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California P&C Legislative Watchlist for 2024

March 20, 2024

CLAIMS ADMINISTRATION

AB 3040 (Boerner) — Liability Policies: Lawsuits

Current caselaw, defines a “suit” or “lawsuit” as used in a liability insurance policy, it is construed against the insurer to protect the insured’s reasonable expectation of coverage, where those terms include administrative adjudications. This bill codifies existing caselaw by specifying that in addition to a lawsuit filed in court to include order, directive, mandate, requirement, or other regulatory enforcement action or agreement by any federal, state, or local agency with jurisdiction to enforce environmental laws or regulations requiring an insured party to take action with respect to contamination with the state.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

SB 1229 — (Nguyen) Insurance Disclosures

This bill would require a property and casualty insurer to disclose to an applicant or insured when it has used artificial intelligence to make decisions on or that affect, applications and claims review.

Status: This bill has been referred to the Senate Insurance Committee.

SB 1296 — (Rubio) Insurance: Judicial Interpretation

This bill would state that a secondary source on insurance is not the law or public policy of the state and is not authoritative, if among other things, it conflicts with the state constitution or statutes.

Status: This bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.


DISCRIMINATION

AB 1815 — (Weber) Discrimination: Hairstyles: Amateur Sports Organizations

This bill prohibits an amateur sports organization from discriminating against any person on the basis of race, inclusive of traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, in the operation, conduct, or administration of a youth or amateur sports competition, training, camp, or club. “Amateur sports organization” means an organization, business, nonprofit entity, or a local governmental agency that sponsors or conducts youth or amateur sports competitions, trainings, camps, or clubs. But it does not include a collegiate sports organization.

Status: The bill was referred for hearing in the Assembly Judiciary committee, but was canceled at the author’s request.

AB 2326 — (Alvarez) Public Postsecondary Education: Sex Discrimination Policies

(Spot bill) AB 2326 states the intent of legislature to enact legislation related to the statewide monitoring of the implementation of sex discrimination policies at public postsecondary educational institutions.

Status: AB 2326 is pending a committee referral.

AB 2492 (Irwin) — Public Postsecondary Education: Sex Discrimination Complaints: Advocates and Coordinators

(Spot bill) States intent of Legislature to enact legislation that would require each campus of the CCC’s, CSU’s and UC’s to provide confidential advocates and respondent coordinators, for purposes of sex discrimination.

Status: This bill is pending committee referral.


EMPLOYMENT

AB 810 (Freidman) — Postsecondary Education: Hiring Practices: Academic, Athletic, and Administrative Appointments

This bill would require postsecondary educational institutions, during the process to authorize a volunteer in the athletic department, to contact the current or former employer of the individual applying for volunteer authorization to determine if the applicant violated any employment policies. The bill also requires as part of the hiring process for an appointment to an academic, athletic, or administrative position, to have an applicant sign a release form that authorizes the release of information by the applicant’s previous employers concerning any substantiated allegations of misconduct to be used by the post-secondary education institution to obtain that information.

Status: This is a two-year bill that has passed in the Assembly and is awaiting a Senate Committee referral.

AB 2299 (Flora) — Labor Commissioner: Whistleblower Protections: Model List of Rights and Responsibilities

Current law requires an employer to prominently display a list of employee’s rights and responsibilities under the whistleblower laws. This bill would require the Labor commissioner to develop a model list of employee’s rights and responsibilities under the whistleblower laws.

Status: This bill has been referred to the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee.


FIRST AID

AB 2317 (Nguyen, Stephanie) — Child Day Care Facilities: Anaphylactic Policy

This bill would require the Department of Social Services, in consultation with the Department of Education, to on or before July 1, 2027, establish an anaphylactic policy, setting guidelines and procedures recommended for child day care personnel to prevent a child from suffering from anaphylaxis and to be used during a medical emergency resulting from anaphylaxis. Child care personnel who provides or administers anaphylaxis care would be exempt from liability in a civil or criminal action, except in the case of gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct. The policy would be implemented on or before January 1, 2028, and requires the child day care facility that adopts the policy to notify the parents upon enrollment.

