Rep. Tim Donnelly

This measure would designate a 5-mile portion of Interstate 10 as the CAL FIRE Firefighter Christopher Lee Douglas Memorial Highway. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost for appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

Existing law requires the state to have the primary financial responsibility for preventing and suppressing fires in areas that the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection has determined are state responsibility areas, as defined. Existing law requires the State Board of Equalization to collect a fire prevention fee not to exceed $150 to be charged on each structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area. Existing law specifies that the fire prevention fee determined to be due by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is due and payable at the time it becomes final, and imposes a specified civil penalty for each 30-day period during which the fee remains unpaid. This bill would eliminate the specified civil penalty imposed for unpaid fire prevention fees.

The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal law, provides various exclusions from gross income in computing tax liability. Existing law requires employers to make specified payments and withholdings from wages paid for employment to, and to file reports of wages and make contributions for unemployment insurance and the employment training tax with, the Employment Development Department, which is charged with administering the state's payroll taxes. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, exclude tips, as defined, from gross income for the purposes of the Personal Income Tax Law. This bill also would exclude tips from the definition of wages paid for employment for the purposes of income tax withholding and for purposes of unemployment insurance and the employment training tax. This bill would also make related changes to other provisions.

Existing sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. That law provides various exemptions from those taxes. This bill would, until January 1, 2025, exempt from those taxes the gross receipts from the sale in this state of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, any equipment purchased to be primarily used for water desalination. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing law authorizes districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to state sales and use taxes are incorporated into these laws. Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code provides that the state will reimburse counties and cities for revenue losses caused by the enactment of sales and use tax exemptions. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse any local agencies for sales and use tax revenues lost by them pursuant to this bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy, but its operative date would depend on its effective date.

The measure would urge the Congress and the President of the United States to end mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses.

This measure would urge the federal government to not to take any action to redeem, assume, or guarantee state debt, and would urge the Secretary of State to report to Congress any negotiations to engage in an action that would result in an outlay of federal funds on behalf of state creditors.

(1) Existing law creates the Safe, Clean, and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2012, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $11,140,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance a safe drinking water and water supply reliability program. Existing law provides for the submission of the bond act to the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election. This bill would repeal these provisions. (2) Under existing law, various measures have been approved by the voters to provide funds for water supply and protection facilities and programs. This bill would enact the California Water Infrastructure Act of 2014, which, if adopted by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $5,800,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance public benefits associated with water storage and water quality improvement projects. This bill would provide for the submission of this bond act to the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law provides that every person who possesses for sale or purchases for purposes of sale cocaine base is subject to imprisonment in a county jail for a period of 3, 4, or 5 years. This bill instead would provide that every person who possesses for sale or purchases for purposes of sale cocaine base is subject to imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years. Existing law generally provides that the interest of any registered owner of a boat, airplane, or any vehicle, except as specified, that has been used to facilitate the manufacture of, or possession for sale or sale of, 14.25 grams or more of cocaine base or 28.5 grams or more of cocaine is subject to forfeiture, as specified. This bill would revise that provision to instead make property that has been used to facilitate the manufacture of, or possession for sale or sale of, 28.5 grams or more of cocaine base or cocaine subject to forfeiture. Existing law, except in unusual cases, prohibits granting probation or suspending a sentence for persons convicted of specified crimes relating to controlled substances, including possessing for sale a substance containing 57 grams or more of a substance containing cocaine, 14.25 grams or more of cocaine base, or 57 grams or more of a substance containing at least 5 grams of cocaine base, and transporting or importing for sale, selling, or offering to sell cocaine base. This bill would delete those provisions and would instead prohibit, except in unusual cases, granting probation or suspending a sentence for persons convicted of possessing for sale or selling a substance containing 28.5 grams or more of cocaine base or 57 grams or more of a substance containing at least 5 grams of cocaine or cocaine base. By making additional persons eligible for probation, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law provides that the Department of Transportation is in full possession and control of the state highway system. Existing law provides for placement of signs on state highways, as specified. This bill would require the department to erect, at appropriate locations on highways in the state highway system, generic directional signs to each Veterans' Home of California, upon receiving funds from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law provides for the issuance of reciprocal licenses in certain fields where the applicant, among other requirements, has a license to practice within that field in another jurisdiction, as specified. Existing law requires that the licensing fees imposed by certain boards within the department be deposited in funds that are continuously appropriated. Existing law requires a board within the department to expedite the licensure process for an applicant who holds a current license in another jurisdiction in the same profession or vocation and who supplies satisfactory evidence of being married to, or in a domestic partnership or other legal union with, an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States who is assigned to a duty station in California under official active duty military orders. This bill would, in addition to the expedited licensure provisions described above, establish a temporary licensure process for specified licensed professions for an applicant who holds a current, active, and unrestricted license in another jurisdiction, as specified, and who supplies satisfactory evidence of being married to, or in a domestic partnership or other legal union with, an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States who is assigned to a duty station in California under official active duty military orders. The bill would require a temporary license issued pursuant to these provisions to expire 12 months after issuance, upon issuance of an expedited license, or upon denial of the application for expedited licensure by the board, whichever occurs first. This bill would also require an applicant seeking a temporary license as a civil engineer, geotechnical engineer, structural engineer, land surveyor, professional geologist, professional geophysicist, certified engineering geologist, or certified hydrogeologist to successfully pass the appropriate California-specific examination or examinations required for licensure in those respective professions by the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists. Because the bill would authorize the expenditure of continuously appropriated funds for a new purpose, the bill would make an appropriation.