Asm. Young O. Kim

Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary education, with instruction provided by school districts at schoolsites throughout the state. The State Department of Education, under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, has numerous duties with respect to the funding and conduct of the instructional activities undertaken by school districts. This bill would establish a program for purposes of providing grants to school districts for the establishment of up to 100 partnership academies dedicated to training young people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations.

Existing law requires the governing board of each school district and county board of education to adopt a local control and accountability plan using a state template adopted by the State Board of Education and to update their local control and accountability plans before July 1 of each year. Existing law requires the local control and accountability plan to include, among other things, a description of annual goals for all pupils and specified subgroups of pupils to be achieved for each state priority, as specified, and a description of the specific actions the school district or county superintendent of schools will take to achieve those goals. Existing law requires superintendents of school districts and county superintendents of schools to post on the Internet Web site of school districts or county offices of education, as appropriate, local control and accountability plans approved by the governing board of the school district or the county board of education, as appropriate, and any updates or revisions to local control and accountability plans approved by the appropriate governing bodies. Existing law also requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to post links to all local control and accountability plans approved by the governing boards of school districts and county boards of education on the Internet Web site of the State Department of Education. Existing law provides that, when 15% or more of the pupils enrolled in a public school speak a single primary language other than English, all notices, reports, statements, or records sent to the parent or guardian of any such pupil by the school or school district shall, in addition to English, be written in their primary language, and may be responded to either in English or their primary language. This bill would require these multilingual notice requirements to apply to a local control and accountability plan or update or revision posted to the Internet Web site of a school district, a county of office of education, or the Superintendent of Pubic Instruction. To the extent this bill would impose additional requirements on school districts and county offices of education, it would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires charter schools to update the charter schools' goals and actions to achieve those goals annually. This bill would require, each year, a charter school to post on its Internet Web site the annual update of goals and actions in English and, if 15% or more of the pupils enrolled in the charter school speak a single primary language other than English, in each of those primary languages, thereby imposing 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.

Existing law establishes the Homeless Youth and Exploitation Program, under which homeless youth emergency service projects are established in the Counties of Los Angeles, Santa Clara, San Diego, and the City and County of San Francisco through a grant program to eligible private, nonprofit agencies with a demonstrated record of success in the delivery of services to homeless youth. Under existing law, this program is administered by the Office of Emergency Services. Existing law requires each project to provide specified services, including food and access to overnight shelter, counseling to address immediate emotional crises and problems, and long-term stabilization planning. This bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to establish additional homeless youth emergency service projects in other counties with a priority given to counties that lack existing services for runaway and homeless youth. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to develop, with input from specified stakeholders, criteria for the selection of grantees and the determination of grant amounts under the grant program. The bill would additionally require each project to provide transitional living services for designated homeless youth for a period of up to 36 months, with access to education and employment assistance, independent living skill development, and family engagement and interventions. The bill would appropriate $25,000,000 from the General Fund to the Office of Emergency Services to provide additional funding for these homeless youth emergency service projects.

The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows various exclusions from gross income, and allows various deductions in computing the income that is subject to the taxes imposed by that law, including miscellaneous itemized deductions that are allowed only to the extent that the aggregate amount of those deductions exceeds 2% of adjusted gross income. This bill, upon appropriation of specified funds by the Legislature, on and after January 1, 2017, and before January 1, 2019, would allow a deduction, not to exceed specified amounts, of the amount a qualified taxpayer, as defined, contributed in any taxable year to a homeownership savings account and would exclude from gross income any income earned on the moneys contributed to a homeownership savings account. The bill would provide that a qualified taxpayer may withdraw amounts from a homeownership savings account to pay for qualified homeownership savings expenses defined as expenses paid or incurred in connection with the purchase of a principal residence, which is defined by reference to a federal law and includes a mobilehome. The bill would provide that any amount withdrawn from that account that is not used for these expenses would be included as income for that taxpayer. The bill would define various terms for its purposes. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

This measure would urge the United States Congress to pass a law to reinstate the arms embargo against Vietnam until such time that human rights in that country significantly improve.

This measure would proclaim the month of April 2016 as Black April Memorial Month.

This measure would declare the month of April 2016 as Financial Aid and Literacy Month, with the theme of "Prosperity Through Education," to raise public awareness about the continuing need for increased financial literacy.

This measure would recognize May 2016 as National Mental Health Awareness Month in California to enhance public awareness of mental illness.