Existing law requires cities and counties to prepare, adopt, and amend general plans and elements of those plans, as specified. Existing law requires the general plan to include a housing element and an open-space element, which is also called an open-space plan. Existing law sets forth various deadlines for updates to the housing element. This bill would require every city and county to review and update its local open-space plan by January 1, 2026. The bill would require the local open-space plan update to include plans and an action program that address specified issues, including climate resilience and other cobenefits of open space, correlated with the safety element. By imposing additional duties on local officials, the bill would create 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. 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.
Sponsored bills
Existing law establishes the system of public elementary and secondary schools throughout the state, and provides for their funding and governance. Existing law establishes school districts throughout the state to administer the public elementary and secondary schools within their respective jurisdictions. Under existing law, certain rules related to single-gender classes, the use of property, and terms of employment for school employees and governing board members only apply to school districts with average daily attendance of 400,000 or more pupils, as provided. This bill instead would extend the application of those rules related to single-gender classes, the use of property, and terms of employment for school employees and governing board members, to school districts with average daily attendance of 250,000 or more, as provided. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
(1) Existing law establishes the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to, among other things, issue teaching and services credentials. Existing law requires the commission to appoint a Committee of Credentials and requires allegations of acts or omissions for which adverse action may be taken against applicants or holders of teaching or services credentials to be reported to the committee, including conviction for a controlled substance offense, as defined. Existing law requires the commission to deny an application for the issuance of a credential or the renewal of a credential for a person who has been convicted of a controlled substance offense. This bill would prohibit the record of a conviction for possession of specified controlled substances that is more than 5 years old and for which relief was granted from being presented to the committee or from being used to deny a credential. (2) Existing law authorizes a defendant who was sentenced to a county jail for the commission of a felony and who has met specified criteria to petition to withdraw their plea of guilty or nolo contendere and enter a plea of not guilty after the completion of their sentence, as specified. Existing law requires the court to dismiss the accusations or information against the defendant and release them from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the offense, except as specified. This bill would make this relief available to a defendant who has been convicted of a felony, as long as that conviction does not require registration as a sex offender. Existing law requires the Department of Justice, on a monthly basis, to review the records in the statewide criminal justice databases and identify persons who are eligible for records of arrest relief without requiring the filing of a petition or motion. Under existing law, a person is eligible for arrest record relief if they were arrested on or after January 1, 1973, and the arrest was for a misdemeanor and the charge was dismissed or criminal proceedings have not been initiated within one year after the arrest, or the arrest was for a felony punishable in the county jail and criminal proceedings have not been initiated within 3 years after the date of the arrest. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2023, generally make this arrest record relief available to a person who has been arrested for a felony, including a felony punishable in the state prison, as specified. Existing law, commencing January 1, 2022, and subject to appropriation, requires the Department of Justice, on a monthly basis, to review the records in the statewide criminal justice databases and identify persons who are eligible for automatic conviction record relief. Under existing law, a person is eligible for automatic conviction record relief if, on or after January 1, 1973, they were sentenced to probation, and completed it without revocation, or if they were convicted of an infraction or a misdemeanor, and other criteria are met, as specified. The bill, commencing July 1, 2023, would additionally make this conviction record relief available for a defendant convicted, on or after January 1, 2005, of a felony for which they did not complete probation without revocation if the defendant appears to have completed all terms of incarceration, probation, mandatory supervision, postrelease community supervision, and parole, and a period of 4 years has elapsed during which the defendant was not convicted of a new felony offense, except as specified. The bill would specify that conviction record relief does not release the defendant from the terms and