Existing law establishes the Department of Food and Agriculture, which is tasked with, among other things, promoting and protecting the agricultural industry of the state, and seeking to enhance, protect, and perpetuate the ability of the private sector to produce food and fiber in a way that benefits the general welfare and economy of the state. Existing law also establishes the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative for the purpose of promoting healthy food access in the state. This bill would create the Office of Farm to Fork within the department, and would require the office, to the extent that resources are available, to work with various entities, including, among others, the agricultural industry and other organizations involved in promoting food access, to increase the amount of agricultural products available to underserved communities and schools in the state. The bill would require the office to, among other things, identify urban and rural communities that lack access to healthy food, and to coordinate with local, state, and federal agencies to promote and increase awareness of programs that promote greater food access. The bill would create the Farm to Fork Account in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund that would consist of money made available from federal, state, industry, and other sources, and would continuously appropriate the money deposited in the account without regard to fiscal years to carry out the purposes of the Office of Farm to Fork. By creating a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill, until January 1, 2020, would also require the department, in any year in which funds are received into or expended from the Farm to Fork Account, to submit to the Legislature an overview of the account's income and expenditures.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law, the Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) , which is responsible for the coordination and integration of all state agencies concerning emergency medical services. Under existing law, EMSA is required to establish training and standards, and promulgate regulations, for all prehospital emergency medical care personnel, as defined, regarding the characteristics and method of assessment and treatment of anaphylactic reactions and the use of epinephrine. Existing law also requires the EMSA to develop and adopt regulations for the training and scope of practice for emergency medical technician-I (EMT-I) certification, which includes, among other things, a specified course of training on the nature of sudden infant death syndrome. Existing law authorizes the medical director of a local EMS agency to approve or conduct any scientific or trial study of the efficacy of the prehospital emergency use of any drug, device, or treatment procedure within the local EMS system, utilizing any level of prehospital emergency medical care personnel, consistent with specified requirements. This bill would require the EMSA to develop and adopt training and standards, and promulgate regulations, for all prehospital emergency medical care personnel, as defined, regarding the use and administration of naloxone hydrochloride and other opioid antagonists. The bill would authorize the EMSA to adopt existing training and standards for prehospital emergency medical care personnel regarding the statewide use and administration of naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist to satisfy the requirements of the bill's provisions. The bill would also authorize the medical director of a local EMS agency, pursuant to the above-described provisions relating to a scientific or trial study, to approve or conduct a trial study of the use and administration of naloxone hydrochloride or other opioid antagonists by any level of prehospital emergency medical care personnel, and would authorize the training received by prehospital emergency medical care personnel specific to the use and administration of naloxone hydrochloride or other opioid antagonists during this trial study to be used towards satisfying the training requirements established by the EMSA pursuant to the bill's provisions. The bill would specify that both of those types of trainings satisfy specified requirements allowing for immunity from criminal and civil liability for administering an opioid antagonist. The bill would also require the EMSA to develop and adopt regulations to include the administration of naloxone hydrochloride in the training and scope of practice of EMT-I certification, on or before July 1, 2016. The bill would require these regulations to be substantially similar to certain regulations that authorize an EMT-I to receive training for naloxone hydrochloride administration without having to complete the entire emergency medical technician-II (EMT-II) certification course. (2) Existing law, the Uniform Controlled Substances Act, requires the Attorney General to encourage research on the misuse and abuse of controlled substances, and, in connection with that research, and in furtherance of the enforcement of the act, authorizes the Attorney General to undertake specific acts, including developing new or improved approaches, techniques, systems, equipment, and devices to strengthen the enforcement of the act. This bill would additionally permit the Attorney General, in connection with that research, and in furtherance of the enforcement of the act, to authorize hospitals and trauma centers to share information with local law enforcement agencies, the EMSA, and local emergency medical services agencies about controlled substances. The bill would limit the data that may be provided by hospitals and trauma centers to the number of overdoses and the substances suspected as the primary cause of the overdoses. The bill would require that the information shared be shared in a manner that ensures complete patient confidentiality.
