Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law authorizes the establishment of community college districts under the administration of community college governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at community college campuses throughout the state. Existing law requires community college district governing boards to charge students an enrollment fee of $46 per unit per semester. Existing law provides for the waiver of this fee under certain circumstances. The bill would require the board of governors, by January 1, 2019, to ensure a fee waiver application is available to be completed and submitted electronically by students at each community college. To the extent that this bill would impose new duties on community college districts, it would constitute 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
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(1) Existing law provides various sources of funding for transportation purposes, including funding for the state highway system and the local street and road system. These funding sources include, among others, fuel excise taxes, commercial vehicle weight fees, local transactions and use taxes, and federal funds. Existing law imposes certain registration fees on vehicles, with revenues from these fees deposited in the Motor Vehicle Account and used to fund the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of the California Highway Patrol. Existing law provides for the monthly transfer of excess balances in the Motor Vehicle Account to the State Highway Account. This bill would create the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program to address deferred maintenance on the state highway system and the local street and road system. The bill would require the California Transportation Commission to adopt performance criteria, consistent with a specified asset management plan, to ensure efficient use of certain funds available for the program. The bill would provide for the deposit of various funds for the program in the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account, which the bill would create in the State Transportation Fund, including revenues attributable to a $0.012 per gallon increase in the motor vehicle fuel (gasoline) tax imposed by the bill with an inflation adjustment, as provided, an increase of $38 in the annual vehicle registration fee with an inflation adjustment, as provided, a new $165 annual vehicle registration fee with an inflation adjustment, as provided, applicable to zero-emission motor vehicles, as defined, and certain miscellaneous revenues described in (7) below that are not restricted as to expenditure by Article XIX of the California Constitution. This bill would annually set aside $200,000,000 of the funds available for the program to fund road maintenance and rehabilitation purposes in counties that have sought and received voter approval of taxes or that have imposed fees, including uniform developer fees, as defined, which taxes or fees are dedicated solely to transportation improvements. These funds would be continuously appropriated for allocation pursuant to guidelines to be developed by the California Transportation Commission in consultation with local agencies. The bill would require $80,000,000 of the funds available for the program to be annually transferred to the State Highway Account for expenditure on the Active Transportation Program. The bill would require $30,000,000 of the funds available for the program in each of 4 fiscal years beginning in 2017–18 to be transferred to the Advance Mitigation Fund created by the bill pursuant to (12) below. The bill would continuously appropriate $2,000,000 annually of the funds available for the program to the California State University for the purpose of conducting transportation research and transportation-related workforce education, training, and development, and $3,000,000 annually to the institutes for transportation studies at the University of California. The bill would require the remaining funds available for the program to be allocated 50% for maintenance of the state highway system or to the state highway operation and protection program and 50% to cities and counties pursuant to a specified formula. The bill would impose various requirements on the department and agencies receiving these funds. The bill would authorize a city or county to spend its apportionment of funds under the program on transportation priorities other than those allowable pursuant to the program if the city's or county's average Pavement Condition Index meets or exceeds 80. The bill would also require the department to annually identify savings achieved through efficiencies implemented at the department and to propose, from the identified savings, an appropriation to be included in the annual Budget Act of up to $70,000,000 from the State Highway Account for expenditure on the Active Transportation Program. (2) Existing law establishes in state government the Transportation Agency, which includes various departments and state entities, including the California Transportation Commission. Existing law vests the California Transportation Commission with specified powers, duties, and functions relative to transportation matters. Existing law requires the commission to retain independent authority to perform the duties and functions prescribed to it under any provision of law. This bill would exclude the California Transportation Commission from the Transportation Agency, establish it as an entity in state government, and require it to act in an independent oversight role. The bill would also make conforming changes. (3) Existing