This measure would designate Monday, May 2, 2016, as California Peace Officers' Memorial Day, and would urge all Californians to honor those individuals who have given their lives for our safety and express appreciation to those who continue to dedicate themselves to making California a safer place in which to live and raise our families.
This measure would recognize and honor the men and women of California agriculture for their dedication and productivity by observing March 15, 2016, as National Agriculture Day, and designating March 16, 2016, as California Agriculture Day.
(1) The California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 provides for the regulation of private postsecondary educational institutions by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education in the Department of Consumer Affairs. The act also establishes the Student Tuition Recovery Fund and requires the bureau to adopt regulations governing the administration and maintenance of the fund, including requirements relating to assessments on students and student claims against the fund, and establishes that the moneys in this fund are continuously appropriated to the bureau for specified purposes. The act caps the amount that may be in the fund at any time at $25,000,000. This bill would raise the cap for the fund to $30,000,000. (2) This bill would appropriate the sum of $1,300,000 from the Student Tuition Recovery Fund to the Attorney General for the purposes of providing grants to eligible nonprofit community service organizations to assist eligible students affected by the closure of Corinthian Colleges, Inc., as defined, with loan discharge and other student loan-related requests and tuition recovery-related claims, and to pay an amount not to exceed $150,000 for the reasonable administrative costs of the Attorney General's office related to these grants, as specified, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the bureau to notify the Attorney General of all unlawful Corinthian Colleges, Inc., closures within 15 days of the effective date of these provisions. The bill would require the Attorney General to, among other things, within 90 days of the notification, solicit grant applications from eligible nonprofit community service organizations, select one or more of these organizations deemed to be qualified, and set additional terms and conditions of the grants as necessary. The bill would set a schedule for how grant funds are to be distributed. The bill would require the grantee to submit specified information to the Attorney General on a quarterly basis, and require the Attorney General to make these reports available to the Legislature and the bureau upon request. The bill would require the Attorney General to provide the Legislature and the bureau a final report summarizing all the information submitted to it by grantees, promptly following the time when all funds are expended by the grantees, or by August, 1, 2018, whichever is earlier. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to contract with another qualified entity to perform the Attorney General's duties under these provisions. (3) This bill would, for a period not to exceed 2 years from April 27, 2015, authorize state agencies that provide certification, registration, or licensure necessary to promote the safety and protection of the public to, on a case-by-case basis, consider for certification, registration, or licensure students who were enrolled in a program of Corinthian Colleges, Inc., that provided education or training aimed towards these students receiving certification, registration, or licensure from the state agency, and who did not receive that certification, registration, or licensure due to the closure of that institution. (4) The Cal Grant Program prohibits an applicant from receiving Cal Grant awards totaling in excess of the amount equivalent to the award level for a total of four years of full-time attendance in an undergraduate program, except as provided. This bill would partially exempt from this limitation on Cal Grant awards a student who was enrolled and received a Cal Grant award at a California campus of Heald College, and who was unable to complete an educational program offered by the campus due to its closure. (5) The California National Guard Education Assistance Award Program authorizes the renewal of California National Guard Education Assistance Awards, for a maximum of the greater of either four years of full-time equivalent enrollment or the duration for which the qualifying member would otherwise be eligible pursuant to the Cal Grant Program, if specified conditions are met. This bill would partially exempt from this limitation on California National Guard Education Assistance Awards a student who was enrolled and received a California National Guard Education Assistance Award at a California campus of Heald College, and who was unable to complete an educational program offered by the campus due to its closure. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would declare the month of April 2016 as the Month of the Military Child.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law establishes the California Advanced Services Fund, referred to as the CASF, in the State Treasury, with 4 accounts. Existing law requires that a surcharge imposed by the commission pursuant to a specified decision of the commission be deposited in the fund. Existing law prohibits the commission from collecting more than $100,000,000 before January 1, 2011, and authorizes the commission to collect an additional sum not to exceed $215,000,000, through the surcharge for the period beginning January 1, 2011, and continuing through the 2020 calendar year, for a total cost limitation of $315,000,000. Existing law requires the commission to develop, implement, and administer the CASF program to encourage deployment of high-quality advanced communications services to all Californians that will promote economic growth, job creation, and the substantial social benefits of advanced information and communications technologies. Existing law states that the goal of the California Advanced Services Fund program is, no later than December 31, 2015, to approve funding for infrastructure projects that will provide broadband access to no less than 98% of California households. Existing law requires the commission to give priority to projects that provide last-mile broadband access to households that are unserved by an existing facilities-based broadband provider and requires the commission to provide each applicant, and any party challenging an application, the opportunity to demonstrate actual levels of broadband service in the project area, as prescribed. This bill would establish the Broadband Build-Out Completion Account within the CASF and would authorize the commission to collect an additional sum not to exceed $100,000,000, on or after January 1, 2017, for deposit in the Broadband Build-Out Completion Account. The bill would require that moneys in the account be disbursed pursuant to a multiple-round, fair and open competitive bidding process for infrastructure projects to provide broadband access to unserved areas of California consistent with specified requirements and objectives. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the program that is extended under the provisions of this bill are within the act and a decision or order of the commission implements the program requirements, a violation of these provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the definition of a crime. 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. By authorizing the charge to fund the new account, this bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.
