Existing law requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection to implement a unified hazardous waste and hazardous materials management regulatory program. Existing law requires every county to apply to the secretary to be certified to implement the unified program and allows a city or local agency to implement the unified program as a unified program agency, or UPA. Existing law also requires each certified UPA to institute a single fee system, which is required to include a surcharge on each person regulated by the unified program, the amount of which is determined by the secretary annually, to cover the necessary and reasonable costs of the state agencies in carrying out their responsibilities in the unified hazardous waste and hazardous materials management regulatory program. Existing law imposes certain requirements on stationary sources handling regulated substances, as defined, including, among other things, the preparation and implementation of a risk management plan. Existing law requires the UPA to review the plan and to notify the stationary source of any defects in the plan. This bill would require each local implementing agency, as defined, to develop an integrated alerting and notification system, in coordination with local emergency management agencies, UPAs, local first response agencies, petroleum refineries, and the public, to be used to notify the community surrounding a petroleum refinery in the event of an incident at the refinery warranting the use of the notification system. The bill would require the notification system to be configured, as specified, and used to alert and notify the communities surrounding a petroleum refinery, including schools, public facilities, hospitals, transient and special needs populations, as defined, and residential care homes. If an integrated alerting and notification system has not been developed and implemented by January 1, 2018, the bill would require the local implementing agency to determine an appropriate notification system to be developed consistent with these provisions and, on or before January 1, 2019, to develop a schedule for developing and implementing the notification system. The bill would require a UPA to ensure that the notification system developed is consistent with the UPA's area plan and specified regulations regarding the California Accidental Release Prevention Program. The bill would require a petroleum refinery to immediately call the emergency 9-1-1 telephone number and notify the UPA, in the event of an incident warranting the use of the notification system. The bill would require a UPA, in coordination with the local implementing agency, to establish a fee, separate from the single fee system described above, that a petroleum refinery would be required to pay in an amount to cover the reasonable and necessary costs for the design, building, and installation of the notification system, and a fee, as part of the single fee system levied on a petroleum refinery, in an amount sufficient to cover the reasonable and necessary costs for the ongoing operation and maintenance of the notification system. The bill would require the Governor's Office of Emergency Services to work with the local implementing agencies and the UPAs to develop a model memorandum of understanding between adjacent jurisdictions for integration of alerting and notification systems that will operate across jurisdictional boundaries. The bill would require the local implementing agency to ensure that there are agreements with adjacent jurisdictions to coordinate alerts, notifications, and messaging when a release crosses or threatens to cross jurisdictional boundaries, and to document those agreements in the unified program agency area plan. Because the bill would add to duties of a UPA and other local agencies, the 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.
Sponsored bills
Existing law establishes the California Environmental Protection Agency under the supervision of the Secretary for Environmental Protection, consisting of various boards, offices, and departments, and vests the agency with authority over various environmental matters. This bill would provide for the California Environmental Protection Agency, in consultation with specified federal, state, and local agencies, to examine ways to improve public and worker safety through enhanced oversight of refineries and to strengthen emergency preparedness in anticipation of any future refinery incident. The bill would require the California Environmental Protection Agency, in consultation with those agencies, to facilitate coordination among those agencies to protect the public, fence line communities, and refinery workers from risks associated with refinery operations throughout the state. The bill would require the California Environmental Protection Agency to hold at least 2 public meetings a year, as specified, to provide members of the public with current information on refinery safety and to receive information from the public regarding health and safety concerns associated with refinery operations.
