The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing state board regulations require specified entities to comply with a market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2013, and require additional specified entities to comply with that market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2015. This bill instead would exempt categories of persons or entities that did not have a compliance obligation, as defined, under a market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2013, from being subject to that market-based compliance mechanism through December 31, 2020. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
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Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to review existing tests that assess the English language development of pupils whose primary language is a language other than English. Existing law requires pupils in kindergarten and first grade to be assessed in English listening and speaking, and, once an assessment is developed, early literacy skills. Existing law requires an early literacy assessment to be administered for a period of 4 years beginning after the initial administration of the assessment or until July 1, 2014, whichever occurs first. This bill would instead require this early literacy assessment to be administered for a period of 4 years beginning after the initial administration of the assessment or until July 1, 2017, whichever occurs last.
Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to allow pupils whom the district has determined would benefit from advanced scholastic or vocational work to attend community college as special part-time or full-time students, subject to parental permission. Existing law, until January 1, 2014, required credit to be awarded to these pupils, as specified, made the authority of a school principal to recommend a pupil for community college summer session contingent upon a determination that the pupil met various criteria, and prohibited the principal from recommending more than 5% of the total number of pupils from any particular grade level who completed that grade immediately before the time of recommendation for summer session attendance, except as specified. This bill would reinstate these provisions until January 1, 2017. The bill would, until July 1, 2020, authorize the governing board of a school district to enter into a concurrent enrollment partnership agreement with a community college district located within its immediate service area to allow pupils to attend community college. The bill would require a community college district and a school district, as a condition of, and before adopting, a concurrent enrollment partnership agreement, to take testimony from the public and approve or disapprove the proposed agreement at a regularly scheduled open public hearing of its respective governing board after having presented the agreement at a prior open public hearing. The bill would require the concurrent enrollment partnership agreement to outline the terms of the partnership, as specified. The bill would prohibit a school district from receiving a state allowance or apportionment for an instructional activity for which a community college district has been, or will be, paid an allowance or apportionment under a concurrent enrollment partnership agreement. The bill would authorize a participating high school to monitor the progress of its pupils attending a community college and to obtain the pupils' records from a community college district to do so. The bill would require, for each concurrent enrollment partnership agreement entered into under the bill, the affected community college district and school district to file an annual report, containing specified data, with the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. The bill would also authorize the governing board of a community college district to enter into a partnership with the governing board of a school district located within its service area with the goal of developing seamless pathways from high school to community college for career technical education or preparation for transfer. The bill would require the partnership agreement to outline the terms of the partnership, as specified, and would require copies of the partnership agreement to be filed with the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The bill would authorize a community college district to limit enrollment in a community college course to solely high school pupils under specified circumstances. The bill would authorize specified high school pupils to enroll in up to 15 units if those units are required for these pupils' partnership programs and specified circumstances are satisfied, and would authorize a community college district to exempt special part-time and full-time students taking up to a maximum of 15 units per term from specified fee requirements. The bill would prohibit a community college district from receiving a state allowance or apportionment for an instructional activity for which a school district has been, or will be, paid an allowance or apportionment under a concurrent enrollment partnership agreement. The bill would require, for each partnership agreement entered into under the bill, the affected community college district and school district to file an annual report, containing specified data, with the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. The bill would also make related and conforming changes.
Existing law requires every domestic insurer to prepare and submit to the Insurance Commissioner a Risk-Based Capital (RBC) Report of the insurer's risk-based capital levels as of the end of the calendar year, as specified. Existing law directs the Insurance Commissioner to take regulatory action with respect to an RBC Report under specified conditions. All notices by the Insurance Commissioner to an insurer that may result in regulatory action are effective upon dispatch if transmitted by registered or certified mail, or in the case of any other transmission, are effective upon the insurer's receipt of the notice. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to the latter provision.
Existing law provides that it is the duty of the superior court judges in each county to prepare, adopt, and annually revise a uniform countywide bail schedule for all bailable felony offenses and for all misdemeanor and infraction offenses, except Vehicle Code infractions. Under existing law, a court may adopt a local rule prescribing the procedure by which the uniform countywide schedule is prepared, adopted, and annually revised by the judges. Existing law requires that, if the court does not adopt a local rule, the uniform countywide bail schedule be prepared, adopted, and annually revised by a majority of the judges. This bill would require the Judicial Council to prepare, adopt, and annually revise an advisory statewide bail schedule for all bailable felony offenses and for all misdemeanor and infraction offenses except Vehicle Code infractions. The bill would state that it is the intent of the Legislature that counties may reference the advisory statewide bail schedule when setting a countywide bail schedule.
Existing law authorizes an underwritten title company, as defined, to engage in the escrow business and act as an escrow agent as long as it fulfills specified requirements. Existing law requires an underwritten title company to obtain a license from the Insurance Commissioner by filing an application with the commissioner and paying a filing fee of $354. This bill would authorize the commissioner to license an underwritten title company to engage in escrow business in all counties of this state with one application. This bill would also require an underwritten title company seeking to expand its escrow business to pay a one-time fee of $449 or the reasonable regulatory cost, whichever is less.
Existing law authorizes the California School Financing Authority to issue revenue bonds in an amount not to exceed $400 million to be repaid from a dedicated portions of funds allocated to school districts from the California State Lottery Education Fund for the purposes of establishing computer-based networks and telecommunications systems for instructional purposes, including the procurement and installation of computer hardware and software, multimedia audio, video, and data transfer equipment, and wiring, cabling, and other equipment necessary to establish network connectivity, and any planning and installation costs associated with establishing and installing the networks. This bill would require the State Department of Education to establish a competitive grant program to provide grants for the construction of network infrastructure, as defined, for local educational agencies to administer computer-based assessments for pupils. The bill would require the department to develop guidelines for the implementation of the program. The bill would, for the 2014–15 fiscal year, appropriate $500,000,000 from the General Fund to the department for the grant program.
Existing law requires the Attorney General to provide a ballot label and a ballot title for each measure to be submitted to the voters at a statewide election. Existing law requires the Attorney General to prepare a summary of the chief purposes and points of each statewide ballot measure as part of the ballot title. Existing law, including provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974, requires that the ballot pamphlet contain, among other things, the official summary prepared by the Attorney General. This bill would require the Legislative Analyst, instead of the Attorney General, to prepare the ballot label and the ballot title and summary for all measures submitted to the voters of the state. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Existing law creates the Employment Development Department and requires that it pay unemployment compensation benefits to individuals who meet specified requirements, are unemployed, as defined, and file a valid claim for these benefits. Existing law requires employers to send the department specified information regarding their employees, including wage information and social security numbers. The department maintains a file of wage records of employees for the purpose of computing earnings in a base period to establish amounts for unemployment benefits. Existing law requires the director of the department to share information in its possession under specified circumstances. This bill would require the department to review, at least once each year, the information in its unemployment insurance base wage file, to identify if multiple names are associated with a single social security number. The bill would require the department, whenever it discovers 10 or more names associated with a single social security number, to inform the Department of Justice of this fact, along with relevant supporting information, as a potential incidence of identity theft.
Existing law authorizes, except as provided, an action for damages against a defendant based upon the defendant's commission of a felony offense for which the defendant has been convicted to be commenced within 10 years of the date on which the defendant is discharged from parole if the conviction was for any of certain serious felonies, as defined, except as specified. This bill would authorize, except as provided, an action for damages against a defendant who was found not guilty by reason of insanity to be commenced within 10 years of a specified date. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes and update a cross-reference in these provisions.