The Debt Collection Licensing Act generally regulates the business of debt collection and prohibits a person from engaging in the business of debt collection in this state without first obtaining a license pursuant to the act. The act provides that it does not apply to certain institutions and persons. This bill would provide that the act does not apply to billing agents, except as specified.
Existing law establishes the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to, among other things, serve as the state planning council responsible for developing the California Developmental Disabilities State Plan and monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the plan. Existing law requires the council to conduct activities related to meeting the objectives of the state plan. Existing law requires these activities to include, among other things, supporting and conducting technical assistance activities to assist public and private entities to contribute to the objectives of the state plan, and authorizes the activities to include, among other things, supporting and conducting activities to assist neighborhoods and communities to respond positively to individuals with disabilities and their families. This bill would require the council to establish and administer a Statewide Special Education Parent Advocacy Collaborative to build statewide capacity for parent and pupil engagement in special education advocacy, systems change, and policy development. The bill would require the council to conduct a competitive grant process to award $800,000 annually for 3 fiscal years to a statewide advocacy organization. The bill would require the selected grantee to conduct outreach and training through meetings or forums to provide information on statewide special education advocacy, as specified. The bill would also require the grantee to, among other things, (1) identify key challenges and opportunities in state policy relating to improving outcomes for pupils with disabilities, (2) establish and facilitate a statewide collaborative of parents, pupils, and stakeholders to build advocacy and leadership skills for state-level advocacy, and (3) establish measurable outcomes aligned with statewide accountability systems, as provided. The bill would require the grantee to submit an annual report to the council and would require the council to submit a report, on or before December 31, 2030, to the Legislature and the Governor that includes the outcomes achieved, as provided. The bill would make these provisions contingent upon an appropriation for these purposes.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Education in state government, and vests the department with specified powers and duties relating to the state's public school system. Existing law declares the policy of the state to ensure that all local educational agencies work to reduce violence, improve pupil safety at schools, and improve the connections between pupils and supportive adults, schools, and communities. This bill would require the department, in consultation with the Office of Emergency Services, to establish and administer the Violence Prevention, Pupil Wellness, and School Safety Grant Program to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, award grants to eligible school districts, county offices of education, or charter schools for evidence-based violence prevention, pupil wellness, and public safety initiatives, as specified. The bill would require the department to consult with representatives of the office, local educational agencies, county behavioral health departments, community-based organizations, and public safety agencies when it develops guidelines for the program. The bill would require each grant recipient to submit findings to the department on the effectiveness of its activities funded by the grant and would require the department to use those findings to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2029, evaluating the effectiveness of the grant program and providing recommendations regarding violence prevention, pupil wellness, school safety, and behavioral health investments.
Existing law states the intent of the Legislature to ensure that all pupils in foster care and those who are homeless, as defined, have a meaningful opportunity to meet the challenging state pupil academic achievement standards to which all pupils are held. Existing law requires educators, county placing agencies, care providers, advocates, and the juvenile courts to work together to maintain stable school placements and to ensure that each pupil is placed in the least restrictive educational programs and has access to the academic resources, services, and extracurricular and enrichment activities that are available to all pupils, as provided. This bill would require the State Department of Education to administer formula grants as part of a pilot program, to be known as the Unaccompanied Youth Support Grant Program, for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to provide supports necessary to improve school attendance, pupil engagement, pupil graduation rates, and pupil wellbeing for unaccompanied youth, as defined, who are 16 or 17 years of age, including connecting youth with resources to find stable housing. The bill would require, subject to an appropriation and subject to specified allocation metrics, 5-year grants that commence with the 2028–29 fiscal year, to be awarded by the Superintendent of Public Instruction to local educational agencies, or consortia of local educational agencies, to support unaccompanied youth, and would require grant funds to be used for, among other things, referrals to existing social services support systems, and providing basic needs and educational support services, as specified. The bill would require, to be eligible to apply for a grant under the program, a local educational agency to have identified at least one unaccompanied youth enrolled during the prior fiscal year, as specified. The bill would require local educational agencies applying for grant funds under the program to submit an application that includes, among other things, a description of how grant funds will be used to identify eligible pupils, the types of supports to be provided based on the eligible uses of grant funds, and the performance measures the local educational agency will use to measure progress towards program goals. The bill would require local educational agencies awarded grant funds under the program to submit annual reports to the department that include, among other things, a description of the expenditure of funds and the number and characteristics of unaccompanied youth served.
