Existing law, the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006, approved by the voters as Proposition 1B at the November 7, 2006, general election, authorizes the issuance of general obligation bonds for various transportation-related purposes, including emission reductions, not otherwise required by law or regulation, from activities related to the movement of freight along California's trade corridors. The State Air Resources Board is required to allocate the funds to be used for air quality purposes pursuant to specified requirements. The state board is prohibited from approving funding for usable project segments if the benefits associated with each individual segment are insufficient to meet the objectives of the program from which the individual segment is funded. This bill would make this prohibition inapplicable for a shoreside electrical power infrastructure project that is administered by a California port, and instead would require that the individual segments of these projects be a part of an adopted terminal plan submitted to the state board. The bill would authorize the state board for a specified purpose to allow a recipient agency for shoreside electrical power infrastructure to average vessel calls made across multiple berths within a terminal.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, requires that state agencies that serve a substantial number of non-English-speaking people employ a sufficient amount of bilingual persons in order to provide certain information and render certain services in a language other than English. The act requires each state agency to conduct a survey of its local offices every 2 years regarding their public contact positions and the provision of bilingual services, as specified. The act requires the State Personnel Board to compile the results of the survey and provide it in a report to the Legislature every 2 years. This bill would revise and expand the duties of the State Personnel Board with regard to the surveys and implementation plans, and the report required to be submitted by the board. This bill would require state agencies to use specified criteria to determine whether the state agency serves a substantial number of non-English-speaking people for purposes of the act.
Existing law authorizes the Director of Education, who is the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to conduct experimental work in education through various media, including radio and television. This bill would additionally authorize the Director to conduct experimental work in education through the Internet.
(1) Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. This bill would establish the California Higher Education Endowment Corporation (CHEEC) in state government. The bill would establish an oversight board to govern the CHEEC and would require that board to appoint the chief executive officer of the CHEEC. The bill would require the CHEEC to annually allocate the moneys in the continuously appropriated California Higher Education Fund, which would be created by the bill, to the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California, as specified. (2) Existing law imposes various taxes, including taxes on the privilege of engaging in certain activities. The Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges. This bill would impose an oil and gas severance tax upon any producer, except as provided, for the privilege of severing oil or gas from the earth or water in this state for sale, transport, consumption, storage, profit, or use, as provided, at a rate of 12.5% of the gross value of the product. The tax would be administered by the State Board of Equalization and would be collected pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Fee Collection Procedures Law. The bill would require the board to deposit all taxes, penalties, and interest collected pursuant to these provisions in the California Higher Education Fund, as provided. Because this bill would expand application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the Regents of the University of California, except as provided, to let all contracts involving an expenditure of more than $100,000 annually for goods and materials or services to the lowest responsible bidder meeting certain specifications, or to reject all bids. Existing law requires the governing board of any community college district to let specified contracts involving an expenditure of more than $50,000 to the lowest responsible bidder meeting certain specifications, or else to reject all bids. This bill would provide that bid evaluation and selection for these contracts may include competitive means for obtaining best value while complying with the legislative intent of the above requirements.
Existing law requires the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, in calculating each community college district's revenue level for each fiscal year, to subtract, among other things, local property tax revenue specified by law for general operating support, exclusive of bond interest and redemption, from the total revenues owed. This bill would require the annual Budget Act to specify the total local property tax revenue, as defined, for community college districts upon which the General Fund appropriation for community college districts is based. The bill would require the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to certify to the Controller the actual property tax revenue for the prior year. The bill would require the Controller to transfer funds between the General Fund and Section B of the State School Fund, as applicable, based on whether the amount of property tax revenue received plus any previous amount transferred to Section B of the State School Fund is greater than or less than the amount specified in the annual Budget Act. The bill would thereby make an appropriation. To the extent that the funds appropriated by this bill are allocated to community college districts for purposes of the bill, the funds may be applied toward the minimum funding requirements imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.
