Existing law provides that the Department of Transportation has full possession and control of all state highways. Existing law requires the department to prepare an annual report to the Legislature describing the status of the department's progress in locating, assessing, and remediating barriers to fish passage, as defined. Existing law requires the department to complete assessments of potential barriers to the passage of anadromous fish prior to commencing project design for any project using state or federal transportation funds that affects certain stream crossings. Existing law requires the department to submit the assessment to the Department of Fish and Game and to add it to the CALFISH database. Existing law requires new projects to be constructed without presenting barriers to fish passage. Existing law also requires the department to complete an assessment for any repair or construction project using those funds that affects those stream crossings. This bill would define the terms "barrier" and "project" for purposes of these provisions and would require the annual report submitted to the Legislature by the department to include the precise location of past, current, or future remediation projects and a schedule for the remediation of existing barriers to anadromous fish passage. The bill would repeal the provisions requiring the department to perform an assessment for repair or construction projects using state or federal transportation funds that affect those stream crossings. The bill would recast provisions that require the department to complete an assessment of potential barriers to the passage of anadromous fish prior to commencing the project design for any project, as defined, that affects a stream crossing and would require the assessment to include the status of barriers, as specified. The bill would require this assessment to be presented to the Department of Fish and Game and added to the California Fish Passage Assessment Database. The bill would require the department to remediate any barriers to fish passage associated with any project using state or federal transportation funds if the project affects a stream crossing on a stream where anadromous fish are, or historically were, found. The bill would require remediation costs for these projects to be programmed into the state transportation improvement program or the state highway operation and protection program. The bill wold require the department to provide notice to the Department of Fish and Game at least 6 month prior to initiating project design of any project and to post the notice in a conspicuous location on its Internet Web site. The bill would require the department to prioritize transportation projects that complement planned or active streambed remediation or restoration efforts. The bill would require the department and the Department of Fish and Game, by July 1, 2010, and annually thereafter, to jointly identify high-priority barriers in each district, as specified, and post a list of high-priority barriers in a conspicuous location on its Internet Web site. The bill would require the department to remediate barriers to fish passage using any federal funds received pursuant to the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to the extent permitted by federal law.
Sponsored bills
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, is required to reduce, recycle, and reuse solid waste generated in the state to the maximum extent feasible in an efficient cost-effective manner to conserve water, energy, and other natural resources. This bill would create the California Product Stewardship Act of 2009 and would require the board to administer the program. The bill would require the board to adopt regulations by July 1, 2011, in order to implement the program to provide environmentally sound product stewardship protocols that encourage producers to research alternatives during the product design and packaging phases to foster cradle-to-cradle producer responsibility and reduce the end-of-life environmental impacts of the product. The bill, on and after January 1, 2012, would require the board to select covered products, as defined, according to certain requirements. The bill would exempt the selection of covered products from the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. On and after July 1, 2012, a covered product would be prohibited from being sold or used for promotional purposes unless the producer or product stewardship organization, as defined, of the covered product, submits a product stewardship plan to the board that meets certain timelines and content requirements, including, but not limited to, a description of the system for collecting discarded covered products, methods proposed to maximize the recycling of packaging, a description of the processing and disposal system, and strategies for managing and reducing the life cycle impacts of covered products and packaging such as through redesign. The bill would establish an annual reporting requirement for producers or stewardship organizations, require administrative fees to be set by the board, and authorize civil penalties of up to $50,000 to be imposed by the board. The bill would require that the administrative fees be deposited into the Extended Producer Responsibility Account and that the penalties be deposited into the Extended Producer Responsibility Penalty Subaccount that the bill would create in the Integrated Waste Management Fund. The bill would authorize the fees and penalties to be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the board's program implementation costs and as incentives to enhance recyclability and redesign efforts and to reduce environmental and safety impacts of covered products.
