Existing law establishes the Public Safety Communications Division within the Office of Emergency Services, under the supervision of a chief, to carry out specific duties relating to state needs and plans for public safety communications systems and equipment. This bill would require the division to require its California 911 Emergency Communications Branch to work with the Department of the California Highway Patrol to continue the work of the Routing on Empirical Data (RED) Project by using the technology and procedures employed in that project to assist in determining whether wireless 911 calls should be routed to a local public safety answering point or a California Highway Patrol call center. The bill would require that the project use historical empirical call data to determine the most efficient routing for wireless 911 calls. The Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act generally imposes a surcharge on amounts paid by every person in the state for intrastate telephone service to provide revenues sufficient to fund "911" emergency telephone system costs, and requires the Office of Emergency Services to annually determine the surcharge rate, subject to a specified formula, that it estimates will produce sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal year's 911 costs, as specified. This bill would instead impose the surcharge at a flat monthly rate of between $0.15 and $0.75, determined annually by the office. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
The Political Reform Act of 1974 generally prohibits a public official, as defined, from making, participating in making, or using his or her official position to influence a governmental decision in which the official has a financial interest. The act also requires the disclosure of specified financial interests of certain public officials on a statement of economic interests, which is filed annually. The act imposes certain restrictions on postgovernmental employment of specified public officials of state and local agencies. This bill would require each state agency and each local agency that maintains an Internet Web site to make publicly available on that Internet Web site the statements of economic interests filed by the specified public officials. This bill would prohibit an elected or appointed officer of a state or local agency, while holding office and for a period of one year after leaving office, from engaging in specified conduct, including maintaining employment with, as specified, or being a compensated consultant of that agency or, for compensation, aiding, advising, consulting with, or assisting an entity with a permit, regulatory action, or enforcement action pending before the agency. A violation of the act is punishable as a misdemeanor. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also impose a state-mandated local program by increasing the duties imposed on local officials. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
(1) 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 requires the state board to adopt regulations to require the reporting and verification of statewide greenhouse gas emissions and to monitor and enforce compliance with this program. The act requires the state board to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined, to be achieved by 2020 equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990. Existing law requires the state board to complete a comprehensive strategy to reduce emissions of short-lived climate pollutants, as defined, in the state. This bill would require the state board to consider and, as appropriate, adopt policies to significantly increase the sustainable production and use of biogas, as defined, and, in so doing, would require the state board, among other things, to ensure the production and use of biogas provides direct environmental benefits and identify barriers to the rapid development and use of biogas and potential sources of funding. The bill would require the state board to develop and adopt a life-cycle accounting method for greenhouse gases and emissions of short-lived climate pollutants associated with biogas produced from forest biomass, as specified. (2) Existing law requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, in consultation with the state board, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and the California Environmental Protection Agency, to compile a list of constituents of concern that could pose risks to human health and that are found in biogas, as defined, at concentrations that significantly exceed the concentrations of those constituents in natural gas. Existing law requires the office to determine the health protective levels for that list, as specified, and requires the state board to identify realistic exposure scenarios and the health risks associated with those scenarios, as specified. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to adopt, by rule or order, standards for biomethane, as defined, that specify the concentrations of constituents of concern that are reasonably necessary to protect public health and ensure pipeline integrity and safety, as specified, and requirements for monitoring, testing, reporting, and recordkeeping, as specified. Existing law requires a gas corporation to comply with those standards and requirements and requires the commission to require gas corporation tariffs to condition access to common carrier pipelines on the applicable customer meeting those standards and requirements. This bill would revise the definitions of biogas and biomethane for these purposes.
Existing law makes it a crime, punishable as specified, to commit various forms of animal abuse, including, among others, maliciously or intentionally maiming or killing an animal and dogfighting. This bill would require a person sentenced for 2 or more current convictions for specified animal abuse and animal cruelty offenses to be sentenced to consecutive terms of imprisonment. By requiring consecutive terms of imprisonment in a county jail for certain convictions, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.
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. This bill would require the state board, no later than July 1, 2018, to review any regulation adopted as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to consider the intended purpose and consistency of requirements aimed to prevent resource shuffling, as defined, among all fuels subject to that regulation.
Existing law requires the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities attendant to oil and gas production. Existing law authorizes the supervisor to require a well operator to implement a monitoring program, designed to detect releases to the soil and water, for aboveground oil production tanks and facilities. The federal Safe Drinking Water Act regulates certain wells as Class II wells. Under existing federal law, the authority to regulate Class II wells in California is delegated to the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources. Under existing regulations, a well operator is required to obtain approval from the supervisor or a district deputy for a subsurface injection or disposal project, including Class II wells, or any change in a project, as provided. This bill would require the division to provide an opportunity and the information necessary for the State Water Resources Control Board and the appropriate regional water quality control board to review, comment on, and propose additional requirements for Class II underground injection well projects. The bill would require the state board or the appropriate regional water quality control board to review, comment on, and propose additional requirements it deems necessary for those projects to ensure that the injection of fluids will not affect the quality of water that is, or may reasonably be, used for any beneficial use. The bill would prohibit the division from approving those projects without written concurrence from the state board or the appropriate regional water quality control board and would require the written concurrence to describe the rationale for the concurrence and explanation as to why additional requirements were or were not required for those projects.
This measure would recognize May 2016 as National Mental Health Awareness Month in California to enhance public awareness of mental illness.
This measure would recognize Nowrūz, the Persian New Year celebration.
This bill would proclaim the week of April 3, 2016, to April 9, 2016, inclusive, as Adult Education Week, and would honor the teachers, administrators, classified staff, and students of adult education programs statewide for their efforts, persistence, and accomplishments.