Sen. Brian Jones

Existing law makes it a crime to possess for sale or purchase for purpose of sale, transport, import, sell, furnish, administer, give away, manufacture, compound, convert, produce, derive, process, or prepare various controlled substances, including, among others, fentanyl, peyote, and various other opiates and narcotics. This bill, Alexandra's Law, would require the court to advise a person who is convicted of, or who pleads guilty or no contest to, the above crimes, as specified, of the danger of selling or administering illicit drugs and counterfeit pills and that, if a person dies as a result of that action, the defendant can be charged with homicide. The bill would require the court to read the advisory statement in a case in which the defendant exchanged a controlled substance containing fentanyl or its analogs for anything else of value, as specified. The bill would require the advisory statement to be included in a plea form, if used, and specified on the record. The bill would require that the fact the advisory was given be recorded in the abstract of conviction and would prohibit the advisement from being used as evidence in the prosecution of a minor in juvenile court.

Existing law, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, enacted as an initiative statute by Proposition 47, as approved by the electors in the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, makes the theft of property that does not exceed $950 in value petty theft and makes that crime punishable as a misdemeanor, with certain exceptions. The initiative statute defines shoplifting as entering a commercial establishment with the intent to commit larceny while that establishment is open during regular hours, where the value of the property that is taken or intended to be taken does not exceed $950. The initiative statute requires that shoplifting be punished as a misdemeanor. Existing law, as amended by Proposition 47, provides that a registered sex offender or a person with a prior conviction for certain serious or violent felonies, such as a sexually violent offense, who commits petty theft is subject to imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year or in the state prison for 16 months or 2 or 3 years. This bill would reinstate a provision of law that was repealed by Proposition 47 that provides that a person who has been convicted 3 or more times of petty theft, grand theft, or other specified crimes and who is subsequently convicted of petty theft is subject to imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or in a county jail for 18 months or 2 or 3 years. The bill would also make this provision and the provision relating to a person with serious, violent, or sexual prior offenses applicable to a person whose prior or current conviction is for shoplifting. This bill would require the Secretary of State to place the provisions of the bill that amend the initiative statute on the ballot for the November 5, 2024, statewide general election.

Existing law requires a core recycler that accepts, ships, or sells used catalytic converters to maintain specified information regarding the purchase and sale of the catalytic converters. Existing law prohibits a core recycler from providing payment for a catalytic converter unless, among other requirements, the payment is made by check, as specified. This bill, in addition to payment by check, would allow for payment by credit card or any other form of traceable payment other than cash. Existing law licenses and regulates motor vehicle dealers and retailers. Existing law prohibits a motor vehicle dealer or retailer from selling any motor vehicle that is not in compliance with the requirements enumerated in the Vehicle Code. This bill would prohibit a dealer or retailer from selling a new or used motor vehicle equipped with a catalytic converter unless the catalytic converter has been permanently marked, as defined, with the vehicle identification number of the vehicle to which it is attached. The bill would, until January 1, 2025, exempt from this prohibition a vehicle purchased from a dealer licensed in this state who is also licensed in another state and does not have a warranty service facility in this state. A violation of this provision would be punishable as an infraction, as specified. By creating a new infraction, 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.

(1) Existing law, the Teachers' Retirement Law, establishes the State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers' Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. Under existing law, STRS is governed by the Teachers' Retirement Board (board) . Existing law permits members retired for service from STRS to perform retired member activities without reinstatement into the system if certain conditions are met. Existing law limits the postretirement compensation of a retired member of the program, in any school year, to an amount calculated by STRS each July 1 equal to 12 of the median final compensation of all members who retired for service during the fiscal year ending in the previous calendar year. This bill would modify that calculation so the limitation of postretirement compensation, in any school year, is instead an amount calculated by STRS each July 1 equal to 70% of the median final compensation of all members who retired for service during the fiscal year ending in the previous calendar year. Existing law establishes an additional postretirement compensation limit of $0 during the first 180 calendar days after the most recent retirement of a retired member for the performance of retired member activities. Under existing law, if a retired member has attained normal retirement age at the time compensation is earned, this postretirement compensation limit does not apply if the appointment has been approved by the employer in a public meeting and a resolution containing certain information has been adopted by the governing body of the employer, as specified. This bill would instead authorize a member retired from service to perform retired member activities, notwithstanding the above-mentioned 180 calendar days compensation limitation, if a request for exemption containing specified information is submitted by the Superintendent, the county superintendent of schools, or the chief executive officer of a community college to STRS, under penalty of perjury, as prescribed. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require a written copy or copies of the completed documentation that substantiates the need for the request for exemption to be submitted to the exclusive representative of employees prior to the retired member's performance of retired member activities. The bill, among other changes, would also require the board to submit, on or before February 1, 2027, to specified committees of the Legislature a report that includes, among other things, the total number of exemption requests received by STRS from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2026, inclusive. (2) Existing law establishes the Cash Balance Benefit Program, administered by the board, as a separate benefit program within the State Teachers' Retirement Plan for purposes of providing a retirement plan for persons employed to perform creditable service for less than 50% of full-time equivalent service. Existing law provides that the normal retirement age for the program is 60 or 62 years of age, as applicable. Under the program, a participant retired for service may perform retired participant activities, but prohibits the participant from making contributions to the plan or accruing service credit under the Defined Benefit Program based on compensation earned from that service. Under the program, if the retired participant performs retired participant activities, receives compensation paid in cash for those activities, and meets other specified conditions, the annuity paid to the retired participant is reduced by the amount of compensation. Existing law, however, does not require reduction of the participant's annuity if the governing body of the employer, among other things, approves the appointment of the retired participant by resolution. This bill would instead exempt a retired participant from the annuity reduction requirement if the Superintendent, the county superintendent of schools, or the chief executive officer of a community college submits a request for exemption to STRS with certification, under penalty of perjury, of specified information. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require a written copy or copies of the completed documentation that substantiates the need for the request for exemption to be submitted to the exclusive representative of employees prior to the retired participant's performance of retired participant activities. (3) This bill would make all of the above-described changes effective from only July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2026, inclusive, before reverting to existing law. The bill would also make legislative findings and declarations in support of its provisions. (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 federal law, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, provides for the negotiation and execution of tribal-state gaming compacts for the purpose of authorizing certain types of gaming on Indian lands within a state. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to negotiate and conclude those compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law expressly ratifies a number of tribal-state gaming compacts, and amendments to tribal-state gaming compacts, between the State of California and specified Indian tribes. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project, as defined, that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. This bill would ratify the tribal-state gaming compacts entered into between the State of California and the Cahto Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria, the Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians, California, the Manchester Band of Pomo Indians of the Manchester Rancheria, California, the Resighini Rancheria, and the Sherwood Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California. The bill would provide that, in deference to tribal sovereignty, certain actions related to those compacts are not projects for the purposes of CEQA. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act, classifies controlled substances into 5 schedules and places the greatest restrictions and penalties on the use of those substances placed in Schedule I. The act 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 requires a local health officer to assume that the fentanyl manufacturing process has led to some degree of chemical contamination and take action, as prescribed, if a fentanyl laboratory activity has taken place at a property. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, establish the Fentanyl Misuse and Overdose Prevention Task Force to undertake various duties relating to fentanyl misuse including, among others, collecting and organizing data on the nature and extent of fentanyl misuse in California and evaluating approaches to increase public awareness of fentanyl misuse. The bill would require the task force to be co-chaired by the Attorney General and the State Public Health Officer or their designees, and would specify the membership of the task force. The bill would require the first meeting of the task force to take place no later than June 1, 2024, and would require the task force to meet at least once every 2 months. The bill would require the task force to submit an interim report on its findings and recommendations to the Attorney General, the Governor, and the Legislature by July 1, 2025, and submit a final report by December 1, 2025. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2026.

