Rep. Buffy Wicks

(1) Existing law, commonly referred to as the Density Bonus Law, requires a city or county to grant a density bonus, other incentives or concessions, and waivers or reductions of development standards, as specified, to an applicant for a housing development when the applicant seeks a density bonus for the housing development, as specified, if the applicant agrees to construct, among other things, a specified percentage of units for very low income, lower income, or senior citizen housing, and meets other requirements. This bill would, instead, require a city or county to grant a density bonus, other incentives or concessions, and waivers or reductions of development standards, as specified, to an applicant for a housing development when the applicant submits an application for a housing development that a city, county, or city and county determines meets specified criteria, including, among others, the housing development includes specified percentage of units for very low income, lower income, or senior citizen housing. (2) Existing law defines density bonus for the purposes of the Density Bonus Law to mean a density increase over the otherwise base density, as specified. Existing law specifies the base density calculation standards and requires base density to be determined using dwelling units per acre, except as otherwise provided. For the purpose of calculating a density bonus, existing law requires the residential units to be on contiguous sites that are the subject of one development application, as specified. Existing law also requires the density bonus to be permitted in geographic areas of the housing development other than the areas where the units for the lower income households are located. This bill would allow an applicant who provides a base density study, as defined, to elect to receive a density bonus in the form of a percentage increase in maximum floor area ratio, as specified. The bill would create an additional exception to the requirement that base density be determined using dwelling units per acre for applicants who elect to provide a base density study. This bill would revise and recast the provisions related to permitting of a density bonus relative to the geographic area to instead require a density bonus, incentive, or concession, or waiver or reduction, on sites that are the subject of the same housing development, as specified. (3) Existing law requires a city or county to adopt procedures and timelines for processing a density bonus application and to notify the applicant for a density bonus whether the application is complete in a manner consistent with specified timelines. If the local government notifies the applicant that the application is deemed complete, this bill would require the city or county to provide the applicant with a determination that the project is eligible for a density bonus. (4) Existing law authorizes an applicant for a density bonus to submit to a city or county a proposal for the specific incentives or concessions that the applicant requests and requires the city or county to grant the concession or incentive requested by the applicant unless the city or county makes a certain written finding, based upon substantial evidence. Existing law specifies the number of incentives or concessions an applicant is eligible to receive based on certain criteria. This bill would make revisions to certain of those calculations related to incentives or concessions. (5) 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 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. Existing law specifies that the granting of a density bonus or incentive or concessions shall not require or be interpreted to require a general plan amendment, local coastal plan amendment, zoning change, or other discretionary approval. Existing law also specifies that the granting of an incentive or concessions shall not require or be interpreted to require a study. This bill would specify that the granting of a waiver or reduction of development standards shall not require or be interpreted to require a general plan amendment, local coastal plan amendment, zoning change, study, or other discretionary approval. The bill would also specify that the granting of a density bonus, incentive or concession, or waiver or reduction of development standards shall not be discretionary. The bill would specify that the granting of a density bonus, incentive or concession, or waiver or reduction of development standards shall not require or be interpreted to require environmental review under CEQA. (6) 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. (7) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65915 of the Government Code proposed by AB 2480, SB 1383, or both, to be operative only if this bill and AB 2480, SB 1383, or both, are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (8) By imposing new requirements on local governments, 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 California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, requires a business that provides an online service, product, or feature likely to be accessed by children to comply with certain requirements, including, among other things, prohibiting the business from collecting, selling, sharing, or retaining any personal information that is not necessary to provide the online service, product, or feature, except as specified. Existing law imposes specified civil penalties upon a business that violates these provisions. This bill would repeal the above-described act and would instead impose similar provisions without the above-referenced exceptions and would impose civil penalties for a violation of these provisions. The bill would require a business that provides an online product or service likely to be accessed by children to take reasonable steps to prevent specified risks of harm to children. The bill would authorize a child to void any provision of a contract that was entered into by the child or their parent or guardian as a result of a design feature of the online product or service. The bill would authorize the Attorney General or a public prosecutor to bring a civil action for a violation of these provisions, as specified.

This measure would call on Congress to enact legislation that restores and strengthens the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and it would call on the President to sign the legislation.

