Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires state agencies and local agencies to make public records available for inspection, subject to specified criteria, and with specified exceptions. Existing law excludes from disclosure records of public investment funds regarding alternative investments, as defined, unless the information has already been publicly released by the keeper of the information. Existing law defines an alternative investment to mean an investment in a private equity fund, venture fund, hedge fund, or absolute return fund. Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires the meetings of the legislative body of a local agency to be conducted openly and publicly, with specified exceptions. Existing law makes agendas of public meetings and other writings distributed to the members of the governing board disclosable public records, with certain exceptions. Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a local agency that invests pension funds to hold a meeting in closed session to consider the purchase or sale of particular, specific pension fund investments. This bill would include prescribed documents dealing with alternative investments within the exceptions to the requirement for disclosure of documents related to public meetings. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Sponsored bills
This measure would honor the University of California, Davis' great achievement in earning the number one ranking in the world for teaching and research in the areas of agriculture and forestry.
This measure would memorialize the President and Congress of the United States to support immigration reform efforts that do not hurt families by eliminating or negatively impacting the F3 and F4 visa categories, or that end the discrimination against same-sex couples. The measure would memorialize the President and Congress to take a comprehensive, bipartisan, and well-reasoned approach to immigration issues that maintains the fair and appropriate priority for family reunification, including same-sex partners.
This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to reauthorize the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and to include specified policies and strategies in support of the act.
This measure would urge the United States Congress and the President to establish new entrepreneur and science, technology, engineering, or mathematics-related visa categories for legal immigrants as part of comprehensive federal immigration reform, that would, among other things, create an Entrepreneur's Visa for legal immigrants, provide authorization to adjust the status of not more than 50,000 aliens who have earned a master's degree or a doctorate degree, as specified, to that of aliens conditionally admitted for permanent residence, and eliminate per-country caps for employment-based immigrant visas.
This measure would proclaim the week of August 11 through August 17, 2013, as National Health Center Week.
This measure would recognize the 25th anniversary of Little Saigon.
This measure would acknowledge that the State of California made a grievous mistake that injured loyal employees who were dedicated to serving the people of California when it dismissed over 300 Americans of Japanese ancestry as a result of Senate Concurrent Resolution 15 (SCR 15) of 1942 by Senator John Swan. This measure would resolve to issue a public apology to the state civil service employees who were dismissed.
Existing law sets forth procedures for voting by mail and requires the local elections official to compare the signature on the identification envelope of a vote by mail ballot with the voter's signature that appears on his or her affidavit of registration. If the signatures compare, existing law requires the elections official to deposit the ballot in a ballot container. If the ballot is rejected because the signatures do not compare, existing law requires that the ballot not be counted and that the cause of the rejection be written on the face of the identification envelope. Existing law also requires the elections official to establish procedures to track and confirm the receipt of vote by mail ballots that are voted and to make that information available by means of online access using the county's elections division Internet Web site, or, if it has no Internet Web site, by a toll-free telephone number that may be used to confirm the date the ballot was received. This bill would require the county elections official to establish a free access system by which a vote by mail voter may learn whether his or her ballot was counted and, if not, the reason why it was not counted. This bill would require the elections official to make the free access system available to a vote by mail voter upon completion of the official canvass and for 30 days thereafter. This bill would permit the county elections official to use the county's free access system for provisional ballots to establish the free access system for vote by mail ballots. By requiring elections officials to provide a higher level of service, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the appropriate elections official to prepare sample ballots for each election and to cause to be printed at least as many copies of the sample ballot as there are voters in each voting precinct. Existing law requires the elections official to mail a sample ballot to each voter who registered at least 29 days prior to the election. This bill would permit the elections official to elect not to mail a sample ballot to a voter if specified conditions are satisfied. For each voter to whom the elections official elects not to mail a sample ballot, this bill would permit the elections official to cause to be printed one less copy of the sample ballot. If a county elections official elects not to mail a sample ballot to a voter, this bill would require the elections official to use any savings achieved to offset the costs associated with establishing a free access system for vote by mail ballots before the savings may be used for any other purpose. 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.