Existing law authorizes a victim of human trafficking, as defined, to bring a civil action for actual damages, compensatory damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief, any combination of those, or any other appropriate relief within 5 years of the date on which the trafficking victim was freed from the trafficking situation, or if the victim was a minor when the act of human trafficking against the victim occurred, within 8 years after the date the plaintiff attains the age of majority. This bill would require specified businesses and other establishments, upon the availability of a model notice developed by the Department of Justice, to post a notice, as specified, that contains information related to slavery and human trafficking, including information related to specified nonprofit organizations that provide services in support of the elimination of slavery and human trafficking. The bill would require the establishments to post the notice in a conspicuous place near the entrance of the establishment or in another conspicuous location in clear view of the public and employees where similar notices are customarily posted. The bill also would require the establishments to print the notice in English, Spanish, and in one other language that is the most widely spoken language in the county where the establishment is located and for which translation is mandated by the federal Voting Rights Act. The bill would require the Department of Justice, on or before April 1, 2013, to develop a model notice that complies with the above requirements and make the model notice available for download on the department's Internet Web site. The bill would provide that a business or establishment that fails to comply with these requirements is liable for a civil penalty of $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense. The bill would authorize the Attorney General and local prosecutorial agencies, as specified, to bring an action to impose one of these civil penalties against a business or establishment if a local or state agency with authority to regulate that business or establishment has provided notice of the violation to the business or establishment, which informs the business or establishment that it is subject to a civil penalty if it does not correct the violation within 30 days from the date the notice is sent to the business or establishment, and verified that the violation was not corrected within that 30-day period. To the extent that the bill would impose additional duties on local government agencies, it 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 these statutory provisions.
Sponsored bills
Under existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, the State Department of Developmental Services is authorized to contract with regional centers to provide supports and services to individuals with developmental disabilities. This bill would require each regional center individual program planning team to consider the use of telehealth, as defined, whenever applicable, for the purpose of improving access to intervention and therapeutic services for consumers and family members and for purposes of facilitating better and cost-effective services, as provided. The bill would require the department to implement appropriate vendorization subcodes for telehealth services and programs. This bill would require the department, by December 1, 2017, to provide to the fiscal and appropriate policy committees of the Legislature specified information that is provided voluntarily by regional centers relating to the provision of telehealth services.
Existing law prohibits domestic insurers from acquiring foreign investments from or located in foreign jurisdictions designated as state sponsors of terrorism by the United States Secretary of State. Existing law, the Iran Contracting Act of 2010, provides that a person whose name appears on a list developed or contracted for development by the Department of General Services as a person determined by the department to be engaged in investment activities in Iran is ineligible to bid on, submit a proposal for, enter into, or renew a contract with a public entity. This bill would require that above-referenced investments by a domestic insurer in companies that are included on the list maintained by the Department of General Services be treated as nonadmitted assets on the financial statements of the domestic insurer. The bill would deem use of the list developed for purposes of the Iran Contracting Act of 2010 as automatic compliance with these requirements. The bill would require the insurer to provide the Department of Insurance, on an annual basis, with a list of the investments the insurer has in companies included on the Department of General Services list.
Existing law requires specified information to be provided to patients regarding their health care. Existing federal law requires a written report of the results of each mammography examination and requires a summary of that report to be sent to the patient within a specified time period. This bill, from April 1, 2013, until January 1, 2019, would require, under specified circumstances, a health facility at which a mammography examination is performed to include in the summary of the written report that is sent to the patient a prescribed notice on breast density.
Existing law, until January 1, 2013, establishes the California Community Colleges Economic and Workforce Development Program. Existing law requires the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as part of the program, to assist economic and workforce regional development centers and consortia to improve, among other things, career-technical education pathways between high schools and community colleges, as specified. This bill would establish the Career Technical Education Pathways Program until June 30, 2015, which would require the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to assist economic and workforce regional development centers and consortia, community colleges, middle schools, high schools, and regional occupational centers and programs to improve linkages and career technical education pathways between high schools and community colleges to accomplish specified objectives. This assistance would be required to be provided in the form of contracts and competitive grants administered jointly by the chancellor and the Superintendent for programs and initiatives that demonstrate a plan for close collaboration among regional institutions and entities to jointly accomplish specified goals. The bill would require the chancellor and the Superintendent to grant first and 2nd priority for contracts and grants to specified applicants. The bill would require the chancellor and the Superintendent to agree upon an outcome-based evaluation for specified programs and initiatives, and to require applicants granted a contract or grant to submit annual outcome-based data, as specified, and report that data to the Governor and specified committees of the Legislature by March 1 of each year. The bill would reauthorize a community college district to enroll a high school pupil who is not a resident of that community college district in a program that is developed and implemented by the community college district pursuant to the Career Technical Education Pathways Program, as specified. The bill would require the chancellor and the Superintendent to develop an implementation strategy for the objectives of the Career Technical Education Pathways Program as a part of an annual expenditure plan, and to submit that strategy and plan to specified committees of the Legislature and the Department of Finance at least 30 days before taking an action to implement the expenditure plan. The bill would require and authorize the chancellor and the Superintendent to perform other specified functions relating to the administration of the Career Technical Education Pathways Program, and would make specified findings and declarations. The bill would require its provisions to be operative only in fiscal years for which funds have been appropriated by the Legislature expressly for purposes of the Career Technical Education Pathways Program.
