Asm. Jose Medina

This measure would designate a 5-mile portion of Interstate 10 as the CAL FIRE Firefighter Christopher Lee Douglas Memorial Highway. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost for appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to allow pupils whom the district has determined would benefit from advanced scholastic or vocational work to attend community college as special part-time or full-time students, subject to parental permission. Existing law, until January 1, 2014, required credit to be awarded to these pupils, as specified, made the authority of a school principal to recommend a pupil for community college summer session contingent upon a determination that the pupil met various criteria, and prohibited the principal from recommending more than 5% of the total number of pupils from any particular grade level who completed that grade immediately before the time of recommendation for summer session attendance, except as specified. This bill would reinstate these provisions until January 1, 2017. The bill would, until July 1, 2020, authorize the governing board of a school district to enter into a concurrent enrollment partnership agreement with a community college district located within its immediate service area to allow pupils to attend community college. The bill would require a community college district and a school district, as a condition of, and before adopting, a concurrent enrollment partnership agreement, to take testimony from the public and approve or disapprove the proposed agreement at a regularly scheduled open public hearing of its respective governing board after having presented the agreement at a prior open public hearing. The bill would require the concurrent enrollment partnership agreement to outline the terms of the partnership, as specified. The bill would prohibit a school district from receiving a state allowance or apportionment for an instructional activity for which a community college district has been, or will be, paid an allowance or apportionment under a concurrent enrollment partnership agreement. The bill would authorize a participating high school to monitor the progress of its pupils attending a community college and to obtain the pupils' records from a community college district to do so. The bill would require, for each concurrent enrollment partnership agreement entered into under the bill, the affected community college district and school district to file an annual report, containing specified data, with the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. The bill would also authorize the governing board of a community college district to enter into a partnership with the governing board of a school district located within its service area with the goal of developing seamless pathways from high school to community college for career technical education or preparation for transfer. The bill would require the partnership agreement to outline the terms of the partnership, as specified, and would require copies of the partnership agreement to be filed with the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The bill would authorize a community college district to limit enrollment in a community college course to solely high school pupils under specified circumstances. The bill would authorize specified high school pupils to enroll in up to 15 units if those units are required for these pupils' partnership programs and specified circumstances are satisfied, and would authorize a community college district to exempt special part-time and full-time students taking up to a maximum of 15 units per term from specified fee requirements. The bill would prohibit a community college district from receiving a state allowance or apportionment for an instructional activity for which a school district has been, or will be, paid an allowance or apportionment under a concurrent enrollment partnership agreement. The bill would require, for each partnership agreement entered into under the bill, the affected community college district and school district to file an annual report, containing specified data, with the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. The bill would also make related and conforming changes.

Existing law requires the Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to provide to the Legislature, not later than February 1, 2014, a strategy for international trade and investment that, at a minimum, includes specified information, goals, objectives, and actions related to the promotion of trade. This bill would require the Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to provide to the Legislature, not later than December 1, 2014, a strategy for promoting trade for California airports, land ports, and seaports that, at a minimum, includes specified information, objectives, goals, and recommendations. The bill would require that the strategy be submitted to the Chief Clerk of the Assembly and the Secretary of the Senate, with copies provided to the Speaker of the Assembly, the President pro Tempore of the Senate, and the chairs of specified legislative committees. The bill would also require the Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to convene, no later than February 1, 2014, a statewide business partnership for promotion of trade for California ports and to explore greater utilization of California ports, which would be required to advise the director on establishing that trade strategy, as prescribed. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes the California Economic Development Fund and authorizes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to provide matching funds for economic development purposes from that fund. This bill would appropriate $6 million from the General Fund to the California Economic Development Fund to provide a cash match for federal funds to the administrative lead centers that have contracts with the United States Small Business Administration to administer the federal Small Business Development Center Program in California, subject to a specified condition. This bill would become operative only if AB 2670 of the 2013–14 Regular Session is enacted and becomes operative. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes within the Governor's office the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development 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 authorizes 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. This bill would enact the Entrepreneur-in-Residence Act of 2014, which would establish the state entrepreneur-in-residence program within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development for the purpose of utilizing the expertise of private-sector entrepreneurs to help make state governmental activities and practices more streamlined and accessible to small businesses. The program would authorize the director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to appoint a maximum of 10 persons each year to serve within a state agency as an entrepreneur-in-residence, with duties as established in the bill, on a voluntary basis. The bill would require the director to accept appointment applications for the position of an entrepreneur-in-residence and to establish prescribed procedures for complying with the bill no later than March 1, 2015. The bill would also require the director to establish an informal working group of entrepreneurs-in-residence to discuss best practices, experiences, obstacles, opportunities, and recommendations, and to report on the program to the Governor and the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy, as specified.

