Asm. Rob Bonta

Existing law, the Equity in Higher Education Act, specifies that it is the policy of the State of California to afford all persons, regardless of gender, and various other enumerated characteristics, equal rights and opportunities in the postsecondary educational institutions of the state, and to prohibit acts that are contrary to that policy, and to provide remedies for those violations. This bill would declare that it is the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation that would provide incentives to encourage women to pursue postsecondary education in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math.

Existing law appropriates $100,000,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for apportionment to the Oakland Unified School District as an emergency loan. Existing law, from January 1, 2012, to June 30, 2016, authorizes the Oakland Unified School District to sell property owned by the school district and use the proceeds from the sale to reduce or retire the emergency loan. Existing law exempts the sale of property pursuant to those provisions from various provisions of law that would otherwise apply to the sale of the property or use of the proceeds, and provides that the Oakland Unified School District is not eligible for financial hardship assistance pursuant to the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 during the time period specified above. This bill would also exempt the sale of property pursuant to the provisions specified above from provisions that require a governing board of a school district seeking to sell or lease surplus property to first offer that property to a charter school. The bill would extend the termination date of the provisions specified above from June 30, 2016, to June 30, 2020. The bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special law for the Oakland Unified School District.

Existing law requires the California Environmental Protection Agency to develop a model environmental justice mission statement for boards, departments, and offices within the agency. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to this provision.

Existing law prohibits a licensed dealer from engaging in certain practices, including, among others, making an untrue or misleading statement indicating that a vehicle is equipped with all the factory-installed optional equipment the manufacturer offers. Under existing law, a violation of these provisions is a crime. This bill would, subject to exceptions, additionally prohibit a dealer from selling or otherwise transferring ownership at retail of a used vehicle, as specified, if the dealer knows or should have known that the vehicle is subject to a manufacturer's safety recall, unless the repairs required to correct the defect have been performed on the vehicle. The bill would define the term "manufacturer's safety recall." Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime under other provisions of existing law, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also make a violation of these provisions actionable under the Consumers Legal Remedies Act and the Unfair Competition Law, and as false advertising. 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 establishes the California Economic Development Fund and authorizes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to provide matching funds for economic development purposes from that fund. This bill would appropriate $6 million from the General Fund to the California Economic Development Fund to provide a cash match for federal funds to the administrative lead centers that have contracts with the United States Small Business Administration to administer the federal Small Business Development Center Program in California, subject to a specified condition. This bill would become operative only if AB 2670 of the 2013–14 Regular Session is enacted and becomes operative. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