conditions of unexpired criminal protective orders. This bill would state that conviction record relief does not affect the authority to receive, or take adverse action based on, criminal history information for purposes of teacher credentialing or employment in public education, as specified. The bill would prohibit disclosure of information relating to a conviction for possession of specified controlled substances when the conviction is more than 5 years old and when relief has been granted under these provisions. (3) Existing law requires the Department of Justice to maintain state summary criminal history information, as defined, and to furnish this information to various state and local government officers, officials, and other prescribed entities, if needed in the course of their duties. Existing law requires the department to provide the Commission on Teacher Credentialing with every conviction rendered against an applicant, retroactive to January 1, 2020, regardless of relief granted. Existing law makes it a crime for a person authorized by law to receive state summary criminal history information to knowingly furnish that information to a person who is not authorized to receive it. This bill would require the department to also provide that information to school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, private schools, state special schools for the blind and deaf, or any other entity required to have a background check because of a contract with any of those entities. The bill would prohibit the department from disseminating information for a conviction for possession of specified controlled substances if that conviction is more than 5 years old and relief has been granted. By expanding the scope of a crime, this 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 establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries arising out of and in the course of their employment. Existing law requires an injured employee to file a claim form with the employer. Under existing law, except for specified injuries, if liability is not rejected within 90 days after the date the claim form is filed with the employer, the injury is presumed compensable and the presumption is rebuttable only by evidence discovered subsequent to the 90-day period. For certain injuries or illnesses, including hernia, heart trouble, pneumonia, or tuberculosis, among others, sustained in the course of employment of a specified member of law enforcement or a specified first responder, this bill would reduce those time periods to 75 days. The bill would make other conforming changes. Existing law prohibits aggregate disability payments for a single injury occurring on or after January 1, 2008, causing temporary disability from extending for more than 104 compensable weeks within a period of 5 years from the date of injury, except if an employee suffers from certain injuries or conditions. This bill would, for specified firefighters and peace officers claiming illness or injury related to cancer, increase the number of compensable weeks to 240 without limitation as to time from the date of injury. Existing law requires that certain proceedings, including proceedings for the enforcement against the employer or an insurer of any liability for compensation, be instituted before the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. Existing law authorizes the appeals board to fix and determine, in its award, the total amount of compensation to be paid and specify the manner of payment, or may fix and determine the weekly disability payment to be made and order payment during the continuance of disability. Existing law requires that when payment of compensation has been unreasonably delayed or refused, either prior to or subsequent to the issuance of an award, the amount of the unreasonably delayed or refused payment be increased up to 25% or up to $10,000, whichever is less. Existing law requires the appeals board to use its discretion to accomplish a fair balance and substantial justice between the parties. This bill would require, if liability for an injury has been unreasonably rejected for specified claims of injury or illness, including hernia, heart trouble, pneumonia, or tuberculosis, among others, sustained in the course of employment of a specified member of law enforcement or a specified first responder, the amount of the penalty to be 5 times the amount of the benefits unreasonably delayed due to the rejection of liability. The bill would limit the penalty to no more than $50,000. The bill would require the appeals board to determine the question of whether the rejection of liability is reasonable. The bill would apply this provision to all injuries, without regard to whether the injury occurs before, on, or after the operative date of the bill. Existing law requires the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, among other duties, to develop a workers' compensation information system in consultation with the Insurance Commissioner and the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, with certain data to be collected electronically. This bill would require the division, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, to identify and amend its existing data collection processes to include collection of the date on which a claimant is notified of acceptance, denial, or conditional denial of liability.
