Today's Events

AB 498, as it passed the Assembly, exempted from paying state or local business license fees a veteran who is honorably discharged or relieved from the Armed Forces of the United States and who is a resident of the state for a business providing or selling services if the veteran is the sole proprietor of the business.

The Senate amendments limit the exemption to only payment of local business license fees and provide that the changes proposed by this bill apply to charter cities.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 909, as it passed the Assembly, required, beginning on July 1, 2020, a treasurer or assistant treasurer identified on a committee’s statement of organization to sign a statement acknowledging that, by serving as a treasurer or assistant treasurer, the person must comply with duties imposed by the Political Reform Act of 1974 and existing regulations adopted by the Fair Political Practices Commission, and that a violation of these duties could result in criminal, civil, or administrative penalties. It also required that the statement of acknowledgment be filed with the Secretary of State at the same time as the statement of organization or an amendment identifying a new treasurer or assistant treasurer.

The Senate amendments instead require that the acknowledgment of the treasurer or assistant treasurer be included as part of the committee’s statement of organization, or an amendment identifying a new treasurer or assistant treasurer, and delay AB 909’s operation until the Secretary of State certifies a new online filing and disclosure system pursuant to paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 84602 of the Government Code. The Senate amendments prohibit the Secretary of State’s acceptance of a statement of organization, or an amendment identifying a new treasurer or assistant treasurer, unless the acknowledgment has been completed, and clarify that failing to complete the acknowledgment is not a violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974.

Vote: 54. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 1168, as it passed the Assembly, required each public safety answering point established pursuant to the Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act to deploy a text to 911 service, no later than January 1, 2021, that is capable of accepting either Short Message Service messages or Real-Time Text messages.

The Senate amendments revise that requirement to require the text to 911 service to be capable of accepting both Short Message Service messages and Real-Time Text messages. The Senate amendments make nonsubstantive corrections and add a coauthor.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 321, as it passed the Assembly, provided an exemption until January 1, 2024, from the state and local sales and use taxes for the sale of, or the storage, use, or consumption of, a new, used, or remanufactured truck with an unladen weight of 6,000 pounds or more that is purchased for use without the state when specified conditions are met and the purchaser furnishes certain documents to the manufacturer or remanufacturer. AB 321 required the Legislative Analyst’s Office to measure whether the exemption achieves specified goals by measuring how many in-state truck sales were affected by the exemption.

The Senate amendments instead require the Legislative Analyst’s Office to measure whether the exemption achieves the specified goals by measuring how many in-state truck deliveries were affected by the exemption.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 413, as it passed the Assembly, deleted the term “at-risk” and replaced it with the term “at-promise” to describe youth for the purposes of various provisions of the Education Code and the Penal Code.

The Senate amendments add a coauthor and make a technical, nonsubstantive change.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: no.

AB 467, as it passed the Assembly, for a competition event to be held on land under the jurisdiction of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the State Lands Commission, or the California Coastal Commission and that awards prize compensation to competitors in gendered categories, required the entity to include in permit or lease conditions that the prize compensation be identical between the gendered categories at each participant level.

The Senate amendments also require the Department of Transportation to include as a condition of a permit that the prize compensation be identical between the gendered categories at each participant level. The Senate amendments make other nonsubstantive revisions and add additional coauthors.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 630, as it passed the Assembly, commencing July 1, 2020, required licensed or registered marriage and family therapists, educational psychologists, clinical social workers, and professional clinical counselors, prior to initiating specified services, to provide a client with a specified written notice that the Board of Behavioral Sciences receives and responds to complaints regarding services within the scope of the licensed practice and that the client may contact the board. AB 630, as it passed the Assembly, commencing July 1, 2020, conditioned certain exemptions from provisions otherwise pertaining to marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, and professional clinical counselors for an employee or volunteer of a governmental entity, educational facility, or nonprofit charitable institution on their providing similar notice prior to initiating psychotherapy services, as provided. AB 630, as it passed the Assembly, removed an exemption from the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act for graduate students and social work interns working in a recognized training program and prohibited a graduate student from performing clinical social work in a private practice.

The Senate amendments revise the exemption from the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act for graduate students and social work interns to specify that the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act is prohibited from restricting or preventing psychosocial activities by employees of accredited academic institutions, public schools, government agencies, or nonprofit institutions who train graduate students pursuing a master’s degree in social work in an accredited college or university if the psychosocial activities by the employee are part of a supervised course of study. The Senate amendments remove a requirement that a person using hypnotic techniques, as specified, have their practice performed solely under the supervision of the employer to qualify for an exemption from the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 653, as it passed the Assembly, authorized the lease of the West Los Angeles Armory to the County of Los Angeles for a term of 25 years.

The Senate amendments authorize the lease of a portion of the armory, and require that the lease be for a Bridge Housing Program. The Senate amendments additionally require the lease to be for a period of 5 years, with options for 4 extensions of 5 additional years each, and require the County of Los Angeles, if it accepts the lease, to pay the Department of General Services for its actual costs and staff time in drafting, negotiating, and executing the lease.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 689, as it passed the Assembly, authorized the Sacramento Municipal Utility District to operate a pilot project, until January 1, 2025, to allow the board of directors of the district to acquire and hold nonstock security in a corporation or other private entity.

The Senate amendments limit the scope of the program to nonstock security acquired as part of a procurement of goods or services from that entity, if (1) no separate funding is expended solely for the nonstock security and (2) the value of each nonstock security acquisition, at the time of the acquisition, does not exceed 3% of the district’s annual revenue in the fiscal year the district makes the acquisition.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 707, as it passed the Assembly, among other things, increased the estimated dollar threshold for requiring the Santa Clara Valley Water District to comply with specified competitive bidding requirements for work that is not performed by the personnel of the district from $25,000 to $50,000.

