Existing law requires a vote by mail voter to return a voted vote by mail ballot (1) by mail or in person to the elections official, (2) in person to a member of a precinct board at a polling place or vote center, or (3) to a vote by mail ballot dropoff location, as specified. Existing law permits a vote by mail voter who is unable to return the ballot to designate another person to return the ballot. Existing law requires elections officials to establish procedures to track and confirm receipt of a voted vote by mail ballot and to provide that information via online access or a toll-free telephone number. This bill would require a person who collects and is designated to return vote by mail ballots for persons other than the designated person's spouse, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or a person residing in the same household as the designated person to register with the Secretary of State, as specified. The bill would require that a registered person be a United States citizen and at least 18 years of age. The bill would require the Secretary of State to assign a registration number to each person and to develop and maintain a publically accessible database with specified information about each registered person. The bill would require a registered person to provide each voter designating the person to return the voter's ballot with a receipt containing specified information and would prohibit the registered person from offering a voter any form of compensation in exchange for designating the person to return the voter's ballot. The bill would require a registered person to file a declaration containing specified information and identifying each voter who designated the registered person to return the voter's vote by mail ballot. The bill would make a violation of these provisions an infraction punishable by a fine of not more than $100 for a first offense and $200 for a second offense. For a third or subsequent offense, the bill would require the Secretary of State to permanently revoke the registered person's registration. The bill would require the that tracking and confirmation procedures established by elections officials confirm whether a vote by mail ballot was collected and returned by a person required to register pursuant to these provisions. By expanding the scope of the existing crime of perjury, by creating a new crime, and by increasing the duties of local elections officials, 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Sponsored bills
Existing law allows a person who was arrested or convicted of a nonviolent offense while they were a victim of human trafficking to petition the court for vacatur relief. Existing law requires the petitioner to establish by clear and convincing evidence that the arrest and conviction was the direct result of being a victim of human trafficking. Existing law requires that a petition be made and heard within a reasonable time after the person has ceased to be a victim of human trafficking, or within a reasonable time after the petitioner has sought services, whichever is later. Existing law allows a petitioner, or the petitioner's attorney, to be excused from appearing in person at a hearing on the petition only if the court finds a compelling reason why the petitioner cannot attend, in which case existing law allows the petitioner to appear by electronic means. This bill would allow the petitioner to appear at all hearings on the petition by counsel if the petition is unopposed. The bill would allow a petition to be made and heard at any time after the person has ceased to be a victim of human trafficking, or at any time after the petitioner has sought services for being a victim of human trafficking. The bill would specify that the right to petition for relief pursuant to these provisions do not expire with the passage of time.
Existing law provides procedures by which any registered voter may apply to receive and vote a ballot by mail. Existing law requires an elections official to send a second vote by mail ballot to a voter if the voter states under penalty of perjury that the voter did not receive, lost, or destroyed the voter's original ballot. Existing law requires the elections official to track and keep records of vote by mail ballots, as specified, for the purpose of verifying that a voter has not attempted to vote twice, thereby rendering both ballots void. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
Existing law makes willful threats to commit a crime that will result in death or great bodily injury to another person illegal, and punishes offenders with imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison. This bill would prohibit a malicious communication to any other person, as specified, that deadly harm will occur on the campus of a school, or at a location of a school-sponsored event, even if there is no intent of carrying it out. The bill would make a violation punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not exceeding one year or by imprisonment in a county jail for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years. The bill would require a minor who violates this provision to be placed on probation and ordered to perform community service and participate in mental health counseling. The bill would make the parent or guardian of the minor responsible for the expense of counseling and any civil liability resulting from a violation of these provisions. 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, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources that are designated as basins subject to critical conditions of overdraft to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2020, and requires all other groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2022, except as specified. The act authorizes a groundwater sustainability agency to impose fees to fund the costs of a groundwater sustainability program and requires a groundwater sustainability agency to hold at least one public meeting prior to imposing or increasing a fee. The act requires that a groundwater sustainability agency make the data upon which the proposed fee is based publicly available at least 10 days prior to the meeting. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to the provisions authorizing groundwater sustainability agencies to impose fees.
The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would allow a credit against those taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, in an amount that is equal to 50% of the amount incurred by a natural person or a small business, as defined, during the taxable year for the purchase, that does not exceed $7,000, of a backup generator for use in a residence or commercial property in a designated wildfire zone, as defined. The 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.
The Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 prohibits a person from conducting timber operations, as defined, unless a timber harvesting plan prepared by a registered professional forester has been submitted to, and approved by, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The act authorizes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to exempt from some or all of those provisions of the act a person engaging in specified forest management activities, as prescribed, including the cutting or removal of trees on the person's property that eliminates the vertical continuity of vegetative fuels and the horizontal continuity of tree crowns for the purpose of reducing flammable materials and maintaining a fuel break, known as the Small Timberland Owner Exemption. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to the above provision relating to the exemptions.
Existing law requires civil actions to be commenced within specified periods, after the cause of action has accrued, unless an exception applies. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision.
The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities Commission with jurisdiction over all public utilities. The California Constitution grants the commission certain general powers over all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature, and authorizes the Legislature, unlimited by the other provisions of the Constitution, to confer additional authority and jurisdiction upon the commission that is cognate and germane to the regulation of public utilities. The Public Utilities Act authorizes the commission to supervise and regulate every public utility, and to do all things necessary and convenient in the exercise of its power and jurisdiction. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to the Public Utilities Act provisions described above.
Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. The University of California comprises 10 campuses, located at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. Existing law subjects meetings of the regents to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, except as prescribed in specified provisions relating solely to the University of California, and further requires the regents to provide a copy of those specified provisions and of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act to each regent upon that regent's appointment to the board or assumption of the office of regent. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes in the provision requiring that these copies be provided to each regent.