Existing property tax law provides, pursuant to the authority of a specified provision of the California Constitution, for a homeowners' exemption in the amount of $7,000 of the full value of a "dwelling," as defined, and authorizes the Legislature to increase this exemption. This bill, beginning with the lien date for the 2016–17 fiscal year, would increase the homeowners' exemption from $7,000 to $25,000 of the full value of a dwelling. This bill would also require, for the 2017–18 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, the county assessor to adjust the amount of the homeowners' exemption by the percentage change in the House Price Index for California for the first 3 quarters of the prior calendar year, as specified. The California Constitution requires the Legislature, whenever it increases the homeowners' property tax exemption, to provide a comparable increase in benefits to qualified renters. The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including a credit for qualified renters in the amount of $120 for married couples filing joint returns, heads of household, and surviving spouses if adjusted gross income is $50,000 or less, and in the amount of $60 for other individuals if adjusted gross income is $25,000 or less. Existing law requires the Franchise Tax Board to annually adjust for inflation these adjusted gross income amounts. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2016, increase this credit for a qualified renter to $428 for married couples filing joint returns, heads of household, and surviving spouses if adjusted gross income is $50,000 or less, as adjusted for inflation, and to an amount equal to $214 for other individuals if adjusted gross income is $25,000 or less, as adjusted for inflation. The bill would also require, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, the Franchise Tax Board to annually adjust for inflation, based upon the California Consumer Price Index, the amount of these credits. The bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes to the renters' credit. The California Constitution requires the Legislature, in each fiscal year, to reimburse local governments for the revenue losses incurred by those governments in that fiscal year as a result of the homeowners' property tax exemption. 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. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, and the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law appropriates funding, in the annual Budget Act and in other statutes, from the state General Fund for the support of these segments. Existing law also authorizes these segments to require their students to pay mandatory systemwide fees and tuition, among other costs, for matriculation at these institutions. Proposition 30, known as the Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012, was approved by the voters at the November 6, 2012, statewide general election and, among other things, increases personal income tax and sales and use tax rates and provides revenue for public elementary and secondary schools and community colleges. This bill would express a finding and declaration of the Legislature, and express the intent of the Legislature, relating to the enactment of Proposition 30 by the voters and to the provision of funding to the California State University, the University of California, and the California Community Colleges. The bill, from the 2015–16 fiscal year to the 2018–19 fiscal year, inclusive, would prohibit mandatory systemwide fees or tuition charged to students of the California State University from exceeding the level of the mandatory systemwide fees or tuition charged to students of the California State University for the 2014–15 fiscal year. The bill, from the 2015–16 fiscal year to the 2018–19 fiscal year, inclusive, would prohibit the mandatory systemwide fees charged to students of the California Community Colleges from increasing beyond the level of the mandatory systemwide fees charged to students of the California Community Colleges for the 2014–15 fiscal year. The bill, from the 2015–16 fiscal year to the 2018–19 fiscal year, inclusive, would prohibit the mandatory systemwide fees or tuition charged to students of the University of California from exceeding the level of the mandatory systemwide fees or tuition charged to students of the University of California for the 2014–15 fiscal year. (2) Existing law prohibits a campus of the California State University, or the Chancellor of the California State University, or both, from approving a student success fee before January 1, 2016. Existing law requires, during the 2014–15 fiscal year, the chancellor to conduct a review of the California State University Student Fee Policy relating to student success fees and to recommend to the Trustees of the California State University changes to the fee policy. This bill, commencing with the 2015–16 fiscal year, would prohibit the imposition of a student success fee at a campus of a segment of public postsecondary education unless the student success fee is approved by a favorable vote of 2 3 "?> a majority of those students voting at an election of the student body held at that campus within the preceding 48 months. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the Board of State and Community Corrections to collect and maintain available information and data about state and community correctional policies, practices, capacities, and needs, as specified. Existing law also requires the board, in consultation with the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Chief Probation Officers of California, and the California State Sheriffs' Association, to collect and analyze data regarding local plans implementing the 2011 public safety realignment. This bill would require the board, in consultation with the Administrative Office of the Courts, the California District Attorneys Association, the California State Association of Counties, the California State Sheriffs' Association, and the Chief Probation Officers of California, to collect and analyze data regarding recidivism rates of all persons who receive a felony sentence punishable by imprisonment in county jail or who are placed on postrelease community supervision. The bill would also require the board to make this data available on the board's Internet Web site.
Existing law makes it a felony for a person to manufacture, compound, convert, produce, derive, process, or prepare a controlled substance, and to possess specified chemicals with the intent to manufacture a controlled substance. Under existing law, a person convicted of either of these crimes, or an attempt to commit either crime, relating to methamphetamine or phencyclidine, when the commission or attempted commission of the crime occurs in a structure where a child under 16 years of age is present, shall, in addition and consecutive to the punishment prescribed for the felony of which he or she has been convicted, be punished by an additional term of 2 years in the state prison. If the child under 16 years of age suffers great bodily injury, the person shall, in addition and consecutive to the punishment prescribed for the felony of which he or she has been convicted, be punished by an additional term of 5 years in the state prison. If the enhancement is not pled and proved, the fact that a person under 16 years of age resided in a structure where a methamphetamine was manufactured, compounded, converted, produced, derived, processed, or prepared is considered a factor in aggravation at sentencing. This bill would authorize the enhanced sentences for the commission or attempted commission of one of the above crimes, as those crimes relate to concentrated cannabis, in a structure where a child under 16 years of age is present or where a child under 16 years of age suffers great bodily harm. The bill would also require the use of the fact that a child under 16 years of age resided in a structure used for the manufacture, compounding, conversion, production, derivation, processing, or preparing of concentrated cannabis as a factor in aggravation at sentencing if the enhancement is not proved and pled. The bill would define concentrated cannabis for its purposes. By increasing the penalty for an existing crime, this 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.
