Existing law, the Displaced Janitor Opportunity Act, requires contractors and subcontractors, as defined, that are awarded contracts or subcontracts, on and after January 1, 2002, for janitorial or building maintenance services at a particular job site or sites, to retain, for a period of 60 days, certain employees who were employed at that site by the previous contractor or subcontractor. Under the act, a "contractor" means any person that employees 25 or more individuals and that enters into a service contract with the awarding authority. Existing law requires employees retained for that 60-day period to be offered continued employment if their performance during that 60-day period is satisfactory. This bill would, instead, define the term "contractor" to mean any person that employs janitor employees and that enters into a service contract with the awarding authority. The bill would make related changes to various definitions used in the act. This bill would extend the above-described timeframe for which a successor contractor or subcontractor is required to retain employees of a terminated contractor or subcontractor to 90 days. The bill would require the successor contractor or subcontractor, during the 90-day transition period, to maintain a preferential hiring list of eligible covered employees by seniority within job classifications. The bill would also require employees retained for the 90-day period to be offered continued employment if their performance during that 90-day period is satisfactory. The bill would require that offer to be contemporaneously shared with the union representing the employees, if applicable. Among other changes, the bill would require an awarding authority that enters into contracts or subcontracts for janitorial or building services to provide written notification to both the contractor and the union, if the employees are represented by a union, within 5 days of making the decision to terminate a service contract and to post a notice in a conspicuous location at the worksite. The bill would prescribe specified elements to be included in those notices, including the termination date of the service contract. Additionally, the bill would require a successor contractor or subcontractor to maintain the same number of hours and pay the same wages and benefits as those of the prior contractor or subcontractor. Existing law authorizes an employee who was not offered employment or was discharged in violation of these provisions to bring an enforcement action against a successor contractor or successor subcontractor in a court of competent jurisdiction. Existing law requires a court to award backpay to an employee if the court finds that the contractor or subcontractor has violated the act, in addition to other specified remedies. This bill would require a court to award treble damages for a violation, if it finds that a party's violation of the act was willful. The bill would additionally authorize the Labor Commissioner to enforce these provisions and to recover specified remedies on behalf of an aggrieved employee, including hiring and reinstatement rights. The bill would make an employer, agent of any employer, or other person who violates these provisions subject to specified civil penalties and liquidated damages, and would require the liquidated damages to be deposited into the Labor and Workforce Development Fund and paid to the employee as compensatory damages. The bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner to promulgate and enforce rules and regulations and to issue determinations and interpretations.
Existing law establishes the California State University and its various campuses under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University. Existing law requires the trustees to establish an internal audit staff with prescribed duties, including auditing, reviewing, cost and systems analysis, analyzing, and recommending operating procedures for the university. Existing law also requires the university's internal audit staff to perform audits, at least once every 5 years, of the activities of the university, as provided. This bill would require an external financial audit of each campus of the California State University to be conducted by January 1, 2028. The bill would also require all audits of the California State University or any of its campuses, including audits conducted by the university's internal audit staff, to be available to the public.
