The Political Reform Act of 1974 prohibits certain contributions of more than $250 to an officer of an agency by any party, participant, or party or participant's agent in a proceeding while a proceeding involving a license, permit, or other entitlement for use is pending before the agency and for 12 months following the date a final decision is rendered in the proceeding, as specified. The act requires disclosure on the record of the proceeding, as specified, of certain contributions of more than $250 within the preceding 12 months to an officer from a party or participant, or party's agent. The act disqualifies an officer from participating in a decision in a proceeding if the officer has willfully or knowingly received a contribution of more than $250 from a party or a party's agent, or a participant or a participant's agent, as specified. The act allows an officer to cure certain violations of these provisions by returning a contribution, or the portion of the contribution of in excess of $250, within 14 days of accepting, soliciting, or receiving the contribution, whichever comes latest. This bill would raise the threshold for contributions regulated by these provisions to $500, as specified. The bill would extend the period during which an officer may cure a violation to within 30 days of accepting, soliciting, or directing the contribution, whichever is latest. The bill would specify that a person is not a "participant" for the purposes of these provisions if their financial interest in a decision results solely from an increase or decrease in membership dues. The bill would exempt from these provisions contracts valued under $50,000, contracts between 2 or more government agencies, contracts where no party receives financial compensation, and the periodic review or renewal of development agreements, as specified, from these provisions. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 84308 of the Government Code proposed by SB 1181 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1181 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
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Existing law defines an assault as an unlawful attempt, coupled with present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another. Existing law defines a battery as any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another. Under existing law, an assault or battery committed against a physician or nurse engaged in rendering emergency medical care outside a hospital, clinic, or other health care facility is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding $2,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would also make an assault or battery committed against a physician, nurse, or other health care worker of a hospital engaged in providing services within the emergency department punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, by a fine not exceeding $2,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment. The bill would authorize a health facility that maintains and operates an emergency department to post a notice in the emergency department stating that an assault or battery against staff is a crime, and may result in a criminal conviction, as provided. 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.
The Public Employees' Retirement Law creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , which provides pension and other benefits to members of the system and prescribes limitations on the service that retired members may perform, without the member reinstating in the system, for employers that participate in the system. The California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) also prescribes limitations on the activities of retired members of these retirement systems, which supersede the provisions of PERS with which they conflict. Under both PERS and PEPRA, a retired member is generally subject to a limit of 960 hours of employment within a calendar or fiscal year, depending on the administrator of the system, for specified employers without reinstating in the system. This bill would create an exception from the above-described limit for hours worked by a retired person in an appointment by the Solano County Sheriff's Office to perform a function or functions regularly performed by a deputy sheriff, evidence technician, or communications operator, subject to meeting certain requirements. The bill would limit the number of appointments made under these provisions to 20. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Solano. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Existing law authorizes the Director of General Services, by January 1, 2026, to sell or exchange, at fair market value based upon an appraisal approved by the Department of General Services, all or part of a specified parcel of state property only to the County of Napa or the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District upon those terms, conditions, reservations, and exceptions the director determines are in the best interest of the state, and subject to other requirements. Existing law exempts from this authorization the property known as Camp Coombs. This bill would delete the exemption for the property known as Camp Coombs, thereby authorizing the Director of General Services to sell or exchange that property by January 1, 2026, but would require that the sale or exchange of the property known as Camp Coombs be separate from the above-described sale or exchange. (2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Napa County and the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District. (3) The California Constitution requires that the proceeds from the sale of surplus state property be used to pay the principal and interest on bonds issued pursuant to the Economic Recovery Bond Act, until the principal and interest on those bonds are fully paid, the final payment of which was made in the 2015–16 fiscal year, after which these proceeds are required to be deposited into the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties, a continuously appropriated fund. By increasing the amount transferred into the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties, a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the Secretary of Government Operations to develop a coordinated plan to, among other things, investigate the feasibility of, and obstacles to, developing standards and technologies for state departments to determine digital content provenance. For the purpose of informing that coordinated plan, existing law requires the secretary to evaluate, among other things, the impact of the proliferation of deepfakes, defined to mean audio or visual content that has been generated or manipulated by artificial intelligence that would falsely appear to be authentic or truthful and that features depictions of people appearing to say or do things they did not say or do without their consent, on state government, California-based businesses, and residents of the state. This bill, the Generative Artificial Intelligence Accountability Act, would, among other things, require the Department of Technology, under the guidance of the Government Operations Agency, the Office of Data and Innovation, and the Department of Human Resources, to update the report to the Governor, as required by Executive Order No. N-12-23, as prescribed. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to, as appropriate, perform a risk analysis of potential threats posed by the use of generative artificial intelligence to California's critical infrastructure, including those that could lead to mass casualty events and would require a high-level summary of the analysis be provided annually to the Legislature. This bill would also require a state agency or department that utilizes generative artificial intelligence to directly communicate with a person regarding government services and benefits to ensure that those communications include both (1) a disclaimer that indicates to the person that the communication was generated by generative artificial intelligence and (2) information, as specified, describing how the person may contact a human employee of the state agency or department.
Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a statewide program to allow certain entities, including counties and other political subdivisions of the state, that have completed a specified training program, to support and augment the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and education efforts. Existing law requires the director to establish a common reporting platform that allows defensible space and home hardening assessment data, collected by the qualified entities, to be reported to the department. Existing law requires the department to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention and home hardening education activities and provides that local agencies, among others, are eligible for these grants. Existing law describes eligible activities under the local assistance grant program as including, among other activities, development and implementation of public education and outreach programs. This bill would authorize those public education and outreach programs to include new technologies and game elements to enhance and accelerate the education of property owners. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to identify areas of the state as moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones based on specified criteria. Existing law requires a local agency to designate, by ordinance, the State Fire Marshal's moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones in its jurisdiction within 120 days of receiving recommendations from the State Fire Marshal, and authorizes a local agency, at its discretion, to include additional areas within the jurisdiction of the local agency as moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones. This bill would require the department, when reviewing applications for the local assistance grant program, to give priority to any local governmental entity that is qualified to perform defensible space assessments in very high and high fire hazard severity zones and that reports that information using the common reporting platform, as provided. Existing law requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure in, upon, or adjoining a mountainous area, forest-covered lands, shrub-covered lands, grass-covered lands, or land that is covered with flammable material to maintain defensible space of 100 feet from each side of the structure, with more intense fuel reductions between 5 and 30 feet around the structure and an ember-resistant zone required within 5 feet of the structure, based on regulations adopted by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection. Existing law requires fuels to be maintained and spaced in a condition so that a wildfire, burning under average weather conditions, would be unlikely to ignite the structure. Existing law provides that the requirement for an ember-resistant zone shall take effect for existing structures one year after the effective date for new structures. A violation of these requirements is a crime. Existing law requires the board to classify state responsibility areas, defined by reference to certain conditions of forest and vegetation cover and excluding municipal and federal areas, where preventing and suppressing fires is the state's financial responsibility. This bill would instead, without reference to weather conditions, require fuels to be maintained and spaced in a condition so that a wildfire would be unlikely to ignite the structure. The bill would require a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure in the state responsibility area, regardless of location or forest and vegetation cover, to maintain defensible space of 100 feet from each side. The bill would authorize regulations to alter the fuel reduction required between 5 and 30 feet to integrate the ember-resistant zone, and would provide that the requirement for the ember-resistant zone shall instead take effect for existing structures 3 years after the effective date for new structures, as specified. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also make conforming changes with respect to a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains an occupied dwelling or occupied structure that is within a very high fire hazard severity zone designated by a local agency. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 4124.5 of the Public Resources Code proposed by SB 675 to be operative only if this bill and SB 675 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law provides for the regulation and licensing of bar pilots for Monterey Bay and the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. Existing law also establishes, in the Transportation Agency, a Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun and prescribes the membership, functions, and duties of the Board of Pilot Commissioners with regard to the licensure and regulation of bar pilots. This bill would prohibit a state regulation from requiring or compelling the San Francisco bar pilots, as defined, to replace certain pilot station boats unless the state regulation authorizes the San Francisco bar pilots to replace the pilot station boat upon the pilot station boat reaching the end of its useful service life, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for San Francisco bar pilots who provide pilotage service on Monterey Bay and the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun.
