Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , on a biennial basis beginning in 2003, to adopt an integrated energy policy report providing information on specified subjects related to energy. Existing law establishes the Renewable Resource Trust Fund, a continuously appropriated fund appropriated to the Energy Commission, for the purposes of funding programs designed to foster the development of new in-state renewable electricity generation technology facilities. This bill would require the Energy Commission to conduct research on generating electricity using piezoelectric transducers under roadways or railways. The bill would require the Energy Commission to establish pilot projects that would employ piezoelectric-based energy-harvesting technology, if the Energy Commission determines that the technology has the potential to generate electricity with performance, reliability, and cost projections that are comparable to existing or emerging renewable energy sources. The bill would require the Energy Commission to collaborate with the Department of Transportation and would require the department to conduct research on the piezoelectric-based energy-harvesting technology according to the department's usual research protocol if the pilot project is conducted in a facility that is part of the state highway or rail system under the department's jurisdiction. The bill would authorize the Energy Commission to expend the moneys in the Renewable Resource Trust Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to implement this research. The Energy Commission would be required to report its findings in the integrated energy policy report adopted in 2013. These provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2015.
Sponsored bills
(1) The California Tire Recycling Act imposes a California tire fee on a new tire purchased in the state. The revenue generated from the fee is deposited in the California Tire Recycling Management Fund for expenditure, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of programs related to waste tires, including grants to local entities involved in activities that result in reduced landfill disposal of used whole tires. The act requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to adopt a 5-year plan, which is to be updated biennially, to establish goals and priorities for waste tire programs. This bill would require the department to provide outreach to local agencies regarding a program it may establish under existing law to award grants to cities, counties, and other local government agencies for the funding of public works projects that use waste tires. The bill would make the public works waste tire grant program inoperative on June 30, 2015, and would repeal the provision authorizing this program on January 1, 2016. The bill would also make conforming changes with regard to the department's 5-year plan. (2) Existing law creates an architectural paint recovery program that is enforced by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. On or before April 1, 2012, a manufacturer or designated stewardship organization is required to submit to the department an architectural paint stewardship plan to develop and implement a recovery program to reduce the generation of postconsumer paint, promote the reuse of postconsumer architectural paint, and manage the end-of-life of postconsumer architectural paint, in an environmentally sound fashion, including collection, transportation, processing, and disposal. The plan is required to contain specified elements of an architectural paint stewardship program, including, but not limited to, an architectural paint stewardship assessment, approved by the department, on each container of architectural paint sold in this state. Existing law prohibits a manufacturer or retailer from selling or offering for sale architectural paint to any person in this state, unless the manufacturer is listed on the department's Internet Web site as being in compliance with the program. Existing law authorizes the department to administratively impose civil penalties for violations of the act. Existing law requires a stewardship organization to pay the department annual administrative fees in the amount that is sufficient to cover the department's full costs of administering and enforcing the program. This bill would establish the Architectural Paint Stewardship Account in the Integrated Waste Management Fund, would require the fees to be deposited in this account, and would require the department to expend those fees, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the department's costs to implement the program. The bill would also establish the Architectural Paint Stewardship Penalty Subaccount in the Integrated Waste Management Fund, would require the penalties collected to be deposited in that subaccount, and would authorize the department to expend those funds, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the department's costs to implement the program.