(1) The Political Reform Act of 1974 defines various terms for purposes of the reporting and disclosure requirements under the act. The act defines the term "candidate" as including, in addition to other individuals, an officeholder who is the subject of a recall election. This definition also provides that an individual who becomes a candidate retains his or her status as a candidate until the time that this status is terminated. This bill would revise this definition to provide that the term "candidate" includes any officeholder, regardless of whether he or she is the subject of a recall election, and would provide that a candidate retains that status until the time that he or she leaves office and the status is terminated. The act defines a "committee" as any person or combination of persons who receives contributions or makes independent expenditures totaling $1,000 or more in a calendar year. This bill would increase the monetary threshold of contributions or independent expenditures that qualify a person or combination of persons as a committee to $2,000. The bill also would make conforming changes. (2) The act requires committees to file periodic campaign statements. The act requires that the campaign statements disclose certain information about contributors who have made aggregate contributions, as defined, of $100 or more. The bill would require the Fair Political Practices Commission to adopt regulations establishing reporting thresholds, with a minimum of $500 and a maximum of $2,500, for disclosure of contributions and expenditures, as specified, for a committee primarily formed to support or oppose a statewide ballot measure, and would authorize the Commission to adopt regulations to adjust these thresholds in any odd-numbered year after 2013 to reflect any increase or decrease in the Consumer Price Index, rounded to the nearest $100. This bill would revise the definition of "contribution" to include a payment to a multipurpose organization, as defined, made by a person who knows or has reason to know that the payment or portion of the payment will be used to make a contribution or an independent expenditure. The bill imposes a presumption that a donor has reason to know that his or her payment will be used to make a contribution or an independent expenditure if the recipient organization has made aggregate contributions or independent expenditures of $2,000 or more within the calendar year in which the payment is made or four preceding calendar years or if the donor payment is $50,000 or more, is made within the 6 months preceding the election, and the multipurpose organization makes a contribution or an independent expenditure of $50,000 or more within the 6 months prior to the election. (3) The act imposes specified duties on a filing officer with respect to reports and statements filed with that filing officer, including supplying the necessary forms and manuals and determining whether required documents have been filed and conform on their face with the requirements of the act. This bill would additionally require a filing officer to immediately affix a date stamp to each statement of economic interests that the officer receives to reflect the date of receipt. By imposing additional duties on local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) The act requires that certain campaign statements be filed with the Secretary of State online or electronically. The act requires that persons filing campaign statements online or electronically also continue to file the statements in a paper format. This bill would repeal the requirement that a person file a paper copy of a campaign statement that is filed with the Secretary of State online or electronically, except during such times as the online or electronic system operated by the Secretary of State is malfunctioning, unavailable, or otherwise not capable of receiving online or electronically filed campaign statements. (5) The act is administered and enforced by the Fair Political Practices Commission. This bill would authorize the Commission to seek injunctive relief in a superior court to compel disclosure consistent with the act, and would require a court to grant expedited review of an action filed pursuant to this provision, as specified. (6) The act requires a lobbying firm and a lobbyist employer, as defined, to register and file periodic activity reports with the Secretary of State disclosing specified information. The act requires lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers to periodically report activity expenses, as defined. This bill would require the Secretary of State to make these registration documents and reports that are filed with the Secretary of State available to the Commission, upon request by the Commission. (7) The act makes a knowing or willful violation of its provisions a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (8) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (9) The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.

Existing law authorizes the State Personnel Board to hold hearings and make investigations concerning matters relating to the administration of the civil service. These provisions require, among other things, that a hearing or investigation be commenced within a reasonable time after the filing of the petition whenever a hearing or investigation is conducted in regard to an appeal by an employee. Existing law also authorizes an employee to make a written request for a priority hearing by the board for an appeal of an action that resulted in the employee's termination if an evidentiary hearing has not commenced within 6 months of the filing of the appeal and requires the board to schedule an evidentiary hearing within 60 days. In an appeal to the board, the appointing power bears the burden of proof that the employee was discharged for good cause. Under existing law, an employee, under certain circumstances, may seek a writ of mandate with the courts if the board does not render a decision within the statutory time limits. Under existing case law, the employee has the burden of proof in the writ of mandate proceedings that the adverse action against him or her was not supported by good cause. This bill would provide that the appointing power has the burden of proof in a proceeding for a writ of mandate brought by an employee when the board has not rendered a decision within the above-described time limit.

(1) Existing law establishes the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System, as provided. Existing law requires the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst's Office, and contingent upon the receipt of federal funds, to prepare the system to include data on pupil attendance, as specified. Existing law requires the system to support local educational agencies in their efforts to identify and support pupils at risk of dropping out and that it be capable of issuing periodic reports to local educational agencies that include district, school, class, and individual pupil reports on the rates of absence and chronic absentees. This bill would, subject to available state, federal, or private funding, require the State Department of Education to enhance the system, as provided. The bill would require the periodic reports to local educational agencies to include reports on the rates of absence, rates of chronic absenteeism and the number of chronic absentees, rates of truancy and the number of truants, rates of habitual truancy and the number of habitual truants, and rates of chronic truancy and the number of chronic truants. The bill would delete class information from the periodic reports. The bill would establish a definition for "rates of absence." (2) Existing law, once the system is prepared to accept data on a quarterly rate of pupil attendance, authorizes a local educational agency to submit data to the State Department of Education on a quarterly rate of pupil attendance, and other indicators as identified by the department. This bill would, once the system is enhanced to accept data on pupil attendance, authorize a local educational agency to submit the specified data to the system at any time throughout the year that meets its needs, but would require a local educational agency to, at a minimum, submit and certify the specified data, and other indicators identified by the department, to the system at the end of the school year or on dates to be determined by the department. The bill would authorize a local educational agency to receive reports with the specified data disaggregated as provided. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) This bill would also make conforming and nonsubstantive changes. (4) 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.

