The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows various deductions in computing the income that is subject to the taxes imposed by that law, including miscellaneous itemized deductions that are allowed only to the extent that the aggregate amount of those deductions exceed 2% of adjusted gross income. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, and before January 1, 2023, would allow a deduction, not to exceed $100, under that law for the qualified costs paid or incurred by a taxpayer for the adoption of a qualified pet, as defined, from a qualified animal rescue organization. The bill would make these provisions operative on the effective date of any budget measure that specifically appropriates funds to the Franchise Tax Board for its costs of administering these provisions. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
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Existing law authorizes the court, if the court determines that it would be in the best interest of the minor child, to appoint private counsel to represent the interests of the child in a custody or visitation proceeding, provided that the court and counsel comply with specified California Rules of Court, including continuing education and training requirements in certain subjects, such as representation of a child in custody and visitation proceedings. Upon entering an appearance on behalf of a child, existing law requires counsel to continue to represent that child unless relieved by the court upon substitution of other counsel by the court or for cause. This bill would authorize the court to appoint private counsel who does not meet those continuing education and training requirements to represent the interests of the child in a child custody or visitation proceeding if the court determines that an attorney who meets the continuing education and training requirements is not available and the appointment is in the best interests of the child.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of home health agencies by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires all private or public organizations that provide or arrange for skilled nursing services to patients in the home to obtain a home health agency license. Existing law also provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. Existing law provides that home health care services are covered Medi-Cal benefits, subject to utilization controls. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2018, to establish an incentive-based, supplemental payment program, as defined, which would apply to licensed home health agencies that treat children who are receiving continuous nursing care or private duty nursing services through the Medi-Cal program. The purpose of the program would be to increase access to quality in-home nursing services and encouraging additional home health agencies to participate in nursing care for children receiving Medi-Cal services. The bill would require the department to collaborate with designated stakeholders in establishing the payments, and would authorize the department to establish reasonable provider eligibility standards, as specified. The supplemental payment program would be implemented only to the extent that federal financial participation is available and would require the department to submit any necessary applications to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to implement the supplemental payment program. The bill would require the department to submit a report evaluating the effectiveness of the supplemental payment program to specified committees of the Legislature on or before July 1, 2021. The bill would remain in effect until January 1, 2022, and as of that date would be repealed.
The California Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act governs the formation and operation of limited liability companies. The act authorizes a limited liability company to engage in any lawful business activity, except as specified. A limited liability company is an entity distinct from its members. Existing law authorizes one or more persons to form a limited liability company by, among other things, signing and delivering articles of organization to the Secretary of State. Under existing law, a limited liability company is a member-managed limited liability company unless the articles of organization contain a statement that the limited liability company is to be manager managed. Under existing law, the operating agreement governs, among other things, relations among the members as members and between the members and the limited liability company and the activities of the limited liability company. Existing law authorizes a limited liability company to render services that may be lawfully rendered only pursuant to a license, certificate, or registration authorized by the Business and Professions Code if the provisions of that code authorize a limited liability company to hold that license, certificate, or registration. The Private Security Services Act in the Business and Professions Code provides for the licensure and regulation by the Department of Consumer Affairs and its Bureau of Security and Investigative Services of persons engaged in the provision of private security services. The Private Security Services Act authorizes an individual, a qualified manager, a partner of a partnership, or an officer of a corporation to apply for a license, as prescribed. Under the Private Security Services Act, an application is required to be verified and contain specific information, including an identification form signed under penalty of perjury, and is also required to be subscribed, verified, and signed by specific persons under penalty of perjury. This bill would additionally authorize a limited liability company to apply for licensure and make conforming changes to the provisions of the Private Security Services Act. The bill would require a limited liability company, as a condition of licensure, to be insured as prescribed. The bill, by additionally imposing perjury provisions on limited liability company applicants, would expand the crime of perjury, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. The Proprietary Security Services Act provides for the registration and regulation of proprietary private security officers and proprietary private security employers by the department and bureau. The Proprietary Security Services Act defines terms for its purposes, including defining "person" to include any individual, firm, company, association, organization, partnership, and corporation. This bill would expand the definition of "person" to include a limited liability company. 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, the Cobey-Porter Saline Water Conversion Law, states the policy of this state that desalination projects developed by or for public water entities be given the same opportunities for state assistance and funding as other water supply and reliability projects, and that desalination be consistent with all applicable environmental protection policies in the state. The law provides that is it the intention of the Legislature that the Department of Water Resources undertake to find economic and efficient methods of desalting saline water so that desalted water may be made available to help meet the growing water requirements of the state. This bill would establish a goal to desalinate 300,000 acre-feet of drinking water per year by the year 2025 and 500,000 acre-feet of drinking water per year by the year 2030.
Existing law establishes the Assumption Program of Loans for Education, administered by the Student Aid Commission, under which any person enrolled in an eligible institution of postsecondary education, as defined, or any person who agrees to participate in a teacher trainee or teacher internship program, is eligible to enter into an agreement for loan assumption, to be redeemed pursuant to a prescribed procedure upon becoming employed as a teacher in an eligible school, as defined, if he or she satisfies certain conditions. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to restore the funding for the Assumption Program of Loans for Education to its 2011–12 fiscal year level. The bill would require the commission to award 7,200 new warrants for the assumption of loans under the program in the 2017–18 fiscal year. The bill would appropriate $5,000,000 from the General Fund to the commission for the funding of warrants for the assumption of loans under the program for the 2017–18 fiscal year. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. This bill would exempt from the provisions of CEQA a project, or the issuance of a permit for a project, that consists of the inspection, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, replacement, or removal of, or the addition of an auxiliary lane or bikeway to, existing transportation infrastructure and that meets certain requirements. The bill would require the public agency carrying out the project to take certain actions.
Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to establish a list of reportable communicable and noncommunicable diseases and conditions and specify the timeliness requirements related to the reporting of each disease and condition. Existing law also supports research into the development of a vaccine to protect against valley fever (coccidioidomycosis) . This bill would require the department to develop outreach programs to educate the public about valley fever.
This measure would proclaim the period of October 23, 2017, to October 31, 2017, inclusive, as Red Ribbon Week and would encourage all Californians to help build drug-free communities and to participate in drug prevention activities.
Under existing law, price, fitness, and quality being equal, any body, officer, or other person charged with the purchase, or permitted or authorized to purchase supplies for the use of the state, or of any of its institutions or offices, or for the use of any county or city, is required to always prefer supplies, defined to include produce, that are grown, manufactured, or produced in the state, and is required to next prefer supplies partially manufactured, grown, or produced in the state. This bill would remove produce grown or partially grown in the state from this requirement. The bill would require all California state-owned or state-run institutions, except public universities and colleges and school districts, to purchase agricultural products grown in California when the bid or price of the California-grown agricultural product does not exceed by more than 5% the lowest bid or price for an agricultural product produced outside the state and the quality of the produce is comparable. This bill would also require the institutions, when they solicit or intend to accept a bid or price for agricultural products grown outside the state, to accept the bid or price from a vendor that packs or processes these agricultural products in the state before accepting a bid or price from a vendor that packs or processes these agricultural products outside of the state when specified conditions are met. This bill would require a school district that solicits bids for the purchase of an agricultural product to accept a bid or price for that agricultural product when it is grown in California before accepting a bid or price for an agricultural product that is grown outside the state when the bid or price of the California-grown agricultural product does not exceed the lowest bid or price for an agricultural product produced outside the state and the quality of the produce is comparable.