(1) Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and activities. The act requires a committee that supports or opposes ballot measures to name and identify itself using a name or phrase that clearly identifies the economic or other special interests of its major donors of $50,000 or more. The act also requires that the identity of a common employer shared by major donors be disclosed. This bill would repeal these provisions. (2) The act defines "expenditure" as a payment, a forgiveness of a loan, a payment of a loan by a 3rd party, or an enforceable promise to make a payment, unless it is clear from the surrounding circumstances that it is not made for political purposes. This bill, which would be known as the California Disclose Act, would describe circumstances in which a payment would be made for political purposes within the meaning of the definition of "expenditure." (3) The act prohibits a candidate or committee from sending a mass mailing unless the name, street address, and city of the candidate or committee are shown on the outside of each piece of mail in the mass mailing, as specified. This bill would additionally require the name of such an entity to be disclosed in a mass electronic mailing, as defined, that the entity sends. The bill would provide that these disclosure requirements do not apply if the mass mailing or mass electronic mailing is paid for by an independent expenditure. (4) The act prohibits a candidate, committee, or slate mailer organization from expending campaign funds to pay for specified telephone calls that advocate support of, or opposition to, a candidate, ballot measure, or both, unless the name of the organization that authorized or paid for the call is disclosed to the recipient of the call during the course of each call. This bill would instead apply these requirements to a candidate, a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office for the controlling candidate, a political party committee, and a slate mailer organization that expends campaign funds to pay for such telephone calls. The bill would provide that these disclosure requirements do not apply if the telephone call is paid for by an independent expenditure. (5) The act also requires advertisements, as defined, to include prescribed disclosure statements, including, among others, a requirement that the disclosure statements include the names of the persons who made the 2 highest cumulative contributions, as defined, to the committee paying for the advertisement. This bill would repeal and recast provisions of the act relating to advertisement disclosure statements. The bill would revise the definition of "advertisement" to exclude a number of communications, including communications that involve wearing apparel, sky writing, and certain electronic media communications, as specified. The bill would also replace existing advertisement disclosure statements with newly prescribed disclosure statements that identify the name of the committee paying for the advertisement and the top contributors to that committee. The bill would define "top contributors" for purposes of these provisions as the persons from whom the committee paying for the advertisement received its 3 highest cumulative contributions, as specified. The bill would exempt certain committees, including committees that make independent expenditures totaling $1,000 or more in a calendar year, from the requirement to disclose the top contributors in advertisement disclosure statements. The bill would also prescribe location and format criteria for the disclosure statements that are specific to radio and telephone, television and video, print, and electronic media advertisements. (6) The act imposes, in addition to other penalties, a fine of up to triple the amount of the cost of an advertisement on a person who violates the disclosure requirements for advertisements. This bill would revise the scope of violations subject to that fine by specifying that it applies to certain disclosure requirements and intentional violations. (7) The act prohibits a person from making a contribution as an intermediary on behalf of another person without disclosing to the recipient of the contribution specified information about both the intermediary and the source of the contribution. The act also prohibits a person from making a contribution to a committee on the condition or with the agreement that it will be contributed to a particular candidate unless the contribution is disclosed in compliance with those requirements for contributions made by an intermediary. This bill would prohibit a person from making a contribution to a committee or candidate that is earmarked unless the contribution is disclosed in compliance with the requirements for contributions made by an intermediary. The bill would also describe circumstances in which a contribution is deemed to be earmarked. The bill would impose additional disclosure requirements in connection with earmarked contributions from one committee to another. (8) Because a violation of the act is punishable as a misdemeanor, 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. (9) 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 of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
