Laws, Bills & Regs

To enact section 5534.59 of the Revised Code to designate a portion of U.S. Route 33 in Fairfield County and I-70 in Clark County as the "Congressman David Hobson Memorial Highway."

Existing law authorizes a legislative body of a city to designate one or more proposed infrastructure revitalization financing districts, as specified, which are legally constituted governmental entities established for the sole purpose of financing certain types of facilities, as specified. Existing law limits districts to only financing facilities or projects of communitywide significance, including the acquisition, construction, or repair of commercial or industrial structures for private use. This bill would specify that a facility or project to acquire, construct, or repair commercial or industrial structures for private use includes entertainment or sports facilities.

To amend section 2903.22 and to enact section 2927.31 of the Revised Code to prohibit a person from knowingly harassing or impeding an emergency service responder who is engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty and to clarify that heightened penalties apply for menacing a probation officer.

(1) Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and prescribes the authorities, duties, and responsibilities of the commission pertaining to energy matters. Existing law requires the commission, on or before January 1, 2019, in consultation with the Contractors State License Board, local building officials, and other stakeholders, to approve a plan that promotes compliance with specified regulations relating to building energy efficiency standards in the installation of central air-conditioning and heat pumps, as specified. Existing law authorizes the commission to adopt regulations to increase compliance with permitting and inspection requirements for central air-conditioning and heat pumps, and associated sales and installations, consistent with the above-described plan. This bill would establish various requirements and authorizations for the installation of a residential heat pump water heater or heat pump HVAC system, as defined, by, among other things, requiring a city, county, or city and county, beginning July 1, 2027, to adopt and offer asynchronous inspections for installations that do not require a licensed contractor and building inspector to be simultaneously present during the inspection. The bill would additionally require a city, county, or city and county, except as specified, to post specific information online, and on or before July 1, 2028, to implement an online automated permitting process for the installation of a residential heat pump water heater or residential heat pump HVAC system that issues permits in real time to a licensed contractor that meets certain criteria. The bill would require the criteria to include, among others, that the licensed contractor certify under penalty of perjury that they have performed a load calculation to properly size the new equipment, as specified. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. By imposing these various new duties on the described local entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize a city, county, or city and county, except as specified, to require up to one nondiscretionary permit per installation of a residential heat pump water heater or heat pump HVAC system in which the local entity administratively approves an application to install the residential heat pump water heater or heat pump HVAC system. The bill would additionally authorize a city, county, or city and county to apply only certain planning or zoning or workforce labor standards on the installation of a residential heat pump water heater or heat pump HVAC system that are in addition to any state-level requirements. The bill would prohibit a local entity described above from requiring a permit or inspection for plug-in ready window air-conditioner or window heat pump HVAC systems, provided that certain requirements are met, including that the appliance has a voltage rating of 120 volts or less and the appliance is a self-contained unit. The bill would limit the amount a city, county, or city and county may charge as a permit fee for a residential heat pump water heater or heat pump HVAC system, as specified. The bill would require a local entity described above that applies to receive any funding from the commission to self-certify to the commission its compliance with any applicable portions of the bill's provisions. The above provisions would not apply to new residential construction. The bill would include findings and declarations related to these provisions. (2) Existing law, the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, defines and regulates common interest developments. Among other things, the act makes a provision of the governing document or architectural or landscaping guidelines or policies void and unenforceable if, among other things, the provision prohibits, or includes conditions that have the effect of prohibiting, the use of low water-using plants as a group or as a replacement of existing turf. This bill would additionally make any provision of the governing documents, architectural guidelines, or policies void and unenforceable if the provision prevents the replacement of a fuel-gas-burning appliance with an electric appliance. The bill would also make any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any, among other specified agreements, deed, and any provision of a governing document, that effectively prohibits or restricts the installation or use of a residential heat pump water heater or heat pump HVAC system, void and unenforceable. The bill would prohibit an association, among other things, from prohibiting or restricting a member from installing, upgrading, replacing, or using a residential heat pump water heater or heat pump HVAC system in the member's separate interest, except as specified. (3) 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. (4) 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, with regard to certain mandates, no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Title 48 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to revenue and taxation, so as to provide for definitions; to revise and expand a sales tax exemption for manufactured homes; to provide for a sunset date; to provide for legislative findings; to provide for related matters; to provide for an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , consisting of 5 members appointed by the Governor. Existing law requires the Governor to designate one of those members as the chair and another member as the vice chair. Existing law establishes an annual salary for the commission members and a higher annual salary for the chairperson, as prescribed. This bill would require the vice chair of the Energy Commission, operative July 1, 2027, to receive an annual salary that is at the midpoint between the annual salary of the other commission members and that of the chairperson. Existing law establishes the California membership of the board of directors of the Western Climate Initiative, Incorporated (WCI, Inc.) as part of the state's implementations of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. Existing law requires certain procurement and contracts proposed by the WCI, Inc. to meet requirements that include, among others, notification to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. The State Contract Act generally provides a contracting process for state agencies and exempts specific state entities from its provisions relating to contracts for the acquisition of information technology goods and services. This bill would exempt the Western Climate Initiative, Incorporated from provisions of the State Contract Act relating to the acquisition of information technology goods and services and consider a certain type of contract with WCI, Inc. as a membership agreement. Existing law establishes various incentive programs that are administered or funded by the State Air Resources Board to provide financial assistance for the purchase of vehicles by individuals and fleet purchasers. This bill would, with funds provided in the 2026 Budget Act, require the state board to establish a new zero-emission electric vehicle incentive program for first-time zero-emission vehicle buyers and, as part of that program, to enter into grant agreements with light-duty passenger vehicle original engine manufacturers to provide incentives for consumers for the purchase or lease of new, and the purchase of used, light-duty passenger electric vehicles at the point of sale and registered to California residents. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on September 1, 2031, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2032. Existing law establishes the Continuation Account in the Wildfire Fund, to be administered by the Wildfire Fund Administrator, and continuously appropriates moneys in the account for purposes of payment of eligible claims arising from wildfires ignited on or after September 19, 2025, as provided. Existing law requires each large electrical corporation to provide to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) a written notification of its election to participate, or not to participate, in the account, and requires the PUC, if all participating electrical corporations have provided their election to participate in the account, to provide the administrator and other entities notification of their elections. Existing law authorizes the administrator, on or after the date the PUC provides that notification, but not later than December 31, 2028, to determine if additional annual contributions from large electrical corporations are needed to enable the account to fund the timely payment of eligible claims, as provided. Existing law requires the PUC, within 15 days of receiving notification from the administrator that additional annual contributions are required, to initiate a rulemaking proceeding to consider using its authority to require the large electrical corporations to collect a nonbypassable charge from ratepayers to support the account, as provided. If the PUC imposes the nonbypassable charge to support the account, existing law requires the large electrical corporations, from calendar years 2029 to 2045, inclusive, to provide to the administrator their annual contributions, as specified, for deposit into the account. This bill would instead authorize the administrator, on or after the date the PUC provides that notification, but not later than December 31, 2028, to determine if those annual contributions, instead of the additional annual contributions, are needed. The bill would make additional technical and conforming changes. Existing law requires the PUC to prohibit a large electrical corporation from including in its equity rate base its share, as determined pursuant to a specific allocation metric, of the first $6,000,000,000 expended in aggregate by large electrical corporations on fire risk mitigation capital expenditures approved by the commission on or after January 1, 2026. This bill would modify the allocation to be used for purposes of the above-described prohibition. Existing law requires the Energy Commission to implement and administer the Distributed Electricity Backup Assets Program to incentivize the construction of cleaner and more efficient distributed energy assets that would serve as on-call emergency supply or load reduction for the state's electrical grid during extreme events, and the Demand Side Grid Support Program to incentivize dispatchable customer load reduction and backup generation operation as on-call emergency supply and load reduction for the state's electrical grid during extreme events, as provided. Existing law, the Budget Act of 2021, appropriates $495,000,000 from the General Fund to the Energy Commission to support the implementation of the Distributed Electricity Backup Assets Program and provides that this amount is available for encumbrance or expenditure by the Energy Commission until June 30, 2026, and for liquidation until June 30, 2030. Existing law, the Budget Act of 2024, reverts $308,700,000 of that amount to the General Fund. This bill would specify that the moneys appropriated in the Budget Act of 2021 to support the implementation of the Distributed Electricity Backup Assets Program is also available to be used for the Demand Side Grid Support Program, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would make that appropriation available for encumbrance or expenditure until June 30, 2027. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because certain of the above-described provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a PUC action implementing the above-described provisions would be 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

(1) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to work in partnership with the California Workforce Development Board to support California's high road construction careers program. Existing law requires the department to reserve a minimum aggregate total of $50,000,000 of federal funds from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to be allocated over 4 years in support of the program. This bill would instead require the department to reserve a minimum aggregate total of $30,000,000 of state transportation funds to be allocated in support of California's high road construction careers program. (2) Existing law establishes priorities and procedures that any state agency disposing of surplus residential property is required to follow. Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to deposit proceeds from the sale of a surplus residential property from the department to a new owner into the SR-710 Rehabilitation Account. Existing law continuously appropriates the funds in the account to the department for the purpose of providing required repairs to certain surplus residential properties that are offered for sale, as provided. Existing law requires that the total funds maintained in the account not exceed $1,200,000 and that funds exceeding that amount, less any reimbursements due to the federal government, be transferred to the State Highway Account in the State Transportation Fund, to be used for allocation by the California Transportation Commission exclusively to fund projects located in specified cities and in the 90032 postal ZIP Code. This bill would authorize an increase in the amount of the total funds maintained in the account to instead be up to $15,000,000. By authorizing an increase in the funds held in a continuously appropriated account, the bill would make an appropriation. (3) Under the Mills-Alquist-Deddeh Act, also known as the Transportation Development Act, transit operators are required to maintain specified ratios of fare revenue to operating costs in order to receive funds under the act. If a transit operator does not maintain the prescribed ratio of fare revenues to operating costs, the act requires a reduction in the amount of funding for which the transit operator would otherwise be eligible, as specified. The act suspends the imposition of those penalties on transit operators during the 2019–20 to 2025–26 fiscal years, inclusive. This bill would suspend the imposition of those penalties through the 2026–27 fiscal year. (4) The Transportation Development Act creates the State Transit Assistance Program, under which certain revenues in the Public Transportation Account are allocated by formula for public transportation purposes. The act requires a transit operator to receive its entire allocation under the program, and authorizes the operator to use any or all of that allocation for operating purposes, if it meets one of 2 specified efficiency standards. If the operator fails to meet either of those efficiency standards, existing law reduces the amount of the operator's allocation available for operating purposes by a specified percentage and requires that amount to be used by the operator for capital purposes. The act exempts a transit operator from meeting either of those efficiency standards for the 2020–21 to 2025–26 fiscal years, inclusive, and authorizes the operator to use those funds for operating or capital purposes during that period. This bill would extend that exemption through the 2026–27 fiscal year. (5) Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state. Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority Office of the Inspector General and authorizes the High-Speed Rail Authority Inspector General to initiate an audit or review regarding oversight related to delivery of the high-speed rail project undertaken by the authority and the selection and oversight of contractors related to that project. This bill would require the Inspector General, upon completion of an audit or review, to publish a complete report on its internet website, provide notification of the published report to the Governor and the High-Speed Rail Authority, and submit a copy of the report to the Legislature. The bill would authorize the Inspector General to hold that report, or a portion of that report, confidential, as specified, if the Inspector General determines that the report, or portion of the report, would describe or otherwise reveal weaknesses that would pose a substantial and articulable risk to the project or to state operations if publicly disclosed. If the Inspector General makes that determination, the bill would require the Inspector General, among other things, to deliver a confidential report to state officials with oversight of the project, as specified. This bill would require all books, papers, records, and correspondence of the office to be public records subject to the California Public Records Act, but would prohibit the Inspector General or the employees of the Inspector General from releasing certain types of records to the public, except under specified circumstances. The bill would prohibit the Inspector General from destroying any papers or memoranda used to support a completed audit or review sooner than 3 years after the corresponding report is published or delivered, as specified. Existing law authorizes the Inspector General to access certain records and property and requires an officer or employee of any agency or entity having those records or property in their possession or under their control to permit access to, and examination and reproduction of, those records or property, upon the request of the Inspector General, as specified. This bill would specify that providing confidential information to the Inspector General under these circumstances does not constitute a waiver of that confidentiality. Existing law requires the Inspector General to report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings of any reviews, investigations, or audits, when the High-Speed Rail Authority provides statutorily required documents to the Legislature, and upon request of the Legislature or the Governor. This bill would instead require the Inspector General to report at least annually to the Legislature and the Governor a summary of its findings of any reviews, investigations, or audits published pursuant to the above-described provisions at the beginning of each fiscal year and upon request of the Legislature or the Governor. (6) Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to, upon registration of a vehicle, issue a certificate of ownership to the legal owner and a registration card to the owner, or both the certificate and the registration card to the owner, if there is no legal owner of the vehicle. This bill would authorize the department to adopt regulations for the issuance and acceptance of an electronic certificate of title or electronic certificate of ownership, as specified. (7) Existing federal regulations require a state, prior to issuing a REAL ID driver's license or REAL ID identification card, to check with all other states, using the State-to-State Verification Service, to determine if an applicant currently holds a REAL ID driver's license or REAL ID identification card in another state. Existing law requires specified forms filed with the department to contain a social security account number. Existing law provides that information provided on those forms regarding a driver's license or identification card applicant's social security account number or ineligibility for a social security account number is not a public record and is not subject to disclosure by the department, except for specified reasons. This bill would authorize the department to participate in the State-to-State Verification Service, or any successor system, if operated by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, as specified. The bill would require the department to report on its participation in the service or system, annually provide its report to the budget and relevant policy committees of the Legislature, and publish the report on its internet website. The bill would require that the report include, among other things, each participating jurisdiction's number of requests made directly to the state and information on any unusual requests or patterns in the data that indicate a participating jurisdiction is using the service or system for unauthorized purposes. The bill would also require the department, with the advice of stakeholders sitting on an advisory group, as specified, to adopt and maintain a State-to-State Verification Service Monitoring Plan to detect, prevent, and respond to requests for, or uses of, information through the service system for an unauthorized purpose. The bill would require the department to provide the budget and relevant policy committees with a draft version of the plan by February 1, 2027, and a final plan by July 1, 2027. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to commence an action against the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a participating jurisdiction, or another individual or entity, or on behalf of certain individuals, to enforce these provisions, as specified. This bill would expand the above-described exceptions by permitting the department to disclose specified information to participate in the State-to-State Verification Service for the sole purpose of verifying and exchanging driver's license, identification card, and driver history records with participating jurisdictions. (8) Existing law requires the department to publish a summary or synopsis of the laws regulating the operation of a vehicle and the use of the highways. Existing law requires the department to publish as many copies of the summary or synopsis in Spanish as the director of the department determines are needed. Existing law requires the department to provide the summary or synopsis in English and Spanish to its field offices and to law enforcement without charge. This bill would require the department to publish the summary or synopsis on its internet website and would eliminate the other requirements described above pertaining to the summary or synopsis. (9) Existing law authorizes the department to provide electronic notification under certain circumstances if the department establishes certain conditions, including, among others, that the department has identified the person before accepting their consent to receive the type of document or information that is electronically delivered and the person has consented to the electronic receipt of the document or information delivered. This bill would delete the conditions described above and instead authorize the department to provide electronic notification if the person has been identified by the department and has provided the department with an email address or other similar electronic address, and the department has informed the person that the department will use the electronic address provided to deliver a type of document or information electronically and that the person will not receive a separate paper copy by mail or other means, as specified. (10) Existing law authorizes the department to charge a service fee of not more than $15, in addition to other fees payable under the Vehicle Code, for the completion of specified services at the department's headquarters office in Sacramento within 72 hours after receipt of a complete and proper application for the service. This bill would repeal this provision. (11) Existing law requires an application for renewal of a driver's license to be made at a department office by the person to whom the license was issued. Existing law requires renewal of a license to be under the terms and conditions prescribed by the department. Existing law authorizes the department to require an applicant to take certain examinations for renewal, as specified. Existing law requires that a person who is required to pass a knowledge examination in order to renew their driver's license be provided with written notice of that requirement in their driver's license renewal notice. This bill would delete the written notice requirement described above. (12) Existing law authorizes the department to establish a pilot program to evaluate the use of optional mobile or digital alternatives to driver's licenses and identification cards, subject to certain requirements, including, among others, the voluntary participation of persons in the program and limiting participation in the program to 15% of licensed drivers. This bill would increase the limit on participation in the program to 60% of licensed drivers. (13) Existing law, until January 1, 2029, authorizes the Department of Transportation and local authorities to temporarily permit exclusive or preferential use of HOV lanes, high-occupancy toll lanes, and other lanes for vehicles displaying a distinctive decal, label, or other identifier issued by the organizers of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games that clearly distinguishes the vehicle is being operated on the games route network during a 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games period, as specified. This bill would, until January 1, 2029, authorize the Department of Transportation, on highways in its jurisdiction, in consultation with state, local, and regional authorities and other relevant stakeholders, to establish a program of automated enforcement of drivers that fail to obey the directions of a traffic control device establishing the games route network during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games period. The bill would authorize the department to enter into an agreement with a local authority or regional transportation agency to administer a program pursuant to these provisions or to become the program operator, as specified. The bill would authorize a program operator to enter into contracts with manufacturers, suppliers, and vendors for purposes of the automated enforcement system, subject to specified requirements. The bill would require each program operator that is not the department to report information to the department, as it requests, to conduct an evaluation of the program. This bill would require a program operator of an automated enforcement system to administer a public information campaign before implementation of the system and to issue warning letters before issuing notices of violations, as specified. The bill would require that a notice of violation be issued in writing to the registered owner of the vehicle within 15 days of the date of the violation, as specified. The bill would establish procedures to review and contest a notice of violation, as specified, and would require the administrative hearing process to include, among other things, the ability for the person requesting the hearing the option to choose a hearing upon written declaration, video conference, or in person. This bill would impose a civil penalty for improper use of the games route network recorded by an automated enforcement system, as provided, and would specify that these violations shall not result in the Department of Motor Vehicles suspending or revoking driving privileges, preventing registration renewals, or assessing violation points against driving records. This bill would establish the Games Route Network Account in the State Transportation Fund and direct moneys generated from the automated enforcement program into the account. The bill would continuously appropriate moneys from the account to support the administration of the automated enforcement program and to be transferred to the State Highway Account or the Motor Vehicle Account to cover the Department of Transportation's cost for the construction, maintenance, and deconstruction of the games route network or to the Department of the California Highway Patrol to cover their enforcement efforts related to the games route network. By establishing a new continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would make any photographic image or administrative records made by an automated enforcement system pursuant to these provisions or information obtained from the Department of Motor Vehicles for the administration and enforcement of these provisions confidential. (14) Existing law authorizes the department to issue a distinguishing placard to a disabled veteran or person with a disability, upon application, to be displayed upon a parked vehicle for the purpose of identifying eligibility for certain parking privileges. Existing law requires the placard to meet specified requirements, including that a portion of the placard be printed in a contrasting color to be changed every 2 years and that the size and color of the contrasting portion of the placard be large and distinctive to be readily identifiable by a law enforcement officer in a passing vehicle. This bill would remove the size and contrasting color requirements for the placard expiration date. (15) 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. (16) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

