Existing law, notwithstanding the requirement that each person between 6 and 18 years of age who is not otherwise exempted is subject to compulsory full-time education, requires a pupil to be excused from school for specified types of absences, including, among others, if the absence was due to the pupil's illness. This bill would include as another type of required excused absence an absence that is for the purpose of a middle school or high school pupil participating in a civic or political event, as defined, provided that the pupil notifies the school ahead of the absence. The bill would require a middle school or high school pupil who is absent from school to engage in a civic or political event to be excused for only one schoolday-long absence per school year. The bill would also authorize a middle school or high school pupil who is absent from school to engage in a civic or political event to be permitted additional excused absences in the discretion of a school administrator, as provided. To the extent that this bill would impose additional duties on local educational entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Sponsored bills
Existing federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , requires each state to establish an American Health Benefit Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health benefit plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) , also known as Covered California, governed by an executive board, to facilitate the enrollment of qualified individuals and qualified small employers in qualified health plans as required under PPACA. Existing law requires the Exchange board to market and publicize the availability of health care coverage through the Exchange and to undertake outreach and enrollment activities. Under existing law, the information obtained in the administration of the Unemployment Insurance Code is for the exclusive use and information of the Director of Employment Development in the discharge of the director's duties and is not open to the public. Existing law permits the use of the information for specified purposes, including to enable the Exchange and the State Department of Health Care Services to obtain information regarding employee wages, California employer names and account numbers, employer reports of wages and number of employees, and disability insurance and unemployment insurance claim information. Existing law makes it a crime for a person to knowingly access, use, or disclose this confidential information without authorization. This bill would require the Exchange, at least monthly beginning no later than September 1, 2023, to request from the Employment Development Department (EDD) specified information of each new applicant for unemployment compensation, state disability, and paid family leave. The bill would require EDD to provide specified information to the Exchange to assist the Exchange or the State Department of Health Care Services in determining eligibility for the insurance affordability programs administered by those state agencies, to enable the Exchange to notify an employer that an employee is eligible for advance payments of the premium tax credit and cost-sharing reductions and has enrolled in a qualified health plan, and to enable the Exchange to verify if a consumer has been offered comprehensive employer-sponsored health care coverage. The bill would require the Exchange to market and publicize the availability of health care coverage through the Exchange, and engage in outreach activities, to the individuals whose information the Exchange receives from EDD. By expanding the scope of distribution of confidential information, thereby expanding the number of persons subject to the access, use, and confidentiality restrictions, the bill would expand the scope of related crimes and 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 within the Department of Industrial Relations the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, under the direction of the Labor Commissioner. Existing law authorizes the division to enforce the Labor Code and all labor laws of the state the enforcement of which is not specifically vested in any other officer, board, or commission. Existing law prescribes comprehensive requirements relating to minimum wages, overtime compensation, and standards for working conditions for the protection of employees applicable to an employment relationship. This bill would prohibit an employer, in the event of an emergency condition, as defined, from taking or threatening adverse action against any employee for refusing to report to, or leaving, a workplace or worksite within the affected area because the employee has a reasonable belief that the workplace or worksite is unsafe, except as specified. The bill would also prohibit an employer from preventing any employee, including employees of public entities, as specified, from accessing the employee's mobile device or other communications device for seeking emergency assistance, assessing the safety of the situation, or communicating with a person to confirm their safety. The bill would require an employee to notify the employer of the emergency condition requiring the employee to leave or refuse to report to the workplace or worksite, as specified. The bill would clarify that these provisions are not intended to apply when emergency conditions that pose an imminent and ongoing risk of harm to the workplace, the worksite, the worker, or the worker's home have ceased.
