Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires, when an applicant proposes a housing development within the jurisdiction of the local government, that the city, county, or city and county provide the developer with a density bonus and other incentives or concessions for the production of lower income housing units or for the donation of land within the development if the developer, among other things, agrees to construct a specified percentage of units for very low income, low-income, or moderate-income households or qualifying residents. Existing law authorizes the waiver or reduction of development standards that would preclude this development. Existing law requires continued affordability for 55 years or longer, as specified, of all very low income and low-income units that qualified an applicant for a density bonus. Existing law requires a city, county, or city and county to adopt an ordinance to implement these requirements and to establish procedures to carry them out. This bill would revise and recast these provisions to require the local government to adopt procedures and timelines for processing a density bonus application, provide a list of documents and information required to be submitted with the application in order for it to be deemed complete, and notify the applicant whether it is complete. By increasing the duties of local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would prohibit a local government from requiring additional reports or studies to be prepared as a condition of an application. The bill would additionally require each component of any density calculation that results in fractional units to be rounded up to the next whole number, and would provide that this provision is declaratory of existing law. Existing law defines the term "density bonus" for these purposes to mean a density increase over the otherwise maximum allowable residential density as of the date of the application and provides that the applicant may elect to accept a lesser percentage of density bonus. This bill would specify that the term "density bonus" means a density increase over the maximum allowable gross residential density at the time of the date of the application, or, if elected by the applicant, a lesser percentage of density increase or no increase in density. Existing law requires a local government to grant a proposal for specific incentives or concessions requested by an applicant unless the local government makes written findings, based on substantial evidence, that, among other things, the concession or incentive is not required in order to provide affordable housing costs or for rents for the targeted units, as specified. This bill would, instead, provide that the local government is required to provide the requested concessions or incentives unless it finds, based on substantial evidence, that the concession or incentive does not result in identifiable and actual cost reductions, to provide for affordable housing costs or rents for the targeted units, as specified. Existing law defines the term "housing development" for these purposes to mean a development project for 5 or more residential units. This bill would expand that definition to include mixed-use housing. 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. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65915 of the Government Code, proposed by AB 2442 and AB 2556, that would become operative only if this bill and either or both of those bills are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law imposes various requirements on health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies that cover prescription drug benefits. This bill would require a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after July 1, 2017, that provides coverage for prescription drug benefits to allow for early refills of covered topical ophthalmic products according to specified standards. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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, the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, prohibits a person from introducing into interstate commerce any new drug unless the drug has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) . Existing law requires the sponsor of a new drug to submit to the FDA an investigational new drug application and to then conduct a series of clinical trials to establish the safety and efficacy of the drug in human populations and submit the results to the FDA in a new drug application. Existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, regulates the packaging, labeling, and advertising of drugs and devices and is administered by the State Department of Public Health. A violation of that law is a crime. The Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law prohibits, among other things, the sale, delivery, or giving away of a new drug or new device unless either the department has approved a new drug or device application for that new drug or new device and that approval has not been withdrawn, terminated, or suspended or the drug or device has been approved pursuant to specified provisions of federal law, including the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The Medical Practice Act provides for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California and requires the board to take action against a licensee who is charged with unprofessional conduct. The Osteopathic Act provides for the licensure and regulation of osteopathic physicians and surgeons by the Osteopathic Medical Board of California and requires the board to enforce the Medical Practice Act with respect to its licensees. This bill would permit a manufacturer of an investigational drug, biological product, or device to make the product available to eligible patients with an immediately life-threatening disease or condition, as specified. The bill would authorize, but not require, a health benefit plan, as defined, to provide coverage for any investigational drug, biological product, or device made available pursuant to these provisions. The bill would prohibit the Medical Board of California and the Osteopathic Medical Board of California from taking any disciplinary action against the license of a physician based on the physician's recommendation to an eligible patient regarding, or prescription for, or treatment with, an investigational drug, biological product, or device if the recommendation or prescription is consistent with protocol approved by the physician's institutional review board or an accredited institutional review board, and would require the institutional review board to biannually report specified information to the State Department of Public Health, among others. The bill would prohibit a state agency from altering any recommendation made to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding a health care provider's certification to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid program based solely on the recommendation from an individual health care provider that a patient have access to an investigational drug, biological product, or device.
Existing law establishes the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board in the Department of Industrial Relations and authorizes the board to adopt, amend, or repeal employment safety and health standards and orders. Existing law authorizes the board, upon the application of an employer, to grant a permanent variance from an occupational standard or order after specified notice and hearing requirements regarding employees or employee representatives are met. This bill would, when the request for a permanent variance pertains to a conveyance covered by the elevator safety orders, require the applicant to provide the required notice regarding the hearing to the local union representing elevator workers and to those workers who will be performing the tasks pursuant to the proposed variance, or their authorized representative. The bill would grant party status at the hearing to those workers or their authorized representative upon their request to the board.
Existing law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, ethnic group identification, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, color, genetic information, or disability under any state program or activity. Existing law provides for officers and employees of the state, when away from their headquarters for state business, to receive travel expenses. This bill would prohibit a state agency and the Legislature from requiring any of its employees, officers, or members to travel to, or approving a request for state-funded or state-sponsored travel to, any state that, after June 26, 2015, has enacted a law that voids or repeals, or has the effect of voiding or repealing, existing state or local protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression or has enacted a law that authorizes or requires discrimination against same-sex couples or their families or on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, as specified, subject to certain exceptions. The bill would require the Attorney General to develop, maintain, and post on his or her Internet Web site a current list of states that, after June 26, 2015, have enacted such a law. The bill would make it the responsibility of specified state entities to consult the list in order to comply with the travel and funding restrictions imposed by the bill.