law creates various state agencies, including the Department of Transportation, the High-Speed Rail Authority, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the State Air Resources Board, with specified powers and duties. Existing law provides for the allocation of state transportation funds to various transportation purposes. This bill would create the Office of the Transportation Inspector General in state government, as an independent office that would not be a subdivision of any other government entity, to ensure that all of the above-referenced state agencies and all other state agencies expending state transportation funds are operating efficiently, effectively, and in compliance with federal and state laws. The bill would provide for the Governor to appoint the Transportation Inspector General for a 6-year term, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and would provide that the Transportation Inspector General may not be removed from office during the term except for good cause. The bill would specify the duties and responsibilities of the Transportation Inspector General and would require an annual report to the Legislature and Governor. This bill would require the department to update the Highway Design Manual to incorporate the "complete streets" design concept by July 1, 2017. (4) Existing law provides for loans of revenues from various transportation funds and accounts to the General Fund, with various repayment dates specified. This bill would require the Department of Finance, on or before January 1, 2017, to compute the amount of outstanding loans made from specified transportation funds. The bill would require the Department of Transportation to prepare a loan repayment schedule and would require the outstanding loans to be repaid pursuant to that schedule, as prescribed. The bill would appropriate funds for that purpose from the Budget Stabilization Account. The bill would require the repaid funds to be transferred, pursuant to a specified formula, to cities and counties and to the department for maintenance of the state highway system and for purposes of the state highway operation and protection program. (5) The Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006 (Proposition 1B) created the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund and provided for allocation by the California Transportation Commission of $2 billion in bond funds for infrastructure improvements on highway and rail corridors that have a high volume of freight movement and for specified categories of projects eligible to receive these funds. Existing law continues the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund in existence in order to receive revenues from sources other than the bond act for these purposes. This bill would deposit the revenues attributable to a $0.20 per gallon increase in the diesel fuel excise tax imposed by the bill into the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund. The bill would require revenues apportioned to the state from the national highway freight program established by the federal Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act to be allocated for trade corridor improvement projects approved pursuant to these provisions. Existing law requires the commission, in determining projects eligible for funding, to consult various state freight and regional infrastructure and goods movement plans and the statewide port master plan. This bill would revise the list of plans to be consulted by the commission when determining eligible projects for funding. The bill would also expand eligible projects to include, among others, rail landside access improvements, landside freight access improvements to airports, and certain capital and operational improvements. (6) Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air Resources Board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism relative to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Existing law continuously appropriates 10% of the annual proceeds of the fund to the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program and 5% of the annual proceeds of the fund to the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program. This bill would, beginning in the 2017–18 fiscal year, instead continuously appropriate 20% of those annual proceeds to the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program and 10% of those annual proceeds to the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program, thereby making an appropriation. (7) Article XIX of the California Constitution restricts the expenditure of revenues from taxes imposed by the state on fuels used in motor vehicles upon public streets and highways to street and highway and certain mass transit purposes. Existing law requires certain miscellaneous revenues deposited in the State Highway Account that are not restricted as to expenditure by Article XIX of the California Constitution to be transferred to the Transportation Debt Service Fund in the State Transportation Fund, as specified, and requires the Controller to transfer from the fund to the General Fund an amount of those revenues necessary to offset the current year debt service made from the General Fund on general obligation transportation bonds issued pursuant to Proposition 116 of 1990. This bill would delete the transfer of these miscellaneous revenues to the Transportation Debt Service Fund, thereby eliminating the offsetting transfer to the General Fund for debt service on general obligation transportation bonds issued pursuant to Proposition 116 of 1990. The bill, subject to a specified exception, would instead require