Existing law, the Improvement Act of 1911 (Improvement Act) , authorizes the legislative body of any public agency, as defined, to determine that it would be convenient, advantageous, and in the public interest to designate an area within the public agency, as specified, within which authorized public agency officials and property owners may enter into voluntary contractual assessments to finance the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources or energy or water efficiency improvements that are permanently fixed to real property, as specified. Under existing law, for the purpose of financing the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources pursuant to the Improvement Act, "permanently fixed" includes, but is not limited to, systems attached to a residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, or other real property pursuant to a power purchase agreement or lease between the owner of the system and the owner of the assessed property, if the power purchase agreement or lease contains certain provisions, including, but not limited to, provisions intended to ensure that the property owner is guaranteed the electric power from the system for the length of the lien. One of the required provisions is that after installation, the power purchase agreement or lease is paid in full using the funds from the contractual assessment program. The Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 (Mello-Roos Act) authorizes the establishment of community facilities districts and the issuance of bonds and the levying of special taxes to finance various types of facilities and services within the district. This bill would revise the information included in the power purchase agreement or lease to allow a system owner to include a specified covenant and warranty in its contract with the property owner, providing that the system will not be removed for the term of the contract. The bill would specifically authorize either full or partial payment for the power purchase agreement or lease to be made after installation of the system. The bill would declare the intent of the Legislature that the program finance prepaid service contracts, as well as installation, of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency improvements. This bill would make various changes to the Improvement Act to achieve cost reductions and to achieve consistency with similar provisions of the Mello-Roos Act, including changes in recordation requirements and authorizing the financing of facilities in connection with the initial construction of a residential building that is being undertaken by the intended owner or occupant. This bill would authorize a public agency to transfer, as defined, its right, title, and interest in any voluntary contractual assessments if bonds have not been issued in that regard, subject to an agreement identifying the specific period of time during which the transfer will be operative, not to exceed 3 years. The bill would state that this authorization shall not be construed to authorize the transferee to initiate and prosecute a foreclosure action resulting from a delinquency in the payment of the voluntary contractual assessment, and that a foreclosure action remains the responsibility of the public agency which would retain the sole right to enforce its senior lien status. This bill would revise various procedures pursuant to which a public agency is authorized to issue bonds under the Improvement Act, including authorizing the public agency to issue new bonds to refinance outstanding bonds payable from contractual assessments levied pursuant to the act, which may be subject to a variable interest rate, under certain circumstances. The bill would authorize a public agency owning property to levy a contractual assessment under the act against a leasehold or possessory interest in that property, as prescribed.
Sponsored bills
The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act requires a distributor of specified beverage containers to pay a redemption payment to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery for each beverage container sold or transferred, for deposit in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The act requires the department to pay handling fees to certified supermarket sites, rural region recyclers, and nonprofit convenience zone recyclers for every beverage container redeemed by the certified recycling center. Existing law prohibits a certified recycling center or processor from paying any refund values, processing payments, or administrative fees on, or making claims on, empty beverage containers that the certified recycling center or processor knew or should have known were coming from out of state, or from making claims on beverage containers that the certified recycling center or processor knew, or should have known, were received from a noncertified recycler. The bill would extend these prohibitions to beverage containers that the certified recycling center or processor knew, or should have known, were otherwise ineligible for redemption. Existing law authorizes the department to take specified disciplinary actions against any party responsible for directing, contributing to, participating in, or otherwise influencing the operations of a certified or registered facility or program under specified circumstances. This bill would specify an additional disciplinary action, authorizing the department under those circumstances to suspend or permanently revoke eligibility of a supermarket site, rural region recycler, or a nonprofit convenience zone recycler to receive handling fees at one or more of a certificate holder's certified recycling centers. Existing law imposes criminal and civil penalties for specified violations of the act, including as actions subject to criminal penalties, the redemption of out-of-state containers, as defined. Existing law generally authorizes the department to impose a civil penalty of up to $1,000 or $5,000 for each violation, but authorizes the department to assess a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per transaction, or an amount equal to 3 times the damages, plus costs, for a person who redeems, or assists in the redemption of, previously redeemed containers. This bill would additionally authorize the department to assess a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per transaction or 3 times the damages, plus costs, upon a person who redeems, attempts to redeem, or aids in the redemption of, otherwise ineligible beverage containers, including, but not limited to, out-of-state containers and empty beverage container materials imported from out-of-state.