Existing law establishes the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation, under the direction of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, to regulate the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil or gas wells in the state. Existing law establishes the Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Administrative Fund in the State Treasury for expenditure by certain public entities in connection with various activities relating to oil and gas operations, as specified. Existing law authorizes the supervisor to order certain operations to be carried out on any property in the vicinity of which, or on which, is located any well or facility that the supervisor determines to be a hazardous well, an idle-deserted well, a hazardous facility, or a deserted facility, as specified. Existing law also establishes and requires the division to administer and manage the Oil and Gas Environmental Remediation Account in the Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Administrative Fund. Existing law requires moneys in the account to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to plug and abandon oil and gas wells, decommission attendant facilities, or otherwise remediate sites that the supervisor determines could pose a danger to life, health, water quality, wildlife, or natural resources, as specified. Existing law prohibits the division from expending more than $3,000,000 in any one fiscal year, for the 2018–19 fiscal year to the 2021–22 fiscal year, inclusive, and, commencing with the 2022–23 fiscal year, no more than $5,000,000 in any one fiscal year from the Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Administrative Fund for those purposes related to hazardous wells, idle-deserted wells, hazardous facilities, and deserted facilities. This bill would instead prohibit the division from expending, commencing with the 2022–23 fiscal year, more than $5,000,000, and, in addition, (1) the amount actually expended by the division in the preceding fiscal year, not to exceed $7,500,000, from the dedicated General Fund appropriation for the 2022–23 fiscal year for the purposes of plugging and abandoning wells, decommissioning facilities, and site remediation, and (2) the amount actually expended by the division in the preceding fiscal year, not to exceed $7,500,000, from the dedicated General Fund appropriation for the 2023–24 fiscal year, only if there is a dedicated General Fund appropriation for the 2023–24 fiscal year for the purposes of plugging and abandoning wells, decommissioning facilities, and site remediation. The bill would also require the Controller, commencing with the 2023–24 fiscal year, in any fiscal year that the division makes expenditures that are less than the amount appropriated, to transfer from the Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Administrative Fund to the Oil and Gas Environmental Remediation Account an amount equal to the difference between what was appropriated and what was expended by the division for that fiscal year, unless there is more than $200,000,000 in the account. The bill would also provide that the expenditure limits in these provisions do not apply to funds received by the Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Administrative Fund pursuant to a federal grant authorized under the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Existing law defines "public works," for purposes of regulating public works contracts, as, among other things, construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for, in whole or in part, out of public funds. Existing law further requires that, except as specified, not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages be paid to workers employed on public works and imposes misdemeanor penalties for a willful violation of this requirement. This bill would deem all work to plug and abandon wells, decommission production facilities, or otherwise remediate well sites that is undertaken, funded, or financed by the division, as specified, and performed by outside contractors to be public work for which prevailing wages are required to be paid. The bill would require, not later than June 30, 2024, the California Workforce Development Board to consult with the division in developing and implementing the Oil and Gas Well Capping Pilot initiative established pursuant to the Budget Act of 2022 to assist state-registered apprenticeship programs in creating curriculum for training apprentices and to upskill journeypersons on well capping projects. The bill would require the division, when contracting on or after January 1, 2028, for the performance of construction, alteration, demolition, installation, repair, or work to ensure that all entities selected for these projects enter into a project labor agreement, as defined, that will bind all of the contractors performing work on the project. The bill would also require, for contracts that are awarded, extended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2028, and for specified work performed by contractors licensed by the Contractors State License Board, including the plugging and abandonment of wells, decommissioning of production facilities, or otherwise remediating well sites, that contractors and any subcontractors at every tier use a skilled and trained workforce, as defined, to perform all work within an apprenticeable occupation, as defined, in the building and construction trades, as defined. The bill would require the division to develop a procurement process to group multiple projects, as specified. The bill would also make other changes relating to workforce development. Because the willful violation of prevailing wage requirements when engaged in these public works projects would result in the imposition of misdemeanor penalties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the supervisor to make public, on or before the first day of October of each year, a report in writing showing, among other things, the total amounts of oil and gas produced in each county in the state during the previous calendar year and the total cost of the division for the previous fiscal year. This bill would also require the supervisor to include in the report on the total cost of the division for the previous fiscal year an accounting of any General Fund moneys appropriated and used for plugging and abandonment of wells, decommissioning of facilities, and site remediation, or appropriated and used to facilitate those activities. Existing law requires the supervisor, only until July 1, 2026, to prepare and transmit to the Legislature a comprehensive report on the status of idle and long-term idle wells for the preceding calendar year, as specified. This bill would instead make that requirement operative indefinitely. 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 sets forth procedures for the levy of a judgment debtor's wages when required to enforce a money judgment. Existing law specifies that the maximum amount of a judgment debtor's disposable earnings for any workweek that is subject to levy shall not exceed the lesser of certain specified percentages, including 50% of the amount by which the disposable earnings for the week exceed 40 times the state minimum hourly wage. Existing law specifies certain multipliers to determine the maximum amount of disposable earning subject to levy for any pay period other than a weekly pay period. This bill would provide that the maximum amount of disposable earnings of a judgment debtor for any workweek that is subject to levy must not exceed the lesser of 20% of the individual's disposable earnings for that week or 40% of the amount by which the individual's disposable earnings for that week exceed 48 times the state minimum hourly wage. The bill would reduce the multipliers used to determine the maximum amount of earnings subject to levy for any pay period other than a weekly pay period. The bill would make these provisions operative on September 1, 2023.
