This measure would designate the week of May 1, 2022, through May 7, 2022, as Compost Awareness Week.
This measure would designate April 3, 2022, to April 9, 2022, inclusive, as Women and Girls in STEM Week and would encourage all citizens and community organizations to support the observance of California's Women and Girls in STEM Week by encouraging and celebrating women in the STEM fields.
This measure would proclaim, in perpetuity, the month of April as California Wines: Down to Earth Month, to celebrate the sustainable leadership of California wineries and winegrape growers throughout the month of April.
Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development and requires it to, among other things, administer various programs intended to fund the acquisition of property to develop or preserve affordable housing. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, require the department to administer a program to provide incentives in the form of grants to local agencies that enter into a development agreement to convert a golf course owned by the local agency into housing and publicly accessible open space, as specified. This bill would require the department to award funding in accordance with the number of affordable units a local agency proposes to construct.
Under existing law, disabled veterans, as defined, are authorized to display distinguishing license plates that qualify them for specified parking privileges. Existing law also authorizes them to display specified placards in lieu of the distinguishing license plates. Existing law exempts a disabled veteran from the payment of vehicle registration fees, as specified. Existing law defines disabled veteran for these purposes as, among other things, a person who, as a result of injury or disease suffered while on active service with the Armed Forces of the United States, has a disability that has been rated at 100% by the Department of Veterans Affairs or the military service from which the veteran was discharged, due to a diagnosed disease or disorder that substantially impairs or interferes with mobility. This bill would reduce the disability rating required to meet that definition to 70%.
Existing law, the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, provides a comprehensive set of procedures for the enforcement of express and implied warranties on consumer goods, as defined. Under existing law, every manufacturer making an express warranty with respect to an electronic or appliance product, including televisions, radios, audio or video recording equipment, major home appliances, antennas, and rotators, with a wholesale price to the retailer of not less than $50 nor more than $99.99 is required to make available to service and repair facilities sufficient service literature and functional parts to effect the repair of the product for at least 3 years after the date a product model or type was manufactured, regardless of whether the 3-year period exceeds the warranty period for the product. Existing law also requires every manufacturer making an express warranty with respect to an electronic or appliance product, as described above, with a wholesale price to the retailer of $100 or more, to make available to service and repair facilities sufficient service literature and functional parts to effect the repair of the product for at least 7 years after the date a product model or type was manufactured, regardless of whether the 7-year period exceeds the warranty period for the product. This bill would instead require the manufacturer of an electronic or appliance product, in the above-described circumstances and timeframes, to make available, on fair and reasonable terms, sufficient service literature, at no charge, and prescribed functional parts and tools, including documentation, tools, software and parts needed to disable the lock or function during the course of the diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of a product, to owners of the product, service and repair facilities, and service dealers. The bill would also require a service and repair facility or service dealer that is not an authorized facility or dealer of a manufacturer to provide a written notice containing specified information related to warranties to any customer seeking repair of an electronic or appliance product before the repair facility or service dealer repairs the product. This bill would define terms for its purposes, and would provide that the above-specified provisions do not require a manufacturer to divulge a trade secret, except as may be necessary to provide service literature, documentation, tools, and parts on fair and reasonable terms, and shall not be construed to require the distribution of a product's source code. Existing law authorizes a retail seller of consumer goods or an independent serviceman of consumer goods injured by the willful or repeated violation of the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act to bring a legal action for the recovery of damages. Existing law provides that a court may award 3 times the amount at which actual damages are assessed plus reasonable attorneys fees. This bill would additionally authorize a service dealer, as defined, to bring a legal action pursuant to the above provisions.
Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality and prescribe waste discharge requirements in accordance with the federal national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit program established by the federal Clean Water Act and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. Existing law requires each regional board to formulate and adopt water quality control plans for all areas within the region, as provided. Existing law authorizes the imposition of civil penalties for violations of certain waste discharge requirements and requires that penalties imposed pursuant to these provisions be deposited into the Waste Discharge Permit Fund, to be expended by the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified purposes related to water quality. For violations of certain other waste discharge requirements, including the violation of a waste discharge requirement effluent limitation, existing law imposes specified civil penalties, the proceeds of which are deposited into the continuously appropriated State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account, which is established in the State Water Quality Control Fund. This bill would create within the Waste Discharge Permit Fund the Waterway Recovery Account, the Citizen Monitoring Account, the Community Capacity Building Account, and the Stormwater Innovation Account, and, subject to future legislation, would annually transfer from the annual proceeds of the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account, subject to a future legislative act, the following amounts: 30% to the Waterway Recovery Account; 5% to the Citizen Monitoring Account, but in no instance less than $250,000; 10% to the Community Capacity Building Account, but in no instance less than $500,000; and 5% to the Stormwater Innovation Account. The bill would require moneys in the Waterway Recovery Account to be distributed by the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to each regional board on a pro rata basis to expend on specified purposes, including, among others, restoration projects that improve water quality. The bill would provide that moneys in each of the other 3 accounts created by the bill are available for the state board to expend, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the following purposes: for the Citizen Monitoring Account, to fund a specified state board program to increase water quality monitoring or to establish a priority water-contact recreation site monitoring program; for the Community Capacity Building Account, to create and fund a community capacity program to increase disadvantaged and tribal community participation in state board outreach and regulatory processes; and for the Stormwater Innovation Account, for specified activities relating to stormwater best management practices.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law authorizes the establishment of community college districts under the administration of community college governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at community college campuses throughout the state. Existing law authorizes these districts to establish compensation levels for academic employees, as provided. Existing law requires community college districts, as a condition of receiving funding allocated for the Student Success and Support Program, to negotiate in good faith with the exclusive representatives for part-time, temporary faculty, the terms of reemployment preference for part-time, temporary faculty assignments based on minimum standards up to the range of 60% to 67% of a full-time equivalent load and a regular evaluation process for part-time, temporary faculty, as specified. Existing law establishes procedures for community college districts to demonstrate compliance with these requirements. This bill would require persons who are employed to teach adult or community college classes part time, as provided, to receive compensation in at least an amount that bears the same ratio to the amount provided to full-time employees as the time actually served by those part-time employees bears to the time actually served by full-time employees with comparable duties. The bill would impose this pay requirement upon the expiration or renewal of existing collective bargaining agreements, as provided. This bill would also require community college districts, as a condition of receiving funds allocated for the Student Success and Support Program in the annual Budget Act, to commence the negotiation of terms of compensation consistent with the proportional pay requirement for part-time employees, as well as terms governing reemployment preferences and evaluation processes, no later than the expiration of any negotiated agreement in effect on January 1, 2023, and for any community college district that does not have a collective bargaining agreement in effect as of January 1, 2023, upon the effective date of the bill.
Under existing law, the Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement Act, an enforcing agency, as defined, may assess civil penalties against any person, firm, or corporation that sells, gives, or furnishes specified tobacco and cigarette related items, including cigarette papers, to a person who is under 21 years of age, except as specified. The existing civil penalties range from $400 to $600 for a first violation, up to $5,000 to $6,000 for a 5th violation within a 5-year period. Existing law prohibits the sale, distribution, or nonsale distribution of tobacco products directly or indirectly to any person under 21 years of age through the United States Postal Service or other public or private postal or package delivery service. Under existing law, a district attorney, city attorney, or the Attorney General may assess civil penalties against a violator of not less than $1,000 or more than $2,000 for the first violation and up to $10,000 for a 5th or subsequent violation within a 5-year period. Under existing law, every person, firm, or corporation that knowingly or under circumstances in which it has knowledge, or should otherwise have grounds for knowledge, sells, gives, or furnishes a cigarette, among other specified items, to another person who is under 21 years of age is, except as specified, subject to either a criminal action for a misdemeanor or to a civil action brought by a city attorney, a county counsel, or a district attorney, punishable by a fine of $200 for the first offense, $500 for the 2nd offense, and $1,000 for the 3rd offense. This bill would prohibit a person or entity from selling, giving, or furnishing to another person of any age in this state a single-use electronic cigarette, as defined, except as specified. The bill would prohibit that selling, giving, or furnishing, whether conducted directly or indirectly through an in-person transaction, or by means of any public or private method of shipment or delivery to an address in this state. This bill would authorize a city attorney, county counsel, or district attorney to assess a $500 civil fine against each person determined to have violated those prohibitions in a proceeding conducted pursuant to the procedures of the enforcing agency, as specified. This bill would make its provisions operative on January 1, 2024.
