Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. The Public Utilities Act imposes various duties and responsibilities on the commission with respect to the purchase of electricity by electrical corporations and requires the commission to review and adopt a procurement plan and a renewable energy procurement plan for each electrical corporation pursuant to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. The program requires that a retail seller of electricity, including electrical corporations, purchase a specified minimum percentage of electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, in any given year as a specified percentage of total kilowatthours sold to retail end-use customers each calendar year (renewables portfolio standard) . Existing law requires every electrical corporation to file with the commission a standard tariff for electricity generated by an electric generation facility, as defined, that is owned and operated by a retail customer of the electrical corporation. Existing law requires, among other things, that the electric generation facility have an effective capacity of not more than 1.5 megawatts and be located on property owned or under the control of the customer. This bill would instead require that the electric generation facility have an effective capacity of not more than 10 megawatts and be located on property owned or under the control of the customer. The bill would also allow the commission to increase the 10 megawatt capacity limitation up to, and including, a capacity of 15 megawatts.
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The Sales and Use Tax Law imposes a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state, and provides various exemptions from the taxes imposed by that law. This bill would exempt from a specified portion of those taxes, for calendar years beginning on and after January 1, 2011, the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, sustainable development equipment investments of tangible personal property purchased for use by a qualified person, as specified, and tangible personal property used primarily during the research and development process on qualified research. The bill would also exempt from a specified portion of those taxes, for calendar years beginning on and after January 1, 2013, the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption of, tangible personal property purchased by a qualified person for use primarily in any stage of the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling of property, as specified, and tangible personal property purchased for use by a contractor purchasing that property for use in the performance of a construction contract for the qualified person who will use the property as an integral part of the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling process, or as a storage facility for use in connection with the manufacturing process. This bill would specify that this exemption does not apply to local sales and use taxes or transactions and use taxes. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
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.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to prescribe, by regulation, energy conservation and water efficiency standards for new residential and nonresidential buildings to reduce wasteful, uneconomic, inefficient, or unnecessary consumption of energy. The California Building Standards Law provides for the adoption of building standards by state agencies by requiring all state agencies that adopt or propose adoption of any building standard to submit the building standard to the California Building Standards Commission for approval or adoption. Existing law requires the commission to adopt, approve, codify, update, and publish green building standards for any occupancy for which no state agency has the authority or expertise to propose those standards. This bill would require the commission or any state agency proposing green building standards to seek the input of other state agencies and consult with representatives from specified groups, as prescribed. The bill would require any agency providing input to recommend to the commission or proposing agency whether the standard should be voluntary or mandatory. The bill would also authorize the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to develop and adopt voluntary energy efficiency standards, as described.
Existing law establishes procedures to be followed at polling places on election day. Existing law provides that a voter may not remain in or occupy a voting booth or compartment longer than is necessary to mark his or her ballot, which may not exceed either 5 or 10 minutes, as specified, but permits a voter to remain for a longer period of time if no other voter would be inconvenienced. This bill would delete the provision permitting a voter to remain for a longer period of time if no other voter would be inconvenienced and would, instead, permit a voter to remain for longer than 10 minutes if the voter informs a precinct board member that the voter requires additional time to mark his or her ballot. This bill would also repeal the provisions that limit a voter to 5 minutes in a voting booth or compartment while marking his or her ballot using a voting machine.
Under existing law, the State Department of Public Health is authorized, within its authority to contract with a provider for the provision of health services, to enter into a single contractual instrument encompassing services in any number of specified health services subject areas. This bill, in addition, would require the department, within existing resources, to develop and implement, in consultation with local health jurisdiction representatives, a model consolidated and streamlined administration and contracting process with local health jurisdictions for the department's Center for Infectious Diseases and Center for Family Health, and the programs administered by the respective centers. The bill would require the 2 designated program centers within the department to develop a single model allocation contract between the department and local health jurisdictions that incorporates the programs administered by the program center, including, but not limited to, specified elements.
Existing law establishes various state water policies, including the policy that the use of water for domestic purposes is the highest use of water. This bill would declare that it is the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to clean, affordable, and accessible water for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes, that is adequate for the health and well-being of the individual and family. The bill would require all relevant state agencies, including the Department of Water Resources, State Water Resources Control Board, and State Department of Public Health, to employ all reasonable means to implement this state policy. Those state agencies would be required to revise, adopt, or establish policies, regulations, and grant criteria to further this state policy, to the extent that those actions do not affect eligibility for federal funds.
Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Under existing law, a health insurer that provides maternity coverage may not restrict inpatient hospital benefits, as specified, and is required to provide notice of the maternity services coverage. This bill would require new forms for health insurance policies submitted to the department after January 1, 2010, to provide coverage for maternity services, as defined. With respect to policy forms on file with the department as of January 1, 2010, the bill would require health insurers to submit to the department, on or before March 1, 2010, revised policy forms that provide coverage for maternity services and would require insurers to include that coverage in the corresponding policies that are issued, amended, or renewed following the department's approval of the revised forms, as specified.
(1) Existing law requires the owner or operator of an underground petroleum storage tank, or other responsible party, to take corrective action, as defined, in response to an unauthorized release of petroleum from the tank. A person required to perform corrective action may apply to the State Water Resources Control Board for payment of specified portions of the costs of corrective action. Existing law requires the board to pay claims of owners and operators in accordance with a specified order of priority. Existing law establishes the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund in the State Treasury and authorizes the money in the fund to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to pay those claims, and, among other things, for corrective actions undertaken by the board, a California regional water quality control board, or a local agency, and for the cleanup and oversight of unauthorized releases at abandoned tank sites. Existing law imposes certain petroleum storage fees upon the owner of an underground storage tank for which a permit is required and requires those fees to be deposited in the fund. This bill would temporarily increase a specified petroleum storage fee by $0.006 per gallon of petroleum stored, between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2011. By operation of existing law, the revenue resulting from the increase would be required to be deposited in the fund and be available, upon appropriation, for expenditure for the purposes authorized under existing law for money in the fund. The bill would require the board, within 90 days of completion of any independent program audit or fiscal audit of the fund, to post the results of the program audit or fiscal audit on its Internet Web site. For a reimbursement request received by the board on or after November 7, 2008, but before June 30, 2010, if costs submitted by a claimant are approved by the board, but funding is not available for payment to the claimant at the time of approval, the bill would require the board to reimburse the claimant's carrying costs, as defined, subject to specified limitations. (2) Existing law establishes until July 1, 2014, the School District Account in the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund and transfers in the 2009–10, 2010–11, and 2011–12 fiscal years $10,000,000 per year from the fund to the account for payment of claims filed by a school district that takes corrective actions to clean up an unauthorized release from a petroleum underground storage tank. This bill would require that these annual transfers be made prior to the allocation of the moneys in the fund for payment of claims by other underground storage tank owners or operators. (3) Existing law provides for a grant and loan program for small businesses to pay specified costs of complying with underground petroleum storage tank regulations adopted by the board, and defines terms for the purposes of that program. If a grant or loan from specified moneys available for the grant and loan program is being requested for purposes of complying with the Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II regulations, existing law requires the applicant to have applied for or obtained a permit from an air quality management district by April 1, 2009, and have obtained an enforcement agreement or other binding obligation by June 30, 2009. This bill would revise the definition of "project tank" to include one or more tanks that are upgraded to comply with the Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II regulations, and would require a grant application to include a detailed description of the costs incurred to perform the work and complete the Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II upgrade, if applicable. If the board received an applicant's grant application on or before April 1, 2009, the bill would authorize grant funds to be used to reimburse up to 100% of the costs that the applicant incurred after the board received the grant application to comply with the Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II regulations. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes a comprehensive statewide domestic violence program in the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) and requires the agency to provide financial and technical assistance to local domestic violence centers. Existing law requires the Maternal and Child Health Branch of the State Department of Public Health to administer a comprehensive shelter-based services grant program to battered women's shelters, as prescribed. This bill would, among other things, require Cal EMA to administer the above-described grant program. This bill would require the Department of Finance, upon the enactment of this bill, to transfer $16,300,000 from the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund to the General Fund as a loan. The bill would require the full amount of the loan to be repaid, with interest at the rate earned by the Pooled Money Investment Account at the time of the transfer, on or before June 30, 2013. The bill would appropriate $16,300,000 from the General Fund to Cal EMA for the purpose of funding the above-described comprehensive shelter-based services grant program to shelters for victims of domestic violence. This bill would require grantees funded under the above-described grant program, during the 2008–09 fiscal year, to be funded by Cal EMA for a period of one fiscal year, retroactively, commencing July 1, 2009. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 19, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.