Existing law establishes the Department of Transportation and vests it with full possession and control of all state highways and all property and rights in property for state highway purposes. Existing law authorizes the department to issue a written permit to place an encroachment on the state highway. Existing law requires the department to perform certain actions if the encroachment permit application is for a broadband facility. This bill would require the department to perform additional actions for an encroachment permit application for a broadband facility, including, but not limited to, requiring the application and review process for the application to be uniform throughout the state, and would require a broadband facility encroachment permit application that is deemed complete to be deemed approved.
Existing law generally designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution, and designates air pollution control districts and air quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. Existing law requires the state board to inventory sources of air pollution within the air basins of the state, determine the kinds and quantity of air pollutants, and monitor air pollutants in cooperation with districts and other agencies. Existing law requires the state board to adopt standards of ambient air quality for each air basin in consideration of the public health, safety, and welfare, including, but not limited to, health, illness, irritation to the senses, aesthetic value, interference with visibility, and effects on the economy. Existing law authorizes these standards to vary from one air basin to another. This bill would require the state board, in consultation with specified entities, to develop, as provided, a response framework that establishes best practices and guidance for addressing fugitive and natural sources of hydrogen sulfide gas and for community preparation and response to hydrogen sulfide exposure events originating from these sources. The bill would require the state board, in developing the response framework, to conduct at least 3 public workshops, including at least one located in the Tijuana River Valley region, at least one located in the Salton Sea region, and at least one selected in consultation with a community that has experienced significant hydrogen sulfide exposure. The bill would require the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to update the acute and chronic reference exposure levels for hydrogen sulfide and to develop additional health guidance values for hydrogen sulfide, if the need is identified by the state board, in consultation with the office, during development of the response framework.
Existing law, the Digital Equity Bill of Rights, provides that it is the principle of the state to ensure digital equity for all residents of the state, that, among other things, residents have access to broadband that meets specific requirements, and provides that it is the policy of the state that, to the extent technically feasible, broadband internet subscribers benefit from equal access to broadband internet service within the service area of a broadband provider. This bill, contingent upon funding for this purpose, would require a broadband internet service provider, on or before January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, to submit to the Department of Consumer Affairs, or the Department of Broadband and Digital Equity if Assembly Bill 693 of the 2025–26 Regular Session is enacted, a report containing broadband internet access service pricing and speed data that includes, among other information, the advertised speeds offered to consumers and the advertised and total prices paid by consumers. The bill would require the department to publish an annual broadband internet access service affordability and speed report aggregating and analyzing the data submitted by the broadband internet service providers and would require the department to make the data submitted by broadband internet service providers available to the public, as specified. The bill would make a broadband internet service provider that fails to comply with these provisions subject to an administrative penalty not to exceed $1,000 per violation per day until compliance is achieved. This bill would require a broadband internet service provider to establish and maintain a dedicated consumer complaint resolution process that allows consumers to submit complaints via telephone, email, and an online portal, and would require a broadband internet service provider to respond to a complaint within 7 business days and provide a resolution, explanation, or corrective action within a specified timeframe. The bill would prescribe remedies for a consumer if a broadband internet service provider fails to resolve a complaint within the specified timeframe or refuses to act in good faith, including the issuance of a minimum credit of $50 for a complaint that remains unresolved beyond 60 days without valid justification. The bill would require a broadband internet service provider to disclose the complaint resolution process and remedies clearly and conspicuously in its terms of service, in its billing statements, and on its internet website. The bill would require a broadband internet service provider to report complaint statistics to the department, as specified. 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.