(1) Existing law establishes the California Cradle-to-Career Data System to be a source for actionable data and research on education, economic, and health outcomes for individuals, families, and communities, and to provide for expanded access to tools and services that support the navigation of the education-to-employment pipeline. Existing law defines "data providers" as the entities that submit the individual, educational, academic, training, employment, social service, health, and other information used to create the data system. This bill would require the data providers, and would request the University of California, to enter into memoranda of understanding for data sharing purposes for implementation of the data system. (2) Existing law establishes the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program to provide one-time grants for the construction of student housing, or for the acquisition and renovation of commercial properties into student housing for the purpose of providing affordable, low-cost housing options for students enrolled in public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires, as a condition of receiving these funds, the Regents of the University of California, the Trustees of the California State University, and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges to, from the receipt of funds to completion of a project and following completion of a project for a 5-year period, report by July 1 annually to the Department of Finance and the relevant policy and budget committees of the Legislature with information on the status of the project or the public benefit provided by the project, as applicable. This bill would require this information to be provided by February 1 rather than July 1, together with an annual report provided for in existing law on student housing data, if applicable. (3) Existing law requires the office of the Chancellor of the California State University and the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, and requests the office of the President of the University of California, to require each of their respective campuses that provide campus-owned, campus-operated, or campus-affiliated student housing to collect and post on its external and internal internet websites, data on student housing, and to submit an annual report with that information to the Legislature, as specified. This bill would require the above-described annual report to be submitted together with certain information required to be provided pursuant to the Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program. (4) Existing law requires each California State University campus, and requests each University of California campus, to establish the position of the Basic Needs Coordinator to, among other responsibilities, assist students with basic needs services and resources, including childcare, and to establish a Basic Needs Center where basic needs services, resources, and staff are made available to students, as provided. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature for certain funds appropriated to the University of California and the California State University in the annual Budget Act specifically for rapid rehousing, basic needs, and student mental health to be used for specified purposes, as provided. The bill would require those funds that are to be provided to students to be distributed to the student by the campus financial aid office, as specified. (5) Existing law requires, among other requirements related to nondiscrimination, the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, the Chancellor of the California State University, and the President of the University of California to each annually present during a public hearing of the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education and the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance on the state of their respective systems in ensuring that their programs and activities are free from discrimination based on specified characteristics, as provided. This bill would authorize a designee of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, the Chancellor of the California State University, and the President of the University of California to perform the above-described presentation on nondiscrimination. (6) Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A and B Entitlement awards, the California Community College Expanded Entitlement awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B awards, the Cal Grant C awards, and the Cal Grant T awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for these awards for participating students attending qualifying institutions. Existing law requires a Cal Grant C award to be used only for occupational or technical training in a course of not less than 4 months. This bill, among other changes related to the Cal Grant C award, would instead require a Cal Grant C award to be used only for occupational or technical training in a program of not less than 8 weeks and provide Cal Grant C award amounts based on the length of the occupational or technical training program, as provided. (7) Existing law prohibits a student who will be 28 years of age or older by December 31 of an award year from receiving a California Community College Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement award. This bill instead would prohibit, for the 2026–27 award year through the 2030–31 award year, inclusive, a student who will be 30 years of age or older by December 31 of an award year from receiving a California Community College Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement award. (8) Beginning on July 1, 2026, for the financial aid award year of 2026–27 and each award year thereafter, existing federal law establishes the federal Workforce Pell Grant program to award grants to eligible students who are enrolled, or accepted for enrollment, in a short-term educational program that, among other things, provides an education aligned with the requirements of high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand industry sectors or occupations, as provided. This bill would require the commission, on behalf of the Governor, to determine whether a short-term program offered by postsecondary educational institution, as defined, meets specified requirements in order to receive federal Workforce Pell Grant program funds for students enrolled in the short-term program. The bill would require the Student Aid Commission to consult with the California Workforce Development Board and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency on the process for making those determinations and the short-term programs that the commission is proposing to approve, as specified. The bill would require a postsecondary educational institution seeking a determination that one or more of its short-term programs meets the requirements of the federal Workforce Pell Grant program to provide to the commission, among other things, a completed program application, and to provide to the Office of Cradle-to-Career Data specified data. The bill would require the Employment Development Department to provide a list of high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand industry sectors and occupations to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, as specified. The bill would require the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, after presenting the list to the California Workforce Development Board, to provide the list to the commission for the commission's consideration in determining whether to approve a short-term program. This bill would prohibit the commission from authorizing a participating institution to receive federal Workforce Pell Grant program funds for a short-term program unless the commission determines, among other things, that the short-term program meets the requirements of the above-described federal provisions. The bill would require the commission to determine a participating institution's eligibility and provide written notice of its decision within 90 days of receiving a request for an eligibility determination and a completed participation agreement, as specified. The bill would require the commission to submit specified reports to the Department of Finance, the Assembly Committee on Budget, and the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review with, among other things, a list of all institutions seeking an eligibility determination and an evaluation of the federal Workforce Pell Grant program. (9) Existing law establishes the Middle Class Scholarship Program (MCSP) under the administration of the commission. Existing law, subject to an available and sufficient appropriation, makes an undergraduate student eligible for a scholarship award under the MCSP if the student is enrolled at the University of California or the California State University, or enrolled in upper division coursework in a community college baccalaureate program, and meets certain eligibility requirements. Existing law generally sets the MCSP award at an amount that equals the difference between the student's cost of attendance and the sum of other scholarships, grants, or fee waivers, including those administered by federal, state, and institutions, awarded to the student in excess of $7,898 in expected student contribution, and, for dependent students with a household income exceeding $100,000, a percentage of the parents' contribution, as specified. If a foster youth or former foster youth receives additional financial aid following the determination of the student's MCSP award, this bill, for purposes of determining the student's MCSP award amount, would not require the student's MCSP award to be recalculated, except as provided. (10) This bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to establish the Common Cloud Data Platform to create a unified, modern data infrastructure to enhance statewide reporting, data sharing, and available analytical tools across participating community college districts and the chancellor's office. The bill would require the Common Cloud Data Platform to be designed to enable certain functions, as specified. The bill would require funding appropriated for the development, implementation, and systemwide adoption of the Common Cloud Data Platform to support specific areas of work. (11) Existing law establishes the California Online Community College, commonly known as Calbright College, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, for the purpose of creating an organized system of accessible, flexible, and high-quality online content, courses, and programs focused on providing industry-valued credentials compatible with the vocational and educational needs of Californians who are not currently accessing higher education. This bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to develop and submit to the Department of Finance and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, on or before October 1, 2028, recommendations for equating enrollment in competency-based education programs at all community college districts, including the California Online Community College, to full-time equivalent students for the purposes of generating funding. The bill would require the chancellor's office to convene a workgroup of experts to support in developing these recommendations. The bill would require, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, the California Online Community College to submit data to the chancellor's office's management information system on the same reporting schedule and using the comparable data elements applicable to noncredit programs offered by other community college districts, as provided, and would require the chancellor's office to post this data on its internet website. The bill, as part of the Credit for Prior Learning Initiative described below, would require the chancellor's office to make credit for prior learning recommendations for the California Online Community College's programs and similar programs at other community colleges, as provided, and to submit these recommendations, on or before July 1, 2027, to the Department of Finance and Joint Legislative Budget Committee. (12) Existing law authorizes community college districts to admit nonresident students, and requires that nonresident students be charged a nonresident tuition fee unless an exemption applies. Existing law includes among these exemptions a nonresident, low-income student who: (A) is a resident of Mexico, (B) registers for lower division courses at Cuyamaca College, Grossmont College, Imperial Valley College, MiraCosta College, Palomar College, San Diego City College, San Diego Mesa College, San Diego Miramar College, or Southwestern College, and (C) has residence within 45 miles of the California-Mexico border, as provided. Existing law, in any academic year, prohibits more than 150 full-time equivalent students (FTES) at each of those community colleges from being exempted from payment of the nonresident tuition fee under that exemption. This bill would instead, in any academic year, prohibit more than 1,350 FTES in total, across all community colleges that choose to use the above-described exemption, from being exempted from payment of the nonresident tuition fee. The bill would require the governing boards of the community colleges that choose to use that exemption to develop a plan to jointly administer and allocate the total number of FTES across these community colleges. For an enrolled student granted that exemption for an academic year, the bill would require that the student retains the exemption for that academic year. (13) Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to establish, by March 31, 2019, an initiative to expand the use of course credit at the California Community Colleges for students with prior learning. Existing law required the chancellor to submit, by January 1, 2020, a report on the initiative to the Legislature. This bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to establish the Credit for Prior Learning Initiative as a systemwide initiative to award credit for prior learning opportunities at community colleges. The bill would require the initiative to include specified components, including a systemwide process to identify students who may qualify for prior learning credit, statewide technology infrastructure to make credit for prior learning opportunities visible and accessible to the public, and support for community college faculty discipline review groups to develop credit recommendations for awarding credit for prior learning that community colleges may adopt systemwide. The bill would require community colleges to evaluate prior learning documents and credentials of incoming students for the assessment and award of prior learning credit, as specified. The bill would also require community colleges to accept transcribed credit for prior learning from other community colleges as credit, as specified. The bill would require and encourage the California Community Colleges system, in partnership with the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, to collaborate with certain entities of the California State University and the University of California for specified purposes, including for intersegmental alignment of credit for prior learning policies, as specified. The bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require the chancellor's office to allocate designated funds to support implementation of these provisions at each campus using specified goals, including advancing career attainment through credit for prior learning. By imposing new duties on community college districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (14) Existing law requires community college districts that accept Nursing Enrollment Growth and Retention program funds to report specified data to the chancellor's office and requires the chancellor's office, beginning in the 2025–26 fiscal year, to compile and provide the reported data to the Legislature and the Governor biennially, on or before March 1. Existing law authorizes that data to be submitted with the below-described report related to allied health professional programs. Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to report annually to the Legislature and the Governor, on or before March 1 of each year, on students admitted to community college registered nursing programs through a multicriteria screening process, and requires the report to be submitted in conjunction with the above-described report related to Nursing Enrollment Growth and Retention program. Existing law requires the chancellor, to submit a report to the Legislature and the Governor, on or before March 1, 2026, and each March 1 thereafter, that examines and includes certain information, including the participation, retention, and completion rates in community college allied health programs of students admitted through a multicriteria screening process, as specified, and requires the report to be submitted in conjunction with the above-described Nursing Enrollment Growth and Retention program. Existing law requires the chancellor, beginning in the 2025–26 fiscal year, to provide to the Legislature biennially, on or before March 1, a report that includes information related to certain allied health professional programs, and authorizes the report to be submitted with the above-described report related to the Nursing Enrollment Growth and Retention program. This bill would require all 4 of the above-described reports to be submitted on or before December 31, 2026, and on or before December 31 triennially thereafter, as provided. (15) Existing law requires the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges to adopt regulations providing for the payment of apportionments to community college districts on a specified schedule. Existing law, notwithstanding the provision referenced above, adjusts the payment of apportionments to community college districts for the 2025–26 fiscal year to defer $408,363,000 of those payments to the 2026–27 fiscal year in accordance with a designated schedule. Existing law appropriates that amount to the board of governors for apportionments to community college districts for expenditure in the 2026–27 fiscal year, as specified. Existing law applies that amount toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts for the 2026–27 fiscal year imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, as specified. This bill would apply the amount referenced in the provision above toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts for the 2024–25 fiscal year, rather than for the 2026–27 fiscal year. (16) Existing law provides a formula for the calculation of general purpose apportionments of state funds to California Community Colleges under which the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges annually calculates a base allocation, supplemental allocation, and student success allocation for each community college district in the state, as specified. Existing law requires, to calculate the base allocation for each community college district, the chancellor's office to calculate the 3-year rolling average of funded full-time equivalent students (FTES) , as specified. This bill would require, for purposes of calculating the base allocation commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, a community college district's funded credit FTES to be the greater of the above-described 3-year rolling average of credit FTES or credit FTES for the current year, as provided. This bill, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, would require each community college district to receive the greater of its total revenue computed pursuant to the sum of the base allocation, supplemental allocation, and student success allocation for that fiscal year, or its general purpose apportionment funding computed for the 2024–25 fiscal year, including the greater of discretionary resources, or specified revenue received by the district, as adjusted to reflect the application of a 1.44% discretionary cost-of-living adjustment, as provided. Beginning in the 2026–27 fiscal year, of the amount appropriated in a specified item of the annual Budget Act, this bill would require $159,741,000 to be allocated to reimburse community colleges for incurring costs related to providing employees with paid pregnancy disability leave, as provided. (17) Existing law requires the governing board of a community college district to provide for a leave of absence from duty for a certificated employee or an academic employee of the district who is required to be absent from duty because of pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, and recovery from those conditions. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a community college district to provide for a leave of absence from duty as it deems appropriate for a female employee in the classified service of the district who is required to be absent from duty because of pregnancy or convalescence following childbirth. Existing law authorizes a governing board to adopt rules and regulations about leaves of absence for classified employees for these purposes, and authorizes a governing board to provide in the rules and regulations whether the leave granted shall be with or without pay, as provided. This bill would delete the latter provisions authorizing the governing board of a community college district to adopt those rules and regulations. The bill instead would require a community college district to, for an academic employee or an employee in the classified service of the community college district, provide up to 14 weeks of a leave of absence with specified pay benefits for an employee who is required to be absent from duty because of pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or recovery from those conditions, as provided. The bill would authorize the paid leave to begin before and continue after childbirth if the employee is actually disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or a related condition. The bill would prohibit a leave of absence taken pursuant to these provisions from being deducted from other leaves of absence, as provided, would require community college districts to maintain group health coverage for an employee who takes a leave of absence under these provisions for the duration of the leave of absence at the same level and under the same conditions that coverage would have been provided if the employee had not taken a leave of absence, would require compensation during the leave of absence taken under these provisions to include retirement fund contributions required of the community college district, and would require the employee to earn full service credit during the leave of absence and to pay member contributions to the retirement fund. The bill would prohibit any other eligibility requirements, including, but not limited to, minimum hours worked or length of service, before an employee disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or related medical conditions is eligible for a paid leave of absence under these provisions. The bill would make these provisions operative on January 1, 2027. (18) Existing law establishes the Part-Time Community College Faculty Health Insurance Program, which authorizes the governing board of a community college district to provide a program of health insurance for part-time faculty, multidistrict part-time faculty, and their dependents. Existing law requires the chancellor, by June 15 of each year, to apportion funds that have been appropriated specifically for purposes of the program to each community college that establishes a program, as provided. Existing law defines "health insurance benefits" for purposes of the program to include medical benefits but excludes vision or dental benefits. This bill instead would authorize health insurance benefits under the Part-Time Community College Faculty Health Insurance Program to include vision or dental benefits. (19) This bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California State University to annually develop and report to the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, the Assembly Committee on Budget, and the Department of Finance enrollment targets and related data for each California State University campus, as provided. (20) Existing law establishes the Native American Heritage Commission and vests the commission with specified powers and duties. Existing law, the California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 2001, requires the commission to develop a list of all California Indian tribes and their respective state aboriginal territories for the purpose of the repatriation of Native American tribal human remains and cultural items. The act requires all agencies and museums that receive state funding and have possession or control over collections of California Indian human remains and associated funerary objects to inventory those remains and objects for repatriation to the appropriate California Indian tribes, as specified. The act provides a process by which a California Indian tribe can request the return of human remains and cultural items, and requires an agency or museum receiving a repatriation request to repatriate human remains and cultural items if specified conditions are met, including, among others, that none of the exceptions to repatriation listed in those regulations apply. This bill would, for the purposes of repatriation of human remains and cultural items as described above, in order to align with updated federal regulations, recast the condition related to exceptions to instead condition repatriation on a stay of repatriation described in the federal regulations not being in effect, and would make other changes related to repatriation of human remains and cultural items, as specified. (21) The Budget Act of 2025 made appropriations for the support of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges for the 2025–26 fiscal year, including $3,580,708,000 for apportionments. This bill would amend the Budget Act of 2025 by reducing the appropriation made to the board of governors for apportionments by $455,452,000. (22) This bill would appropriate $36,078,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support Dreamer Resource Liaisons in assisting students in meeting certain requirements for those students to be exempt from paying nonresident tuition by streamlining access to all available financial aid and academic opportunities for those students. (23) This bill would appropriate $147,208,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support the Student Support Block Grant. (24) This bill would appropriate $16,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors for allocation for related and supplemental instruction hours for the 2024–25 and the 2025–26 fiscal years for certain apprenticeship programs, as provided. (25) This bill would appropriate $10,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to establish and support the California Early College Demonstration Initiative, a regional pilot focused on implementing and scaling comprehensive dual enrollment and early college systems through partnerships between local educational agencies and community college districts, as provided. (26) This bill would appropriate $1,200,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support the Cal-Bridge First Academic Scholar Training Program. (27) This bill would appropriate $5,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support Pierce College Family Resource Centers. (28) This bill would appropriate $3,312,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors for specified purposes related to deferred maintenance, including, among other purposes, scheduled maintenance and special repairs of facilities, as provided. (29) This bill would appropriate $15,000,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) students, as provided. (30) This bill would appropriate $196,328,000 from the General Fund to the board of governors to support community college apportionments, and increase statewide growth of FTES, as provided. (31) The funds appropriated by the bill would be applied toward meeting the minimum funding requirements for school district and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, as specified. (32) 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. (33) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

(1) Existing law, the Boxing Act, also known as the State Athletic Commission Act, creates within the Department of Consumer Affairs the State Athletic Commission. Existing law requires a person who conducts a contest or wrestling exhibition, within 72 hours after the determination of every contest or wrestling exhibition for which admission is charged and received, to furnish to the commission certain fees. One fee is based, in part, on the amount paid for admission to the contest or wrestling exhibition, as specified. Existing law requires the fee for a professional contest or exhibition to be at least $1,250. This bill would increase the minimum amount of that fee to $2,500. Existing law also requires a person who conducts a contest or wrestling exhibition to furnish to the commission another fee based, in part, on the gross price of the sale, lease, or exploitation of the broadcasting or television rights for the event. Existing law prohibits this fee from exceeding $35,000. This bill would increase the maximum amount of that fee to $50,000. (2) Existing law establishes the California Education Learning Laboratory, which is administered by the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, for purposes of increasing learning outcomes and closing equity and achievement gaps, using technologies involving learning science and adaptive learning, as defined, in online or hybrid college-level lower division courses in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and other disciplines. Existing law requires, in administering the California Education Learning Laboratory, the office to issue calls for, evaluate, and annually award funds to, competitive grant proposals from intersegmental faculty teams that apply principles of learning science and adaptive learning technologies in online or hybrid course series in STEM and other disciplines, as specified. This bill would revise and recast the California Education Learning Laboratory to, among other things, instead establish the program for purposes of increasing learning outcomes and closing equity and achievement gaps using the science of human learning and adaptive learning technologies in STEM disciplines and other disciplines. The bill would require the program to be administered by the Government Operations Agency instead of the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation. (3) Existing law establishes the Department of Food and Agriculture under the control of the Secretary of Food and Agriculture. Existing law authorizes the secretary to charge a bureau, division, board, or other agency of the department that is not supported by appropriations from the General Fund its proportionate share of the administrative expenses of the department, or a share in an amount that is computed to reasonably compensate the department for the administrative services that it renders. Existing law prohibits the proportionate or computed share charged from exceeding 5% of the collections that are made by the department for the bureau, division, board, or other agency. This bill would instead prohibit the proportionate or computed share charged to the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund from exceeding 5% of the total departmentwide expenditures, except for expenses associated with information technology, legal services, human resources, and the Office of Civil Rights, as specified. By increasing the amount of continuously appropriated moneys in the fund that may be expended for administrative purposes, the bill would make an appropriation. (4) Existing law creates the State Race Track Leasing Commission and authorizes the commission to enter into leases or other agreements for the use of the Del Mar Race Track and any other property owned or controlled by the 22nd District Agricultural Association that the commission deems necessary to provide horse racing at the Del Mar Race Track. Existing law requires the Department of Finance to provide clerical services to the commission. This bill would instead require the Department of Food and Agriculture to provide those clerical services to the commission. (5) Existing law creates the Office of Farm to Fork within the Department of Food and Agriculture, and requires the office, to the extent that resources are available, to work with various entities, including, among others, the agricultural industry and other organizations involved in promoting food access, to increase the amount of agricultural products available to underserved communities and schools in the state. This bill would establish the California Farm to School Program, to be developed, administered, and implemented by the office, as specified, for purposes of cultivating equity, nurturing students, building climate resilience, and creating scalable and sustainable change in the school food system. The bill would require that the program, among other things, increase procurement of foods that are grown or produced in California and are whole or are minimally processed from food producers in California for school meal programs, increase hands-on food education opportunities that engage pupils and connect the classroom with the cafeteria, and administer the California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program. The bill would authorize the office to implement initiatives under the program, including, but not limited to, initiatives that advance the California farm to school network and facilitate a California Farm to School Interagency Working Group, including, but not limited to, specified state agencies. (6) The California Constitution authorizes state and local governmental entities to contract with private entities for architectural and engineering services. Existing statutory law requires the selection by a state or local agency for professional engineering, environmental, land surveying, or construction project management firms to be on the basis of demonstrated competence and on the professional qualifications necessary for the satisfactory performances of the services required, and further requires a state agency to adopt procedures by regulation that, among other things, assure that these services are engaged on the basis of demonstrated competence and qualifications for the types of services to be performed. This bill would authorize a state agency to use the procedures adopted by the Department of General Services until the state agency adopts their own procedures by regulation. (7) Existing law, commencing January 1, 2028, requires state and local agencies, as defined, that collect demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians to use separate collection categories and tabulations for major Middle Eastern or North African groups, as specified, and, with certain exceptions, to include that data in every demographic report published on or after January 1, 2029, and to make the aggregated data available to the public. This bill would, instead, commencing January 1, 2029, require state and local agencies, as defined, that collect demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians to use separate collection categories and tabulations for a major Middle Eastern or North African group, including minor groups, as specified, and, with certain exceptions, to include that data in every demographic report published on or after January 1, 2030. The bill would require each state and local agency to apply de-identification and privacy protection methods to demographic data collected pursuant to these provisions, as described. The bill would require a state or local agency that collects or reports demographic data in a manner that differs from the above-described provisions pursuant to federal program requirements to comply with the requirements of the above-described provisions, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (8) Existing law establishes the Department of Technology. Existing law establishes the Office of Broadband and Digital Literacy within the department and requires the office to oversee the acquisition and management of contracts for the development and construction of, and for the maintenance and operation of, a statewide open-access middle-mile broadband network to provide an opportunity for last-mile providers, anchor institutions, and tribal entities to connect to, and interconnect with other networks and other appropriate connections to, the broadband network to facilitate high-speed broadband service, as specified. Existing law provides that the office has the powers and authorities necessary to implement these and related provisions, including, but not limited to, the authority to enter into contracts with one or more entities to acquire goods and services and to take actions it deems necessary and appropriate for the development, acquisition, construction, maintenance, and operation of a statewide open-access middle-mile broadband network, including the creation of rural exchange points. This bill would prohibit the department or the office from entering into, amending, or assigning a contract related to the statewide open-access middle-mile broadband network if the contract is for an amount exceeding a total cost of $8,000,000 unless the contract is approved by the Director of Finance. The bill would prohibit the Director of Finance from approving that contract until at least 30 days after informing the Joint Legislative Budget Committee of the director's intent to approve the contract unless that notification period is waived by the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee or the chairperson's designee. The bill would require the approval of the Director of Finance to take effect immediately following either the completion of the 30-day notification period or the waiver of that period. The bill would specify that these provisions do not apply in the case of an emergency, as defined. Existing law establishes the State Middle-Mile Broadband Enterprise Fund, consisting of fees for connection to the statewide open-access middle-mile broadband network, revenues payable to the department for activities undertaken by the department for maintenance, operation, repair, and expansion of the statewide open-access middle-mile broadband network, and proceeds from the disposition of fixed assets and leasehold interests related to the network. Existing law provides that funds deposited into the fund are continuously appropriated to the department for the maintenance, operation, repair, and expansion until July 1, 2027, and thereafter are available upon appropriation for those purposes. This bill would extend the date the moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to July 1, 2031. By extending the term of a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (9) Existing law, the Financial Information System for California (FISCal) Act, establishes the Department of FISCal within the Government Operations Agency to implement a single integrated financial management system for use by state departments and agencies. The act requires the partner agencies to collaboratively develop enhancements to the system, utilize the system, and assist the department to maintain the system, and defines "partner agencies" to mean the Department of Finance, the Controller, the Department of General Services, and the Treasurer. This bill would require the department to work in consultation with the Department of Finance and the Department of Technology in ongoing maintenance and roadmap activities of the system, as specified. (10) Existing law creates the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) and requires GO-Biz to serve the Governor as the lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth. This bill would create the Office of Regional Economic Development Initiatives within GO-Biz. Under the bill, the Director of GO-Biz would oversee the office and a deputy director appointed by the Governor would administer the office. The bill would set forth the duties of the office, including, among other things, supporting regional partners in developing, maintaining, and implementing their regional economic development strategies. (11) Existing law authorizes the court, in an action brought by the Attorney General under specified unfair competition and false advertising laws, to award the remedy of disgorgement. Existing law requires the funds recovered by the Attorney General under these provisions to be deposited into the Victims of Consumer Fraud Restitution Fund, and makes the funds available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Attorney General to provide restitution to victims of acts or practices for which consumer restitution has been ordered but not paid, as provided. This bill would make an appropriation by making the money in the Victims of Consumer Fraud Restitution Fund continuously appropriated to the Attorney General for purposes of the restitution described above. (12) Existing law, until December 31, 2030, establishes the Projected Surplus Temporary Holding Account in the State Treasury as a General Fund reserve to hold a portion of General Fund surplus moneys temporarily for use in future fiscal years, as an added responsible budgeting technique to counter tax revenue volatility. Existing law requires, in a year that a transfer is made to the account, that the transfer be provided for in the annual Budget Act, and requires the transferred funds to remain in the account for no more than one year from the date of deposit, after which time the funds are required to be transferred to the General Fund, except as specified. Existing law authorizes the Controller to use the funds in the account for cashflow loans to the General Fund, as specified. This bill would eliminate the December 31, 2030, sunset date for the account, thereby making the account operative permanently. (13) Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, sets forth the duties of the Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) with respect to specified emergency preparedness, mitigation, and response activities within the state. Existing law establishes the Public Safety Communications Division within the office and prescribes certain duties in regard to statewide public safety communications systems, including providing for coordination of, and comment on, plans, policies, and operational requirements from departments that utilize public safety communications in support of their principal function. Existing law, the Warren-9-1-1-Emergency Assistance Act, establishes the State 911 Advisory Board to advise CalOES on specified subjects relating to the state's 911 emergency telephone response system. Existing law provides that the board consists of 11 members appointed by the Governor, including the Chief of the Public Safety Communications Division, who serves as the nonvoting chair. This bill would revise the board membership and, instead, make the Deputy Director of Public Safety Communications (deputy director) a nonvoting member of the board and require the deputy director to serve for the duration of their tenure. The bill would require the board, at its first meeting of each calendar year, or at another time the board deems appropriate, to elect one of its voting members to serve as chair by a majority vote. The bill would additionally authorize the board to make formal recommendations to CalOES. The bill would also authorize the board to enlist an independent technical expert for advisory purposes, as specified, and require Public Safety Communications to timely share all information with the board relevant to the board's requirement to advise the office. (14) Existing law, the Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act, requires every local public agency to establish within its jurisdiction a basic emergency telephone system that includes, at a minimum, police, firefighting, and emergency medical and ambulance services. Existing law requires CalOES to develop a plan and timeline for the testing, implementation, and operation of a Next Generation 911 emergency communication system throughout the state, as provided. This bill would require CalOES, on or before August 15, 2026, to enter into a contract with an independent evaluator, the Rand Corporation, for the purpose of performing an independent technical evaluation of the development and implementation of the Next Generation 911 system, as defined, subject to certain requirements. In this regard, the bill would require the independent technical evaluation to, among other things, describe the state's options for delivering reliable Next Generation 911 system services to the state and the strengths and weaknesses of each option, as specified, and would require the independent evaluator, in carrying out the independent technical evaluation, to consider relevant factors, including the emergency communication systems implemented in other states. The bill would require the independent evaluator to provide a final report on the independent technical evaluation on or before May 1, 2027, and to provide an initial evaluation and preliminary report on the independent technical evaluation on or before December 15, 2026, as specified, simultaneously to certain entities, including CalOES. The bill would require CalOES, the State 911 Advisory Board, public safety answering points, and state 911 system vendors to provide the independent evaluator with any requested assistance, as specified. The bill would require CalOES to also provide the independent evaluator with a primary point of contact and key stakeholders, as specified. The bill would prohibit CalOES from issuing a request for proposals or awarding a Next Generation 911 network services contract sooner than 60 days after the independent evaluator's final report is complete and received by the required entities and CalOES has submitted the final report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the Legislative Analyst's Office describing the actions that CalOES has taken or will take in response to the findings and recommendations in the independent evaluator's preliminary and final reports. The bill would exempt the contract entered into by CalOES with the independent evaluator from the Public Contract Code, the State Contracting Manual, any other state contracting requirements, and the approval of the Department of General Services. The bill would require CalOES to submit a quarterly report to the Legislature, beginning on or before October 1, 2026, regarding the development and implementation of, and the total and current year funding spent on, the Next Generation 911 system. The bill would require the report to include, among other specified information, documentation of the progress toward, and major challenges facing, statewide development and implementation of a Next Generation 911 system, as specified. The bill would require CalOES to also submit a copy of the quarterly reports to, among other specified entities, the chairs of the budget committees and emergency management committees of both houses of the Legislature, as specified. (15) Existing law establishes the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation in the Governor's office for the purpose of serving the Governor and the Governor's cabinet as staff for long-range planning and research and constituting the comprehensive state planning agency. Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each county and each city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city, and specified land outside its boundaries, that includes, among other specified mandatory elements, a housing element. That law requires the planning agency of a city or county to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to the legislative body, the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, and the Department of Housing and Community Development that includes, among other specified information, the agency's progress in meeting its share of regional housing needs and the number of units approved and disapproved in the prior year. This bill would require the remaining portion of the annual report, not required pursuant to specified provisions related to meeting regional housing needs, to be prepared through the use of standards, forms, and definitions adopted by the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, as prescribed. By imposing additional duties on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (16) Existing law authorizes any public entity to adopt methods and procedures to receive bids on public works or other contracts and supporting materials submitted over the internet. Existing law defines "supporting materials" for purposes of those provisions to include payment requests, shop drawings, schedules, notices of claims, and certified payrolls. This bill would expand the authority of a public entity to adopt methods and procedures to receive supporting materials to include those supporting materials submitted pursuant to a contract other than a public works contract. The bill would also expand the definition of "supporting materials" to include resumes, references, licenses, specifications, certifications, and applications. The bill would authorize the Department of General Services to develop, implement, and maintain secure electronic procurement platforms for use by public entities. The bill would require posting solicitations and receiving bids through an electronic procurement platform to satisfy all statutory requirements for public advertising, bid submission, and document retention, and would require an electronic procurement platform to comply with specified requirements, including maintaining automated audit trails. The bill would authorize bid openings to be conducted electronically. (17) Existing law, the Iran Contracting Act of 2010, generally makes a person engaged in investment activities in the energy sector of Iran, as specified, ineligible for a public contract for goods or services of $1,000,000 or more. In this regard, the act requires the Department of General Services to create a list of persons it determines engages in those investment activities, as specified. The act requires a public entity to require a person that submits a bid or proposal to a public entity with respect to a covered contract to certify that they are not identified on that list. Existing law requires a state agency to submit the certification information to the department. This bill would delete the requirement that a state agency submit the certification information to the department. (18) Existing law generally requires all public contracts for the acquisition or lease of goods in an amount of $25,000, or a higher amount as established by the Department of General Services, to be made with the lowest responsible bidder meeting specifications and requires public contracts to be made pursuant to specified competitive bidding procedures. This bill would make various technical changes relating to the physical submission of bids and the physical presence of bidders, including revising requirements referencing the physical presence of bidders and changing requirements for submitting sealed envelopes to sealed submissions. (19) Existing law requires a state agency to provide 24-hour notification prior to awarding a contract to a bidder who is not the lowest bidder, as specified. If, prior to making the award, a bidder who has submitted a bid files a protest with the Department of General Services against the awarding of the contract on the ground that they are the lowest responsible bidder meeting specifications, existing law prohibits the contract from being awarded until either the protest has been withdrawn or the department has made a final decision as to the action to be taken relative to the protest. This bill would make those provisions applicable only if the bidder has submitted a bid that is subject to protest. (20) Existing law establishes procedures for the procurement of information technology goods and services, and grants to the Department of General Services or the Department of Technology the final authority in the determination of information technology procurement procedures, depending on the type of acquisition or procurement. This bill would authorize software license contracts allowing the use of the software for a specified time period with recurring payments to be paid in advance subject to procedures, terms, and conditions, as specified, that the controlling department deems necessary to protect the state's interest. The bill would authorize a single payment for a lifetime license and would prohibit advance payments from exceeding 3 years. (21) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA requires the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (office) , formerly known as the Office of Planning and Research, to implement a public assistance and information program to ensure efficient and effective implementation of CEQA and that, among other things, establishes and maintains an online database for the collection, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of various documents prepared under CEQA. CEQA requires a lead agency to provide various environmental documents to the office in specified circumstances. This bill would authorize the office to include additional information in the online database, including, but not limited to, information related to planning, permitting, grants, and procurement, as provided. The bill would authorize the office to charge a fee upon the submission of documents pursuant to CEQA to the database for the reasonable costs incurred in implementing the provisions relating to the establishment and maintenance of the database. The bill would create the State Clearinghouse Administrative Fund in the State Treasury and require this fee money to be deposited into the account. These moneys would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be available to the office for implementation of the provisions relating to the establishment and maintenance of the database. (22) The California Constitution generally limits ad valorem taxes on real property to 1% of the full cash value of that property, defined as the county assessor's valuation of real property as shown on the 1975–76 tax bill and, thereafter, the appraised value of the property when purchased, newly constructed, or a change in ownership occurs after the 1975 assessment, subject to an annual inflation adjustment not to exceed 2%. Existing property tax law authorizes, pursuant to constitutional authorization, on and after April 1, 2021, any person who is over 55 years of age, any severely and permanently disabled person, or a victim of wildfire or natural disaster who resides in property that is eligible for the homeowner's exemption or the disabled veteran's exemption to transfer the taxable value of that property to a replacement dwelling that is purchased or newly constructed as a principal residence within 2 years of the sale of the original property, as provided. Existing property tax law provides for the payment of taxes on the secured roll in 2 installments, which are due and payable on November 1 and February 1, respectively. Under existing property tax law, unpaid property taxes become delinquent, and subject to a delinquent penalty of 10%, as provided. Existing property tax law, after the 2nd installment becomes delinquent, requires the tax collector to collect a cost of $55, but no more than the actual cost, for preparing the delinquent tax records and giving notice of delinquency and to prepare a delinquent roll, as provided. Under existing property tax law, the taxes, assessments, penalties, and costs on certain real property that have not been paid are declared to be in default at 12:01 a.m. on July 1. Until January 1, 2026, former property tax law required, except as provided, payment of property taxes for a property to be deferred, without penalty or interest, if the property owner has claimed the property tax relief described above, but the county assessor has not completed its determination of the property's eligibility for that relief, and the person requested deferment with the county assessor within one calendar year, but before January 1, 2024, of receiving the first tax bill for the property. Existing property tax law requires a disclosure to be printed on each tax bill for properties that have been purchased, newly constructed, or changed ownership in the year preceding the tax bill and requires the disclosure to include information regarding the property tax relief and deferment procedures described above. Existing property tax law requires counties with a population of over 4,000,000, as specified, to comply with these disclosure requirements. This bill would repeal the above-described disclosure requirements. (23) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Rand Corporation. (24) 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. (25) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (26) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

