Asm. Jay Obernolte

Existing law requires all electric utilities to develop a standard contract or tariff providing for net energy metering and to make this contract available to eligible customer generators, upon request, except as provided. Under existing law, generation eligible for net energy metering that had all local and state permits required to commence construction on or before December 31, 2002, and had completed construction on or before September 30, 2003, is entitled, regardless of any change in customer or ownership of the energy system, for the life of the installation, to the net energy metering terms in effect on the date the local and state permits were acquired. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that provision.

The Passenger Charter-party Carriers' Act provides for the regulation of motor carriers operating as charter-party carriers of passengers by the Public Utilities Commission. Existing law defines a charter-party carrier of passengers, subject to certain exceptions, to mean every person engaged in the transportation of persons by motor vehicle for compensation, whether in common or contract carriage, over any public highway. Existing law states the purpose of these provisions. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

Existing law, the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006, establishes a procedure for the issuance of state franchises for the provision of video service, as defined. The act designates the Public Utilities Commission as the sole franchising authority for a state franchise under the act. Existing law provides that a state-issued franchise to provide video service is only valid for 10 years after the date of issuance, and requires the holder to apply for a renewal of the state franchise for an additional 10-year period if the holder wishes to continue to provide video services in the area covered by the franchise. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to the provision specifying conditions for renewal of a franchise under the act.

Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, governs the procedures for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and requires, among other things, that a state agency make available to the public facts, evidence, documents, testimony, or other evidence on which the state agency relies to support the agency's determination that the proposed action will not have a significant adverse impact on business. Existing law establishes the Office of Small Business Advocate, within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, and establishes the duties and functions of the Director of the Office of Small Business Advocate including, among other duties, representing the views and interests of small businesses before other state agencies whose policies and activities may affect small businesses. Existing law requires each state agency that significantly regulates small business or that significantly impacts small business to designate at least one person who is required to serve as a small business liaison. This bill would require a state agency to assist a small business, as defined, in complying with all statutes and regulations administered by the state agency and in any enforcement action by the state agency. The bill would require a state agency to establish a policy, by December 31, 2018, that provides for the reduction of civil penalties for violations of regulatory or statutory requirements by a small business under appropriate circumstances. The bill would authorize the state agency to update the policy to reflect current issues and conditions affecting small businesses and the state agency. The bill would require the state agency to post a current copy of the policy on the state agency's Internet Web site and, until June 30, 2022, to annually post specified information about enforcement actions and penalty reductions (annual report) . The bill would require a state agency to notify the Office of Small Business Advocate of certain events relating to its policy and annual report.

(1) Existing law establishes the California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program as a state education, economic, and workforce development initiative with the goal of providing pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, with the knowledge and skills necessary to transition to employment and postsecondary education. Existing law appropriates $200,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for purposes of this grant program for the 2017–18 fiscal year. Existing law requires applicants for grants under the program to demonstrate that they have local matching funds, as specified. Existing law specifies that no applicant may receive a renewal grant under the program for the 2018–19 fiscal year. This bill would change the name of the program to the California Career Technical Education Grant Program. The bill would increase to $300,000,000 the General Fund appropriation to the State Department of Education for this program for the 2017–18 fiscal year, and would further provide for an appropriation to the department in this amount for the 2018–19, 2019–20, and 2020–21 fiscal years. The bill would lower the amount of local matching funds required of an applicant from $1.50 for every dollar received to $1 for every dollar received, for the 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, and 2020–21 fiscal years. The bill would also provide that an applicant receiving a grant from this program in the 2017–18, 2018–19, or 2019–20 fiscal year would be eligible for a renewal grant in the next fiscal year if that applicant demonstrates continued compliance with program requirements. (2) The funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.

Existing law specifies the number of judges for the superior court of each county. Existing law allocates additional judgeships to the various counties in accordance with uniform standards for factually determining additional judicial need in each county, as updated and approved by the Judicial Council, pursuant to the Update of Judicial Needs Study, based on specified criteria, including, among others, workload standards that represent the average amount of time of bench and nonbench work required to resolve each case type. This bill would require the suspension of 4 vacant judgeships, as defined, in superior courts with more authorized judgeships than their assessed judicial need. The bill would require the allocation of 4 judgeships to superior courts with fewer authorized judgeships than their assessed judicial need and would require the judgeships to be funded using existing appropriations for the compensation of superior court judges. The bill would require the suspension to be in accordance with a methodology approved by the Judicial Council, as specified, and would require the determination of a superior court's assessed judicial need to be in accordance with the above uniform standards and be based on the criteria described above. The bill would require the Judicial Council, if a vacant judgeship is eligible for suspension, to promptly notify the applicable courts, the Legislature, and the Governor that the judgeship will be suspended, subject to approval by the Governor. This bill would also make a statement of legislative intent regarding the authority of the Legislature, the Governor, and the Chief Justice of California.

(1) Existing law provides various sources of funding for transportation purposes, including funding for the state highway system and the local street and road system. These funding sources include, among others, fuel excise taxes, commercial vehicle weight fees, local transactions and use taxes, and federal funds. Existing law imposes certain registration fees on vehicles, with revenues from these fees deposited in the Motor Vehicle Account and used to fund the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of the California Highway Patrol. Existing law provides for the monthly transfer of excess balances in the Motor Vehicle Account to the State Highway Account. This bill would create the Traffic Relief and Road Improvement Program to address traffic congestion and deferred maintenance on the state highway system and the local street and road system. The bill would provide for the deposit of various existing sources of revenue in the Traffic Relief and Road Improvement Account, which the bill would create in the State Transportation Fund, including revenues attributable to the sales and use tax on motor vehicles, revenues attributable to automobile and motor vehicle insurance policies from the insurer gross premiums tax, revenues from certain diesel fuel sales and use taxes, revenues from certain vehicle registration fees, and certain miscellaneous State Highway Account revenues. This bill would continuously appropriate the revenues in the account, after deductions for administration, with 40% of the revenues to be allocated to the Department of Transportation for maintenance of the state highway system or for purposes of the State Highway Operation and Protection Program, 40% of the revenues to be apportioned by the Controller to cities and counties for road purposes pursuant to a specified formula, and 20% to fund projects in the State Transportation Improvement Program that create measurable reductions in traffic congestion. The bill would require the California Transportation Commission to adopt performance criteria and metrics for expenditure of certain of these revenues, and would impose various requirements on cities and counties in order to receive apportionments. The bill would also require the department to implement efficiency measures with the goal of generating $100,000,000 annually in savings at the department and to propose, from the identified savings, an appropriation to be included in the annual Budget Act of up to $100,000,000 from the State Highway Account for expenditure on the Active Transportation Program. (2) Article XXII of the California Constitution provides that the State of California and all other governmental entities shall be allowed the choice to contract for architectural and engineering services for all public works of improvement as an alternative to the employment of civil service employees to perform those services. This bill would require the Department of Transportation to increase its annual use of contract staff resources so that 20% of its capital outlay staff consists of contract resources by the 2020–21 fiscal year. (3) Article XIX of the California Constitution requires gasoline excise tax revenues from motor vehicles traveling upon public streets and highways to be deposited in the Highway Users Tax Account, for allocation to city, county, and state transportation purposes. Existing law generally provides for statutory allocation of gasoline excise tax revenues attributable to other modes of transportation, including aviation, boats, agricultural vehicles, and off-highway vehicles, to particular accounts and funds for expenditure on purposes associated with those other modes, except that a specified portion of these gasoline excise tax revenues is deposited in the General Fund. Expenditure of the gasoline excise tax revenues attributable to those other modes is not restricted by Article XIX of the California Constitution. This bill, commencing January 1, 2018, would instead transfer to the Highway Users Tax Account for allocation to state and local transportation purposes under a specified formula most of the gasoline excise tax revenues currently being deposited in the General Fund that are attributable to boats, agricultural vehicles, and off-highway vehicles. Because that account is continuously appropriated, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would also delete a monthly transfer to the General Fund of $833,000 in gasoline excise taxes attributable to off-highway vehicles, thereby retaining those revenues for off-highway vehicle programs. (4) Existing law imposes weight fees on the registration of commercial motor vehicles and provides for the deposit of net weight fee revenues into the State Highway Account. Existing law provides for the transfer of certain weight fee revenues from the State Highway Account to the Transportation Debt Service Fund to reimburse the General Fund for payment of debt service on general obligation bonds issued for certain transportation purposes. Existing law also provides for the transfer of specified weight fee revenues to the Transportation Bond Direct Payment Account for direct payment of debt service on designated bonds, which are defined to be certain transportation general obligation bonds issued pursuant to Proposition 1B of 2006. Existing law also provides for loans of weight fee revenues to the General Fund to the extent the revenues are not needed for bond debt service purposes, with the loans to be repaid when the revenues are later needed for those purposes, as specified. This bill would repeal these provisions, thereby eliminating the use of the weight fee revenues for transportation general obligation bond debt service and retaining those revenues in the State Highway Account. The bill would make other conforming changes in that regard. (5) Article XIX of the California Constitution restricts the expenditure of revenues from taxes imposed by the state on fuels used in motor vehicles upon public streets and highways to street and highway and certain mass transit purposes. Existing law requires certain miscellaneous revenues deposited in the State Highway Account that are not restricted as to expenditure by Article XIX of the California Constitution to be transferred to the Transportation Debt Service Fund in the State Transportation Fund, as specified, and requires the Controller to transfer from the fund to the General Fund an amount of those revenues necessary to offset the current year debt