The California Watershed Protection and Restoration Act requires state agencies to adopt guidelines for use by local watershed partnerships to provide specified mechanisms and authorizes state agencies with jurisdiction over watershed planning and protection to provide technical assistance to watershed management partnerships, to the extent that funds are available. This bill would establish the Statewide Watershed Program as a voluntary and nonregulatory program to provide assistance and funds to local community-based efforts in the conservation, protection, and restoration of the state's watersheds and to promote coordinated management of watersheds under the authority of the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency and the Department of Conservation (department) . The bill would create within the department a State Watershed Advisory Committee consisting of at least 10 members appointed by the secretary, with at least one member from each of the state's hydrologic regions, as specified. The bill would require that no less than 50% of the committee membership be comprised of representatives from community-based nonprofit organizations, local governments, and resource conservation districts. The bill would authorize members to receive reimbursement for travel expenses in accordance with specified rules. This bill would require the department to post research findings, reports, and other materials, as appropriate, produced or funded by the program in a conspicuous location on the department's Internet Web site. The bill would also authorize the secretary to cooperate with the federal government, other states, and other state and local agencies in furtherance of the purposes of the program and would authorize the program to receive contributions or funds from specified private or public entities or persons. The bill would authorize the department to contract with qualified scientists or institutions with expertise relating to the conservation, restoration, protection, and management of the state's watersheds, as specified, and would exempt the adoption of guidelines, qualifications, or conditions from the Administrative Procedure Act. The bill would require that the provisions of the Statewide Watershed Program only be implemented in a fiscal year for which funding is provided in the annual Budget Act.
Existing law, implementing federal requirements under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, provides that a local educational agency identified for corrective action shall be subject to specified sanctions and may apply for a one-year, nonrenewable grant of federal improvement funding to assist in its improvement process. Existing law provides that the amount of the grant shall be based upon whether the agency has extensive and severe, moderate, or minor or isolated performance problems, and the number of schools in the local educational agency identified for program improvement pursuant to federal law. This bill would specify that the amount of a grant for a local educational agency that is identified for corrective action and subject to sanctions, that does not have a school identified for program improvement pursuant to federal law, shall be based on the overall proportion of schools identified for program improvement of all local educational agencies determined to be within one of 3 categories, multiplied by the number of schools in the local educational agency, multiplied by the grant amount that would be appropriate to the local educational agency based upon the pervasiveness and severity of its performance problems, as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop, and the State Board of Education to adopt, regulations governing the use of behavioral interventions with individuals with exceptional needs receiving special education and related services. This bill would prohibit an educational provider from using physical restraint, as defined, on a pupil who is an individual with exceptional needs for the purpose of coercion, punishment, convenience, or retaliation by staff, or as an extended procedure beyond an immediate emergency, and would specify conditions under which an educational provider would be authorized to use physical restraint. The bill would also prohibit an educational provider from using chemical restraint, as defined, except as otherwise licensed to prescribe and administer medication, or mechanical restraint, as defined.
