(1) Existing law defines a pickup truck as a motor truck with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of less than 11,500 pounds, an unladen weight of less than 8,001 pounds, and which is equipped with an open box-type bed not exceeding 9 feet in length. This bill would define a farm pickup truck as a motor truck used exclusively by a farmer or rancher in a not-for-hire capacity that is operated solely in California and not in interstate commerce, that has a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of less than 14,000 pounds, and that is equipped with a bed, including, but not limited to, a flat bed, not exceeding 9 feet in length. Existing law requires a commercial motor vehicle, singly or in combination, that operates with a declared gross or combined gross vehicle weight that exceeds 10,000 pounds to be registered as specified. This bill would, for purposes of registration, designate a farm pickup truck with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of more than 11,500 pounds or a farm pickup truck weighing more than 10,000 pounds that is not equipped with an open-box type bed as a commercial motor vehicle for registration purposes. (2) Existing law requires every driver of a commercial vehicle to stop and submit the vehicle to an inspection of the size, weight, equipment, and smoke emissions of the vehicle at any location where members of the California Highway Patrol are conducting tests and inspections of commercial vehicles and when signs are displayed requiring the stop. Existing law provides that every driver who fails or refuses to stop and submit the vehicle to an inspection when signs are displayed requiring that stop is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would create an exception from that requirement for pickup trucks and farm pickup trucks, as defined. (3) Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to regulate the safe operation of specified vehicles, including, but not limited to, truck tractors and specified motor trucks, but only for matters relating to hours of service and logbooks of drivers. This bill would create an exception from that regulation for farm pickup trucks, as defined. (4) Existing law, the Motor Carriers of Property Permit Act generally prohibits a motor carrier of property from operating a commercial motor vehicle on any public highway in this state, unless it is compliant as specified and has registered with the department its carrier identification number authorized or assigned thereunder, and holds a valid motor carrier permit issued to that motor carrier by the department. This bill would exempt from that act a farm pickup truck, as defined.
Sponsored bills
The Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Law, until February 20, 2009, authorized a claimant, as defined, to file a claim with the Controller to postpone the payment of ad valorem property taxes, where household income, as defined, did not exceed specified amounts. That law authorized the Controller, upon approval of the claim, to either make payment directly to specified entities, or to issue the claimant a certificate of eligibility that constituted a written promise of the state to pay the amount specified on the certificate, as provided. That law required these payments to be made out of specified funds appropriated to the Controller, as specified, and also required certain repaid property tax postponement payments to be paid into an impound account and transferred, as specified, to the General Fund. Existing law, on and after February 20, 2009, prohibits a person from filing a claim for postponement, and prohibits the Controller from accepting applications for postponement, under the Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Law. This bill would repeal the prohibition against a person filing a claim for postponement and the Controller from accepting applications for postponement under the program as of July 1, 2014. This bill would create in the State Treasury a Senior Citizens and Disabled Citizens Property Tax Postponement Fund. The bill would require that repaid property tax postponement payments be transferred from the impound account to, or be directly deposited into, the newly created fund. The bill would continuously appropriate these funds to the Controller for purposes of administering the property tax postponement program, as specified.
Existing law governs contracting between state agencies and private contractors, and sets forth requirements for the procurement of materials, supplies, equipment, and services, and the acquisition of information technology goods and services by state agencies. This bill would require a bidder's record of environmentally preferable purchasing, as defined, to be a factor in awarding a contract under a request for proposal, as specified.
Existing law, the federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993, requires a state to establish procedures to register a person to vote by application made simultaneously with an application for a motor vehicle driver's license, by mail application, and by application in person at a registration site or designated voter registration agency. With respect to an application made simultaneously with an application for a motor vehicle driver's license, the act requires the motor vehicle driver's license application to serve as an application for voter registration with respect to an election for federal office, unless the applicant fails to sign the application, and requires the application to be considered as updating the applicant's previous voter registration, if any. The federal act defines "motor vehicle driver's license" to include any personal identification document issued by a state motor vehicle authority. The United States District Court for the Northern District of California, in the matter of Wilson v. United States, held that the federal act is constitutional and on May 4, 1995, ordered the State of California to implement the State's Plan for Implementation of the National Voter Registration Act. Under existing state law, a person may not be registered to vote except by affidavit of registration. Existing state law establishes procedures for a person to register to vote by mail or by application in person at a registration site or office of a designated voter registration agency. Existing state law also requires a properly executed affidavit of registration to be deemed effective upon receipt of the affidavit by the county elections official if the affidavit is submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles, or accepted by any other public agency designated as a voter registration agency, on or before the 15th day before the election. To the extent the state's plan is inconsistent with the federal act, this bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles, in coordination with the Secretary of State, to take additional steps to fully implement and further comply with a specified provision of the federal act.
