Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of his or her employment. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to workers' compensation.
Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee to be charged on each habitable structure, as defined, on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area. Existing law requires that the fee be levied upon the owner of a habitable structure identified by the department as located within the state responsibility area, if that person owns the habitable structure on July 1 of the year for which the fee is due. Existing law authorizes the board to exempt from the fire prevention fee any habitable structure that is subsequently deemed inhabitable as a result of a natural disaster during the year the fee is due, if certain conditions are met. This bill would require the board to reduce the amount of the fee to be charged on a habitable structure by an amount equal to the amount paid by the owner of the structure to a local fire district for fire prevention services during the year for which the fee is due, if the owner of the structure provides the board with written documentation of the amount paid to the local fire district for those services. The bill would require the board to adopt guidelines to clarify the type of written documentation the owner of a structure is required to provide to the board to receive a fee reduction pursuant to those provisions.
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. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing state board regulations require specified entities to comply with a market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2013, and require additional specified entities to comply with that market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2015. This bill instead would exempt categories of persons or entities that did not have a compliance obligation, as defined, under a market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2013, from being subject to that market-based compliance mechanism through December 31, 2020. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Existing law states that the theft of a firearm is grand theft, punishable as a felony by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years. The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, enacted by Proposition 47, as approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, notwithstanding these provisions, instead requires the theft of property that does not exceed $950 to be considered petty theft, and makes the crime punishable as a misdemeanor, except in cases when the defendant has previously been convicted of one or more specified serious or violent felonies or an offense requiring registration as a sex offender. This bill would make the theft of a firearm grand theft in all cases, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years. (2) Under existing law, every person who buys or receives any property that has been stolen, knowing the property to be stolen, is guilty of a misdemeanor or a felony, except that if the value of the property does not exceed $950, Proposition 47 makes the offense punishable as a misdemeanor if the defendant has not previously been convicted of one or more specified serious or violent felonies or an offense requiring registration as a sex offender. This bill would make buying or receiving a stolen firearm a misdemeanor or a felony. (3) The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature to amend or repeal an initiative statute by another statute that becomes effective when approved by the electors. This bill would provide that it would become effective only upon approval of the voters, and would provide for the submission of this measure to the voters for approval at the next statewide general election.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) generally requires all state and local governmental lead agencies to prepare, or cause to be prepared by contract, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on any discretionary project that they propose to carry out or approve that may result in a significant effect on the environment, that is, a substantial, or potentially substantial, adverse change in the physical conditions that exist within the area that will be affected by the project. Under existing law, a housing project qualifies for an exemption from CEQA if certain requirements are met, including the requirement that the site is not located within the boundaries of a state conservancy. This bill would eliminate the requirement that the site not be located within the boundaries of a state conservancy.
This measure would proclaim January 26, 2016, as India Republic Day, and would urge all Californians to join in celebrating India Republic Day.
Existing law continuously appropriates state and federal funds in the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund to the State Water Resources Control Board for loans and other financial assistance for the construction of publicly owned treatment works and other related purposes, to a municipality, intermunicipal agency, interstate agency, or state agency in accordance with the federal Clean Water Act and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. Existing law requires the loans to meet certain criteria, including requiring full amortization not later than 20 years after project completion, except as specified. This bill would, subject to the same exception, require full amortization not later than 30 years after project completion.
