Existing law authorizes any public corporation, as defined, and specified private corporations to apply for the privilege of establishing, operating, and maintaining a foreign-trade zone in accordance with specified provisions of federal law, and authorizes any public or private corporation whose application is granted pursuant to those provisions of federal law to establish, operate, and maintain the foreign trade zone, subject to specified conditions and restrictions. This bill would require these provisions of existing law to be known, and would authorize them to be cited as, the California Foreign Trade Zone Act. Existing law establishes in state government the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development. The office is under the direct control of the Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development. This bill would establish the California Foreign Investment Program, require the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to serve as the lead state entity under specified provisions of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, and require the Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to set the terms and conditions for issuing a state designation letter within the structure and scope of those provisions of federal law. This bill would also establish the California Export Promotion and Gap Financing Program, and authorize the director to apply for and receive federal funding for the implementation of a state and federal export financing program. The bill would require the director, upon receipt of moneys pursuant to that application, to implement a program that meets specified conditions. The bill would require the director to report on the program, as specified, and to annually post on the office's Internet Web site a summary of the programs, annual activities, and key achievements, and a summary of the information related to the requirements of the program. The bill would authorize the director to adopt regulations to implement the program, as specified. Existing law requires the Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing to prepare a study on the potential role of the state in global markets. Existing law requires the secretary to utilize that study to develop a strategy for international trade and investment. Existing law requires the secretary to develop a statewide business partnership for international trade and investment. Existing law states that California's international trade and investment policy is directed through its state strategy. This bill would instead require that the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development serve as the state agency primarily responsible for international trade and investment activities in the state, and, in that capacity, authorizes that agency to carry out the powers and duties described above. This bill would require California's trade and investment policy to be implemented pursuant to a strategy developed by the director. This bill would require the director to consult with local and regional governmental entities and associations. The bill would authorize the director, as a part of the consultation process, to create an advisory board comprised of representatives from certain entities to provide the director with advice on the content of the study, and on the strategy that the director is developing. The bill would require the director as a part of the consultation to discuss certain issues related to trade and investment. The bill would provide that this consultation may be conducted within the existing business partnership framework or separately, or both. Existing law creates within the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, the Economic Development and Trade Promotion Account. This bill would transfer this account to the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development for the same purposes. The bill would create a new subaccount within the account for purposes of funding the California Export Promotion and Gap Financing Program, subject to appropriation by the Legislature.
Read. Adopted. (Ayes 50. Noes 24. Page 5602.).
The Planning and Zoning Law requires specified regional transportation planning agencies to prepare and adopt a regional transportation plan directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system, and requires the regional transportation plan to include, among other things, a sustainable communities strategy, for the purpose of using local planning to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This bill, commencing on January 1, 2014, would prohibit a city or county from requiring a minimum number of off-street parking spaces in transit-intensive areas, as defined, greater than 2 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet in nonresidential projects of 20,000 square feet or less on a single property, one parking space per unit in non-income-restricted residential projects, and specified portions, as applicable, of a parking space per unit for certain affordable housing projects, except as specified. The bill would also make a statement of legislative findings regarding the application of its provisions to charter cities.
This measure would urge the federal government's process of identifying alternatives to flame retardants to include, among other things, the design of products that do not require the use of flame retardants. The measure would urge the United States Congress to enact the Safe Chemicals Act to restrict flame retardants that pose health risks. This measure would urge the United States Environmental Protection Agency to, among other things, establish health and safety standards for flame retardant chemicals. The measure would also urge the United States Consumer Products Safety Commission to adopt specified smolder prevention rules that provide improved fire safety without toxicity in furniture, as specified.
