Existing income tax laws allow individual taxpayers to contribute amounts in excess of their tax liability for the support of specified funds. This bill would allow a taxpayer to designate on a tax return that a specified amount in excess of his or her tax liability be transferred to the Municipal Shelter Spay-Neuter Fund, which would be created by this bill. However, the bill would provide that a voluntary contribution designation for this fund may not be added on the tax return until another voluntary contribution designation is removed from the return. This bill would provide that all money contributed to the fund pursuant to these provisions, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be allocated to the Franchise Tax Board and the Controller for reimbursement of costs, as provided, and to the Department of Food and Agriculture for distribution of grants to eligible municipal shelters on a first-come-first-served basis, as specified, for the purposes of providing low cost or free spay-neuter services and for administrative costs. This bill would require eligible municipal shelters, as defined, in order to receive a grant, to file an application with the Department of Food and Agriculture, as specified. This bill would provide that these voluntary contribution provisions are repealed on either January 1 of the 5th taxable year following the taxable year the fund first appears on the personal income tax return, or on January 1 of an earlier calendar year, if the Franchise Tax Board estimates that the annual contribution amount will be less than $250,000, or an adjusted amount for subsequent taxable years. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations regarding the importance of informing taxpayers that they may make voluntary contributions to certain funds or programs on state income tax returns, and would state the intent of the Legislature to encourage all persons who prepare state income tax returns to inform their clients in writing, prior to the completion of any state income tax return, that they may make a contribution to any voluntary contribution checkoff on the state income tax return.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law authorizes a local authority to regulate mobile billboard advertising displays. Existing law defines "mobile billboard advertising display" to mean an advertising display attached to nonmotorized vehicles for the primary purpose of advertising. This bill would revise the definition of "mobile billboard advertising display." The bill would additionally authorize a local authority, subject to specified exceptions, to regulate advertising signs on motor vehicles parked or left standing upon a public street. (2) This bill would delete an obsolete provision. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 22651 of the Vehicle Code proposed by SB 565, to be operative only if SB 565 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2012, and this bill is chaptered last.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations, as defined. The Public Utilities Act authorizes the commission to ascertain and fix just and reasonable standards, classifications, regulations, practices, measurements, or services to be furnished, imposed, observed, and followed by specified public utilities, including gas corporations. Existing federal law requires the United States Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to adopt minimum safety standards for pipeline transportation and for pipeline facilities, including an interstate gas pipeline facility and intrastate gas pipeline facility, as defined. Existing law authorizes the United States Secretary of Transportation to prescribe or enforce safety standards and practices for an intrastate pipeline facility or intrastate pipeline transportation to the extent that the safety standards and practices are regulated by a state authority that annually submits to the secretary a certification for the facilities and transportation or, alternatively, authorizes the secretary to make an agreement with a state authority authorizing it to take necessary action to meet certain pipeline safety requirements. Existing law prohibits a state authority from adopting or continuing in force safety standards for interstate pipeline facilities or interstate pipeline transportation. Existing law authorizes a state authority that has submitted a current certification to adopt additional or more stringent safety standards for intrastate pipeline facilities and intrastate pipeline transportation only if those standards are compatible with the minimum standards prescribed by the PHMSA. The bill would require the commission, unless it determines that doing so is preempted under federal law, to require the installation of automatic shutoff or remote controlled sectionalized block valves on certain intrastate transmission lines that are located in a high consequence area, as defined, or that traverse an active seismic earthquake fault. The bill would require the owner or operator of a commission-regulated gas pipeline facility that is an intrastate transmission line to provide the commission with a valve location plan, along with any recommendations for valve locations, and would authorize the commission to make modifications to the valve location plan. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill 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.
