Water, Parks and Wildlife
SB 5 – Park Bond: This bill proposes the Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access for All Act of 2018, subject to voter approval in the November, 2018, election. This bill proposes the issuance of $4 billion in general obligation bonds for Parks, Water, and Flood related capitol expenses with a priority of 20% of the bond designated for disadvantaged communities. 200 million allocated to the restoration of the Salton Sea. (Chaptered)
AB 474 - Coachella Valley Brine Removal: This bill would remove a particular brine extraction to be exempted from the Toxic Substance list. This would be a cost-saving mechanism for infrastructure dealing with potable water and chromium6+aresenic. (Chaptered)
SB 615 – Salton Sea Restoration Plan: This bill contains a series of findings regarding the environmental, public health, and economic importance of the Salton Sea, renames the Salton Sea Restoration Plan in honor of John J. Benoit, and exempts certain structures to separate fresh from saline water shall not be considered dams. This bill also notes the continuing jurisdiction of the State Water Resources Control Board and observes that the Salton Sea in the future will be smaller, but more sustainable. (Chaptered)
AB 661 – Mirage Trail (Bump & Grind): This bill extends the existing opening and closure dates for the Mirage Trail within the Magnesia Spring Ecological Reserve until January 1, 2028. This bill also requires the Fish and Game Commission (FGC) to assess compliance with the bill's requirements. (Chaptered)
AB 1361 – Tribal Water: This bill authorizes a municipal water district, until January 1, 2023, to apply to a local agency formation commission (LAFCO) to extend water service to Indian lands and prohibits the LAFCO from denying the application. (Chaptered)
ACR 85 – Parks Make Life Better! Month: This resolution recognizes the importance of access to local parks, trails, open space, and facilities for the health and development of all Californians and declares the month of July 2017 as “Parks Make Life Better!” Month. (Chaptered)
Health
AB 1127 – Baby Diaper Changing Stations: This bill requires state and local agencies and specified public facilities, including a theater, sports arena, or library, to install and maintain at least one baby diaper changing station if the building or facility is open to the public. (Chaptered)
Public Safety
AB 683 – Cultural Re-Entry Programs: This bill supports and creates culturally competent programs that increase opportunities for family friendly contact during and after imprisonment. (Chaptered)
AB 1312 – Sexual Assault Victims - Rights: This bill would require a law enforcement authority or district attorney to also notify the victim that he or she has the right to request to have a person of the same gender or opposite gender as the victim present in the room during any interview with a law enforcement official or district attorney, unless no such person is reasonably available. (Chaptered)
Community Environment
AB 617 – Air Quality: This bill addresses air quality concerns by ensuring facilities regulated under Cap and Trade are retrofitted with current emission control technologies. The bill directs ARB to work with air districts to identify communities in need of additional air quality monitoring stations. It also established statewide and local plans intended to identify and address the concerns of communities with high cumulative pollution burdens. (Chaptered)
AB 398 – Cap & Trade Reform: This bill extended the Cap and Trade program until 2030. It also established price containment measures, gave the Legislature meaningful oversight over the program, and made reforms to ensure California communities benefit from investments and workforce opportunities generated by the program. This bill works in partnership with AB 617 to address key concerns about the Cap and Trade program’s impacts on Californian communities, furthering the directives of AB 197 (E. Garcia, 2016). (Chaptered)
County of Imperial
AB 798 – Public Administrator Office: Allows Imperial County to convert the public administrator's office from an elected position to an appointed position and to consolidate the offices of public administrator and public guardian. (Chaptered)
AB 755 – Capital Investment Incentive Program: This bill extends the Capital Investment Incentive Program for one year, until January 1, 2019. The CIIP allows a local government to offer local tax abatement to qualified manufacturers. The County of Imperial is in the process of executing the necessary Community Services Agreement with EnergySource, but would not have completed the process before the program was set to expire on December 31, 2017. (Chaptered)
Housing
AB 571 – Farmworker Housing Assistance Tax Credit Program: This bill makes improvements to the existing State Treasurer’s Office (STO) Farmworker Housing Assistance Tax Credit Program to better facilitate the use of this financing tool. (Chaptered)
AB 291 – Housing Immigration: Enacts the Immigrant Tenant Protection Act of 2017, to establish various protections and safeguards against the unauthorized disclosure of tenants' immigration or citizenship status to federal immigration authorities or other parties, as well as potential harassment, retaliation, or discrimination against tenants based on their immigration or citizenship status, or perceived immigration or citizenship status. (Chaptered)
Transportation
AB 1073 - California Clean Truck, Bus, and Off-Road Vehicle and Equipment Technology Program: This bill would require the state board, when funding a specified class of projects, to allocate, until January 1, 2023, no less than 20% of that available funding to support the early commercial deployment or existing zero- and near-zero-emission heavy-duty truck technology. (Chaptered)
AB 1189 – Riverside County Transportation Act: The bill also brings RCTC’s authorizing statutes in-line with the Constitutional requirement that special taxes must be enacted by a two-thirds vote of the People. AB 1189 is consistent with legislation sponsored by other self-help counties in recent years to determine their own futures through local option sales taxes (at a two-thirds threshold). (Chaptered)
AB 1453 – Transportation to Literacy: This bill makes an exception when the school buses are transporting adults who are going to and from school after the pupils have been dropped off at school to work with them. (Chaptered)
SB 20 – Vehicles: Buses - Seatbelts: This bill requires bus drivers and passengers to wear seat belts in buses that are equipped with them and requires drivers to notify passengers of this requirement and the fine for not wearing a seat belt either before departure or with posted signs or placards.
