The Wildlife Conservation Law of 1947 establishes the Wildlife Conservation Board and requires the board to determine the areas in the state that are most essential and suitable for certain wildlife-related purposes. Under that law, the Wildlife Conservation Board may authorize the Department of Fish and Wildlife or the State Public Works Board to acquire real property, rights in real property, water, or water rights for the benefit of wildlife. The Rangeland, Grazing Land, and Grassland Protection Act requires the Wildlife Conservation Board to carry out the California Rangeland, Grazing Land, and Grassland Protection Program to protect California's rangeland, grazing land, and grasslands through the use of conservation easements. Existing law authorizes the Department of Fish and Wildlife to take feasible actions to conserve monarch butterflies and the unique habitats they depend upon for successful migration and authorizes the department to partner with federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, academic programs, private landowners, and other entities that undertake actions to conserve monarch butterflies and aid their successful migration. This bill would establish the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Rescue Program, to be administered by the Wildlife Conservation Board, for the purpose of recovering and sustaining populations of monarch butterflies and other pollinators. To achieve these purposes, the bill would authorize the board to provide grants and technical assistance, as prescribed. The bill would require the board to develop and adopt project selection and evaluation guidelines, in coordination with the Department of Food and Agriculture, before disbursing these grants. The bill would establish the Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Rescue Fund Account in the State Treasury, and would authorize expenditure of moneys in the account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the program.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining with respect to wages, terms of employment, and other employment conditions. The act creates the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) . The act prohibits agricultural employers and labor organizations from engaging in unfair labor practices, as defined, and empowers the ALRB to prevent any person from engaging in those practices. This bill would require the ALRB to process to final board order, within one year, all decisions concerning make-whole awards, backpay, and other monetary awards to employees, or any board order finding liability for an award, unless the ALRB makes a specified certification to the parties. Existing law authorizes an agricultural employer or a labor organization certified as the exclusive bargaining agent of a bargaining unit of agricultural employees to file with the board, at specified times, a declaration that the parties have failed to reach a collective bargaining agreement and a request that the board issue an order directing the parties to mandatory mediation and conciliation of their issues. Existing law requires the mediator to file a report with the board that may become a final order of the board, or the board may determine the issues and issue a final order of the board, as specified. Existing law authorizes either party or the board to file an action to enforce the order of the board in the superior court for the County of Sacramento or in the county where either party's principal place of business is located; however, the law prohibits enforcement of a pending board order unless the court makes specified findings. This bill would, instead, require immediate implementation of the board order during the pendency of any challenge, appeal, writ of review, or other action seeking to modify or overturn a board order, unless the court makes specified findings. The bill would require at the conclusion of any review proceedings commenced under these provisions in which the board's order is affirmed, and the terms set forth in the board's order are not implemented or effective, the agricultural employer and the labor organization to immediately implement the board's order. The bill would specify a procedure for either the agricultural employer or labor organization to file a request with the board for referral to mandatory mediation and conciliation if a collective bargaining agreement in a mediator's report adopted as a final board order includes a duration provision setting a term for the agreement that has since expired during the course of any review proceedings, or other provisions that have become outdated or otherwise moot as a result of the passage of time during the course of review proceedings. Existing regulatory law, applicable to all outdoor places of employment, among other things, requires that employees have access to potable water and be encouraged to drink water frequently, that the employer have and maintain one or more areas with shade at all times while employees are present that are either open to the air or provided with ventilation or cooling, and that the employer implement high-heat procedures when the temperature equals or exceeds 95 degrees Fahrenheit, as specified. This bill would authorize the requirements described above to be known and cited as the Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez heat illness standard.
Existing law provides for the establishment of a statewide electronic benefits transfer (EBT) system, administered by the State Department of Social Services, for the purpose of providing financial and food assistance benefits. Existing law provides that a recipient shall not incur any loss of cash benefits that are taken by an unauthorized withdrawal, removal, or use of benefits, that does not occur by the use of a physical EBT card issued to the recipient or authorized 3rd party, as specified, and requires the prompt replacement of the taken benefits. This bill would additionally provide that a recipient shall not incur any loss of cash benefits that are taken by an unauthorized contact. The bill would also require the prompt replacement of the taken benefits if a recipient knowingly provides his or her EBT card number and personal identification number to an unauthorized 3rd party that the recipient mistakenly believes to be the contracted EBT vendor, an approved retailer, or a governmental entity, but not more than one time in a 36-month period. The bill would authorize the department to issue mass reimbursements to recipients for the loss of cash benefits if the department finds that the benefits of multiple recipients were taken by an unauthorized withdrawal, removal, or use of benefits in which the recipients' EBT card numbers or personal identification numbers were obtained by means of a data breach. The bill would require a mass reimbursement to be approved by the Department of Finance. This bill would authorize the State Department of Social Services to implement and administer the above-described provisions through all-county letters or similar instructions until regulations are adopted, and would require the department to adopt emergency regulations and final regulations, as specified.