Existing law requires each county to provide cash assistance and other social services to needy families through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program using federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program, state, and county funds. Existing federal law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, formerly the Food Stamp Program, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services and the California Health and Human Services Agency Data Center to design, implement, and maintain a statewide fingerprint imaging system for use in connection with the determination of eligibility for benefits under the CalWORKs program, excluding the Aid to Families with Dependent Children‑Foster Care program, and CalFresh. Existing law, with specified exceptions, requires applicants for, and recipients of, CalWORKs and CalFresh benefits, as a condition of eligibility, to be fingerprint imaged, pursuant to the statewide fingerprint imaging system. This bill would remove the requirement that applicants for, and recipients of, CalFresh benefits, as a condition of eligibility, be fingerprint imaged and would make related conforming changes. Under existing law, the county is required to annually redetermine eligibility for CalWORKs benefits. Existing law additionally requires the county to redetermine recipient eligibility and grant amounts on a quarterly basis, using prospective budgeting, and to prospectively determine the grant amount that a recipient is entitled to receive for each month of the quarterly reporting period. Under existing law, a CalWORKs recipient is required to report to the county, orally or in writing, specified changes that could affect the amount of aid to which the recipient is entitled. Under existing law, the CalWORKs quarterly reporting system is also implemented by the State Department of Social Services in administering SNAP. This bill would make inoperative October 1, 2013, and repeal January 1, 2014, the requirements relating to quarterly reporting and prospective determination grant amounts, and would, instead, impose similar requirements for a semiannual reporting period, operative April 1, 2013, to be implemented no later than October 1, 2013. This bill would require each county to transition recipients to a semiannual reporting system simultaneously and require each county to provide a certificate to the Director of Social Services certifying that semiannual reporting has been implemented in the county. The bill would also require the department to establish an income reporting threshold for CalWORKs recipients, as specified. The bill would make various related conforming changes, including revising provisions relating to the collection of CalWORKs grant overpayments. The bill would authorize counties to adopt staggered semiannual reporting requirements, as specified. This bill would prohibit administrative savings associated with the implementation of semiannual reporting from exceeding the amount necessary to fund the net General Fund costs of the semiannual reporting, and would authorize the reflection of possible additional savings in excess of this amount only to the extent that they are based on actual savings, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions through all-county letters until the adoption of implementing regulations, as prescribed. Existing law requires the Department of Community Services and Development to receive and administer the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program block grant. This bill would, to the extent permitted by federal law, require the State Department of Social Services, in conjunction with the Department of Community Services and Development, to design, implement by January 1, 2013, and maintain a utility assistance initiative. Under the bill, the State Department of Social Services would be required to grant applicants and recipients of CalFresh benefits a nominal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) service benefit, as specified, out of the federal LIHEAP block grant and any funds allocated for this purpose not expended and reinvested into the program, as prescribed. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would, instead, provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill. To the extent that the bill would expand eligibility for CalWORKs and CalFresh benefits, the bill would create 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, 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 prohibits employment discrimination based on sex or disability. Existing law prohibits an employer from refusing to allow a female employee disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition to take a leave for a reasonable time of up to 4 months before returning to work. This bill would also prohibit an employer from refusing to maintain and pay for coverage under a group health plan for an employee who takes that leave, as specified. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12945 of the Government Code proposed by AB 592, to be operative only if AB 592 and this bill are both enacted, both bills become effective on or before January 1, 2012, and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Under existing law, a health insurer that provides maternity coverage may not restrict inpatient hospital benefits, as specified, and is required to provide notice of the maternity services coverage. This bill, commencing July 1, 2012, would require every group health insurance policy to provide coverage for maternity services for all insureds covered under the policy. This bill would become operative only if SB 222 is also enacted.
Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, headed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. This bill would, until July 1, 2017, create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative. It would require, by July 1, 2012, the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to prepare recommendations, to be presented upon request to the Legislature, regarding actions that need to be taken to promote food access in the state. The bill would establish the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Council and would require the council to implement the initiative, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish an advisory group, as specified. The bill would create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Fund in the State Treasury, to be comprised of federal, state, philanthropic, and private funds, for the purpose of expanding access to healthy foods in underserved communities and, to the extent practicable, to leverage other funding, as specified. Moneys in the fund would be expended upon appropriation by the Legislature.
Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Under existing law, a health insurer that provides maternity coverage may not restrict inpatient hospital benefits, as specified, and is required to provide notice of the maternity services coverage. This bill, commencing July 1, 2012, would require every individual health insurance policy to provide coverage for maternity services for all insureds covered under the policy. This bill would become operative only if AB 210 of the 2011–12 Regular Session is also enacted.
