Existing law provides that the Secretary of State is the chief elections officer of the state and requires him or her to administer the state's elections laws. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to develop a program to utilize modern communications and information processing technology, including making information available online, to enhance the availability and accessibility of information on statewide candidates and ballot initiatives. This bill would require the Secretary of State to meet with local registrars of voters, community groups, and other persons as determined by the Secretary of State to develop strategies for improving California's voter turnout. The bill would require the Secretary of State to present findings to specified committees of the Legislature no later than July 1, 2016. The bill would also make findings in this regard. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2017.
Sponsored bills
Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer all California state preschool programs, which include part-day age and developmentally appropriate programs for 3- and 4-year-old children, as provided. Existing law provides that 3- and 4-year-old children are eligible for the state part-day preschool program if the family meets one of several eligibility requirements, including income eligibility. This bill would require, on or before June 30, 2018, all eligible children who are not enrolled in transitional kindergarten to have access to the state preschool program the year before they enter kindergarten, if their parents wish to enroll them, contingent upon the appropriation of sufficient funding in the annual Budget Act for this purpose.
Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to include, among other subjects, the social sciences. Existing law requires the State Board of Education, with the assistance of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to establish a list of textbooks and other instructional materials that highlight the contributions of minorities in the development of California and the United States. This bill would require the Superintendent to oversee the development of, and the state board to adopt, a model curriculum to ensure quality courses in ethnic studies. The bill would require the Superintendent to establish an Ethnic Studies Advisory Committee and would require the committee to advise, assist, and make recommendations to the Superintendent regarding the development of the model curriculum. The bill would, beginning the school year following the adoption of the model curriculum, authorize each school district maintaining any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer, as an elective in the social sciences, a course of study in ethnic studies based on the model curriculum.
(1) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2012, and before January 1, 2017, a credit for qualified taxpayers, defined as the person responsible for planting a crop, managing the crop, and harvesting the crop from the land, in an amount equal to 10% of the cost that would otherwise be included in, or required to be included in, inventory costs, as specified under federal law, with respect to the donation of fresh fruits or fresh vegetables to food banks located in California. This bill, under both laws, would expand the credit to apply to the donation of qualified donation items, defined as raw agricultural products or processed foods. The bill would expand the definition of qualified taxpayer to also include the person responsible for growing or raising a qualified donation item, or harvesting, packing, or processing a qualified donation item. The bill would modify the credit amount to instead equal 15% of the qualified value, as defined, of the qualified donation items, but not less than an amount that would otherwise be calculated and allowed under existing law. The bill would extend the operation of the credit to taxable years before January 1, 2021, and would require it to be claimed on a timely filed original return. The bill would make various conforming changes and would also make a nonsubstantive change to the personal income tax provision. (2) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish and administer the State Emergency Food Assistance Program (SEFAP) , to provide food and funding for the provision of emergency food to food banks, as provided. Existing law creates the State Emergency Food Assistance Program Account and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would 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 and for the department's administrative costs. This bill would rename the State Emergency Food Assistance Program (SEFAP) as the CalFood Program and would rename the State Emergency Food Assistance Program Account as the CalFood Account. The bill would make other conforming changes in this regard.
Under existing law, by executive order, CaliforniaVolunteers is established in the office of the Governor and is charged with overseeing programs and initiatives for service and volunteerism. This bill would authorize CaliforniaVolunteers, for so long as it is authorized to exist, to form a tax-exempt public benefit nonprofit corporation, or other tax-exempt entity, qualified under federal and state law to raise revenues and receive grants or other financial support from private or public sources, for the purposes of undertaking or funding any lawful activity authorized to be undertaken by CaliforniaVolunteers. This bill would require the nonprofit corporation or other tax-exempt entity to use the financial support it seeks to be used solely for the governmental purposes approved by CaliforniaVolunteers for activities within the scope of authority of CaliforniaVolunteers. This bill would also establish California AmeriCorps – STEM in state government, to be administered by CaliforniaVolunteers and operate under existing federal AmeriCorps program guidelines. This bill would require that California AmeriCorps – STEM members be selected through an application process for eligible college graduates or students, as specified. This bill would allow a nonprofit corporation, as specified, or a public entity to apply, individually or in partnership with a corporation or individual interested in the promotion of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, to CaliforniaVolunteers, through a competitive request for proposal process, to host one or more California AmeriCorps – STEM members. This bill would provide that the purpose of California AmeriCorps – STEM is to increase STEM education programs to prepare the next generation for jobs in the STEM fields. This bill would authorize CaliforniaVolunteers to solicit and accept private funding to help supplement the costs of California AmeriCorps – STEM.
