purposes for which they may be used. This bill would repeal the changes and additions made by Proposition 47, except those related to reducing the penalty for possession of concentrated cannabis. Existing law makes it a crime for a caretaker of an elder or a dependent adult, or a person who is not a caretaker and who knows or reasonably should know that the victim is an elder or a dependent adult, to violate specified laws proscribing theft, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, or identity theft with respect to the property or personal identifying information of that elder or dependent adult. Existing law makes a violation of those provisions punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony when the moneys, labor, goods, services, or real or personal property taken or obtained is of a value exceeding $950. This bill would reduce the value threshold for a violation of those provisions to be punishable as a felony from $950 to $400. Existing law defines grand theft as the wrongful taking of money, labor, or property of a value exceeding $950, except as specified. Existing law also makes it grand theft where the money, labor, or real or personal property is taken by a servant, agent, or employee from their principal or employer and aggregates $950 or more in any consecutive 12-month period. This bill would reduce the value threshold for committing grand theft under those provisions from $950 to $400. This bill would provide that it would become effective only upon approval of the voters, and would provide for the submission of this measure to the voters for approval at the next statewide general election.
Existing law defines a "hate crime" as a criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of actual or perceived characteristics of the victim, including, among other things, race, religion, disability, and sexual orientation. Existing law requires the Attorney General to direct local law enforcement agencies to report information relating to hate crimes to the Department of Justice, as specified, and requires the department to post that information on a specified internet website on or before July 1 of each year. This bill would additionally require local law enforcement agencies to post the information sent to the department on their internet website on a monthly basis. 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.
The Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act generally requires the administrator for oil spill response, who is the head of the Office of Spill Prevention and Response in the Department of Fish and Wildlife, to implement activities relating to oil spill response, including drills and preparedness, and oil spill containment and cleanup. The act requires the administrator, taking into consideration the California oil spill contingency plan, to promulgate regulations regarding the adequacy of oil spill elements of area plans adopted pursuant to specified existing law. The act authorizes the administrator to offer, to a unified program agency with jurisdiction over or directly adjacent to waters of the state, a grant to complete, update, or revise an oil spill element of the area plan. The act requires each oil spill element prepared under those provisions to be consistent with the local government's local coastal program, the California oil spill contingency plan, and the National Contingency Plan. This bill would additionally require that each oil spill element prepared under those provisions be consistent with the area contingency plan.
Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the California Conservation Corps and requires the corps to implement and administer the conservation corps program. Existing law requires the director of the corps to establish a forestry corps program to accomplish specified objectives related to forest health. This bill would require the director to establish and administer the California Ocean Corps Program to provide competitive grants to certified local conservation corps located in coastal counties in order to provide opportunities for young people to complete workforce preparation, training, and education programs, and, ultimately, to obtain employment, or continue education, in ocean and coastal conservation or related fields, as provided. The bill would require the director to develop and adopt program guidelines before awarding any grants, as provided. The bill would require the director to develop performance measures and accountability controls to track progress and outcomes of all grants. The bill would require the director, on or before January 1, 2026, to report these outcomes to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature. The bill would make these provisions contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027.
Existing law designates specific days as holidays in this state. Existing law requires the Governor annually to proclaim the date corresponding with the second new moon following the winter solstice, or the third new moon following the winter solstice should an intercalary month intervene, as the "Lunar New Year." Existing law entitles state employees, with specified exceptions, to elect to receive 8 hours of holiday credit for "Native American Day," in lieu of receiving 8 hours of personal holiday credit, and to elect to use 8 hours of vacation, annual leave, or compensating time off, consistent with departmental operational needs and collective bargaining agreements, for "Native American Day," as specified. This bill would repeal provisions requiring the Governor to annually proclaim the "Lunar New Year," and would instead recognize the "Lunar New Year" as a state holiday. The bill would authorize state employees, with specified exceptions, to elect to receive 8 hours of holiday credit for the "Lunar New Year" in lieu of receiving 8 hours of personal holiday credit, and to elect to use 8 hours of vacation, annual leave, or compensating time off, consistent with departmental operational needs and collective bargaining agreements, for "Lunar New Year," as specified. Existing law designates specific days designated as holidays in this state, every Saturday and the day after Thanksgiving Day as judicial holidays, except "Admission Day," "Columbus Day," and any other day appointed by the President, but not by the Governor, for a public fast, thanksgiving, or holiday. This bill would additionally exclude "Lunar New Year" from designation as a judicial holiday. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 135 of the Code of Civil Procedure proposed by AB 1801 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1801 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 6700, 19853, and 19853.1 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1655 and AB 1801 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1655, AB 1801, or both are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
The Wildlife Conservation Law of 1947 establishes the Wildlife Conservation Board in the Department of Fish and Wildlife and requires the board to determine the areas in the state that are most essential and suitable for certain wildlife-related purposes. Under that law, the board may authorize the department to acquire real property, rights in real property, water, or water rights for the benefit of wildlife. This bill would authorize the Wildlife Conservation Board, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, to make grants to acquire fee title or conservation easements or to perform restoration, or a combination thereof, in watersheds with habitats for sensitive wildlife populations in specified regions in the Counties of Orange and San Diego, as provided. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Orange and San Diego.
Existing law authorizes area agencies on aging and other county agencies that provide services to older adults through an established multidisciplinary team to provide information regarding older adult clients only to other county agencies with staff designated as members of a multidisciplinary team that are, or may be, providing services to the same individuals for purposes of identifying and coordinating the treatment of individuals served by more than one agency. This bill would specifically authorize an area agency on aging or a county, or both, to establish an aging multidisciplinary personnel team, as defined, with the goal of facilitating the expedited identification, assessment, and linkage of older adults to services and to allow provider agencies and members of the personnel team to share confidential information, as specified, for the purpose of coordinating services. Under the bill, any discussion relative to the disclosure or exchange of the information or writings during a team meeting would be confidential and testimony concerning that discussion would not be admissible in any criminal, civil, or juvenile court proceeding. The bill would require the sharing of information permitted under these provisions to be governed by protocols developed by each area agency on aging or county, as specified, and would require each area agency on aging or county to provide a copy of its protocols to the California Department of Aging. The bill would require the protocols to include a requirement that, unless otherwise permitted by law, an area agency on aging or county obtain the affirmative consent of an individual or their representative before the individual's information is shared and a requirement to notify an individual, among other things, that they may opt out of sharing information at any time. This bill would authorize the aging multidisciplinary personnel team to designate qualified persons to be members of the team for a particular case and would require every member who receives information or records regarding adults and families in their capacity as a member of the team to be under the same privacy and confidentiality obligations and subject to the same confidentiality penalties as the person disclosing or providing the information or records. The bill would also require the information or records to be maintained in a manner that ensures the maximum protection of privacy and confidentiality rights. 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 Constitution provides for the Right to Truth-In-Evidence, which requires a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature to exclude any relevant evidence from any criminal proceeding or any trial or hearing of a juvenile for a criminal offense, as specified. Because this bill would exclude from a criminal or juvenile court proceeding any discussion relative to the disclosure or exchange of information or writings during an aging multidisciplinary personnel team meeting, which would otherwise be admissible, it requires a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature.