Existing law requires the California-Mexico Border Relations Council to, among other things, coordinate activities of state agencies that are related to cross-border programs, initiatives, projects, and partnerships that exist within state government. This bill would repeal and recast those provisions.
Existing law, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, requires a person who discharges waste into the waters of the state in violation of waste discharge requirements or other order or prohibition issued by a California regional water quality control board or the State Water Resources Control Board to clean up the waste or to abate the effects of the waste. Existing law authorizes the regional board to expend available moneys to perform any cleanup, abatement, or remedial work required under those circumstances. This bill would prohibit the state board, regional board, or an employee of the state board or regional board from being held liable in a civil proceeding for trespass or any other act that is necessary to carry out an investigation, cleanup, abatement, or other remedial work. This bill would also prohibit the state board, regional board, or any authorized person from incurring any obligation to undertake additional investigation, cleanup, abatement, or other remedial work solely because of its decision to undertake that work. The bill would require that these provisions apply to a claim against a public entity presented on or after January 1, 2015, or, if no claim is presented, to a cause of action in a civil complaint or a writ petition filed on or after January 1, 2015. The bill would also make various technical, nonsubstantive changes.
Existing law provides that an office becomes vacant upon the happening of, among other things, the resignation of the person from office before the expiration of the term. This bill would provide that, in the case of the office of city council member, the office becomes vacant pursuant to a letter of resignation from the resigning council member to the city clerk. Existing law requires a city council, within 60 days of a vacancy in an elective office, to fill that vacancy by appointment or call a special election to fill the vacancy, as specified. This bill would authorize a resigning city council member to cast a vote on the appointment of his or her successor if the resignation will go into effect upon the appointment of the successor, subject to specified conditions, where the vacancy occurs on the city council of a city that elects city council members by or from districts and the city council has elected to fill the vacancy by appointment.
(1) Under existing law, when the Department of Motor Vehicles determines that an applicant is lawfully entitled to a driver's license, the department is required to issue that license to the applicant. Existing law specifies the contents of a driver's license and requires the application for a driver's license or identification card to contain a space for an applicant to indicate whether he or she has served in the Armed Forces of the United States and to give his or her consent to be contacted regarding eligibility to receive state or federal veterans' benefits. This bill would, commencing November 11, 2015, allow an in-person applicant for a driver's license or identification card to request the driver's license or identification card be printed with the word "VETERAN." The applicant would be required to present verification of veteran status to the Department of Motor Vehicles, on a form developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs in consultation with the California Association of County Veterans Service Officers and the Department of Motor Vehicles. The bill would require county veterans service offices to verify an applicant's veteran status for these purposes, as specified. The department would be required to print the word "VETERAN" on the face of a driver's license or identification card issued to a person who makes that request and presents that verification to the department. (2) Existing law establishes certain fee amounts for the applications for, and renewal of, driver's licenses and identification cards. This bill would require the department to charge an additional one-time fee of $5 to a person who requests that the person's driver's license or identification card be designated as provided above.
Existing law prohibits a pupil from being suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed a specified act, including, among other acts, disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. This bill would eliminate the authority to suspend a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 3, inclusive, and the authority to recommend for expulsion a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, for disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of those school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. The bill would make the restrictions inoperative on July 1, 2018.
Existing law authorizes a person who is at least 17 years of age and otherwise meets all voter eligibility requirements to submit his or her affidavit of registration. The affidavit of registration is deemed effective as of the date the affiant will be 18 years of age. These provisions become operative when the Secretary of State certifies that the state has a statewide voter registration database that complies with the requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002. This bill would lower the minimum age for purposes of submitting an affidavit of registration pursuant to these provisions to 16 years of age. The bill also would make conforming changes to existing law. Existing law requires that, upon receipt of a properly executed affidavit of registration or address correction notice or letter, the county elections official send the voter a voter notification containing specified information. This bill would require that, if an affidavit of registration is submitted by a person who is at least 16 years of age and otherwise meets all voter eligibility requirements, the county elections official send a preregistration notice to that voter upon a determination that the affidavit of registration is properly executed and that the person otherwise satisfies all eligibility requirements to vote, except that he or she is under 18 years of age. The bill would prescribe the format of the voter preregistration notice and make conforming changes. The bill further prohibits these provisions from becoming operative unless the Secretary of State certifies that the state has a statewide voter registration database that complies with the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002. Existing law requires a county elections official to conduct a preelection residency confirmation procedure by the 90th day immediately prior to the primary election, and requires the official to mail a nonforwardable postcard to each registered voter of the county preceding the direct primary election. Existing law provides that the official, at his or her discretion, is not required to mail the residency confirmation postcard to any voter who has voted at an election held within the last 6 months preceding the start of the procedure. This bill would provide that a county elections official is not required to mail a residency confirmation postcard to any person under 18 years of age who has submitted a properly executed affidavit of registration and who will not be 18 years of age on or before the primary election. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 2102 of the Elections Code proposed by AB 2562 that would become operative only if AB 2562 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last. By imposing new requirements on local elections officials in processing voter registrations and sending voter notifications, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, 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.
