Existing law establishes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to oversee the state prison system. Except as provided, existing law requires that for every 6 months of continuous incarceration, a state prisoner be awarded credit reductions from his or her term of confinement of 6 months. Existing law authorizes an award to the prisoner of up to 6 weeks of additional credit during any 12-month period of continuous confinement for the prisoner's successful completion of certain programs offered by the department. This bill would increase the number of weeks of additional program credit reductions that may be awarded to a prisoner pursuant to the provision described above from 6 to 18. Existing law, as added by Proposition 184, adopted November 8, 1994, and amended by Proposition 36, adopted November 6, 2012, commonly known as the Three Strikes Law, prohibits the total amount of credits awarded to certain recidivist offenders from exceeding one-fifth of the total term of imprisonment imposed. Existing law, as amended by Proposition 83, the Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act, adopted November 7, 2006, commonly known as Jessica's Law, requires a person convicted of certain felonies under specified circumstances to be committed to prison for a term of years to life. Existing law excludes certain prisoners from eligibility for the additional program credit reduction provision described above, including any person convicted of, or sentenced to state prison pursuant to provisions relating to, specified serious or violent felonies, any person required to register as a sex offender, and any person serving a term of imprisonment as a result of a violation of parole without a new term. This bill would revise the exclusion described above by instead providing that specified prisoners, including, among others, a person serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, a person sentenced to death, and a person sentenced pursuant to the provisions of Jessica's Law described above, are not eligible for program credit reductions. The bill would also provide that a person convicted of, or sentenced to state prison pursuant to provisions relating to, specified serious or violent felonies is not eligible to receive program credit reductions that, in combination with credit reductions pursuant to any other law, are in excess of specified limits. The bill would specify that these changes apply retroactively.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law requires the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities attendant to oil and gas production. Existing law authorizes the supervisor to require a well operator to implement a monitoring program, designed to detect releases to the soil and water, for aboveground oil production tanks and facilities. Under existing law, a person who fails to comply with specified requirements relating to the regulation of oil or gas operation is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would additionally authorize the supervisor to require a well operator to implement a monitoring program for belowground oil production tanks and facilities, and disposal and injection wells. Because a failure to comply with this requirement would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) The federal Safe Drinking Water Act regulates certain wells as Class II wells. Under existing federal law, the authority to regulate Class II wells in California is delegated to the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources. Under existing regulations, a well operator is required to obtain approval from the supervisor or a district deputy for a subsurface injection or disposal project, including Class II wells, or any change in a project, as provided. This bill would require the division to annually review underground injection or disposal projects approved by the division that use Class II wells. The bill would require the operator of the project, as a part of its application or the annual review process, to submit to the State Water Resources Control Board or appropriate regional water quality control board for its review and concurrence a groundwater monitoring plan containing certain information, including, among other things, a schedule for monitoring and reporting groundwater quality data, as provided. The bill would authorize the state board or appropriate regional water quality control board to periodically require the modification of the plan to reflect changing conditions. The bill would require the data be submitted to the state board in an electronic format compatible with the state board's geotracker database. Because a violation of this requirement would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing federal law prohibits certain well activities that affect underground sources of drinking water unless those sources are located in an exempted aquifer. Existing federal law authorizes a state delegated with the responsibility of regulating Class II wells to propose that an aquifer or a portion of an aquifer be an exempted aquifer and authorizes the United States Environmental Protection Agency to approve the proposal if the aquifer or a portion of the aquifer meets certain criteria. This bill would require the division, prior to proposing to the United States Environmental Protection Agency an aquifer for exemption, to hold a public hearing on the proposal and to submit the proposal to the state board for review and written concurrence. The bill would authorize the state board to concur with the proposal if certain conditions are met. (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.