Existing law prohibits a public employer from deterring or discouraging public employees or applicants to be public employees from becoming or remaining members of an employee organization, authorizing representation by an employee organization, or authorizing dues or fee deductions to an employee organization. Existing law generally vests jurisdiction over violations of these provisions in the Public Employment Relations Board. This bill would authorize an employee organization, as described, to bring a claim before the Public Employment Relations Board alleging that a public employer violated the above-described provisions. Upon a finding by the board that the public employer violated those provisions, the public employer would be subject to a civil penalty, to be deposited in the General Fund, of up to $1,000 for each affected employee, not to exceed $100,000 in total, and subject to attorney's fees and costs, as described and except as specified. The bill would also require the board to apply specified criteria when assessing the civil penalty.
Existing provisions of the California Constitution provide that the University of California constitutes a public trust and require the university to be administered by the Regents of the University of California (regents) , a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers of organization and government, subject to legislative control only for specified purposes, including any competitive bidding procedures as may be applicable to the university by statute for specified purposes, including the purchasing of materials, goods, and services. Existing law requires the regents, except as provided, to let all contracts involving an expenditure of $100,000 or more annually for goods and materials or services, excepting personal or professional services, to the lowest responsible bidder meeting certain specifications, or to reject all bids. Existing policy of the regents establishes a general prohibition on contracting out for services and functions that can be performed by university staff, with certain exceptions, establishes employment standards for contract employees, and provides for the conversion of contract employees to university employment under prescribed circumstances. This bill would make it unlawful for any vendor, as defined, to accept payment above a specified threshold from the university pursuant to a contract for prescribed services if the vendor is performing services or supplying the university with employees to perform services who are paid less than the higher of the total compensation rate specified in the vendor's contract with the university or as required by university policy. The bill would require a vendor to provide those employees with prescribed written notice relating to compensation. The bill would require a vendor, twice yearly, to provide basic payroll information, as defined, to the university and members of any joint labor-management committee or similar meeting body established with the exclusive representative of university employees who perform the same or similar services. The bill would also require a vendor to provide specified additional written notice, including specific text, relating to the release of basic payroll information, to all employees who agree to perform services for the university or continue doing so. The bill would also require basic payroll information for an individual employee who performs services for the university, on request, to be made available for inspection by that individual employee or that individual employee's designated representative or to be furnished to that individual employee or that individual employee's authorized representative. This bill would authorize an employee or university employee to provide a vendor with written notice of a violation of the bill and the opportunity to correct and cure the violation and thereafter file suit only if the vendor fails to provide prescribed documentation. The bill would establish remedies, including civil penalties and restitution, for prevailing claimants and would provide for the disqualification of the vendor, for a minimum of 5 years, from submitting any bid to the university, or executing, renewing, or extending any contract with or otherwise receiving payment from the university in exchange for services. The bill would make its provisions severable.
(1) Existing law, the Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act, requires every local public agency, as defined, to have an emergency communication system and requires the digits "911" to be the primary emergency telephone number within the system. Existing law specifies provisions governing the operation and financing of community mental health services for the mentally disordered in every county through locally administered and locally controlled community mental health programs. Existing law specifies that county mental health services should be organized to provide immediate response to individuals in precrisis and crisis and to members of the individual's support system on a 24-hour, 7-day-per-week basis and authorizes provision of crisis services offsite as mobile services. Existing federal law, the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, designates the 3-digit telephone number "988" as the universal number within the United States for the purpose of the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system operating through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline maintained by the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Abuse and the Veterans Crisis Line maintained by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. This bill would enact the Miles Hall Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Act. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to verify, no later than July 16, 2022, that technology that allows for transfers between 988 centers as well as between 988 centers and 911 public safety answering points, is available to 988 centers and 911 public safety answering points throughout the state. The bill would require, no later than 90 days after passage of the act, the office to appoint a 988 system director, among other things. The bill would require, no later than July 1, 2024, the office to verify interoperability between and across 911 and 988. The bill would require the office to consult with specified entities on any technology requirements for 988 centers. This bill would require the California Health and Human Services Agency to create, no later than December 31, 2023, a set of recommendations to support a 5-year implementation plan for a comprehensive 988 system. The bill would require that agency to convene a state 988 advisory group, as described, for purposes of advising the agency on the set of recommendations. The bill would require the agency to report annually, on or before December 31, beginning December 31, 2024, and until December 31, 2029, to the Legislature on the status of 988 implementation in the state, as described. The Administrative Procedure Act generally governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. The bill would provide that regulations and other similar instruments made pursuant to these provisions by the Office of Emergency Services and the California Health and Human Services Agency are not subject to the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. (2) 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 law requires a health care service plan contract or disability insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, to provide coverage for medically necessary treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, as defined, under the same terms and conditions applied to other medical conditions. This bill would require health care service plans and insurers to cover medically necessary treatment of a mental health or substance use disorder, including behavioral health crisis services, provided by a 988 center or mobile crisis team, regardless of whether the service is provided by an in-network or out-of-network provider, at the in-network cost-sharing amount, as defined. By creating a new crime under the Knox-Keene Act, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law, the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharges Act, generally imposes a surcharge on each access line for each month or part thereof for which a service user subscribes with a service supplier, at an amount no greater than $0.80, based on the Office of Emergency Services' estimate of the number of access lines to which the surcharge will be applied per month for a calendar year period that it estimates, pursuant to a specified formula, will produce sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal year's 911 costs. Existing law imposes a surcharge on the purchase of prepaid mobile telephony services at the time of each retail transaction in this state, at the rate equal to the monthly surcharge amount per access line, to be paid by prepaid consumers and collected by sellers, as defined. Existing law exempts certain lines from the surcharge, including lines supplying lifeline service. Existing law requires the surcharge to be remitted to, and administered by, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, in accordance with specified provisions. Existing law makes certain violations of the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act a crime. Existing law requires amounts to be paid to the state pursuant to the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act to be deposited into the State Emergency Telephone Number Account and that the amounts deposited, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be spent solely for specified purposes, including payment for the installation of, and ongoing expenses for, a basic system. This bill would create a separate surcharge, beginning January 1, 2023, on each access line for each month or part thereof for which a service user subscribes with a service supplier. The bill would set the 988 surcharge for the 2023 and 2024 calendar years at $0.08 per access line per month and, for years beginning January 1, 2025, at an amount based on a specified formula, but no greater than $0.30 per access line per month. This bill would make applicable relevant provisions of the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act to the 988 surcharge, as provided, including existing surcharge exemptions. The bill would authorize the 911 and 988 surcharges to be combined into a single-line item, as described. The bill would provide for specified costs to be paid by the fees prior to distribution to the Office of Emergency Services. The bill would make conforming changes in regard to the 988 surcharge. This bill would create the 988 State Suicide and Behavioral Health Crisis Services Fund and would require the fees to be deposited along with other specified moneys into the fund. The bill would provide that the funds be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified purposes and in accordance with specified priorities. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to require an entity seeking moneys available through the fund to annually file an expenditure and outcomes report containing specified information. (4) This bill would appropriate $300,000 from the General Fund to the 988 State Suicide and Behavioral Health Crisis Services Fund for expenditure by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration in the 2022–23 fiscal year for purposes of implementing the amendments to the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act. (5) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 41100 of the Revenue and Taxation Code proposed by SB 1496 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1496 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (6) By expanding the scope of crimes imposed by the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act, 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. (7) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law designates specific days as holidays in this state. Existing law designates holidays on which community colleges and public schools are required to close, including days appointed by the President. Existing law entitles state employees, with specified exceptions, to be given time off with pay for specified holidays. This bill would add June 19, known as "Juneteenth," to the list of state holidays. The bill would specify that holidays created by federal legislation signed by the President are considered days appointed as holidays for the purposes of the above-described provisions requiring community colleges and public schools to close. The bill would authorize state employees to elect to take time off with pay in recognition of Juneteenth, as specified. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 45203, 79020, and 88203 of the Education Code proposed by AB 1801 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1801 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 6700, 19853, and 19853.1 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1801 and AB 2596 to be operative only if this bill and either or both AB 1801 and AB 2596 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law, the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining with respect to wages, terms of employment, and other employment conditions, and authorizes employees to elect exclusive bargaining representatives for these purposes. Existing law creates the Agricultural Labor Relations Board and prescribes its composition, duties, and powers. Existing law authorizes the board to hold hearings and conduct investigations and requires that certain procedures be the exclusive method of redressing unfair labor practices. Under existing law, any person who willfully resists, prevents, or interferes with a member of the board or its agents or agencies in the performance of their duties is guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law requires the board to certify the results of an election conducted by secret ballot of employees in a collective bargaining unit to designate a collective bargaining representative, unless the board determines there are sufficient grounds to refuse to do so. Existing law further provides that if the board refuses to certify an election because of employer misconduct that would render slight the chances of a new election reflecting the free and fair choice of employees, the labor organization shall be certified as the bargaining representative for the bargaining unit. This bill would refer to the election by secret ballot process as a polling place election. The bill would establish alternative procedures to the polling place election and authorize a labor organization to be certified as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit through either a labor peace election or a non-labor peace election, as prescribed, dependent on whether an employer enrolls and agrees to a labor peace election for labor organization representation campaigns. The bill would provide that a labor peace election or a non-labor peace election permits a bargaining unit to summarily select a labor organization as its representative for collective bargaining purposes without using the existing polling place process. Under the bill, a labor peace election would be a mail ballot election and a non-labor peace election would establish a process for the submission of a petition with proof of majority support, subject to certification by the board. Among other provisions, the bill would require for both alternative procedures that an employer respond to the board with regard to a petition, including providing a specified list of employees to the board. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would establish a schedule for agricultural employers to indicate to the board whether they agree to a labor peace compact, defined to mean an agreement by the employer to, among other things, make no statements for or against union representation to its employees or publicly, in any written or oral form, at any time during employee hire, rehire, or orientation, or after certain documents regarding organization are filed with the board. The bill would prohibit a labor peace compact from prohibiting an employer from communicating truthful statements to employees regarding workplace policies or benefits, as specified. The bill would require the board to develop an online web-based labor peace election process that will allow employers to indicate their labor peace choice online, and that will allow labor organizations to see whether a specific agricultural employer has agreed to a labor peace election campaign. This bill would repeal the above provisions on January 1, 2028. This bill would prescribe civil penalties to be imposed upon an agricultural employer who commits an unfair labor practice in an amount not to exceed $10,000 for each violation, and would increase that sum to an amount not to exceed $25,000 for specified violations. The bill would require the board to consider specified factors in determining the amount of a civil penalty pursuant to these provisions. The bill would also authorize the board to impose personal liability for these penalties upon a director or officer of an employer in certain circumstances. Existing law authorizes a person aggrieved by the final order of the board granting or denying in whole or in part the relief sought for an unfair labor practice, to obtain a review of the order in a specified court of appeal by filing in the court a written petition requesting that the order of the board be modified or set aside. This bill would require an employer who appeals or petitions for a writ of review of any order of the board involving make-whole, backpay, or other monetary awards to employees, to post an appeal bond in the amount of the entire economic value of the order, as specified, and would provide for the bond to be forfeited under specified conditions. This bill would state that its provisions are severable. 