Asm. Brian Nestande

Existing law provides, upon being served with a summons and complaint asserting a construction-related accessibility claim, that specified defendants may file a request for a court stay and early evaluation conference in the proceedings, as specified. This bill would permit a local government, as defined, to file a request for a court stay and early evaluation conference pursuant to this provision.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various healing arts professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law requires the rules and regulations of these healing arts boards to provide for methods of evaluating education, training, and experience obtained in military service if such training is applicable to the requirements of the particular profession or vocation regulated by the board. Under existing law, specified other healing arts professions and vocations are licensed or certified and regulated by the State Department of Public Health. In some instances, a board with the Department of Consumer Affairs or the State Department of Public Health approves schools offering educational course credit for meeting licensing or certification qualifications and requirements. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health, upon the presentation of evidence by an applicant for licensure or certification, to accept education, training, and practical experience completed by an applicant in military service toward the qualifications and requirements to receive a license or certificate for specified professions and vocations if that education, training, or experience is equivalent to the standards of the department. If a board within the Department of Consumer Affairs or the State Department of Public Health accredits or otherwise approves schools offering educational course credit for meeting licensing and certification qualifications and requirements, the bill would, not later than January 1, 2015, require those schools seeking accreditation or approval to have procedures in place to evaluate an applicant's military education, training, and practical experience toward the completion of an educational program that would qualify a person to apply for licensure or certification, as specified. Under existing law, the Department of Veterans Affairs has specified powers and duties relating to various programs serving veterans. Under existing law, the Chancellor of the California State University and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges have specified powers and duties relating to statewide health education programs. With respect to complying with the bill's requirements and obtaining specified funds to support compliance with these provisions, this bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Chancellor of the California State University, and the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to provide technical assistance to the healing arts boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs, the State Department of Public Health, and to the schools offering, or seeking to offer, educational course credit for meeting licensing qualifications and requirements.

Existing law provides that any person who actively participates in any criminal street gang with knowledge that the members of the gang engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by members of that gang, is guilty of a crime punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years. This bill would revise and expand the scope of the provision described above to apply to a person who actively participates in a criminal street gang with knowledge that the gang's members or active participants engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who (1) commits, alone or in concert, a felony that is one of the gang's primary activities, as described, (2) aids or abets any felony committed by a member of, or active participant in, that gang, or (3) willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by a member of, or an active participant in, that gang. By revising and expanding the scope of a crime, 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 a specified reason.

Existing law, as added by Proposition 112, adopted June 5, 1990, establishes the California Citizen Compensation Commission and requires the commission to establish the annual salary and the medical, dental, insurance, and other similar benefits of state officers, including Members of the Legislature. The Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act, which governs health care coverage available to public employees, specifies that a Member of the Legislature is eligible to enroll in an approved health benefit plan, as defined, pursuant to that act. Existing law establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) within state government, specifies the powers and duties of the board governing the Exchange, and requires the board to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans through the Exchange by qualified individuals and small employers by January 1, 2014. This bill would instead provide that the only health benefit plans available to a Member of the Legislature who is elected to or serving in office on or after January 1, 2015, with respect to his or her service as a Member of the Legislature, are health benefit plans that are offered through the Exchange. The bill would require the state to reimburse the Member for the cost of coverage in an amount not to exceed the amount of the state employer's contribution for coverage for a Member as of December 31, 2014.

Existing law imposes various duties and responsibilities on the Governor and the Department of Finance in connection with the preparation and submission of the annual State Budget to the Legislature at each regular session thereof, including, among other things, the requirement to include a complete plan of all proposed expenditures and estimated revenues for the ensuing fiscal year. This bill additionally would require the Governor, or the Department of Finance acting on his or her behalf, at the time the Governor's Budget is submitted to the Legislature, to submit specified information to the Legislature, including a list of the state's key liabilities relating to debt, infrastructure, retirement, and other liabilities that will affect the state's financial health in the future. The bill also would require the Governor's Budget to include a section that specifies the percentages and amounts of General Fund revenues that must be set aside and applied toward paying off key liabilities. The bill further would restrict the Governor from including in the budget as estimated revenues those revenues estimated to be generated from laws, programs, or executive actions not in effect or effectuated at the time the budget is submitted to the Legislature.

