Under existing law, if sufficient appropriations are not available for the payment of certain claims, settlements, or judgments, the Attorney General is required to report the claims, settlements, and judgments to the chairperson of either the Senate Committee on Appropriations or the Assembly Committee on Appropriations, who is then required to cause introduction of legislation appropriating the funds necessary for payment. This bill would appropriate an unspecified amount from the General Fund to the Attorney General to pay the judgment in an unspecified case. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Under existing law, the commission administers, or otherwise oversees, various public purpose programs, including energy efficiency and conservation programs, cost-effective energy efficiency programs, the Family Electric Rate Assistance program, the California Alternate Rates for Energy program, rate assistance programs for eligible food banks, and home insulation financial assistance programs. Under existing law, those programs are generally funded through a charge on electrical service, which is collected through customer rates. This bill would require the commission, no later than 180 days after filing, to consider and approve an electrical or gas corporation's application to discontinue administration of an energy efficiency program or an energy efficiency portfolio because the program is not cost effective, not reliable, or, in the case of an electrical corporation, because the program is not being used to meet unmet resource needs in its integrated resources planning framework, as provided. Because a violation of a commission order implementing this provision 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 generally regulates classes of insurance, including life and disability insurance. Existing law grants a person an insurable interest in the life and health of, among others, themselves or a person upon whom they depend for education or support. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision.
Existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, provides that all persons within the jurisdiction of this state are entitled to full and equal accommodations in all business establishments of every kind whatsoever, regardless of their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status. Existing law requires the Civil Rights Department, among other things, to enforce the provisions of the Unruh Civil Rights Act. Existing law authorizes aggrieved persons to, among other remedies, file a complaint with the Civil Rights Department. This bill would provide related declarations, including the intent of the Legislature to clarify that those provisions of existing law fully apply to early childcare and education settings and prohibit discrimination in access to and provision of those services. This bill would specify that "business establishments of every kind whatsoever" includes, but is not limited to, entities and individuals that provide early care and education services to the public for a fee or other consideration, including licensed childcare centers, licensed family childcare homes, and family, friend, and neighbor care providers, regardless of whether the services are publicly funded. The bill would prohibit its provisions from being construed to limit existing protections or requiring the disclosure of immigration or citizenship status.
The Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) authorizes an aggrieved employee, as defined, to bring a civil action on behalf of that employee, and other current or former employees against whom a violation of the same provision of the Labor Code was committed, to enforce a violation of any provision of the Labor Code that provides for a civil penalty to be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, as specified, pursuant to certain notice and cure provisions, as prescribed. Before a civil action alleging certain violations of the Labor Code by an aggrieved employee pursuant to PAGA commences, PAGA requires the aggrieved employee or representative to give written notice by online filing with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and by certified mail to the employer of the specific provisions of the Labor Code alleged to have been violated, including the facts and theories to support the alleged violation, and requires that notice and any response to that notice by the employer to be accompanied by a filing fee of $75, as specified. This bill would exempt a nonprofit organization exempt from federal income taxation pursuant to Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 from the requirement to pay those filing fees.
Existing law creates the Department of Insurance, headed by the Insurance Commissioner, and prescribes the commissioner's qualifications and duties. Existing law requires the commissioner to be a person competent and fully qualified to perform the duties of the office and prohibits the commissioner from being an officer, agent, or employee of an insurer or directly or indirectly interested in an insurer or licensee, except as specified. This bill would additionally require the commissioner, within 10 years before election, to have had at least 5 years of senior, management, or supervisory insurance experience in the private sector or a state or federal agency, as specified.
Existing law generally prohibits an employer from employing an employee for a work period of more than 5 hours per day without providing the employee with a meal period of not less than 30 minutes, except as specified. Existing law also prohibits an employer from employing an employee for a work period of more than 10 hours per day without providing the employee with a 2nd meal period, as prescribed. Existing law creates exceptions from these work limits for employees in specified occupations, including those in a construction occupation, as defined, covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement expressly providing for wages, hours of work, and working conditions. Existing law also authorizes the Industrial Welfare Commission to adopt a working condition order permitting a meal period to commence after 6 hours of work if it determines that the order is consistent with the health and welfare of the affected workers. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with enforcement of these provisions. This bill would create an exception from the above-described work period limits for an employee in a construction occupation while the employee is on the jobsite, as specified.
Existing law requires land to be declared either surplus land or exempt surplus land, as supported by written findings, before a local agency may take any action to dispose of it consistent with an agency's policies or procedures. Existing law establishes procedures for the disposal of surplus land, including requiring certain information to be provided to the Department of Housing and Community Development. These procedures do not apply to the disposal of exempt surplus land. Existing law establishes various categories of exempt surplus land, including surplus land that is a former street, right-of-way, or easement, and is conveyed to an owner of an adjacent property. This bill would broaden the definition of exempt surplus land to include land that is unsuitable for housing development due to the presence of one or more specified characteristics, including land with slope instability that increases risk of mudslides, landslides, subsidence, liquefaction, and other seismic hazards.