The California Health Facilities Financing Authority Act authorizes the California Health Facilities Financing Authority to make loans from the continuously appropriated California Health Facilities Financing Authority Fund to participating health institutions for financing or refinancing the acquisition, construction, or remodeling of health facilities. The act defines a health facility to include various specified facilities and facilities operated in conjunction with these facilities. It also defines a participating health institution to mean specified entities authorized by state law to provide or operate a health facility and undertake the financing or refinancing of the construction or acquisition of a project or of working capital, as defined. Existing law authorizes the authority to award grants to any eligible health facility, as defined, for purposes of financing defined projects. This bill would authorize the authority to award one or more grants that, in the aggregate, do not exceed $1,500,000 to one or more projects designed to demonstrate new or enhanced cost-effective methods of delivering health care services, as specified. This bill would create the California Health Access Model Program Account in the California Health Facilities Financing Authority Fund, and would transfer up to $1,500,000 from the fund to the account for the purposes of the bill. The bill would require that any moneys remaining in the account as of January 1, 2015, revert to the fund. This bill would require the authority to report to the Governor and the Legislature on the outcomes of the demonstration grant program, as specified. By expanding the purposes for which a continuously appropriated fund may be used, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law authorizes the development and implementation of various electronic bridge and highway toll collection mechanisms. Existing law prohibits a transportation agency, as defined, from selling or providing personally identifiable information of a person obtained pursuant to the person's participation in an electronic toll collection system or use of a toll facility that uses an electronic toll collection system, subject to specified exceptions. Existing law requires a transportation agency that uses an electronic toll collection system to establish a privacy policy regarding the collection and storage of personally identifiable information in that regard, to provide the policy to subscribers, and to post the policy on its Internet Web site. Existing law permits a transportation agency to share data collected via an electronic toll collection system with another transportation agency solely to comply with interoperablility specifications and standards for electronic toll collection devices. Existing law also permits a transportation agency to perform billing and other financial functions necessary to operate and manage toll facilities. This bill would permit a transportation agency or its designee to share data regarding a vehicle's use of toll facilities with another transportation agency, whether in the state or not, solely to comply with the above specifications and standards. This bill would also permit a transportation agency to share specified information with transportation agencies in other states as part of a nationwide interoperability toll collection program. This bill would also permit a transportation agency to perform toll collection and violation enforcement functions required to operate and manage toll facilities, whether in the state or not.
Existing law creates the Safe, Clean, and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2012, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $11,140,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance a safe drinking water and water supply reliability program. Existing law provides for the submission of the bond act to the voters at the November 6, 2012, statewide general election. This bill would instead provide for the submission of the bond act to the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election. The bill would appropriate $1,000 to the Secretary of State to implement the requirements of the bill. This bill would declare that it is to take immediate effect as an urgency statute and a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
The Donahoe Higher Education Act authorizes the activities of the 4 segments of the higher education system in the state. These segments include the 3 public segments: the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, which is administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, which is administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Private and independent institutions of higher education constitute the other segment. Provisions of the Donahoe Higher Education Act apply to the University of California only to the extent that the regents act, by resolution, to make them applicable. Existing law urges textbook publishers to take specified actions aimed at reducing the amounts that postsecondary education students currently pay for textbooks. Existing law requires the Trustees of the California State University and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and requests the Regents of the University of California, among other things, to work with the academic senates of each respective segment to encourage faculty to give consideration to the least costly practices in assigning textbooks, to encourage faculty to disclose to students how new editions of textbooks are different from previous editions and the cost to students for textbooks selected, to review procedures for faculty to inform college and university bookstores of textbook selections, and to encourage faculty to work closely with publishers and college and university bookstores in creating bundles and packages that are economically sound and deliver cost savings to students. Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature to encourage private colleges and universities to work with their respective academic senates and to encourage faculty to consider practices in selecting textbooks that will result in the lowest costs to students. This bill would require a publisher that supplies textbooks or other instructional material to a postsecondary educational institution, as defined to include both public and private postsecondary educational institutions, or to a faculty member of a postsecondary educational institution, to provide information about that textbook or item of instructional material in a specified order using a standard XML or comma-delimited format. This bill would encourage a postsecondary educational institution to provide a textbook adoption search engine, as specified, for purposes of discovery, evaluation, and selection of course materials that allows faculty or course coordinators to view, compare, and contrast textbooks and other course materials and to communicate adoption choices to the appropriate procurement staff and colleagues. The bill would, for a postsecondary educational institution that provides the faculty textbook adoption search engine, require an institutional bookstore, as defined, to provide course and adoption information in an open protocol, as defined and specified, to allow an outside organization or company full and free access to specified information. The bill also would encourage a postsecondary educational institution that currently provides a faculty textbook adoption search engine to comply with the specified requirements. This bill would require an institutional bookstore to provide a student textbook comparison engine, as defined, on its Internet Web site to demonstrate the price difference between a textbook purchased through the bookstore and the same textbook purchased through an online competitor, which will enable students to ensure that they are purchasing needed textbooks at the best price. The bill would encourage, but not require, institutional bookstores at the University of California to comply with these provisions. To the extent new requirements would be placed on community college districts, 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.