The provisions of this bill would become operative on July 1, 2018. (Chaptered)
AB 179 – California Transportation Commission: Directs the Governor, when appointing commissioners to the California Transportation Commission (CTC), to use every effort to ensure that the CTC has a diverse membership with expertise in transportation issues, taking into consideration factors including socio-economic background and professional experience, including working in or representing disadvantaged communities; directs the CTC and the State Air Resources Board (ARB) to hold at least two joint meetings per calendar year to coordinate their implementation of transportation policies. (Chaptered)
AB 28 – Department of Transportation: Environmental Review Process: Federal Pilot Program: Re-enacts, until January 1, 2020, the California Department of Transportation's (Caltrans') authority to waive its 11th Amendment right to sovereign immunity from lawsuits brought in federal court thereby allowing Caltrans to continue assuming the role of the United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) decision making. (Chaptered)
AB 188 – Vehicle Retirement and Replacement: Requires the California Air Resources Board (ARB), no later than July 1, 2019, to update the Enhanced Fleet Modernization Program (EFMP) guidelines to allow certain light-duty trucks to qualify as replacement vehicles under the program, provided that the vehicles meet the program's fuel efficiency standard for minivans and that a high-polluting light-duty pickup truck is retired by the purchaser. (Chaptered)
AB 503 – Vehicles: Parking Violations: Creates a process that allows individuals with outstanding parking citations to repay their fines and penalties while preserving their ability to register and drive their vehicles. (Chaptered)
SB 150 – Regional Transportation Plans: Requires the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to prepare a report to assess the progress of the state's 18 metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in meeting their regional greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) targets. Specifically, this bill: Requires ARB to prepare a report to assess the progress made by each MPO in meeting the regional GHG reduction targets set by the board; Requires ARB to prepare the report on or before September 1, 2018, and every four years thereafter, to align with target setting; Requires the report to include the changes to GHG emissions in each region and data-supported metrics for the strategies utilized to meet the targets; Requires the report to include best practices and challenges faced by the MPOs in meeting the targets, including the effect of state policies and funding; Requires ARB to develop the report in consultation with the MPOs and affected stakeholders; Updates the requirements for ARB to set the regional targets to include the GHG emissions reduction target of 40% below 1990 levels by 2030; Requires the report to be transmitted to the Legislature. (Chaptered)
Workforce Development
AB 1111 - Breaking Barriers to Employment: This bill establishes a competitive grant program for activities that address the needs of individuals who face multiple barriers to prepare for training, apprenticeship, or employment opportunities, which will lead to self-sufficiency and economic stability. (Chaptered)
AB 1149 – Workforce Investment Boards: This bill allows Local Workforce Development Boards (LWDBs) to classify funds spent providing supportive services to those served by the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) as "leveraged funds" that satisfy mandated spending requirements for workforce training. (Chaptered)
Education
AB 1264 - Parent Involvement and Transparency Act: This bill would require a public agency, before any meeting regarding an individualized education program, to provide copies of all school records regarding the provision of special education and related services. (Vetoed)
AB 19 – Community Colleges: Enrollment Fee Waiver: This bill establishes the California College Promise, to be administered by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges which shall distribute funding, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to each community college meeting the specified requirements to be used to accomplish certain goals and waive the $46 per unit fee for one academic year for first-time students. (Chaptered)
AB 172 – Public Postsecondary Education: Residency: Dependents of Armed Forces Members: This bill expands the current eligibility for resident classification extended to enrolled dependents of an Armed Forces member who transfer or retire to include admitted dependents of the Armed Forces member, for purposes of determining postsecondary institution tuition and fees. (Chaptered)
AB 214 – Postsecondary Education: Student Hunger: Requires the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) to notify Cal Grant recipients who qualify for participation in the CalFresh program; provides clarity to existing policies and definitions in order to simplify CalFresh administration for college students; and, requires the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) to maintain a list of programs that provide a student potential eligibility for a CalFresh exemption if certain requirements are met. (Chaptered)
ACR 102 - Opportunity Youth Reengagement Month: This resolution recognizes the month of August 2017 as Opportunity Youth Reengagement Month, and states the intent of the Legislature to encourage the expansion of schools authorized to specifically reengage “opportunity youth” 16 to 24 years of age. (Chaptered)
Small Business
