Until December 31, 2017, existing law, as a pilot program, authorizes elections in San Mateo County and Yolo County, other than statewide primary or general elections, or special elections to fill a vacancy in a state office, the Legislature, or Congress, to be conducted wholly by mail if specified conditions are satisfied. If San Mateo County or Yolo County conducts an all-mailed ballot election, existing law requires the county to report to the Legislature and the Secretary of State, as specified. This bill would extend this pilot program until January 1, 2018. This bill would also authorize Monterey and Sacramento Counties to conduct all-mailed ballot elections as part of this program, subject to a requirement to provide additional polling places. The bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes.
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Existing law, the federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993, requires a state to, among other things, establish procedures to register a person to vote by application made simultaneously with an application for a new or renewal of a motor vehicle driver's license. The federal act requires the motor vehicle driver's license application to serve as an application for voter registration with respect to an election for federal office, unless the applicant fails to sign the application, and requires the application to be considered as updating the applicant's previous voter registration, if any. The federal act defines "motor vehicle driver's license" to include any personal identification document issued by a state motor vehicle authority. Under existing state law, a person may not be registered to vote except by affidavit of registration. Existing law requires a properly executed affidavit of registration to be deemed effective upon receipt of the affidavit by the county elections official if the affidavit is submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles on or before the 15th day before the election. Existing state law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Secretary of State to develop a process and the infrastructure to allow a person who is qualified to register to vote in the state to register to vote online. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue driver's licenses and state identification cards to applicants who meet specified criteria and provide the department with the required information. Existing law generally requires an applicant for an original driver's license or state identification card to submit satisfactory proof to the department that the applicant's presence in the United States is authorized under federal law. This bill would require the Secretary of State and the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish the California New Motor Voter Program for the purpose of increasing opportunities for voter registration by any person who is qualified to be a voter. Under the program, after the Secretary of State certifies that certain enumerated conditions are satisfied, the Department of Motor Vehicles would be required to electronically provide to the Secretary of State the records of each person who is issued an original or renewal of a driver's license or state identification card or who provides the department with a change of address, as specified. The person's motor vehicle records would then constitute a completed affidavit of registration and the person would be registered to vote, unless the person affirmatively declined to be registered to vote during a transaction with the department, the department did not represent to the Secretary of State that the person attested that he or she meets all voter eligibility requirements, as specified, or the Secretary of State determines that the person is ineligible to vote. The bill would require the Secretary of State to adopt regulations to implement this program, as specified. Under existing law, the willful, unauthorized disclosure of information from a Department of Motor Vehicles record to any person, or the use of any false representation to obtain information from a department record or any use of information obtained from any department record for a purpose other than the one stated in the request or the sale or other distribution of the information to a person or organization for purposes not disclosed in the request is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000 or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or both fine and imprisonment. This bill would provide that disclosure of information contained in the records obtained from the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to the California New Motor Voter Program is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000 or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or both fine and imprisonment. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, the Information Practices Act of 1977, authorizes every state agency to maintain in its records only personal information that is relevant and necessary to accomplish a purpose of the agency, or is required or authorized by state or federal law. That act specifies the situations in which disclosure is permissible and also specifies the manner in which agencies must account for disclosures of personal information, including those due to security breaches, among other provisions. This bill would require the Secretary of State to establish procedures to safeguard the confidentiality of information acquired from the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to the California New Motor Voter Program and would state that the provisions of the Information Practices Act of 1977 govern disclosures pursuant to the program. Existing law makes it a crime for a person to willfully cause, procure, or allow himself or herself or any other person to be registered as a voter, knowing that he or she or that other person is not entitled to registration. Existing law also makes it a crime to fraudulently vote or attempt to vote. This bill would provide that if a person who is ineligible to vote becomes registered to vote by operation of the California New Motor Voter Program in the absence of a violation by that person of the crime described above, that person's registration shall be presumed to have been effected with official authorization and not the fault of that person. The bill would also provide that if a person who is ineligible to vote becomes registered to vote by operation of this program, and that person votes or attempts to vote in an election held after the effective date of the person's registration, that person shall be presumed to have acted with official authorization and is not guilty of fraudulently voting or attempting to vote, unless that person willfully votes or attempts to vote knowing that he or she is not entitled to vote. This bill would also make conforming changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 2102 of the Elections Code, proposed by SB 589, that would become operative only if SB 589 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2016, 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 generally requires all elective city offices, including the members of a city council, to be filled at large by the city electorate at a general municipal election. Existing law, at any municipal election or special election held for this purpose, authorizes the legislative body of a city to submit to the registered voters an ordinance providing for the election of members of the legislative body by district or from district, as defined, and with or without an elective mayor. This bill would authorize the legislative body of a city with a population of fewer than 100,000 people to adopt an ordinance that requires the members of the legislative body to be elected by district or by district with an elective mayor without being required to submit the ordinance to the voters for approval. The bill would require the ordinance to include a specified declaration and would require the population of the city to be determined by the most recent federal decennial census.