Status: The bill was referred to the Assembly Human Services Committee.

AB 3262 (Maienschein) — Automated External Defibrillators

This bill would require the principal to ensure that students annually receive information that describes sudden cardiac arrest, the school’s emergency response plan, and the proper use of an AED, and notify students at least annually as to the location of all the AED units on campus, when an AED is placed in a public or private school serving grades 6 to 12.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.


HAZING

AB 2193 (Holden) — Hazing: Educational Institutions: Civil Liability: Resources

Beginning on January 1, 2025, this bill establishes civil liability for a public or private institution of higher education, if the institution has direct involvement in the hazing practices of the organization, knew or should have known of the hazing practices and failed to take reasonable steps to stop the practices, or unreasonably failed to prevent or discover the hazing practices, and the organization involved in the hazing is affiliated with the institution at the time of the hazing. To determine whether the institution “knew or should have known” and failed to take reasonable steps to stop the hazing, the bill would require consideration to be given whether the institution had specific antihazing measures in place at the time the hazing incident occurred.

Status: This bill was referred to the Assembly Judiciary Committee. A similar bill was vetoed in 2023, AB 299.


HIGHER EDUCATION

AB 1818 (Jackson) — Public Postsecondary Education: Homeless Students: Parking

This bill would require each UC, CSU, and CCD campus to allow overnight parking by a student attending its campus if the student uses the vehicle as housing, the student has a valid parking permit issued by the campus, and the vehicle is parked in or on a campus-owned and controlled parking lot or parking structure. Additionally, the bill prohibits penalizing or citing a student for using a vehicle as housing if specified circumstances apply.

Status: The bill was set for a first hearing but was canceled at the author’s request.

AB 1841 (Weber) — Student Safety: Opioid Overdose Reversal Medication: Student Housing Facilities

This bill requires each CCD and CSU, to require each university or college affiliated student housing facility to stock federally approved opioid overdose reversal medication obtained through the Naloxone Distribution Project. Also, requires training of all residential staff members at each university or college affiliated student housing facility on the administration of the opioid overdose reversal medication and distribute the medication to all university or college affiliated Greek-life housing facilities.

Status: The bill was referred to the Assembly Higher Education Committee.

AB 2370 (Cervantes) — Community Colleges: Faculty: Artificial Intelligence

This bill prohibits the use of AI to replace community college faculty for purposes of providing academic instruction and regular interaction with students in the courts of instruction. AI could only be used as a peripheral tool to support faculty in carrying out those tasks for uses such as course development, assessment, and tutoring.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

AB 2492 (Irwin) — Public Postsecondary Education: Sex Discrimination Complaints: Advocates and Coordinators

(Spot bill) States intent of Legislature to enact legislation that would require each campus of the CCC’s, CSU’s and UC’s to provide confidential advocates and respondent coordinators, for purposes of sex discrimination.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

AB 2936 (Jackson) — Higher Education Reconciliation Master Plan

Bill requires CCC’s, CSU’s, and UC to develop a reconciliation master plan for use on each of their campuses to address cultural and political conflicts that arise on campus, requiring the plan ensure that students have a forum to be seen, voices heard, and feel safe. It is unknown what is meant by “feel safe.”

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.


HUMAN RESOURCES

AB 1928 (Sanchez) — Worker Classification: Employees and Independent Contractors

This bill would repeal the holding in Dynamax Operations v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (Dynamax) that created a presumption that a worker who performs services for a hire is an employee for purposes of claims for wages and benefits.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

AB 2299 (Flora) — Labor Commissioner: Whistleblower Protections: Model List of Rights and Responsibilities

Current law requires an employer to prominently display a list of employee’s rights and responsibilities under the whistleblower laws. This bill would require the Labor commissioner to develop a model list of employee’s rights and responsibilities under the whistleblower laws.

Status: This bill was referred to the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee.

AB 2499 (Schiavo) — Unlawful Employment Practices: Discrimination for Time Off

Bill revises and recast the jury, court, and victim time off provisions for employees as unlawful employment practices within the California Fair Employment and housing Act, and thus enforceable under the authority of the Civil Rights Department. It also removes the 25 or more employees threshold from the provisions for victims of crime or abuse to seek medical attention for injuries, obtain certain services, or participate in safety planning and take other actions to increase safety caused by a crime or abuse. Expands the eligibility to family members as well, among other changes.