Existing law generally designates air pollution control and air quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. Existing law authorizes the State Air Resources Board or the air district to require the owner or the operator of an air pollution emission source to take any action that the state board or the air district determines to be reasonable for the determination of the amount of air pollution emissions from that source. This bill would require a refinery-related community air monitoring system, as defined, to be installed on or before January 1, 2020, as specified, and would require an air district to design, develop, install, operate, and maintain the refinery-related community air monitoring system or to contract with a third party to provide those services. The bill would require an owner or operator of a petroleum refinery to develop, install, operate, and maintain a fence-line monitoring system, as defined, on or before January 1, 2020, as specified. The bill would require the air district and the owner or operator of a refinery to collect real-time data from these monitoring systems, to provide that data as quickly as possible in a publicly accessible format, and to maintain records of that data. The bill would require the owner or operator of a petroleum refinery to be responsible for the costs associated with the refinery-related community air monitoring system and the fence-line monitoring system, except as specified. By adding to the duties of air districts, 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.
(1) Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and activities. The act requires a committee that supports or opposes ballot measures to name and identify itself using a name or phrase that clearly identifies the economic or other special interests of its major donors of $50,000 or more. The act also requires that the identity of a common employer shared by major donors be disclosed. This bill would repeal these provisions. (2) The act defines "expenditure" as a payment, a forgiveness of a loan, a payment of a loan by a 3rd party, or an enforceable promise to make a payment, unless it is clear from the surrounding circumstances that it is not made for political purposes. This bill, which would be known as the California Disclose Act, would describe circumstances in which a payment would be made for political purposes within the meaning of the definition of "expenditure." (3) The act prohibits a candidate or committee from sending a mass mailing unless the name, street address, and city of the candidate or committee are shown on the outside of each piece of mail in the mass mailing, as specified. This bill would additionally require the name of such an entity to be disclosed in a mass electronic mailing, as defined, that the entity sends. The bill would provide that these disclosure requirements do not apply if the mass mailing or mass electronic mailing is paid for by an independent expenditure. (4) The act prohibits a candidate, committee, or slate mailer organization from expending campaign funds to pay for specified telephone calls that advocate support of, or opposition to, a candidate, ballot measure, or both, unless the name of the organization that authorized or paid for the call is disclosed to the recipient of the call during the course of each call. This bill would instead apply these requirements to a candidate, a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office for the controlling candidate, a political party committee, and a slate mailer organization that expends campaign funds to pay for such telephone calls. The bill would provide that these disclosure requirements do not apply if the telephone call is paid for by an independent expenditure. (5) The act also requires advertisements, as defined, to include prescribed disclosure statements, including, among others, a requirement that the disclosure statements include the names of the persons who made the 2 highest cumulative contributions, as defined, to the committee paying for the advertisement. This bill would repeal and recast provisions of the act relating to advertisement disclosure statements. The bill would revise the definition of "advertisement" to exclude a number of communications, including communications that involve wearing apparel, sky writing, and certain electronic media communications, as specified. The bill would also replace existing advertisement disclosure statements with newly prescribed disclosure statements that identify the name of the committee paying for the advertisement and the top contributors to that committee. The bill would define "top contributors" for purposes of these provisions as the persons from whom the committee paying for the advertisement received its 3 highest cumulative contributions, as specified. The bill would exempt certain committees, including committees that make independent expenditures totaling $1,000 or more in a calendar year, from the requirement to disclose the top contributors in advertisement disclosure statements. The bill would also prescribe location and format criteria for the disclosure statements that are specific to radio and telephone, television and video, print, and electronic media advertisements. (6) The act imposes, in addition to other penalties, a fine of up to triple the amount of the cost of an advertisement on a person who violates the disclosure requirements for advertisements. This bill would revise the scope of violations subject to that fine by specifying that it applies to certain disclosure requirements and intentional violations. (7) The act prohibits a person from making a contribution as an intermediary on behalf of another person without disclosing to the recipient of the contribution specified information about both the intermediary and the source of the contribution. The act also prohibits a person from making a contribution to a committee on the condition or with the agreement that it will be contributed to a particular candidate unless the