(1) The Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act generally requires the administrator for oil spill response, acting at the direction of the Governor, to implement activities relating to oil spill response, including drills and preparedness, and oil spill containment and cleanup, and to represent the state in any coordinated response efforts with the federal government. The act requires the administrator to periodically carry out announced and unannounced drills to test response and cleanup operations, equipment, contingency plans, and procedures. This bill would require the administrator to develop and implement a screening mechanism and a comprehensive risk-based monitoring program for inspecting the bunkering and lightering operations of vessels at anchor and alongside a dock. The bill also would require that the administrator identify bunkering and lightering operations that pose the highest risk of a pollution incident and coordinate with the United States Coast Guard to routinely monitor and inspect those operations. The bill would require the administrator to establish regulations to provide for the best achievable protection during bunkering and lightering operations in the marine environment. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2015. (2) Existing law imposes an oil spill prevention and administration fee in an amount determined by the administrator to be sufficient to implement oil spill prevention activities, but not to exceed $0.05 per barrel of crude oil or petroleum products, on persons owning crude oil or petroleum products at a marine terminal. The fee is deposited into the Oil Spill Prevention and Administration Fund in the State Treasury. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys in the fund are available for specified purposes. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2012, revise that fee to an amount not to exceed $0.065 per barrel of crude oil or petroleum products and, beginning January 1, 2015, to an amount not to exceed $0.05. (3) Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Game to contract with the Department of Finance to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2005, a detailed report on the financial basis and programmatic effectiveness of the state's oil spill prevention, response, and preparedness program. This bill would require the Department of Fish and Game and the State Lands Commission, independently, to contract with the Department of Finance to prepare and submit that report to the Governor and the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2013, and no less than once every 4 years thereafter. (4) Under existing law, the State Lands Commission has jurisdiction over state lands and ungranted tidelands and submerged lands owned by the state. This bill would require the State Lands Commission, on or before March 1, 2012, in consultation with the Department of Conservation, to report to the Legislature on regulatory action, pending or already taken, and statutory recommendations for the Legislature to ensure maximum safety and prevention of harm during offshore oil drilling. This provision would be repealed on January 1, 2016.
Existing property tax law, in accordance with the California Constitution, provides for a welfare exemption under which property used exclusively for religious, hospital, scientific, or charitable purposes and owned and operated by funds, foundations, or corporations meeting certain statutory requirements is exempt from taxation. Existing law also provides that property used exclusively for the preservation of specified nature resources or open-space lands meeting other specified criteria shall be deemed to be included within the welfare exemption. Existing law makes the inclusion of this property within the welfare exemption inoperative on the lien date in 2012, which is January 1, 2012, and repeals this provision on January 1, 2013. This bill would extend the January 1, 2012, inoperative date until January 1, 2022, and the January 1, 2013, repeal date until January 1, 2023, of the inclusion of this property within the welfare exemption. Section 2229 of the Revenue and Taxation Code requires the Legislature to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2229 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
(1) Existing law, known as the Donahoe Higher Education Act, establishes the missions and functions of the state's 3 segments of public postsecondary education, which are the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges. The provisions of the Donahoe Higher Education Act apply to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by resolution, make them applicable. Existing provisions of the Donahoe Higher Education Act require the Regents of the University of California, the Trustees of the California State University, and the governing boards of community college districts to adopt or provide for the adoption of rules and regulations governing student behavior, known as rules of student conduct. This bill would request the Trustees of the California State University, the Regents of the University of California, and the governing board of each community college district to adopt and publish policies on harassment, intimidation, and bullying to be included within the rules of student conduct governing their respective segments of public postsecondary education. The bill would express the intent of the Legislature that rules and regulations governing student conduct be published, at a minimum, on the Internet Web sites of each public postsecondary educational campus and as part of any printed material covering those rules and regulations within the respective public postsecondary education systems. (2) The Equity in Higher Education Act, a part of the Donahoe Higher Education Act, provides that it is the policy of the state to afford all persons, regardless of disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or other specified bases, equal rights and opportunities in the postsecondary educational institutions of the state. For these purposes, the act defines "gender" to include gender identity. This bill would revise the definition of gender to include "gender expression" for purposes of the Equity in Higher Education Act. The bill would request the Trustees of the California State University, the Regents of the University of California, and the governing board of each community college district to designate an employee at each of their respective campuses as a point of contact to address the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender faculty, staff, and students. The bill would request each segment to collect aggregate demographic information regarding sexual orientation and gender identity of staff and students within other aggregate demographic data collected, and would require annual transmittal of any report to the Legislature, as specified, and posting of the information on the Internet Web site of each respective institution. The bill would encourage the Legislative Analyst to conduct an assessment of the campuses of each of the segments of public postsecondary education to develop recommendations to improve the quality of life on those campuses for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender faculty, staff, and students, and to publish a summary of those recommendations on its Internet Web site. The bill would make various conforming changes to existing nondiscrimination laws affecting postsecondary educational institutions and programs, and requirements related to reporting hate violence, as defined, to additionally include sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression within the scope of those programs and requirements.
