Sen. Tim Grayson

This measure would recognize February 2020 as Black History Month, urge all citizens to join in celebrating the accomplishments of African Americans during Black History Month, encourage the people of California to recognize the many talents of African Americans and the achievements and contributions they make to their communities to create equity and equality for education, economics, and social justice, and recognize the significance in protecting citizens' right to vote and remedying racial discrimination in voting.

This measure would proclaim March 15, 2020, to March 22, 2020, as California Down Syndrome Awareness Week and March 21, 2020, as California Down Syndrome Day, and would encourage all Californians to support and participate in related activities.

(1) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow credits against the taxes imposed under those laws. Existing law allows an earned income tax credit under the Personal Income Tax Law, beginning on or after January 1, 2015, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws. This bill would allow a small business or a nonprofit organization impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as those terms are defined, an earned income tax credit for each taxable year beginning on and after January 1, 2020, in an amount equal to 20% of the taxpayer's annual revenue. The bill would specify that the credit is only operative for taxable years for which the Legislature appropriates from the General Fund to the Franchise Tax Board moneys to administer the credit. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law also allow a credit against the taxes imposed under those laws, for each taxable year beginning on and after January 1, 2014, and before January 1, 2030, in an amount as provided in a written agreement between the GO-Biz and the taxpayer, agreed upon by the California Competes Tax Credit Committee, and based on specified factors, including the number of jobs the taxpayer will create or retain in the state and the amount of investment in the state by the taxpayer. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature from the General Fund to the GO-Biz to administer this provision, require GO-Biz, when determining whether to enter into a written agreement with a taxpayer for allocation periods beginning with the 2020–21 fiscal year, to consider the overall economic impact in this state of the COVID-19 pandemic to the taxpayer's project or business. (2) Existing law establishes the Office of Small Business Advocate within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as GO-Biz, and prescribes the duties and functions of the Small Business Advocate, who is also the Director of the Office of Small Business Advocate. Among these duties, the director is to serve as the principal advocate in the state on behalf of small businesses and to represent the views and interests of small businesses before other state agencies whose policies and activities may affect small businesses. This bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature from the General Fund, the Small Business Advocate to convene a task force to research and provide a report to the Legislature, on or after the effective date of this bill, regarding the regulations or regulatory areas that most negatively impact small businesses in the state. (3) Existing law creates the Department of Human Resources, which succeeds to and is vested with all of the powers and duties exercised and performed by the Department of Personnel Administration. Existing law specifically grants the department the powers, duties, and authority necessary to operate the state civil service system in accordance with Article VII of the California Constitution, the Government Code, the merit principle, and applicable rules duly adopted by the State Personnel Board. Existing law requires the State Personnel Board to prescribe rules consistent with a merit-based civil service system to govern classification, examinations, probationary periods, disciplinary actions, and other matters related to the board's authority under the California Constitution. This bill would require the State Personnel Board to prescribe rules to include as a factor for recruitment, outreach, and hiring whether the person can demonstrate that they have become unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as provided. (4) Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Under existing the law, the department is responsible for, among other things, the fire protection, fire prevention, maintenance, and enhancement of the state's forest, range, and brushland resources, and for maintaining an integrated staff to accomplish, among other things, fire protection and fire prevention activities as needed. Existing law requires the department, in accordance with a plan approved by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, to, among other things, provide fire prevention and firefighting implements and apparatus, organize fire crews and patrols, and employ people to effect the plan. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, require the department to establish new, or expand existing, entry-level positions within the department that are aimed at reducing and mitigating wildfire risk and to give priority, in hiring for these positions, to applicants who have lost their jobs due to the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, pandemic. (5) Existing law establishes the California Conservation Corps and requires that young people participating in the corps program generally be engaged in projects that, among other things, preserve, maintain, and enhance environmentally important lands and waters. Existing law authorizes the Director of the California Conservation Corps to adopt criteria for selecting applicants for enrollment in the corps program. This bill would authorize, notwithstanding any other law, a person who is over 25 years of age to serve as a corpsmember, require priority, in the selection of any corpsmember, to be given to applicants who have lost their jobs because of the novel coronavirus, known as COVID-19, pandemic, and require corpsmembers who join the corps because they lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic to be paid at least minimum wage pursuant to existing law. The bill would require these provisions to be implemented only upon appropriation by the Legislature. (6) Existing law establishes the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development in the California Health and Human Services Agency. The office is vested with all the duties, powers, purposes, responsibilities, and jurisdiction of the State Department of Public Health relating to health planning and research development. Existing law establishes various scholarship and training programs that are managed by the office to improve access to health care. These programs include, among others, the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program, which provides for the repayment of prescribed educational loans obtained by a physician and surgeon who practices in a medically underserved area of the state. Existing law also requires the office to establish a nonprofit public benefit corporation known as the Health Professions Education Foundation to perform various duties with respect to implementing health professions scholarship and loan programs. This bill would establish, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Health Profession Economic Recovery Program to be administered by the office. The bill would require the program to accomplish various goals, including expanding the number of primary care physician and psychiatry residency positions and expanding and strengthening programs to recruit and prepare students from underrepresented and low-income backgrounds for health careers. (7) Existing law authorizes a person or gleaner engaged in the business of processing, distributing, or selling an agricultural product to donate, free of charge, a product that is in a condition that it may be used as food for human consumption to a nonprofit charitable organization within the state. For this purpose, existing law authorizes the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to divert agricultural products to nonprofit organizations, including food banks, and authorizes the board of supervisors of a county to establish a surplus food collection and distribution system. In order to qualify as a food bank, existing law requires an organization to meet certain minimum standards. This bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture, upon appropriation by the Legislature from the General Fund, to create a grant program to provide grants to food banks to contract labor to harvest produce from farms willing to donate produce and to transport the produce to the food bank for distribution to the public. (8) Under existing law, the Department of Housing and Community Development Department administers various grant programs to local governments to fund housing and community development projects. This bill would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature from the General Fund, to create a grant program to award grants to local governments for shovel-ready housing and community development projects. (9) Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of the state highway system and associated property. Existing law provides various sources of funding to local governments for transportation projects and operations. This bill would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature from the General Fund, to create a grant program to award grants to local governments for shovel-ready transportation projects. (10) The Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983 establishes a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals. The act requires the office to observe the construction of, or addition to, a hospital building or the reconstruction or alteration of a hospital building, as it deems necessary to comply with the act for the protection of life and property. This bill would establish, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Economic Recovery Seismic Retrofitting Program to be administered by the office. The bill would require the office to provide loans to hospitals to fund seismic retrofit construction, as defined. The bill would also establish the Economic Recovery Seismic Retrofitting Program Fund to fund loans made under the program.

