Existing law authorizes a vote by mail voter who is unable to return their ballot to designate any other person to return the ballot. This bill, during, or within 6 months of the suspension of, a duly proclaimed state of emergency or local emergency due to an epidemic or other contagious disease, including COVID-19, would only allow a spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, or a person residing in the same household of the voter to be designated to return a voter's vote by mail ballot, and, except as provided, would prohibit the return of vote by mail ballots by a paid or volunteer worker of a campaign or political party or any other group or organization at whose behest the individual designated to return the ballot is performing a service. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
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Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for purposes of the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission. Under the ABC test, a person providing labor or services for remuneration is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with the enforcement of labor laws, including worker classification. Existing law exempts specified occupations and business relationships from the application of the ABC test described above. Existing law, instead, provides that these exempt relationships are governed by the multifactor test previously established in the case of S. G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations (1989) 48 Cal.3d 341. This bill would repeal these existing ABC test provisions and instead makes them operative on January 1, 2022.
Existing law, as established in the case of Dynamex Operations W. Inc. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (Dynamex) , creates a presumption that a worker who performs services for a hirer is an employee for purposes of claims for wages and benefits arising under wage orders issued by the Industrial Welfare Commission. Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for purposes of specified wage orders. Existing law establishes that, for purposes of the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission, a person providing labor or services for remuneration is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business. This test is commonly known as the "ABC" test. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with the enforcement of labor laws, including worker classification. Existing law exempts specified occupations and business relationships from the application of Dynamex and these provisions. Existing law instead provides that these exempt relationships are governed by the test adopted in S. G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations (1989) 48 Cal.3d 341. This bill would repeal these statutory provisions. The bill would, instead, establish a new test that, for purposes of specific provisions of the Labor Code governing the relationship of employer and employees, a person providing labor or services for remuneration is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor, unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is (1) free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of the work and in fact, determined by a preponderance of factors, with no single factor of control being determinative, and either that (2) the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, or the work performed is outside the place of business of the hiring entity, or the worker is responsible for the costs of the place of the business where the work is performed, or that (3) the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as that involved in the work performed. The bill would apply the new test to all pending claims, whether in civil court or as an administrative action, filed on or after January 1, 2018, that relate to the classification of workers in this state. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law authorizes the formation of reclamation districts by owners of swamp and overflowed lands, salt-marsh, or tidelands, or other lands subject to flood or overflow and by owners of land already reclaimed, or in progress of reclamation, and not included in a reclamation district. Existing law authorizes Reclamation District No. 1004, in conjunction with the County of Colusa, to construct, maintain, and operate a plant, transmission lines, and other necessary or appropriate facilities for the generation of hydroelectric power, as prescribed. Existing law requires proceeds from the sale of electricity to be utilized to retire any time warrants issued for construction of the facilities and otherwise for the powers and purposes for which the district was formed. Existing law authorizes Reclamation District No. 108 to exercise this hydroelectric power authority until January 1, 2021. This bill would authorize Reclamation District No. 108 to continue to exercise the above-described hydroelectric power authority after January 1, 2021.
Existing law imposes various limitations on emissions of air contaminants for the control of air pollution from vehicular and nonvehicular sources. Existing law generally designates air pollution control and air quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to identify toxic air contaminants that are emitted into the ambient air of the state and to establish airborne toxic control measures to reduce emissions of toxic air contaminants from nonvehicular sources. This bill would require an air district to adopt a rule or revise its existing rules, consistent with federal law, to allow a health facility that has received a permit from the district to construct and operate an emergency backup generator to use that emergency backup generator during a deenergization event without having that usage count toward any time limitation on actual usage and routine testing and maintenance included as a condition for issuance of that permit. By requiring air districts to adopt or revise its rules, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Electrical cooperatives are subject to the regulatory authority of the commission, except as specified. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the commission for review and approval, as specified. Following approval, the commission is required to oversee compliance with the plans. Existing law requires each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative to annually prepare a wildfire mitigation plan and to verify that the wildfire mitigation plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate. Existing law requires a wildfire mitigation plan of an electrical corporation to include, among other things, protocols for deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety, as well as protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of those protocols, including impacts on critical first responders and on health and communications infrastructure. Existing law requires a wildfire mitigation plan of an electrical corporation to also include appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines and requires these procedures to consider the need to notify, as a priority, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of a potential deenergization event. Existing law requires that an electrical cooperative and a local publicly owned electric utility consider these matters when developing and implementing a wildfire mitigation plan. If an electrical corporation, electrical cooperative, or local publicly owned electric utility has undertaken a deenergization event during a calendar year, this bill would require the electrical corporation, electrical cooperative, or local publicly owned electric utility, by January 30 of the following calendar year, to submit a report with specified information to each air quality management district and air pollution control district affected by the deenergization event. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because this bill would require action by the commission to implement its requirements, and a violation of that action would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. By requiring local publicly owned electric utilities to report matters to air quality management districts and air pollution control districts 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law generally requires, among other prerequisites, voters in an irrigation district to be residents of that district. Existing law generally requires, with certain exceptions, each director of an irrigation district to be a voter, landowner, and resident within that district. This bill would authorize owners of real property within the Deer Creek Irrigation District, whether residents within the district or not, or their legal representatives, as defined, to be voters. This bill would authorize any voter to be a director of the district. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Deer Creek Irrigation District. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the eligible voters in elections within the Deer Creek Irrigation District to include nonresident landowner voters. 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 prohibits the disclosure of the home addresses of certain public employees and officials that appear in records of the Department of Motor Vehicles, except to a court, a law enforcement agency, an attorney in a civil or criminal action under certain circumstances, and certain other official entities. This bill would extend that prohibition, subject to those same exceptions, to the disclosure of the home addresses of code enforcement officers and parking control officers, as defined. The bill would also require the department to charge a fee sufficient to cover the reasonable costs for this service commencing with requests for confidentiality made on or after January 1, 2021. 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.
