(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, generally regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of solid waste. The act requires disposal facility operators to submit information to the department on the disposal tonnages that are disposed of at the disposal facility, and requires solid waste handlers and transfer station operators to provide information to disposal facility operators for purposes of that requirement. The act requires recycling and composting operations and facilities to submit periodic information to the department on the types and quantities of materials that are disposed of, sold, or transferred to other recycling or composting facilities or specified entities. This bill would provide that these reporting requirements do not apply to materials that are used by facilities defined as end users pursuant to the regulations adopted by the department or that are otherwise exempt pursuant to those regulations. The bill would also clarify that recycling is not limited to the processing of materials that would otherwise become solid waste, but also includes processes applied to nonhazardous materials that have value principally as a feedstock for that processing, regardless of whether the materials have been discarded or constitute solid waste. The bill would further clarify that, regardless of whether a recycling operation or facility is required to register and report pursuant to specified regulations adopted by the department, that recycling operation or facility is not a solid waste handler unless the operation or facility is, in fact, handling solid waste. (2) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of, among other solid waste, plastic packaging containers and single-use foodware accessories. The Sustainable Packaging for the State of California Act of 2018 prohibits a food service facility located in a state-owned facility, operating on or acting as a concessionaire on state property or under contract to provide food service to a state agency, from dispensing prepared food using a type of food service packaging unless the type of food service packaging is on a list that the department publishes and maintains on its internet website that contains types of approved food service packaging that are reusable, recyclable, or compostable. Existing law makes a legislative declaration that it is the policy goal of the state that, annually, not less than 75% of solid waste generated be source reduced, recycled, or composted. This bill would establish the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, which would cover certain single-use packaging and plastic single-use food service ware, as provided. As part of its comprehensive statutory scheme, the bill would require the producers, as defined, of these covered materials to source reduce plastic covered material, to ensure that covered material offered for sale, distributed, or imported in or into the state on or after January 1, 2032, is recyclable or compostable, and to ensure that plastic covered material offered for sale, distributed, or imported in or into the state meets specified recycling rates. In particular, the bill would require not less than 65% of plastic covered material to be recycled on and after January 1, 2032, and would authorize the department to increase or decrease the specified recycling rates in certain circumstances. The bill would require certain material types and forms to be considered recyclable in the state, and would authorize those material types and forms to be labeled as recyclable, under certain circumstances. The bill would prohibit a producer from selling, offering for sale, importing, or distributing covered materials in the state unless the producer is approved to participate in the producer responsibility plan of a producer responsibility organization (PRO) , as prescribed, for the source reduction, collection, processing, and recycling of covered material. Alternatively, the bill would require a producer to comply with the act individually without participating in a PRO's plan. The bill would impose various requirements on PROs and producers in relation to the act, including registration, reporting, recordkeeping, and auditing requirements, and preparing a budget and annual report. The bill would require a PRO or producer to provide certain certifications under penalty of perjury. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require a PRO to establish a charge for its participant producers sufficient to ensure the requirements of the act are met by the PRO, and would therefore impose a tax. The bill would specify the purposes for which the revenue from the charge may be spent, including the costs of the PRO, the costs of a producer responsibility advisory board that the bill would create, and other costs specified in the PRO's budget. The bill would require a PRO, commencing in the 2027 calendar year, and until January 1, 2037, to remit a $500,000,000 surcharge each year, as provided, to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) to be deposited into the California Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund, which the bill would create, and would outline requirements applicable to the collection and administration of the surcharge. The bill would require the PRO to establish and impose on its participant producers an environmental mitigation surcharge in an amount sufficient to raise that sum and to remit those moneys, and would authorize a PRO to collect up to $150,000,000 from plastic resin manufacturers who sell plastic covered material to producers who are participants of the PRO, as prescribed. The bill would therefore impose a tax. The bill would require moneys in the California Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund to be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, by specified state agencies on purposes relating to mitigating the environmental impacts of plastic. The bill would prohibit those appropriations from replacing or reducing funding for those purposes from any other source, including certain appropriations in the Budget Act of 2019. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations to implement the act, as prescribed, and would require the department to publish certain information and lists on its internet website. The bill would require that local jurisdictions and recycling service providers include in their collection and recycling programs covered material contained on the lists published by the department, except as specified. By imposing additional requirements on local jurisdictions, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department to prepare, or to select an independent third-party contractor to complete, one or more initial statewide needs assessments designed to determine the necessary steps and investment needed for covered material to achieve the requirements of the act. The bill would require the PRO to reimburse the department for the cost of developing the needs assessments, thereby imposing a tax. The bill would require a PRO to pay a charge named the "California circular economy administrative fee" to the department and would require the department to set the charge at an amount adequate to cover the department's and any other state agency's costs of implementing and enforcing the comprehensive statutory scheme. The bill would require the administrative fees to be deposited into the California Circular Economy Fund, which the bill would create. The bill would make moneys in the fund available upon appropriation by the Legislature to the department for the department's activities pursuant to the act and to reimburse any outstanding loans made from other funds used to finance the initial costs of the department's activities. The bill would require the department and agencies receiving funding under the act to report specified information to the Legislature concerning the act's implementation. The bill would require, if the department determines that a PRO or producer has not achieved specified targets established pursuant to the act, the department to adopt regulations that contain certain provisions of the act, as prescribed. The bill would provide for its enforcement, including authorizing the department to impose an administrative civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $50,000 per day per violation, except as specified, on any entity that is not in compliance with the act's requirements. The bill would require the department to deposit collected penalties into the Circular Economy Penalty Account, which the bill would create. The bill would make moneys in the account available upon appropriation by the Legislature for purposes that further the act. (3) 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. (4) 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. (5) This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.