Existing law provides for the creation of various programs to provide health care services to persons who have limited incomes and meet various eligibility requirements. These programs include the Healthy Families Program administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, and the Medi‑Cal program administered by the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law provides for the regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Commencing January 1, 2014, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires every individual to be covered under minimum essential coverage, as specified, and requires every health insurance issuer issuing individual or group health insurance coverage to accept every employer and individual who applies for coverage. Existing law establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans through the Exchange by qualified individuals and small employers by January 1, 2014. This bill would establish the California Healthcare System to be administered by the newly created California Healthcare Agency under the control of a Healthcare Commissioner appointed by the Governor and subject to confirmation by the Senate. The bill would make all California residents eligible for specified health care benefits under the California Healthcare System, which would, on a single-payer basis, negotiate for or set fees for health care services provided through the system and pay claims for those services. The bill would require the commissioner to seek all necessary waivers, exemptions, agreements, or legislation to allow various existing federal, state, and local health care payments to be paid to the California Healthcare System, which would then assume responsibility for all benefits and services previously paid for with those funds. The bill would create the Healthcare Policy Board to establish policy on medical issues and various other matters relating to the system. The bill would create the Office of Patient Advocacy within the agency to represent the interests of health care consumers relative to the system. The bill would create within the agency the Office of Health Planning to plan for the health care needs of the population, and the Office of Health Care Quality, headed by a chief medical officer, to support the delivery of high-quality care and promote provider and patient satisfaction. The bill would create the Office of Inspector General for the California Healthcare System within the Attorney General's office, which would have various oversight powers. The bill would prohibit health care service plan contracts or health insurance policies from being issued for services covered by the California Healthcare System, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, and would authorize the collection of penalty moneys for deposit into the Healthcare Fund, which the bill would create. The bill would create the Payments Board to administer the finances of the California Healthcare System. The bill would create the California Healthcare Premium Commission (Premium Commission) to determine the cost of the California Healthcare System and to develop a premium structure for the system that complies with specified standards. The bill would require the Premium Commission to recommend a premium structure to the Governor and the Legislature on or before January 1, 2014, and to make a draft recommendation to the Governor, the Legislature, and the public 90 days before submitting its final premium structure recommendation. The bill would specify that only its provisions relating to the Premium Commission would become operative on January 1, 2013, with its remaining provisions becoming operative on the earlier of the date the Secretary of California Health and Human Services notifies the Legislature, as specified, that sufficient funding exists to implement the California Healthcare System and the date the secretary receives the necessary federal waiver under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The bill would extend the application of certain insurance fraud laws to providers of services and products under the system, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program by revising the definition of a crime. The bill would enact other related provisions relative to budgeting, regional entities, federal preemption, subrogation, collective bargaining agreements, compensation of health care providers, conflict of interest, patient grievances, and independent medical review. 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 imposes a tax upon taxable income at various rates depending upon the amount of that income, and also imposes an alternative minimum tax based upon specified tax preference items. This bill would declare that it is the intent of the Legislature to reinstate income tax brackets for the highest income earners to address the state's budget problems. This bill would, for any taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2012, and before January 1, 2017, increase the tax rate applicable to taxable income over specified amounts to 10% and 11%, and increase the alternative minimum tax rate to 8.5%. 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 XIII A of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law generally regulates juvenile offenders, including provisions pertaining to juveniles under the jurisdiction of county probation departments. This bill would, to the extent funding is appropriated for its purposes, require that not more than 45 days before a youth is scheduled to be released from a facility or program operated by a county juvenile probation department, that department shall determine whether the youth is eligible for one or more community reentry programs, as specified. The bill would provide that upon a determination of eligibility, the county probation department would, not less than 20 days before release, coordinate an evaluation for enrollment and actual enrollment of the youth into a community reentry program. The bill would establish the minimum level of services to be provided by the community reentry programs. By imposing additional burdens on local governments, this bill would impose 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 these statutory provisions.
Existing law prohibits bringing an action to recover damages from any person who develops real property or performs or furnishes the design, specifications, surveying, planning, supervision, testing, or observation of construction or construction of an improvement to real property more than 10 years after the substantial completion of the development or improvement, as specified. This bill would provide that this limitation does not apply to any action for damages for personal injury or wrongful death, or for personal injury or property damages caused or contributed to by exposure to any hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant released into the environment. The bill would provide that the limitations period for these actions shall be as otherwise specified by law.