(1) Existing law, the Senior Citizens Manufactured Home Property Tax Postponement Law (manufactured home law) , authorizes a claimant, as defined, to file with the Controller a claim for postponement of a sum equal to but not exceeding the amount of property taxes for the fiscal year for which the claim is made. Existing law also establishes the Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund and continuously appropriates moneys in that fund to the Controller for specified purposes relating to the postponement of property taxes pursuant to specified law, including the manufactured home law. Existing law requires the Controller, on June 30, 2018, and June 30 of each year thereafter, to transfer any moneys in the fund in excess of $15,000,000 to the General Fund and further requires that, on July 1, 2019, and July 1 of each year thereafter, up to 1% of the amount available in the fund be available for disbursements for manufactured home property tax postponements under the manufactured home law. This bill, beginning July 1, 2026, would increase the amount available on July 1 of each year for manufactured home property tax postponement disbursements from the above-described fund to $300,000. By increasing the limit to the amounts available for disbursement from the Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund for property tax postponements under the manufactured home law, the bill would make an appropriation. (2) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow a credit (CalCompetes tax credit) against the taxes imposed under those laws, for each taxable year beginning on and after January 1, 2014, and before January 1, 2030, in an amount as provided in a written agreement between the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development and the taxpayer, approved by the California Competes Tax Credit Committee, and based on specified factors, including the number of jobs the taxpayer will create or retain in the state and the amount of investment in the state by the taxpayer. This bill would extend the CalCompetes tax credit through taxable years beginning before January 1, 2035. The bill would also make conforming changes. (3) Existing law, the Personal Income Tax Law, generally conforms to federal tax law through January 1, 2025, including conforming to federal law in its treatment of deferred compensation, except as otherwise provided. Existing federal law, Public Law 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025, provides for a tax-deferred investment account for children known as a 530A account. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, would generally conform to federal law in its treatment of 530A accounts, except as specified. (4) The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income. Public Law 119-21 provides for gross income exclusions for employer contributions and qualified general contributions to a 530A account, as specified. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, would conform to those gross income exclusions for purposes of the Personal Income Tax Law. (5) Existing federal and state law provide for the creation of ABLE accounts for the purpose of meeting the qualified disability expenses of a beneficiary and exclude these accounts from gross income. Existing federal and state law limit contributions to ABLE accounts to those made in cash, as a change in designated beneficiary, or as a qualified rollover contribution. Public Law 119-21 includes within those qualified rollover contributions specified rollover contributions from a 530A account. Existing law imposes limits on the amount of contributions that can be made to an ABLE Account and requires an ABLE program to provide adequate safeguards to prevent contributions in excess of that limit. Public Law 119-21 exempts from that requirement qualified rollover contributions from a 530A account. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, generally conform to federal law relating to qualified ABLE programs prior to Public Law 119-21. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, would conform to the above-described changes to qualified ABLE programs relating to 530A accounts made by Public Law 119-21 for purposes of the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law. The bill would also make conforming changes relating to the requirements for making contributions to an ABLE account. (6) Existing law imposes an annual minimum franchise tax of $800, except as provided, on every corporation incorporated in this state, qualified to transact intrastate business in this state, or doing business in this state, and an annual tax in an amount equal to the minimum franchise tax, except as provided, on every limited partnership, limited liability partnership, and limited liability company doing business in this state, as specified. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, and before January 1, 2030, would reduce the amount of the annual tax imposed on a limited liability company doing business in this state from $800 to $400 for the company's first taxable year. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

(1) Existing law establishes the State Department of Developmental Services and sets forth its powers and duties, including, but not limited to, the administration of state developmental centers, community facilities, and acute crisis homes to provide care to persons with developmental disabilities, as specified. This bill would authorize the department to make direct care purchases in individual amounts of less than $10,000 commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, as specified, for facilities operated by the department, and would require the department to establish and maintain a written policy and procedures manual to guide the implementation of these provisions. The bill would define "direct care purchases" to mean a good or service necessary for an individual's health, safety, or continuity of care, as specified. (2) Existing law places various requirements on the department to report specified information to the Legislature, including reports on how the department will provide access to crisis services after the closure of a developmental center, the use of the department's employees in providing services in the community to assist in meeting the goal of successfully transitioning developmental center residents to community living, best practices for regional center administrative management and purchase of services, and the estimated amount of General Fund expenditures used to backfill federal funding as a result of the decertification of intermediate care facility units at the Sonoma Developmental Center. This bill would remove those and other obsolete reporting requirements on the department. (3) Existing law authorizes family home agencies to offer services and supports in family homes or family teaching homes, as defined. Existing law requires the department to promulgate regulations for family home agencies, family teaching homes, and family homes that include standards and requirements related to, among other things, rates of payment for family home agencies and approved family home providers. This bill would authorize the department to establish a distinct service code and rate model for the family teaching home that is separate from the service code and rate model for the family home agency and that considers costs for housing, staffing, and census. If established by the department, the bill would require family home agencies that provide family teaching homes to use the service code and rate model for those family teaching homes. (4) Existing federal law, known as Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, generally provides funding for states for the purpose of operating a comprehensive statewide program of early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities, from birth through 2 years of age, and their families. Part B of that federal act generally provides funding to states to provide public education available to children with disabilities from 3 to 5 years of age, inclusive. Existing state law, the California Early Intervention Services Act, provides a statewide system of coordinated, comprehensive, family-centered, multidisciplinary, and interagency programs that are responsible for providing appropriate early intervention services and supports to all eligible infants and toddlers and their families. Existing law requires the State Department of Developmental Services, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to plan, develop, implement, and monitor the statewide system of early intervention services, as specified. Existing law requires the department to serve as the lead agency responsible for the administration and coordination of the statewide system and makes the department responsible for various duties, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to be responsible for administering services and programs for infants with solely visual, hearing, and severe orthopedic impairments, as specified. Under existing law, direct services for eligible infants and toddlers and their families are provided by regional centers and local educational agencies. Existing law requires the department and the State Department of Education to require regional centers and local educational agencies to designate a main point of contact for coordinating and completing the transition of child and family from Part C to Part B of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as specified. Existing law authorizes the department, in consultation with the State Department of Education, to allocate funds to support family resource services, including, but not limited to, parent-to-parent support, information dissemination and referral, public awareness, family-professional collaboration activities, and transition assistance for families. This bill would require the State Department of Education to enter into an interagency agreement with the State Department of Developmental Services to facilitate a seamless transition between services in Part C and under Part B of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and to collaborate with the State Department of Developmental Services as they develop and disseminate written directives for transition practices between those parts. The bill would revise and recast related provisions regarding local educational agencies and regional centers. The bill would authorize the department to, among other things, issue directives to local educational agencies and regional centers until regulations are adopted and would require the directives to be issued no later than June 30, 2029, as a condition to receive federal Part C grant funds. The bill would require regional centers to assess toddlers who qualify for early intervention services and are transitioning to or may be eligible for a state preschool program, as specified. (5) Existing law establishes the Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) , which provides individuals with disabilities with the tools to, among other things, maximize employment, independence, and economic and social self-sufficiency in the mainstream of society. Existing law designates DOR as the sole state agency with full power to supervise every phase of the administration of the state plan for vocational rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities. Existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, requires the State Department of Developmental Services (the department) to contract with regional centers to provide services and support to individuals with developmental disabilities. Existing law requires a regional center consumer to be referred to a provider of habilitation services if they are determined to be in need of habilitation services, which is defined to mean community-based services purchased or provided for adults with developmental disabilities, including services provided under the Work Activity Program and the Supported Employment Program, to prepare and maintain them at their highest level of vocational functioning, or to prepare them for referral to vocational rehabilitation services. Existing law authorizes a regional center to vendor a new work activity or supported employment program after determining the capacity of the program to deliver effective services and assessing the ability of the program to comply with the requirements of CARF, the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. Existing law requires a regional center to monitor, evaluate, and audit habilitation services providers for program effectiveness using performance criteria that include, among other things, compliance with applicable CARF standards. This bill would remove the requirement for a work activity program or supported employment program to comply with the requirements of CARF, the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, and would instead require a regional center to monitor, evaluate, and audit habilitation services providers for program effectiveness using, among other things, service standards established by the department. The bill would also require the department and DOR to develop an interagency agreement, with respect to the delivery of habilitation services and vocational rehabilitation programs, to create an integrated employment services system between DOR and regional centers, with the goals of having each individual experience uninterrupted services, minimized handoffs, and fewer barriers, and increase timely access to employment, as specified. The bill would, beginning December 1, 2026, require the department to semiannually report milestones on the development of the integrated employment services system on the department's internet website until the integrated employment services system is developed. The bill would also make related technical, nonsubstantive changes. Under existing law, the services and supports to be provided to a regional center consumer are contained in an individual program plan (IPP) , developed in accordance with prescribed requirements. Existing law requires the department to establish and implement a statewide Self-Determination Program, as defined, that is available in every regional center catchment area to provide participants and their families, within an individual budget, increased flexibility and choice and greater control over decisions, resources, and needed and desired services and supports to implement their IPP. This bill would authorize individuals and families to voluntarily choose to receive specified services remotely until December 31, 2028, if remotely receiving those services or supports would effectively meet the needs identified through the planning team process. The bill would require providers to document the remote services each individual receives on a monthly basis. The bill would require the department to include specified information regarding remote services in quarterly updates to the Legislature beginning in March 2027, and to report to the Legislature no later than February 1, 2028, survey results regarding specified information about remote services. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions by means of written directives or similar instructions. Existing law authorizes a consumer to choose a tailored day service or vouchered community-based training service, in lieu of, or in conjunction with, any other regional center vendored day program, look-alike day program, supported employment program, or work activity program. Existing law prohibits tailored day services from being delivered on the same day as any other regional center vendored day program, look-alike day program, supported employment program, or work activity program, unless certain conditions are met. This bill would authorize tailored day services to be delivered on the same day as supported employment individual placement services. Existing law prescribes the process for allocating specific federal financial participation funds, first by offsetting the costs to the department for the required criminal background check and other administrative costs and then authorizing the remaining funds be used by the department, in consultation with stake holders, to prioritize the use of funds to meet the needs of participants, including costs associated with independent facilitators, development of the participant's initial individual budget, and regional center operations. Existing law requires the establishment of local and statewide advisory committees to ensure the effective implementation of the program. This bill would restrict the allocation of those federal financial participation funds to offsetting the costs to the department for the required criminal background check and other administrative costs, inclusive of support for the Statewide Self-Determination Advisory Committee. The bill would, commencing July 1, 2026, and ending June 30, 2030, require that up to $1,000,000 of specified reappropriated funds be made available to the department to meet the needs of participants, including costs associated with local community resource fairs and the development and delivery of standardized statewide training. Beginning on July 1, 2030, and subject to an appropriation of at least $1,000,000 for these purposes, the bill would require that those funds be made available to the department for those same activities. (6) The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act authorizes regional centers to contract with agencies or individuals, also known as vendors, to assist consumers in securing their own homes and to provide consumers with the supports needed to live in their own homes, and lists the range of supported living services and supports to include, among other things, assistance in finding, modifying and maintaining a home and recruiting, training, and hiring individuals to provide personal care and other assistance. Existing law requires the contracts to include a provision requiring each regional center to render services in accordance with applicable state laws and regulations. This bill would, notwithstanding any other law, require that hourly workers employed by a regional center vendor providing supported living services, as those terms are defined, be compensated for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per workweek at a rate of 112 times the employee's regular rate of pay. The bill would require department-approved performance measures, as specified, to be incorporated into contracts between the state and regional centers, and would require the department to give consideration to the availability of regional center operations funding when establishing and revising these measures. The bill would also require the contracts to include a provision requiring each regional center to render services in accordance with applicable provisions of federal law and written directives from the department. This bill would also state the intent of the Legislature to modernize the department's financial and case management information technology systems for use by regional centers through the development and implementation of the Life Outcomes Improvement System (LOIS) , and would require LOIS to serve as the system used by all regional centers to improve the user experience, promote access, and manage eligibility and services for individuals and families who are applying for or receiving regional center services. The bill would prescribe requirements for regional centers to prepare for and assist the transition from their existing information technology systems to LOIS, as specified, and upon readiness of LOIS for implementation, would require each regional center to discontinue the use of all other case management and financial technology systems. The bill would also require the department to submit quarterly written updates to both the relevant budget subcommittees and policy committees of each house of the Legislature, as well as the Legislative Analyst's Office, on the planning for LOIS, and to submit to the Legislature a copy of the Post Implementation Evaluation Report for LOIS, as specified. (7) The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act requires a regional center to post specified information on its internet website, and update the information no less frequently than once every 6 months, until the department determines that there is statewide compliance with the federal Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Final Rule, or January 1, 2025, whichever occurs first. This bill would require the department, beginning July 1, 2026, to post that information on its internet website and update the information no less frequently than every 6 months to monitor compliance with the HCBS Final Rule. Existing law provides that a consumer, or any representative acting on behalf of a consumer or consumers, who believes that a right to which a consumer is entitled has been abused, punitively withheld, or improperly or unreasonably denied by a regional center, state-operated facility, or service provider, may pursue a complaint and establishes a procedure for processing of those complaints. Pursuant to that procedure, existing law requires the initial referral of a complaint to be made to the director of the regional center, or the director of the state-operated facility, as applicable, and requires the complaint to be investigated and a proposed resolution sent within 20 working days of receiving the complaint. Existing law authorizes, if the complainant is not satisfied with the proposed resolution, the complainant to refer the complaint, in writing, to the Director of Developmental Services, who is required to issue a written administrative decision on the complaint within 45 days of its receipt. This bill would make that procedure applicable only to complaints filed before February 1, 2027, and would establish a new procedure to apply to grievances filed on or after February 1, 2027. The bill would require, under that new procedure, grievances to be filed with the department and the department to, among other things, refer the grievance to the applicable regional center or state-operated facility. The bill would require the grievance to be reviewed within 5 days and would require the grievant to be given an opportunity to present evidence, information, or testimony and make legal and factual arguments related to their grievance. The bill would require the grievance reviewer to send, produce, and sign a resolution plan within 60 days of the date that the grievance was referred by the department, subject to extension, as specified. The bill would authorize the grievant to request a review of the resolution plan by the department, and would require the department to make a determination on it within 21 days. The bill would require the department to review a sample of resolution plans and annually post the deidentified results of that review, as well as certain additional information related to grievances, on its internet website. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions by means of written directives or similar instructions. The bill would require the department to convene stakeholders and legislative staff by August 1, 2027, to receive input and feedback regarding implementation of these provisions, and to submit a report to the Legislature on the implementation of these provisions no later than December 1, 2027. (8) Existing law requires the State Department of Developmental Services on or before March 1, 2019, to submit a rate study to specified committees of the Legislature regarding community-based services for individuals with developmental disabilities. Existing law requires the department to implement rate increases between April 1, 2022, and July 1, 2025, to raise service providers' rates based on a formula that takes into account the fully funded rate reflected in the rate models that were included in the rate study. Existing law requires the department, commencing on July 1, 2025, and every other year thereafter, subject to appropriation and the approval of federal funds, to review and update the rate models, as defined, per the cost inputs available at the time of the review. Existing law requires, in conjunction with the rate reform, the department to implement a quality incentive program that includes the development of a quality incentive payment structure for providers meeting quality measures or benchmarks, or both. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations by no later than June 30, 2028. This bill would exempt, operative through December 31, 2030, contracts and contract amendments to procure services necessary to implement the provisions above from the requirements of the Public Contract Code, the State Administrative Manual, and from approval by the Department of General Services. The bill would instead require the department to adopt regulations by no later than December 31, 2030. This bill would require the department to continue and enhance robust ongoing technical assistance, training, and operational guidance to service providers and to use the data collected through the quality incentive program to understand and address provider capacity needs in the system and inform and develop the infrastructure necessary to track and achieve quality outcomes. The bill would also require the department to evaluate the reasons why some providers have been unable to access the quality incentive rate increment in the 2026–27 fiscal year and require the department and regional centers to support service providers with meeting the qualifying prerequisites to maximize access to the quality incentive rate increment in the 2027–28 fiscal year and ongoing, as specified. (9) Existing law requires that all contracts entered into by a state agency for the acquisition of goods, services, construction, or performance of work or services by the state agency for or in cooperation with any person or public body, be approved by the Department of General Services, except as specified. The bill would require the State Department of Developmental Services to issue and adjust funding allocations to the regional centers, and would specify that those funding allocations and adjustments may be done, at the department's discretion, by letter, contract, or contract amendment, and require that those funding allocations be consistent with, and subject to, funding appropriated in the annual Budget Act. The bill would also make those funding allocations and adjustments exempt from the Public Contract Code and the State Contracting Manual and not subject to the approval of the Department of General Services. (10) Existing law states legislative intent to provide consistency and uniformity and promote equity within the administrative practices and services of regional centers. Under existing law, the services and supports to be provided to a regional center consumer are contained in an individual program plan, developed in accordance with prescribed requirements. Existing law requires regional centers to perform specified functions, including securing needed services and supports for an individual to implement their individual program plan, including pursuant to a vendorization or a contract. The bill would require, no later than March 1, 2028, the department, in consultation with stakeholders, to issue guidance to regional centers on maintaining necessary quality assurance oversight of service providers, special incident reporting, provider directory structure, and rate controls while removing barriers to statewide accessibility of services. The bill would require service providers to give preference to providing services to individuals served by the service provider's initially vendorizing regional center. Under this bill, effective January 1, 2027, a vendor would not be required to maintain a physical location within a regional center's service area unless a physical location is required for the delivery of services. The bill would authorize the department to repeal or amend any regulations necessary to implement this provision. (11) Existing law limits the state's authority to contract only with agencies whose governing boards meet certain requirements, including the backgrounds of members of the board. Existing law requires no less than 50% of the members of the governing board to be persons with developmental disabilities or their parents or legal guardians and no less than 25% of the members of the governing board to be persons with developmental disabilities. The bill would limit the state's authority to contract only with agencies whose governing boards meet, no later than January 1, 2028, additional requirements, including, among other things, that the board be composed of no more than 17 individuals with specified expertise, including California law, management, board governance, fiscal or financial, and developmental disability programs. The bill would require the board to complete trainings in specified subject areas, to appoint an advisory group, as specified, and to review the performance of the regional center executive director on an annual basis. Existing law requires the governing board of each regional center to adopt and maintain a written policy requiring the board to review and approve any regional center contract of $250,000 or more before entering into the contract. The bill, until July 1, 2030, would subject contracts of $350,000 or more to approval by the governing board of each regional center. The bill would increase this amount to $450,000 as of July 1, 2030, and would increase this amount by $50,000 every 5 years thereafter. The bill would exempt purchase of service authorizations from this requirement. Existing law prohibits an attorney retained or employed by the governing board of a regional center from being an employee of the regional center to ensure the delivery of independent legal advice. The bill would instead require, by no later than July 1, 2027, the governing board of a regional center to retain or employ an attorney to provide general legal advice and counsel. The bill would require the attorney to have at least 5 years of specified legal experience. The bill would require the attorney to be present at all regional center board meetings and executive committee meetings where final decisions are made, except as specified. (12) Existing law authorizes the department to directly operate a regional center during the interim period between the termination of its contract with one governing board and the assumption of operating responsibility by a regional center contract with another governing board. Existing law prohibits the department from directly operating a regional center program for longer than 120 days before contracting with a new governing board. The bill would remove the prohibition on the department from directly operating a regional center program for longer than 120 days before contracting with a new governing board. The bill would also authorize the department to operate a regional center during the interim period between governing boards through contract. The bill would require the department to notify the Joint Legislative Budget Committee every 6 months, as specified, until the transition to the new governing board is complete. (13) The Budget Acts of 2023, 2024, and 2025 made appropriations related to Local Volunteer Advisory Committees. This bill would reappropriate those funds and extend the period in which the reappropriated funds may be encumbered until June 30, 2030. (14) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

