The Vehicle License Fee Law, in lieu of any ad valorem property tax upon vehicles, imposes an annual license fee for any vehicle subject to registration in this state in the amount of 1% of the market value of that vehicle, as provided, for a specified amount of time. Existing law, operative until June 30, 2011, also imposes an additional tax to the vehicle license fee equal to 0.15% of the market value of specified vehicles, as determined by the Department of Motor Vehicles, to be deposited in the General Fund and transferred to the Local Safety and Protection Account, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would appropriate $506,400,000 from the General Fund to be deposited in the Local Safety and Protection Account, as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
Sponsored bills
Existing law authorizes private organizations to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles for participation in special interest license plate programs authorized by legislation in which the department issues license plates with a participating organization's distinctive design, decal, or descriptive message and specifies the design criteria for the special license plate. Existing law requires that the organization collect and receive a minimum of 7,500 applications and fees for the special interest license plates from the date of the enactment of the legislation authorizing the special interest license plate. Existing law permits any individual to apply for an organization's special interest license plate. Existing law also authorizes a state agency to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles to sponsor a specialized license plate program and requires the department to issue the specialized license plates for the program if the state agency complies with specified requirements. This bill would authorize the Foundation for California Community Colleges (foundation) to apply to the department to sponsor a program for a series of specialized National Association for stock car Auto Racing (NASCAR) license plates that bear emblems, seals, or other symbols or designs displaying themes of professional stock car auto racing or professional stock car auto racing drivers. The bill would require the department to issue the specialized plates if the foundation complies with existing requirements applicable to specialized license plate programs. The bill would require that the design of each specialty plate in the series be approved by the department and the Department of the California Highway Patrol. The bill would require the foundation to secure license rights for the symbols and designs for the specialized NASCAR license plates. The bill would specify that the fee for the original issuance of the specialized license plates be $60, and, for the renewal of registration with the plates the fee would be $50. The bill would also require that these fees be distributed no less frequently than each quarter annually to the department and the foundation in specified amounts. By requiring that the fees for the original issuance and the renewal of a plate be distributed directly to the department and the foundation, the bill would make a continuous appropriation of these funds.
The California Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003 provides for the licensure, by the State Board of Equalization, of manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers, and retailers of cigarette or tobacco products that are engaged in business in California and prohibits retailers, manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers from distributing or selling those cigarette and tobacco products unless they are in compliance with those licensure requirements. The Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law imposes a tax on the distribution of tobacco products and on the distribution of cigarettes, which are paid through the use of stamps or meter impressions that are required to be affixed to each package of cigarettes sold. The Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law requires that certain cigarette and tobacco products be forfeited to the state under specified circumstances, upon seizure by the State Board of Equalization. This bill would subject a person who fails to pay a tax liability in violation of the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law to suspension of any distributor's license and seizure of any assets related to tobacco distribution. The bill would require the board to hold a hearing on the suspension or seizure and, upon confirmation of the violation, would allow the board to revoke the license and sell the assets, proceeds of which would be deposited into the fund to which a cigarette or tobacco products tax liability is owed, to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature and the General Fund, as specified.  This bill would provide that the provisions of this bill are severable.
This bill would urge the United States Patent and Trademark Office to place a satellite office in California.
This measure would designate that January 16, 2012, be observed as the official memorial of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth, commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement in changing public policy in California and in the United States of America.
Existing law provides that if a defendant becomes mentally incompetent, a trial or judgment related to that defendant shall be suspended until he or she becomes mentally competent. Existing law establishes procedures whereby the court determines the appropriate facility where an incompetent defendant shall be delivered for treatment, and determines whether the defendant consents to the administration of antipsychotic medication, or determines whether involuntary administration of antipsychotic medication is appropriate, as specified. This bill would require, as of July 1, 2012, the court to determine if the defendant lacks capacity to make decisions regarding antipsychotic medication before seeking consent from the defendant for those medications. The bill would provide that when, under specified conditions and in the opinion of the treating psychiatrist, involuntary administration of antipsychotic medication becomes necessary, that medication may be administered to the defendant for not more than 21 days, provided, however, that, within 72 hours of certifying that involuntary antipsychotic medication has become medically necessary and appropriate, an administrative law judge conducts a hearing and reviews the treating psychiatrist's determination to administer the medication and concurs in that determination. The bill would require the defendant to be represented at the hearing by an attorney or patients' rights advocate and would prescribe other rights of the defendant with respect to the hearing. The bill would provide that if the administrative law judge concurs in the treating psychiatrist's certification, antipsychotic medication would be authorized to continue to be administered for the 21-day certification period and if the administrative law judge disagrees with the certification, the medication would not be administered until a court so ordered. The bill would require the treating psychiatrist to file a copy of the certification and a petition with the court for issuance of an order to administer antipsychotic medication beyond the 21-day certification period, as specified, and would waive fees for the filing of the petition or other document or paper related to the petition. The bill would require the court to determine, prior to the expiration of the 21-day certification period, whether the medication should be administered beyond the 21-day certification period, as specified. The bill would provide that an order for the involuntary administration of antipsychotic medication beyond the 21-day certification period would be valid for no more than one year, and would require the court to review the order 6 months after the order was made, as specified, to determine if the grounds for involuntary medication remain. The bill would require reports at 6-month intervals, or until the defendant becomes mentally competent, and would require certain items to be addressed in the report, including, among other things, whether or not the defendant has the capacity to make decisions concerning antipsychotic medication. After reviewing the reports, a court would be required to determine whether the need for continued administration of antipsychotic medication exists, as specified. The bill would also provide that its terms do not preclude a defendant from filing a petition for habeas corpus to challenge the continuing validity of an order authorizing the involuntary administration of antipsychotic medication.
