Sen. Josh Newman

Existing law permits the governing body of a city or district to request that the county render specified services to the city or district regarding the conduct of an election. This bill would prohibit a local government from enacting or enforcing any charter provision, ordinance, or regulation requiring a person to present identification for the purpose of voting or submitting a ballot at any polling place, vote center, or other location where ballots are cast or submitted, as specified. 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.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education to establish a formal liaison with the United States Department of Defense and school districts and county offices of education that enroll military dependents to, among other things, create model memoranda of agreement between military bases and school districts or county offices of education regarding enabling schoolage military dependents to experience a smoother transition from one school to another school. Existing law authorizes a governing board of a school district and a county office of education to undertake certain activities to properly address the needs of military dependents. This bill would require the State Department of Education to establish a nonmonetary California Purple Star School Designation Program to reduce the burden on military-connected pupils and their families and to publicly recognize and designate public schools that meet certain requirements related to supporting military-connected pupils and their families' unique needs, as provided. The bill would require the department to develop an annual application process and adopt application criteria for the California Purple Star School Designation Program, as specified, and would provide that a Purple Star School designation is valid for 3 years, after which a schoolsite seeking to renew its designation is required to reapply.

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, an absence for purposes of spending time with a member of the pupil's immediate family who is an active duty member of the uniformed services, and has been called to duty for, is on leave from, or has immediately returned from, deployment to a combat zone or combat support position, as specified. This bill would add a pupil's participation in military entrance processing to the list of excused absences. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on school officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 48205 of the Education Code proposed by AB 1884 and AB 2499 to be operative only if this bill and either or both of those bills 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 establishes procedures for state agencies to enter into contracts for goods and services, including generally requiring that certain contracts by a state agency, including, but not limited to, contracts for the construction, alteration, improvement, repair, or maintenance of property, be approved by the Department of General Services. Existing law authorizes a public entity to use, enter into, or require contractors to enter into, a project labor agreement, as defined, for a construction project, if the agreement includes specified taxpayer protection provisions. This bill would require the Judicial Council and the California State University, by January 1, 2027, to identify and select a minimum of 3 major state construction projects that are required to be subject to the requirements of a project labor agreement, as specified, and would define various terms for these purposes. The bill would require the Judicial Council and the California State University, on or before January 1, 2027, to each submit a report to the Legislature regarding the selection of projects, as specified. The bill would also make a related statement of legislative findings and declarations.

Existing law requires, in conformance with federal law, that the Secretary of State and the Department of Motor Vehicles establish and implement the California New Motor Voter Program for the purpose of increasing opportunities for voter registration for qualified voters. Existing law requires the department to transmit to the Secretary of State specified information related to a person's eligibility to vote, which the person provides when applying for a driver's license or identification card or when the person notifies the department of an address change. Existing law requires that if this information transmitted to the Secretary of State constitutes a completed affidavit of registration, the Secretary of State must register or preregister the person to vote, as applicable, unless the person affirmatively declines to register or is ineligible to vote, as specified. This bill would require the Secretary of State and the department to develop a process for the department to use information from the statewide voter registration database to determine whether a person who submits a driver's license application is already registered or preregistered to vote in the state. The bill would require the department, based upon this determination, to transmit specified information provided by the person during their transaction with the department to the Secretary of State for the purpose of registering or preregistering that person to vote or to update their registration information. The bill would prohibit the department from providing a person the opportunity to attest to meeting voter eligibility requirements when they submit a driver's license application, if the person provides a document to the department during the transaction demonstrating that the person is not a United States citizen. The bill would permit the Secretary of State, upon a determination that sufficient technology infrastructure exists, to promulgate regulations concerning the establishment of a list of individuals who are eligible to be preapproved for voter registration, as specified. This bill would make these provisions operative on the earlier of January 1, 2030, or 5 days after the Secretary of State and the department certify that the information technology infrastructure necessary to substantially implement the bill is functional. The bill would permit the Secretary of State and the department, beginning on January 1, 2025, to perform administrative actions necessary to implement these provisions.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health to implement and administer various programs relating to public health. The department administers the California Overdose Surveillance Dashboard that provides data on state- and local-level drug-related overdose outcomes for California, including, among other data, the number of deaths related to fentanyl overdoses. Existing law requires the department to update the dashboard to reflect additional information, as specified. This bill would require the department to use best efforts to utilize all of its relevant data regarding overdoses in the state to monitor and identify current trends of fentanyl-related deaths of children 0 to 5 years of age, inclusive. The bill would require the department to develop guidance and spread awareness of the trends to protect and prevent children from fentanyl exposure. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2026, to annually distribute its findings and guidance to local health departments, county boards of supervisors, and the Legislature. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029.

Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals. Existing law requires, by January 1, 2030, owners of all acute care inpatient hospitals to either seismically retrofit all acute care inpatient hospitals, or demolish, replace, or change to nonacute care use all hospital buildings not in substantial compliance with regulations and standards developed by the department in accordance with the act, as specified. This bill would authorize the Children's Hospital Los Angeles to seek approval from the Department of Health Care Access and Information for an extension to the January 1, 2030, compliance deadline described above by up to 3 years. The bill would authorize the hospital to submit a seismic compliance plan, as specified, and, if necessary, a Nonstructural Performance Category-5 evaluation report in order to seek an extension. The bill would also require the hospital and department to identify least 2 major milestones relating to the seismic compliance plan that will be used as the basis for determining whether a hospital is making adequate progress towards meeting the hospital's seismic compliance deadline. The bill would subject the submitted seismic compliance plan to departmental review for reasonableness and require the hospital seeking the extension to submit any documentation requested by the department to assist its review. The bill would require the department to approve or deny a seismic compliance plan and any extension to the seismic compliance deadline within 120 days. The bill would also authorize the department to adjust the approved extension of time, the milestones agreed upon, or both, as necessary to deal with contractor, labor, or material delays, acts of God, governmental entitlements, or other circumstances beyond the hospital's control. The bill would impose a fine of $5,000 per calendar day for the hospital's failure to comply with a revised construction schedule or to meet any major milestone established by the department until the requirements or milestones, respectively, are met. The bill would also generally prohibit these hospitals from being issued a building permit for any building in the facility except those required for seismic compliance, maintenance, and emergency repairs until the milestone is met and the hospital is adequately progressing toward meeting the hospital's seismic compliance, as determined by the department. The bill would require the department to implement the above-described provisions by regulation, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles.

(1) Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to accept pupils from other school districts by adopting a resolution to become a school district of choice, in accordance with various programmatic and procedural requirements and limitations, including, among other requirements and limitations, that the school district of choice accept all pupils who apply to transfer until the school district of choice is at maximum capacity, and that pupils are selected through an unbiased process, as specified. Existing law prohibits school districts of choice from targeting their communications to individual parents or residential neighborhoods on the basis of a pupil's or pupils' actual or perceived academic skill or other personal characteristics. This bill would expand that prohibition to also prohibit school districts of choice from targeting their communications to individual parents or residential neighborhoods on the basis of a pupil's or pupils' actual or perceived proficiency in English, family income, or their disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic that is contained in the definition of a hate crime, as defined. (2) Existing law requires the governing board of each local educational agency to either provide for an audit of the books and accounts of the local educational agency, including an audit of income and expenditures by source of funds, or make arrangements with the county superintendent of schools having jurisdiction over the local educational agency to provide for that auditing. Existing law requires that audit to include compliance with the above-described provisions. This bill would require the audit to instead include compliance with all provisions of the district of choice program. (3) Existing law authorizes a school district of choice to reject the transfer of a pupil if the transfer of that pupil would require the school district to create a new program to serve that pupil, except that a school district of choice is prohibited from rejecting the transfer of a special needs pupil, including an individual with exceptional needs, as defined, and an English learner. This bill would expand that prohibition to further prohibit a school district of choice from rejecting the transfer of a pupil who is a foster youth, as defined, or a homeless child or youth, as defined. (4) Existing law requires school districts of choice to give first priority for attendance to siblings of children already in attendance in the school district, and requires school districts of choice to give second priority for attendance to pupils eligible for free or reduced-price meals. This bill would require school districts of choice to also give second priority for attendance to pupils who are foster youth or homeless children or youth. (5) Existing law authorizes school districts of residence with an average daily attendance greater than 50,000 to limit the number of pupils transferring out each year to 1% of its current year estimated average daily attendance. Existing law authorizes school districts of residence with an average daily attendance of 50,000 or less to limit the number of pupils transferring out to 3% of its current year estimated average daily attendance, and to limit the maximum number of pupils transferring out for the duration of the school district of choice program to 10% of the average daily attendance for that period. Existing law authorizes a school district of residence that has a negative status on the most recent budget certification completed by the county superintendent of schools in any fiscal year, regardless of its average daily attendance, to limit the number of pupils who transfer out of the district in that fiscal year. This bill would require the 1%, 3%, and 10% transfer caps to be based off the average daily attendance as reported as of the first principal apportionment of the prior fiscal year instead of its current year estimated average daily attendance. The bill would authorize a school district of residence with either a qualified or negative status, instead of only those with a negative status, on the most recent budget certification completed by the county superintendent of schools in any fiscal year, regardless of its average