(1) Existing law generally requires secondhand dealers and coin dealers, as defined, to report specified transactions involving tangible personal property, on forms provided or approved by the Department of Justice, to the local law enforcement agency where their businesses are located. Existing law defines "tangible personal property" for these purposes, and excludes from that definition, among other items, commercial grade ingots defined to include, among other items, 0.99 fine ingots of gold, silver, or platinum. This bill would revise the definition of commercial grade ingots to include 0.99 fine or finer ingots of gold, silver, palladium, or platinum. Under existing law, secondhand dealers and coin dealers are required to report the information described above using an electronic reporting system 12 months after the Department of Justice develops that system. This bill would eliminate the electronic filing requirements for coin dealers, and would instead require that secondhand dealers report this information using the single, statewide, uniform electronic reporting system on and after the date that the system is implemented, as specified. (2) Existing law requires a local law enforcement agency to issue a license to engage in the business of a secondhand dealer or pawnbroker to an applicant who meets designated criteria. Existing law authorizes the local licensing authority and the Department of Justice to charge an initial licensure fee and a renewal fee, as specified. This bill would require the Department of Justice to charge a licensure fee and a renewal fee of no more than $300, as specified. The bill would also require licensees issued a license before the effective date of this bill to pay an additional fee of no more than $288 for the purpose of funding the single, statewide, uniform electronic reporting system, with payment due within 120 days of the enactment of this bill. The bill would require that the fees assessed by the department be deposited in the Secondhand Dealer and Pawnbroker Fund, which the bill would create in the State Treasury. The bill would require that the money in the fund be used by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of paying for specified regulatory costs, including the cost of implementing, operating, and maintaining the single, statewide, uniform electronic reporting system. The bill would also require applicants for a license to submit fingerprint images relative to a required criminal background check, with associated fee revenue to be deposited in the Fingerprint Fee Account, and would make those revenues available to the Department of Justice, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for these purposes. This bill would make findings and declarations of the Legislature, and state the intent of the Legislature, with regard to these matters. The bill would make other related conforming changes. The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
Existing law requires employers to make specified payments and withholdings from wages paid for employment to the Employment Development Department, which also is charged with administering the state's unemployment insurance program. Existing law also requires employers, as defined, to register with the department, and imposes penalties on employers for failure to register. This bill would prohibit a person or entity from providing, advertising for, or otherwise holding itself out as providing, professional employer services in the state, unless that person or entity is registered as a professional employer organization with the department. The bill would require the director to prescribe rules establishing the method for professional employer organizations to report quarterly wages and contributions to the director for worksite employees, as specified.
This measure would recognize National Flag Day on June 14, 2012, honor the 52nd anniversary of the flying of the current American flag, and encourage all Californians to celebrate the occasion with appropriate activities.
Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , to authorize electrical corporations to collect moneys for the self-generation incentive program (SGIP) at 2008 calendar year levels through December 31, 2014. Existing law requires the PUC to require electrical corporations to administer the SGIP, until January 1, 2016. Existing law limits eligibility for SGIP incentives to distributed energy resources that the PUC, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, determines will achieve reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. This bill would state legislative findings and declarations regarding the use of waste products from forest thinning and fire prevention activities to generate electricity at biomass facilities. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in consultation with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, to establish an incentive program to compensate producers and collectors of biomass material associated with forest fuel reduction and fire prevention activities that are delivered to eligible biomass facilities, as defined, for use as a fuel source.
Existing law requires the charge of an official court reporter fee, in addition to any other fee required in civil actions or cases, for each proceeding lasting more than one hour, in an amount equal to the actual cost of providing that service per 12 day of services to the parties, on a pro rata basis, for the services of an official court reporter on the first and each succeeding judicial day those services are provided, as specified. Fees collected pursuant to this provision may be used only to pay for services of an official court reporter in civil proceedings. Existing law further requires that, whenever a daily transcript is ordered in a civil case requiring the services of more than one reporter, the party requesting the transcript pay a fee equal to the per diem rate for pro tempore reporters in addition to any other required fee. This bill would additionally require an official court reporter fee to be charged for each proceeding lasting less than an hour, and would authorize the court in which an official court reporter fee was collected to retain that fee. The bill would also authorize the court collecting a per diem fee for a daily transcript to retain that fee to offset the cost of the additional court reporter. Existing law establishes filing fees in specified civil proceedings. Existing law further establishes the Trial Court Trust Fund and requires that $30 of the amount distributed to the Trial Court Trust Fund from specified filing fees be used for the services of an official court reporter in civil proceedings. This bill, instead, would require that $30 of specified filing fees be retained by the court in which the fee was collected and be used to provide the services of an official court reporter in civil proceedings. The bill would also require, in courts where official court reporting services in civil proceedings are not provided, that all fees to be retained pursuant to these provisions instead revert to the Trial Court Trust Fund for redistribution to trial courts providing official court reporting services in civil proceedings, as specified, and that these redistributed funds be used to provide the services of an official court reporter in civil proceedings.
This measure would recognize August 8, 2012, as "Are You Dense?" Day 2012, to raise awareness of the risks associated with breast density and the potential benefits of other screening tools to supplement mammography.
Existing law establishes the State Department of State Hospitals, provides for the administration of state hospitals by the department, and provides for the involuntary confinement of certain individuals in those state hospitals, including persons who have been found incompetent to stand trial. This bill would authorize the department to expand a specified pilot program to establish competency restoration programs in prescribed counties, to provide treatment in county jails to individuals found incompetent to stand trial, and who have not been committed to a state hospital. By requiring specified counties to participate in the pilot program if it is expanded, 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 competency restoration programs in Los Angeles County and Kern County. 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, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. Existing law provides that the willful violation of provisions regulating health care service plans is a crime. Existing law provides for the licensing and regulation of health insurers by the Insurance Commissioner. Existing law requires health care service plans and health insurers to provide certain benefits, but generally does not require plans and insurers to cover prescription drugs. Existing law imposes various requirements on plans and insurers if they offer coverage for prescription drugs. Existing law, with respect to health care service plans, authorizes a plan to file information with the department to seek the approval of, among other things, a copayment, deductible, or exclusion to a plan's prescription drug benefit and specifies that an approved exclusion shall not be subject to review through the independent medical review process on the grounds of medical necessity. Existing federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commencing January 1, 2014, imposes an annual limitation on cost sharing incurred under a health plan that shall not exceed a specified amount. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2014, require a health care service plan contract and a health insurance policy, except for a specialized plan or policy, to provide for a limit on annual out-of-pocket expenses for certain covered benefits, except as specified, and would provide that this limit shall not exceed that federal limit. The bill would also provide, commencing January 1, 2014, that these provisions shall not be construed to affect the reduction in cost sharing for eligible insureds described in federal law. Existing law provides that the obligation of a plan to comply with specified standards is not waived when the plan delegates any services that it is required to perform to its medical groups, independent practice associations, or other contracting entities. This bill would apply those provisions regarding waiver to the obligation of a plan to comply with the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, rather than to the obligation of the plan to comply with specified standards. Because this bill would impose new requirements on health care service plans, the willful violation of which would be a crime, it would thereby 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.
This measure would commemorate the 40th anniversary of Title IX on June 23, 2012, commend the movement toward increased equality and fair treatment of female athletes, and praise the goal of greater opportunities in sports for girls and young women in California.
This measure would proclaim June 2012 as Scleroderma Awareness Month.