(1) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including a credit for specified new hiring and employment. 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. Existing law also establishes the continuously appropriated Corporation Tax Fund in the State Treasury for the purpose of making refunds pursuant to existing law. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, and before January 1, 2032, allow a credit against those taxes to a qualified taxpayer, as defined, equal to $20,000 for each qualifying journalist, as defined, continuously employed on a full-time basis by the taxpayer, not to exceed 5 qualifying journalists. The bill would also allow a credit of $15,000 for each qualifying journalist continuously employed on a full-time basis by the taxpayer in excess of 5 qualifying journalists, and a credit of $7,500 for each qualifying journalist employed on a part-time basis by the taxpayer. The bill would allow an additional credit of $15,000 for each qualifying journalist employed on a full-time basis in a new journalism position, as defined. 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 or the Corporation Tax Fund, as specified, and refunded to the taxpayer. By increasing the payments from the Tax Relief and Refund Account and the Corporation Tax Fund, which are continuously appropriated funds, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would allow the credit to organizations that are exempt from income taxation, as specified, and would allow the refund provisions to apply for those organizations. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure, as defined, to include tax credits, to contain, among other things, specific goals that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. The bill would also require the Franchise Tax Board to publish a report on its internet website detailing the total number of taxpayers allowed the credit, the total dollar value of credits allowed, and the average dollar amount per qualified taxpayer allowed a credit. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to submit a report to the Legislature providing guidance on potential administration and enforcement of a refundable tax credit for organizations exempt from federal income tax, as provided. (2) Under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, various provisions of the federal Internal Revenue Code, as enacted as of a specified date, are referenced in various sections of the Revenue and Taxation Code. Those laws provide that, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, the specified date of those referenced Internal Revenue Code sections is January 1, 2025, unless otherwise specifically provided. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allow various deductions from gross income in calculating adjusted gross income, including a deduction for the ordinary and necessary expenses paid or incurred during the taxable year in carrying on any trade or business. Existing law does not allow a deduction as an ordinary and necessary business expense for the wages or other remuneration of a covered employee, as defined, to the extent that remuneration exceeds $1,000,000. Existing federal income tax law, enacted after January 1, 2025, amends the application of the limitations relating to covered employees in the case of taxpayers that are members of a controlled group. This bill would specifically conform to the federal application of the limitations relating to covered employees in the case of taxpayers that are members of a controlled group for state tax purposes. The bill would also further conform to the federal definition of a covered employee. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 17039 and 23036 of the Revenue and Taxation Code proposed by AB 2319 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2319 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law generally regulates artificial intelligence, including companion chatbots, as defined. Existing law requires an operator, as defined, to prevent a companion chatbot on its companion chatbot platform from engaging with users unless the operator maintains a protocol for preventing the production of suicidal ideation, suicide, or self-harm content to the user. Existing law requires an operator, for a user the operator knows is a minor, to, among other things, notify the user that the user is interacting with artificial intelligence and to disclose that companion chatbots may not be suitable for some minors, as specified. The Digital Age Assurance Act requires a person who owns, maintains, or controls a software application, as defined, to request age bracket data sent by a real-time secure application programming interface or operating system with respect to a particular user from an operating system provider or a covered application store when the application is downloaded and launched. This bill would require an operator, as defined, of a companion chatbot to, on or before July 1, 2027, do various things with respect to child safety and companion chatbots, including annually perform and document a comprehensive risk assessment to identify any child safety risk, as defined, posed by the design, configuration, and operation of the companion chatbot that assesses, among other things, the likelihood of a covered harm, as defined, occurring to child users. The bill would require an operator to submit to an independent audit of its compliance with those provisions, as specified, and would require, within 90 days of completing an independent audit, the auditor to submit an AI child safety audit report to the Attorney General for any audited companion chatbot. The bill would, except as specified, require those audit reports to be kept confidential. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2028, require the Attorney General to issue an annual public report on the audits submitted pursuant to the above-described provision, as specified. The bill would authorize a public prosecutor to bring a certain civil action to enforce the bill's provisions and would authorize a child who suffers actual harm as a result of a violation of this chapter, or a parent or guardian acting on behalf of that child, to bring a civil action against the operator to obtain, among other relief, punitive damages. 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.