Existing law directs the Attorney General, in preparing a circulating title and summary for a proposed ballot initiative, to include an estimate of the amount of increase or decrease of revenues or costs to the state. Existing law requires the Department of Finance and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to jointly make and deliver such an estimate to the Attorney General so that he or she may include it in the circulating title and summary. This bill would, based on the fiscal analysis by the Department of Finance and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, that a measure which would establish a new or expanded program costing more than $1,000,000 in any year without providing new revenues or eliminating existing programs to offset those costs, require that specified language be provided to the Attorney General which may be included in the circulating title and summary advising that the proposed initiative does not include sufficient funding to pay the cost of the measure. Existing law directs the Legislative Analyst to prepare an unbiased fiscal analysis of a measure that is included in the ballot pamphlet stating whether the measure would result in increased or decreased costs to the state and an estimate of those costs or savings. This bill also would require, if a fiscal analysis by the Legislative Analyst determines that a measure would establish a new or expanded program costing more than $1,000,000 in any year without providing new revenues or eliminating existing programs to offset those costs, that specified language be added to the ballot pamphlet advising that the proposed measure does not include sufficient funding to pay the cost of the measure. This bill would also make technical changes to conform provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974 and parallel provisions in the Elections Code relating to the ballot pamphlet. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, generally provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. The act also provides that, notwithstanding this requirement, the Legislature may amend specified provisions to add to the ballot pamphlet information regarding candidates or other information by a majority vote. This bill would find and declare that it would permit or require additional information to be included in the ballot pamphlet. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 9087 of the Elections Code and Section 88003 of the Government Code, proposed by AB 732, to be operative only if AB 732 and this bill are both enacted, both bills become effective on or before January 1, 2012, and this bill is enacted last.
(1) 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. Provisions of the act apply to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, act to make a provision applicable. Existing law requires that a student, 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 an alien without lawful immigration status, has filed a prescribed affidavit is exempt from paying nonresident tuition at the California Community Colleges and the California State University. This bill would amend the Donahoe Higher Education Act, as of January 1, 2013, to require the Trustees of the California State University and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and to request the regents, to establish procedures and forms that enable students who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition under the above-described provision, or who meet equivalent requirements adopted by the regents, to apply for, and participate in, all student aid programs administered by these segments to the full extent permitted by federal law, except as provided. This provision would apply to the University of California only if the regents, by appropriate resolution, act to make it applicable. This bill would provide that students who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition under the above provision, or who meet equivalent requirements adopted by the regents, are eligible to apply for, and participate in, any student financial aid program administered by the State of California to the full extent permitted by federal law. This bill would require the Student Aid Commission to establish procedures and forms that enable those students who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition under the above provision to apply for, and participate in, all student financial aid programs administered by the State of California to the full extent permitted by federal law. This bill would prohibit students who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition under the provision described above from being eligible for Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards unless specified conditions are met. The bill would make these provisions operative as of January 1, 2013. (2) Existing federal law requires that a state may provide that an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States is eligible for any state or local public benefit for which that alien would otherwise be ineligible under a specified federal law only through enactment of a state law that affirmatively provides for that eligibility. This bill would find and declare that the amendments to the Donahoe Higher Education Act described above are state laws within the meaning of this federal provision. (3) Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law authorizes the establishment of community college districts under the administration of community college governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction, for prescribed fees, at community college campuses throughout the state. Existing law authorizes the waiver of these fees for, among others, students who are eligible under income standards established by the board of governors. This bill, as of January 1, 2013, would require community college districts to waive the fees of students who are exempt from nonresident tuition under the provision described in (1) above, and who otherwise qualify for a waiver under this provision, under regulations and procedures adopted by the board of governors. Because the bill would impose new duties on community college districts with respect to determining eligibility for fee waivers, the bill would constitute 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, 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.
