Existing law permits a judgment against a criminal defendant that orders the defendant to pay a fine, other than a restitution fine or order, to also direct that he or she be imprisoned until the fine is satisfied. Existing law requires the judgment to specify the term of imprisonment for nonpayment of the fine, and prohibits that term from exceeding one day for each $125 of the fine, or exceeding the term for which the defendant may be sentenced for the offense of which he or she has been convicted. This bill would prohibit the term of imprisonment for nonpayment of a fine from exceeding one day for each $125 of the base fine or the term for which the defendant may be sentenced. The bill would require the penalties and assessments imposed on the base fine, if an amount of the base fine is not satisfied by jail credits or community service, to be reduced by the percentage of the base fine that was satisfied. Existing law also requires that in all felony and misdemeanor convictions, when the defendant has been in custody, that all days of custody of the defendant, as specified, are to be credited upon his or her term of imprisonment, or credited to any fine, on a proportional basis, that may be imposed, at the rate of not less than $125 per day, in the discretion of the court imposing the sentence. This bill would specify that the rate of credit under those provisions be credited to the term of imprisonment of the defendant or credited to the base fine that may be imposed. The bill would require the penalties and assessments imposed on the base fine, if an amount of the base fine is not satisfied by jail credits or community service, to be reduced by the percentage of the base fine that was satisfied.
Sponsored bills
The Planning and Zoning Law authorizes a local agency to provide by ordinance for the creation of 2nd units in single-family and multifamily residential areas, as prescribed. This bill would, in addition, authorize a local agency to provide by ordinance for the creation of junior accessory dwelling units, as defined, in single-family residential zones. The bill would require the ordinance to include, among other things, standards for the creation of a junior accessory dwelling unit, required deed restrictions, and occupancy requirements. The bill would prohibit an ordinance from requiring, as a condition of granting a permit for a junior accessory dwelling unit, additional parking requirements. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law prohibits an employer or any other person from engaging in, or directing another person to engage in, an unfair immigration-related practice against a person for the purpose of or intent to retaliate against any person for exercising a protected right, as specified. Existing law defines requesting more or different documents than are required under federal law, or refusing to honor documents tendered that on their face reasonably appear to be genuine, as an unfair immigration-related practice. This bill would make it unlawful for an employer to request more or different documents than are required under federal law, to refuse to honor documents tendered that on their face reasonably appear to be genuine, to refuse to honor documents or work authorization based upon the specific status or term of status that accompanies the authorization to work, or to reinvestigate or reverify an incumbent employee's authorization to work, as specified. The bill would authorize an applicant for employment or an employee who is subject to an unlawful act that is prohibited by these provisions, or a representative of that applicant for employment or employee, to file a complaint with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. The bill would specify that any person who violates these provisions shall be subject to a penalty imposed by the Labor Commissioner not exceeding $10,000, and be liable for equitable relief.
Existing law requires the county assessor to consider, when valuing real property for property taxation purposes, the effect of any enforceable restrictions to which the use of the land may be subjected, including, but not limited to, zoning, recorded contracts with governmental agencies, and various other restrictions imposed by governments. This bill would require the county assessor to consider, when valuing real property for property taxation purposes, a contract that is a 99-year ground lease between a community land trust, as defined, and the qualified owner, as defined, of an owner-occupied single-family dwelling or an owner-occupied unit in a multifamily dwelling and that subjects a single-family dwelling or unit in a multifamily dwelling, and the land on which the dwelling or unit is situated that is leased to the qualified owner for the convenient occupation and use of that dwelling or unit, to affordability restrictions, as defined. By changing the manner in which county assessors assess property for property taxation purposes, this 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, 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. Section 2229 of the Revenue and Taxation Code requires the Legislature to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2229 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law prescribes various duties for the Department of General Services in connection with development and maintenance of the park around the State Capitol Building. This bill would authorize the Mervyn Dymally Memorial Capitol Foundation, upon establishment, in consultation with the Department of General Services, to plan a bust of Mervyn Dymally to be placed in the State Capitol Building Annex. The bill would require the Department of General Services and the Mervyn Dymally Memorial Capitol Foundation to approve the design and any other aspect of the bust. The bill would require that the planning, construction, and maintenance of the bust be funded with private donations through the Mervyn Dymally Memorial Capitol Foundation. The bill would prohibit construction of the bust until the Joint Committee on Rules has approved and adopted the plan for the bust, and the Joint Committee on Rules and the Department of Finance have determined that sufficient private funding is available to construct and maintain the bust. The bill would provide legislative findings in support of these provisions.
Existing law, until January 1, 2017, authorizes the Counties of Alameda and Los Angeles, respectively, to create a pilot project, contingent upon local funding, for the purposes of developing a comprehensive, replicative, multidisciplinary model to address the needs and effective treatment of commercially sexually exploited minors, as specified. This bill would extend the operation of this program indefinitely in the County of Alameda. The bill would also expand the definition of a "commercially sexually exploited minor" to include, among others, a minor who has been adjudged a dependent of the juvenile court because he or she is a commercially sexually exploited child, and would create a presumption that, if a minor has been arrested for engaging in prostitution, or is the subject of a petition to adjudge him or her a dependent of the juvenile court because he or she is a commercially sexually exploited child, he or she is a commercially sexually exploited minor for the purposes of that definition. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Alameda.
