Sen. Cathleen Galgiani

Existing law creates the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (division) within the Department of Industrial Relations (department) and authorizes the division to investigate violations of, and to enforce the provisions of, the Labor Code that are not specifically vested in any other officer, board, or commission. This bill would require the division to develop recommendations for an industry-specific harassment and discrimination prevention policy and training standard for use by employers in the construction industry, as defined. The bill would also require the department to convene an advisory committee by March 1, 2019, consisting of specified representatives from the construction industry and state agencies to assist the division in developing the policy. The bill would require the division to report to the Legislature by January 1, 2020, with recommendations for a harassment and discrimination prevention policy and training standard for the construction industry and recommendations for legislative implementation of such a standard.

Existing law, until January 1, 2019, establishes the Revenue Recovery and Collaborative Enforcement Team as a pilot program consisting of a team of agencies charged with specified duties that include developing a plan to document, review, and evaluate data and complaints, evaluating the benefits of a processing center to receive and analyze data, share complaints, and research leads, and providing agencies with investigative leads, as specified, to combat criminal tax evasion associated with the underground economy. This bill would establish the Tax Recovery and Criminal Enforcement (TRaCE) Task Force in the Department of Justice to combat underground economic activities through a multiagency collaboration to, among other things, pool resources, collaborate and share data, including confidential tax and fee information, prosecute violations, and recover state revenue lost to the underground economy, as specified. This bill would require TRaCE Task Force investigative teams to be located in Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, the San Francisco Bay area, and Fresno, under the direct oversight of the Department of Justice. The bill would establish a TRaCE Task Force executive board and TRaCE Task Force investigative team committees to ensure multiagency collaboration. The bill would require that information exchanged pursuant to these provisions retain its confidential status, as specified. The bill would require the TRaCE Task Force to develop a data analytics system that enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of the multiagency collaboration to the extent the Legislature appropriates funds for these purposes. The bill would require the Department of Justice, in consultation with the executive board of the TRaCE Task Force, to submit an annual report to the Legislature that includes specified information.

(1) Existing law governs the growth of industrial hemp and imposes specified procedures and requirements on a person who grows industrial hemp, not including an established agricultural research institution, as defined. Existing law defines "industrial hemp" to be the same as that term is defined in the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act, which defines that term as a fiber or oilseed crop, or both, that is limited to types of the plant Cannabis sativa L. with a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content that does not exceed a specified THC limit, the plant's seeds or resin, and specified substances and mixtures of the plant or its seeds or resin. Existing law requires that industrial hemp only be grown if it is on the list of approved hemp seed cultivars, which includes industrial hemp seed cultivars certified on or before January 1, 2013, by specific organizations, except as specified. Existing law requires industrial hemp to be grown only as a densely planted fiber or oilseed crop, or both. Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , added by Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, requires this crop to be grown in minimum acreages of 110 of an acre, except as specified. Existing law prohibits the ornamental and clandestine cultivation of industrial hemp plants, and, except under specified circumstances, pruning and tending of individual industrial hemp plants and culling of industrial hemp. Existing law requires sampling and laboratory testing of industrial hemp, as provided, to determine compliance with THC limits and destruction of industrial hemp that exceeds those limits. Existing law establishes timeframes for sampling of industrial hemp and, if applicable, destruction of industrial hemp that exceeds THC limits. Existing law requires a grower of industrial hemp for commercial purposes and a seed breeder, as defined, to register with the county agricultural commissioner and to pay a registration or renewal fee, as specified. Existing law exempts established agricultural