(1) The California Wildlife, Coastal, and Park Land Conservation Act, an initiative measure approved by the voters in the June 7, 1988, statewide primary election, provided bond funds for wildlife, coastal, and parkland conservation. The initiative measure authorizes the act to be amended by a 23 vote of the Legislature if the amendment is consistent with the purposes of the act. Existing law requires an applicant receiving state funds under the act to maintain any property acquired in perpetuity, as specified, and use the property only for the purposes stated in the act and to make no other use, sale, or other disposition of the property except as authorized by a specific act of the Legislature. Existing law authorizes the County of San Bernardino to sell or exchange property it owns within the Chino Agricultural Preserve that was purchased with grant funds if it meets certain conditions. Among those conditions, existing law requires the county to preserve all lands and conservation easements acquired or dedicated as authorized by the act in perpetuity for open-space conservation purposes or agricultural preservation, and specifies that open-space conservation includes community gardens, agricultural heritage projects, agricultural and wildlife education or wildlife habitat. This bill would additionally authorize preservation of those lands or easements for park and recreational purposes, and would explicitly include, to the extent they are consistent with the purposes of the act, playgrounds, recreational venues, sporting venues, amphitheaters, and preservation of historical resources as appropriate purposes. (2) Existing law prohibits the county from selling, exchanging, or otherwise acquiring replacement land or conservation easements unless and until the board of supervisors for the county adopts a detailed land plan. Existing law requires the land plan to, among other things, identify each parcel of property acquired with grant funds and show which specific parcels the county will sell, exchange, purchase, or retain. Existing law required the land plan to be approved by the Department of Parks and Recreation, as specified. Existing law authorizes the county to propose a plan to the department for the expenditure of any unexpended proceeds from the sale or exchange of land under the land plan for the acquisition of land or easements, or capital improvements to land or easements purchased with grant funds. This bill would eliminate the explicit authorization and procedures specifically applicable to the expenditure of these unexpended proceeds. Existing law authorizes the county to use all income generated from the properties it owns within the preserve that were purchased with grant funds, or that were acquired by exchange or purchase as authorized, except revenues from the sale or exchange of land, for the acquisition of additional replacement land within the preserve pursuant to the land plan or for the improvement, operation, and maintenance of existing or replacement land within the preserve. This bill would authorize the county to use the revenues from the sale or exchange of land for these purposes, and would specify new purposes for which that revenue, and all income generated from the properties the county owns within the preserve that were purchased with grant funds or that were acquired by exchange or purchase, may be used. The bill would declare that these requirements are an amendment of the act within the meaning of Section 6 of the act and is consistent with the act.
Existing law, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, enacted as an initiative statute by Proposition 47, as approved by the electors at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, makes the theft of money, labor, or property petty theft punishable as a misdemeanor, whenever the value of the property taken does not exceed $950. Under existing law, if the value of the property taken exceeds $950, the theft is grand theft, punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. Proposition 47 requires shoplifting, defined as entering a commercial establishment with the intent to commit larceny if the value of the property taken does not exceed $950, to be punished as a misdemeanor. Under existing law, if the value of all property taken over the course of distinct but related acts motivated by one intention, general impulse, and plan exceeds $950, those values may be aggregated into a single charge of grand theft. This bill would clarify that those values may be aggregated even though the thefts occurred in different places or from different victims. The bill would also, declarative of existing law, provide that circumstantial evidence may be used to prove that multiple thefts were motivated by one intention, general impulse, and plan. The bill would also authorize counties to operate a program to allow retailers to submit details of alleged shoplifting, organized retail theft, or grand theft directly to the county district attorney through an online portal on the district attorney's internet website. The bill would require counties that participate in the program to conduct an evaluation and collect specified information, and to report that information to the Assembly and Senate Public Safety Committees and the Board of State and Community Corrections, as specified.
Existing law, the Zenovich-Moscone-Chacon Housing and Home Finance Act, among other things, establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development and requires it to administer various programs intended to promote the development of housing and to provide housing assistance and home loans. Existing law sets forth various general powers of the department in implementing these programs, including authorizing the department to enter into long-term contracts or agreements of up to 30 years for the purpose of servicing loans or grants or enforcing regulatory agreements or other security documents. Existing law, unless an extension of a department loan, the reinstatement of a qualifying unpaid matured loan, the subordination of a department loan to new debt, or an investment of tax credit equity would result in a rent increase for tenants of a development, authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to approve an extension, reinstatement, subordination, payoff, extraction, or investment pursuant to specified rental housing finance programs, as specified, or if the department determines that a project has, or will have after rehabilitation or repairs, a potential remaining useful life