(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined, while local publicly owned electric utilities, as defined, are under the direction of their governing board. The Public Utilities Act imposes various duties and responsibilities on the Public Utilities Commission with respect to the purchase of electricity and requires the commission to review and adopt a procurement plan and a renewable energy procurement plan for each electrical corporation pursuant to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. The Public Utilities Act requires the Public Utilities Commission to review and adopt an overall procurement plan for each electrical corporation to meet electricity demand for its customers in accordance with specified elements, incentive mechanisms, and objectives. The act requires the Public Utilities Commission to review and accept, modify, or reject each electrical corporation's procurement plan and requires that each approved procurement plan accomplish specified objectives. This bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to direct electrical corporations to include in their proposed procurement plans the costs of integrating an eligible renewable energy resource, as specified. (2) The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires a retail seller, as defined, and local publicly owned electric utilities to purchase specified minimum quantities of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, for specified compliance periods. The program, consistent with the goals of procuring the least-cost and best-fit eligible renewable energy resources that meet project viability principles, requires that all retail sellers procure a balanced portfolio of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as specified, referred to as the portfolio content requirements. The program requires the commission to adopt, by rulemaking, a process that provides criteria for the rank ordering and selecting of least-cost and best-fit eligible renewable energy resources to comply with the program obligations on a total cost basis, taking into account specified matter. This bill additionally would require the commission to adopt, by rulemaking, by December 31, 2015, a methodology for determining the costs of integrating an eligible renewable energy resource.
Existing law recognizes various state holidays. Existing law requires the Governor to proclaim annually the 4th Friday in September to be Native American Day. This bill would recognize the 4th Friday in September as a state holiday to be known as Native American Day.
Existing law, the Native American Historic Resource Protection Act, establishes a misdemeanor for unlawfully and maliciously excavating upon, removing, destroying, injuring, or defacing a Native American historic, cultural, or sacred site, that is listed or may be eligible for listing in the California Register of Historic Resources. The California Environmental Quality Act, referred to as CEQA, requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA requires the lead agency to provide a responsible agency with specified notice and opportunities to comment on a proposed project. CEQA requires the Office of Planning and Research to prepare and develop, and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt, guidelines for the implementation of CEQA that include, among other things, criteria for public agencies to following in determining whether or not a proposed project may have a significant effect on the environment. This bill would specify that a project with an effect that may cause a substantial adverse change in the significance of a tribal cultural resource, as defined, is a project that may have a significant effect on the environment. The bill would require a lead agency to begin consultation with a California Native American tribe that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area of the proposed project, if the tribe requested to the lead agency, in writing, to be informed by the lead agency of proposed projects in that geographic area and the tribe requests consultation, prior to determining whether a negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or environmental impact report is required for a project. The bill would specify examples of mitigation measures that may be considered to avoid or minimize impacts on tribal cultural resources. The bill would make the above provisions applicable to projects that have a notice of preparation or a notice of negative declaration filed or mitigated negative declaration on or after July 1, 2015. The bill would require the Office of Planning and Research to revise on or before July 1, 2016, the guidelines to separate the consideration of tribal cultural resources from that for paleontological resources and add consideration of tribal cultural resources. By requiring the lead agency to consider these effects relative to tribal cultural resources and to conduct consultation with California Native American tribes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law establishes the Native American Heritage Commission and vests the commission with specified powers and duties. This bill would additionally require the commission to provide each California Native American tribe, as defined, on or before July 1, 2016, with a list of all public agencies that may be a lead agency within the geographic area in which the tribe is traditionally and culturally affiliated, the contact information of those agencies, and information on how the tribe may request those public agencies to notify the tribe of projects within the jurisdiction of those public agencies for the purposes of requesting consultation. 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 makes it a misdemeanor, after January 1, 2015, to import into the state for commercial purposes, to possess with intent to sell, or to sell within the state, the dead body, or any part or product thereof, of an alligator or crocodilian species. This bill would delay the effective date of this provision until January 1, 2020.
