Existing law creates the Motor Carriers of Property Permit Act, which provides for the issuing of permits for motor carriers of property upon the payment of a fee and proof of insurance and workers' compensation coverage. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.
Existing law prescribes definitions and requirements for certain civil actions relating to construction defect litigation and limits claims to violations of specified standards. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to these provisions.
This measure would declare the month of January 2016 as Pet Care Education Month and would request Californians to observe the month by ensuring that their companion animals receive the proper preventative care by establishing a financial plan for pet health emergencies and by contributing to charitable organizations that provide low-cost spay and neuter services and vaccinations or funds to help low-income individuals pay for veterinary care.
Existing law authorizes a local agency to enter into an agreement with the appropriate transportation planning agency, the Department of Transportation, and the California Transportation Commission, to use its own funds to develop, purchase right-of-way, and construct a project within its jurisdiction if the project is included in the adopted state transportation improvement program and funded from specified sources. Existing law requires the department and a local or regional entity to execute an agreement to transfer funds for a project within 90 days from the date on which the commission approves an allocation for the project, if no deficiencies that require clarification by a local or regional entity are identified in the preaward audit for the project and the project is included in an adopted state transportation improvement program. Existing law requires the department, on July 1, 2000, and annually thereafter, to compile information and report to the Legislature on these projects, as specified. This bill would delete that provision requiring the department to compile information and report to the Legislature.
(1) Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services are provided to qualified, low-income persons. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid provisions. Existing law requires the department to develop and implement a Medi-Cal inpatient hospital reimbursement payment methodology based on diagnosis-related groups, subject to federal approval, that reflects the costs and staffing levels associated with quality of care for patients in all general acute care hospitals, as specified. Existing law generally requires the diagnosis-related group-based payments to apply to all claims. This bill would require claims for payments pursuant to the inpatient hospital reimbursement methodology described above to be increased by 16% for the 2015–16 fiscal year, and would require, commencing July 1, 2016, and annually thereafter, the department to increase each diagnosis-related group payment claim amount based, at a minimum, on increases in the medical component of the California Consumer Price Index. Commencing with the 2015–16 fiscal year, and annually thereafter, the bill would require managed care rates for Medi-Cal managed care health plans to be increased by a proportionately equal amount for increased payments for hospital services. (2) 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, prohibit the application of those reductions for payments to providers for dates of service on or after June 1, 2011. The bill would also require payments for managed care health plans for dates of service following the effective date of the bill to be determined without application of some of those reductions. The bill would require the Director of Health Care Services to implement this provision to the maximum extent permitted by federal law and for the maximum time period for which the director obtains federal approval for federal financial participation for those payments. (3) Prior law required, beginning January 1, 2013, through and including December 31, 2014, that payments for primary care services provided by specified physicians be no less than 100% of the payment rate that applies to those services and physicians as established by the Medicare program, for both fee-for-service and managed care plans. This bill, commencing January 1, 2016, would require payments for specified medical care services to not be less than 100% of the payment rate that applies to those services as established by the Medicare program for services rendered by fee-for-service providers, and would require rates paid to Medi-Cal managed care plans to be actuarially equivalent to payment rates established by the Medicare program. The bill, commencing January 1, 2016, would require rates paid to Denti-Cal providers for dental services provided to adults and children to be increased by the equivalent percentage as the percentage increase required for other fee-for-service Medi-Cal providers. The bill would require those provisions to be implemented only to the extent permitted by federal law and that federal financial participation is available. The bill would authorize the department to implement those provisions through provider bulletins without taking regulatory action until regulations are adopted, and would require the department to adopt those regulations by July 1, 2018. The bill would require, commencing July 1, 2016, the department to provide a status report to the Legislature on a semiannual basis until regulations have been adopted. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Existing law, as amended by Proposition 83, the Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act (Jessica's Law) , approved by the voters at the November 7, 2006, statewide general election, makes a defendant punisable by imprisonment in the state prison for 25 years to life if convicted of certain crimes, including rape, sexual penetration, sodomy, oral copulation, continuous sexual abuse of a child, or rape, spousal rape, or sexual penetration in concert, if certain circumstances were present, including, among other things, in the commission of that offense, any person kidnapped the victim, tortured the victim, or committed the offense during the commission of a burglary, as specified. Existing law also makes a defendant punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 15 years to life if convicted of certain crimes, including rape, sexual penetration, sodomy, oral copulation, continuous sexual abuse of a child, or rape, spousal rape, or sexual penetration in concert, if certain circumstances were present, including, among other things, in the commission of that offense any person, except as specified in the provisions above, kidnapped the victim, committed the offense during the commission of a burglary, or used a dangerous or deadly weapon in the commission of the offense. Proposition 83 provides that the Legislature may amend the provisions of the act to expand the scope of their application