Asm. Adam C. Gray

This measure would designate the month of January 2020 as Positive Parenting Awareness Month in California.

This measure, among other things, would declare that California is a Reproductive Freedom State for All and provide that the Legislature is committed to guaranteeing the constitutionally protected right to an abortion and supporting efforts to increase access to the best available reproductive and pregnancy-related care for women and pregnant individuals.

Existing law imposes various penalties and assessments upon fines, penalties, and forfeitures imposed on defendants and collected by the courts for criminal offenses. Those charges include a state surcharge of 20% levied on the base fine, as specified. Existing law requires the full amount of that surcharge to be transmitted from the clerk of the court to the State Treasury and deposited in the General Fund. This bill would repeal the 20% state surcharge.

Existing law regulates the licensing of various entities engaged in delivering healthcare services, including a clinic, defined as an organized outpatient health facility that provides direct medical, surgical, dental, optometric, or podiatric advice, services, or treatment to patients who remain less than 24 hours, and that may also provide diagnostic or therapeutic services to patients in the home as an incident to care provided at the clinic facility. Existing law defines a license for that purpose as a basic permit to operate a clinic. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to that provision.

Existing law categorizes certain weapons, including metal knuckles, a shuriken, and a nunchaku, as generally prohibited weapons, and prohibits the possession of those weapons. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to those provisions.

Existing law establishes the State Water Resources Control Board and states the intent of the Legislature that the board administer the water rights, water quality, and drinking water functions of the state government to provide for coordinated consideration of water rights, water quality, and safe and reliable drinking water. Existing law provides to the board any powers that may be necessary or convenient for the exercise of its duties authorized by law. Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the board to administer provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health. This bill would require the board, before taking an action that significantly impacts drinking water, to use existing information to identify impacted disadvantaged communities and to seek to reduce impacts to those communities to the greatest extent practicable. The bill would also require the board to ensure that disadvantaged communities are provided an opportunity to participate in the public process for a decision that significantly impacts drinking water by holding a public hearing in or near an impacted community.

Existing law creates the University of California, San Francisco, San Joaquin Valley Regional Campus Medical Education Endowment Fund for the purpose of supporting the annual operating costs for the development, operation, and maintenance of a branch campus of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine in the San Joaquin Valley, as specified. Existing law provides that moneys in the fund shall not be expended on the development, operation, or maintenance of the branch campus until the State Controller determines a sufficient balance of $500,000,000 is achieved and maintained in the fund. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, existing law requires earnings on the investment of the principal of the fund to be used to cover the annual costs for the development, operation, and maintenance of a branch campus supporting 50 students per class in the San Joaquin Valley over the 10 years following the accrual of the funds, as well as the estimated costs of obtaining approval and accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, among other expenses. The Personal Income Tax Law, in conformity or modified conformity to federal income tax laws as of January 1, 2015, allows specified itemized deductions and does not allow a deduction for other items, except as otherwise provided. Existing law, in conformity with federal income tax provisions, allows a deduction for losses from wagering transactions to the extent of the gains from those transactions. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, would disallow that deduction and would require the State Controller to transfer from the General Fund to the University of California, San Francisco, San Joaquin Valley Regional Campus Medical Education Endowment Fund the amount, as estimated by the Franchise Tax Board in consultation with the Department of Finance, received by the state as a result of the elimination of that deduction until the amount of $500,000,000 has been reached in the latter fund. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities, including a district formed pursuant to the Irrigation District Law, are under the direction of their governing boards. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the commission to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, defined as including electrical corporations, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, so that the total kilowatthours of those products sold to their retail end-use customers achieves 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016, 33% by December 31, 2020, 44% by December 31, 2024, 52% by December 31, 2027, and 60% by December 31, 2030. The program additionally requires each local publicly owned electric utility to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources to achieve the procurement requirements established by the program. For these purposes, eligible renewable energy resources include the incremental increase in the amount of electricity generated from a hydroelectric generation facility as a result of efficiency improvements at the facility, without regard to the electrical output of the facility, if specified conditions are met. This bill would authorize a local publicly owned electric utility that is an irrigation district to elect to credit its share of the total electricity generated by the Don Pedro Hydroelectric Project, commensurate with its ownership share of that project, as meeting its renewables portfolio standard procurement requirements. The bill would require that an election by an irrigation district to apply its proportionate share of the electricity generated by the Don Pedro Hydroelectric Project to meet its renewables portfolio standard procurement requirements would be for all of its proportionate share of the generation, including any portion of the electricity that is an eligible renewable energy resource because it results from efficiency improvements at the project. The bill would prohibit any portion of that electricity to be unbundled from any renewable energy credit associated with the electricity. The bill would require an irrigation district making the election to ensure that there is no double counting for electricity that is an eligible renewable energy resource resulting from efficiency improvements at the project. If an irrigation district elects to apply any generation from the Don Pedro Hydroelectric Project to meet its renewables portfolio standard procurement requirements, the bill would (1) prohibit any quantity of eligible renewable energy resources procured under ownership or contract by the district to be resold and require that all associated renewable energy credits be retired solely on behalf of customers of the district, and (2) require the district to procure energy storage systems commensurate with 1% of the district's 2020 annual peak load, as specified, with project installation to be completed no later than December 31, 2030. The bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to report to the Legislature by February 1, 2020, and by February 1 of every year thereafter, on the progress of an irrigation district subject to these provisions towards satisfying its renewable portfolio standard obligations. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity for special legislation.