Existing law, the federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993, requires a state to, among other things, establish procedures to register a person to vote by application made simultaneously with an application for a new or renewal of a motor vehicle driver's license. The federal act requires the motor vehicle driver's license application to serve as an application for voter registration with respect to an election for federal office, unless the applicant fails to sign the application, and requires the application to be considered as updating the applicant's previous voter registration, if any. The federal act defines "motor vehicle driver's license" to include any personal identification document issued by a state motor vehicle authority. Under existing state law, a person may not be registered to vote except by affidavit of registration. Existing law requires a properly executed affidavit of registration to be deemed effective upon receipt of the affidavit by the county elections official if the affidavit is submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles on or before the 15th day before the election. Existing state law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Secretary of State to develop a process and the infrastructure to allow a person who is qualified to register to vote in the state to register to vote online. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue driver's licenses and state identification cards to applicants who meet specified criteria and provide the department with the required information. Existing law generally requires an applicant for an original driver's license or state identification card to submit satisfactory proof to the department that the applicant's presence in the United States is authorized under federal law. This bill would require the Secretary of State and the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish the California New Motor Voter Program for the purpose of increasing opportunities for voter registration by any person who is qualified to be a voter. Under the program, after the Secretary of State certifies that certain enumerated conditions are satisfied, the Department of Motor Vehicles would be required to electronically provide to the Secretary of State the records of each person who is issued an original or renewal of a driver's license or state identification card or who provides the department with a change of address, as specified. The person's motor vehicle records would then constitute a completed affidavit of registration and the person would be registered to vote, unless the person affirmatively declined to be registered to vote during a transaction with the department, the department did not represent to the Secretary of State that the person attested that he or she meets all voter eligibility requirements, as specified, or the Secretary of State determines that the person is ineligible to vote. The bill would require the Secretary of State to adopt regulations to implement this program, as specified. Under existing law, the willful, unauthorized disclosure of information from a Department of Motor Vehicles record to any person, or the use of any false representation to obtain information from a department record or any use of information obtained from any department record for a purpose other than the one stated in the request or the sale or other distribution of the information to a person or organization for purposes not disclosed in the request is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000 or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or both fine and imprisonment. This bill would provide that disclosure of information contained in the records obtained from the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to the California New Motor Voter Program is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000 or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or both fine and imprisonment. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, the Information Practices Act of 1977, authorizes every state agency to maintain in its records only personal information that is relevant and necessary to accomplish a purpose of the agency, or is required or authorized by state or federal law. That act specifies the situations in which disclosure is permissible and also specifies the manner in which agencies must account for disclosures of personal information, including those due to security breaches, among other provisions. This bill would require the Secretary of State to establish procedures to safeguard the confidentiality of information acquired from the Department of Motor Vehicles pursuant to the California New Motor Voter Program and would state that the provisions of the Information Practices Act of 1977 govern disclosures pursuant to the program. Existing law makes it a crime for a person to willfully cause, procure, or allow himself or herself or any other person to be registered as a voter, knowing that he or she or that other person is not entitled to registration. Existing law also makes it a crime to fraudulently vote or attempt to vote. This bill would provide that if a person who is ineligible to vote becomes registered to vote by operation of the California New Motor Voter Program in the absence of a violation by that person of the crime described above, that person's registration shall be presumed to have been effected with official authorization and not the fault of that person. The bill would also provide that if a person who is ineligible to vote becomes registered to vote by operation of this program, and that person votes or attempts to vote in an election held after the effective date of the person's registration, that person shall be presumed to have acted with official authorization and is not guilty of fraudulently voting or attempting to vote, unless that person willfully votes or attempts to vote knowing that he or she is not entitled to vote. This bill would also make conforming changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 2102 of the Elections Code, proposed by SB 589, that would become operative only if SB 589 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2016, and this bill is chaptered last. 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.
