Asm. V. Manuel Pérez

The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act authorizes the State Department of Developmental Services to contract with regional centers to provide services and support to individuals with developmental disabilities. This bill would, until January 1, 2019, require the department to inform all regional centers that any appropriate health care service and dentistry may be provided through the use of telehealth, as defined, to consumers of regional center services. The bill would require the department to provide technical assistance to regional centers on the use of telehealth and to request those centers to consider the use of telehealth services for inclusion in training programs for parents of consumers. The bill would require that the provision of a service through the use of telehealth be voluntary and immediately discontinued at the request of the consumer or his or her parent, legal guardian, or conservator, as appropriate.

(1) Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2015, the Attorney General, or other specified prosecuting officers at the Department of Justice, or a district attorney, to apply for, and a judge to enter, an ex parte order authorizing interception of wire or electronic communications under certain circumstances. Existing law authorizes a judge to enter an order authorizing the interception of communications initially intercepted within the territorial jurisdiction of the court in which the judge is sitting, if the judge determines that, among other things, there is probable cause to believe that an individual is committing, has committed, or is about to commit one of specified felony offenses, including murder and the illegal possession or sale of controlled substances. Existing law proscribes the crime of human trafficking, as defined to include, among other prohibited acts, depriving or violating the personal liberty of another with the intent to obtain forced labor or services or to effect or maintain a specified criminal offense, or inducing or persuading a minor to engage in a commercial sex act. This bill would expand the provisions described above authorizing interception of wire or electronic communications to apply if a judge determines that, among other things, there is probable cause to believe that an individual is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a violation of the provision described above proscribing human trafficking. (2) Existing law specifies obligations for parties applying for and carrying out orders to intercept communications pursuant to the provision described above, and makes a violation of these provisions a misdemeanor or felony. This bill would broaden the types of communications to which these crimes would apply. By creating new crimes, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission. The act requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, beginning November 1, 2003, and by November 1 of every odd year thereafter, to adopt an integrated energy policy report which includes an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state, an assessment and forecast of system reliability, and the need for resource additions, efficiency, and conservation. The act requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, beginning November 1, 2004, and by November 1 of each even year thereafter, to prepare an energy policy review to update the analyses from the integrated energy policy report or to raise energy issues that have emerged since the release of the integrated energy policy report. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, also known as the RPS program, requires a retail seller of electricity, as defined, and local publicly owned electric utilities to purchase specified minimum quantities of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, for specified compliance periods, sufficient to ensure that the procurement of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources achieves 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016, and 33% of retail sales by December 31, 2020, and in all subsequent years. This bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, in cooperation and consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, the Natural Resources Agency, and the Salton Sea Authority, to convene a stakeholders group to advise the commission on the steps that should be taken to properly develop, integrate, and transmit the electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources located in and around the Salton Sea. The bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to hold workshops and public hearings and to include its evaluations and recommendations in the next integrated energy policy report or energy policy review update. Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. The Public Utilities Act requires the Public Utilities Commission to review and adopt a procurement plan for each electrical corporation in accordance with specified elements, incentive mechanisms, and objectives. The act requires that an electrical corporation's proposed procurement plan include certain elements. The act requires the Public Utilities Commission to review and accept, modify, or reject each electrical corporation's procurement plan and requires that each approved procurement plan accomplish specified objectives. This bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to establish a value for assessing all procurement contracts for eligible renewable energy resources that includes the cost of integration of those resources into the operation of the electrical grid and would authorize the commission to additionally include other values including voltage support. The bill would require that a procurement plan approved by the Public Utilities Commission accomplish the objective of providing for procurement of preferred resources in a manner that ensures electrical system reliability.

Existing law gives the Department of Transportation full possession and control of all state highways. Existing law describes the authorized routes in the state highway system and establishes a process for adoption of a highway on an authorized route by the California Transportation Commission. Existing law also authorizes the commission to relinquish certain state highway segments to local agencies. This bill would authorize the commission to relinquish to the Cities of Brawley, El Centro, and Imperial and the County of Imperial specified portions of State Highway Route 86 under certain conditions. This bill would also redesignate a specified portion of State Highway Route 86 as a part of State Highway Route 78 following relinquishment. This bill would also state the intent of the Legislature that State Highway Route 86 should remain as a future state highway along a new, specified route.

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including a credit in the amount of $3,000 for each full-time employee hired by a qualified employer applicable to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2009, and ending upon a cut-off date calculated based upon an estimate by the Franchise Tax Board of claims cumulatively totaling $400,000,000 for all taxable years, as specified. Existing law also creates the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, which has specified duties in regard to low-income housing credits. This bill would instead calculate the cut-off date for the above-described hiring credit based upon an estimate by the Franchise Tax Board of claims cumulatively totaling $200,000,000 for all taxable years, as specified. This bill would also allow a credit under both laws, in modified conformity with a federal New Market Tax Credit, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2013, and before January 1, 2020, in a specified amount for investments in low-income communities. The bill would limit the total annual amount of credit allowed pursuant to these provisions to $40,000,000 and would limit the allocation of the credit to a cumulative total of no more than $200,000,000. This bill would impose specified duties on the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee with regard to the application for, and allocation of, the credit. The bill would require the committee to establish and impose reasonable fees upon entities that apply for the allocation of the credit and use the revenue to defray the cost of administering the program, as specified, thereby making an appropriation. This bill would also appropriate $150,000 from the Tax Credit Allocation Fee Account to the committee for purposes of implementing the tax credit. This bill would result in a change in state taxes for the purpose of increasing state revenues 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 gives the Department of Transportation full possession and control of all state highways. Existing law describes the authorized routes in the state highway system and establishes a process for adoption of a highway on an authorized route by the California Transportation Commission. Existing law also authorizes the commission to relinquish certain state highway segments to local agencies. This bill would authorize the commission to relinquish to the Cities of Brawley, El Centro, and Imperial and the County of Imperial specified portions of State Highway Route 86 under certain conditions. This bill would also redesignate a specified portion of State Highway Route 86 as a part of State Highway Route 78 following relinquishment. This bill would require the relinquishments to be done at no cost to the state, unless the commission makes a finding of need.