or increase the punishment or penalties by a statute passed by a majority vote of each house of the Legislature. This bill would add the crimes of rape, sexual penetration, sodomy, and oral copulation, perpetrated against a person who is incapable, because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, of giving legal consent, to the above provisions, if the victim is developmentally disabled, as defined. By applying the above enhancements to these crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law makes a defendant punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 25 years to life if convicted of certain crimes, including rape, spousal rape or sexual penetration in concert, sexual penetration, sodomy, or oral copulation if certain circumstances were present, including, among other things, in the commission of that offense any person kidnapped the victim, committed the offense during the commission of a burglary, or used a dangerous or deadly weapon in the commission of the offense, or under other specified circumstances, and the crime was committed against a minor 14 years of age or older. This bill would add the crimes of rape, sexual penetration, sodomy, and oral copulation, perpetrated against a person who is incapable, because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, of giving legal consent, to the above provisions, if the victim is developmentally disabled, as defined. By applying the above enhancements to these crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires that a person who commits certain enumerated crimes, including rape, sodomy, oral copulation, and sexual penetration, against a person who is 65 years of age or older, or against a person who is blind, deaf, developmentally disabled, a paraplegic, or a quadriplegic, or against a person who is under 14 years of age, receive a one-year sentence enhancement and requires that any person having a prior conviction for any of the enumerated offenses receive a 2-year sentence enhancement. This bill would add to the enumerated list of crimes rape, sodomy, oral copulation, and sexual penetration, perpetrated against a person who is incapable, because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, of giving legal consent. By applying the above enhancements to these crimes, this bill would impose 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law prohibits a local public entity, charter city, or charter county from requiring a bidder on a public works contract to assume responsibility for the completeness and accuracy of architectural or engineering plans and specifications on public works projects, except as specified. Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards to prescribe waste discharge requirements in accordance with the federal national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit program established by the federal Clean Water Act and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. Existing law regulates the discharge of pollutants in storm water associated with construction activity to waters of the United States from construction sites that disturb one or more acres of land surface, or that are part of a common plan of development or sale that disturbs more than one acre of land surface. This bill would prohibit a public entity, charter city, or charter county from delegating to a contractor the development of a plan, as defined, used to prevent or reduce water pollution or runoff on a public works contract, except as provided. By requiring a public entity, charter city, or charter county to prepare a plan, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also prohibit a public entity, charter city, or charter county from requiring a contractor on a public works contract that includes compliance with a plan to assume responsibility for the completeness and accuracy of a plan developed by that entity. The bill would also declare that this is a matter of statewide concern. 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.
(1) Existing law provides various sources of funding for transportation purposes, including funding for the state highway system and the local street and road system. These funding sources include, among others, fuel excise taxes, commercial vehicle weight fees, local transactions and use taxes, and federal funds. Existing law imposes certain registration fees on vehicles, with revenues from these fees deposited in the Motor Vehicle Account and used 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 create the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program to address deferred maintenance on the state highway system and the local street and road system. The bill would require the California Transportation Commission to adopt performance criteria to ensure efficient use of the funds available for the program. The bill would provide for the deposit of various funds for the program in the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account, which the bill would create in the State Transportation Fund, including revenues attributable to a $0.225 per gallon increase in the motor vehicle fuel (gasoline) tax imposed by the bill, including an inflation adjustment as provided, an increase of $38 in the annual vehicle registration fee, and a new $165 annual vehicle registration fee applicable to zero-emission motor vehicles, as defined. The bill would continuously appropriate the funds in the account for road maintenance and rehabilitation purposes and would allocate 5% of available funds to counties that approve a transactions and use tax on or after July 1, 2016, with the remaining funds to be allocated 50% for maintenance of the state highway system or to the state highway operation and protection program, and 50% to cities and counties pursuant to a specified formula. The bill would impose various requirements on agencies receiving these funds. The bill would authorize a city or county to spend its apportionment of funds under the program on transportation priorities other than those allowable pursuant to the program if the city's or county's average Pavement Condition Index meets or exceeds 85. (2) Existing law provides for loans of revenues from various transportation funds and accounts to the General Fund, with various repayment dates specified. This bill would require the Department of Finance, on or before March 1, 2016, to compute the amount of outstanding loans made from specified transportation funds. The bill would require the Department of Transportation to prepare a loan repayment schedule and would require the outstanding loans to be repaid pursuant to that schedule to the accounts from which the loans were made, as prescribed. The bill would appropriate funds for that purpose from the Budget Stabilization Account. The bill would require the repaid funds to be transferred to cities and counties pursuant to a specified formula. (3) The Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006 (Proposition 1B) created the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund and provided for allocation by the California Transportation Commission of $2 billion in bond funds for infrastructure improvements on highway and rail corridors that have a high volume of freight movement, and specified categories of projects eligible to receive these funds. Existing law continues the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund in existence in order to receive revenues from sources other than the bond act for these purposes. The bill would deposit the revenues attributable to a $0.30 per gallon increase in the diesel fuel excise tax imposed by the bill into the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund. Existing law specifies projects eligible for funding from the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund, including, among other things, projects for truck corridor improvements, including dedicated truck facilities, or truck toll facilities. This bill would include truck parking among the truck corridor capital improvements eligible to be funded and would authorize the expenditure of moneys in the fund for certain system efficiency improvements, including the development, demonstration, and deployment of promising Intelligent Transportation System applications. The bill would require the California Transportation Commission, in evaluating potential projects to be funded from the fund, to give priority to projects demonstrating one or more of certain characteristics. (4) Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air Resources Board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism relative to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Existing law, to the extent moneys are transferred to the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, requires projects funded with those moneys to be subject to all of the requirements of existing law applicable to the expenditure of moneys appropriated from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, including, among other things, furthering the regulatory purposes of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. Existing law continuously appropriates 10% of the annual proceeds of the fund to the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program. This bill would, beginning in the 2016–17 fiscal year, instead continuously appropriate 20% of those annual proceeds to the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, thereby making an appropriation, and, transfer 20% of those annual proceeds to the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund. (5) Existing law, as of July 1, 2011, increases the sales and use tax on diesel and decreases the excise tax, as provided. Existing law requires the State Board of Equalization to annually modify both the gasoline and diesel excise tax rates on a going-forward basis so that the various changes in the taxes imposed on gasoline and diesel are revenue neutral. This bill would eliminate the annual rate adjustment to maintain revenue neutrality for the gasoline and diesel excise tax rates. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2019, and every 3rd year thereafter, require the board to recompute the gasoline and diesel excise tax rates based upon the percentage change in the California Consumer Price Index transmitted to the board by the Department of Finance, as prescribed. (6) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to prepare a state highway operation and protection program every other year for the expenditure of transportation capital improvement funds for projects that are necessary to preserve and protect the state highway system, excluding projects that add new traffic lanes. The program is required to be based on an asset management plan, as specified. Existing law requires the department to specify, for each project in the program, the capital and support budget and projected delivery date for various components of the project. Existing law provides for the California Transportation Commission to review and adopt the program, and authorizes the commission to decline and adopt the program if it determines that the program is not sufficiently consistent with the asset management plan. This bill, on and after February 1, 2017, would require the commission to make an allocation of all capital and support costs for each project in the program, and would require the department to submit a supplemental project allocation request to the commission for each project that experiences cost increases above the amounts in its allocation. The bill would require the commission to establish guidelines to provide exceptions to the requirement for a supplemental project allocation requirement that the commission determines are necessary to ensure that projects are not unnecessarily delayed. (7) Existing law imposes weight fees on the registration of commercial motor vehicles and provides for the deposit of net weight fee revenues into the State Highway Account. Existing law provides for the transfer of certain weight fee revenues from the State Highway Account to the Transportation Debt Service Fund to reimburse the General Fund for payment of debt service on general obligation bonds issued for transportation purposes. Existing law also provides for the transfer of certain weight fee revenues to the Transportation Bond Direct Payment Account for direct payment of debt service on designated bonds, which are defined to be certain transportation general obligation bonds issued pursuant to Proposition 1B of 2006. Existing law also provides for loans of weight fee revenues to the General Fund to the extent the revenues are not needed for bond debt service purposes, with the loans to be repaid when the revenues are later needed for those purposes, as specified. This bill, notwithstanding these provisions or any other law, would prohibit weight fee revenues from being transferred from the State Highway Account to the Transportation Debt Service Fund, the Transportation Bond Direct Payment Account, or any other fund or account for the purpose of payment of the debt service on transportation general obligation bonds, and would also prohibit loans of weight fee revenues to the General Fund. (8) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would proclaim January 26, 2016, as India Republic Day, and would urge all Californians to join in celebrating India Republic Day.
Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife, when income is derived directly from real property acquired and operated by the state as a wildlife management area, as defined, to pay annually to the county in which the property is located an amount equal to the county taxes levied upon the property at the time title to the property was transferred to the state, and any assessments levied upon the property by any irrigation, drainage, or reclamation district. This bill would appropriate $19,000,000 from the General Fund to the department to make payments to counties for unpaid amounts under these provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