service made from the General Fund on general obligation transportation bonds issued pursuant to Proposition 116 of 1990. This bill would delete the transfer of these miscellaneous revenues to the Transportation Debt Service Fund, and would instead require the miscellaneous revenues to be transferred to the Traffic Relief and Road Improvement Account for expenditure pursuant to (1) above. (6) Existing law provides for the deposit of all moneys received by the Department of Motor Vehicles into the Motor Vehicle Account in the State Transportation Fund, which includes some miscellaneous revenues that are not restricted by Article XIX of the California Constitution. Item 2740-011-0044 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2016, in that regard, requires the Controller to transfer those miscellaneous revenues from the Motor Vehicle Account to the General Fund and estimates the amount of those revenues in the 2015–16 fiscal year at $78,592,000. This bill would repeal the above-referenced item of the Budget Act of 2016. The bill would require the Controller to transfer, from the General Fund to the Motor Vehicle Account, an amount equal to all revenues previously transferred from that account to the General Fund pursuant to this item. The bill, commencing in the 2016–17 fiscal year, would require all revenues in the Motor Vehicle Account that are not protected by Article XIX of the California Constitution to be allocated, upon appropriation, to the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of the California Highway Patrol, as specified. (7) Existing law provides for loans of revenues from various transportation funds and accounts to the General Fund, with various repayment dates specified. This bill would require specified loans with a repayment date of January 1, 2018, or later to instead be repaid by December 31, 2017. The bill would require the funds repaid to the State Highway Account to be allocated between state and local government transportation purposes pursuant to a specified formula. (8) Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air Resources Board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism relative to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Existing law continuously appropriates 60% of the annual proceeds of the fund to various transportation and housing programs. Existing law, beyond the sales and use tax rate generally applicable, imposes an additional sales and use tax on diesel fuel at the rate of 1.75%, subject to certain exemptions, and provides for the net revenues collected from the additional tax to be transferred to the Public Transportation Account. Existing law continuously appropriates these revenues to the Controller for allocation by formula to transportation agencies for public transit purposes under the State Transit Assistance Program. Existing law provides for an increase of $8 in the smog abatement fee on new motor vehicles initially exempt from the smog check program, and provides for an increase of $3 in the basic vehicle registration fee, with revenues from these fee increases deposited, as specified, in the Air Quality Improvement Fund, the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund, and the Enhanced Fleet Modernization Subaccount for expenditure on certain air quality programs. This bill would require equivalent amounts of revenue to be made available for the above purposes from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the extent revenues are available after funding existing programs, and would require the specified diesel sales and use tax revenues and increases in vehicle registration fees to instead be transferred to the Traffic Relief and Road Improvement Account for expenditure pursuant to (1) above. The bill, beyond the backfill required for the Public Transportation Account, would additionally provide for an additional transfer from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the Public Transportation Account, as specified. The bill would exempt funds transferred from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the Public Transportation Account from statutory restrictions and limitations otherwise applicable to expenditures from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, as specified. (9) Existing law establishes in state government the Transportation Agency, which includes various departments and state entities, including the California Transportation Commission. Existing law vests the California Transportation Commission with specified powers, duties, and functions relative to transportation matters. Existing law requires the commission to retain independent authority to perform the duties and functions prescribed to it under any provision of law. This bill would exclude the California Transportation Commission from the Transportation Agency, establish it as an independent entity in state government, and require it to act in an independent oversight role. The bill would also make conforming changes. (10) Existing law creates various state agencies, including the Department of Transportation, the High-Speed Rail Authority, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the State Air Resources Board, with specified powers and duties. Existing law provides for the allocation of state transportation funds to various transportation purposes. This bill would create the Office of the Transportation Inspector General in state government, as an independent office that would not be a subdivision of any other government entity, to ensure that all of the above-referenced state agencies and all other state agencies expending state transportation funds are operating efficiently, effectively, and in compliance with federal and state laws. The bill would provide for the Governor to appoint the Transportation Inspector General for a 6-year term, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and would provide that the Transportation Inspector General may not be removed from office during the term except for good cause. The bill would specify the duties and responsibilities of the Transportation Inspector General, which would include an annual audit of state transportation megaprojects, as defined, in consultation with the California State Auditor, and would require an annual report to the Legislature and Governor. (11) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to prepare the State Highway Operation and Protection Program every other year for the expenditure of