CAACC Bill Positions
Each year, we take positions on legislation that creates equitable public policies to expand access and the landscape of economic opportunities for the African American community. The list below includes legislation we support or oppose for the current legislative session.
CAACC Supported Legislation
10/25/2024
| AB 11 | (Jackson D) Milton Marks “Little Hoover” Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: Current law establishes the Milton Marks “Little Hoover” Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy (the commission) for the purpose of securing assistance for the Governor and itself in promoting economy, efficiency, and improved service in the transaction of the public business, as specified, and in making the operation of all state departments, agencies, and instrumentalities, and all expenditures of public funds, more directly responsive to the wishes of the people as expressed by their elected representatives through various means. Existing law declares that the availability of housing is of vital statewide importance. Current law declares that the provision of housing affordable to low- and moderate-income households requires the cooperation of all levels of government. Current law declares that housing prices in California have risen dramatically in all parts of the state in the past decade, while the wealth gap, especially the racial wealth gap, continues to be a growing problem in California. This bill would require the commission to study the causes and effects of the rising cost of living in California and develop solutions toward making California a more affordable place to live, as specified. The bill would require the commission to meet quarterly, as specified. The bill would require the commission to complete 2 reports describing the commission’s findings and recommendations, as specified. The bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2027. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Support |
| AB 51 | (Bonta D) Early childcare and education: California state preschool program. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: The Early Education Act 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 across the state through a mixed-delivery system, as defined. The act requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish rules and regulations for the staffing of all preschool programs under contract with the State Department of Education. This bill would, notwithstanding any provision of the act to contrary, require the department to, among other things, provide prospective California state preschool program providers an equitable opportunity to establish a trained workforce and administrative systems, and technical assistance on how to meet the requirements of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations, as provided. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Support |
| AB 258 | (Reyes D) Economic development: small businesses: Small Business Information Act: internet web portal. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: Current law requires Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to serve as the Governor’s lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth, and authorizes GO-Biz to establish an interactive internet website, as prescribed. Current law creates the Office of Small Business Advocate (office) within GO-Biz to be led by the Small Business Advocate (advocate), who is appointed by, and serves at the pleasure of, the Governor. Current law imposes prescribed duties on the advocate, including serving as the principal advocate in the state on behalf of small businesses, and enlisting the cooperation and assistance of public and private agencies, businesses, and other organizations in disseminating information about the programs and services provided by state government for the benefit of small businesses. Current law requires the advocate to post specified information on the GO-Biz or advocate’s internet website, including how to receive assistance in certifying as a small business and identifying and participating in state procurement opportunities. This bill would recast those provisions concerning the advocate’s responsibility to post the above-described information on the Go-Biz internet website or the advocate’s website, and would instead require the advocate to establish on the GO-Biz or advocate’s internet website an internet web portal. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Support |
| AB 306 | (Sanchez R) Office of Small Business Advocate: one-stop capital shop online platform. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: Current law creates the Office of Small Business Advocate (the office) within GO-Biz to be led by the Small Business Advocate, who is appointed by, and serves at the pleasure of, the Governor. Current law requires the Small Business Advocate to, among other things, counsel small businesses on how to resolve questions and problems concerning the relationship of small business to state government. Current law requires the Small Business Advocate to prepare and submit a written annual report to the Governor and to the Legislature that describes the activities and recommendations of the office regarding small business development, as prescribed. This bill would enact the One-Stop Capital Shop Act that would require the office to serve as the lead state government entity for helping California small businesses become finance-ready relative to state programs utilizing certain federal funds. The bill would also require the office, on or before July 1, 2024, to launch the One-Stop Capital Shop online platform to assist small businesses in accessing safe funding opportunities and to reduce barriers in access to affordable capital. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Support |
| AB 324 | (Pacheco D) Gas corporations: renewable gas procurement. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: Would require the Public Utilities Commission to open a new proceeding, or a new phase of an existing proceeding, to consider establishing procurement goals for renewable hydrogen, as defined, and consider requiring each gas corporation and core transport agent to annually procure a proportionate share of renewable hydrogen to meet those goals. The bill would require the commission to make specified findings before establishing renewable hydrogen procurement targets or goals. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Support |
