Existing law provides that there is in state government the California Technology Agency, which duties include establishing and enforcing state information technology strategic plans, policies, standards, and enterprise architecture. The agency is governed by the Secretary of California Technology. The Governor's Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 2012 (GRP 2) proposes to reorganize state departments and agencies to, among other things, recast the California Technology Agency as the Department of Technology within the Government Operations Agency, which is also proposed to be established by GRP 2. GRP 2 also proposes to recast the Secretary of California Technology as the Director of Technology, and to remove that position as a member of the Governor's cabinet. GRP 2 proposes to become effective on July 3, 2012, and operative on July 1, 2013, if not disapproved by the Legislature. This bill would, if GRP 2 becomes effective, require the Director of Technology to report directly to the Governor on issues relating to information technology. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that, as part of the planning required for implementing those provisions of the Governor's Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 2012, a plan for transitioning information technology procurement authority from the Department of General Services to the Department of Technology be developed by the Governor or his or designee.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Boating and Waterways in the Natural Resources Agency and charges the department with duties related to beach erosion, harbors, and recreational boat trails. Existing law establishes the Boating and Waterways Commission to provide advice to that department. The Governor's Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 2012 (GRP 2) proposes to reorganize state departments and agencies to, among other things, transfer the Department of Boating and Waterways into the Department of Parks and Recreation as a division of that department and eliminate the Boating and Waterways Commission. This bill would instead place the commission in the Department of Parks and Recreation within the Division of Boating and Waterways, and would prescribe the membership, functions, and duties of the commission. (2) Existing law establishes the State Park and Recreation Commission in the Department of Parks and Recreation comprised of 9 members appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and requires that the members of the commission be selected from areas distributed throughout the state and because of their interest in park, recreation, and conservation matters, as prescribed. This bill would also require that the members of the commission be selected because of their interest in boating and waterways. (3) GRP 2 is proposed to become operative on July 1, 2013, if not disapproved by the Legislature in accordance with specified procedures. This bill would become operative on July 1, 2013, but would only become operative if GRP 2 becomes effective.
Existing law establishes in state government the California Transportation Commission with specified powers, duties, and functions relative to transportation matters. The Governor's Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 2012 (GRP 2) proposes to establish the Transportation Agency, which would include various departments and state entities, including the commission. GRP 2 is proposed to become operative on July 1, 2013, if not disapproved by the Legislature in accordance with specified procedures. This bill would provide that the commission retain independent authority to perform its powers, duties, and functions. The bill would provide that the above-described provisions would become operative on July 1, 2013, and only if GRP 2 takes effect.
Existing law provides that a party's absence, relocation, or failure to comply with custody and visitation orders is not, by itself, sufficient to justify modifying a custody or visitation order if the party's absence, relocation, or failure is due to his or her activation to military service, mobilization in support of combat or other military operation, or military deployment out of state, as defined. Existing law authorizes a court to issue a temporary order for custody and visitation for the period in which the party will be deployed, mobilized, or on temporary duty. Under existing law, there is a presumption that, upon the return of that party, the order shall revert back to the custody order that was in place before the modification unless the reversion is not in the best interest of the child. This bill would, after the deploying party returns from deployment, prohibit the court from ordering a child custody evaluation as part of its review of a temporary order unless the party opposing reversion to the prior custody order makes a prima facie showing that reversion would not be in the child's best interest. Further, the bill would provide that neither a child's absence from the state during a parent's deployment nor a nondeploying parent's relocation during a parent's deployment while a temporary modification order is in effect would terminate the family court's jurisdiction for later custody modifications. This bill would also prohibit a parent's deployment from being used as a basis for asserting that the state court is an inconvenient forum for custody orders. The bill would additionally express the intent of the Legislature that family courts, to the extent feasible given existing resources and court practices, prioritize and expedite child custody cases when a military parent is deployed or returns from deployment.
The California Constitution provides that a person shall be disqualified from holding office if he or she has been convicted of bribery, and directs the Legislature to enact laws to exclude persons convicted of malfeasance in office or other high crimes from office. Under existing statutory law, a person is disqualified from holding any office upon the conviction of specified crimes designated in the Constitution or statute. Existing law enumerates events causing a vacancy in office, including the conviction of a felony or any offense involving a violation of official duties. This bill would disqualify for 5 years a person who employed at will for the purposes of providing services to an elected public officer from any public employment, including, but not limited to, employment with a city, county, district, or any other public agency of this state, if he or she is convicted of a felony involving accepting or giving, or offering to give, any bribe, the embezzlement of public money, extortion or theft of public money, perjury, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes arising directly out of his or her duties as a public employee. That 5-year disqualification period would begin at the later of either the person's final conviction or release from any incarceration.
This measure would make various statements regarding the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , would request the President and the United States Congress to repeal PPACA, and would encourage federal, state, and local officials to enact health care reform that, among other things, puts the citizen and his or her family at the center of the health care system, as specified. The measure would also request the United States Congress to, among other things, reform federal tax laws, allow Americans to buy health care coverage across state lines, allow businesses to create association health plans, and lift restrictions on employers so they can offer lower premiums to employees who practice healthy lifestyles, and would request the Legislature to enact reforms consistent with those changes, as specified.
Existing law, the California High-Speed Rail Act, creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state, with specified powers and duties. Existing law, pursuant to the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, approved by the voters as Proposition 1A at the November 4, 2008, general election, provides for the issuance of $9 billion in general obligation bonds for high-speed rail purposes and $950 million for other related rail purposes. Article XVI of the California Constitution authorizes the Legislature, at any time after the approval of a general obligation bond act by the people, to reduce the amount of the indebtedness authorized by the act to an amount not less than the amount contracted at the time of the reduction or to repeal the act if no debt has been contracted. This bill would reduce the amount of general obligation debt authorized for high-speed rail purposes pursuant to the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century to the amount contracted as of January 1, 2013.
This measure would designate the interchange at State Highway Route 101 and State Highway Route 46 East, and any subsequent interchange constructed to replace that interchange, in the City of Paso Robles as the California Highway Patrol Officer Brett J. Oswald Memorial Interchange. This measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering those costs, to erect those signs, as specified.