Under existing law, a county is required to submit a statement of all nontreatment costs incurred by the county relating to a trial or hearing for a person who is confined to a state hospital, as specified, to the Controller for approval. Existing law requires those costs to be paid out of money appropriated by the Legislature to the county treasurer of the county in which the trial or hearing was held. Under existing law, a city, county, or superior court is entitled to reimbursement for reasonable and necessary costs connected with trials and hearings relating to state prisons or prisoners, as specified. This bill would require that reimbursement for specified nontreatment costs be paid from moneys appropriated by the Legislature for purposes of reimbursing cities, counties, or superior courts for prison- and prisoner-related costs. By adding a new purpose for previously appropriated funds, this bill would make an appropriation.
(1) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation, after consultation with local agencies and public hearings, to adopt rules and regulations prescribing uniform standards and specifications for all official traffic control devices and setting of speed limits. Existing law makes it a crime for a driver to fail to obey a sign or signal, defined as regulatory in the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (Manual) , or a Department of Transportation-approved supplement to that manual. This bill would require the Department of Transportation to revise the Manual, as it read on January 1, 2012, to require the department or a local authority to round speed limits to within 5 miles per hour of the 85th-percentile speed of free-flowing traffic. The bill would allow, in cases in which the speed limit needs to be rounded up to the nearest 5 miles per hour increment of the 85th-percentile speed, the department or a local authority to decide to instead round down the speed limit to the lower 5 miles per hour increment, but then the department or a local authority would be prohibited from reducing the speed limit any further for any reason. (2) This bill would incorporate changes to Section 21400 of the Vehicle Code proposed by both this bill and AB 345, which would become operative only if both bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2012, and this bill is chaptered last.
(1) Existing law establishes the scope of functions and responsibilities of the State Department of Public Health. This bill would additionally require the State Department of Public Health to investigate and apply for federal funding opportunities regarding promoting healthy eating and preventing obesity, as specified, and, upon receipt of that funding, allow the department to award grants and provide in-kind support to support local assistance to local governments, nonprofit organizations, and local education agencies that encourage specified healthy eating programs, as provided. (2) Existing federal law, the Emergency Food Assistance Program, is administered by the State Department of Social Services to provide agricultural commodities to eligible households and recipient agencies for distribution, as prescribed. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services, on and after January 1, 2012, to establish and administer the State Emergency Food Assistance Program (SEFAP) , to provide emergency food and funding for the provision of emergency food to food banks, as provided. This bill would create the State Emergency Food Assistance Program Account and would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, allocate the moneys in the account to SEFAP and require that those moneys be used for the purchase, storage, and transportation of food grown or produced in California, as prescribed, and for the department's administrative costs. (3) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill would, under both laws, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2012, and before January 1, 2017, allow, without regard to the taxpayer's method of accounting, a credit for qualified taxpayers, as defined, in an amount equal to 10% of the cost that would otherwise be included in inventory costs, as specified, with respect to the donation of fresh fruits or fresh vegetables to food banks located in California.
Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, headed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. This bill would, until July 1, 2017, create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative. It would require, by July 1, 2012, the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to prepare recommendations, to be presented upon request to the Legislature, regarding actions that need to be taken to promote food access in the state. The bill would establish the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Council and would require the council to implement the initiative, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish an advisory group, as specified. The bill would create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Fund in the State Treasury, to be comprised of federal, state, philanthropic, and private funds, for the purpose of expanding access to healthy foods in underserved communities and, to the extent practicable, to leverage other funding, as specified. Moneys in the fund would be expended upon appropriation by the Legislature.