Existing law requires the court to consider and give due weight to the wishes of a child in making an order granting or modifying custody or visitation, if the child is of sufficient age and capacity to form an intelligent preference as to custody or visitation. Existing law also requires the court to permit a child who is 14 years of age or older to address the court regarding custody or visitation, unless the court determines that doing so is not in the child's best interests. This bill, commencing July 1, 2017, would instead require the court to permit a child who is 10 years of age or older, of his or her own volition, to address the court regarding custody or visitation, unless the court determines that doing so is not in the child's best interests. The bill would require the court to determine whether the child is addressing the court of his or her own volition and to provide the child with an age-appropriate form developed by the Judicial Council that explains to the child specified information prior to the child addressing the court regarding custody or visitation. The bill, commencing January 1, 2017, would require the Judicial Council, no later than July 1, 2017, to develop this age-appropriate form.
Sponsored bills
The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows various exclusions from gross income, and allows various deductions in computing the income that is subject to the taxes imposed by that law, including miscellaneous itemized deductions that are allowed only to the extent that the aggregate amount of those deductions exceeds 2% of adjusted gross income. This bill, upon appropriation of specified funds by the Legislature, on and after January 1, 2017, and before January 1, 2019, would allow a deduction, not to exceed specified amounts, of the amount a qualified taxpayer, as defined, contributed in any taxable year to a homeownership savings account and would exclude from gross income any income earned on the moneys contributed to a homeownership savings account. The bill would provide that a qualified taxpayer may withdraw amounts from a homeownership savings account to pay for qualified homeownership savings expenses defined as expenses paid or incurred in connection with the purchase of a principal residence, which is defined by reference to a federal law and includes a mobilehome. The bill would provide that any amount withdrawn from that account that is not used for these expenses would be included as income for that taxpayer. The bill would define various terms for its purposes. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
(1) Existing law prohibits the transfer of any tissues, as defined, into the body of another person by means of transplantation, unless the donor of the tissues has been screened and found nonreactive for evidence of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) , agents of viral hepatitis (HBV and HCV) , human T lymphotropic virus (HTLV) , and syphilis, except as provided. Existing law requires that all donors of sperm be screened and found nonreactive under the above provisions, except as provided. Existing law authorizes the transplantation of tissue from a donor who has not been tested for specified infectious diseases or, with the exception of HIV and HTLV, has been found reactive, if specified conditions are satisfied. This bill would delete the exception of HIV from this provision. The bill would require a physician and surgeon performing the transplantation of an organ from an HIV-reactive donor to ensure that the recipient is also HIV reactive and complying with federal law, as specified. (2) Under existing law, it is a felony for a person to donate blood, body organs or other tissue, or semen to a medical center or semen bank who knows that he or she has acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) except if the person is a sperm donor who has been screened and found nonreactive under the above provisions. Under existing law, a person afflicted with any contagious, infectious, or communicable disease who willfully exposes himself or herself to another person, and any person who willfully exposes another person afflicted with the disease to someone else, is guilty of a misdemeanor, except as provided. This bill would exempt those sperm donors and organ donors from those criminal provisions. (3) Existing law authorizes the Medical Board of California and the California Board of Podiatric Medicine to take disciplinary action against a physician, surgeon, and other licensed or regulated individual who knowingly fails to protect patients by failing to follow infection control guidelines and risks transmission of blood-borne infectious diseases, as specified. This bill would exempt the performance of an organ transplant, as authorized by this bill, from disciplinary action. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the court to impose as a condition of probation for a conviction for a first violation of driving under the influence, in a county where the board of supervisors has approved, and the State Department of Health Care Services has licensed, a driving-under-the-influence program, that the driver successfully complete the program in the driver's county of residence or employment, as designated by the court. Existing law provides that enrollment and participation in, and completion of, an approved program shall be subsequent to the date of the current violation. Existing law requires a county alcohol program administrator to coordinate court-established reporting requirements with the Department of Motor Vehicles and the State Department of Health Care Services. This bill would require that enrollment in an approved program take place within 30 days of conviction, unless an extension of no longer than 30 days is granted by the court, as specified. The bill would also require the court, for first time offenders, to consider a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08% or more, by weight, in combination with the presence of a Schedule I or II controlled substance, as defined, except for marijuana or a controlled substance prescribed by a licensed physician or dentist, as an aggravating factor that may justify enhancing the terms and conditions of probation, as specified. The bill would require the county alcohol program administrator to additionally coordinate court referral and tracking documents with the Department of Motor Vehicles and the State Department of Health Care Services. By imposing new duties on a county employee, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes a court, as a condition of probation, to refer a person convicted for driving under the influence to a licensed program, as specified, even though the person's privilege to operate a motor vehicle is restricted, suspended, or revoked. Existing law requires a clerk of the court to indicate the duration of the treatment program the judge has ordered a person to participate in the abstract of the court record that is forwarded to the State Department of Health Care Services. This bill would instead require a court to refer a person with a 2nd or subsequent driving-under-the-influence conviction to a licensed program as a condition of probation even if the person's privilege to operate a motor vehicle is restricted, suspended, or revoked. The bill would require the clerk of the court to also indicate the duration of the treatment program ordered on court referral and tracking documents. 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.
This measure would proclaim the month of April 2016 as Black April Memorial Month.
Existing law generally sets out the requirements for the submission of written reports by public agencies to the Legislature, the Governor, the Controller, and state legislative and other executive entities. This bill would require a written report, as defined, submitted by any state agency or department to the Legislature, a Member of the Legislature, or any state legislative or executive body to include a signed statement by the head of the agency or department declaring that the factual contents of the written report are true, accurate, and complete to the best of his or her knowledge. This bill would also make any person who declares as true any material matter pursuant to these provisions that he or she knows to be false liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $20,000.
This measure would declare the month of April 2016 as Financial Aid and Literacy Month, with the theme of "Prosperity Through Education," to raise public awareness about the continuing need for increased financial literacy.
This measure would recognize May 2016 as National Mental Health Awareness Month in California to enhance public awareness of mental illness.