The Planning and Zoning Law requires each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city, which includes, among other mandatory elements, a housing element. That law requires, for the 4th and subsequent revisions of the housing element, the Department of Housing and Community Development (department) , in consultation with each council of governments, where applicable, to determine the existing and projected need for housing for each region, at least 2 years prior to the scheduled revision of the housing element, as specified. That law requires the department's determination to be based upon population projections produced by the Department of Finance and regional population forecasts developed by the council of governments and used for the preparation of the regional transportation plan, as specified. That law also requires the department to meet and consult with the council of governments regarding the assumptions and methodologies to be used to determine a region's housing need and requires the council of governments to provide data assumptions from the council of governments' projections, as specified. That law authorizes the department to accept or reject the information provided by the council of governments and, requires the department, after consultation with the council of governments, to make determinations on the data assumptions and the methodology the department will use to determine the region's housing need, as specified. That law requires the department to provide its determinations to the council of governments, as specified. This bill would for the 8th and subsequent revisions of the housing element require the department to convene and engage stakeholders to consider improvements to the process of determining the existing and projected housing need for each region before determining any region's existing projected housing need. The bill would require the department, prior to finalization of the regional determination, as specified, to publish on the department's internet website a summary of the information the department considered and determinations made by the department to improve the process of determining the existing and projected housing need for each region. The bill would additionally require the department to publish on its internet website the data sources, analyses, and methodology, including assumptions and factors used in and applied to the Department of Finance's population projections and engagement process with the council of governments prior to finalization of the regional determination. The bill would additionally require the department to publish its determinations on the data assumptions and methodology it will use to determine a region's housing need on the department's internet website.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, gas corporations, heat corporations, telegraph corporations, telephone corporations, and water corporations. Existing law directs the commission to require a public utility to establish and maintain a balancing account whenever the commission authorizes a change in rates reflecting and passing through to customers specific changes in costs to reflect the balance between the related costs and revenues. Existing law requires the commission to develop a risk-based approach for reviewing those balancing accounts periodically to ensure that the transactions recorded in the balancing accounts are for allowable purposes and are supported by appropriate documentation. Existing law requires the commission to maintain an inventory of the balancing accounts and requires public utilities to record all related costs and revenues in their balancing accounts. Existing law requires the commission to adopt balancing account review procedures that are consistent with a risk-based approach. Existing law requires the commission to annually provide the Legislature with an update on the status of its review of balancing accounts as part of an annual report or by posting it on its internet website, as provided. Existing law requires that all charges demanded or received by any public utility, or by any 2 or more public utilities, for any product or commodity furnished or to be furnished or any service rendered or to be rendered be just and reasonable and provides that every unjust or unreasonable charge demanded or received for such product or commodity or service is unlawful. This bill would require the commission to include, as part of its annual update to the Legislature on the status of its review of balancing accounts, the amount of funds in, and the expenditures from, the memorandum accounts and balancing accounts of each public utility. The bill would require the commission to conduct a comprehensive audit, with specified criteria, of each wildfire- or emergency-related memorandum account or balancing account of each electrical corporation on or before July 1, 2025, or, on or before January 1, 2027, if the commission is unable to review all those accounts by July 1, 2025, as provided. The bill would require the commission, if it determines that any actual costs recorded in those electrical corporation accounts have already been authorized and collected from customers, to deny the electrical corporation a 2nd recovery of those costs. The bill would require the commission to make those determinations and take those actions in a manner that ensures that the rates are sufficient to enable the public utility to recover a just and reasonable rate of return. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements 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, 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 establishes a payment schedule for those programs. Existing law requires a childcare provider to submit to the alternative payment program a monthly attendance record or invoice, maintained in the unaltered original format in which it was created, for each child who received services. 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 remove the requirement that alternative payment programs reimburse childcare providers based on specified criteria and the requirement that an invoice be maintained in the unaltered original format in which it was created. The bill would require the department to ensure that childcare providers are reimbursed at the applicable regional market rate ceiling. The bill would also require that, commencing on April 30, 2026, alternative payment programs provide payment to childcare providers prior to the day the childcare begins for the child and require the department to issue guidance for prospective payments to the alternative payment programs that reimburse childcare providers for the provision of state-funded subsidized childcare and development services no later than April 30, 2025.
Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals. Existing law generally requires a recipient of CalWORKs benefits to participate in welfare-to-work activities as a condition of eligibility for aid. Existing law requires that necessary supportive services be available to participants in welfare-to-work activities, including transportation costs, which are governed by regional market rates as determined in accordance with regulations established by the State Department of Social Services. This bill would instead require mileage costs for welfare-to-work participants to be determined based on the current standard mileage rate for transportation or travel expenses set by the United States Internal Revenue Service. The bill would require a participant in welfare-to-work activities to be issued a monthly advance transportation payment of $200. By increasing the duties of counties administering the CalWORKs program, 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, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, makes the State Department of Developmental Services (department) responsible for providing various services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities, and for ensuring the appropriateness and quality of those services and supports. Pursuant to that law, the department contracts with regional centers to provide services and supports to persons with developmental disabilities. The services and supports to be provided to a regional center consumer are contained in an individual program plan (IPP) , developed in accordance with prescribed requirements. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities, including general acute care hospitals, by the State Department of Public Health. A violation of these provisions is a crime. Existing law requires each hospital to have a written discharge planning policy and process that requires that the appropriate arrangements for posthospital care are made prior to discharge, as specified. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income persons receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing federal law provides for various home- and community-based services, as part of a waiver or a state plan amendment under the Medicaid program, to promote coverage and services that enable an individual who would otherwise be institutionalized to live at home or in the community. This bill would require the State Department of Developmental Services, in consultation with the State Department of Health Care Services and the State Department of Public Health, to develop or contract for the development of, and to implement by July 1, 2025, required training programs for specified general acute care hospital and regional center care management professionals, to provide those care management professionals with an understanding of Medi-Cal home- and community-based waivers, as specified, and information on how to identify a newborn who is likely to qualify for any of those waivers. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to make the training program available for hospital care management professionals, as specified. The bill would require a care management professional to provide the identified families with information and a navigation plan for Medi-Cal home- and community-based waiver programs when the care management professional has reason to believe that it is more likely than not that the child would qualify under one or more waivers. The bill would require the information and navigation plan to be provided upon discharge from the hospital, as specified, or as part of the regional center's IPP process, as applicable. Because a violation of these requirements would be a crime with respect to hospital care management professionals, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would specify the timeframe for completion of the initial training by a care management professional. The bill would require the State Department of Developmental Services to solicit and consider stakeholder input when developing the training 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, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , an initiative measure approved as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. Existing law, the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. Existing law establishes the Department of Cannabis Control within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. Under existing law, the department is under the supervision and control of a director who is appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate. AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend by majority vote certain provisions of the act to implement specified substantive provisions, provided that the amendments are consistent with and further the purposes and intent of AUMA. Existing law authorizes the department to issue a mandatory recall order and to require the licensee to immediately cease distribution of cannabis or a cannabis product and recall the cannabis or cannabis product, as specified. MAUCRSA prohibits cannabis and cannabis products from being sold unless a representative sample of specified batches has been tested by a licensed testing laboratory. Existing law subjects cannabis batches to quality assurance standards and testing prior to sale at a retailer, microbusiness, or nonprofit licensed as specified. This bill would require the department to maintain on its internet website a record of all recall orders issued, as specified. The bill would make specified changes to the testing standards, including requiring testing for cannabigerolic acid and heavy metals. The bill would also subject testing laboratories to in-person audits by the department at least once every 2 years and would require the results of those audits to be posted on the department's internet website. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2026, to establish standard operating procedures for conducting audits, including frequency, manner, and notification requirements. This bill would authorize a quality assurance compliance monitor to conduct random quality assurance reviews at a retailer's or a microbusiness's licensed premises to ensure the labeling and packaging of the cannabis and cannabis products conform to specified requirements.
This California Assembly resolution encourages the U.S. Congress to pass legislation creating a National Infrastructure Bank to fund critical repairs and upgrades for roads, bridges, dams, and other public works. The bill cites reports from the American Society of Civil Engineers highlighting billions of dollars in investment gaps and poor conditions affecting California's transportation and water systems. It advocates for a financing model that uses existing federal debt rather than new taxes, aiming to stimulate the economy, create jobs, and prioritize projects in disadvantaged communities. The resolution formally requests that federal leaders adopt this approach to address the state's urgent infrastructure needs.
This California House Resolution condemns the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump and calls for an end to political violence. The measure highlights the event where Trump was wounded while speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and notes that one attendee died and others were injured while trying to protect him. It urges the state to foster a political environment based on respectful discourse and nonviolence. The resolution is a formal statement of the Assembly's stance and does not create new laws or change existing policies.
Existing law requires the California Department of Aging to administer the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act (act) , which establishes various programs that serve older individuals, defined as persons 60 years of age or older, except as specified. The act requires the department to designate various private nonprofit or public agencies as area agencies on aging to work within a planning and service area and provide a broad array of social and nutritional services. Under the act, the department's mission is to provide leadership to those agencies in developing systems of home- and community-based services that maintain individuals in their own homes or least restrictive homelike environments. This bill would recast and revise various provisions of the act, including updating findings and declarations relating to statistics and issues of concern to the older adult population, and replacing references throughout the act from "senior" and similar terminology to "older adult." The bill would repeal obsolete provisions, such as the Senior Center Bond Act of 1984. Existing law establishes the Senior Housing Information and Support Center within the department to serve as a clearinghouse for information for seniors and their families regarding available innovative resources and senior services, subject to appropriation for these purposes. This bill would repeal the provisions establishing the Senior Housing Information and Support Center.
