April 10, 2025
Golden State Republican Women
Janet Price, President
Submitted by the GSRW Legislative Analyst Committee
Valerie Evans, Lou Ann Flaherty and Elaine Freeman,
IN THE NEWS
AB 1421 Introduced (02/21/2025) (Wilson) (D). Road Usage Charge Technical Advisory Committee
Existing law requires the Chair of the California Transportation Commission to create a road usage charge technical advisory committee in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation to guide the development and evaluation of a pilot program assessing the potential for mileage-based revenue collection as an alternative to the gas tax system.
Existing law additionally requires the Transportation Agency, in consultation with the commission, to implement the pilot program, as specified. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2027.
This bill would extend the operation of the above described provisions until January 1, 2035. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.
This extension is important to the State of California because of their desire to impose the mileage fee for additional revenue for road/highway improvements. Currently State funding for transportation comes mainly from six (6) different fuel taxes and vehicle fees dedicated to specific purposes. The gasoline excise tax is by far the largest of these charges. The tax is 57.9 cents per gallon and generates about $7,800,000,000 in fiscal year 2023-24.
That being said, however, because the State has pushed and legislated for the use of electric vehicles, the State can project a loss of gas tax monies so that electric vehicle owners can pay their fair share. What is not clear is if the mileage fee was acted on, would the State reduce other transportation taxes for those not driving electric vehicles or would this tax just be on electric vehicle owners.
This program has been talked about since the early 80’s so now it seems there is more motivation because of electric vehicles.
AB 475, as amended (03/10/2025), Wilson (D). Prisons and jails: employment of inmates.
Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to require each able-bodied inmate, including a condemned inmate, to work as prescribed by CDCR regulations. Existing CDCR regulations require each inmate to participate in 8 hours a day of programming, including labor, education, counseling, physical fitness, and other programs, 5 days per week. Under existing CDCR regulations, an inmate who fails to participate as required is subject to a loss of privileges, including the earning of good conduct credit.
Existing law also authorizes a board of supervisors or city council, through an order, to require all persons confined in a county or city jail, industrial farm, or road camp, as specified, to perform labor on the public works or ways in the county or city, respectively, and to engage in the prevention and suppression of forest, brush, and grass fires upon lands within the county or city, respectively.
This bill would no longer require CDCR to require each able-bodied inmate to work and, instead, would require CDCR to develop a voluntary work program and to prescribe rules and regulations regarding voluntary work assignments for CDCR inmates, including the wages for work assignments, and would require wages for work assignments in county and city jail programs to be set by local ordinance.
The bill would, on and after January 1, 2027, prohibit CDCR from requiring incarcerated persons, except as specified, to work. By requiring local authorities to pass a local ordinance to set compensation for county and city jail programs, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.
IN THE NEWS / IMMIGRATION
SB281 Introduced (02/05/2025) (Perez) (D). Pleas: Immigration Advisement –
Existing law requires the court, prior to the acceptance of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, to advise the defendant that if they are not a citizen, conviction of the crime charged may result in deportation, exclusion from admission to the United States, or denial of naturalization.
After January 1, 1978 if the court fails to advise the defendant, as required and the defendant shows that conviction of the offense to which the defendant pleaded guilty or nolo contendere may have the consequences for the defendant of deportation, exclusion from admission to the United States or denial of naturalization pursuant to the laws of the United States, the court, on the defendant’s motion, is required to vacate the contendere, and enter a plea of not guilty.
This bill would require the court to give the above described advisement verbatim and would clarify the advisement to state that if the defendant is not a citizen of the United States, conviction may result in the specified immigration consequences.
AB 49, as amended (04/02/2025), Muratsuch (D)i. Schoolsites and day care centers: entry requirements: Schoolsites: immigration enforcement.
(1) Existing law prohibits, except as required by state or federal law or as required to administer a state or federally supported educational program, school officials and employees of a school district, county office of education, or charter school from collecting information or documents regarding citizenship or immigration status of pupils or their family members.
Existing law requires the superintendent of a school district, the superintendent of a county office of education, and the principal of a charter school, as applicable, to report to the respective governing board or body of the local educational agency in a timely manner any requests for information or access to a schoolsite by an officer or employee of a law enforcement agency for the purpose of enforcing the immigration laws in a manner that ensures the confidentiality and privacy of any potentially identifying information.
