Assembly Standing Committee on Appropriations

The hearing room is open for attendance. All are encouraged to watch the hearing from its stream on the Assembly website at Assembly.ca.Gov. Today's events we encourage the public to monitor the Committee's website for updates. We will accept public comment on any Bill placed on the suspense file by the Committee today and for which the author weigh presentation before the close of the regular ordered hearing.

Testimony on any such Bill will be limited to a statement of name, organization, if any, in position on the Bill. The Committee will allow no more than 40 minutes of testimony in total. As you came into the hearing room today, the sergeants directed your attention to the rules for public attendance and participation which were posted outside the door. I encourage Members of the public who are in attendance to be aware of and observe those rules.

Please be aware that violations of these rules or other violations of General courtesy or decorum may subject you to removal or other enforcement processes. With that, we'd like to establish a quorum. I believe we have one. Madam Clerk, call the roll.

Holden. Here. Dahle. Brian. Calderon. Wendy Carrillo. Dixon. Here. Fong. Here. Hart. Lowenthal. Mathis. Papin. Pellerin. Robert. Reeves. Sanchez Weber. Wilson.

We have it. We're now going to dispense quickly with the consent calendar. Mr. Carwar, it will just take a moment. We need a motion for the consent calendar. Okay. Wilson Peller.

Bills on consent are AB 281 Grayson, AB 356 Mathis, AB 358 Addis, AB 491 Wallace, AB 511 Dixon, AB 658 Mike Fong, AB 663 Haney, AB 844 Gibson, AB 925 Tar.

AB 956 Alvarez. AB 1070 Lowenthal. AB 1114 Haney. AB 1219 Berman. AB 1226 Haney. AB 1268 Owen. AB 1294 Berman. AB 13 Seven Wicks. AB 1326 Megan Dahle. AB 1342 Megan Dahle. AB 1354 Mike Fong. AB 1369 Bauer-Cahan. AB 1474 Reyes. AB 1557 Flora. AB 1651 Sanchez. AB 1686 Grayson. AB 1696 Sanchez. AB 176 Bonta, and AB 1740 Sanchez.

We have a motion. It's been moved and seconded. Call the roll on the consent calendar.

Holden. Aye. Holden Aye. Dahle. Dahle. Aye Brian Calderon Wendy career Dixon Aye. Dixon aye Fong aye. Fong aye heart. Aye Lowenthal Mathis Mathis aye Pappin Pellerin Pellerin aye Robert Reevis Sanchez Sanchez. Aye Weber Weber aye Wilson Wilson. Aye.

Consent calendar is adopted. We'll now move to items that will be presented today. Actually, Ms. Erwin signed in first, but I do not see her. Mr. Kalra, you're up. It's AB 636 as a do pass.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and Members. Assembly Bill 636 would require h two a visa employers to provide all h two a farm workers with written notice of key state and federal employment rights, including information about their rights during federal and state emergencies and disasters on their first day of work in the state or when they are transferred to another employer.

As the analysis notes, costs of the Bill are minor and absorbable for the division of labor Standards enforcement to develop and update the required written notice or spec. We ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. No witnesses today. We'll turn to the public. Is there anyone here that would like to speak in favor or in opposition to this Bill? Seeing none, we'll come back to the Committee seeing no questions. Is there a motion moved by Hart? Pellerin second. The spill is out, with Republicans voting no, with Mr. Mathis and Ms. Sanchez not voting. Thank you. Okay, we're looking for authors. Okay, Ms. Wilson, you're up. Do that. Good morning. You're presenting AB 760 and that enjoys a do pass.

Members, I'm happy to be. Need it down more. I'm happy to be presenting AB 760. This Bill would specifically allow students and faculty attending a California State University or University of California CSUC, respectively, to designate their affirm name while at the institution per the individual's request. By allowing internal records such as class rosters or campus identification cards to reflect an individual's affirmed name, the CSU and UC system can eliminate systemic dead naming of transgender and nonbinary individuals.

AB 760 will help to support current students, staff or faculty Members who wish to use an affirm name and gender identification, an important step towards fostering a campus environment that is inclusive and supportive. This Bill proudly has the support of our California Legislative Women's Caucus.

