Existing law provides for the compensation of local government officers and employees, as specified. This bill would require filers, as defined, to annually file a compensation disclosure form, as specified. This bill would require the Secretary of State to develop the form, which would provide for the disclosure of, among other things, salaries and stipends, automobile and equipment allowances, and incentive and bonus payments. This bill would also require a county, city, city and county, school district, special district, or joint powers agency that maintains an Internet Web site to post the information contained on the filed form on that Internet Web site, as specified. The bill would authorize a district attorney or any interested person to commence an action by mandamus to enforce the provisions of the bill, as specified. The duties imposed on local departmental agencies by the bill would create a state-mandated local program. The bill would express a legislative finding and declaration that, to ensure the statewide integrity of local government, disclosure of compensation paid to filers is an issue of statewide concern and not a municipal affair and that, therefore, all cities, including charter cities, would be subject to the provisions of the bill. 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.
Sponsored bills
Existing law specifies information that must be included in the statewide ballot pamphlet for each state measure to be voted upon. This bill would require the Secretary of State to include in the ballot pamphlet a list of the 5 highest contributors of $50,000 or more to each primarily formed committee supporting each state measure, as well as the total amount of their contributions, as of 110 days before election day. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, 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 amend specified provisions to add to the ballot pamphlet information regarding candidates or other information. This bill, which would permit or require additional information to be included in the ballot pamphlet, would therefore require a majority vote.
Existing provisions of the California Constitution require the Governor to submit to the Legislature, within the first 10 days of each calendar year, a proposed budget for the ensuing fiscal year containing itemized statements for recommended state expenditures and estimated state revenues. In addition, the Constitution prohibits the Legislature from passing, and the Governor from signing, a Budget Bill that would appropriate from the General Fund a total amount that, when combined with all appropriations from the General Fund for that fiscal year made as of the date of the Budget Bill's passage, and the amount of any General Fund moneys transferred to a reserve account, exceeds estimated General Fund revenues for that fiscal year. The estimate of General Fund revenues is required to be set forth in the Budget Bill. This measure would require the Governor, in his or her proposed budget, to identify estimated total state resources available to meet recommended state expenditures and, further, to identify the amount of those resources that are anticipated to be one-time resources. The measure would prohibit passage of a Budget Bill that appropriates an amount that, when combined with prior appropriations and transfers to the reserve account, exceeds the estimate of General Fund revenues, transfers, and balances available from the prior fiscal year. The measure would require the estimate of General Fund revenues, transfers, and balances to be set forth in the Budget Bill. Existing provisions of the California Constitution establish the Budget Stabilization Account in the General Fund and currently require the Controller, no later than September 30 of each year, to transfer from the General Fund to the account a sum equal to 3% of the estimated amount of General Fund revenues for the current fiscal year. This transfer of moneys is not required, unless otherwise directed by the Legislature by statute, in any fiscal year to the extent that the resulting balance in the account would exceed 5% of the General Fund revenues estimate set forth in the Budget Bill for that fiscal year, as enacted, or $8,000,000,000, whichever is greater. This transfer of moneys also may be suspended or reduced for a fiscal year as specified by an Executive order issued by the Governor no later than June 1 of the preceding fiscal year. Of the moneys transferred to the account in each fiscal year, 50%, up to an aggregate amount of $5,000,000,000 for all fiscal years, is deposited in the Deficit Recovery Bond Retirement Sinking Fund Subaccount and continuously appropriated to the Treasurer for the purpose of retiring state deficit recovery bonds. All other moneys transferred to the account in a fiscal year are not deposited in the sinking fund subaccount and may, by statute, be transferred back to the General Fund. This measure would rename this account the Budget Stabilization Fund. This measure would also provide that the transfer of moneys from the General Fund to the Budget Stabilization Fund is not required in any fiscal year to the extent that the resulting balance in the fund would exceed 10% of the General Fund revenues estimate set forth in the Budget Bill for that fiscal year, as enacted, and would delete the alternative $8,000,000,000 limit on the fund. This measure would provide that, apart from a transfer made for the purpose of responding to an emergency declared by the Governor, as defined, or a loan to meet General Fund cash requirements which would be repaid within a fiscal year, the total amount that may be transferred from the Budget Stabilization Fund to the General Fund for any fiscal year shall not exceed the lesser of the shortfall amount for the current fiscal year, as defined, or 50% of the balance of the Budget Stabilization Fund, depending upon specified criteria. In addition, this measure would create in the General Fund the Supplemental Budget Stabilization Account and would direct the Controller to transfer, on October 1 of each year beginning in 2013, from the Budget Stabilization Fund to the Supplemental Budget Stabilization Account a sum equal to 1.5% of the estimated amount of General Fund revenues for the current fiscal year, except that this transfer would not be made in a fiscal year for which the Governor issues an Executive order to suspend