Government Operations

Makes technical changes to local government operations including electronic signatures, investment periods, and administrative procedures.

Streamlines voter registration by removing redundant provisions for military and overseas voters. Maintains voter protections through the existing conditional voter registration process. Takes effect upon enactment on August 28, 2025.

Standardizes ballot formatting by requiring Yes/No options on separate lines with voting targets for all propositions. Revises multiple state codes to ensure uniform ballot language across all types of local and special elections. Applies to school districts, municipalities, water districts, and other local government election measures. Makes no substantive changes to ballot measures but focuses solely on consistent formatting and clarity.

Requires public officials to disclose accepted job offers even before starting the new employment. Mandates disclosure of job details including position, employer, and acceptance date within 30 days. Establishes criminal penalties for failing to report prospective employment arrangements.

Expands the Fair Political Practices Commission's authority to oversee local campaign finance and ethics laws. Authorizes the Commission to conduct audits of local campaign finance activities. Requires local governments to reimburse the Commission for enforcement costs. Excludes jurisdictions with populations over 3 million from Commission oversight.

Establishes a statewide special election on November 4, 2025, to vote on redistricting measures. Requires counties to provide at least one ballot drop-off location for every 30,000 registered voters. Appropriates state funding to cover counties' costs for conducting the November 2025 special election. Prohibits congressional candidates from using the term 'incumbent' on June 2026 primary ballots.

Requires county election officials to provide free digital maps of precinct boundaries to the public upon request. Mandates state reimbursement to counties for costs associated with providing digital precinct maps. Enhances election transparency by making precinct boundary information more accessible to voters.

Allows the State Auditor's permanent office to be located within two miles of the State Capitol Building. Authorizes new expenditures from the State Audit Fund for expanded operational purposes. Enables potential relocation of state offices to West Sacramento while maintaining proximity to Capitol.

Requires public officials to disclose digital financial assets worth $2,000 or more starting January 2027. Expands financial disclosure requirements to include cryptocurrency and other digital assets. Mandates agencies to update their conflict of interest codes to include digital asset reporting. Creates criminal penalties for failing to disclose digital financial holdings.

Expands public employee disqualification rules to include felony conflict of interest convictions. Permanently bars convicted city managers and attorneys from holding equivalent public roles. Imposes a five-year ban on public employment for convicted public employees. Applies these integrity measures to all California cities, including charter cities.

Makes technical changes to courthouse construction fund provisions in San Bernardino County.

Prohibits DMV-licensed businesses from using DMV names or logos in their internet domain names. Expands existing restrictions that already apply to business names and phone numbers. Aims to prevent consumer confusion between licensed businesses and official DMV services.

Restructures the transit board to require all seven directors be elected from specific wards instead of at-large positions. Establishes a $1,000 monthly director compensation that adjusts annually based on California Consumer Price Index. Requires directors to attend all regular board meetings to receive full monthly compensation. Allows candidates to submit 50 voter signatures or pay a $150 fee to run for director positions.

Requires the State Controller to verify addresses before sending notices about unclaimed property worth $50 or more. Mandates the Controller to mail notices to corrected addresses if original addresses are found invalid. Establishes a 165-day deadline for the Controller to notify potential property owners after receiving reports. Prohibits the use of photographs or elected officials' names in public notices about unclaimed property.

Validates the legal status and past actions of all California public bodies and agencies to ensure operational stability. Confirms the legitimacy of previously issued bonds and financial obligations of public agencies. Requires any legal challenges to validated actions be filed within six months of the law taking effect. Takes effect immediately as an urgency measure to preserve public services and operations.

Increases the contract exemption threshold from $50,000 to $125,000 for counties with over 9 million residents. Allows Los Angeles County to bypass certain contracting requirements for building repairs under $125,000. Streamlines the process for maintaining and repairing public facilities in Los Angeles County.

Validates the legal status and operations of all existing state and local government bodies in California. Confirms the legitimacy of all previously issued government bonds and financial obligations. Establishes a six-month deadline to challenge the validity of any past government actions. Protects public agencies from legal challenges to their boundaries, mergers, or dissolutions.

Validates the legal status and actions of all existing California public agencies and districts through September 2025. Confirms the legitimacy of all bonds and financial obligations previously issued by public bodies. Requires legal challenges to public agency actions to be filed within six months of the act's effective date. Takes effect immediately as an urgency measure to ensure continuous public agency operations.

Allows agencies to extend public records request deadlines when cyberattacks prevent access to electronic records. Requires state emergencies to directly impact an agency's ability to process records requests for deadline extensions. Limits deadline extensions to only the duration of system outages caused by cyberattacks. Maintains agencies' obligation to provide non-electronic records even during cyberattacks.

Expands the California-Mexico Border Relations Council to include legislators from border districts. Authorizes the Assembly Speaker and Senate President to appoint nonvoting members from border districts. Allows EPA Region 9 Administrator to appoint a nonvoting representative to the council. Designates the Secretary for Environmental Protection as the chair of the eight-member council.

Strengthens mail-in ballot signature verification by prohibiting consideration of voter demographics or party affiliation. Requires election officials to post vote count updates online at least twice weekly until certification. Mandates standardized forms from the Secretary of State for signature verification and unsigned ballot statements. Expands observer access to monitor signature verification procedures for mail-in ballots.

Expands early voting by allowing vote-by-mail ballots to be cast in person up to 29 days before election day. Requires counties to provide at least one early voting location on the Saturday before election day for 6 hours. Strengthens penalties for voter intimidation and interference with election officials. Mandates colleges to distribute election information and organize voter outreach events.

Increases the maximum reimbursement for independent property appraisals in eminent domain cases from $5,000 to $8,000. Requires public entities to pay for independent appraisals when making eminent domain purchase offers. Mandates that all appraisals must be conducted by licensed real estate appraisers.

Establishes an 11-member independent Citizens Redistricting Commission in Merced County to redraw supervisor districts. Requires commissioners to meet strict eligibility criteria including no recent political involvement. Mandates at least five public hearings across all districts before drawing new district boundaries. Prohibits commissioners from holding public office or lobbying positions for up to five years after service.

Authorizes courts to use electronic recording in civil cases when litigants cannot afford private court reporters. Requires courts to actively recruit and hire qualified court reporters before using electronic recording. Prohibits electronic recording in juvenile, criminal, and civil commitment proceedings. Establishes a grievance process for court reporters to challenge improper use of electronic recording.