Existing law, known as the Administrative Procedure Act, governs the procedures for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. Existing law requires a state agency proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal an administrative regulation to, among other things, assess the potential for adverse economic impact on California business enterprises and individuals, and requires a state agency proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal a major regulation on or after November 1, 2013, to prepare and submit to the Department of Finance for comment, a standardized regulatory impact analysis, as provided. Existing law defines "major regulation" for purposes of the act to mean any proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation subject to review by the office that will have an economic impact on California business enterprises and individuals in an amount exceeding $50,000,000, as provided. Existing law establishes procedures for the adoption of emergency regulations, including requiring that the state agency make a finding that the adoption of a regulation or order of repeal is necessary to address an emergency, as defined. Under existing law, a regulation, amendment, or order of repeal adopted as an emergency regulatory action may only remain in effect for up to 180 days, unless the adopting agency complies with specified requirements. This bill, the Restoring Accountability Act, would prohibit a state agency from taking final action to adopt a major regulation until certain requirements are met, including that after the state agency prepares a standardized regulatory impact analysis and submits the analysis to the Department of Finance, as described above, the state agency submits a proposal to the Legislature recommending legislation to authorize the adoption of the major regulation and the Legislature enacts a law expressly authorizing the state agency to adopt that major regulation. The bill, notwithstanding that prohibition, would authorize a state agency to adopt an emergency regulation that is a major regulation if the state agency complies with specified requirements governing the adoption of emergency regulations. The bill would prohibit the emergency regulation from being in effect more than 180 days, except that the state agency may twice readopt an emergency regulation that is the same or substantially equivalent to the emergency regulation previously adopted for a period not to exceed 90 days, if the state agency prepares a standardized regulatory impact analysis and submits the analysis to the Department of Finance for comment, as described above, and the state agency submits a proposal to the Legislature recommending legislation to authorize the adoption of the major regulation.
Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to establish a security department under the supervision of a chief of security as designated by, and under the direction of, the superintendent of the school district and to employ personnel to ensure the safety of school district personnel and pupils, as provided. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to contract with a private licensed security agency to ensure the safety of school district personnel and pupils and the security of the real and personal property of the school district when the personnel normally required to provide those services fail to do so because of an emergency or when such an emergency necessitates additional security services, as provided. This bill would require the governing board of a school district that establishes a security department, and the governing board or body of a local educational agency, as defined, that enters into a contract on or after January 1, 2027, with a private licensed security agency to provide school security services, to (1) specify the parameters on the use of weapons, including, but not limited to, handcuffs, pepper spray, batons, and firearms, on a school campus and (2) specify the roles and responsibilities of school administrators, school security department personnel, and contracted school security officers for purposes of ensuring the safety of personnel and pupils, consistent with assigning school administrators primary responsibility for deescalation.
Existing law requires a state agency, except as specified, proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal a major regulation to prepare a standardized regulatory impact analysis in the manner prescribed by the Department of Finance, addressing specified considerations, and submit that analysis to the Department of Finance. Existing law requires the department to comment, within 30 days of receiving the analysis, on the extent to which the analysis adheres to specified regulations. This bill would require the State Air Resources Board to also prepare and publish a supplemental standardized regulatory impact analysis if the proposed regulation is materially changed after release of the initial standardized regulatory impact analysis described above, and before adoption, that updates the consumer cost analysis to reflect amendments made during the rulemaking process. The bill would require the board to make the supplemental standardized regulatory impact analysis available for public review.
The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. Existing law establishes the continuously appropriated Tax Relief and Refund Account and provides that payments required to be made to taxpayers or other persons from the Personal Income Tax Fund are to be paid from that account. This bill would allow, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2027, and before January 1, 2032, a cost-of-living credit against those taxes to a qualified taxpayer, as defined, in a qualified amount, calculated as provided based on the taxpayer's filing and residence status. The bill would require the amount of the credit exceeding the taxpayer's liability to be credited against other amounts due, if any, and would require the balance to be paid from the Tax Relief and Refund Account and refunded to the taxpayer. By increasing the payments from the Tax Relief and Refund Account, a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The Personal Income Tax Law generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived and provides various exclusions from gross income. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, and before January 1, 2032, provide an exclusion from gross income those amounts received as a refund under the above-described cost-of-living tax credit. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations related to a gift of public funds and other related findings and declarations.
