Existing law provides that any elected public officer who takes public office, or is reelected to public office, on or after January 1, 2006, who is convicted of any specified felony arising directly out of his or her official duties, forfeits all rights and benefits under, and membership in, any public retirement system in which he or she is a member, effective on the date of final conviction, as specified. This measure would require that a public employee, as defined, who is convicted of any violent felony, serious felony, or a sex offense, as defined, for conduct arising out of, or in the performance of, his or her official duties in pursuit of the office or appointment, or in connection with obtaining salary, disability retirement, service retirement, or other benefits, forfeit retirement benefits attributable to service performed on and after the earliest date of the commission of the felony, as specified. The measure would also require any contributions to the public retirement system made by the public employee on or after that date to be returned, without interest, to the public employee upon the occurrence of a distribution event, as defined, unless otherwise ordered by a court or determined by the pension administrator. The measure would also make related, conforming changes.
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(1) Existing law establishes various public agency retirement systems, including the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , the State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) , the Judges' Retirement System II, and various county retirement systems pursuant to the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937, among others, and these systems provide defined pension benefits to public employees based on age, service credit, and amount of final compensation. The California Constitution permits a city or county to adopt a charter for purposes of its governance that supersedes general laws of the state in regard to specified subjects, including compensation of city or county employees. The California Constitution also establishes the University of California as a public trust with full powers of organization and government, subject only to specified limitations. Charter cities and the University of California may establish pension plans under their respective independent constitutional authority. These pension systems are funded by employee and employer contributions and investment returns. Existing law provides that public employee pension benefits are a form of deferred compensation, the right to which vests in the employee on contractual principles and is protected from impairment by the California Constitution and the United States Constitution. This measure would require each public retirement system, as defined in statute, to provide one or more hybrid pension plans meeting the requirements of this measure to each public employer that provides its employees a defined benefit pension plan administered by the public retirement system. The measure would require that a hybrid pension plan consist of a defined benefit component and a defined contribution or alternative plan design component, as specified. The measure would require, among other things, that a hybrid pension plan be designed with a goal of providing annually during retirement, based on a full career in public service, as defined, replacement income of 75% of a public employee's final compensation. The measure would require the Director of Finance, on or before January 1, 2013, to establish initial criteria and requirements for one or more hybrid pension plans, as specified. The measure would require, on and after July 1, 2013, each public retirement system to administer, and make available to each public employer that provides a defined benefit pension plan, one or more hybrid pension plans, except as specified, for public employees hired in each member classification in the public retirement system. The measure would require, for public employees hired on and after January 1, 2013, that retirement benefits be limited as provided, with regard to a defined benefit that is calculated with reference to final compensation, as specified, that final compensation be calculated using at least a consecutive 36-month period of service. The measure would establish various other limitations on the retirement benefits offered by public employers to public employees, regardless of the date the employees are hired, to the fullest extent permissible under the United States Constitution. In this regard, the measure would require that any change to a formula or benefit resulting in an increase in a member's pension benefits shall apply only to service performed on and after the operative date of the change and would require that employers and employees make required payments to fund the normal cost of benefits, as specified. The measure would require public employees to contribute at least 12 of the normal costs of any defined benefit plan and would prohibit an employer from paying an employee's required contributions, except as specified. The measure would also prohibit retirement systems from granting any nonqualified service credit, as specified. The measure additionally would require that a public employee, who is convicted of any felony arising from his or her official duties, forfeit retirement benefits based on certain statutes. The measure would limit the amount of service that a retired public employee may perform for public employers. The measure would provide that neither its provisions nor any related statutory provisions apply to, or otherwise restrict, death, survivor, and disability benefits, except as specified. The measure would provide that labor contracts that are in effect on November 7, 2012, and that are in conflict with the measure's provisions remain in effect until the expiration of the contract, at which time the requirements of the measure would apply. The measure would specify that terms used in those provisions are to be defined in a specified statute and would permit the Legislature to amend specified statutes referenced in the measure's provisions by a 23 vote of the membership of each house by a statute that is consistent with and furthers its purposes. The measure would provide that the activities, programs, and levels of service associated with its provisions are not state-mandated local programs requiring a subvention of funds. (2) The California Constitution prohibits the Legislature from changing the composition of the retirement board of a public pension or retirement system that included elected employee members as of a specified date, including the number, terms, and method of selection and removal of members, unless the change is ratified by a majority vote of the electors of the jurisdiction in which the participants of the system are, or were, prior to retirement, employed. This measure would require the composition of the retirement board of a public pension or retirement system to be modified, in the manner provided for in a specified statute, and would exempt that modification from ratification by the electors. (3) The measure would require the state to defend the constitutionality of its provisions.
