Existing law prohibits discrimination on the basis of various specified personal characteristics, including disability. Existing law imposes civil liability upon any person or persons, firm, or corporation who denies or interferes with admittance to or enjoyment of public facilities or otherwise interferes with the rights of an individual with a disability, as specified. The Construction-Related Accessibility Standards Compliance Act establishes standards for making new construction and existing facilities accessible to persons with disabilities and provides for construction-related accessibility claims for violations of those standards. This bill would prohibit a cause of action on the basis of a construction-related access barrier in an existing public accommodation by an individual who alleges to have been aggrieved by the existence of the access barrier from accruing unless specified conditions are met, including that a written notice has been sent to the owner and operator, as specified. The bill would create a specified 90-day period and an additional 30-day period during which the owner or operator of the public accommodation shall be permitted to remove the barrier or to make substantial progress toward removing the barrier, or to made a good faith effort to remove the barrier, as defined, before a cause of action accrues. The bill would also specify that a cause of action against an owner or operator of a public accommodation on the basis of a construction-related access barrier by an individual who alleges to have been aggrieved by the existence of the access barrier shall not accrue under the Unruh Civil Rights Act, provisions that impose civil liability upon those who deny or interfere with admittance to or enjoyment of public facilities or otherwise interfere with the rights of an individual with a disability, or the Construction-Related Accessibility Standards Compliance Act during a 90-day period, and, if applicable, the additional 30-day period, if a civil action relating to the same construction-related access barrier is pending. The bill would also require the Judicial Council to submit a report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2021, that analyzes the impact of these provisions, as specified. Existing law establishes the Department of Rehabilitation in the California Health and Human Services Agency to provide vocational rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities, and directs the department to cooperate with the federal government in carrying out the purposes of federal statutes pertaining to those individuals. Existing law provides for the inspection of places of public accommodation by certified access specialists to determine if the sites meet all applicable construction-related accessibility standards, and the provision of specified certificates and reports regarding those inspections. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2020, to develop a program to educate cities, counties, cities and counties, local government agencies, and private property owners on effective and efficient strategies for promoting access to public accommodations for individuals with disabilities by engaging certified access specialists to provide guidance for remediation of potential violations of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
Sponsored bills
This measure would designate April 2018 as California Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness Month.
Existing federal law provides for the allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states. Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program under which, through a combination of state and county funds and federal funds received through the TANF program, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, no later than July 1, 2019, to design and implement a 5-year pilot project under which monetary grants are provided to organizations operating programs that assist individuals receiving CalWORKs benefits to achieve economic independence. The bill would require the department, in developing the pilot project, among other things, to develop a competitive review process for all grant proposals submitted, to develop eligibility requirements for organizations seeking a grant, and to develop an ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of an organization receiving grant funding in teaching its program participants the skills necessary to achieve economic independence. The bill would authorize the department to enter into an agreement with an academic institution or other entity with sufficient expertise for the purpose of creating, performing, or both creating and performing, the evaluation. This bill would authorize an organization receiving a grant to utilize the funds in any reasonable manner, as long as the funds are expended in furtherance of the organization's program or other requirements established by the department. The bill would require organizations receiving grant funding to collaborate and coordinate with the county human services agency or agencies that will be asked to refer CalWORKs recipients to the program in implementing procedures for referrals, regular progress reports, and other communications, as needed. The bill would require the department, or the academic institution or other entity the department contracted with, to send a report evaluating the effectiveness of the programs funded by the grants to the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature by December 31, 2023. This bill would appropriate $50,000,000 from the General Fund for the purpose of funding these provisions. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2024, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2025.
The California Constitution conditions the imposition of a general tax by a local government upon the approval of a majority of its voters voting on the tax. The California Constitution requires the election for the vote on a general tax to be consolidated with a regularly scheduled election for members of the governing body of the local government, except in cases where the members of the governing body of the local government, by a unanimous vote, declare an emergency. The California Constitution conditions the imposition of a special tax by a local government upon the approval of 23 of the voters voting on the tax. The California Constitution defines "local government" for these purposes to mean any county, city, city and county, including a charter city or county, any special district, or any other local or regional governmental entity. This measure would specify that the electorate exercising its initiative power is within the definition of "local government," and that these conditions and requirements apply to the exercise of that power. The California Constitution prohibits an assessment or property-related fee or charge from being assessed by an agency on any parcel of property unless it meets certain requirements. Existing provisions of the California Constitution require an agency to follow specified procedures in imposing or increasing an assessment or property-related fee or charge, and condition the imposition or increase of an assessment or property-related fee or charge, with certain exceptions, upon the absence of a majority protest on the part of owners of affected parcels and, in the case of a property-related fee or charge, upon approval by either a majority vote of the owners of the subject parcels or a 23 vote of the voters residing in the affected area. The California Constitution defines "agency" for these purposes to mean any county, city, city and county, including a charter city or county, any special district, or any other local or regional governmental entity. This measure would specify that the electorate exercising its initiative power is within the definition of "agency," and that the existing requirements and procedures apply to the exercise of that power.