The Senate amendments additionally require the district board to approve a contract for work not performed by district personnel and estimated to exceed the $50,000 threshold, in accordance with board policy that has been adopted at an open meeting.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 714, as it passed the Assembly, revised the requirement that prescribers offer a prescription for naloxone hydrochloride to a patient under specified circumstances by, among other changes, making the requirement applicable only to patients receiving a prescription for an opioid or benzodiazepine medication and expanding the circumstances under which the requirement is inapplicable.

The Senate amendments also revise the definition of “prescriber” to exclude a person licensed under the Veterinary Medicine Practice Act.

Vote: 54. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 809, as it passed the Assembly, among other things, required public postsecondary institutions to post on each institution’s internet website, and to provide to an expectant parent through on-campus health clinics, notification of protections under Title IX for pregnant students and parenting students.

The Senate amendments make nonsubstantive changes and add coauthors.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: no.

AB 956, as it passed the Assembly, expressly provided that the use of automatic dialing-announcing devices by law enforcement agencies, fire protection agencies, public health agencies, public environmental health agencies, city or county emergency services planning agencies, or any private for-profit agency operating under contract with, and at the direction of, one or more of these agencies to test the enhanced 911 emergency telephone system for data accuracy and emergency alert notification system capabilities is not prohibited.

The Senate amendments expressly authorize those agencies to test for those purposes all modes of 911 emergency telephone systems, including basic 911 telephone services, enhanced 911 emergency telephone services, Next Generation 911 emergency communication systems, and similar 911 technologies.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 1009, as it passed the Assembly, allowed the Department of Justice to collect a fee, not to exceed $20, for the reasonable cost of receiving and processing a report of a firearms transaction submitted by mail or in person and required that firearms transactions be reported via the California Firearms Application Reporting System (CFARS), commencing January 1, 2025.

The Senate amendments instead require a firearms transaction to be made by mail or CFARS and allows the department to charge a surcharge, not to exceed $20, for the reasonable cost of receiving and processing a report submitted by mail. The Senate amendments also delete the existing authority of the department to charge a specific fee to reimburse it for the actual costs associated with the submission of a Dealers’ Record of Sale to the department.

The Senate amendments incorporate additional changes to sections amended by AB 1009 proposed by SB 376 and AB 1292 to be operative only if those bills and AB 1009 are enacted and AB 1009 is enacted last.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 1017, as it passed the Assembly, required the Public Utilities Commission, if a city or county develops and adopts, by resolution upon a majority vote of the city council or the board of supervisors, a plan to improve mobility for multimodal access that calls for new or modified railroad crossings, to make an engineer available from the Rail Crossings and Engineering Branch of the commission to assist and advise that city or county on the safety of the planned railroad crossings before the filing of an application with the commission for the approval of the new or modified railroad crossings.

The Senate amendments add coauthors and make nonsubstantive changes to the bill.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: no.

AB 1065, as it passed the Assembly, repealed a January 1, 2021, sunset date on specified insurance provisions, thereby indefinitely authorizing written records relating to the business of life insurance to be provided by electronic transmission if the insurer complies with specified requirements, and indefinitely requiring a licensee who is licensed to conduct the business of insurance to comply with proof of delivery and actual receipt requirements for specified insurance records that are transmitted electronically.

The Senate amendments additionally repeal a January 1, 2021, sunset date on provisions relating to the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, thereby indefinitely requiring specified notices regarding the cancellation, expiration, and replacement of insurance policies to be subject to the act. The Senate amendments require the Insurance Commissioner, when the commissioner has reason to believe that a licensee has been or is engaged in conduct that violates specified requirements relating to electronic transmission of documents, to issue a statement of charges to the licensee and to provide the licensee with a hearing. The Senate amendments also subject a licensee who violates a cease and desist order regarding electronic document transmission requirements to civil penalties or a suspension or revocation of a license and require the commissioner, on or before January 1, 2022, to submit a report to the Governor and to the insurance and judiciary committees of the Senate and Assembly regarding insurer compliance with laws governing electronic transmissions of insurance transactions.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 1099, as it passed the Assembly, required a disclaimer within a summary document prepared by the California Life and Health Insurance Guarantee Association to include specified information and required an insurer to retain evidence that it delivered the summary document to a policyholder or contractholder.

The Senate amendments instead delete those provisions and require an admitted insurer with annual premiums written in California equal to or in excess of $100,000,000 to provide community development investment information for the 2016 to 2020 calendar years, inclusive, to the Insurance Commissioner by July 1, 2021, require the commissioner to provide specified information on the department’s internet website by December 31, 2021, expand the duties of the California Organized Investment Network Advisory Board, and add a representative to the board with experience seeking investments that provide environmental benefits.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 1294, as it passed the Assembly, included specific crimes within the definition of gambling for the purposes of the California Control of Profits of Organized Crime Act and explicitly exempted specified controlled games approved by the Department of Justice from those provisions.

The Senate amendments remove that exemption.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 1414, as it passed the Assembly, among other things, required each urban retail water supplier on or before January 1 of each year until January 1, 2024, to submit a completed and validated water loss audit report as required by the Department of Water Resources.

The Senate amendments instead require each urban retail water supplier to submit a completed and validated water loss audit report as required by the department on or before October 1 of each year until October 1, 2023, if reporting on a calendar year basis, and on or before January 1 of each year until January 1, 2024, if reporting on a fiscal year basis. The Senate amendments also make nonsubstantive changes.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.