Under existing law, the Department of Veterans Affairs has specified powers and duties relating to veterans. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the Department of Veterans Affairs enter into memorandums of understanding or interagency agreements with other state agencies and departments, as specified, to ascertain the veteran status of all persons receiving services, benefits, or assistance from those state agencies and departments, as provided. This bill would provide that the Employment Development Department and the Department of Motor Vehicles may, in consultation with the Department of Veterans Affairs, make available in their field offices brochures, forms, and posters in order to inform veterans of benefits and services. This bill would also require the Employment Development Department and the Department of Motor Vehicles to collect and send any voluntarily completed forms to the Department of Veterans Affairs on at least a quarterly basis, and to add a link to their Internet Web sites that will direct parties to the Department of Veterans Affairs Internet Web site.
Sponsored bills
The State Building Construction Act of 1955 generally sets forth procedures for the acquisition and construction of state buildings. Existing law requires the Department of General Services to prepare plans and specifications for any public building constructed pursuant to the act. This bill would require, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department to consider specified factors in selecting a location for the lease, lease with the option to purchase, construction, or purchase of a state building in excess of 10,000 square feet.
Under existing law, the Bureau of State Audits has statutory audit and evaluation duties. Existing law specifies that the State Auditor, who is appointed by the Governor, is the head of the Bureau of State Audits. This bill would require the State Auditor to annually, upon appropriation by the Legislature, audit the workload of at least 2 state boards or commissions comprised of board members or commissioners to whom the state pays an annual salary for their service on those state boards and commissions. The State Auditor would be required to make findings for each state board or commission audited regarding the workload of that state board or commission and the number of hours necessary for each board member or commissioner to work to fulfill his or her duties to that state board or commission. The State Auditor would be required to complete these audits and make these findings by December 31 of each year. The State Auditor would also be required to annually report to the Legislature and the Governor regarding these audits and findings. The State Auditor would be required to audit the workload of the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board in accordance with the above provisions, by December 31, 2010. The bill would appropriate $125,000 from the Unemployment Administration Fund to the Bureau of State Audits for this purpose.
Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish an advisory committee to advise on all appropriate matters relative to the creation of the Academic Performance Index and the implementation of the Immediate Intervention/Underperforming Schools Program and the High Achieving/Improving Schools Program. Existing law requires the committee to make recommendations to the Superintendent on the appropriateness and feasibility of a methodology for generating a measurement of academic performance by using unique pupil identifiers and annual academic achievement growth to provide a more accurate measure of a school's academic achievement growth over time. This bill would require the committee, by January 1, 2011, to make recommendations to the Superintendent for the establishment of a methodology for measuring a school's academic achievement growth and a pupil's academic achievement growth more accurately and validly over time. This bill would require the committee to consider a specified pilot study of academic growth measures in making its recommendations to the Superintendent, and that the recommendations be consistent with specified federal laws. The Superintendent would be required to immediately forward the committee's recommendations to specified state entities. This bill would provide that specific provisions of the bill would not be implemented unless and until funds are appropriated by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute.
Existing law requires various state agencies to administer programs relating to water supply, water quality, and flood management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. This bill would prohibit the construction of a peripheral canal, as defined, that conveys water from a diversion point in the Sacramento River to a location south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, unless expressly authorized by the Legislature. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to complete an economic feasibility analysis prior to the enactment of a statute authorizing the construction of a peripheral canal. The bill would also require that the construction and operation of a peripheral canal not diminish or negatively affect the water supplies, water rights, or quality of water for water users within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed.
