Existing law regulates the activities of auctioneers and auction companies and prohibits, with a certain exception, a person from causing or allowing any person to bid at a sale for the sole purpose of increasing the bid on any item or items being sold by the auctioneer. Existing law defines an auction in this regard and excepts from this definition a sale of real estate. A violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor generally punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, or by imprisonment for not more than a year, unless another penalty is specified. This bill would, on and after July 1, 2015, with respect to an auction that includes the sale of real property, prohibit a person from causing or allowing any person to bid at a sale for the sole purpose of increasing the bid on any real property being sold by the auctioneer. The bill, however, would allow an auctioneer or another person to place a bid on the seller's behalf during an auction of real property if notice, as specified, is given that liberty for that bidding is reserved. The bill would also require in this regard that the person placing that bid contemporaneously disclose to all auction participants that the particular bid has been placed on behalf of the seller. The bill would except from the application of these provisions a credit bid made by a creditor with a security interest in the property that is the subject of auction when the credit bid can result in the transfer of title to property to the creditor. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires listing and selling agents, as defined, to provide sellers and buyers in a residential real property transaction with a disclosure form, as prescribed, containing general information on real estate agency relationships. Existing law authorizes a contract between a principal and agent, in this context, to be modified to change the agency relationship at any time before the performance of the act which is the object of the agency with the written consent of the parties. This bill would prohibit a lender or an auction company that is retained to control aspects of a residential real property transaction from requiring, as a condition of receiving a lender's approval of the transaction, a homeowner or listing agent to defend or indemnify the lender or auction company from any liability alleged to result from the actions of the lender or auction company and would declare a clause, provision, covenant, or agreement in violation of this prohibition to be against public policy, void, and unenforceable. 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 federal law, the Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, provides for the integration of civil unmanned aircraft systems, commonly known as drones, into the national airspace system by September 30, 2015. Existing federal law requires the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to develop and implement operational and certification requirements for the operation of public unmanned aircraft systems in the national airspace system by December 31, 2015. This bill would generally prohibit public agencies from using unmanned aircraft systems, or contracting for the use of unmanned aircraft systems, as defined, with certain exceptions applicable to law enforcement agencies and in certain other cases, including when the use or operation of the unmanned aircraft system achieves the core mission of the agency and the purpose is unrelated to the gathering of criminal intelligence, as defined. The bill would require reasonable public notice to be provided by public agencies intending to deploy unmanned aircraft systems, as specified. The bill would require images, footage, or data obtained through the use of an unmanned aircraft system under these provisions to be permanently destroyed within one year, except as specified. The bill would generally prohibit images, footage, or data obtained through the use of an unmanned aircraft system under these provisions from being disseminated outside the collecting public agency, except as specified. Unless authorized by federal law, the bill would prohibit a person or entity, including a public agency subject to these provisions, or a person or entity under contract to a public agency, for the purpose of that contract, from equipping or arming an unmanned aircraft system with a weapon or other device that may be carried by or launched from an unmanned aircraft system and that is intended to cause bodily injury or death, or damage to, or the destruction of, real or personal property. The bill would also provide that specified surveillance restrictions on electronic devices apply to the use or operation of an unmanned aircraft system by a public agency. The bill would make its provisions applicable to all public and private entities when contracting with a public agency for the use of an unmanned aircraft system. Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires state and local agencies to make public records available for inspection, subject to certain exceptions. This bill would make certain images, footage, or data obtained through the use of an unmanned aircraft system under its provisions, or any related record, including, but not limited to, usage logs or logs that identify any person or entity that subsequently obtains or requests records of that system, subject to disclosure. The bill would except from the disclosure requirements discussed above images, footage, data, and records obtained through the use of an unmanned aircraft system if disclosure would endanger the safety of a person involved in an investigation, or would endanger the successful completion of the investigation. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
(1) Under existing law, when the Department of Motor Vehicles determines that an applicant is lawfully entitled to a driver's license, the department is required to issue that license to the applicant. Existing law specifies the contents of a driver's license and requires the application for a driver's license or identification card to contain a space for an applicant to indicate whether he or she has served in the Armed Forces of the United States and to give his or her consent to be contacted regarding eligibility to receive state or federal veterans' benefits. This bill would, commencing November 11, 2015, allow an in-person applicant for a driver's license or identification card to request the driver's license or identification card be printed with the word "VETERAN." The applicant would be required to present verification of veteran status to the Department of Motor Vehicles, on a form developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs in consultation with the California Association of County Veterans Service Officers and the Department of Motor Vehicles. The bill would require county veterans service offices to verify an applicant's veteran status for these purposes, as specified. The department would be required to print the word "VETERAN" on the face of a driver's license or identification card issued to a person who makes that request and presents that verification to the department. (2) Existing law establishes certain fee amounts for the applications for, and renewal of, driver's licenses and identification cards. This bill would require the department to charge an additional one-time fee of $5 to a person who requests that the person's driver's license or identification card be designated as provided above.