Existing law vests the authority over public lands owned by the state with the State Lands Commission. Existing federal law authorizes federal agencies to convey federal public lands under certain circumstances. This bill would establish, except as provided, a policy of the state to discourage conveyances of federal public lands in California from the federal government. The bill would, except as provided, specify that these conveyances are void ab initio unless the commission was provided with the right of first refusal or the right to arrange for the transfer of the federal public land to another entity. The bill would require the commission to issue a certificate of compliance if the commission was provided with the right of first refusal or the right to arrange for the transfer of the federal public land to another entity. The bill would require the commission to waive the right of first refusal or the right to arrange for the transfer of the federal public land to another entity for conveyances the commission deems to be routine, as specified. The bill would require the commission, the Wildlife Conservation Board, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to enter into a memorandum of understanding establishing a state policy that they will undertake all feasible efforts to protect against future unauthorized conveyances of federal public lands or any change in federal public land designation. The bill would authorize the commission to seek declaratory and injunctive relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to contest these conveyances. The bill would, except as provided, prohibit a person from knowingly presenting for recording or filing with the county recorder a deed, instrument, or other document related to the conveyance of federal public lands unless it is accompanied by a certificate of compliance and would subject a person who violates this prohibition to a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000. By increasing the duties of the county recorder's office, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that the state shall not be responsible for any costs associated with conveyed federal public land that the commission did not accept, purchase, or arrange for the transfer of, as provided. The bill would require the commission to ensure, for any conveyed federal public land the commission accepts, purchases, or arranges for the transfer of, that future management of the conveyed federal public land is determined in a public process that gives consideration of past recognized and legal uses of those lands. 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 a court, on petition of a party to an arbitration agreement alleging (1) the existence of a written agreement to arbitrate a controversy and (2) that a party to the agreement refuses to arbitrate the controversy, to order the petitioner and the respondent to arbitrate the controversy if the court determines that an agreement to arbitrate exists, unless the court makes other determinations. This bill would add to these determinations instances in which a state or federally chartered depository institution is seeking to apply a written agreement to arbitrate, contained in a contract consented to by a respondent consumer, to a purported contractual relationship with that consumer that was created by the petitioner fraudulently without the consumer's consent and by unlawfully using the consumer's personal identifying information, as defined.
Existing law, the California Finance Lenders Law, generally provides for the licensure and regulation of finance lenders and brokers by the Commissioner of Business Oversight. Existing law requires a person seeking to become licensed as a finance lender or broker to submit an application to the commissioner, and to comply with specified licensure requirements such as paying a fee and an annual assessment to the commissioner. Existing law requires a finance lender or broker licensee to comply with requirements related to the conduct of his or her business. Existing law exempts specified types of entities or financial instruments from regulation under the California Finance Lenders Law. Existing law authorizes the commissioner to take specified disciplinary actions against a licensee, including ordering the licensee to cease specified activity or suspending or revoking the license of the licensee. Existing law, known commonly as a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE program) , authorizes a public agency, by making specified findings, to authorize public agency officials and property owners to enter into voluntary contractual assessments to finance the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources or energy or water efficiency improvements that are permanently fixed to real property. Existing law requires a public agency to comply with specified requirements before permitting a property owner to participate in any program established pursuant to those provisions, including that the property owner's participation would not result in the total amount of any annual property taxes and assessments exceeding 5% of the property's market value, and that the property owner is provided with specified financial documents and other forms. Existing law authorizes a private entity to administer a PACE program on behalf of, and with the written consent of, a public agency. Existing state law, the California Financial Information Privacy Act, prohibits a financial institution from selling, sharing, transferring, or otherwise disclosing nonpublic personal information to, or with, nonaffiliated 3rd parties without the explicit prior consent from the consumer to whom the information relates. This bill would rename the "California Finance Lenders Law" the "California Financing Law," and would require specified criteria related to the assessment contract to be satisfied before a program administrator approves an assessment contract for recordation by a public