Existing law provides for the establishment and operation of the Veterans' Home of California at various sites for aged and disabled veterans who meet certain eligibility requirements. Existing law requires members of the homes to pay fees and charges as determined by the department, but prohibit the total of the member's fees and charges for specified types of care for any fiscal year to be greater than a certain percentage of the member's annual income. This bill would instead require the member's fees and charges for any fiscal year be the lesser of a percentage of the member's annual income or a flat amount. This bill would also, beginning January 1, 2012, and each year thereafter, require the flat amount to be recalculated to reflect any changes in the VA disability compensation, as specified, from the previous year.
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Existing law provides for the establishment and operation of the Veterans Home of California at various sites for aged and disabled veterans who meet certain eligibility requirements. Existing law requires members of the homes to pay fees and charges as determined by the department, but prohibit the total of the member's fees and charges for specified types of care for any fiscal year to be greater than a certain percentage of the member's annual income. Existing law also requires nonveteran spouses who become members of the home on or after July 1, 2009, to pay fees and charges based on the level of care, as specified, or an amount equal to the annual amount of federal per diem received for a veteran member in domiciliary care, whichever is greater, as provided. This bill would instead require nonveteran spouses to pay the same fees and charges as paid by the veteran members of the home, as determined by the department and subject to the same prohibitions.
The Sales and Use Tax Law imposes a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. This bill would provide an exemption from the sales tax for the gross receipts from the sale of a qualified back‑to‑school product, as defined, to a qualified purchaser, as defined, during a specified period in August of each year, commencing in 2012 and ending in 2016. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing law authorizes districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Exemptions from state sales and use taxes are incorporated into these laws. This bill would specify that this exemption does not apply to local sales and use taxes, transactions and use taxes, and specified state taxes from which revenues are deposited into the Local Public Safety Fund, the Local Revenue Fund, or the Fiscal Recovery Fund. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Under existing law, when a person, as a result of mental disorder, is a danger to others, or to himself or herself, or gravely disabled, he or she may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody and placed in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Mental Health as a facility for 72-hour treatment and evaluation. Existing law exempts from criminal or civil liability specified people and entities who detain a person for 72-hour treatment and evaluation pursuant to this provision. This bill would authorize a provider of ambulance services, as defined, and the employees of those providers to further detain a person in custody for the purpose of transporting him or her to a county-designated facility, whether or not accompanied by a person otherwise authorized. The bill would also exempt from criminal and civil liability individuals transporting a person for 72-hour treatment and evaluation pursuant to this provision.
Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in the Department of Industrial Relations for the enforcement of labor laws. This bill would establish in the division the Labor Standards Consultation Unit for the purpose of providing consulting services to an employer or employee regarding compliance with labor standards. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the unit ultimately be self-supporting and, to further that end, would authorize the unit to charge a requester a fee for consulting services provided, not to exceed the actual cost to the unit, and to further fund its operation from grants obtained from for-profit or not-for-profit nongovernmental and governmental entities. The bill would prohibit the division from citing an employer for a violation of any labor standard, order, or regulation discovered as a result of an employer requesting or accepting services from the unit pursuant to the bill if the employer remedies the violation within 30 days and the employer is not the subject of an ongoing investigation by the division.
Existing law imposes income taxes that are administered and collected by the Franchise Tax Board. Existing law provides that the taxpayer has the burden of proof in court proceedings for purposes of state income tax laws. This bill would provide that the Franchise Tax Board shall have the burden of proof in any court or administrative tax proceedings with respect to any factual issue relevant to ascertaining the tax liability of specified taxpayers. This bill would also provide that these provisions shall not subject those taxpayers to unreasonable search or access to records in violation of the law. This bill would additionally require the board to have just cause before beginning any audit.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Parks and Recreation to enter into an agreement with an agency of the United States, a city, county, district, or other public agency, or any combination thereof, for the care, maintenance, administration, and control of lands of the state park system. This bill would make a statement of legislative findings and declarations, including the intent of the Legislature to encourage the department to actively seek to negotiate operating agreements with local governments, who have the interest and capacity to assist the state in operating a state park, to minimize the number of state parks that could otherwise be subject to closure due to the budget challenges facing the state.
This bill would urge the United States Patent and Trademark Office to place a satellite office in California.
Existing law, as amended by Proposition 21, adopted March 7, 2000, and by Proposition 83, adopted November 7, 2006, provides for a list of crimes called "violent felonies" and "serious felonies." Other existing law provides specified enhancements to the punishments of certain repeat, state-prison bound offenders with prior violent or serious felony convictions. The initiative statutes provide that any amendment of these provisions by the Legislature shall require a 23 vote of the membership of each house. Existing law defines battery as any willful or unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another. Existing law provides that battery committed against a custodial officer, firefighter, emergency medical technician, lifeguard, process server, traffic officer, or animal control officer engaged in the performance of his or her duties, as specified, is punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. Existing law provides that battery against a peace officer, as specified, is punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. This bill would add felony battery against the above-named persons to the list of "serious felonies" and to the list of "violent felonies." Existing law specifies, for purposes of the sentence enhancements specified above, that the statutes comprising the lists of violent and serious felonies be interpreted as they existed at the time the provisions were enacted, including amendments made to those statutes during the 2005–06 Regular Session of the Legislature, as specified. This bill would likewise require those statutes to be interpreted as they would be amended following the enactment of this bill for purposes of sentence enhancements. By expanding the punishments for existing crimes, this bill would 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.
This measure would designate that January 16, 2012, be observed as the official memorial of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth, commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 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.