Existing law allows a person who is unlawfully imprisoned or restrained of their liberty to prosecute a writ of habeas corpus to inquire into the cause of their imprisonment or restraint. Existing law allows a writ of habeas corpus to be prosecuted on several bases, including on the basis of the discovery of new evidence that has not been previously presented and heard at trial and has been discovered after trial. This bill would prohibit a habeas corpus petition prosecuted under these provisions from being dismissed based on procedural bars if the petitioner establishes that in light of all of the evidence now before the court, it is more likely than not the outcome of the case would have been different, as specified.
Existing law requires a health practitioner, as defined, to make a report to law enforcement when they suspect a patient has suffered physical injury that is either self-inflicted, caused by a firearm, or caused by assaultive or abusive conduct, including elder abuse, sexual assault, or torture. A violation of these provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would remove the requirement that a health practitioner make a report to law enforcement when they suspect a patient has suffered physical injury caused by assaultive or abusive conduct. The bill would instead require that a health practitioner make a report when the injury is life threatening or results in death, as specified, or is the result of child abuse or elder or dependent adult abuse. The bill would require the health practitioner to additionally make a report when a person is seeking care for injuries related to domestic, sexual, or any nonaccidental violent injury if the patient requests a report be sent, as specified. The bill would also require a health practitioner who suspects that a patient has suffered physical injury that is caused by domestic violence, as defined, to provide brief counseling and a referral to local and national domestic violence or sexual violence advocacy services, as specified. This bill would make other conforming changes. Because a violation of these requirements would be a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) grants to a consumer various rights with respect to personal information, as defined, that is collected by a business, as defined, including a requirement that a business have the affirmative authorization of the consumer or the consumer's parent or guardian, as provided, before selling or sharing the personal information of a consumer that the business has actual knowledge is less than 16 years of age. The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the CCPA. The CCPA establishes the California Privacy Protection Agency and vests it with full administrative power, authority, and jurisdiction to implement and enforce the CCPA. This bill would, except if certain conditions are met, prohibit a developer, as defined, from using the personal information of a consumer less than 16 years of age, as specified, to train or fine-tune, as defined, an artificial intelligence system or service unless the consumer or the consumer's parent or guardian, as specified, has affirmatively authorized that use of the consumer's personal information. The bill would require, if affirmative authorization is given, a developer to deidentify and aggregate the personal information subject to the authorization before using the personal information to train or retrain an artificial intelligence system or service. The bill would define "artificial intelligence" to mean an engineered or machine-based system that, for explicit or implicit objectives, infers from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments and would define "train" to mean to expose artificial intelligence to data in order to alter the relationship between inputs and outputs. The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 authorizes the Legislature to amend the act to further the purposes and intent of the act by a majority vote of both houses of the Legislature, as specified. This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020.
Existing law establishes a system of statewide child welfare services, administered by the State Department of Social Services and county child welfare agencies, with the intent that all children are entitled to be safe and free from abuse and neglect. Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge a child to be a dependent of the court under certain circumstances, including when the child suffered, or there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer, serious physical harm, or a parent fails to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment. Existing law establishes the grounds for removal of a dependent child from the custody of their parents or guardian, and establishes procedures to determine placement of a dependent child. Existing law establishes procedures for an initial petition hearing by the juvenile court if a child is being taken into temporary custody, and requires the court to review the status of every dependent child in foster care no less frequently than once every 6 months Existing law requires any order placing a child in foster care, and ordering reunification services, to provide for visitation between the parent or guardian and the child, but prohibits a visitation from jeopardizing the safety of a child. Existing law also requires the court to continue to permit the parent or legal guardian to visit the child pending status hearings unless it finds that visitation would be detrimental to the child. This bill would remove the above-described prohibition on visitations that jeopardize the safety of a child. The bill would, during the initial petition hearing, require the court to make an order regarding visitation between the child and the parent or guardian that sets forth a frequency and duration that is most conducive to quality family time and specifies whether the visitation shall be supervised. This bill would, with any order placing