Sen. Roger Niello

Existing law provides for the civil commitment of criminal offenders who have been determined to be sexually violent predators for treatment in a secure state hospital facility, as specified. Existing law authorizes the conditional release of a sexually violent predator under specified circumstances, and requires the State Department of State Hospitals to make the necessary placement arrangements to place the person in a community, as specified. This bill would prohibit the department or its designee from placing a person who has been conditionally released in a community if the person does not have housing in a qualified dwelling, and would define "qualified dwelling" to mean a structure intended for human habitation by one person or a single family and that is not within 10 feet of another dwelling.

Existing law requires all water suppliers to increase the efficient use of water. Existing law establishes various water use objectives and restrictions, including urban water use objectives. Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board, in coordination with the Department of Water Resources, to adopt long-term standards for the efficient use of water, including standards for, among other things, a volume for water loss, and requires the board, when adopting the standards, to consider policies relating to urban water use objectives and proposed efficiency standards' effects on local wastewater management, developed and natural parklands, and urban tree health. This bill would delete the requirement that the board adopt standards, for purposes of urban water use objectives, for water loss and would instead require the board to consider the policies relating to urban water use objectives and proposed efficiency standards' effects on water loss. The bill would also set forth standards, policies, and procedures relating to water use objectives, generally, including, among other things, a prohibition against any water use objective established by the board that causes a reduction of more than 20% when compared to a water supplier's actual water use in 2023 or that exceeds a water use standard recommended by the department. The bill would also authorize any amount of water to be used for a variance from a water use objective and would prohibit any required minimum amount of water for a variance. The bill would impose additional duties on the board, including requiring the board to develop a self-certification process for water suppliers for purposes of validating the amount of water in a variance, as provided.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to adopt new, or expand existing, fixed charges, as defined, for the purpose of collecting a reasonable portion of the fixed costs of providing electrical service to residential customers. Under existing law, the commission may authorize fixed charges for any rate schedule applicable to a residential customer account, and is required, no later than July 1, 2024, to authorize a fixed charge for default residential rates. Existing law requires these fixed charges to be established on an income-graduated basis, with no fewer than 3 income thresholds, so that low-income ratepayers in each baseline territory would realize a lower average monthly bill without making any changes in usage. Existing law requires the PUC to continue the California Alternative Rates for Energy (CARE) program to provide assistance to low-income electric and gas customers with annual household incomes that are no greater than 200% of the federal poverty guideline levels, as specified. This bill would require the PUC to require each electrical corporation to offer default rates to residential customers with at least 2 usage tiers, as provided. The bill would eliminate the requirement that the fixed charges be established on an income-graduated basis as described above, repeal related findings and declarations of the Legislature, and authorize the commission to instead authorize fixed charges that, as of January 1, 2015, do not exceed $10 per residential customer account per month for customers not enrolled in the CARE program and $5 per residential customer account per month for customers enrolled in the CARE program. The bill would authorize the maximum allowable fixed charge to be adjusted by no more than the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for the prior calendar year, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing the above-described requirements would be a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law sets wage, hour, meal break requirements, and other working conditions for employees and requires an employer to pay overtime wages as specified to an employee who works in excess of a workday or workweek, as defined, and imposes criminal penalties for the violation of these requirements. Existing law, the Phase-In Overtime for Agricultural Workers Act of 2016, imposes a schedule that phases in overtime requirements for agricultural workers each year, over the course of 4 years, from 2019 to 2022, inclusive. Existing law provides employers who employ 25 or fewer employees an additional 3 years to comply with the phasing in of these overtime requirements. In this regard, existing 1 2 times their regular rate of pay for the hours they worked in excess of certain numbers in a workday or workweek, depending on the year and the size of the employer."?> law, beginning on January 1, 2022, and January 1, 2025, in the case of smaller employers, prohibits any person employed in an agricultural occupation from being employed more than 8 hours in a work day or 40 hours in a work week unless they receive 1 12 times their regular rate of pay for the excess hours they worked. This bill would 1 2 hours in a workday and from 50 to 45 hours in a workweek. The bill would also delete the provision that, beginning on January 1, 2022, and January 1, 2025, in the case of smaller employers, further decreases those hours to 8 hours in a workday and 40 hours in a workweek."?> increase the number of hours worked in a work week before that overtime rate of pay becomes applicable from 40 to 48 hours in a workweek.

Under existing law, a person who lodges in a public or private place without permission is guilty of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. Existing law also provides that a person who willfully and maliciously obstructs the free movement of any person on any street, sidewalk, or other public place is guilty of a misdemeanor. Under existing law, a nuisance is anything that is injurious to health or indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property. Existing law also provides that a nuisance is anything that obstructs the free passage or use of any public park, square, street, or highway, among other things. Under existing law, a public nuisance is a nuisance that affects the entire community, neighborhood, or a considerable number of persons. Existing law provides various remedies against a public nuisance, including abatement by any public body or officer authorized by law. This bill would prohibit a person from sitting, lying, sleeping, or storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property upon a street or sidewalk if a homeless shelter, as defined, is available to the person. The bill would also prohibit sitting, lying, sleeping, or storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property within 500 feet of a public or private school, open space, or major transit stop, as specified. The bill would specify that a violation of this prohibition is a public nuisance that can be abated and prevented, as specified. The bill would also provide that a violation of the prohibition may be charged as a misdemeanor or an infraction, at the discretion of the prosecutor. The bill would prohibit a person from being found in violation of the bill's provisions unless provided notice, at least 72 hours before commencement of any enforcement action, as specified. By imposing criminal penalties for a violation of these provisions, 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.

This measure would proclaim the month of September 2024 as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

Existing law authorizes a governmental agency to solicit proposals and enter into agreements with private entities for the design, construction, or reconstruction of, and to lease to private entities, specified types of fee-producing infrastructure projects. Existing law prohibits a state agency or specified governmental agencies from using this authorization to design, construct, finance, or operate a state project, defined as including tollroads, state water projects, state park and recreation projects, and state-financed projects. This bill would exclude state-financed projects from the definition of "state projects" and would authorize a state-financed project to pursue, and receive, if selected, state competitive grants or other allocations from programs for which the project is eligible, including, but not limited to, any of specified programs, including, among others, the program commonly known as the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program.

This measure would designate March 2024 as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in California.

Existing law, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, enacted by Proposition 47, as approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, defines and prohibits an act of shoplifting and prohibits prosecution for an act of shoplifting under any other law. Existing law defines shoplifting as entering a commercial establishment with intent to commit larceny while the establishment is open during regular business hours. This bill would revise the definition of shoplifting to require an intent to steal retail property or merchandise. Existing law provides that a person with a prior conviction for specified sex offenses may be charged with a felony for shoplifting or for theft of property not exceeding $950 in value. This bill would require a person convicted of petty theft or shoplifting, if the person has 2 or more prior convictions for specified theft-related offenses, to be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year, or for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years, and would make conforming changes. This bill would provide that its provisions would become effective only upon approval of the voters, and would provide for the submission of its provisions to the voters for approval at the next statewide general election.

Under existing law, law is a solemn expression of the will of the supreme power of the state, which is expressed in the state Constitution and in statutes. Existing law sets forth maxims of jurisprudence and provides rules for the interpretation of statutes. This bill would state that a secondary source on insurance is not the law or public policy of the state, and is not authoritative if, among other things, it conflicts with the state Constitution or statutes.