Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A and B Entitlement awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B awards, the Cal Grant C awards, and the Cal Grant T awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs for participating students attending qualifying institutions. Existing law sets maximum tuition award amounts for Cal Grant A and B awards for new recipients attending private for-profit and nonprofit postsecondary educational institutions, as specified. This bill would, until June 30, 2014, increase those maximum tuition award amounts for recipients attending private for-profit and nonprofit postsecondary educational institutions to $9,708. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
The Sales and Use Tax Law, and other laws by reference to that law, provide that interest is paid by taxpayers and feepayers with respect to underpayments of various taxes, surcharges, and fees at a modified adjusted rate per annum, as defined by reference to a specified federal statute, and that interest is paid to taxpayers and feepayers with respect to overpayments of various taxes, surcharges, and fees as determined in accordance with a specified federal statute, which requires that the rate paid on overpayments be based on the rate of 13-week treasury bills, as specified. This bill would revise the definition of "modified adjusted rate per annum," which would thereby require that interest on overpayments be determined in the same manner as interest on underpayments is now determined.
Existing law provides that an elected public officer, as defined, who is convicted of one or more specified felonies during the course of his or her term of office that arise directly from his or her official duties shall forfeit all rights and benefits under, and membership in, any public retirement system of which he or she is a member. This bill would provide that a state officer or supervisory employee who intentionally circumvents statutes or regulations, resulting in the overpayment or unauthorized payment of compensation to himself, herself, or others, shall be personally liable for treble damages, based on the overpayment or unauthorized payment as determined by a court in a civil action brought by the state, as specified.
Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, on or before September 1, 2011, to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 to be charged on each habitable structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area, as defined, and requires that the fire prevention fee be adjusted annually using prescribed methods. Existing law requires the State Board of Equalization to collect the fire prevention fees, as prescribed, commencing with the 2011–12 fiscal year. Existing law establishes the State Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fund and prohibits the collection of fire prevention fees if, commencing with the 2012–13 fiscal year, there are sufficient amounts of moneys in the fund to finance specified fire prevention activities for a fiscal year. Existing law requires that the fire prevention fees collected, except as provided, be deposited into the fund and be made available to the board and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for certain specified fire prevention activities that benefit the owners of structures in state responsibility areas who are required to pay the fee. Existing law further requires the board, on and after January 1, 2013, to submit an annual written report to the Legislature on specified topics. This bill would repeal these provisions.
The Medi-Cal Act establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments to be reduced by 1% or 5%, and provider payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 1%, for dates of service on and after March 1, 2009, and until June 1, 2011. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments and payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 10% for dates of service on and after June 1, 2011. This bill would instead require that, to the extent permitted by federal law, this payment reduction not apply to skilled nursing facilities or subacute care units that are a distinct part of a general acute care hospital, intermediate care or other specified facilities serving developmentally disabled individuals, or specified Medi-Cal provider payments for fee-for-service benefits, including payments to pharmacies, for dates of service on or after June 1, 2011. The bill would also provide that this payment reduction shall not apply to managed health care plans for dates of service after the effective date of the bill. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 prohibits a person from conducting timber operations unless a timber harvesting plan prepared by a registered professional forester has been submitted to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The act authorizes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to exempt from those provisions of the act a person engaging in specified forest management activities, including, among other things, the harvesting of only trees less than 18 inches in stump diameter, measured at 8 inches above ground level. However, existing law permits the removal of trees less than 24 inches in stump diameter to achieve the goal of fuel reduction if the removal of any such tree is within 500 feet of a legally permitted structure, or in an area prioritized as a shaded fuel break in a community wildfire protection plan approved by a public fire agency, if the goal of fuel reduction cannot be achieved by removing only trees less than 18 inches in stump diameter. This bill would, instead, exempt the removal of trees less than 28 inches in stump diameter, measured at 8 inches above ground level. However, the bill would permit the removal of trees less than 28 inches in stump diameter to achieve the goal of fuel reduction if the removal of any such tree is within 500 feet of a legally permitted structure, in an area prioritized as a shaded fuel break in a community wildfire protection plan approved by a public fire agency, if the goal of fuel reduction cannot be achieved by removing only trees less than 28 inches in stump diameter.
Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, on or before September 1, 2011, to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 to be charged on each structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area, as defined, and requires that the fire prevention fee be adjusted annually using prescribed methods. Existing law requires the State Board of Equalization to collect the fire prevention fees, as prescribed, commencing with the 2011–12 fiscal year. Existing law establishes the State Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fund and prohibits the collection of fire prevention fees if, commencing with the 2012–13 fiscal year, there are sufficient amounts of moneys in the fund to finance specified fire prevention activities for a fiscal year. Existing law requires that the fire prevention fees collected, except as provided, be deposited into the fund and be made available, to the board and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for certain specified fire protection activities that benefit the owners of structures in state responsibility areas who are required to pay the fee. Existing law further requires the board, on and after January 1, 2013, to submit an annual written report to the Legislature on specified topics. This bill would repeal the above provisions relating to the fire prevention fees.
This measure would urge the President and Congress of the United States of America to repeal the excise tax on medical devices to protect the medical device industry and its consumers.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations, as defined. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law, relative to electrical restructuring, requires the commission to authorize and facilitate direct transactions between electricity suppliers and retail end-use customers. Existing law, enacted during the energy crisis of 2000–01, authorized the Department of Water Resources, until January 1, 2003, to enter into contracts for the purchase of electricity, and to sell electricity to retail end-use customers at specified costs and procedures. That law suspended the right of retail end-use customers, other than community choice aggregators and a qualifying direct transaction customer, as defined, to acquire service through a direct transaction until the Department of Water Resources no longer supplies electricity under that law. Existing law continues the suspension of direct transactions except as expressly authorized, until the Legislature, by statute, repeals the suspension or otherwise authorizes direct transactions. Existing law requires the commission to authorize direct transactions for nonresidential end-use customers subject to a reopening schedule adopted and implemented by July 1, 2010, that will phase in over a period of not less than 3 years and not more than 5 years, and subject to an annual maximum allowable total kilowatthour limit established for each electrical corporation. The federal Flood Control Act of 1962 provides that specified amounts of electricity generated by the Central Valley Project power system are to be made available to Tuolumne County and Calaveras County on a first-preference basis. This bill would require the commission, in a proceeding relating to direct transactions, to consider the federal restrictions on a preference power electricity provider, as defined, to engage in direct transactions.