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 the Department of Housing and Community Development in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. Existing law establishes a director of the department and authorizes them to perform all duties, exercise all powers, discharge all responsibility, and administer and enforce all laws, rules, and regulations under the jurisdiction of the department, among other duties. Existing law, the Mobilehome Residency Law, governs the terms and conditions of mobilehome park tenancies, including rental agreements between homeowners and the management of the mobilehome park and park rules and regulations. Existing law, the Mobilehome Parks Act, establishes requirements for the construction, maintenance, occupancy, use, and design of mobilehome parks. Existing law, the Recreational Vehicle Park Occupancy Law, governs the terms and conditions of recreational vehicle park tenancies. Existing law, the Special Occupancy Parks Act, establishes requirements for the construction, maintenance, occupancy, use, and design of special occupancy parks. This bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development, by May 1, 2025, to adopt regulations to require at least one person per mobilehome park or recreational vehicle park employed or acting under contract as an onsite manager or assistant manager, or otherwise acting in an onsite or offsite managerial capacity or role, on behalf of a mobilehome park or recreational vehicle park to receive training, as specified. The bill would require the training to be at least 6 hours, and no more than 8 hours, during the initial year and would require an online end-of-year examination to occur, as specified. The bill would require, every 2 years thereafter, a training of at least 2 hours, and no more than 4 hours, on rules and regulations for the park, among other matters. The bill would require the director of the department to permit a third-party provider to offer the training, as specified. Once permitted, the bill would require the director to review the training curriculum and materials of the permitted third-party provider every 2 years for compliance with the provisions of this bill. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations for the qualification and disqualification of third-party providers, as specified. The bill would require the department to adopt these regulations by May 1, 2025. This bill would require the department or approved third-party provider to offer the training in an online format, would authorize the training to be offered in other formats, and would authorize the department to consult with the Department of Consumer Affairs, residents, and management, among others, in developing the training. The bill would require the department, upon a person's satisfactory completion of the training and the examination, and upon meeting the other requirements, to issue the person a certificate of completion that would expire every 2 years, and would establish a process for renewing the certificate. This bill would establish the Mobilehome Park and Recreational Vehicle Training Fund within the State Treasury to receive all moneys derived under the bill's provisions and moneys in the fund would be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Department of Housing and Community Development, for the purpose of carrying out these provisions, as described. The bill would also authorize the department to establish, by regulation, a fee-based structure, not to exceed the department's reasonable costs in administering these provisions, and would set forth billing and payment procedures. This bill would require the management of each mobilehome park to post a copy of the certificate issued to it by the department in a conspicuous location onsite, as specified. The bill would require the department to provide written notice to management regarding its compliance, as specified. The bill would authorize the department, if management of a park is out of compliance with these requirements, to impose a civil penalty, as specified, and suspend the management's permit to operate, upon first providing adequate notice and an opportunity to be heard in accordance with certain procedural requirements. The Administrative Procedure Act generally governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. This bill would exempt regulations of the department adopted pursuant to this chapter from the Administrative Procedure Act.
Existing law, the Sexual Assault Victims' DNA Bill of Rights, requires that sexual assault victims be provided with specified information about their case, including the status of the DNA testing of the rape kit evidence or other crime scheme evidence from the victim's case. Existing law, subject to commitment of sufficient resources to respond to requests for information, gives sexual assault victims the right to be informed whether or not a DNA profile of the assailant was obtained from testing of the rape kit or other evidence, whether that evidence has been submitted to the state database, and whether a DNA match was found. This bill would, instead, give the a victim of sexual assault the right to access the Department of Justice's SAFE-T database portal involving their own forensic evidence kit and the status of the kit, and the right to information relating to the testing of evidence and DNA in state and federal databases. Existing law, upon initial interaction with a sexual assault victim, requires a law enforcement officer or medical provider to provide the victim with a card that explains all of the rights of sexual assault victims, including, among other things, a clear statement that a sexual assault victim is not required to participate in the criminal justice system or to receive a medical evidentiary or physical examination to retain their rights under the law. This bill would require the card to also include a notification that a court may not imprison or otherwise confine or place in custody a victim of sexual assault or domestic violence for contempt if the contempt consists of refusing to testify concerning the crime. By requiring higher levels of service from local law enforcement, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 680 of the Penal Code proposed by SB 1228 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1228 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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.