June 6, 2024
Golden State Republican Women
Janet Price, President
Submitted by the GSRW Legislative Analyst Committee
Valerie Evans, Lou Ann Flaherty and Elaine Freeman,
Passing of Assembly Bill 1990 in the Assembly was a surprise! Now on to the Senate. We will keep watching the progress of this bill.
AB 1990, as amended, Wendy Carrillo. Criminal procedure: arrests: shoplifting.
(1) Existing law prohibits shoplifting, defined as entering a commercial establishment with intent to commit theft while that establishment is open during regular business hours, where the value of the property that is taken or intended to be taken does not exceed $950. Existing law requires an act that falls within this definition to be charged as shoplifting and not as burglary or theft. Under existing law, shoplifting is punishable as a misdemeanor, except when the defendant has prior convictions, as specified.
Existing law authorizes a peace officer to make a warrantless arrest for a misdemeanor when the officer has probable cause to believe the person to be arrested has committed the misdemeanor in the officer’s presence. Existing law also authorizes a private person to make an arrest for a misdemeanor committed in their presence, and requires the person to deliver the arrested person to a peace officer or magistrate. Existing law additionally authorizes a merchant to detain a person for a reasonable time and in a reasonable manner to determine if a person has unlawfully taken merchandise.
Existing law authorizes a peace officer to make a warrantless arrest for specified misdemeanors relating to domestic violence, violation of a restraining order, and carrying a concealed firearm at an airport that did not occur in the officer’s presence.
This bill would authorize a peace officer to make a warrantless arrest for a misdemeanor shoplifting offense not committed in the officer’s presence if the officer has probable cause to believe that person has committed shoplifting, as specified.
(2) Existing law requires a peace officer to release upon a signed promise to appear any person arrested for a misdemeanor, unless the person demands to be taken before a magistrate. Existing law provides certain reasons a person arrested for a misdemeanor shall not be released including that the person is intoxicated or in need of medical attention, the person is unable to provide satisfactory proof of identification, or there are outstanding arrest warrants for the person. Additionally, existing law exempts from this provision persons arrest for specified crimes including domestic violence, stalking, threatening a witness, and, until January 1, 2026, organized retail theft.
This bill would additionally exempt a person arrested for shoplifting from the requirement that they be released on citation.
Check out the details of the Assembly voting: (Remember the Democrats have a super majority and this bill passed!)
Passed the Assembly on 05/23/2024 and in the Senate on 05/24/2024.
SB 53, as amended, Portantino. Firearms: storage.
Existing law generally regulates the possession of firearms, including imposing storage requirements to prevent children from gaining access to firearms.
This bill would, beginning on January 1, 2026, prohibit the owner or other lawfully authorized user of a firearm from keeping or storing a firearm in a residence owned or controlled by that person unless the firearm is stored in a locked box or safe that is listed on the Department of Justice’s list of approved firearm safety devices and is properly engaged so that the firearm cannot be accessed by any person other than the owner, as specified.
The bill would make a first violation of this offense punishable as an infraction, and a second or subsequent violation punishable as a misdemeanor. The bill would exempt firearms that are permanently inoperable from these provisions. The bill would require the Department of Justice to promptly engage in a public awareness and education campaign to inform residents about these standards for storage of firearms.
The bill would additionally prohibit a person convicted under these provisions from owning, purchasing, receiving, or possessing a firearm within one year of the conviction, as specified. The bill would make a violation of this provision punishable as a misdemeanor or felony.
Existing law requires a firearm that is sold or transferred by a licensed firearms dealer, including a private transfer through a dealer, and any firearm manufactured in this state, to include or be accompanied by a firearm safety device, as specified.
This bill would instead require, beginning on January 1, 2026, the firearm to include or be accompanied by a lock box or safe, except as specified.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor or a felony if a person keeps a firearm within any premises that are under the person’s custody or control and the person knows or reasonably should know that a child is likely to gain access to the firearm without the permission of the child’s parent or legal guardian, and the child obtains access to the firearm and causes injury, other than great bodily injury, or death or great bodily injury to the child or any other person, or carries that firearm off-premises, as defined, to a public place or a school.
Existing law exempts a person from the above provisions if the person has no reasonable expectation, based on objective facts and circumstances, that a child is likely to be present on the premises.
This bill would remove these exemptions.
Hearing: Jun 4 @ 9:00 am in State Capitol, Room 126
AB 1999, as amended, Irwin. Electricity: fixed charges.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to adopt new, or expand existing, fixed charges, as defined, for the purpose of collecting a reasonable portion of the fixed costs of providing electrical service to residential customers.