This resolution would recognize the month of January 2012, and each following January, as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and it would recognize February 1, 2012, and each following February 1, as California's Free From Slavery Day.
(1) Existing law, for purposes of ethics training for officers and employees of a local government, defines the term ethics laws to include, among others, laws relating to government transparency. This bill would additionally define the term ethics laws to include compensation setting guidelines as established by specified organizations or the local agency. (2) Existing law requires local agency officials, as defined, to receive ethics training, if the local agency provides any type of compensation, salary, or stipend to a member of a legislative body, or provides reimbursement for actual and necessary expenses incurred by a member of a legislative body in the performance of official duties. This bill would require the local agency to post the ethics training records of all elected members of the local agency on the local agency's Internet Web site, if any, and to submit a copy of the records to the Controller within 90 days of receiving the records. By increasing the duties of local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law authorizes a local agency, as defined, to pay compensation to members of a legislative body for attendance at specified occurrences. Existing law authorizes a local agency to pay compensation for attendance at other occurrences if the governing body has adopted, in a public meeting, a written policy specifying other types of occasions that constitute the performance of official duties. Existing law authorizes a local agency to reimburse members of a legislative body for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of official duties, if the governing body has adopted a written policy, in a public meeting, specifying the types of occurrences that qualify a member of the legislative body to receive reimbursement of specified actual and necessary expenses. This bill would require a local agency that has adopted a written attendance compensation policy or written reimbursement policy to post the policy on the local agency's Internet Web site, if any, and to submit a copy of the policy to the Controller. The bill would, if a local agency does not comply with these requirements, require the Controller to withhold any funds to which the local agency is otherwise entitled, as specified. (4) 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
Existing law regulates the sale, purchase, or offer for sale of various appliances and devices, including heating appliances and automatic garage door openers. This bill would require a plastic pipe or plastic pipe fitting to be used for venting hot gases from a tankless water heater only if that pipe or pipe fitting meets specified certification requirements.
The Administrative Procedure Act governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. The act requires an agency, as part of the regulatory adoption process, to assess the potential for adverse economic impact on California business enterprises and individuals, as specified. The act requires an agency that seeks to adopt, amend, or repeal a regulation to release a notice of proposed action with prescribed information, including specified information regarding adverse economic impacts. The act requires an agency to file with the office, when it files the notice of proposed action, an initial statement of reasons that includes, among other things, a description of reasonable alternatives to the proposed regulation and the agency's reason for rejecting the alternatives, as specified. This bill would require the initial statement of reasons to also identify each document, including, but not limited to, technical, theoretical, and empirical studies, reports, or similar documents, upon which the agency relied in rejecting each reasonable alternative. The bill would prohibit an agency from rejecting a reasonable alternative unless the statement of reasons includes at least one of these documents. The bill would also repeal a provision that authorizes the agency to avoid having to artificially construct alternatives, describe unreasonable alternatives, or justify why it did not describe alternatives. The bill would require an agency to determine whether a proposed regulation will have a significant adverse economic impact by completing an economic impact statement, using a form developed by the Department of Finance, as specified. The bill would require the agency to post the economic impact statement, including specified supporting information, on the agency's Internet Web site and include it as part of the rulemaking file, as specified. The bill would require that the notice of proposed action include a notice that describes how the public may obtain access to the economic impact statement, including the supporting information, on the agency Internet Web site or in hard copy, as specified.
Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, prescribes licensure requirements for the operation of child day care facilities, day care centers, and family day care homes. The act exempts specified facilities and arrangements, including public recreation programs that meet specified criteria, from its provisions. Under existing law, any exempt public recreation program operated as prescribed for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, must operate for under 16 hours per week and for a total of 12 weeks or less during a 12-month period. This bill would authorize any exempt public recreation program operated for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to operate for under 20 hours per week and for a total of 14 weeks or less during a 12-month period.
Under existing law, boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs are responsible for the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations. Existing law also provides for the licensure, registration, and regulation of clinical laboratories and various clinical laboratory personnel by the State Department of Public Health. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would require that all professional and vocational licenses currently issued by the Department of Consumer Affairs and its affiliate boards, and specified licenses issued by the State Department of Public Health, be issued from one central location and that the current regulatory, oversight, and enforcement authority with respect to holders of those licenses remain with those boards and the department currently performing those functions.
Existing law states that each child is a unique person, with unique needs, and that the purpose of the educational system of this state is to enable each child to develop all of his or her own potential. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to this provision.