Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of community care facilities by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law also provides for the licensure and regulation by the State Department of Health Care Services of adult alcoholism and drug abuse recovery and treatment facilities for adults. This bill would, among other things, define a "recovery residence" as a residential property that is operated as a cooperative living arrangement to provide an alcohol and drug free environment for persons recovering from alcoholism or drug abuse, or both, who seek a living environment that supports personal recovery. The bill would authorize a recovery residence to demonstrate its commitment to providing a supportive recovery environment by applying and becoming certified by a certifying organization that is approved by the State Department of Health Care Services. The bill would require an approved certifying organization to, among other things, maintain an affiliation with a national organization recognized by the department, establish and use procedures to administer the application, certification, renewal, and disciplinary processes for a recovery residence, and investigate and enforce violations by a residence of the organization's code of conduct, as provided. The bill would specify the information and documentation that an operator who seeks to have a residence certified is required to submit to an approved certifying organization. This bill would require an approved certifying organization to maintain and post on its Internet Web site a registry containing specified information of a residence that has been certified pursuant to these provisions, and would require the department to maintain and post on its Internet Web site a registry that contains specified information regarding each residence and operator that has had its certification revoked. This bill would require, on and after January 1, 2020, specified entities, including a state agency, state-contracted vendor, county agency, or county-contracted vendor, certified alcohol drug counselor, and person or entity licensed in the healing arts that directs substance use treatment, or a judge or parole board that sets terms and conditions for the release, parole, or discharge of a person from custody, if it requires that person to reside in a sober living environment, to first refer that person to a residence listed as a certified recovery residence on a registry posted by an approved certifying organization, if available. The bill would authorize those entities to refer persons to noncertified recovery residences, if they determine it is in the best interests of those persons, and would authorize those entities to notify the department of their decision. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2021, regarding the efficacy of its regulation of certifying organizations' impact on complaint resolution, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local governments, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide for the repeal of all of these provisions on January 1, 2026. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
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Existing law authorizes a Purple Heart recipient to apply for special license plates inscribed with the Purple Heart insignia to be issued for a vehicle that is owned or coowned by the Purple Heart recipient. The law authorizes an applicant for the Purple Heart license plate who qualifies as a disabled veteran to apply also for a distinguishing placard to be used in conjunction with the Purple Heart license plate for specified special parking privileges. This bill would require a state agency with a parking facility that is available to private persons who conduct business with the agency to reserve a parking space free of charge for the exclusive use of any vehicle that displays a Purple Heart special license plate.
The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , an initiative measure approved as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, and additionally amended by statute, imposes an excise tax commencing January 1, 2018, on the purchase of cannabis and cannabis products, as defined, at the rate of 15% of the average market price of any retail sale by a cannabis retailer. Commencing January 1, 2018, AUMA also imposes a cultivation tax upon all cultivators on all harvested cannabis that enters the commercial market, at specified rates per dry-weight ounce of cannabis flowers and leaves. Existing law requires the revenues from those taxes to be deposited into the California Cannabis Tax Fund and to be continuously appropriated for specified purposes pursuant to a specified schedule. AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend its provisions with a 23 vote of both houses to further its purposes and intent. This bill would reduce that excise tax rate to 11% on and after the operative date of this bill until June 1, 2021, at which time the excise tax rate would revert back to 15%. This bill would suspend the imposition of the cultivation tax on and after the operative date of this bill until June 1, 2021. This bill would make specified findings and declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the AUMA. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy, but its operative date would depend on its effective date.
