Existing law authorizes a city, county, or city and county to adopt a resolution creating an affordable housing authority with powers limited to providing low- and moderate-income housing and affordable workforce housing, as provided, by means of tax increment financing. Existing law defines various terms for these purposes. This bill would additionally define the terms "authorizing resolution" and "property tax increment" for these purposes. The bill would additionally revise these provisions to limit the authority to providing low- and moderate-income housing and affordable housing, as specified. Existing law sets forth the composition of the governing board of an authority created pursuant to these provisions and requires the governing board to be an odd number with at least 5 or 7 members, at least 3 of which are required to be appointed by the legislative body of the city or county, as specified. This bill would, in the case of an authority created by a city and county, require the governing board to include appointments made by the mayor in the same number as are appointed by the legislative body of the city and county, as specified. Existing law authorizes specified local entities to adopt a resolution to provide property tax increment revenues to the authority. Existing law requires that housing funds expended by an authority be spent in proportion to the share of the regional housing need allocated to the city, county, or city and county for income categories for low, very low, and moderate-income housing. This bill would require the resolution provision for receipt of property tax increment to become effective in the property tax year that begins after the December 1 immediately following the adoption of a resolution to provide property tax revenues to the authority. The bill would additionally authorize the repeal of the resolution by giving the county auditor-controller at least 90 days' notice prior to the end of the current fiscal year, as specified. The bill would establish alternative purposes for which housing funds may be spent, including expending all housing funds for the development of very low income housing or for one or more activities relating to the rehabilitation, expansion, or construction of emergency shelters, supportive housing, or transitional housing, or a combination of that development and one or more of those activities. The bill would also require the county auditor-controller to deduct any costs incurred by the county in administering these provisions, prior to distributing property tax increment to the authority. Existing law additionally authorizes specified local entities to adopt a resolution allocating other tax revenues to the authority, subject to certain requirements. This bill would authorize the repeal of this resolution, as specified. Existing law authorizes an authority to take specified actions, including issuing bonds in conformity with provisions governing the issuance of general obligation bonds. This bill would additionally authorize an authority to issue bonds in conformity with the Housing Authorities Law and to finance water, sewer, or other public infrastructure necessary to support the development of affordable housing. Existing law requires the authority to contract for an independent audit every 5 years beginning in the calendar year in which the authority has allocated a cumulative total of more than $1,000,000 in property tax revenues or other revenues, including any proceeds of a debt issuance, as specified. This bill would instead require an authority to contract for an independent audit commencing in the calendar year in which the authority has been allocated a cumulative total of more than $1,000,000 in revenues, including any proceeds of a debt issuance, and annually thereafter. The bill would additionally require any proceeding to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul the creation of an authority, the adoption of an affordable housing plan, the allocation of tax revenues to an authority, or the issuance of bonds by an authority to be commenced within 30 days of the enactment of the resolution authorizing the action.
Sponsored bills
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health and sets forth its powers and duties, including, but not limited to implementation and administration of a community‑based system of perinatal care for eligible women and infants. Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to license and regulate specified health facilities, including a general acute care hospital, a special hospital, and other types of specialized facilities. Existing law defines a perinatal unit as a maternity and newborn service of a hospital for the provision of care during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum and neonatal periods, as specified. This bill would require a general acute care hospital or special hospital that has a perinatal unit to develop and implement, by January 1, 2020, a program relating to maternal mental health conditions including, but not limited to, postpartum depression. The bill would require the program to include, among other things, education and information about maternal mental health conditions for women, families, and hospital perinatal unit employees, as specified.
Existing law authorizes a peace officer, or a public employee who is engaged in directing traffic or enforcing parking laws, to remove a vehicle under specified circumstances, including when the vehicle is found or is operating on the highway with a registration expiration date in excess of 6 months before the date it is found or operated on the highway, or displaying a license plate or registration sticker that was not issued for that vehicle. This bill would additionally authorize a peace officer or specified public employee, as specified, to remove a vehicle that uses autonomous technology without a valid permit that is required to operate the vehicle on public roads. The bill would authorize the release of the vehicle after the registered owner of, or person in control of, the autonomous vehicle furnishes the storing law enforcement agency with proof of current registration and a valid driver's license, and either a valid permit that is required to operate the autonomous vehicle using autonomous technology on public roads or a declaration or sworn statement to the Department of Motor Vehicles that states that the autonomous vehicle will not be operated using autonomous technology, as specified. The bill would make additional technical, nonsubstantive changes.
Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to include in the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices a requirement that the department and local authorities, when setting speed limits, round speed limits to the nearest 5 miles per hour of the 85th percentile speed of traffic as determined by an engineering and traffic survey. Existing law authorizes the department or a local authority to round the speed limit down to the lower 5 miles per hour increment in instances when the speed limit should be rounded up, but prohibits that speed limit from being further reduced for any reason. This bill would require the Secretary of Transportation, on or before July 1, 2019, to establish and convene the Zero Traffic Fatalities Task Force, which shall include, but is not limited to, representatives from the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the University of California and other academic institutions, the Department of Transportation, the State Department of Public Health, local governments, bicycle safety organizations, statewide motorist service membership organizations, transportation advocacy organizations, and labor organizations. The bill would require the task force to develop a structured, coordinated process for early engagement of all parties to develop policies to reduce traffic fatalities to zero. The bill would require the Secretary of Transportation to prepare and submit a report of findings based on the task force's efforts to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before January 1, 2020. The bill would require the report to include a detailed analysis of specified issues, including the existing process for establishing speed limits and a recommendation as to whether an alternative to the use of the 85th percentile as a method for determining speed limits should be considered. The provisions of the bill would be repealed on January 1, 2023.
Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a driver's license to an applicant when the department determines that the applicant is lawfully entitled to a license. Existing law allows an in-person applicant for a driver's license or identification card to request the word "VETERAN" be printed on the face of the driver's license or identification card, subject to certain requirements, including, among others, verification of veteran status, as specified, and payment of a $5 fee, which the department is authorized to increase by regulation, in an amount not to exceed $15, as specified. Commencing July 1, 2019, existing law prohibits a fee from being charged for that request if made by (1) a person who has been determined to have a current income level that meets the eligibility requirements for specified assistance programs, or (2) a person who can verify his or her status as a homeless person, in accordance with specified provisions. This bill would make those fee provisions inoperative on July 1, 2019, and repeal them on January 1, 2020, as specified, thereby authorizing an applicant whose veteran status has been verified, as prescribed, to make a veteran designation request, and requiring the department to make that designation on the applicant's driver's license or identification card, without additional charge. The bill also would make conforming changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12811 of the Vehicle Code proposed by SB 987 to be operative only if this bill and SB 987 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
(1) Existing law governing public contracting authorizes regional transportation agencies, as defined, to use the Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC) project delivery method, as specified, to design and construct certain projects if there is an evaluation of the traditional design-bid-build method of construction and of the CM/GC method and the board of the regional transportation agency adopts the CM/GC method in a public meeting. Existing law defines "project" for these purposes to mean the construction of an expressway that is not on the state highway system, the construction of specified bridges that are not on the state highway system, specified projects in the County of Riverside, and the construction, alteration, repair, rehabilitation, or improvement of the Golden Gate Bridge. Existing law requires that specified information provided to a regional transportation agency under the CM/GC method be verified under oath. This bill would include in the definition of "project" a Metrolink commuter rail project. By expanding the scope of the existing crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Metrolink commuter rail projects. (2) Existing law exempts from civil liability any person who, in good faith and not for compensation, renders emergency care or treatment by the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) at the scene of an emergency, except in the case of personal injury or wrongful death that results from the gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct of the person who renders emergency care or treatment. Existing law also exempts from civil liability a person or entity that acquires an AED for emergency use and a health care professional who is involved with the selection, placement, or installation of the AED, as specified. This bill would require a public entity that operates, or contracts for the operation of, a commuter rail system to ensure that each train has an AED as part of its safety equipment subject to specified requirements, including that the AED be installed by July 1, 2020, except as specified, and to transmit confirmation of its compliance with those requirements in writing to the Public Utilities Commission. The bill would exempt an affected public entity that acquires an AED for emergency care from liability for any civil damages resulting from any acts or omissions in the rendering of the emergency care by use of the AED if the public entity has complied with certain requirements. (3) By imposing new duties on local public officials, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. (4) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing state and federal law sets specified limits on the total gross weight imposed on the highway by a vehicle with any group of 2 or more consecutive axles. Existing federal law authorizes a vehicle operated by an engine fueled primarily by natural gas to exceed these weight limits by an amount equal to the difference between the weight of the vehicle attributable to the natural gas tank and fueling system carried by that vehicle and the weight of a comparable diesel tank and fueling system. Under existing federal law, the maximum gross vehicle weight of that vehicle may not exceed 82,000 pounds. This bill would, to the extent expressly authorized by federal law, authorize a near-zero-emission vehicle or a zero-emission vehicle, as defined, to exceed the weight limits on the power unit by up to 2,000 pounds. Existing law prohibits a weighmaster from certifying the gross weight of a vehicle if the scale is located at the site where the vehicle is loaded, the vehicle is weighed before entering a highway, and the vehicle's gross weight exceeds 80,000 pounds, except if a special permit is issued. This bill would increase the weight limit to 82,000 pounds for a near-zero-emission or zero-emission vehicle.