the miscellaneous revenues to be retained in the State Highway Account and to be deposited in the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account. (8) Article XIX of the California Constitution requires gasoline excise tax revenues from motor vehicles traveling upon public streets and highways to be deposited in the Highway Users Tax Account, for allocation to city, county, and state transportation purposes. Existing law generally provides for statutory allocation of gasoline excise tax revenues attributable to other modes of transportation, including aviation, boats, agricultural vehicles, and off-highway vehicles, to particular accounts and funds for expenditure on purposes associated with those other modes, except that a specified portion of these gasoline excise tax revenues is deposited in the General Fund. Expenditure of the gasoline excise tax revenues attributable to those other modes is not restricted by Article XIX of the California Constitution. This bill, commencing July 1, 2017, would instead transfer to the Highway Users Tax Account for allocation to state and local transportation purposes under a specified formula the portion of gasoline excise tax revenues currently being deposited in the General Fund that are attributable to boats, agricultural vehicles, and off-highway vehicles. Because that account is continuously appropriated, the bill would make an appropriation. (9) Existing law, as of July 1, 2011, increases the sales and use tax on diesel and decreases the excise tax, as provided. Existing law requires the State Board of Equalization to annually modify both the gasoline and diesel excise tax rates on a going-forward basis so that the various changes in the taxes imposed on gasoline and diesel are revenue neutral. This bill would eliminate the annual rate adjustment to maintain revenue neutrality for the gasoline and diesel excise tax rates and would reimpose the higher gasoline excise tax rate that was in effect on July 1, 2010, in addition to the increase in the rate described in (1) above. Existing law, beyond the sales and use tax rate generally applicable, imposes an additional sales and use tax on diesel fuel at the rate of 1.75%, subject to certain exemptions, and provides for the net revenues collected from the additional tax to be transferred to the Public Transportation Account. Existing law continuously appropriates these revenues to the Controller for allocation by formula to transportation agencies for public transit purposes under the State Transit Assistance Program. This bill would increase the additional sales and use tax on diesel fuel by an additional 3.5%. By increasing the revenues deposited in the Public Transportation Account that are continuously appropriated, the bill would thereby make an appropriation. The bill would restrict expenditures of revenues from this increase in the sales and use tax on diesel fuel to transit capital purposes and certain transit services and would require a recipient transit agency to comply with certain requirements, including submitting a list of proposed projects to the Department of Transportation, as a condition of receiving a portion of these funds. The bill would require the Controller to compute and publish quarterly proposed allocations for each eligible recipient agency under the State Transit Assistance Program. The bill would require an existing required audit of transit operator finances to verify that these new revenues have been expended in conformance with these specific restrictions and all other generally applicable requirements. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2019, and every 3rd year thereafter, require the State Board of Equalization to recompute the gasoline and diesel excise tax rates and the additional sales and use tax rate on diesel fuel based upon the percentage change in the California Consumer Price Index transmitted to the board by the Department of Finance, as prescribed. (10) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to prepare a state highway operation and protection program every other year for the expenditure of transportation capital improvement funds for projects that are necessary to preserve and protect the state highway system, excluding projects that add new traffic lanes. The program is required to be based on an asset management plan, as specified. Existing law requires the department to specify, for each project in the program the capital and support budget and projected delivery date for various components of the project. Existing law provides for the California Transportation Commission to review and adopt the program, and authorizes the commission to decline and adopt the program if it determines that the program is not sufficiently consistent with the asset management plan. The bill would require the commission, as part of its review of the program, to hold at least one hearing in northern California and one hearing in southern California regarding the proposed program. The bill would require the department to submit any change to a programmed project as an amendment to the commission for its approval. This bill, on and after August 1, 2017, would also require the commission to make an allocation of all capital and support costs for each project in the program, and would require the department to submit a supplemental project allocation request to the commission for each project that experiences cost increases above the amounts in its allocation. The bill would require the commission to establish guidelines to provide exceptions to the requirement for a supplemental project allocation requirement that the commission determines are