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This measure would call upon the Biden Administration to cancel all federal student debt.
Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development and sets forth its powers and duties. Existing law creates a housing authority in each county or city, which functions upon the adoption of a specified resolution by the relevant governing body. Existing law authorizes these housing authorities, within their jurisdictions, to construct, reconstruct, improve, alter, or repair all or part of any housing project. Existing law establishes various programs that provide housing assistance. This bill would enact the Social Housing Act and would create the California Housing Authority, as an independent state body, the mission of which would be to produce and acquire social housing developments for the purpose of eliminating the gap between housing production and regional housing needs assessment targets, as specified. The bill would prescribe a definition of social housing that would describe, in addition to housing owned by the authority, housing owned by other entities, as specified, provided that all social housing developed by the authority would be owned by the authority. The bill would prescribe the composition of the California Housing Authority Board, which would govern the authority, and would be composed of appointed members and members who are elected by residents of social housing developments, as specified. The bill would prescribe the powers and duties of the authority and the board. The bill would provide that the authority seeks to achieve revenue neutrality, as defined, and would require the authority to seek to recover the cost of development and operations over the life of its properties through the mechanism of rent cross-subsidization, as defined. The bill would require the authority to prioritize the development of specified property, including vacant parcels and parcels near transit, and would prescribe a process for the annual determination of required social housing units. Under the bill, social housing would accommodate a mix of household income ranges and would provide specified protections for residents, who would participate in the operation and management of the units in which they reside. This bill would require the California Housing Authority to employ 2 leasing models in social housing developments, to be referred to as the rental model and the ownership model, and would prescribe the characteristics of both models. Under the ownership model, the authority would extend a 99-year lease, in the form of a limited equity arrangement, as defined, to individuals who commit to a minimum 5-year term of residence, and would authorize the authority to act as a lender to residents who lease under the ownership model, for the purpose of creating leasehold mortgages. The bill would prescribe how the amounts of rents and payments on leasehold mortgages are to be set in relation to household income, and with reference to property subject to the ownership model, how they may be sold and transferred. The bill would establish eligibility requirements for social housing residents and provide for the selection of residents by lottery, as specified, providing that people who may have been displaced from a property as part of its development would be granted a preference for occupancy. This bill, among other things, would require the authority to accept a local jurisdiction's preference for a project parcel if specified conditions are met. The bill would establish various duties for the authority and requirements for contractors and subcontracting in connection with the labor used to produce housing, including provisions relating to the solicitation of bids, the payment of prevailing wages, and the participation of a skilled and trained workforce. The bill would prescribe civil penalties to be imposed by the Labor Commissioner on the authority, contractors, and subcontractors for specified violations of these provisions. The bill would prescribe requirements for the participation of labor in the production, rehabilitation, and maintenance of housing, including requiring the authority to enter into community workforce agreements and to comply with specified requirements for the payment of prevailing wages. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to provide financing for the activities of the authority through the issuance of general obligations bonds. The bill would authorize the authority to issue revenue bonds, as specified. The bill would require the board to provide for regular audits of the authority's accounts and records, as specified. The bill would also require the authority to prepare and submit specified reporting information on its business plan and progress to the Legislature on an annual basis.
The California Constitution declares that defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy are inalienable rights, and that a person may not be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law or equal protection of the laws. Existing law, the Reproductive Privacy Act, declares that every individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to personal reproductive decisions and prohibits the state from denying or interfering with a person's right to choose or obtain an abortion before viability of the fetus, or when the abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the person. This measure would amend the California Constitution to prohibit the state from denying or interfering with an individual's reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives.
This measure would proclaim the week of May 23 through May 27, inclusive, as Firefighter Mental Health Awareness Week.
This measure would designate the month of May 2022 as California Fairgrounds Appreciation Month and would extend the Legislature's warmest regards and appreciation to the thousands of volunteers, fair directors, staff, business supporters, and sponsors who keep the network of California state fairgrounds strong, vibrant, relevant, and successful.
This measure would proclaim Friday, May 27, 2022, as National Poppy Day.
This measure would declare June 8, 2022, as California Nonprofits Day in recognition of the importance of nonprofit organizations to the economy and well-being of this state.