Existing law defines a sexually violent predator as a person who has been convicted of a sexually violent offense and has a diagnosed mental disorder that makes the person a danger to others in that they are likely to engage in sexually violent criminal behavior. Existing law requires the State Department of State Hospitals to notify the sheriff or chief of police, or both, the district attorney, or the county's designated counsel, as specified, when the department makes a recommendation to the court for community outpatient treatment for a person committed as a sexually violent predator, or when a person who is committed as a sexually violent predator has petitioned a court for conditional release under supervision and treatment in the community pursuant to a conditional release program, or has petitioned a court for subsequent unconditional discharge, and a community placement is recommended or proposed. Existing law requires a sexually violent predator who is conditionally released to be placed in the county that was the person's county of domicile prior to the person's incarceration, unless extraordinary circumstances exist requiring placement outside the county, as specified. This act, the Sexually Violent Predator Accountability, Fairness, and Enforcement Act, would require the State Department of State Hospitals to take specified actions regarding the placement of sexually violent predators in communities, including notifying the county's executive officer of the placement location, as specified, and preparing an annual report on, among other things, the number and location of sexually violent predators under department supervision. The bill would require the State Department of State Hospitals, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to report to the Governor and the Legislature the status of quarters available for placement of sexually violent predators, as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
This measure would proclaim March 7, 2022, to March 11, 2022, inclusive, as School Breakfast Week and would recognize the importance of school nutrition programs and school nutrition staff in addressing the needs of the state's pupils.
Existing law, the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining with respect to wages, terms of employment, and other employment conditions, and authorizes employees to elect exclusive bargaining representatives for these purposes. Existing law requires the Agricultural Labor Relations Board to certify the results of an election conducted by secret ballot of employees in a collective bargaining unit to designate a collective bargaining representative, unless the board determines there are sufficient grounds to refuse to do so. Existing law further provides that if the board refuses to certify an election because of employer misconduct that would render slight the chances of a new election reflecting the free and fair choice of employees, the labor organization shall be certified as the bargaining representative for the bargaining unit. This bill would refer to the secret ballot election as a polling place election. This bill would also permit agricultural employees, as an alternative election procedure, to select their labor representatives through a representation ballot card election by submitting a petition to the board supported by representation ballot cards signed by a majority of employees in the bargaining unit. This bill would require the board to conduct an immediate investigation regarding the validity of the petition and the supporting representation ballot cards and, within 5 days after receiving a petition, to make an administrative decision as to whether the petition meets certain requirements and as to whether the labor organization submitted the requisite number of cards. The bill would require the board to certify the labor organization as the exclusive bargaining representative if the board determines that the labor organization has submitted the required number of representation ballot cards and the cards meet specified criteria. Existing law authorizes a person aggrieved by the final order of the board granting or denying in whole or in part the relief sought for an unfair labor practice, to obtain a review of the order in a specified court of appeal by filing in the court a written petition requesting that the order of the board be modified or set aside. This bill would require an employer who appeals or petitions for a writ of review of any order of the board involving make-whole, backpay, or other monetary awards to employees, to post an appeal bond in the amount of the entire economic value of the order, as specified, and would provide for the bond to be forfeited under specified conditions. This bill would state that its provisions are severable.
The California Constitution prohibits the state, including any political subdivision or government instrumentality of or within the state, from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. Existing law establishes in state government various commissions and committees, including, among others, the California Commission on Disability Access, the Healthy California for All Commission, the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, and the Committee on Revision of the Penal Code to study and recommend reforms on certain topics, including issues related to equality and justice. This bill would establish in state government the California Commission on Human Rights, as an advisory commission, and would require it to, among other things, identify and evaluate California's successes and failures in protecting human rights of individuals living within the state, determine statutory, regulatory, or budgetary solutions to better protect human rights, and report, at least annually, on the status of human rights to the Legislature and the Governor with statutory and regulatory recommendations. The bill would require the commission to consist of 17 members, including, among others, Members of the Assembly and the Senate. The bill would also create the California Commission on Human Rights Fund in the General Fund to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, carry out these provisions and support the commission. The bill would make related findings and declarations. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027.
Existing law, the Economic Revitalization Act, establishes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as "GO-Biz," within the Governor's office to serve the Governor as the lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth, as provided. Existing law also requires the Office of the Small Business Advocate, established within GO-Biz, to administer the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program for the purpose of providing grants to qualified small businesses affected by COVID-19 in order to support their continued operation. This bill would create the Racial and Economic Equity Grant Program, administered by GO-Biz, for the purpose of providing grants to address disproportionate impacts borne from the COVID-19 pandemic, as defined, and the lack of critical physical and social infrastructure, resulting from chronic underinvestment, in key segments of the economy of this state. The bill would appropriate $3,300,000,000 from the General Fund, to be used to provide grants under the program, and require GO-Biz to allocate those moneys for specified purposes and in accordance with specified objectives. The bill would require GO-Biz to develop guidelines for the distribution of grants under the program, as provided. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The Personal Income Tax Law, beginning on or after January 1, 2015, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows an earned income tax credit against personal income tax and a payment from the Tax Relief and Refund Account for an allowable credit in excess of tax liability, to an eligible individual that is equal to that portion of the earned income tax credit allowed by federal law as determined by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor, as specified. For taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2020, this tax credit is available to any eligible individuals using an individual taxpayer identification number. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, increase the earned income tax credit available to eligible individuals using a federal individual taxpayer identification number. The Personal Income Tax Law allows, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2019, a young child tax credit against the taxes imposed under that law and a payment from the Tax Relief and Refund Account for an allowable credit in excess of tax liability to a qualified taxpayer in a specified amount multiplied by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor, as provided. Existing law defines "qualified taxpayer" for this purpose to include an eligible individual who has a qualified child, as defined, and is allowed an earned income tax credit, as specified. This bill would expand the definition of "qualified taxpayer" to also include an eligible individual who has a qualified child and would have received an earned income tax credit but for the fact that the individual has no earned income, as defined, for the taxable year. Existing law establishes the continuously appropriated Tax Relief and Refund Account and provides that payments required to be made to taxpayers or other persons from the Personal Income Tax Fund are to be paid from that account, including any amount to be paid as an earned income tax credit or a young child tax credit in excess of any tax liabilities. By increasing the amounts to be paid with funds from the Tax Relief and Refund Account, and thus, authorizing new payments from that account for additional amounts in excess of personal income tax liabilities, this bill would make an appropriation. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure, as defined to include tax credits, to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to comply with the additional information requirement for any bill authorizing a new income tax expenditure.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to require electrical corporations to include in their annual reliability reports certain information on the reliability of service to end use customers. This bill would require each electrical corporation to implement a plan to address climate change-related impacts to its respective electric plant, as defined, including prioritizing the replacement of equipment identified as most vulnerable to extreme heat events and other extreme weather events due to climate change. The bill would additionally require an electrical corporation to include a plan in its annual reliability report that addresses expected impacts, as specified, to the electrical distribution system from climate change, including impacts to transformers, substations, and electrical lines, that may result in a loss of electrical service of over an unspecified number of hours. The bill would require each electrical corporation to describe what investments have been made to better prepare its equipment for the impacts from climate change. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the bill's requirements would be enforced by the commission and a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes. 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.