Existing law provides for the State Supplementary Program for the Aged, Blind and Disabled (SSP) , which requires the State Department of Social Services to contract with the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to make payments to SSP recipients to supplement Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments made available pursuant to the federal Social Security Act. Under existing law, benefit payments under SSP are calculated by establishing the maximum level of nonexempt income and federal SSI and state SSP benefits for each category of eligible recipient. The state SSP payment is the amount required, when added to the nonexempt income and SSI benefits available to the recipient, to provide the maximum benefit payment. Existing law prohibits, for each calendar year, commencing with the 2011 calendar year, any cost-of-living adjustment from being made to the maximum benefit payment unless otherwise specified by statute, except for the pass along of any cost-of-living increase in the federal SSI benefits. Existing law continuously appropriates funds for the implementation of SSP. This bill would reinstate the cost-of-living adjustment beginning January 1 of the 2018 calendar year. By reinstating the cost-of-living adjustment, this bill would make an appropriation.
(1) Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to allocate funds under the federal Community Development Block Grant Program to cities and counties. Existing law requires the department to determine and announce, in the applicable Notice of Funding Availability, the maximum amount of grant funds that may be used for economic development projects and programs, housing for persons and families of low or moderate income or for purposes directly related to the provision or improvement of housing opportunities for these persons and families, and for cities and counties that apply on behalf of certain Indian tribes. Existing law requires the department to develop and use certain eligibility criteria and requirements for certain economic development fund applications. This bill would authorize the Department of Housing and Community Development to issue a Notice of Funding Availability under which the director of the department could determine that an applicant previously awarded funds is eligible to apply for, and receive, additional funds pursuant to the Community Development Block Grant Program, without regard to whether the applicant has expended at least a certain percentage of funds previously awarded. (2) Existing law authorizes the Housing Finance Agency to issue revenue bonds for the purpose of financing the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, refinancing, or development of multifamily rental housing and for the provision of capital improvements in connection with, and determined necessary to, that multifamily rental housing. Existing law requires no less than 20%, or 15% for those multifamily rental housing developments located in a target area, as defined, of the total number of units in a multifamily rental housing development, financed or for which financing has been extended or committed from the proceeds of sale of each bond issuance of the agency, to be for occupancy on a priority basis by lower income households. Existing law further requires that not less than 12 of the units required for occupancy on a priority basis by lower income households be for occupancy on a priority basis for very low income households. This bill would authorize the agency to waive the priority requirements for very low income households upon approval of the board and a specified determination. Existing law prohibits rental payments on units required for occupancy by very low income households paid by persons occupying the units from exceeding 30% of 50% of the area median income, and sets forth occupancy assumptions for adjusting rents for household size, as specified. This bill would, commencing September 1, 2016, authorize the agency to also utilize occupancy assumptions that it has determined are appropriate and commercially reasonable for financing extended pursuant to these provisions. Existing law provides that the authorization to issue revenue bonds for these purposes constitutes an alternative method to issue bonds for making construction loans and mortgage loans for multifamily rental housing. This bill would instead provide that the authorization to issue revenue bonds for these purposes constitutes an alternative method to finance construction loans and mortgage loans for multifamily rental housing. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, enacted by Proposition 47, as approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, among other things, established the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, which is funded by savings that accrue to the state from the implementation of the act. The act provides that, among other purposes, 25% of the funds shall be disbursed to the State Department of Education to administer a grant program to public agencies aimed at improving outcomes for public school pupils by reducing truancy and supporting pupils who are at risk of dropping out of school or are victims of crime. This bill would establish the Learning Communities for School Success Program for the purpose of implementing that grant program, subject to an appropriation to the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund in the annual Budget Act or another statute for the purposes of the bill. The bill would specify the administrative duties and responsibilities of the department with respect to the program, including administering grants and coordinating assistance to local educational agencies, as defined. The bill would set forth criteria to guide the department in awarding grants under the program, and would specify the purposes for which grant funds may be used. The bill would require the department to submit a final evaluation of the program to the Legislature on or before January 31, 2020. These provisions would become operative only if AB 1014 of the 2015–16 Regular Session is chaptered and becomes operative on or before January 1, 2017.
The Dental Practice Act provides for the licensure and regulation of dentists by the Dental Board of California. That act authorizes a committee of the board to evaluate all suggestions or requests for regulatory changes related to the committee and to hold informational hearings in order to report and make appropriate recommendations to the board, after consultation with departmental legal counsel and the board's chief executive officer. The act requires a committee to include in any report regarding a proposed regulatory change, at a minimum, the specific language or the proposed change or changes and the reasons therefor, and any facts supporting the need for the change. The act governs the use of general anesthesia, conscious sedation, and oral conscious sedation for pediatric and adult patients. The act makes it unprofessional conduct for a licensee to fail to report the death of a patient, or removal of a patient to a hospital or emergency center for medical treatment, that is related to a dental procedure, as specified. The act also makes it unprofessional conduct for any dentist to fail to obtain the written informed consent of a patient prior to administering general anesthesia or conscious sedation. In the case of a minor, the act requires that the consent be obtained from the child's parent or guardian. This bill, which would be known as "Caleb's Law," would require the board, on or before January 1, 2017, to provide to the Legislature a report on whether current statutes and regulations for the administration and monitoring of pediatric anesthesia in dentistry provide adequate protection for pediatric dental patients and would require the board to make the report publicly available on the board's Internet Web site. The bill also would require the board to provide a report on pediatric deaths related to general anesthesia in dentistry at the time of its sunset review by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature. This bill would require that the report of the death of a patient, or removal of a patient to a hospital or emergency center for medical treatment, be on a form or forms approved by the board and that the report include specified information. The bill authorizes the board to assess a penalty on any licensee who fails to make the required report. This bill, with regard to obtaining written informed consent for general anesthesia or conscious sedation in the case of a minor, would require that the written informed consent include specified information regarding anesthesia, as provided.