Existing law governs the determination of child custody and visitation in contested proceedings. Existing law requires the court, for purposes of deciding custody, to determine the best interests of the child based on certain factors, including the nature and amount of contact with both parents, and consistent with specified findings, including that the court's primary concern must be to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the child. Existing law further provides that custody should be granted in a specified order of preference, according to the best interests of the child. Existing law prohibits the court, in granting custody to either parent, from preferring a parent as custodian because of the parent's sex. This bill would prohibit the court from considering the sex, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation of a parent, legal guardian, or relative in determining the best interests of a child for the purpose of granting custody, and would make related findings.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law authorizes the governing board of any school district or community college district to order an election and submit to the electors of the district the question of whether the bonds of the district shall be issued and sold to raise money for specified purposes. Existing law generally requires, to pass a school bond measure, that either at least 23 of the votes cast on the proposition of issuing bonds be in favor of issuing the bonds to pass the measure, or, if certain conditions are met, at least 55% of the votes cast on the proposition of issuing bonds be in favor of issuing the bonds. Existing law prohibits the total amount of bonds issued by a school district or community college district from exceeding 1.25% of the taxable property of the district, as provided. This bill would raise that limit to 2%. (2) Existing law also authorizes a unified school district to issue bonds receiving at least 55% of the votes cast on the proposition of issuing the bonds that, in aggregation with bonds issued with a 23 favorable vote, do not exceed 2.5% of the taxable property of the district, as provided. This bill would raise that limit to 4%. The bill would make a similar percentage increase for community college districts. (3) The Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 provides for the adoption of rules, regulations, and procedures, under the administration of the Director of General Services, for the allocation of state funds by the State Allocation Board for the construction and modernization of public school facilities. This bill would, among other things, require a school district to submit to the Department of General Services a 5-year school facilities master plan or updated 5-year school facilities master plan, as provided, as a condition of participating in the school facilities program under the act, would require the school district to submit specified information in the school district's application for an apportionment of state funds, and would make other changes to requirements a school district is required to comply with before participating in programs under the act. The bill would require the department to process applications to participate in the program, as specified, and would make other changes to the method by which the board makes apportionments of moneys under the act. This bill would establish the 2020 State School Facilities Fund, and authorize the board to apportion, and make disbursements of, moneys in the fund, as provided. The bill would require, for bonds approved by voters in 2020 or thereafter, the board to adjust a school district's required local and state contribution, as specified. The bill would authorize new construction and modernization grants to be used for seismic mitigation purposes and, among other things, to establish schoolsite-based infrastructure to provide broadband internet access. The bill would also authorize modernization grants to be used, among other things, for the control, management, or abatement of lead and for the demolishment and construction of a building on an existing schoolsite that meets specified conditions. The bill would prohibit the use of new construction and modernization grants for the purchase of portable electronic devices with a useful life of less than 3 years. This bill would authorize funding for health and safety projects by a school district, as provided. This bill would authorize the board to provide a grant to test for lead in water outlets used for drinking or preparing food on schoolsites serving kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as provided. The bill would specify procedures that small school districts, as defined, may use to obtain project and construction management, new construction grants, and modernization grants. The bill would also make conforming changes in, and remove inoperative provisions from, the act. (4) The act also requires the board to adopt regulations for determining the amount of funding and the eligibility and prioritization of funding that school districts with a financial hardship may receive from bond acts for construction, modernization, or relocation assistance. The act requires those regulations to include consideration of various factors, including whether the school district's total bonding capacity is $5,000,000 or less, in which case the school district shall be deemed eligible for financial hardship. This bill, for purposes of the regulations related to financial hardship eligibility, would increase the total bonding capacity cap to $15,000,000, to be adjusted as specified. (5) The California Constitution prohibits the Legislature from creating a debt or liability that singly or in the aggregate with any previous debts or liabilities exceeds the sum of $300,000, except by an act that (A) authorizes the debt for a single object or work specified in the act, (B) has been passed by a 23 vote of all the Members elected to each house of the Legislature, (C) has