Fantastic. No witnesses for you today, I see. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak in support or in opposition to AB 760? Seeing none, we'll come back to the Committee. Seeing no questions or comments. Is there a motion? It's been moved. And second, the Bill is out, with Republicans not voting, with Ms. Dixon voting aye, and Mr. Mathis voting no. Thank you.

Thank you. Let's see. Ms. Pellerin AB 773. Yes.

Good morning, chair and Members. So we have a great Bill here that will allow Members who represent or candidates that are running in districts that go into more than one county to be able to file their candidate statement of qualifications electronically and so they don't have to drive to all those shared counties and then follow up with mailing by FedEx the original statement form and check. So in multicounty districts, there can be upwards of 10 counties in a district.

For instance, Assembly District one contains 11 different counties and State Senate district four contains 13 different counties. This Bill will also work with, also amends the code section regarding arguments for and against local measures. And so we want to make sure that the same measure can have so we want to make sure that the measures have the same argument. So we want to ensure consistency for both candidates and voters.

AB 773 establishes a lead county for multicounty local ballot measures to which arguments can be filed, which would then select and transmit ballot measure arguments to all the other counties in the district so the arguments for and against measures would be consistent throughout the counties. I respectfully ask for your. I vote okay.

And you have no witnesses today? Anyone from the public that would like to comment on this Bill? Seeing none? Any thoughts or comments from the Committee? Is there a motion so moved. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. This Bill is out with Republicans voting aye, with Ms. Dahle not voting and Mr. Mathis? No, thank you. Okay, let's take up the suspense file while we wait for authors to join us. Clerk, read the suspense file AB four.

AB 4, Arambula. AB 19, Joe Patterson. AB 30, Ward. AB 44, Ramos. AB 63, Cervantes. AB 70, Rodriguez. AB 80, Addis. AB 226, Ramos. AB 237, Wallis. AB 263, Jones-Sawyer. AB 273, Ramos. AB 276, Dixon. AB 280, Holden. AB 300, Papan. AB 319, Connolly. AB 336, Cervantes. AB 378, Grayson. AB 455, Quirk-Silva. AB 463, Hart. AB 469, Vince Fong. AB 518, Wicks.

AB 524, Wicks. AB 548, Boerner. AB 575, Papan. AB 585, Robert Rivas. AB 595, Essayli. AB 599, Ward. AB 600, Ting. AB 621, Irwin. AB 671, Ward. AB 692, Jim Patterson. AB 694, Gipson. AB 714, McCarty. AB 742, Jackson. AB 766, Ting. AB 8787, Gabriel. AB 840, Addis. AB 863, Aguiar-Curry. AB 868, Wilson. AB 884, Low. AB 889, Joe Patterson. AB 920, Bryan. AB 943, Kalra. AB 958, Santiago. AB 959, McCarty.

AB 982, Villapudua. AB 1110, Arambula. AB 1111, Pellerin. AB 1123, Addis. AB 1138, Weber. AB 1145, Maienschein. AB 1177, McKinnor. AB 1178, Luz Rivas. AB 1186, Bonta. AB 1245, McCarty. AB 1284, Ramos. AB 1310, McKinnor. AB 1344, Santiago. AB 1357, Quirk-Silva. AB 1382, Quirk-Silva. AB 1392, Rodriguez. AB 1421, Alvarez. AB 1461, Jim Patterson. AB 1534. Irwin. AB 1569, Garcia. AB 1593, Garcia. AB 1616, Lackey. AB 1703, Wendy Carrillo. AB 1739, Sanchez. And AB 1745, Soria.

Consent file is deemed adopted. Can the Sergeants call some of our authors and see if we can get them here? We'll read the consent calendar.

Bryan. Calderon. Wendy Carrillo. Wendy Carrillo, aye. Lowenthal. Papan. Papan, aye. Robert Rivas.

Mr. Bryan, you're up to present. AB 819 enjoys a do pass.

Good morning, Mr. Chair and colleagues on the Committee. I come today to present AB 819, a bill that will move the possibility of a person receiving incarceration for fare evasion of public transportation. Right now, if you evade the fare, you can be cited, and you should be cited at an appropriate amount. But on the third fare evasion, you can be incarcerated for 90 days and hit with a misdemeanor.

