Asm. Luis Alejo

This measure would designate portions of State Highway Routes 1, 129, and 101 in the Counties of Monterey and Santa Cruz as the John Steinbeck Highway, the Senator Henry J. Mello Highway, the Oscar Rios Highway, and the Gateway to the Pinnacles Highway. This measure would also designate the interchange at Interstate 680 and Highway 24 in Contra Costa County as the CHP Officer Kenyon Youngstrom Memorial Interchange. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing each of these special designations and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering the cost of the signs for which the donations were made, to erect those signs.

This measure would acknowledge the history of the Chinese in California, recognize the contributions made to the State of California by Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants, and apologize for past discriminatory laws and constitutional provisions that resulted in the persecution of Chinese living in California.

This measure would declare the 3rd week of September 2014, and the 3rd week of September in each subsequent year, as Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week.

Under the Personal Income Tax Law, taxpayers are allowed to contribute amounts in excess of their tax liability for the support of the California Fund for Senior Citizens until the year in which the minimum contribution is not received, or January 1, 2020, whichever occurs first. This bill would repeal these provisions and would instead allow a taxpayer, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014, to designate an amount in excess of tax liability to be deposited to the California Senior Legislature Fund, which the bill would create. This bill would require moneys transferred to the California Senior Legislature Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be allocated to the Franchise Tax Board and Controller, as provided, and to the California Senior Legislature for the purpose of funding the activities of the California Senior Legislature, as provided. This bill would repeal these voluntary contribution provisions by a specified date or, if contributions made on returns would be less than a specified amount, by an earlier date as provided.

The Water Rights Permitting Reform Act of 1988 authorizes any person to obtain a right to appropriate water for a small domestic, small irrigation, or livestock stockpond use, as defined, upon registering the use with the State Water Resources Control Board, as prescribed, payment of a registration fee, and application of the water to reasonable and beneficial use with due diligence. Existing law defines "livestock stockpond" to mean a water impoundment structure constructed for livestock watering use not to exceed specified diversion amounts, including impoundment for incidental aesthetic, recreational, or fish and wildlife purposes. This bill would provide that impoundment for incidental fire protection purposes is included within livestock stockpond use. Existing law, with regard to an appropriation for small domestic use, prohibits a registration from being filed if the facility is already served by or used pursuant to a permit or license for domestic or municipal use. This bill would permit a small domestic use registration and a livestock stockpond use registration to be in effect for the same facility if the total combined water use covered by the registrations does not exceed 10 acre-feet per annum. Existing law permits a small domestic use registration and a small irrigation use registration to be in effect for the same facility if the total combined water use covered by the registrations does not exceed 20 acre-feet per annum. This bill would extend this authorization to a livestock stockpond use registration and a small irrigation use registration in effect for the same facility.

This measure would declare August 2014 as Valley Fever Awareness Month.

(1) Existing law, until July 1, 2015, authorizes a county, city and county, or city to establish a capital investment incentive program, pursuant to which the county, city and county, or city is authorized to pay a capital investment incentive amount, as defined, that does not exceed the amount of property tax derived from that portion of the assessed value of a qualified manufacturing facility that exceeds $25,000,000, to a proponent of a qualified manufacturing facility. Existing law defines a "proponent" as a party and requires a party to meet certain requirements, including that the party will be the fee owner of the qualified manufacturing facility upon the completion of that facility, as provided. This bill would, until July 1, 2015, additionally authorize the party to be the lessee or the occupant under a government-owned contractor-operator enhanced use lease agreement of the qualified manufacturing facility upon the completion of that facility. (2) Existing law, the Corporation Tax Law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, and before January 1, 2030, allows, with regard to the manufacture of a new advanced strategic aircraft for the United States Air Force, a credit against the taxes imposed under that law in an amount equal to 1712% of qualified wages, as defined, paid or incurred with respect to qualified full-time employees, as multiplied by an annual full-time equivalent ratio, by the qualified taxpayer, defined as a taxpayer that is a major first-tier subcontractor with regard to the manufacture of that aircraft. This bill would define a qualified taxpayer to also include a prime contractor awarded a prime contract to manufacture a new advanced strategic aircraft for the United States Air Force. The bill would limit this credit by providing that the aggregate number of total annual full-time equivalents, as defined, of all qualified taxpayers may not exceed 1,100. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

This measure would state the Legislature's support for the memorandum of understanding for establishing strategic partnerships between California and Israel.

This measure would urge the United States Department of Transportation and other relevant federal entities to (1) safeguard communities and environmentally sensitive areas from rail accidents involving transportation of crude oil by expediting rail safety reforms, (2) prioritize safety considerations over cost-effectiveness in deliberations about improving the transport of crude oil by rail, (3) mandate, at a minimum, the best practices explained in a 2014 safety initiative, as specified and (4) partner with the Canadian Transportation Agency to improve safety of the North American railroad tank car fleet by swiftly adopting a stricter design standard, and by retrofitting or phasing out tank cars that do not meet that standard.