Existing law, the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, establishes a program of cooperative federalism for the regulation of telecommunications to attain the goal of local competition, while implementing specific, predictable, and sufficient federal and state mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service, consistent with certain universal service principles. The universal service principles include the principle that elementary and secondary schools and classrooms, health care providers, and libraries should have access to advanced telecommunications service. The act authorizes states to adopt regulations not inconsistent with Federal Communications Commission rules to preserve and advance universal service. The act requires that every telecommunications carrier that provides intrastate telecommunications services contribute, on an equitable and nondiscriminatory basis, in a manner determined by the state, to the preservation and advancement of universal service in that state. The act authorizes each state to adopt regulations to provide for additional definitions and standards to preserve and advance universal service within the state, only to the extent that they adopt additional specific, predictable, and sufficient mechanisms that do not rely on or burden federal universal service support mechanisms. Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix just and reasonable rates and charges for public utilities. Existing law requires that the commission develop, implement, and administer a program to advance universal service by providing discounted rates to qualifying schools, community colleges, libraries, hospitals, health clinics, and community organizations (teleconnect program) . Existing law establishes the California Teleconnect Fund Administrative Committee Fund in the State Treasury and requires the moneys in the fund, upon appropriation, be expended only for the teleconnect program. A commission decision establishes an annual limit on the reimbursement provided to the California Community Colleges as part of the teleconnect program. This bill would prohibit the commission, for a reimbursement limit adopted as part of the teleconnect program, from discriminating among program participants by imposing a limit on a single class of participants.
The Medi-Cal Act establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments to be reduced by 1% or 5%, and provider payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 1%, for dates of service on and after March 1, 2009, and until June 1, 2011. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments and payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 10% for dates of service on and after June 1, 2011. This bill would instead require that, to the extent permitted by federal law, this payment reduction not apply to skilled nursing facilities or subacute care units that are a distinct part of a general acute care hospital, intermediate care or other specified facilities serving developmentally disabled individuals, or specified Medi-Cal provider payments for fee-for-service benefits, including payments to pharmacies, for dates of service on or after June 1, 2011. The bill would also provide that this payment reduction shall not apply to managed health care plans for dates of service after the effective date of the bill. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law specifies that 25 institutions of higher education comprise the California State University. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature that the California State University have a uniform definition of online education for the purposes of measuring its effectiveness. The bill would require the trustees to establish a series of uniform definitions for online education on or before January 1, 2015, as specified. The bill would require the trustees to report performance data about online education to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2017, and every 2 years until 2021. This bill would require the trustees to report to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2015, on the feasibility of developing an accelerated bachelor's degree completion program consisting of online courses aimed at students who started college but never obtained a degree.
Existing law, until January 1, 2020, requires an operator of a store, as defined, to establish an at-store recycling program that provides to customers the opportunity to return clean plastic carryout bags to that store. With specified exceptions, this bill, as of January 1, 2015, would prohibit stores that have a specified amount of dollar sales or retail floor space from providing a single-use carryout bag to a customer. The bill would require these stores to meet other specified requirements regarding providing recycled paper bags and compostable bags to customers. The bill would require these stores to make reusable grocery bags available to customers. The bill would, on and after July 1, 2016, additionally impose these prohibitions and requirements on convenience food stores, foodmarts, and certain other specified stores. The bill, beginning January 1, 2016, would require reusable grocery bags that are sold or provided to a store by a reusable grocery bag producer meet specified requirements, and would require a producer to provide an independent certification to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery that the bags meet the requirements, and to pay a specified fee. The bill would require the department to deposit all penalties collected for violations of these requirements into the Reusable Bag Account, which would be established by the bill in the Integrated Waste Management Fund. The bill would require that moneys in the account be expended by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to implement these requirements. The bill would allow a city, county, or city and county, or the state to impose civil penalties for a violation of the bill's requirements, except for the certification requirements. The bill would require these civil penalties to be paid to the office of the city attorney, city prosecutor, district attorney, or Attorney General, whichever office brought the action, and would allow the penalties collected by the Attorney General to be expended by the Attorney General, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to enforce the bill's provisions. The bill would provide that these remedies are not exclusive, as specified. This bill would prohibit enforcement and implementation of local ordinances and other local regulations on this subject that were enacted on or after January 1, 2014, as specified.
Existing law regulates the smoking of tobacco in various public places, prohibits the smoking of tobacco in a private residence that is licensed as a family day care home during its hours of operation and in those areas of the facility where children are present, and authorizes a landlord to prohibit the smoking of tobacco in the building or on the property. This bill would provide that as a matter of state policy, every person in the State of California has the right to a 100% smoke-free home by 2030. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.