(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, gas corporations, heat corporations, telegraph corporations, telephone corporations, and water corporations. The California Constitution authorizes the commission to establish rules, examine records, and prescribe a uniform system of accounts for all public utilities. The Public Utilities Act requires the commission to inspect and audit the books and records of electrical corporations, gas corporations, heat corporations, telegraph corporations, telephone corporations, and water corporations for regulatory and tax purposes. An inspection and audit is required to be done at least every 3 years if the utility has over 1,000 customers and at least every 5 years if the utility has 1,000 or fewer customers. The act requires that reports of the inspections and audit and other pertinent information be furnished to the State Board of Equalization for use in the assessment of the public utilities. This bill would delete the requirement that the reports of the inspections and audit and other pertinent information be furnished to the State Board of Equalization for use in the assessment of the public utilities and instead require that the inspections and audit and other pertinent information be posted on the commission's Internet Web site. (2) Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law, with certain exceptions, prohibits a public utility from changing any rate, except upon a showing before the commission and a finding by the commission that the new rate is justified. With certain exceptions, whenever any electrical, gas, heat, telephone, water, or sewer system corporation files an application to change any rate for the services or commodities furnished by it, existing law requires that the corporation furnish its customers notice of its application to the commission for approval of the new rate. This notice requirement does not apply to any rate change proposed by a corporation pursuant to an advice letter submitted to the commission filed pursuant to commission-established procedures for advice letters. This bill would require each public utility that submits an application to change its rates to include in its application a summary of the application that can be understood by the utility's ratepayers. The bill would require that this summary and the application be posted on the commission's Internet Web site and, if the utility has an Internet Web site, to be posted on the utility's Internet Web site. Each public utility that maintains an Internet Web site would additionally be required to include on that site contact information for a utility official who can discuss the nature of the rate application. (3) Every public utility is required by existing law to furnish such reports as the commission may require. No information furnished to the commission by a public utility, except those matters specifically required to be open to public inspection, are open to public inspection or made public except by order of the commission or a commissioner in the course of a hearing or proceeding. Any present or former officer or employee of the commission who divulges any information in violation of these provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would provide that if in a proceeding before the commission, a public utility, or subsidiary, affiliate, or holding company, files a pleading, report, or other document with the commission that is claimed to contain confidential information, it would be required to concurrently file a public version of the pleading, report, or other document with the commission that contains sufficient information for any other party to the proceeding to understand the nature of its contents. The bill would authorize any party to the proceeding to file a motion to make public a pleading, report, or other document filed under a claim of confidentiality. The bill would require an administrative law judge assigned to the proceeding or the assigned commissioner to hold a hearing on the motion and determine whether the pleading, report, or other document should be made public. The bill would authorize any party to seek review of the ruling or order of the administrative law judge or assigned commissioner on the motion by filing a motion for rehearing de novo before the full commission within 30 days of the date the ruling or order on the motion was issued. (4) Existing law requires the commission to publish and maintain certain documents and information, including making available on the commission's Internet Web site, the commission's annual work plan, general orders, and Rules of Practice and Procedure, the proposed and alternate proposed decisions and resolutions, the agenda, agenda item documents, rulings of the commission, and adopted decisions and resolutions of the commission. Included in the materials that the commission is required to publish and maintain on its Internet Web site are docket cards that list by title and date of filing or issuance all documents filed and all decisions or rulings issued in those proceedings. This bill would require that each document that the commission distributes to any service-of-process list be docketed and identified on the commission's Internet Web site. The bill would require the commission to adopt rules providing for posting on its Internet Web site of all comments, workshop reports, hearing exhibits, including the exhibit number assigned and