institutions from these registration requirements. Existing law requires that registration fees be deposited into the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund and continuously appropriated for use in the administration and enforcement of these provisions. Existing law requires that an application for registration include information about the approved seed cultivar to be grown and whether the seed cultivar will be grown for its grain or fiber, or as a dual purpose crop, or, in the case of a seed breeder, for seed production. Under existing law, a registration issued pursuant to these provisions is valid for 2 years. This bill would delete the requirement that industrial hemp seed cultivars be certified on or before January 1, 2013, in order to be included on the list of approved hemp seed cultivars. The bill would authorize industrial hemp to be produced by clonal propagation, as provided, of industrial hemp that is on the list of approved seed cultivars. The bill would also delete the prohibitions on ornamental cultivation of industrial hemp plants, pruning and tending of individual industrial hemp plants, and culling of industrial hemp. By removing limitations on the types of industrial hemp seed cultivars that may be cultivated, the means by which industrial hemp may be produced, and the purposes for which industrial hemp may be cultivated, with payment of a registration or renewal fee, the bill would establish new sources of revenue for a continuously appropriated fund, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would authorize a county agricultural commissioner or a county, as appropriate, to retain the amount of a registration or renewal fee necessary to reimburse direct costs incurred by the commissioner in the collection of the fee. The bill would also authorize the board of supervisors of a county to establish a registration or renewal fee to cover other costs of the county agricultural commissioner and the county of implementing, administering, and enforcing these provisions, as provided. Under the bill, "industrial hemp" would no longer be defined in the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act as a fiber or oilseed crop. The bill would delete the requirement that industrial hemp be grown as a densely planted fiber or oilseed crop. By modifying the characterization of a crop for which AUMA sets a minimum acreage, the bill would amend AUMA. The bill would also delete the requirement that an application for registration include information about whether a seed cultivar is being grown for its grain or fiber, or as a dual purpose crop. However, the bill would require that an application include the seed cultivar's state or county of origin. Under the bill, a registration issued pursuant to these provisions would be valid for one year instead of 2 years. The bill would require a sample of industrial hemp collected for THC testing to be taken with the grower or seed breeder present, and would require the Department of Food and Agriculture to establish, by regulation, procedures for sampling of industrial hemp, as provided. The bill would require a laboratory test report on the sample to be issued by a department-approved laboratory, and would require the sample to be tested using a department-approved testing method. The bill would require THC content to be measured on a dry-weight basis for purposes of determining whether a sample exceeds THC limits. The bill would establish new timeframes for sampling of industrial hemp and, if applicable, destruction of industrial hemp that exceeds THC limits. The bill would require established agricultural research institutions, before cultivating industrial hemp, to provide the Global Positioning System coordinates of the planned cultivation site to the county agricultural commissioner of the county in which the site is located. (2) Existing federal law, the Agricultural Act of 2014, authorizes an institution of higher education, as defined, or a state department of agriculture, as defined, to grow or cultivate industrial hemp under an agricultural pilot program, as defined, under certain conditions, including the condition that a state department of agriculture is authorized to promulgate regulations to carry out the pilot program in accordance with specified purposes. This bill would also authorize the Department of Food and Agriculture, as part of the industrial hemp registration program, to establish and carry out, by regulation, an agricultural pilot program pursuant to the federal Agricultural Act of 2014 in accordance with those specified purposes. (3) The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act, an initiative measure, authorizes the Legislature to amend the act to further the purposes and intent of the act with a 23 vote of the membership of both houses of the Legislature, except as provided. This bill would declare that its provisions further specified purposes and intent of the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act.

