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.
Sponsored bills
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 2009. The bill would establish the Transition to Organics Fund in the State Treasury, which would consist of moneys from federal, industry, and citizen sources. The bill would limit the expenditure of moneys from the fund to providing financial assistance to persons who transition their uncertified 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.
Existing law generally establishes various offenses constituting theft. This bill would make it a crime, except as specified, for a person to take, possess, damage, reuse, or move any political sign or signs without authorization from the owner of the sign or signs and with the intent to prevent, substantially alter, or substantially obscure the communication of the sign. The bill would make a violation of this provision punishable as an infraction or a misdemeanor, as specified, and would make a 2nd or subsequent violation a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, a fine not exceeding $2,000, or both. By creating a new 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 relating to the administration of personal income taxes authorizes individual taxpayers to contribute amounts in excess of their tax liability for the support of specified funds or accounts. This bill would allow individual taxpayers to designate on their tax returns, that a specified amount in excess of their tax liability be transferred to the Safely Surrendered Baby Fund, which would be created by this bill. This bill would provide that all moneys contributed to the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be allocated to the Franchise Tax Board and the Controller for reimbursement of costs, as provided, and to the State Department of Social Services for programs to increase public awareness and outreach regarding the Safely Surrendered Baby Law, as specified. This bill would provide that these voluntary contribution provisions are repealed on either January 1 of the 5th taxable year following the taxable year the fund first appears on the personal income tax return or on January 1 of an earlier calendar year, if the Franchise Tax Board estimates that the annual contribution amount will be less than $250,000, or an adjusted amount, as specified, for subsequent taxable years.
Existing law, the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act, creates the California Department of Aging, with prescribed duties, including the development of the state plan on aging. This bill would require the department to report data from the Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) , as defined, for each service area included in the state plan, if specified conditions are met. Existing law requires each area agency on aging to create a plan for its planning and service area that considers available data and population trends, assesses the need for services, identifies sources of funding for services, and develops and implements a plan for the delivery of services based on the need. This bill would also require that the plan utilize the Elder Index, specify the cost of meeting basic needs for elders in each planning and service area, and identify which elders are living at or below the Elder Index, as prescribed.
The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the state Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act define and regulate consumer credit reports and authorize the use of consumer credit reports for employment purposes, pursuant to specified requirements. The FCRA provides that it does not preempt state law, except as specifically provided or to the extent that state laws are inconsistent with its provisions. Existing federal and state law specify the procedures that an employer is required to follow before requesting a report and if adverse action is taken based on the report. Under existing law, an employer may request a credit report for employment purposes so long as he or she provides written notice of the request to the person for whom the report is sought. Existing law requires that the written notice inform the person for whom the consumer credit report was sought of the source of the report and contain space for the person to request a copy of the report. Existing law further requires an employer, whenever he or she bases an adverse employment decision on information contained in a consumer credit report, to advise the person for whom the report was sought that an adverse action was taken based upon information contained in the report and provide the person with the name and address of the consumer credit agency making the report. This bill would prohibit an employer, with the exception of certain financial institutions, from obtaining a consumer credit report for employment purposes unless the information is (1) substantially job-related, meaning that the position of the person for whom the report is sought has access to money, other assets, or confidential information, and (2) the position of the person for which the person is sought is a position in the state Department of Justice, a managerial position, a position in a city, county, or both city and county, that of a sworn peace officer or other law enforcement position, or a position for which the information contained in the report is required to be disclosed by law or to be obtained by the employer.
Existing law establishes a comprehensive statewide domestic violence program in the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) and requires the agency to provide financial and technical assistance to local domestic violence centers. Existing law requires the Maternal and Child Health Branch of the State Department of Public Health to administer a comprehensive shelter-based services grant program to battered women's shelters, as prescribed. This bill would, among other things, require Cal EMA to administer the above-described grant program. This bill would require the Department of Finance, upon the enactment of this bill, to transfer $16,300,000 from the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund to the General Fund as a loan. The bill would require the full amount of the loan to be repaid, with interest at the rate earned by the Pooled Money Investment Account at the time of the transfer, on or before June 30, 2013. The bill would appropriate $16,300,000 from the General Fund to Cal EMA for the purpose of funding the above-described comprehensive shelter-based services grant program to shelters for victims of domestic violence. This bill would require grantees funded under the above-described grant program, during the 2008–09 fiscal year, to be funded by Cal EMA for a period of one fiscal year, retroactively, commencing July 1, 2009. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 19, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law regulates the licensing and operation of talent services within the entertainment industry. These provisions govern the making and canceling of contracts, fees to be charged for services, records to be maintained by talent services, bonding requirements, and remedies for violations of these provisions, a violation of which constitutes a crime. This bill would prohibit a person from engaging, as specified, in an advance-fee talent representation service, as defined. This bill would also impose additional disclosure and contract requirements for a talent service, as defined. The bill would make a willful violation of its provisions a misdemeanor and subject to a civil action. Because the bill would create new crimes, it 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.
