The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, requires every rigid plastic packaging container, as defined, sold or offered for sale in this state to generally meet one of specified criteria. This bill would enact the Plastic and Marine Pollution Reduction, Recycling, and Composting Act and would define terms for the purposes of that act. The bill would define the term "fast food facility" as a facility that is subject to specified federal requirements for the posting of calories and nutrients imposed upon restaurants and other retail food establishments, and that meets other specified requirements with regard to the dispensing and preparation of food. The bill would prohibit a fast food facility, on and after July 1, 2014, from distributing disposable food service packaging or a single-use carryout bag to a consumer, unless the type of disposable food service packaging or single-use carryout bag meets the criteria for either compostable packaging or recyclable packaging specified in the bill. The bill would also prohibit such a facility, on and after July 1, 2016, from distributing disposable food service packaging or a single-use carryout bag to a consumer, unless it is demonstrated to the satisfaction of the department that the type of disposable food service packaging or single-use carryout bag is recovered for composting or recovered for recycling at a rate of 25 percent or more, at a rate of 50 percent on and after July 1, 2018, and at a rate of 75 percent or more on or after July 1, 2020. The bill would specify requirements for the demonstration of that composting or recycling rate. The bill would provide for the imposition of a civil penalty upon a person in violation of the act and would require the department to publish annually a list setting forth any penalties that have been levied against a violator of this act. This bill would require the department to deposit all penalties paid pursuant to the act into the Marine Pollution Reduction Account, which the bill would create in the Integrated Waste Management Fund in the State Treasury. The bill would authorize the department to expend the moneys deposited in the account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to provide public education and assist local governmental agencies in efforts to reduce plastic waste and marine pollution, and for the department's costs of implementing the act.
Sponsored bills
The California Clean Energy Jobs Act, an initiative approved by the voters at the November 6, 2012, statewide general election as Proposition 39, made changes to corporate income taxes and, except as specified, provides for the transfer of $550,000,000 annually from the General Fund to the Clean Energy Job Creation Fund for 5 fiscal years beginning with the 2013–14 fiscal year. Moneys in the Clean Energy Job Creation Fund are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of funding eligible projects that create jobs in California improving energy efficiency and expanding clean energy generation. Existing law provides for allocation of these funds to public school facilities, university and college facilities, other public buildings and facilities, as well as job training and workforce development, and public-private partnerships, for eligible projects, as specified. This bill would require the California Energy Commission to administer, in coordination with the Public Utilities Commission, the Office of the President of the University of California, the Office of the Chancellor of the California State University, and the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, grants, loans, or other financial assistance to the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges for projects that create jobs in California by reducing energy demand and consumption at eligible institutions. The bill would provide that, for each fiscal year that revenue is deposited into the Clean Energy Job Creation Fund, up to $152,000,000 would be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the bill, as specified.
Under existing law, the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources in the Department of Conservation regulates the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state. The State Oil and Gas Supervisor supervises the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities related to oil and gas production within an oil and gas field regarding safety and environmental damage. Existing law further requires a person who acquires the right to operate a well or production facility, whether by purchase, transfer, assignment, conveyance, exchange, or other disposition, to meet specific requirements before drilling operations. This bill would additionally require the operator prior to drilling, redrilling, or deepening operations to submit proof to the supervisor that the applicable regional water quality control board has approved the disposal method and location of wastewater disposal for the well. Existing law requires the supervisor, on or before the first day of October of each year, to make public a report on specified information. Existing law requires an operator of a well, on or before the end of each month, to file with the supervisor a statement for the last preceding calendar month detailing specified information. This bill would additionally require the supervisor to include information on the origin and total amount of freshwater used in each county for the production of oil and gas production, the disposal of wastewater from oil and gas production in each county, and the well casing failures in each county. The bill would additionally require the operator of a well to include in the statement information on the origin and total amount of freshwater used in each well or in each oil field if the operator has multiple wells within the oil field, and the disposal of wastewater. Because a violation of this requirement is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the operator of a well, at least 30 days prior to commencing a hydraulic fracturing treatment, as defined, to provide a copy of the approved hydraulic fracturing treatment permit to specified surface property owners. The bill would authorize those property owners to request the applicable regional water quality control board to perform water quality sampling and testing on any water well suitable for drinking or irrigation purposes, as specified. The bill would require a notice of intent to drill, rework, or deepen a well where hydraulic fracturing will occur to include specified information. The bill would require, as a part of a notice of intent to drill, rework, or deepen a well where hydraulic fracturing will occur, the operation of a well to provide to the appropriate water quality control board a groundwater monitoring plan containing specified information for approval under specified circumstances. Because a violation of these requirements is a crime, 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 Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, requires retailers of rechargeable batteries to have in place a system for the acceptance and collection of rechargeable batteries. This bill would require, by January 1, 2015, a producer or a household battery stewardship organization appointed by one or more producers of a household battery to submit to the department a household battery stewardship plan, which would be required to include specified elements. The bill would require the department to review a household battery stewardship plan submitted to the department within 30 days after receipt and to approve or disapprove the plan, as specified. The bill would prohibit a producer, wholesaler, or retailer, on and after September 1, 2015, from selling a household battery unless the plan for that battery is approved by the department. The bill would require a producer or the household battery stewardship organization to implement the household battery program pursuant to the household battery stewardship plan, including achieving a specified collection rate. The bill would require each producer or household battery stewardship organization implementing a household battery stewardship plan to prepare and submit to the department an annual report describing the activities carried out pursuant to the household battery stewardship plan. The bill would require a producer or household battery stewardship organization submitting a household battery stewardship plan to pay the department a plan review fee, as determined by the department, when submitting the plan to the department and to pay an administrative fee, as determined by the department, when submitting the annual report. The bill would provide for the imposition of administrative civil penalties upon a wholesaler or retailer selling household batteries in violation of the bill. The bill would create the Household Battery Stewardship Account in the existing Integrated Waste Management Fund and would require that the fees be deposited into that account and that the penalties be deposited into the Household Battery Stewardship Penalty Subaccount that the bill would create in that account. The bill would authorize the fees and penalties to be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the department's program implementation costs and would authorize all funds collected or received by the department under the program, except for the fees, to be expended as incentives to enhance recyclability and redesign efforts and to reduce environmental and safety impacts of batteries. The bill would also allow a producer or organization that is implementing an approved plan and incurring specified costs to bring a civil action to recover costs, damages, and fees from another producer for failure to comply with the bill's provisions.