(1) Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation with the Department of Industrial Relations, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of employment. Existing law provides that the administrative director shall be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Existing law sets, among others, the director's annual salary at $81,635 and provides for general salary increases, as specified. This bill would remove the director from the above-described compensation structure. (2) The Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) for the purpose of providing pensions and benefits to state employees and their beneficiaries and prescribes the rights and duties of employers participating in the system. Under PERL, benefits are funded by investment income and employer and employee contributions, which are deposited into the Public Employees' Retirement Fund, a continuously appropriated trust fund administered by the system's board of administration. PERL prescribes methods for the calculation and payment of the state employer contribution for its employees who are PERS members. PERL provides for an annual adjustment of the state's contribution in the budget and quarterly appropriations to the Public Employees' Retirement Fund from the General Fund and other funds that are responsible for payment of the employer contribution. Existing law makes additional General Fund appropriations to the Public Employees' Retirement Fund for the 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25, and 2025–26 fiscal years. Supplemental payments connected with appropriations for those fiscal years are to be apportioned to the state employee member categories generally, as directed by the Department of Finance, and to specified state employee member categories, including to the state miscellaneous member category, the industrial member category, the state safety member category, and the state peace officer/firefighter member category. The California Constitution establishes the Budget Stabilization Account in the General Fund and requires the Controller, in each fiscal year, to transfer from the General Fund to the Budget Stabilization Account amounts that include a sum equal to 1.5% of the estimated amount of General Fund revenues for that fiscal year. These provisions further require, until the 2029–30 fiscal year, that the Legislature appropriate a percentage of these moneys, the amount of which is generated pursuant to specified calculations, for certain obligations and purposes, including addressing unfunded liabilities for state-level pension plans. This bill would appropriate $3,018,000,000 from the General Fund for the purposes identified in the constitutional provisions described above, to supplement the state's appropriation to the Public Employees' Retirement Fund. The bill would specify that this appropriation represents a portion of the amount identified in a specific provision of the Budget Act of 2026. The bill would require the Department of Finance to provide the Controller with a schedule establishing the timing of specific transfers. The bill would require the supplemental payment to the Public Employees' Retirement Fund to be apportioned to specified state employee member categories, not to exceed $1,434,683,000 to the state miscellaneous member category, $83,555,000 to the state industrial member category, $174,232,000 to the state safety member category, and $1,325,530,000 to the state peace officer/firefighter member category. The bill would require the appropriation described above to be applied to the unfunded state liabilities for the state employee member categories that are in excess of the base amounts for the 2026–27 fiscal year. (3) Existing law requires all employers, as defined, to secure payment of that compensation either by being insured against liability to pay compensation or by securing a certificate to self-insure from the Director of Industrial Relations. Existing law requires that separate assessments and surcharges be charged on all employers and deposited in specified funds for expenditure by the Department of Industrial Relations for purposes relating to workers' compensation, occupational safety and health, and enforcement activities. Existing law imposes various penalties and remedies against employers who fail to secure payment of compensation. Existing law authorizes the director to additionally order a civil penalty for specified violations, including failure to timely or completely pay an assessment, the lesser of the amount of the assessment or $2,500. This bill would require that surcharges and assessments be paid by electronic funds transfer, as defined, and would impose a 10% penalty on untimely or unpaid amounts of the above-described surcharges and assessments and for failure to pay by electronic funds transfer. The bill would require that these penalties be deposited in the Workers' Compensation Administration Revolving Fund, as specified. (4) Existing law imposes a 5-year statute of limitations by which to bring a workers' compensation proceeding. Existing law also establishes the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Under existing law, if a permanently, partially disabled employee receives a subsequent compensable injury resulting in additional permanent disability, that employee receives compensation from the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund. Existing law requires, when applicable, the additional permanent disability resulting from the subsequent injury to be equal to 35% or more of total, when considered alone and without regard to, or adjustment for, the occupation or the age of the employee. Existing case law requires the prior injury to be "labor disabling" and describes that term to mean an injury that could support an award, if industrially caused, but has not required that disability be demonstrated in loss of earnings. This bill would define "labor disabling" to mean specified impairments that resulted in loss of earnings, interfered with an employee's work in the occupation in which they were employed, or otherwise had a demonstrable impact on the employee's ability to perform work. The bill would clarify that an employee has 5 years from the date of the subsequent compensable injury or 6 months from the resolution of the issue of permanent disability in the subsequent injury claim, whichever is later, to file a claim for benefits from the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund. The bill would additionally exclude any adjustment for future earning capacity or a specified adjustment factor when determining whether an employee qualifies for these additional benefits. The bill would also codify existing standards for determining eligibility for compensation from the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund and for calculating the amount of that compensation. To the extent this bill would change the eligibility requirements and calculation for payments made from the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund, the bill would make an appropriation. This bill would require, for purposes of determining eligibility for and the amount of an award of benefits from the Subsequent Injuries Benefit Trust Fund, the existence of the preexisting disability at the time of the subsequent compensable injury to be determined by substantial evidence based on prior medical records, prior testimony, and other prior evidence in existence prior to the subsequent compensable injury. The bill would make conforming changes. This bill would exempt claims with a certain procedural status on or before June 1, 2026, or filed on or before July 1, 2020, from the above-described changes.This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2031, and would repeal it as of January 1, 2032. (5) Existing law requires the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board to fix and award the amounts of special additional compensation to be paid and to direct the State Compensation Insurance Fund to pay the additional compensation awarded. Existing law authorizes the additional compensation to be paid only from funds appropriated for these purposes. Existing law authorizes the State Compensation Insurance Fund to reimburse itself for specified costs from this appropriation. This bill would replace the State Compensation Insurance Fund with the Director of Industrial Relations, as trustee of the Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund, as the entity to pay the additional compensation awarded by the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. The bill would delete the State Compensation Insurance Fund's authorization to reimburse itself for specified costs. (6) Existing law requires certain workers' compensation proceedings to be instituted before the appeals board and vests the appeals board with sole power, authority, and jurisdiction to finally determined specified matters before it. Existing law authorizes a petitioner, under specified circumstances, to petition the appeals board for reconsideration of any matters determined by the final order, decision, or award. Existing law, until July 1, 2026, provides that a petition for reconsideration is deemed denied by the board unless it is acted upon 60 days from the date the petition is transmitted to the board. Existing law, commencing July 1, 2026, provides that a petition is deemed denied unless it is acted upon within 60 days from the date of filing. This bill would extend the above-described petition provisions indefinitely and would repeal the provisions effective July 1, 2026. (7) Existing law establishes the California Workforce Development Board as the body responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system and the alignment of the education and workforce investment systems to the needs of the 21st century economy and workforce. Existing law, as part of its responsibilities, requires the board to administer several grant programs through various initiatives, including funding preapprenticeship programs through the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account, the Breaking Barriers to Employment Initiative, and the Prison to Employment program. Existing law requires the board to submit reports to the Legislature relating to each of the grant programs they administer. This bill would align the reporting requirement timelines relating to the above-referenced grant programs, including requiring the California Workforce Development Board to produce and submit a report to the Legislature evaluating those grant programs by October 1 of every odd-numbered year, as provided. The bill would also establish new reporting requirements for the Breaking Barriers to Employment Initiative and the Prison to Employment program if additional grant funds are appropriated for the purpose of those programs, as provided. (8) This bill would appropriate $1,000,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Finance for administrative costs, as specified, thereby making an appropriation. (9) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

The Insurance Rate Reduction and Reform Act of 1988, an initiative measure enacted by Proposition 103, as approved by the voters at the November 8, 1988, statewide general election, prohibits specified insurance rates from being approved or remaining in effect that are excessive, inadequate, unfairly discriminatory, or otherwise in violation of the act. Under the act, rates and premiums for automobile insurance are determined based on specified factors, including the insured's driving safety record. Existing law authorizes the provisions of Proposition 103 to be amended by a statute that furthers the purposes of the act and is enacted by the Legislature with a 23 vote. This bill, the Consumer Driving Data Protection Act of 2026, would authorize a consumer to opt to use telematics to establish their driving record, thus amending Proposition 103. The bill would prohibit the use of telematics data for a purpose other than rating private passenger automobile insurance. The bill would require a rate application under which telematics would be used to establish an insured's driving record to include specified materials related to the insurer's telematics program. This bill would prohibit an insurer that uses telematics from taking specified actions, including conditioning eligibility for a discount upon participation in a telematics program, unless the discount is approved by the commissioner. The bill would also set forth written consent and privacy requirements for the collection and use of telematics data. The bill would authorize the commissioner to impose specified penalties for violations of the bill's provisions, including civil penalties and suspension of an insurer's telematics program. This bill would require an insurance provider or third-party vendor to take specified actions with respect to the telematics data, including immediately deleting the data once a rating has been assigned to the consumer and obtaining an express written or electronic signature of a consumer on a notice meeting specified conditions. The bill would additionally prohibit an insurance provider or third-party vendor from keeping the telematics data for longer than 6 months and collecting audio or visual recordings of the occupants of the vehicle or persons outside the vehicle, among other specified prohibitions. The bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes of Proposition 103. 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.

(1) The California Fire Service Training Act establishes the California Fire Service Training and Education Program in the Office of the State Fire Marshal. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal, with policy guidance and advice from the State Board of Fire Services, to carry out the management of the program, including offering courses of study. Existing law separately establishes the California Fire and Arson Training Act, under which the State Fire Marshal is required to establish and validate recommended minimum standards for fire protection personnel and fire protection instructors, develop course curricula for arson, fire technology, and apprenticeship training, and develop, validate, update, copyright, and maintain security over a complete series of promotional examinations for fire protection personnel. Existing law authorizes the State Fire Marshal to establish and collect admission fees and other fees that may be necessary to be charged for seminars, conferences, and specialized training given pursuant to the California Fire and Arson Training Act, and for the implementation of the California Fire and Arson Training Act, only to the extent that state appropriations and other funding sources are insufficient to cover the necessary costs of those seminars, conferences, specialized training, and implementation. Existing law requires the admission fees and other fees collected to be paid into the California Fire and Arson Training Fund. This bill would instead authorize the State Fire Marshal to establish and collect those admission fees and other fees only to the extent that state appropriations from funding sources other than the fund are insufficient to cover the necessary costs of those seminars, conferences, and specialized training. (2) Existing hazardous waste control laws require the Department of Toxic Substances Control to regulate the handling and management of hazardous waste and hazardous materials. A violation of the hazardous waste control laws is a crime. Existing law authorizes the department and the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) to continue to administer and collect a fee that was due and payable on or before June 30, 2022, for the disposal of hazardous waste that was disposed of on or before June 30, 2022. This bill would authorize the department and CDTFA to continue to administer and collect the fee if it was due and payable on or before September 30, 2022, rather than on or before June 30, 2022. Because the failure to pay the generation and handling fee would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The Hazardous Substances Tax Law requires a generator of hazardous waste to pay to CDTFA a generation and handling fee for each generator site, as defined, that generates hazardous waste, as specified. Existing law imposes a different generation and handling fee for specified projects. This bill would make various changes to the Hazardous Substances Tax Law, including, among other things, specifying that provisions that apply to the returns and payments of the generation and handling fee also apply to the above-described generation and handling fee for specified projects. Existing law imposes a penalty on a feepayer who willfully or knowingly provides incorrect information or withholds information that results in a deficient payment or nonpayment as determined by CDTFA. Existing law requires penalty determinations to be served within 3 years of the date the return was due or filed, as specified, except as specified. This bill would specify that the above-described penalty determination is based upon a preponderance of the evidence and would create a new exception to the 3-year deadline for willfully or knowingly providing incorrect information or withholding information. Existing law generally limits refunds for overpayments after 3 years, as specified. Existing law makes an exception to that limit for refunds of a facility fee if the taxpayer has paid or is being assessed a disposal or generation and handling fee for the same period and site, or vise versa. This bill would remove from that exception refunds of, or payment or assessment of, a disposal fee. By expanding the scope of the Hazardous Substances Tax Law, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act requires a distributor of beverage containers to pay to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery a redemption payment for every beverage container sold or offered for sale, as provided. The act requires the department to deposit those amounts into the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The act continuously appropriates the fund to the department for specified purposes, including, among others, to pay refund values, administrative fees, and processing payments associated with the collection and recycling of empty beverage containers. Until July, 1, 2027, the act authorizes the department to pay a market development payment not exceeding $150 per ton to a reclaimer for empty plastic beverage containers and to a product manufacturer for plastic flake, pellet, sheet, or other form of plastic purchased from a reclaimer, as provided. The act requires the department, in setting the amount of the market development payment, to consider the minimum funding level needed to encourage in-state washing and processing of, and manufacturing that uses processed plastic from, empty plastic beverage containers, as provided. The act also requires the department to consider the projected availability of funds for plastic market development payments and the desire to maintain the minimum funding level needed throughout the year. This bill would authorize the department to make these market development payments at a level not exceeding $250 per ton and extend the authorization to make market development payments until July 1, 2029. In setting the amount of the market development payment, the bill would require the department to consider incentive payments to encourage in-state washing and processing of, and manufacturing for a circular economy that uses processed plastic from, empty plastic beverage containers. The bill would also require the department to consider market conditions and pricing related to certain plastics, the quality of, and types of products manufactured from, plastic, and the overall benefit to the beverage container recycling program and advancing circularity in the state. The bill would require the department to determine eligibility for a market development payment based on market conditions. The bill would require a reclaimer or manufacturer to report to the department specified information to be eligible for a market development payment. The bill would require the department to aggregate and publish the reported information on its internet website. The bill would require the department to publish a report on its internet website regarding proposed methodologies for the verification of recycled plastic, as specified. The act continuously appropriates moneys from the fund through the 2025–26 fiscal year to the department for these market development payments. This bill would continuously appropriate money from the fund through the 2028–29 fiscal year to the department for these market development payments, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to establish a grant program to support plastic reclaimers and manufacturers operating in California that invest in equipment, facility operations, or other infrastructure necessary to process postconsumer plastic beverage containers and manufacture products using recycled plastic feedstock, as specified. (5) 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. (6) 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. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (7) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

Existing law establishes the California Health and Human Services Agency, headed by the Secretary of California Health and Human Services. Existing law further establishes, within the agency, a number of departments and other entities, including the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income persons receive health care benefits. This bill would create the Fair Share from Big Corporations Act pursuant to which the Department of Finance would be required to, on or before March 1, 2027, present to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee one or more options for holding the state's largest corporations accountable for the taxpayer costs of their employees enrolled in the Medi-Cal program, as specified, unless the Medicaid program-related provisions of a specified federal law are repealed on or before March 1, 2027. The bill would appropriate $10,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Finance for purposes of implementing the these provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law, the Medi-Cal Long-Term Care Reimbursement Act, requires the department to implement a facility-specific reimbursement ratesetting system for certain skilled nursing facilities. Reimbursement rates for freestanding skilled nursing facilities are funded by a combination of federal funds and moneys collected pursuant to the skilled nursing uniform quality assurance fee. Existing law prohibits the quality assurance fee from being assessed after December 31, 2026, and repeals these provisions on January 1, 2028. Existing law establishes the maximum annual aggregate rate increases for the 2023 to 2026, inclusive, calendar years, as prescribed, and sets forth the annual rate methodologies. Under existing law, the Medi-Cal Long-Term Care Reimbursement Act is operative until December 31, 2026, and the department is authorized to conduct necessary closeout activities after that date. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2028. This bill would extend the application of the quality assurance fee until December 31, 2027, and would repeal the quality assurance fee provisions on January 1, 2029. The bill would extend the operative date of the Medi-Cal Long-Term Care Reimbursement Act to December 31, 2027, and repeals these provisions on January 1, 2029, or the date when the director certifies that all necessary closeout activities have been completed, whichever is later. The bill would also make conforming changes. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law prohibits a video streaming service, as defined, that serves consumers in the state from transmitting the audio of commercial advertisements louder than the video content the advertisements accompany, as specified. This bill would clarify that video streaming service includes a user-generated video streaming service, and would additionally prohibit a music streaming service or podcast streaming service that serves consumers in the state from transmitting the audio of commercial advertisements louder than the content the advertisements accompany.

(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Finance with the general powers of supervision over all matters concerning the financial and business policies of the state. Existing law requires the department to calculate changes in cost of living or annual adjustment factors in connection with various state programs and policies, including programs and policies relating to human services. This bill would, if the department is required by law to make a calculation related to cost of living or annual adjustment factors and necessary data is unavailable, authorize the department to use a reasonable estimate of that data to perform the calculation, as specified. (2) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to license and regulate various community care facilities and programs, including, among others, residential care facilities for persons with chronic, life-threatening illness, residential care facilities for the elderly, childcare centers, and home care services. This bill would authorize users of information technology systems and services under the jurisdiction of the department, as specified, to use electronic signatures and to electronically pay any fee or civil penalties assessed by the department, as specified. The bill would require a user who elects to make an electronic payment to be responsible for any associated payment processing costs, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to adopt, amend, or repeal any rules and regulations that may be necessary or proper to carry out these provisions. (3) Existing law, the Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act (act) , provides for the licensure and regulation of home care organizations by the State Department of Social Services and the registration of home care aides. Under the act, administration of the program is fully supported by fees and not civil penalties. The act authorizes the provision of initial costs to implement the act's provisions through a General Fund loan that is to be repaid in accordance with a schedule provided by the Department of Finance. Except for General Fund moneys that are otherwise transferred or appropriated for the initial costs of administering the act, or specified penalties, the act generally prohibits the use of General Fund moneys for any purpose under the act. Existing law makes an additional exception by authorizing use of General Fund moneys as appropriated by the Budget Act of 2023 and the Budget Act of 2024. This bill would authorize, beginning July 1, 2026, the appropriation of General Fund moneys to help support the program, along with fee revenues. The bill would delete the above-described provision concerning the repayment of the General Fund loan for initial costs. Existing law authorizes the department to issue a license to a home care organization, and requires the license to be renewed every 2 years. Existing law requires a home care organization to pay an initial license fee and a 2-year license renewal fee, each of which is determined by the department. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2029, make various changes to transition license renewal for home care organizations from every 2 years to annually. The bill would also generally establish the initial license fee as $5,603. The bill would, until January 1, 2029, generally establish the 2-year license renewal fee as $5,603 and would, beginning January 1, 2029, establish the annual license fee as $2,802. The bill would also, beginning January 1, 2029, establish a late fee, a payment processing fee, and a fee for monitoring a licensee on probation. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations, on or before January 1, 2026, to require biennial inspections to ensure that licensed home care organizations possess specified policies. This bill would instead require the department to adopt those regulations on or before January 1, 2028. (4) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, to administer the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Program to provide grants to eligible entities for the purpose of administering pilot programs and projects that provide a guaranteed income to participants. Existing law requires the department to review and evaluate the pilot programs and projects funded to determine the economic impact of the programs and projects and their impact on the outcomes of individuals who receive guaranteed income payments, as specified. Existing law requires the department to submit a report to the Legislature regarding this review and evaluation and requires the department to post a copy of the report on its internet website. Existing law makes these provisions inoperative on January 1, 2028, and repeals these provisions on January 1, 2029. This bill would require the department to submit the above-described report and post a copy of the report on its internet website by no later than June 1, 2028. The bill would extend the inoperative date of these provisions to January 1, 2029, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030. (5) Existing law establishes the California Hope, Opportunity, Perseverance, and Empowerment (HOPE) for Children Trust Account Program to provide a trust fund account for eligible children, defined to include minor California residents who are specified dependents or wards under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court in foster care with reunification services terminated by court order, or who have a parent, Indian custodian, or legal guardian who died due to COVID-19 during the federally declared COVID-19 public health emergency and meet the specified family household income limit. Existing law prohibits funds deposited and investment returns accrued in a HOPE trust account from being considered as income or assets when determining eligibility and benefit amount for any means-tested program until an eligible youth withdraws or transfers the funds from the HOPE trust account, as specified. Existing federal law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, enacted July 4, 2025, provides for a tax-deferred investment account for children known as a "Trump account." This bill would similarly prohibit funds deposited and investment returns accrued in a Trump account from being considered as income or assets when determining eligibility and benefit amount for any means-tested program until an account beneficiary withdraws or transfers the funds from the account, as specified. The bill would make these provisions operative on July 1, 2026, or on the date that the State Department of Social Services notifies the Legislature that the California Statewide Automated Welfare System or the California Automated Response and Engagement System (CWS-CARES) can perform the necessary automation to implement these provisions, whichever date is later. To the extent that the bill would expand county duties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (6) Existing federal law provides for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing law requires each county to pay 30% of the nonfederal share of costs of administering the CalFresh program. This bill would cap the amount the county is required to contribute during the 2026–27 to 2028–29 fiscal years, inclusive, to the lower of the amount the county expended in its contribution in the 2024–25 fiscal year or the amount the county was required to contribute to receive its full allocation of General Fund moneys under the Budget Act of 2024, and would require the county to receive the full General Fund allocation for administration of CalFresh once the county has reached that amount. This bill would make those provisions inoperative on July 1, 2030, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2031. Existing law requires the department to also establish the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to provide nutrition benefits to households that are ineligible for CalFresh benefits solely due to their immigration status, as specified. Existing law requires that CFAP benefits be equivalent to SNAP benefits. Under existing law, operative on the date that the department notifies the Legislature that the Statewide Automated Welfare System can perform the necessary automation for this purpose, an individual 55 years of age or older is eligible for CFAP benefits, subject to an appropriation. Existing law requires that current and future CalFresh benefits be reduced in order to recover an overissuance caused by intentional program violation, fraud, or inadvertent household error. Existing law sets forth certain procedures and criteria for a county when establishing a claim for recovery of that overissuance of CalFresh benefits. This bill would require, commencing October 1, 2027, or once the Statewide Automated Welfare System can perform specified automation activities, that CalFresh and CFAP overissuance claims arising out of the same error or intentional program violation be recovered through minimum allotment reductions consecutively, as specified. By expanding county duties relating to the administration of benefits, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the department to establish the County Administrative Cost Control Plan and requires the plan to establish standards and performance criteria, including workload, productivity, and support services standards. This bill would require the department to utilize certain information that is necessary to assess performance of, monitor the efficacy and impact of administrative funding of, facilitate technical assistance with county welfare departments related to, and inform the public about service delivery in, the CalFresh program. The bill would require county welfare departments and the California Statewide Automated Welfare System Consortium to provide the information and access to necessary data identified by the department within 60 days, as specified. By increasing county duties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would appropriate $344,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Social Services for the 2026–27 fiscal year for the purpose of implementing CalFresh transparency initiatives, and would make these funds available for encumbrance or expenditure until September 30, 2029. (7) Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families using federal, state, and county funds. Existing law establishes maximum aid grant amounts to be provided to each family receiving aid under CalWORKs. Existing law, commencing October 1, 2024, increases the maximum aid payments in effect on July 1, 2024, by 0.3%. This bill would, commencing October 1, 2026, increase the maximum aid payments in effect on July 1, 2026, by 1.8%. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would instead provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill. Existing law provides for the establishment of a methodology to develop the CalWORKs single allocation annual budget. Existing law also requires the State Department of Social Services to reconsider the costs of county operations for county administrative costs in the CalWORKs single allocation for the 2024–25 fiscal year and every 3rd fiscal year thereafter. This bill would instead require the department to do the above-described reconsideration for the 2024–25 fiscal year, the 2028–29 fiscal year, and every 3rd fiscal year thereafter. (8) Existing law establishes the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, administered by the State Department of Social Services and counties, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes. Existing law requires the department to review the budgeting methodology used to determine the annual funding for county administration of the IHSS program and examine the ongoing workload and administrative costs to counties as part of the review beginning with the 2025–26 fiscal year and every 3rd fiscal year thereafter. This bill would instead require the department to do the above-described review and examination for the 2025–26 fiscal year, the 2029–30 fiscal year, and every 3rd fiscal year thereafter. Existing law requires each county to act as, or establish, an employer for in-home supportive service providers. Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors to elect to contract with a nonprofit consortium or establish a public authority to provide for the delivery of in-home supportive services. Existing law requires a specified mediation process, including a factfinding panel recommending settlement terms, to be held if a public authority or nonprofit consortium and the employee organization fail to reach agreement on a bargaining contract with IHSS workers. Existing law subjects a county to a withholding of 1991 Realignment funds if, among other things, the county does not reach an agreement with the employee organization within 30 days after the release of the factfinding panel's recommended settlement terms and the collective bargaining agreement for IHSS providers in the county has expired. This bill, beginning July 1, 2026, would require a county that has not reached an agreement after the release of the factfinding panel's recommended settlement terms released prior to June 30, 2026, to have 90 days to reach an agreement with the employee organization. If no agreement is reached within 90 days, the bill would require the above-described withholding to occur on October 1, 2026. (9) Existing law, the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act, establishes the California Department of Aging in the California Health and Human Services Agency and sets forth its mission to provide leadership to the area agencies on aging in developing systems of home- and community-based services that maintain individuals in their own homes or the least restrictive homelike environments. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with area agencies on aging and stakeholders, to, no later than September 30, 2026, take various actions, including, among others, identifying older adult and family caregiver support programs and services and developing a statewide consumer engagement plan. This bill would instead require the department to take the above-described actions no later than September 30, 2027. (10) Existing law provides for the establishment of a statewide electronic benefits transfer (EBT) system, administered by the State Department of Social Services, for the purpose of providing financial and food assistance benefits. Existing law prohibits a recipient of nutrition benefits or cash benefits from incurring any loss of benefits taken by an unauthorized contact, withdrawal, removal, or use of the benefits that does not occur by the use of a physical electronic benefits transfer card issued to the recipient or authorized third party to directly access the benefits. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish a protocol to use state funds to replace benefits taken under these circumstances. Existing law authorizes the department to issue an all-county letter or similar instructions to implement and amend the requirements and protocols to replace the nutrition benefits, pending the adoption of regulations by June 30, 2026. The bill would delete the above-described authority and instead authorize the department to issue all-county letters or similar written instructions to implement, interpret, or make specific requirements and protocols to replace cash and nutrition benefits, pending the adoption of regulations by June 30, 2030. Existing law establishes the California Fruit and Vegetable EBT Pilot Project, and requires the department, in consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture and specified stakeholders, to include within the EBT system a supplemental benefits mechanism that allows an authorized retailer to deliver and redeem supplemental benefits to CalFresh recipients. Existing law repeals the pilot project on January 1, 2027. The bill would extend the operation of the pilot project to June 30, 2028. (11) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs, to administer a grant program that provides support and services to victims and survivors of hate incidents and hate crimes and their families and facilitates hate incident or hate crime prevention measures, as specified. Existing law authorizes the department to use up to 5% of the funds appropriated for department administrative costs, and provides that any funds in excess of 5% may be authorized not sooner than 30 days after notification in writing of the necessity therefor is provided to the chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, or not sooner than whatever lesser time after that notification the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, or their designee, may in each instance determine. Until October 1, 2025, existing law requires the department, in consultation with the commission, to submit a report for the prior fiscal year that includes certain information, including a list of grant recipients and the amounts allocated to each grantee, as specified. Existing law repeals these provisions on June 30, 2026. This bill would require the department to submit the above-described report on March 1, 2027, as specified. The bill would remove the provisions relating to administrative costs. The bill would make the remaining provisions inoperative on June 30, 2029, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2030. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, subject to an appropriation, to provide grants to qualified nonprofit organizations through contracts in order to provide persons with certain immigration-related legal services. Under existing law, a component of that program aims to provide legal counsel and social work services to certain minors without a lawful immigration status. Existing law also includes as a component of that program the provision of legal services to unaccompanied undocumented minors who are transferred to the care and custody of the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement and who are present in the state. This bill would expand eligibility for legal services provided under the latter component of the program to also include immigrants younger than 21 years of age in removal proceedings and would expand the services to which eligible individuals are entitled under that component to include social services. Existing law requires a contract awarded pursuant to those provisions to meet specified requirements, including, among other things, to provide for legal services to unaccompanied and undocumented minors. Existing law requires that the contracts include administrative and supervisory costs and court fees. This bill would instead require those contracts to provide for legal and social services to immigrant youth. The bill would also authorize, instead of require, the contracts to include administrative and supervisory costs and court fees, as well as client services. The bill would require those contracts to prioritize the provision of social services to eligible immigrant youth, either directly or through partnerships, as specified. Existing law, subject to the availability of funding, requires the department to provide grants to organizations to provide free education and outreach regarding the services above. Existing law requires the department to provide the Legislature with specified information regarding these grants in the course of budget hearings, including the ethnic communities served. This bill would remove the requirement to update the Legislature on the ethnic communities served. (12) Existing federal law, the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) , governs the proceedings for determining the placement of an Indian child when that child is removed from the custody of the child's parent or guardian. Existing law specifies that the state is committed to protecting the essential tribal relations and best interest of an Indian child by promoting practices in accordance with ICWA. Existing law also provides for the state and an Indian tribe to enter into an agreement regarding the care and custody of Indian children and jurisdiction over Indian child custody proceedings. Existing law establishes, in order to provide additional funds to eligible Indian tribes that have entered into an agreement with the state pursuant to those provisions, the Tribally Approved Homes Compensation Program to provide funds to recruit and approve homes for the purpose of foster or adoptive placement of an Indian child and the Tribal Dependency Representation Program to provide funds to pay for legal counsel to represent the Indian tribe in a California Indian child custody proceeding. This bill would, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, establish the Tribal Foster Care Prevention Initiative to provide state funding to assist any federally recognized Indian tribe located in California, or with lands that extend into California, in funding the costs associated with services aimed at preserving families and preventing the entry of children into foster care, as specified. The bill would require a federally recognized Indian tribe that seeks funding for this purpose to submit an annual letter of interest to the department by May 1 of each year. The bill would require the department, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act for this purpose, to provide each federally recognized Indian tribe that enters into a specified agreement and submits a letter of interest an annual allocation. The bill would require a federally recognized Indian tribe that receives funds to submit a progress report regarding specified information, including the number of Indian children and their families served, to the department on or before September 30 following the close of the fiscal year in which funding was received. (13) Existing law establishes the Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) , administered by the State Department of Social Services, to benefit children residing in foster homes by providing the stability and security of permanent homes. Existing law requires the department or the county, whichever is responsible for determining the child's AAP eligibility, to assess the needs of the child and the circumstances of the family, with the amount of a cash benefit being determined based on those factors. Existing law authorizes payment to be made on behalf of an otherwise eligible child in a state-approved group home, short-term residential therapeutic program, or residential care treatment facility if the department or county responsible for determining payment has confirmed that the placement is necessary for the temporary resolution of mental or emotional problems related to a condition that existed before the adoptive placement. This bill would instead require, before January 1, 2028, the department or county responsible for determining payment to confirm that the placement is necessary for the temporary resolution of mental health, behavioral health, or emotional health needs of the child. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2028, revise and recast the provisions governing payment of AAP benefits on behalf of a child residing in an in-state, out-of-home placement by, in part, only permitting these payments if the child is residing in a licensed short-term residential therapeutic program and limiting authorization to a 12-month cumulative period of time, subject to an extension of a one-time 6-month cumulative period of time, as specified. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2028, authorize benefits to be paid on behalf of an otherwise eligible child for wraparound services in lieu of an out-of-home placement if, among other things, the responsible public agency has confirmed that the wraparound services are necessary, as specified. The bill would permit the authorization of payment for wraparound services for a 12-month cumulative period of time, and would permit consecutive reauthorizations, as specified. Existing law prohibits the AAP rate paid on behalf of a child for these placements from exceeding the rate paid for a short-term residential therapeutic program. Existing law establishes a Tiered Rate Structure, as specified, upon which the per child per month rate for every child in foster care is based, which includes 3 components, including an amount paid to the foster care provider for care and supervision of the child, a strengths-building allocation to provide for a child's strengths-building objectives, and an immediate needs allocation to provide for the child's immediate needs, and establishes payment tiers, as specified. Existing law requires the 3 components of the Tiered Rate Structure to become operative on July 1, 2027, or the date that the department notifies the Legislature that the California Statewide Automated Welfare System can perform the necessary automation to implement the Tiered Rate Structure and the Legislature makes an appropriation for those purposes, whichever is later. This bill would prohibit the AAP rate for an in-state, out-of-home placement funded by AAP, or for wraparound services funded by AAP, from exceeding the rate paid for a foster care placement in a short-term residential therapeutic program, or, until the 3 components of the Tiered Rate Structure become operative and the Legislature makes an appropriation for that purpose, would instead prohibit the AAP payment rate from exceeding the sum of the 3 components of the Tiered Rate Structure, as specified. This bill would require the department to develop, and distribute to counties, a curriculum, no later than January 1, 2028, that includes, at a minimum, education on maintaining AAP benefits, adolescent development and trauma, the importance of maintaining Medi-Cal, the benefits of using adoption-competent clinicians, and how to secure trauma-informed services. The bill would require the department to consult with county placing agencies and community partners in the development of this curriculum. Existing law authorizes AAP payments for placement in an out-of-state residential treatment facility, as defined, if one or more of the adoptive parents reside in the state in which the residential treatment facility is located and the responsible public agency, defined as the department or county adoption agency responsible for determining a child's AAP eligibility and initial and subsequent payment amount, has confirmed that placement is necessary. This bill would, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for these purposes, require the department to directly, or through contract with a service provider, ensure transition support services are made available to adoptive families, and would require the responsible public agency to refer the family to postpermanency services at the local level to support the adoptive family in navigating postpermanency services, as specified. The bill would also require, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for these purposes, the department to interview adoptive parents who agree to submit the information regarding the reason an out-of-state placement was necessary and the current status of their adoptive children who returned to California on or after July 1, 2025, among other things. The bill would require the department to submit a report to the Legislature, as specified. By imposing duties on counties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (14) Existing law creates the Office of Youth and Community Restoration within the California Health and Human Services Agency to promote trauma-responsive, culturally informed services for youth involved in the juvenile justice system, as specified. Existing law grants the office the responsibility and authority to report on youth outcomes, identify policy recommendations, identify and disseminate best practices, and provide technical assistance to develop and expand local youth diversion opportunities. Existing law requires the office to have an ombudsperson and authorizes the ombudsperson to, among other things, investigate complaints from youth and access facilities serving youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Under existing law, an ombudsperson is authorized to meet or communicate privately with any youth, personnel, or volunteer in a juvenile facility and interview any relevant witnesses and to take notes, audio or video recording, or photographs during the meeting or communication with youth, to the extent not otherwise prohibited by applicable federal or state law. Existing law requires the ombudsperson to have access to, review, receive, and make copies of any record of a local agency, including all juvenile facility records at all times, expect as otherwise prohibited. This bill would specify that the ombudsperson can meet or communicate privately with any youth, individually or in groups of youth. The bill would specify the equipment that an ombudsperson is permitted to carry with them when meeting or communicating with youth pursuant to these provisions includes, but is not limited to, state-issued computers, audio or video recording devices, cameras, or technology to provide the ombudsperson internet access. The bill would also expand the definition of "record" under these provisions to include grievances or complaints. By imposing additional duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law establishes the Youth Bill of Rights, which includes the right to live in a safe, healthy, and clean environment conducive to treatment and rehabilitation, to contact attorneys, ombudspersons, and other advocates regarding conditions of confinement or violations of rights, and to receive a quality education. Existing law requires the Office of the Ombudsperson of the Office of Youth and Community Restoration to design posters and provide the posters to specified juvenile facility operators. Existing law requires every juvenile facility to provide youth placed in the facility with an orientation that includes an explanation and copy of the rights and responsibilities and to post a listing of the rights in a conspicuous location. Existing law requires that a copy of the rights of youth be included in orientation packets provided to parents or guardians of wards. This bill would specify that the copy of the rights and responsibilities of youth to be provided to youth during orientation needs to be as designed and provided by the Ombudsperson of the Office of Youth and Community Restoration. The bill would require that the posters designed and provided by the ombudsperson be posted in a conspicuous area, including near the telephones that youth can use to call the ombudsperson. The bill would also require that the rights be provided to parents or guardians of each youth placed in a juvenile facility and that copies of the posters and brochures be made available in lobbies and visiting areas of juvenile justice facilities, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (15) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (16) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