Existing law prohibits the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission from certifying a nuclear fission thermal powerplant, except for specified powerplants, and provides that a nuclear fission thermal powerplant, except specified powerplants, is not a permitted land use in California unless certain conditions are met regarding the existence of technology for the construction and operation of nuclear fuel rod processing plants and of demonstrated technology or means for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste, as specified. This bill would exempt a nuclear microreactor, as defined, from those provisions.
Existing law makes it a crime to intentionally disturb or disquiet an assemblage of people met for religious worship by profane discourse, rude or indecent behavior, or by any unnecessary noise. Existing law makes a violation of this crime a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000, by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would additionally make a violation of the above-described crime a felony punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000, by imprisonment in a county jail for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years, or by both that fine and imprisonment. By making an existing crime punishable as either a misdemeanor or a felony, 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.
The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to grant a reprieve, pardon, or commutation after sentence has been entered, except as specified. This measure would prohibit the Governor from granting a pardon or commutation to specified relatives.
(1) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act requires the state board to adopt rules and regulations to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions to ensure that the statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined, no later than December 31, 2030. Pursuant to the act, the state board has adopted the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations. The act authorizes the state board to include in its regulation of those emissions the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. This bill would suspend the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations for one year. The bill would also exempt suppliers of transportation fuels from regulations for the use of market-based compliance mechanisms for one year. This bill would direct the Controller to transfer a specified amount from the General Fund to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. By transferring General Fund moneys to a partially continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (2) Existing law, the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law, imposes a tax upon each gallon of motor vehicle fuel removed from a refinery or terminal rack in this state, entered into this state, or sold in this state, at a specified rate per gallon. This bill would suspend the imposition of the tax on motor vehicle fuels for one year. The bill would require a seller of motor vehicle fuels to provide a receipt to a purchaser that indicates the amount of tax that would have otherwise applied to the transaction. This bill would also direct the Controller to transfer a specified amount from the General Fund to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account in the Transportation Tax Fund. By transferring General Fund moneys to a continuously appropriated account, this bill would make an appropriation. (3) Existing unfair competition laws establish a statutory cause of action for unfair competition, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising and acts prohibited by false advertisement laws. This bill would require that all savings realized based on the suspension of the motor vehicle fuels tax, the suspension of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations, and the exemption of suppliers of transportation fuels from regulations for use of market-based compliance mechanisms by a person other than an end consumer, as defined, be passed on to the end consumer, and would make the violation of this requirement an unfair business practice, in violation of unfair competition laws, as provided. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law specifies that one who indemnifies another against an act to be done by the latter, is liable jointly with the person indemnified, and separately, to every person injured by the act. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that provision.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 establishes the Fair Political Practices Commission and imposes various restrictions on public officials for the purpose of avoiding conflicts of interests. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that holds elected officials accountable by prohibiting Members of the Legislature from accepting gifts or trading in individual stock, imposing a lifetime lobbying ban, eliminating exemptions for the Legislature from labor, workplace, and public record laws, and eliminating government pensions for local elected officials.
Existing law generally prohibits law enforcement from providing information regarding the release date of an individual from custody or from transferring an individual to immigration authorities without a warrant or judicial probable cause determination. This bill, the California Secure Borders Act of 2025, would state the intent of the Legislature to combat illegal immigration and secure the border by repealing those provisions, prohibiting the use of state funds for various welfare, health, housing, and other services for undocumented immigrants, requiring public disclosure of information on the impact of illegal immigration on crime rates and state and local services, providing cross-deputization training for local law enforcement to support federal border security actions, and providing standards for deployment of the State Guard to the border.
The Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act establishes a statewide program for the control of the quality of all the waters in the state and makes certain legislative findings and declarations. Existing law establishes the State Water Resources Control Board to exercise the adjudicatory and regulatory functions of the state in the field of water resources. Pursuant to its authority, the board adopted the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary (Bay-Delta Plan) that, among other things, establishes objectives to protect the beneficial uses of the water and prevent nuisance within the waters specified in the Bay-Delta Plan. Existing law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) , requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA, except as provided, when a regulatory program of a state agency requires a plan or other written documentation containing environmental information, authorizes that plan or other information to be submitted in lieu of the EIR if the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency has certified that regulatory program, as specified. This bill would require the board to adopt an update to the Bay-Delta Plan that addresses the Sacramento River and its tributaries, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) eastside tributaries, and the Delta no later than August 31, 2026. The bill would exempt the board from the requirements to prepare, provide for review, transmit to state agencies, and include written or oral responses to comments on a specified draft substitute environmental document, as provided.