Existing law permits the voters to propose and adopt a statute or constitutional amendment through the power of the initiative, and to approve or reject a statute or a part of a statute through the power of the referendum, by presenting to the Secretary of State a petition that sets forth the text of the proposed measure and is certified to have been signed by a specified number of electors. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to submit a certified initiative measure at the next general election held at least 131 days after the measure qualifies for the ballot or at any statewide special election that is held prior to that general election and is held at least 131 days after the measure qualifies for the ballot, and further requires the Secretary of State to submit a certified referendum measure at the next general election held at least 31 days after the measure qualifies for the ballot or at any statewide special election that is held prior to that general election. Under existing law, "general election" is defined to mean either the election held throughout the state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each even-numbered year or any statewide election held on a regular election date, as specified. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding the above definition of "general election," that term means, for purposes of submitting to the voters an initiative or referendum measure that is certified for the ballot on or after July 1, 2011, only the election held throughout the state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each even-numbered year. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to submit ACA 4 of the 2009–10 Regular Session, a proposed legislative constitutional amendment relating to state finance, to the voters at the 2012 statewide presidential primary election, as specified. This bill would repeal those provisions and would, instead, require the Secretary of State to submit ACA 4 to the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election.
Existing law, the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, requires a distributor to pay a redemption payment for every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the state to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery for deposit in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. After setting aside funds for the payment of refund values and administrative fees, and for a reserve for contingencies, the remaining moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to the department for expenditure for designated programs, grants, and fee payments, including annually expending up to $10,000,000 to make market development payments for empty plastic beverage containers, until January 1, 2012. The department is authorized to expend up to $20,000,000 annually, until January 1, 2012, for recycling market development grants and up to $20,000,000 annually, until January 1, 2012, for certain grants and programs, but is prohibited from expending those funds for the 2010 and 2011 calendar years. The department is also required to publish an evaluation of those grants by January 1, 2014. Existing law requires the department to determine the amount of the market development payment, but not more than a specified amount per ton. The department is required to establish a processing fee account for each material type and to deposit in the account, besides the processing fees paid for that material type, a specified amount of the remaining moneys in the fund. The bill would require the department, in setting the amount of the market development payments for both certified entities and product manufacturers, to consider certain factors and would extend the authorization to annually expend up to $10,000,000 to make these payments until January 1, 2017, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would authorize the department to expend from the remaining moneys in the fund, until January 1, 2017, an amount for market development payments for empty plastic beverage containers, in addition to the existing authorization. The bill would require the department to calculate this additional amount, in a specified manner, based upon the amount of the remaining moneys in the fund estimated to be necessary for deposit in the processing fee account for plastic beverage containers. The bill would delete the authorization to expend funds for recycling market development grants and for those other grants and programs and would repeal the requirement for the publication of the grant evaluation.
Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, headed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. This bill would, until July 1, 2017, create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative. It would require, by July 1, 2012, the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to prepare recommendations, to be presented upon request to the Legislature, regarding actions that need to be taken to promote food access in the state. The bill would establish the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Council and would require the council to implement the initiative, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish an advisory group, as specified. The bill would create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Fund in the State Treasury, to be comprised of federal, state, philanthropic, and private funds, for the purpose of expanding access to healthy foods in underserved communities and, to the extent practicable, to leverage other funding, as specified. Moneys in the fund would be expended upon appropriation by the Legislature.