Sen. Brian Jones

Existing law provides for the county-administered In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with supportive services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes. Existing law requires a county to use county-only funds to fund both the county share and the state share, except as specified, when any increase in provider wages or benefits is locally negotiated, mediated, or imposed by a county, public authority, or nonprofit consortium, or any increase in provider wages or benefits is adopted by ordinance. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to that provision.

Existing law provides that a livestock or poultry product is misbranded in each of specified cases, including when its labeling is false or misleading in any particular. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that provision.

Existing law, the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law, imposes a tax upon each gallon of motor vehicle fuel removed from a refinery or terminal rack in this state, entered into this state, or sold in this state, at a specified rate per gallon. Existing unfair competition laws establish a statutory cause of action for unfair competition, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising and acts prohibited by false advertisement laws. This bill would suspend the imposition of the tax on motor vehicle fuels for one year. The bill would require that all savings realized based on the suspension of the motor vehicle fuels tax by a person other than an end consumer, as defined, be passed on to the end consumer, and would make the violation of this requirement an unfair business practice, in violation of unfair competition laws, as provided. The bill would require a seller of motor vehicle fuels to provide a receipt to a purchaser that indicates the amount of tax that would have otherwise applied to the transaction. This bill would also direct the Controller to transfer a specified amount from the General Fund to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account in the Transportation Tax Fund. By transferring General Fund moneys to a continuously appropriated account, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law prohibits local governments from enacting or enforcing any charter provision, ordinance, or regulation requiring a person to present identification for the purpose of voting or submitting a ballot at any polling place, vote center, or other location where ballots are cast or submitted. This bill would repeal that prohibition.

Under existing law, a vote-by-mail ballot is timely cast if it is postmarked or otherwise time-stamped on or before election day and received in the mail no later than 7 days after election day. This bill would instead require a vote-by-mail ballot to be returned to the applicable elections official no later than the close of the polls on election day, except that the bill would require a vote-by-mail ballot cast by a military or overseas voter to be counted if it is postmarked on or before election day and received no later than 7 days after election day.

Existing law defines the crime of burglary, which consists of entering specified buildings, places, or vehicles with the intent to commit grand or petty theft or a felony. Existing law defines burglary of the first degree as any burglary of an inhabited building and makes burglary of the first degree punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 2, 4, or 6 years. Existing law defines all other burglary as burglary of the 2nd degree and makes it punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for one year or as a felony. Existing law defines any 2nd degree burglary during and within an affected county in a state of emergency or local emergency, as specified, as looting, punishable by either imprisonment in a county jail for one year or as a felony. This bill would make that crime punishable instead as a felony. By increasing the punishment of a crime, 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, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes the Governor to proclaim a state of emergency, as defined, under specified circumstances. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to impersonate a peace officer or an officer or member of a fire department or the Office of the State Fire Marshal. This bill would make impersonating a peace officer or an officer or member of a fire department or the Office of the State Fire Marshal during a state of emergency or local emergency punishable as either a misdemeanor or a felony, as specified. By increasing the punishment of a crime, 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 establishes the Department of Motor Vehicles, tasked with issuance and renewal of licenses to drivers. Existing law requires the department to prescribe and provide suitable forms of applications, certificates of ownership, registration cards, driver's licenses, and all other forms that are deemed necessary. This bill would, by January 1, 2027, require the department, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, to develop a Blue Envelope Program. Under the program, the bill would require the blue envelope to contain specified information for requesters with a condition or disability, as specified. The bill would also authorize others, including a parent or legal guardian of a passenger with a disability, to request a blue envelope.

The San Diego Regional Transportation Consolidation Act establishes a 21-member board of directors to govern the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) . The act requires 2 supervisors from the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to serve on the SANDAG board of directors. The act refers to these directors as primary and secondary representatives. The act requires one of these directors to be from a district that is substantially an incorporated area and the other to be from a district that is substantially an unincorporated area. This bill would replace the secondary representative from the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on the SANDAG board of directors with a resident of an unincorporated area of the County of San Diego that is selected by, and subject to recall by, a majority of the community planning groups in the County of San Diego. The bill would provide for an alternative to serve on the SANDAG board of directors if the secondary representative is not available. The bill would eliminate the requirement that one of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on the SANDAG board of directors be from a district that is substantially an incorporated area and the other to be from a district that is substantially an unincorporated area. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on local agencies, 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, 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, as established in the case of Dynamex Operations W. 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 those purposes. 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 known as the "ABC" test, as described above. 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 adopted in the case of S. G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations (1989) 48 Cal.3d. This bill would extend the above-specified exemption to a sports coach for an elementary or secondary private school or local educational agency, as prescribed, and would define terms, including "sports coach," for these purposes.