whether the exhibit has been offered and received in evidence, hearing transcripts, and other documentary information included in the record of its proceedings. (5) Existing law requires the commission to establish an office of the public advisor and to appoint a public advisor. Existing law requires the office of the public advisor to assist members of the public and ratepayers who desire to testify before or present information to the commission in any hearing or proceeding of the commission. This bill would add legislative findings and declarations relative to improving the transparency of commission regulatory activities. The bill would require the public advisor to be responsible for ensuring that the activities of the commission are as transparent to the public as reasonably possible and consistent with law. The bill would require the public advisor to work with all divisions of the commission to ensure that the commission's Internet Web site provides adequate transparency in the information provided to the public. The bill would require the commission to post on its Internet Web site a summary, as specified, of all electricity procurement contracts entered into by an electrical corporation during the previous 3 years, the expenses of which the commission has approved as being just and reasonable, a list of all proceedings involving public utilities then pending before the commission with information, in summary form, as to the amount of any rate increase being sought, both in cumulative amount and by unit or other means billed to ratepayers, transcripts and available summaries of documents, evidence, testimony and proceedings before the commission or its administration law judges that are not subject to confidentiality, a list of all requests submitted to the commission pursuant to the California Public Records Act, all advice letters approved by the commission, and the calendars of each commissioner. The bill would require the public advisor to update, maintain, and post the commission's service-of-process lists on the commission's Internet Web site in an electronic form that may be used by any party to complete service of process. The bill would require the commission to open a proceeding to reexamine a specified decision relative to confidentiality of electric procurement data and to modify the commission's confidentiality practices and procedures consistent with specified requirements. The bill would establish the Inspector General for the Public Utilities Commission within the California State Auditor's Office to conduct oversight review and assess, audit, investigate, and report on the policies, practices, and procedures of the commission under the guidance, direction, supervision, and authority of the State Auditor. (6) Existing law requires the commission to determine whether a proceeding requires a hearing and, if so, to determine whether the matter requires a quasi-legislative, an adjudication, or a ratesetting hearing. Upon initiating a hearing, the commission is required to assign one or more commissioners to oversee the case and an administrative law judge where appropriate. Existing law requires the assigned commissioner to schedule a prehearing conference and to issue, by order or ruling, a scoping memo that describes the issues to be considered and the applicable timetable for resolution. This bill would, in matters the commission has determined require a hearing, require the commission to use all-party conferences as a tool for listening to the parties' perspectives on the most important issues and to facilitate public discussion between and among parties and commissioners. The bill would require that discussions at an all-party conference not rely on evidence outside the evidentiary record existing at the time of the all-party conference. The bill would require the assigned commissioner to convene an all-parties conference as soon as practicable after the prehearing conference, and before completing the scoping memo, to discuss the substantive matter to be decided in the proceeding and prospects for resolving issues that would otherwise be litigated. The bill would require the commission to hold an all-party conference before a quorum of commissioners, after a proposed decision is issued in all contested cases, unless all parties waive this requirement and a majority of commissioners concur with that waiver. The bill would require that a transcript be kept for each all-party conference and that the transcript be made a part of the record of the proceeding. (7) Existing law prohibits an officer, employee, or agent of the commission that is personally involved in the prosecution, or in the supervision of the prosecution, of an adjudication case from participating in the decision of the case or in the decision of any factually related adjudicatory proceeding. Existing law permits an officer, employee, or agent of the commission that is personally involved in the prosecution, or in the supervision of the prosecution, of an adjudication case to participate in reaching a settlement of the case, but prohibits the officer, employee, or agent from participating in the decision of the commission to accept or reject the settlement, except as a witness or counsel in an open hearing or a specified closed hearing. This bill would prohibit an attorney or other staff member who has served as a prosecutor or advocate at any stage of an adjudicatory proceeding before