Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, headed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. This bill would, until July 1, 2017, create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative. It would require, by July 1, 2012, the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to prepare recommendations, to be presented upon request to the Legislature, regarding actions that need to be taken to promote food access in the state. The bill would establish the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Council and would require the council to implement the initiative, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish an advisory group, as specified. The bill would create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Fund in the State Treasury, to be comprised of federal, state, philanthropic, and private funds, for the purpose of expanding access to healthy foods in underserved communities and, to the extent practicable, to leverage other funding, as specified. Moneys in the fund would be expended upon appropriation by the Legislature.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law establishes the California Economic Development Fund in the State Treasury to receive economic development funds and loan repayment and grant proceeds and authorizes the Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to expend the fund's revenue to provide matching funds for economic development purposes. Existing law establishes certain definitions in this regard and defines a financial intermediary and a community development intermediary to include, among other things, microenterprise development organizations. This bill would delete the reference to microenterprise development organizations in the definitions of financial intermediary and community development intermediary and would instead provide that a financial intermediary and a community development intermediary include microbusiness lenders, as defined. (2) Existing law establishes the Capital Access Loan Program, which is administered by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority, and defines the term "financial institution," for purposes of that program. The authority is required to include specified terms in any contract that the authority enters into with a financial institution participating in the program, as specified. Existing law requires the authority to submit a report annually to the Governor and the Legislature that describes the financial condition and the programmatic results of the Capital Access Loan Program for small businesses. This bill would revise the definition of the term "financial institution" to include a small business financial development corporation or microbusiness lender that meets standards that shall be established by the authority and to include depository institutions, insured credit unions, and community development financial institutions, as defined pursuant to federal law. This bill would require that the form contract used by the authority when contracting with a participating financial institution include provisions requiring the financial institution to provide information to the authority on the number of jobs created and the number of jobs retained relative to loans made by the financial institution under the program. The bill would also specify, for purposes of the annual report to the Governor and the Legislature, that programmatic results include, but are not limited to, the total number of businesses served, jobs created, jobs retained, the geographic distribution of the loans, and the breakdown of businesses served by industry sector, as specified.
Existing law provides for various state programs and services for the purpose of attracting and retaining businesses in the state. Existing law creates the Office of Small Business Advocate in the Office of Planning and Research in the Governor's office. Executive Order S-05-10 created the Office of Economic Development in the Governor's office, for the purpose of coordinating economic development activities in the state. This bill would create, within the Governor's office, the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, which would be administered by a director appointed by the Governor. The bill would require that the office serve the Governor as the lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth, and would authorize the office to exercise various powers, including, among others, making recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature regarding policies, programs, and actions to advance statewide economic goals. The bill would create the California Business Investment Services Program, as specified, within the office, under the authority of the director, for the purpose of serving employers, corporate executives, business owners, and site location consultants who are considering California for business investment and expansion. The bill would also move the Office of Small Business Advocate to the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development.
(1) Existing law creates various public pension systems and requires that all state and local public retirement systems secure the services of an enrolled actuary, not less than triennially, to perform a valuation of those systems. Existing law requires all state and local public retirement systems to submit audited financial statements to the Controller who is required to compile and publish a report annually on the financial condition of the systems. This bill, until January 1, 2017, would require a state or local pension system with assets over $4,000,000,000 to provide a report to the Controller on California investments, as defined, and California emerging market investments, as defined, that it obtains on and after July 1, 2012, and holds in its portfolio, and would permit a system to modify the definition to ensure consistency with adopted investment policies and limit reporting costs. The bill would also permit the report to include an estimate of the number of jobs created and retained as a result of the system's investment activity. (2) Existing law creates the California Economic Development Fund for the purpose of receiving federal, state, local, and private economic development funds, and receiving repayment of loans or grant proceeds and interest on those loans or grants. Existing law establishes certain definitions in this regard and defines economic development as including policies and programs expressly directed at improving the business climate in business finance, marketing, neighborhood development, small business development, business retention and expansion, technology transfer, and real estate redevelopment. This bill would require, for the 2011–12 and 2012–13 fiscal years, that the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System together with the Teacher's Retirement Board of the State Teachers' Retirement System to share with other public pension systems streamlined and cost-effective methods for identifying investments within their portfolios that meet the definitions of California investment and California emerging market investment. The bill, until January 1, 2017, would authorize the Controller to compile and publish specified investment information supplied by state and local pension systems on the Controller's Internet Web site, as provided. (3) This bill would also make a statement of legislative findings and would declare the intent of the Legislature that retirement boards with sufficiently diversified portfolios, consistent with their plenary authority and their fiduciary responsibilities, adopt specified investment policies that meet their own unique investment objectives.