Sen. Roger Niello

Existing law, the California Endangered Species Act, prohibits the taking of an endangered or candidate species, except as provided. Under the act, the Department of Fish and Wildlife may authorize the take of listed species pursuant to an incidental take permit if the take is incidental to an otherwise lawful activity, the impacts are minimized and fully mitigated, and the issuance of the permit would not jeopardize the continued existence of the species. The act requires the department to adopt regulations for the issuance of incidental take permits. Existing law also generally provides that a violation of the Fish and Game Code is a crime. The act also provides, until January 1, 2024, that the accidental take of a candidate, threatened, or endangered species resulting from an act that occurs on a farm or a ranch in the course of otherwise lawful routine and ongoing agricultural activities is not prohibited by the act, as provided, and would require a person, when an accidental take is known to occur under these provisions, to report the take to the department within 10 days. This bill would require the department to conduct outreach to raise awareness of the above-mentioned reporting requirement within the agricultural community, as specified, and would extend the above-mentioned exception to the act and the related reporting requirement until January 1, 2029. By extending the duration of this reporting requirement, the violation of which 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.

Existing law classifies controlled substances into 5 schedules and places the greatest restrictions and penalties on the use of those substances placed in Schedule I. Existing law classifies the drug fentanyl in Schedule II. Existing law prohibits a person from possessing for sale or purchasing for purposes of sale specified controlled substances, including fentanyl, and provides for imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years for a violation of this provision. Existing law also imposes an additional term, and authorizes a trial court to impose a specified fine, upon a person who is convicted of a violation of, or of a conspiracy to violate, specified provisions of law with respect to a substance containing heroin, cocaine base, and cocaine, if the substance exceeds a specified weight. This bill would add fentanyl to the substances for which additional terms or fines can be imposed and would require a defendant who violates those laws with respect to a substance containing heroin, fentanyl, or cocaine, as specified, to know of the substance's nature or character as a controlled substance to be subjected to an additional term and authorized fine. By increasing the penalty for, and by changing the definition of, 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.

Existing law establishes the Department of Consumer Affairs under the direction of the Director of Consumer Affairs and sets forth its powers and duties relating to the administration of the various boards under its jurisdiction that license and regulate various professions and vocations. Existing law requires a board to expedite, and authorizes a board to assist, in the initial licensure process for an applicant who supplies satisfactory evidence to the board that the applicant has served as an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States and was honorably discharged. Existing law authorizes a board to adopt regulations necessary to administer those provisions. This bill would additionally require, on and after July 1, 2024, a board to expedite, and authorize a board to assist, in the initial licensure process for an applicant who supplies satisfactory evidence to the board that the applicant is an active duty member of a regular component of the Armed Forces of the United States enrolled in the United States Department of Defense SkillBridge program, as specified, and would provide that regulations to administer those provisions be adopted in accordance with the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act.

Existing law provides for various memorials and monuments within the State Capitol Building and on the State Capitol grounds. Existing law prescribes various duties of the Department of General Services in connection with the development and maintenance of the State Capitol Building and grounds. This bill would authorize a nonprofit organization that represents blind veterans, in consultation with the Department of General Services, to plan, construct, and maintain a braille American flag to serve as a monument to the blind veterans of California and the United States in the State Capitol Building. The bill would specify duties for the Department of General Services in connection with the planning, construction, and maintenance of the monument. The bill would prohibit the construction of the monument until the Joint Rules Committee of the California Legislature approves and adopts a plan for the monument and the committee and the Department of Finance determine that sufficient private funding is available to construct and maintain the monument.

Existing law, the Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) , establishes the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , which provides a defined benefit to members of the system, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations, and is administered by the Board of Administration (board) of the Public Employees' Retirement System. PERL authorizes a public agency to contract to make its employees members of PERS and prescribes a process for this. Existing law requires, for counties that contract for retirement benefits through PERS for eligible employees as of the implementation date of the Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act, that a trial court and a county in which the trial court is located jointly participate in the system by joint contract. Existing law requires the board to do one-time, separate computations of the assets and liabilities of 2 counties and the trial courts in the counties. Existing law, the California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) , establishes a variety of requirements and restrictions on public employers offering defined benefit pension plans, including limiting the benefits that may be provided to new members. This bill would authorize a county and the trial court located within the county to elect to separate their joint PERS contract into individual contracts, if the county and the trial court make that election jointly and voluntarily, and would prescribe a process for this. The bill would make the separation of a joint contract irrevocable and would make a county and trial court ineligible to reestablish a joint contract. The bill would prohibit the separation from being a cause for modification of employee retirement benefits, as specified. The bill would require the board, within its existing resources, to do a specified computation of assets and liabilities, within a prescribed time, for a county and trial court seeking to separate their joint contract after receiving specified information. For purposes of PEPRA, the bill would authorize a county and a trial court to provide employees the defined benefit plan or formula that those employees received from their respective employers prior to the exercise of the option to separate, as specified. This bill would also make nonsubstantive and conforming changes to these provisions.

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in conformity or modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows various deductions in computing the income that is subject to the taxes imposed by those laws, including a deduction, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014, and before January 1, 2024, for disaster losses in any city, county, or city and county that is proclaimed by the Governor to be in a state of emergency, as specified. Existing law additionally provides that any law that suspends, defers, reduces, or otherwise diminishes the deduction of a net operating loss, other than those variations already imposed in existing law, shall not apply to a net operating loss attributable to these specified disaster losses. This bill would extend the deduction for disaster losses, as described above, to taxable years beginning before January 1, 2029, and would extend for those taxable years the provision prohibiting any law that suspends, defers, reduces, or otherwise diminishes the deduction of a net operating loss, as described above, from applying to these specified disaster losses. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would also include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages and the granting of licenses for the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages within the state. Existing law limits the amount of on-sale general licenses that may be issued by the department based on the population of the county in which the licensed premises are located. This bill would provide an exception to the limitation described above by authorizing the issuance of up to 10 additional new original on-sale general licenses for bona fide public eating places in the County of Placer. The bill would prohibit the department from issuing more than 4 of these licenses per year. The bill would specify that a person holding a valid on-sale general license for seasonal business is not prohibited from applying for licenses to be issued pursuant to this authorization. The bill would prohibit transferring the new licenses out of the county or to a premises that does not qualify under these provisions. The bill would also prohibit selling or transferring the new licenses for a price greater than the original fee paid by the seller or transferor. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Placer.

Existing law defines the term "serious felony" for various purposes, including, among others, enhancing the punishment for felonies pursuant to existing sentencing provisions commonly known as the Three Strikes Law. This bill would include human trafficking of a minor within the definition of a serious felony for all purposes, including for purposes of the Three Strikes Law, except as specified. By expanding the scope of an enhancement, 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 declare October 8, 2023, as Father-Daughter Day and would encourage fathers with daughters in California to take time to celebrate, cherish, and connect with each other.

This measure would proclaim the month of October 2023 as California Firefighter Appreciation Month and October 14, 2023, as California Firefighters Memorial Day.