(1) Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to allow pupils whom the district has determined would benefit from advanced scholastic or vocational work to attend community college as special part-time or full-time students, subject to recommendation by the school principal and parental permission. This bill would authorize the governing board of a school district to authorize a pupil, upon recommendation of the principal of the pupil's school of attendance, and with parental consent, to attend a community college during any session or term as a special part-time or full-time student and to undertake one or more STEM courses, as defined to mean courses in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics, offered at the community college if that pupil has exhausted all opportunities to enroll in an equivalent course at the high school of attendance, or at an adult education program, continuation school, regional occupational center or program, or any other program offered by that school district. The bill also would authorize the governing board of a community college district to enter into a formal partnership with a school district or school districts located within its immediate service area to allow secondary school pupils to attend a community college if those pupils have exhausted all opportunities to enroll in an equivalent STEM course at the high school of attendance, adult education program, continuation school, regional occupational center or program, or any other program offered by that school district. The bill would require the partnership agreement to outline the terms of the partnership, as specified. The bill would require a community college district and a school district, as a condition of, and before adopting, a partnership agreement, to present the adoption of the partnership agreement as an information item at regularly scheduled open meetings of their respective governing boards, and to take testimony from the public and approve or disapprove the proposed partnership agreement at subsequent regularly scheduled open public hearings of their respective governing boards. The bill would require, for each partnership entered into under the bill, the affected community college district and school district to file an annual report, containing specified data, with the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, which would transmit this annual report to the Legislature, the Director of Finance, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the governing boards of the participating school districts and community college districts, as specified. (2) Existing law requires the governing board of a community college district to assign a low enrollment priority to a pupil attending community college pursuant to a recommendation from his or her principal or school district or a petition from his or her parents, in order to ensure that these pupils, admitted as special part-time or full-time students, do not displace regularly admitted students. This bill would authorize the governing board of a community college district to assign an enrollment priority to pupils attending community college pursuant to a partnership agreement established under the bill. The bill would require community college districts, in assigning an enrollment priority under this provision, to ensure that these pupils do not displace regularly admitted community college students. The bill would prohibit a community college district from receiving an allowance or apportionment for an instructional activity for which a school district has been, or will be, paid. (3) This bill would also make various nonsubstantive changes, and delete obsolete provisions.
Existing law imposes various limitations on emissions of air contaminants for the control of air pollution from vehicular and nonvehicular sources. Existing law generally designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution. Existing law requires the state board to adopt and implement motor vehicle emission standards, in-use performance standards, and motor vehicle fuel specifications for the control of air contaminants, including standards for off-road and nonvehicle engine categories. This bill would prohibit the state board from enforcing a certain regulation that restricts emissions from in-use diesel-fueled vehicles until the state board receives from an independent private firm a completed comprehensive study of the safety of any particulate-matter filters required to be installed on affected vehicles.
This measure would proclaim the month of January 2016 as Human Trafficking Awareness Month, encourage all Californians to become educated about human trafficking and work to eradicate these criminal practices within and beyond our borders, and encourage Members of the Legislature, as well as organizations, businesses, and individuals, to host or sponsor and attend community events in order to bring visibility and support to efforts made by nongovernmental organizations to recognize and combat human trafficking.
Existing law, until January 1, 2018, authorizes a trial court to order a party, the party's attorney, or both, to pay the reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees, incurred by another party as a result of bad-faith actions or tactics that are frivolous or solely intended to cause unnecessary delay. Existing law, on and after January 1, 2018, authorizes a trial court to make that order only if the actions or tactics arise from a complaint filed, or a proceeding initiated, on or before December 31, 1994. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive change to the provision described above that is operative until January 1, 2018.
Existing law, as amended by the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, a measure approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, generally provides that the possession of Ketamine, gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) , or flunitrazepam is a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year. This bill would make it a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, to possess Ketamine, GHB, or flunitrazepam with the intent to commit sexual assault. By creating a new crime, this 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 establishes the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training in the Department of Justice and requires the commission to adopt rules establishing minimum standards regarding the recruitment of peace officers. Existing law requires the commission to develop guidelines and implement courses of instruction regarding racial profiling, handling domestic violence, hate crimes, and human trafficking, among others. This bill would require the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to ensure that the profiling of motorcycle riders is addressed in the course of basic law enforcement training and offered to law enforcement officers in conjunction with existing training regarding profiling. The bill would require all local law enforcement agencies to adopt a written policy designed to condemn and prevent the profiling of motorcycle riders and to review and audit any existing policies to ensure that those policies do not enable or foster the practice of profiling motorcycle riders. Because this bill would impose additional duties on local law enforcement agencies, this 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, 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.