November 2, 2023
Golden State Republican Women
Janet Price, President
Submitted by the GSRW Legislative Analyst Committee
Karen Contreras, Lou Ann Flaherty and Elaine Freeman,
OUR REVIEW OF SIGNED AND VETOED BILLS FOR 2023 CONTINUES:
AB 223 by Assembly Member Chris Ward (D Coronado) Change of gender and sex identifier.
This bill was signed by the Governor on September 23, 2023.
This bill requires all courts in California to keep sex or gender changes by minors confidential. With this new law, only the minor who petitions to change their sex or gender on government documents can access such court information, along with their parents or guardians, and their attorneys. The bill also states that for a minor to change their gender and sex identifier to male, female, or nonbinary, the court will recognize such changes if the child submits a simple affidavit stating their new sex and gender. The court will then be required to issue the child new documents including a birth certificate to reflect such changes
Specific AB 223 detail below:
Existing law authorizes a person to file a petition with the superior court seeking a judgment recognizing their change of gender to female, male, or nonbinary, including a person who is under 18 years of age. Existing law authorizes a person to file a single petition to simultaneously change the petitioner’s name and recognize the change to the petitioner’s gender and sex identifier, as specified.
This bill would require any petition for a change of gender and sex identifier or a petition for change of gender, sex identifier, and name filed by a person under 18 years of age, and any papers associated with the proceeding, to be kept confidential by the court. The bill would require the court to limit access to these records to specified individuals, including, among others, the minor, the minor’s parents, and their attorneys.
AB 1306, Wendy Carrillo. State government: immigration enforcement.
This bill was VETOED by the Governor on September 22, 2023
Existing law, the California Values Act, prohibits a California law enforcement agency, defined as including both state and local agencies but excluding the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, from providing a person’s release date or responding to a request for notification of a release date, unless that information is available to the public.
The bill would prohibit the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from detaining on the basis of a hold request, providing an immigration authority with release date information, or responding to a notification request, transferring to an immigration authority, or facilitating or assisting with a transfer request any individual who is eligible for release pursuant to specified provisions, including, among others, youth offender, elderly, and medical parole releases.
Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to cooperate with the United States Department of Homeland Security by providing the use of prison facilities, transportation, and general support, as needed, for the purposes of conducting and expediting deportation hearings and subsequent placement of deportation holds on undocumented immigrants who are incarcerated in state prison.
Existing law requires the department to identify inmates serving terms in state prison who are undocumented aliens subject to deportation. Existing law would require the department, upon the enactment of any federal law requiring these persons to be incarcerated in federal prison, to provide this information to the federal government, as specified.
This bill would repeal these provisions.
The governor’s veto message can be found here.
An excerpt of veto message by Governor Newsom: “This bill prohibits the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) from providing any information or responding to a request for coordination from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a federal law enforcement agency, regarding the imminent release of an incarcerated non-citizen, if the person is being released under specific circumstances.”
SB 669, Cortese. Veterinarians: veterinarian-client-patient relationship.
This bill was signed by the Governor on October 13, 2023.
Existing law, the Veterinary Medicine Practice Act, establishes the Veterinary Medical Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs for the licensure and regulation of veterinarians and the practice of veterinary medicine. Existing law makes a violation of the act a crime. The act prohibits any person from practicing veterinary medicine, as defined, without a license.
This bill would authorize a veterinarian to allow a registered veterinary technician to act as an agent of the veterinarian for the purpose of establishing the veterinarian-client-patient relationship to administer preventive or prophylactic vaccines or medications for the control or eradication of apparent or anticipated internal or external parasites by satisfying specified criteria.
SB 765, Portantino. Teachers: retired teachers: compensation limitation.
This bill was signed by the Governor on October 13, 2023.
(1) Existing law, the Teachers’ Retirement Law, establishes the State Teachers’ Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers’ Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. Under existing law, STRS is governed by the Teachers’ Retirement Board (board).
