Existing law authorizes the Employment Development Department (department) to administer the federal-state unemployment insurance program and provides for the payment of unemployment compensation benefits to eligible individuals who are unemployed through no fault of their own. Existing law establishes procedures for the filing, determination, and payment of benefit claims, and those benefits are payable from the Unemployment Fund. Existing law requires the department to promptly pay benefits if it finds the claimant is eligible and to promptly deny benefits if it finds the claimant is ineligible for benefits. Existing law requires the department to consider facts submitted by an employer in making this determination and also provides for the department to audit claims, as specified. Existing law provides a procedure for a claimant or a base employer to challenge a determination of the computation or recomputation of the benefits. This bill would require the department to provide a claimant with a notification of the computation used to determine their benefits within 30 days of the receipt of the claim and to respond to a challenge by the claimant or the base employer based on the computation or recomputation of benefits within 15 days of the receipt of the protest, except as specified. This bill would also make technical changes to these provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
Existing law establishes the Office of Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as GO-Biz, to advocate for causes of small business and to provide small businesses with the information they need to survive in the marketplace. Existing law authorizes counties, cities, and other local agencies to impose various taxes and fees in connection with activity or property within those jurisdictions. This bill would enact the California Small Business Rent Relief Act, which would authorize a county to establish a local small business rent forgiveness and tax relief program, as provided, for the purpose of providing credits to qualified taxpayers, as defined, to be used against any tax or fee owed to the county by the qualified taxpayer, and for which the county has authority to collect a credit in lieu of cash. The bill would authorize CalOSBA to establish the California Small Business Rent Forgiveness and Tax Relief Program, as provided, for the purpose of allocating credit authority to qualified counties, as defined, to implement a small business rent forgiveness and tax relief program. The bill would create the Small Business Rent Forgiveness and Tax Relief Account within the California Economic Development Fund, for the purpose of receiving moneys transferred to the account, and would require all moneys in the account to be available for expenditure, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of implementing the California Small Business Rent Forgiveness and Tax Relief Program. The bill would require CalOSBA to submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on program activities, as provided.
Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a driver's license to an applicant when the department determines that the applicant is lawfully entitled to a license. Existing law allows an in-person applicant for a driver's license or identification card to request the word "VETERAN" be printed on the face of the driver's license or identification card, subject to certain requirements, including, among others, verification of veteran status, as specified, and payment of a $5 fee, which the department is authorized to increase by regulation in an amount not to exceed $15, as specified. Existing law prohibits a fee from being charged for that request if made by (1) a person who has been determined to have a current income level that meets the eligibility requirements for specified assistance programs, or (2) a person who can verify their status as a homeless person, in accordance with specified provisions. This bill would direct the department to discontinue the fee for printing the word "VETERAN" on the face of a driver's licence or identification card by July 1, 2022, and would repeal that fee provision on January 1, 2023. The bill would also make technical and conforming changes.
Existing law provides for unemployment compensation benefits to eligible persons who are unemployed through no fault of their own. These provisions are generally administered by the Employment Development Department. Existing law requires unemployment compensation benefits that are directly deposited to an account of the recipient's choice to be deposited to a qualifying account. Existing law defines "qualifying account" for these purposes to mean a demand deposit or savings account at an insured financial institution in the name of the person entitled to receipt of public assistance payments or a prepaid card account that meets certain requirements, including that the prepaid card account may not be attached to any credit or overdraft feature that is automatically repaid from the account after delivery of the payment. This bill would, by July 1, 2021, provide that the recipient of the unemployment compensation benefits has the right to choose whether the benefits payments are directly deposited into a qualifying account or applied to a prepaid debit card. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the California Suicide Prevention Act of 2000, allows the State Department of Health Care Services, contingent upon appropriation, to establish and implement a suicide prevention, education, and gatekeeper training program to reduce the severity, duration, and incidence of suicidal behaviors. Existing law authorizes the State Department of Public Health to establish the Office of Suicide Prevention to, among other things, convene experts and stakeholders, including, but not limited to, stakeholders representing populations with high rates of suicide, to encourage collaboration and coordination of resources for suicide prevention. This bill would require the department to establish an Ending Military Suicide Task Force to systematically reduce military suicides and to develop a plan to eliminate all military suicides in the state, as specified. Commencing June 1, 2023, the bill would require the task force to submit a specified report to the Governor and the Legislature on the state of veteran suicide prevention, as specified, including, among other things, an analysis of the plans, activities, strategies, and programs undertaken pursuant to the task force's recommendations and their effects on reducing military suicides in the state.