(1) Existing law requires an attorney to provide a written advisory to a building owner or tenant with each demand for money or complaint for any construction-related accessibility claim, as specified. A violation of this requirement may subject the attorney to disciplinary action. This bill would, instead, require an attorney to provide a written advisory with each demand letter or complaint, as defined, sent to or served upon a defendant or potential defendant for any construction-related accessibility claim, as specified. The bill would require the Judicial Council to update the form that may be used by attorneys to comply with this requirement on or before July 1, 2013. The bill would require an allegation of a construction-related accessibility claim in a demand letter or complaint to state facts sufficient to allow a reasonable person to identify the basis for the claim. The bill would require any complaint alleging a construction-related accessibility claim to be verified by the plaintiff, and would make any complaint filed without verification subject to a motion to strike. The bill would prohibit a demand letter from including a request or demand for money or an offer or agreement to accept money. The bill also would prohibit an attorney, or other person acting at the direction of an attorney, from issuing a demand for money to a building owner or tenant, or an agent or employee of a building owner or tenant, on the basis of one or more construction-related accessibility violations, as specified. The bill would require an attorney to include his or her State Bar license number in a demand letter, and to submit copies of the demand letter to the California Commission on Disability Access and, until January 1, 2016, to the State Bar. The bill also would require, until January 1, 2016, an attorney to submit a copy of a complaint to the commission. The bill would provide that a violation of these requirements may subject the attorney to disciplinary action, as specified. This bill would require the commission to review and report on the demand letters and complaints it receives until January 1, 2016. The bill also would require the State Bar, commencing July 31, 2013, and annually each July 31 thereafter, to report specified information to the Legislature regarding the demand letters that it receives. (2) Existing law provides, upon being served with a summons and complaint asserting a construction-related accessibility claim, a qualified defendant, as defined, may file a request for a court stay and early evaluation conference in the proceedings, as specified. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to prepare and post on its Internet Web site instructions and a form for a qualified defendant to use to file an application for stay and early evaluation conference pursuant to this provision. This bill would permit other defendants to file a request for a court stay and early evaluation conference pursuant to this provision, including (A) a defendant, until January 1, 2018, whose site's new construction or improvement on or after January 1, 2008, and before January 1, 2016, was approved pursuant to the local building permit and inspection process, (B) a defendant whose site's new construction or improvement was approved by a local public building department inspector who is a certified access specialist, and (C) a defendant who is a small business, as described. The bill would require the Judicial Council to prepare and post a form for filing an application for stay and early evaluation conference for use by qualified defendants and these additional defendants, and any additional forms appropriate to implement these provisions, as specified. The bill also would authorize a defendant who does not qualify for an early evaluation conference pursuant to these provisions, or who forgoes those provisions, to request a mandatory evaluation conference, as specified. The bill would authorize a plaintiff to make that request if the defendant does not make that request. (3) Existing law provides statutory damages in a construction-related accessibility claim against a place of public accommodation if a violation of construction-related accessibility standards denied the plaintiff full and equal access to that site on a particular occasion. A plaintiff is denied full and equal access only if, on a particular occasion, the plaintiff personally encountered the violation or was deterred from accessing the site. These statutory damages are in the amount of actual damages and any additional amount determined by a jury or the court up to a maximum of 3 times the amount of actual damages but not less than $4,000, or, for certain violations, $1,000. This bill would require the court, in assessing liability in any action alleging multiple claims for the same construction-related accessibility violation on different particular occasions, to consider the reasonableness of the plaintiff's conduct in light of the plaintiff's obligation, if any, to mitigate damages. The bill would reduce a defendant's minimum liability for statutory damages in a construction-related accessibility claim against a place of public accommodation to $1,000 for each offense if the defendant has corrected all construction-related violations that are the basis of the claim within 60 days of being served with the complaint and other specified conditions apply, and would reduce that minimum liability to $2,000 for each offense if the defendant has corrected all construction-related violations that are the basis of the claim within 30 days of being served with the complaint and the defendant is a small business, as specified. The bill would require the Department of General Services to make a biannual adjustment to financial criteria defining a small business for these purposes, and to post those adjusted amounts on its Internet Web site. (4) Existing law requires the State Architect to develop and submit for approval and adoption building standards for making buildings, structures, sidewalks, curbs, and related facilities accessible to, and usable by, persons with disabilities, as specified. Existing law provides for the inspection of places of public accommodation by certified access specialists to determine if the sites meet all applicable construction-related accessibility standards, and the provision of specified certificates and reports regarding those inspections. Existing law regulates the hiring of real property. This bill would require a commercial property owner to state on a lease form or rental agreement executed on or after July 1, 2013, if the property being leased or rented has undergone inspection by a certified access specialist. (5) The federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the California Building Standards Code require that specified buildings, structures, and facilities be accessible to, and usable by, persons with disabilities. Existing law establishes in the Department of General Services, the Division of the State Architect with responsibilities relating to architectural services, state buildings, and disability access. Existing law requires the State Architect to establish a certified access specialist program for voluntary certification by the state of any person who meets specified criteria as a certified access specialist. Existing law authorizes the State Architect to require applicants for certification and renewal of certification under the certified access