| AB 596 | (Reyes D) Early learning and care: rate reform. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: The Early Education Act, among other things, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer all California state preschool programs, including, but not limited to, part-day and full-day age and developmentally appropriate programs for 3- and 4-year-old children. The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of child care and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Current law requires the department, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates, as specified. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to develop an alternative methodology for calculating subsidy payment rates for child care and development services and California state preschool program services that build upon and align with the recommendations of the working group and Joint Labor Management Committee, and that uses a cost estimation model, as specified. The bill would require the department to develop an interim transition plan, if necessary, to implement the alternative methodology, as specified, and to seek preapproval from the United States Department of Health and Human Services to amend the state’s current Child Care and Development Fund State Plan to change its current methodology for determining childcare and development and preschool subsidy payment rates to the alternative methodology. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Education to implement the alternative methodology upon notice, in writing, to the Legislature that the alternative methodology has been adopted, as specified. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Support |
| AB 728 | (Jackson D) School accountability: local control and accountability plans. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: Current law requires the State Board of Education to, on or before March 31, 2014, adopt a template for a local control and accountability plan (LCAP) and an annual update to the LCAP for use by school districts, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools. Current law, on or before January 31, 2022, requires the template adopted by the state board to require the inclusion of certain information, including, among other information, a description of the annual goals to be achieved for certain state priorities, as specified, a description of the specific actions that the school district, county office of education, or charter school will take during each year of the LCAP to achieve these goals, and an assessment of the effectiveness of the specific actions described in the existing LCAP toward achieving the goals, as provided. This bill would require the template adopted by the state board to instead require the inclusion of an assessment of the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of the specific actions described in the existing LCAP toward achieving the goals, as provided. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Support |
| AB 789 | (Berman D) Student financial aid: Cal Grants: satisfactory academic progress. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: For a student to qualify for a Cal Grant award, current law requires that the student, among other things, make satisfactory academic progress at a qualifying institution. Current law defines “satisfactory academic progress” as those criteria required by applicable federal standards published in Title 34 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Current law authorizes the commission to adopt regulations defining “satisfactory academic progress” in a manner that is consistent with the federal standards. This bill would require, as part of the criteria to be a qualifying institution under the Cal Grant Program, an institution, by the start of the 2024–25 academic year, to comply with various requirements regarding “satisfactory academic progress” standards used to determine if a student qualifies for a Cal Grant and to develop and implement policies defining “satisfactory academic progress” in a manner that is consistent with the federal standards. The bill would delete the commission’s authorization to adopt regulations defining “satisfactory academic progress.” | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Support |
| AB 1198 | (Grayson D) GO-Biz: Energy Unit: equity. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: Current law establishes, within the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, known as “GO-Biz,”, the Energy Unit to accelerate the planning, financing, and execution of critical energy infrastructure projects that are necessary for the state to reach its climate, energy, and sustainability policy goals, including by identifying barriers, making recommendations, creating a working group, coordinating between the state’s climate and energy agencies, and cooperating with local, regional, federal, and California public and private businesses and investors. Current law requires the Energy Unit to submit a report to the Legislature on its activities on or before February 1 of each year, as specified. This bill would require the Energy Unit to identify, among other things, nonratepayer-funded energy industry resources, including grants, tax credits, loans, and technical assistance, across local, state, and federal departments and agencies that are available to assist businesses and workers in the transition to a net-zero-powered economy. The bill would require the Energy Unit to work with specified agencies to identify workforce development programs specific to the energy industry and gather data on how education and outreach is conducted to disadvantaged communities, as defined. The bill would also require the Energy Unit, in collaboration with the Small Business Advocate, to identify the participation levels in those energy industry resources by businesses owned by women, minorities, disabled individuals, and veteran-owned businesses, as well as individuals from disadvantaged communities. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Support |
| AB 1392 | (Rodriguez D) Hospitals: procurement contracts. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: Current law requires a licensed hospital with operating expenses of $50,000,000 or more, and a licensed hospital with operating expenses of $25,000,000 or more that is part of a hospital system, to submit an annual report to the Department of Health Care Access and Information, formerly structured as the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, on the hospital’s minority, women, LGBT, and disabled veteran business enterprise procurement efforts, as specified. Existing law imposes certain civil penalties for failure to file a report. This bill would require those hospitals to annually submit, beginning July 1, 2025, and annually by July 1 thereafter, a plan, instead of the above-described report, for increasing procurement from minority, women, LGBT, and disabled veteran business tier 1 and tier 2 enterprises. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| AB 1565 | (Jones-Sawyer D) California Cannabis Tax Fund: local equity program grants. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), an initiative measure, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA), among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. MAUCRSA establishes the Department of Cannabis Control within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to administer the act. This bill would require, effective July 1, 2028, the Controller to disburse up to $15,000,000, as specified, to the department for the 2028–29 fiscal year and every fiscal year thereafter. The bill would require the department to use the disbursements to support local equity programs in eligible local jurisdictions to assist local equity applicants and licensees gaining entry into, and to successfully operate in, the state’s regulated cannabis marketplace, as specified. By expanding the purposes for which continuously appropriated moneys may be used, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of AUMA. This bill contains other existing laws. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Support |
| SB 16 | (Smallwood-Cuevas D) Civil rights: discrimination: enforcement. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: The Unruh Civil Rights Act generally prohibits business establishments from discriminating on specified bases. The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (act) prohibits discrimination in housing and employment on specified bases and provides procedures for enforcement by the Civil Rights Department. Current law specifies that while it is the intent of the Legislature that the act occupy the field of regulation of discrimination in employment and housing, nothing in the act shall be construed to limit or restrict the application of the Unruh Civil Rights Act. This bill would, commencing on January 1, 2025, also specify that nothing in the act shall be construed to limit or restrict efforts by local entities to enforce state law prohibiting discrimination against classes of persons covered by the act in employment and housing, provided that the enforcement complies with regulations governing local enforcement of the act that the bill would require the Civil Rights Department to promulgate by____. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| SB 51 | (Bradford D) Cannabis provisional licenses: local equity applicants. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA), an initiative measure, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. Existing law, the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA), among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities, and establishes the Department of Cannabis Control to administer its provisions. This bill, until January 1, 2031, would additionally authorize the department, in its sole discretion, to issue a provisional license for a local equity applicant for retailer activities if the applicant meets specified requirements. The bill would authorize the department, in its sole discretion, to renew a provisional license for a local equity applicant for retailer activities until it issues or denies the provisional licensee’s annual license, subject to specified requirements, or until 5 years from the date the provisional license was originally issued, whichever is earlier. By extending provisional licensure, the applications for which are required to be signed under penalty of perjury, the bill would expand the scope of the crime of perjury, and would thereby impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department to report to the appropriate committees of the Legislature on, among other things, the number of provisional licenses that have been granted under the bill’s provisions. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Support |
| SB 430 | (Dodd D) Tied-house exceptions: advertising: common parent company. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act which is administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the application, issuance, and suspension of licenses for the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages. Current law, known as tied-house restrictions, generally prohibits specified licensees and their agents from paying a retailer for advertising. Current law creates a variety of exceptions to this general prohibition. This bill would create a new exception to the tied-house restrictions on advertising. In this regard, the bill would authorize specified licensees to purchase advertising services from an advertising subsidiary that is under common ownership with a retail licensee subsidiary, subject to specified conditions. The bill would require an advertising subsidiary from whom an authorized licensee purchases advertising services pursuant to these provisions to submit to the department semiannually a report that summarizes those services and includes other specified information. The bill would make the solicitation or coercion of a wholesaler or an authorized licensee, as specified, in connection with the advertising services permitted under these provisions a misdemeanor and subject to specified penalties. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| SB 593 | (Wiener D) Redevelopment: successor agency debt: City and County of San Francisco. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Summary: Current law, among other powers granted to successor agencies generally, additionally vests the successor agency to the former Redevelopment Agency of the City and County of San Francisco with the authority, rights, and powers of that former redevelopment agency solely for the purpose of issuing bonds or incurring other indebtedness, subject to the approval of the oversight board of the successor agency, to finance the construction of affordable housing and infrastructure required by specified development agreements. Under current law, these bonds and indebtedness are considered indebtedness incurred by the dissolved redevelopment agency secured by moneys deposited in the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund established for that agency. This bill would expand this authority to include bonds issued and other indebtedness incurred to finance the development, construction, repair, renovation, or reconstruction of affordable housing units that are or remain affordable to, and occupied by, persons and families of low-, moderate-, extremely low, and very low income households for at least 55 years for rental units and 45 years for owner-occupied units, subject to specified conditions and authorizations. The bill would specify the security requirements for the bonds issued or other indebtedness incurred to finance the development, construction, repair, renovation, or reconstruction of affordable housing units. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Support |
Total Measures: 15
Total Tracking Forms: 15
10/25/2024 6:06:42 AM
