The Used Mattress Recovery and Recycling Act, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, authorizes a mattress recycling organization to be established by a qualified industry association to develop, implement, and administer a mattress recycling program in the state. The act requires the organization to develop and submit to the department for approval a plan, including a budget to implement the plan, for the recovery and recycling of used mattresses. The act requires the organization to submit to the department and make publicly available annual reports relating to the program. The act requires the department's director to appoint an advisory committee to be part of the organization. The act requires the organization to set the amount of a state mattress recycling charge to fund the recycling of used mattresses under the act that is added to the purchase price of a mattress, and authorizes the organization to change the amount of the charge. The act requires a mattress retailer to give a consumer the option to have a used mattress picked up, at no additional cost, at the time a new mattress is delivered. A violation of the act may be subject to an administrative civil penalty. This bill would revise and recast provisions of the act, including requiring the organization to review the plan and determine whether amendments to the plan are necessary every 5 years. The bill would require the organization to include additional specified information and goals in the plan, the budget, and the annual reports, and would require the advisory committee to prepare written recommendations for the organization. The bill would prohibit, commencing January 1, 2027, the organization's financial reserve from exceeding 60% of its annual operating expenses, except as specified. The bill would prohibit the revenue from the charge from being expended for a specified purpose. The bill would also require the department to establish a process and schedule for an orderly transition of responsibility from a decertified mattress recycling organization to a successor organization, as specified.
Sponsored bills
Existing law generally provides for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of specified types of crimes by the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for specified losses suffered as a result of those crimes. Existing law requires a victim or derivative victim seeking compensation to have sustained one or more specified physical or emotional injuries, or pecuniary losses, as a direct result of the crime. Existing law authorizes the board to grant compensation for pecuniary loss, if it determines it will best aid the person seeking compensation, by authorizing a cash payment or reimbursement to a victim for expenses incurred in relocating, including a security deposit, if the expenses are determined by law enforcement to be necessary for the personal safety of the victim or by a mental health treatment provider to be necessary for the emotional well-being of the victim. Existing law specifies that if a security deposit is required for relocation, the board shall be named as the recipient, and receive the funds, upon expiration of the victim's rental agreement. This bill would specify, for purposes of these provisions, that "expenses incurred in relocating" may include the costs of temporary housing for any pets belonging to the victim upon immediate relocation. The bill would also authorize the cash payment or grant to reimburse a victim for a security deposit, pet deposit, or both, for which the board would be named as the recipient, and would receive the funds, upon expiration of the victim's rental agreement. By expanding the authorizations for use of moneys in the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 13957 of the Government Code proposed by AB 629 to be operative only if this bill and AB 629 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law governs the procedure by which crime victims may obtain compensation from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Existing law establishes eligibility for compensation when prescribed requirements are met and authorizes the California Victim Compensation Board to grant compensation from the fund for pecuniary loss when the board determines it will best aid the person seeking compensation. Existing law authorizes the board to provide compensation equal to the loss of income or loss of support, or both, that a victim or derivative victim incurs as a direct result of the victim's or derivative victim's injury or the victim's death. Under existing law, as amended by Proposition 35, the Californians Against Sexual Exploitation Act, an initiative measure approved by the voters at the November 6, 2012, statewide general election, a person who deprives or violates another person's personal liberty with the intent to obtain forced labor or services or who deprives or violates another person's personal liberty for the purpose of prostitution or sexual exploitation is guilty of human trafficking, a felony. This bill would authorize the board to provide compensation equal to loss of income or support that a victim incurs as a direct result of the victim's deprivation of liberty during the crime, if the qualifying crime is human trafficking, in an amount not exceeding the value of the victim's labor as guaranteed under California law for up to 40 hours per week, as specified. The bill would require the board to adopt guidelines on or before July 1, 2020, that allow the board to rely on evidence other than official employment documentation in considering and approving an application for loss of income or support, including any reliable corroborating information approved by the board. The bill would prohibit compensation for loss of income paid by the board if the qualifying crime is human trafficking from exceeding $10,000 per year that the services were performed, for a maximum of 2 years. By expanding the authorizations for use of moneys in the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 13957 of the Government Code proposed by AB 415 to be operative only if this bill and AB 415 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law, the Seymour-Campbell Student Success Act of 2012, provides that the purpose of the act is to increase California community college student access and success by providing effective core matriculation services of orientation, assessment and placement, counseling, other education planning services, and academic interventions. Existing law establishes the Student Equity and Achievement Program and requires a district, as a condition of the receipt of funds under the program, to comply with specified requirements, including the maintenance of a student equity plan to ensure equal educational opportunities and promote student success for all students, regardless of race, gender, age, disability, or economic circumstances. This bill would authorize the use of funding for the Student Equity and Achievement Program for the provision of emergency student financial assistance to eligible students to overcome unforeseen financial challenges that would directly impact a student's ability to persist in the student's course of study, as specified, if emergency student financial assistance is included in an institution's plan for interventions to students.
