State government.

(1) Existing law provides for the salaries of the chairperson and commissioners of the Board of Parole Hearings and the chairperson and members of the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board, and limits increases to those salaries by, among other restrictions, prohibiting a salary increase exceeding the percentage of the general increase in the salary rates and ranges for classifications provided during that fiscal year for state employees designated as managerial. This bill would instead authorize the Department of Human Resources to set and adjust, as needed, the annual compensation of these state officers based on specified factors. The bill would prohibit compensation for these state officers from exceeding 125% of the compensation recommended to be paid to the Governor by the California Citizens Compensation Commission, and would require the department to notify the Legislature of the compensation level implemented within 30 days of the effective date of the proposed compensation adjustment. (2) The Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act requires, among other things, the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System to report to the Legislature and the Director of Finance, on November 1, 2015, and annually thereafter, on specific components of the health benefits program. This bill would remove the requirement for the board to report on November 1, 2015, and instead require the board to report beginning on November 1, 2016, and annually thereafter. (3) Existing law established the California Health Benefit Exchange to be governed by an executive board consisting of 5 members who are residents of California. Existing law requires the board to establish and use a competitive process to select participating carriers and any other contractors, and exempts any contract entered into pursuant to these provisions from the State Contract Act. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to this provision. (4) Existing law requires a county board of supervisors, upon an agreement to accept specified funding, to develop and administer a competitive grant program in collaboration with the county's Community Corrections Partnership to fund community recidivism and crime reduction services. Existing law allocates funding to counties from the Budget Act of 2015 pursuant to a specified allocation schedule for this purpose and requires the board of supervisors to grant the funds to community recidivism and crime reduction service providers, as defined. Based on the population of the county, existing law limits the maximum amount of funds that may be awarded to a service provider to between $10,000 and $100,000, and further limits the total amount of grants that may be awarded to a single provider by all counties to $100,000. This bill would make the above-specified limitation on the maximum amount that may be awarded to a service provider applicable to each Budget Act allocation. (5) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (the fund) and available for appropriation by the Legislature for purposes related to greenhouse gas reduction. Existing law continuously appropriates 60% of the annual proceeds of the fund for transit, affordable housing, sustainable communities, and high-speed rail purposes. Existing law, as part of the continuous appropriation from the fund, requires the Strategic Growth Council to develop and administer the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through projects that implement land use, housing, transportation, and agricultural land preservation practices to support infill and compact development and that support other related and coordinated public policy objectives. This bill would authorize the council to designate a state agency or department to administer the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program for the disbursement of grants and loans to support the planning and development of sustainable communities. The bill also would authorize the moneys continuously appropriated to the council from the fund to be used by the designated state agency or department for support and local assistance costs. (6) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law provide for various exclusions from the calculation of gross income in determining tax liability, and specifically exclude from that calculation, for taxable years beginning on or after July 1, 2015, an amount received as a loan, loan forgiveness, grant, credit, rebate, voucher, or incentive from the California Residential Mitigation Program or the California Earthquake Authority relating to earthquake loss mitigation. These existing laws define "earthquake loss mitigation" as an activity that reduces seismic risks to a residential structure or its contents, or both, and defines a "residential structure" by reference to another law, relating to policies of residential property insurance. This bill would remove the reference to a loan from the listing of excluded items, and revise the definition of "residential structure" to also include a residential building of not fewer than 2, but nor more than 10, dwelling units. (7) The bill would make an appropriation from the State Department of Public Health Licensing and Certification Program Fund of $400,000 to the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program for the purposes of Program 3900-Supportive Services, as specified in the Budget Act of 2015. (8) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.