Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson

Maddy summaryAssembly Concurrent Resolution 217 designates June 29, 2024, as Play Day to encourage all Californians to participate in physical activities. The resolution highlights the importance of play for youth development and addresses disparities in access to sports based on income and race. It serves as a commemorative measure rather than a law that creates new regulations or funding.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates specific periods in 2024 as Boat People Awareness Week and Month to honor Vietnamese refugees who fled their country by sea after the Vietnam War. The resolution highlights the historical hardships these individuals faced, including dangerous voyages and high mortality rates, while acknowledging their significant contributions to communities across California. It does not create new laws or funding but serves as a commemorative measure to recognize the resilience and spirit of the Vietnamese refugee community. The text is intended to be shared with the bill's author for public distribution to raise awareness about this historical event.

Maddy summaryThis bill recognizes August 15, 2024, as India's Independence Day and encourages all Californians to participate in celebrations honoring the occasion. It directly affects the residents of California, particularly the state's large Indian American community, by formally acknowledging the historical significance of the date when India gained independence from British rule. The measure does not create new laws or change government operations; instead, it serves as a symbolic gesture to highlight the cultural contributions of Indian Americans and the shared values of democracy and nonviolence between the two nations.

This measure would declare the month of June 2024 to be Portuguese Heritage Month and would recognize June 10 as the Day of Portugal and May 20 as the Day of the Azores.

Maddy summaryThis bill officially recognizes June 21, 2024, as the 2024 International Day of Yoga within the state of California. It does not create new laws or change existing regulations but serves as a formal acknowledgment of the global event. The measure is intended to highlight the history and benefits of yoga as a wellness practice.

This measure would designate the week of June 23, 2024, to June 29, 2024, inclusive, and every third week of June thereafter, as Roadside Assistance Worker Appreciation Week.

Existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, provides for the regulation of various subjects relating to the processing, labeling, advertising, and sale of food, drugs, and cosmetics, including dietary supplements, under the administration and enforcement of the State Department of Public Health. A violation of those provisions is a crime. Under existing law, it is a misdemeanor for any manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, or other person to sell, transfer, or otherwise furnish a dietary supplement containing ephedrine group alkaloids or other specified substances to a person under 18 years of age, and a seller is required to request a valid identification of prospective purchasers who reasonably appear to be under 18 years of age. This bill would prohibit a retail establishment from selling, transferring, or otherwise furnishing dietary supplements for weight loss or over-the-counter (OTC) diet pills, as defined, to any person under 18 years of age without a prescription, by requiring the retail establishment to follow a specified identification check. The bill would require the department, in consultation with certain entities, to determine which dietary supplements for weight loss and OTC diet pills would be subject to these provisions, in a manner consistent with specified criteria. The bill would make a person who violates these provisions liable for a civil penalty of no more than $250 for each violation, as specified. The bill would exempt a retail clerk from any civil penalties for a violation of these provisions, except as specified. Under the bill, the above-described criminal penalty would not apply to a violation of these provisions. The bill would make these provisions operative on January 1, 2026, and would make the provisions severable.