Under existing law, the State Department of Mental Health is authorized and required to perform various functions relating to the care and treatment of persons with mental disorders. Existing law, the Mental Health Services Act, an initiative measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 at the November 2, 2004, statewide general election, establishes the continuously appropriated Mental Health Services Fund to fund various county mental health programs. Existing law establishes the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (commission) to oversee the administration of various parts of the Mental Health Services Act. The act provides that it may be amended by the Legislature by a 23 vote of each house as long as the amendment is consistent with and furthers the intent of the act, and that the Legislature may also clarify procedures and terms of the act by majority vote. This bill would require the commission to assist in providing technical assistance, as specified, and would require the commission to work in collaboration with, and in consultation with, various entities in designing a comprehensive joint plan for coordinated evaluation of client outcomes. This bill would require the California Health and Human Services Agency to lead the comprehensive joint plan effort. This bill would transfer various functions of the State Department of Mental Health under the Mental Health Services Act to the State Department of Health Care Services and the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. This bill would make various technical and conforming changes to reflect the transfer of those mental health responsibilities. This bill would require all projects included in the innovative programs portion of the county plan to meet specified requirements. Existing law requires each county mental health program to prepare and submit a 3-year plan that includes specified components. This bill, in this regard, would require the plan to be a 3-year program and expenditure plan adopted by the county board of supervisors and submitted to the commission, would require annual updates, and would require plans to be certified by the county mental health director and the county auditor controller, as specified. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to inform the California Mental Health Directors Association and the commission of the methodology used for revenue allocation to the counties. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services, in consultation with the commission and the California Welfare Directors Association, to develop and administer instructions for the Annual Mental Health Services Act Revenue and Expenditure Report, as prescribed. This bill would require the Governor or the Director of Health Care Services to appoint, subject to confirmation by the Senate, a Deputy Director of Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Services of the State Department of Health Care Services. This bill would declare that it clarifies procedures and terms of the Mental Health Services Act.
Existing law establishes a first-line service provider as an industry partner that receives information from the Department of Motor Vehicles and then transmits it to another industry partner. Existing law authorizes the director of the department to establish, through the adoption of regulations, the maximum amount that a qualified private industry partner may charge its customers in providing services for license plate processing, postage, registration, and titling transactions. This bill would instead prohibit a first-line service provider from charging a dealer more than $22 for providing the specified services unless the director determines that this amount is insufficient, and by regulation increases the maximum amount that a first-line service provider may charge a dealer. The bill would declare that it would take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, until July 1, 2014, authorizes counties to use alternative procedures, known as design-build, for bidding on specified types of construction projects in the county in excess of $2,500,000, in accordance with specified procedures. These procedures include a requirement for contracts awarded after a certain date that a county board of supervisors pay a fee into the State Public Works Enforcement Fund, which funds are continuously appropriated for the Department of Industrial Relations' enforcement of prevailing wage requirements on public works projects. These procedures also require specified information to be verified under oath. This bill would extend these provisions until July 1, 2018. Because the additionally authorized projects would require payment of fees into the State Public Works Enforcement Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, it would make an appropriation. Also, because the bill would authorize additional contracts to be awarded under these provisions, which would be subject to the requirement that certain information be verified under oath, it would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the scope of an existing 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.
Under the Sales and Use Tax Law, Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law, Use Fuel Tax Law, Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law, Alcoholic Beverage Tax Law, Timber Yield Tax Law, Energy Resources Surcharge Law, Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act, Hazardous Substances Tax Law, Integrated Waste Management Fee Law, Oil Spill Response, Prevention, and Administration Fees Law, Underground Storage Tank Maintenance Fee Law, Fee Collection Procedures Law, Diesel Fuel Tax Law, and the laws governing the taxation of insurers, a taxpayer or feepayer against whom a notice of determination or notice of deficiency assessment is issued or a person directly interested may file a petition of redetermination within 30 days after service upon the person of notice. This bill would extend that time period to 60 days after service upon the person of notice. Section 92 of Chapter 11 of the First Extraordinary Session of 2011 provides that that act is inoperative if any of its provisions are amended or repealed. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 92 of Chapter 11 of the First Extraordinary Session of the Statutes of 2011, the provisions of Chapter 11 of the First Extraordinary Session of the Statutes of 2011 would not become inoperative by reason of the amendments to specified provisions of that act made in this bill.