Existing law specifies the rights and requirements of a claimant or homeowner to bring a civil action for construction defects of a dwelling, including applicable standards for home construction, detailed prelitigation procedures, statute of limitations, burden of proof, and the damages recoverable. Existing law specifies the rights and prohibitions for a builder to defend against a civil action for construction defects, including a prohibition against a builder obtaining a release or waiver in exchange for repair work mandated by law. This bill would modify specific rights, requirements, and prohibitions for the parties to a civil action for construction defects of a dwelling by revising, among other things, the requirements for a prelitigation notice from the claimant to the builder and the evidence a claimant is required to affirmatively demonstrate to make a claim. Among other changes, the bill would repeal the prohibition on, and, instead, authorize, a builder to obtain a release or waiver in exchange for certain repair work, as specified. Commencing July 1, 2027, the bill would prohibit an insurer from asserting repairs as a voluntary payment or as a payment made without the insurer's consent, or denying counting the costs associated with those repairs, against a deductible or self-insured retention. The bill would provide that its provisions apply to structures subject to the provisions governing the rights of a claimant or homeowner to bring a civil action for construction defects of a dwelling, except as provided. The bill would further provide that its provisions are severable.

(1) Existing law authorizes certain entities to operate household hazardous waste collection facilities, as defined, including permanent and temporary household hazardous waste collection facilities, under permits issued by the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Existing law requires hazardous waste transported to a household hazardous waste collection facility to be transported by specified entities, and imposes conditions on the acceptance of hazardous waste by a household hazardous waste collection facility, including, among others, that the hazardous waste not exceed certain weight requirements. Existing law requires a person engaged in the transportation of hazardous waste to be registered with the department and to have a manifest while transporting the hazardous waste, except if the transport is from specified facilities or programs. A violation of the hazardous waste control laws is a crime. This bill would require, until January 1, 2030, the department to evaluate opportunities to increase safety and convenience related to the management and disposal of vape pens confiscated from students by a school, as provided, and identify any recommendations that require future legislative action. The bill would authorize a permanent household hazardous waste collection facility to mechanically disassemble vape pens and devices in a manner that does not result in the unauthorized release of hazardous materials, as specified. The bill would exempt from the above-described registration and manifest provisions a school transporting vape pens and devices confiscated from students. The bill would also impose the above-described conditions relating to the transport of hazardous waste on a public agency, contractor of a public agency, or a registered hazardous waste transporter, transporting vape pens and devices from schools, as provided. The bill would require any vape pens and devices to be transported in containers bearing the school's Environmental Protection Agency identification number. The bill would specify conditions that apply for purposes of determining how many vape pens and devices may be accepted by a household hazardous waste collection facility without exceeding the specified weight limits. Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires all cartridges for electronic cigarettes and solutions for filling or refilling an electronic cigarette to be in child-resistant packaging. This bill would prohibit a person from marketing, promoting, labeling, branding, advertising, distributing, offering for sale, or selling a vape product in this state by (A) imitating a product that is not a vape product to conceal the nature of the vape product from parents, teachers, or other adults, or (B) including interactive videogame capabilities within a vape product, as provided. This bill would authorize a city, a county, a city and county, or the state to enforce the above-described prohibitions and to impose civil liability on a person or entity, or distributor, in violation of the prohibitions in specified fine amounts, including $1,000 for the first violation, or for a distributor, $50,000 per violation. The bill would require any civil penalties collected to be paid to whichever office brought the action, and would authorize the Attorney General to expend any penalties it collects, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to enforce the prohibitions. The bill would specify that any remedies provided pursuant to these provisions are not exclusive and are in addition to the remedies that may be available pursuant to specified provisions relating to unfair competition. The bill would make any person who violates the prohibitions guilty of an infraction punishable by a fine of not more than $500. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law, the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003, provides for the licensure and regulation of manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers, and retailers of cigarette or tobacco products. Existing law, except as specified, prohibits a tobacco retailer, or any of the tobacco retailer's agents or employees, from selling, offering for sale, or possessing with the intent to sell or offer for sale, a flavored tobacco product or a tobacco product flavor enhancer. Existing law authorizes the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration or a law enforcement agency, upon discovery that a retailer possesses, stores, owns, or has made a retail sale of flavored tobacco products or tobacco product flavor enhancers in violation of that prohibition to seize the flavored tobacco products or tobacco product flavor enhancers at the retail location or any other person's location. Existing law deems those seized flavored tobacco products or tobacco product flavor enhancers as forfeited to the state, and requires the department to issue a civil penalty against the retailer, as provided. Existing law also requires the department to suspend or revoke the license of a retailer upon a 2nd or 3rd seizure and forfeiture, as provided. This bill would apply those same seizure, forfeiture, and civil penalty provisions to a retailer who possesses, stores, owns, or has made a retail sale of vape products, as defined, in violation of the prohibitions related to a vape product described in paragraph (2) , above. Existing law authorizes a peace officer or department employee granted limited peace officer status, as provided, upon presenting appropriate credentials, to enter any place at which cigarettes or tobacco products are sold, produced, or stored or at any site where evidence of a violation of specified laws relating to cigarette or tobacco products may be discovered, and to conduct inspections in accordance with specified requirements. This bill would also authorize those inspections at any place where there is evidence of a violation of the prohibitions related to a vape product described in paragraph (2) , above. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 22974.2 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by AB 762 to be operative only if this bill and AB 762 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (5) 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 California Building Standards Law, establishes the California Building Standards Commission within the Government Operations Agency. Existing law requires the commission to approve and adopt building standards and to codify those standards in the California Building Standards Code. Existing law, the California Factory-Built Housing Law, generally regulates the design, manufacture, and installation of factory-built housing, as defined and specified. That law specifically and entirely reserves to local jurisdictions certain local requirements, including local use zone requirements, snow load requirements, and wind pressure requirements. That law provides that any person who violates any of those provisions and other specified law is guilty of a misdemeanor, as specified. This bill also would prohibit a city, county, city and county, or district from imposing or enforcing local building standards applicable to a factory-built housing structure, as defined, that exceed or differ from the applicable mandatory standards contained in the California Building Standards Code. The bill would authorize a city or county to make changes or modifications in the requirements contained in the provisions published in the California Building Standards Code that are reasonably necessary to maintain minimum health and safety because of local climatic, geological, or topographical conditions, subject to the city or county making a specified finding. The bill would create a rebuttable presumption in favor of a determination that facilitates the use of factory-built housing and allows a project to qualify as a factory-built housing structure. This bill would define certain key terms for purposes of the California Factory-Built Housing Law. In this regard, the bill would define "building assembly" to mean assembled construction materials, components, subsystems, subassemblies or other systems designed for use in, or as part of, factory-built housing, and "factory-built housing structure" as a residential building where at least 23 of the new or converted square footage is designated for residential use and in which at least 30% of the residential use portion of the building is built using factory-built housing. The bill would recast the definition of "factory-built housing" to mean, among other things, a residential building, dwelling unit, building component, building assembly, or building system that is manufactured in a specified manner. The bill would make other conforming changes to definitions in the California Factory-Built Housing Law, the Sales and Use Tax Law, and the Vehicle Code. By adding to the duties of local officials, and expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings that certain 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons.