(1) Existing law prohibits a person to whom a disabled person placard has been issued from lending the placard to another person, and prohibits a disabled person from knowingly permitting the use of the placard, or special license plates for a disabled person or disabled veteran, for parking purposes by one not entitled to the placard or license plates. Existing law also generally prohibits a person from displaying a disabled person placard that was not issued to him or her or that has been canceled or revoked as specified, and prohibits a person using a vehicle displaying special license plates issued to another person from parking in specified parking stalls or spaces designated for disabled persons, unless transporting a disabled person. A violation of any of those prohibitions is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $250 and not more than $1,000, imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 6 months, or both that fine and imprisonment. Existing law also provides that a person who, with fraudulent intent, displays or causes or permits to be displayed a forged, counterfeit, or false disabled person placard is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not less than $500 and not more than $1,000, imprisonment in a county jail for 6 months, or both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would make all of those violations punishable as either a misdemeanor or by the issuance of a notice of parking violation. If treated as a parking violation, a violation would be punishable by a civil penalty of not less than $250 and not more than $1,000. The punishment would remain the same for a violation treated as a misdemeanor, except that the fine for a misdemeanor punishment for a person who, with fraudulent intent, displays or causes or permits to be displayed a forged, counterfeit, or false disabled person placard would be not less than $250, rather than not less than $500, and not more than $1,000. (2) Existing law authorizes a local authority, as defined, by ordinance or resolution, to prohibit or restrict the parking or standing of a vehicle on streets or highways or in a disabled person's parking space at an offstreet parking facility within its jurisdiction when the vehicle displays a distinguishing placard issued to a disabled person or disabled veteran, and the records of the Department of Motor Vehicles indicate that the placard has been reported as lost, stolen, surrendered, canceled, revoked, or expired, or was issued to a person who has been reported as being deceased for a period exceeding 60 days. This bill, instead, would authorize a local authority, by ordinance or resolution, to prohibit or restrict the parking or standing of a vehicle on one of those areas in its jurisdiction when the vehicle displays that distinguishing placard, a temporary distinguishing placard, or a special license plate issued to a disabled person, disabled veteran, or specified organizations, and the records of the department indicate the placard or license plate has been reported as lost, stolen, surrendered, canceled, revoked, or expired, or was issued to a person who has been reported deceased for a period exceeding 60 days; the placard or license plate is displayed on a vehicle that is not being used to transport, and is not in the reasonable proximity of, the person to whom the placard or license plate was issued or a person who is authorized to be transported in the vehicle displaying that placard or license plate; or the placard or license plate is counterfeit, forged, altered, or mutilated. Because a violation of these provisions would be an infraction, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law imposes specified fines on a person convicted of a first, 2nd, 3rd, or subsequent offense related to parking or leaving a vehicle without a distinguishing placard or special license plate in a parking space designated for disabled persons and disabled veterans, blocking access to those parking spaces, or parking or leaving standing a vehicle on the lines marking the boundaries of one of those parking spaces or in any area of the pavement adjacent to one of those parking spaces that is marked by crosshatched lines and is designated for the loading and unloading of vehicles parked in the parking space. This bill, instead, would make a person who commits one of those offenses subject to either the issuance of a civil notice of parking violation imposing a civil penalty of not less than $250 and not more than $1,000 or a criminal notice to appear punishable, as specified, as an infraction. (4) Existing law requires an additional assessment equal to 10% of the fine, penalty, or forfeiture imposed under specified provisions of the Vehicle Code to be imposed by each county for a violation of specified provisions of the Vehicle Code. This bill would revise and recast these provisions to also require that an additional assessment be imposed of 10% of the penalty established for purposes of a violation described in (2) above. (5) 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.
Under existing law, the Employment Development Department, the State Board of Equalization, and the Franchise Tax Board administer various taxes and fees. This bill in modified conformity with federal income tax laws would, with respect to tax advice, require that certain protections of confidentiality that apply to a communication between a client and an attorney also apply to communications between a taxpayer and any federally authorized tax practitioner that appears before those state agencies to the extent that the communication would be considered a privileged communication if it were made between a client and an attorney. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.