the commission from meeting with any commissioner regarding the matter in which the attorney or staff member has served unless all parties are present. (8) This bill would require the commission to adopt rules providing for comments from the public, including comments made at noticed public participation hearings of the commission, to be included in the record of its proceedings and would require that the assigned commissioner, or a quorum of the commission, convene and attend each public participation proceeding. (9) This bill would incorporate additional changes in Sections 311.5 and 1701 of the Public Utilities Code, proposed by SB 48, to be operative only if SB 48 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2016, and this bill is chaptered last. (10) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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 regulates the operation of bicycles, motorized scooters, and electric personal assistive mobility devices, as defined. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions punishable as an infraction. This bill would define the term "electrically motorized board." The bill would prohibit the operation of an electrically motorized board upon a highway while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or any drug, or under the combined influence of an alcoholic beverage and any drug. The bill would require the operator of an electrically motorized board to wear a helmet while operating an electrically motorized board upon a highway, bikeway, or any other public bicycle path, sidewalk, or trail. The bill would require an operator to be at least 16 years of age in order to operate an electrically motorized board. The bill would also require electrically motorized boards to be equipped with safety equipment, as specified, and restrict the operation speed of electrically motorized boards. Because a violation of these provisions would be punishable as an infraction, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol to submit a report, as specified, to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2021, to assist in determining the effect that the use of electrically motorized boards has on traffic safety. Existing law authorizes transit development boards and public agencies, including, but not limited to, the Regents of the University of California and the Trustees of the California State University, to adopt ordinances, rules, or regulations, respectively, to restrict, or specify the conditions for, the use of bicycles, motorized bicycles, skateboards, and roller skates on property under the control of, or any portion of property used by, the board, or on public property under the jurisdiction of the agency, respectively. This bill would additionally authorize those boards and agencies to adopt ordinances, rules, and regulations, respectively, for the use of electrically motorized boards. Existing law authorizes local authorities to adopt rules and regulations by ordinance or resolution prohibiting or restricting persons from riding or propelling skateboards on highways, sidewalks, or roadways. This bill would additionally authorize local authorities to adopt rules and regulations by ordinance or resolution prohibiting or restricting persons from riding or propelling electrically motorized boards on highways, sidewalks, or roadways. Existing law makes it a crime to operate a motorized skateboard on any sidewalk, roadway, or any other part of a highway or on any bikeway, bicycle path or trail, equestrian trail, or hiking or recreational trail. This bill would provide that an electrically motorized board is not a motorized skateboard for those purposes. Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation and local authorities to prohibit or restrict the use of bicycles, motorized bicycles, and motorized scooters upon freeways or expressways. This bill would authorize the Department of Transportation and local authorities to also prohibit or restrict the use of electrically motorized boards upon freeways or expressways. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 21113 of the Vehicle Code proposed by AB 1096 that would become operative only if this bill and AB 1096 are both chaptered, and this bill is chaptered last. 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 authorizes the sheriff of a county, or the chief or other head of a municipal police department, upon proof that the person applying is of good moral character, that good cause exists, and that the person applying satisfies certain conditions, to issue a license for the person to carry a concealed handgun, as specified. Existing law provides that the chief or other head of a municipal police department is not precluded from entering an agreement with the sheriff of the county in which the city is located for the sheriff to process all applications for licenses for a person to carry a concealed handgun, renewals of those licenses, and amendments to those licenses. This bill would provide that a sheriff is not precluded from entering into an agreement with the chief or other head of a municipal police department of a city for the chief or other head of a municipal police department to process all applications for licenses to carry a concealed handgun, renewals of those licenses, and amendments of those licenses, for that city's residents. The bill would state related findings and declarations of the Legislature.
Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, requires the State Department of Social Services to license and regulate various out-of-home facilities and entities responsible for children and nonminor dependents in foster care, including foster family homes, group homes, and out-of-state group homes, and imposes training requirements on foster parents. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor. Existing law provides for the placement of certain children in foster care under the supervision of the department and county welfare departments. Existing law also establishes the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, under which counties provide payments to foster care providers on behalf of qualified children in foster care. Existing law requires the department to establish procedures to recover overpayments made to providers. This bill would provide for the reclassification of treatment facilities and the transition from the use of group homes for children in foster care to the use of short-term residential treatment centers, as defined. The bill would impose licensing requirements on those facilities, the violation of which would be a crime pursuant to the act, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. The bill would revise the foster parent training requirements imposed by the act. The bill would also provide for the development of child and family teams, as defined, to inform the process of placement and services to foster children and to children at risk of foster care placement. The bill would make conforming and related changes, including requiring the department to develop a new payment structure for funding placement options for children in foster care. The bill would also revise the procedures for recovering overpayments, and would make the failure to repay an overpayment grounds for termination of the provider's rate and cause the referral of the provider for license revocation. The bill would require, on and after January 1, 2017, all licensed foster family agencies to approve resource families, in lieu of certifying foster homes, in accordance with specified standards and requirements set forth in the bill. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to provide periodic progress updates to the Legislature on the implementation of the provisions of the bill. The bill would also include a statement of legislative intent. This bill would incorporate additional changes made by AB 1387, SB 238, SB 484, SB 524, and SB 794, that would become operative only if this bill is chaptered last. 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. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to license adult alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facilities, as defined. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health care practitioners by various boards and other entities within the Department of Consumer Affairs, and prescribes the scope of practice of those health care practitioners. This bill would authorize an adult alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facility that is licensed under those provisions to allow a licensed physician and surgeon or other health care practitioner, as defined, to provide incidental medical services, as defined, to a resident of the facility at the facility premises under specified limited circumstances, including, among others, that the resident signs an admission agreement and a physician and surgeon or other health care practitioner determines that it is medically appropriate for the resident to receive these services. The bill would require the department to establish and collect an additional fee from those facilities, in an amount sufficient to cover the department's reasonable costs of regulating the provision of those services. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2018, to adopt regulations to implement its provisions. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.
Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency, comprised of departments, boards, conservancies, and commissions responsible for the restoration, protection, and management of the state's natural and cultural resources. Existing law establishes the Strategic Growth Council in state government and assigns to the council certain duties, including providing, funding, and distributing data and information to local governments and regional agencies that will assist in the development and planning of sustainable communities. This bill would require the agency, by July 1, 2017, and every 3 years thereafter, to update the state's climate adaptation strategy, as provided. The bill would require the agency, by January 1, 2017, and every 3 years thereafter, to release a draft climate adaptation strategy, as provided. The bill would require state agencies to maximize specified objectives, including, among others, promoting the use of the climate adaptation strategy to inform planning decisions and ensure that state investments consider climate change impacts, as well as promote the use of natural systems and natural infrastructure, as defined, when developing physical infrastructure to address adaptation. This bill also would expand the duties of the council to include identifying and reviewing the activities and funding programs of all state agencies, instead of only the state agencies that are members of the council, to coordinate specified state objectives, including, among others, meeting the goals of the state's climate adaptation strategy.
The Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act requires owners or operators of various facilities, including pipelines, while operating in the waters of the state or where a spill from the pipelines could impact state waters, to have an oil spill contingency plan submitted to, and approved by, the administrator for oil spill response to ensure prompt and adequate response and removal action in case of a spill. The act requires the operator to maintain a level of readiness that will allow effective implementation of the applicable contingency plan. The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of 1981, among other things, requires the State Fire Marshal to adopt hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations in compliance with the federal law relating to hazardous liquid pipeline safety. The act requires any new pipeline constructed after January 1, 1984, and which normally operates under conditions of constant flow and pressure, to be designed and constructed in accordance with specified federal regulations, and have a means of leak detection and cathodic protection that the State Fire Marshal determines is acceptable. A violation of the act is a crime. Except as provided, the act defines "pipeline" as including every intrastate pipeline used to transport hazardous liquid substances or highly volatile liquid substances, as provided. This bill would require, by January 1, 2018, any new or replacement pipeline near environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas in the coastal zone to use best available technologies to reduce the amount of oil released in an oil spill to protect state waters and wildlife. The bill would require, by July 1, 2018, an operator of an existing pipeline near these sensitive areas to submit a plan to retrofit the pipeline, by January 1, 2020, as provided. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations relating to the above provisions by July 1, 2017. 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.