(1) Existing law, the Donahoe Higher Education Act, sets forth the missions and functions of the segments of postsecondary education in this state. As defined in the act, these segments include the University of California, the California State University, the California Community Colleges, and independent institutions of higher education as defined in the act, and private postsecondary educational institutions as defined in the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009. 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 act by resolution to make them applicable. This bill would add to the Donahoe Higher Education Act a provision that would require, by January 1, 2020, and permanently thereafter, each campus of the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, and each independent institution of higher education to provide students with the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet as developed by the United States Department of Education to inform students or individuals who have been offered admission about financial aid award packages. The bill would also require these institutions to provide the completed Financial Aid Shopping Sheet when they provide in print or electronically financial aid award packages to individuals who are offered admission to the institution. The bill would declare that this provision would apply to the University of California irrespective of any action taken by the regents to make it applicable. To the extent that this bill would add to the duties of community college districts, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law establishes the Student Aid Commission in state government for, among other duties, the administration of student financial aid programs and the dissemination of information about all institutional, state, and federal student aid programs to potential applicants. This bill would require the commission, in the event that the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet developed by the United States Department of Education is no longer available, to develop, in consultation with the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, a similar form that a postsecondary educational institution subject to the requirements of this bill will use. (3) The existing California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 provides for the regulation of private postsecondary educational institutions by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education in the Department of Consumer Affairs. The act is repealed by its own provisions as of January 1, 2021. This bill would add to the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 a provision that would require, by January 1, 2020, and permanently thereafter, as applicable, each private postsecondary educational institution subject to its provisions that participates in federal student financial aid programs or specified veterans' financial aid programs to provide students with the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet as developed by the United States Department of Education to inform students or potential students about financial aid award packages prior to enrollment, as specified. (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 the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, including Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) for any individual under 21 years of age who is covered under Medi-Cal consistent with the requirements under federal law. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing federal law provides that EPSDT services include periodic screening services, vision services, dental services, hearing services, and other necessary services to correct or ameliorate defects and physical and mental illnesses and conditions discovered by the screening services, whether or not the services are covered under the state plan. This bill would require, consistent with federal law, that screening services under the EPSDT program include developmental screening services for individuals zero to 3 years of age, inclusive. Until July 1, 2023, the bill would require an external quality review organization entity to annually review, survey, and report on managed care plan reporting and compliance with specified developmental screening tools and schedules. The bill would also make legislative findings and declarations relating to child development.
Existing law authorizes any licensed mental health service provider, as defined, including a marriage and family therapist, associate marriage and family therapist, licensed clinical social worker, and associate clinical social worker, who provides direct patient care in a publicly funded facility or a mental health professional shortage area, as defined, to apply for grants under the Licensed Mental Health Service Provider Education Program to reimburse his or her educational loans related to a career as a licensed mental health service provider, as specified. Existing law establishes the Mental Health Practitioner Education Fund and provides that moneys in that fund are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the Licensed Mental Health Service Provider Education Program. This bill would require an account to be created within the Mental Health Practitioner Education Fund and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require moneys in that account to be used solely to fund grants to repay educational loans for applicants who commit to practice in specified facilities for at least 24 months, who are marriage and family therapists, associate marriage and family therapists, licensed clinical social workers, associate clinical social workers, licensed professional clinical counselors, or associate professional clinical counselors, and who were formerly in California's foster youth care system.
Existing law, the Laird-Leslie Sierra Nevada Conservancy Act, establishes the Sierra Nevada Conservancy to undertake various activities related to protection and conservation of the Sierra Nevada Region, as defined, and prescribes the management, powers, and duties of the conservancy. The act authorizes the conservancy to make grants or loans to tribal organizations, among other entities, to carry out the purposes of the act. The act defines "tribal organization" for these purposes to mean an Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, or a tribal agency authorized by a tribe, which is recognized as eligible for special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians and is identified in the Federal Register, as provided. Existing law requires two members of the Senate and two members of the Assembly to be appointed, as provided, to meet with the conservancy and participate in its activities, as specified. This bill would establish the Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program, to be administered by the conservancy, to protect, conserve, and restore the health and resilience of the watersheds and communities of the region, as prescribed. The bill would define "tribal organization" as an Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, or a tribal agency authorized by a tribe and either recognized by the United States and identified within the most current Federal Register, or listed on the contact list maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission as a California Native American tribe, or both. The bill would require the members of the Legislature appointed to meet with conservancy to represent districts from specified geographic regions. Existing law requires the conservancy to make an annual report to the Legislature and to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency regarding expenditures, land management costs, and administrative costs. This bill would require the conservancy to include the activities of the Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program in the annual report.