Existing law prohibits an employer from asking an applicant to disclose, or from utilizing as a factor in determining any condition of employment, information concerning an arrest or detention that did not result in a conviction, or information concerning a referral or participation in, any pretrial or posttrial diversion program, except as specified. Existing law also prohibits an employer, as specified, from asking an applicant to disclose, or from utilizing as a factor in determining any condition of employment, information concerning a conviction that has been judicially dismissed or ordered sealed, except in specified circumstances. Applicants for employment as peace officers, or with the Department of Justice, or with other criminal justice agencies, or persons already employed as peace officers, are an exception to these prohibitions, so that information about applicants for these positions or employees may be disclosed or sought. Existing law makes it a crime to intentionally violate these provisions. This bill would additionally include persons already employed as nonsworn members of a criminal justice agency, as specified, within the exception to these prohibitions, so that information about these employees may be disclosed or sought. Existing law authorizes a criminal justice agency to release criminal history information under certain circumstances, including the release of information concerning an arrest or detention of a peace officer, or applicant for a position as a peace officer, that did not result in conviction or information concerning a referral to and participation in any postarrest diversion program or deferred entry of judgment program to a governmental agency employer of that peace officer or applicant. This bill would also authorize a criminal justice agency to release that information concerning a nonsworn employee of a criminal justice agency, or an applicant for a nonsworn position within a criminal justice agency, to a governmental agency employer of that nonsworn employee or applicant.

Existing law permits a vehicle to be equipped with an exterior lamp or device that emits a diffused light, subject to certain conditions, as specified. This bill would permit the installation of an illuminated sign on the rooftop of a vehicle if certain requirements are met, including, among others, that the illuminated sign is safely secured to the vehicle. The bill would provide that it does not limit the existing authority of a city, county, or city and county.

Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Department of Motor Vehicles to ensure that all eligible inmates, as defined, released from a state prison have a valid identification card. Existing law also requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to assist a person who is exonerated as to a conviction for which the person is serving a state prison sentence at the time of exoneration with access to specified state and federal services, including transitional services and enrollment in the Medi-Cal medical benefits program. This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide each inmate with a copy of the inmate's social security card and birth certificate upon release from a state prison.

