Budget Act of 2008: state and local government.

(1) Existing law establishes various funds in the State Treasury. Existing law also provides for the investment of money in the State Treasury, generally, by the Pooled Money Investment Board, in the Pooled Money Investment Account. Interest earned and increments derived from these investments are distributed to the Surplus Money Investment Fund and the General Fund. This bill would authorize the Controller to loan moneys in various funds to the General Fund for specified purposes. The bill would require that, with specified exception, interest be paid on all moneys loaned to the General Fund at a rate determined by the Pooled Money Investment Board to be the current earning rate of the fund from which the moneys were loaned. The bill would not authorize any transfer that would interfere with the carrying out of the object for which the funds were created. (2) Existing law appropriates from the General Fund any unapplied money, as defined, in any amounts necessary to pay the interest on, and the principal of, any notes issued as the notes become due and payable. Existing law appropriates $250,000 from the General Fund without regard to fiscal years, to be set aside in the State Notes Expense Account, to be used to pay expenses incurred by the Treasurer, the Controller, or the Department of Finance in providing for the preparation, sale, issuance, advertising, legal services, or any other act which, in the Treasurer's discretion, is necessary to carry out provisions of law relating to the issuance of warrants by the Controller. The bill would provide that when any payment on a note or any payment to the provider of a credit enhancement or liquidity facility for a note is due, that payment shall be made subject only to the prior payment of payments required by law to be paid before the note or provider payment and payments that by the terms of the note or credit enhancement or liquidity agreement are permitted to be paid before the note or provider payment. The bill would provide that a demand drawn pursuant to these provisions to include those expenses described above. In the alternative, all or a portion of those expenses may be paid by causing the notes to bear interest at a rate that results in payment by the purchaser of the notes of a premium sufficient to pay those expenses. (3) Existing law requires the amount appropriated by the Legislature for the use of the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Franchise Tax Board for the enforcement of the Vehicle License Fee Law, to be transferred from the Motor Vehicle License Fee Account in the Transportation Tax Fund to the Motor Vehicle Account in the State Transportation Fund, as specified. This bill would instead require that this amount calculated for support of the Department of Motor Vehicles for the enforcement of the Vehicle License Fee Law be deposited in a Local Safety and Protection Account in the Transportation Tax Fund, which would be continuously appropriated and allocated for specified purposes. (4) Existing law authorizes counties and cities and counties to apply to the Controller to receive specified funding for certain booking or detention expenses. This bill, during the 2008–09 fiscal year, would require 50% of the funding from the Controller to be funded from the Local Safety and Protection Account, and during the 2009–10 fiscal year would require those payments to be fully funded from that account, thereby resulting in an appropriation. (5) Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to allocate $168,713,000 among counties based on a specified allocation schedule. This bill would instead require the Controller to allocate the funds deposited in the Local Safety and Protection Account to each county to support juvenile probation activities, thereby resulting in an appropriation. Existing law also requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to annually allocate the sum of $32,700,000 among counties that operate juvenile camps and ranches, based on the number of occupied beds in each camp, as prescribed. This bill would, commencing with the 2008-09 fiscal year, reduce this allocation to $29,430,000. (6) Existing law establishes in each county treasury, a Supplemental Law Enforcement Services Fund to receive all amounts allocated to a county to fund specified public safety programs. This bill would, commencing March 1, 2009, require the Controller to fund the Supplemental Law Enforcement Services Fund from the Local Safety and Protection Account in the Transportation Tax Fund, thereby resulting in an appropriation. (7) Existing law annually appropriates from the General Fund to the Controller for allocation to county sheriff's departments, $500,000 to enhance law enforcement efforts in specified counties. This bill would, during the 2008–09 fiscal year, reduce this appropriation to $275,000 to specified county sheriff's departments, and would eliminate this appropriation for each fiscal year thereafter. (8) Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to charge a registration fee of $31 on every vehicle or trailer coach, as specified. This bill would require the department, on March 1, 2009, and thereafter, to charge a registration fee of $43 on every vehicle or trailer coach, as specified. (9) Under existing law, every constitutional amendment, bond measure, or other legislative measure submitted to the people by the Legislature shall appear on the ballot of the first statewide election occurring at least 131 days after the adoption of the proposal by the Legislature. Existing law provides that elections held in June and November of each even-numbered year, and elections held the first Tuesday in February of each year evenly divisible by the number 4, are statewide elections and these dates are statewide elections dates. Under existing law, the statewide elections in June and November of each even-numbered year are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of the month. This bill would require that any Senate Constitutional Amendment or Assembly Constitutional Amendment adopted during the 2009–10 First Extraordinary Session be submitted to the voters at the November 2, 2010, statewide general election in accordance with the provisions of the Government Code and the Elections Code governing the submission of statewide measures to the voters. (10) This bill would provide that it shall become effective only if either AB 2 or SB 2 and either AB 9 or SB 9 of the First Extraordinary Session are chaptered. (11) The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 1, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 1, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution.