The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act establishes procedures governing the resolution of disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment between public employers and public employee organizations. Under the act, public employees have the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for purposes of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations. For purposes of the act, "public employee" is defined as any person employed by any public agency, including employees of the fire departments and fire services of counties, cities, cities and counties, districts, and other political subdivisions of the state, but does not include persons elected by popular vote or appointed to office by the Governor. This bill would expand the definition of "public employee" to include any person employed by an employer that is a not a public agency, but with which a public agency shares or codetermines decisions governing essential employment conditions of that person. The bill would also state that its provisions are declaratory of existing law.
Sponsored bills
This measure would call upon all Californians to observe César Chávez's birthday, March 31, as a day of public service, to recognize the hard work and self-sacrifice that farmworkers go through to feed all the families in our state, and to learn from César Chávez's life and his mission of nonviolence, social justice, and selfless service to others.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law requires the PUC to administer, until January 1, 2016, a self-generation incentive program for distributed generation resources to facilitate the integration of those resources into the electrical grid, improve efficiency and reliability of the distribution and transmission system, and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, peak demand, and ratepayer costs. This bill would require the PUC to convene a proceeding on or before July 1, 2013, to develop rules, as prescribed, for the reimbursement of distribution grid upgrade costs to developers of wholesale distribution generation facilities constructed subsequent to the completion of interconnection studies. The bill would require those costs to be included in each electrical corporation's rate base.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law requires the PUC to administer, until January 1, 2016, a self-generation incentive program for distributed generation resources to facilitate the integration of those resources into the electrical grid, improve efficiency and reliability of the distribution and transmission system, and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, peak demand, and ratepayer costs. This bill would require the PUC to ensure, through its decisions in electrical corporation general rate cases and related proceedings, that all investments in the distribution grid are compatible with optimal deployment of distributed generation, to the extent grid upgrades are required to meet a goal of 12,000 megawatts of distributed generation by 2020.
This measure would designate the month of November 2012 as California Runaway and Homeless Youth Month and would recognize the need for individuals, schools, communities, businesses, local governments, and the state to take action on behalf of runaway and homeless youth in California.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law, relative to private energy producers, requires every electric utility, as defined, to make available to an eligible customer-generator, as defined, a standard contract or tariff for net energy metering on a first-come-first-served basis until the time that the total rated generating capacity used by eligible customer-generators exceeds 5% of the electric utility's aggregate customer peak demand. This bill would specify that an electric utility is also not obligated to provide net energy metering to additional eligible customer-generators that are public agencies whose facilities have a total capacity of more than one megawatt if the collective state-wide capacity of these customers exceeds 100 megawatts. The existing definition of an eligible customer-generator requires that the generator be a residential, small commercial, commercial, industrial, or agricultural customer of the electric utility, that the generating facility use a renewable source listed in the definition of a renewable electricity generation facility that is used for purposes of the Renewable Energy Resources Program administered by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, that the generating facility have a total capacity of not more than one megawatt, and that it meet certain locational and operational requirements. Existing law authorizes a local publicly owned electric utility to elect to provide co-energy metering, as defined, rather than net energy metering. This bill would include in the definition of an eligible customer-generator, a public agency customer, as defined, meeting the existing requirements applicable to residential, small commercial, commercial, industrial, or agricultural customers, except that that generation facility have a total capacity of not more than 2 megawatts. This bill would also require an eligible customer-generator that is a public agency whose facility or facilities has a total capacity of more than one megawatt to pay for an interconnection study associated with that customer, as well as any distribution grid upgrades found to be necessary by that study. 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 an order of the commission would be required to implement certain of the bill's requirements and a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. Because the bill would expand the net energy metering or co-energy meeting requirements for local publicly owned electric utilities, the 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 specified reasons.
This measure would proclaim California as a Purple Heart State, honoring the service and sacrifices of our nation's men and women in uniform wounded or killed by the enemy while serving to protect the freedoms enjoyed by all Americans.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act authorizes a licensed distilled spirits manufacturer to conduct tastings of distilled spirits produced or bottled by, or produced or bottled for, the licensee, on the licensed premises, under specified conditions. The act provides that a violation of its provisions is a misdemeanor, unless otherwise specified. This bill would authorize licensed distilled spirits manufacturers to charge consumers for tastings and would impose additional conditions on the provision of tastings by the licensee. Because the violation of a provision of a license is punishable as a misdemeanor, the bill expands the definition of an existing crime, thereby creating 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.
This measure would proclaim April 15 through April 22, 2012, as California Holocaust Memorial Week and would urge Californians to observe these days of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust in an appropriate manner.