Existing law vests in the State Department of Developmental Services jurisdiction over state hospitals, referred to as developmental centers, for the provision of residential care to individuals with developmental disabilities. Existing law requires the State Department of Developmental Services to comply with procedural requirements when closing a developmental center, including submitting a detailed plan to the Legislature and holding at least one public hearing. Under existing law, the department allocates funds to private nonprofit entities known as regional centers, which are required to provide, or arrange for the provision of, services and supports for persons with developmental disabilities. This bill would require the department to close the Sonoma Developmental Center no later than December 31, 2018, and the Fairview Developmental Center no later than December 31, 2021. The bill would require the department to submit a plan, as specified, to the Legislature prior to the closure of the Sonoma Developmental Center or the Fairview Developmental Center. Existing law requires the Director of General Services to lease specified property located at the Sonoma Developmental Center only for an agricultural or open-space purpose consistent with specified requirements. Existing provisions of the California Constitution, approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, establish the Budget Stabilization Account in the General Fund and require the Controller, commencing with the 2015–16 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, to transfer from the General Fund to the account a specified percentage of estimated General Fund revenues. The bill would additionally require the director to lease all or part of the parcels at the Sonoma Developmental Center and the Fairview Developmental Center, as specified. The bill would require any use of these parcels to be ratified by a vote of the appropriate state and local government agencies with the authority over those local land use decisions, as specified. The bill would also require 50% of the net proceeds received by the state from the lease of these properties to go to the Budget Stabilization Account until the state's debts to which that fund is obligated are paid and, after that time, to the General Fund and the rest to be deposited in the Lanterman Act Community-Based Services Fund, which is created by the bill. The bill would require all moneys in the Lanterman Act Community-Based Services Fund to be continuously appropriated without regard to fiscal years to the State Department of Developmental Services to augment existing purchase of services funds used by regional centers to purchase services and supports for persons with developmental disabilities. By creating a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. This bill would also state the intent of the Legislature to transfer current funding for the operations of the Fairview Developmental Center and the Sonoma Developmental Center to fund purchase of services at regional centers. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Under existing law, when school employees are terminated pursuant to a reduction in workforce, a school district is required to terminate the employees in order of seniority. Existing law authorizes a school district to deviate from the order of seniority for those purposes for specified reasons. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (2) Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to terminate the services of any permanent or probationary certificated employees of the school district during the time period between 5 days after the enactment of the Budget Act and August 15 of the fiscal year to which the Budget Act applies if the governing board of the school district determines that its total revenue limit per unit of average daily attendance for the fiscal year of that Budget Act has not increased by at least 2%, and if the governing board of the school district determines it is therefore necessary to decrease the number of permanent employees in the school district. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (3) Existing law provides that, when the services of permanent or probationary employees are terminated pursuant to a reduction in workforce, those terminated employees have a preferred right to reappointment and an opportunity for substitute service in order of seniority, as specified. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (4) Existing law prohibits, for purposes of complying with those procedures, a school district from including time spent employed in an administrative position by a certificated employee, who transfers to a teaching position and who was initially employed in an administrative position on or after July 1, 1983, in determining seniority, except in the case of a schoolsite administrator, as specified. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (5) Existing law prohibits a school district from counting as a part of the service required as a condition precedent to the classification of the employee as a permanent employee of the school district the period of absence for certain terminated probationary employees. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (6) Existing law extends the effective period of specified rights, and provides additional rights to certain permanent certificated employees, as specified. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (7) Existing law provides that certain statutory layoff provisions are inapplicable to certain probationary certificated employees who are covered by a collective agreement which contains provisions for the layoff and reassignment of those employees. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (8) This bill would require, by July 1, 2018, each governing board of a school district, in consultation with the exclusive representative of the certificated staff, if any, to adopt policies regarding the dismissal of permanent and probationary employees when a reduction in workforce is required due to declining enrollment or insufficient funding to be used commencing with the 2018–19 school year. The bill would require those adopted policies to include as a significant factor in determining the order of dismissal the evaluation rating of certificated employees, as specified. The bill would permit a school district to deviate from using the evaluation rating of certificated employees as a significant factor in determining the order of dismissal of certificated employees if the school district demonstrates specified conditions. By requiring school districts to perform additional duties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that, to the extent these provisions conflict with any provision of a collective bargaining agreement entered into before January 1, 2016, by a public school employer and an exclusive bargaining representative, the provisions shall not apply to the school district until the expiration or renewal of that collective bargaining agreement. (9) 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.
The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows various deductions in computing the income that is subject to the taxes imposed by that law. This bill would allow a deduction in computing adjusted gross income for those amounts contributed to a Coverdell education savings account, up to $750 per taxable year, as provided. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