The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including a credit in an amount equal to 50% of specified adoption costs, not to exceed $2,500 per minor child who is a citizen or legal resident of the United States and who is in the custody of a public agency in this state. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2010, and before January 1, 2015, increase the credit limitation to a maximum of $5,000 with respect to the adoption of a minor child, as described, who is over 12 years of age or who was living in a group home or residential treatment facility, as defined, for a period of at least 6 months within 18 months prior to the time the adoption is completed. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law provides for licensing and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Insurance Commissioner. Existing law authorizes a health care service plan or health insurer to exclude an applicant from coverage for a specified time for preexisting conditions. A willful violation of provisions governing health care service plans is a crime. This bill would prohibit an individual health care service plan contract or health insurance policy from denying coverage to, or excluding coverage for, an enrollee or insured due to a preexisting condition provision or otherwise, as specified, due to a mental or physical condition that is not life threatening nor chronic or severe, that is not considered to be a present condition at the time of enrollment, and for which the enrollee or insured has not received treatment for the past 12 months. By imposing a new requirement on health care service plans, the willful violation of which would be a crime, the 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 establishes various public programs to provide health care coverage to eligible children, including the Medi-Cal program administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and county welfare agencies, and the Healthy Families Program administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board. Children through 18 years of age are eligible for health care coverage under these programs if they meet certain household income and other criteria including specified citizenship and immigration status requirements. Under existing law, the applicant's signed statement as to the value or amount of income is accepted for eligibility purposes under the Healthy Families Program if documentation cannot otherwise be provided. This bill would expand eligibility for the Medi-Cal program and the Healthy Families Program by modifying the income requirements applicable to those programs, and by making coverage available regardless of citizenship or immigration status, as specified. The bill would require a parent or caretaker relative of a child applying for the Medi-Cal program to sign a specified attestation under penalty of perjury regarding the child's immigration status, as specified, thereby expanding the crime of perjury and imposing a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, by July 1, 2011, to implement a process for an applicant's self-certification of income and income deductions for purposes of establishing eligibility for the Healthy Families Program. The bill would require the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board and the State Department of Health Care Services, by July 1, 2011, to simplify the annual renewal forms for children enrolled in the Healthy Families Program or the Medi-Cal program and to establish a process to allow families to renew their child's coverage by telephone. The bill would require the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board and the State Department of Health Care Services to make specified technological improvements to the existing eligibility determination and enrollment systems for the Medi-Cal program and the Healthy Families Program and to develop a process to transition the enrollment of children from local children's health initiatives into those programs. The bill would also make various related modifications to the Medi-Cal program and the Healthy Families Program and would require the State Department of Health Care Services and the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board to maximize federal matching funds for the Medi-Cal program and the Healthy Families Program. Because the expansion of, and modifications to, the Medi-Cal program would impose certain duties on counties relative to administration of that program, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law establishes the Healthy Families Presumptive Eligibility Program, administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, to provide a child who, among other requirements, has been receiving full-scope Medi-Cal benefits with health care benefits while the board determines the child's eligibility for the Healthy Families Program. Existing law also creates a Medi-Cal presumptive eligibility program to provide a child who, among other requirements, has been receiving benefits under the Healthy Families Program with health care benefits until a Medi-Cal eligibility determination is made. This bill would require the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board and the State Department of Health Care Services to monitor those programs to ensure children are timely enrolled in the presumptive eligibility benefits for which they are eligible. Existing law requires the state to administer, to the extent allowed under federal law, and only if federal financial participation is available, the Medi-Cal to Healthy Families Presumptive Eligibility Program to provide a child not receiving no-cost Medi-Cal benefits or Healthy Families benefits who meets specified eligibility requirements, including the income requirements of the Healthy Families Program, with benefits identical to full-scope benefits under the Medi-Cal program with no share of cost for the period during which the child has an application pending for coverage under the Healthy Families Program. This bill would establish, to the extent allowed by federal law and to the extent federal financial participation is available, the Medi-Cal Presumptive Eligibility Program that would provide a child not receiving no-cost