This measure would encourage the President of the University of California, the Chancellor of the California State University, and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to create a workgroup of faculty, staff, and administrators to (1) review the use of artificial intelligence in higher education, (2) create a public report on the strategies and best practices for artificial intelligence usage agreed upon by the workgroup within one year following formation of the workgroup, and (3) submit the report to the Legislature and the relevant policy committees of the Legislature with jurisdiction over higher education and privacy and consumer protection.
Existing law requires the State Department of Education, on or before January 1, 2024, to develop a plan to expand mental health instruction in California public schools. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, to develop a plan to expand digital wellness instruction in California public schools, as provided.
This measure would affirm the Legislature's commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and encourage local, state, and federal policymakers, among other organizations, to adopt and uphold DEI principles.
Existing law authorizes school districts that maintain high schools to establish work experience programs for the purpose of providing pupils with instruction in skills, attitudes, and understandings necessary for success in employment. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to coordinate the development, on a cyclical basis, of model curriculum standards for required courses of study, including a career technical education course of study for pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, as specified. This bill would, at the next revision of the California Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards, require the State Department of Education to consider adding content on the role of youth caregivers within the Personal Care and Services career pathway, as provided. The bill would require, by July 1, 2028, the department to provide guidance for the implementation of the Personal Care and Services career pathway, and would explicitly authorize certain types of guidance, including (1) a focus on skills specific to Personal Care and Services occupations, including, but not limited to, in-home caregiving for youth caregivers supporting household family members, and (2) eligibility for youth caregivers caring for a family member in the family member's home for credits through work experience education programs, as provided.
Existing law requires the State Department of Education to identify an evidence-based online training program that a county office of education, school district, state special school, or charter school that serves pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, can use to train school staff and pupils as part of their policy on pupil suicide prevention. Existing law requires the department, subject to an appropriation for these purposes, to provide a grant to a county office of education to acquire a training program identified by the department and disseminate that training program at no cost to specified educational entities, as specified. This bill would revise and recast these provisions by (1) deleting the requirement to provide the above-described grant, (2) deleting the requirement of the department to identify the above-described evidence-based online training program, (3) instead requiring the Behavioral Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission to develop an online training program to train school staff, pupils who are 13 years of age or older, and parents, guardians, or caregivers of pupils as part of the policy on pupil suicide prevention adopted by county offices of education, school districts, state special schools, and charter schools that serve pupils in kindergarten or in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as specified. The bill would require those educational entities that elect to conduct suicide risk screenings to report, on or before June 30, 2027, and June 30 annually thereafter, the number of pupils screened, and which screening instruments were used, for the reporting year, to the department, as provided, and would require the department to compile and post statewide aggregate data on these screenings on its internet website, as provided. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law prescribes various requirements regarding the formation, content, and enforcement of state and local public contracts. Existing law establishes, until January 1, 2027, for contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2017, a claim resolution process applicable to any claim by a contractor in connection with a public works project against a public entity, as specified. For purposes of these provisions, existing law defines "public entity" to include, among others, a city, including a charter city, and county, including a charter county. Existing law imposes various requirements on a public entity in relating to the claim resolution process, including, among other things, conducting a reasonable review of the claim and, within 45 days, providing the claimant a written statement identifying the disputed and undisputed portions of the claim. This bill would repeal the above-described January 1, 2027, repeal date, thereby extending the operation of these provisions indefinitely. By indefinitely extending the duties of local agencies in relation to the above-specified claim resolution process, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. 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.