necessary to ensure that projects are not unnecessarily delayed. (11) Existing law imposes weight fees on the registration of commercial motor vehicles and provides for the deposit of net weight fee revenues into the State Highway Account. Existing law provides for the transfer of certain weight fee revenues from the State Highway Account to the Transportation Debt Service Fund to reimburse the General Fund for payment of debt service on general obligation bonds issued for transportation purposes. Existing law also provides for the transfer of certain weight fee revenues to the Transportation Bond Direct Payment Account for direct payment of debt service on designated bonds, which are defined to be certain transportation general obligation bonds issued pursuant to Proposition 1B of 2006. Existing law also provides for loans of weight fee revenues to the General Fund to the extent the revenues are not needed for bond debt service purposes, with the loans to be repaid when the revenues are later needed for those purposes, as specified. This bill, notwithstanding these provisions or any other law, would only authorize specified amounts of weight fee revenues to be transferred from the State Highway Account to the Transportation Debt Service Fund, the Transportation Bond Direct Payment Account, or any other fund or account for the purpose of payment of the debt service on transportation general obligation bonds in accordance with a prescribed schedule, with no more than $500,000,000 to be transferred in the 2021– 22 and subsequent fiscal years. The bill would also prohibit loans of weight fee revenues to the General Fund. (12) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA, until January 1, 2020, exempts a project or an activity to repair, maintain, or make minor alterations to an existing roadway, as defined, other than a state roadway, if the project or activity is carried out by a city or county with a population of less than 100,000 persons to improve public safety and meets other specified requirements. This bill would extend the above-referenced exemption indefinitely and delete the limitation of the exemption to projects or activities in cities and counties with a population of less than 100,000 persons. The bill would also expand the exemption to include state roadways. This bill would also establish the Advance Mitigation Program in the Department of Transportation. The bill would authorize the department to undertake mitigation measures in advance of construction of a planned transportation project. The bill would require the department to establish a steering committee to advise the department on advance mitigation measures and related matters. The bill would create the Advance Mitigation Fund as a continuously appropriated revolving fund, to be funded initially from the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program pursuant to (1) above. The bill would provide for reimbursement of the revolving fund at the time a planned transportation project benefiting from advance mitigation is constructed. (13) Existing federal law requires the United States Secretary of Transportation to carry out a surface transportation project delivery program, under which the participating states assume certain responsibilities for environmental review and clearance of transportation projects that would otherwise be the responsibility of the federal government. Existing law, until January 1, 2017, when these provisions are repealed, provides that the State of California consents to the jurisdiction of the federal courts with regard to the compliance, discharge, or enforcement of the responsibilities the Department of Transportation assumed as a participant in this program. This bill would reenact these provisions. (14) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services, in coordination with all interested state agencies with designated response roles in the State Emergency Plan and interested local emergency management agencies, to jointly establish by regulation a Standardized Emergency Management System for use by all emergency response agencies, as specified. Existing law requires all state agencies to use the Standardized Emergency Management System to coordinate multiple jurisdiction or multiple agency emergency and disaster operations. Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services, in coordination with the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, the Emergency Medical Services Authority, and all other interested state agencies with designated response roles in the State Emergency Plan, to jointly develop an approved course of instruction for use in training all emergency response personnel, consisting of the concepts and procedures associated with the Standardized Emergency Management System. This bill would appropriate $3,000,000 from the General Fund to the Office of Emergency Services to fund current disaster preparedness, resiliency, and response programs in underserved neighborhoods and communities that may be subject to earthquake, fire, or other disaster. The bill would require the office to distribute the funds on or before June 31, 2018, to a qualified charitable organization, as defined, that provides a regional disaster preparedness, response, and resilience program to underserved neighborhoods and communities that meets specified criteria, including that it have, among other things, an educational component that aims to educate underserved neighborhoods and communities on the risks that make them more susceptible to disasters and emergencies, and have a focus on increasing reliance with a volunteer workforce to support disaster response.
