Asm. Catharine B. Baker

This measure would proclaim the month of January 2016 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month, encourage all Californians to become educated about human trafficking and work to eradicate these criminal practices within and beyond our borders, and encourage Members of the Legislature, as well as organizations, businesses, and individuals, to host or sponsor and attend community events in order to bring visibility and support to efforts made by nongovernmental organizations to recognize and combat human trafficking.

Existing law, the Sex Offender Registration Act, requires persons convicted of specified sex offenses to register with local authorities for life while residing, located, attending school, or working in California. Existing law, as adopted by the voters by the passage of Proposition 83 at the November 7, 2006, statewide general election, prohibits a person who is required to register as a sex offender from living in specified places, including within 2,000 feet of a school or park where children regularly gather. Existing law authorizes municipal jurisdictions to enact local ordinances that further restrict the residency of the registered sex offender. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person who is on parole for specified sex offenses to enter any park where children regularly gather without express permission from the person's parole agent. This bill would state that a local agency is not preempted by state law from enacting and enforcing an ordinance that restricts a registered sex offender from residing or being present at certain locations within the local agency's jurisdiction. The bill would authorize a local agency to adopt ordinances, rules, or regulations that are more restrictive than state law relating to a registered sex offender's ability to reside or be present at certain locations within the local agency's jurisdiction.

Existing law designates the Metropolitan Transportation Commission as the regional transportation planning agency for the San Francisco Bay Area. Existing law creates the Bay Area Toll Authority, governed by the same board as the commission, with specified powers and duties relative to the administration of toll revenues from state-owned toll bridges within the geographic jurisdiction of the commission. Existing law authorizes the authority to make direct contributions to the commission in furtherance of the exercise of the authority's powers, including contributions in the form of personnel services, office space, overhead, and other funding necessary to carry out the function of the authority, with those contributions not to exceed 1% of the gross annual bridge revenues. This bill would instead limit the direct contributions by the authority to the commission in any fiscal year to 1% of funds available to the authority in that fiscal year, and would impose a similar restriction on loans from the authority to the commission.

(1) Existing law establishes a 25 miles per hour prima facie limit when approaching or passing a school building or the grounds thereof, contiguous to a highway and posted up to 500 feet away from the school grounds, with a standard "SCHOOL" warning sign, while children are going to or leaving the school either during school hours or during the noon recess period. The prima facie limit also applies when approaching or passing school grounds that are not separated from the highway by a fence, gate, or other physical barrier while the grounds are in use by children and the highway is posted with a standard "SCHOOL" warning sign. A violation of that prima facie limit is an infraction. Existing law additionally allows a city or county to establish in a residence district, on a highway with a posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour or slower, a 15 miles per hour prima facie limit when approaching, at a distance of less than 500 feet from, or passing, a school building or the grounds thereof, contiguous to a highway and posted with a school warning sign that indicates a speed limit of 15 miles per hour, while children are going to or leaving the school, either during school hours or during the noon recess period. The prima facie limit would also apply when approaching, at that same distance, or passing school grounds that are not separated from the highway by a fence, gate, or other physical barrier while the grounds are in use by children and the highway is posted with one of those signs. Existing law additionally allows a city or county to establish in a residence district, on a highway with a posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour or slower, a 25 miles per hour prima facie speed limit when approaching at a distance of 500 to 1,000 feet from a school building or grounds thereof, contiguous to a highway and posted with a school warning sign that indicates a speed limit of 25 miles per hour, while children are going to or leaving the school, either during school hours or during the noon recess period. The prima facie limit would also apply when approaching, at that same distance, or passing school grounds that are not separated from the highway by a fence, gate, or other physical barrier while the grounds are in use by children and the highway is posted with one of those signs. This bill would allow a city or county to establish in a residence district, on a highway with a posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour or slower, a 15 miles per hour prima facie speed limit when approaching, at a distance of less than 1,320 feet from, or passing, a school building or grounds thereof, contiguous of to a highway and posted with a school warning sign that indicates a speed limit of 15 miles per hour 24 hours a day. This bill would provide that a 25 miles per hour prima facie limit in a residence district, on a highway, with a posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour or slower, applies, as to those local authorities, when approaching, at a distance of 500 to 1,320 feet from a school building or grounds thereof. This bill would also authorize a local authority, on the basis of an engineering and traffic survey, to extend the maximum distance to establish a prima facie speed limit and school warning signs, as specified. This bill would also allow the 15 miles per hour or 25 miles per hour prima facie speed limit to apply 24 hours a day. By authorizing a change in the prima facie limits, the bill would expand the scope of an existing crime, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. (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.