(1) Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, and the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in the state. A portion of the Donahoe Higher Education Act known as the Equity in Higher Education Act declares, among other things, that it is the policy of the State of California that all persons, regardless of their sex, should enjoy freedom from discrimination of any kind in the postsecondary educational institutions of the state. Existing law requires the President of the University of California and the chancellor of each University of California campus to have primary responsibility for ensuring that campus programs and activities are free from discrimination based on age and specified characteristics. This bill would revise and recast the above-described provision to require the chancellor of each University of California campus to have the primary responsibility for ensuring that campus programs and activities are free from discrimination based on specified characteristics, including, but not limited to, the prevention of sexual harassment, as provided. The bill would require, among other requirements related to nondiscrimination, the office of the President of the University of California to annually present a report to the Board of Regents on the state of the University of California system in ensuring that programs and activities are free from discrimination based on specified characteristics, as provided. The bill would also require the President of the University of California to annually present during a public hearing of the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education and the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance the annual report described above. (2) Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California State University and the president of each California State University campus to have the primary responsibility for ensuring that campus programs and activities are free from discrimination based on age and specified characteristics. This bill would revise and recast the above-described provision to instead require the president of each California State University campus to have the primary responsibility for ensuring that campus programs and activities are free from discrimination based on specified characteristics, including, but not limited to, the prevention of sexual harassment, as provided. The bill would require, among other requirements related to nondiscrimination, the office of the Chancellor of the California State University to annually present a report to the Board of Trustees on the state of the California State University system in ensuring that programs and activities are free from discrimination based on specified characteristics, as provided. The bill would also require the Chancellor of the California State University to annually present during a public hearing of the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education and the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance the annual report described above. (3) Existing law requires the governing board of a community college district to have the primary responsibility for ensuring that community college district programs and activities are free from discrimination based on age and specified characteristics and requires the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to have responsibility for monitoring the compliance of each district with specified regulations. This bill would revise and recast the above-described provision to instead require the governing board of each community college district and the chief executive officer of the community college district to have joint responsibility for ensuring that programs and activities offered by the community college district are free from discrimination based on specified characteristics, including, but not limited to, the prevention of sexual harassment, as provided. The bill would require, among other requirements related to nondiscrimination, the chancellor's office to annually make a presentation during a public meeting of the Board of Governors on the state of the California Community Colleges system in ensuring that community college district programs and activities are free from discrimination based on specified characteristics, as provided. The bill would also require the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to annually present during a public hearing of the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education and the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance the presentation described above. To the extent the bill would impose new duties on community college districts, 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 provides for the regulation and licensing of pilots for Monterey Bay and the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. Existing law also establishes, in the Transportation Agency, the Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. Existing law prescribes the rates of bar pilotage fees required to be charged by pilots and paid by vessels inward and outward bound through those bays. Existing law also imposes an additional pilot boat surcharge to recover the pilots' costs of obtaining new pilot boats, including preliminary design and engineering, and of funding design and engineering modifications for the purpose of extending the service life of existing pilot boats, excluding costs for repair or maintenance, and authorizes the board to adjust the amount of the surcharge, as specified. Existing law requires the moneys charged and collected each month from the surcharge to be paid to the Board of Pilot Commissioners' Special Fund and credited to the Pilot Boat Surcharge Account, the moneys in which are continuously appropriated to the board to fund the pilot boat costs of obtaining new pilot boats and of funding design and engineering modifications for the purposes of extending the service life of existing pilot boats, excluding costs for repair or maintenance, and to cover the administrative costs of the board with respect to administration of the account. Existing law prohibits the amounts expended from the account for specified fiscal years from exceeding specified limits. This bill would remove the prohibitions on expenditures above those specified limits, thereby making an appropriation.
Existing law creates, within the Counties of Sonoma and Marin, the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District with specified duties and powers relative to the provision of a passenger and freight rail system within the territory of the district. Under existing law, the district is governed by a 12-member board of directors appointed by various local governmental entities. Existing law authorizes the board to submit to the voters of the district a measure proposing a retail transactions and use tax ordinance. This bill would also authorize those special taxes to be imposed by a qualified voter initiative if that initiative complies with certain requirements. The bill would require the board of supervisors of the Counties of Sonoma and Marin to call a special election on a tax measure proposed by the district's board of directors or a qualified voter initiative in their respective counties and would require the district to reimburse the counties upon request for the incremental cost of submitting the measure to the voters, as specified. To the extent that the bill would impose additional duties on a county elections official, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would delete a provision that limits the district, in the County of Sonoma north of the City of Healdsburg, to locating commuter stations only within incorporated areas. The bill would require the district to obtain coverage for the district and its employees under the appropriate federal and state workers' compensation, unemployment compensation, and disability and unemployment insurance laws, instead of only under laws of this state. Existing law renamed the North Coast Railroad Authority the Great Redwood Trail Agency on March 1, 2022. Existing law requires the agency to convey and transfer all of its rights, interests, privileges, and title relating to its rail right-of-way south of the county line separating the Counties of Mendocino and Sonoma to the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District. This bill would delete various obsolete references to the North Coast Railroad Authority located within provisions governing the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District. Existing law requires the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District's contracts for the purchase of supplies, equipment, and materials to be let to the lowest responsible bidder when the expenditure required exceeds $40,000. This bill would increase that threshold to $75,000 and would authorize the contract to be let to the lowest responsible bidder, or, in the district's discretion, to the responsible bidder who submitted a proposal that provides the best value to the district on the basis of the factors identified in the solicitation. The bill would require the district, to the extent practicable, to obtain a minimum of 3 quotations, either written or oral, that permit prices and terms to be compared whenever the expected expenditure required for the purchase of supplies, equipment, or materials exceeds $10,000 but does not exceed $75,000. 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.