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including a credit in the amount of $3,000 for each full-time employee hired by a qualified employer applicable to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2009, and ending upon a cut-off date calculated based upon an estimate by the Franchise Tax Board of claims cumulatively totaling $400,000,000 for all taxable years, as specified. Existing law also creates the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, which has specified duties in regard to low-income housing credits. This bill would instead calculate the cut-off date for the above-described hiring credit based upon an estimate by the Franchise Tax Board of claims cumulatively totaling $200,000,000 for all taxable years, as specified. This bill would also allow a credit under both laws, in modified conformity with a federal New Market Tax Credit, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2013, and before January 1, 2020, in a specified amount for investments in low-income communities. The bill would limit the total annual amount of credit allowed pursuant to these provisions to $40,000,000 and would limit the allocation of the credit to a cumulative total of no more than $200,000,000. This bill would impose specified duties on the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee with regard to the application for, and allocation of, the credit. The bill would require the committee to establish and impose reasonable fees upon entities that apply for the allocation of the credit and use the revenue to defray the cost of administering the program, as specified, thereby making an appropriation. This bill would also appropriate $150,000 from the Tax Credit Allocation Fee Account to the committee for purposes of implementing the tax credit. This bill would result in a change in state taxes for the purpose of increasing state revenues within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law establishes the various segments of the public higher education system in this state. These segments include the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, which is administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, which is administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. This bill would require the Trustees of the California State University and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and would request the Regents of the University of California, to report to the Legislature, by January 1, 2016, and every 2 years thereafter, on workload and key performance data on distance learning courses, as defined. These provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2020.

Existing law authorizes the governing board of any school district to permit a person, except a person required to register as a sex offender, as specified, to volunteer to supervise pupils during the school lunch period or any breakfast period or nutrition period, or to serve as a nonteaching volunteer aide under the immediate supervision and direction of the certificated personnel of the district, as specified. Existing law prohibits a school district from abolishing any of its classified positions and utilizing those volunteers for those services in place of classified employees laid off as a result of the abolition of a position. This bill would delete this prohibition. The bill would authorize the governing board of a school district, as defined, to permit a person, except a person required to register as a sex offender, as specified, to volunteer time or resources under the supervision of a district employee for the maintenance or improvement of a school facility, as provided. The bill would prohibit a collective bargaining agreement entered into after January 1, 2014, from prohibiting a school district from using volunteers. Existing law provides that it is the intent of the Legislature to permit a school district to use volunteer aides to enhance its educational program but not to permit displacement of classified employees nor to allow a district to utilize volunteers in lieu of normal employee requirements. This bill would instead state that it is the intent of the Legislature to permit a school district to use volunteers to enhance its educational program or facilities but not to encourage displacement of classified employees nor to encourage districts to use volunteers in lieu of normal employee requirements.

The California Constitution requires that a bill be read by title 3 times in each house or a bill with amendments be printed and distributed to the Members of each house before it may be passed. This bill would provide that a vote shall not be taken in either house of the Legislature on the Budget Bill or any other bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill, as defined in the Constitution, until the bill has been made available to the public for 3 days on a publicly available Internet Web site.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Existing law imposes conditions on the nongovernmental entity Western Climate Initiative, Incorporated, created to assist the state board in the implementation of the act. Existing law, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, generally requires that all meetings of a state body be open and public. Existing law exempts the nongovernmental entity Western Climate Initiative, Incorporated, and its appointees from the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act when performing their duties. This bill would repeal that exemption and instead subject the Western Climate Initiative, Incorporated, and its appointees to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act when performing their duties.