Rep. Tim Donnelly

This measure would recognize the essential role that museums have in the State of California as educational institutions and would proclaim May 2014 as California Museum Month.

This measure would commend the extraordinary service delivered by Near East Relief to the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and the Assyrian Genocide.

This measure would proclaim May 19, 2014, as Viral Hepatitis Awareness Day in California.

This measure would honor and recognize the service and sacrifice made by members of the Armed Forces and their families on the occasion of Armed Forces Day on May 17, 2014.

This measure would proclaim the week of May 18, 2014, through May 24, 2014, as Emergency Medical Services Week.

This measure would proclaim May 15, 2014, as Senior Fraud Awareness Day.

(1) Existing law makes it a crime to possess an assault weapon, and a crime to possess or manufacture, distribute, transport, import for sale, keep for sale, offer or expose for sale, or give or lend any .50 BMG rifle. Under existing law, these prohibitions on assault weapons and .50 BMG rifles do not apply to the sale to, purchase by, importation of, or possession by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or to any federal law enforcement agency, among other entities. This bill would also make the above prohibitions inapplicable to the sale to, purchase by, importation of, or possession of assault weapons or a .50 BMG rifle by any federal correctional agency. (2) Existing law makes it a crime for any person in this state to manufacture, import into the state, keep for sale, offer or expose for sale, give, or lend any unsafe handgun. Under existing law, this prohibition does apply to the sale or purchase of a handgun if the handgun is sold to, or purchased by, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or to any federal law enforcement agency, among other entities. This bill would also make the above prohibition inapplicable to the sale to, or purchase by, any federal correctional agency.

Existing law, the Open Enrollment Act, authorizes the parent of a pupil enrolled in a low-achieving school, as defined, to submit an application for the pupil to attend a school in a school district other than the school district in which the parent of the pupil resides, as specified. The Open Enrollment Act requires a school district of enrollment, as defined, to ensure that pupils enrolled pursuant to the act are enrolled in a school with a higher Academic Performance Index than the school in which the pupil was previously enrolled and are selected through a random, unbiased process, except that pupils applying for transfer are required to be assigned specified priorities for approval. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district or a county office of education, on a districtwide or countywide basis or on behalf of one or more of its schools or programs, after a public hearing on the matter, to request the State Board of Education to waive all or part of any section of the Education Code or any regulation of the state board that implements a provision of the Education Code that may be waived, except as specified. The provisions of the Open Enrollment Act are among those provisions that may be waived by the state board. This bill would require the governing board of any school district requesting a waiver of the provisions of the Open Enrollment Act that require a school to be included on the list of low-achieving schools, as defined, to send a written notice to the parents or guardians of each pupil attending each school that would otherwise be listed. The bill would require this notice to include, but not be limited to, instruction on how to contact the state board regarding the request by the school district to waive the listing requirement. The bill would also update cross-references and delete obsolete provisions.

Existing law provides for the development and adoption of common core academic content standards by the State Board of Education, and requires the state board to adopt curriculum frameworks and instructional materials that are aligned to those content standards. Existing law establishes the Measurement of Academic Performance and Progress for the development, adoption, and administration of assessments to pupils in elementary and secondary school that, among other things, assess the common core academic content standards. This bill, operative on July 1, 2015, would specify that a school district may opt out of any state statute or regulation that would require the use of common core academic content standards by that school district, including, but not limited to, curriculum frameworks, instructional materials, and assessments. The bill would require a school district that opts out pursuant to those provisions to use the academic content standards that were used in this state before the adoption of the common core academic content standards, and would also require the school district, at its own expense, to administer a standards-based achievement test pursuant to the former Standardized Testing and Reporting Program, which was repealed on January 1, 2014. The bill would make those provisions inoperative on July 1, 2020, and would repeal them on January 1, 2021.