Status: This bill has been referred to the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee.

AB 2534 (Flora) — Certificated Employees: Disclosures: Egregious Misconduct

This bill requires any person applying for a certificated position at a school district, county office of education, or charter school, to provide that prospective employer with a complete list of every school district, county office of education, and charter school that the applicant has previously been an employee of, and would require a local educational agency considering an applicant for a certificated position to inquire with each local educational agency, if the applicant was the subject of any credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or disciplines for, egregious misconduct. The LEA when responding to an inquiry as to whether it has made a report of egregious misconduct to the commission of teaching credentialing, must also provide the inquiring LEA with a copy of all relevant information withing its possession.

Status: This bill has been referred to the Assembly Education Committee.

AB 2930 (Bauer-Kahan) — Automated Decision Tools

This bill would require a deployer (user) and developer of an AI tool to on or before January 1, 2026 and annually thereafter, perform an impact assessment for any AI tool used that includes a statement of the purpose of using the tool, its intended benefits, uses, and deployment context. It also requires a user or developer to prove the impact assessment to the Civil Rights Department within seven days of a request and would publish a violation of that provision with an administrative fine of no more than $10,000. The user of the AI tool is required at or before the time the tool is used to make a consequential decision, notify any natural person that is subject of the consequential decision that an AI tool would be used to make or be a controlling factor in making the decision. This bill would prohibit AI uses in a manner that results in algorithmic discrimination. The bill also would allow certain public attorneys to bring a civil action against a user or developer for a violation of the bill.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

AB 3106 (Schiavo) — Infectious Disease: Excluded Employees

This bill requires an employer to ensure that COVID-19 cases are excluded from the workplace until prescribed return to work requirements are met. The bill also requires an employer to continue and maintain an excluded employee’s earnings, wages, seniority, and all other rights and benefits. This bill also requires Cal-OSHA to adopt a standard that extends these protections to any occupational infectious disease covered by any permanent infections disease to succeed existing standards for COVID-19 prevention, by February 3, 2025.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

SB 1090 (Durazo) — Unemployment Insurance: Disability and Paid Family Leave: Claim Administration

This bill would require for purpose of unemployment compensation disability benefits, for the issuance of the initial payment of those benefits to be paid within 14 days of receipt of the claimants properly completed first disability claim or as soon as eligibility begins, whichever is later. The bill also applies to benefits paid to the paid family leave program and repeals the requirement that workers receive benefits in accordance with unemployment and disability compensation law. It also contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

Status: This bill has been referred to the Senate Labor and Public Employment and Retirement Committee.

SB 1116 (Portantino) — Unemployment Insurance: Trade Disputes: Eligibility for Benefits

This bill restores eligibility for unemployment benefits after the first two weeks for an employee who left work because of a trade dispute. This is a reintroduction of SB 799 which was vetoed last year.

Status: The bill has been referred to the Senate Labor and Public Employment and Retirement Committee.


MANDATED REPORTERS

AB 2468 (Rivas, Luz) — Crimes: Child Neglect

This bill would make it a crime for a person to willfully cause or permit the child to be exposed to the unlawful use of force or violence against any person having care or custody of that child. This may apply to teachers, where a teacher could be prosecuted for not reporting child abuse occurring at home since they are permitting the child to be exposed.

Status: This bill has been referred to the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

AB 3127 (McKinnor) — Reporting of Crimes: Mandated Reporters

Current law requires a health practioner to make a report to law enforcement when they suspect a patent has suffered physical injury that is either self-inflicted, caused by a firearm, or caused by assaultive or abusive conduct, including elder abuse, sexual assault, or torture. This bill removes that requirement and would require the health practioner to make a report when the injury is life threatening or results in death, or is the result of child abuse, elder, or dependent adult abuse. The health practioner would be required to additionally make a report when a person is seeking care for injuries related to domestic, sexual or any nonaccidental violent injury if the patient request a report be sent.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.