Existing law provides that the Department of Transportation has full possession and control of all state highways. Existing law, the Outdoor Advertising Act, provides for the regulation by the department of advertising displays, as defined, within view of public highways. Existing law also authorizes the department to install and maintain information signs along state highways. This bill would require the department, by June 30, 2016, to update its internal policies to allow displays of safety, transportation-related, and voting-related messages on changeable message signs, as defined, subject to approval by the United States Department of Transportation, as provided.
Existing federal law, the Immigration and Nationality Act, establishes a procedure for classification of certain aliens as special immigrants who have been declared dependent on a juvenile court, and authorizes those aliens to apply for an adjustment of status to that of a lawful permanent resident within the United States. Under federal regulations, an alien is eligible for special immigrant juvenile status if he or she is under 21 years of age. Existing state law provides that the juvenile, probate, and family divisions of the superior court have jurisdiction to make judicial determinations regarding the custody and care of juveniles within the meaning of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act. Existing law also requires the court, upon request, to make the necessary findings regarding special immigrant juvenile status if there is evidence to support those findings, as specified. Existing law also establishes the jurisdiction of the probate court. Existing law regulates the establishment and termination of guardianships in probate court, and specifies that a guardian has the care, custody, and control of a ward. Existing law provides that a relative or other person on behalf of a minor, or a minor if he or she is 12 years of age or older, may file a petition for the appointment of a guardian of the person or estate of the minor. Existing law also provides that a guardianship of the person or estate terminates when the ward attains majority or dies, or is adopted or emancipated, as specified. This bill would authorize a court to appoint a guardian of the person of an unmarried individual who is 18 years of age or older, but who has not yet attained 21 years of age in connection with a petition to make the necessary findings regarding special immigrant juvenile status, as specified, if the proposed ward consents. This bill would also authorize a court to extend a guardianship of the person of a ward beyond 18 years of age, as specified, if the ward so requests or consents. The bill would also provide that a guardianship of the person terminates after the ward attains majority unless the ward consents to, or requests the extension of, the guardianship of the person until he or she is 21 years of age, as specified.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law extends eligibility for full-scope Medi-Cal benefits to individuals under 19 years of age who do not have, or are unable to establish, satisfactory immigration status, commencing after the Director of Health Care Services determines that systems have been programmed for implementation of this extension, but in no case sooner than May 1, 2016. Existing law requires these individuals to enroll in a Medi-Cal managed care health plan in those counties in which a Medi-Cal managed care health plan is available. This bill would require individuals under 19 years of age enrolled in restricted-scope Medi-Cal at the time the director makes the above-described determination to be enrolled in the full scope of Medi-Cal benefits, if otherwise eligible, pursuant to an eligibility and enrollment plan, as specified. The bill would require the department, beginning January 31, 2016, and until the director makes the above-described determination, to provide monthly updates to the policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, as specified. The bill would also require that an individual who is eligible pursuant to these provisions enroll in a Medi-Cal managed care health plan. The bill would not preclude a beneficiary from being enrolled in any other children's Medi-Cal specialty program that he or she would otherwise be eligible for.