(1) The California Constitution requires the Governor to submit a budget for the ensuing fiscal year to the Legislature within the first 10 days of each regular session. Existing law requires that budget to contain a complete plan and itemized statement of all proposed expenditures of the state provided by existing law or recommended by the Governor, and of all estimated revenues, as specified. Existing law creates the Department of Finance and provides that the department has general powers of supervision over all matters concerning the financial and business policies of the state. Existing law establishes the Department of the California Highway Patrol to enforce all laws regulating the operation of vehicles and the use of the highways. This bill would require the annual budget proposed by the Governor, for the 2019–20 fiscal year to the 2023–24 fiscal year, inclusive, to include the level of funding and position authority necessary for the Department of the California Highway Patrol to add 120 approved officer positions each of those fiscal years. (2) The California Constitution restricts the expenditure of revenues from taxes imposed by the state on fuels used in motor vehicles upon public streets and highways to street and highway and certain mass transit purposes, and restricts the expenditure of revenues from fees and taxes imposed by the state on vehicles or their use or operation to state administration and enforcement of laws regulating the use, operation, or registration of vehicles used on the public streets and highways, including the enforcement of traffic and vehicle laws by state agencies and the mitigation of the environmental effects of motor vehicle operation due to air and sound emissions, as well as to street and highway and certain mass transit purposes. Existing law imposes certain registration fees on vehicles, with revenues from these fees deposited into the Motor Vehicle Account and used, among other things, to fund the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of the California Highway Patrol. Existing law provides for the monthly transfer of excess balances in the Motor Vehicle Account to the State Highway Account. This bill would establish as a first priority the use of motor vehicle revenues deposited into the Motor Vehicle Account for the state administration and enforcement of laws regulating the use, operation, or registration of vehicles used on the public streets and highways of this state, including the enforcement of traffic and vehicle laws by state agencies.
Existing law vests with the State Lands Commission control over specified public lands in the state, including tidelands and submerged lands. Existing law authorizes the commission to take immediate action, without notice, to remove from areas under its jurisdiction a vessel that is left unattended and is moored, docked, beached, or made fast to land in a position as to obstruct the normal movement of traffic or in a condition as to create a hazard to navigation, other vessels using a waterway, or the property of another. This bill would require the commission, upon receipt by the commission of funds appropriated by the Legislature and any federal or private funds for this purpose, in consultation with other relevant state and local agencies directly involved in the removal of abandoned vessels, by July 1, 2019, to develop a plan for the removal of abandoned commercial vessels, as prescribed.
Existing law establishes in state government the Transportation Agency, which includes various departments and state entities, including the California Transportation Commission. Existing law vests the California Transportation Commission with specified powers, duties, and functions relative to transportation matters. Existing law requires the commission to retain independent authority to perform the duties and functions prescribed to it under any provision of law. This bill would exclude the California Transportation Commission from the Transportation Agency, establish it as an entity in state government, and require it to act in an independent oversight role. The bill would also make conforming changes.