OPIOD PREVENTION AND SAFETY

AB 1841 (Weber) — Student Safety: Opioid Overdose Reversal Medication: Student Housing Facilities

This bill requires each CCD and CSU to require each university or college affiliated student housing facility to stock federally approved opioid overdose reversal medication obtained through the Naloxone Distribution Project. It also requires training of all residential staff members at each university or college affiliated student housing facility on the administration of the opioid overdose reversal medication and distribution of the medication to all university or college affiliated Greek-life housing facilities.

Status: This bill was referred to the Assembly Higher Education Committee.

AB 1976 (Haney) — Occupational Safety and Health Standards: First Aid Kits: Naloxone Hydrochloride

This bill would require Cal-OSHA, before December 1, 2026, to draft a rulemaking proposal and revise first aid materials to require all first aid kits in a workplace to include nasal spray naloxone hydrochloride (Narcan).

Status: This bill was referred to the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee.

AB 2690 (Patterson, Joe) — Pupil Safety: Parental Notification: Synthetic Drugs

This bill requires LEA’s, as part of the annual notification to parents, to also include the risk of social medial platforms being used as a way to market and sell synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl.

Status: This bill was referred to the Assembly Education Committee.

AB 3271 (Patterson, Joe) — Pupil Health: Opioid Antagonists

This bill requires each individual public school that has elected to make a school nurse or trained personnel available at the school, to use naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist to provide emergency medical aid, to maintain at least two units of naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist to provide emergency medical aid.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

SB 997 (Portantino) — Pupil Health: Naloxone Hydrochloride Nasal Spray and Fentanyl Test Strips

This bill requires LEA’s to adopt a policy that allows students in middle and high school to carry naloxone hydrocholoride nasal spray (Narcan) for emergency treatment. It further requires public middle and high schools to stock and distribute fentanyl test strips and to notify pupils about the presence and location of the strips.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.


PUBLIC AGENCIES

AB 817 (Pacheco) — Open Meetings: Teleconferencing: Subsidiary Body

This bill allows, until January 1, 2026, a subsidiary body of a local agency to teleconference without meeting all of the teleconferencing requirements of the Brown Act. “Subsidiary body” is defined as a commission, committee, board, or other body of a local agency, whether permanent or temporary, decision-making or advisory, created by charter, ordinance, resolution, or formal action of a legislative body. An advisory committee composed solely of the members of the legislative body that are less than a quorum are not legislative bodies. Serves exclusively in an advisory capacity and is not authorized to take a final action on legislation, regulation, contracts, licenses, permits, or any other entitlements.

Status: This is a two-year bill. It was passed in the Assembly and has been referred to the Senate, where it is pending a committee assignment.

AB 1785 (Pacheco) — California Public Records Act

This bill would define “home address” to include an assessor’s parcel number which may be converted to a physical address through other reference to other information made available online. Therefore, posting an elected or appointed officials assessor’s parcel number is prohibited unless exemption applies.

Status: This bill was referred to the Assembly Judiciary committee, however the hearing was postponed by the committee.

AB 2009 (Rendon) — School Districts: Public Contracts

This bill changes the amount a school district awards the lowest bidder for purchasing of equipment, materials, or supplies to be furnished, sold, or leased to the district, services (except construction services), and repairs to $50,000. The security of the bid has been changed from $15,000 to $34,500.

Status: The bill was referred to Assembly education Committee.

AB 2302 (Addis) — Open Meetings: Local Agencies: Teleconferences

This bill revises limits on the number of meetings a member may participate in solely by teleconference form a remote location from a period of more than three consecutive months or 20% of the regular meetings for the local agency within a calendar year, or more than two meetings if the legislative body meets fewer than 10 times per calendar year, to prohibit teleconferencing participation for more than a specified number of meetings per year, based on how frequently the legislative body regularly meets.

  • Two meetings per year if the body meets once per month or less
  • Five meetings per year if the body meets twice per month
  • Seven meetings per year if the body meets three or more times per month

Status: This bill was referred to the Assembly Local Government Committee.