daily attendance, to limit the number of pupils who transfer out of the district in that fiscal year. The bill would require a county office of education, upon request of a school district of residence to determine the percentage of pupils transferring out of the school district of residence for the duration of the program, and would require the county office of education to request data from the school district of choice regarding the number of pupils transferring into the school district of choice. By imposing additional duties on county offices of education, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. If the school district of choice does not provide the number of pupils transferring into the school district of choice to the county office of education within 30 days, the bill would prohibit the school district of choice from accepting new pupil transfers pursuant to the school district of choice program until the school district of choice complies with the county office of education data request. (6) Existing law prescribes an application process for the school district of choice program that includes specified deadlines and requires, among other things, that the governing board of the school district of choice include in a written notification to the parent that the number of pupils applying to transfer exceeded the capacity of the school district of choice and that the pupil was not selected during the random drawing. This bill would revise and recast those provisions by, among other things, (A) requiring the written notification to specify whether the number of pupils applying to transfer exceeded the capacity of the school district of choice or the specific school or program to which the pupil applied, (B) requiring the school district of choice, on or before January 15, to notify the school district of residence of the number and names of the pupils who are requesting transfers, and (C) requiring the school district of residence, on or before February 15, to notify the school district of choice of the total number and names of the pupils requesting transfers in excess of the above-described caps, as specified. (7) Existing law establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for county superintendents of schools, school districts, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula, as specified. Existing law requires the local control funding formula, in part, to be based on average daily attendance, as specified. If an audit identifies a school district of choice as having accepted pupils from a school district of residence after the school district of residence has provided the notice that it has reached one of the above-described caps, this bill would require the auditor to determine the average daily attendance generated by each pupil in excess of the applicable cap whose transfer originated from the school district of residence subsequent to the notice, disaggregated by local control funding formula grade span, to calculate the portion of the school district of choice's local control funding formula apportionment attributable to that average daily attendance, and to report that amount to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and would require the Superintendent, notwithstanding any other law, to reduce the school district of choice's local control funding formula apportionment each year by the amount calculated and reported by the auditor. (8) Existing law requires each school district of choice to keep an accounting of all requests made for transfers pursuant to a school district of choice program and records of all disposition of those requests, which are required to include, among other things, the number of pupils transferred out of the school district of choice pursuant to the program, the number of pupils transferred into the school district of choice pursuant to the program, and the race, ethnicity, gender, self-reported socioeconomic status, eligibility for free or reduced-price meals, and the school district of residence of each of those pupils. This bill would add a pupil's foster youth status and homeless child or youth status to that required accounting. (9) Existing law requires the Legislative Analyst's Office to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the school district of choice program and prepare recommendations regarding the program. Existing law requires the evaluation and recommendations to be submitted to the appropriate education policy committees of the Legislature and to the Department of Finance by September 30, 2026. This bill would repeal those requirements. (10) Existing law makes the school district of choice program inoperative as of July 1, 2028, and repeals its provisions as of January 1, 2029. This bill would repeal those sunset provisions, thereby extending the school district of choice program indefinitely. (11) This bill also would make other nonsubstantive changes. (12) 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 State Department of Education to incorporate age-appropriate materials relating to, among other things, genocide and the Holocaust into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher use, consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science. Under existing law, the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony into the teaching of genocide and the Holocaust. This bill would establish the California Teachers Collaborative for Holocaust and Genocide Education, to be responsible for establishing a statewide teacher professional development program on genocide, including the Holocaust, for school district, county office of education, and charter school teachers. The bill would require the collaborative to consist of leading genocide and Holocaust education organizations and institutions, genocide survivors, educators, and community leaders. The bill would provide that the collaborative's mission is to ensure that genocide, including Holocaust, education is taught consistent with, among other things, the content standards, curriculum frameworks, and instructional materials adopted by the State Board of Education, in ways that are interdisciplinary and age-appropriate to pupils of different grade levels. The bill would prescribe the duties of the collaborative, including, among others, developing and providing curriculum resources on genocide and Holocaust education. The bill would authorize other duties of the collaborative, subject to available funding, including, among others, providing, as determined by the department, annual verbal or written reports to the department and the Legislature on the collaborative's achievement of its mission. The bill would make the implementation of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation.

Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to, among other duties, establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials. Existing law requires, as a minimum requirement for a preliminary multiple subject, single subject, or education specialist teaching credential, the satisfactory completion of a program of professional preparation that includes a teaching performance assessment that meets specified requirements and has been approved by the commission, as provided. Existing law requires a program of professional preparation to include a teaching performance assessment that is aligned with the California Standards for the Teaching Profession and that is congruent with state content and performance standards for pupils adopted by the State Board of Education. Existing law requires the commission, subject to the availability of funds in the annual Budget Act, to perform specified duties with respect to the performance assessment. Existing law also requires the performance assessment results to be reported so that they may serve as one basis for a recommendation by the program sponsor that the commission award a teaching credential to a candidate who has successfully met the performance assessment standards. Existing law also requires the commission, by July 1, 2025, to ensure that an approved teaching performance assessment for a preliminary multiple subject credential and for a preliminary education specialist credential assesses all candidates for competence in instruction in literacy, including, but not limited to, evidence-based methods of teaching foundational reading skills, as provided. This bill would, subject to the availability of funds in the annual Budget Act, require the commission to report the number of programs of professional preparation with low pass rates and assist those programs to use evidence-based strategies to support candidates to pass the assessment. The bill would prohibit the charging of fees to candidates for these instructional supports. The bill would additionally require the commission to maintain a secondary passing standard for the performance assessment that may be used, with consideration of other evidence of the candidate's performance related to the California Standards for the Teaching Profession, for a program sponsor's recommendation of a candidate to the commission for a teaching credential. The bill would require the commission to convene a workgroup composed of classroom teachers, teacher educators, and performance assessment experts, all selected by the commission, to assess the current design and implementation of the above-described teaching performance assessments, as provided. The bill would require the workgroup to develop recommendations concerning these assessments, as provided, to be presented to the commission by March 1, 2025, and would also require the commission to vote to adopt a set of recommendations by July 1, 2025, and implement the adopted recommendations by July 1, 2028. The bill would require the commission to report to the Legislature annually, beginning on October 15, 2025, and continuing through October 15, 2028, on the progress of the workgroup in making its recommendations and actions taken by the commission to implement the recommendations it adopts. Existing law establishes the Teacher Credentials Fund in the State Treasury, requires all fees collected by the commission for tests, examinations, or assessments to be deposited in the fund, and requires these funds to be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the development, agency support, maintenance, or administration of tests or other assessments established, required, or administered by the commission, unless otherwise authorized by the Legislature. This bill would, for the 2024–25 fiscal year only, require the commission to submit to the Department of Finance a plan for using existing funds available from the Teacher Credentials Fund to support the operations of the above-described workgroup. The bill would require, upon approval of the plan by the Department of Finance, an amount not to exceed $729,000 to be made available from the Teacher Credentials Fund to the commission for the operations of the workgroup, thereby making an appropriation. Existing law requires the commission to appoint an executive director of the commission and exempts the executive director from the State Civil Service Act. This bill would authorize the Governor to appoint one deputy to the executive director. The bill would exempt that deputy from state civil service, as provided.