Existing law requires the coroner to inquire into and determine the manner, circumstances, and cause of all violent, sudden, or unusual deaths. Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors, by ordinance, to abolish the office of coroner and provide instead for the office of medical examiner, to be appointed by the board and to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the coroner. This bill would require a coroner or medical examiner who evaluates an individual who died, in the coroner or medical examiner's expert opinion, as the result of an overdose to report the data gathered pursuant to the bill to the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program managed by the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program. By imposing new duties on coroners and medical examiners, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would exempt a coroner or medical examiner from civil or criminal liability for making a report in good faith. The California Constitution provides for the Right to Truth-in-Evidence, which requires a 23 vote of the Legislature to exclude any relevant evidence from any criminal proceeding, as specified. This bill would prohibit overdose information reported by a coroner or medical examiner from being used in a criminal investigation or prosecution, thereby requiring a 23 vote. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law prohibits the possession, sale, and transport, as specified, of certain controlled substances. Existing law requires a person granted probation for controlled substance offenses to, as a condition of probation, secure education or treatment from a local community agency designated by the court, if the service is available and the person is likely to benefit from the service. This bill would require the court to order a person granted probation pursuant to those provisions for a violation of specified laws involving any amount of fentanyl, carfentanil, benzimidazole opiate, or any analog thereof, to successfully complete a fentanyl and synthetic opiate education program, if one is available. The bill would prohibit a defendant from being charged a fee for enrollment in that education program. The bill would require a court ordering a defendant to complete those courses to only order the defendant to participate in programs that include, among other things, information regarding the nature and addictive elements of fentanyl and other synthetic opiates and their danger to a person's life and health. The bill would require program providers to report an unexcused absence by a defendant from a fentanyl and synthetic opiate education program to the court and the probation department within 2 business days. The bill would require the court to only refer defendants to programs that are available at no cost to the participants. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 11373 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by SB 46 to be operative only if this bill and SB 46 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law authorizes the Department of General Services to dispose of surplus state real property, as defined, as authorized by the Legislature, upon any terms and conditions and subject to any reservations and exceptions the department deems to be in the best interests of the state. Existing law requires the department to first offer surplus state real property to a local agency, as defined, and then to nonprofit affordable housing sponsors, as defined, prior to being offered for sale to private entities or individuals. Existing law requires a local agency or nonprofit affordable housing sponsor to satisfy certain requirements to be considered as a potential priority buyer of the surplus state real property, including that the local agency or nonprofit affordable housing sponsor demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the department, that the surplus state real property, or portion of that surplus state real property, is to be used by the local agency or nonprofit affordable housing sponsor for open space, public parks, affordable housing projects, or development of local government-owned facilities. Existing law authorizes the department to sell surplus state real property, or a portion of surplus state real property, to a local agency, or to a nonprofit affordable housing sponsor if no local agency is interested in the surplus state real property, for affordable housing projects at a sales price less than fair market value if the department determines that such a discount will enable the provision of housing for persons and families of low or moderate income. This bill would additionally authorize a local agency or nonprofit affordable housing sponsor to be considered as a potential priority buyer of surplus state real property upon demonstration that the property is to be used by the agency or sponsor for housing for formerly incarcerated individuals, subject to the same provisions described above, as specified. 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 does not apply to the approval of ministerial projects. This bill would provide that development of surplus state real property by a local agency or nonprofit affordable housing sponsor for an affordable housing project is by right, making the development ministerial in nature and exempt from CEQA requirements.