Existing law authorizes various local government entities, subject to certain limitations and approval requirements, to levy a transactions and use tax for specific purposes in accordance with the procedures and requirements set forth in the Transactions and Use Tax Law, including the requirement that the combined rate of all taxes that may be imposed under that law in the county may not exceed 2%. This bill would authorize the County of Sonoma and any city within the county to impose a transactions and use tax for general purposes, and the county and any city or special district within the county to impose a transactions and use tax for a specific purpose or purposes, which may include the support of transportation and road maintenance programs and library services, that would, in combination with other specified taxes, exceed the combined rate limit by 0.75%, if certain requirements are met. These provisions would be repealed by their own terms on January 1, 2022, if the ordinance is not approved, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Sonoma.
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Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to disburse funds, appropriated to the department for the purpose of supporting county veterans service officers pursuant to the annual Budget Act, on a pro rata basis, to counties that comply with certain conditions. This bill would authorize the department, in conjunction with the California Association of County Veterans Service Officers, no later than July 1, 2015, to develop an allocation formula based upon performance standards that encourage innovation and reward outstanding service by county veterans service officers, and, if that allocation formula is developed, the bill would require those moneys appropriated for support of county veterans service offices in the annual Budget Act to be allocated in accordance with that formula, as specified.
Existing law establishes the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority to provide financial assistance for projects that promote the use of alternative energies. Existing law authorizes the authority to approve a project for financial assistance in the form of the sales and use tax exclusion. This bill would expand projects eligible for the sales and use tax exclusion to include projects that process or utilize recycled feedstock, as defined, that is intended to be reused in the production of another product or soil amendment, but would not include a project that processes or utilizes recycled feedstock in a manner that constitutes disposal, as defined.
This measure would call upon all Californians to observe César Chávez's birthday, March 31, as a day of public service, to recognize the hard work and self-sacrifice that farmworkers go through to feed all the families in our state, and to learn from César Chávez's life and his mission of nonviolence, social justice, and selfless service to others.
(1) Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998, requires the State Allocation Board to allocate to applicant school districts prescribed per-unhoused-pupil state funding for construction and modernization of school facilities, including hardship funding, and supplemental funding for site development and acquisition. The bill would revise the definition of modernization under the act to include the replacement of facilities on a site containing a permanent structure that is at least 25 years old or, in the case of a portable classroom, that is at least 20 years old, as specified. The bill would reduce the minimum amount that an applicant school district under the act must set aside for ongoing and major maintenance of school buildings from 3% to 2% of the total general fund expenditures of that district in a fiscal year. This bill would delete a provision requiring the State Allocation Board to conduct an evaluation of the cost of new construction and modernization of small high schools in conjunction with a specified pilot program. The bill would require each school district that elects to participate in a new construction or modernization program funded by the proceeds of any bond approved by the voters after November 1, 2014, to reestablish eligibility, as specified, and to conduct an inventory of existing facilities for purposes of maintaining a statewide school facilities inventory. The bill would authorize a grant for new construction or modernization under the act to be used for seismic mitigation purposes and for related design, study, and testing costs, and require the State Allocation Board, in the development of guidelines and regulations, to provide a school district with maximum flexibility in the design, modernization, and new construction of school facilities. The bill would require the Office of Public School Construction to recommend regulations to the board to provide school districts with flexibility in designing instruction facilities. The bill would require the State Department of Education, the Division of the State Architect, the Office of Public School Construction, and the Department of Toxic Substances Control to convene for the purposes of developing an interagency plan to streamline the school facility construction application, review, and audit processes in order to reduce the time and improve the efficiency of the school facility construction process. The bill would require that this interagency plan be submitted to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2015. (2) Existing law, the California Constitution, prohibits the Legislature from creating a debt or liability that singly or in the aggregate with any previous debts or liabilities exceeds the sum of $300,000, except by an act that (a) authorizes the debt for a single object or work specified in the act, (b) has been passed by a 23 vote of all the members elected to each house of the Legislature, (c) has been submitted to the people at a statewide general or primary election, and (d) has received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at that election. This bill would enact the Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2014 to authorize $4,300,000,000 of state general obligation bonds, as scheduled, to provide aid to school districts, county superintendents of schools, county boards of education, charter schools, the California Community Colleges, the University of California, the Hastings College of the Law, and the California State University to construct and modernize education facilities. The proceeds of these bonds would be deposited in the continuously appropriated 2014 State School Facilities Fund, which this bill would establish, thereby making an appropriation. The proposed bond act would become operative only if approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, and the bill would provide for its submission to the voters at that election. The bill would require the Secretary of State to publish, and separately mail, a supplemental ballot pamphlet regarding the proposed bond act if it is not possible to include information regarding this proposed bond act in the ballot pamphlet for the November 4, 2014, statewide general election. The bill would provide for public examination of the translations of the ballot title and condensed statement of the ballot title of the proposed bond act, as specified. (3) This bill would specify that certain of its provisions would become operative only if the Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2014 is approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election. (4) The bill would make conforming changes in related provisions of existing law. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the California Adult Day Health Care Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of adult day health care centers, with administrative responsibility shared between the State Department of Public Health, the State Department of Health Care Services, and the California Department of Aging pursuant to an interagency agreement. Existing law provides that a negligent, repeated, or willful violation of a provision of the California Adult Day Health Care Act is a misdemeanor. This bill would require an adult day health care center licensed pursuant to the act to comply with specified staffing requirements, maintain policies and procedures for providing supportive health care services to participants, and conduct and document training, as prescribed. Because a negligent, repeated, or willful violation of these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services are provided to qualified, low-income persons. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law provides, to the extent permitted by federal law, that adult day health care (ADHC) be excluded from coverage under the Medi-Cal program. This bill would establish the Community-Based Adult Services (CBAS) program, as specified, as a Medi-Cal benefit. The bill would require CBAS providers to meet specified requirements and would require the department to, commencing July 1, 2015, certify and enroll as new CBAS providers only those providers that are exempt from taxation as a nonprofit entity. 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 requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife, when income is derived directly from real property acquired and operated by the state as a wildlife management area, as defined, to pay annually to the county in which the property is located an amount equal to the county taxes levied upon the property at the time title to the property was transferred to the state, and any assessments levied upon the property by any irrigation, drainage, or reclamation district. This bill would appropriate $19,000,000 from the General Fund to the department to make payments to counties for unpaid amounts under these provisions. The bill would also appropriate $2,000,000 annually, beginning with the 2014–15 fiscal year, from the General Fund to the department to make payments to counties under these provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003, requires a retailer selling a covered electronic device in this state to collect a covered electronic waste recycling fee from the consumer, as specified. These fees are deposited in the Electronic Waste Recovery and Recycling Account, and the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery is continuously appropriated the money in the account to, among other things, make electronic waste recovery payments and recycling payments. This bill would require the department, in consultation with the Department of Toxic Substances Control, to make CRT glass, as defined, market development processing payments or CRT glass market development manufacturing payments to a CRT glass processor, a CRT glass manufacturer, or an electronic waste recycler who processes eligible CRT glass for use in a product or in a manufacturing process, or utilizes eligible CRT glass in a product or in a manufacturing process, pursuant to a specified claims procedure. The bill would repeal the requirement to make these payments on January 1, 2020. The bill would additionally authorize the expenditure of not more than $10,000,000 each year of the continuously appropriated funds for the purpose of making those market development payments until January 1, 2020.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law specifies the benefits provided pursuant to the program, including the purchase of prescribed drugs that are covered subject to utilization controls. Utilization controls include a requirement that the treatment provider obtain prior authorization for providing medical treatment, as specified. This bill would, to the extent permitted by federal law, provide that drugs in specified therapeutic drug classes that are prescribed by a Medi-Cal beneficiary's treating provider are covered Medi-Cal benefits. The bill would require, except as specified, that a Medi-Cal managed care plan cover the drug upon demonstration by the provider that the drug is medically necessary and consistent with federal rules and regulations for labeling and use, as specified.
(1) The California Constitution prohibits the ad valorem tax rate on real property from exceeding 1% of the full cash value of the property, subject to certain exceptions. This measure would create an additional exception to the 1% limit for a rate imposed by a city, county, city and county, or special district, as defined, to service bonded indebtedness incurred to fund specified public improvements and facilities, or buildings used primarily to provide sheriff, police, or fire protection services, that is approved by 55% of the voters of the city, county, city and county, or special district, as applicable. (2) The California Constitution prohibits specified local government agencies from incurring any indebtedness exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided in that year, without the assent of 23 of the voters and subject to other conditions. In the case of a school district, community college district, or county office of education, the California Constitution permits a proposition for the incurrence of indebtedness in the form of general obligation bonds for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of school facilities, including the furnishing and equipping of school facilities, or the acquisition or lease of real property for school facilities, to be adopted upon the approval of 55% of the voters of the district or county, as appropriate, voting on the proposition at an election. This measure would similarly lower to 55% the voter-approval threshold for a city, county, or city and county to incur bonded indebtedness, exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided in that year, that is in the form of general obligation bonds to fund specified public improvements and facilities, or buildings used primarily to provide sheriff, police, or fire protection services.