(1) Existing law, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) , grants a consumer various rights with respect to personal information, as defined, that is collected or sold by a business, as defined, including the right to direct a business that collects sensitive personal information about the consumer to limit its use, as prescribed. Existing law defines "sensitive personal information" to mean, among other things, personal information that reveals a consumer's precise geolocation. Existing law, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the CCPA. This bill would prohibit a covered entity from collecting or processing the location information of an individual unless doing so is necessary to provide goods or services requested by that individual. The bill would impose various other restrictions on covered entities with regard to location information. The bill would define various terms for purposes of these provisions, including "location information" to mean information that pertains to or directly or indirectly reveals the present or past geographical location of an individual or device, as specified. This bill would require a covered entity to prominently display, at the point where location information is being captured, a notice to individuals stating that their location information is being collected, the name of the covered entity and service provider collecting the information, and a phone number and an internet website where the individual can obtain more information. The bill would require a covered entity to maintain and make available to the data subject a location privacy policy that includes specified information on data usage and management and is subject to a specified notice procedure. This bill would make a covered entity that violates these provisions liable for actual or statutory damages and other specified relief. The bill would authorize the Attorney General or other public prosecutors to bring an action to recover a civil penalty against a covered entity that violates these provisions. This bill would require a business, as defined by the CCPA, to comply with the above-described provisions. (2) Existing law, the Information Practices Act of 1977, prescribes a set of requirements, prohibitions, and remedies applicable to agencies, as defined, with regard to their collection, storage, and disclosure of personal information, as defined. This bill would prohibit a state or local agency, including an agency as defined under the Information Practices Act, from monetizing, as defined, location information. By imposing new requirements on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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. (4) 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 Privacy Rights Act of 2020.
Existing law requires school districts, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools to adopt and update a local control and accountability plan (LCAP) using a template adopted by the State Board of Education that requires an LCAP to include certain information, including, among other information, (1) a description of the annual goals to be achieved for specified state priorities, including, among others, pupil achievement and pupil outcomes, (2) a description of the specific actions that the local educational agency will take during each year of the LCAP to achieve these goals, and (3) an assessment of the effectiveness of the specific actions described in the existing LCAP toward achieving the goals, as provided. This bill would, among other things, require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the state board and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, on or before December 31, 2026, to prepare, and update at least once every 2 years, a compilation of best practices to harness the power of technology to support pupil academic success and accelerate pupil academic achievement for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools that receive specified federal funding, including a model policy for incorporation of those best practices into their LCAPs. The bill would require the department, in collaboration with the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, to conduct at least 3 informational webinars in 2027 for those local educational agencies to understand how to incorporate the best practices and model policy into their LCAPs. The bill would require the department to establish a School Technology Empowerment Advisory Committee that includes at least one school board member, administrator, teacher, and representative from the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, and multiple individuals or organizations that represent the interests of supporting the use of technology in public schools, with experience regarding the effective use of technology in accelerating pupil academic performance, as provided. The bill would require the advisory committee to share with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and advise the Superintendent on, best practices to harness the power of technology to support pupil academic success and accelerate pupil academic achievement for local educational agencies. The bill would also require the advisory committee, on or before December 31, 2028, and annually thereafter, to prepare an annual report on the progress in harnessing the power of technology to accelerate pupil academic achievement and to submit the report to the department and the state board.
