Existing law establishes the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) as the statewide system of pupil assessments under which certain assessments are required or authorized to be administered in public schools, as specified, including a consortium summative assessment in English language arts and mathematics for grades 3 to 8, inclusive, and grade 11 that measures content standards adopted by the State Board of Education. This bill would require, pursuant to specified provisions of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Superintendent of Public Instruction to approve a nationally recognized high school assessment that a local educational agency, as defined, may, at its own discretion, administer, if the alternative assessment is approved by the local educational agency's governing board or body in a public meeting, commencing with the 2020–21 school year, and each school year thereafter, in lieu of the consortium summative assessment in English language arts and mathematics for grade 11. The bill would require a nationally recognized high school assessment approved by the Superintendent to meet specified requirements, would authorize the Superintendent to require the publisher of that assessment to provide documentation that the assessment meets or exceeds these requirements, and would require the Superintendent, if he or she determines that the assessment does not meet these requirements, to inform the assessment's publisher in writing of specific deficiencies and changes needed to meet these requirements. The bill would authorize a governing board of a local educational agency that is part of a consortium of local educational agencies to enter into a cooperative contract with a publisher for the purposes of providing an assessment, as provided. To the extent permitted by the United States Department of Education, the bill would deem certain nationally recognized high school assessments to meet these requirements, and would require the Superintendent to approve these assessments for selection by a local educational agency. The bill would require the state board to amend the state plan required pursuant to federal law to account for the authorization for local educational agencies to use an alternate assessment pursuant to the bill's provisions, if required by federal law. The bill would require a local educational agency that administers a nationally recognized high school assessment to comply with specified requirements, would require the Superintendent to apportion to the local educational agency the lesser of the actual cost of administering the alternative assessment, as specified, and the amount that would have been apportioned to the local educational agency if it had administered the consortium summative assessment in English language arts and mathematics for grade 11. The bill would state that a local educational agency may administer only one nationally recognized high school assessment in lieu of the consortium summative assessment in English language arts and mathematics for grade 11. The bill would make these provisions inoperative 5 years after the first school year in which a local educational agency is able to exercise the authority to administer the alternative assessment, as specified, and would repeal these provisions as of the following January 1. The bill would require the Superintendent to inform the Legislative Counsel within 30 days of when this 5 year condition has been satisfied and post that determination on its Internet Web site. The bill would require the State Department of Education to ensure that local educational agencies comply with specified requirements, concerning the alternative assessment, that apply in connection with the summative assessments under CAASPP, including that grade 11 pupils, or parents or legal guardians of those pupils, may request results from the alternative assessment. Existing law requires the Superintendent to prepare and submit, and subsequently post on the Internet Web site of the department, an annual report to the state board containing an analysis of the results and test scores of the summative assessments administered under the CAASPP. This bill would require the Superintendent to include the results and test scores of the alternative assessment in that annual report.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, establishes the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund program pursuant to which state and federal funds are continuously appropriated from the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund to the State Water Resources Control Board for loans and other financial assistance for the construction of publicly owned treatment works by a municipality, the implementation of a management program, the development and implementation of a conservation and management plan, and other related purposes in accordance with the federal Clean Water Act. Existing law authorizes the board to assess a specified annual charge in connection with any financial assistance made pursuant to the revolving fund program in lieu of interest that otherwise would be charged and requires the proceeds generated from the imposition of that charge to be deposited in the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund Small Community Grant Fund, along with any interest earned upon the moneys in that grant fund. Existing law authorizes the board to expend the moneys in the grant fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for grants for eligible projects under the revolving fund program that serve small communities, as defined. Existing law, the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014, approved by the voters as Proposition 1 at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, authorizes the issuance of general obligation bonds in the amount of $7,545,000,000 to finance a water quality, supply, and infrastructure improvement program. The bond act provides that the sum of $520,000,000 is to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for expenditures, grants, and loans for projects that improve water quality or help provide clean, safe, and reliable drinking water to all Californians. The bond act provides that $260,000,000 is available for deposit in the grant fund for grants for wastewater treatment projects. This bill would require the board, within 60 days of awarding a grant from the grant fund, to provide a project proponent that requests an advanced payment and satisfies certain criteria with the requested advanced payment, up to a maximum of $500,000 or 50% of the grant award, whichever is less, for projects in which the project proponent is a nonprofit organization or a disadvantaged community, or the project benefits a disadvantaged community. The bill would require the advanced funds to be handled as prescribed. The bill would authorize the board to adopt additional requirements for the recipient regarding the use of the advanced payment to ensure that the funds are used properly. The bill would authorize the board to impose penalties for misuse of advanced payments, as specified, and would require the penalty moneys collected to be deposited in the State Water Pollution Revolving Fund Small Community Grant Fund. (2) Proposition 1 provides that of the $520,000,000 available for projects that improve water quality or help provide clean, safe, and reliable drinking water to all Californians, the sum of $260,000,000 is available for grants and loans for public water system infrastructure improvements and related actions to meet safe drinking water standards, ensure affordable drinking water, or both. The bond act requires that eligible recipients serve disadvantaged communities and are public water systems or public agencies. The bond act prohibits more than 25% of the grant from being awarded in advance of actual expenditures. This bill would require the board, within 60 days of awarding a grant for these purposes under the bond act, to provide a project proponent that requests an advanced payment and satisfies certain criteria with the requested advanced payment, up to a maximum of $500,000 or 25% of the grant award, whichever is less. The bill would require the advanced funds to be handled as prescribed. The bill would authorize the board to adopt additional requirements for the recipient regarding the use of the advanced payment to ensure that the funds are used properly. The bill would authorize the board to impose penalties for misuse of advanced payments, as specified, and would require the penalty moneys collected to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the above-described grants and loans for public water system infrastructure improvements.