The problem is, for the cost of incarcerating somebody for 90 days and a misdemeanor in LA County, you could have just bought them a metro pass for 37 years. This bill takes away that punishment and keeps things in a civil process. I respectfully ask your aye vote.

Thank you. Does anyone from the public would like to comment on AB 819? Seeing none. Committee, is there a motion? It's been moved and seconded. This is out on a B roll call. Congratulations.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Bonta, you're up. Welcome. You're here to present AB 37 as a do pass.

Thank you, Chair and Committee Members. AB 37 protects candidates, elected officials, their families, and staff by authorizing personal security as a campaign expense and expanding who is eligible for security. The bill also removes the $5,000 lifetime cap on security expenses using campaign funds, which has not been adjusted for 30 years. Lastly, AB 37 removes the need for there to be a verified threat by law enforcement to reimburse a security expense. Candidate security is a nonpartisan issue. The costs are minor and absorbable for the Fair Political Practices Commission.

Thank you. I will turn to the public. Any comments on AB 37? Seeing none. Committee? No questions. Is there a motion? It's been moved and seconded. This is out, with Republicans voting aye and with Mr. Mathis not voting. Congratulations.

We have an author, Bauer-Kahan. Good morning. You're here to present AB 301.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair and Members, I'm presenting AB 301, which allows courts to consider acquisition of body armor when considering a gun violence restraining order. Body armor has increasingly become the go-to accessory for mass shooters, enabling them to prolong their attacks against our communities and making it harder for law enforcement to do their job and deescalate. AB 301 is a simple measure and safeguards the security of our communities at no cost to the state. Respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. Any member from the public that would like to comment on AB 301?

Good morning.

Welcome.

Laura Lane on behalf of Everytown for Gun Safety, sponsor of the measure in support.

Thank you. Seeing no other. We'll bring it back to the Committee. Are there comments or questions? Seeing none. Is there a motion?

I even got a third.

You sure did. This is out on a B roll call.

Thank you.

Thank you. Welcome. Ms. Irwin, you're up. Here to present AB 931.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And good morning. As a patient looks to get physical therapy treatment their doctor has prescribed, a frequent barrier they run into from their insurer is a delay for prior authorization. AB 931 would deal with this issue. A survey performed by American Physical Therapy Association saw that nearly 75% of the physical therapists they surveyed waited at least three days for prior authorization from an insurer. Over 25% of the PTs regularly wait for over a week for prior authorization.

These delays can leave patients suffering from pain and reduced mobility while they wait for their insurer to grant them the care they need to find relief. AB 931 would avoid these negative outcomes for patients by mandating that insurers not require prior authorization for the first 12 physical therapy visits related to a new episode of care. The relatively low fiscal impact detailed in the Committee analysis is worth the significant reduction in negative patient outcomes that will result from this bill.

I would like to express appreciation for the opposition while they're engaging in productive conversations with our staff on a path forward with this bill, and I look forward to continuing those discussions. With me to answer any technical questions about the bill is Carl London on behalf of the California Physical Therapy Association.

Okay. So London, you're here just for technical or did you want to make a statement?

This Chairman remembers Carl London on behalf of the California Physical Therapy Association in strong support. This is very similar to a bill we did with Mr. Cunningham a couple of years ago. We've stripped that way down, which is why the price tag is so amazingly low, which we appreciate in the analysis, and we urge your support. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll turn to the public. Is there anyone from the public that would like to comment on this bill? Seeing none. Committee?

I'll make a motion.

It's been moved and seconded. The bill is out with Republicans not voting and with Ms. Dixon and Mr. Mathis voting no. We'll open the roll for those who have not had an opportunity to vote on the consent calendar.

Bryan. Aye. Bryan, aye. Calderon. Lowenthal. Lowenthal, aye. Robert Rivas.

Yes. Okay, we have Mr. Rivas, who's going to present for Mr. Haney on AB 1136. Appreciate you providing that accommodation. This has a do pass.

Thank you, Mr. Chair and colleagues. And so this legislation, Assembly Bill 1136, is on behalf of our junior colleague from San Francisco, Assembly Member Matt Haney. And so this legislation aims to provide much needed benefits and protections to athletes in the highly competitive and physically demanding sport of mixed martial arts. Specifically, this legislation ensures that licensed professional mixed martial arts fighters have access to a pension fund. The pension fund would be financed through sales of tickets, sports merchandise, and souvenirs.