specialist program to pay specified fees, including an application fee, a course fee, and an examination fee, at a level sufficient to meet the costs of administering the program, for deposit into the Certified Access Specialist Fund. In administering the certified access specialist program, this bill would require the State Architect to periodically review its schedule of fees for certification under the program to ensure that the fees are not excessive. The bill would prohibit the State Architect from charging a California licensed architect, landscape architect, civil engineer, or structural engineer, an application fee for certification that exceeds $250. This bill would impose, on and after January 1, 2013, and until December 31, 2018, an additional state fee of $1 on any applicant for a local business license or equivalent instrument or permit, or renewal thereof, for purposes of increasing disability access and compliance with construction-related accessibility requirements and developing educational resources for businesses to facilitate compliance with federal and state disability laws, as specified. The bill would divide those moneys for the state between the local entity that collected the moneys and the Division of the State Architect, pursuant to specified percentages. The bill would create a continuously appropriated fund, the Disability Access and Education Revolving Fund, for the deposit of funds to be transferred to the Division of the State Architect, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would make an appropriation by authorizing local government entities to retain 70% of the fees imposed. By adding to the duties of a local entity, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (6) Existing law establishes the California Commission on Disability Access for purposes of developing recommendations to enable persons with disabilities to exercise their right to full and equal access to public facilities and facilitating business compliance with the laws and regulations to avoid unnecessary litigation. Existing law sets forth the powers and duties of the commission, as specified. Existing law requires the commission to study and make reports to the Legislature regarding disability access laws and compliance, as specified. Existing law requires the commission to act as an information center on the status of compliance with disability access laws, to publish a biennial report, and to coordinate with other state agencies and local building departments to ensure the uniformity of information provided to the public on disability access. This bill would revise and recast those duties and powers, as specified, and eliminate the biennial reporting requirement. The bill would instead provide that a priority of the commission shall be the development and dissemination of educational materials and information to promote and facilitate disability access compliance, including a requirement that the commission work with the Division of the State Architect and the Department of Rehabilitation to develop educational materials for use by businesses. The bill would require the commission to post specified information on its Internet Web site, including, but not limited to, educational materials and information that will assist business owners. The bill would require the commission to report to the Legislature on its implementation by a specified date. The bill would require the commission to compile data with respect to any demand letter or complaint sent to the commission and post that information on its Internet Web site. (7) Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, requires a state agency responsible for the adoption of building standards to submit its standards to the California Building Standards Commission for review and approval, subject to specified procedures and a triennial code adoption cycle. Existing law requires the commission to codify and publish approved standards in the California Building Code, as set forth in Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations. Existing law provides that building standards become effective 180 days after its publication, as specified. This bill would provide, for the purpose of an alleged violation of a construction-related accessibility standard, that upon publication of the 2013 California Building Standards Code, but prior to its effective date, as specified, compliance with the building standards for disabled accessibility in the 2013 California Building Standards Code is authorized as an alternative method of compliance. (8) 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 these statutory provisions. (9) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would declare that the Legislature recognizes June of each year as National Aphasia Awareness Month.
Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, protects and safeguards the right and opportunity of all persons to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination or abridgment on account of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, or sexual orientation. Specifically, an employer or other covered entity is required to reasonably accommodate the religious belief or observance of an individual unless the accommodation would be an undue hardship on the conduct of the business of the employer or other entity. This bill would include a religious dress practice or a religious grooming practice as a belief or observance covered by the protections against religious discrimination, and would specify that an accommodation of an individual's religious dress practice or religious grooming practice that would require that person to be segregated from the public or other employees is not a reasonable accommodation. This bill would further provide that no accommodation is required if an accommodation would result in the violation of specified laws protecting civil rights. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 12926 of the Government Code, proposed by AB 2386, to be operative only if AB 2386 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective January 1, 2013, and this bill is chaptered last.
Existing law authorizes transportation planning agencies to administer transit funding made available under the Transportation Development Act. Existing law imposes certain financial requirements on transit operators making claims for transit funds, including requirements that fares collected by the operator cover a specified percentage of operating costs. In certain cases, transit operators are required to meet a higher percentage if they met that standard in the 1978–79 fiscal year. Existing law permits the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to make a determination as to whether transit operators serving a specified area have met the requirements for claims for transit funds by evaluating the operators as a group rather than individually. This bill would authorize the Sacramento Area Council of Governments to determine whether transit operators serving Sacramento County, as a group, have met the requirements for claims for transit funds. The bill would require the Sacramento Regional Transit District to cover no less than 23% of operating costs from fares even if the transit operators serving Sacramento County are evaluated as a group under this provision.
This measure would declare the week of May 20, 2012, through May 26, 2012, as California Mental Health No Stigma Week.