a child in foster care and ordering reunification services and during subsequent review hearings, require a court to order unsupervised visitation between a parent or legal guardian and a child or children, unless unsupervised visitation would present an identified present danger of harm to the child, and there are no reasonable means by which the child's physical or emotional health may be protected without having supervised visitation. The bill would define unsupervised visitation for these purposes. The bill would require a court, if the court orders supervised visitation, to specify the factual basis for its order and to order that the agency has discretion to liberalize the visitation to unsupervised unless the court finds that granting this discretion would be contrary to the child's safety. The bill would also require the county child welfare agency or their designee to supervise visits in specified circumstances when an alternate individual has not been approved to supervise visits. Existing law requires social workers to create reports and recommendations to be reviewed by the court as part of a review hearing. This bill would require social workers to specify why the return of the child would be detrimental to the child and, if visitation has not been liberalized, what efforts were put in place to liberalize the parent or legal guardian's visits and why liberalization was contrary to the child's welfare. By increasing the duties of counties, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law authorizes a pupil with a moral objection to dissecting or otherwise harming or destroying an animal to refrain from participation in an educational project that involves the harmful or destructive use of animals. Existing law authorizes, if the pupil chooses to refrain and a teacher believes that an adequate alternative education project is possible, the teacher to work with the pupil to develop and agree upon an alternative education project in order to obtain the knowledge, information, or experience required by the course of study in question. Existing law requires each teacher teaching a course that utilizes live or dead animals or animal parts to inform the pupils of their rights pursuant to these provisions. Existing law applies these provisions to all levels of instruction in all public schools operating programs in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish and implement a system of complaint processing, known as the Uniform Complaint Procedures, for specified educational programs. This bill, if a pupil chooses to refrain from participation in an assessment, education project, or test involving the dissection of animals, would require a teacher to provide an alternative assessment, education project, or test. The bill would prohibit a pupil's grades from being impacted as a means of penalizing the pupil for exercising their rights concerning dissection of animals. The bill would require a teacher to provide, at a pupil's request, any sourcing information provided by the vendor or provider of the animals and information about the chemicals used to preserve the animals for dissection to which the pupil may be exposed. The bill would require a teacher, or a public school on behalf of the teacher, to provide written notice of the pupils' rights that includes specified information, including, among other things, the above-described rights and the complaint procedures described below. The bill would require, by November 1, 2025, the State Department of Education to develop a template that a teacher, or a public school on behalf of the teacher, would be authorized to use to provide this written notice and to make the template available on its internet website. The bill would encourage, by July 1, 2028, public schools to explore using effective alternative methods in lieu of utilizing live or dead animals or animal parts for dissection in a course of study, except as provided. The bill would require the Uniform Complaint Procedures to apply to pupils' rights to refrain from participation in an assessment, education project, or test involving the dissection of animals and to choose an alternative assessment, education project, or test. By imposing additional duties on public schools, the 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law authorizes each county to establish a Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund to receive moneys for the implementation of a community corrections program to provide supervision and rehabilitative services for adult felony offenders subject to local supervision. Existing law requires the program to be developed and implemented by probation and advised by a local Community Corrections Partnership. Existing law requires the partnership to be comprised of specified members, including, among others, a representative from a community-based organization with experience in successfully providing rehabilitative services to persons who have been convicted of a criminal offense. This bill would add a representative of a community-based organization with experience in successfully providing behavioral health treatment services to persons who have been convicted of a criminal offense, and a representative of a Medi-Cal managed care plan that provides the Enhanced Care Management benefit, to the membership of the partnership. Existing law requires each county local Community Corrections Partnership to recommend a local plan to the county board of supervisors, and requires the board to accept or reject the plan. Existing law requires the plan to be voted on by an executive committee of each county's partnership consisting of, among others, one department representative from the head of the county department of social services, the head of the county department of mental health, or the head of the county alcohol and substance abuse programs. This bill would instead require the committee to consist of all 3 of the departments mentioned above and would require the department head to have the number of votes equivalent to the number of departments they represent. The bill would require the plan to, among other things, include quantifiable goals for improving the community corrections system, as specified. The bill would require the local partnership to submit the accepted plan annually to the Board of State and Community Corrections.