Sen. Roger Niello

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 authorizes specified entities to file and maintain with a court an action or proceeding to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul an act of a public agency on grounds of noncompliance with the requirements of CEQA. This bill would authorize a defendant, in an action brought under CEQA, to file a motion requesting the plaintiff or petitioner to identify every person or entity that contributes in excess of $10,000, as specified, toward the plaintiff's or petitioner's costs of the action. The bill would authorize the motion to be heard on shortened time at the court's discretion. The bill would authorize a plaintiff or petitioner to request the court's permission to withhold the public disclosure of a person or entity who made a monetary contribution. The bill also would require the plaintiff or petitioner to use reasonable efforts to identify the actual persons or entities that are the true source of the contributions, to include the exact total amount contributed, and to identify any pecuniary or business interest related to the project of any person or entity that contributes in excess of $10,000 to the costs of the action, as specified. The bill would, except as provided, prohibit those disclosures from being admissible into evidence for any purpose. The bill would provide that a failure to comply with these requirements may be grounds for dismissal of the action by the court. This bill would require an action or proceeding brought to attack, review, set aside, void, or annual acts or decision of a public agency for a commercial, housing, or public works project that helps to address longstanding critical needs in the project area and that results in an investment of at least $25,000,000 in the state on the grounds of noncompliance with CEQA to be resolved, to the extent feasible, within 365 days of the filing of the certified record of proceedings with the court. The bill would require the Judicial Council to adopt a rule of court to implement this provision. This bill would require the court's approval for a settlement agreement reached in an action or proceeding brought under CEQA and would prohibit the court from approving the settlement agreement if the settlement agreement contains a nonenvironmental provision, as defined. CEQA authorizes a court, in an action or proceeding brought challenging the decision of a public agency on the ground of noncompliance with CEQA, to enter an order to suspend any or all specific project activity or activities if the court finds that the activity or activities will prejudice the consideration or implementation of particular mitigation measures or alternatives to the project. CEQA provides that, except as otherwise specified, it is not intended to limit the equitable powers of the courts. This bill would instead prohibit the court from staying or enjoining the construction or operation of a project unless it makes certain findings. The bill would delete that intent relating to the equitable powers of the courts.

Existing law establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to oversee the implementation of Housing First guidelines and regulations, and, among other things, identify resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California. Existing law requires a state agency or department that funds, implements, or administers a state program that provides housing or housing-related services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness to revise or adopt guidelines and regulations to include enumerated Housing First policies. Existing law specifies the core components of Housing First, including, among others, services that are informed by a harm reduction philosophy that recognizes drug and alcohol use and addiction as a part of tenants' lives, where tenants are engaged in nonjudgmental communication regarding drug and alcohol use, and where tenants are offered education regarding how to avoid risky behaviors and engage in safer practices, as specified, and prohibiting the use of alcohol or drugs, in and of itself, without other lease violations, from constituting a reason for eviction. This bill would provide an exception to the eviction prohibition described above to authorize a tenant's eviction based upon the use of drugs or alcohol, without other lease violations, when children are housed in the same location. The bill would also authorize a state department or agency to authorize programs to fund recovery housing or housing models that, in conjunction with nonclinical substance use-specific services, peer support, and physical design features that support individuals and families on a path to recovery from addiction, emphasize abstinence from substance use, if the program uses at least 75% of its funding in each county on housing or housing-based services that use a harm reduction model and meets other specified requirements. The bill would require the authorizing state department or agency to conduct periodic monitoring of the abstinence-focused recovery housing to ensure compliance with these requirements.

Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt and implement motor vehicle emission standards, in-use performance standards, and motor vehicle fuel specifications for the control of air contaminants and sources of air pollution that the state board has found necessary, cost effective, and technologically feasible. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the state board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases and requires the state board to adopt rules and regulations to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions from those sources. Pursuant to its authority, the state board has adopted the Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation, which imposes various requirements for transitioning local, state, and federal government fleets of medium- and heavy-duty trucks, other high-priority fleets of medium- and heavy-duty trucks, and drayage trucks to zero-emission vehicles. The Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation authorizes entities subject to the regulation to apply for exemptions from its requirements under certain circumstances. This bill would require the state board to establish the Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation Appeals Advisory Committee by an unspecified date for purposes of reviewing appeals of denied requests for exemptions from the requirements of the Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation. The bill would require the committee to include representatives of specified state agencies, other state and local government representatives, and representatives of private fleet owners, the electric vehicle manufacturing industry, and electrical corporations, as provided. The bill would require the committee to meet monthly and would require recordings of its meetings to be made publicly available on the state board's internet website. The bill would require the committee to consider, and make a recommendation on, an appeal of an exemption request denial no later than 60 days after the appeal is made. The bill would require specified information relating to the committee's consideration of an appeal to be made publicly available on the state board's internet website. The bill would require the state board to consider a recommendation of the committee at a public meeting no later than 60 days after the recommendation is made.

Existing law requires the Legislative Analyst to prepare a fiscal analysis of each statewide measure for the ballot pamphlet, and requires the title and summary of a measure that appears on the ballot to contain a summary of the Legislative Analyst's estimate of the net state and local government fiscal impact. Existing law prescribes the form and content of the ballot label for candidates and measures on the ballot, and requires the ballot label for statewide measures to include a condensed version of the title and summary, including the fiscal impact summary. Existing law requires local governments, when submitting a measure for voter approval for the issuance of bonds that will be secured by an ad valorem tax, to provide voters a statement that includes estimates of the total debt service and tax rates required to fund the bonds, as specified. This bill would require, for state bond measures and for local measures to approve the issuance of bonds that will be secured by an ad valorem tax, the ballot label to include a summary of the measure's fiscal impact in a specified form. Because this bill would impose new requirements on local elections officials, 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.

This resolution would designate the week beginning on February 26, 2024, and the last week of February hereafter, as Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

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 repeal the above-described provisions that codify the ABC test. The bill would declare that its purpose is to suspend and nullify the California Supreme Court's decision in Dynamex and provide that this decision does not apply for purposes of California law.

Existing law, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) , grants to a consumer various rights with respect to personal information, as defined, that is collected by a business, as defined, including the right to request that a business delete personal information about the consumer that the business has collected from the consumer. Existing law, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, an initiative measure approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the CCPA. The CCPA establishes the California Privacy Protection Agency with full administrative power, authority, and jurisdiction to implement and enforce the CCPA. Existing law authorizes the California Privacy Protection Agency to, upon the sworn complaint of any person or on its own initiative, investigate possible violations of the CCPA relating to any business, service provider, contractor, or person. Existing law requires the agency to notify in writing the person who made the complaint of the action, if any, the agency has taken or plans to take on the complaint, together with the reasons for that action or nonaction. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

This measure would declare the month of September 2023 as Chiari Malformation Awareness Month.

This measure would declare November 2023, and annually thereafter, as Holodomor Memorial Month, and November 25, 2023, and the fourth Saturday of November annually thereafter, as Holodomor Memorial Day.