Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to sexually assault certain animals for the purpose of gratifying the sexual desires of a person. This bill would repeal that provision and would instead prohibit sexual contact, as defined, with any animal. The bill would make a violation of these provisions punishable as a misdemeanor. The bill would also authorize the seizure of an animal used in the violation of this offense. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for persons convicted of certain animal abuse crimes to own, possess, maintain, care for, reside with, or have custody of an animal for a specified period after conviction. This bill would add animal sexual abuse to the list of offenses which result in that prohibition. By creating new crimes, 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.
Sponsored bills
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.
Existing law establishes the Student Aid Commission as the state agency primarily responsible for the administration and coordination of student financial aid programs at California postsecondary educational institutions. Existing federal law establishes the Chafee Educational and Training Vouchers Program for purposes of providing financial aid to current and former foster youth who are attending qualifying postsecondary educational institutions. Existing law provides that the Student Aid Commission, through an interagency agreement with the State Department of Social Services, currently operates the program in California. Existing law authorizes the commission or the department, for the fiscal years 2018–19 to 2020–21, inclusive, to expend up to $80,000, of any moneys appropriated by the Legislature to expand the Chafee Educational and Training Vouchers Program age eligibility of former foster youth up to 26 years of age, for outreach to newly eligible former foster youth who are at least 23 years of age, but are not yet 26 years of age. Commencing with the 2021–22 award year, this bill would authorize the commission to make initial award offers of up to 200% of total state and federal program funding available for all awards, with the number of initial award offers and the amount of the award to be determined based on the historical rate of award acceptance. The bill would require the commission to make award offers contingent upon available funding. The bill would authorize the commission to adjust or withdraw offers to ensure that awards do not exceed available program funding. The bill would also require the commission to advise award offer recipients that offers may be withdrawn or adjusted before payment and that awards are payable to eligible students only if funding is available. This bill would impose certain requirements on a student who fails to demonstrate satisfactory academic progress, as defined by the institution where the student is enrolled, to maintain Chafee grant eligibility, and would take away Chafee grant eligibility from a student who fails to demonstrate satisfactory academic progress, as specified. The bill would require that institutions provide an appeal process in writing and reinstate the student's Chafee grant when certain conditions are met. The bill would also provide that a student who loses Chafee eligibility and subsequently is not enrolled for one or more terms shall regain eligibility upon reenrollment. The bill would require the California Community Colleges and the California State University, and would request the University of California, to provide all Chafee grant recipients, upon release of the first payment, with information regarding available support services on campus and the process for completing an educational plan and, in that notification, to strongly encourage Chafee grant recipients to avail themselves of those services if they have not already done so. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on community college districts, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. This bill would limit the duration of receipt of a Chafee award to 5 years, which would not be required to be consecutive. The bill would prohibit an institution from requiring any other eligibility criteria for a Chafee grant than those described in this bill and in specified federal law. 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 authorizes or requires the court to suspend or delay the driving privilege, or to order the Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend or delay the driving privilege, of a person who is convicted of any of certain offenses, including, among others, offenses relating to vandalism, controlled substance or alcohol use, possession, or related conduct, or firearm use. Existing law authorizes the court to suspend the driving privilege of a person, for not more than 30 days, upon conviction of soliciting or engaging in prostitution or specified lewd or dissolute conduct, if the violation was committed within 1,000 feet of a private residence and with the use of a vehicle. Existing law authorizes the court, as an alternative, to order a person's driving privilege restricted, for not more than 6 months, to necessary travel to and from the person's place of employment or education. This bill would repeal the court's authority to suspend or delay the driving privilege, or to order the department to suspend or delay the driving privilege, of a person based on a conviction of one of the above-specified offenses. The bill would make other conforming changes. The bill would state that its provisions are not intended to affect any order issued by the court before January 1, 2020, to suspend, delay, or otherwise restrict the driving privilege of a person, or any action taken by the department, whether before, on, or after January 1, 2020, pursuant to an order issued by the court before January 1, 2020, to suspend, delay, or otherwise restrict the driving privilege of a person. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 647 of the Penal Code proposed by AB 1129, to be operative only if this bill and AB 1129 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law authorizes an individual to contribute amounts in excess of their personal income tax liability for the support of specified funds. Existing law sets forth general administrative provisions applicable to voluntary contributions, which, among other things, repeal funds that fail to meet a minimum contribution amount of $250,000 in a given taxable year. This bill would allow a taxpayer to designate an amount in excess of personal income tax liability to be transferred into the Suicide Prevention Voluntary Contribution Fund, which the bill would create. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to revise the tax return to include a space for this fund when another voluntary contribution designation is removed or space becomes available. The bill would require the fund to meet an annual minimum contribution amount of $250,000, as specified. The bill would require moneys transferred to the Suicide Prevention Voluntary Contribution Fund to be continuously appropriated and allocated to the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission to award grants and provide disbursements to crisis centers located in the state that are active members of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline for the purpose of providing suicide prevention services and to reimburse the commission, the Franchise Tax Board, and the Controller for related administrative costs, as provided. The bill would provide that these provisions shall remain in effect only until January 1 of the 7th calendar year following the first appearance of the fund on the personal income tax return, and would repeal these provisions on December 1 of that year. The bill would provide for an earlier repeal if the Franchise Tax Board determines that the amount of contributions estimated to be received during the 2nd and later calendar years after its first appearance on a return will not at least equal the minimum contribution amount, in which case these provisions would be repealed on December 1 of that year. By continuously appropriating these funds, the bill would make an appropriation.