Existing law requires every person employing labor to provide the Industrial Welfare Commission with any report or information the commission requires to carry out its duties, including, but not limited to, records showing the names and addresses of all employees employed and the ages of all minors. This bill would require an employer who employs 50 or more full-time equivalent employees to annually report to the Employment Development Department specified information relating to the average number of hours each employee worked per week in a calendar year and whether those employees were enrolled in minimum essential coverage, as defined, under an eligible employer-sponsored health care plan.
The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , with regulatory jurisdiction over all public utilities, as defined. Existing law authorizes the PUC to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires that any expense resulting from a bonus paid to an executive officer, as defined, of a public utility that has ceased to pay its debts in the ordinary course of business, be borne by the shareholders of the public utility and prohibits any expense from being recovered in rates. This bill would require that any expense incurred by a public utility in assisting or deterring union organizing, as defined, is not recoverable either directly or indirectly in the utility's rates and is required to be borne exclusively by the shareholders of the public utility. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill are within the act and require action by the commission to implement its requirements, a violation of these provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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 Medi-Cal Act establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments to be reduced by 1% or 5%, and provider payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 1%, for dates of service on and after March 1, 2009, and until June 1, 2011. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments and payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 10% for dates of service on and after June 1, 2011. This bill would instead require that, to the extent permitted by federal law, this payment reduction not apply to skilled nursing facilities or subacute care units that are a distinct part of a general acute care hospital, intermediate care or other specified facilities serving developmentally disabled individuals, or specified Medi-Cal provider payments for fee-for-service benefits, including payments to pharmacies, for dates of service on or after June 1, 2011. The bill would also provide that this payment reduction shall not apply to managed health care plans for dates of service after the effective date of the bill. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing sales and use tax laws impose sales and use taxes on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state, measured by the sales price. Existing law also provides for specific exemptions from these taxes. This bill would, on and after January 1, 2014, and before January 1, 2022, exempt from those taxes, that portion of the gross receipts from the sale of, and that portion of the sales price with respect to the storage, use, or other consumption of, a qualified motor vehicle, as defined, that is the greater of (1) the sum of the amount of any credit under a specified provision of the Internal Revenue Code relating to new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles, and any amount received, awarded, or allowed pursuant to a state incentive program for the purchase or lease of an alternative fuel vehicle; or (2) the value of a motor vehicle that is traded in for the motor vehicle that qualifies for a credit or incentive amount under those programs, if the value of the trade-in motor vehicle is separately stated on the new motor vehicle invoice or bill of sale or similar document provided to the purchaser. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing law authorizes districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Exemptions from state sales and use taxes are incorporated into these laws. This bill would specify that this exclusion does not apply to local sales and use taxes, transactions and use taxes, or to specified state sales and use taxes. The Vehicle License Fee Law provides that the annual amount of the license fee for any vehicle is 0.65% of the market value of the vehicle, as specified. That law provides for the determination of the market value of any vehicle, for reclassification to increase the market value of a vehicle, and for the exemption of certain vehicles from the imposition of the license fee. This bill would, on and after January 1, 2014, and before January 1, 2022, for purposes of determining the vehicle license fee, exempt from the determination of market value of a new motor vehicle propelled by alternative fuels any amount allowed as a credit under a specified provision of the Internal Revenue Code, relating to new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles, and any amounts received, awarded, or allowed pursuant to a state incentive program for the purchase or lease of an alternative fuel vehicle, as provided. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law establishes an accidental release prevention program implemented by the Office of Emergency Services and the appropriate administering agency, as defined, in each city or county. Under existing law, stationary sources subject to this accidental release prevention program are required to prepare a risk management plan (RMP) when required under certain federal regulations or if the administering agency determines there is a significant likelihood that the use of regulated substances by a stationary source may pose a regulated substances accident risk. Under existing law, the RMP is required to be submitted to the California Environmental Protection Agency and to the administering agency. Existing law imposes criminal penalties upon a stationary source that knowingly violates requirements of the accidental release prevention program. This bill would require an owner or operator of a stationary source that is engaged in certain activities with regard to petroleum and with one or more covered processes that is required to prepare and submit an RMP, when contracting for the performance of construction, alteration, demolition, installation, repair, or maintenance work at the stationary source, to require that its contractors and any subcontractors use a skilled and trained workforce to perform all onsite work within an apprenticeable occupation in the building and construction trades, including skilled journeypersons paid at least a rate equivalent to the applicable prevailing hourly wage rate. The bill would not apply to oil and gas extraction operations. Because the bill would make a knowing violation of these requirements a crime, and would otherwise impose new duties upon local agencies administering the program, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards of the Department of Industrial Relations to approve a curriculum of in-person classroom and laboratory instruction for approved advanced safety training for workers at high hazard facilities by January 1, 2016. The bill would define terms for purposes of the bill. 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 specified reasons.