agency, including that all property taxes on the applicable property be current, the applicable property to not have specified debt recorded, that the property owner be current on specified debt and to have not been a party to a bankruptcy proceeding within a specified time, that the financing of the assessment, as well as the total value of all debt on the property, not exceed a specified amount, and that the terms of the assessment contract not exceed certain limitations. This bill would, commencing on April 1, 2018, prohibit a program administrator from approving an assessment contract for funding and recording by a public agency unless the program administrator makes a reasonable good faith determination that the property owner has a reasonable ability to pay the PACE assessments, subject to specified requirements and procedures. The bill would require a program administrator to comply with the requirements of the California Financial Information Privacy Act. The bill would, commencing on January 1, 2019, require a program administrator that administers a PACE program on or behalf of a public agency to be licensed by the commissioner under the California Financing Law. The bill would require a program administrator to comply with licensure requirements that are similar to those of a finance lender or broker as described above. The bill would require a program administrator licensee to comply with similar requirements to those of finance lenders and brokers as to the conduct of his or her business, including display of his or her license, location of his or her business, maintenance and preservation of his or her records, reporting, including filing a specified annual report under oath, prohibiting making false or misleading statements, and advertising. By expanding the crime of perjury, this bill would impose state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that the exemptions described above do not apply to a program administrator. The bill would require a program administrator to establish and maintain a process for the enrollment of a PACE solicitor and a PACE solicitor agent, including requiring a PACE solicitor or a PACE solicitor agent to meet specified minimum background checks, and would prohibit a program administrator from enrolling a PACE solicitor or a PACE solicitor agent if the program administrator makes specified findings. The bill would require a program administrator to establish and maintain a process to promote and evaluate the compliance of a PACE solicitor and a PACE solicitor agent with applicable law, and to establish and maintain a process to cancel the enrollment of a PACE solicitor or PACE solicitor agents who fail to meet minimum qualifications. The bill would require a program administrator to establish and maintain a training program for PACE solicitor agents, in accordance with certain requirements. The bill would authorize the commissioner to take disciplinary actions against a program administrator that are similar to the disciplinary provisions described above for a finance lender or broker, including authorizing the commissioner to conduct an examination under oath, and would subject a program administrator to the enforcement authority of the commissioner for specified violations. The bill would authorize the commissioner, if during the course of an inspection, examination, or investigation of a program administrator the commissioner has cause to believe that the program administrator, PACE solicitor, or PACE solicitor agent may have committed a violation of the California Financing Law or that certain conditions are met, to take specified actions to investigate a PACE solicitor or a PACE solicitor agent, including authorizing the commissioner to conduct an examination under oath. The bill would authorize the commissioner to take disciplinary actions against a PACE solicitor or a PACE solicitor agent that violates any provision of the California Financing Law, subject to certain requirements and procedures. The bill would provide that if the person subject to an investigation under these provisions complies with the commissioner's demands, or otherwise reaches a mutually agreeable resolution of any issues, then any examinations and correspondence related to that investigation is confidential. This bill would require a program administrator to submit to the commissioner information beneficial to evaluating various aspects of the PACE program to be included in a specified annual report, as provided. The bill would authorize the commissioner, by rule, to require a program administrator to use a real-time registry or database system for tracking PACE assessments and the bill would require costs associated with the real-time registry or database system to be apportioned among licensed program administrators, as specified. The bill would include findings that the changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern and is not a municipal affair, and shall therefore apply equally to all cities, including charter cities. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. 