The California Child Day Care Facilities Act (act) generally requires the State Department of Social Services to license, inspect, and regulate various types of child day care facilities, defined to include, among others, family daycare homes. Existing regulations require a family daycare home licensee to be present in the home, ensure children are supervised at all times, and not be absent from the family daycare home more than 20% of the hours the licensee is providing care per day. Existing regulations also require a family daycare home to be clean with heating and ventilation, as specified, maintain telephone service, and provide safe toys and play equipment and materials. A violation of the act or a willful or repeated violation of any rule or regulation promulgated under the act is a crime and enforceable with a civil penalty. This bill would codify the above-described regulations as part of the act, and instead prohibit a family daycare licensee from being absent from the family daycare home more than 30% of the hours that the licensee is providing care per day.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to establish rules for all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature. Existing law authorizes the commission, after a hearing, to require every public utility to construct, maintain, and operate its line, plant, system, equipment, apparatus, tracks, and premises in a manner so as to promote and safeguard the health and safety of its employees, passengers, customers, and the public. The Public Utilities Act provides that any public utility that violates any provision of the California Constitution or the act, or that fails or neglects to comply with any order, decision, decree, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, where a penalty has not otherwise been provided, is subject to a penalty of not less than $500 and not more than $100,000 for each offense. This bill would authorize the Attorney General or the district attorney of a proper county or city and county, as specified, to bring an action in the name of the people, pursuant to the above-described civil penalty provision, against an electrical corporation involving a failure to comply with safety standards or requirements. The bill would provide that when the conduct that constitutes the violation or failure to comply is of a continuing nature, each day of that violation or failure to comply is subject to a separate and distinct civil penalty. The bill would require that an action seeking these civil penalties be commenced within 4 years after the cause of action accrues. The Public Utilities Act provides that every public utility and every officer, agent, or employee of a public utility, who violates or fails to comply with, or who procures, aids, or abets any violation by any public utility of any provision of the California Constitution or of the act, or who fails to comply with any part of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, or who procures, aids, or abets any public utility in a violation or noncompliance, in a case in which a penalty has not otherwise been provided, is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000, or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both fine and imprisonment. This bill would authorize the Attorney General or the district attorney of a proper county or city and county, as specified, to bring an action in the name of the people, pursuant to the above-described criminal provision, against an electrical corporation involving a failure to comply with safety standards or requirements. The bill would provide that when the conduct that constitutes the violation or failure to comply is of a continuing nature, each day of that violation or failure to comply is a separate and distinct offense subject to a fine or imprisonment, or both a fine and imprisonment. The bill would require that an action seeking a fine or imprisonment pursuant to the above-described criminal provision be commenced within 4 years after the commission discovers the violation or failure to comply, or within 4 years after completion of the violation or failure to comply, whichever is later. The Public Utilities Act provides that all penalties accruing under the act are cumulative, and a suit for the recovery of one penalty does not bar or affect the recovery of any other penalty or forfeiture or serve as a bar to any criminal prosecution against any public utility, or any officer, director, agent, or employee of the public utility, or any other corporation or person. This bill would expressly provide that the above-described civil penalty and criminal sanction provisions are in addition to other fines or penalties imposed by other law. The Public Utilities Act requires the commission to ensure that where enforcement of provisions affecting public utilities is not specifically vested in some other officer or tribunal, that those provisions are enforced and obeyed and that violations are promptly prosecuted and penalties are recovered and collected. To accomplish this requirement, the commission is authorized to sue in the name of the people and to request the Attorney General or a district attorney to aid in any investigation, hearing, or trial and to institute and prosecute actions or proceedings. This bill would provide that the bill does not diminish the duty of the commission to be the primary entity responsible to ensure that the laws pertaining to public utilities are enforced and obeyed and does not diminish the authority of the commission to request the Attorney General or the district attorney of a proper county or city and county to aid in any investigation, hearing, or trial pursuant to the act.

Existing law requires an owner or operator of a motor vehicle to maintain liability insurance coverage for the named insured and any other person using the vehicle with permission in the amount of $15,000 for the bodily injury or death of any one person, $30,000 for the bodily injury or death of all persons, and $5,000 for damage to the property of others resulting from any one accident. Existing law defines "proof of financial responsibility" for purposes of provisions requiring an owner or operator of a motor vehicle to maintain proof of financial responsibility in these amounts, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of the Vehicle Code is a crime. This bill would increase the amount of liability insurance coverage an owner or operator of a motor vehicle is required to maintain to $30,000 for bodily injury or death of one person, $60,000 for bodily injury or death of all persons, and $25,000 for damage to the property of others as a result of any one accident. This bill would make conforming changes to the definition of "proof of financial responsibility" for purposes of the provisions described above. This bill would, beginning on January 1, 2026, and every 5 years thereafter, adjust the amount of required liability insurance coverage by any increase in the California Consumer Price Index, as specified. Because this bill would expand the application of an existing crime, it 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.