Medi-Cal benefits or Healthy Families Program benefits who meets specified eligibility requirements with presumptive eligibility benefits identical to full-scope benefits under the Medi-Cal program with no share of cost until the child's eligibility for the Medi-Cal program is determined, as specified. The bill would require the county to forward the child's application to the Healthy Families Program if it finds the child eligible for the Medi-Cal program with a share of cost. The bill would require this program to be implemented by July 1, 2011. Under existing law, the Robert W. Crown California Children's Services Act, the State Department of Health Care Services and each county administer the California Children Services Program (CCS program) for treatment services for persons under the age of 21 years diagnosed with severe chronic disease or severe physical limitations, as specified. Existing law limits eligibility for those services to persons in families with an annual adjusted gross income of $40,000 or less. This bill would change that eligibility limitation to persons in a family with an annual, or equivalent monthly income, that is equal to or less than $40,000, or that meets the income eligibility requirements for the Healthy Families Program, as specified. The bill would also create the Healthy Families Buy-In Program (buy-in program) and would require the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board to implement that program by July 1, 2011. Under the buy-in program, the coverage provided under the Healthy Families Program would be available to children whose household income exceeds 300% of the federal poverty level and who meet other specified criteria. The bill would specify that coverage under the buy-in program would include services provided under the CCS program for children eligible for the CCS program and would deem the child's family financially eligible for benefits under the CCS program. Because the bill would thereby expand eligibility for the CCS program, which is administered by a county's public health or social welfare department, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would specify the family contribution required for children enrolled in the buy-in program. Existing law requires the state to reimburse counties for 50% of the amount required to meet state administrative standards for that portion of the county caseload under the CCS program that is ineligible for Medi-Cal, to the extent funds are available in the state budget. This bill would also require the state to reimburse counties for 100% of the amount required to provide CCS program services to children enrolled in the buy-in program. Existing law, the California Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) , authorizes establishment of a statewide program, administered by the State Department of Public Health, for providing nutritional food supplements to low-income pregnant women, low-income postpartum and lactating women, and low-income infants and children under 5 years of age, who have been determined to be at nutritional risk. The program, which implements a program authorized under existing federal law, provides for the redemption of nutrition coupons by recipients at any authorized retail food vendor. Existing law requires the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board and the department, in collaboration with WIC program offices and other designated entities, to design, promulgate, and implement policies and procedures for an automated enrollment gateway system to obtain presumptive eligibility for, and to facilitate application for enrollment in, the Medi-Cal program and the Healthy Families Program for children applying to the WIC program. Existing law requires the WIC gateway system to be constructed with the capacity to be used by entities operating the WIC program. This bill would require all WIC local agencies that serve large numbers of participants and a high proportion of uninsured participants, as specified, to use the WIC gateway system only to the extent funding is available, as specified, and would permit all other local WIC agencies to use the WIC gateway system at their option. Existing law creates the Healthy Families Fund, and provides that money in the fund is continuously appropriated for purposes of the Healthy Families Program. This bill would provide that the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board may implement the provisions of the bill expanding the Healthy Families Program only to the extent that funds are appropriated for those purposes in the annual Budget Act or in another statute. 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.
Existing law, known as the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, establishes, among other programs, the Cal Grant A Entitlement Program, the Cal Grant B Entitlement Program, the California Community College Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement Program and the Competitive Cal Grant A and B award program, under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs. This bill would, commencing with the 2010–11 academic year, entitle an otherwise eligible student who is a member or former member of the Armed Forces of the United States, as defined, who meets prescribed requirements, including enrollment in a qualifying undergraduate certificate or degree program, to a Cal Grant A Entitlement Award or a Cal Grant B Entitlement Award. The bill also would require the Student Aid Commission to make preliminary awards to all applicants currently eligible for an award under the program, and would require each person who receives a preliminary award to affirm, in writing, that he or she meets specified requirements for eligibility in the program. The bill would require the commission to randomly select at least 10% of the new and renewal awards made under the program and verify that the student meets specified requirements for eligibility. The bill would require the commission to seek repayment of any funds found to be improperly disbursed under the program, and would require the commission to submit an annual report to the Legislature and the Governor regarding, among other things, the number of awards made under this program.
