Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to issue a high school equivalency certificate and an official score report, or an official score report only, to a person who has not completed high school and who meets specified requirements, including, among others, having taken all or a portion of a general education development test that has been approved by the State Board of Education and administered by a testing center approved by the State Department of Education, with a score determined by the state board to be equal to the standard of performance expected from high school graduates. Commencing January 1, 2019, this bill would prohibit the department from approving or renewing approval of a contractor or testing center to administer the tests described above unless the contractor or testing center provides those tests in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The bill would require that an examinee be permitted to take the test in the language of his or her choice of those specified languages.
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, which is administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, requires, among other things, each city and each county to prepare a household hazardous waste element containing specified components, and to submit that element to the department for approval. Existing law requires the department to approve the element if the local agency demonstrates that it will comply with specified requirements. A city or county is required to submit an annual report to the department summarizing its progress in reducing solid waste, including an update of the jurisdiction's household hazardous waste element. This bill would require the department to adopt one or more model ordinances for a comprehensive program for the collection of household hazardous waste and would authorize a local jurisdiction that provides for the residential collection and disposal of solid waste that proposes to enact an ordinance governing the collection and diversion of household hazardous waste to adopt one of the model ordinances adopted by the department. The bill would require the department to determine whether a nonprofit organization has been created and funded to make grants to local jurisdictions for specified purposes relating to household hazardous waste disposal and would specify that if the department does not determine that such a nonprofit organization exists by December 31, 2018, then the bill's provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2019.
Existing law, as part of the hazardous waste control law, requires a facility handling hazardous waste to obtain a hazardous waste facilities permit from the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Existing law requires the department to impose certain conditions on each hazardous waste facilities permit and authorizes the department to impose other conditions on a hazardous waste facilities permit, as specified. A violation of the hazardous waste control law is a crime. The bill would require the department, as a condition for a new hazardous waste facilities permit or a renewal of a hazardous waste facilities permit, to require a facility operator to install monitoring devices or other equipment at the fence line of the facility to monitor for potential releases from the facility into the surrounding community, except as specified. The bill would require the department to grant such a request from a member of the public for a technical assistance grant for the purpose of getting assistance relating to, and information about, a pending hazardous waste facilities permit if the department receives the request within one year of the submission of the applicable hazardous waste facilities permit application, and would authorize the department to, in its discretion, grant such a request received more than one year from the submission of the applicable permit application. The bill would require the permit applicant to fund the grants. The bill would require the department, upon receipt of an application for a new hazardous waste facilities permit or for a renewal of a hazardous waste facilities permit, to post on its Internet Web site that the application has been received, and to include with this information a description of the process for applying for a technical assistance grant. Because a violation of the bill's requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law, as part of the hazardous waste control law, requires a facility handling hazardous waste to obtain a hazardous waste facilities permit from the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Existing law requires the department to impose certain conditions on each hazardous waste facilities permit and authorizes the department to impose other conditions on a hazardous waste facilities permit, as specified. A violation of the hazardous waste control law is a crime. This bill would require the department, within 90 days of receiving a renewal application for a hazardous waste facilities permit, to hold a public meeting for specified purposes in or near the community in which the hazardous waste facility is located. Existing law prohibits the department from issuing or renewing a permit to operate a hazardous waste facility unless the owner or operator of the facility establishes and maintains financial assurances. This bill would require the department to review the financial assurances required to operate a hazardous waste facility at least once every 5 years. If the department's review finds the financial assurances for a facility to be inadequate, the bill would require the department to notify the owner or operator of the facility and would require the owner or operator to update and adopt adequate financial assurances within 90 days. Because a violation of the bill's requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to require each electrical corporation under the operational control of the Independent System Operator as of January 1, 2001, to modify tariffs so that all customers that install new distributed energy resources, as defined, in accordance with specified criteria are served under rates, rules, and requirements identical to those of a customer within the same rate schedule that does not use distributed energy resources, and to withdraw any provisions in otherwise applicable tariffs that activate other tariffs, rates, or rules if a customer uses distributed energy resources. Existing law provides, notwithstanding these requirements, that a customer that installs new distributed energy resources not be exempted from (1) reasonable interconnection charges, (2) charges imposed pursuant to the Reliable Electric Service Investment Act, and (3) charges imposed to repay the Department of Water Resources for electricity procurement expenses incurred in response to the electricity crisis of 2000–01. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission, in establishing the rates applicable to customers that install new distributed energy resources, to create a firewall that segregates distribution cost recovery so that any net costs, taking into account the actual costs and benefits of distributed energy resources, proportional to each customer class, as determined by the Public Utilities Commission, resulting from the tariff modifications granted to members of each customer class may be recovered only from that class. This bill would, to the extent authorized by federal law, require the Public Utilities Commission, by July 1, 2017, to do both of the following for those customers of the state's 3 largest electrical corporations that install clean distributed energy resources, as defined, after January 1, 2016: (1) require those electrical corporations to collect all applicable nonbypassable charges fixed, implemented, administered, or imposed by the Public Utilities Commission based only on the actual metered consumption of electricity delivered to the customer through the electrical corporation's transmission or distribution system, which charges are to be at the same rate per kilowatthour as paid by other customers that do not employ a clean distributed energy resource, and (2) calculate a reserve capacity for standby service, if applicable, based on the capacity needed by the electrical corporation to serve a customer's electrical demand during an outage of the clean distributed energy resource providing electric service for that customer. The bill would require the state's 3 largest electrical corporations to identify the total amount of nonbypassable charges that would be collected each year from customers served by clean distributed energy resources installed after January 1, 2016, based on gross consumption without any adjustment for the generation of the clean distributed energy resources. The bill would require that this total amount be fully recovered from customers in the same customer class as those customers served by clean distributed energy resources installed after January 1, 2016, and would prohibit any amount from being shifted to any other customer class. The bill would require a customer served by a clean distributed energy resource to provide relevant data to the Public Utilities Commission and the State Air Resources Board annually. The bill would provide that the facility is subject to onsite inspection to verify equipment operation and performance, including capacity, thermal output, and usage, to verify applicable criteria air pollutant and greenhouse gases emissions performance. The bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to suspend the eligibility of new customers to receive service pursuant to the rate program established pursuant to the bill on December 31, 2020. Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, beginning November 1, 2003, and every 2 years thereafter, to adopt an integrated energy policy report which includes an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state, including supply, demand, pricing, reliability, efficiency, and impacts on public health and safety, the economy, resources, and the environment. The bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, to report on the impacts of the rate program established pursuant to the bill in the integrated energy policy report to be filed on or before November 1, 2017, and November 1, 2019. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health in state government. Existing law vests within the department certain duties and powers to protect and preserve the public health. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health to develop, on or before June 1, 2018, a state data collection plan and uniform standards and protocols for purposes of collecting statewide information on unintentional injury incidents, as specified. The bill would specify that its provisions not be construed to require data collection beyond that required by existing law.
Existing law provides that the Department of Transportation has full possession and control of all state highways and associated property. Existing law defines "official traffic control device" as any sign, signal, marking, or device placed by authority of a public body having jurisdiction, for the purpose of regulating, warning, or guiding traffic, with certain exceptions. Existing law requires the Department of Transportation, after consultation with local agencies and public hearings, to adopt rules and regulations prescribing uniform standards and specifications for all official traffic control devices placed pursuant to the Vehicle Code. Existing law authorizes a local agency to adopt rules and regulations by ordinance or resolution to regulate traffic by means of official traffic control devices, but generally limited to a highway that is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the local agency, unless the Department of Transportation gives written approval to the application of the ordinance or resolution to a state highway. This bill would, until January 1, 2022, establish a pilot project in Kern County that would require the Department of Transportation to obtain the approval of the Kern Council of Governments prior to installing an official traffic control device or a roundabout on a state highway within Kern County, as specified. The requirements of the bill would not apply to freeways. By requiring local agencies to approve proposed actions of the Department of Transportation, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and a local health officer or local public officer designated by the Director of Toxic Substances Control, to enforce the standards in the hazardous waste control law and the regulations adopted by the department to implement that law, except as specified. Existing law authorizes a representative of the department or the local officer or agency authorized to enforce the hazardous waste control law to, among other things, enter and inspect a factory, plant, construction site, disposal site, transfer facility, or an establishment or any other place or environment where hazardous wastes are stored, handled, processed, disposed of, or being treated to recover resources. This bill would require the department to inspect a permitted hazardous waste land disposal facility no less than once per month, inspect a permitted and operating hazardous waste facility no less than 4 times per calendar year, and inspect a permitted hazardous waste facility no less than 2 times per calendar year.
