Existing law prohibits a food from being sold as organic unless it meets certain criteria, and accurate and specific records are kept detailing its production, handling, and sale. This bill would enact the California Transition to Organics Act of 2012. The bill would establish the Transition to Organics Fund in the State Treasury, which would consist of moneys from industry and citizen sources. The bill would limit the expenditure of moneys from the fund to providing financial assistance to persons who transition their conventional farms to certified organic farms, and to covering administrative and operational expenses incurred in administering the act, as specified. The fund would be administered by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, as provided, and the secretary would be authorized to adopt regulations to carry out the provisions of the act. The bill would also authorize the secretary to levy a civil penalty, as provided, upon a person who renders or furnishes false information to the secretary under the act.
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(1) Existing law requires a processor of farm products, as defined, to be licensed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, and provides that an application for a license or for a renewal of a license that shows the applicant to be in an unsound financial condition is sufficient grounds to deny an application. Existing law provides that if the secretary is not satisfied that an applicant or licensee is financially responsible, the secretary may, in lieu of denying, suspending, or revoking the license, accept an irrevocable guarantee of the obligations of the licensee to all California farm product creditors. Existing law also requires a licensee or applicant to furnish and maintain an irrevocable guarantee if the secretary determines that, in the preceding 4 years, the person has engaged in certain conduct, including a violation that resulted in license revocation. This bill would specify that the irrevocable guarantee may include a personal or corporate guarantee, a certificate of deposit, a bank letter of credit, or a surety bond, as determined to be appropriate by the secretary, in an amount that is at least sufficient to pay the obligations of the licensee at the time the guarantee is issued. (2) Existing law requires a person found to be operating a business within the past 5 years without a license or who has a failed to pay a license fee pursuant to a certain schedule to pay additional penalties to the secretary, including paying an amount equal to that portion of the fees that were not paid for the last 5 years the business has operated. This bill would increase that penalty amount to 3 times the portion of the fees that were not paid for the last 5 years the business has operated. (3) Under existing law, the funds collected pursuant to the provisions regulating processors of farm products are deposited in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund in the State Treasury, and are continuously appropriated for the administration and enforcement of those provisions. Because the additional penalties that would be authorized by this bill would be deposited in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund in the State Treasury, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would make other technical, nonsubstantive changes.
(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA exempts a project of less than one mile in length within a public street or highway or any other public right-of-way for the installation of a new pipeline, as defined, or the maintenance, repair, restoration, reconditioning, relocation, replacement, removal, or demolition of an existing pipeline. Existing law excludes from the definition of pipeline, for purposes of this exemption, certain surface facilities. This bill would, until January 1, 2018, revise that definition of pipeline to delete the exclusion of those surface facilities and to include surface accessories or appurtenances to a pipeline. The bill would require a resource agency, as defined, when determining the applicability of the exemption of pipelines from the act with regard to a natural gas pipeline safety enhancement activity, as defined, to consider only the length of pipeline that is within its legal jurisdiction. The bill would impose a state-mandated local program by imposing new duties upon local agencies with regard to the exemption of pipelines from the act and upon a local agency that is a resource agency regarding the applicability of the exemption regarding a natural gas pipeline safety enhancement activity. The bill would, until January 1, 2018, authorize a public agency to establish a process that would allow an applicant for a natural gas pipeline safety enhancement activity to elect to pay additional fees to be used by the public agency in determining whether to approve that activity by entering into a contract with one or more 3rd parties to assist the public agency to perform the analysis. (2) 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. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Collateral Recovery Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of repossession agencies by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services under the supervision and control of the Director of Consumer Affairs. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor. The act provides that a repossession agency does not include the legal owner of collateral that is subject to a security agreement or a bona fide employee of the legal owner of collateral that is subject to a security agreement. This bill would, until January 1, 2018, add that a repossession agency does not include a dealer regularly engaged in the sale of specified collateral that is subject to a specified security agreement, and that dealer's bona fide employees, provided that specified requirements are met. The bill would also prohibit, until January 1, 2018, the dealer, its bona fide employees, and other specified entities from instructing, coercing, or attempting to coerce another person to violate laws, regulations, and rules regarding the recovery of collateral, as specified. Because a violation of this prohibition would be a crime, 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.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation and local agencies, with respect to highways under their respective jurisdictions, to designate certain lanes for preferential or exclusive use by high-occupancy vehicles. This bill, until January 1, 2020, or until the Director of Transportation determines otherwise, as provided under the bill, and files that determination with the Secretary of State, would suspend, consistent with the state implementation plan for the San Francisco Bay area adopted pursuant to the federal Clean Air Act and other federal requirements, the hours of operation for highway lanes designated for high-occupancy vehicles, in the Interstate 80 corridor within the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's jurisdiction, in the morning reverse commute direction, as defined. Because the commission would be required to post signage of the above requirements along the Interstate 80 corridor, 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 the Interstate 80 corridor in the San Francisco Bay area. 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.
Existing law requires specified information to be provided to patients regarding their health care. Existing federal law requires a written report of the results of each mammography examination and requires a summary of that report to be sent to the patient within a specified time period. This bill, from April 1, 2013, until January 1, 2019, would require, under specified circumstances, a health facility at which a mammography examination is performed to include in the summary of the written report that is sent to the patient a prescribed notice on breast density.
Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, authorizes a registered nurse to dispense drugs or devices upon an order by a licensed physician and surgeon if the nurse is functioning within a specified clinic. This bill would, in addition, authorize a registered nurse to dispense specified drugs or devices upon an order issued by a certified nurse-midwife, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant if the nurse is functioning within a specified clinic. The bill would also authorize a registered nurse to dispense or administer hormonal contraceptives in strict adherence to specified standardized procedures.
Existing law prohibits a school district from permitting access to pupil records to any person without written parental consent or judicial order, except as provided. This bill would make various changes to these pupil record provisions to conform them to federal law, except as specified.
This measure would memorialize the President and Congress of the United States to enact legislation that would add comprehensive, preventative dental care coverage to Medicare benefits.
This measure would recognize September 2012 as Recovery Month in California, in order to raise awareness of the importance of substance use disorders treatment and to help people living with substance use disorders and their families to receive treatment.