AB 2350 (Hoover) — Open Meetings: School Boards: Emergencies: Notifications by Email

This bill authorizes a school board holding an emergency meeting to fulfill the premeeting notification requirements by email instead of by telephone. If internet and telephone services are not functioning, the bill would similarly waive the premeeting notification requirements and require the post meeting notification as described.

Status: This bill was referred to the Assembly Local Government Committee.

SB 908 (Cortese) — Public Records: Legislative Records: Electronic Messages

This bill prohibits an elected or appointed official or employee of a public agency from creating or sending a public record using a nonofficial electronic messaging system unless they send a copy of the public record to an official electronic messaging system.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral in the Senate.


TITLE IX

SB 1378 (Min) — Pupil and Student Safety: Identification Cards: Federal Title IX Assistance Telephone Number

Starting on July 1, 2025, this bill would require a public school, including a charter and private school, that serves grades 7-12 that issues ID cards, and a public or private institution of higher education that issues ID cards, to have the telephone number for the US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights for assistance related to Title IX on the ID card.

Status: This bill was referred to the Senate Education Committee.

AB 1575 (Irwin) — Public Postsecondary Education: Sexual Harassment, Sexual Violence, and Discrimination: Disciplinary Actions: Confidential Advocates And Advisors

This bill would require a postsecondary education institution to enter into a memorandum of understanding with a local victim advocacy organization to provide at a minimum, two confidential advocates to assist in its response to discrimination to comply with existing law to adopt and implement a written procedure or protocols to ensure that students, faculty, and staff who are victims of sexual assault or domestic violence committed at specified locations receive treatment and certain information. Post-secondary education institutions are required to contract sexual assault and domestic violence counselors to be independent of the campus Title IX office, regardless of whether a report is made to the Title IX office or law enforcement. The bill transfers the requirements relating to sexual assault and domestic violence counselors to the confidential advocates. The counselors are required to do certain things for the students and faculty relating to notification of the students and faculty rights.

The bill also allows a student to be represented by an advisor if the student receives a notification of a disciplinary action, selected by the student and to be trained by the public postsecondary educational intuition.

Status: This is a two-year bill first introduced in 2023. The bill was passed in the Assembly and has been referred to the Senate for a committee referral.


TRAINING

AB 2608 (Gabriel) — Postsecondary Education: Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment: Training

This bill would require CCC’s, CSU’s, independent institutions, and UC’s to consider updating the annual sexual violence and sexual harassment training and biennially thereafter, to include additional topics including how to recognize if someone is at risk of drug facilitated sexual assault. The start date is unknown at this time.

Status: This bill was referred to the Assembly Higher Education Committee.

SB 1241 (Padilla) — Safety and Violence Education For (SAVE) Students Act

This bill would require the Statement Department of Education to maintain a list of approved training programs for instruction in suicide awareness and prevention and safety training and violence prevention. The approved training programs are to be evidence based to include specified information including, how to instruct school personnel to identify the signs and symptoms of depression, suicide, and self-harm in pupils, and how to instruct pupils to identify the signs and symptoms of depression, suicide, and self-harm in their peers. This would apply to trainings taken by LEA’s.

Status: This bill was referred to the Senate Education Committee.


SCHOOL SAFETY

AB 960 (Mathis) — School Safety: Web-Based or App-Based School Safety Programs

This bill encourages each public school, including charter schools with an enrollment of 100 pupils or more, to implement a web-based or app-based school safety program that includes specified program parameters, including (1) a multilayered digital map of the school site that contains key information, including, a detailed floor plan, alphanumeric building identification, gate locations, shut-off valve locations, first aid equipment locations, links to 360 degree and 360 aerial photography, and location of and field view of school site surveillance cameras; (2) the ability to alert first responders from multiple agencies within a reasonable geographic area, and (3) detailed school site information, including its location, size, pupil populations, grade levels, number of staff on campus, WI-FI connection, and hierarchy representation of those with responsibilities.

Status: This is a two-year bill. It was passed in the Assembly and awaiting a committee referral in the Senate.