Existing law authorizes or requires the court to suspend or delay the driving privilege, or to order the Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend or delay the driving privilege, of a person who is convicted of any of certain offenses, including, among others, offenses relating to vandalism, controlled substance or alcohol use, possession, or related conduct, or firearm use. Existing law authorizes the court to suspend the driving privilege of a person, for not more than 30 days, upon conviction of soliciting or engaging in prostitution or specified lewd or dissolute conduct, if the violation was committed within 1,000 feet of a private residence and with the use of a vehicle. Existing law authorizes the court, as an alternative, to order a person's driving privilege restricted, for not more than 6 months, to necessary travel to and from the person's place of employment or education. This bill would repeal the court's authority to suspend or delay the driving privilege, or to order the department to suspend or delay the driving privilege, of a person based on a conviction of one of the above-specified offenses. The bill would make other conforming changes. The bill would state that its provisions are not intended to affect any order issued by the court before January 1, 2020, to suspend, delay, or otherwise restrict the driving privilege of a person, or any action taken by the department, whether before, on, or after January 1, 2020, pursuant to an order issued by the court before January 1, 2020, to suspend, delay, or otherwise restrict the driving privilege of a person. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 647 of the Penal Code proposed by AB 1129, to be operative only if this bill and AB 1129 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California. Under the act, a physician and surgeon is required to demonstrate satisfaction of continuing education requirements, including cultural and linguistic competency in the practice of medicine, as specified. This bill, by January 1, 2022, would require all continuing education courses for a physician and surgeon to contain curriculum that includes specified instruction in the understanding of implicit bias in medical treatment. The bill, by January 1, 2022, would require associations that accredit these continuing education courses to develop standards to comply with these provisions. Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, regulates the practice of nursing by the Board of Registered Nursing. The act requires persons licensed by the board to complete specified courses of instruction, including instruction regarding alcoholism and substance dependency and spousal abuse. This bill would require the Board of Registered Nursing, by January 1, 2022, to adopt regulations requiring all continuing education courses for its licensees to contain curriculum that includes specified instruction in the understanding of implicit bias in treatment. Beginning January 1, 2023, the bill would require continuing education providers to comply with these provisions and would require the board to audit education providers for compliance with these provisions, as specified. Existing law, the Physician Assistant Practice Act, authorizes the Physician Assistant Board to require a licensee to complete not more than 50 hours of continuing education every two years as a condition of license renewal. This bill would require the Physician Assistant Board, by January 1, 2022, to adopt regulations requiring all continuing education courses for its licensees to contain curriculum that includes specified instruction in the understanding of implicit bias in treatment. Beginning January 1, 2023, the bill would require continuing education providers to comply with these provisions and would require the board to audit continuing education providers for compliance with these provisions.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law, with specified exceptions, directs the commission to require any call identification service offered by a telephone corporation, or by any other person or corporation that makes use of the facilities of a telephone corporation, to allow the caller to withhold, on an individual basis, the display of the caller's telephone number from the telephone instrument of the individual receiving the call. However, existing law prohibits a caller from withholding the display of the caller's business telephone number when that number is being used for telemarketing purposes. Existing federal law, with certain exceptions, makes it unlawful for any person within the United States, in connection with any telecommunications service or internet protocol enabled voice service, to cause any caller identification service to knowingly transmit misleading or inaccurate caller identification information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value and authorizes the chief legal officer of a state, or any other state officer authorized by law to bring actions on behalf of the residents of a state, to bring a civil action on behalf of the residents of the state in an appropriate district court of the United States to enforce this prohibition. This bill would require a telecommunications service provider, on or before January 1, 2021, to implement specified technological protocols or alternative technology that provides comparable or superior capability to verify and authenticate caller identification for calls carried over an internet protocol network. The bill would authorize the commission and the Attorney General to bring an action pursuant to the above-described federal law and would authorize the commission, at the request of the Attorney General, to work with the Attorney General for the purpose of enforcing specified parts of that law.