Existing law establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is responsible for administering various programs and services for the benefit of veterans. Existing law provides for the licensure of residential care facilities for the elderly, community care facilities, and residential care facilities for persons with chronic, life-threatening illness by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law exempts from these provisions specified facilities, including general acute care hospitals and clinics. Existing law authorizes the California State Auditor, upon the request by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and to the extent funding is available, to audit a state or local governmental agency, as defined, or any other publicly created entity. This bill would establish the Medical Foster Home Pilot Program and would, commencing June 1, 2015, and until January 1, 2018, authorize a United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) facility to establish a medical foster home that is not subject to licensure or regulation as a residential care facility for the elderly, a community care facility, or a residential care facility for persons with chronic, life-threatening illness provided that specified federal requirements are satisfied, the USDVA facility establishing the home agrees to be subject to the jurisdiction of the California State Auditor, and the USDVA obtains criminal background information for caregivers and specified individuals residing in the home. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the California State Auditor, through a request to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, conduct an audit evaluating the pilot program created by this bill no sooner than January 1, 2016, as specified.
Existing law generally regulates the hiring of real property. This bill would, for any lease executed, renewed, or extended on and after July 1, 2015, require a lessor of a dwelling to approve a written request of a lessee to install an electric vehicle charging station at a parking space allotted for the lessee in accordance with specified requirements and that complies with the lessor's approval process for modification to the property. The bill would except from its provisions specified residential property, including a residential rental property with fewer than 5 parking spaces and one subject to rent control. The bill would require the electric vehicle charging station and all modifications and improvements made to the property comply with federal, state, and local law, and all applicable zoning requirements, land use requirements, and covenants, conditions, and restrictions. The bill would also require a lessee's written request to make a modification to the property in order to install and use an electric vehicle charging station include his or her consent to enter into a written agreement including specified provisions, including compliance with the lessor's requirements for the installation, use, maintenance, and removal of the charging station and installation of the infrastructure for the charging station. The bill would also require the lessee to maintain in full force and effect a $1,000,000 lessee's general liability insurance policy, as specified. Existing law regulates the terms and conditions of residential and commercial tenancies. Existing law defines and regulates common interest developments and voids any condition affecting the transfer or sale of an interest in a common interest development that prohibits or unreasonably restricts the installation or use of an electric vehicle charging station in a designated parking space in the development, as specified. This bill would void any term in a lease renewed or extended on or after January 1, 2015, that conveys any possessory interest in commercial property that either prohibits or unreasonably restricts, as defined, the installation or use of an electric vehicle charging station in a parking space associated with the commercial property. The bill would prescribe requirements for lessor approval of a lessee request to install or use an electronic vehicle charging station and would require that a lessor approve a request to install a charging station if the lessee agrees in writing to do specified acts, including paying for various costs associated with the charging station and maintaining insurance naming the lessor as an insured.
Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency consisting of various entities, departments, and boards, including the Department of Water Resources, the California Coastal Commission, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the State Lands Commission, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and the State Coastal Conservancy. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2016, the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with the Ocean Protection Council, to create, update biannually, and post on an Internet Web site a Planning for Sea Level Rise Database describing steps being taken throughout the state to prepare for, and adapt to, sea level rise. The bill would require various public agencies and private entities to provide to the agency, by July 1, 2015, and, beginning January 1, 2016, on a biannual basis thereafter, sea level rise planning information, as defined, that is under the control or jurisdiction of the public agencies or private entities. The bill would require the agency to determine which information is necessary for inclusion in the database and to organize the database by geographic region and provide an entry for each city, county, and city and county within the coastal zone and San Francisco Bay area. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2018.
(1) Existing law provides that it is the policy of the state to promote and encourage the use of solar energy systems, as defined, and to limit obstacles to their use. Existing law states that the implementation of consistent statewide standards to achieve timely and cost-effective installation of solar energy systems is not a municipal affair, but is instead a matter of statewide concern. Existing law requires a city or county to administratively approve applications to install solar energy systems through the issuance of a building permit or similar nondiscretionary permit. Existing law requires a solar energy system for heating water to be certified by the Solar Rating Certification Corporation or another nationally recognized certification agency. This bill would specify that these provisions address a statewide concern. The bill would additionally require a city, county, or city and county to adopt, on or before September 30, 2015, in consultation with specified public entities an ordinance that creates an expedited, streamlined permitting process for small residential rooftop solar energy systems, as specified. The bill would additionally require a city, county, or city and county to inspect a small residential rooftop solar energy system eligible for expedited review in a timely manner, as specified. The bill would prohibit a city, county, or city and county from conditioning the approval of any solar energy system permit on approval of that system by an association that manages a common interest development. The bill would require a solar energy system for heating water in single family residences and solar collectors for heating water in commercial or swimming pool applications to be certified by an accredited listing agency, as defined. Because the bill would impose new duties upon local governments and local agencies, it would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law prohibits any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of, or any interest in, real property, and any provision of a governing document from effectively prohibiting or restricting the installation or use of a solar energy system. Existing law exempts from that prohibition provisions that impose reasonable restrictions on a solar energy system that do not significantly increase the cost of the system or significantly decrease its efficiency or specified performance. Existing law defines the term "significantly," for these purposes, with regard to solar domestic water heating systems or solar swimming pool heating systems that comply with state and federal law, to mean an amount exceeding 20% of the cost of the system or decreasing the efficiency of the solar energy system by an amount exceeding 20%, and with regard to photovoltaic systems that comply with state and federal law, an amount not to exceed $2,000 over the system cost or a decrease in system efficiency of an amount exceeding 20%, as specified. Existing law requires a solar energy system for heating water subject to the provisions described above to be certified by the Solar Rating Certification Corporation or another nationally recognized certification agency. This bill would instead define the term "significantly," for these purposes, with regard to solar domestic water heating systems or solar swimming pool heating systems that comply with state and federal law, to mean an amount exceeding 10% of the cost of the system, not to exceed $1,000, or decreasing the efficiency of the solar energy system by an amount exceeding 10%, and with regard to photovoltaic systems that comply with state and federal law, an amount not to exceed $1,000 over the system cost or a decrease in system efficiency of an amount exceeding 10%, as specified. The bill would require a solar energy system for heating water in single family residences and solar collectors for heating water in commercial or swimming pool applications subject to the provisions described above to be certified by an accredited listing agency, as defined. (3) Existing law requires an application for approval for the installation or use of a solar energy system to be processed and approved by the appropriate approving entity in the same manner as an application for approval of an architectural modification to the property and prohibits the approver from willfully avoiding or delaying approval. Existing law requires the approving entity to notify the applicant in writing within 60 days of receipt of the application if the application is denied, as specified. The bill would instead require the approving entity to notify the applicant in writing within 45 days of receipt of the application if the application is denied, as specified. 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.
