Existing law requires a county superintendent of schools to calculate a revenue limit for each school district in the county pursuant to specified formulas, including the calculation of the average daily attendance of the district. Categorical programs exist to fund specific educational programs. Economic impact aid is provided to school districts based, in part, on the concentration of economically disadvantaged pupils and English language learners. This bill would express legislative intent to simplify and make transparent the process through which funding is provided for each public school pupil, to equalize the funding for pupils within significant parameters, and to focus per-pupil funding on enabling all California pupils to reach high state academic standards. The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction, no later than March 1, 2010, to select a nonprofit entity or institution of higher education to complete a study related to weighted pupil funding formulas. The bill would specify topics to be included in the study. The bill would require the study to be submitted to the Superintendent for distribution to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2010. The bill would limit the amount that would be paid to the entity or institution performing the study to no more than $150,000. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2011, and would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2012.
Sponsored bills
Existing law establishes the California State University and its various campuses under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University. Existing law requires the California State University to offer undergraduate and graduate instruction through the master's degree in the liberal arts and sciences and professional education, including teacher education. This bill would authorize the California State University to award the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. The bill would distinguish the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the doctor of philosophy degree offered at the University of California. The bill would require the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program to be designed to enable professionals to earn the degree while working full time, train nurses for advanced practice, and prepare clinical faculty to teach in postsecondary nursing programs. The bill would require initial funding to come from existing budgets, without diminishing the quality of undergraduate programs or reducing enrollment therein. The bill would require the California State University to annually report on the status of the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program, as specified.
(1) Existing law excludes from the definition of "wages," for purposes of the unemployment insurance law, remuneration in excess of $7,000 paid to an individual by an employer during any calendar year, with respect to employment. This bill would, for the calendar year beginning on January 1, 2009, revise this provision to exclude remuneration in excess of $16,600 paid to an individual by an employer during that calendar year and would, for each calendar year thereafter, exclude remuneration paid to an individual by an employer during that calendar year in excess of the greater of $16,600 or an amount equal to 13 of the annualized state average weekly wage, as defined. (2) Existing law requires every employer, with specified exceptions, to pay contributions to the Unemployment Fund at specified rates according to specified contribution rate schedules. This bill would modify these provisions by increasing the contribution rates, as specified, pursuant to a new contribution rate schedule. (3) Existing law provides that no employer or new employer, as defined, is eligible for a contribution rate of more or less than 3.4% for any rating period unless, among other things, his or her reserve account has been subject to benefit charges. This bill would revise these provisions by increasing the contribution rate to 4.5%. (4) Existing law provides that an individual is considered "unemployed" for the purpose of eligibility for unemployment compensation benefits if, for any week of less than full-time work, the wages payable to the individual for that week, when reduced by the greater of $25 or 25% of the wages payable, do not equal or exceed the individual's unemployment weekly benefit amount. Existing law provides for the payment of unemployment compensation to an individual in a weekly amount equal to his or her weekly benefit amount less the amount of wages in excess of the smaller of $25 or 25% of the wages payable. This bill would instead provide that an individual is unemployed in any week of less than full-time work only if the wages payable to him or her with respect to the week, when reduced by the greater of $200 or 25% of wages payable, do not equal or exceed his or her weekly unemployment compensation benefit amount. This bill would also provide the payment of unemployment compensation to an individual in a weekly amount equal to his or her weekly benefit amount less the amount of wages in excess of the smaller of $200 or 25% of wages payable for that week. (5) Because this measure would increase the amount of unemployment compensation paid, it would make an additional amount payable from the Unemployment Fund, a continuously appropriated special fund, and thereby would make an appropriation. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of his or her employment, and requires an employer to provide, or pay for all reasonable costs of, medical services necessary to care for or relieve work-related injuries. Existing law further provides that in the case of active firefighting members of certain fire departments and in the case of certain peace officers, a compensable injury includes cancer that develops or manifests itself during the period when the firefighter or peace officer demonstrates that he or she was exposed, while in the service of the public agency, to a known carcinogen, as defined, and the carcinogen is reasonably linked to the disabling cancer. Existing law establishes a presumption that the cancer in these cases is presumed to arise out of, and in the course of, employment, unless the presumption is controverted by evidence that the primary site of the cancer has been established and that the carcinogen to which the member has demonstrated exposure is not reasonably linked to the disabling cancer. Existing law extends this presumption to a member following termination of service for a period of 3 calendar months for each full year of the requisite service, but not to exceed 60 months in any circumstance, commencing with the last date actually worked in the specified capacity. This bill would instead extend the presumption to a member following termination of service for a period of one year for each full year of the requisite service, commencing with the last date actually worked in the specified capacity.
The California Constitution provides that any changes in state taxes enacted for the purpose of increasing revenues collected pursuant to those taxes, whether by increased rates or changes in methods of computation, must be imposed by a bill passed by not less than 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. Existing law does not define the specific terms used in establishing this vote requirement, or specify the manner in which this vote requirement is to be applied. This bill would clarify the meaning of state taxes for purposes of this constitutional vote requirement.
Existing law establishes the Assumption Program of Loans for Education, administered by the Student Aid Commission, under which program participants who meet designated criteria may enter into an agreement for loan assumption, to be redeemed pursuant to a prescribed procedure upon becoming employed as a teacher if he or she satisfies certain conditions. Existing law provides for an additional assumption of liability for a person who teaches certain subjects in the lowest 60 percentile of, or at a school in the lowest two deciles on, the Academic Performance Index rankings. The maximum that may be expended on these additional assumption provisions in any one academic year is $5,000,000. This bill would increase that limit to a maximum of $5,100,000 in any academic year.
The Donahoe Higher Education Act sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California's public and independent segments of higher education, and their respective institutions of higher education. The act applies to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, act to make the act applicable. Existing law requires that a person, other than a nonimmigrant alien, as defined, who has attended high school in California for 3 or more years, who has graduated from a California high school or attained the equivalent thereof, who has registered at or attends an accredited institution of higher education in California not earlier than the fall semester or quarter of the 2001–02 academic year, and who, if he or she is a person without lawful immigration status, has filed a prescribed affidavit relating to obtaining lawful immigration status, is exempt from paying nonresident tuition at the California Community Colleges and the California State University. Existing law also requires the waiver of student fees charged by community college districts for students who demonstrate financial need or are otherwise eligible for the waiver. Existing law requires the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges to allocate, to community college districts for determining financial need and delivering student financial aid services, an amount based on the amount of fees waived. This bill would amend the Donahoe Higher Education Act to require the Trustees of the California State University and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and to request the Regents of the University of California, to establish procedures and forms that enable persons who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition under that provision, or who meet equivalent requirements adopted by the regents, to be eligible to receive institutional financial aid awards. The bill would define institutional financial aid as financial assistance offered by a campus of the California Community Colleges, California State University, or University of California, including grant, scholarship, workstudy, and loan programs. The bill would specify that institutional financial aid does not include a specified board of governors fee waiver. The bill would declare that it is a state law within the meaning of a federal statute that permits a state to provide an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States with eligibility for a state or local public benefit only through the enactment of a state law affirmatively providing for that eligibility. The bill would apply to the University of California only if the regents, by appropriate resolution, act to make it applicable.
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 provides for the regulation of insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires administrators who perform certain acts in connection with life or health insurance coverage or annuities to be registered with the Insurance Commissioner and to comply with certain other requirements. This bill would require an administrator providing administrative services for a self-funded dental benefit plan to include certain language in explanation of benefits documents and in forms sent to claimants in response to claims for benefits.