(1) Existing law grants the legislative body of a city certain powers with respect to city streets and highways, including the power to construct and maintain those streets and highways. Existing law grants the board of supervisors of a county general supervision, management, and control of county highways and authorizes the board of supervisors to lay out, construct, improve, and maintain county highways. This bill would prohibit a city or county from holding a community input meeting to reconsider, delay, or prevent implementation of a proposed pedestrian or bicycle safety project after that project has passed 90% design, as specified. After or upon the award of a contract for, or when county or city staff, as applicable, are directed to begin, the construction of a pedestrian or bicycle safety project, the bill would prohibit the city or county from terminating the project unless the city or county makes at least one specified finding at a public meeting. If a city or county establishes a process for residents of the city or county to submit a petition to request the installation of a traffic-calming measure, the bill would prohibit the city or county from requiring the petition to contain the signatures of more than a majority of the total number of persons whose residences are located, in whole or in part, within 1,000 feet of the proposed traffic-calming measure, as specified. To the extent that the bill increases the duties of local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law, the Pedestrian Mall Law of 1960, authorizes the legislative body of a city or county to establish a pedestrian mall, as defined, and prohibit vehicular traffic on the mall, upon adoption of an ordinance establishing the mall. 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 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, until January 1, 2040, exempts from its requirements certain transportation-related projects, including, among others, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, as specified. CEQA requires, except as provided, those exempted projects to be carried out by a local agency and meet certain requirements, including certain labor requirements. This bill would exempt from the requirements of CEQA the establishment or expansion of a pedestrian mall and would require those projects to comply with the above-described requirements applicable to those exempted CEQA projects. (3) 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. (4) 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.

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 $7,391,650.83 from the General Fund to the Attorney General for the payment of claims, settlements, or judgments against the state arising from 8 specified actions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.