Sen. Patricia C. Bates

Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, provides for the adoption and administration of zoning laws, ordinances, rules, and regulations by counties and cities. The State Housing Law requires the housing or building department or, if there is no building department, the health department, of every city, county, or city and county, or a specified environmental agency to enforce within its jurisdiction all of the State Housing Law, the building standards published in the California Building Standards Code, and other specified rules and regulations. The State Housing Law prohibits the application of rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to the State Housing Law and building standards published in the State Building Standards Code, relating to the erection or construction of buildings or structures, to existing buildings or structures, or to buildings or structures as to which construction is commenced or approved prior to the effective date of the rules, regulations, or building standards, except by act of the Legislature. If there is a violation of these provisions or any order or notice that gives a reasonable time to correct that violation, or if a nuisance exists, an enforcement agency is required, after 30 days' notice to abate the nuisance, to institute appropriate action or proceedings to prevent, restrain, correct, or abate the violation or nuisance. The State Housing Law requires local ordinances or regulations governing alterations and repair of existing buildings to permit the replacement, retention, and extension of original materials and the use of original methods of construction for any building or accessory structure subject to this law, including a dwelling or portions thereof, as long as the portion of the building and structure subject to the replacement, retention, or extension of original materials and the use of original methods of construction complies with the building code provisions governing that portion of the building or accessory structure at the time of construction, and the other rules and regulations of the department or alternative local standards governing that portion at the time of its construction and adopted pursuant to provisions of existing law regarding fire safety, and the building or accessory structure does not become or continue to be a substandard building, as defined. The California Building Standards Law requires that only those building standards approved by the California Building Standards Commission, and that are effective at the local level at the time an application for a building permit is submitted, apply to the construction performed under that building permit. This bill would require the department to propose the adoption of a building standard to the California Building Standards Commission pursuant to existing law that would authorize, when a record of the issuance of a building permit for the construction of an existing residential unit does not exist, the above-described enforcement officials to determine when the residential unit was constructed and then apply the State Housing Law, the building standards published in the California Building Standards Code, and other specified rules and regulations in effect on that date and issue a retroactive building permit for that construction. This bill would declare that the provisions of the bill are declaratory of existing law.

Existing law, the Legislative Employee Whistleblower Protection Act, imposes criminal and civil liability on a Member of the Legislature or legislative employee, as defined, who interferes with, or retaliates against, a legislative employee's exercise of the right to make a protected disclosure, which is defined as a good faith allegation made by a legislative employee to specified entities that a Member of the Legislature or a legislative employee has engaged in, or will engage in, activity that may constitute a violation of law or a violation of a legislative standard of conduct. This bill would define "protected disclosure" for purposes of that act to also include a complaint made at the request of a legislative employee and a complaint made against a nonemployee in specified circumstances. Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , protects and safeguards the right and opportunity of all persons to generally seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination, abridgment, or harassment on account of enumerated protected categories. Existing law also precludes an employer, labor organization, employment agency, or person from discharging, expelling, or otherwise discriminating against any person because the person has opposed any practices forbidden under FEHA or because the person has filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any FEHA proceeding. Existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, states that all people in California are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments, no matter their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status. Existing law establishes a cause of action for violations of that act. Existing law also separately establishes liability for sexual harassment if a plaintiff proves specified elements, including, among other things, that there is a business, service, or professional relationship between the plaintiff and defendant. This bill would declare that neither house of the Legislature may retaliate against a legislative advocate or employee, as defined, because that person has opposed any practices forbidden under the above provisions, or filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any proceeding relating to a complaint of harassment under those provisions. This bill would impose civil liability for a violation of that prohibition. This bill would also require each house of the Legislature to maintain a record of each harassment complaint made to that house for a period of at least 12 years after the complaint is made. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the Real Estate Law, provides for the licensure, certification, and regulation of persons who engage in specified real estate appraisal activity by the Chief of the Bureau of Real Estate Appraisers. That law makes the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice the minimum standard of conduct and performance for a licensee in any work or service performed that is addressed by those standards. This bill would instead provide that until January 1, 2020, a licensee is not required to comply with provisions of the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice that provide a limitation on restricted appraisal reports to intended users other than or in addition to the client, if certain requirements are met, including that the consent of the client is obtained in advance.