(1) Existing law authorizes any person adversely affected by any regulation, rules, omission, interpretation, decision, or practice of any state agency respecting the administration of any building standard to appeal the issue for resolution to the California Building Standards Commission. Existing law authorizes any local agency having authority to enforce a state building standard and any person adversely affected by any regulation, rule, omission, interpretation, decision, or practice of that agency respecting that building standard to appeal to the commission, provided that both wish to appeal the issue for resolution to the commission. Existing law authorizes the commission to accept those appeals only if the commission determines that the issues involved in the appeal have statewide significance. This bill would revise and recast those provisions to expand the reasons for which a person can appeal to the commission to include, among other things, a request for approval to use an alternate material. The bill would modify the conditions under which the commission may accept an appeal by removing the requirement that both the local agency and the adversely affected person wish to appeal the issue, and by requiring that certain issues appealed have both statewide significance and that the person seeking the appeal has exhausted all local appeals procedures before appealing to the commission, subject to a certain exception. The bill would require the commission to review those appealed issues with specified stakeholders. The bill would additionally authorize any person to request a code interpretation from the commission relative to the intent of any regulation or provision adopted by the commission. The bill would require the commission to post, on its internet website and in a searchable format, decisions on appeals and code interpretations that it issues. (2) Existing law requires a local enforcement agency's written rules and regulations that clarify the application of the California Building Standards Code to be made available to the public upon request. This bill would, instead, require those written rules and regulations to be posted on the agency's internet website in a manner that clearly identifies the rules or regulations as a local interpretation or policy and links those rules or regulations, where applicable, to the related local amendments and express findings. (3) 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. (4) By increasing the duties of local officials, 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, 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.

(1) Existing law establishes the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency consisting of various state entities, including the Department of Housing and Community Development and the California Housing Finance Agency. Pursuant to the Governor's Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 2025, beginning July 1, 2026, existing law eliminates that agency and establishes the California Housing and Homelessness Agency consisting of various state entities, including the Department of Housing and Community Development and the California Housing Finance Agency. Existing law requires these entities to oversee and administer various state housing programs, including multifamily affordable housing programs. This bill would, to the extent feasible, require a state entity within the California Housing and Homelessness Agency to consider quantifiable in-kind local contributions, defined as a financial or in-kind commitment by a city, county, or city and county, as specified, when awarding competitive multifamily affordable housing funding for new construction projects, as specified. If a city, county, or city and county is a lead applicant for a project in an affordable multifamily rental or ownership housing development administered by a state entity within that agency and has not committed to waiving any development impact fee, as defined, that it would otherwise impose on the project, the bill would require the awarding agency to reduce the total award amount for the project, as specified. The bill would make these provisions applicable to any notice of funding opportunity issued after July 1, 2027. (2) Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program (HHAP) for the purpose of providing jurisdictions with grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified. Existing law provides for the allocation of funding under the program among continuums of care, cities, counties, and tribes in 6 rounds and establishes round 7 of the program and states the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation that specifies the parameters, as specified. Existing law provides for certain of those remaining amounts of those program allocation funds that have not been expended by certain dates, including by reverting those funds to the General Fund. This bill would require those remaining amounts to be returned to the department for reallocation in a specified procedure, including via a subsequent notice of funding availability. By modifying existing appropriations, this bill would make an appropriation. (3) Existing law requires applicants for a round 3 or 4 program allocation to establish certain system performance measures to prevent and reduce homelessness. Existing law requires those measures to set definitive metrics for achieving certain goals, including reducing the number of persons experiencing homelessness. This bill would instead require those measures to include, among other things, the number of people experiencing homelessness who are accessing services, and would require applicants to also track demographic data with respect to age, gender, race, and ethnicity for each of those measures. (4) Existing law establishes eligibility requirements for jurisdictions to receive a round 5 or 6 program allocation, including being a signatory to a regionally coordinated homelessness action plan. Existing law requires that plan to include, among other things, the most recent system performance metrics for the region, including the number of people experiencing homelessness. This bill would instead require the most recent system performance measures for each region to include, among other things, the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness on a single night, and would require applicants to also track demographic data with respect to age, gender, race, and ethnicity for each of those system performance measures. (5) Existing law requires applicants to provide certain information for all rounds of program allocations through a data collection, reporting, performance monitoring, and accountability framework, as established by the Department of Housing and Community Development. Existing law requires each recipient that receives a round 6 allocation to submit to the department, no later than April 1, 2030, a final report, as specified. This bill would make changes to those data requirements. The bill would require each recipient that receives a round 7 allocation to submit to the department, no later than April 1, 2034, a final report, as specified. (6) Existing law, through round 6 of HHAP, requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to make available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, $1 billion in the 2024–25 fiscal year for the implementation of the program. Existing law, through round 7 of HHAP, beginning July 1, 2026, appropriates $500,000,000, less a certain amount, for the program, to be disbursed in accordance with certain conditions, including the enactment of legislation declaring that it addresses certain issues. This bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to make available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the above-described $900,000,000, for round 7 of HHAP, to be administered as additional disbursements of round 6, as provided. (7) Existing law requires applicants for a round 6 base program allocation to submit an application with certain information within 180 days from the date the department makes the application available. Existing law requires the department to approve the application or return it to the applicant with written detailed comments and request one or more amendments to the application. After approval of the application, existing law requires the department to disburse 50% of the eligible city's, county's, or continuum of care's total allocation, subject to meeting certain conditions. Existing law requires the department to disburse the remaining 50% of the recipient's total allocation after demonstrative compliance with certain conditions. This bill would similarly require the department to make 2 50% disbursements of a recipient's total round 7 program allocation, subject to the recipient meeting certain conditions. The bill would also make conforming changes. (8) Existing law, the Governor's Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 2025, beginning July 1, 2026, eliminates the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and instead establishes the Business and Consumer Services Agency and the California Housing and Homelessness Agency. The plan also, among other things, establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness as an independent entity within the California Housing and Homelessness Agency and renames the existing council as the California Interagency Executive Council on Homelessness, which it establishes within the California Interagency Council on Homelessness. Existing law requires the goals of the Interagency Council on Homelessness to include, among other things, creating a statewide data system or warehouse, known as the Homeless Data Integration System. To further the efforts to improve the public health, safety, and welfare of people experiencing homelessness in the state, existing law authorizes council staff to collect certain data from continuums of care. This bill would partially effect the above-described changes made by the plan. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2026, require council staff to adopt and periodically publish system performance measures, including age, racial, and ethnic disparities for each measure, as specified. (9) Existing law authorizes the California Housing Finance Agency to, among other things, make loans to finance affordable housing, including residential structures, housing developments, multifamily rental housing, special needs housing, and other forms of housing, as specified. This bill would require the California Housing Finance Agency to establish the Disaster Rebuilding Assistance Program, to be administered by the agency, for the purpose of supporting construction, reconstruction, and renovation loans for properties damaged or destroyed in a qualified disaster. This bill would create in the State Treasury the Disaster Rebuilding Fund, to be administered by the agency and continuously appropriated for purposes of the program, and would provide that the moneys deposited in the fund may include, among other things, appropriations from the Legislature from the General Fund or other state fund. By creating a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (10) The Governor's Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 2025, among other things, establishes the Housing Development and Finance Committee on July 1, 2026, and prescribes its duties. The plan establishes the Housing Development and Finance Executive Committee, with a specified membership, within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and prescribes its duties, and then transfers it to the Housing Development and Finance Committee, on July 1, 2026. The plan defines various terms for these purposes. Existing law requires the Legislative Counsel to prepare for introduction a bill effecting changes made by a Governor's reorganization plan, as specified, for the purpose of ensuring that statutory law is amended to conform with the changes made by the reorganization plan. This bill would effect the above-described changes made by the plan. The bill, however, would add additional voting and nonvoting members to the executive committee, and would exempt the executive committee from compliance with the procedural requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act in adopting, amending, or repealing rules and regulations reasonably necessary to carry out the provisions related to its establishment and to the allocation of the executive committee's share of the state ceiling for qualified residential rental projects, as described, except as provided. The bill would require the Housing Development and Finance Committee staff to support the Housing Development and Finance Executive Committee. The bill would specify that certain meetings of the Housing Development and Finance Committee would be subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, but certain other meetings would not be considered "meetings" for the purposes of that act, thereby imposing a limitation on the public's right of access to the meetings of public bodies. The bill would eliminate a requirement that the Housing Development and Finance Committee submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint images and related information for any employee, prospective employee, contractor, or subcontractor whose duties include, or would include, access to specified confidential or personally identifiable information. The bill would require the executive committee to annually submit supplemental information to specified committee of the Legislature regarding bond utilization, among other information, as provided, and to evaluate certain project monitoring fees, as specified. The bill would also require the executive committee, beginning in 2028, to prepare an annual demand survey to assess demand for the Housing Development and Finance Committee housing bond allocation, as provided. The bill would also make various technical changes. Existing law generally implements the state volume limit established pursuant to specified federal law. Existing law establishes the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee and requires the committee to determine and announce the state ceiling for the calendar year, as specified. Existing law allocates the entire state ceiling for each calendar year to the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee to further allocate to state and local agencies, as specified. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2027, and until January 1, 2037, require the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee to dedicate a minimum of 90% of the entire state ceiling to be used for qualified residential rental projects, as specified. The bill would require the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, until July 1, 2029, to reserve at least one-half of that 90% to qualified residential rental projects, as defined, awarded funding by the Housing Development and Finance Committee. After July 1, 2029, if that reserve amount is not reauthorized by the Legislature, the bill would require the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee to reserve at least 40% of that 90% for those qualified residential rental projects, unless the annual demand survey prepared by the Housing Development and Finance Executive Committee, as described above, demonstrates demand exceeding that amount, in which case, under the bill, the reserve amount would be automatically increased up to 50% of that 90% to meet the demand. This bill, with respect to the reserve described above, would require the Housing Development and Finance Committee, upon approving an application for a multifamily affordable housing program award that has also requested a qualified residential rental project bond allocation, to identify the issuer and transmit the application to the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, and, when applicable, to the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. The bill would require those latter committees, as specified, to make a ministerial allocation of private activity bonds for the project, provided the project meets applicable federal requirements. The bill, until November 1, 2027, would provide a separate process for a private activity bond allocation for projects that received a multifamily affordable housing program award prior to January 1, 2027, and that are not seeking any additional state subsidy, as provided. (11) Existing law requires the Strategic Growth Council (council) to develop and administer the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program (AHSC Program) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through projects that implement land use, housing, transportation, and agricultural land preservation practices to support infill and compact development, and that support related and coordinated public policy objectives. This bill would, beginning with new funding rounds initiated on or after July 1, 2026, divide the administration of the AHSC Program between the council and the Housing Development and Finance Committee (committee) , as specified. The bill would require the council to administer the portion of AHSC Program funding called the AHSC Sustainable Communities Allocation to support flexible infrastructure and community improvement investments that advance greenhouse gas reduction objectives, support sustainable land use patterns, strengthen communities, and facilitate affordable housing opportunities throughout the state. The bill would require the committee to administer the portion of AHSC Program funding called the AHSC Housing Allocation, with a focus on infill housing projects, as specified. The bill would make conforming changes to provisions relating to the council and the AHSC Program to account for the council's administration of the AHSC Sustainable Communities Allocation and the committee's administration of the AHSC Housing Allocation. Existing law requires the council to develop guidelines and selection criteria for the implementation of the AHSC Program. Existing law requires, before the adoption of the guidelines and the selection criteria, the council to conduct at least 2 public workshops to receive and consider public comments, as provided. Existing law authorizes the council to include in a notice of funding availability, guidelines or criteria for the award of funds to projects that provide home ownership opportunities for low-income individuals. Existing law requires the council, in awarding funds under the AHSC Program, to provide additional points or preference to jurisdictions that have adopted a housing element that meets certain conditions. This bill would instead require the council to develop guidelines and selection criteria for the implementation of the AHSC Sustainable Communities Allocation and the committee to develop guidelines and selection criteria for the implementation of the AHSC Housing Allocation. The bill would also require the council and committee, before adoption of their respective guidelines and selection criteria, to conduct public outreach statewide instead of 2 public workshops. For notices of funding availability within the AHSC Housing Allocation released on or after July 1, 2026, the bill would authorize the committee to include guidelines or criteria for the award of funds to projects that provide home ownership opportunities for low-income individuals. The bill would also require the committee, in awarding funds under the AHSC Program, to provide additional points or preference to jurisdictions that have adopted a housing element that meets certain conditions, as specified. The bill would require the council and the committee to jointly report the progress on the implementation of the AHSC Program, as specified. Existing law prescribes the projects eligible for funding pursuant to the AHSC Program, including, among other projects, housing projects that support infill and compact development and transit projects and programs supporting transit ridership. Existing law requires the council to review and coordinate the activities of member agencies of the council for the AHSC Program, as provided. This bill would, for notices of funding availability released on or after July 1, 2026, instead prescribe the projects eligible for funding under the AHSC Sustainable Communities Allocation and the projects eligible for funding under the AHSC Housing Allocation, as specified. The bill would repeal the requirement for the council to review and coordinate the activities of member agencies of the council for the AHSC Program. Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to perform certain actions relating to loans issued pursuant to the AHSC Program, including, but not limited to, requiring the deposit of all moneys received by the department in repayment of loans made pursuant to the AHSC Program into the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Fund. This bill would require the committee, instead of the department, to perform those actions for the AHSC Housing Allocation. (12) Existing law establishes the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program, which requires, subject to the availability of funds, various types of loans and grants to be made for construction, rehabilitation, or development of housing for lower income agricultural employees and their families, as specified. Existing law establishes the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Fund and continuously appropriates the moneys in that fund to the department for purposes of the program, as specified. Among other things, the program authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to adopt criteria determining the number of units in a project to which the restrictions on occupancy contained in the agreement apply, but limits that authority to specified circumstances. This bill would remove that limitation. Existing law deems households eligible for a grant under the program if the household is deemed eligible by the United States Department of Agriculture under a certain federal program on the basis of the household's ratio of housing costs to household income, notwithstanding a specified calculation by the Department of Housing and Community Development. This bill would, instead, provide that households are eligible for a grant under the program if they are deemed eligible by the United States Department of Agriculture under that certain federal program. By expanding the pool of households eligible for grants under the program, the bill would make an appropriation. (13) Existing law establishes the Multifamily Housing Program, pursuant to which the Department of Housing and Community Development provides financial assistance in the form of deferred payment loans to pay for the eligible costs of development of specified types of housing projects. In the case of rehabilitation projects, to be eligible to receive a loan, the program requires the loan to be necessary to avoid increases in monthly debt service that would have specified effects. This bill would, instead, provide that in case of rehabilitation projects, the department shall prioritize loans that extend affordability and reduce displacement risk for lower income households. The bill would also make technical changes and would include a statement of legislative intent. (14) The State Housing Law (SHL) generally regulates buildings used for human habitation and prescribes requirements for the protection of the public health, safety, and general welfare of occupants of buildings. Among other things, the SHL requires the occupants of the affordable units within a mixed-income multifamily structure to have the same access to the common entrances to, and the common areas and amenities of, the structure as the occupants of the market-rate housing units, and prohibits the structure from isolating the affordable housing units within that structure to a specific floor or an area of a specific floor. The SHL defines various terms for these purposes. This bill would provide that, for a development that includes both a residential care facility for the elderly licensed pursuant to specified law and units that are not age restricted, the provisions described above only apply to the nonage-restricted housing units and do not apply to the age-restricted units, as specified. (15) Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, establishes the California Building Standards Commission within the Department of General Services. Existing law requires the commission to approve and adopt building standards and to codify those standards in the California Building Standards Code. Existing law requires the commission to publish, or cause to be published, editions of the code in its entirety once every 3 years, and supplements as necessary in the intervening period. Existing law limits the changes the commission is authorized to adopt during the intervening period to certain categories, including, among others, building standards necessary to incorporate updates to accessibility requirements that align with minimum federal accessibility laws, standards, and regulations. This bill would expand those categories to include changes or modifications made to building codes relating to certain health facilities. (16) 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. (17) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

The Budget Act of 2022, the Budget Act of 2023, the Budget Act of 2024, and the Budget Act of 2025 made appropriations for the support of state government for the 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25, and 2025–26 fiscal years, respectively. This bill would amend those budget acts by amending, adding, and repealing items of appropriation and making other changes. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.