Existing property tax law, pursuant to the authorization of the California Constitution, provides a disabled veteran's property tax exemption for the principal place of residence of a veteran, the veteran's spouse, or the veteran and veteran's spouse jointly, and the unmarried surviving spouse of a veteran, as provided, if the veteran, is blind in both eyes, has lost the use of 2 or more limbs, or is totally disabled as a result of injury or disease incurred in military, or if the veteran has, as a result of a service-connected injury or disease, died while on active duty in military service. Existing law exempts that part of the full value of the residence that does not exceed $100,000, or $150,000, if the household income of the veteran or the unmarried surviving spouse of a veteran does not exceed $40,000, adjusted for inflation, as specified. This bill, beginning with the 2019–20 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, would instead exempt the full value of the principal place of residence of a veteran or veteran's spouse and the unmarried surviving spouse of a veteran. Existing law requires the state to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to establish a security department under the supervision of a chief of security as designated by, and under the direction of, the superintendent of the school district. Existing law also authorizes the governing board of a school district to establish a school police department under the supervision of a school chief of police and to employ peace officers. This bill would require a school district or a charter school to hire or contract with at least one armed school resource officer, as defined, authorized to carry a loaded firearm, to be present at each school of the school district or charter school during regular school hours and any other time when pupils are present on campus. By imposing an additional requirement on school districts and charter schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that a school district's or charter school's costs of implementing this requirement shall be reimbursed as a state mandate and shall not be funded with the funding provided to school districts and charter schools pursuant to the local control funding formula. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
The California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 provides the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the Department of Industrial Relations with the power, jurisdiction, and supervision over all employment and places of employment necessary to enforce and administer all occupational health and safety laws,and standards and to protect employees. The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, an independent entity within the department, has the exclusive authority to adopt occupational safety and health standards within the state. Existing law requires every employer to comply with those standards. A violation of these standards and regulations under specific circumstances is a crime. This bill would require the board to adopt occupational safety and health standards for state public works projects to prevent and control coccidioidomycosis, more commonly known as Valley Fever. By expanding the definition of an existing crime, this 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 creates the Office of the Inspector General that is responsible for contemporaneous oversight of internal affairs investigations and the disciplinary process of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law requires the Inspector General, when requested by the Governor, the Senate Committee on Rules, or the Speaker of the Assembly, to review policies, practices, and procedures of the department. Upon completion of the review, the Inspector General is required to prepare a public written report, as described, to be posted on its Internet Web site and a complete written report to be disclosed in confidence, along with all underlying materials the Inspector General deems appropriate, to the above-described entities who requested the review, as specified, and the appropriate law enforcement agency. This bill would require the Inspector General, commencing July 1, 2019, to develop and implement a monitoring program that evaluates all rehabilitation programs operated by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for adult inmates and parolees, as specified. The bill would require the evaluation report to include an analysis of whether the programs are evidence based, as specified. The bill would require the Inspector General to report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Assembly and Senate Committees on Public Safety, and the Governor biannually, on or before March 15 and September 15 of each year, beginning in 2020 and concluding in 2029. The bill would require the department to contract with one or more outside independent researchers or research organizations, as described, to conduct cost-effectiveness evaluations relating to reductions in recidivism, as specified, of rehabilitation programs operated by the department and funded by the state for adult inmates and parolees. The bill would require the Inspector General to monitor the contracting process, as specified. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the Inspector General and the California Rehabilitation Oversight Board, to issue requests for proposals on or before July 1, 2019, for the cost-effectiveness evaluation studies and would express the intent of the Legislature that the studies be completed and reported on or before January 1, 2024.
Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. The California State University comprises 23 institutions of higher education located throughout the state. This bill would establish the Emergency Student Housing Loan Program, commencing with the 2019–20 academic year, at 3 campuses of the California State University, contingent upon the enactment of an appropriation of state funds for this purpose. This bill would define homeless, homelessness, and rapid rehousing for the purposes of this article. Under the program, the 3 participating campuses of the university, as designated by the trustees, would establish an Emergency Student Housing Loan Program pursuant to which the participating campus would design a program enabling students at their campus who are experiencing an individual housing emergency, as specified, to receive a loan to pay for their housing for up to 12 months. The bill would establish eligibility requirements and priorities for the selection of participating students. The bill would require the trustees to submit a report, including specified information about the program, to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature no later than June 30, 2022. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2022, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2023.
The Personal Income Tax Law imposes a tax on individual taxpayers measured by the taxpayer's taxable income for the taxable year, but excludes certain items of income from the computation of tax, including an exclusion for combat-related special compensation. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, and before January 1, 2028, would exclude from gross income retirement pay received by a taxpayer from the federal government for service performed in the uniformed services, as defined. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Under existing law, community college districts throughout the state have established campuses where they provide instruction to students. Existing law establishes a system through which state funds are apportioned to community college districts based on specified formulas. A provision of existing law identifies the noncredit community college courses and classes that are eligible for state apportionment funding. This bill would provide that supervised tutoring for courses and classes in all subject areas that are either basic skills, degree applicable, or transfer level, irrespective of whether a student being tutored has been referred to tutoring by a faculty member or has self-initiated the tutoring, is eligible for state apportionment funding. The bill would also make technical and conforming changes in this provision. The bill would require the board of governors to amend, as soon as feasible, a designated provision of the California Code of Regulations to include student-initiated tutoring, in accordance with the bill.