Existing law permits members retired for service from STRS to perform retired member activities without reinstatement into the system if certain conditions are met. Existing law limits the postretirement compensation of a retired member of the program, in any school year, to an amount calculated by STRS each July 1 equal to 1/2 of the median final compensation of all members who retired for service during the fiscal year ending in the previous calendar year.
This bill would modify that calculation so the limitation of postretirement compensation, in any school year, is instead an amount calculated by STRS each July 1 equal to 70% of the median final compensation of all members who retired for service during the fiscal year ending in the previous calendar year.
Existing law establishes an additional postretirement compensation limit of $0 during the first 180 calendar days after the most recent retirement of a retired member for the performance of retired member activities. Under existing law, if a retired member has attained normal retirement age at the time compensation is earned, this postretirement compensation limit does not apply if the appointment has been approved by the employer in a public meeting and a resolution containing certain information has been adopted by the governing body of the employer, as specified.
This bill would instead authorize a member retired from service to perform retired member activities, notwithstanding the above-mentioned 180 calendar days compensation limitation, if a request for exemption containing specified information is submitted by the Superintendent, the county superintendent of schools, or the chief executive officer of a community college to STRS, under penalty of perjury, as prescribed.
(2) Existing law establishes the Cash Balance Benefit Program, administered by the board, as a separate benefit program within the State Teachers’ Retirement Plan for purposes of providing a retirement plan for persons employed to perform creditable service for less than 50% of full-time equivalent service. Existing law provides that the normal retirement age for the program is 60 or 62 years of age, as applicable.
Under the program, a participant retired for service may perform retired participant activities, but prohibits the participant from making contributions to the plan or accruing service credit under the Defined Benefit Program based on compensation earned from that service.
Under the program, if the retired participant performs retired participant activities, receives compensation paid in cash for those activities, and meets other specified conditions, the annuity paid to the retired participant is reduced by the amount of compensation. Existing law, however, does not require reduction of the participant’s annuity if the governing body of the employer, among other things, approves the appointment of the retired participant by resolution.
This bill would instead exempt a retired participant from the annuity reduction requirement if the Superintendent, the county superintendent of schools, or the chief executive officer of a community college submits a request for exemption to STRS with certification, under penalty of perjury, of specified information.
By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require a written copy or copies of the completed documentation that substantiates the need for the request for exemption to be submitted to the exclusive representative of employees prior to the retired participant’s performance of retired participant activities.
(3) This bill would make all of the above-described changes effective from only July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2026, inclusive, before reverting to existing law.
AB 33, Bains. Fentanyl Misuse and Overdose Prevention Task Force.
This bill was signed by the Governor on October 13, 2023.
Existing law, the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act, classifies controlled substances into 5 schedules and places the greatest restrictions and penalties on the use of those substances placed in Schedule I. The act classifies the drug fentanyl in Schedule II. Existing law prohibits a person from possessing for sale or purchasing for purposes of sale, specified controlled substances, including fentanyl, and provides for imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years for a violation of this provision.
This bill would, subject to an appropriation, establish the Fentanyl Misuse and Overdose Prevention Task Force to undertake various duties relating to fentanyl misuse, including, among others, collecting and organizing data on the nature and extent of fentanyl misuse in California and evaluating approaches to increase public awareness of fentanyl misuse. The bill would require the task force to be cochaired by the Attorney General and the State Public Health Officer, or their designees, and would specify the membership of the task force.
The bill would require the first meeting of the task force to take place no later than June 1, 2024, and would require the task force to meet at least once every 2 months. The bill would require the task force to submit an interim report to the Governor and the Legislature by July 1, 2025, and would require the task force to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature by December 1, 2025.
The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2026.
(2 years to report on the MISUSE and Overdose Prevention of the highly addictive and deadly drug FENTANYL)
The California State Legislature has adjourned until January 3, 2024.
Legislative Portal links- Express your support or opposition to a bill or directly to the Legislative committee currently reviewing it (as an individual, not as a member of RW or GSRW)– click here, or the bill’s author- click here, enter your bill # and look for tab at top of the bill page labeled “Comments to Author”
