Asm. Phil Ting

This measure would proclaim October 17, 2015, as Firefighters Memorial Day.

This measure would designate November 2015 as a month to raise awareness about the issue of medically fragile foster care children and adoptive placement children and the actions that every Californian can take to make a positive difference in these children's lives.

(1) Existing law, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Act, until January 1, 2029, establishes the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority to raise and allocate resources for the restoration, enhancement, protection, and enjoyment of wetlands and wildlife habitat in the San Francisco Bay and along its shoreline. The act establishes a governing board of the authority composed of specified members, including a member who is a resident of the San Francisco Bay area with expertise in the implementation of the San Francisco Bay Conservancy Program, who serves as the chair. The act grants to the board all powers that are necessary to carry out the act, including, among other things, the power to levy specified benefit assessments, special taxes, and property-related fees, and to issue revenue bonds and general obligation bonds. However, the act limits the total amount of outstanding indebtedness incurred pursuant to those provisions authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds to 10% of the authority's total revenues in the preceding fiscal year. Existing law generally requires a district to reimburse the county elections official for the actual costs incurred in conducting an election for the district. However, the act authorizes, until January 1, 2017, the authority to reimburse only the incremental costs, as defined, that are incurred by the county elections official related to submitting a special tax measure to the voters. This bill would delete the requirement that one member of the board, who serves as the chair, be a resident of the San Francisco Bay area with expertise in the implementation of the San Francisco Bay Conservancy Program and would instead require that member to be an elected official of a bayside city or county, or an elected member of a special district, with expertise in the implementation of the San Francisco Bay Conservancy Program. The bill would also delete the limit on the authority's total amount of outstanding general obligation bonded indebtedness and would, instead, prohibit the authority from having a total amount of outstanding bonded indebtedness that exceeds $1,500,000,000. The bill would specify that the authority may incur general obligation bonded indebtedness for the acquisition or improvement of real property or for the funding or refunding of any outstanding bonded indebtness incurred by the authority. The bill would extend to January 1, 2019, the operation of the provision authorizing the authority to reimburse county elections officials for only the incremental costs of submitting a special tax measure to the voters, expanded to apply to other specified measures that would generate revenues for the authority. The bill would postpone to January 1, 2049, the repeal date for the act, and would make related conforming changes. By imposing additional duties on local government officials with regard to implementation of the act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The act specifies that the special taxes are to be levied, and submitted to the voters, consistent with specified provisions of the California Constitution relating to voter approval for local tax levies and property-related fees, charges, and assessments. This bill would instead specify that measures that will generate revenues are to be submitted to the voters, consistent with those requirements of the California Constitution and the requirements of the California Constitution relating to general obligation bond indebtedness and ad valorem taxes. (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.

This measure would state the Legislature's support of the nomination of Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection, unless an exemption from disclosure applies. The act declares that access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state. Existing law also requires every public agency to comply with the California Public Records Act and with any subsequent statutory enactment amending the act, or enacting or amending any successor act. This bill would require a Chief Data Officer to be appointed by the Governor, on or before July 1, 2016, subject to Senate confirmation. The Chief Data Officer would report to the Secretary of Government Operations. The bill would require the Chief Data Officer to, among other things, create the statewide open data portal, as defined, to provide public access to data sets from agencies within the state. The bill would require each agency, as defined, to publish a summary listing of all of its available data sets on the portal. The bill would also require state agencies identified by the Chief Data Officer to appoint a data coordinator who would be responsible for compliance with these provisions. The bill would require any data published on the statewide open data portal or other open data portal operated by an agency to comply with all state and federal privacy laws and regulations. The bill would prohibit these provisions from affecting the obligation of an agency to provide notices or information to the public.

This measure would declare June 6, 2015, to June 14, 2015, inclusive, as the 2015 California Invasive Species Action Week and would urge all Californians to participate in activities that raise awareness of invasive species issues and to take action to prevent their spread.

This measure would commemorate the centennial of the founding of Locke, California, would recognize and honor Locke, California, as the last remaining Chinatown in North America, and would urge all Californians to learn about the important history of Locke, California, and its inhabitants.

Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to develop a high school exit examination in English language arts and mathematics in accordance with state academic content standards. Existing law requires, commencing with the 2003–04 school year and each school year thereafter, each pupil completing grade 12 to successfully pass the high school exit examination as a condition of receiving a diploma of graduation or a condition of graduation from high school. This bill would provide that the high school exit examination shall not be required as a condition of receiving a diploma of graduation or a condition of graduation from high school for a pupil completing grade 12 in 2015 and who has met all other high school graduation requirements. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.