Existing law creates the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District and establishes provisions regulating the collective bargaining of the employees and the board of directors of that district. Existing law prescribes procedures specifically relating to the collective bargaining of transit districts, and authorizes the Governor, when it appears a strike will significantly disrupt transportation services and endanger public health, safety, and welfare, to appoint a board to investigate issues in connection with these labor negotiations and make a report. Existing law prohibits a strike during the period of investigation and permits the Governor, upon receiving a report from a board of investigation, to request the Attorney General to petition a court to enjoin the strike, as specified. This bill would prohibit employees of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District from engaging in a strike or work stoppage if the transit district board maintains the compensation and benefit provisions of an expired contract and an employee or employee organization has agreed to a provision prohibiting strikes in the expired or previous written labor contract. The bill would provide that an employee whom the transit district employer finds willfully engaged in a strike or work stoppage in violation of these provisions is subject to dismissal if that finding is sustained upon conclusion of the appropriate proceedings necessary for the imposition of a disciplinary action.

Existing law, as amended by the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, a measure approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, generally provides that the possession of Ketamine, gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) , or flunitrazepam is a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year. This bill would make it a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, to possess Ketamine, GHB, or flunitrazepam with the intent to commit sexual assault. By creating a new crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law, with certain exceptions, establishes 8 hours as a day's work and a 40-hour workweek, and requires payment of prescribed overtime compensation for additional hours worked. Existing law authorizes the adoption by 23 of employees in a work unit of alternative workweek schedules providing for workdays no longer than 10 hours within a 40-hour workweek. This bill would permit an individual nonexempt employee to request an employee-selected flexible work schedule providing for workdays up to 10 hours per day within a 40-hour workweek, and would allow an employer to implement this schedule without the obligation to pay overtime compensation for those additional hours in a workday, except as specified. The bill would require that the flexible work schedule contain specified information and the employer's and the employee's original signature. The bill would also require the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in the Department of Industrial Relations to enforce this provision and adopt regulations.

Under existing law, by executive order, CaliforniaVolunteers is established in the office of the Governor and is charged with overseeing programs and initiatives for service and volunteerism. This bill would authorize CaliforniaVolunteers, for so long as it is authorized to exist, to form a tax-exempt public benefit nonprofit corporation, or other tax-exempt entity, qualified under federal and state law to raise revenues and receive grants or other financial support from private or public sources, for the purposes of undertaking or funding any lawful activity authorized to be undertaken by CaliforniaVolunteers. This bill would require the nonprofit corporation or other tax-exempt entity to use the financial support it seeks to be used solely for the governmental purposes approved by CaliforniaVolunteers for activities within the scope of authority of CaliforniaVolunteers. This bill would also establish California AmeriCorps – STEM in state government, to be administered by CaliforniaVolunteers and operate under existing federal AmeriCorps program guidelines. This bill would require that California AmeriCorps – STEM members be selected through an application process for eligible college graduates or students, as specified. This bill would allow a nonprofit corporation, as specified, or a public entity to apply, individually or in partnership with a corporation or individual interested in the promotion of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, to CaliforniaVolunteers, through a competitive request for proposal process, to host one or more California AmeriCorps – STEM members. This bill would provide that the purpose of California AmeriCorps – STEM is to increase STEM education programs to prepare the next generation for jobs in the STEM fields. This bill would authorize CaliforniaVolunteers to solicit and accept private funding to help supplement the costs of California AmeriCorps – STEM.

Under existing law, a person may not stop, park, or leave a vehicle standing alongside a curb space authorized for the loading or unloading of passengers of a bus engaged as a common carrier in local transportation when indicated by a sign or red paint on the curb, except that existing law allows local authorities to permit schoolbuses to stop alongside these curb spaces upon agreement between a transit system operating buses as common carriers in local transportation and a public school district or private school. This bill would also allow local authorities to permit shuttle service vehicles, as defined, to stop for the loading or unloading of passengers alongside these curb spaces upon agreement between a transit system operating buses engaged as common carriers in local transportation and a shuttle service provider, as defined. The bill would state that it is the intent of the Legislature to not replace public transit services.