(1) Existing law, the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act (act) , requires that every beverage container sold or offered for sale in this state is required to have a minimum refund value. A distributor is required to pay a redemption payment for every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the state to the Department of Conservation and the department is required to deposit those amounts in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the department to pay refund values, administrative fees to processors, and a reserve for contingencies. A violation of the act is a crime. "Beverage" is defined, for purposes of the act, to include, among other things, beer and other malt beverages, wine and distilled spirit coolers, carbonated mineral and soda waters, noncarbonated fruit drinks, and vegetable juices, in liquid form that are intended for human consumption, but excludes from that definition vegetable drinks in beverage containers of more than 16 ounces. The act also excludes, from the definition of beverage, any product sold in a container that is not an aluminum beverage container, a glass container, a plastic beverage container, or a bimetal container. This bill would, as of July 1, 2010, revise the term beverage to include vegetable, fruit, nut, grain, or soy drinks or juices or noncarbonated drinks that contain any percentage of those drinks or juices, and would delete the requirement that a vegetable, drink, subject to the act, be sold in a container of 16 ounces or less. The bill would delete the exclusion from the term beverage, for a product that is not sold in the above-specified types of containers. The bill would additionally exclude from the definition a beverage in a flexible foil, plastic pouch, or aseptic container delivering 7 or less fluid ounces. Since the additional payments for the plastic beverage containers and other beverage containers that this bill would make subject to the act would be deposited in a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would also impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes relating to beverage containers. (2) Existing law requires a distributor of specified beverage containers to pay a redemption payment to the Department of Conservation for each beverage container sold or transferred for deposit in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the department to pay refund values, administrative fees to processors, and a reserve for contingencies. This bill would raise the amount of the redemption payment paid by the distributor and the refund value, as specified. Since the increased payments for the beverage containers that are subject to the act would be deposited in a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. Existing law requires that a distributor pay the redemption payment not later than the last day of the 3rd month following the sale and authorizes a distributor, upon the approval of the department, to elect to make a single annual payment if the distributor meets specified conditions and notifies the department of its intent to make annual redemption payments. This bill would require all beverage distributors to make the redemption payment no later than the last day of the 2nd month following the sale of the beverages. This bill would revise the conditions under which a distributor would be authorized to make a single annual payment. The bill would also authorize a distributor to withhold payment of redemption payments until the next payment period when the distributor has not received payment for beverage containers on which redemption payments are owed. (3) Existing law requires certified recycling centers to accept any empty beverage container from a consumer or dropoff or collection program and pay the refund value, which can be based on weight. This bill would provide, with exceptions, that a recycling center that does not receive handling fees is not required to redeem empty beverage containers of a container type not included in the program before July 1, 2009. (4) The department is authorized to make specified expenditures from the moneys remaining in the fund after the moneys for certain purposes have been set aside. This bill would increase the amount of moneys for grants to certified community conservation corps for beverage container litter reduction programs and recycling programs. The bill would suspend, for the 2009–10 fiscal year, expenditures for grants for beverage container recycling and litter reduction programs and a statewide public education and information campaign aimed at promoting increased recycling of beverage containers. The bill would eliminate funds the department is authorized to expend for grants for specified beverage container recycling and litter reduction programs. The bill would require the department, if there are any reductions in certain expenditures due to insufficient funds, on or after July 1, 2009, to provide, subject to the availability of funds, retroactive full funding, on or before July 1, 2010. The bill would require the department, for any reduction in expenditures that resulted in a reduction in the amount of funds available to make processing payments and an increase in processing fees paid by manufacturers, to credit beverage manufacturers for any overpayment of processing fees, subject to the availability of funds. (5) Existing law requires the department to continuously assist dealers and recyclers to establish certified recycling centers within in each convenience zone. This bill would provide assistance and incentives to reduce the number of zones not serviced by a certified recycling center. (6) Existing law requires that regulations governing solid waste facilities include standards for design, operation, maintenance, and ultimate reuse of solid waste facilities. This bill would prohibit those regulations from including any requirements for processors or recyclers, as defined, where the amount of outgoing solid waste is 15% or less of the total amount of incoming material received by weight calculated on a monthly basis after reasonable adjustment for the weight of moisture, and the amount of putrescible wastes in the outgoing solid waste shall be 3% or less of the amount of incoming material received by weight calculated on a monthly basis. (7) The bill would delete obsolete provisions and make conforming changes. (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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.