Existing law provides for various specified special circumstances, including murder committed for financial gain or committed during the commission or attempted commission of certain felonies, which, if found true as specified, require a defendant found guilty of murder in the first degree to be sentenced to death or imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole. Existing law, added by Proposition 115 of the June 5, 1990, statewide primary election, prohibits a judge from striking or dismissing any special circumstance that is admitted by plea or found true by a jury or court, as specified. Existing law generally authorizes a court to dismiss an action or to strike or dismiss an enhancement in the furtherance of justice, except if dismissal of that enhancement is prohibited by any initiative statute. This bill would authorize an individual serving a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for a conviction in which one or more special circumstances were found to be true to petition for recall and resentencing if the offense occurred before June 5, 1990, and the individual has served at least 25 years in custody. The bill would exempt individuals from relief under these provisions under certain circumstances, including if the individual was convicted of first degree murder of a peace officer, as specified. The bill would authorize the court to modify the petitioner's sentence to impose a lesser sentence and apply any changes in law that reduce sentences or provide for judicial discretion, or to vacate the petitioner's conviction and impose judgment on a lesser included offense, as specified. The bill would require a court to consider and afford great weight to evidence offered by the petitioner to prove that specified mitigating circumstances are present. The bill would provide that proof of the presence of one or more specified mitigating circumstances weighs greatly in favor of dismissing a special circumstance, unless the court finds that dismissal of the special circumstance is not appropriate. The bill would require the court to appoint the State Public Defender or other qualified counsel for an indigent petitioner. The California Constitution, as amended by Proposition 9, the Victims' Bill of Rights Act of 2008: Marsy's Law, at the November 4, 2008, statewide general election, entitles the victim of a crime to specified rights, including to reasonable notice of all public proceedings, including all parole or other postconviction release proceedings. The bill would clarify that these proceedings constitute a "post-conviction release proceeding" under Marsy's Law.
(1) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2030, allow a credit against the taxes imposed by those laws for portions of the costs for qualified services paid or incurred by a qualified taxpayer. The bill would define "qualified taxpayer" for this purpose to mean an eligible local news organization or a qualified broadcast station, as those terms are defined. The bill would require a taxpayer to request a tentative credit reservation from the Franchise Tax Board in the form and manner prescribed by the Franchise Tax Board, and would limit the amount of credit allocated by the Franchise Tax Board per calendar year. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to prioritize reservations by qualified small publications, as defined and specified. The bill would allow a payment from the continuously appropriated Tax Relief and Refund Account for an allowable credit in excess of tax liability to a qualified renter, as provided. By authorizing new payments from the Tax Relief and Refund Account in excess of personal income tax liabilities, the bill would make an appropriation. (2) The Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law impose taxes measured by income. Those taxes are administered by the Franchise Tax Board pursuant to specified law, the violation of which is a crime. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and in addition to the taxes imposed under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, would impose a tax upon gross receipts derived from data extraction transactions at a rate of 7.25% of those gross receipts in excess of $2,500,000,000. The bill would define a "data extraction transaction" for these purposes to mean a transaction where a person sells user information or access to users to advertisers and the person engages in a barter by providing services to a user in full or partial exchange for the ability to display advertisements to the user or collect data about the user, except as provided. The bill would exclude a news media entity, as defined, from the provisions of this tax as either a taxpayer or a user. The bill would establish the Data Extraction Mitigation Fee Fund in the State Treasury, and would direct all revenues from the tax, less refunds and reimbursements, be deposited into the fund, as specified. The bill would appropriate $15,000,000 for journalism fellowships, as specified, and would require the remaining moneys in the fund, except as provided, to be used, upon appropriation, for grants to eligible nonprofit local news organizations administered by the Franchise Tax Board, as specified. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to administer this tax in accordance with existing franchise and income tax law provisions, the violation of which is a crime. By expanding the crimes related to the franchise and income tax laws, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, generally allow various deductions in computing the income that is subject to tax imposed under those laws, including miscellaneous itemized deductions that are allowed only to the extent that the aggregate amount of those deductions exceeds 2% of adjusted gross income. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, would allow a deduction in computing the income that is subject to those laws equal to the amount of taxes paid by the taxpayer under the above-described data extraction transaction tax. (4) Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. (5) This bill would make findings and declarations related to a gift of public funds. (6) 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. (7) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The California FAIR Plan Association is a joint reinsurance association in which all insurers licensed to write basic property insurance participate in administering a program for the equitable apportionment of basic property insurance for persons who are unable to obtain that coverage through normal channels. Existing law requires the association to establish and maintain an internet website and a statewide toll-free telephone number through which a person may receive assistance in applying for basic property insurance. Existing law requires an agent or broker transacting basic property insurance to assist a person seeking the agent's or broker's help in obtaining basic property insurance coverage by, among other things, providing the person with the association's internet website and toll-free telephone number. This bill would require an agent or broker to also provide a person seeking their help in obtaining basic property insurance coverage with information regarding the department's Home Insurance Finder in addition to the association's internet website and toll-free telephone number.