Existing law, the Legislative Employee Whistleblower Protection Act, imposes criminal and civil liability on a Member of the Legislature or legislative employee, as defined, who interferes with, or retaliates against, a legislative employee's exercise of the right to make a protected disclosure, which is defined as a good faith allegation made by a legislative employee to specified entities that a Member of the Legislature or a legislative employee has engaged in, or will engage in, activity that may constitute a violation of law or a violation of a legislative standard of conduct. This bill would define "protected disclosure" for purposes of that act to also include a complaint made at the request of a legislative employee and a complaint made against a nonemployee in specified circumstances. Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , protects and safeguards the right and opportunity of all persons to generally seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination, abridgment, or harassment on account of enumerated protected categories. Existing law also precludes an employer, labor organization, employment agency, or person from discharging, expelling, or otherwise discriminating against any person because the person has opposed any practices forbidden under FEHA or because the person has filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any FEHA proceeding. Existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, states that all people in California are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments, no matter their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status. Existing law establishes a cause of action for violations of that act. Existing law also separately establishes liability for sexual harassment if a plaintiff proves specified elements, including, among other things, that there is a business, service, or professional relationship between the plaintiff and defendant. This bill would declare that neither house of the Legislature may retaliate against a legislative advocate or employee, as defined, because that person has opposed any practices forbidden under the above provisions, or filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any proceeding relating to a complaint of harassment under those provisions. This bill would impose civil liability for a violation of that prohibition. This bill would also require each house of the Legislature to maintain a record of each harassment complaint made to that house for a period of at least 12 years after the complaint is made. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law makes it the duty of a coroner to inquire into and determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of deaths under prescribed conditions, including deaths under such circumstances as to afford a reasonable ground to suspect that the death was caused by the criminal act of another or if the surviving spouse of the deceased requests the coroner to do so in writing. Existing law makes a postmortem examination or autopsy conducted at the discretion of a coroner, medical examiner, or other agency upon an unidentified human body or human remains subject to certain specified provisions of law. This bill would authorize an agency tasked with the exhumation of a body or skeletal remains of a deceased person that has suffered significant deterioration or decomposition, where the circumstances surrounding the death afford a reasonable basis to suspect that the death was caused by or related to the criminal act of another, to perform the exhumation in consultation with a board-certified forensic pathologist and would authorize that board-certified forensic pathologist to suggest to the agency tasked with an exhumation to consider retaining the services of an anthropologist, as specified. Existing law requires a postmortem examination or autopsy to include certain procedures, including, but not limited to, a dental examination that is authorized to be conducted by a qualified dentist as determined by the coroner. Existing law authorizes the postmortem examination or autopsy of the unidentified body or remains to include full body X-rays. This bill would instead provide that the dental examination is authorized to be conducted by a qualified dentist as determined by the coroner or medical examiner. The bill would additionally authorize the postmortem examination or autopsy of the unidentified body or remains to include computed tomography scans. Existing law, unless the coroner, medical examiner, or other agency performing a postmortem examination or autopsy determines the body of the unidentified deceased person has suffered significant deterioration or decomposition, prohibits the jaws from being removed until immediately before the body is cremated or buried and requires the coroner, medical examiner, or other agency to retain the jaws and other tissue samples for a specified period of time. This bill would require the coroner, medical examiner, or other agency to, instead, retain the appropriate samples of tissue and bone for that specified period of time. Existing law prohibits the body of an unidentified deceased person from being cremated or buried until the jaws and other tissue samples are retained for future possible use. This bill would eliminate that prohibition and would prohibit the unidentified body or human remains from being cremated or buried until the appropriate samples of tissue and bone are retained for future possible use. By placing new requirements on local governments for performing postmortem examinations or autopsies, 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 prohibits manufacturers and contract testing facilities from using traditional animal testing methods within this state when an appropriate alternative test method has been scientifically validated and recommended by the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) or other specified agencies. This bill would make it unlawful for a manufacturer to import for profit, sell, or offer for sale in this state, any cosmetic, as defined, if the cosmetic was developed or manufactured using an animal test that was conducted or contracted by the manufacturer, or any supplier of the manufacturer, on or after January 1, 2020, except as specified. The bill would specify that a violation of its provisions is punishable by an initial fine of $5,000 and an additional fine of $1,000 for each day the violation continues, and may be enforced by the district attorney or city attorney in the county or city in which the violation occurred, as specified. The bill would not apply to a cosmetic in its final form or to an ingredient, if the cosmetic or ingredient was sold in California or tested on animals before January 1, 2020, as specified. The bill would authorize cosmetic inventory in violation of the bill's provisions to be sold for a period of 180 days. The bill would prohibit a county or political subdivision of the state from establishing or continuing any prohibition on or relating to animal tests that is not identical to the prohibitions in the bill and that does not include the exemptions contained in the bill.