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.
Existing law requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to develop and make available on its internet website a Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Safety Building Standards Compliance training intended for use in the training of local building officials, builders, and fire service personnel, as specified. Existing law authorizes the Office of the State Fire Marshal to allow certification of contractors who conduct defensible space, home hardening, fuel reduction, roadside clearance, and other contracting activities for wildlife resiliency efforts and who have completed specified training programs. Existing law requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to develop and update a Wildland-Urban Interface Products listing of products and construction assemblies that comply with prescribed regulations regarding building in a wildland-urban interface area. Existing law authorizes the Office of the State Fire Marshal to expend funds from the Building Standards Administration Special Revolving Fund, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of researching and developing the products listing and the educational and training provisions. Existing law requires the Office of the State Fire Marshal to establish the State Fire Marshal's Wildfire Mitigation Advisory Committee. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2028, the State Fire Marshal's Wildfire Mitigation Advisory Committee to develop an implementation plan for a home hardening certification program that identifies home hardening measures, including defensible space, that can be voluntarily implemented during renovation or property improvement projects, or both, to substantially reduce the risk of loss during a fire and bring existing building stock into alignment with state building standards for wildland-urban interface areas. The bill would require the committee, in developing the implementation plan for the home hardening certification program, to provide specified recommendations. The bill would authorize the Office of the State Fire Marshal to expend funds from the Building Standards Administration Special Revolving Fund, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of developing the implementation plan for the home hardening certification program. The bill would require the committee, on or before January 1, 2028, to provide a report to specified legislative committees on its findings and recommendations pursuant to these provisions. The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2029, the State Fire Marshal to establish the home hardening certification program based on the recommendations made by the Wildfire Mitigation Advisory Committee.
Existing law requires each law enforcement agency, on or before January 1, 2021, to maintain a policy that provides a minimum standard on the use of force. Existing law requires that the policy include, among other things, training standards and requirements relating to demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the law enforcement agency's use of force policy by officers, investigators, and supervisors. Existing law prohibits a law enforcement agency from authorizing the use of a carotid restraint or choke hold by any peace officer employed by that agency. This bill would, until January 1, 2030, prohibit a law enforcement agency, including a federal law enforcement agency, from using a wearable electroshock device within the State of California. The bill would also prohibit a law enforcement agency from using state funds to purchase a wearable electroshock device. The bill would require a law enforcement agency to update their use of force policies to prohibit the use of a wearable electroshock device. By increasing the duties on local law enforcement, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Division of Law Enforcement within the Department of Justice to conduct a study on the safety and community impacts of wearable electroshock devices and provide recommendations for appropriate standards and safeguards for their use, and would require the department to report to the Legislature on the findings and recommendations of the study on or before January 1, 2029. 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 requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention and home hardening education activities in California and extends eligibility for grants to, among others, local agencies, resource conservation districts, fire safe councils, the California Conservation Corps, certified community conservation corps, Native American tribes, and qualified nonprofit organizations. Existing law requires the department, on or before December 31, 2023, and annually thereafter, to post on its internet website certain information regarding hazardous fuel reduction and vegetation management projects funded or conducted by the department for the preceding fiscal year, including projects funded under the department's Wildfire Prevention Grants Program, as provided. Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a statewide program to allow qualified entities, as defined, who have completed a specific training program developed and administered by the department to support and augment the department in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and education efforts. This bill would require the department, in consultation with the State Fire Marshal's Wildfire Mitigation Advisory Committee, to establish a wildfire mitigation validation program to provide voluntary official recognition to a community that achieves progress toward community-scale wildfire preparedness and mitigations. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the committee, to (1) set the wildfire mitigations, including, among other things, home hardening and defensible space requirements, and (2) set the minimum percentage of mitigations required to achieve recognition and set increases in those percentages, as provided. The bill would authorize the department, commencing with the 2028–29 fiscal year, to disburse funds appropriated for the Wildfire Prevention Grants Program to recognized communities that partner with fire safe councils or other eligible groups, as provided. The bill would authorize the department to prioritize disadvantaged recognized fire communities pursuant to its established procedures for prioritizing disadvantaged applicants for the Wildfire Prevention Grants Program.
Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) , in consultation with the California Coastal Commission, to design and make available for issuance special environmental design license plates that bear a graphic design depicting a California coastal motif. The department is required to impose certain fees for the issuance, renewal, substitution, and transfer of the plates, in addition to the regular fees for an original registration or renewal of registration. Existing law requires that certain additional fees be allocated to the California Environmental License Plate Fund. The department, after deducting its administrative costs, is required to deposit any additional revenue derived from the issuance, renewal, transfer, and substitution of the special environmental design license plates, in the amount of 12 in the California Beach and Coastal Enhancement Account in the California Environmental License Plate Fund and 12 in the California Environmental License Plate Fund. Existing law requires the Controller to allocate the funds in the California Beach and Coastal Enhancement Account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, first to the California Coastal Commission for expenditure for the specified public beach and coastal maintenance programs and second, from funds remaining after the first allocation, to the State Coastal Conservancy for coastal natural resource restoration and enhancement projects and for other coastal projects. This bill would, for fees collected on or after January 1, 2027, allocate 12 of all additional revenue to the California Beach and Coastal Enhancement Account and would require the Controller, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, to allocate the moneys to the California Coastal Commission for beach and coastal maintenance programs and 12 to the Coastal Access Account for the support of grant programs administered by the State Coastal Conservancy, subject to a determination by the Department of Finance that a sufficient balance exists in the Environmental License Plate Fund to maintain the amount of the current year's total expenditures and a prudent reserve, as defined. Existing law authorizes state agencies to apply to the DMV to sponsor a specialized license plate program and requires the department to issue specialized plates for that program if the agency complies with certain requirements. The bill would make certain allocations of moneys deposited to the California Environmental License Plate Fund on or after January 1, 2027, from the 49ers Foundation license plate program. Specifically, the bill would require (1) 10% of these moneys to be deposited in the California Beach and Coastal Enhancement Account to be allocated, upon appropriation, to the California Coastal Commission for expenditure for the Whale Tail Grants Program, the Adopt-A-Beach program, the Coastal Cleanup Day program, and other coastal public education programs, (2) 10% to be deposited in the Coastal Access Account within the State Coastal Conservancy Fund to be allocated, upon appropriation, for support of the State Coastal Conservancy's Explore the Coast grants, and (3) 20% to be allocated, upon appropriation, for the Outdoor Equity Grants Program.
Existing law, the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act, prohibits an operator of an addictive internet-based service or application from providing an addictive feed, as defined, to a user unless the operator does not have actual knowledge that the user is a minor, as specified, or the operator has obtained verifiable parental consent to provide an addictive feed to the user who is a minor. Existing law, the Digital Age Assurance Act, beginning January 1, 2027, 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 prohibit a covered platform, as defined, from providing an addictive feature, as defined, to a user who is under 16 years of age and would require a covered platform to implement reasonable measures to ensure that users under 16 years of age are not offered or provided any addictive feature on the covered platform. The bill would also authorize the Attorney General to adopt regulations to implement and enforce the bill in order to further the purpose of protecting minors online, including by altering the scope of "covered platform" if the Attorney General determines that doing so is necessary to ensure that "covered platform" applies to internet websites, online services, online applications, or mobile applications that make addictive features, as defined, available to users under 16 years of age. This bill would impose a civil penalty upon a noncompliant platform and would require its provisions to be enforced by a civil action brought only by the Attorney General or a local public prosecutor, as specified. This bill would also establish the e-Safety Advisory Commission within the Department of Justice as an independent advisory body that is only for administrative purposes to advise state government on certain matters related to online safety and would require the commission to, on or before January 1 of each year, report to the Legislature and the Governor on, among other things, its activities under the bill.