or reduce the transfer of moneys from the General Fund to the Budget Stabilization Fund. The measure would permit appropriations to be made from the Supplemental Budget Stabilization Account only for capital outlay purposes or to retire bonded indebtedness of the state. This measure would require the Director of Finance, on or before May 29 of each year beginning in 2014, to report to the Legislature and the Governor (1) an estimate of the amount of General Fund revenues, transfers, and balances available from the prior fiscal year for the current fiscal year, (2) the revenue forecast amount, as defined, for the current fiscal year, and (3) an estimate of specified General Fund obligations for the public schools. The measure would provide that if, pursuant to a formula based on those figures, there are unanticipated revenues in the current fiscal year, beginning in the 2013–14 fiscal year, those revenues may be used only for specified purposes, and in a specified order of priority.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and requires candidates for elective office, candidates for elective state office, and committees formed or existing primarily to support or oppose those candidates to file specified reports disclosing contributions and independent expenditures made in connection with the campaigns of those candidates. Existing law further establishes the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System to administer the Public Employees' Retirement System and the Teachers' Retirement Board to administer the State Teachers' Retirement System. Existing law specifies the composition of those boards and requires that designated positions on the boards be filled by election. With limited exception, as specified, candidates for election to those boards are not required to comply with the various reporting requirements imposed by the Political Reform Act of 1974. This bill would revise the definitions of "elective office" and "elective state office" for purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974 to include membership on the boards described above and would repeal the provision that exempts from the act candidates for election to those boards, thereby subjecting those candidates, and committees formed or existing primarily to support or oppose those candidates, to the reporting requirements of the act. The bill would further make conforming changes to provisions of the act relating to the reporting of late contributions, the reporting of late independent expenditures, the filing of committee organization statements, and the filing of campaign statements and preelection statements. In addition, the bill would give the Fair Political Practices Commission the authority to adopt regulations to tailor the act's reporting and disclosure requirements for those candidates and committees consistent with the purposes and provisions of the act. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating additional crimes. 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, an initiative measure, 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. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
The Public Employees' Retirement Law creates the Public Employees' Retirement System, which provides a defined benefit to its members based on age at retirement, service credit, and final compensation, as defined. The State Teachers' Retirement Law and the retirement laws for county employees and city employees also provide for a defined benefit based on age at retirement, service credit, and final compensation. Existing law requires the California Citizens Compensation Commission to establish the annual salary and the medical, dental, insurance, and other similar benefits of state officers. This bill would specify that, notwithstanding any other law, for the purposes of determining a retirement benefit paid to a person who first becomes a member of a public retirement system on or after January 1, 2011, the maximum salary or payrate upon which retirement benefits shall be based shall not exceed 125% of the salary recommended by the California Citizens Compensation Commission to be paid to the Governor of the State of California, effective December 7, 2009. The bill would require that this amount be adjusted annually based on changes in the All Urban California Consumer Price Index. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law creates the Federal Trust Fund in the State Treasury for the deposit of moneys received from the federal government where the expenditure is administered through or under the direction of any state agency. This bill would appropriate $1,201,534,585 from the Federal Trust Fund to the Office of Planning and Research for the 2010–11 fiscal year upon notification to the state of a funding award pursuant to the federal Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act. From that amount, the bill would require the Office of Planning and Research to transfer $1,201,406,585 to the State Department of Education for purposes of implementing that federal act and make $128,000 available to the Office of Planning and Research for the purposes of providing oversight of funds allocated to local educational agencies pursuant to the bill. Of the amount transferred to the department, the bill would require that $1,199,906,585 be allocated to local educational agencies, as specified, and would make $1,500,000 available to the department for administrative purposes related to that allocation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would declare the intent of the Legislature to ensure the preservation of home care and personal care services to seniors and people with disabilities through the In-Home Supportive Services program.
This measure would state the intent of the Legislature to increase the funding of child development centers and preschools in future years, as resources become available, in order to provide staff with adequate salaries and benefits, provide adequate resources to support program quality for children, and keep programs open to serve parents and children.
This measure would declare the Legislature's support for the observance of "Spirit of '45 Day" on the second Sunday in August to commemorate the anniversary of the end of World War II on August 14, 1945.
This measure would recognize each 2nd week of February hereafter as African American Mental Health Awareness Week.