Existing law, the California Retail Food Code, sets forth uniform health and sanitation standards for retail food facilities. Local health agencies are primarily responsible for enforcing this code. These provisions are also enforced by the State Department of Public Health, except as specified. Among other things, the code sets forth standards for toilet facilities located in permanent food facilities. A person who violates any provision of the code is guilty of a misdemeanor, except as otherwise provided. Existing law also requires every public agency that conducts an establishment serving the public or open to the public and that maintains in that establishment restroom facilities for the public, to make every water closet, or restroom, for each sex maintained within the facilities available without cost or charge to the patrons, guests, or invitees of the establishment. Existing law generally requires publicly and privately owned facilities, including sports and entertainment arenas, stadiums, community and convention halls, and specialty event centers, where the public congregates to be equipped with sufficient temporary or permanent restrooms to meet the needs of the public at peak hours. This bill would require each toilet stall in (1) toilet facilities located in permanent food facilities and provided for use by consumers, guests, and invitees, (2) restroom facilities maintained by a public agency in an establishment that serves or is open to the public, and (3) temporary or permanent restroom facilities in publicly and privately owned facilities where the public congregates to contain a waste receptacle, unless the addition of a waste receptacle would result in noncompliance with a local, state, or federal law relating to access for persons with disabilities, as determined by the local health officer. By imposing new duties on local health agencies and by revising the definition of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also make technical changes. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
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(1) The Passenger Charter-party Carriers' Act, with certain exceptions, prohibits a charter-party carrier of passengers from engaging in transportation services subject to regulation by the Public Utilities Commission without obtaining a specified certificate or permit, as appropriate, from the commission, subject to various requirements. The act defines a charter-party carrier of passengers as every person engaged in the transportation of persons by motor vehicle for compensation, whether in common or contract carriage, over any public highway in this state and includes any person, corporation, or other entity engaged in the provision of a hired driver service when a rented motor vehicle is being operated by a hired driver. This bill would prohibit the commission from issuing or renewing a permit or certificate to a charter-party carrier of passengers unless the applicant, in addition to existing requirements, participates in the Department of Motor Vehicles pull-notice system and provides for mandatory Department of Justice background checks of every driver, except as specified, who is either employed by or under contract to the applicant. The bill would require a driver of a charter-party carrier to submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint images and related information for the purpose of obtaining information as to the existence and content of state convictions and state arrests, as specified. The bill would require the department to charge a fee sufficient to cover the cost of processing the request described in these provisions. The bill would provide that its provisions apply to all charter-party carriers regardless of class or category created by the commission. The bill would require that drivers hired or initially retained on or after January 1, 2015, be subject to background checks and mandatory drug and alcohol testing prior to employment or retention and that drivers hired or initially retained before January 1, 2015, complete a background check and drug and alcohol test before January 1, 2016. (2) Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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.
Under existing law, the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources in the Department of Conservation regulates the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state. The State Oil and Gas Supervisor supervises the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities related to oil and gas production within an oil and gas field regarding safety and environmental damage. Existing law requires an operator of a well to apply for a permit, as specified, with the supervisor or district deputy, prior to performing a well stimulation treatment, as defined, and prohibits the operator from either conducting a new well stimulation treatment or repeating a well stimulation treatment without a valid, approved permit. This bill would authorize a city or county to adopt and enforce a local ordinance prohibiting well stimulation treatments.
Under existing law, the Passenger Charter-party Carriers' Act, the Public Utilities Commission has adopted rules and regulations relating to public safety risks in the operation of transportation services utilizing transportation network companies. Those regulations define a transportation network company as an organization operating in California that provides prearranged transportation services for compensation using an online-enabled platform to connect passengers with drivers using their personal vehicles. Existing regulations of the commission require, among other things, a transportation network company to acquire a commercial liability insurance policy for incidents involving transportation network company vehicles and drivers in transit to or during a transportation network company trip. This bill would more broadly define "transportation network company" by excluding the requirement that a transportation network company trip be prearranged and would provide that the Public Utilities Commission shall require a transportation network company to have in effect a primary commercial motor vehicle liability insurance policy to cover the vehicles of its participating drivers, as part of its agreement with those drivers, with respect to personal injury liability, property damage liability, and personal injury protection liability benefits available to drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and others, as specified.