The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act requires the governing body of a local public agency to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of a recognized employee organization. The act requires, if a tentative agreement is reached and the governing body adopts the tentative agreement, that the parties prepare jointly a nonbinding written memorandum of understanding of the agreement. Under existing law, if representatives of the public employee agency and the recognized employee organization fail to reach agreement, the parties may agree together upon the appointment of a mutually agreeable mediator. This bill instead would permit either party to request mediation and would require the parties to agree upon a mediator, if either party has provided the other with a written notice of declaration of impasse. If the parties cannot agree upon a mediator, the bill would authorize either party to request the board to appoint a mediator. The bill would require the board to appoint a mediator within 5 days after receipt of the party's request, as prescribed. A public agency would not be required to proceed to mediation in its negotiations with respect to a bargaining unit under the above-described circumstances if the public agency has an impasse procedure that includes, at a minimum, a process for binding arbitration. The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act requires the Public Employment Relations Board to determine in disputed cases whether a particular item is within or without the scope of representation. Existing law requires the governing body of a local public agency, or those boards, commissions, administrative officers, or other representatives as may be properly designated by law or by a governing body, to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations. Existing law authorizes an employee organization to request that the parties' differences be submitted to a factfinding panel not sooner than 30 days or more than 45 days following the appointment or selection of a mediator pursuant to the parties' agreement to mediate or a mediation process required by a public agency's local rules. Existing law authorizes an employee organization, if the dispute was not submitted to a mediation, to request that the parties' differences be submitted to a factfinding panel not later than 30 days following the date that either party provided the other with a written notice of a declaration of impasse. Existing law prohibits an employee organization's procedural right to request a factfinding panel from being waived expressly or voluntarily. This bill would authorize differences under these provisions to include those differences that arise from any dispute over any matter within the scope of representation as to which an obligation to meet and confer exists, and are not limited to negotiations after impasse after collective bargaining for a new or successor memorandum of understanding. The bill would limit the criteria that the factfinders would be required to consider to those criteria that the factfinders deem relevant to the dispute. The bill would authorize an employee organization to voluntarily waive the right to request a factfinding panel, in writing. The bill would include legislative findings and declarations that certain of these amendments are clarifying and declaratory of existing law.

Existing law establishes the "Sexual Assault Victims' DNA Bill of Rights," which, among other things, encourages a law enforcement agency assigned to investigate specified sexual assault offenses to perform DNA testing of rape kit evidence or other crime scene evidence in a timely manner to assure the longest possible statute of limitations. Existing law also requires a law enforcement agency to inform victims of certain sexual assault offenses, if the identity of the perpetrator is in issue, if the law enforcement agency elects not to analyze DNA evidence within certain time limits. This bill instead would, with respect to specific sex offenses, encourage a law enforcement agency in whose jurisdiction the sexual assault offense occurred to submit sexual assault forensic evidence received by the agency on or after January 1, 2016, to the crime lab within 20 days after it is booked into evidence, and ensure that a rapid turnaround DNA program, as defined, is in place to submit forensic evidence collected from the victim of a sexual assault to the crime lab within 5 days after the evidence is obtained from the victim. The bill would also encourage the crime lab, with respect to sexual assault forensic evidence received by the lab on or after January 1, 2016, to process that evidence, create DNA profiles when able, and upload qualifying DNA profiles into the Combined DNA Index System as soon as practically possible, but no later than 120 days after initially receiving the evidence, or to transmit the sexual assault forensic evidence to another crime lab as soon as practically possible, but no later than 30 days after initially receiving the evidence, as specified. The bill would also revise the provisions requiring a law enforcement agency to inform victims of certain sexual assault offenses, to make the requirement applicable without regard to whether the identity of the perpetrator is in issue, if the law enforcement agency does not analyze DNA evidence, and to require those entities to notify the victims within 6 months of the time limits established under existing law. By imposing a higher level of service on local law enforcement agencies, 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.