(1) Existing law, the Early Education Act, among other things, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer all California state preschool programs. The act establishes a standard reimbursement rate for both the part-day and full-day preschool programs, as provided. The act defines the term "attendance" for purposes of this reimbursement to include excused absences by children because of illness, quarantine, illness or quarantine of their parent, family emergency, or to spend time with a parent or other relative as required by a court of law or that is clearly in the best interest of the child. This bill would revise the definition of the term "attendance" for purposes of reimbursement to additionally include excused absences for medical and educational appointments and for days a child is not in attendance during an appeal process regarding expulsion or suspension, as specified. (2) The Early Education Act establishes eligibility requirements, including income eligibility requirements, and a specified priority sequence for enrollment, for the part-day and full-day preschool programs. The act requires that a family be considered to meet all eligibility and need requirements for not less than 24 months and prohibits requiring a family to report changes to income or other changes for at least 24 months. The act also establishes a fee schedule for families receiving preschool services and exempts a family from family fees for up to 12 months. The act authorizes a provider operating a state preschool program within the attendance boundary of certain public schools where at least 80% of enrolled pupils are eligible for free or reduced-price meals to enroll 3-year-old and 4-year-old children in accordance with the above-described enrollment priorities and, any remaining spots, to families not meeting the enrollment priorities but who establish residency within the attendance boundary of the qualifying public school. This bill would revise those provisions by, among other things, (A) specifying that the prohibition on requiring a family to report changes to income or other changes for at least 24 months for purposes of eligibility includes when a family member transfers to another California state preschool program or when a child is voluntarily disenrolled by their family for any period of time during eligibility, (B) requiring the State Department of Education to, on or before January 1, 2027, implement the eligibility requirements described in (A) through management bulletins or similar letters of instruction and requiring the department to, on or before December 31, 2028, initiate a rulemaking action to implement those eligibility requirements, (C) exempting a family from family fees for up to one certification period instead of up to 12 months, (D) extending eligibility for part-day and full-day preschool programs to children of a parent or guardian employed by a local educational agency, (E) extending eligibility for full-day preschool programs to children whose families need childcare services because they are participating in a CalWORKs program activity, (F) revising the priority sequence for eligibility by including within the sequence children whose parent or guardian is employed by a local education agency, as specified, and revising the sequencing provisions for children with exceptional needs, as provided, (G) specifying, for purposes of establishing ongoing income eligibility, that ongoing income eligibility means a family's initial income eligibility for services at the time of enrollment will be in effect, regardless of an increase in income, (H) instead authorizing a provider operating a state preschool program within the attendance boundary of a school district or certain public schools where at least 80% of enrolled pupils are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, foster youth, or English learners, to enroll 3-year-old and 4-year-old children in accordance with the above-described enrollment priorities and, any remaining spots, to families not meeting the enrollment priorities but who either establish residency within, or have a parent or guardian employed within, the attendance boundary of the qualifying school district or public school in which the state preschool program is located, and (I) increasing a California state preschool program provider's authority to schedule staff training days from 2 days per contract period to 5 days per contract period. (3) Existing law, the Child Care and Developmental Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law requires, for California state preschool programs and childcare and development programs, the State Department of Education and the State Department of Social Services to collaborate to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates. Existing law requires the reimbursement rate to be increased by a specified cost-of-living adjustment, except for the 2023–24, 2024–25, and 2025–26 fiscal years, for which it was suspended. Commencing July 1, 2026, existing law requires the cost-of-living adjustment for state preschool programs to be consistent with an adjustment granted by the Legislature annually, as specified. This bill would additionally suspend the annual cost-of-living adjustment for the 2026–27 fiscal year. Existing law allocates certain appropriated funds to the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Education to provide specified family childcare providers and childcare centers with a monthly cost of care plus rate, as specified. This bill would allocate a portion of those same appropriated funds to the State Department of Education to provide, commencing July 1, 2026, a once-per-month, per-child-served cost of care plus rate, as calculated by the Department of Finance, for providers serving children enrolled in California state preschool programs. (4) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the State Department of Education, to establish a fee schedule for families using preschool and childcare and developmental services and requires families who utilize those services to be assessed a family fee that is based on income, certified family need for full-time or part-time care services, and enrollment. Existing law requires the Superintendent to use the fee schedule developed in conjunction with the State Department of Social Services for families using full-day preschool services. Existing law prohibits those family fees from being collected for the 2022–23 fiscal year and from July 1, 2023, to September 30, 2023, inclusive, and requires contractors to reimburse providers operating within a family childcare home education network for the full amount of the certificate or voucher without deducting family fees during that time. This bill, by no later than January 1, 2027, would require contractors to reimburse California state preschool program providers for the full amount of the certificate or voucher without deducting family fees and to collect family fees, as specified. (5) The Child Care and Development Services Act establishes a comprehensive, coordinated, and cost-effective system of childcare and development services for children from infancy to 13 years of age and their parents. The act requires the State Department of Education, in consultation with the State Department of Social Services, county fraud investigators, and other fraud investigation experts, to perform an error rate study to estimate the percentage of errors in certain determinations, including, among others, errors in determinations of eligibility and reimbursement payments to childcare providers. The act also requires the State Department of Education to develop recommendations for the prevention and elimination of childcare fraud and programmatic errors and the identification and collection of childcare overpayments, and, in developing its recommendations, to consider existing best practices. Existing law requires all childcare contracts entered into by the State Department of Social Services for means-tested childcare programs to require implementation of those best practices. This bill would require the best practices on fraud and overpayments to require adoption in contractor policies and implementation of best practices on prevention and intervention of fraud and program integrity violations. The bill would require childcare contractors to terminate eligibility if there is substantiated evidence of a fraud or program integrity violation that invalidates the certification. The bill would authorize the department to enter into agreements with county welfare departments to support the investigation and enforcement of fraud and program integrity in any subsidized childcare program administered by the department, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to clarify the process for recovery of funds and imposition of sanctions described in the approved state plan for the implementation of programs under the federal Child Care and Development Fund in instances where fraud or other program integrity violation is established. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the State Department of Education, to establish the above-described fee schedule and requires families who utilize those services to be assessed a single flat monthly fee that is based on income, certified family need for full-time or part-time care services, and enrollment. Existing law requires family fees to be assessed at initial enrollment and reassessed at update of certification or recertification. This bill would require, no later than January 1, 2027, contractors to reimburse subsidized childcare providers without deducting family fees and to collect family fees. The bill would require the department to work with contractors in need of technical assistance to comply with these provisions. This bill would require funding appropriated to the department in the Budget Act of 2026, as specified, to be allocated to provide a once-per-month, per-child-served cost of care plus rate for providers serving children enrolled in specified subsidized childcare programs. The bill would require the Department of Finance to make specified calculations for reimbursement based on data provided by the department. Existing law requires the department, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards, specifies the standard reimbursement rates, and requires a cost-of-living adjustment. Existing law suspends the cost-of-living adjustment for the 2023–24, 2024–25, and 2025–26 fiscal years. This bill would also suspend the childcare and development program cost-of-living adjustment for the 2026–27 fiscal year except for resource and referral programs and local childcare and development planning councils, which the bill would require to receive a 2.009% cost-of-living adjustment. Existing law requires, if the market rate survey is used to set reimbursement rates for those childcare programs, the department to contract to conduct a regional market rate survey no more frequently than once every 2 years. This bill would instead require, if the market rate survey is used to set reimbursement rates, the department to contract to conduct a regional market survey every 3 years. The bill would also authorize, if an alternative methodology is used to inform the setting of reimbursement rates for subsidized childcare, the department to contract to develop and conduct an alternative methodology to set reimbursement rates for subsidized childcare no less than every 3 years and no sooner than 2 years prior to the submission of the Child Care and Development Fund Plan. Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals. Existing law provides childcare to CalWORKs recipients in 3 stages. Existing law requires, on the date automated changes occur in the Statewide Automated Welfare System (SAWS) , a county welfare department to provide limited, read-only, online access through county-level SAWS databases to local contractors providing CalWORKs childcare services, including a summary page with current individual family data needed to enroll a family in CalWORKs childcare services or to transfer a family between stages. This bill would expand the eligibility criteria for subsidized childcare services under the act to include participation in a CalWORKs program activity. The bill would prohibit a CalWORKs childcare recipient from participating in more than one stage of childcare at any given time. The bill would require, beginning January 1, 2028, or on the date automated changes occur in SAWS, whichever is later, the data available to local contractors on county-level SAWS databases to also include the relationship between the current or former CalWORKs recipient or recipients and the child, the childcare license number, if licensed, and whether the current or former CalWORKs recipient is receiving Medi-Cal or CalFresh benefits. By increasing duties on county welfare departments, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Beginning on or before July 1, 2027, this bill would authorize the department to set aside up to 15% of funding associated with slot expansion awards for general childcare and development programs to fund minor repairs, infrastructure upgrades, and other readiness activities for childcare and development programs. The bill would require the department to establish the process, including eligibility criteria, by which the funds shall be awarded to contractors. The bill would require awarded funds to be utilized within a timeframe established by the department. The bill would authorize the department to rescind awarded funds for reasons that include, among others, that the awarded funds have been, or are expected to be, utilized for projects or activities that have not been approved by the department. The bill would authorize the department to administer and implement these provisions, in whole or in part, by means of childcare bulletins or similar instructions from the department until regulations are adopted. The bill would specify that these provisions shall only be implemented to the extent not prohibited by federal law, regulation, and directives. The bill would authorize the department to transfer funding across and within specified childcare and development programs, including funds that are not allocated to contracts or otherwise fully expended. The bill would require the department to establish criteria for these transfers of funds that prioritize, among other things, maintaining funding within the same program type for which the funds were initially issued. The bill would also require the department to review subsidized childcare awards and contracts on an individual basis to determine a contractor's readiness to serve children pursuant to the initial award. If the department determines that the contractor has not made sufficient progress toward serving children with awarded or allocated funds, the bill would authorize the department to partially or fully redirect those funds across and within the specified childcare and development programs. The bill would authorize the department to administer and implement these provisions, in whole or in part, by means of childcare bulletins or similar instructions from the department until regulations are adopted. The bill would require the department, by no later than October 1 of each year, to update the Assembly Committee on Budget, the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, and the Legislative Analyst's Office on transfers made pursuant to these provisions that include, among other things, the amount of funds transferred to another childcare and development program and the amount of funds that remained within the same program. The bill would require that these provisions be implemented only to the extent not prohibited by federal law, regulation, and directives and require those provisions to be implemented only if, and to the extent which, the department makes a specified determination. (6) Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of child daycare facilities by the State Department of Social Services. A person who willfully or repeatedly violates any provision of the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, or any rule or regulation promulgated under the act, is guilty of a crime. Under the act, licensees and staff of a child daycare facility are authorized to administer inhaled medication to a child if certain requirements are satisfied, including, among others, that the licensee or staff complies with specific written instructions from the child's physician. This bill would make those provisions applicable to the administration of all medications. The bill would also specifically require the written instructions to contain the name of the medication. The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific these provisions by means of written directives, interim licensing standards, or similar instructions until regulations are adopted. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The act requires the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) and the State Department of Education, on or before July 1, 2027, to establish an anaphylactic policy that sets forth guidelines and procedures recommended for child daycare personnel to prevent a child from suffering from anaphylaxis and to be used during a medical emergency resulting from anaphylaxis. Existing law authorizes a child daycare facility to implement that anaphylactic policy. This bill would instead require a child daycare facility to comply with that anaphylactic policy. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing regulations generally require a family daycare home licensee to be present in the home and prohibits a required temporary absence of the licensee from exceeding 20% of the hours that the facility is providing care per day. Existing regulations require, if the licensee is required to be temporarily absent from the home, the licensee to arrange for a substitute adult to care for and supervise the children during the absence. This bill would instead prohibit temporary absences that exceed 20% of the hours that the home is providing care per month, subject to waiver by the department. The bill would require a licensee, prior to a substitute adult's initial presence in the home, to ensure the substitute adult has obtained a criminal record clearance or exemption, completed specified health and safety training, is immunized against certain illnesses, and meets any other requirements imposed by the department. The bill would require a licensee to provide prior written notice of a temporary absence to the parent or legal guardian of each child in care, except in emergency circumstances, in which case written notice is required to be provided by the next business day. The bill would also require the licensee to submit a written report with certain information for each temporary absence to the department by the next business day. The bill would authorize the department to implement and administer these provision by means of letters or similar written instructions until regulations are adopted. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The act requires at least one director or teacher at each daycare center and each family daycare home licensee who provides care to complete at least 15 hours of specified health and safety training that includes pediatric first aid, pediatric CPR, and preventive health practices. This bill would instead require all staff who provide childcare at those facilities, each family daycare home licensee, and each substitute adult in a family daycare home to complete that training. The bill would also require those staff to complete a minimum of 12 hours of continuing education annually and would require that training to cover specified topics, including, among others, emergency and disaster preparedness and response planning. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The act also requires a child daycare license applicant and administrators and employees of a licensed child daycare facility to complete mandated reporter training and to complete renewal mandated reporter training every 2 years. Existing law exempts a person from that requirement if they have limited English proficiency and training is not made available in their primary language. This bill would delete that exemption and authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific the above-described provisions by means of written directives, interim licensing standards, or similar instructions from the department until regulations are adopted. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires an applicant for a license to operate a daycare center or a family daycare home to provide with their application evidence satisfactory to the department that there is a disaster plan for the facility. This bill would instead refer to that plan as an emergency and disaster plan and specify the components that the plan is required to include, including, among other things, evacuation procedures, a contact information list, and procedures for reunification of children in care with a parent or legal guardian after an emergency or disaster. The bill would require a facility to provide training on the plan to each staff member and volunteer, as specified, and review the plan annually. The bill would also require a facility to have specified information readily available during an emergency or disaster, including a roster of children in care for that day, and to have a set of keys available for use during an evacuation. The bill would require a child daycare facility to be in compliance with these provisions on and after January 1, 2027. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the department to adopt, amend, or repeal any rules or regulations that are necessary to carry out the act. This bill would authorize the department to waive any of those rules or regulations if the waiver is reasonable and necessary to carry out the act and is not detrimental to the health and safety of any child in care. The bill would authorize the department to implement and administer this provision by means of letters or similar written instructions until regulations are adopted. (7) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to administer the Child Care and Development Infrastructure Grant Program to expand access to childcare and development and preschool opportunities for children up to 5 years of age by providing resources to build new facilities or retrofit, renovate, repair, or expand existing facilities, as specified. This bill would require the department, subject to an appropriation, to administer and implement a program for disaster-related infrastructure grants to support certain categories of childcare facilities that are impacted by a state-or federally declared disaster, as specified. The bill would impose various requirements on the department relating to the development of criteria, determination of grant amounts, and offering of technical assistance. The bill would require a grant recipient to provide program data to the department and to participate in overall program evaluation. The bill would require a recipient to use the funds to supplement, and not supplant, other public funds expended for these purposes. (8) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (9) This bill would appropriate $25,674,000 from the Federal Trust Fund to the State Department of Social Services for disaster relief efforts related to disasters occurring in 2023 and 2024 and would make these funds available for encumbrance until September 30, 2029. (10) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