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law requires the Department of Finance, in consultation with the state board and any other relevant state agency, to develop, as specified, a 3-year investment plan for the moneys deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Existing law requires the moneys from the fund to be used to facilitate the achievement of reductions of greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the act and, among other things, to maximize economic, environmental, and public health benefits to the state. This bill, beginning July 1, 2019, would require state agencies administering competitive grant programs that allocate moneys from the fund to give specified communities preferential points during grant application scoring for programs intended to improve air quality and to include a specified application timeline and to allow applicants from the Counties of Imperial and San Diego to include daytime population numbers in grant applications. This bill, for competitive grant programs that involve housing, urban forestry, urban greening, or planning and that allocate moneys from the fund after July 1, 2019, would require state agencies administering those moneys from the fund to develop at least 3 categories for applications based on the population and density of where the proposed project is to be located and to develop scoring criteria for each category, as specified. This bill would additionally require the moneys in the fund to be used to facilitate the achievement of reductions of greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the act and to increase water supply resilience; reduce or prevent increases in transportation, energy, or fuel costs, particularly in disadvantaged communities; accelerate the development and implementation of low-carbon technology; reduce vehicle miles traveled; promote zoning and development activities that increase public access to essential services or amenities; promote partnerships between multiple jurisdictions; promote climate change adaptation capacity; and improve community access to green space. This bill also would require the Department of Finance to include in an annual report to the Legislature specified information on the applications received for each grant program allocating moneys from the fund.
The existing federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 provides for the negotiation and execution of tribal-state gaming compacts for the purpose of authorizing certain types of gaming on Indian lands within a state. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to negotiate and conclude tribal-state gaming compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law expressly ratifies a number of tribal-state gaming compacts, and amendments of tribal-state gaming compacts, between the State of California and specified Indian tribes. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project, as defined, that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. This bill would ratify the tribal-state gaming compacts entered into between the State of California and the following Indian tribes: the La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians, the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of Chico Rancheria, the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, and the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians. The bill would also ratify the amendment to the tribal-state gaming compact between the State of California and the Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians, executed on August 1, 2018, and the amendment to the tribal-state gaming compact between the State of California and the Karuk Tribe, executed on August 1, 2018. The bill would provide that, in deference to tribal sovereignty, certain actions related to these compacts and amended compacts are not projects for purposes of CEQA. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law authorizes a high school district, unified school district, or county office of education to retroactively grant a high school diploma to persons interned by order of the federal government during World War II, and to veterans of World War II, the Korean War, or the Vietnam War, under specified conditions. This bill would also authorize the retroactive grant of a high school diploma to a person who has departed California against his or her will, as defined, and, at the time of his or her departure, was enrolled in grade 12 of a high school operated by a school district, by or under the jurisdiction of a county office of education, or by a charter school, who did not receive a high school diploma because his or her education was interrupted due to his or her departure, and who was in good academic standing at the time of his or her departure, as specified.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to make loans from the Mobilehome Park Rehabilitation and Purchase Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, including loans to qualified nonprofit housing sponsors or local public entities to acquire a mobilehome park where no less than 30% of residents at the time of acquisition are low income or to make loans to a resident organization or nonprofit housing sponsor to assist park residents with needed repairs or accessibility upgrades to the mobilehomes if specified criteria are met. Existing law authorizes the department to adopt related regulations. This bill would authorize the department to make loans from the fund to a qualified nonprofit housing sponsor or a local public entity to acquire or rehabilitate a mobilehome park where no less than 30% of residents at the time that the loan application is filed are low income. The bill would also authorize the department to make loans or grants from the fund to a resident organization, nonprofit housing sponsor, or public local entity to assist park residents with needed repairs or accessibility upgrades. The bill would also require, for those loans issued on or after January 1, 2019, loan payments to be deferred for the full term of the loans, except as specified. The bill would require the department to charge a certain transaction fee related to the loan. The bill would delete the express authority to adopt related regulations. This bill would also authorize the department to make development loans, as defined in existing law, from the fund to a qualified nonprofit housing sponsor, resident organization, or local public entity for the development of a new mobilehome park to replace a mobilehome park that has been destroyed by a natural disaster, as provided, and is located within 20 miles of the destroyed mobilehome park. The bill would also require, for those loans, loan principal payments to be deferred for the full term of the loans, except as specified. The bill would require the department to charge a certain transaction fee related to the loan. By expanding the purposes of, and increasing amounts deposited into, a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law, the California Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, establishes the California Workforce Development Board as the body responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system and the alignment of the education and workforce investment systems to the needs of the 21st century economy and workforce. That act prescribes specific tasks with which the board assists the Governor, including the development and updating of comprehensive state performance accountability measures, to assess the effectiveness of the core programs in the state as required under specific federal law. That act also requires the establishment of a local workforce development board in each local workforce development area of the state to, among other things, develop effective linkages with employers in the region to support employer utilization of the local workforce development system and to support local workforce investment activities. The bill would require, by July 1, 2020, the California Workforce Development Board to develop, in conjunction with the Employment Development Department and with input from local workforce development boards, a policy regarding mutual aid agreements between and among local workforce development boards to enable them to effectively respond to disasters and that is consistent with applicable state and federal law.