The California Constitution requires that the water resources of the State be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent of which they are capable. Under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which applies to all groundwater basins in the state, all basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources as basins that are subject to critical conditions of overdraft, as specified, are required to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2020. This bill would establish special procedures for a comprehensive adjudication, which is defined as an action filed in superior court to comprehensively determine rights to extract groundwater in a basin. The bill would authorize the court to determine all groundwater rights of a basin, whether based on appropriation, overlying right, or other basis of right, and use of storage space in the basin. The bill would provide that these special procedures governing comprehensive adjudications do not apply in certain cases that do not involve a comprehensive allocation of a basin's groundwater supply. The bill would authorize a judge of the superior court to determine if the action is a comprehensive adjudication, as specified. This bill would require the plaintiff in a comprehensive adjudication to provide notice of the comprehensive adjudication within a specified amount of time after filing the complaint to certain persons including a city, county, or city and county that overlies the basin or a portion of the basin. The bill would require a draft notice and draft form answer, as specified, to be lodged by the plaintiff with the court when filing the complaint. Within 30 days of the assignment of a judge by the Chairperson of the Judicial Council, the bill would require the plaintiff to file a motion for approval of the draft notice and draft form answer. Following a court order approving the notice and form answer and authorizing service of landowners, as specified, the bill would require the plaintiff to identify the assessor parcel numbers and physical addresses of all real property in the basin and the names and addresses of all holders of fee title to real property in the basin, as specified; mail the notice, complaint, and form answer to all holders of fee title to real property in the basin, as specified; and publish the notice in one or more newspapers of general circulation, as specified. The bill would require the plaintiff to file with the court a notice of the completion of the mailing. The bill would deem fulfillment of the service and publication provisions as effective service of process of the complaint and notice on all interested parties of the comprehensive adjudication for purposes of establishing in rem jurisdiction and the comprehensive effect of the comprehensive adjudication. This bill would authorize a groundwater sustainability agency for the basin or a portion of the basin, a city, county, or city and county that overlies the basin or a portion of the basin, and certain persons to intervene in a comprehensive adjudication. This bill would require the court to convene a case management conference and would authorize the court to consider certain matters, including dividing the case into phases to resolve legal and factual issues, in the initial case management conference or as soon as practicable. In addition, the bill would require each party to serve within 6 months of appearing in the comprehensive adjudication, specified initial disclosures made under penalty of perjury to all other named parties and a special master, if one has been appointed in the action. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the court to appoint one or more special masters in a comprehensive adjudication, whose duties could include, among other things, investigating technical and legal issues, as directed by the court, and compiling a report of the findings, as specified. The bill would authorize the court to request the State Water Resources Control Board or the Department of Water Resources to recommend candidates for appointment as a special master or to review the qualifications of candidates. This bill would authorize the court, upon a showing that the basin is in a condition of long-term overdraft, to issue a preliminary injunction that could include, among other things, a moratorium on new or increased appropriations of water. The bill would provide that a judgment in a comprehensive adjudication is binding on the parties to the action, their agents and employees, and all their successors in interest. The bill would also provide the court with continuing jurisdiction to modify or amend a final judgment in a comprehensive adjudication in specified instances. This bill would require the Department of Water Resources and each county and groundwater sustainability agency that overlies the basin or a portion of the basin to post and maintain the notice and form answer on their Internet Web sites, as specified. By requiring counties to take certain actions related to the comprehensive adjudication, 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 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. This bill would provide that it will only become effective if SB 226 is enacted and becomes effective.
(1) Existing law establishes the California-Mexico Border Relations Council in state government, and prescribes the membership and functions and duties of the council with respect to coordinating the activities of state agencies, including environmental agencies, that are related to cross-border programs, initiatives, projects, and partnerships that exist within state agencies, and state and local efforts that are of concern between California and Mexico. Existing law requires the council to develop a strategic plan to guide a project to study, monitor, remediate, and enhance water quality in the New River in Imperial County. Existing law establishes the California Border Environmental and Public Health Protection Fund and makes moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation, to the Secretary for Environmental Protection for grants for specified health and environmental projects and purposes relating to the California-Mexico border region. This bill would add the Secretary of State and Consumer Services as a member of the council and provide that the Regional Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9, may appoint a representative from his or her staff to serve as an ex-officio, nonvoting member of the council. The bill would require the council to invite the participation of representatives of the State of Baja California and the Mexican government to participate in meetings. The bill would require the council to establish the New River Water Quality, Public Health, and River Parkway Development Program to coordinate funding for, and the implementation of, recommendations from the strategic plan and the projects identified pursuant to existing law. The bill would make moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation, to the council for grants for specified health and environmental projects and purposes relating to the California-Mexico border region. The bill would provide that specified water bond proceeds may be deposited in the fund to be available, upon appropriation, to the council for these purposes. (2) Existing law authorizes the Director of Water Resources to establish a program of flood damage reduction and urban creek restoration known as the Urban Streams Restoration Program. For purposes of the program, urban creek protection, restoration, and enhancement include, but are not limited to, the maintenance of channel capacity, channel stabilization, vegetation management, and adaptive management to meet program objectives. This bill would also include the reduction of water quality impairments and nonpoint source water pollution, and the establishment of parkways for public use that benefit flood control and water quality among the types of measures that are included in the program. Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to coordinate the program with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, as prescribed. This bill would, in addition, require the Department of Water Resources to consult with the council to establish criteria to fund projects that improve conditions for cross-border urban creeks. (3) Existing law, the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014, approved by the voters as Proposition 1 at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, authorizes the issuance of general obligation bonds in the amount of $7,545,000,000 to finance a water quality, supply, and infrastructure improvement program. The bond act provides that the sum of $1,495,000,000 is to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for competitive grants for multibenefit ecosystem and watershed protection and restoration projects. The bond act authorizes the use of $285,000,000 of those funds for watershed restoration projects through a program implemented by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. This bill would require the department to consult with the council to establish criteria to fund watershed restoration projects that improve conditions for cross-border urban creeks and watersheds.