Existing law authorizes the Employment Development Department (department) to administer the federal-state unemployment insurance program and provides for the payment of unemployment compensation benefits to eligible individuals who are unemployed through no fault of their own. Existing law establishes procedures for the filing, determination, and payment of benefit claims, and those benefits are payable from the Unemployment Fund. Existing law requires the department to promptly pay benefits if it finds the claimant is eligible and to promptly deny benefits if it finds the claimant is ineligible for benefits. Existing law requires the department to consider facts submitted by an employer in making this determination and also provides for the department to audit claims, as specified. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2021, require the department, as part of its process for determining eligibility for unemployment insurance benefits, cross-check all claimant information with state and county correctional facility inmate data in an effort to detect fraudulent applications. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the Employment Development Department, administered by the Director of Employment Development, within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and sets forth its powers and duties related to the administration of the state unemployment and disability compensation programs. This bill would require the department to establish, upon appropriation by the Legislature, an advisory committee to advise the department on matters within the department's jurisdiction, including, but not limited to, unemployment insurance. The bill would require the committee to include members representing a diverse spectrum of private and public employers and employees impacted by programs overseen by the department, as provided. The bill would require the committee to hold open and public meetings in compliance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act at least once a quarter. The bill would require, commencing on January 1, 2023, the committee to prepare and publicly publish an annual report describing its activities, including, but not limited to, recommendations made by the advisory committee and the department's response to those recommendations. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.
Existing law establishes the Department of Consumer Affairs under the direction of the Director of Consumer Affairs and sets forth its powers and duties relating to the administration of the various boards under its jurisdiction that license and regulate various professions and vocations. Existing law requires an applicant seeking a license from a board to meet specified requirements and to pay certain licensing fees. Existing law requires a board to expedite, and authorizes a board to assist, in the initial licensure process for an applicant who supplies satisfactory evidence to the board that the applicant has served as an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States and was honorably discharged. Existing law authorizes a board to adopt regulations necessary to administer those provisions. This bill would require the department and any board within the department to grant a 50% fee reduction for an initial license to an applicant who provides satisfactory evidence, as defined, the applicant has served as an active duty member of the United States Armed Forces or the California National Guard and was honorably discharged. This bill would authorize a board to adopt regulations necessary to administer these provisions.
Existing law, the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act of 2006, requires a retailer, as defined, to have in place a system for the acceptance and collection of used rechargeable batteries for reuse, recycling, or proper disposal. Existing law requires the system for the acceptance and collection of used rechargeable batteries to include, at a minimum, specified elements, including, among others, the take-back of a used rechargeable battery of the type or brand that the retailer sold or previously sold at no cost to the consumer. Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control, by each July 1, to survey, as specified, battery handling or battery recycling facilities, and to post on its internet website the estimated amount, by weight, of each type of rechargeable batteries returned for recycling during the previous calendar year. This bill would authorize the department to include on its internet website the prior years' previously posted information of the estimated amount, by weight, of each type of rechargeable batteries returned for recycling.
Existing law defines a disabled veteran to include a person who, as a result of injury or disease suffered while on active service with the Armed Forces of the United States, has a disability that has been rated at 100% by the Department of Veterans Affairs or the military service from which the veteran was discharged, due to a diagnosed disease or disorder that substantially impairs or interferes with mobility. Existing law exempts a disabled veteran from the payment of vehicle registration fees, as specified. This bill would extend a prorated discount on vehicle registration fees, as specified, to a partially disabled veteran, as defined.