AB 1615 – Small Business Gender Discrimination Compliance Act: This bill helps protect small businesses from gender discrimination lawsuits and gives the small business the opportunity to hold the lawsuit and fix the problem. (Chaptered)
Digital Divide
AB 1665 – Internet for All Now Act of 2017: This bill extends the California Advanced Service Fund (CASF) and authorizes additional collections of a modest fee on telephone bills to support broadband infrastructure deployment and adoption in unserved and disadvantaged communities. (Chaptered)
ACR 115 - Disabled Individuals: Technology and Information Access: This resolution affirms that the states’ policies and procedures should ensure technology and information access for individuals with disabilities to the greatest extent possible. (Chaptered)
Governmental Organization
AB 891 – Tribal Gaming: Compact Ratification: Ratifies a tribal-state Class III gaming compact (Compact) entered into between the State of California (State) and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians (Tribe), executed on September 6, 2017. Additionally, this bill provides that, in deference to tribal sovereignty, certain actions are not deemed projects for purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); and, stipulates, except as expressly provided, that none of the provisions shall be construed to exempt a city, county, or city and county, or the Department of Transportation from CEQA requirements. (Chaptered)
AB 1499 – State-Designated Fairs: The bill would direct retailers to segregate the amount of gross receipts from sales at fairs; require the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) to calculate three-fourths of one percent of these gross receipts and report this amount to the Department of Finance; require the Governor's Budget to include these amounts in the Budget for allocation to the Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) for allocation to state-designated fairs, for among other things, fair projects involving public health and safety, and projects that are required to protect fair property, as specified. The allocation must be appropriated by the Legislature and enacted in the annual Budget Act. (Chaptered)
SB 6 – Tribal Gaming: Compact Ratification: This bill ratifies the tribal-state gaming compact (Compact) entered into between the State of California and the Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation (hereafter “Tribe”) executed on August 31, 2017. (Chaptered)
Agriculture
AB 822 – Sale of California Produce: This bill requires all California state-owned or state-run institutions, except public universities and colleges and school districts, to purchase agricultural products grown in California when the bid or price of the California-grown agricultural product does not exceed, by more than 5%, the lowest bid or price for an agricultural product produced outside the state and the quality of the produce is comparable. (Chaptered)
Labor
AB 168 – Employers: Salary Information: Prohibits all employers, including the Legislature, the state, and local governments, from seeking salary history information about an applicant for employment and requires an employer to provide the pay scale for a position to an applicant upon reasonable request, among other things. (Chaptered)
Revenue and Taxation
AB 1410 – Penalty Assessments: Emergency Services and Children’s Health Care Coverage Funding: Extends the sunset date of the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act (EMATA) to January 1, 2022. Renames the EMATA Fund as the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children's Coverage Fund (EMATCC Fund). Authorizes the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to use money from the EMATCC Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to fund children's health care coverage in addition to specified purposes related to emergency medical air transportation. Extends to January 1, 2020, the $4 assessment of penalties collected from every conviction for a violation of the Vehicle Code or local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code, other than a parking offense, to be used for purposes of the EMATCC Fund. (Chaptered)
Public Employees, Retirement, and Social Security
AB 530 – Public Employment: Collective Bargaining: Peace Officers: Expands the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to include Penal Code Section 830 peace officers; authorizes a peace officer or labor union representing these peace officers to bring certain actions in court; and, excludes employers and employees of the City and County of Los Angeles from its provisions. (Vetoed)
Budget
Workforce Training for the Reentry Population: This bill makes adjustments to AB 2060 and the subsequent AB 1093 adjustments from last year to expand the eligible target population to include people on parole, require applicants to include a partnership with a community-based organization that works with the targeted population, authorize multi-year grant allocations, and prioritize work-based learning such as earn and learn, on the job training, and partnerships with social enterprises that employ reentry individuals. (Chaptered, Budget 2017)
Cal State San Bernardino Palm Desert Campus: One‑time funds totaling $20 million, including $12.5 million for the Graduation Initiative, $3 million for the CSU San Bernardino Palm Desert Campus, $2.5 million to encourage campuses to become “hunger free campuses,” and $2 million for equal employment opportunity programs. (Chaptered, Budget 2017)
Veteran Homes Services: language chaptered in the 2017 Budget requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct a survey to assess the ability of veterans’ homes to assist veterans with complex mental and behavioral health needs, and develop a plan to accommodate that population. (Chaptered, Budget 2017)