Existing federal law, until September 30, 2017, authorizes a state to allow specified labeled vehicles to use lanes designated for high-occupancy vehicles (HOVs) . Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to designate certain lanes for the exclusive use of HOVs. Under existing law, until January 1, 2019, or until federal authorization expires, or until the Secretary of State receives a specified notice, those lanes may be used by certain vehicles not carrying the requisite number of passengers otherwise required for the use of an HOV lane, if the vehicle displays a valid identifier issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) . Existing law authorizes the DMV to issue no more than 55,000 of those identifiers. This bill would increase the number of those identifiers that the DMV is authorized to issue to 70,000. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 5205.5 of the Vehicle Code proposed by AB 1721, that would become operative only if AB 1721 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last.
Existing law requires the probation officer, or his or her authorized representative, in any case in which a defendant is convicted of an offense and is the subject of any preplea or presentence investigation and report, whether or not probation supervision is ordered by the court, and in any case in which a defendant is granted probation or given a conditional sentence, to make a determination of the ability of the defendant to pay all or a portion of the reasonable cost of any probation supervision or a conditional sentence and of other specified criminal procedures and other matters relevant to sentencing. These requirements become operative in a county upon the adoption of an ordinance to that effect by the board of supervisors. This bill would additionally require the probation officer, or his or her authorized representative, to make a determination of the ability of the defendant to pay all or a portion of the reasonable cost of a term of mandatory supervision.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including a credit against those taxes for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, in an amount equal to an applicable percentage of either 20% or 25%, respectively, of the qualified expenditures, as defined, attributable to the production of a qualified motion picture in California, or, where the qualified motion picture is a television series that relocated to California or is an independent film, as provided. Existing law imposes specified duties on the California Film Commission related to the administration of the credits, including a requirement to allocate the tax credits until July 1, 2017, and limits the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated to qualified motion pictures in any fiscal year to $100,000,000 through the 2016–17 fiscal year. Existing law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, in lieu of the credits authorized under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for qualified motion pictures described above, also allows a credit against qualified state sales and use taxes, as provided. Existing law provides for a tentative minimum tax and further provides that, except for specified credits, no other credit shall reduce the tax imposed below the tentative minimum tax. This bill would establish similar credits under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, to be allocated by the California Film Commission on or after July 1, 2015, and before July 1, 2020. This bill would, as compared to the existing tax credits, extend the scope of the credits for a qualified motion picture to the applicable percentage of qualified expenditures up to $100,000,000, would extend the credit to qualified expenditures for television pilot episodes, and would determine an applicable percentage of 25% or 20% for qualified expenditures, with an additional credit amount available, as specified. This bill would limit the aggregate amount of these new credits to be allocated in each fiscal year to up to $330 million, and would, subject to a computation and ranking of applicants based on the jobs ratio, as defined, require the California Film Commission to allocate credit amounts subject to specified categories of qualified motion pictures. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, in lieu of the credits authorized under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for qualified motion pictures described above, allow a credit against qualified state sales and use taxes, as provided. This bill would also require the Legislative Analyst's Office to prepare reports related to the effectiveness and administration of the qualified motion picture credit under the Sales and Use Tax Law, the Personal Income Tax Law, and the Corporation Tax Law. This bill would, for taxable years, beginning on or after January 1, 2016, additionally allow the credit under the Corporation Tax Law for qualified expenditures for the production of qualified motion pictures to reduce the tentative minimum tax. This bill would also make findings and declarations related to the entertainment industry, and would urge the United States Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission to investigate and impose sanctions on specified motion picture productions and elements of production to combat unfair and illegal competition. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The bill would state that its provisions are severable. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 23036 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, proposed by AB 2754, to be operative only if AB 2754 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.