Attorney General: duties.

(1) The California Constitution exempts from state civil service various types of officers and employees, including officers elected by the people and a deputy and an employee selected by each of those officers. The California Constitution additionally authorizes the Attorney General to appoint or employ 6 deputies or 6 employees who are exempt from state civil service. Under existing law, the Governor, with the recommendation of the Attorney General, is required to appoint 2 directors and 2 associate directors of the Attorney General's office who would be exempt from state civil service. This bill would instead require the Governor, with the recommendation of the Attorney General, to appoint 6 directors and 6 associate directors of the Attorney General's office who are exempt from state civil service. (2) Existing law makes it unlawful to deposit, permit to pass, or place where it can pass, specified pollutants into the waters of this state, including petroleum, acid, or coal or oil tar. Existing law makes a violation of those provisions subject to a civil penalty of no more than $25,000 for each violation and an additional civil penalty of no more than $10 for each gallon or pound of material discharged, and requires the civil action to be brought by the Attorney General upon complaint by the Department of Fish and Wildlife or by the district attorney or city attorney in the name of the people of the State of California. This bill would also authorize the Attorney General to bring a civil action under their own authority in the name of the people of the State of California, and would specify the Attorney General should notify the Department of Fish and Wildlife before bringing a civil action. (3) Existing law provides that civil penalties collected for unfair business practice violations that are obtained through civil actions brought by the Attorney General are deposited in the Unfair Competition Law Fund within the General Fund. This bill would provide that such civil penalties may also be deposited in the Public Rights Law Enforcement Special Fund for the enforcement of consumer protection laws. (4) Certain entities involved in the marketing, distribution, or sale of opioids, or related activity, are in the process of entering into a Statewide Opioid Settlement Agreement with participating government entities, including the State of California, to resolve claims related to the opioid crisis. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations, and express the intent of the Legislature to, among other things, facilitate a Statewide Opioid Settlement Agreement for the purpose of generating funds for opioid addiction programs and other issues related to the opioid crisis. The bill would require that funds obtained pursuant to a Statewide Opioid Settlement Agreement, as defined, be distributed in a manner consistent with that agreement, as specified, and would require that the expenditure of any funds received by the state be subject to appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to release any claim related to the subject matter of the settlement that may be brought by a government entity against a settling defendant, except those claims filed by a government entity before August 24, 2020. The bill would require that implementation of these provisions be contingent upon the execution of a Statewide Opioid Settlement Agreement, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2023. (5) This bill would appropriate $1,000 from the Public Rights Law Enforcement Special Fund to the Department of Justice's Public Rights Division for the enforcement of consumer protection laws. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.