Sen. Susan Rubio

Existing law requires all new building and major renovation projects larger than 10,000 gross square feet undertaken by state agencies, and for which the project schematic design documents are initiated by the state agency on or after January 1, 2024, to obtain the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or "LEED" Gold or higher certification, except as provided. Existing law requires state agencies to obtain LEED Silver certification for new buildings or major renovations, as described above, if the state agency concerned makes a finding that achieving LEED Gold conflicts with critical operational or security requirements, is demonstrably cost ineffective, or conflicts with California Building Code requirements. This bill would, as an alternative to obtaining LEED Gold certification as described above, allow building or renovation projects to obtain Three Green Globes or higher certification, as specified. This bill would, as an alternative to obtaining LEED Silver as described above, allow building or renovation projects to obtain Two Green Globes certification, as specified. The bill would make its requirements apply to projects for which the project schematic design documents are initiated by a state agency on or after January 1, 2027.

The Outdoor Advertising Act provides for the regulation by the Department of Transportation of advertising displays, as defined, within view of public highways. The act exempts from most of its provisions an advertising display used exclusively to advertise products, goods, or services that are either sold on the premises of an arena or marketed or promoted on the premises of an arena if, among other conditions, the advertising display has been authorized, as of January 1, 2021, by, or in accordance with, a local ordinance, including, but not limited to, a specific plan or sign district adopted in connection with the approval of the arena, as provided. The act requires an advertising display that is located on the premises of an arena and that was erected pursuant to the exemption also to be authorized by, or in accordance with, an ordinance, including, but not limited to, a specific plan or sign district, as provided. This bill would, on and after January 1, 2028, similarly exempt from most provisions of the act an advertising display used exclusively to advertise products, goods, or services that are either sold on the premises of an arena or marketed or promoted on the premises of the arena if, among other conditions, the advertising display has been authorized, as of January 1, 2032, by, or in accordance with a local ordinance or other discretionary approval, including, but not limited to, a specific plan or sign district that benefits the arena, as specified. The bill would define "premises of an arena" to include a public assembly building owned by the City of Los Angeles, as specified. The bill would require, before one of these advertising displays may be placed, a determination from the department or the Federal Highway Administration that the display will not cause a reduction in federal aid funds or otherwise be inconsistent with federal law, federal regulations, or an agreement between the state and a federal agency or department, as specified. This bill would limit both of these exemptions to an arena that is fully constructed or under construction on or before January 1, 2027. The bill would instead require an advertising display that is located on the premises of an arena and that was erected pursuant to either of these exemptions to be authorized by an ordinance or other discretionary approval, including, but not limited to, a specific plan, sign district, or conditional use permit, as specified. The bill would prohibit an arena from having more than a total of 2 advertising displays pursuant to these exemptions. Except for advertising displays authorized by the existing exemption, the bill would require certain advertising displays placed pursuant to the new exemption for one arena to be located at least 5,000 feet from an advertising display authorized pursuant to an exemption for another arena. The act also regulates placement of advertising displays adjacent to and within specified distances of highways that are part of the national system of interstate and defense highways and federal aid highways. The act prohibits, except as provided, placing or maintaining an advertising display on property adjacent to a portion of a freeway that has a specified coverage area of landscaping or trees at the same or elevated grade of the main-traveled way, as provided. The act does not prohibit a city, county, or city and county from designating the districts or zones in which an advertising display may be placed or prohibited as part of a land use or zoning ordinance. The act also does not prohibit a local governmental entity from entering into an agreement to relocate an advertising display for any purpose. This bill would exempt certain advertising displays developed within the boundary limits of, and as part of, an individual redevelopment agency project from the prohibition on placing or maintaining an advertising display on property adjacent to a portion of a freeway that has landscaping or trees, from a city's, county's, or city and county's land use or zoning ordinance, and from a local governmental entity's relocation agreement, as those are described above. The bill would require an advertising display subject to this exemption to remain in substantially the same location and configuration as it existed on December 31, 2025, and would prohibit the advertising display from being expanded, relocated, increased in height or display area, or modified to add additional display faces beyond those existing on December 31, 2025. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Los Angeles. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 5272 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by AB 2717 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2717 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

The federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires a state or political subdivision in which more than 5% of voting-age citizens, or more than 10,000 voting-age citizens, are members of a single language minority and limited-English proficient to provide certain election materials, including ballots, in the language of the applicable language minority group. Existing state law requires the Secretary of State to determine for each county and precinct whether it is appropriate to provide facsimile copies of the ballot and other election materials in languages other than English. If the Secretary of State determines the number of voting age residents in a county or precinct who are members of a single language minority, and who lack sufficient skills in English to vote without assistance, is 3% or more of the voting-age residents of the county or precinct, county elections officials must provide facsimile ballots and other election materials in the applicable language. This bill would require the Secretary of State, on or before December 15, 2031, and on or before December 15 in every year ending in 1 or 7 thereafter, to identify the counties where at least 10,000 voting age citizens, or 5% of voting age citizens, are limited English proficient and either members of a single language minority group or speak a shared language. The bill would require the elections official in an identified political subdivision to provide translated election materials in any language that meets those criteria or, for an election occurring before December 15, 2031, in any language in which the political subdivision is required to provide language assistance under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, within a specified period of time. The elections official would be required to translate, among other things, all official and sample ballots, voter registration forms, and election notices and instructions. The elections official would also be required to have a sufficient number of bilingual election workers to provide language assistance to any voter who needs it. If the Secretary of State or another state agency provides election-related forms, instructions, assistance, or other materials or services in an identified political subdivision, the bill would require the Secretary of State or other state agency to translate the materials or services into any language that meets the criteria within that political subdivision. Beginning January 1, 2027, the bill would also authorize the Secretary of State to require a political subdivision to provide translated election materials if interested citizens or entities provide the Secretary of State with a preponderance of evidence that a language group meets any of the above-described criteria. The bill would also make various conforming changes. By increasing the duties of local elections officials, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. 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. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 13307 of the Elections Code proposed by SB 715 to be operative only if this bill and SB 715 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.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, requires all public water systems, as defined, with 10,000 or more service connections to review and revise their disaster preparedness plans in conjunction with related agencies, including, but not limited to, local fire departments and the Office of Emergency Services, to ensure that the plans are sufficient to address possible disaster scenarios. A person, as defined, who violates the provisions of this act is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill, beginning January 1, 2028, would require all urban retail water suppliers, as defined, serving 3,300 or more persons and serving a high or very high fire hazard severity zone to include incident-specific response procedures for wildfires as part of their disaster preparedness plans, including any applicable emergency response plan as required by federal law. The bill would require these plans to include, among other things, mitigation actions, including actions, procedures, and equipment, that can obviate or significantly lessen the impact of a wildfire on the water system and the supply of drinking water provided by the water supplier. Because violation of these requirements by certain urban retail water suppliers would constitute a misdemeanor, the bill would expand the scope of a crime, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. This bill would prohibit anything, including any other law, from imposing a duty on public water systems, including wholesale water systems, to design, construct, or maintain a water system for wildfire defense or suppression. The bill would further prohibit the failure of an urban retail water supplier to implement or comply with any of the incident-specific response procedures developed pursuant to the above requirements or the inability of any public water system to maintain water supply or water pressure during a wildfire from being considered a substantial cause of the damages resulting from a wildfire. 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 constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Existing law provides that parents and guardians of children enrolled in public schools have the right and should have the opportunity, as mutually supportive and respectful partners in the education of their children within the public schools, to be informed by the school, and to participate in the education of their children, as specified, including by, among other things, meeting with their child's teacher or teachers and the principal of the school in which their child is enrolled within a reasonable time of their request. This bill would provide that parents, guardians, or educational rights holders of children enrolled in public schools also have the right to communicate with their child's teacher by telephone or a school-approved web conferencing platform if the parent, guardian, or educational rights holder is unable to attend an individual meeting in person about their child, as provided. The bill would prohibit these meetings from being recorded or transcribed. By imposing new duties on public schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would delete an obsolete reference. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 51101 of the Education Code proposed by AB 2555 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2555 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.

Existing law requires, until July 1, 2027, the Attorney General, or their designee, to engage in reviews of county, local, or private locked detention facilities in which noncitizens are being housed or detained for purposes of civil immigration proceedings in California, and, on or before March 1, 2019, to conduct a review of these facilities, as specified, including a review of the circumstances of apprehension and transfer. Existing law also requires the Department of Justice to provide, during the budget process, updates and information to the Legislature and the Governor, concerning the reviews, as provided and pursuant to a specified date. Existing law requires the comprehensive report to be completed by March 1, 2019, and to be posted on the Attorney General's internet website and made available to the public, as provided. Existing law makes these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2027, and repeals those provisions January 1, 2028. This bill would delete all dates specified above, including inoperative and repeal provisions, thereby indefinitely extending those provisions, and would delete the requirement for the review to include an individual's circumstances of apprehension and transfer. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes.