Existing law requires specified businesses and other establishments to post a notice, as developed by the Department of Justice, that contains information relating to slavery and human trafficking, including information regarding specified nonprofit organizations that a person can call for services or support in the elimination of slavery and human trafficking. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) makes specified employment practices unlawful, including the harassment of an employee directly by the employer or indirectly by agents of the employer with the employer's knowledge. FEHA requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide at least 2 hours of prescribed training and education regarding sexual harassment to all supervisory employees within 6 months of their assumption of a supervisory position and once every 2 years, as specified. This bill would amend FEHA to require specified employers to provide at least 20 minutes of prescribed training and education regarding human trafficking awareness to employees who are likely to interact or come into contact with victims of human trafficking, as defined. The bill would establish a schedule for compliance commencing January 1, 2020. The bill would authorize the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, in the case of an employer violation of the bill's requirements, to seek an order requiring compliance.

Existing law authorizes a school district to provide sexual abuse and sex trafficking prevention education, as defined, encourages school districts to collaborate with outside consultants, including law enforcement, with expertise in sexual abuse and sex trafficking prevention education in order to create school safety plans to address those threats, and authorizes in-service training of school district personnel relating to understanding sexual abuse and sex trafficking to be conducted periodically, as provided. This bill would require the governing board of a school district and the governing body of a charter school to work with their schools that maintain any of grades 6 to 12, inclusive, to identify the most appropriate methods of informing parents and guardians of pupils in those grades of human trafficking prevention resources and to implement the identified methods in those schools by January 1, 2020. By imposing additional requirements on school districts and charter schools, 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, 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 provides for the licensure and regulation of alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facilities serving adults by the State Department of Health Care Services, as prescribed. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions punishable by a civil penalty of not less than $25 or more than $50 per day for each violation, with additional penalties for repeat violations, as specified. This bill would make an initial license for a new facility issued by the department to a provider provisional for one year and revocable for good cause, as defined. The bill would require licensed services offered or provided by a licensed alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facility to be specified on the license and provided exclusively within either the licensed facility or any facility identified on a single license by street address. The bill would increase the penalties for a violation of the licensing and regulatory provisions to not less than $250 or more than $500 per day for each violation, except as specified, and increase the additional penalties for repeat violations, as specified. The bill would prohibit a person or entity found to be in violation of the licensing provisions described above from applying for initial licensure for 5 years, as specified. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations to implement specified provisions on or before July 1, 2022, and would authorize the department to issue provider bulletins, written guidelines, or similar instructions, as specified.

Existing law governs the procedure by which crime victims may obtain compensation from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Existing law establishes eligibility for compensation when prescribed requirements are met and authorizes the California Victim Compensation Board to grant compensation from the fund for pecuniary loss when the board determines it will best aid the person seeking compensation. Existing law authorizes the board to provide compensation equal to the loss of income or loss of support, or both, that a victim or derivative victim incurs as a direct result of the victim's or derivative victim's injury or the victim's death. Under existing law, as amended by Proposition 35, the Californians Against Sexual Exploitation Act, an initiative measure approved by the voters at the November 6, 2012, statewide general election, a person who deprives or violates another person's personal liberty with the intent to obtain forced labor or services or who deprives or violates another person's personal liberty for the purpose of prostitution or sexual exploitation is guilty of human trafficking, a felony. This bill would authorize the board to provide compensation equal to loss of income or support that a victim incurs as a direct result of the victim's deprivation of liberty during the crime, if the qualifying crime is human trafficking, in an amount not exceeding the value of the victim's labor as guaranteed under California law for up to 40 hours per week, as specified. The bill would require the board to adopt guidelines on or before July 1, 2019, that allow the board to rely on evidence other than official employment documentation in considering and approving an application for loss of income or support, including any reliable corroborating information approved by the board. The bill would prohibit compensation for loss of income paid by the board if the qualifying crime is human trafficking from exceeding $10,000 per year that the services were performed, for a maximum of 2 years. By expanding the authorizations for use of moneys in the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 13957 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1865, AB 1939, and SB 1005 to be operative only if this bill and any or all of those bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last.