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, known commonly as a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing program, authorizes a public agency, by making specified findings, to authorize public agency officials and property owners to enter into voluntary contractual assessments to finance the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources or energy or water efficiency improvements that are permanently fixed to real property. Existing law similarly authorizes a community facilities district to be formed pursuant to an alternative procedure under which the district initially consists solely of territory proposed for annexation to the community facilities district in the future and territory is annexed and subjected to special taxes only upon unanimous approval of the owners, to finance and refinance the acquisition, installation, and improvement of energy efficiency, water conservation, and renewable energy improvements. Existing law authorizes a public agency, or an entity that administers a PACE financing program on behalf of and with the written consent of a public agency, to issue PACE bonds that are secured by voluntary contractual assessments, voluntary special taxes, or special taxes on property to assist property owners in financing the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, or energy or water efficiency improvements. The bill would require a program administrator, before a property owner executes an assessment contract, as defined, to make an oral confirmation that at least one owner of the property has a copy of specified documents and forms related to the contract, and to provide an oral confirmation of the key terms of an assessment contract with the property owner on the call or an authorized representative of the owner on the call that contains specified information. The bill would require a program administrator to record the oral confirmation, and to retain that recording for a specified period of time. The bill would require a program administrator to ask if the property owner would prefer the oral confirmation be provided in a language other than English, and would require the program administrator to deliver the oral confirmation in the property owner's language or via an interpreter chosen by the property owner in order for the contract to proceed, and would require the program administrator to provide the property owner with the translation of specified documents. This bill would prohibit a program administrator from waiving or deferring the first payment on an assessment contract, and would require that a property owner's first assessment payment be due no later than the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the installation of the efficiency improvement is completed. The bill would prohibit a contractor or other 3rd party from advertising the availability of an assessment contract that is administered by a program administrator, or from soliciting property owners on behalf of the program administrator, unless specified requirements are met. The bill would prohibit a program administrator from providing direct or indirect cash payments or anything of a material value to a contractor or 3rd party that is in excess of the actual price charged to the property owner for the sale or installation of efficiency improvements financed by an assessment contract, except for reimbursement of bona fide and reasonable training expenses related to PACE financing, as provided. The bill would also prohibit a program administrator from providing direct or indirect cash payments or anything of a material value to a property owner that is explicitly conditioned upon the property owner entering into the assessment contract. The bill would prohibit a program administrator, contractor, or other 3rd party from making any representation as to the tax deductibility of an assessment contract, unless that representation is consistent with applicable state and federal law. The bill would prohibit a program administrator from providing information that discloses specified information relating to the property owner or the property. The bill would prohibit a contractor from providing a different price for a project financed by a PACE assessment than the contractor would provide if paid in cash by the property owner. Existing law prohibits a public agency from permitting a property owner to participate in a PACE program unless the property owner satisfies certain conditions and the property owner is given the right to cancel the contractual assessment at any time before midnight on the 3rd business day after certain events occur, without penalty or obligation, consistent with certain requirements. Existing law requires a home improvement contract to be in writing and to contain certain information, notices, and disclosures, including a statement that a consumer has a right to cancel or rescind the contract within 3 days, and authorizes the consumer to waive that right to cancel in the case of an emergency or immediately necessary repairs. The bill would make it unlawful to commence work under a home improvement contract if the property owner entered into the home improvement contract based on the reasonable belief that the work would be covered by the PACE program, and the property owner rescinds the PACE financing within the 3-day time period described above. The bill would require a contractor who violates that provision to restore the property to its original condition, and to return any money, property, and other consideration back to the property owner. The bill would authorize a property owner to waive his or her right to cancel for a contract that the property owner initiated for emergency repair or immediately necessary repair, as provided. The bill would require a program administrator, for each PACE program that it administers, to submit reports to the public agency by a specified time that contains specified information regarding that program. This bill would include findings that the changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern, and therefore shall apply to all cities and counties, including charter cities.