Existing law, the Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substance Account Act, imposes liability for hazardous substance removal or remedial actions. Existing law provides that a cost incurred by the Department of Toxic Substances Control or regional board in carrying out or overseeing a response or a corrective action under the act or under the hazardous waste control laws is recoverable pursuant to state or federal law by the Attorney General, upon the request of the department or regional board, from the liable person or persons. The act defines "responsible party" and "liable person" for its purposes to mean those persons described in a specified provision of the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, which includes persons who are, in specified ways, responsible for the disposal of hazardous substances. This bill would require that, for purposes of that definition, for a cause of action that accrued on or after January 1, 1982, "disposal," as it is used in that federal provision, includes emissions into the air.
Existing law, as part of the hazardous waste control law, requires a facility handling hazardous waste to apply for and obtain a hazardous waste facilities permit from the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Existing law requires that a hazardous waste facilities permit be for a fixed term not to exceed 10 years for certain facilities. Existing law requires the owner or operator of a facility intending to extend the facility's permit to submit a complete Part A application for a permit renewal before the fixed term of the permit expires, and, at any time following the submittal of the Part A application, to submit a complete Part B application, or any portion of that application, and other relevant information, if requested by the department. Existing law provides that when a complete Part A renewal application and any other requested information has been submitted before the end of the permit's fixed term, the permit is deemed extended until the application is approved or denied and the owner has exhausted all applicable rights of appeal. This bill would require, for a hazardous waste facilities permit that will expire on or before July 1, 2020, the owner or operator of a facility intending to extend the term of that permit to submit a Part A and Part B application for a permit renewal at least 6 months before the fixed term of the permit expires. The bill would require, for a hazardous waste facilities permit that will expire after July 1, 2020, the owner or operator to submit a Part A and Part B application for a permit renewal at least 2 years before the fixed term of the permit expires. The bill would provide that if a Part A and Part B renewal application and any other requested information has been submitted at least 6 months or at least 2 years, as applicable, before the end of the permit's fixed term, the permit is deemed extended until the application is approved or denied and the owner has exhausted all applicable rights of appeal. The bill would also require the department, no later than 90 days after receiving an application for a hazardous waste facilities permit, to post on its Internet Web site a timeline with the estimated dates of key milestones in the application review process, to note on its Internet Web site that these dates are estimates, and to update the dates as needed.
Under existing law, known as the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act of 1991, the State Department of Public Health is required to establish procedures for environmental abatement and followup, and undertake other specified measures, designed to reduce the incidence of excessive childhood lead exposure in California. The bill would require, by April 1, 2018, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to convene a Lead Advisory Task Force, with a prescribed membership, to review and advise, as provided, regarding policies and procedures to reduce childhood lead poisoning in the state. The bill would require the task force to publish on the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment's Internet Web site a recommended regulatory agenda on or before April 1, 2020, that would identify sources of lead and ensure that regulatory standards are protective of health in the state, as specified, and to update the regulatory agenda on or before April 1, 2022. These provisions would become inoperative on April 1, 2022.
Existing law requires a corporation, limited liability company, or common interest development, among others, to file a statement of information with the Secretary of State, providing specified information about the entity. Existing law regulates the terms and conditions of employment, including the payment of wages. Existing law generally prohibits an employer from paying any of its employees at rates less than the rates paid to employees of the opposite sex for substantially similar work, as specified. This bill would require, on and after July 1, 2019, and biennially thereafter, that an employer that is required to file a statement of information with the Secretary of State and that has 500 or more employees in California to collect specified information on gender wage differentials. The bill would require the employer to submit the information to the Secretary of State as specified, by July 1, 2020, and biennially thereafter. The bill would require the Secretary of State to publish the information described above on an Internet Web site available to the public upon receiving necessary funding and establishing adequate mechanisms and procedures.
This measure would recognize August 6, 2017, as the 52nd anniversary of the signing of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This measure would proclaim the period of October 23, 2017, to October 31, 2017, inclusive, as Red Ribbon Week and would encourage all Californians to help build drug-free communities and to participate in drug prevention activities.