(1) Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools to submit 2 reports during the fiscal year to the county board of education and to certify in writing, as part of each report, whether or not the county office of education is able to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year and, based on current forecasts, for 2 subsequent fiscal years. Existing law requires the certifications to be classified as positive, qualified, or negative and authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction to reclassify a certification in accordance with specified standards. Existing law authorizes, if a county office of education receives a negative certification, the Superintendent or their designee, to take specified actions that are necessary to ensure that the county office of education meets its financial obligations. This bill would require the Superintendent to provide notice of an action to reclassify a certification to the governing board of the county office of education. If a county office of education receives a negative certification, the bill would require, instead of authorize, the Superintendent, or their designee, to take the above-described actions. (2) Existing law establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula, as specified. Existing law requires the Superintendent to annually calculate a county local control funding formula for each county superintendent of schools that includes, among other things, an alternative education grant, as specified. Existing law includes, among other things, a base grant based upon average daily attendance as a component of that alternative education grant. Existing law requires the Superintendent to add $300,000 and other specified amounts, that are dependent upon the number and size of school districts under its jurisdiction and that are determined to be in need of differentiated assistance, to a county superintendent of school's local control funding formula allocation, as specified. Existing law also requires the Superintendent to add $100,000 per charter school determined to be in need of differentiated assistance to each county superintendent of school's local control funding formula allocation, as specified. This bill would, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, replace the above-described additions to a county superintendent of school's local control funding formula allocation, based on the number of school districts and charter schools determined to be in need of differentiated assistance, with a universal and targeted assistance county office of education funding grant allocated to a county office of education, on an annual basis, to support all local educational agencies within the county's jurisdiction. The bill would require the grant to be calculated as the sum of (A) $500,000, with annual inflation adjustments, (B) a county office of education's county average daily attendance grant, based on a specified formula, and (C) a stability grant for each county office of education that would receive a lesser universal and targeted assistance county office of education funding grant amount than in previous years, as provided. For a school district or county office of education that operates within a county in which there is only one school district, the bill would require the average daily attendance grant component and the stability grant component to be allocated to the lead agency of the region, identified pursuant to specified processes, in which the county office of education is located. The bill would require allocated grant funds to be used to provide universal and targeted assistance, free of cost, to support the continuous improvement of local educational agencies located within the county to improve outcomes under specified state priorities, as provided. The bill would, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, require county offices of education to spend their grant funds in a manner that prioritizes the support of school districts identified for technical assistance pursuant to specified provisions. The bill would require county offices of education to ensure local educational agencies identified for technical assistance are informed of the availability of this universal assistance. To the extent this imposes new duties on county offices of education, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law appropriates $7,000,000 in the 2025–26 fiscal year from the General Fund to the Superintendent for allocation to the Los Angeles County Office of Education to develop a statewide repository of high-quality curriculum-embedded performance tasks across all grade levels, mapped to the Next Generation Science standards for use by local educational agencies and educators to support inquiry-based instruction and assessment. This bill would appropriate, for the 2026–27 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, $890,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for allocation to the Los Angeles County Office of Education to maintain that repository, as provided. (4) Existing law appropriates $3,100,000 from the General Fund to the department for the 2021–22 fiscal year for allocation to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools for the Kern County Office of Education and the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team for the Standardized Account Code Structure system replacement project. Existing law, commencing with the 2022–23 fiscal year, continuously appropriates $3,920,000 each fiscal year from the General Fund to the department for allocation to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools for the Kern County Office of Education and the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team for maintenance and operation support for the Standardized Account Code Structure system. This bill would codify those provisions and, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, continuously appropriate an additional $220,000 each fiscal year from the General Fund to the department for allocation to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools for the Kern County Office of Education and the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team for maintenance and operation support for the Standardized Account Code Structure system. (5) Existing law appropriates $30,000,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for allocation to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools for the Mathematics Professional Learning Partnership to support educator training, including mathematics coaches, teachers, and school administrators for implementation of the new mathematics curriculum framework in local educational agencies, as provided. This bill would appropriate $50,000,000 from the General Fund to the department for allocation to the Kern County Superintendent of Schools to augment the Mathematics Professional Learning Partnership, as provided. The bill would require the Mathematics Professional Learning Partnership to, among other things, continue to support the California Mathematics Project along with its other existing partners, as specified. The bill would require the Kern County Superintendent of Schools to submit a revised expenditure plan on behalf of the Mathematics Professional Learning Partnership to the Department of Finance for approval by October 1, 2026. By imposing additional duties on the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (6) Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to add $3,000,000 to the Los Angeles County Office of Education's local control funding formula allocation for the purpose of supporting statewide professional development and leadership training for education professionals related to antibias education and the creation of inclusive and equitable schools. This bill would codify those provisions and, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, would increase that add-on for the Los Angeles County Office of Education by an additional $1,000,000 to instead be $4,000,000, for allocation to the Museum of Tolerance for the above-described purpose. (7) The Early Education Act, among other things, establishes the California Prekindergarten Planning and Implementation Grant Program as a state early learning initiative with the goal of expanding access to classroom-based prekindergarten programs. Existing law appropriates $300,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education in both the 2021–22 fiscal year and the 2022–23 fiscal year for allocation to local educational agencies as base grants, enrollment grants, and supplemental grants, as specified. Existing law assigns the Superintendent various duties relating to the program. This bill would, among other things, appropriate $200,0000,000 from the General Fund to the department for the 2026–27 fiscal year for allocation to local educational agencies for the California Prekindergarten Planning and Implementation Grant Program, as specified. The bill would transfer the Superintendent's duties under the program to the department, as provided. The Early Education Act also establishes the California Universal Preschool Planning Grant Program with the goal of expanding access universally to preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-old children, as provided. The act requires the Superintendent to develop and administer a grant process and award grant funds to each county that applies for funding, as provided. This bill would extend the expenditure and reversion periods for those grant funds, as specified, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would also appropriate $50,000,000 for the 2026–27 fiscal year to the department for renewal grants for existing local educational agency grantees or new grants for new local education agency consortia lead agencies, respectively, as specified. (8) Existing law creates the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund in the State Treasury for the purpose of receiving appropriations for school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and community college districts related to the state of emergency declared by the Governor on March 4, 2020, relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing law appropriates $6,345,405,000 from the General Fund to the department for transfer to the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund. Existing law requires the Superintendent to allocate these appropriated funds to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, as provided. Existing law appropriates an additional $378,650,000 from the General Fund to the department for transfer to the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund, to be allocated by the Superintendent to those local educational agencies operating in the 2025–26 fiscal year, as provided. This bill would appropriate $757,300,000 from the General Fund to the department for transfer to the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund, to be allocated by the Superintendent to local educational agencies operating in the 2026–27 fiscal year, as provided. (9) Existing law appropriates $2,836,660,000 in the 2021–22 fiscal year from the General Fund to the Superintendent to administer the California Community Schools Partnership Program and requires those funds to be available for encumbrance or expenditure until June 30, 2032. Existing law requires at least $2,694,827,000 of that amount to be allocated to establish new, and expand existing, community schools with up to 72% of those funds to be available for implementation grants and at least 18% to be available for extending implementation grants, as provided. This bill would require the department, instead of the Superintendent, to administer the program. The bill would eliminate the above-described 18% allocation and, instead, would make at least $84,000,000 available for reappropriation in the 2026–27 fiscal year for various activities to support the long-term planning and implementation of the program, as provided. The bill would require the Legislature to initially appropriate $1,000,000,000 from the General Fund to the department to administer the program to distribute funding to local educational agencies, as defined, in accordance with a specified formula, to support a network of their eligible schoolsites to implement new, and provide ongoing support for existing, community schools, as provided. The bill would require, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, the appropriation to be adjusted by a specific cost-of-living adjustment. Of the amount appropriated for purposes of the program, the bill would require $10,000,000 to be allocated each fiscal year to the department to select, subject to the approval of the executive director of the State Board of Education, at least one local educational agency to implement the technical assistance structure, as provided, and to support an ongoing certification process, as provided. The bill would require the department to allocate specified funding in the annual Budget Act to county offices of education to coordinate county-level governmental, nonprofit community-based organizations, and other external partnerships to support community school implementation at schoolsites receiving allocations under the California Community Schools Partnership Program in their county, as provided. The bill would require the state board to adopt and maintain a framework for the California Community Schools Partnership Act, as provided. (10) Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998, provides for the adoption of rules, regulations, and procedures, under the administration of the Director of General Services, for the allocation of state funds by the State Allocation Board for the construction and modernization of public school facilities. The act also establishes the Charter School Facilities Program to provide funding to qualifying entities for the purpose of establishing school facilities for charter school pupils and the Career Technical Education Facilities Program to provide funding to qualifying local educational agencies for the purpose of constructing new facilities or reconfiguring existing facilities, as provided. Existing law establishes the California Preschool, Transitional Kindergarten, and Full-Day Kindergarten Facilities Grant Program, under the administration of the State Allocation Board, to provide one-time grants to school districts and county offices of education to construct new school facilities or retrofit existing school facilities for the purpose of providing transitional kindergarten classrooms and full-day kindergarten classrooms and for the construction of new preschool classrooms, the modernization of existing preschool classrooms, or the modernization of existing kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, classrooms that would be converted to provide California state preschool programs operated by school districts, as defined, on a public schoolsite, as provided. If the board determines that an applicant school district, county office of education, joint powers authority, or charter school is in default, or projected to default, with the requirements of any program administered by the board, this bill would authorize the board to withhold any new approvals for the applicant local educational agency, as specified. The bill would provide that the withholding of approval by the board, in and of itself, does not make the board liable for any tort, breach of contract, or any other action for damages caused by an applicant arising from new construction or modernization by the applicant, and would provide that the applicant is liable for those damages caused by the applicant, as provided. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district or a county board of education to request the state board to waive all or part of specified education laws or regulations adopted by the state board, as provided, with exceptions. Existing law establishes provisions relating to the construction of school builds and provisions relating to transitional kindergarten and kindergarten admission, and prohibits the state board from waiving all or part of those provisions. This bill would prohibit that state board from waiving all or part of the provisions of the California Preschool, Transitional Kindergarten and Full-Day Kindergarten Facilities Grant Program. (11) Existing law authorizes dual enrollment programs, including middle college high schools and College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) partnerships, under which high school pupils enrolled in a school district, county office of education, or charter school can obtain college credits while enrolled in high school, as specified. This bill would, among other things, authorize regional occupational centers or programs to establish middle college high schools or enter into CCAP partnerships, as provided. The bill would deem courses offered through a dual enrollment program offered by a local educational agency, with an agreement with an institution of higher education, to be dual credit courses, and would authorize dual credit courses to be counted on an official transcript for the pupil from both the participating local educational agency and institution of higher education, as provided. (12) Existing law requires the California Community Colleges and the department to collaborate with each other and with their respective local community colleges and local school districts to ensure the continued success of existing middle college high schools and to promote the establishment of new middle college high schools, and establishes responsibilities of the California Community Colleges and the department related to middle college high schools, as provided. This bill would require the California Community Colleges and the department to also collaborate with regional occupational centers or programs and would include regional occupational centers or programs in the provisions describing the responsibilities of those entities related to middle college high schools. (13) Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, to administer a competitive grant program to award grants to school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education to establish dual enrollment programs, as specified. This bill would revise and recast the competitive grant program by, among other things, (A) making regional occupational centers or programs eligible to apply for a grant under the competitive grant program, (B) providing an additional grant to participating local educational agencies that will use funds received under this competitive grant program to expand dual enrollment opportunities directly to justice-involved youth, (C) revising and adding to criteria for priority under the competitive grant program, and (D) authorizing an alternative grant of up to $100,000 to be used to support the costs to expand an existing dual enrollment program, as provided. The bill would appropriate $100,000,000 from the General Fund to the department for this competitive grant program, as provided. (14) Existing law requires, not later than March 1 of each fiscal year, county superintendents of schools to provide for an audit of all funds under their jurisdiction and control, and 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 or make arrangements with county superintendents of schools to provide for that auditing. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district and each office of the county superintendent of schools to include specified provisions in their contracts for audits and requires financial and compliance audits to be performed in accordance with specified standards. If the governing board of a school district has entered into a contract for an independent audit of its financial statements and the audited financial statements have not been filed with the county superintendent of schools on or before a specified due date, existing law authorizes the county superintendent of schools to, among other things, investigate the causes for the delay, as provided. This bill would expressly apply the above-described provisions to educational joint powers authorities and charter schools. The bill, among other things, would require those financial and compliance audits of local educational agencies to be posted on the local educational agency's internet website, conducted in accordance with specified filing deadlines, and would revise requirements regarding which entity is responsible for providing an audit if a local educational agency has not provided for an audit of their respective books and accounts to include the Controller or a chartering authority, as provided. The bill would require, instead of authorize, a county superintendent of schools to investigate the causes for an above-described delay. Existing law requires the Controller to, among other things, on an annual basis, review and monitor the audit reports performed by independent auditors, determine whether audit reports are in conformance with specified reporting provisions, and notify each local educational agency, the responsible county superintendent of schools, the Superintendent, the Department of Finance, and the auditor regarding each determination. Existing law authorizes the Controller to perform quality control reviews of audit working papers to determine whether audits are performed in conformity with specified standards. Existing law requires the Controller to annually report to the State Department of Education to apprise the department of school districts and offices of county superintendents of schools that are not in compliance with applicable statutes and regulations related to audits and requires the Controller to make recommendations as to what action should be taken by the department. The bill, among other things, would require the Controller to, if applicable, notify the responsible chartering authority of each determination made, as referenced above, and would require notification to applicable entities to be made within 6 months of the audit report due date or the audit report issue date, whichever is later. The bill would require the Controller to establish and publish as part of the audit guidelines a weighted risk-based criteria that considers auditor experience and quality factors in determining which audit engagements are required to undergo a quality control review, as provided. The bill, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year Guide for Annual Audits of K–12 Local Education Agencies and State Compliance Reporting, would require the Controller to include (A) instructions requiring, among other things, as part of supplementary information, instructions requiring specified schedules, (B) instructions requiring, at a minimum, that specified compliance procedures are performed in annual audits of a local educational agency, and (C) a library of sample letters and schedules for school districts and charter schools as a means of guidance to audits. The bill, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, would require the Controller's desk review checklist that is used to determine whether audit reports are in conformance with specified reporting requirements to be published no later than October 31 of each year, or 30 days following the release of a specified federal supplement, whichever is later. Existing law requires the Controller, in consultation with the Department of Finance and the State Department of Education, to develop a plan to review and report on financial and compliance audits, and with representatives of other entities, to recommend the statements and other information to be included in the audit reports filed with the state by local educational agencies, and to propose the content of an audit guide. This bill would require the Controller to consult with representatives of 2 additional specified entities. Existing law requires audits to be made by a certified public accountant or a public accountant, licensed by the California Board of Accountancy, and selected by a local educational agency, as applicable, from a directory of certified public accountants and public accountants deemed by the Controller as qualified to conduct audits of local educational agencies. Under existing law, once the Controller or county superintendent of schools makes a final determination that specified audits performed by a certified public accountant or public accountant were not performed in substantial conformity with provisions of an audit guide, or that the audit reports do not conform to the provisions of an audit guide, the certified public accountant or public accountant is ineligible to conduct specified audits for 3 years. In order to be added to, or remain on, the Controller's directory of certified public accountants and public accountants as described above, the bill would require, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, and every 2 years thereafter, audit engagement partners and certified public accountants or public accountants responsible for local educational agency audits and audit staff who perform audit procedures of local educational agencies to, among other things, complete 16 hours of continuing education. In order to be added to, or remain on, the Controller's directory of certified public accountants and public accountants as described above, the bill would require, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, audit engagement partners, certified public accountant firms, and certified public accountants or public accountants responsible for local educational agency audits to, among other things, demonstrate specified experience, and maintain compliance with the California Board of Accountancy requirements to keep applicable licenses in active status and good standing, as provided. The bill would extend the above-described rules related to the ineligibility of the certified public accountant or public accountant to audits of charter schools, as provided, and would additionally require the Controller to notify charter schools of those certified public accountants or public accountants determined to be ineligible to conduct audits, as provided. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on local educational agencies or local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (15) For the 1990–91 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, existing law requires that moneys to be applied by the state for the support of school districts, community college districts, and direct elementary and secondary level instructional services provided by the state be distributed in accordance with certain calculations governing the proration of those moneys among the 3 segments of public education. Existing law makes that provision inapplicable to the 1992–93 to 2025–26 fiscal years, inclusive. This bill would also make that provision inapplicable to the 2026–27 fiscal year. (16) The Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act, an initiative approved by the voters as Proposition 98 at the November 8, 1988, statewide general election, amended the California Constitution to, among other things, set forth a formula for computing the minimum amount of revenues that the state is required to apply for the support of school districts and community college districts based on one of 3 tests in any given fiscal year. If the Director of Finance determines pursuant to the certification process for the state's minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts that the state has applied moneys in an amount that exceeds the minimum funding obligation for the fiscal year being certified, existing law requires the excess moneys to be credited to the fiscal year being certified. Existing law provides that $5,422,143,000 allocated in the 2022–23 fiscal year for specified apportionments to school districts and charter schools, and $770,786,000 allocated in the 2022–23 fiscal year for specified apportionments to community college districts, are excess moneys credited to the 2022–23 fiscal year only for the purposes of determining the state's minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts in the 2022–23 and 2023–24 fiscal years. Existing law requires 12 proportional shares of $437,769,000 and $62,231,000, respectively, of the $5,422,143,000 amount and the $770,786,000 amount, respectively, to be recognized annually from the 2027–28 fiscal year through the 2038–39 fiscal year, and shares of $168,915,000 and $24,014,000, respectively, of those amounts, to be recognized in the 2039–40 fiscal year, for budgetary and financial reporting purposes as allocations made in the 2022–23 fiscal year, but prohibits those amounts from being credited as allocations made to meet the minimum funding obligation to school districts and community college districts in the fiscal year in which the amount is recognized for budgetary and financial reporting purposes. This bill would delay recognition of those amounts by one fiscal year to instead be the 2028–29 fiscal year through the 2039–40 fiscal years, inclusive, and the 2040–41 fiscal year, respectively, as provided. (17) Existing law requires the Superintendent, if, during any fiscal year, the amount apportioned to a school district or to any fund from Section A of the State School Fund differs either positively or negatively from the amount to which the school district or fund was entitled by an amount equal to the local control funding formula allocation for one unit of average daily attendance, not later than the first succeeding fiscal year from the fiscal year in which the computational error was made, to withhold from, or add to, the apportionment made during that fiscal year, the amount of the excess or deficiency, as the case may be. This bill would require the Superintendent to apply the above-described provisions to county offices of education, educational joint powers authorities, and charter schools. If, during any fiscal year, a school district, county office of education, educational joint powers authority, or charter school determines that the amount apportioned to the school district, educational joint powers authority, county office of education, charter school, or to any fund from Section A of the State School Fund differs either positively or negatively from the amount to which the school district, county office of education, educational joint powers authority, charter school, or fund was entitled by an amount equal to the local control funding formula allocation for one or more units of average daily attendance, the bill would require the local educational agency to report the corrected amount to the Superintendent. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on a local educational agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (18) Existing law establishes the Public School System Stabilization Account to provide a reserve for public school funding. Existing law requires, pursuant to specified calculations, the Controller to transfer certain moneys from the General Fund into the Public School System Stabilization Account for subsequent allocation to school districts and community college districts, as specified. Existing law requires, in any fiscal year in which the amount required to be applied by the state for the support of school districts and community college districts for that fiscal year is less than the total allocations to school districts and community college districts from General Fund proceeds of taxes appropriated and allocated local proceeds of taxes in the prior fiscal year, as adjusted pursuant to specified calculations, the amount of the deficiency to be appropriated and allocated by the state from the Public School System Stabilization Account for the support of school districts and community college districts. Existing law appropriates, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, $405,291,000 from the Public School System Stabilization Account to the Superintendent for allocation for the local control funding formula, as provided. This bill, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, would delete the above-described appropriation and would transfer $500,000,000 from the General Fund to the Public School System Stabilization Account. The Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act, an initiative approved by the voters as Proposition 98 at the November 8, 1988, statewide general election, amended the California Constitution to, among other things, set forth a formula for computing the minimum amount of revenues that the state is required to appropriate for the support of school districts and community college districts in any given fiscal year. Upon receipt of the 2027–28 May Revision General Fund revenue estimates, the bill would appropriate 33% of any increased General Fund proceeds of taxes for fiscal years 2025–26, 2026–27, and 2027–28 combined, compared to the forecast of those proceeds of taxes included in the 2026–27 Budget Act, after accounting for constitutionally-required increases for those years, for any unfunded portion of the constitutionally-required funding obligation, as described above, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, up to the full amount of the obligation. The bill would require that amount to be deposited to the Public School System Stabilization Account on a discretionary basis and available, upon subsequent appropriation by the Legislature, for school and community college purposes in the 2026–27 fiscal year or any subsequent fiscal year. The bill would require the Department of Finance, on or before May 20, 2027, to send a schedule to the Controller to implement these provisions. (19) Existing law sets forth the maximum ratios of administrative employees to each 100 teachers in the various types of school districts. Existing law requires the Superintendent to determine, for each current fiscal year, for each school district in the state, the total number of administrative employees and the total number of teachers, except as provided, the total maximum number of administrative employees that should be employed by the school district based upon the application of the appropriate ratio prescribed by law, and the number of administrative employees in excess of the number allowable without penalty, as provided. Existing law requires the Superintendent to determine a reduction in state support resulting from excess administrative employees, as specified, and requires the school district's 2nd principal apportionment for the current fiscal year to be reduced by that amount. This bill would exempt the Plumas Unified School District from that reduction in state support for the 2023–24 fiscal year to the 2026–27 fiscal year, inclusive. The bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Plumas Unified School District. (20) Existing law provides for the funding of necessary small schools and high schools, as specified. Existing law requires, among other things, that funding to include various specified amounts per pupil and teacher for different tiers of numbers of pupils and teachers. This bill would revise the funding for necessary small schools and high schools by increasing some of those specified amounts. (21) Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to, among other duties, establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law requires the commission, by April 15 of each year, to report to the Legislature and the Governor information on the availability of teachers in California, including, among other things, the number and percentage of individuals serving pursuant to emergency permits or credential waivers. This bill would revise and recast the reporting requirement by requiring the report to include information on the number and percentage of individuals serving on emergency-style permits, waivers of certification, and teaching permits for statutory leave, as provided. The bill would also authorize the commission to use information obtained from the State Department of Education through the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System to facilitate the development of the report and to analyze and publicly report educator workforce trends. Existing law provides for the levying of fees by the commission for the issuance and renewal of teaching and service credentials, not to exceed $100. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2026, authorize the commission to levy a fee not to exceed $125 for the renewal of teaching and service credentials, and retain the authorization for the commission to levy a fee not to exceed $100 for the issuance of teaching and service credentials. Existing law requires the commission and the department to enter into a data sharing agreement for the department to provide the commission with educator assignment data necessary to annually identify educator misassignments and vacant positions at local educational agencies, as provided, as part of the California Statewide Assignment Accountability System. Existing law requires the commission to annually use data it receives from the department to produce an initial data file of vacant positions and educator assignments that do not have a clear match of credential to assignment and requires the commission to notify local educational agencies and monitoring authorities of the opportunity to access and review the initial data file of potential misassignments, as defined, and vacant positions. Existing law grants the commission the authority to make a final determination for all potential assignments and misassignments. Existing law requires the commission, commencing with the 2020–21 school year, to support the department in making annual educator assignment, misassignment, and vacant position data publicly available in a searchable format on the department's internet website, as provided. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2027, require teachers employed by a local educational agency and offering certain courses to hold the certificate, permit, or other document required by the commission for that assignment and be monitored. The bill would define "local educational agency" for these purposes to mean a school district, county office of education, charter school, or educational joint powers authority. To the extent that this provision would create new duties for county superintendents of schools and local educational agencies, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. (22) Existing law establishes the Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program, administered by the department in consultation with the commission, for teachers seeking to provide instruction in bilingual and multilingual settings. This bill would establish the Pathways to Bilingual Teaching Program and would require the commission to develop and implement a program to award, on a competitive basis, grants of up to $600,000 to consortia of local educational agencies to form broader consortia with 4-year institutions of higher education, or 4-year institutions of higher education and community colleges, to establish or expand pathways to bilingual teaching to enable bilingual candidates to earn a multiple subject, single subject, PK-3 early childhood education specialist, or education specialist teaching credential, with a bilingual authorization, as provided. The bill would require the commission to annually report to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature on any grants funded until funds are fully expended, as specified. The bill would appropriate $10,000,000 from the General Fund to the commission for purposes of the program. (23) Existing law prescribes the minimum requirements for a preliminary multiple subject, single subject, or education specialist teaching credential, including, among other requirements, verification of subject matter competence through one of multiple methods, including through the successful completion of a baccalaureate or higher degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education. Existing law establishes that, for purposes of this method of subject matter competence, a single subject credential candidate is required to complete a major in one of the subject areas in which the commission credentials candidates, and a multiple subject credential candidate is required to complete a liberal studies major or other degree that includes coursework in specified content areas. This bill would revise and recast the types of majors and coursework that count towards the verification of subject matter competence. The bill would, as applied to a single subject credential candidate, require completion of a major in one of the subject areas closely related to an area in which the commission credentials candidates. As applied to a multiple subject credential candidate, the bill would require a liberal studies major, education major, or other degree major that includes coursework required for the degree major in specified content areas. The bill would, as applied to verifying subject matter competence for a PK-3 early childhood education specialist credential, require completion of 24 semester units or the equivalent quarter units of nonremedial, degree-applicable coursework at a regionally accredited institution of higher education in early childhood education or child development, and completion of a major in child development, education, or a degree major in a subject area closely related to the credential area, as provided. This bill would require the commission to use specified funding appropriated in the Budget Act of 2026 to enter into an agreement with a county office of education to collaborate on the design, development, and implementation of a statewide subject matter transcript review service. The bill would require the selected county office of education to deliver the system to the commission by July 1, 2027, and would require the commission to maintain and operate the service. The bill would require the service to allow commission-approved teacher preparation programs and local educational agencies to submit candidate or employee transcripts and supporting materials to the commission for transcript review, as provided. The bill would require the commission to take action, at a public meeting and following an opportunity for public comment, to adopt formal processes for producing advisory analyses through the service and making subject matter competency determinations through the service, as provided. The bill would require the commission to report to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2029, on implementation of the service. (24) Existing law requires the commission to select, administer, and interpret subject matter examinations, and establishes that those subject matter examinations are a prerequisite for assignment to assure minimum levels of subject matter knowledge by all certified personnel, as provided. This bill would repeal those requirements and instead require the commission and programs of professional preparation to support teacher candidates to establish subject matter competence through degree major or coursework, as provided. The bill would require to commission to update the degree majors that establish subject matter competence and ensure the subject matter requirements support streamlined transcript review, as provided. The bill would require the commission to make subject matter examinations available when a candidate's degree major or completed coursework do not establish their subject matter competence. The bill would require the commission to maintain a standard error of measurement for the determination of passing scores for these examinations. (25) Existing law establishes the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification Incentive Program under the administration of the department to award grants to a teacher who, among other things, (A) attains, initiates the process to attain, or initiates the process to maintain certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and (B) teaches at a high-priority school, as defined, for a specified duration. This bill would, among other things, for purposes of satisfying the award requirements for attaining certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, require the school to be listed as a high-priority school on the most recent list of priority schools published by the department when the grant recipient applies for a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification Incentive Program grant award. The bill would also authorize further service at that school to continue to satisfy the award requirements even if the school is no longer included on future priority school lists published by the department. (26) Existing law establishes the Student Teacher Stipend Program to support prospective educators, as defined, during their completion of 500 or more hours of student teaching, as provided, and appropriates, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, $300,000,000 from the General Fund to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing for allocation to support the program. Existing law requires, to the extent that funds are available, up to $100,000,000 to be available annually for the commission to award funds to local educational agencies to provide stipends of $10,000 to prospective educators, as provided. This bill would revise and recast the program by, among other things, increasing from $100,000,000 to $125,000,000 the annual amount to be made available to the commission to provide to local educational agencies for the above-described base stipends. The bill would also require, commencing July 1, 2027, local educational agencies awarded program funding to provide an additional stipend of $5,000 to prospective educators pursuing a credential and student teaching in a high-need field, as defined. The bill would require, commencing July 1, 2027, and, to the extent funds are available, $27,500,000 to be available annually for the commission to award funding to local educational agencies for these stipends related to high-need fields, as provided. The bill would, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, appropriate $408,000,000 from the General Fund to the commission to support both the above-described base stipends and high-need fields stipends, and authorize the encumbrance of these funds until June 30, 2032. (27) Existing law establishes the Teacher Residency Grant Program and appropriates, for the 2018–19 fiscal year, $75,000,000 from the General Fund to the commission to make one-time grants to develop new, or expand, strengthen, or improve access to existing, teacher residency programs that support, among other things, a list of designated shortage fields. Existing law requires teacher candidates sponsored by a grant recipient to be placed in an assignment in a school for a period of at least 4 school years and to obtain a preliminary teaching credential, as provided, Under existing law, a candidate has 5 school years to complete the 4-school-year teaching commitment. As applied to sponsored candidates who fail to earn a preliminary credential or meet the 4-year teaching commitment requirement, existing law (A) prescribes procedures by which the commission confirms with the grant recipient the applicable grant amount to be recovered from the candidate and the grant recipient, adjusted proportionally to reflect the service provided and (B) authorizes grant recipients to recover from the sponsored candidate the amount of grant funding invested in the candidate's residency training, adjusted proportionately to reflect the service provided. This bill would revise and recast these provisions by, among other things, (A) extending the time period for candidates to complete the 4-school-year teaching commitment from 5 school years to 8 school years and (B) authorizing candidates who are unable to complete their residency program or service requirement because of hardship to apply to waive any repayment obligation, as provided. The bill would also impose, as a condition on the commission's authority to recover from a grant recipient, a requirement that 10% of the recipient's sponsored candidates failed to earn a preliminary credential or meet the 4-year teaching requirement, as provided. As applied to grant recipients authority to recover from candidates, the bill would limit the costs considered as part of a candidate's residency training to costs incurred that are specific to that candidate, as provided. Existing law separately appropriates, for the 2021–22 fiscal year, $350,000,000 from the General Fund to the commission for the Teacher Residency Grant Program to support teacher residency programs that recruit and support the preparation of teachers, as specified, and, for the 2022–23 fiscal year, $184,000,000 from the General Fund to the commission to augment that Teacher Residency Grant Program. Existing law authorizes the commission to allocate up to $25,000,000 and $10,000,000 of those amounts, respectively, as capacity grants that are required to be awarded on a competitive basis to local educational agencies or consortia partnering with regionally accredited institutions of higher education to expand, strengthen, improve access to, or create teacher residency programs, or create school counselor residency programs that lead to more credentialed school counselors that reflect a local educational agency community's diversity, respectively. Existing law authorizes the commission to determine the number of capacity grants to be awarded and the amount of the applicable grant, up to $250,000 per grant recipient. This bill would instead authorize capacity and sustainability grants and would require those grant amounts to be between $100,000 and $300,000 per grant recipient, depending on the size of the program. The bill would appropriate $250,000,000 from the General Fund to the commission to augment the Teacher Residency Grant Program to support teacher and school counselor residency programs that recruit and support the preparation of teachers and school counselors, as provided, and would require that funding to be available for those capacity and sustainability grants. Existing law appropriates funds from the General Fund to the commission to select a local educational agency to serve as a statewide technical assistance center to support teacher residency programs, as provided. This bill would require the commission to allocate specified funds appropriated in the Budget Act of 2026 to the statewide technical assistance center for specified purposes, including, among other things, to support expanded regional technical assistance for teacher residency programs. The bill would require the commission to submit a report to the Governor and appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on the impact of the statewide technical assistance center in providing technical assistance to support educators pursuing and attaining National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification. (28) Existing law appropriates $1,696,718,000 in the 2025–26 fiscal year from the General Fund to the department to establish the Student Support and Professional Development Discretionary Block Grant, for allocation to county offices of education, school districts, charter schools, and the state special schools for discretionary purposes, including, among other things, providing standards-aligned professional development for teachers on the English Language Arts/English Language Development Framework, the Literacy Roadmap, and the Mathematics Framework for California Public Schools and addressing rising costs, as provided. This bill would appropriate, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, $4,400,163,000 from the General Fund to the department for that block grant, as provided. The bill would expressly authorize funding under the block grant to additionally be used for, among other things, providing professional development to improve the implementation of transitional kindergarten. (29) Existing law establishes the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy to organize and offer professional learning opportunities for administrators and other school leaders and to provide grants to local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, and nonprofit educational services providers in a manner that ensures the availability of professional learning, free of charge, to local educational agencies, as provided. Existing law requires grantees to identify metrics to measure the effectiveness of professional learning and requires the department and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence to evaluate the professional learning opportunities offered or funded through the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy for their effectiveness. This bill would require the department to allocate specified funds appropriated in the Budget Act of 2026 to support the 21st Century California School Leadership Academy to support statewide professional learning opportunities, as specified. (30) Existing law requires state funding to be calculated and withheld from a school district or county office of education as a penalty for any fiscal year in which a person renders service as a teacher in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who does not have a valid certification document, as provided. This bill would apply the above-described provisions relating to the penalties for a person rendering services as a teacher who does not have a valid credential or certification document to charter schools, as provided. (31) Existing law requires any entity that has a contract with a school district, county office of education, or charter school to ensure that any employee who interacts with pupils outside of the immediate supervision and control of the pupil's parent or guardian or a school employee has a valid criminal records summary, as specified. This bill would expressly apply the above-described provisions to educational joint powers authorities. The bill would require an entity that has a contract with a local educational agency to instead ensure any employee who interacts with pupils has a valid criminal records summary without regard to whether the interaction takes place outside of the immediate supervision and control of the pupil's parent or guardian or a school employee. (32) Existing law establishes the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program and requires the Superintendent to allocate $2,750 per unit of average daily attendance, as specified, to local educational agencies with a prior fiscal year unduplicated pupil percentage of 55% or more, and requires those local educational agencies, as a condition of receiving that funding, to offer access to expanded learning opportunity programs to all pupils in classroom-based instructional programs in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, and to provide access to any of those pupils whose parent or guardian requests their placement in a program. Existing law requires local educational agencies not receiving that funding, as a condition of receiving remaining funding, to offer to at least all unduplicated pupils in classroom-based instructional programs in kindergarten and grades 1 to 6, inclusive, access to expanded learning opportunity programs, and to provide access to any of those unduplicated pupils whose parent or guardian requests their placement in a program. Existing law subjects local educational agencies to an audit, as specified, to determine compliance with those requirements. This bill would prohibit a local educational agency that receives an allocation from the remaining funding described above from receiving less than a per-unit rate of $1,800, as provided. Existing law authorizes the department to allocate up to $5,000,000 of moneys appropriated for purposes of the program to county offices of education to provide technical assistance, evaluation, and training services to support program improvement, in coordination with specified activities. This bill, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, would, among other things, increase that amount by $2,500,000 to instead be $7,500,000, and require the coordination to also include state transformation assistance center activities. (33) Existing law, the After School Education and Safety Program Act of 2002, an initiative statute approved by the voters as Proposition 49 at the November 5, 2002, statewide general election, establishes the After School Education and Safety (ASES) Program under which participating public schools receive grants to operate before and after school programs serving pupils in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 9, inclusive. The act requires an amount not to exceed $550,000,000 to be continuously appropriated to the department from the General Fund in each fiscal year for purposes of the program, and requires the amount to be allocated to public elementary, middle, and junior high schools according to a specified priority scheme that requires funding under the act to be given to schools where a minimum of 50% of the pupils in elementary schools and 50% of the pupils in middle and junior high schools are eligible for free or reduced cost meals and requires the department, for purposes of selecting schools below those thresholds, to consider the percentage of pupils eligible for free and reduced-price lunch and other indicators of need for the program, including, but not limited to, socioeconomic status of the neighborhoods in which participating pupils reside, the percentage of English language learners at the school, and the availability of programs in the community in which participating pupils reside. This bill, among other things, would require the department, for schools below the above-described thresholds, to prioritize, instead of consider, those factors and would include schoolsites not receiving funds for expanded learning opportunity programs and schoolsites participating in the California Community Schools Partnership Act as additional priority factors. The bill would prohibit funding pursuant to act from supplanting funding for expanded learning opportunity programs, as specified. The bill would include a legislative finding and declaration that the bill furthers the purposes of the After School Education and Safety Program Act of 2002. (34) Existing federal law establishes the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program to provide pupils with academic enrichment and other activities during nonschool hours or periods when school is not in session, as provided. Under the program, of the total amount appropriated for after school grants to community learning centers, at least 50% is required to be allocated on a priority basis to community learning centers serving high school pupils and at least 40% is required to be allocated on a priority basis to community learning centers serving elementary and middle school pupils, as provided. For centers serving elementary and middle school pupils, existing law requires priority to be given to grant applications that will provide year-round expanded learning programming, including programs that complement existing funded programs, as provided. Existing law authorizes the department to use any funds remaining after the priority allocations for additional after school grants to community learning centers serving high school pupils. This bill would instead require up to 40% of the total amount appropriated to be allocated on a priority basis to community learning centers serving elementary and middle school pupils and receiving funds pursuant to the Community Schools Partnership Act, as provided, and would require that priority be given to applicants that provide expanded learning programs on schoolsites not receiving funds for expanded learning opportunity programs, as provided. The bill would prohibit funding pursuant to the program from supplanting funding for expanded learning opportunity programs, as specified. (35) Existing law provides that the minimum schoolday in a high school is 240 minutes, except as provided, including that a day of attendance for a pupil enrolled in grades 11 and 12 at an early college high school or middle college high school is 180 minutes of attendance if the pupil is also enrolled in a community college, classes of the California State University, or classes of the University of California, as provided. This bill would reduce the 240-minute minimum schoolday to instead be 180 minutes of attendance for a pupil enrolled under a dual enrollment program that is part of a College and Career Access Pathways dual enrollment partnership agreement, as provided. (36) Existing law, upon appropriation by the Legislature, establishes the California Teachers Collaborative for Holocaust and Genocide Education to establish a statewide teacher professional development program on genocide, including the Holocaust, for school district, county office of education, and charter school teachers, and provides that the collaborative's mission is to ensure that genocide, including Holocaust, education is taught consistent with, among other things, content standards, curriculum frameworks, and instructional materials adopted by the state board, in ways that are interdisciplinary and age appropriate to pupils of different grade levels. Existing law requires the Superintendent to establish the Holocaust and Genocide Education Grant Program to provide direct allocations to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools for the purposes of providing Holocaust and genocide education and professional development on Holocaust and genocide education, as provided. Existing law establishes the Holocaust and Genocide Education Grant Program Fund in the State Treasury, and requires moneys in the fund to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Superintendent for purposes of the grant program. This bill would require the collaborative to administer the grant program, and would provide for moneys in the grant fund to be distributed to the collaborative, to be used to administer and implement the grant program. The bill would require the collaborative to provide annual reports to the department and the Legislature on the administration of the grant program. The bill would appropriate $10,000,000 from the General Fund for administration of the grant program, as provided. (37) Existing law authorizes a school district, county office of education, or charter school to offer independent study to meet the educational needs of pupils when certain requirements are met. Existing law prohibits a local educational agency from being eligible to receive apportionments for independent study by pupils unless the local educational agency has adopted written policies, and implemented those policies, in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the Superintendent, as specified. Existing law, for purposes of independent study, requires those programs to meet specified average-daily-attendance-to-certificated-employee ratios. Existing law authorizes a local educational agency to claim apportionment credit for independent study only to the extent of the time value of pupil work products. This bill would revise the above-described required average-daily-attendance-to-certificated-employee ratios and would require a local educational agency to maintain one completed pupil work product in each of 4 specified subjects for a pupil enrolled in independent study for each of 3 specified attendance periods, except as provided. (38) The Charter Schools Act of 1992 authorizes the establishment, operation, and governance of charter schools. The act authorizes the governing board of a school district, a county office of education, and the state board to approve a petition for the establishment of a charter school and to act as or designate a chartering authority, as provided. Existing law requires each chartering authority, with respect to each charter school under its authority, to, among other things, visit each charter school at least annually. This bill would additionally require each chartering authority, with respect to each charter school under its authority, to provide the governing body of the charter school with feedback on any issues of concern identified in a specified review and an opportunity to respond, and, after completing annual financial and compliance audit oversight responsibilities, identify and provide notification to the governing body of the charter school within 60 days of any material concern arising out of the chartering authority's ongoing oversight and monitoring activities. Commencing July 1, 2027, the bill would require each chartering authority to, among other things, visit each resource center, meeting space, and satellite facility approved in a charter petition or material revision and established by the charter school at least once every 2 years for each charter school under its authority and, for each nonclassroom-based charter school under its authority, annually review the charter school's average daily attendance, as provided. The bill would require charter schools to obtain the approval of the governing body of the charter school for any contract that would cause the charter school to compensate an individual contractor more than $100,000 in a fiscal year. To the extent that these additions to the act would impose new duties on local educational agencies, they would constitute a state-mandated local program. Existing law sets out performance standards and procedures for the renewal of charter schools, including prohibiting a chartering authority from renewing a charter if certain performance standards are not met. The bill would require the state board to establish criteria to define verified data and identify an approved list of valid and reliable assessments that would be required to be used by a chartering authority in its determination of renewing a charter, as provided. The bill would revise the performance standards and procedures for the renewal of charter schools and make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2028, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2029. The bill would set out revised standards and procedures for the renewal of charter schools that are operative on and after July 1, 2028. (39) This bill would require the governing board of a school district or educational joint powers authority, the governing body of a charter school, or a county superintendent of schools, on or before July 1, 2027, to adopt a policy for local educational agencies to comply with in order to evaluate and approve contractors. The bill would require the policy to include specified provisions, including, among other things, that a local educational agency is prohibited from (A) expending public funds for a contract unless the materials, programs, and activities are nonsectarian, (B) offering financial payments or gifts to a pupil, prospective pupil, or a pupil's parent, guardian, or relative as an incentive for pupil enrollment, referral, or retention, and (C) purchasing or contracting for annual and season passes or membership to amusement or theme parks, zoos, or family entertainment activities, except as provided. (40) For the 2026–27 fiscal year, existing law requires the Superintendent to calculate, for specified charter schools that operate a minimum of 175 school days, the difference between the charter school's certified local control funding formula entitlement as of the annual principal apportionment in that fiscal year and the first principal apportionment in the 2024–25 fiscal year, and, if there is a difference, allocate the amount of that difference to the charter school. This bill would require the amount calculated for the above-described charter schools to be adjusted to account for the increase in the add-on amount for transitional kindergarten from the 2024–25 to the 2025–26 fiscal years, inclusive, in a manner that ensures that those charter schools are not negatively impacted for the difference in funding increase for transitional kindergarten. The bill would require the Superintendent, for those charter schools, to calculate 30% of the charter school's local control funding formula entitlement, as provided, as of the 2024–25 first principal apportionment and allocate that amount for each charter school in the 2026–27 fiscal year. The bill would also require the Superintendent to allocate $4,000,000 to Pasadena Unified School District to help address outstanding and ongoing recovery-related costs that resulted from the state of emergency that was declared by the Governor in January 2025. (41) Existing law authorizes a school district or charter school to maintain a transitional kindergarten program. Existing law defines "transitional kindergarten" as the first year of a 2-year kindergarten program that uses curriculum that is age and developmentally appropriate. This bill, for purposes of transitional kindergarten, would require developmentally appropriate curriculum to include (A) instructional practices that promote each child's development and learning through a strengths- and play-based approach to joyful, engaged learning that addresses the domains of development, as specified, and (B) a cohesive set of principles, learning goals, intentional teaching strategies, activities, experiences, environments, and materials designed to help children learn and thrive in ways that are appropriate to their age and stage of development. (42) Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to provide for a leave of absence from duty for a certificated employee or an academic employee of the district who is required to be absent from duty because of pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, and recovery from those conditions. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to provide for a leave of absence from duty as it deems appropriate for a female employee in the classified service of the district who is required to be absent from duty because of pregnancy or convalescence following childbirth. Existing law authorizes a governing board to adopt rules and regulations about leaves of absence for classified employees for these purposes, and authorizes a governing board to provide in the rules and regulations whether the leave granted shall be with or without pay, as provided. This bill would delete the latter provisions authorizing the governing board of a school district to adopt those rules and regulations. The bill instead would require a school district, county office of education, charter school, or educational joint powers authority to, for a certificated employee or an employee in the classified service of one of those educational entities, provide up to 14 weeks of a leave of absence with specified pay benefits for an employee who is required to be absent from duty because of pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or recovery from those conditions, as provided. The bill would authorize the paid leave to begin before and continue after childbirth if the employee is actually disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or a related condition. The bill would prohibit a leave of absence taken pursuant to these provisions from being deducted from other leaves of absence, as provided, would require those educational entities to maintain group health coverage for an employee who takes a leave of absence under these provisions for the duration of the leave of absence at the same level and under the same conditions that coverage would have been provided if the employee had not taken a leave of absence, would require compensation during the leave of absence taken under these provisions to include retirement fund contributions required of the educational entity, and would require the employee to earn full service credit during the leave of absence and to pay member contributions to the retirement fund. The bill would prohibit any other eligibility requirements, including, but not limited to, minimum hours worked or length of service, before an employee disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or related medical conditions is eligible for a paid leave of absence under these provisions. The bill would make these provisions operative on January 1, 2027. The bill, commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year, would make specified increases to certain local control funding formula grants and would require local educational agencies incurring costs related to providing employees with up to 14 weeks of paid pregnancy disability leave, as specified, to use those funds to reimburse those costs. (43) Existing law requires the state board, on or before October 1, 2016, to adopt evaluation rubrics for certain purposes, including, among others, to assist a county superintendent of schools, the department, or a chartering authority in identifying school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools in need of technical assistance, pursuant to specified processes, and the specific priorities upon which the technical assistance should be focused. Existing law also requires these evaluation rubrics to include performance criteria, based on performance by pupil subgroups either across 2 or more state and local indicators or 2 or more state priorities, for local educational agency assistance and intervention. Existing law requires the state board, no later than July 15, 2026, to update the performance criteria, as provided. This bill would revise and recast specified rules governing the length of technical assistance provided to local educational agencies. The bill would, among other things, beginning with the release of the 2026 California School Dashboard, and every 3 years thereafter, require the county superintendent of schools to provide technical assistance for a minimum of 3 years to a charter school or school district that meets the new criteria established by the state board, and would require the Superintendent to provide technical assistance for a minimum of 3 years to a county office of education that meets the new criteria established by the state board, as provided. By imposing new duties on county offices of education, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program The bill would revise and recast the above-described provisions related to evaluation rubrics used to identify school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools in need of technical assistance. The bill would additionally authorize the criteria to be based on performance by an all pupils subgroup, comprised of at least 30 pupils at a local educational agency. The bill would, beginning with the release of the 2026 California School Dashboard, and every 3 years thereafter, require the state board to determine local educational agency eligibility for assistance and intervention based on the updated performance criteria. The bill would require the department to annually publish information on local educational agencies identified for assistance, as provided. The bill would require the state board, no later than May 15, 2029, to update the performance criteria for local educational assistance and intervention by the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, as provided, and to make related recommendations to the Legislature. (44) Existing law appropriates $600,000,000 from the General Fund to the department for allocation to certain school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to expend on kitchen infrastructure upgrades that will increase a school's capacity to prepare meals served through a federal school meal program, as defined, including for freshly prepared onsite meals, to serve fresh and nutritious school meals using minimally processed, locally grown, and sustainable food, or for expanding meal options for pupils with restricted diets, as specified. Existing law requires, as a condition of receiving funding, each local educational agency to report to the department, on or before June 30, 2025, on how it used the funding. This bill would, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, appropriate $400,000,000 from the General Fund to the department for grants to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools participating in the federal School Breakfast Program or the federal National School Lunch Program to support kitchen equipment, infrastructure, training, and the continued implementation of universal school meals, as provided. The bill would require the department to award grant funds as allocations, as specified, to eligible local educational agencies and would require the department to give priority to certain local educational agencies, including those that did not receive previous kitchen infrastructure and training grant funding, as provided. (45) Existing law requires county superintendents of schools to provide technical assistance focused on data management processes and capacity to develop and implement actions and services responsive to pupil and community needs to school districts that fail to meet requirements associated with the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, and requires the Superintendent to provide similar technical assistance to county offices of education, as provided. This bill would instead require the above-described technical assistance to focus on the school district or county office of education's capacity to develop and implement actions and services responsive to data quality and integrity in support of state and federal accountability, as provided. The bill would (A) require the county superintendent to provide this technical assistance to a school district, and the department to provide this technical assistance to a county office of education, for a minimum of one year, as provided, (B) require a school district to accept the technical assistance, and (C) would require a county board of education that requests this technical assistance to pay for the technical assistance, as provided. By imposing new duties on school districts and county offices of education, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (46) Existing law requires the governing board of each school district and county board of education to adopt a local control accountability plan and to update its local control and accountability plan before July 1 of each year. Existing law requires a county superintendent of schools to prepare a summary of how the county superintendent of schools plans to support school districts and schools within the county in implementing specified provisions related to local control and accountability plans. Existing law requires this summary to include, among other things, a description of how the county superintendent of schools will support the continuous improvement of all school districts within the county, and one or more goals for specified topics, including providing technical assistance to school district and charter schools pursuant to specified procedures. This bill would require the county superintendent of schools to include in that summary a description of how the county superintendent of schools will support the continuous improvement of all school districts within the county, including, at a minimum, clearly identifying the activities being performed by the county office of education and the source of funding for those activities. The bill would additionally require the county superintendent of schools to include in that summary a description of one or more goals for providing universal and targeted assistance to local educational agencies pursuant to the above-describe universal and targeted assistance county office of education funding grant. By imposing new duties on the county superintendents of schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (47) Existing law requires the state board, on or before January 31, 2024, to appoint an independent panel of experts for the purpose of creating an approved list of evidence-based, culturally, linguistically, and developmentally appropriate screening instruments for pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 and 2 to assess pupils for risk of reading difficulties, including possible neurological disorders such as dyslexia, and requires the panel of experts, on or before December 31, 2024, to approve a list of screening instruments, as provided. Existing law requires the governing board or body of a local educational agency serving pupils in kindergarten or grades 1 or 2, on or before June 30, 2025, to adopt one or more screening instruments from the list adopted by the panel of experts, and commencing no later than the 2025–26 school year, and annually thereafter, to assess each pupil in kindergarten and grades 1 and 2 for risk of reading difficulties using the screening instrument or instruments adopted by the governing board or body of the local educational agency, unless the pupil's parent or guardian opts out of the screening in writing. Existing law requires a local educational agency, in determining when during the school year to administer each screening instrument, to consider whether pupils have received sufficient instruction in foundational reading skills to support a valid assessment. This bill would prohibit a local educational agency from administering a screening instrument to a kindergarten pupil for those purposes before the 91st schoolday in the school year. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department, on or before January 31, 2027, to develop and disseminate guidance to local educational agencies regarding determining whether a pupil has received sufficient instruction in foundational reading skills to support a valid assessment, as provided. The bill would appropriate $40,000,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent for allocation to local educational agencies that administer literacy screenings to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 and 2 for risk of reading difficulties to support implementation of those requirements, as provided. (48) Existing law makes various appropriations for the Literacy Coaches and Reading Specialists Grant Program and augmentation of that program, as specified. This bill, among other things, would (A) codify those provisions and extend the encumbrance dates of those prior appropriations, (B) appropriate, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, $350,000,000 from the General Fund to the department to further augment the previously established Literacy Coaches and Reading Specialists Grant Program and previous augmentation of that program, as specified, and (C) revise existing, and add new, reporting requirements for purposes of the program, as specified. (49) Existing law establishes the Dream Resource Center Grant Program for the purpose of providing pupils, including undocumented pupils, in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, with specified resources. The bill would require the department, in administering the program, to review applications and award grants based off of a tiered point system that prioritizes applications for funding, as provided. Existing law authorizes a school district, county office of education, or charter school, including those that have already established a Dream Resource Center at one or more schoolsites, to apply to the department to be eligible to receive a grant, as provided. Existing law requires a local educational agency that receives a grant under the program to use it for creating a Dream Resource Center or for supplementing, but not supplanting, an existing Dream Resource Center, as provided, and requires the department, on or before June 1, 2026, to submit a report to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature detailing the successes, best practices, barriers or constraints, and outcomes of Dream Resource Centers funded with these grants. This bill would, among other things, (A) authorize local educational agencies that can demonstrate that they are already providing specified resources through existing programmatic structures to also apply for funds to establish a Dream Resource Center and expand upon existing services, (B) require grant recipients, at the conclusion of the grant term, to provide a final report to the department, as specified, and (C) revise the department's reporting requirement to instead be 3 reports due on or before each of December 30, 2028, December 30, 2030, and December 30, 2032. The bill would appropriate, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, $75,000,000 to the department to support the program. (50) Existing law, subject to an appropriation of funds for this purpose in the annual Budget Act, requires the State Department of Social Services, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to administer the California Newcomer Education and Well-Being Program (CalNEW) to provide services for newcomer pupils, English learners, and immigrant families by allocating funding to school districts and county offices of education, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to (A) curate and maintain on its internet website information regarding requirements, best practices, and available state and federally funded programs for newcomer pupils and (B) publicly report on an annual basis on its internet website the enrollment of newcomer pupils, as provided. This bill would appropriate $100,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education, in consultation with the State Department of Social Services, for California's New Americans in Schools (CalNAS) program, which the bill would establish, to award grants on a competitive basis to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to provide services for newcomer pupils, English learners, and immigrant families, as specified. The bill would require $10,000,000 of that amount to be available to the State Department of Education to competitively award a grant to a local educational agency, or a consortium of local educational agencies, to provide statewide technical assistance for the program, as specified. (51) Existing law requires the Superintendent to calculate allocations to special education local plan areas based on the average daily attendance of each local educational agency and charter school that is a local educational agency for purposes of special education, as specified. Existing law requires, commencing with the 2023–24 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, the Superintendent to determine the amount of funding per unit of average daily attendance for each special education local plan area using a specified calculation. This bill would require the amount of funding per unit of average daily attendance for each special education local plan area to instead be $1,340 for the 2026–27 fiscal year and, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, the amount of funding per unit of average daily attendance for the prior fiscal year, as adjusted annually by a specified inflation factor. The bill would also revise the special education funding calculations for the Los Angeles County Juvenile Court and Community School/Division of Alternative Education Special Education Local Plan Area commencing with the 2026–27 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, as specified. (52) Existing law authorizes the California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI) to provide its services to all local educational agencies, as provided, including services that provide pupils and their families with direct access to online tools and resources for college and career planning. Existing law requires the department to refer local educational agencies to CCGI for technical assistance in reconciling discrepancies between A–G coursework, as listed in their local pupil information system, and how those courses are registered in the University of California Course Management Portal at the office of the President of the University of California, or a successor A–G course management portal. This bill would, among other things, require the department to also refer local educational agencies to CCGI to ensure that required dual enrollment courses are flagged in the data files submitted to CCGI. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (53) Existing law establishes the California Center for Inclusive College (the center) and annually appropriates, commencing with the 2024–25 fiscal year, $2,000,000 each fiscal year from the General Fund to the Superintendent of Public Instruction to, in consultation with the executive director of the state board, allocate to one or more county offices of education to administer the center. This bill would require the Superintendent to allocation specified funding in the Budget Act of 2026 to the center for purposes of implementing inclusive college programs, as defined. The bill would authorize up to 15% of that amount to be used for the administration of those grant awards. The bill would require the center to submit a report to the Department of Finance on or before December 1, 2026, detailing how it plans to award funds, as specified. The bill would require the Sacramento County Office of Education to utilize specified funding in the Budget Act of 2026 to develop resources and provide technical assistance to support the implementation of alternative pathways and means to a diploma, as provided. (54) Existing law establishes the Golden State Teacher Grant Program under the administration of the Student Aid Commission and requires the commission to provide one-time grant funds of up to $20,000 to each student enrolled, or who has applied for enrollment, on or after January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2024, inclusive, in a professional preparation program leading to a preliminary teaching credential or a pupil personnel services credential, at either a qualifying institution, as defined, or a professional preparation program approved by the Commission on Teaching Credentialing, as specified, if the student commits to working at a priority school or a California preschool program for 4 years within the 8 years following the date the student completes the professional preparation program. Existing law limits the grant to up to $10,000 for a California resident student enrolled, or who has applied for enrollment, on or after January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2024, inclusive, at a private postsecondary educational institution that is approved by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing as a qualified institution, as specified. For applications received under the program from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2026, inclusive, existing law requires the Student Aid Commission to provide reduced one-time grant funds of up to $10,000 and $5,000, respectively, to each student eligible for a grant, except teacher intern credential program participants, if the student commits to working at a priority school or a California preschool program for 2 years within the 4 years following the date the student completes the professional preparation program. This bill would, among other things, extend eligibility for those reduced $10,000 and $5,000 grants indefinitely by removing the enrollment deadline of June 30, 2026. By expanding the time in which applications can be received under the program, which is funded by an existing appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the preliminary teaching credential to be in a high-need field, as identified by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing. For grants funded with specified federal funds, this bill would require the Student Aid Commission to provide one-time grants of up to $20,000 to each student enrolled, or who has applied for enrollment, on or after July 1, 2026, in a professional preparation program leading to a special education credential, at either a qualifying institution, as defined, or a professional preparation program approved by the Commission on Teaching Credentialing, as specified, except teacher intern credential program participants, if the student commits to working at a priority school or a California preschool program for 4 years within the 8 years following the date the student completes the professional preparation program. The bill would limit the grant funded with those specified federal funds to up to $10,000 for a California resident student enrolled, or who has applied for enrollment, on or after July 1, 2026, in a professional preparation program leading to a special education credential at a private postsecondary educational institution approved by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing as a qualified institution, as specified. The Budget Act of 2025 appropriates $50,000,000 to the Student Aid Commission to augment support for the program. This bill would require those funds to be available for encumbrance or expenditure by the commission until June 30, 2029. By extending the encumbrance or expenditure date for an existing appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. (55) Existing law requires certain funds appropriated in the annual Budget Act for reimbursement for the cost of a new program or increased level of service of an existing program mandated by statute or executive order to be available as a block grant to school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education, to support specified state-mandated local programs. Existing law provides that a school district, charter school, or county office of education that submits a letter requesting funding to the Superintendent and receives this block grant funding is not eligible to submit a claim for reimbursement for those specified mandated programs for the fiscal year in which the block grant funding is received. This bill would add to the list of programs that are authorized for block grant funding in lieu of program-specific reimbursement to include requirements relating to the Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2021. (56) Existing law, for the 2021–22 fiscal year, appropriates $15,000,000 from the General Fund to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing for the Computer Science Supplementary Authorization Incentive Grant Program for purposes of providing one-time grants to local educational agencies to support the preparation of credentialed teachers to earn a supplementary authorization in computer science and provide instruction in computer science coursework in settings authorized by the underlying credential, as provided. Under this program, a participating teacher is eligible to receive an award of up to $2,500, and a grant recipient is required to provide a 100% local match of the grant funding or an in-kind match of release time or substitute teacher costs for the participating teacher, as provided. Existing law requires those funds to be available for encumbrance until June 30, 2026. This bill would increase the maximum amount a participating teacher is eligible to receive under the program from $2,500 to instead be $6,000. The bill would reduce the local match requirements to instead be cash equal to 13 of the grant funding or an in-kind match of administrative and coordination costs or release time or substitute teacher costs for the participating teacher, as provided. The bill would extend the period that those funds are available for encumbrance to instead be until June 30, 2030, thereby making an appropriation. (57) Existing law appropriates $15,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for allocation to the Riverside County Office of Education and the El Dorado County Office of Education in equal amounts in support of the Supporting Inclusive Practices project. Existing law requires those funds to be available for encumbrance until June 30, 2026. This bill would extend the period that those funds are available for encumbrance to instead be until June 30, 2027, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would additionally appropriate, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, $30,000,000 from the General Fund to the department for allocation to the Riverside County Office of Education and the El Dorado County Office of Education in equal amounts in support of the Supporting Inclusive Practices project, as specified. (58) Existing law appropriates $1,000,000 from the General Fund to the department to create, in consultation with the executive director of the state board, a Literacy Roadmap to help educators apply the state's curriculum framework to classroom instruction, navigate the resources and professional development opportunities available to implement effective literacy instruction, and improve literacy outcomes for all pupils with a focus on equity, as provided. This bill would extend the period that those funds are available for encumbrance to instead be until June 30, 2028, and make those funds available for liquidation until June 30, 2030, thereby making an appropriation. (59) Existing law appropriates $15,000,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent to designate a county office of education to identify and curate a repository of high-quality open educational resources for use by local educational agencies as part of the statewide system of support, as provided. This bill would appropriate, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, $600,000 from the General Fund to the department to contract with a county office of education to curate and maintain the California Educators Together online repository of high-quality open educational resources for use by local educational agencies, as provided. (60) Existing federal law, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, provides grants to states to carry out activities relating to the education of homeless children and youths, as defined, including, among others, providing services and activities to improve the identification of homeless children and youths and to enable them to enroll in, attend, and succeed in school. This bill would appropriate $70,000,000 from the General Fund to the department for allocation to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to supplement funding available under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act in order to increase the identification of, and improve educational outcomes for, homeless children and youths, as provided. The bill would require, as a condition of receiving one-time, 3-year grant funding, a local educational agency to commit to (A) communicate and collaborate with technical assistance centers to receive technical assistance, implement best practices, and foster partnerships with local and county governmental entities, educational institutions, and community-based organizations, (B) annually report on the academic outcomes for pupils served by the grants, as specified, and (C) submit a final report by December 31, 2029, to the department that describes how the local educational agency intends to sustain and integrate efforts supporting the needs of homeless children and youths after the one-time grant funds end, as specified. (61) Existing law establishes the California Classified School Employee Teacher Credentialing Program for the purpose of recruiting classified school employees to participate in a program designed to encourage them to enroll in teacher training programs, as defined, and to provide instructional service as teachers in the public schools. Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, subject to an appropriation for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or other statute, to issue a request for proposals to all school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education in the state in order to solicit applications for funding. This bill, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, would appropriate $10,000,000 from the General Fund to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing for the California Classified School Employee Teacher Credentialing Program, as specified. (62) Existing law requires the Inglewood Unified School District to take certain actions by April 1, 2023, including meeting the requirements for qualified or positive certification, completing a comprehensive operational review, and undergoing an on-time annual independent audit, as provided. Existing law requires the Budget Act, beginning with the 2022–23 fiscal year, to include an appropriation of up to 25% of the school district's projected operating deficit, as determined by the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, with concurrence with the Department of Finance, if those requirements are met, and makes the disbursement those funds contingent upon the completion of activities specified in the prior year Budget Act to improve the school district's fiscal solvency. activities specified in the prior year Budget Act. Existing law requires those activities to be determined based on joint recommendations from the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team and the Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools, as provided. This bill, for the 2026–27 fiscal year, would appropriate $400,000 on a one-time basis from the General Fund to the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team to offset the costs of the 2024–25 and 2025–26 annual comprehensive reviews for the Inglewood Unified School District. (63) 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. (64) Certain funds transferred or appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution. (65) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

