Existing law establishes the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority to provide financial assistance for projects that promote the use of alternative energies. Existing law, until January 1, 2021, authorizes the authority to approve a project for financial assistance in the form of a sales and use tax exclusion. Existing law prohibits the authority from granting sales and use tax exclusions that exceed $100,000,000 for each calendar year. This bill would expand projects eligible for the sales and use tax exclusion to include projects that process or utilize recycled feedstock, but would not include a project that processes or utilizes recycled feedstock in a manner that constitutes disposal. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 26003 and 26011.8 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 1269 that would become operative only if this bill and AB 1269 are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2016, and this bill is chaptered last. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
Existing law requires the state to achieve a 20% reduction in urban per capita water use in California by December 31, 2020, and requires the state to make incremental progress towards this goal by reducing per capita water use by at least 10% on or before December 31, 2015. Existing law requires each urban retail water supplier to develop urban water use targets and an interim urban water use target, in accordance with specified requirements. This bill would require each urban retail water supplier, on or before October 1, 2017, and on or before October 1 of each year thereafter, to submit a completed and validated water loss audit report for the previous calendar year or previous fiscal year as prescribed by rules adopted by the Department of Water Resources on or before January 1, 2017, and updated as provided. The bill would require the department to post all validated water loss audit reports on its Internet Web site in a manner that allows for comparisons across water suppliers and to make these reports available for public viewing. This bill would require the department to provide technical assistance to guide urban retail water suppliers' water loss detection programs. The bill would require the State Water Resources Control Board, no earlier than January 1, 2019, and no later than July 1, 2020, to adopt rules requiring urban retail water suppliers to meet performance standards for the volume of water losses. This bill would require the board to contribute up to $400,000 using funds available for the 2016–17 fiscal year towards procuring water loss audit report validation assistance for urban retail water suppliers.
The County Sanitation District Act authorizes a sanitation district to acquire, construct, and complete certain works, property, or structures necessary or convenient for sewage collection, treatment, and disposal. This bill would authorize specified sanitation districts in the County of Los Angeles to acquire, construct, operate, maintain, and furnish facilities for the diversion, management, and treatment of stormwater and dry weather runoff, the discharge of the water to the stormwater drainage system, and the beneficial use of the water. The bill would require a district to consult with the Los Angeles County Flood Control District and the relevant watermaster or water replenishment district prior to initiating a stormwater or dry weather runoff program within the boundaries of an adjudicated groundwater basin or within the service area of a water replenishment district, as applicable. The bill would make related changes. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles.
Existing law, the Reproductive Privacy Act, provides that every individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to reproductive decisions. Existing law provides that the state shall not deny or interfere with a woman's right to choose or obtain an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, as defined, or when necessary to protect her life or health. Existing law specifies the circumstances under which the performance of an abortion is deemed unauthorized. This bill would enact the Reproductive FACT (Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency) Act, which would require a licensed covered facility, as defined, to disseminate a notice to all clients, as specified, stating, among other things, that California has public programs that provide immediate free or low-cost access to comprehensive family planning services, prenatal care, and abortion, for eligible women. The bill would also require an unlicensed covered facility, as defined, to disseminate a notice to all clients, as specified, stating, among other things, that the facility is not licensed as a medical facility by the State of California. The bill would authorize the Attorney General, city attorney, or county counsel to bring an action to impose a specified civil penalty against covered facilities that fail to comply with these requirements.
Existing law establishes the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, which is responsible for the preservation and protection of specified lands within the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains area, as defined. Existing law prescribes the duties of the conservancy, and requires that its governing board be comprised of 13 voting members and 7 nonvoting members, as specified. Existing law requires that the voting members include, among other members, representatives of the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments, the Gateway Cities Council of Governments, and the Orange County Division of the League of California Cities, as prescribed. This bill would increase to 15 the number of voting members of the governing board, by adding 2 members who are residents of a city not otherwise represented on the governing board at the time of the member's appointment, one bordering the Lower Los Angeles River and the other bordering the San Gabriel River, as prescribed. The bill would also increase the number of nonvoting members to 9, and would require that one Member of the Senate, appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, and one Member of the Assembly, appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, serve as nonvoting members. The bill would require that those legislators serving as nonvoting members participate in activities of the conservancy only to the extent that participation is compatible with his or her duties as a legislator.
Existing law grants to every municipal corporation the right to construct, operate, and maintain electric light and power lines across, along, in, under, over, or upon any road, street, alley, avenue, or highway, and across, under, or over any railway, canal, ditch, or flume which the route of the works intersects, crosses, or runs along. Under existing law, before any municipal corporation uses any street, alley, avenue, or highway within any other municipal corporation, it is required to request the other municipal corporation in which the street, alley, avenue, or highway is situated to agree with it upon the location of the use and the terms and conditions to which the use shall be subject. Under existing law, if the 2 municipal corporations are unable to agree on the terms and conditions and location of a use within 3 months after a proposal to do so, the municipal corporation proposing to use a street, alley, avenue, or highway is authorized to bring an action in the superior court against the other municipal corporation to have the terms and conditions and location determined, as prescribed. This bill would require a municipal corporation, before using any street, alley, avenue, or highway within any other municipal corporation or county, to request of the municipal corporation or county that has control over the street, alley, avenue, or highway to agree with it upon the location of the use and the terms and conditions to which the use shall be subject. This bill would authorize the municipal corporation proposing to use the street, alley, avenue, or highway within a county to bring an action in the superior court against the county if the municipal corporation and the county are unable to agree on the terms and conditions and location of the use within 3 months after a proposal. Existing law provides that a grant of authority from or agreement with another municipality is not necessary if the street, alley, avenue, or highway proposed to be used is a necessary or convenient part of the route of the proposed works and at the time construction was commenced or the plans adopted was located in unincorporated territory. This bill would repeal these provisions.