AB 1858 (Ward) — School Safety: Active Shooter Drills

(Spot bill) Currently, each school district is responsible for the development of a comprehensive school safety plan for each of its schools operating K to 12 inclusive. Part of the comprehensive school safety plan is to include the development of procedures for conducting tactical responses to criminal incidents, including procedures related to individuals with guns on campus. This bill provides the intent of the legislature to enact legislation to standardize active shooter drills in school settings and to direct the state department of education to update their guidance on active shooter drills.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

AB 1984 (Weber) — Pupil Health: Extreme Heat

Spot bill) The legislature intends to enact future legislation that would require LEA’s to develop and adopt guidelines to be followed during extreme heat to prevent heat related illness.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

AB 2384 (Wilson) — Public Swimming Pools: Emergency Telephones

This bill requires that a person or entity that owns or maintains a public swimming pool to ensure that there is an operating telephone on or adjacent to the pool deck, available for emergency use, at all times.

Status: This bill was referred to the Assembly Health Committee.

AB 2565 (McCarty) — School Facilities: Interior Locks

This bill would require a charter school, school district, or county office of education serving students K-12, inclusive, that undertakes a project to build a new school facility or building, renovate, repair, modernize, or alter an existing school facility or building for any purpose, to install interior locks on each door in that school facility or building. It does not apply to doors that are locked from the outside at all times, doors with locks that lock from the inside, and student restrooms.

Status: This bill was referred to the Assembly Education Committee.

AB 3038 (Essayli) — School Safety: Armed School Resource Officers

This bill would require a school district or charter school to hire or contract with at least one armed school resource officer, authorized to carry a loaded firearm to be present at each school during regular school hours, when students are present.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

AB 3060 (Lackey) — Pupil Transportation: Transportation Network Companies: Public Utilities Commission: Safety Standards: Exemptions

The Passenger Charter-party Carriers’ Act provides regulation of charter-party carriers of passengers by the Public Utilities Commission, including transportation of school students conducted by or under contract with the governing board of any school district. This bill would explicitly state that the ACT applies to transportation network companies that serve unaccompanied minors due to or based on a contract with a LEA and authorize the Commission to regulate the transportation network companies that serve unaccompanied minors. “Transportation network company” is defined as an organization, corporation, LLC, partnership, sole proprietor, or other entity, operating in California that provides prearranged transportation services for compensation using an online-enabled application or platform to connect passengers with drives using a personal vehicle (e.g. Uber or Lyft).

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

AB 3199 (Muratsuchi) — Comprehensive School Safety Plans: Schoolsite Councils

Current law requires a schoolsite council to write and develop a comprehensive school safety plan relevant to the needs and resources of that school where the schoolsite council can delegate this responsibility to a school safety planning committee made up of specific members. This bill adds a member to which responsibilities can be delegated or to which that responsibility is assigned in the absence of a schoolsite council, one pupil, if the school enrolls pupils in grades 9 to 12, inclusive.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

SB 1363 (Wilk) — Personal Safety Devices

This bill would prohibit a stadium, concert venue, live performance or sporting venue, or arena where music, entertainment, or sporting events are being presented, from prohibiting an individual from carrying a personal safety device on their person. The bill would impose a $50 fine for each individual prohibited from carrying a personal safety device permitted to be carried under these provisions. This bill could possibly be applicable to CCD’s.

Status: This bill was referred to the Senate Public Safety Commission.


SEXUAL ASSAULT MOLESTATION

AB 1831 (Berman) — Crimes: Child Pornography

This bill amends Penal Code section 311 to define obscene matter as depicting a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or simulating sexual conduct including a representation of a real or fictitious person through the use of AI or computer generated means.

Status: This bill was referred to the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

AB 2407(Hart) — Public Postsecondary Educational Institution: Sexual Harassment Complaints: State Audits

This bill requires the California State Auditor to, on or before January 1, 2026, and every three years thereafter, to conduct an audit of the CCC, CSU’s, and UC’s regarding their handling and investigation of sexual harassment complaints. The findings of those audits are to be reported to specified legislative committees. The audits are to evaluate each intuitions complaints with applicable federal and state law in cases where the respondent of a sexual harassment complaint is a student, faculty member, or staff member and determine if each institution’s policies and procedures regarding sexual harassment are adequate to prevent, detect, and address sexual harassment.