Existing law establishes the Department of Technology, which is supervised by the Director of Technology, within the Government Operations Agency. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the public, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , and the California Broadband Council, by January 1, 2024, to develop a state digital equity plan that includes specified elements, including the identification of barriers to digital equity faced by covered populations in this state. This bill would create the Broadband and Digital Equity Commission with specified membership, and would, on July 1, 2027, repeal the California Broadband Council and establish the members of the council as a committee of the commission, as specified. The bill would provide that each member of the commission, excluding ex officio members, receive compensation of $100 per day, but not to exceed $400 for any commission business authorized by the commission during any month, and the necessary expenses incurred by the member in the performance of the member's duties. The bill would establish the Department of Broadband and Digital Equity in the Government Operations Agency for the purpose of promoting ubiquitous and universal broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas of the state and to increase broadband adoption throughout the state for the benefit of all Californians. The bill would, on and after July 1, 2027, declare the department to be the only centralized state department for broadband and digital equity activities within the state authorized to establish rules or regulations for broadband internet access service and internet service providers, as provided. The bill would require the commission to appoint the executive director of the department, who shall serve at the pleasure of the commission, as specified, and would authorize the executive director to appoint, with the approval of the commission, necessary staff, as provided. Existing law requires the PUC to develop, implement, and administer the California Advanced Services Fund to encourage deployment of high-quality advanced communications to all Californians, as specified. Existing law establishes the Broadband Loan Loss Reserve Fund in the State Treasury, and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the PUC to be available to fund costs related to the financing of the deployment of broadband infrastructure by a local governmental agency or nonprofit organization, as provided. Existing law requires the PUC to maintain and update a statewide, publicly accessible, and interactive map showing the accessibility of broadband service in the state. Existing law requires the Office of Broadband and Digital Literacy to oversee the acquisition and management of contracts for the development and construction of a statewide open-access middle-mile broadband network to provide an opportunity for last-mile providers, anchor institutions, and tribal entities to connect to, and interconnect with other networks and other appropriate connections to, the statewide open-access middle-mile broadband network to facilitate high-speed broadband service. Existing law requires the office to retain a third-party administrator to manage the development, acquisition, construction, maintenance, and operation of a statewide open-access middle-mile broadband network, as specified. Existing law requires the office, with the third-party administrator, to develop and construct a statewide open-access middle-mile broadband network that prioritizes last-mile connections to unserved and underserved areas and locations. Existing law requires the office and third-party administrator to work directly with last-mile project grant awardees to ensure that network segments, including prioritized stand-alone Department of Transportation construction projects, support last-mile connections, and requires the office and the third-party administrator, to the extent feasible, to minimize disruption due to excavations, as provided. This bill would delete the provisions described in the above paragraph. The bill would, on and after July 1, 2027, require the department to assume all administrative functions of the California Advanced Services Fund and the Broadband Loan Loss Reserve Fund, and require the department to administer and maintain the interactive map showing the accessibility of broadband service in the state and the statewide open-access middle-mile broadband network, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to perform work, at the request of the commission, that the commission deems necessary to carry out its duties and responsibilities, but requires the commission to consider the expertise and resources available to the department, and specifies that the commission is not prohibited from using the services of other public or private entities. The bill would require the commission to advise and assist the department, the agency, and the Legislature in formulating and evaluating state policies and plans for broadband and digital equity programs in the state, and would authorize the commission to participate in relevant federal government rulemakings to advocate on behalf of the department and the state's interests. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature by July 1, 2028, and at least annually thereafter, on the activities of the department and actions taken by the commission, and would require the report to include, among other things, the number of unserved and underserved households in the state, and progress toward increasing connectivity. The bill would require the department to establish a process to enable California residents, consumer advocates, and local governments to make complaints regarding any activity that may result in digital discrimination of access.
Existing law requires that a local agency that maintains an internet website for use by the public to ensure that the internet website uses a ".gov" top-level domain or a ".ca.gov" second-level domain no later than January 1, 2029. Existing law requires that a local agency that maintains public email addresses to ensure that each email address provided to its employees uses a ".gov" domain name or a ".ca.gov" domain name no later than January 1, 2029. Existing law defines "local agency" for these purposes as a city, county, or city and county. This bill would recast these provisions by instead requiring a city, county, or city and county to comply with the above-described domain requirements and by deleting the term "local agency" from the above-described provisions. The bill would also require a special district, joint powers authority, or other political subdivision to comply with similar domain requirements no later than January 1, 2031. The bill would allow a community college district or community college to use a ".edu" domain to satisfy these requirements, and would specify that these requirements do not apply to a K–12 public school district. By adding