AB 1479, as it passed the Assembly, authorized the Board of Supervisors of the County of Madera to transfer the duties of the county road commissioner to the county director of the department of public works.

The Senate amendments also authorize the Board of Supervisors of the County of Tehama to transfer the duties of the county road commissioner to the county director of the department of public works.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 671, as it passed the Assembly, created a streamlined approval process for tenant improvements of a restaurant by authorizing a licensed architect or engineer to act as a qualified professional certifier for purposes of certifying plans and specifications of the improvement and deeming an application for the improvement approved if the relevant department or agency does not approve or deny a permit within 20 business days of receiving a completed application.

The Senate amendments exclude fast food restaurants, as defined, from the definition of “restaurant” for these purposes and limit subsequent review of resubmitted applications to only those deficiencies identified by the department or agency in the initial denial.

The Senate amendments authorize a city or county to adopt additional requirements for qualified professional certifiers, including local training and registration requirements, and the assessment of fees and the imposition of penalties, as specified. The amendments grant immunity to a public entity and public employee from liability for any discretionary or ministerial act or omission relating to the issuance or denial of a permit, and require the applicant to indemnify the local agency from any property damage or personal injury arising from construction permitted pursuant to these provisions.

The Senate amendments authorize the applicable state licensing boards to suspend or revoke a license of a qualified professional certifier who makes a false statement in a certification pursuant to these provisions.

The Senate amendments add coauthors.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 1213, as it passed the Assembly, required that a restitution order be paid before all fines, restitution fines, penalty assessments, and other fees.

The Senate amendments make technical and nonsubstantive, conforming changes to other provisions amended by AB 1213.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: no.

AB 1369, as it passed the Assembly, extended a pupil’s authorization to wear an adornment, defined for these purposes as something attached to or worn with, but not replacing, the cap and gown customarily worn at school graduation ceremonies, to school events that are related to graduation and clarified that what constitutes traditional regalia or recognized objects of religious or cultural significance is to be determined by the pupil and the pupil’s family. AB 1369, as it passed the Assembly, prohibited a local educational agency from requiring (1) a preapproval process for a pupil to exercise their rights to wear an adornment and (2) a pupil to wear a cap if the cap is incompatible with the adornment.

The Senate amendments revise the definition of “adornment” as it relates to a cap customarily worn at school graduation ceremonies to instead mean something attached to, worth with, or worn in place of, the cap.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 406, as it passed the Assembly, required the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to include in its assessment related to transportation fuels proposed recommendations for implementing solutions to mitigate any impacts described in the assessment. AB 406, as it passed the Assembly, also authorized the commission to request information from the State Air Resources Board, the Geologic Energy Management Division, and other relevant state agencies in preparing the recommendations and the assessment.

The Senate amendments delete the contents of AB 406. The Senate amendments, instead, reinstate previously repealed Labor Code provisions, for incidents that occurred on or before December 31, 2024, that authorize an employee who was discriminated or retaliated against for exercising certain rights to file a complaint with a prescribed enforcement entity, and transfer enforcement authority for 2 additional discrimination provisions relating to attending judicial proceedings from the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement to the Civil Rights Department. The Senate amendments also add an urgency clause to the measure.

Vote: 54. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 454, as it passed the Assembly, made unlawful the taking or possessing of any migratory nongame bird, as designated in the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act before January 1, 2025, any additional migratory nongame birds designated in the federal act after that date, or any part of those migratory nongame birds, except as provided by rules and regulations adopted by the United States Secretary of the Interior under the federal act.

The Senate amendments apply the bill to any migratory bird, instead of any migratory nongame bird.

Vote: 54. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 602, as it passed the Assembly, required the Regents of the University of California and the Trustees of the California State University to adopt or provide for the adoption of rules and regulations that, among other things, (1) prohibit students seeking medical treatment for themselves or another person, or receiving medical treatment, related to the use of drugs or alcohol in violation of the institution’s rules and regulations from being subject to disciplinary action for that use of drugs or alcohol if they complete an appropriate rehabilitation program, and (2) require those students to be offered the chance to complete an appropriate rehabilitation program.

The Senate amendments, among other things, (1) require the applicable rules and regulations to be adopted on or before July 1, 2026, (2) delete the requirement that the adopted rules and regulations prohibit disciplinary action from being imposed on students seeking medical treatment for themselves or another person, (3) retain that prohibition for students receiving medical treatment for the personal use of drugs or alcohol, and (4) authorize a campus administrator to establish a deadline by which a student must complete an appropriate rehabilitation program.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 615, as it passed the Assembly, among other things, required an application filed with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission for an energy storage system to contain, among other information, an emergency response and action plan that includes analysis and feedback from a local emergency management agency regarding whether the proposed facility requires supplemental first responder capabilities and meets the National Fire Protection Association 855 Standard as it relates to setbacks.

The Senate amendments remove the requirement that the analysis and feedback from a local emergency management agency include whether the proposed facility requires supplemental first responder capabilities and meets the National Fire Protection Association 855 Standard as it relates to setbacks, and instead require the commission to ensure an energy storage system, as described, that submits an application after January 1, 2026, complies with setback requirements that are at least as protective as the most recently published edition of the National Fire Protection Association 855 Standard, as specified.

The Senate amendments also remove a requirement that an application filed with the commission for certification of a site and related facility contain, among other information, a description of any electrical transmission lines, a map of the proposed route and existing transmission lines, justification for the proposed route, and a preliminary description of the effect of the proposed electrical transmission lines on the environment, ecology, and scenic, historic, and recreational values, as specified.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 639, as it passed the Assembly, excluded from the definition of a dam a barrier that does not impound water above the top of a levee where the maximum storage behind the barrier has a minimum of 3 feet of freeboard on the levee and is a weir, as defined.

The Senate amendments make this exception applicable only to Peoples Weir, Reynolds Weir, Last Chance Weir, Lemoore Diversion Weir, Island Weir, Crescent Weir, Stinson Weir, Empire Weir No. 1, and Empire Weir No. 2.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.

AB 663, as it passed the Assembly, among other things, deleted an exemption for hydrofluorocarbons that are reclaimed from the prohibition on a person offering for sale or distribution bulk hydrofluorocarbons or bulk blends containing hydrofluorocarbons and instead exempted certified reclaimed refrigerants, as defined, from that prohibition.

The Senate amendments additionally exempt, until January 1, 2028, from that prohibition hydrofluorocarbons that are exclusively for use in very low temperature refrigeration or cooling designed to maintain specified temperatures, and revise the definition of hydrofluorocarbons applicable to these provisions.

Vote: 54. Substantial substantive change: yes.

Assembly Bill 863, as it passed the Assembly, required landlords to provide notices to terminate leases and complaints in unlawful detainer actions in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, as well as in English, in specified circumstances. This bill required a plaintiff to provide notices or complaints in any required language with an unlawful detainer complaint. As it passed the Assembly, this bill provided that a plaintiff’s failure to do so, the existence of material differences between the documents, and a failure to serve a copy of the complaint or notice in a required language, are affirmative defenses. As it passed the Assembly, the bill also required that summonses in those civil cases be in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, as well as in English, under specified conditions, if a copy of the summons in that language was available on the California Courts website and that a failure to do so was also an affirmative defense.

The Senate amendments instead require the Judicial Council to create and post on its website, by January 1, 2027, a summons form for mandatory use in unlawful detainer actions which includes specified information in English, Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean. The Senate amendments removed all other language requirements that had been present in the bill that passed the Assembly.

Vote: 41. Substantial substantive change: yes.