(1) Existing law requires a pupil to complete designated coursework while in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, in order to receive a diploma of graduation from high school. The coursework requirements include, among others, the completion of one course in visual or performing arts, foreign language, or, until July 1, 2027, career technical education. Existing law defines "a course in career technical education" to mean a course in a district-operated career technical education program that is aligned to the career technical model curriculum standards and framework adopted by the State Board of Education, including courses through a regional occupational center or program operated by a county superintendent of schools or pursuant to a joint powers agreement. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to coordinate the development, on a cyclical basis, of model curriculum standards for, among other courses of study, a career technical education course of study. This bill, until July 1, 2027, would revise that definition to clarify that a course in a district-operated career technical education program that is aligned to the career technical model curriculum standards and framework adopted by the state board also includes courses that include participation in a preapprenticeship program, as defined, or a youth apprenticeship program, as defined. The bill would require the Superintendent, on or before July 1, 2029, and in collaboration with specified entities, to develop and adopt work-based learning program guidelines, as provided. The bill would require the State Department of Education, on or before January 1, 2026, and in collaboration with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, to develop guidance on the definitions of youth apprenticeship programs, career technical education programs, preapprenticeship programs, and regional occupation programs, as provided. (2) Existing law requires the department, in collaboration with, and subject to the approval of, the executive director of the State Board of Education, to develop and maintain the California School Dashboard, a web-based system for publicly reporting performance data on the state and local indicators included in the evaluation rubrics. The department, pursuant to the requirement of developing the California School Dashboard, has included as one of several state indicators, the College/Career Indicator (CCI) , which represents the percentage of high school graduates who are prepared for college or a career, and includes several measures, including, among others, work-based learning measures, as part of the CCI. This bill would require the state board to, on or before July 1, 2026, consider including youth apprenticeship programs as a work-based learning measure for purposes of the CCI. (3) Existing law provides funding for career technical education programs, including through, among others, the California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program, the Strong Workforce Program, and a K–12 component of the Strong Workforce Program, with the purpose of creating, maintaining, supporting, encouraging, strengthening, and expanding the delivery of career technical education programs in the state, as provided. This bill would, subject to an appropriation of one-time funds for this purpose in the annual Budget Act or another statute, establish the High School Apprenticeship Pilot Program under the administration of the department. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2026, to provide grants to 3 school districts, county offices of education, or charter schools for use over 2 school years, commencing with the 2026–27 school year, as provided. The bill would require the department to, among other things, convene a working group with specified entities and to work in collaboration with the working group to, among other things, determine application procedures and selection criteria for the grant awards. The bill would require the department to identify data to be collected by the grant recipients and would require the department, on or before December 1, 2028, to submit a report to the Legislature including, among other things, the data identified by the department. This bill would make these provisions relating to the grant program inoperative on July 1, 2032, and would repeal it as of January 1, 2033.

Existing law prohibits, as specified, the infliction of pain or suffering or the willful neglect of a child. Existing law imposes a penalty enhancement if the act constituting a violation of this prohibition was an act of female genital mutilation. Existing law defines female genital mutilation as the excision or infibulation of the labia majora, labia minora, clitoris, or vulva, performed for nonmedical purposes. This bill would specify that for the purposes of that enhancement and other crimes it is not a defense that the conduct is required as a matter of religion, custom, ritual, or standard practice, or that the individual on whom it is performed, or the individual's parent or guardian, consented to the procedure. The bill would state that evidence that a person removes or causes, permits, or facilitates the removal of a minor from this state may be used as circumstantial evidence to establish a violation of any crime arising from the commission of female genital mutilation. The bill would define female genital mutilation as any procedure that involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for nonmedical reasons. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, the Child Abuse Neglect and Reporting Act, designates certain persons mandated reporters and requires them to report suspected child abuse or neglect to certain specified agencies whenever the mandated reporter, in their professional capacity or within the scope of their employment, has knowledge of or observes a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect. This bill would specify that female genital mutilation is child abuse for these purposes. 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 federal law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) , establishes certain requirements relating to the provision of health insurance, including provisions relating to the confidentiality of health records. Existing state law, the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, prohibits a provider of health care, a health care service plan, a contractor, a corporation and its subsidiaries and affiliates, or any business that offers software or hardware to consumers, including a mobile application or other related device, as defined, from intentionally sharing, selling, using for marketing, or otherwise using any medical information, as defined, for any purpose not necessary to provide health care services to a patient, except as provided. This bill would prohibit a participating entity of a closed-loop referral system (CLRS) from selling, renting, releasing, disclosing, disseminating, making available, transferring, or otherwise communicating orally, in writing, or by electronic or other means, social care information stored in or transmitted through a CLRS in exchange for monetary or other valuable consideration, except as specified. The bill would further prohibit a participating entity from using social care information stored in, or transmitted through, a CLRS for any purpose or purposes other than the social care purpose or purposes for which that social care information was collected or generated, except as specified. The bill would define "social care" to mean any care, services, goods, or supplies related to an individual's social needs, including, but not limited to, support and assistance for an individual's food stability and nutritional needs, housing, transportation, economic stability, employment, education access and quality, childcare and family relationship needs, and environmental and physical safety. The bill would also define "social care information" to mean any information, in any form, that relates to the need for, payment for, or provision of, social care, and the individual's personal information, as specified.