Existing law provides various sources of funding for transportation and other infrastructure purposes. This bill, until July 1, 2025, would require the Department of Finance, in consultation with the Franchise Tax Board, to estimate, on an annual basis by November 1 of each year, the amount of revenue to be received from state taxes in the next fiscal year as a consequence of enactment of a federal corporate repatriation statute pursuant to which foreign earnings of United States-based corporations that are currently invested abroad are moved to the United States. The bill, until July 1, 2025, after reservation of appropriate amounts required to be allocated by the California Constitution for Proposition 98 education funding requirements and the Budget Stabilization Account, would require the remaining repatriation revenues to be transferred to the Repatriation Infrastructure Fund in the State Treasury, which the bill would create. The bill would continuously appropriate the revenues in the Repatriation Infrastructure Fund to an unspecified entity for expenditure infrastructure projects.
Existing law makes pandering a felony, and defines that crime as procuring a person for purposes of prostitution, causing or encouraging another person to become a prostitute by promises, threats, or violence, procuring for another person a place as an inmate in a house of prostitution, procuring another person for the purpose of prostitution by fraud or duress, or receiving or giving money for procuring another person for the purpose of prostitution. This bill would instead define pandering as, among other acts, arranging, causing, encouraging, inducing, persuading, or procuring another person to be a prostitute, with the intent that the other person engage in an act of prostitution, or receiving or giving any money or thing of value for procuring, or attempting to procure, another person for the purpose of prostitution. By changing the definition 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.
The California Constitution, as amended by Proposition 57 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, makes a person sentenced to state prison for a conviction of a nonviolent felony offense eligible for parole consideration after completing the full term for his or her primary offense, as specified. Existing law classifies certain felonies as violent felonies and certain felonies as serious felonies for purposes of various provisions of the Penal Code. Existing law specifies certain offenses for which a person is required to register as a sex offender. This bill would specify that a nonviolent felony offense for purposes of the above parole eligibility does not include a felony classified as a violent felony, and would also define a serious felony or an offense that requires registration as a sex offender as a violent felony for these purposes.
Under existing law, it is a crime to assault, batter, or interfere with, as specified, a police dog or police horse. Under existing law, a violation of these provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor, or, if a serious physical injury is inflicted upon the animal, as a misdemeanor or a felony. Additionally, under existing law, if a person, with the intent to inflict injury or death, causes the death or serious physical injury of the animal, that person is, upon conviction of a felony, punishable by an additional one-year term of imprisonment. Under existing law, for each felony case, a court is required to hold, and a prosecutor is required to attend, a preliminary hearing. This bill would instead make the intentional killing or infliction of serious physical injury to a police dog or police horse a felony punishable by imprisonment for 2, 3, or 4 years. By changing the penalty of an existing crime, and by imposing additional duties on local prosecutors by increasing the number of preliminary hearings, 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 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 authorize a trial court to impose that additional term upon, and the fine against, a defendant who violates those laws with respect to a substance containing fentanyl. By imposing additional incarceration costs on local agencies, 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 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA authorizes specified entities to file and maintain with a court an action or proceeding to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul an act of a public agency on grounds of noncompliance with the requirements of CEQA. Existing law authorizes a court, upon motion, to award attorneys' fees to a successful party in an action that resulted in the enforcement of an important right affecting the public interest under specified conditions. This bill would require a plaintiff or petitioner, in an action brought pursuant to CEQA, to disclose specified information regarding the plaintiff or petitioner in the complaint or petition, as specified. The bill would require disclosure of the identity of a person or entity that contributes in excess of $100 dollars, as specified, toward the plaintiff's or petitioner's costs of an action. The bill would provide that a failure to provide this disclosure shall be grounds for dismissal of the action by the court or, if the failure occurs during a postjudgment proceeding, the denial of attorneys' fees for a successful plaintiff or petitioner. The bill also would require the plaintiff or petitioner to identify any pecuniary or business interest related to the project or issues involved in the action of any person or entity named as a plaintiff or petitioner or that contributes in excess of $100 to the costs of the action, as specified.