Existing law creates the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank and provides that it shall be directed by an executive appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate and governed by a specified board of directors. Existing law makes findings and declarations in this regard, provides definitions, and authorizes the board to take various actions in connection with the bank, including the issuance of bonds, as specified. This bill, among other things, would revise the definition of economic development facilities to include facilities that are used to provide goods movement and would define goods movement-related infrastructure. The bill would revise the definition of port facilities to specifically reference airports, landports, waterports, and railports. The bill would authorize the bank to join or formally participate in regional, state, national, or international organizations related to infrastructure financing and would permit the bank to serve as a facilitator of an infrastructure financing project that could or would be located in California, regardless as to whether the bank would be funding a portion of the project. The bill would revise the statement of legislative findings and declarations described above and make various technical changes.
Sponsored bills
The Medi-Cal Act establishes 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 Program provisions. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments to be reduced by 1% or 5%, and provider payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 1%, for dates of service on and after March 1, 2009, and until June 1, 2011. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments and payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 10% for dates of service on and after June 1, 2011. This bill would instead require that, to the extent permitted by federal law, this payment reduction not apply to skilled nursing facilities or subacute care units that are a distinct part of a general acute care hospital, intermediate care or other specified facilities serving developmentally disabled individuals, or specified Medi-Cal provider payments for fee-for-service benefits, including payments to pharmacies, for dates of service on or after June 1, 2011. The bill would also provide that this payment reduction shall not apply to managed health care plans for dates of service after the effective date of the bill. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law authorizes specified entities to receive state summary criminal history information from the Department of Justice. Existing law also requires mandated reporters, as defined, to report child abuse and neglect to local law enforcement. This bill would require the department to provide state summary criminal history information to the director of a community youth athletics program, or his or her designee, for the purposes of screening volunteers or employees who are left alone with minors and would prohibit a person from having access to minors as an employee or volunteer if the person has been convicted of or pled guilty or nolo contendere to, a crime of child abuse, sexual abuse, or domestic violence. The bill would provide that completing the background check does not limit the liability of a mandated reporter.
This measure would designate that January 20, 2014, be observed as the official memorial of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth and commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement in changing public policy in California and in the United States of America. This measure would also recognize the anniversaries of the Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington in connection with the advancement of civil rights.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law authorizes a licensee or registrant whose license expired while the licensee or registrant was on active duty as a member of the California National Guard or the United States Armed Forces to, upon application, reinstate his or her license without penalty and without examination, if certain requirements are satisfied, unless the licensing agency determines that the applicant has not actively engaged in the practice of his or her profession while on active duty, as specified. This bill would require each board, commencing January 1, 2015, to inquire in every application for licensure if the individual applying for licensure is serving in, or has previously served in, the military.
Existing law authorizes the Supreme Court to admit an applicant as an attorney at law in all the courts of the state, upon certification by the examining committee of the State Bar of California that the applicant has fulfilled the requirements for admission to practice law, as specified. This bill would additionally authorize the Supreme Court to admit to the practice of law an applicant who is not lawfully present in the United States, upon certification by the committee that the applicant has fulfilled those requirements for admission, as specified.
Existing law provides that the California Workforce Investment Board is responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system. Existing law further provides that the board must assist the Governor in targeting resources to specified high-wage industry sectors and providing guidance to ensure that services reflect the needs of those sectors. This bill would provide that the board is also responsible for assisting the Governor in the alignment of the education and workforce investment systems to the needs of the 21st century workforce and the promotion of the development of a well-educated and highly skilled 21st century economy and workforce. This bill would require the board to assist the Governor in targeting resources to specified industry clusters that provide economic security and leverage state and federal funds to ensure that resources are invested in activities that meet the needs of specified industry sectors and advance the education and employment of students and workers so they can meet the specified needs of the state, its regional economies, and leading industry sectors. Existing law requires the board, in collaboration with specified state and local partners, and the local workforce investment boards to develop a specified strategic workforce plan, updated at least every 5 years, to address the state's economic, demographic, and workplace needs and to meet the single state plan requirement of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. This bill would require, as part of the strategic workforce plan, the creation of a California Industry Sector Initiative that will accomplish specified tasks, including aligning and leveraging federal, state, and local Workforce Investment Act funding streams, identifying specified industry sectors and clusters, providing skills-gap analysis, and establishing specified eligibility criteria for the Workforce Investment Act eligible training provider list. This bill would also make related changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 14013 of the Unemployment Insurance Code proposed by AB 285 that would become operative if this bill and AB 285 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law, the California Small Business Financial Development Corporation Law, creates the California Small Business Board and the California Small Business Expansion Fund, a continuously appropriated fund which includes General Fund moneys. Existing law authorizes the formation of small business financial development corporations to grant loans from, or guarantee loans made by a financial institution or financial company, as defined, against, moneys awarded to the corporation from the expansion fund for the purpose of stimulating small business development. Existing law authorizes a director designated by the Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, the latter office abolished by existing law and the Governor's Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 2012, effective on July 3, 2012, and operative July 1, 2013, to perform specified duties under that law. A violation of certain conflict-of-interest provisions by the director and other persons, as specified, is a crime. This bill would revise and recast these provisions, and would transfer the administration of the California Small Business Financial Development Corporation Law to the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) , located within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, and a program manager designated by the executive director of the I-Bank, as specified. The bill would expand the definitions of "financial institution" and "financial company" for those purposes. The bill would also describe the transition of oversight of the Small Business Loan Guarantee Program from the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency to the I-Bank and compliance with federal and state program requirements. Because the above-described conflict-of-interest provisions would apply to the members of the I-Bank's board of directors, the program manager, the executive director, and other officers and employees, as specified, the bill would extend the application of a crime, and 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. Because this bill would expand the purposes for which a continuously appropriated fund is expended, the bill would make an appropriation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development serves as the Governor's lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth. The office, among others, makes recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature regarding policies, programs, and actions to advance statewide economic goals. This bill would establish the California Foreign Investment Program. The bill would require the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to serve as the lead state entity for overseeing the state's participation with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services' EB-5 Investment Program. The bill would require the director of the office to set the terms and conditions for issuing a state designation letter for targeted employment areas within the structure and scope of the EB-5 Investment Program and to post on the office's Internet Web site a list with the contact information for each regional center, as specified. The bill would require a regional center with one or more offices in the state to provide the office with, among other things, information on the number of clients served, the location of investments, and the number of direct and indirect jobs created. The bill would authorize specified public and private corporations to establish, operate, and maintain a regional center subject to specified conditions and restrictions. The bill would apply only to EB-5 activities of the state relating to the EB-5 Investment Program occurring on or after January 1, 2014.