(1) Under existing law, county superintendents of schools superintend the schools of that county, maintain responsibility for the fiscal oversight of each school district in that county, and visit and examine each school in the county at reasonable intervals to observe its operation and learn of its problems. This bill would recast and revise the duties of the county superintendent. The bill would require the county superintendent to identify a list of schools based on the schools identified for support and assistance under the state's multiple measures public school accountability system and the single system of support established under a specified statute, and submit a report as to the state of those schools. The bill would require the county superintendent, as part of compliance with accountability requirements of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, to review those identified schools at least annually as priority schools. To the extent that this bill would create new duties for county superintendents of schools, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. (2) 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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Existing law, until January 1, 2020, suspends a money judgment or order for child support for any period exceeding 90 consecutive days in which the person ordered to pay support is incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized, except as specified. Under existing law, a child support obligation suspended under these provisions resumes on the first day of the first full month after the release of the person owing the child support. This bill would delete the repeal date, making these provisions effective indefinitely. The bill would modify when a judgment or order for child support is suspended to any period exceeding 90 consecutive days in which the person ordered to pay support is incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized, and would specify that the suspension applies starting on the first day of that incarceration or involuntary institutionalization. The bill would also modify the end date of the suspension to the 90th day after the release of the person owing support, the start of employment, or the first month the person is in receipt of earned or unearned income, whichever occurs first. The bill would, to the extent authorized by federal law, require the Department of Child Support Services or a local agency to promptly correct the calculation of child support owed, if the department or local agency erroneously collects or attempts to collect any amount of child support that is suspended by operation of these provisions. The bill would modify reporting requirements related to these provisions.
Existing law authorizes a processing agency that processes unpaid parking penalties to proceed under specified options to collect those penalties, including filing an itemization of unpaid penalties with the Department of Motor Vehicles for the department to collect the penalties along with the registration of the vehicle. Existing law prohibits a processing agency from filing that itemization unless, among other things, the processing agency provides a payment plan option for indigent persons that meets specified requirements. Existing law allows a person convicted of an infraction, upon showing that payment of the total fine would pose a hardship on the person or the person's family, to elect to perform community service in lieu of the total fine that would otherwise be imposed. This bill would additionally prohibit, beginning July 1, 2020, a processing agency from filing an itemization of unpaid parking penalties with the department unless the processing agency provides a community service option for eligible homeless persons that allows them to pay off unpaid parking penalties by performing community service, as specified, including by seeking or obtaining support services. The bill would require information regarding the community service option to be placed on the notice of parking violation and the processing agency's internet website. The bill would also require a processing agency to rescind the filing of an itemization of unpaid parking penalties for a homeless person, for one time only, if the registered owner or lessee of the vehicle enrolls in a community service option and pays a late fee.
Existing law authorizes state agencies, as defined, to acquire goods and services, subject to specified requirements, including a competitive bidding process for public contracts. This bill would authorize a state agency, in consultation with the Treasurer's office, to contract with an armored car service provider to pick up, count, and transport to a bank or financial institution the cash remits of any state-imposed taxes and fees that are administered by that state agency from participating businesses in California, including cannabis-related businesses. The bill would require specified armored car service providers to enter into, or have already entered into, a labor peace agreement, as defined, in order to contract with a state agency. The bill would also authorize the state agency to enter into an agreement with a local government, special district, or other local entity imposing a tax or fee to provide the armored car service. The bill would authorize a state agency to enter into an agreement with a participating business to that effect, and to charge a participating business a fee to cover the reasonable costs to the state agency of providing the armored car service.
Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, and requires the department to administer various housing programs throughout the state, including programs that address the needs of homeless individuals and families, and reviewing local ordinances for the design, development, and operation of homeless shelters in cities and counties that have declared a shelter crisis. Existing law also requires a state agency or department that funds, implements, or administers a state program that provides housing or housing-related services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness to revise or adopt guidelines and regulations to incorporate the core components of Housing First, an evidence-based model that uses housing as a tool, rather than a reward, for recovery. This bill would declare that it is the policy of the state that every child and family has the right to safe, decent, and affordable housing, and would require the policy to consider homelessness prevention, emergency accommodations, and permanent housing, as specified. The bill would, among other things, require all relevant state agencies and departments, including, but not limited to, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the State Department of Social Services, and the Office of Emergency Services, and local jurisdictions to consider that state policy when revising, adopting, or establishing policies, regulations, and grant criteria when those policies, regulations, and criteria are pertinent to advancing the guidelines listed as core components of Housing First. By imposing new duties on local governments, the 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law prohibits a person from operating a vehicle without registering the vehicle and paying the applicable fee, except as specified. Existing law requires drivers wishing to renew a vehicle registration to submit an application prior to the expiration of the registration year and pay the applicable fee. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to refuse to renew a vehicle registration upon specified grounds, including if the applicant has not paid the required fee or if the owner or lessee of the vehicle, at the time of the application for renewal, fails to pay the full amount of any outstanding parking penalties and administrative fees, as specified. This bill would require the department, notwithstanding the provisions above, to issue a 90-day temporary operating permit to a participant of a safe parking program, as defined, whose vehicle registration has expired, upon the request of the safe parking program.
Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, generally prohibits housing discrimination with respect to the personal characteristics of race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, ancestry, familial status, source of income, disability, or genetic information. This bill would make it an unlawful housing practice for the owner of a rental housing accommodation to inquire about, or require an applicant for a rental housing accommodation to disclose, a criminal record during the initial application assessment phase, as defined, unless otherwise required by state or federal law. The bill would permit an owner of a rental housing accommodation, after the successful completion of the initial application assessment phase, to request a criminal background check of the applicant and consider an applicant's criminal record in deciding whether to rent or lease to the applicant. The bill would require the owner of a rental housing accommodation who is considering denying an application to rent or lease on the basis of the applicant's criminal record, to, within 5 days of receiving the information that is the basis of the possible denial, provide the applicant with a written statement listing the reasons for the possible denial before making a final decision. If, within 2 days of receipt of the written statement of the possible denial, the applicant provides the owner notice of evidence demonstrating the inaccuracy of the item or items within the applicant's criminal record or evidence of rehabilitation or other mitigating factors, as specified, the bill would require the owner to reconsider their decision for a specified time, and would require the owner to provide written notification to the applicant of the owner's final decision to deny the application. The bill would prohibit the owner of the rental housing accommodation from requiring in an application for a rental housing accommodation or as otherwise part of the application process disclosure of, or, if such information is received, denying a dwelling based in whole or in part on specified information or occurrences, including, among others, arrests that did not result in conviction, convictions that have been voided, and juvenile justice determinations. The bill would also require an owner of a rental housing accommodation that uses criminal records as part of the screening criteria to evaluate an applicant to include a notice, as provided, in the application for tenancy of a rental housing accommodation. The act provides that, in connection with specified unlawful practices related to housing discrimination, proof of a violation causing a discriminatory effect is shown if an act or failure to act has the effect, regardless of intent, of unlawfully discriminating on the basis of a person's race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, marital status, sex, age, or sexual orientation. The act provides that a business establishment whose action or inaction has an unintended discriminatory effect shall not be considered to have committed an unlawful housing practice in violation of the act if the business establishment can establish that the action or inaction is necessary to the operation of the business and effectively carries out the significant business need it is alleged to serve. This bill would instead provide that a business establishment whose action or inaction has an unintended discriminatory effect shall not be considered to have committed an unlawful housing practice in violation of the act if the business establishment can establish that the action or inaction is necessary to achieve one or more substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory business interests and effectively carries out the significant business interest it is alleged to serve.
Existing law, in addition to restitution paid to a victim of a crime, requires the court to impose a separate and additional restitution fine of $150 to $1,000 for a misdemeanor and $300 to $10,000 for a felony unless the court finds compelling and extraordinary reasons for not doing so. Existing law prohibits a court from considering a defendant's inability to pay as a compelling and extraordinary reason not to impose the restitution fine. Existing law imposes an assessment of $30 on every conviction for a misdemeanor or felony and $35 on each infraction to ensure and maintain adequate funding for court facilities. Existing law also imposes an assessment of $40 on every conviction for a criminal offense to assist in funding court operations. Existing case law holds that due process of law requires a court to conduct an ability to pay hearing and ascertain the defendant's present ability to pay before it imposes these court facilities and court operations assessments or executes a restitution fine. This bill would instead make a defendants inability to pay a fine a compelling and extraordinary reason for a court to not impose a restitution fine upon a conviction of a misdemeanor or felony. The bill would require the court to impose the court facility and court operation assessments unless the court determines that the defendant does not have the ability to pay.
The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , an initiative measure approved as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, and additionally amended by statute, imposes duties on the Bureau of Cannabis Control in the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the State Department of Public Health with respect to the creation, issuance, denial, suspension and revocation of commercial cannabis licenses, and imposes an excise tax commencing January 1, 2018, on the purchase of cannabis and cannabis products at the rate of 15% of the average market price of any retail sale by a cannabis retailer. Commencing January 1, 2018, AUMA also imposes a cultivation tax upon all cultivators on all harvested cannabis that enters the commercial market, at specified rates per dry-weight ounce of cannabis flowers and leaves. Existing law requires the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to administer those taxes, and requires the revenues from those taxes to be deposited into the California Cannabis Tax Fund and to be continuously appropriated for specified purposes pursuant to a specified schedule. AUMA requires the Legislative Analyst's Office to submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2020, with recommendations for adjustments to the tax rate to achieve the goals of undercutting illicit market prices and discouraging use by persons younger than 21 years of age while ensuring sufficient revenues are generated for specified programs. AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend its provisions with a 23 vote of both houses to further its purposes and intent. This bill would reduce that excise tax rate to 11% on and after the operative date of this bill until July 1, 2022, at which time the excise tax rate would revert back to 15%. The bill would suspend the imposition of the cultivation tax on and after the operative date of this bill until July 1, 2022. The bill would require the bureau, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to provide the Legislature with reports measuring the success of this bill, as specified. This bill would make specified findings and declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the AUMA. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy, but its operative date would depend on its effective date.
The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , an initiative measure approved as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. Existing state sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. The Sales and Use Tax Law provides various exemptions from those taxes. AUMA provides an exemption from those taxes for retail sales of certain medicinal cannabis and medical cannabis products when a qualified patient or primary caregiver for a qualified patient provides a specified medicinal cannabis identification card and a valid state government-issued identification card. This bill, on or after January 1, 2020, and until January 1, 2030, would provide an exemption from those taxes for the sale of, or the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, medicinal cannabis or medicinal cannabis product purchased by a qualified patient or a primary caregiver of a qualified patient from a medicinal cannabis licensee if that qualified patient or primary caregiver provides an attending physician's recommendation, a valid state government-issued identification card, and a specified Veteran Health Identification Card. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing laws authorize districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which generally conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to the Sales and Use Tax Law are automatically incorporated into the local tax laws. Existing law requires the state to reimburse counties and cities for revenue losses caused by the enactment of sales and use tax exemptions. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse any local agencies for sales and use tax revenues lost by them pursuant to this bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.