(1) Existing law sets out the various responsibilities of the Department of General Services and state agencies in overseeing and implementing state contracting procedures and policies. Existing law also provides that whenever any official advertising, notice, resolution, order, or other matter of any nature whatsoever is required by law to be published in a newspaper, the publication is required to be made only in a newspaper of general circulation, as specified. This bill would require the department to publish, on the department's internet website, an annual report by July 1 of each year containing specified information relating to payments for placement of marketing or outreach advertising material by each state agency. The bill would provide that these provisions are not intended to amend any of the above-described provisions relating to required publications of official advertising, notices, resolutions, orders, or other matters. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2023. (2) Existing law, as established in the case of Dynamex Operations W. v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (Dynamex) , creates a presumption that a worker who performs services for a hirer is an employee for purposes of claims for wages and benefits arising under wage orders issued by the Industrial Welfare Commission. Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for those purposes. Existing law establishes that, for purposes of the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission, a person providing labor or services for remuneration is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business. This test is commonly known as the "ABC" test, as described above. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with the enforcement of labor laws, including worker classification. Existing law exempts specified occupations and business relationships from the application of Dynamex and the provisions described above. These exemptions include a temporary exemption for newspaper distributors working under contract with a newspaper publisher, and newspaper carriers working under contract either with a newspaper publisher or newspaper distributor, as those terms are defined, until January 1, 2021. This bill would expand the exemption applicable to newspaper carriers by deleting the condition that a newspaper carrier work under contract either with a newspaper publisher or newspaper distributor. The bill would extend the exemption period to January 1, 2022. (3) This bill would incorporate the changes to Section 2750.3 of the Labor Code proposed by this bill to Section 2783 of the Labor Code, as proposed to be added by AB 2257, to be operative only if this bill and AB 2257 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Sponsored bills
The Collateral Recovery Act, a violation of which is punishable as a misdemeanor, provides for the licensure and regulation of repossession agencies by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services under the supervision and control of the Director of Consumer Affairs. The act prohibits a repossession agency license that has not been renewed within 3 years after its expiration from being renewed, restored, reinstated, or reissued thereafter. This bill would instead prohibit a repossession agency license that has not been renewed within 10 years after its expiration from being renewed, restored, reinstated, or reissued thereafter. The act also authorizes an immediate family member of a deceased licensee to continue the business under the same license for 120 days following the death of the licensee if written notice is provided to the bureau within 30 days of the licensee's death. The act requires the license to be automatically canceled at the end of either the 30-day or 120-day period, as specified. This bill would instead require an immediate family member, as defined, to be granted a license to continue the business under the same license number and business name if the immediate family member submits a written request and an initial application and application fee to the bureau within 120 days following the death of the licensee, subject to specified conditions. The bill would also make conforming changes.
Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of the practice of nursing by the Board of Registered Nursing. Existing law requires the board to appoint an executive officer to perform duties delegated by the board. Existing law requires an applicant for licensure to have completed a nursing program at a school of nursing that is approved by the board. Existing regulatory law sets forth curriculum requirements for nursing programs, including preceptorships and clinical practice hours, and also requirements for clinical facilities that may be used for clinical experience. This bill would authorize an approved nursing program to submit a request to a board nursing education consultant to revise certain clinical experience requirements, including reducing the required direct patient hours and using preceptorships without maintaining specified written policies, for enrolled students until the end of the 2020–21 academic year and whenever the Governor declares a state of emergency in the county where an agency or facility used by the approved nursing program is located, subject to specified requirements. The bill would require the board nursing education consultant to approve the request if specified conditions are satisfied and to reject the request if the approved nursing program fails to meet the conditions or fails to submit information satisfactory to the board. The bill would require the board's executive officer to develop a uniform method for evaluating requests and granting approvals and would require the nursing education consultants to use the uniform method. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, as part of the hazardous waste control laws, imposes various manifest requirements for transporting hazardous waste, including, among others, requiring any person generating hazardous waste that is transported, or submitted for transportation, for offsite handling, treatment, storage, disposal, or any combination thereof, to complete a manifest and be subject to transporter registration requirements. Existing law authorizes transporters and generators to use a consolidated manifesting procedure for certain kinds of waste if specified requirements are met. A violation of the hazardous waste control laws is a crime. This bill would authorize the consolidated manifesting procedure to be used additionally for retail hazardous waste, as defined, collected from a retailer engaged in business in the state. The bill would require, when using the consolidated manifesting procedure for retail hazardous waste, that incompatible materials transported in the same transport vehicle be managed pursuant to specified provisions that govern the transportation of hazardous waste. By expanding the application of the requirements governing the use of the consolidated manifesting procedure to additional kinds of waste and by imposing additional requirements for the management of retail hazardous waste, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, as part of the consolidated manifesting procedure, requires a transporter to submit the generator copy of the manifest to the Department of Toxic Substances Control within 30 days of each shipment. The bill would instead require a transporter to submit to the department within 30 days of each shipment a legible copy of each paper manifest used, and would provide that a transporter is not required to send the department a copy of an electronic manifest processed completely through a specified electronic manifest system. The bill would make other specified changes to the consolidated manifesting procedure. 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.
