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 minimum 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. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.
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Existing law, the Insurance Adjuster Act, regulates the licensing and business of insurance adjusters. Existing law sets forth the procedures for disciplinary hearings under the act. Existing law prohibits notice of a hearing or a copy of an affidavit from being mailed or delivered to a nonresident adjuster licensee less than 20 days before the hearing date, and prohibits the time for making a request to cross-examine from being less than 15 days. This bill would extend those minimum timeframes to no less than 30 days before the hearing date for the mailing or delivery of notice of a hearing or a copy of an affidavit and no less than 20 days for the time for making a request to cross-examine.
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact statutory changes relating to the Budget Act of 2022.
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact statutory changes relating to the Budget Act of 2022.
(1) The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law requires the department to contract with local contracting agencies for alternative payment programs for childcare services to be provided throughout the state. Existing law requires the alternative payment program to reimburse childcare providers based upon specified criteria, including the actual days and hours of attendance for those families with variable schedules. This bill would instead require the alternative payment program to reimburse childcare providers based upon the maximum certified hours of need, as documented. (2) The act requires an alternative payment program to verify childcare provider rates no less frequently than once a year. The act requires the department to develop regulations for addressing discrepancies in the childcare provider rate levels identified through the rate verification process described above. This bill would delete these provisions. (3) The act authorizes a contractor to retain a reserve fund balance for alternative payment model and certificate childcare contracts, as provided. The act prohibits these funds from exceeding either 2% of the sum of the parts of each contract, as provided, or $1,000, whichever is greater. This bill would instead prohibit the funds from exceeding either 15% of the sum of the parts of each contract, as provided, or $1,000, whichever is greater. (4) Existing law, the Early Education Act, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to, among other things, provide an inclusive and cost-effective preschool program. The Early Education Act and the Child Care and Development Services Act authorize alternative payment programs and providers operating or providing services under the acts to use digital signatures that comply with state and federal standards and authorize the use of digital forms to allow families to apply for services. This bill would instead authorize the use of electronic signatures and forms.
The Budget Act of 2021 made appropriations for the support of state government for the 2021–22 fiscal year. This bill would amend the Budget Act of 2021 by amending and adding items of appropriation and making other changes. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.
(1) Under existing law, a person sentenced to imprisonment in a state prison or in a county jail for a felony offense, as specified, may during that period of confinement be deprived of only those rights as is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. Existing law enumerates certain civil rights of these prisoners, including the right to purchase, receive, and read newspapers, periodicals, and books accepted for distribution by the United States Post Office. This bill would include the right to personal visits as a civil right, as specified. The bill would provide that these civil rights may not be infringed upon, except as necessary and only if narrowly tailored to further the legitimate security interests of the government, and would provide that any governmental action related to these civil rights may be reviewed in court for legal error under a substantial evidence standard of review. (2) Existing law authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to prescribe and amend rules and regulations for the administration of prisons, and requires regulations, which are adopted by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, that may impact the visitation of inmates to recognize and consider the value of inmate visitation as a means of increasing safety in prisons, maintaining family and community connections, and preparing inmates for successful release and rehabilitation. Existing regulations establish the framework for establishing a visiting process in prisons that is conducted in as accommodating a manner as possible, subject to the need to maintain order, the safety of persons, the security of institutions and facilities, and required prison activities and operations. Existing law requires the department to contract with a private nonprofit agency or agencies to establish and operate a visitor center outside of each state adult prison in California that has a population of more than 300 inmates, and prescribes the minimum level of services to be available to prison visitors, including emergency clothing and information on visiting regulations and processes. Existing law requires the department to cooperate with the Department of Transportation in the development of public transportation services to prisons, requires these departments to evaluate the addition of stations or stops on existing bus or rail routes, or the addition of new services, that improve transportation access for visitors to prisons, and requires the department to publicize the availability of transportation services provided by the Department of Transportation. This bill would additionally require those regulations pertaining to inmate visits to recognize and consider the right to personal visits as a civil right. The bill would prohibit the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from denying in-person contact visits, as specified, including as a disciplinary sanction against the incarcerated person. The bill would require the department to inform an applicant of the specific reason for any denial of a visit.
This bill would make appropriations for the support of state government for the 2021–22 fiscal year. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.
Existing law, the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining with respect to wages, terms of employment, and other employment conditions, and authorizes employees to elect exclusive bargaining representatives for these purposes. Existing law requires the Agricultural Labor Relations Board to certify the results of an election conducted by secret ballot of employees in a collective bargaining unit to designate a collective bargaining representative, unless the board determines there are sufficient grounds to refuse to do so. Existing law further provides that if the board refuses to certify an election because of employer misconduct that would render slight the chances of a new election reflecting the free and fair choice of employees, the labor organization shall be certified as the bargaining representative for the bargaining unit. This bill would refer to the secret ballot election as a polling place election. This bill would also permit agricultural employees, as an alternative election procedure, to select their labor representatives through a representation ballot card election by submitting a petition to the board supported by representation ballot cards signed by a majority of employees in the bargaining unit. This bill would require the board to conduct an immediate investigation regarding the validity of the petition and the supporting representation ballot cards and, within 5 days after receiving a petition, to make an administrative decision as to whether the petition meets certain requirements and as to whether the labor organization submitted the requisite number of cards. The bill would require the board to certify the labor organization as the exclusive bargaining representative if the board determines that the labor organization has submitted the required number of representation ballot cards and the cards meet specified criteria. Existing law authorizes a person aggrieved by the final order of the board granting or denying in whole or in part the relief sought for an unfair labor practice, to obtain a review of the order in a specified court of appeal by filing in the court a written petition requesting that the order of the board be modified or set aside. This bill would require an employer who appeals or petitions for a writ of review of any order of the board involving make-whole, backpay, or other monetary awards to employees, to post an appeal bond in the amount of the entire economic value of the order, as specified, and would provide for the bond to be forfeited under specified conditions. This bill would state that its provisions are severable.
Existing law prescribes certain rights and limitations for landlords and tenants subject to eviction and certain procedures for civil actions involving evictions. Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation, governed by a board of trustees. Existing law requires an attorney to maintain short-term deposits of client funds in an Interest on Lawyers' Trust Account (IOLTA) and requires the interest and dividends earned on the account to be paid to the State Bar for the funding of certain programs that provide civil legal services without charge to indigent persons. Existing law requires the board of trustees to adopt regulations and procedures necessary to implement provisions, referred to as the Legal Services Trust Fund Program, that govern the funding of those programs. Existing administrative law establishes a Legal Services Trust Fund Commission to administer revenue from IOLTA and other funds remitted to the trust fund program. This bill would establish the Homelessness Prevention Fund to be administered by the commission. The bill would require the commission, subject to appropriation to the State Bar by the Legislature, to distribute moneys in the fund in the form of grants, awarded on a competitive basis, to fund prescribed legal services, education, and outreach for tenants relating to eviction or displacement. The bill would require the commission to develop guidelines for the grant process in accordance with specified requirements. The bill would establish eligibility requirements for grant applicants, including that the applicant agrees to provide all of the services funded by the grant without charge to recipients. The bill would require a grantee to report semiannually to the commission on certain activities and services funded by the grant and would prohibit a grantee from using more than 15% of the allocation received from the fund for administrative costs in the first year it receives a grant and 10% in every year thereafter. The bill would limit the State Bar expenditure of funds for administration to the actual costs of administration of these provisions, up to 5% of the funds provided.