(1) Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998, requires the State Allocation Board to allocate to applicant school districts prescribed per-unhoused-pupil state funding for the construction and modernization of school facilities, including hardship funding, and supplemental funding for site development and acquisition. This bill would authorize a grant for modernization under the act to be used to limit pupil exposure to harmful air pollutants by updating air filtration systems and would specify that this is declaratory of existing law. (2) The Air Toxics "Hot Spots" Information and Assessment Act of 1987 requires the State Air Resources Board to compile a list of substances that present a chronic or acute threat to public health when present in the ambient air, subjects certain facilities to the act according to a schedule, and requires the operator of a subject facility to prepare and submit to an air pollution control or air quality management district a proposed comprehensive emissions inventory plan, for approval by the air district. The act also requires the state board to prepare a statewide strategy to reduce emissions of toxic air contaminants and criteria air pollutants in communities identified as being affected by a high cumulative exposure burden, to select locations around the state for the preparation of community emissions reduction programs, and to provide grants to community-based organizations for technical assistance and to support community participation in the programs. The act requires an air district containing a selected location, within one year of the state board's selection, to adopt a community emissions reduction program. This bill would authorize schools and school districts located in communities with a high cumulative exposure burden, as identified as part of the statewide strategy to reduce emissions of toxic air contaminants and criteria air pollutants, to work with air districts to identify school sites in need of air quality improvements and to be eligible for a grant as part of a community emissions reduction program to implement air quality mitigation efforts, as specified.
Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a driver's license to an applicant when the department determines that the applicant is lawfully entitled to a license. Existing law allows an in-person applicant for a driver's license or identification card to request the word "VETERAN" be printed on the face of the driver's license or identification card, subject to certain requirements, including, among others, verification of veteran status, as specified, and payment of a $5 fee, which the department is authorized to increase by regulation, in an amount not to exceed $15, as specified. Commencing July 1, 2019, existing law prohibits a fee from being charged for that request if made by (1) a person who has been determined to have a current income level that meets the eligibility requirements for specified assistance programs, or (2) a person who can verify his or her status as a homeless person, in accordance with specified provisions. This bill would make those fee provisions inoperative on July 1, 2019, and repeal them on January 1, 2020, as specified, thereby authorizing an applicant whose veteran status has been verified, as prescribed, to make a veteran designation request, and requiring the department to make that designation on the applicant's driver's license or identification card, without additional charge. The bill also would make conforming changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12811 of the Vehicle Code proposed by SB 987 to be operative only if this bill and SB 987 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing state and federal law sets specified limits on the total gross weight imposed on the highway by a vehicle with any group of 2 or more consecutive axles. Existing federal law authorizes a vehicle operated by an engine fueled primarily by natural gas to exceed these weight limits by an amount equal to the difference between the weight of the vehicle attributable to the natural gas tank and fueling system carried by that vehicle and the weight of a comparable diesel tank and fueling system. Under existing federal law, the maximum gross vehicle weight of that vehicle may not exceed 82,000 pounds. This bill would, to the extent expressly authorized by federal law, authorize a near-zero-emission vehicle or a zero-emission vehicle, as defined, to exceed the weight limits on the power unit by up to 2,000 pounds. Existing law prohibits a weighmaster from certifying the gross weight of a vehicle if the scale is located at the site where the vehicle is loaded, the vehicle is weighed before entering a highway, and the vehicle's gross weight exceeds 80,000 pounds, except if a special permit is issued. This bill would increase the weight limit to 82,000 pounds for a near-zero-emission or zero-emission vehicle.