equal to or greater than the term of the restructured loan. Existing law authorizes the department to charge a monitoring fee to cover the aggregate monitoring costs in years the loan is extended and a transaction fee to cover its costs for processing restructuring transactions, and requires developer fee limitations to be consistent with specified laws and regulations, including regulations by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. This bill would revise and recast these provisions, including additionally authorizing the department to approve the payoff of a department loan in whole or part before the end of its term and the extraction of equity from a development for purposes approved by the department. The bill would specify eligible uses of loan and equity sources, if the department determines that a project has, or will have after rehabilitation or repairs, a potential remaining useful life equal to or greater than the term of the department's regulatory agreement for purposes of approving an extension, reinstatement, subordination, payoff, extraction, or investment, as described above. The bill would prohibit the extension, reinstatement, subordination, payoff, extraction, or investment, as described above, if it would result in a rent increase for tenants of a development over and above the annual adjustment to the tenants' rents under the department's regulatory agreement. This bill would recast certain provisions related to regulatory agreements, including authorizing the department to add another regulatory agreement and authorizing the department to waive specified requirements in the regulatory agreement if the loan is paid off, including requiring occupancy and financial reports. The bill would authorize the department to charge additional fees as necessary to cover its costs for processing restructuring transactions, and would provide that the monitoring fees continue until the end of the term of the department's regulatory agreement, as specified. The bill would limit developer fees to the amount allowed by the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee or to 25% of actual rehabilitation costs, as applicable. Existing law, known as the No Place Like Home Program, requires the department to award up to $2,000,000,000 among counties to finance capital costs, including, but not limited to, acquisition, design, construction, rehabilitation, or preservation, and to capitalize operating reserves, of permanent supportive housing for the target population, as specified. This bill would define "capitalized operating reserves" for purposes of the Zenovich-Moscone-Chacon Housing and Home Finance Act and the No Place Like Home Program. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law provides for the establishment of early and middle college high schools. Existing law requires each middle college high school to be structured as a broad-based, comprehensive instructional program focusing on college preparatory and school-to-work curricula, among other things. Under existing law, pupils in early college high schools begin taking college courses as soon as they demonstrate readiness and the college credit earned may be applied toward completing an associate or bachelor's degree, transfer to a 4-year university, or obtaining a skills certificate. This bill would require each school district, county office of education, or charter school with a middle college high school or program or an early college high school or program to, beginning on or before August 1, 2026, and each August 1 thereafter, prepare and submit a report to the State Department of Education with specified information. The bill would require the department, on or before November 15, 2026, and each November 15 thereafter, to aggregate that reported information and submit a report of the information to the Legislature and the Department of Finance.
Existing law regulates public utilities, including electrical and gas corporations. The Public Advocate's Office of the Public Utilities Commission is established as an independent office within the Public Utilities Commission to represent and advocate on behalf of the interests of public utility customers and subscribers within the jurisdiction of the commission. This bill would request the office to establish, by January 1, 2026, a program to, upon request of the Legislature, analyze legislation that would establish a mandated requirement or program or otherwise affect electrical or gas ratepayers, as specified. The bill would request the office to develop and implement conflict-of-interest provisions that would prohibit a person from participating in an analysis for which the person knows or has reasons to know that the person has a financial interest. The bill would require the commission, on June 15 of each year, to assess an annual fee on all large electrical and gas corporations, as defined, to fund the projected costs incurred by the office in implementing the bill, not to exceed $2,000,000 annually, divided evenly among each large electrical and gas corporation, as specified, for deposit into the Energy Programs Benefit Fund, which would be established by the bill. The bill would continuously appropriate the moneys in the fund to the office to support the work of the office in providing analyses under the bill. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.
Under the California Youth Football Act, a youth sports organization, as defined, that conducts a tackle football program must comply with certain requirements, including, among other things, having a licensed medical professional, which may include a state-licensed emergency medical technician, paramedic, or higher-level licensed medical professional, present during games. Until January 1, 2028, this bill would require the Surgeon General to convene a Commission on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy and Youth Tackle Football to investigate issues related to the risks of brain injury associated with participation in youth tackle football, and to provide recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature on strategies to reduce those health risks, including the minimum appropriate age for participation in youth tackle football. The bill would require the commission to request youth sports injury information from youth tackle football leagues, which would be shared on a voluntary basis. The bill would require the Surgeon General to publish a report on their internet website on or before July 1, 2027, with the findings of the commission.