Existing law establishes the Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Natural Resources Agency, administered by the Director of Fish and Wildlife. Existing law requires the director to administer various programs for the protection and conservation of fish and wildlife resources. This bill would enact the Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Act and require the director to approve a habitat restoration or enhancement project, as defined, if specified conditions are met as determined by the director. The act would create the Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Account within the Fish and Game Preservation Fund and authorize the department to enter into an agreement to accept funds to achieve the purposes of the Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Act and deposit those funds into that account. The act would require the department to assess an application fee for a project submitted to the department consistent with specified fees adopted by the department but would prohibit the application fee from exceeding reasonable administrative and implementation costs of the department relating to the project. Moneys in the account would be available to the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of administering and implementing the Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Act. The bill would require the department to submit a report on the implementation of the act to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2020. The bill would repeal the act on January 1, 2022.
Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California. Under the act, a physician and surgeon is required to demonstrate satisfaction of continuing education requirements. Existing law requires all continuing medical education courses on or after July 1, 2006, to contain curriculum that includes cultural and linguistic competency, as defined, in the practice of medicine. Existing law requires accrediting associations to develop standards for compliance with the cultural competency requirement before July 1, 2006, and authorizes the development of these standards in conjunction with an advisory group that has expertise in cultural and linguistic competency issues, as specified. This bill would authorize the accrediting associations to update these compliance standards, as needed, in conjunction with the advisory group described above. Existing law, for purposes of these provisions, defines cultural competency as a set of integrated attitudes, knowledge, and skills that enables a health care professional or organization to care effectively for patients from diverse cultures, groups, and communities. Existing law recommends that this definition, at a minimum, include, among other things, understanding and applying cultural and ethnic data to the process of clinical care. This bill would expand this recommendation to include, as appropriate, information pertinent to the appropriate treatment of, and provision of care to, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex communities.
(1) Under existing law, if a county elections official receives an affidavit of voter registration that does not include all required information, and the elections official is not able to collect the missing information by telephone, but the mailing address of the affiant is legible, the elections official is required to inform the affiant of the reason for rejection of the affidavit and send to the affiant a new voter registration card. This bill would allow the elections official under these circumstances to send to the affiant any other document, as determined by the elections official, on which the affiant may provide the missing information. (2) Existing provisions of the California Constitution and statute authorize the recall of state officers. Each section of a recall petition is required to be filed with the elections official of the county in which it was circulated. Existing law requires the elections official to report to the Secretary of State, 30 days after a recall has been initiated and every 30 days thereafter, the number of signatures submitted on the recall petition sections, the number of valid signatures, and related information. Upon the submission of a section of a recall petition, if fewer than 500 signatures are submitted to the elections official, the elections official is required to count the number of signatures and submit those results to the Secretary of State. If 500 or more signatures are submitted to the elections official, the elections official may verify, using a random sampling technique, either 3% of the signatures submitted or 500 signatures, whichever is less, and report the results of that verification to the Secretary of State. This bill would instead provide that if 500 or more signatures are submitted to the elections official, the elections official may verify, using a random sampling technique, either 3% of the signatures submitted or 500 signatures, whichever is greater. By increasing the duties of local election officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical, gas, water, and telephone corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to establish rules for all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature. Existing law directs the commission to require every electrical, gas, water, wireless telecommunications service provider, and telephone corporation with annual gross revenues exceeding $25,000,000, and their regulated subsidiaries and affiliates, to implement a program developed by the commission to encourage, recruit, and utilize minority-, women-, and disabled veteran-owned business enterprises, as defined, in the procurement of contracts from those corporations or from their regulated subsidiaries and affiliates, and to require the reporting of certain information. The commission, by its rulemaking authority, has