Existing law establishes the California Rehabilitation Oversight Board in the Office of the Inspector General and requires the board to regularly examine the various mental health, substance abuse, educational, and employment programs for incarcerated persons and parolees operated by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law requires the board to annually report to the Governor and the Legislature, as specified. This bill would additionally require the board to examine the department's efforts to address the housing needs of incarcerated persons, including those who are identified as having serious mental health needs, who are released to the community as parolees and to include specified data on homelessness in its reports.
Existing law establishes the California Conservation Corps in the Natural Resources Agency and requires the corps to implement and administer the conservation corps program. Existing law authorizes the Director of the California Conservation Corps to establish the Education and Employment Reentry Program within the corps to develop, partner with, and create opportunities for certain forestry corps program objectives, collaborate with the Employment Development Department to provide access to workforce services, collaborate with nongovernmental organizations dedicated to providing access to counseling, mentorship, supportive housing, health care, and educational opportunities, and employ collaborations and partnerships available to the corps, as specified. This bill would require the director, upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute, in partnership with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, to establish a forestry training center in northern California to provide enhanced training, education, work experience, and job readiness for entry-level forestry and vegetation management jobs. The bill would require the training center to include counseling, mentorship, supportive housing, health care, and educational services and authorize the training center to provide training modules on specified activities. The bill would require the director to enroll at the training center formerly incarcerated individuals and to prioritize enrollment for those formerly incarcerated individuals who have either successfully served on a California Conservation Camp program crew and were recommended by the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as provided, or successfully served on a hand crew at the county level and were recommended for participation by the county probation and county fire departments. The bill would provide that successful completion of a training program at the training center constitutes qualifying experience for an entry-level forestry or vegetation management position at a state agency. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for northern California.
The Planning and Zoning Law requires each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for its physical development, and the development of certain lands outside its boundaries, that includes, among other mandatory elements, a housing element. Existing law requires that the housing element include, among other things, an inventory of land suitable and available for residential development. If the inventory of sites does not identify adequate sites to accommodate the need for groups of all households pursuant to specified law, existing law requires the local government to rezone sites within specified time periods and that this rezoning accommodate 100% of the need for housing for very low and low-income households on sites that will be zoned to permit owner-occupied and rental multifamily residential use by right for specified developments. This bill, the Middle Class Housing Act of 2022, would deem a housing development project, as defined, an allowable use on a parcel that is within a zone where office, retail, or parking are a principally permitted use, if specified conditions are met, including requirements relating to density, public notice, comment, hearing, or other procedures, site location and size, consistency with sustainable community strategy or alternative plans, prevailing wage, and a skilled and trained workforce. The bill would authorize an interested party, including a labor organization that represents workers in the geographic area of the project, to bring an action for injunctive relief against a developer or prime contractor that proceeds with a project in violation of specified bidding requirements. This bill would require a development proponent to provide written notice of their pending application to each commercial tenant on the parcel when the application is submitted and provide relocation assistance to each eligible commercial tenant, as described. The bill would require a local agency to require that a rental of any unit created pursuant to the bill's provisions be for a term longer than 30 days. This bill would authorize a local agency to exempt a parcel from these provisions if the local agency makes specified written findings supported by substantial evidence, as provided. The bill would specify that it does not alter or affect the application of any housing, environmental, or labor law applicable to a housing development authorized by these provisions, including, but not limited to, the California Coastal Act, the California Environmental Quality Act, the Housing Accountability Act, obligations to affirmatively further fair housing, and any state or local affordability laws or tenant protection laws. The bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to undertake at least 2 studies of the outcomes of these provisions that include specified information, including, among other things, the number of projects built and the number of units built. The bill would provide that these provisions become operative on July 1, 2023, and would repeal the provisions on January 1, 2033. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by the Middle Class Housing Act of 2022 address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. The Housing Accountability Act, which is part of the Planning and Zoning Law, prohibits a local agency from disapproving, or conditioning approval in a manner that renders infeasible, a housing development project, as defined for purposes of the act, for very low, low-, or moderate-income households or an emergency shelter unless the local agency makes specified written findings based on a preponderance of the evidence in the record. That act states that it shall not be construed to prohibit a local agency from requiring a housing development project to comply with objective, quantifiable, written development standards, conditions, and policies appropriate to, and consistent with, meeting the jurisdiction's share of the regional housing need, except as provided. That act further provides that a housing development project or emergency shelter shall be deemed consistent, compliant, and in conformity with an applicable plan, program, policy, ordinance, standard, requirement, or other similar provision if there is substantial evidence that would allow a reasonable person to conclude that the housing development project or emergency shelter is consistent, compliant, or in conformity. The bill would provide that for purposes of the Housing Accountability Act, a proposed housing development project is consistent, compliant, and in conformity with an applicable plan, program, policy, ordinance, standard, requirement, or other similar provision if the housing development project is consistent with the standards applied to the parcel pursuant to specified provisions of the Middle Class Housing Act of 2022. The Planning and Zoning Law, until January 1, 2026, also authorizes a development proponent to submit an application for a multifamily housing development that is subject to a streamlined, ministerial approval process, as provided, and not subject to a conditional use permit, if the development satisfies specified objective planning standards, including a requirement that the site on which the development is proposed is zoned for residential use or residential mixed-use development, or has a general plan designation that allows residential use or a mix of residential and nonresidential uses, with at least 23 of the square footage of the development designated for residential use. Under that law, the proposed development is also required to be consistent with objective zoning standards, objective subdivision standards, and objective design review standards in effect at the time the development is submitted to the local government. This bill would permit the development to be proposed for a site zoned for office or retail commercial use and that meets the requirements of the above-described Middle Class Housing Act of 2022. The bill would also provide that a project shall be deemed consistent with objective zoning standards, objective design standards, and objective subdivision standards if the project is consistent with the applicable provisions of the Middle Class Housing Act of 2022 and if none of the square footage in the project is designated for hotel, motel, bed and breakfast inn, or other transient lodging use, except for a residential hotel, as defined. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65913.4 of the Government Code proposed by AB 2668 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2668 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. By expanding the crime of perjury and imposing new duties on local agencies with regard to local planning and zoning, this 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 specified reasons.
Existing law prohibits the governing body of a public agency with a population in excess of 4,000,000, or the boards and commissions designated by the governing body of such a public agency, from discriminating against employees by removing or disqualifying them from a health benefit plan, or otherwise restricting their ability to participate in a health benefit plan, on the basis that the employees have selected or supported a recognized employee organization. This bill would prohibit the County of Los Angeles from discriminating against an employee who is a member of a recognized employee organization by, among other things, limiting the employee's health benefit plan enrollment options or eligibility to participate in health benefit plans to plans that provide fewer benefits than those offered to employees who are not represented by a recognized employee organization. The bill would state that the addition of this provision does not constitute a change in, but is declaratory of, existing law. Because the bill would require the County of Los Angeles to provide a higher level of service, it would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles. 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.