This is similar to a pension fund that is already available for boxers, but not MMA fighters, unfortunately. As noted in the analysis of this Committee, this legislation has minor and absorbable costs to the state, and there's no known opposition. With me here to help answer any questions, if there are some, is the California State Athletic the Commission Executive Director Andy Foster and General Counsel Ken Swenson. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. We'll turn to the public for public comment on AB 1136. Seeing no public comment on the bill. Is there a motion? This bill is out with Republicans voting aye with Ms. Sanchez not voting.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Are you presenting 1021 first?

1021 first.

Thank you, Committee and Madam Vice Chair. AB 1021 permits licensed healing arts professionals in California to appropriately prescribe and dispense schedule one substances upon FDA approval and subsequent DEA rescheduling. The legislation does not discriminalize or legalize any controlled substance for non medical use. This Committee's analysis identifies no state costs. I respectfully ask for your. I vote on behalf of Ms. Wicks.

Is there any witnesses?

Dan Seaman, on behalf of maps public benefit corporation here for any questions.

Thank you. Is there any support or opposition in the room? Thank you. Bring it back to the Committee. Motion and a second. Thank you. And this is out. So do pass, with Republicans not voting and Mr. Mathis voting aye. Thank you. And the next bill is AB 1119.

Thank you, Madam Vice Chair. AB 1119 reforms the consumer debt collection process to make it less likely a bench warrant will be issued for a defendant's arrest. It provides alternative ways for a defendant to serve, to share information about their assets, particularly when they are indigent and not subject to collection. As this Committee analysis notes, court costs are likely absorbable and there is a potential for cost savings. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

Thank you. And any witnesses?

Yes. Good morning. Danielle Kando-Kaiser on behalf of both of the sponsors of the bill, the California Low Income Consumer Coalition and Public Council. Here for any questions.

Thank you. Is there any support or opposition in the room? Thank you. Bring it back to the Committee for a motion. Motion and a second. Thank you. And this is do pass with a B roll call. Thank you.

Okay. And our last bill today would be AB 832, Cervantes. And that will be presented by Mr. Fong.

Good morning, Mr. Chair and Members. On behalf of Assembly Member Cervantes, thank you for the opportunity to present Assembly Bill 832 today. This bill is a follow up to her bill, Assembly Bill 179 from 2017, which this Committee approved and was signed into law by Governor Brown. AB 179 urged the Governor to make every effort to ensure that individuals with professional experience working in environmental justice are represented amongst the voting membership of the California Transportation Commission.

While Governor Newsom has heeded this call with his CTC appointments, there is no guarantee that future governors will follow his example, as existing law does not impose an explicit requirement on future governors to do so. AB 832 will provide this guarantee by requiring the Governor to appoint at least one individual with professional experience in environmental justice as a voting member of the California Transportation Commission. The Appropriations Committee analysis notes that this bill will impose no new costs on the California Transportation Commission. Colleagues, for this reason, on behalf of similar Cervantes, I respect ask for your aye vote on Assembly Bill 832. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Fong. Is there anyone from the public that would like to comment on AB 832. Seeing none, bring it back to the Committee. Are there questions? There's a motion. Is there a second? This is out on a B roll call.

Thank you.

Okay. We'll move now to add ons, the consent calendar.

Consent calendar. Calderon. Robert Rivas. Robert Rivas, aye.

We'll now move to public comments on items that were either on consent or on suspense or any item that was presented. If there's anyone from the public that would like to comment, now is the time. Welcome.

Good morning, Mr. Chair and Members. Karim Drissi on behalf of the California Association of Realtors in opposition to AB 548, Boerner. Respectfully request a no vote at the appropriate time. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Good morning, Mr. Chair and Members. Sharon Gonsalves on behalf of Santa Rosa, on AB 30, in support, which is currently a suspense candidate. And on behalf of the City of Corona, in opposition to AB 742. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning, Chair and Members. Jerald Schutte representing the Academic Senate of the California State University on AB 1123 in strong support.

Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, then that concludes our public comment. And we will keep the roll open for at least five minutes. So now we'll have add on for consent.

Calderon. Calderon, aye.

Our consent calendar is out, 16-0. That concludes our business for today.