Under existing law, the commission may authorize fixed charges for any rate schedule applicable to a residential customer account. Existing law requires the commission, no later than July 1, 2024, to authorize a fixed charge for default residential rates. Existing law requires these fixed charges to be established on an income-graduated basis, with no fewer than 3 income thresholds, so that low-income ratepayers in each baseline territory would realize a lower average monthly bill without making any changes in usage.
This bill would prohibit modifications to the amount of the income-graduated fixed charge from exceeding changes in inflation, as provided. The bill would make the provisions authorizing the income-graduated fixed charge inoperative on July 1, 2028. The bill, commencing July 1, 2028, would instead permit the commission to authorize fixed charges that, as of January 1, 2015, do not exceed $5 per residential customer account per month for low-income customers enrolled in the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program and that do not exceed $10 per residential customer account per month for customers not enrolled in the CARE program.
The bill would authorize these maximum allowable fixed charges to be adjusted by no more than the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for the prior calendar year, beginning January 1, 2016.
The bill would require the commission to adopt any modification to an existing fixed charge for the collection of a reasonable portion of the fixed costs of providing electrical service to residential customers in a stand-alone proceeding. The bill would prohibit a fixed charge from resulting in an increase to an electrical corporation’s revenue requirement.
The bill would require the commission, on or before July 1, 2027, but no sooner than 2 years after the adoption of the income-graduated fixed charge, to submit a public report to the relevant policy committees of both houses of the Legislature on the electrical corporations’ implementation of the income-graduated fixed charge and other cost-saving options, as specified.
AB 2513, as amended, Pellerin. Gas stoves and ranges: warning label.
Existing law sets forth various health and safety requirements and prohibitions, including product safety label requirements.
This bill would prohibit a person from selling, attempting to sell, or offering to sell to a consumer in this state a gas stove, as defined, that is manufactured or sold online on or after January 1, 2025, or sold in a store on or after January 1, 2026, unless the gas stove bears a label attached in a conspicuous location and, for online sales, unless the internet website prominently posts a warning, that sets forth a specified statement relating to air pollutants that can be released by gas stoves, among other requirements.
Hearing: Jun 5 @ 9:30 am in 1021 O Street, Room 1200
SB 1128, as amended, Portantino. Sex offender registration: unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.
Existing law, the Sex Offender Registration Act (the Act), requires a person convicted of specified crimes to register with law enforcement as a sex offender while residing in California or while attending school or working in California, as specified. Existing law establishes 3 tiers of registration based on specified criteria, for periods of at least 10 years, at least 20 years, and life, respectively, for a conviction of specified sex offenses.
Existing law exempts from mandatory registration under the Act a person convicted of certain offenses involving minors if the person is not more than 10 years older than the minor and if that offense is the only one requiring the person to register. A willful failure to register, as required by the Act, is a misdemeanor or felony, depending on the underlying offense.
This bill would require offenders guilty of engaging in an act of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor who is more than 3 years younger than the offender, or, if the offender was 21 years of age or older, engaging in an act of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor who is under 16 years of age, to register for 10 years as a tier one offender under the Act, unless the offender was not more than 10 years older than the minor and if that offense is the only one requiring the offender to register.
Passed the Assembly on 05/22/2024 and in the Senate on 05/23/2024.
AB 1889, as amended, Friedman. conservation element: wildlife and habitat connectivity.
Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires the legislative body of a city or county to adopt a comprehensive general plan that includes various elements, including land use, housing, and conservation elements, as specified. Existing law requires the conservation element to consider the effect of development within the jurisdiction on natural resources located on public lands.
This bill would additionally require the conservation element to consider the effect of development within the jurisdiction on the movement of wildlife and habitat connectivity. The bill would require the conservation element, upon the next update of one or more elements on or after January 1, 2026, to, among other things, identify and analyze connectivity areas, permeability, and natural landscape areas within the jurisdiction, identify and analyze existing or planned wildlife passage features, and consider the impacts of development and the barriers caused by development to wildlife and habitat connectivity.
The bill would authorize a city, county, or city and county to incorporate by reference into their general plan an existing plan that meets these requirements. The bill would authorize a city, county, or city and county preparing to update its conservation element to consider incorporating appropriate standards, policies, and implementation programs, consult with specified entities, and consider relevant best available science.
The bill would authorize a city, county, or city and county to consult with other appropriate entities and include the above-described required information in a separate component or section of the general plan entitled a wildlife connectivity element.
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”.
