The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act requires the State Department of Developmental Services to contract with regional centers to provide services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities. Under existing law, the regional centers purchase needed services for individuals with developmental disabilities through approved service providers or arrange for those services through other publicly funded agencies. This bill would require the department to submit a plan to the Legislature by August 1, 2017, to ensure the sustainability, quality, and transparency of community-based services for individuals with developmental disabilities. The bill would require the department to regularly consult with stakeholders in developing the plan and would require the plan to address specified topics, including, among others, recommendations for a comprehensive approach to funding regional center operations in a sustainable and transparent manner that enables regional centers to deliver high-quality services to consumers. Existing law requires that contracts or agreements between regional centers and service providers in which the rates between the regional center and the service provider are determined through negotiations to ensure that not more than 15% of regional center funds be spent on administrative costs, as described. This bill would instead provide that the percentage of the funds that may be spent on administrative costs varies depending on the total value, annually, of the payments received by a service provider from all regional centers. Existing law establishes specified rates to be paid to certain service providers and the rates to be paid for certain developmental services. Existing law requires that rates to be paid to other developmental service providers either be set by the department or negotiated between the regional center and the service provider. Existing law prohibits certain provider rate increases, but authorizes increases to those rates as necessary to adjust employee wages to meet the state minimum wage law. This bill would increase the rates established by existing law, as specified, and would require an increase to the rates set by the department and the rates negotiated between regional centers and service providers, as specified. The bill would also require the department, when setting rates for community care facilities serving people with developmental disabilities, to ensure that the rates permit the viability of those facilities by establishing different rates for each facility size, as determined by the number of beds available, that reflect reasonable differences in the cost structure of facilities with differing numbers of beds. The bill would require the department to adopt emergency regulations implementing that provision. Existing law requires each regional center to submit, on or before August 1 of each year, to the department and the State Council on Developmental Disabilities a program budget plan for the subsequent budget year. Existing law provides that, to the extent feasible, all funds appropriated for developmental disabilities programs be allocated to those programs by August 1 of each year and designates the department as the agency responsible for the processing, audit, and payment of funds made available to regional centers. This bill would require the department to increase the funding paid to a regional center for the regional center's operating budget, beginning July 1, 2016, by 10% above the amount the regional center otherwise would have received under the department's core staffing formula, and, beginning July 1, 2017, by 10% above the amount the regional center otherwise would have received under the department's core staffing formula, plus a percentage equal to the percentage of any increase in the California Consumer Price Index since July 1, 2016. The bill would also require the department to increase the funding provided to a regional center to enable the regional center and the regional center's purchase-of-service vendors to fund certain costs related to minimum wage requirements. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
The State Contracting Act governs state contracts for public works projects and requires that a contract be rewarded to the lowest responsible bidder, as specified. This act requires contracts awarded by state agencies to be submitted to the Attorney General or the appointed attorney as specified, and provides that the contract is not binding on the state until the attorney finds it to be in accordance with the act. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that provision.
This measure would declare the month of January 2016 as Pet Care Education Month and would request Californians to observe the month by ensuring that their companion animals receive the proper preventative care by establishing a financial plan for pet health emergencies and by contributing to charitable organizations that provide low-cost spay and neuter services and vaccinations or funds to help low-income individuals pay for veterinary care.
Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, an initiative measure enacted by the approval of Proposition 215 at the November 5, 1996, statewide general election, authorizes the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Existing law, enacted by the Legislature, provides for the licensing and regulation by both state and local entities of medical marijuana and its cultivation. Existing law provides that if a city, county, or city and county does not have land use regulations or ordinances regulating or prohibiting the cultivation of marijuana, commencing March 1, 2016, the Department of Food and Agriculture is the sole licensing authority for medical marijuana cultivation applicants in that city, county, or city and county. This bill would delete the provision that grants the department the sole licensing authority under those circumstances. Existing law exempts certain persons cultivating medical marijuana from the requirement to obtain both a state license from the Department of Food and Agriculture and a license, permit, or other entitlement allowing cultivation from the city, county, or city and county in which the cultivation will occur. Existing law authorizes a city, county, or city and county to regulate or ban the cultivation, storage, manufacture, transport, provision, or other activity by a person otherwise exempt from state regulation, or to enforce that regulation or ban. This bill would instead provide that an exemption from these licensure requirements does not limit or prevent a city, county, or city and county from exercising its police power authority under a specified provision of the California Constitution. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law authorizes the Fish and Game Commission, or any person appointed by the commission to conduct a hearing, to cause the deposition of witnesses, as prescribed, and to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents and papers, in accordance with certain requirements. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to that provision.