(1) The Bushy Lake Preservation Act declares that the County of Sacramento and the City of Sacramento have developed the American River Parkway, a 23-mile open-space greenbelt in the lower American River flood plain. This bill would declare instead that the County of Sacramento and the City of Sacramento have adopted by resolutions, and the City of Rancho Cordova has endorsed by resolution, the American River Parkway Plan, a 29-mile open-space greenbelt in the American River flood plain. (2) The Bushy Lake Preservation Act requires the California Exposition and State Fair Board of Directors to preserve, for public day use and enjoyment, the California Exposition flood plain in a manner consistent with the definition of a state park. The act requires the California Exposition and State Fair Board of Directors to preserve the Bushy Lake area consistent with the features of a natural preserve. This bill also would require the California Exposition and State Fair Board of Directors to preserve the California Exposition flood plain in accordance with the American River Parkway Plan as an element of the Sacramento County General Plan. The bill additionally would require the California Exposition and State Fair Board of Directors to manage, or provide, pursuant to an agreement with the American River Parkway Manager, for the management of, the Bushy Lake area in accordance with land use designations and policies of the American River Parkway Plan. (3) The Bushy Lake Preservation Act authorizes the California Exposition and State Fair Board of Directors to permit parking only during the State Fair and only on specified land. This bill would further specify that the land is on approximately 11 unsurfaced acres, and would authorize parking on that land for specified additional purposes so long as the total number of parking days does not exceed 34 days per year. The bill would require one acre of the specified land to be open to parkway users for public access if certain conditions are met. (4) The Urban American River Parkway Preservation Act defines the American River Parkway Plan as the revised, updated management plans for the lower American River adopted by resolutions of the City of Sacramento and the County of Sacramento. The act declares that the American River Parkway and its environs contribute to the quality of life within the City of Sacramento. This bill would revise the definition of the American River Parkway Plan to include revised and updated plans adopted by the City of Sacramento and the County of Sacramento, including an endorsement by the City of Rancho Cordova adopted by resolution. This bill would declare that the American River Parkway and its environs also contribute to the quality of life within the City of Rancho Cordova. (5) The Urban American River Parkway Preservation Act permits in-line skating on the American River Parkway on a trial basis until January 1, 2001, and if the board of supervisors and the city council determine that the trial was successful, in-line skating may be added to the list of permitted recreational uses for the parkway on a permanent basis upon approval of the board of supervisors and city council. This bill would delete this provision. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The Personal Income Tax Law allows taxpayers, until January 1, 2010, to contribute amounts in excess of their tax liability for the support of the California Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Research Fund. This bill would extend the operation of those contribution provisions to January 1, 2015.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act contains various provisions regulating the application for, the issuance of, the suspension of, and the conditions imposed upon, alcoholic beverage licenses by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Under existing law, a licensed winegrower that is exercising specified privileges may allow a person who has purchased and partially consumed a bottle of wine to remove that bottle from the premises upon departure. Existing law also authorizes a licensed winegrower to, among other things, sell wine and brandy for consumption to consumers for on-premises consumption at branch offices or warehouses or United States bonded wine cellars located away from his or her place of production or manufacture. Existing law also requires the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to issue a duplicate license to a winegrower or brandy manufacturer for locations other than his or her wine production or brandy manufacture premises. This bill would also authorize an on-sale beer and wine public premises licensee and a licensed winegrower who exercises his or her license privileges at specified locations to allow a person who has purchased and partially consumed a bottle of wine to remove the partially consumed bottle from the premises upon departure. This bill would, additionally, remove the prohibition against licensed winegrowers or brandy manufacturers selling wine for consumption on the premises of a branch office. This bill would also remove the requirement that the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control issue a duplicate license for a winegrower or brandy manufacturer for locations other than his or her wine production or brandy manufacture premises, and would instead provide that the department may issue the duplicate license. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act provides that a violation of any of its provisions for which another penalty or punishment is not specifically provided is a misdemeanor. This bill would expand existing crimes by imposing additional requirements on a licensee under the act, thus, 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.
The Z'Berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 prohibits a person from conducting timber operations, as defined, unless a timber harvesting plan prepared by a registered professional forester has been submitted to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and approved. The act provides that a timber harvesting plan is effective for a period of not more than 3 years, unless extended as specified. The act provides that a timber harvesting plan, on which work has commenced but not been completed, may be extended by amendment for a one-year period in order to complete the work, up to a maximum of 2 one-year extensions if 2 requirements are met. The act requires the notice of extension to include the circumstances that prevented a timely completion of the work under the plan and an agreement to comply with the specified law, rules, and regulations as they exist on the date the extension notice is filed. This bill would allow an extension of a timber harvesting plan, on which timber operations have commenced but not been completed, by amendment for up to a maximum of 4 additional one-year extensions, if those 2 requirements are met, and in addition, the plan expired in 2008 or 2009, and the notice of extension includes written certification by a registered professional forester that listed species have not been discovered in the logging area of the plan since approval of the plan and significant physical changes to the harvest area or adjacent areas have not occurred since the plan's cumulative impacts were originally assessed. The bill would authorize an extension by amendment for a plan approved on or after January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2011, inclusive, of up to a maximum of 2 2-year extensions if, in addition to the 2 requirements, the department finds that listed species have not been discovered in the logging area of the plan since approval of the plan and significant physical changes to the harvest area or adjacent areas have not occurred since the plan's cumulative impacts were originally assessed. If the department is not able to make those findings, the department would be authorized to consider an amendment to the plan and, if approved, to grant an extension. This bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2012.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor or a felony for a person, subject to exceptions, to bring or possess any of specified weapons, including dirks, daggers, ice picks, certain knives, razors with unguarded blades, tasers, stun guns, instruments expelling metallic projectiles, and spot marker guns, upon the grounds of, or within, any public or private school providing instruction in kindergarten or grades 1 to 12, inclusive. This bill would, in addition, make it a misdemeanor to bring or possess a razor blade or box cutter upon those school grounds, except as provided. Because this bill creates new crimes, it would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 626.10 of the Penal Code, proposed by AB 322, contingent on the prior enactment of that bill. 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.