Existing law authorizes a state agency administering a grant program or contract to advance a payment to a recipient entity, subject to specified requirements. Existing law defines "recipient entity" for these purposes to mean a private, nonprofit organization qualified under federal law, or a federally recognized Indian tribe whose territorial boundaries lie wholly or partially within the State of California, as specified. Existing law requires the administering state agency, among other things, to prioritize recipient entities and projects serving disadvantaged, low-income, and underresourced communities, to stipulate an advance payment structure and request process within the grant agreement or contract, and to ensure an advance payment to the recipient entity does not exceed 25% of the total grant or contract amount, except as specified. Existing law requires recipient entities to satisfy specified minimum requirements, including submitting prescribed documentation, providing progress reports on the expenditure of advanced funds no less than on a quarterly basis, and depositing any funds received as an advance payment into a federally insured account, as specified. This bill would expand the definition of "recipient entity" to include a private, nonprofit organization qualified under state law and would limit the requirement to prioritize recipient entities and projects to grants and contracts advertised before January 1, 2026. The bill would eliminate the requirement to stipulate an advance payment structure and request process. The bill would limit the above-described documentation and federally insured account requirements to apply only to grants and contracts in excess of $10,000 and, for grants or contracts less than $10,000, would instead require recipient entities to provide the above-described progress reports no less than annually. The bill would revise and recast the above-described authorization for an administering state agency to instead require the agency to advance a payment to an eligible recipient entity in accordance with the above requirements for any grants and contracts advertised on or after January 1, 2027, with a total award value of $150,000 or less, receiving an initial disbursement of 25 percent of the total award that meets one or more of specified criteria. The bill would authorize an administering state agency to distribute advance payments in multiple installments over the course of the grant or contract term and would authorize a recipient entity to request subsequent advance payment installments, as provided. This bill would authorize an administering state agency to opt out of the default advance payment requirement for a specific funding opportunity if the agency determines it would create an irreconcilable conflict with federal law, bond requirements, or a documented high-risk profile of the specific program. To exercise the opt-out, the bill would require the agency to follow prescribed procedures, including clearly stating in the grant solicitation or request for proposal that advance payment is not available for that specific opportunity. Existing law requires each state agency to register every grant the state agency administers with the California State Library prior to commencing a solicitation or award process for distribution of the grant, and to provide specified information that assists the California State Library with cataloging the distribution of grants and provides potential applicants with understandable and consistent information about available funding opportunities. This bill would require a state agency to include within the information submitted to the California State Library, the percentage of the grant funds that may be distributed as an advance payment. This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2027, the Strategic Growth Council, in consultation with the Department of Finance and the Department of General Services, to develop a Statewide Advance Funds and Reconciliation Guide (Master Guide) , as specified. The bill would require the Department of General Services to actively promote the Master Guide across state agencies and would require every state agency to adopt the Master Guide as its standard operating procedure for the disbursement, tracking, and reconciliation of advance payments, as provided.