Existing law, operative July 1, 2018, establishes the Student Loan Servicing Act to provide for the licensure, regulation, and oversight of student loan servicers by the Commissioner of Business Oversight, who is the head of the Department of Business Oversight. The act prohibits a person from engaging in the business of servicing a student loan in this state without a license, unless the person falls within certain exceptions. Under the act, a person applying for a license, among other things, is required to pay an application fee, sign the application under penalty of perjury, and submit to a criminal background check by the Department of Justice. The act authorizes the commissioner to deny an application for a license for specified reasons. The act also authorizes the commissioner to promulgate regulations and take various other administrative actions. The act defines various terms for its purposes, and excludes specified entities, including banks, trust companies, and certain nonprofit community service organizations from its provisions. This bill would revise and recast the circumstances under which the commissioner is authorized to deny an application for a license. The bill would require an applicant to appoint the commissioner as the applicant's attorney to receive service of process relating to specified actions and would require the service to include an affidavit of compliance. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would redefine the term "student loan" under the act to mean any loan solely for use to finance a postsecondary education and costs of attendance at a postsecondary institution and would redefine "student loan servicers" to exclude debt collectors whose business operations involve collection on defaulted student loans, as specified. In addition to other terms, the bill would define the term "Nationwide Multistate Licensing System & Registry" to mean certain systems of records, created for nondepository, financial services licensing or registration, including student loan servicers, as specified. The bill would exclude from the act a state or nonprofit private institution or organization having an agreement with the United States Secretary of Education, in connection with its responsibilities as a guaranty agency engaged in default aversion, pursuant to specific federal student loan provisions. The bill would also authorize the commissioner to require an applicant for a student loan servicer license or a student loan servicer licensee to make some or all of the required filings with, and to pay assessments to, the commissioner through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System & Registry. This bill would authorize the commissioner to establish relationships or contracts with the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System & Registry or other designated entities to collect and maintain records and process transaction fees. The bill would authorize the commissioner, for purposes of participating in the licensing system and registry, to waive or modify rules, regulations, orders, and other requirements as reasonably necessary. The bill would permit the commissioner to use the system and registry as a channeling agent for requesting information from the Department of Justice and other sources, and would require the commissioner to establish a process by which applicants and licensees may challenge information entered into the licensing system and registry. Additionally, the bill would specify that any of various federal or state law requirements regarding the privacy or confidentiality of any information provided to the licensing system and registry, or privilege with respect to that information, would continue to apply, and that this information is authorized to be shared under the system without the loss of privilege or confidentiality. The bill would require the commissioner to report violations of the act, as well as other enforcement actions and information to the licensing system and registry to the extent that the information is a public record. The act permits the commissioner to prescribe circumstances under which to accept electronic records, including applications, financial statements, reports, and other specified documents. This bill would include within that category of electronic records a surety bond, rider, or endorsement. Under the act, a licensee is required to respond to a qualified written request by acknowledging receipt of the request within 5 business days, as specified. This bill would extend that timeframe to 10 business days. The bill additionally would authorize the commissioner to require persons who are not expressly excluded from the act to file, under oath or otherwise, special reports or answers in writing to specific questions or requests for information with the commissioner. The bill would provide that in any proceeding under the act, the burden of proving an exemption or an exception from a definition would be on the person claiming it. By increasing the circumstances in which a person may be required to take an oath, the bill would expand the crime of perjury, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. This bill would make legislative findings in support of its provisions and would also make related and conforming changes to the act. 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 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 Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to adopt building design and construction standards and energy and water conservation standards for new residential and nonresidential buildings to reduce the wasteful, uneconomic, inefficient, or unnecessary consumption of energy, including energy associated with the use of water. The act requires those standards to be cost effective when taken in their entirety and when amortized over the economic life of the structure compared with historic practice. The act requires the commission to adopt standards for a program of electrical load management for each utility service area. This bill would require the commission, by January 1, 2021, to assess the potential for the state to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from the state's residential and commercial building stock by at least 40% below 1990 levels by January 1, 2030. The bill would require the commission to include in the 2021 edition of the integrated energy policy report and all subsequent integrated energy policy reports a report on the emissions of greenhouse gases associated with the supply of energy to residential and commercial buildings.
This measure would urge the Congress and the President of the United States to support the retention of, and investment in, the Amtrak National Network of passenger trains, specifically the California Zephyr, the Coast Starlight, the Southwest Chief, and the Sunset Limited, as vital components of the state's rail program and would also urge Congress to reject President Trump's proposed Fiscal Year 2019 federal budget cuts to Amtrak and restore full funding for the Amtrak National Network through the appropriations process.