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.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, and before January 1, 2022, a credit for qualified taxpayers, defined as the person responsible for planting a crop, managing the crop, and harvesting the crop from the land, in an amount equal to 15% of the qualified value of fresh fruits or vegetables donated to a food bank. This bill, under both laws, would expand the credit to apply to the donation of qualified donation items, defined as raw agricultural products or processed foods. The bill would expand the definition of qualified taxpayer to include the person responsible for growing or raising a qualified donation item, or harvesting, packing, or processing a qualified donation item but would exclude a retailer, as defined, from that expanded definition. The bill would apply these provisions to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
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. Existing law establishes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection and vests the board with authority over wildland forest resources. This bill would require the board, as soon as practicably feasible, but by no later than February 1, 2020, to complete its environmental review under CEQA and certify a specific final program environmental impact report for a vegetation treatment program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2021.
Existing law establishes the Office of Emergency Services within the office of the Governor and under the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services and makes the office responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or human-made disasters and emergencies. Existing law defines the terms "political subdivision" and "emergency plans" for purposes of emergency services provided by local governments. Existing law requires a county, upon the next update to its emergency plan, to integrate access and functional needs into its emergency plan, as specified. This bill would require a county to integrate cultural competence, as defined, into its emergency plan upon the next update to its emergency plan, as specified. The bill would also require a county to provide a forum for community engagement in geographically diverse locations in order to engage with culturally diverse communities, as defined, within its jurisdiction. The bill would authorize a county to establish a community advisory board for the purpose of cohosting, coordinating, and conducting outreach for the community engagement forums. By increasing the duties of local officials, 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, 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, the Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act, requires every local public agency to establish within its jurisdiction a basic emergency telephone system that includes, at a minimum, police, firefighting, and emergency medical and ambulance services. Existing law authorizes a public agency to incorporate private ambulance service into the system. This bill would prohibit a public agency from delegating, assigning, or contracting for "911" emergency call processing services for the dispatch of emergency response resources unless the delegation or assignment is to, or the contract or agreement is with, another public agency. The bill would exempt from that prohibition a public agency that is a joint powers authority that delegated, assigned, or contracted for "911" call processing services on or before January 1, 2019, under certain conditions. The bill would also authorize a public agency that delegated, assigned, or contracted for "911" call processing services on or before January 1, 2019, to continue to do so with the concurrence of the public safety agencies that provide prehospital emergency medical services. If a public safety agency does not concur with the public agency to continue to delegate, assign, or contract for those services, the bill would authorize the public agency to continue to delegate, assign, or contract for those services for the remaining concurring public safety agencies. The bill would state the Legislature's intent to affirm and clarify a public agency's duty and authority to develop emergency communication procedures and respond quickly to a person seeking emergency services through the "911" emergency telephone system. Existing law, the Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, authorizes each county to develop an emergency medical services (EMS) program and designate a local EMS agency. Existing law delegates responsibility over the medical direction and management of an EMS system to the medical director of the local EMS agency, and requires the local EMS agency to maintain medical control over the EMS system in accordance with minimum standards established by the Emergency Medical Services Authority. This bill would require a public safety agency that provides "911" call processing services for medical response to make a connection available from the public safety agency dispatch center to an EMS provider's dispatch center, as specified. The bill would provide that the public safety agency is entitled to recover from an EMS provider the actual costs incurred in establishing and maintaining the connection. The bill would require the local EMS-agency-authorized EMS providers and the EMS system providers within the jurisdiction of the incident, to be simultaneously notified and dispatched at the same response mode. The bill would require a local EMS agency to review and approve or deny a public safety agency's plan to implement an emergency medical dispatcher or advanced life support program within 90 days of submission of the plan. This bill would provide that medical control by a local EMS agency medical director, or medical direction and management of an EMS system, may not be construed to, among other things, limit the authority of a public safety agency to directly receive and process "911" emergency requests originating within the agency's territorial jurisdiction or authorize a local EMS agency to unilaterally reduce a public safety agency's response mode below that of the EMS transport provider, prevent a public safety response, or alter the deployment of emergency response resources within the agency's territorial jurisdiction. The bill would also clarify that a public safety agency does not transfer its authority to administer emergency medical services to a local EMS agency by adhering to the policies, procedures, and protocols adopted by a local EMS agency.