The California Constitution requires that the water resources of the state be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent of which they are capable. Existing law specifies the jurisdiction of the courts. Under existing law, courts may adjudicate rights to produce groundwater and exercise other powers relating to the supervision of a groundwater basin. Existing law authorizes a court to order a reference to the State Water Resources Control Board, as referee, of any and all issues involved in a suit brought in any court of competent jurisdiction in this state for determination of rights to water. This bill would authorize the state to intervene in a comprehensive adjudication conducted as specified in AB 1390 of the 2015–16 Regular Session. Existing law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources that are designated as basins subject to critical conditions of overdraft to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2020, and requires all other groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2022, except as specified. The act authorizes a local agency to request that the department revise the boundaries of a basin. This bill, in an adjudication action to determine rights to groundwater in a basin that is required to have a groundwater sustainability plan under the act, would require the court to manage the proceedings in a manner that minimizes interference with the timely completion and implementation of a groundwater sustainability plan, avoids redundancy and unnecessary costs in the development of technical information and a physical solution, and is consistent with the attainment of sustainable groundwater management within the timeframes established by the act. The bill would authorize an entity that is directed by the court in an adjudication action to file the request that the department revise the boundaries of a basin. The act authorizes the state board to designate certain high- and medium-priority basins as a probationary basin if prescribed criteria are met. The act authorizes the state board to develop an interim plan for a probationary basin if the state board, in consultation with the department, determines that a local agency has not remedied a deficiency that resulted in designating the basin as a probationary basin within a certain timeframe. The act also requires the department, at least every 5 years after initial submission, to review any available groundwater sustainability plan or alternative and the implementation of the corresponding groundwater sustainability program for consistency with the act, including achieving the sustainability goal. The act requires the department to issue an assessment for each basin for which a plan or alternative has been submitted that may include recommended corrective actions to address any deficiencies identified by the department. The bill would prohibit the provisions relating to probationary basins and interim plans from applying to a judgment approved by the court if the judgment is submitted to the department for evaluation and assessment and the department determines that the judgment satisfies the objectives of the act for the basin. The bill would require the department to submit to the court assessments and any recommended corrective actions for these judgments and would require the court, after notice and, if necessary, an evidentiary hearing, to determine whether to amend the judgment to adopt the department's recommended corrective actions. This bill would prohibit a court from approving entry of judgment in an adjudication action for a basin required to have a groundwater sustainability plan under the act unless the court finds that the judgment will not substantially impair the ability of a groundwater sustainability agency, the board, or the department to comply with the act and to achieve sustainable groundwater management.
The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission. Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to administer various grant and loan programs. This bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to develop and implement an outreach program to inform the most qualified loan and grant applicants, and contractors, including, but not limited to, women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises, as defined, about workshops, trainings, and funding opportunities. The bill would require that one component of the outreach program be a process for tracking the diversity of contractors, loan recipients, and grant recipients. The bill would require the outreach program to include a strategy to encourage the participation of certified women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises in the commission's relevant programs and consider including them in capacity building activities. The bill would authorize the commission to consider establishing a Diversity Task Force to consider and make recommendations about diversity in the energy industry, including diversity of corporate governing boards and procurement from diverse businesses, and addressing and promoting local and targeted hiring.