Existing law authorizes, upon reasonable belief that a person is in unlawful possession of an agricultural commodity, as specified, the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, a county agricultural commissioner, or any peace officer to hold or seize the commodity and requires the commodity to be turned over to the custody of the commissioner. Existing law authorizes the commissioner if, for any reason, the commodity is not released to the rightful owner after being in the custody of the commissioner, as specified, to sell the commodity and hold all of the proceeds derived from the sale of the commodity for a period of not less than 6 months, during which time the lawful owner of the commodity may submit satisfactory proof of ownership and obtain possession of the proceeds. Existing law requires if, after retention of the proceeds for a period of at least 6 months, no demand is made or if proof of ownership is not supplied, the commissioner to deposit the proceeds of the sale of the commodity into the general fund of the county. This bill would require the commissioner to hold the proceeds of the sale of a commodity for at least 3 months, rather than 6 months, before depositing them into the general fund of the county.

To amend sections 3301.0714, 3314.03, and 3326.11 and to enact sections 3302.131, 3302.132, and 3313.6030 of the Revised Code with regard to academic intervention services at public schools and the establishment of mathematics improvement and intervention plans.

This Act creates a scholarship for students who have completed a Delaware Teacher Academy and are enrolled in a Delaware Educator Preparation Program. This scholarship supplements the Educator Support Scholarship and is intended to fill a $2500 funding gap for aspiring educators who are in their first year at an Educator Preparation Program. No more than 35 scholarships may be awarded. The scholarship will be expanded based on interest and funding in subsequent school years and will continue as funding is available.