been submitted to the people at a statewide general or primary election, and (D) has received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at that election. This bill would set forth the Public Preschool, K-12, and College Health and Safety Bond Act of 2020 as a state general obligation bond act that would provide $15,000,000,000 to construct and modernize education facilities, as specified. This bond act would become operative only if approved by the voters at the March 3, 2020, statewide primary election. The bill would also provide for the submission of the bond act to the voters at that election. (6) Existing law establishes the California State University, which is administered by the Board of Trustees of the California State University, and the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as segments of public postsecondary education in this state. This bill would require the Board of Trustees and the Regents to comply with certain conditions, as provided, before receiving funds from the 2020 University Capital Outlay Bond Fund established pursuant to the Public Preschool, K-12, and College Health and Safety Bond Act of 2020. (7) Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to impose, as specified, an alternative fee, charge, dedication, or requirement on developers to fund school facilities, until the date new construction bond proceeds authorized by the Preschool-College Public Education Bond Act of 2016 are expended, or December 31, 2020, whichever is earlier. This bill would remove this authority beginning the earlier of January 1, 2021, or the date new construction bond proceeds authorized by the 2016 bond act are expended or apportioned, until January 1, 2028. The bill would also exempt multifamily housing developments that are located no further than 12 mile from a major transit stop, and reduce by 20% from specified amounts for any other multifamily housing developments, as specified, from any fee, charge, dedication, or other requirement for the construction or reconstruction of school facilities, as provided. (8) This bill, except for the provision making the provisions of the bill severable, would become effective upon the adoption of the Public Preschool, K-12, and College Health and Safety Bond Act of 2020 by the voters at the March 3, 2020, statewide primary election.
The Personal Income Tax Law provides for various exclusions from gross income, including an exclusion for the amount of student loan indebtedness repaid or canceled pursuant to a specified federal law. This bill would exclude from gross income the amount of student loan indebtedness discharged on or after January 1, 2019, and before January 1, 2024, for an eligible individual who is granted a discharge under specified conditions, as provided, including that the individual attended a Brightwood College school or a location of The Art Institute of California. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
(1) Existing law authorizes the establishment of the San Diego Unified Port District for the acquisition, construction, maintenance, operation, development, and regulation of harbor works and improvements for the harbor of San Diego and for the promotion of commerce, navigation, fisheries, and recreation. Existing law specifies the territory to be included in the district and grants and conveys in trust to the district in the County of San Diego all the right, title, and interest of the State of California acquired by the state pursuant to specified deeds. Existing law requires the district to transfer to the State Lands Commission revenues generated on the lands granted, as specified. Existing law requires the development of a master plan for harbor and port improvement, referred to as the Port Master Plan. Existing law requires the commission to manage specified public lands in the state, including tidelands and submerged lands. Existing law further establishes the Land Bank Fund in the State Treasury, and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the commission for expenditure for specified purposes related to land management, the preservation of open space, habitat for plants and animals, and public access. This bill would grant in trust to the district certain additional tidelands and submerged lands held by the state within the San Diego Bay, subject to certain terms and conditions, as prescribed. The bill would require the district, by June 30, 2021, and at the end of every fiscal year thereafter, to transfer to the commission specified amounts of the revenues generated on those granted tidelands and submerged lands, and would require the commission to allocate those revenues to the Treasurer for deposit in the General Fund and the Land Bank Fund for management of the commission's granted lands program. By authorizing the deposit of additional moneys into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the district, on or before January 1, 2024, to submit to the commission a trust lands use plan describing any proposed development, preservation, or other use of the trust lands, and to, thereafter, submit to the commission for its approval any proposed changes to, or amendment to, the trust lands use plan. The bill would authorize the commission to consider whether the Port Master Plan meets the requirements of, and may be considered, a trust lands use plan for the trust lands granted pursuant to the bill. The bill would require, if the commission enters into a different revenue sharing agreement, the commission to provide notice, as specified, to the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water. By imposing new duties on the district with regard to the management of, and accounting and transfer of funds from, those granted lands, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Under existing law, the commission has jurisdiction over certain public lands in the state, including tidelands and submerged lands. Existing law authorizes the commission to enter into an exchange, with any