Asm. Mike Gatto

This measure would designate that January 21, 2013, be observed as the official memorial of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth and commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement in changing public policy in California and in the United States of America. This measure would also recognize the anniversaries of the Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington in connection with the advancement of civil rights.

This resolution would recognize the month of January 2013, and each following January, as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and it would recognize February 1, 2013, and each following February 1, as California's Free From Slavery Day.

Under existing law, if the Department of Transportation determines that real property or an interest therein, previously or hereafter acquired by the state for highway purposes, is no longer necessary for those purposes, the Department of Transportation is authorized to sell, contract to sell, sell by trust deed, or exchange the real property or interest therein in the manner and upon terms, standards, and conditions established by the California Transportation Commission. Existing law authorizes the commission, in cooperation with the regional transportation planning agencies, to prescribe study areas for analysis and evaluation by those agencies and guidelines for the preparation of the regional transportation plans. Existing law, in order to resolve local transportation problems resulting from the infeasibility of planned state transportation facilities on certain state highway routes, authorizes specified cities and counties to develop and file with the commission a local alternative transportation improvement program that addresses transportation problems and opportunities in the county that was to be served by the planned facilities. Existing law creates the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) and makes it responsible for, among other things, the establishment of overall goals and objectives to achieve optimal transport service for the movement of goods and people on a countywide basis. This bill would, for purposes of preserving the funding capacity for LACMTA to make transportation investment choices within the State Highway Route 710 Study Area, as defined, authorize LACMTA in consultation with the department and jointly with specified cities, to develop and file with the commission a local alternative transportation improvement program that addresses transportation problems and opportunities in specified cities. The bill would require the commission to have the final authority regarding the content and approval of the local alternative transportation improvement program. The bill would require all proceeds from the sale of the specified excess properties, except as specified, to be allocated by the commission to fund the approved local alternative transportation improvement program, with not less than 25% of the proceeds to be allocated to certain soundwall projects, as specified. The bill would require the commission and the department to declare as excess state properties, the surface estates of certain properties, acquired for the Route 710 surface freeway extension and require the department to expeditiously release those properties for sale, as specified. The bill would require that tenants in good standing of nonresidential properties be offered a right of first refusal to purchase at fair market value the property. The bill would provide that the sale proceeds may not be used on any activity to advance any subsurface alternative for the Route 710 North Gap Closure Project. Existing law imposes various requirements on these local alternative transportation improvement programs including that the department is required to maintain a specified account for each local alternative transportation improvement program into which it will deposit the funds derived from the sale of the respective excess properties. Existing law also requires a specified local alternative transportation improvement program to include various housing programs, including, but not limited to, relocation assistance, relocation advice and moving expenses, and replacement housing units. This bill would make the local alternative transportation improvement program in the State Highway Route 710 Study Area subject to those account and deposit requirements and would authorize LACMTA, with the concurrence of the commission and the department, to advance a project included in the local alternative transportation improvement program in the study area prior to the availability of sufficient funds, as specified. The bill would make certain of those housing program provisions applicable to the local alternative transportation improvement program in the State Highway Route 710 Study Area. The bill would enact other related provisions.

Existing law defines the term "public works" for purposes of requirements regarding the payment of prevailing wages. Existing law generally defines "public works" to include construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for in whole or in part out of public funds. Existing law makes a willful violation of laws relating to the payment of prevailing wages on public works a misdemeanor. This bill would modify the definition of installation to include the assembly and disassembly of freestanding and affixed modular office systems. Because this bill would expand the definition of a crime, it 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 Political Reform Act of 1974 requires the Legislative Analyst to prepare an impartial analysis of each initiative measure to appear on the ballot, and provides that the Legislative Analyst is solely responsible for determining the content of the analysis. The act requires the Legislative Analyst to prepare an impartial fiscal analysis of a measure that is included in the ballot pamphlet stating whether the measure would increase or decrease any revenue or cost to state or local government. Existing law also requires the Legislative Analyst to prepare for inclusion in the ballot pamphlet a summary statement regarding the general meaning and effect of "yes" and "no" votes on each state measure. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative statute, generally provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. The act also provides that, notwithstanding this requirement, the Legislature may, without restriction, amend specified provisions of the act to add to the ballot pamphlet information regarding candidates or other information. This bill would, except as specified, require, if a fiscal analysis prepared by the Legislative Analyst determines that a measure would provide an increase in revenues to fund new or existing programs, create a new fund, or create or change a funding formula for one or more specified programs, that a specified paragraph, if applicable, be added at the end of the "yes" and "no" summary statement in the ballot pamphlet advising voters as to the effect of the initiative measure on state funding requirements. The bill also would contain a finding and declaration of the Legislature that the bill permits or requires additional information to be included in the ballot pamphlet in accordance with the provision of the Political Reform Act of 1974 described above that authorizes the Legislature to add information to the ballot pamphlet.

