Asm. Bill Quirk

Existing law provides that the Department of Water Resources operates the State Water Project and exercises specified water planning functions. Existing law also requires the department to update The California Water Plan, which is a plan for the conservation, development, and use of the water resources of the state. Under existing law, various provisions regulate water recycling. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to encourage the creation of new technologies to further the use of recycled water in the state.

The Community Facilities Law of 1911 authorizes districts to be formed for purposes of making any improvement that will be of benefit to territory partially within the initiating city and partially within any other city or within an unincorporated area of the same county, or both. Existing law authorizes the initiating city to call and hold bond elections. The law requires the governing body of the initiating city on or before July 15 of each year, if bonds are authorized, as provided, to certify, to the board of supervisors of the county in which the district is located, the amount to be raised for the payment of the principal of and interest on the bonds. This bill would change the date by which the governing body is required to provide certification to the board of supervisors to on or before July 16 of each year.

(1) The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act authorizes a licensed distilled spirits manufacturer to conduct tastings of distilled spirits produced or bottled by, or produced or bottled for, the licensee, on the licensed premises, under specified conditions. The act provides that a violation of its provisions is a misdemeanor, unless otherwise specified. This bill would authorize licensed distilled spirits manufacturers to charge consumers for tastings and would impose additional conditions on the provision of tastings by the licensee, including limiting the size and number of tastes. The bill would provide that a distilled spirits manufacturer's license authorizes the licensee to serve and sell food, general merchandise, and nonalcoholic beverages for consumption on or off the premises. By expanding the definition of an existing crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (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.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. This bill would require the chair of the state board to convene the Road to 2050 Board consisting of specified representatives from specified state agencies and commissions. The bill would require the Road to 2050 Board, by January 31, 2016, and by January 31 of each even-numbered year thereafter, to submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on the impacts to California of global warming, including impacts to water supply, public health, agriculture, coastline, and forestry, and to prepare and report on mitigation and adaptation plans to combat these impacts. The bill would require that the report be used, on an advisory basis, to guide key infrastructure decisionmaking processes and policies at the local and statewide level.

The Medi-Cal Act establishes 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 requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments to be reduced by 1% or 5%, and provider payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 1%, for dates of service on and after March 1, 2009, and until June 1, 2011. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments and payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 10% for dates of service on and after June 1, 2011. This bill would instead require that, to the extent permitted by federal law, this payment reduction not apply to skilled nursing facilities or subacute care units that are a distinct part of a general acute care hospital, intermediate care or other specified facilities serving developmentally disabled individuals, or specified Medi-Cal provider payments for fee-for-service benefits, including payments to pharmacies, for dates of service on or after June 1, 2011. The bill would also provide that this payment reduction shall not apply to managed health care plans for dates of service after the effective date of the bill. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the Public Utilities Act, provides for the establishment of an Independent System Operator, referred to as the ISO, as an incorporated nonprofit public benefit corporation. The ISO is required to ensure efficient use and reliable operation of the transmission grid consistent with achieving certain planning and operating criteria. Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to adopt, on a biennial basis, an integrated energy policy report, containing among other things, an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state. This bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to include in its integrated energy policy report an assessment of the flexible capacity required by the ISO to reliably operate the electrical system as energy resources are diversified. This bill would require this assessment to include an evaluation of how any change in flexible capacity to accommodate energy resource diversification impacts various aspects of the electrical system.