Existing law prohibits Members of the Legislature and state, county, district, judicial district, and city officers or employees, from being financially interested in any contract made by them in their official capacity, or by any body or board of which they are members. Existing law also prohibits state, county, district, judicial district, and city officers or employees, from being purchasers at any sale or vendors at any purchase made by them in their official capacity. Existing law also prohibits the Treasurer, Controller, county and city officers, and their deputies and clerks from purchasing or selling, or in any manner receiving for their own or any other person's use or benefit any state, county, or city warrants, scrip, orders, demands, claims, or other evidences of indebtedness against the state, a county, or city. A willful violation of these prohibitions is a crime punishable by fine or imprisonment in the state prison, and forever disqualifies the offending public officer or person from holding any office in the state. This bill would prohibit an individual from aiding or abetting a public officer or person in violating these prohibitions, and expand these penalties to also apply to the individual who willfully aids or abets. This bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive 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 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. Existing law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, in lieu of the credits authorized under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for qualified motion pictures described above, also allows a credit against qualified state sales and use taxes, as provided. Existing law provides for a tentative minimum tax and further provides that, except for specified credits, no other credit shall reduce the tax imposed below the tentative minimum tax. This bill would establish similar credits under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, to be allocated by the California Film Commission on or after July 1, 2015, and before July 1, 2020. This bill would, as compared to the existing tax credits, extend the scope of the credits for a qualified motion picture to the applicable percentage of qualified expenditures up to $100,000,000, would extend the credit to qualified expenditures for television pilot episodes, and would determine an applicable percentage of 25% or 20% for qualified expenditures, with an additional credit amount available, as specified. This bill would limit the aggregate amount of these new credits to be allocated in each fiscal year to up to $330 million, and would, subject to a computation and ranking of applicants based on the jobs ratio, as defined, require the California Film Commission to allocate credit amounts subject to specified categories of qualified motion pictures. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, in lieu of the credits authorized under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for qualified motion pictures described above, allow a credit against qualified state sales and use taxes, as provided. This bill would also require the Legislative Analyst's Office to prepare reports related to the effectiveness and administration of the qualified motion picture credit under the Sales and Use Tax Law, the Personal Income Tax Law, and the Corporation Tax Law. This bill would, for taxable years, beginning on or after January 1, 2016, additionally allow the credit under the Corporation Tax Law for qualified expenditures for the production of qualified motion pictures to reduce the tentative minimum tax. This bill would also make findings and declarations related to the entertainment industry, and would urge the United States Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission to investigate and impose sanctions on specified motion picture productions and elements of production to combat unfair and illegal competition. 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 bill would state that its provisions are severable. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 23036 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, proposed by AB 2754, to be operative only if AB 2754 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law provides that the California Workforce Investment Board is responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system. Existing law requires the board to assist the Governor in targeting resources to specified industry sectors and providing guidance to ensure that services reflect the needs of those sectors. This bill would additionally require the board to assist the Governor in the development of an annual workforce metrics dashboard that measures the state's human capital investments in workforce development and that provides, among other things, a status report on credential attainment, training completion, degree attainment, and participant earnings from workforce education and training programs. The bill would also authorize the State Department of Education to collect the social security numbers of adults participating in adult education programs for these purposes, as specified. This bill would also require the Employment Development Department, among other things, to aggregate data, which the bill would require to be provided by participating workforce program partners, and to report this data to the board to assist the board in producing the annual workforce metrics dashboard, as specified.
Existing law requires the Governor and the Office of Emergency Services to prepare for and mitigate the effects of emergencies in the state and does not limit the Governor from formally recognizing committees or boards established by or with segments of the private sector, public agencies, or both, that control facilities, resources, or the provision of services essential to the mitigation of the effects of an emergency. This bill would establish in state government the California Emergency Management and Disaster Preparedness Commission as a statewide executive-level commission to assess and improve the condition of the state's emergency preparedness, management, and disaster recovery capabilities. This bill would require the commission to review and make recommendations on emergency management and disaster preparedness, including, but not limited to, the availability of adequate equipment, fuel, food, water, and other emergency supplies. This bill would require the membership of the commission to include certain state officials or their designees, representatives of certain local governmental entities, and the President pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the Assembly, or their designees, as specified. This bill would also authorize the Governor to appoint a representative of the American Red Cross to the commission. This bill would make legislative findings in this regard.
This measure would declare November 8, 2014, as California Solar Professionals Day.
This measure would urge the National Football League (NFL) to join with the Legislature and numerous organizations in calling for a name change for the Washington, D.C. NFL team, and calls upon the owners of NFL teams based in California to urge the owner of the Washington, D.C. NFL team and the NFL Commissioner to change the team mascot.
This measure would proclaim October 23 to October 31, 2014, as Red Ribbon Week, and would encourage all Californians to help build drug-free communities and participate in drug prevention activities.
This measure would request that the President of the United States encourage, and that the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services adopt, policies that repeal the current donor suitability policies of the federal Food and Drug Administration regarding the donation of blood by men who have had sex with another man.