(1) Existing law prohibits a person from using or operating, or assisting in using or operating, a boat, aircraft, net, trap, line, or other appliance to take fish for commercial purposes unless the person holds a commercial fishing license issued by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Existing law generally requires any person who engages in any business for profit involving fish to have a commercial fish business license issued by the department, and requires specialty licenses for specified classes of fish business. Existing law requires all fish taken or otherwise dealt with under the law to be exhibited upon demand to any person authorized by the department to enforce any law relating to the protection and conservation of fish. A violation of the Fish and Game Code or a regulation adopted pursuant to the code is a crime. This bill would require a person who holds a commercial fishing license or a commercial fish business license, upon request of an authorized agent or employee of the department, to immediately relinquish, at no charge, a fish or parts of a fish caught or landed in California to the department for the purpose of collecting a biological sample. Because a violation of this provision would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law authorizes crab traps to be set and baited 64 hours prior to the opening date of the Dungeness crab season in Fish and Game Districts 6, 7, 8, and 9. Existing law also authorizes crab traps to be set and baited in advance of that opening date in those districts if no other attempt is made to take or possess Dungeness crab in those districts. Existing law also provides, except in Fish and Game Districts 6, 7, 8, and 9, that crab traps may be set and baited 18 hours in advance of the opening date of the Dungeness crab season, if no other attempt is made to take or possess Dungeness crab. This bill would instead authorize crab traps to be set and baited 64 hours before the opening date of the Dungeness crab season regardless of the Fish and Game District. The bill would also make conforming changes. (3) Existing state law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, makes it unlawful to manufacture, sell, deliver, hold, or offer for sale adulterated food. Existing law prescribes when a food is adulterated, including if it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to the health of a person or other animal that may consume it. Existing law makes a violation of the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law or a regulation adopted pursuant to that law a misdemeanor. Existing law authorizes the Director of Fish and Wildlife to order the closure of any waters or otherwise restrict the taking in state waters of any species of fish if the Director of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, in consultation with the State Public Health Officer, determines that the species or subspecies of fish is likely to pose a human health risk from high levels of toxic substances. Existing law provides for the Director of Fish and Wildlife, upon receiving notification from the Director of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment that a human health risk no longer exists and a request to reopen those waters, to reopen those waters in a manner that promotes a fair and orderly fishery. A violation of the Fish and Game Code or a regulation adopted pursuant to the code is a crime. This bill would authorize the State Department of Public Health to adopt regulations to authorize the manufacture, sale, delivery, holding, or offering for sale of eviscerated Dungeness crab that is caught in waters where the department determined that the viscera of Dungeness crab exceeds allowable levels of domoic acid for Dungeness crab adopted by the department if the meat of Dungeness crab does not exceed allowable levels of domoic acid for Dungeness crab adopted by the department. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to adopt these regulations consistent with specified requirements. Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to order the evisceration, as defined, of Dungeness crab if the domoic acid for Dungeness crab exceeds the allowable levels in certain areas when specified criteria exist. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to only authorize the evisceration of Dungeness crab by a licensed processor, as defined, that also has a specified plan approved by the State Department of Public Health for handling and preparing eviscerated crab, and would also require the State Department of Public Health to establish labeling requirements for eviscerated crab, as specified, and to require the processor to maintain written recall procedures. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to consult with a certain Dungeness crab task force or a replacement task force or committee to establish the criteria for the manufacture, sale, delivery, holding, or offering for sale of Dungeness crab caught in areas subject to an evisceration order by the State Department of Public Health. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to publish notice of the proposed criteria, as specified, and make the criteria effective by operation of law as regulations 90 days after the notice is published. The bill would require the Department of Fish and Wildlife to adopt regulations that govern the commercial take of Dungeness crab during a time period when the State Department of Public Health authorizes the manufacture, sale, delivery, holding, or offering for sale of eviscerated Dungeness crab pursuant to the above-described provisions. The bill would require these regulations to require the holder of a Dungeness crab vessel permit to submit to electronic monitoring of the vessel while engaged in the take of Dungeness crab, as specified. The bill would authorize a person who takes Dungeness crab to sell or provide the Dungeness crab only to a processor approved by the State Department of Public Health, as specified. Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (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. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires a person proposing to construct a thermal powerplant, which is defined as a electrical generating facility using a source of thermal energy, with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more to obtain a certification from the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission. This bill would exclude from the definition of a thermal powerplant subject to the jurisdiction of the commission an emergency backup or standby generator that is not connected to the electrical grid and that is constructed, operated, or modified to provide immediate electrical power to maintain the operations of a data center in the event of an outage of electricity from the electrical grid. 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. This bill would designate the local land use authority with jurisdiction to approve emergency backup or standby generators described above as the lead agency for purposes of CEQA. By designating local land use authorities as lead agencies, 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 authorizes a vote by mail voter who is unable to return their ballot to designate any other person to return the ballot. This bill, during a duly proclaimed state of emergency or local emergency due to an epidemic or other contagious disease, would only allow a spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, or a person residing in the same household of the voter to be designated to return a voter's vote by mail ballot, and, except as provided, would prohibit the return of vote by mail ballots by a paid or volunteer worker of a campaign or political party or any other group or organization at whose behest the individual designated to return the ballot is performing a service.