(1) Existing law establishes the California-Mexico Border Relations Council in state government, and prescribes the membership and functions and duties of the council with respect to coordinating the activities of state agencies, including environmental agencies, that are related to cross-border programs, initiatives, projects, and partnerships that exist within state agencies, and state and local efforts that are of concern between California and Mexico. Existing law requires the council to develop a strategic plan to guide a project to study, monitor, remediate, and enhance water quality in the New River in Imperial County. Existing law establishes the California Border Environmental and Public Health Protection Fund and makes moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation, to the Secretary for Environmental Protection for grants for specified health and environmental projects and purposes relating to the California-Mexico border region. This bill would add the Secretary of State and Consumer Services as a member of the council and provide that the Regional Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9, may appoint a representative from his or her staff to serve as an ex-officio, nonvoting member of the council. The bill would require the council to invite the participation of representatives of the State of Baja California and the Mexican government to participate in meetings. The bill would require the council to establish the New River Water Quality, Public Health, and River Parkway Development Program to coordinate funding for, and the implementation of, recommendations from the strategic plan and the projects identified pursuant to existing law. The bill would make moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation, to the council for grants for specified health and environmental projects and purposes relating to the California-Mexico border region. The bill would provide that specified water bond proceeds may be deposited in the fund to be available, upon appropriation, to the council for these purposes. (2) Existing law authorizes the Director of Water Resources to establish a program of flood damage reduction and urban creek restoration known as the Urban Streams Restoration Program. For purposes of the program, urban creek protection, restoration, and enhancement include, but are not limited to, the maintenance of channel capacity, channel stabilization, vegetation management, and adaptive management to meet program objectives. This bill would also include the reduction of water quality impairments and nonpoint source water pollution, and the establishment of parkways for public use that benefit flood control and water quality among the types of measures that are included in the program. Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to coordinate the program with the Department of Fish and Wildlife, as prescribed. This bill would, in addition, require the Department of Water Resources to consult with the council to establish criteria to fund projects that improve conditions for cross-border urban creeks. (3) 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 $1,495,000,000 is to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for competitive grants for multibenefit ecosystem and watershed protection and restoration projects. The bond act authorizes the use of $285,000,000 of those funds for watershed restoration projects through a program implemented by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. This bill would require the department to consult with the council to establish criteria to fund watershed restoration projects that improve conditions for cross-border urban creeks and watersheds.
Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board various responsibilities and duties relating to providing a dependable, safe supply of drinking water. The act prohibits the state board from issuing a permit to a public water system or amending a valid existing permit to allow the use of point-of-use treatment unless the state board determines that there is no community opposition to the installation of the treatment device. This bill would require the state board to adopt regulations, similar to those previously authorized for adoption by the State Department of Public Health, governing the use of point-of-entry and point-of-use treatment by a public water system in lieu of centralized treatment where it can be demonstrated that centralized treatment is not immediately economically feasible, with specified limitations. The bill would also require the state board to adopt emergency regulations governing the permitted use of point-of-use and point-of-entry treatment by public water systems in lieu of centralized treatment, as specified, and would require that these emergency regulations remain in effect until the earlier of January 1, 2018, or the effective date of the required nonemergency regulations. This bill would also prohibit the use of point-of-entry treatment absent a state board determination of no community opposition. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The Salton Sea Restoration Act requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation and coordination with the Salton Sea Authority, to lead Salton Sea restoration efforts. The act authorizes the authority to lead a feasibility study, in coordination and under contract with the secretary, as prescribed. The act requires the secretary to seek input from the authority with regard to specified components of the restoration of the Salton Sea. This bill would require, on or before March 31, 2016, the Natural Resources Agency to submit to the Legislature a list of shovel-ready, as defined, Salton Sea restoration projects, including information regarding project costs and project completion timelines.