to the duties of local officials, 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 California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) , grants a consumer various rights with respect to personal information that is collected or sold by a business. The CCPA defines various terms for these purposes. The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA) , approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the CCPA and establishes the California Privacy Protection Agency (agency) and vests the agency with full administrative power, authority, and jurisdiction to enforce the CCPA. Existing law requires, on or before January 1, 2026, and before each time thereafter that a generative artificial intelligence system or service, as defined, or a substantial modification to a generative artificial intelligence system or service, released on or after January 1, 2022, is made available to Californians for use, regardless of whether the terms of that use include compensation, a developer of the system or service to post on the developer's internet website documentation, as specified, regarding the data used to train the generative artificial intelligence system or service. This bill would impose a duty on a covered deployer, defined as a business that deploys a high-risk artificial intelligence system that processes personal information, to protect personal information held by the covered deployer, subject to certain requirements. In this regard, the bill would require a covered deployer whose high-risk artificial intelligence systems process personal information to develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive information security program, as specified, that contains administrative, technical, and physical safeguards that are appropriate for, among other things, the covered deployer's size, scope, and type of business. The bill would require the program described above to meet specified requirements, including, among other things, that the program incorporates safeguards that are consistent with the safeguards for the protection of personal information and information of a similar character under applicable state or federal laws and regulations. Existing law, the Unfair Competition Law, establishes 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 establishes remedies and penalties in that regard, including injunctive relief and civil penalties. This bill would specify that a violation of the above-described provisions relating to the duty of a covered deployer to protect information, including the requirement that a covered deployer maintain the comprehensive information security program described above, constitute a deceptive trade act or practice under that law. Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, governs the procedure 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. This bill would authorize the agency to adopt regulations pursuant to the act to implement these provisions, and would exempt, notwithstanding that provision, any regulations adopted by the agency to establish fees from the act. The bill would define various terms for these purposes. The California Privacy Rights 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 Privacy Rights Act of 2020.
The Confidentiality of Medical Information Act governs the disclosure of medical information by an employer, a provider of health care, a health care service plan, or a contractor, as those terms are defined. The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) authorizes a consumer to direct a business, as defined, that collects sensitive personal information about the consumer to limit its use of the consumer's sensitive personal information, as specified, and defines "sensitive personal information" to include personal information that reveals a consumer's neural data. The CCPA also authorizes a consumer to request that a business delete any personal information about the consumer which the business has collected from the consumer, as prescribed. The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the CCPA and establishes the California Privacy Protection Agency and vests the agency with full administrative power, authority, and jurisdiction to enforce the CCPA. This bill would require, under the CCPA, a covered business to use neural data only for the purpose for which the neural data was collected and would require a covered business to delete neural data when the purpose for which the neural data was collected is accomplished. The bill would define "covered business" to mean a person who makes available a brain-computer interface to a person in this state and would define "brain-computer interface" to mean a system that allows direct communication and control between a person's brain and an external device. This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020.
Existing law requires, on or before September 1, 2024, the Department of Technology, within the Government Operations Agency, to conduct, in coordination with other interagency bodies as it deems appropriate, a comprehensive inventory of all high-risk automated decision systems that have been proposed for use, development, or procurement by, or are being used, developed, or procured by, any state agency. Existing law requires the department to annually submit a report of that comprehensive inventory to the Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection and the Senate Committee on Governmental Organization. Existing law, the Transparency in Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, among other things related to ensuring the safety of certain artificial intelligence models, requires a large frontier developer to write, implement, and clearly and conspicuously publish on its internet website a frontier AI framework that applies to the large frontier developer's frontier models and describes how the large frontier developer approaches, among other things, incorporating national standards, international standards, and industry-consensus best practices into its frontier AI framework. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2028, the Government Operations Agency to take certain actions related to the selection and regulation of certain entities, defined as "independent verification organizations," designated by the agency as having demonstrated expertise in assessing the risks posed by an AI system or model and identifying the metrics and methodologies that form the basis for that assessment. The bill would require the agency to convene working groups to solicit stakeholder input in the identification of standards and the development and revision of procedures and criteria, as specified. The bill would require the agency to provide a report to the Legislature on the findings of the working groups and would require a designated IVO to submit annually, and no sooner than 12 months after initial designation as an IVO, to the agency and Legislature a report, as specified.