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid provisions. Existing federal law, with certain exceptions, excludes federal financial participation for medical care provided to any individual who is an inmate in a public institution, and existing state law suspends Medi-Cal benefits, for a specified period of time, to an individual under 21 years of age who is an inmate of a public institution. Existing state law also provides that no person shall be denied benefits, for whom and for which federal financial participation is available, based solely on the individual's incarcerated status in a county or city jail or juvenile detention facility. Existing law authorizes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the State Department of Health Care Services, to the extent that federal participation is not jeopardized and federal approval is obtained, to develop a process for the provision of inpatient hospital services to inmates who would otherwise be eligible for Medi-Cal, but for their institutional status as inmates. Existing law also authorizes, to the extent federal financial participation is available, the State Department of Health Care Services to provide Medi-Cal eligibility and reimbursement for inpatient hospital services to inmates, as defined. This bill would additionally require the State Department of Health Care Services to develop processes to allow counties and the Division of Juvenile Facilities within the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to receive any available federal financial participation for acute inpatient hospital services and inpatient psychiatric services provided to juvenile inmates, as defined and as applicable, who are admitted as inpatients in a medical institution. The bill would require the department to consult with counties and the Division of Juvenile Facilities in the development of these processes, and would require the department to seek any federal approvals necessary to implement these provisions. The bill would provide that these provisions shall be implemented only to the extent that the Division of Juvenile Facilities and counties elect to voluntarily provide the nonfederal share of expenditures for acute inpatient hospital services and inpatient psychiatric services, and would require that the federal financial participation associated with services provided pursuant to these processes be paid to the participating counties or the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as applicable. The bill would provide that these provisions shall be implemented only to the extent that any necessary federal approval is obtained and existing levels of federal financial participation are not jeopardized. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services are provided to qualified low-income recipients. Existing law also creates the Healthy Families Program, administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB) , to arrange for the provision of health care services to children less than 19 years of age who meet certain eligibility requirements. Existing law, the County Health Initiative Matching Fund, establishes a fund that is administered by MRMIB in collaboration with the department to accept intergovernmental transfers to be used to increase the state's ability to use federal funds for programs to improve and expand access to health care. Under existing law, a county, a county agency, a local initiative, or a county organized health system that will provide an intergovernmental transfer may apply to MRMIB for funding to provide health care coverage to eligible children whose family income is at or below 300% of the federal poverty level or eligible adults whose family income does not exceed 200% of the federal poverty level. Existing law requires that persons receiving this coverage be ineligible for the Healthy Families Program and no share of cost Medi-Cal coverage. This bill would allow a county, a county agency, a local initiative, or a county organized health system that will provide an intergovernmental transfer to apply to MRMIB for funding to provide health care coverage to eligible children whose family income is at or below 400% of the federal poverty level, as specified, and would require persons receiving this coverage be ineligible for no share of cost Medi-Cal coverage and either ineligible for the Healthy Families Program or unable to enroll in the program as a result of specified enrollment policies due to insufficient funds. The bill would specify that implementation of these provisions is conditioned on MRMIB obtaining necessary federal approval thereof.
The Veterans' Farm and Home Purchase Act of 1974 authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to assist veterans in acquiring homes and farms by generally providing that the department may purchase a farm or home which the department then sells to a purchaser, as defined. Existing law prohibits the department, except in limited circumstances, from acquiring a home in which the veteran has an interest of record. This bill would authorize the department to acquire a home for the purpose of refinancing an existing mortgage loan that is not an existing loan acquired under the Veterans' Farm and Home Purchase Act of 1974. This bill would require the department to adopt and publish rules and regulations, as specified.
Existing law requires specified people, known as mandated reporters, to report cases of elder or dependent adult abuse, as defined. Existing law requires mandated reporters, after reporting the abuse by telephone, to send written reports to specified entities containing prescribed information. This bill would authorize the required reports to be submitted through a confidential Internet reporting tool, if the county or long-term care ombudsman implements such a system, and would require a county or long-term care ombudsman program that chooses to implement this system to report specified information to specified policy committees of the Legislature one year after full implementation. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 15630.1 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, proposed by SB 33, to be operative only if SB 33 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2012, and this bill is chaptered last.
This measure would recognize October 2011 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month and urge all Californians to take a stand against domestic violence.
This measure would urge the United States government to consider the California jobs and economic stimulus provided by the California floriculture industry when advancing free trade agreements, specifically with Colombia.