Existing law authorizes a party or attorney in an action or proceeding to move to disqualify a judge, court commissioner, or referee for prejudice against a party or attorney or the interest of a party or attorney, as specified. Prejudice may be established by an oral or written motion without notice supported by affidavit or declaration under penalty of perjury, or an oral statement under oath, that the judge, court commissioner, or referee is prejudiced against a party or attorney, or the interest of the party or attorney, so that the party or attorney cannot, or believes that they cannot, have a fair and impartial trial or hearing. Existing law requires, in specified circumstances, the Chair of the Judicial Council to assign some other judge, court commissioner, or referee to try the cause or hear the matter as promptly as possible. The bill would require the California Law Revision Commission to deliver, on or before September 30, 2027, a study regarding the recusal of judicial officers for prejudice and conflict of interest, as specified. The bill would require the California Law Revision Commission to consult with the Commission on Judicial Performance in developing the study. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on September 30, 2031, and would repeal it as of January 1, 2032.
Existing law defines certain acts as disorderly conduct, punishable as a misdemeanor. Under existing law, it is disorderly conduct to intentionally distribute or cause to be distributed the image of the intimate body part or parts of another identifiable person, or an image of the person depicted engaged in an act of sexual intercourse, sodomy, oral copulation, sexual penetration, or an image of masturbation by the person depicted or in which the person depicted participates, under circumstances in which the persons agree or understand that the image shall remain private, the person distributing the image knows or should know that distribution of the image will cause serious emotional distress, and the person depicted suffers that distress. This bill would make it a crime for a person who is 18 years of age or older to intentionally create and distribute a deepfake of an intimate body part or parts of another identifiable person, or a deepfake of the person depicted engaged in an act of sexual intercourse, sodomy, oral copulation, sexual penetration, or a deepfake of masturbation by the person depicted or in which the person depicted participates, if the person creating and distributing the deepfake knows or should know that the person depicted did not consent to the distribution and that the distribution of the deepfake will cause serious emotional distress, and the person depicted suffers that distress. The bill would define a deepfake as any audio or visual media, including, but not limited to, any image, motion picture film, or video recording, that is created or altered in a manner that it would falsely appear to a reasonable observer to be an authentic record of the actual speech or conduct of the individual depicted in the recording. By expanding the scope of 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.
Existing law provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that all public schools, in kindergarten, and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, operated by school districts, in cooperation with specified entities and individuals, develop a comprehensive school safety plan, as provided. Existing law provides that school districts and county offices of education are responsible for the overall development of a comprehensive school safety plan for each of its schools, as provided. Existing law, the Charter Schools Act of 1992, provides for the establishment and operation of charter schools, including countywide charter schools, and requires a petition for the establishment of a charter school to contain comprehensive descriptions of various matters and procedures, including procedures that the charter school will follow to ensure the health and safety of pupils and staff. The act requires those procedures to also require the development of a school safety plan, as provided. This bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would establish the School Mapping Data Grant Program under the administration of the Office of Emergency Services to provide one-time grants to participating school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to enter into contracts with qualified vendors providing school mapping data, as provided, for purposes of assisting public safety agencies in efficiently responding to on-campus emergencies at schools.
Existing law establishes the Student Aid Commission as the primary state agency for the administration of state-authorized student financial aid programs available to students attending all segments of postsecondary education. 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 provides instruction and performs research at the 10 campuses it operates and maintains in Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of postsecondary education in the state. The California State University comprises 23 institutions of higher education located throughout the state, including California State University, Northridge. Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. The board of governors appoints the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to serve as the segment's chief executive officer. The segment comprises 73 community college districts and a total of 116 community colleges throughout the state. One of these colleges is Glendale Community College. This bill, until January 1, 2029, would establish the Students at Risk of Homelessness Emergency Pilot Program under the administration of the commission to award interest-free loans for housing and college attendance costs to eligible undergraduate students attending the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, Merced, the California State University, Northridge, and Glendale Community College who demonstrate financial need, as defined. The bill would require the commission to enter into a contract with a nonprofit organization that has existed for more than 50 years and operates an interest-free loan program virtually in the state for the nonprofit organization to award loans to eligible students. The bill would create the Emergency Students Facing Housing Crisis and Homelessness Revolving Fund as the initial depository of all moneys appropriated, donated, or otherwise received for the program, and upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require the commission to distribute moneys in the fund to the nonprofit organization to award loans to eligible students. The bill would require the nonprofit organization to annually report to the commission the number of students who qualified for a loan and the number of students awarded a loan. The bill would require the commission to submit an annual report to the Legislature that includes this information.