person or any private or public entity, of filled or reclaimed tidelands or submerged lands or beds of navigable waterways, or interests in these lands, that are subject to the public trust for commerce, navigation, and fisheries, for other lands or interests in lands if the commission finds that specified conditions are met, as prescribed. This bill would grant and convey in trust to the City of San Diego, in the County of San Diego, and to its successors, all of the rights, title, and interests of the state, acquired and held by the state acting by and through the commission, subject to the common law public trust, pursuant to a specified agreement approved by the commission, in specified lands, as described. The bill would require the City of San Diego to hold these lands in trust for the same purposes and subject to the same conditions, restrictions, and requirements of certain other grants of public trust lands, as described, pursuant to a specified statute, as amended. The bill would require the City of San Diego, on or before January 1, 2024, to submit to the commission a trust lands use plan describing any proposed development, preservation, or other use of the trust lands, and to, thereafter, submit to the commission for its approval any proposed changes to, amendments to, or extensions of the trust lands use plan. The bill would require the termination of an existing interim trust lease between the commission and the City of San Diego covering those lands on January 1, 2020. By imposing new duties on a local government with regard to providing for the use and management of those trust lands, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of San Diego. (4) 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 provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law, until July 1, 2020, among other things, requires the department to work with stakeholders to conduct a study to identify current requirements for medical interpretation services and make recommendations on strategies that may be employed regarding the provision of medical interpretation services for Medi-Cal beneficiaries who are limited English proficient (LEP) . Existing law requires that the department work with stakeholders to establish a pilot project based on the recommendations of the study, as specified. This bill would instead require the department to establish a pilot project concurrent with the study, as specified. The bill would, among other things, require that the pilot project be designed to evaluate certain factors, including whether disparities in care are reduced, with respect to LEP Medi-Cal beneficiaries compared with Medi-Cal beneficiaries who are proficient in English. The bill would require the department to expend up to $5,000,000 for the pilot project pursuant to an appropriation made in the Budget Act of 2019. The bill would extend the operation of these provisions to July 1, 2024.
This measure would call upon all Californians to embrace the individual and social benefits of family and community acceptance, upon religious leaders to counsel on LGBTQ matters from a place of love, compassion, and knowledge of the psychological and other harms of conversion therapy, and upon the people of California and the institutions of California with great moral influence to model equitable treatment of all people of the state.
This measure would proclaim the month of October 2019, and each following October, as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
This measure would proclaim September 29, 2019, as Gold Star Mothers' and Families' Day.
Existing law establishes a fee of $15 a day for each day's attendance as a juror after the first day. Existing law prohibits payment of that $15 fee to a juror who is employed by a federal, state, or local government entity, as specified, and who continues to receive regular compensation and benefits while performing jury service. This bill would clarify that the payment prohibition applies to a juror who is employed by the Legislature and who continues to receive regular compensation and benefits while performing jury service.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law provides that federally qualified health center (FQHC) services and rural health clinic (RHC) services, as defined, are covered benefits under the Medi-Cal program, to be reimbursed, to the extent that federal financial participation is obtained, to providers on a per-visit basis. "Visit" is defined as a face-to-face encounter between a patient of an FQHC or RHC and specified health care professionals, including a physician and marriage and family therapist. Under existing law, "physician," for these purposes, includes, but is not limited to, a physician and surgeon, an osteopath, and a podiatrist. This bill would authorize reimbursement for a maximum of 2 visits taking place on the same day at a single location if after the first visit the patient suffers illness or injury requiring additional diagnosis or treatment, or if the patient has a medical visit and a mental health visit or a dental visit, as defined. The bill would authorize an FQHC or RHC that currently includes the cost of a medical visit and a mental health visit that take place on the same day at a single location as a single visit for purposes of establishing the FQHC's or RHC's rate to apply for an adjustment to its per-visit rate, and after the department has approved that rate adjustment, to bill a medical visit and a mental health visit that take place on the same day at a single location as separate visits, in accordance with the bill. This bill would also include a licensed acupuncturist within those health care professionals covered under the definition of "visit." The bill would require the department, by July 1, 2020, to submit a state plan amendment to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reflect certain changes described in the bill, and to seek necessary federal approvals. The bill would also make conforming and technical changes.