(1) The Guardianship-Conservatorship Law generally establishes the standards and procedures for the appointment and termination of an appointment for a guardian or conservator of a person, an estate, or both. Existing law requires a guardian or conservator to present the accounting of the assets of the estate of the ward or conservatee to the court at specified intervals and defines an "account statement" for these purposes to include an original account statement from any institution or financial institution. This bill would expand the definition of "account statement" to include a verified electronic statement that is certified under penalty of perjury in a specified manner. The bill would also authorize a court to accept a computer-generated printout of an original verified electronic statement, under specified circumstances. By expanding the crime of perjury to include a verified electronic statement used in guardianship and conservatorship proceedings, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also make related, conforming changes. (2) 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.
This measure would designate a specified portion of State Route 50 in the County of El Dorado as the Deputy Sheriff Brian "Ish" Ishmael Memorial Highway. The measure would request that the Department of Transportation determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, erect those signs.
Existing law requires every employer, with specified exceptions, to pay contributions to the Unemployment Fund at specified rates determined according to 7 schedules. This bill would, for calendar year 2021, provide that an employer's contribution rate shall not exceed the rate that was in effect for that employer in calendar year 2020, as specified. Existing law requires individuals who qualify as employers or who are self-employed, and who elect that their services be deemed employment, to pay contributions to the Unemployment Fund at a specified rate. This bill would, for calendar year 2021, provide that the contribution rate for an individual who elects that their services be deemed employment shall not exceed the rate that was in effect for that individual in calendar year 2020. Existing law requires employers to pay into the Unemployment Fund contributions at an emergency solvency surcharge rate when the balance of the fund is less than 0.6% of wages in employment, as defined. This bill would, for calendar year 2021, suspend the payment of those employer contributions at an emergency solvency surcharge rate. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure, in accordance with specified law, would declare that the state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor on March 4, 2020, is at an end, thereby terminating the emergency powers granted to the Governor as a result of that proclamation.
Existing law establishes the Office of Small Business Advocate, within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, and establishes the duties and functions of the Director of the Office of Small Business Advocate including, among other duties, representing the views and interests of small businesses before other state agencies whose policies and activities may affect small businesses. Existing law requires each state agency that significantly regulates small business or that significantly impacts small business to designate at least one person who is required to serve as a small business liaison. This bill would require a state agency to establish a policy, by January 1, 2022, that provides for the reduction or waiver of civil penalties for a violation of a regulatory or statutory requirement by a small business if the violation did not involve willful or criminal conduct and did not pose a serious health, safety, or environmental threat. The bill would require the policy to include various factors the state agency would be required to consider when making a determination as to whether to reduce or waive the civil penalty. The bill would authorize the state agency to update the policy to reflect current issues and conditions affecting small businesses and the state agency. This bill would require the state agency to post a current copy of the policy on the state agency's internet website and to annually post a utilization report that contains specified information about enforcement actions and penalty reductions and waivers. The bill would require a state agency to notify the Office of Small Business Advocate of certain events relating to its policy and annual report. This bill would make the bill's provisions operative only upon the Legislature making an appropriation to implement these provisions.
Under existing law, the Department of Consumer Affairs, under the control of the Director of Consumer Affairs, is comprised of various boards that license and regulate various professions and vocations. Existing law requires an applicant seeking a license from a board within the department to meet specified requirements and to pay certain licensing fees. Existing law requires a board within the department to issue, after appropriate investigation, certain types of temporary licenses to an applicant if the applicant meets specified requirements, including that the applicant supplies evidence satisfactory to the board that the applicant is married to, or in a domestic partnership or other legal union with, an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States who is assigned to a duty station in this state under official active duty military orders and the applicant holds a current, active, and unrestricted license that confers upon the applicant the authority to practice, in another state, district, or territory of the United States, the profession or vocation for which the applicant seeks a temporary license from the board. Existing law requires these temporary licenses to expire 12 months after issuance. Under existing law, some of the funds within the jurisdiction of a board consist of revenue from fees that are continuously appropriated. This bill would require boards not subject to the temporary licensing provisions described above to issue licenses to an applicant if the applicant meets specified requirements, including that the applicant supplies evidence satisfactory to the board that the applicant is an honorably discharged veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States or is married to, or in a domestic partnership or other legal union with, an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States, as provided. The bill would require an application for a license to include a signed affidavit attesting to the fact that the applicant meets all requirements for a license. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill's expansion of the requirement to issue licenses would result in revenues from fees for certain licenses being deposited into continuously appropriated funds. By establishing a new source of revenue for those continuously appropriated funds, the bill would make an appropriation. 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.