This measure would recognize February 2010 as Black History Month, urge all citizens to join in celebrating the accomplishments of African Americans during Black History Month, and encourage the people of California to recognize the many talents, achievements, and contributions that African Americans make to their communities.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law establishes various commissions to promote agricultural products from the state. This bill would create the California Nursery Producers Commission in state government with a prescribed membership, and would specify the powers, duties, and responsibilities of the commission. The commission would be authorized to carry out programs of outreach, education, promotion, marketing, and research relating to nursery products. The bill would authorize the commission to levy an annual assessment, not to exceed a specified amount, on producers of nursery products, and would authorize the expenditure of those funds for purposes of implementing and administering the bill's provisions, thereby making an appropriation. The bill, except as necessary to conduct an election, would not become operative until eligible producers, by referendum, vote in favor of the bill's provisions, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the commission to levy a civil penalty not exceeding $1,000 on a person who willfully renders or furnishes false reports or records, fails to render or furnish a report or record, or secretes, destroys, or alters records, as specified. The bill would authorize the commission to bring civil actions and other remedies to enforce the bill's provisions and regulations adopted pursuant to these provisions. The bill would also provide for the continuation and suspension of the operation of its provisions and for concluding the operations of the commission. (2) 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.
Existing law sets forth the requirements for the solicitation and evaluation of bids and the awarding of contracts by public entities. The federal Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010, which became Public Law 111-195 on July 1, 2010, authorizes a state or local government to adopt and enforce measures meeting certain requirements, to divest the assets of the state or local government from, or prohibit the investment of those assets in, any person that the state or local government, using credible information available to the public, determines to be engaged in investment activities in Iran. The federal act specifies that an investment includes the entry into, or renewal of, a contract for goods or services, and that such a measure is not preempted by any federal law or regulation. Pursuant to this authority, this bill would prohibit a person that provides goods or services of $20,000,000 or more in the energy sector of Iran, as identified on a list created by the Department of General Services, or a financial institution that extends $20,000,000 or more in credit to such a person, from bidding on or entering into or renewing a contract for goods or services of $1,000,000 or more with a public entity, as specified. This bill would, by June 1, 2011, require the Department of General Services to, using credible information available to the public, develop, or contract to develop, a list of persons it determines provide goods or services of $20,000,000 or more in the energy sector of Iran. This bill would, before a person is included on the list, require the Department of General Services to provide 90 days' written notice of its intent to include the person on the list and to inform the person that inclusion on the list would make the person ineligible to bid on, submit a proposal for, or enter into or renew, a contract for goods and services of $1,000,000 or more with a public entity, and would require the department to provide the person with an opportunity to comment in writing that it is not engaged in investment activities in Iran. This bill would require a prospective bidder for those contracts to certify that it is not identified on a list created by the Department of General Services, or a financial institution that extends $20,000,000 or more in credit to such a person, as provided, and would impose penalties, as specified, for a person that provides a false certification. This bill would require a local public entity, or the Department of General Services in the case of state contracts, to provide a person with 90 days' written notice and an opportunity to comment in writing before the penalties are imposed. The bill would allow a public entity, under specified conditions, to permit a person engaged in investment activities in Iran to be eligible for, to bid on, submit a proposal for, or enter into or renew, a contract for goods or services. This bill would preempt any law, ordinance, rules, or regulation of any local public entity involving contracts for goods or services of $1,000,000 or more with a person engaged in investment activities in Iran. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations regarding a statewide concern. This bill would become inoperative upon the date that federal authorization ceases.
Existing law defines human trafficking as the deprivation or violation of the personal liberty of another person with the intent to commit certain specified sex offenses with the person or to obtain forced labor or services, as specified. This bill would authorize real property used to facilitate the commission of that offense to be declared and treated as a nuisance, as specified.
Existing law designates certain locations as safe-surrender sites for the safe surrender of newborn children who are 72 hours of age or younger. This bill would require a designating entity to consult with the governing body of a city, if the site is within city limits, and with representatives of the applicable fire department and child welfare agency, as specified. The bill would permit a local fire agency, upon the approval of the appropriate local governing body of the agency, to designate a safe-surrender site. The bill would specify certain circumstances in which a safe-surrender site and its personnel have no liability for a surrendered child. By imposing new duties on local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would, on or before January 1, 2013, and on or before January 1 of each subsequent year, contingent on certain conditions, require the department to report to the Legislature specified information pursuant to the act. 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 prescribes procedures for the issuance of registered warrants and provides that a registered warrant is acceptable and may be used as security for the performance of any public or private trust or obligation. This bill would, if the Controller makes a specified determination, require a state agency to accept, from a person or entity, a registered warrant issued by the Controller and endorsed by that payee, at full face value, for the payment of any obligations owed by that payee to that state agency. The bill would specify that its requirements do not apply to certain obligations and would require the Controller, on or before the September 1 following the conclusion of a fiscal year in which a state agency is required to accept registered warrants pursuant to these provisions, to submit a report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. The bill would make its provisions inoperative on July 1, 2012, and would repeal them on January 1, 2013. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to adopt those regulations that are necessary to carry out the act. The act also requires the commission, after one or more public hearings, to prescribe, by regulation, standards for minimum levels of operating efficiency and prescribe other measures, such as energy and water consumption labeling not preempted by federal labeling law, to promote the use of energy and water efficient appliances that do not result in any added total costs for consumers over the designed life of the appliances concerned. This bill would provide that the television product labeling regulations adopted by the commission would not be effective until July 1, 2011, and would be effective on that date only if a United States Federal Trade Commission labeling rule for those products is not effective on or before July 1, 2011. The bill also would provide that those regulations would remain in effect only until a Federal Trade Commission labeling rule for television products becomes effective.
Existing law establishes the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. These segments include the California State University, the campuses of which are administered by the Trustees of the California State University, the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California, and the California Community Colleges, which are administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, and authorizes them to provide instruction to students at community college campuses. Existing law, known as the Donahoe Higher Education Act, authorizes the community colleges to grant associate in arts and associate in science degrees. The act also requires the regents, the trustees, and the board of governors to have as a fundamental policy the maintenance of a healthy and expanded program to increase the number of transfer students from community colleges. This bill would enact the Student Transfer Achievement Reform Act, which, commencing with the 2011–12 academic year, would require a student that receives an associate degree for transfer to be deemed eligible for transfer into a California State University baccalaureate program when the student meets prescribed requirements. The bill would condition a community college district's receipt of state apportionment funds on its development and granting of associate degrees for transfer, unless each of the state's community college districts waives reimbursement for specified state-mandated costs of implementing the bill in accordance with a prescribed procedure. This bill would prohibit a community college district from imposing any requirements, in addition to these requirements, for a student to be eligible for the associate degree for transfer, and would prohibit remedial noncollegiate level coursework from being counted towards the units required for the associate degree for transfer. This bill would require the California State University to guarantee admission with junior status to any community college student who meets the requirements for the associate degree for transfer. This bill would not guarantee a student admission for specified majors or campuses, but would require the California State University to grant a student priority admission to his or her local California State University campus and to a program or major that is similar to his or her community college major or area of emphasis, as determined by the California State University campus to which the student is admitted. This bill would authorize the California State University to require a transferring student to take additional coursework at the California State University in specified circumstances, and would prohibit the California State University from requiring a transferring student to repeat courses that are similar to those taken at the community college that counted towards the units required for the associate degree for transfer. This bill would also require the Legislative Analyst's Office to review and report to specified legislative committees and subcommittees, within a prescribed time period, on specified outcomes and recommendations related to this act. By requiring a community college district to grant the associate degree for transfer in exchange for receipt of state apportionment funds, 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, 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.
(1) Existing law imposes licensing and regulatory requirements on vehicle dealers and vehicle salespersons. Existing law requires a dealer's place of business to have posted the license issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles to the dealer and to each salesperson employed by the dealer. This bill would instead authorize the dealer to post a true and exact copy of the license issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles to the dealer and to each salesperson employed by the dealer and would make other conforming changes. (2) Existing law requires the applicant of a dealer's or remanufacturer's license, before the license is issued or renewed by the department, to procure and file with the department a bond, as provided. Existing law authorizes the director of the department, if a deposit is given instead of the bond, to order the deposit returned at the expiration of specified dates. This bill would also authorize the director to order the deposit to be returned at the expiration of 5 years from the date the licensee secured and maintained a dealer bond, after posting a deposit, if the director is satisfied that there are no outstanding claims against the deposit. (3) Existing law requires a dealer that obtains a consumer credit score from a consumer credit reporting agency, for use in connection with an application for credit initiated by a consumer for the purchase or lease of a motor vehicle for specified uses, to provide, prior to the sale, certain information in at least 10-point boldface type on a document separate from the sale or lease contract, that includes, among other things, the credit score obtained and used by the dealer and the name of the credit reporting agency providing the credit score to the dealer. This bill would delete these requirements and instead require a dealer to provide a document, in at least 10-point type, that contains certain information pertaining to credit scores, including each credit score obtained and used by the dealer and a statement that a consumer report or credit report is a record of the consumer's credit history and includes information about whether the consumer pays his or her obligations on time and how much the consumer owes to creditors, among other things. The bill would provide that use of a specified model form, that meets federal requirements for form and content, would be deemed to comply with the above requirements. The bill would also provide that it does not limit or restrict any rights or remedies otherwise available under existing law. (4) Existing law authorizes the department to refuse to issue, to suspend, or to revoke a vehicle salesperson's license when it determines, among other things, that the applicant or licensee has acted as a vehicle salesperson or engaged in that activity for, or on behalf of, more than one licensed dealer whose business does not have identical ownership and structure. Existing law provides that the law does not preclude a vehicle salesperson from working at more than one location of one licensed dealer if the business of that dealer has identical ownership and structure. This bill would authorize the department to refuse to issue, to suspend, or to revoke a vehicle salesperson's license when it determines, among other things, that the applicant or licensee has concurrently acted as a vehicle salesperson and engaged in that activity for, or on behalf of, more than one licensed dealer unless all of the licensed dealers, for whom that salesperson works, have common controlling ownership. The bill would also provide that the law does not preclude a vehicle salesperson from working for more than one dealer provided that all of the licensed dealers for whom that salesperson works have common controlling ownership, as defined. (5) Existing law requires the salesperson's license to be displayed continuously during employment and requires that the license be returned to the salesperson once employment is terminated. A violation of these requirements is a crime. This bill would require the dealer to display the license or a true and exact copy of the license continuously at each location where the salesperson is actually engaged in the selling of vehicles. Once the employment is terminated, this bill would require all copies used by the dealer for posting or display to be destroyed by the dealer. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (6) 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 law provides that any person who, orally, in writing, or by wearing any military decoration, falsely represents himself or herself to have been awarded any military decoration, as specified, with the intent to defraud, is guilty of an infraction. This bill would instead provide that the offense is a misdemeanor, or in the case where the person committing the offense is a veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States, an infraction or a misdemeanor, as specified, and would exempt face-to-face solicitations involving less than $10. The bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 19.8 of the Penal Code proposed by AB 451 and AB 1675, to be operative only if this bill and one or both of the other bills are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2011, and this bill is chaptered last. By increasing the penalty for an existing offense, 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.