Existing state and federal law regulate the activities of financial institutions. Existing state law regulates reverse mortgage loans and requires a lender to refer a prospective borrower to a housing counseling agency, as specified, and prohibits a lender from accepting a final and complete application for a reverse mortgage loan or assessing any fees without receiving certification, as specified, that the borrower has received loan counseling. Existing law prohibits a lender from taking a reverse mortgage application before having provided an applicant a specified disclosure notice and written checklist. This bill would prohibit a lender from taking a reverse mortgage application or assessing any fees until 7 days from the date of loan counseling, as specified. The bill would make specified changes to the disclosure notice. The bill would delete the requirement that the lender provide a written checklist and would, instead, prohibit a lender from taking a reverse mortgage application unless the applicant has received from the lender a specified reverse mortgage worksheet guide. The bill would require that the reverse mortgage worksheet guide contain certain issues that the borrower is advised to consider and discuss with the counselor. The bill would require the counselor and the prospective borrower to sign the reverse mortgage worksheet guide, as specified.

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. Existing law creates the California Competes Tax Credit Committee, which has specified duties in regard to tax credits for economic development. Existing law establishes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as "GO-Biz," to, among other duties, 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. Existing law imposes an annual tax on the gross premiums of an insurer, as defined, doing business in this state at specified rates. This bill would allow a credit under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, and a credit against the tax imposed on an insurer, in modified conformity with a federal New Markets Tax Credit, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, and before January 1, 2027, 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 an amount equal to any portion not granted under a specified sales and use tax exclusion, not to exceed $40,000,000 per calendar year, and would limit the allocation of the credit to a cumulative total of no more than $200,000,000, as provided. The bill would impose specified duties on the California Competes Tax Credit Committee and GO-Biz with regard to the application for, and allocation of, the credit. The bill would require GO-Biz to establish and impose reasonable fees upon entities that apply for the allocation of the credit, to be deposited in the California New Markets Tax Credit Fund established by the bill, and use the revenue, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to defray the cost of applying to, and administering the program, as specified. The bill would specify that the credit would not be allowed unless the Legislature makes an appropriation from the fund. The bill would provide that its provisions are severable. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

The Target Area Contract Preference Act establishes a preference for contracts for goods or services that are in excess of $100,000 for contractors that certify that a specified percentage of the hours worked on a contract will be performed on a worksite in a distressed area, as defined. This bill would redefine a distressed area to be a census tract that is determined by the Department of Finance under a specified statute to be in the top quartile of census tracts for having the highest unemployment and poverty.

Existing law establishes the Board of State and Community Corrections to collect and maintain available information and data about state and community correctional policies, practices, capacities, and needs, as specified. Existing law also requires the board to develop incentives for units of local government to develop comprehensive regional partnerships whereby adjacent jurisdictions pool grant funds in order to deliver services to a broader target population and maximize the impact of state funds at the local level. This bill would enact, until January 1, 2020, the Social Innovation Financing Program, and would require the board to administer the program. The bill would, among other things, authorize the Board of State and Community Corrections, upon appropriation of funds by the Legislature for deposit in the Recidivism Reduction Fund, to award grants in amounts of not less than $500,000 and not more than $2,000,000 to each of 3 counties, selected as specified, for the purpose of entering into a pay for success or social innovation financing contract, pursuant to which private investors agree to provide financing to service providers to achieve social outcomes agreed upon in advance and the government agency that is a party to the contractual agreement agrees to pay a return on the investment to the investors if successful programmatic outcomes are achieved by the service provider. The bill would limit the total amount of the grants awarded to $5,000,000. The bill would require each county receiving an award to report annually to the Governor and Legislature on the status of its program. The bill would require the board to compile the county reports and submit a summary report to the Governor and the Legislature annually. The bill would also make legislative findings and declarations in this regard.

Existing law requires the Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to provide to the Legislature, no later than February 1, 2014, a strategy for international trade and investment that includes, among other things, policy goals, objectives, and recommendations for a comprehensive international trade and investment program for the state, and an identified organizational structure for the state administration of international trade and investment policies, programs, and services, as specified. This bill would change that date to February 1, 2019, and additionally require the strategy to be based on current and emerging market conditions and the needs of investors, businesses, and workers to be competitive in global markets and to include a framework that enables the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to evaluate the current needs of small and large firms, as specified. This bill would authorize the strategy, to the extent relevant and feasible, to be based on existing studies and reports.