Existing law provides that a person who drives a motor vehicle is deemed to have given his or her consent to chemical testing of his or her blood for the purpose of determining the drug content of his or her blood, if lawfully arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Existing law provides that if a blood test is unavailable, the person shall be deemed to have given his or her consent to chemical testing of his or her urine and shall submit to a urine test. Existing law authorizes an officer to use a preliminary alcohol screening test that indicates the presence or concentration of alcohol based on a breath sample as a further investigatory tool in order to establish reasonable cause to believe the person was driving a vehicle in violation of certain prohibitions against driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. This bill would authorize an officer to use a preliminary oral fluid screening test that indicates the presence or concentration of a drug or controlled substance based on a sample as a further investigatory tool in order to establish reasonable cause to believe the person was driving a vehicle in violation of certain prohibitions against driving under the influence of drugs. The bill would authorize a local law enforcement agency to provide oral fluids testing for these purposes, and would specify that this provision does not require a local law enforcement agency to provide or make an oral fluids test available for these purposes or for purposes of any other law. The bill would prohibit a state law enforcement agency from providing or making an oral fluids test available for these purposes or for purposes of any other law.
Existing law, as amended by Proposition 83, the Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act (Jessica's Law) , approved by the voters at the November 7, 2006, statewide general election, provides that a defendant shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for 25 years to life if convicted of certain crimes, including rape, sexual penetration, sodomy, oral copulation, continuous sexual abuse of a child, or rape, spousal rape, or sexual penetration in concert, if certain circumstances were present, including, among other things, if the defendant has been previously convicted of a specified offense. Proposition 83 provides that the Legislature may amend the provisions of the act to expand the scope of their application or increase the punishment or penalties by a statute passed by a majority vote of each house. This bill would specify that the prison term of 25 years to life applies if the defendant has been convicted of more than one specified offense on charges brought and tried separately, irrespective of the order in which the offenses were committed or the convictions obtained.
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 Forestry and Fire Protection, by September 1, 2011, to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 to be charged on each habitable structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area. Existing law authorizes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, on July 1, 2013, and annually thereafter, to adjust the fire prevention fee, as specified. Existing law requires the fire prevention fee to be collected annually by the State Board of Equalization, in accordance with specified procedures, and specifies that the annual fee shall be due and payable 30 days from the date of assessment by the state board. Existing law authorizes a petition for redetermination of the fee to be filed within 30 days after service of a notice of determination, as specified. This bill would require the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, by July 1, 2016, to amend those emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $152.33 and would authorize the board, on July 1, 2017, and annually thereafter, to adjust the fire prevention fee, as specified. The bill would extend the time when the fire prevention fee is due and payable from 30 to 60 days from the date of assessment by the State Board of Equalization and would authorize the petition for redetermination to be filed within 60 days after service of the notice of determination, as specified.
Existing law prohibits a person in possession of a firearm, uniformed peace officer, private guard, or security personnel from being stationed or posted at a polling place without written authorization of the appropriate elections official. Violation of this provision is punishable by a fine not exceeding $10,000, imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, or in a county jail for not more than one year, or by both fine and imprisonment. Existing law prohibits the hiring of or arranging for a person in possession of a firearm, uniformed peace officer, private guard, or security personnel to be stationed or posted at a polling place without written authorization of the appropriate elections official. Violation of this provision is punishable by a fine not exceeding $10,000, imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, or in a county jail for not more than one year, or by both fine and imprisonment. This bill would increase the maximum fine for those offenses to $16,000 and require that the fine amount be adjusted annually by any annual increase in the California Consumer Price Index, as described.
Existing law, enacted by Proposition 47, as approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, requires misdemeanors instead of felony sentences for certain nonserious, nonviolent crimes, like petty theft and drug possession. Proposition 47 also creates the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, that is funded by savings that accrue to the state from the implementation of the proposition. Existing law requires, in part, 65% of the moneys deposited in the fund to be disbursed to the Board of State and Community Corrections to administer a grant program to fund public agencies that support mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, and diversion programs for people in the criminal justice system and 25% of the moneys deposited in the fund be disbursed to the State Department of Education to administer a grant program to public agencies aimed at improving outcomes for public school pupils, as specified. Proposition 47 provides that its provisions may be amended by a statute that is consistent with and furthers its intent and that is passed by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and is signed by the Governor. Proposition 47 also provides that the Legislature may, by majority vote, amend, add, or repeal provisions to further reduce the penalties for offenses it addresses. This bill would require the Department of Finance to select a public or private university through a competitive process to conduct a 4 year evaluation assessing the process, outcomes, and costs of Proposition 47, including the number and characteristics of participants served by programs funded with grant moneys from the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund. The bill would require the selected university to report to the Legislature, no later than January 1, 2017, and annually by that date for the following 3 years. The bill would require that all data collected for the report be made publically available. The bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2021. Existing law requires the Department of Justice to compile state summary criminal history information and to provide that information to specified agencies and persons, as specified. This bill would require the department to gather and compile information regarding the number of people released from state prisons and county jails pursuant to the provisions of Proposition 47 and the number of people released who are rearrested or reincarcerated within 3 years as compared to similar populations in the criminal justice system.