adopted General Order 156, applicable to certain electrical, gas, and telephone corporations, to effectuate these requirements. Existing law includes the declaration by the Legislature that each electrical, gas, water, mobile telephony service provider, and telephone corporation that is not required to submit a plan, and each cable television corporation and direct broadcast satellite provider, is encouraged to voluntarily adopt a plan for increasing women, minority, and disabled veteran business enterprise procurement in all categories. Existing law requires the commission, by rule or order, to adopt criteria for verifying and determining eligibility of women and minority business enterprises for procurement contracts. Existing law requires the commission to provide to the Legislature a specified report on the progress of activities undertaken by certain entities in the implementation of women, minority, and disabled business enterprise development programs. Existing law requires the commission to recommend a program and legislation for carrying out the policy of aiding the interests of women, minority, and disabled veteran business enterprises. This bill would extend these provisions to LGBT business enterprises, as defined. In initially adopting criteria for verifying and determining the eligibility of LGBT business enterprises for procurement contracts, the bill would require the commission to adopt the LGBT status qualifiers created by the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. The bill would authorize the commission to update the LGBT status qualifiers as appropriate. (2) This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 8282 of the Public Utilities Code, proposed by AB 2760, to be operative only if AB 2760 and this bill are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last. (3) Under existing law, a violation of any provision of any rules or orders of the commission is a crime. In addition, any person or corporation who falsely represents a business as a women, minority, or disabled veteran business enterprise for the purposes of the program discussed above is subject to criminal penalties. This bill would also subject any person or corporation who falsely represents a business as an LGBT business enterprise for the purposes of the program discussed above to criminal penalties. Because a violation of the requirements of the bill would be a crime under those provisions, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) 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.
Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency consisting of various entities, departments, and boards, including the Department of Water Resources, the California Coastal Commission, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the State Lands Commission, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and the State Coastal Conservancy. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2016, the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with the Ocean Protection Council, to create, update biannually, and post on an Internet Web site a Planning for Sea Level Rise Database describing steps being taken throughout the state to prepare for, and adapt to, sea level rise. The bill would require various public agencies and private entities to provide to the agency, by July 1, 2015, and, beginning January 1, 2016, on a biannual basis thereafter, sea level rise planning information, as defined, that is under the control or jurisdiction of the public agencies or private entities. The bill would require the agency to determine which information is necessary for inclusion in the database and to organize the database by geographic region and provide an entry for each city, county, and city and county within the coastal zone and San Francisco Bay area. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2018.
Existing law authorizes the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) to administer and operate high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on Interstate 15 and on 2 other transportation corridors within the county, under which single-occupancy vehicles may use high-occupancy vehicle lanes by paying a toll. Existing law similarly authorizes the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) to administer and operate HOT lanes on 2 state highway corridors within the county. Existing law requires that implementation of the HOT lanes ensure that specified levels of service, described as Level of Service C or D, as specified, be maintained at all times in the high-occupancy lanes and that unrestricted access to the lanes by high-occupancy vehicles be available at all times. Existing law requires SANDAG and VTA to establish, with the assistance of the Department of Transportation, appropriate traffic flow guidelines for the purpose of ensuring optimal use of the HOT lanes by high-occupancy vehicles without adversely affecting other traffic in the state highway system. This bill would delete the reference to Level of Service C or D, and instead would require SANDAG and VTA to establish, with the consent of the Department of Transportation, appropriate performance measures, such as speed or travel times, for the purpose of ensuring that optimal use of the HOT lanes. The bill would provide that high-occupancy vehicles using these HOT lanes may be required to have an electronic transponder or other electronic device for enforcement purposes. Existing law, with respect to the above-referenced HOT lane corridors, specifies the authorized uses of toll revenues generated from those lanes, including costs associated with operation of the HOT lanes, transit service improvements, and high-occupancy vehicle facilities within the affected corridor. This bill would additionally authorize the use of the toll revenues for transportation corridor improvements within the affected corridor.
The Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act governs the management and operation of common interest developments. These provisions require that a common interest development be managed by an association and also set forth the duties and responsibilities of the association and the owners of the separate interests with regard to maintenance and repair of common and exclusive use areas, as defined. Unless otherwise provided in the common interest development declaration, the association is responsible for maintaining, repairing, or replacing the common area, other than the exclusive use common area, and the owner of each separate interest is responsible for maintaining that separate interest and any exclusive use common area appurtenant to the interest. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2017, instead provide that, unless otherwise provided in the declaration, the association is responsible for maintaining, repairing, and replacing the common area, the owner of each separate interest is responsible for maintaining, repairing, and replacing the separate interest, and the owner of the separate interest is responsible for maintaining the exclusive use common area appurtenant to the separate interest while the association is responsible for repairing and replacing the exclusive use common area.
Existing law requires each admitted insurer to provide information by January 1, 2014, to the Insurance Commissioner on all of its community development investments and community development infrastructure investments in California. Community development investments are investments where all or a portion of the investment has as its primary purpose community development for, or that directly benefits, California low- or moderate-income individuals, families, or communities, and includes, but is not limited to, investments in California in or through the California Organized Investment Network (COIN) -certified community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and investments made pursuant to the requirements of federal, state, or local community development investment programs or community development investment tax incentive programs, including green investments, if these investments directly benefit low- or moderate-income individuals, families, and communities and are consistent with applicable provisions. The commissioner and the Department of Insurance are required to provide certain information on community development investments and community development infrastructure investments to the public on the department's Internet Web site, as specified, by May 31, 2014, and biennially with regard to green investments. These provisions are to remain in effect only until January 1, 2015, and are repealed as of that date. This bill would revise and recast these provisions by instead requiring each admitted insurer with annual premiums written in California equal to or in excess of $100,000,000 for any reporting year to provide information to the commissioner on all of its community development investments, community development infrastructure investments, and green investments in California. The bill would require the information be reported by July 1, 2016, as provided. The bill would revise the information that the commissioner and the department are required to provide on the department's Internet Web site by, among other things, including information on the actions taken by COIN to analyze the data by insurers for the purpose of creating and identifying potential investment opportunities, as specified. The bill would extend the department's Internet Web site publication date from May 31, 2014, to December 31, 2016, and would delete the biennial publication requirement for green investments and instead require a publication deadline of December 31, 2016. The bill would also extend the repeal date to January 1, 2020. Existing law requires each insurer admitted in California that writes premium in California equal to or in excess of $100,000,000 annually to develop, and file with the commissioner no later than July 1, 2011, a policy statement on community development investments and community development infrastructure investments that expresses the insurer's goals for those investments during the filing year and following calendar year. Thereafter, each insurer that these provisions apply to is required to biennially review its policy statement, and, if the insurer revises or changes its policy statement, submit the new policy statement to the commissioner no later than July 1 of each odd-numbered year. This bill would delete the provisions requiring a biennial review by each insurer of its policy statement and the submission of a new policy statement if there is a revision or change. Existing law requires the department, COIN, or any successor thereof, to require the CDFIs receiving specified tax credit investments to submit reports to the department, COIN, or any successor thereof, on their use of the program. Existing law authorizes the commissioner to establish and appoint a California Organized Investment Network Advisory Board. The term of each board member is 2 years and is staggered as provided. The board has certain powers and duties, including, but not limited to, advising COIN, or any successor thereof, on the best methods to increase the level of insurance industry capital in safe and sound investments while providing fair returns to investors and social benefits to underserved communities, meeting quarterly or as deemed necessary by the commissioner, and recommending programmatic guidelines, but not specific allocations of the tax credit amount, to the COIN program. The provisions regarding the board are in effect only until December 1, 2015, and are repealed as of that date. This bill would delete the board members' staggered terms requirement. The bill would delete the quarterly meeting requirement, and would instead require a minimum of 3 or more meetings per year. The bill would also extend the repeal date to January 1, 2020.