(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, which is administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, requires each city, county, and regional agency, if any, to develop a source reduction and recycling element of an integrated waste management plan containing specified components, including a source reduction component, a recycling component, and a composting component. With certain exceptions, the source reduction and recycling element of that plan is required to divert 50% of all solid waste from landfill disposal or transformation by January 1, 2000, through source reduction, recycling, and composting activities. The department is required to file an annual progress report with the Legislature by March 1 that includes specified information regarding the act. This bill would make a legislative declaration that it is the policy goal of the state that not less than 75% of solid waste generated be source reduced, recycled, or composted by the year 2020, and would require the department, by January 1, 2014, to provide a report to the Legislature that provides strategies to achieve that policy goal and also includes other specified information and recommendations. The bill would allow the department to provide the report required by the bill in conjunction with the annual progress report, if the combined report is submitted by January 1, 2014. The bill would repeal the report requirement on January 1, 2017. (2) Existing law requires a city, county, and city and county to incorporate the nondisposal facility element and any amendment to the element into the revised source reduction and recycling element at the time of the 5-year revision of the source reduction and recycling element. Existing law requires the department to review an amendment to a nondisposal facility element and requires a local task force to review and comment on amendments to a nondisposal facility element. This bill would repeal those requirements. The bill would instead require a city, county, city and county, or regional agency to update all information required to be included in the nondisposal facility element. The bill would provide that the update is not subject to approval by the department or comment and review by a local task force. (3) Existing law requires a local agency to impose certain requirements on an operator of a large venue or event to facilitate solid waste reduction, reuse, and recycling. This bill would require a business, defined to include a commercial or public entity, that generates more than 4 cubic yards of commercial solid waste per week or is a multifamily residential dwelling of 5 units or more to arrange for recycling services, on and after July 1, 2012. The bill would also require a commercial waste generator to take specified actions with regard to recyclable materials. The bill would require a jurisdiction, on and after July 1, 2012, to implement a commercial solid waste recycling program meeting specified elements but would not require the jurisdiction to revise its source reduction and recycling element if the jurisdiction adds or expands a commercial solid waste recycling program to meet this requirement. The bill would authorize a local agency to charge and collect a fee from a commercial waste generator to recover the local agency's costs incurred in complying with the commercial solid waste recycling program requirements. By requiring a jurisdiction to implement a commercial solid waste recycling program, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department to review a jurisdiction's compliance with the above requirement as a part of the department's review of a jurisdiction's compliance with the 50% solid waste diversion requirement and would authorize the department to review a jurisdiction's compliance pursuant to a specified procedure. (4) Existing law requires each state agency to submit an annual report to the department summarizing its progress in reducing solid waste that is due on September 1 of each year starting in 2009. This bill would change the due date to May 1 of each year. (5) Existing law requires an operator of a solid waste facility that wants to change the design or operation of the solid waste facility in a manner not authorized by the current permit to apply for a revised permit. Within 60 days of receipt of the application for the revised permit, the enforcement agency is required to inform the operator, and in some circumstances the department, of its determination to allow the change without revision of the permit, disallow the change, require a revision of the permit to allow the change, or require review under the California Environmental Quality Act before a decision is made. This bill would also require the enforcement agency to give notice of its determination to allow certain changes without a revision to the permit through a modification to the permit allowed by regulations developed by the department. (6) 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.
(1) The Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act establishes the Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank within the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. The act provides that bank is governed and its corporate powers are exercised by a board of directors of which the Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing or his or her designee shall serve as chair. This bill would delete the provisions establishing the bank within the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and providing that the Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing or his or her designee shall serve as chair of the board of directors. It instead would provide that the bank is within state government and that the Director of Finance or his or her designee shall serve as chair of the board of directors. (2) The act sets forth the duties and authority of the bank and the board generally, including the financing of infrastructure and economic development projects in the state. This bill would authorize the bank to serve as a facilitator for the development of infrastructure projects that serve regional economic and community development activities. It would require the bank to maintain an Internet Web site that includes information about its programs. This bill would require the board to adopt a set of 2-year goals and measurable objectives, subject to specified criteria, and to annually adopt a work plan to support the bank in meeting those goals and measurable objectives. (3) The act provides that the bank is under the direction of an executive director appointed by the Governor, and sets forth the duties and authority of the executive director to perform certain acts in administering and directing the day-to-day operations of the bank, if authorized by the board. This bill would instead provide that the bank is under the direction of a chief executive officer appointed by the Governor, with these same duties and authority, and additionally provide that the chief executive officer may enter into any interagency agreement with another state agency for the performance of certain administrative functions, if authorized by the board.