Existing law establishes various crimes relating to computer services and systems, including, but not limited to, knowingly introducing a computer contaminant, as defined. Existing law makes a violation of those crimes punishable by specified fines or terms of imprisonment, or by both those fines and imprisonment. Existing law defines extortion as obtaining the property of another, with his or her consent, induced by a wrongful use of force or fear. Existing law makes extortion a crime, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years. This bill would define ransomware as a computer contaminant or lock placed or introduced without authorization into a computer, computer system, or computer network that restricts access by an authorized person to the computer, computer system, computer network, or any data therein under circumstances in which the person responsible for the placement or introduction of the ransomware demands payment of money or other consideration to remove the computer contaminant, restore access to the computer, computer system, computer network, or data, or otherwise remediate the impact of the computer contaminant or lock. The bill would provide that a person is responsible for placing or introducing ransomware into a computer, computer system, or computer network if the person directly places or introduces the ransomware or directs or induces another person do so, with the intent of demanding payment or other consideration to remove the ransomware, restore access, or otherwise remediate the impact of the ransomware. The bill would provide that a person who, with intent to extort money or other consideration from another, introduces ransomware into any computer, computer system, or computer network is punishable as if that money or other consideration were actually obtained by means of the ransomware. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. 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 requires the Instructional Quality Commission, on or before July 31, 2019, to consider developing and recommending to the State Board of Education computer science content standards for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, pursuant to recommendations developed by a group of computer science experts convened by the Superintendent of Public Instruction in consultation with the state board. This bill would require the Superintendent to convene, on or before September 1, 2017, a computer science strategic implementation advisory panel composed of 23 members, as specified, to develop and submit recommendations for a computer science strategic implementation plan to the State Department of Education, the state board, and the Legislature on or before July 1, 2018. The bill would require the department and the state board to consider the advisory panel's recommendations; the department to develop, and the state board to adopt, a computer science strategic implementation plan on or before January 1, 2019; and the department to submit the plan adopted by the state board to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2019. The bill would require the Superintendent to appoint a statewide computer science liaison to serve the advisory panel, as provided. The bill would authorize the advisory panel, if state or federal funds are not available or sufficient for purposes of these provisions, to evaluate the process and ability to accept grants and receive donations and other financial support from public or private sources for purposes of convening the advisory panel, preparing the computer science strategic implementation plan, and ensuring that the computer science strategic implementation plan adopted by the state board is implemented. The bill's provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2021.
Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, and the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as 2 of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law requests the Trustees of the California State University and the Regents of the University of California to adopt and publish policies on harassment, intimidation, and bullying to be included within the rules and regulations governing student behavior within their respective segments of public postsecondary education. The bill would require the Trustees of the California State University, and request the Regents of the University of California, to provide, as part of established campus orientations, educational and preventive information about cyberbullying to students at all campuses of their respective segments.
(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities. Existing law requires the PUC to require the administration, until January 1, 2021, of a self-generation incentive program for distributed generation resources and energy storage technologies. Existing law authorizes the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to authorize the annual collection of not more than the amount authorized for the program in the 2008 calendar year. This bill would increase the maximum annual collection the PUC may authorize for the program to double the amount authorized for the program in the 2008 calendar year. (2) Existing law requires an electrical corporation to file with the PUC a standard tariff providing for net energy meeting for eligible fuel cell customer-generators and make the tariff available, on a first-come-first-served basis, until the total cumulative rated generating capacity of the eligible fuel cell electrical generating facilities receiving service pursuant to the tariff reaches a level equal to the electrical corporation's proportionate share of a statewide limitation of 500 megawatts cumulative rated generation capacity served (program cap) . Existing law requires the eligible fuel cell customer-generator to meet certain requirements, including requirements that the customer-generator uses: (A) a fuel cell electrical generation facility with a capacity of not more than one megawatt and (B) technology the PUC has determined will achieve certain reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases. Existing law provides that fuel cell electrical generation facilities are not eligible for the tariff unless the facilities commence operation prior to January 1, 2017. This bill would increase the program cap by authorizing 500 megawatts in addition to the total installed capacity as of January 1, 2017. The bill would increase to 5 megawatts the maximum amount of generation capacity for a fuel cell electrical generation facility in the program. The bill would require, by March 31, 2017, the State Air Resources Board, in consultation with the Energy Commission, to establish a schedule of annual greenhouse gas emissions reduction standards, as specified, for fuel cell electrical generation resources and would require the PUC to determine if the technology used by the eligible fuel cell customer-generator will achieve those standards. The bill would require the fuel cell electrical generation resource to comply with emission standards adopted by the State Air Resources Board under the distributed generation certification program. This bill would provide that fuel cell electrical generation facilities are not eligible for the tariff unless the facilities commence operation on or before December 31, 2021.
Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state and provides for the establishment of school districts and other local educational agencies to operate these schools and provide instruction to pupils. Existing law establishes the State Department of Education in state government and vests the department with specified powers and duties relating to the state's public school system. This bill would require the governing board or body of a local educational agency, as defined, that serves pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to, before the beginning of the 2017–18 school year, adopt a policy on pupil suicide prevention, as specified, that specifically addresses the needs of high-risk groups. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department to develop and maintain a model policy to serve as a guide for local educational agencies. 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.