Existing law requires a licensed physician and surgeon, or other person engaged in the prenatal care of a pregnant woman, to obtain a blood specimen from the woman for purposes of determining the presence of hepatitis B or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) . Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to develop culturally sensitive informational material in English, Spanish, and other languages to inform a pregnant woman about the purpose of obtaining this blood sample. This bill would change the language requirements for the informational material described above to require that it is provided in languages that meet a specified numeric threshold.
Existing law, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) , generally allows parties to contract to conduct transactions by electronic means, imposes specified requirements on electronic transactions in order to comply with the act, and provides specified protections for electronic transactions conducted pursuant to the act. Existing law defines and regulates the form and content of conditional sale contracts and lease contracts for motor vehicles and excepts these contracts from the application of the UETA. This bill would delete the exemption from the UETA for conditional sale and lease contracts for motor vehicles. The bill would require sellers and lessors to offer buyers and lessees the option of signing their respective contracts and agreements electronically. The bill would require certain disclosures to be made in this regard and to be in a document separate from a conditional sale contract or lease contract. The bill would prohibit a seller or lessor from charging a buyer or lessee for a decision not to sign electronically and would prohibit charging more or less for vehicles based on the decision to sign electronically. The bill would require that the disclosures described here be signed at the seller's or lessor's place of business. This bill would require an exact copy of the executed contract to be furnished to the buyer or provided to the lessee at the time the contract is electronically signed, as specified.
Existing law authorizes the Monterey-Salinas Transit District and the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District to conduct a transit bus-only program using the shoulders of certain state highways as transit bus-only traffic corridors, subject to approval by the Department of Transportation and the Department of the California Highway Patrol. Existing law requires that the highway segments to be used for the program are to be jointly determined by the districts, the department, and the Department of the California Highway Patrol, and imposes other conditions and requirements. Existing law creates the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, the Central Contra Costa Transit Authority, the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, the North County Transit District, the San Diego Association of Governments, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority with various powers and duties relative to the operation of public transit. This bill would additionally authorize the operation of transit buses on the shoulder of a segment of a state highway designated under the program within the areas served by the transit services of the 8 entities described above, subject to the same conditions and requirements. Two years after commencing the operation of the program, the bill would require a participating entity, in conjunction with the department and the Department of the California Highway Patrol, to submit a report to the Legislature that includes specified information about the program. The bill would also require the participating entity to post the report on its Internet Web site to enable the public to access the report.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act requires the state board to adopt regulations to require the reporting and verification of statewide greenhouse gas emissions and to monitor and enforce compliance with this program. The act requires the state board to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined, to be achieved by 2020 equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990. Existing law requires the state board to complete a comprehensive strategy to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants, as defined, in the state. Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the Public Utilities Commission to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, at specified percentages of the total kilowatthours sold to their retail end-use customers during specified compliance periods. This bill would require the state board, in coordination with the Public Utilities Commission and State Energy Resources and Conservation Development Commission, to consider and, as appropriate, adopt a policy or programs to increase the production and use of renewable gas, as specified, generated by either an eligible renewable energy resource that meets the requirements of the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program or direct solar energy, as specified.
