Sen. Roger Niello

Maddy summarySenate Resolution 103 designates the first full week in May 2026 as Tardive Dyskinesia Awareness Week in California. This proclamation aims to raise public and medical awareness about tardive dyskinesia, a movement disorder that can occur in people taking antipsychotic medications for mental health conditions. The resolution emphasizes the importance of early detection and routine screening for this condition, which affects a significant portion of patients who may be undiagnosed. By highlighting these issues, the bill encourages healthcare providers and patients to prioritize regular check-ups and education regarding the risks and symptoms associated with long-term antipsychotic use.

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 also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. If a lead agency determines that a project will have a significant transportation impact, existing law authorizes the lead agency to mitigate the transportation impact to a less than significant level by helping to fund or otherwise facilitating housing or related infrastructure projects, including by contributing an amount, to be determined pursuant to guidance issued by the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, to the Transit-Oriented Development Implementation Fund for purposes of the Transit-Oriented Development Implementation Program. Existing law makes those moneys available to the Department of Housing and Community Development, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of awarding funding for affordable housing or related infrastructure projects under the program in accordance with specified priorities. On or before July 1, 2026, and at least once every 3 years thereafter, existing law requires the office, in consultation with other state agencies, to issue guidance related to the implementation of these provisions, as provided. This bill would authorize a lead agency for a land use project to require an applicant to contribute to the Transit-Oriented Development Implementation Fund if certain cost conditions are met and the department and the office have validated the reductions in vehicle miles traveled that are attributable to the project, as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Maddy summaryThis Senate Resolution establishes April 16, 2026, as "Breaking the Silence Day of Awareness" in California to highlight the issue of unreported child sexual abuse. The measure encourages individuals, schools, and community organizations to participate in educational outreach that helps people recognize signs of abuse and fosters open dialogue about the topic. By promoting awareness and reducing stigma, the resolution aims to support survivors and encourage early intervention without imposing new legal requirements or funding mandates.

Existing law requires the California Postsecondary Education Commission, on or before November 15 of each year, to submit a higher education report to the Legislature and the Governor that provides information to the citizens of the state on the significant indicators of performance of the public colleges and universities, as specified. Existing law requires the commission to consider including, for community colleges, the proportion of remedial or developmental education courses taught by full-time faculty. The Budget Act of 2011 deleted funding and personnel from the California Postsecondary Education Commission. This bill would require the California State Auditor, on or before September 1, 2027, to report to the chairs of certain legislative committees the results of an audit of the California State University and the University of California regarding the use of remedial instruction and supports, as specified.

Existing law establishes the Elderly Parole Program for the purpose of reviewing the parole suitability of inmates who are 50 years of age or older and who have served a minimum of 20 years of continuous incarceration on their sentence. Existing law requires the Board of Parole Hearings, when considering the release of qualifying inmates, to give special consideration to whether certain criteria have reduced the elderly inmate's risk for future violence. Existing law excludes various persons from these provisions, including, among others, persons convicted of serious felonies, persons convicted of first-degree murder of a peace officer, or persons sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. This bill would additionally exclude, among others, persons receiving an enhancement to their sentence for committing certain sexual offenses including, among others, rape, sodomy, or lewd and lascivious acts, and habitual sex offenders. The bill would specify that these exclusions apply to all persons incarcerated as of January 1, 2027, regardless of the person's previous eligibility for parole or the status of any parole petition filed prior to that date.

The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to affirm, modify, or reverse the decision of the Board of Parole Hearings with respect to the granting, denial, revocation, or suspension of parole of a person sentenced to an indeterminate term upon conviction of murder. Existing law classifies certain felonies as violent felonies for purposes of various provisions of the Penal Code. This bill would additionally authorize the Governor to reverse or modify the decision of the board to grant parole to an inmate sentenced for conviction of a violent felony to an indeterminate prison term, as specified, or to a determinate prison term, as specified, if the board's decision is to grant the inmate parole pursuant to the Elderly Parole Program or youth offender parole program. Existing law requires the Board of Parole Hearings to meet with each indeterminately sentenced inmate during the 6th year before the inmate's minimum eligible parole date for the purpose of reviewing and documenting the inmate's activities and conduct pertinent to parole eligibility. One year before the inmate's eligible parole date, existing law requires a panel of the board to meet with the inmate and to grant parole unless the panel or board sitting en banc determines that the gravity of the current convicted offense, or the timing and gravity of current or past convicted offenses, is such that consideration of the public safety requires a more lengthy period of incarceration for the inmate. Existing law, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a state body be open and public and all persons be permitted to attend. Existing law authorizes certain state bodies to hold closed session meetings for certain purposes, including allowing a state body to hold a closed session when considering and acting upon the determination of a term, parole, or release of any individual or other disposition of an individual case. This bill would require the board to provide an annual report to the Legislature, and publish that report on its internet website, detailing, among other things, the voting record of commissioners, as specified, and whether the prosecuting agency appeared at the parole hearing. The bill would also require recording of parole, en banc, and rescission hearings to be recorded and transcribed, and the recording retained indefinitely by the board. The bill would prohibit an en banc review conducted by the board from being held in a closed session. Existing law, as amended by Proposition 9, the Victim's Bill of Rights Act of 2008: Marsy's Law, at the November 4, 2008, statewide general election, requires the board, following a decision denying parole, to schedule the next hearing 3, 5, 7, 10, or 15 years from the date of the last hearing, as specified. Existing law also authorizes the board, in its discretion and after considering the views and interests of the victim, to advance a hearing to an earlier date, when a change in circumstances or new information establishes a reasonable likelihood that consideration of the public and victim's safety does not require additional incarceration. Existing law authorizes an inmate, every 3 years, to request that the board exercise its discretion to advance a hearing and provides the procedure for an inmate to make that request. This bill would require the Board of Parole Hearings, in determining suitability for parole, to consider specified information and give substantial weight to the nature and circumstances of the commitment offense that includes, among other things, the degree of violence involved and the vulnerability of the victim. The bill would change the length of time between requests to advance to 5 years and would also change the inmate's burden to require the inmate to show that there has been a material and substantial change in circumstances or new information. The bill would require the board to provide notice of a request to advance to the prosecuting agency and registered victim, and would authorize the board to summarily deny a request to advance in certain circumstances, including when the request is duplicative or repetitive or fails to include sufficient documentation or explanation. The bill would require the board to set a hearing, following a decision denying parole, at 5 years if the inmate is serving a term of conviction for, among other things, murder involving a victim 14 years of age or younger, or various sexual offenses involving a victim 14 years of age or younger. The bill would require that the board deny a request to advance for an individual serving a term for those offenses, unless the request demonstrates clear and convincing evidence of a material and substantial change in circumstances. These provisions would become operative only if Assembly Constitutional Amendment ____ of the 2025–26 Regular Session, amending Section 8 of Article V of the Constitution, is approved by the voters at the November 3, 2026, statewide election. The bill would make related findings and declarations and would declare that its provisions are severable.

This measure would proclaim the month of March 2026 as Afghan American Heritage Month and recognize Afghan Americans as an essential part of cultural and civic life of this state.

This measure would proclaim the month of March 2026 as California Down Syndrome Awareness Month. The measure would also proclaim March 21, 2026, as California Down Syndrome Awareness Day, and would encourage all Californians to support and participate in related activities.

Existing law, known as the Administrative Procedure Act, governs the procedures for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. Existing law requires a state agency proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal an administrative regulation to, among other things, assess the potential for adverse economic impact on California business enterprises and individuals, and requires a state agency proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal a major regulation on or after November 1, 2013, to prepare and submit to the Department of Finance for comment, a standardized regulatory impact analysis, as provided. Existing law defines "major regulation" for purposes of the act to mean any proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation subject to review by the office that will have an economic impact on California business enterprises and individuals in an amount exceeding $50,000,000, as provided. Existing law establishes procedures for the adoption of emergency regulations, including requiring that the state agency make a finding that the adoption of a regulation or order of repeal is necessary to address an emergency, as defined. Under existing law, a regulation, amendment, or order of repeal adopted as an emergency regulatory action may only remain in effect for up to 180 days, unless the adopting agency complies with specified requirements. This bill, the Restoring Accountability Act, would prohibit a state agency from taking final action to adopt a major regulation until certain requirements are met, including that after the state agency prepares a standardized regulatory impact analysis and submits the analysis to the Department of Finance, as described above, the state agency submits a proposal to the Legislature recommending legislation to authorize the adoption of the major regulation and the Legislature enacts a law expressly authorizing the state agency to adopt that major regulation. The bill, notwithstanding that prohibition, would authorize a state agency to adopt an emergency regulation that is a major regulation if the state agency complies with specified requirements governing the adoption of emergency regulations. The bill would prohibit the emergency regulation from being in effect more than 180 days, except that the state agency may twice readopt an emergency regulation that is the same or substantially equivalent to the emergency regulation previously adopted for a period not to exceed 90 days, if the state agency prepares a standardized regulatory impact analysis and submits the analysis to the Department of Finance for comment, as described above, and the state agency submits a proposal to the Legislature recommending legislation to authorize the adoption of the major regulation.

Existing law establishes the Elderly Parole Program for the purpose of reviewing the parole suitability of inmates who are 50 years of age or older and who have served a minimum of 20 years of continuous incarceration on their sentence. This bill would raise the minimum age limitation for that program to 65 years of age.