This bill would prohibit school officials and employees of a local educational agency from allowing an officer or employee of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) an agency conducting immigration enforcement to enter a schoolsite for any purpose without providing valid identification, a written statement of purpose, and a valid identification and a valid, signed judicial warrant, and receiving approval from the superintendent of the school district, the superintendent of the county office of education, or the principal of the charter school, or their designee, as applicable.
The bill would require the local educational agency, if the officer or employee of ICE meets those requirements, to limit access to facilities where pupils are not present. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
AB 666 Introduced (02/14/2025) (Rogers) (D). State Cryptid –
Existing law establishes the state flag and the state’s emblems, including, among other things the golden poppy as the official state flower and the California redwood as the official state tree.
This bill would establish Bigfoot as the official state cryptid.
This is such an important item, for sure, to all of us. Could this have been an April Fool’s joke?
PHARMACIES / PHARMACISTS / HEALTH
AB 957, as introduced (02/20/2025), Ortega (D). Cigarette and tobacco products: retail sale: pharmacies.
Existing law, the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2023, requires a retailer to hold a license from the State Board of Equalization to engage in the sale of cigarettes or tobacco products, and makes a violation of those provisions a misdemeanor and subject to specified other penalties. Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacies by the California State Board of Pharmacy, and makes a violation of the Pharmacy Law a misdemeanor.
This bill would prohibit a pharmacy from engaging in the retail sale of cigarettes or tobacco products. Because a violation of the bill’s provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
AB 309, as introduced (01/23/2025), Zbur (D). Hypodermic needles and syringes.
Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacists and pharmacies by the California State Board of Pharmacy. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, authorizes a physician or pharmacist to, without a prescription or permit, furnish hypodermic needles and syringes for human use to a person 18 years of age or older, and authorizes a person 18 years of age or older to, without a prescription or license, obtain hypodermic needles and syringes solely for personal use from a physician or pharmacist, as a public health measure, as specified.
Existing law, until January 1, 2026, requires a pharmacy that furnishes nonprescription syringes to provide written information or verbal counseling to consumers, as specified, at the time of furnishing or sale of nonprescription hypodermic needles or syringes. Existing law, when no other penalty is provided, makes a knowing violation of the Pharmacy Law a misdemeanor and, in all other instances, makes a violation punishable as an infraction.
This bill would delete the January 1, 2026, repeal date, thereby extending those provisions indefinitely, and would make other conforming changes. By indefinitely extending an existing requirement under the Pharmacy Law, the violation of which is a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
AB 50, as amended (04/01/2025), Bonta (D). Pharmacists: furnishing contraceptives.
Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, establishes in the Department of Consumer Affairs the California State Board of Pharmacy to license and regulate the practice of pharmacy. Exiting law requires a pharmacist, when furnishing self-administered hormonal contraceptives, to follow specified standardized procedures or protocols developed and approved by both the board and the Medical Board of California in consultation with the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the California Pharmacists Association, and other appropriate entities.
Existing law requires those standardized procedures or protocols to require that the patient use a self-screening tool that will identify related patient risk factors and that require the pharmacist to refer the patient for appropriate follow up care, as specified. Existing law requires the pharmacist to provide the recipient of the drug with a standardized factsheet that includes the indications and contraindications for use of the drug, the appropriate method for using the drug, the need for medical follow up, and other appropriate information.
Existing law authorizes a pharmacist furnishing an FDA-approved, self-administered hormonal contraceptive pursuant to the above-described protocols to furnish, at the patient’s request, up to a 12-month supply at one time.
This bill would limit the application of those requirements to self-administered hormonal contraceptives that are prescription-only, and would authorize a pharmacist to furnish over-the-counter contraceptives without following those standardized procedures or protocols. The bill would additionally authorize a pharmacist to furnish up to a 12-month supply at one time of over-the-counter contraceptives at the patient’s request. The bill would make related conforming changes.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
AB 575, as amended (03/12/2025), Arambula (D). Obesity Prevention Treatment Parity Act.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act’s requirements a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of disability and health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law sets forth specified coverage requirements for plan contracts and insurance policies.
This bill, the Obesity Prevention Treatment Parity Act, would require an individual or group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy that provides coverage for outpatient prescription drug benefits, as specified, and is issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, to include coverage for at least one specified anti-obesity medication and intensive behavioral therapy for the treatment of obesity without prior authorization. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
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”.