contribution is disclosed in compliance with those requirements for contributions made by an intermediary. This bill would prohibit a person from making a contribution to a committee or candidate that is earmarked unless the contribution is disclosed in compliance with the requirements for contributions made by an intermediary. The bill would also describe circumstances in which a contribution is deemed to be earmarked. The bill would impose additional disclosure requirements in connection with earmarked contributions from one committee to another. (8) Because a violation of the act is punishable as a misdemeanor, 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. (9) The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The Personal Income Tax Law provides various exclusions from gross income in determining tax liability, including an exclusion for the amount of student loan indebtedness repaid or canceled pursuant to a specified federal law, relating to income-based repayment. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, and before January 1, 2022, revise this exclusion to include student loan indebtedness canceled, pursuant to federal law, that includes other repayment plans. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
(1) Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University; the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California; the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges; and independent institutions of higher education as the 4 segments of postsecondary education in this state. Existing provisions of the Donahoe Higher Education Act set forth the missions and functions of these 4 postsecondary educational segments. No provision of the Donahoe Higher Education Act applies to the University of California except to the extent that the regents, by appropriate resolution, make that provision applicable. This bill would express findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to the possible impacts on public postsecondary educational institutions in this state of changes in federal immigration policies and enforcement. The bill would add to the Donahoe Higher Education Act provisions that would require the Trustees of the California State University, the governing boards of community college districts, and independent institutions of higher education that are qualifying institutions for purposes of the Cal Grant Program, and would request the regents, to the fullest extent consistent with state and federal law, to: refrain from disclosing personal information concerning students, faculty, and staff, except under specified circumstances; advise all students, faculty, and staff to notify the office of the chancellor or president, or his or her designee, as soon as possible, if he or she is advised that an immigration officer, as defined, is expected to enter, or has entered, the campus to execute a federal immigration order; notify, as soon as possible, the emergency contact of a student, faculty, or staff person if there is reason to suspect that the person has been taken into custody as the result of an immigration enforcement action; comply with a request from an immigration officer for access to nonpublic areas of the campus only upon presentation of a judicial warrant, except as specified; advise all students, faculty, and staff responding to or having contact with an immigration officer executing a federal immigration order, to promptly refer the entity or individual to the office of the chancellor or president, or his or her designee, for purposes of verifying the legality of any warrant, court order, or subpoena; designate a staff person to serve as a point of contact for those who may be subject to immigration actions, as specified; maintain a contact list of legal services providers who provide legal immigration representation, and provide it free of charge to any and all students who request it; adopt and implement, by March 1, 2019, the model policy developed by the Attorney General or an equivalent policy pursuant to a specified statute, limiting assistance with immigration enforcement to the fullest extent possible consistent with federal and state law, as specified; post on its Internet Web site, and provide via email quarterly or each semester to all students, faculty, and staff, and update as often as is necessary, a copy of the policy referenced above, and guidance informing them of their rights under state and federal immigration laws and how to respond to a federal immigration action or order; and ensure that certain benefits and services provided to undocumented students are continued in the event that they are subject to a federal immigration order. Because this bill would create new duties for community college districts, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. (2) 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law allows an individual, until January 1, 2018, to designate on his or her personal income tax return that a specified amount in excess of his or her tax liability be contributed to the Keep Arts in Schools Fund, which is subject to appropriation by the Legislature, to be allocated to the Franchise Tax Board, the Controller, and the Arts Council for purposes of carrying out its provisions. Existing law requires that the Keep Arts in Schools Fund equal or exceed a $250,000 minimum contribution amount, which is required to be adjusted for inflation. Existing law allows an individual, until January 1, 2019, to designate on their personal income tax return that a specified amount in excess of their tax liability be contributed to the California Beach and Coastal Enhancement Account under a space on the tax return titled "Protect Our Coast and Oceans Fund." Existing law makes these moneys subject to appropriation by the Legislature and requires the moneys to be allocated to the Franchise Tax Board, the Controller, and the California Coastal Commission to support eligible programs awarded grants under the selection criteria