(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) , generally regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of solid waste, as defined. The act authorizes CalRecycle to certify a local enforcement agency and requires CalRecycle and certified local enforcement agencies to perform specified functions with regard to the regulation of solid waste management, including issuing and enforcing solid waste facility permits. The act prohibits a person from operating a solid waste facility without a solid waste facilities permit, as provided. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 charges the State Air Resources Board with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming in order to reduce emission of 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, as provided. This bill would require the owner or operator of a solid waste landfill, as defined, to, among other things, notify the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery if a subsurface elevated temperature event occurs. The bill would define "subsurface elevated temperature event" to mean an event where subsurface gas or waste temperatures at a solid waste landfill persistently exceed 131 degrees Fahrenheit over a substantial area and meets other performance criteria, as determined by the department. The bill would authorize the department to require the owner or operator of a solid waste landfill experiencing a subsurface elevated temperature event to create a corrective action plan that includes, but is not limited to, a cost assessment for fully implementing the corrective action plan. The bill would authorize the department or a local enforcement agency to impose an administrative civil penalty of $100,000 per day for failing to comply with these requirements, as provided. The bill would require all penalties collected to be deposited into the Landfill Subsurface Fire Mitigation Community Fund, which the bill would create in the State Treasury. The bill would continuously appropriate moneys in the fund to the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority, to be paid to counties in which a subsurface elevated temperature event occurred to mitigate harm to a person or community affected by a subsurface elevated temperature event and to be paid to the authority for its costs of implementation. The bill would require the authority to develop guidelines for dispersing these funds, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to become the enforcement agency for a solid waste landfill experiencing a subsurface elevated temperature event, as specified. This bill would authorize the Secretary for Environmental Protection to select and coordinate a multiagency coordination group to investigate and provide recommendations on how to achieve resolution of a subsurface elevated temperature event, as specified. The bill would require a local health department to initiate community health needs assessments to identify and collect information regarding the effects of a subsurface elevated temperature event on an affected community and to share the findings, as provided. By requiring a local health department and a local air pollution control district to perform additional duties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would, upon request by a multiagency coordination group, require the owner or operator of a solid waste landfill that experiences a subsurface elevated temperature event to implement an air monitoring and sampling plan, as specified. The bill would require the owner and operator of a solid waste landfill that experiences a subsurface elevated temperature event to reimburse the members of a multiagency coordination group and the local health department for all reasonable and necessary expenses incurred, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to adopt regulations to implement and enforce them as emergency regulations, as specified. (2) This bill would declare its provisions to be severable. (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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing federal law, the federal Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) , requires group health plans and health insurance issuers that provide both medical and surgical benefits and mental health or substance use disorder benefits to ensure that financial requirements and treatment limitations applicable to mental health or substance use disorder benefits are no more restrictive than the predominant requirements or limitations applied to substantially all medical and surgical benefits. Existing state law requires an individual, small group, or large group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy to provide covered mental health and substance use disorder benefits in compliance with the MHPAEA and specified federal rules, regulations, and guidance. This bill would require the above-described contracts and policies to provide covered mental health and substance use disorder benefits in compliance with specified federal rules, regulations, and guidance as they existed on January 1, 2025. Because a violation of these requirements by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require the departments to review provisions of the bill that conflict with or materially differ from federal regulations and collaborate with each other to issue guidance on compliance. 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 Planning and Zoning Law requires each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city, and of any land outside its boundaries that bears relation to its planning. Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a county or city to adopt ordinances that, among other things, regulate the use of buildings, structures, and land as between industry, business, residences, open space, and other purposes, as provided. For these purposes, existing law authorizes the legislative body to divide a county or city into zones, but requires that regulations adopted be uniform for each class or kind of building or use of land throughout each zone. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare 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. This bill, the Public Lands Protection Act, would, upon transfer to any private or nonfederal entity of a parcel of land located within the state that is owned by the United States government on or after January 1, 2025, and that has been designated in an adopted general plan or zoning ordinance as open space, public land, resource conservation, or an equivalent conservation-oriented designation, immediately subject that parcel to the zoning designation and associated state and local restrictions. The bill would also, upon transfer of a parcel of land located within the state that is owned by the United States government on or after January 1, 2025, and that has not been designated in an adopted general plan or zoning ordinance at the time of transfer to any private or nonfederal entity, automatically subject that parcel to the most restrictive conservation-oriented zoning designation currently applied in the jurisdiction, by operation of law. The bill would prohibit a parcel of land governed by these provisions from being rezoned, subdivided, or granted any development entitlement that is inconsistent with a conservation-oriented zoning designation, unless certain requirements are satisfied, including that a full environmental impact report is completed in accordance with CEQA. Notwithstanding these provisions, the bill would require electric infrastructure and clean energy facilities necessary to achieve California's climate and decarbonization goals to be deemed permitted uses in a conservation-oriented zoning designation if certain conditions are met. The bill would also exempt certain other parcels from these provisions. This 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. This bill would make these provisions severable. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