The Personal Income Tax Law provides for various exclusions from gross income, including an exclusion for the amount of student loan indebtedness repaid or canceled pursuant to a specified federal law. This bill would exclude from gross income the amount of student loan indebtedness discharged on or after January 1, 2019, and before January 1, 2024, for an eligible individual who is granted a discharge under specified conditions, as provided, including that the individual attended a Brightwood College school or a location of The Art Institute of California. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
(1) The existing Gambling Control Act (act) provides for the licensure and regulation of various legalized gambling activities and establishments by the California Gambling Control Commission and the investigation and enforcement of those activities and establishments by the Department of Justice. The existing act specifically requires the commission to provide for a state gambling license, key employee license, or work permit and authorizes the commission to deny a license or work permit for any cause deemed reasonable by the commission. The existing act makes a person under 21 years of age ineligible for a work permit in a gambling establishment and prohibits that person from entering the premises of a gambling establishment, except as provided. The existing act makes it a crime, punishable as a misdemeanor, for a person under 21 years of age to, among other things, be an employee of a licensed gambling establishment, except in areas of the establishment where no gambling activity or activity directly associated with gambling takes place. This bill would permit a person who is 18 through 20 years of age to work in a gambling establishment without a work permit, but only in job classifications that do not involve working on the gaming floor or on other restricted access areas, as specified, and that are not involved in the play of a controlled game, as specified. The bill would require an employee who is 18 through 20 years of age to wear a chest-level badge on their outermost garment stating the person is under 21 years of age, as specified. The bill would also make conforming changes. (2) The existing act requires an individual who is under 21 years of age and using a pathway to enter upon or pass through the gaming floor to be accompanied by or in the presence of a person or gambling establishment employee who is over 21 years of age, as specified. This bill would instead require a nonemployee who is under 21 years of age to be accompanied by a person or gambling establishment employee who is over 21 years of age, in certain areas of the establishment. (3) The existing act prohibits a person from being employed as a gambling enterprise employee unless the person has a work permit or is an independent contractor not required to hold a work permit. This bill would authorize a person to begin working as a gambling enterprise employee with limited job duties after applying for a work permit, provided that the person wears a chest-level badge on their outermost garment stating their temporary authorization, as specified. This bill would also permit a person who is 18 through 20 years of age to work as a gambling enterprise employee without a work permit but only in positions that are located outside of certain areas of the establishment and that do not involve gambling operations, as specified.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, and before January 1, 2022, a credit for qualified taxpayers, defined as the person responsible for planting a crop, managing the crop, and harvesting the crop from the land, in an amount equal to 15% of the qualified value of fresh fruits or vegetables donated to a food bank. This bill, under both laws, would expand the credit to apply to the donation of qualified donation items, defined as raw agricultural products or processed foods. The bill would expand the definition of qualified taxpayer to include the person responsible for growing or raising a qualified donation item, or harvesting, packing, or processing a qualified donation item but would exclude a retailer, as defined, from that expanded definition. The bill would apply these provisions to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.