Existing law establishes various healing arts boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs that license and regulate various healing arts licensees. Existing laws, including the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act, the Educational Psychologist Practice Act, the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act, and the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Act, make a violation of those acts a crime. Existing law regulates the use of artificial intelligence, as defined. Existing law requires a health facility, clinic, physician's office, or office of a group practice that uses generative artificial intelligence to generate written or verbal patient communications pertaining to patient clinical information to ensure those communications include a disclaimer that indicates to the patient that a communication was generated by artificial intelligence and instructions describing how a patient may contact a human health care provider, employee, or other appropriate person. This bill would regulate the use of artificial intelligence in connection with providing or facilitating psychotherapy services, as defined. The bill, among other things, would authorize an individual, corporation, or entity that provides or facilitates psychotherapy services to use artificial intelligence tools or systems only to assist in providing administrative or supplementary support in psychotherapy services, as specified. The bill would prohibit an individual, corporation, or entity from using artificial intelligence to record or transcribe psychotherapeutic communications or sessions or to triage or screen a person for the need for psychotherapy services unless the patient or client or their authorized representative is informed that artificial intelligence will be used and the purpose of the artificial intelligence tool or system, and the patient or client or their authorized representative provides consent, as specified. The bill would prohibit an individual, corporation, or entity from advertising or otherwise purporting to offer psychotherapy services when the services are provided through the use of companion chatbots. The bill would prohibit an individual, corporation, or entity from allowing artificial intelligence to perform certain acts, including making therapeutic decisions or detecting emotions or mental states, as specified, without review and approval by a licensed professional. The bill would make a violation of the bill's provisions subject to the jurisdiction of the appropriate health care professional licensing board or enforcement agency, as specified, and would authorize those boards and enforcement entities to pursue any remedies authorized by law. Existing law, the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, generally restricts the persons and entities to whom, and the purposes for which, a health care provider, health care service plan, or contractor may release a patient's medical information. The Confidentiality of Medical Information Act additionally imposes certain disclosure requirements for the release of medical information that specifically relates to the patient's participation in outpatient treatment with a psychotherapist. In this regard, the act prohibits a health care provider, health care service plan, or contractor from releasing that information to persons or entities who have requested that information and who are otherwise authorized by specified laws to receive that information, unless the requester makes certain written disclosures to the patient and to the provider of health care, health care service plan, or contractor, as specified. Those disclosures include, among other things, the specific intended uses of the information, and the length of time during which the information will be kept before being destroyed or disposed of, as specified. Existing law makes a violation of those provisions that result in economic loss or personal injury to a patient punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would require the use of artificial intelligence in patient or client records for psychotherapy services to comply with the confidentiality requirements of the above-described provision of the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act and would prohibit a company or entity from sharing, selling, storing, or training their models on any data obtained from psychotherapy in a manner inconsistent with any applicable law. By expanding the scope of existing crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes the Governor to proclaim a state of emergency when specified conditions of disaster or extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist, and authorizes the Governor to exercise certain powers in response to that emergency, including, but not limited to, suspending specified statutes, ordinances, orders, regulations, or rules. This bill would impose specific duties on the Department of Housing and Community Development if the Office of Emergency Services makes a written determination, within 10 days after the date that the Governor declared a state of emergency relating to a wildfire, that the wildfire caused substantial structural damage requiring significant rebuilding efforts, as defined. The bill would require the department, under this condition, to consult with other specified state entities and local governments to identify state permitting requirements and local procedures that could be suspended or revised to support recovery and rebuilding efforts as a result of the wildfire, as specified. The bill would require the department to prepare and submit initial and periodic reports to the Governor and Legislature with the information and recommendations. This bill, on or before July 1, 2028, would require the Department of Housing and Community Development, in consultation with other specified state entities, to convene a workgroup to review and provide a report to the Governor and the Legislature with recommendations regarding any provision of the California Building Standards Code that should be suspended for specified types of projects to facilitate rapid, safe, disaster-resilient, and cost-effective rebuilding and recovery guidance for any future state of emergency. The bill would require the workgroup to review and update the report to the Governor and Legislature after the release of every update to the California Building Standards Code. This bill, starting January 1, 2028, would require, upon the Governor's declaration of a state of emergency relating to a wildfire, every state agency or political subdivision, as defined, involved in postdisaster response, debris removal, reconstruction, housing, or land-use permitting to accept electronic submission of any application, form, plan set, appeal, or request for state agency or political subdivision action related to recovery efforts for that state of emergency, as provided. By imposing new duties on local agencies, 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.

Existing law requires the Governor to proclaim various days as days of remembrance or recognition. This bill would require the Governor to annually proclaim September 25 as Dolly Parton Day. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires electrical corporations to construct, maintain, and operate their electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfire, as specified. Existing law requires electrical corporations to annually prepare and submit wildfire mitigation plans to the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety for review and approval. This bill would require the commission, on or before January 1, 2028, to update a general order to require each electrical corporation to remove all permanently abandoned transmission facilities, as specified. This bill would require that an electrical corporation's wildfire mitigation plan also include an accounting of all transmission facilities, including permanently abandoned transmission facilities, as defined, and include a plan for how and when each permanently abandoned transmission facility will be removed and the wildfire mitigation measures that are being implemented to prevent hazards, as provided. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, establishes, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services (OES) under the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services. Existing law requires OES to establish a standardized emergency management system for use by all emergency response agencies. This bill would require certain electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities, in cooperation with OES and other emergency service agencies, to establish procedures for the coordination of efforts between electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities and their representatives and those of emergency response agencies. The bill would require these electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities to assign liaison representatives to work with each local emergency operations center, as provided. By imposing new duties on local publicly owned electric utilities, 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.