The Passenger Charter-party Carriers' Act, with certain exceptions, prohibits a charter-party carrier of passengers from engaging in transportation services subject to regulation by the Public Utilities Commission without obtaining a specified certificate or permit, as appropriate, from the commission, and imposes various other requirements. Existing law establishes various exclusions to the act. Pursuant to existing law, the commission rendered a decision relating to public safety risks in the operation of transportation network companies and defined a transportation network company as an organization that provides prearranged transportation services for compensation using an online-enabled platform to connect passengers with drivers using their personal vehicles. This bill would specifically include within the definition of charter-party carrier of passengers a person that uses an online-enabled application or platform to connect passengers with drivers. Existing law requires the commission to require charter-party carriers of passengers to procure and continue in effect adequate assurances of protection against liability, as specified. This bill would specify that the assurances against protection against liability shall be primary. The bill would require the commission to develop a standard disclosure agreement with specified insurance disclosures, and would require the agreement to be included in a written agreement between drivers and charter-party carriers of passengers that use an online-enabled application or platform to connect passengers with drivers, and to be signed by those drivers. The bill would provide that the disclosure agreement records of a charter-party carrier of passengers are subject to review and audit by the commission. Existing law provides that a violation of the provisions governing charter-party carriers of passengers and of associated regulations adopted by the commission is a crime. This bill would revise the definition of a crime, thereby imposing 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 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 an applicable percentage of either 20% or 25%, respectively, of the qualified expenditures, as defined, attributable to the production of a qualified motion picture in California, or, where the qualified motion picture is a television series that relocated to California or is an independent film, as provided. Existing law 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, 2017, 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 2016–17 fiscal year. This bill would allow credits under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, to be allocated by the California Film Commission on and after July 1, 2015 and before July 1, 2020, in an amount equal to 25% of qualified post production costs, as defined, for qualified motion pictures. This bill would limit the aggregate amount of these new credits to be allocated in each fiscal year to an unspecified amount, and would impose 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, 2020. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
(1) The California Constitution prohibits the ad valorem tax rate on real property from exceeding 1% of the full cash value of the property, subject to certain exceptions. This measure would create an additional exception to the 1% limit for a rate imposed by a city, county, city and county, or special district, as defined, to service bonded indebtedness incurred to fund specified public improvements and facilities, or buildings used primarily to provide sheriff, police, or fire protection services, that is approved by 55% of the voters of the city, county, city and county, or special district, as applicable. (2) The California Constitution prohibits specified local government agencies from incurring any indebtedness exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided in that year, without the assent of 23 of the voters and subject to other conditions. In the case of a school district, community college district, or county office of education, the California Constitution permits a proposition for the incurrence of indebtedness in the form of general obligation bonds for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of school facilities, including the furnishing and equipping of school facilities, or the acquisition or lease of real property for school facilities, to be adopted upon the approval of 55% of the voters of the district or county, as appropriate, voting on the proposition at an election. This measure would similarly lower to 55% the voter-approval threshold for a city, county, or city and county to incur bonded indebtedness, exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided in that year, that is in the form of general obligation bonds to fund specified public improvements and facilities, or buildings used primarily to provide sheriff, police, or fire protection services.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to wear a mask, false whiskers, or any personal disguise, as specified, with the purpose of evading or escaping discovery, recognition, or identification while committing a public offense, or for concealment, flight, evasion, or escape from arrest or conviction for any public offense. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
Existing law authorizes an applicant for, or recipient of, public social services who is dissatisfied with certain actions of the county welfare department to request a hearing from the state department administering the social services. Existing law requires the state department administering the social services to set the hearing to commence within 30 working days after the request is filed, and to give written notice to the parties at least 10 days prior to the hearing. Existing law requires the hearing to be conducted by an administrative law judge, with an exception, and authorizes the administrative law judge, under certain circumstances, to render and adopt final decisions, with which decision the county director is required to comply and execute. This bill would authorize a recipient requesting a hearing to access communications and notices electronically, rather than receiving those communications by mail, in counties where that electronic communication is available. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the State Department of Health Care Services, to develop a process for recipients to choose to receive notices or other communications electronically, and to establish statewide protocols relating to the failure of electronic communication to ensure timely receipt of hearing-related information. The bill would also require the State Department of Social Services to submit a request to the United States Department of Agriculture to waive specified federal regulations to allow for the use of electronic notification of scheduled fair hearings and fair hearing decisions. This bill would require the county representative to offer the recipient a conditional withdrawal or notice of action, as specified, if a hearing concerns a recipient's eligibility for a benefit or service and the county representative finds that certain acts or evidence would establish the recipient's eligibility for that benefit or service or concludes that the county erred. The bill would require the conditional withdrawal to list the agreed-upon conditions that the recipient is required to meet, and require the county to issue any benefits for which the recipient is eligible following the recipient's meeting of those conditions. By imposing a higher level of service on counties, 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, 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 requires, upon first enrollment in a California school district of a child at an elementary school, and at least every 3rd year thereafter until the child has completed the 8th grade, the child's vision to be appraised by the school nurse or other authorized person, as specified. Existing law requires this appraisal to include tests for visual acuity and color vision. Existing law requires gross external observation of the child's eyes, visual performance, and perception to be done by the school nurse and the classroom teacher. This bill would instead require a pupil's vision to be appraised by the school nurse or other authorized person during kindergarten or upon first enrollment or entry in a California school district of a pupil at an elementary school, and in grades 2, 5, and 8, except as provided. The bill would revise the functions to be performed by the school nurse and the classroom teacher in observing a pupil's eyes, appearance, and other factors that may indicate vision difficulties. The bill would require the State Department of Education to adopt guidelines to implement those provisions, including training requirements and a method of testing for near vision. Because the bill would impose additional duties on public schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would incorporate changes to Section 49455 of the Education Code proposed by both this bill and AB 1840 which would become operative only if both bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is enacted last. 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.