transportation capital improvement funds for projects that are necessary to preserve and protect the state highway system, excluding projects that add new traffic lanes. The program is required to be based on an asset management plan, as specified. Existing law requires the department to specify, for each project in the program the capital and support budget and projected delivery date for various components of the project. Existing law provides for the California Transportation Commission to review and adopt the program, and authorizes the commission to decline and adopt the program if it determines that the program is not sufficiently consistent with the asset management plan. The bill would require the commission, as part of its review of the program, to hold at least one hearing in northern California and one hearing in southern California regarding the proposed program. The bill would require the department to submit any change to a programmed project as an amendment to the commission for its approval. This bill, on and after February 1, 2018, would also require the commission to make an allocation of all capital and support costs for each project in the program, and would require the department to submit a supplemental project allocation request to the commission for each project that experiences cost increases above the amounts in its allocation. The bill would require the commission to establish guidelines to provide exceptions to the requirement for a supplemental project allocation requirement that the commission determines are necessary to ensure that projects are not unnecessarily delayed. (12) Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation and regional transportation agencies, as defined, to enter into comprehensive development lease agreements with public and private entities, or consortia of those entities, for certain transportation projects that may charge certain users of those projects tolls and user fees, subject to various terms and requirements. These arrangements are commonly known as public-private partnerships. Existing law provides that a lease agreement may not be entered into under these provisions on or after January 1, 2017. This bill would authorize lease agreements under these provisions to be entered into until January 1, 2030. The bill would include the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority within the definition of regional transportation agency for this these purposes. The bill would make other revisions to these provisions. (13) The Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006 (Proposition 1B) created the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund and provided for allocation by the California Transportation Commission of $2 billion in bond funds for infrastructure improvements on highway and rail corridors that have a high volume of freight movement and for specified categories of projects eligible to receive these funds. Existing law continues the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund in existence in order to receive revenues from sources other than the bond act for these purposes. This bill would require revenues apportioned to the state from the national highway freight program established by the federal Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act to be allocated for trade corridor improvement projects approved pursuant to these provisions. Existing law requires the commission, in determining projects eligible for funding, to consult various state freight and regional infrastructure and goods movement plans and the statewide port master plan. This bill would revise the list of plans to be consulted by the commission when determining eligible projects for funding. The bill would also expand eligible projects to include, among others, rail landside access improvements, landside freight access improvements to airports, and certain capital and operational improvements. (14) The California Environmental Quality Act (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, with certain exceptions. This bill would provide that CEQA does not apply to a project, or the issuance of a permit for a project, that consists of the inspection, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, replacement, or removal of existing transportation infrastructure, as specified, or to the addition of an auxiliary lane or bikeway to existing transportation infrastructure under certain conditions. (15) Existing law requires the Office of Planning and Research to prepare, develop, and transmit to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency for certification and adoption proposed revisions to guidelines implementing the California Environmental Quality Act establishing criteria for determining the significance of transportation impacts for projects within transit priority areas that promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the development of multimodal transportation networks, and a diversity of land uses. Existing law authorizes the office to adopt guidelines to establish alternative metrics to the metrics used for traffic levels of service for transportation impacts outside transit priority areas. This bill would eliminate the authority of the office to adopt guidelines establishing alternative metrics for transportation impacts outside transit priority areas. (16) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes various deductions in computing income that is subject to tax under that law. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, would allow a deduction in computing adjusted gross income in connection with health savings accounts in conformity with federal law. In general, the deduction would be an amount equal to the aggregate amount paid in cash during the taxable year by, or on behalf of, an eligible individual, as defined, to a health savings account of that individual, as provided. The bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, would also provide related conformity to that federal law with respect to the allowance of rollovers from Archer Medical Savings Accounts, health flexible spending arrangements, or health reimbursement accounts to a health savings account, and penalties in connection therewith. The bill would make these provisions operative on the effective date of any budget measure specifically appropriating funds to the Franchise Tax board for its costs to administer these provisions. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.