Existing law provides for the protection, enhancement, and restoration of rivers in this state. Existing law establishes the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy for the purpose of, among others, providing for the public's enjoyment and enhancement of recreational and education experiences on public lands in the San Gabriel Watershed and Lower Los Angeles River. This bill would require the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to appoint, in consultation with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to the extent the board wishes to consult, a local working group to develop a revitalization plan for the Lower Los Angeles River watershed, called the Lower Los Angeles River Working Group. The bill would require the secretary to consider requests from local agency representatives to participate in the working group and would authorize the working group to include specified representatives. The bill would require, by March 1, 2017, the working group to develop, through watershed-based planning methods, a revitalization plan that addresses the unique and diverse needs of the Lower Los Angeles River, that is consistent with, enhances, and is authorized to be incorporated into the County of Los Angeles's Master Plan, and that includes watershed education programs. The bill would require the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy to provide any necessary staffing to assist the working group. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Lower Los Angeles River.
Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, an initiative measure enacted by the approval of Proposition 215 at the November 5, 1996, statewide general election, authorizes the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Existing law enacted by the Legislature requires the establishment of a program for the issuance of identification cards to qualified patients so that they may lawfully use marijuana for medical purposes, and requires the establishment of guidelines for the lawful cultivation of marijuana grown for medical use. Existing law provides for the licensure of various professions by boards or bureaus within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, provides for the regulation of food, drugs, devices, and cosmetics, as specified. A violation of that law is a crime. This bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture, the Department of Pesticide Regulation, the State Department of Public Health, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the State Water Resources Control Board to promulgate regulations or standards relating to medical marijuana and its cultivation, as specified. The bill would also require various state agencies to take specified actions to mitigate the impact that marijuana cultivation has on the environment. By requiring cities, counties, and their local law enforcement agencies to coordinate with state agencies to enforce laws addressing the environmental impacts of medical marijuana cultivation, and by including medical marijuana within the Sherman Act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require a state licensing authority to charge each licensee under the act a licensure and renewal fee, as applicable, and would further require the deposit of those collected fees into an account specific to that licensing authority in the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act Fund, which this bill would establish. This bill would impose certain fines and civil penalties for specified violations of the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, and would require moneys collected as a result of these fines and civil penalties to be deposited into the Medical Cannabis Fines and Penalties Account, which this bill would establish within the fund. Moneys in the fund and each account of the fund would be available upon appropriation of the Legislature. This bill would authorize the Director of Finance to provide an initial operating loan from the General Fund to the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act Fund of up to $10,000,000, and would appropriate $10,000,000 from the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act Fund to the Department of Consumer Affairs to begin the activities of the bureau. This bill would provide that its provisions are severable. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill would become operative only if AB 266 and SB 643 of the 2015–16 Regular Session are enacted and take effect on or before January 1, 2016.
Existing law requires a school district to provide access to free, fresh drinking water during meal times in the food service areas of the schools under its jurisdiction, unless the governing board of the school district adopts a resolution stating that it is unable to comply with that requirement, as specified. This bill would authorize the State Department of Education to receive funds transferred from available state and federal sources, to be allocated to school districts for purposes of complying with the requirement for providing access to drinking water specified above, and would require the department to consult with specified state agencies, including the State Water Resources Control Board, to identify available sources of funding for school water quality and infrastructure and to post that information on the department's Internet Web site. The bill would authorize school districts to use those funds for water quality projects, including, but not limited to, water treatment, water facilities restructuring, water filling stations, and maintenance of water facilities, subject to all laws, guidelines, policies, and criteria applicable to the funds.
Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency, comprised of departments, boards, conservancies, and commissions responsible for the restoration, protection, and management of the state's natural and cultural resources. Existing law establishes the Strategic Growth Council in state government and assigns to the council certain duties, including providing, funding, and distributing data and information to local governments and regional agencies that will assist in the development and planning of sustainable communities. This bill would require the agency, by July 1, 2017, and every 3 years thereafter, to update the state's climate adaptation strategy, as provided. The bill would require the agency, by January 1, 2017, and every 3 years thereafter, to release a draft climate adaptation strategy, as provided. The bill would require state agencies to maximize specified objectives, including, among others, promoting the use of the climate adaptation strategy to inform planning decisions and ensure that state investments consider climate change impacts, as well as promote the use of natural systems and natural infrastructure, as defined, when developing physical infrastructure to address adaptation. This bill also would expand the duties of the council to include identifying and reviewing the activities and funding programs of all state agencies, instead of only the state agencies that are members of the council, to coordinate specified state objectives, including, among others, meeting the goals of the state's climate adaptation strategy.