Existing law allows individuals, until January 1, 2018, to designate on their personal income tax return that a specified amount in excess of their tax liability be contributed to the California Breast Cancer Research Fund, which is subject to appropriation by the Legislature, to be allocated to the Franchise Tax Board, the Controller, and the University of California for purposes of carrying out these provisions. Existing law also allows individuals, until January 1, 2018, to designate on their tax returns that a specified amount in excess of their tax liability be contributed to the California Cancer Research Fund, which is subject to appropriation by the Legislature, to be allocated to the Franchise Tax Board, the Controller, and the University of California for purposes of carrying out these provisions. Existing law requires that each of these funds equal or exceed a minimum contribution amount, which initially was $250,000 and which was required to be and has been adjusted for inflation. Existing law provides that when extending the operation of these voluntary tax contribution funds the words "voluntary tax contribution" be included in the name of the fund, that the administering agency comply with specified Internet Web site reporting requirements, that the fund provisions remain in effect only until January 1 of the 7th calendar year following the first appearance of the voluntary tax contribution on the personal income tax return, that the required calendar year minimum contribution amount for the fund to continue appearing on the return is $250,000, and that the contributions be continuously appropriated from the fund to the administering entity. This bill would extend the operation of each fund's provisions to January 1, 2025, and would conform to the above provisions by renaming the funds as the California Breast Cancer Research Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund and the California Cancer Research Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund, respectively, by continuously appropriating those funds to the Franchise Tax Board, the Controller, and the University of California for purposes of carrying out each fund's provisions, and by requiring each fund to equal or exceed an unadjusted $250,000 minimum contribution amount to continue appearing on the return. By continuously appropriating these funds, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would also provide that the Legislature requests the University of California and the Regents of the University of California, respectively, to post on their Internet Web sites the process for awarding money, the amount of money spent on administration, and an itemization of how program funds were awarded, including, but not limited to, information regarding recipients of funds.
Existing law requires a mandated reporter of suspected financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult, as defined, to report financial abuse in a specified manner. Existing law provides for the creation and effect of powers of attorney. This bill would authorize a mandated reporter of suspected financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult to not honor a power of attorney as to an attorney-in-fact about whom he or she made a report to an adult protective services agency or a local law enforcement agency of any state that the natural person who executed the power of attorney may be an elder or dependent adult subject to financial abuse by that attorney-in-fact.
This measure would recognize September 11, 2017, as a day of solemn commemoration and extend the Legislature's deepest sympathies to the victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and after March 7, 1973. Existing law provides that, after January 1, 2008, a general acute care hospital building that is determined to be a potential risk of collapse or to pose significant loss of life in the event of seismic activity be used only for nonacute care hospital purposes, except that the office may grant a 5-year extension under prescribed circumstances. Existing law allows the office to grant a hospital that has received extensions under specified provisions an additional extension of up to 7 years for a hospital building that it owns or operates if the hospital meets specified milestones. This bill would authorize a hospital in the Tarzana neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles that has received specified extensions to request an additional extension, as specified, until October 1, 2022, in order to obtain a certificate of occupancy from the office for a replacement building. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Tarzana neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles.
Existing law makes it unlawful for a business that makes an automatic renewal offer or continuous service offer to a consumer in this state, among other things, to fail to present the automatic renewal or continuous service offer terms in a clear and conspicuous manner, to charge the consumer for an automatic renewal or continuous service without first obtaining the consumer's affirmative consent, and to fail to provide an acknowledgment that includes the automatic renewal or continuous service offer terms, cancellation policy, and information regarding how to cancel in a manner that is capable of being retained by the consumer, as specified. A violation of these provisions is subject to enforcement by any available civil remedies, except for specified activities exempt from these requirements. This bill would, commencing on July 1, 2018, require a business that makes an automatic renewal offer or continuous service offer that includes a free gift or trial, to include in the offer a clear and conspicuous explanation of the price that will be charged after the trial ends or the manner in which the subscription or purchasing agreement pricing will change upon conclusion of the trial. The bill would prohibit a business from charging a consumer's credit or debit card, or the consumer's account with a 3rd party, for an automatic renewal or continuous service that is made at a promotional or discounted price for a limited period of time without first obtaining the consumer's consent to the agreement. The bill would also specify that if the automatic service offer or continuous service offer includes a free gift or trial, the business is required to disclose how to cancel, and allow the consumer to cancel, the automatic renewal or continuous service before the consumer pays for the goods or services. The bill also would require a consumer who accepts an automatic renewal offer or continuous service offer online to be allowed to terminate the automatic renewal or continuous service exclusively, as specified. The bill would also make other clarifying and nonsubstantive changes.