established by the California Coastal Commission for the Whale Tail Grants Program. Existing law requires that the Protect Our Coast and Oceans Fund equal or exceed a $250,000 minimum contribution amount, which is required to be and has been adjusted for inflation. Under existing law, there are general administrative provisions applicable to these voluntary contributions, which, among other things, specify when a voluntary contribution is to be placed on the return, provide for the disbursement of contributions following repeal of the fund provisions, and require undesignated funds to be transferred to the General Fund. Existing law requires that when establishing or extending the operation of these voluntary tax contribution funds the words "voluntary tax contribution" be included in the name of the fund, that the administering agency comply with specified Internet Web site reporting requirements, that the fund provisions remain in effect only until January 1 of the 7th calendar year following the first appearance of the voluntary tax contribution on the personal income tax return, that the required calendar year minimum contribution amount for the fund to continue appearing on the return is $250,000, and that the contributions be continuously appropriated from the fund to the administering entity. This bill would conform with those requirements by extending the operation of the provisions of the Keep Arts in Schools Fund to January 1, 2025, renaming the fund as the Keep Arts in Schools Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund, continuously appropriating the fund to the Franchise Tax Board, the Controller, and the Arts Council for purposes of carrying out these provisions, and requiring the Arts Council to comply with those Internet Web site reporting requirements. The bill would similarly conform with those requirements by extending the operation of the provisions of the Protect Our Coast and Oceans Fund to January 1, 2025, renaming the designation as the Protect Our Coast and Oceans Fund Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund, continuously appropriating those funds to the Franchise Tax Board, the Controller, and the California Coastal Commission for purposes of carrying out these provisions, and requiring the California Coastal Commission to comply with those Internet Web site reporting requirements. The bill would also require both funds described above to meet an unadjusted minimum contribution amount of $250,000, as specified. The bill would also delete various duplicative provisions covered by the aforementioned general administrative provisions. By continuously appropriating the funds described above, the bill would make an appropriation.
The State Bar Act declares that it has been the tradition of those licensed to practice law in this state to provide voluntary pro bono legal services to those who cannot afford the help of a lawyer, and that, in view of their expertise in areas that critically affect the lives and well-being of members of the public, lawyers are uniquely situated to provide invaluable assistance in order to benefit those who might otherwise be unable to assert or protect their interests. This bill would require the State Bar of California to administer a program to coordinate pro bono civil legal assistance to veterans and their families who otherwise cannot afford legal services. The bill would also require the State Bar to provide resources and educational materials to attorneys and the public by, among other things, compiling a list of local bar associations, legal aid organizations, veterans service providers, and volunteer attorneys willing to provide pro bono legal services to veterans and posting the list on its Internet Web site, and by conducting a statewide survey of programs that provide civil legal assistance to veterans in order to identify whether and where there is a need for legal advice clinics, publishing a report and recommendations based upon its findings, and posting the report on its Internet Web site.
Existing law establishes the California State Auditor's Office, headed by the California State Auditor and under the direction of the Milton Marks "Little Hoover" Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy, with specified duties that include, among others, conducting financial and performance audits as directed by statute. Existing law also requires the California State Auditor to conduct audits requested by the Legislature's Joint Legislative Audit Committee relating to a state or local governmental agency or other publicly created entity. Existing law requires any state or local entity or agency to permit the California State Auditor to access specified documents, and makes it a misdemeanor for any person to fail or refuse to permit access, examination, and reproduction of these documents. This bill would specify that a state agency includes a commission for purposes of the California State Auditor's authorization to access specified documents of a state agency. The bill would additionally prohibit any person, with intent to deceive or defraud, from obstructing the California State Auditor in the performance of his or her official duties relating to an audit required by statute or requested by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee. The bill would make a violation of these provisions punishable by a fine not to exceed $5,000.
Existing law provides that when more than one violation of certain specified offenses occurs in more than one jurisdictional territory, jurisdiction for any of those offenses and any other properly joinable offenses may be in any jurisdiction where at least one of the offenses occurred if all district attorneys in the counties with jurisdiction over any of the offenses agree to the venue. This bill would add the offense of sexual intercourse, sodomy, oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child 10 years of age or younger to the list of specified offenses to which the above jurisdictional provisions apply.