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 the right to request that a business delete personal information about the consumer that the business has collected from the consumer. The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, an initiative measure 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 with full administrative power, authority, and jurisdiction to implement and enforce the CCPA. The CCPA law makes a business, service provider, contractor, or other person that violates the CCPA liable for an administrative fine, as provided. The CCPA creates the Consumer Privacy Fund in the State Treasury and makes moneys in the fund available upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law requires 95% of any administrative fine assessed, and of the proceeds of any settlement, to be deposited into the Consumer Privacy Subfund, which is created within the Consumer Privacy Fund. The CCPA law requires the funds to be used exclusively by the agency in carrying out its duties under the CCPA. The CCPA requires the other 5% of any administrative fine, and of the proceeds of any settlement, to be deposited into the Consumer Privacy Grant Subfund, also within the Consumer Privacy Fund, to be used exclusively by the agency to administer and distribute grants to promote and protect consumer privacy, as provided. This bill would authorize a person to submit to the agency, a whistleblower complaint, as defined, and would make the whistleblower eligible for an award if the agency designates a complaint for administrative enforcement and certain requirements are met. The bill would require an eligible whistleblower to receive at least 15% but not more than 33% of the fines collected through an administrative enforcement action or settlement, calculated after the allocation to Consumer Privacy Grant Subfund described above. The bill would require the agency to consider certain factors in determining the amount of the award. The bill would additionally authorize the agency to assess an administrative penalty against a person who violates the CCPA in an amount to cover the reasonable attorney's fees of the whistleblower. This bill would create the Consumer Privacy Whistleblower Subfund within the Consumer Privacy Fund and would require the funds awarded by the agency to a whistleblower or for attorney's fees to be deposited into the Consumer Privacy Whistleblower Subfund. The bill would make those funds available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for payment to the whistleblower or the whistleblower's attorney, as appropriate. This bill would require the whistleblower, in order to be eligible for a whistleblower award, to meet certain requirements, including that the whistleblower be represented by an attorney and declare under penalty of perjury that the information submitted with the whistleblower complaint is true and correct to the best of the whistleblower's knowledge and belief. The bill would authorize a person to submit a whistleblower complaint anonymously, subject to certain conditions, including that the whistleblower's attorney certify, under penalty of perjury, that the attorney has taken certain actions, including verifying the whistleblower's identity. The bill would make a whistleblower's identify confidential, except as provided, and would exempt disclosure of the whistleblower's identify from the California Public Records Act. By requiring the declarations under penalty of perjury described above, the bill would create new crimes and, thus, impose a state-mandated local program. Under the bill, an employee, contractor, or agent would be entitled to bring a civil action to seek specified relief and damages if the employee, contractor, or agent is subject to specified forms of discrimination in the terms and conditions of their employment because of lawful acts done by the employee, contractor, agent, or associated others in furtherance of a whistleblower complaint or administrative enforcement action under the bill or other efforts to stop one or more violations of the CCPA. The California Consumer Privacy 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 Consumer Privacy Act of 2020. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. 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 the Office of the State Fire Marshal to allow certification of contractors who conduct defensible space, home hardening, fuel reduction, roadside clearance, and other contracting activities for wildfire resiliency efforts and who have completed specified training programs. Existing law generally regulates classes of insurance, including residential property and fire insurance. Existing law creates the Department of Insurance, headed by the Insurance Commissioner, and prescribes the department's powers and duties. Existing department regulations prohibit an insurer from using a rating plan that does not take into account and reflect specified wildfire risk mitigation, including property-level building hardening measures. Upon request for a premium quote for residential property insurance, this bill would require a specified insurer to provide a premium quote for the residential property that includes the price of insurance if the property is certified as "hardened" by a home hardening certification program established or approved by the State Fire Marshal and a premium quote for the residential property in its current state.
Existing law provides that it is the public policy of this state to ensure that children have frequent and continuing contact with both parents after the parents have ended their relationship, and to encourage parents to share the rights and responsibilities of child rearing in order to effect this policy, except where the contact would not be in the best interest of the child, as specified. Existing law provides for proceedings to determine the custody of a child, and establishes a presumption, affecting the burden of proof, that joint custody is in the best interest of a minor child, as specified. This bill would, for child custody proceedings filed on or after January 1, 2027, establish a rebuttable presumption that equal parenting time is in the best interest of the child if (1) both parents are found fit, willing, and able to parent and (2) both parents reside within 25 miles of the child's primary school or educational institution. The bill would authorize the court to deny equal parenting time if it finds by clear and convincing evidence that shared parenting time is not in the interest of the child due to circumstances that are detrimental to the child, including, but not limited to, a history of substantiated domestic abuse. The bill would require any decision to deny equal parenting time to be substantiated in writing and specify the evidence relied upon.
Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board to consider and act upon all applications for permits to appropriate water. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that provision.