Status: This bill has been referred to the Assembly Higher Education Committee.

AB 2587 (Aguiar-Curry) — Sexual Assault: Statute Of Limitation

This bill recast provisions that a claim for sexual assault is barred if not commenced between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023 if the claim is filed after the plaintiff’s 18th birthday, where the entity engaged in a cover up, to January 1, 2025 and removes the requirement that the revived claims allege that one or more entities are legally responsible for damages and that the entity or their agents engaged in a cover up.

Status: This bill has been referred to the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

SB 933 (Wahab) — Crimes: Child Pornography

This bill amends section 311.1 of the penal code to include images generated through the use of artificial intelligence as child pornography.

Status: SB 933 has been referred to the Senate Public Safety Committee and set for a hearing on March 19, 2024. 


STUDENT SAFETY

SB 483 (Cortese) — Pupil Rights: Prone Restrains

This bill would prohibit the use of prone restrains by an educational institution, including the use of prone restraints on a student who is an individual with exceptional needs in a public school program.

Status: This is a two-year bill first introduced in 2023; Passed in the Senate and is currently referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 1010 (Ashby) — Drowning Prevention

This bill revises and recasts various provisions of the Neng Thao Drowning Prevention Safety Act to prohibit the distribution of the informational material from taking place later than the end of the of the first week of May in the year. It authorizes school officials specified factors to consider when selecting which organization to work with, among other provisions.

Status: This bill is currently pending a committee referral.

SB 1248 (Hurtado) — Pupil Health: Extreme Weather Conditions: Physical Activity

This bill requires the State Department of Education on or before January 1, 2026, to establish guidelines specifying temperature thresholds or index ratings that trigger modifications to physical activities during extreme weather conditions and requires those guidelines to consider relevant factors such as humidity, age, duration, and available mitigation measures.

Status: This bill was referred to the Senate Education Committee.

SB 1318 (Wahab) — Pupil Health: Suicide Prevention Policies: Pupil Mental Health Crisis

On our before July 1, 2026, this bill would require LEA’s serving students K-12 to address crisis intervention protocols that LEA’s are required to follow in the event of a pupil mental health crisis along with their policy on pupil suicide prevention and update its policy. This will include a process by which staff and external agencies are deployed to address a pupil mental health crisis, limiting involvement and notification of law enforcement in where the student’s life is in imminent danger and their needs cannot be addressed by a mental health professional and the process for informing the parents.

Status: This bill was referred to the Senate Education Committee.


WORKERS’ COMPENSATION

AB 1870 (Ortega) — Notice to Employees: Legal Services

This bill would require the employee poster notice to include information concerning an injured employee’s ability to consult licensed attorneys to advise them of their rights under workers’ compensation laws.

Status: This bill was referred to the Assembly Insurance Committee.

AB 1928 (Sanchez) — Worker Classification: Employees and Independent Contractors

This bill would repeal the holding in Dynamax Operations v. Superior Court (2018) 4 Cal.5th 903 (Dynamax) that created a presumption that a worker who performs services for a hire is an employee for purposes of claims for wages and benefits. The bill also repeals the “ABC” test to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

AB 3066 (Holden) — Workers’ Compensation: Privacy

(Spot bill) Current law prohibits a person or public or private entity not a party to a claim for workers’ compensation benefits from obtaining individually identifiable information obtained or maintained by the division regarding that claim. This bill would make technical, non-substantive changes.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

SB 1205 (Laird) — Workers’ Compensation: Medical Benefits

This bill makes an employee who is working entitled to receive all reasonable expenses of transportation, meals, and lodging incident to receiving treatment, in addition to one day of TD, or a percentage of one day of TD representative of the percentage of the wages lost receiving treatment.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral.

SB 1346 (Durazo) — Workers’ Compensation: Aggregate Disability Payments

This bill would authorize, on or after 1/1/25, to award TD benefits if a denial of treatment requested by a treating physician is subsequently overturned by an IMR.

Status: This bill is pending a committee referral. This is the same bill presented to the Governor in 2023 which he vetoed.

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