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care, and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law generally authorizes a health care service plan or health insurer to use utilization review, under which a licensed physician or a licensed health care professional who is competent to evaluate specific clinical issues may approve, modify, delay, or deny requests for health care services based on medical necessity. Existing law also prohibits a health care service plan that covers prescription drug benefits from limiting or excluding coverage for a drug that was previously approved for coverage if an enrollee continues to be prescribed that drug, as specified. The bill would authorize a licensed health care professional to request, and would require that they be granted, the authority to adjust the dose or frequency of a drug to meet the specific medical needs of the enrollee or insured without prior authorization if specified conditions are met. Under the bill, if the enrollee or insured has been continuously using a prescription drug selected by their prescribing provider for the medical condition under consideration while covered by their current or previous health coverage, the health care service plan or health insurance policy would be prohibited from limiting or excluding coverage of that prescription. With respect to health care service plans, the bill would specify that its provisions do not apply to Medi-Cal managed care plan contracts. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law requires a county social worker to investigate the circumstances of each child taken into temporary custody by a peace officer under specified circumstances. Existing law requires the social worker to conduct an investigation, within 30 days of the child's removal, to identify and locate adult relatives of the child, as specified, and to provide them with a notification that the child has been removed from the custody of the child's parents, guardians, or Indian custodian, and an explanation of the various options to participate in the care and placement of the child. This bill, the Justice Through Placing Foster Children with Families Act, would require each county, by January 30 of each year, to review publicly available data comparing the statewide national average rate of placing children with relatives in the prior year for comparison with the county's placement rate during the same period. The bill would require that, if the county's placement rate is less than the statewide average, the county welfare director, or their designee, no later than December 1, communicate at least once with the Center for Excellence in Family Finding, Engagement, and Support to identify best practices that may be adopted by the county to improve its average rate placing children with relatives. The bill would require that each year a county has a rate of placing children with relatives that is less than the statewide average, the county board of supervisors of that county, at least once, include the topic, including whether the county has adopted best practices identified by the Center for Excellence in Family Finding, Engagement, and Support, for discussion on the agenda at a regularly noticed meeting of the full board. By increasing the duties of county welfare departments and county boards of supervisors, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make related findings and declarations. 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 Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A Entitlement Awards, the Cal Grant B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Expanded Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement Awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards, the Cal Grant C Awards, and the Cal Grant T Awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission. Existing law, the Cal Grant Reform Act revises and recasts the provisions establishing and governing the existing Cal Grant Program into a new Cal Grant Program. Existing law specifies that the act becomes operative only if General Fund moneys over the multiyear forecasts beginning in the 2024–25 fiscal year are available to support ongoing augmentations and actions, and if funding is provided in the annual Budget Act to implement the act. Under either Cal Grant Program that is operative, existing law establishes eligibility requirements for awards under the program for participating students attending qualifying institutions, including, among others, California residency requirements, as provided. Existing law establishes the Middle Class Scholarship Program (MCSP) under the administration of the commission. Existing law makes an undergraduate student eligible for a scholarship award under the MCSP if the student is enrolled at the University of California or the California State University, or enrolled in upper division coursework in a community college baccalaureate program, and meets certain eligibility requirements, including, among others, that the applicant meets the eligibility requirements for a Cal Grant. This bill would extend Cal Grant and MCSP eligibility to a student who was not a resident of California at the time of high school graduation or its equivalent but meets all other applicable eligibility requirements and is a dependent natural or adopted child, stepchild, or spouse of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States stationed outside of California on active duty, if the member of the Armed Forces of the United States otherwise maintains California as their state of legal residence. The bill also would make conforming changes.
Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998, provides for the adoption of rules, regulations, and procedures, under the administration of the Director of General Services, for the allocation of state funds by the State Allocation Board for the construction and modernization of public school facilities. Existing law requires, upon request of any school district, the State Department of Education to provide assistance in the evaluation and utilization of existing school facilities and the justification of the need for schoolsites, new facilities, and the rehabilitation or replacement of existing facilities, in accordance with board regulations. This bill would require the State Department of Education to establish the Office of Small School Facilities and Construction to provide assistance and guidance to small school districts, as defined. The bill would require, upon request of a small school district, the department to provide assistance in the evaluation and utilization of existing school facilities and the justification of the need of schoolsites, new facilities, and the rehabilitation or replacement of existing facilities, in accordance with board regulations. The bill would require this assistance to include, among other things, providing assistance in the assessment of school facility conditions and providing technical assistance and supportive services. The bill would require the department, in collaboration with the Office of Public School Construction, to provide assistance and guidance to small school districts in the identification, application, and acquisition of state school facilities funding for the construction and development of school facilities. The bill would require this assistance to include, among other things, annually informing small school districts of the availability of state school facilities funding for which they may qualify and responding to requests for assistance in identifying and determining state requirements to become eligible and apply for state facilities funding. The bill would require the department to assign existing staff to the office to provide direct assistance and support to small school districts. The bill would become operative only if the voters approve, at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election, a statewide bond act that provides money for school facilities.
Existing law establishes certain requirements relating to gratuities paid to employees, including prohibiting an employer or agent from taking any gratuity that is paid to an employee by a patron or from requiring an employee to credit the amount of a gratuity against the wages due to the employee. Existing law requires an employer to keep accurate records of all gratuities received by the employer and requires that those records be open to inspection by the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law makes a violation of those provisions by an employer a misdemeanor. This bill would prohibit an employer or agent from prohibiting, or implementing a policy to prohibit, an employee of a restaurant from receiving any gratuity that is paid, given to, or left for an employee by a patron. Because a violation of the bill's provisions would be a crime, the 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
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. This bill would prohibit a person sentenced to imprisonment in a state prison from being prevented from receiving personal visits, including, but not limited to, noncontact and family visits, unless necessary and narrowly tailored to further legitimate security and safety interests. The bill would specify conduct that could be deemed necessary and for legitimate security and safety interests if the conduct occurs within visiting areas during visiting hours or the conduct poses a clear and imminent risk of physical violence within visiting areas and during visiting hours. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to prescribe and amend rules and regulations for the administration of prisons. Existing law requires these regulations 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 create the framework for establishing a visitation 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. This bill would prohibit the department from denying or restricting in-person contact and noncontact visits, except as specified. The bill would require the department to inform both the visitor and the incarcerated person of the specific reason for any denial of a visit, as specified. The bill would require the department to provide at least 3 days of in-person visiting per week. The bill would require all infrastructure and areas initially erected for the purposes of providing family visits for incarcerated persons to be used only for the purpose of family visits, except as provided. Existing law requires the department to develop policies related to its contraband interdiction efforts for individuals entering department detention facilities, including, but not limited to, the establishment of unpredictable, random search efforts and methods, as specified. This bill would prohibit the department from using strip searches, visual body cavity searches, and physical body searches of visitors under 18 years of age. The bill would require the department to maintain multiple methods by which to search visitors, including, but not limited to, metal detectors, body scanners, and other contactless screening methods. The bill would authorize the department to conduct a strip search of minors if the department has probable cause and obtains a warrant to search. The bill would require the department, when there is probable cause that a minor visitor is attempting to introduce contraband, unauthorized substances, or other unauthorized items into the institution, to notify the individual and their parent or guardian in writing, and would require the department to obtain consent from the minor and their guardian before conducting a search. The bill would permit the department to offer a noncontact visit, if feasible, or deny the visit if the minor and their parent or guardian do not consent to the minor being searched. The bill would require the department to issue a written notice detailing the reason for denial or restriction, as specified, if a visitor is denied visitation or has visitation restricted.