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including a credit against those taxes for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, in an amount equal to a specified percentage of the qualified expenditures, as defined, attributable to the production of a qualified motion picture in California, or, where the qualified motion picture has relocated to California or is an independent film, as provided. Existing law allows specified qualified taxpayers to elect to assign the credit, requires specified information from qualified taxpayers that apply for a tax credit allocation, and imposes specified duties on the California Film Commission related to the administration of the credits, including a requirement to allocate the tax credits until July 1, 2015, and limits the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated to qualified motion pictures in any fiscal year to $100,000,000, through the 2014–15 fiscal year. Existing law additionally allows, in lieu of the credits under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for qualified motion pictures, a credit against qualified state sales and use taxes, as provided. This bill, under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, would impose additional duties on the California Film Commission related to the administration of the credits and would extend the requirement to allocate the tax credits 2 additional years, until July 1, 2017. This bill would also extend the limit on the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated through the 2016–17 fiscal year. This bill would also require assigning qualified taxpayers to provide the Franchise Tax Board with specified information, would revise the information included in an application for a tax credit allocation, and require the Legislative Analyst's Office to prepare reports related to the effectiveness and administration of the qualified motion picture credit under the Sales and Use Tax Law, the Personal Income Tax Law, and the Corporation Tax Law. This bill would require the California Film Commission to annually post on its Internet Web site and make available for public release specified information, including a list of qualified taxpayers and the tax credit amounts allocated to each qualified taxpayer by the commission. The bill would authorize various state agencies to disclose specified taxpayer information for purposes of the Legislative Analyst's Office report, and would impose specified criminal penalties on the disclosure of that information. By expanding the crime of knowingly and wrongfully accessing, using, or disclosing specified information, 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the California Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC Program) , authorizes establishment of a statewide program, administered by the State Department of Public Health, for providing nutritional food supplements to low-income pregnant women, low-income postpartum and lactating women, and low-income infants and children under 5 years of age, who have been determined to be at nutritional risk. The program, which implements a program authorized under existing federal law, provides for the redemption of nutrition coupons by recipients at any authorized retail food vendor. Existing law requires the department to authorize an appropriate number and distribution of WIC Program retail food vendors, and requires the department to establish certain criteria to limit the number of vendors. This bill would require the department, in order to be in compliance with federal law and conditions of federal funding, to take certain actions including adopting mandatory federal requirements and guidelines for the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children as requirements for the WIC Program, and establishing requirements for peer groups and a corresponding reimbursement system, criteria used for vendor authorization, and WIC Program authorized foods. This bill would require the department, in establishing requirements for peer groups and a corresponding reimbursement system, criteria used for vendor authorization, and WIC Program authorized foods, to, among other things, notify and consult with affected stakeholders and provide an opportunity for written comment. This bill would require the department to specify certain criteria the department would use and actions the department would take when initiating a moratorium on new WIC Program vendor location applications. This bill would authorize the department, without taking regulatory action, to implement, interpret, or make specific these criteria or actions by means of a vendor bulletin, as specified. This bill would require the department to seek any federal approvals necessary to implement these provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Under existing law, the Department of Motor Vehicles issues environmental and other specialized license plates. The issuance of some of those license plates is subject to additional fees. This bill would require the department to establish the California Legacy License Plate Program, and to create and issue a series of specialized license plates that replicate plates from the state's past, if at least 7,500 applications for any one particular plate are received and held by the department, on or before January 1, 2015. The bill would require that, upon determination by the department that there are sufficient funds for the program, moneys be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for the necessary administrative costs of establishing the program and, as to any remaining moneys, for deposit into the California Environmental License Plate Fund for appropriation by the Legislature pursuant to existing law.

(1) Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to specify the maximum amount of vinyl chloride that may be found in landfill gas. Existing law prohibits a gas producer from knowingly selling, supplying, or transporting to a gas corporation, and a gas corporation from knowingly purchasing, landfill gas containing vinyl chloride in a concentration exceeding the maximum amount determined by the PUC. Existing law requires a person who produces, sells, supplies, or releases landfill gas for sale offsite to a gas corporation to sample and test, bimonthly, the gas at the point of distribution for chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. Existing law requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to evaluate the environmental and health risks posed by various hazardous substances. This bill would require OEHHA, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and the California Environmental Protection Agency, to compile a list of constituents of concern that could pose risks to human health and that are found in biogas, as defined, at concentrations that significantly exceed the concentrations of those constituents in natural gas. The bill would require OEHHA to determine the health protective levels for that list, as specified, and would require the state board to identify realistic exposure scenarios and the health risks associated with those scenarios, as specified. The bill would require the state board to determine the appropriate concentrations of those constituents, as specified. The bill would also provide that actions taken pursuant to the above-described requirements do not constitute regulations and are exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act. The bill would further require the PUC to adopt, by rule or order, (1) standards for biomethane that specify the concentrations of constituents of concern that are reasonably necessary to protect public health and ensure pipeline integrity and safety, as specified, and (2) requirements for monitoring, testing, reporting, and recordkeeping, as specified. The bill would require a gas corporation, as defined, to comply with those standards and requirements. The bill would require the PUC to require gas corporation tariffs to condition access to common carrier pipelines on the applicable customer meeting those standards and requirements. The bill would also prohibit a person and a gas corporation from knowingly engaging in specified transactions involving common carrier pipelines and biogas collected from a hazardous waste landfill, as defined. (2) The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and requires it to prepare an integrated energy policy report on or before November 1, 2003, and every 2 years thereafter. The act requires the report to contain an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state, including, but not limited to, supply, demand, pricing, reliability, efficiency, and impacts on public health and safety, the economy, resources, and the environment. This bill would require the Energy Commission to hold public hearings to identify impediments that limit procurement of biomethane in California, including, but not limited to, impediments to interconnection. The bill would require the Energy Commission to offer solutions to those impediments as part of the above-mentioned report. (3) This bill would require the PUC to adopt policies and programs that promote the in-state production and distribution of biomethane. (4) Existing law allows the PUC to set heating and purity requirements for biomethane injected into a gas pipeline. Existing law allows gas corporations to impose tariffs on biomethane injected into their pipelines. This bill would require the PUC to adopt pipeline access rules that ensure that each gas corporation provides nondiscriminatory open access to its gas pipeline system to any party for the purposes of physically interconnecting with the gas pipeline system and effectuating the delivery of gas. (5) This bill would become operative only if this bill and AB 2196 of the 2011–12 Regular Session are both enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2013. (6) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because this bill would require action by the PUC to implement certain of its requirements, a violation of which would be a crime, 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.