Asm. Van Tran

Existing law imposes various taxes that are administered and collected by the State Board of Equalization and the Franchise Tax Board. Existing law provides that the taxpayer has the burden of proof in court proceedings for a refund of tax, while the state agency has the burden of proof with respect to its assertion of fraud or intent to evade penalties. This bill would provide, for purposes of the taxes and fees administered by the State Board of Equalization, that the board shall have the burden of proof, by clear and convincing evidence, in sustaining its assertion of penalties for intent to evade or fraud in a civil proceeding. This bill would also provide, with specified exceptions, that the State Board of Equalization and the Franchise Tax Board shall have the burden of proof in a court or administrative tax proceeding with respect to any factual issue relevant to ascertaining the tax liability of a taxpayer who has established that it is a cooperating taxpayer. This bill would also provide that its provisions shall not subject a taxpayer to unreasonable search or access to records in violation of the law.

Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt procedures for determining the compliance of any system designed for the control of gasoline vapor emissions during gasoline marketing operations, including storage and transfer operations, and additional performance standards to ensure that systems for the control of gasoline vapors from motor vehicle fueling operations do not cause excessive spillage and emissions. Existing law prohibits the state board from requiring a gasoline dispensing facility that meets certain requirements from undergoing an Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II upgrade until April 1, 2011. This bill, except as specified, would limit the fines imposed on a gasoline dispensing facility that fails to meet an April 1, 2009, compliance deadline to a total of no more than $1,000 for all violations that occur between April 1, 2009, and December 31, 2009, if the gasoline dispensing facility meets specified requirements. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes a process for the identification of excess state lands and for their transfer to the Department of General Services for sale or other disposition. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that, for any sale, lease, or exchange of state-owned property, the Department of General Services make every effort to maximize revenue to the state.

Existing law establishes the California State University and its various campuses under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University. Existing law requires the California State University to offer undergraduate and graduate instruction through the master's degree in the liberal arts and sciences and professional education, including teacher education. This bill would authorize the California State University to award the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. The bill would distinguish the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the doctor of philosophy degree offered at the University of California. The bill would require the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program to be designed to enable professionals to earn the degree while working full time, train nurses for advanced practice, and prepare clinical faculty to teach in postsecondary nursing programs. The bill would require initial funding to come from existing budgets, without diminishing the quality of undergraduate programs or reducing enrollment therein. The bill would require the California State University to annually report on the status of the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree program, as specified.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations, as defined. This bill would provide that the definition of a telephone corporation does not include any service using voice communication technology primarily to allow individual users to navigate and retrieve information from the Internet, as defined.

Under existing law, a person is guilty of vandalism if he or she maliciously destroys, damages, or defaces with graffiti or other inscribed material any real or personal property that is not his or her own. The court is authorized to order a defendant who is convicted of vandalism to clean up, repair, or replace the damaged property, or to order the defendant, and his or her parents if the defendant is a minor, to keep the damaged property or another specified property in the community free of graffiti for up to one year. Under existing law, any person who actively participates in any criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in a pattern of criminal gang activity and who promotes felonious criminal conduct by members of that gang is guilty of a felony and shall be punished, as specified. Existing law establishes the Graffiti Removal and Damage Recovery Program by which a city, county, city and county, or other public agency may elect to have the probation officer of the county recoup for it, through juvenile court proceedings, the costs associated with the defacement by minors of its property and the property of others, as specified. The program requires minors who are found to be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court by reason of committing specified acts of vandalism, as a condition of probation, to wash, paint, repair, or replace the property defaced, damaged, or destroyed by the minor or otherwise pay restitution as well as the costs of identifying and apprehending the minor, as specified. The court is required to order the minor or the minor's estate to pay those costs to the probation officer to the extent the court determines that the minor or the minor's estate have the ability to do so, as specified. This bill would provide that any person who commits specified acts of vandalism shall, in addition to any other punishment, pay a fine of $150, or $300 if the person is also determined to have committed a gang-related offense, as defined. By increasing the punishment for existing crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would establish the Graffiti and Gang Technology Fund for deposit of the vandalism fines, to be continuously appropriated to the Department of Justice exclusively for the direct or indirect costs of technological advancements for law enforcement in the identification and apprehension of vandals and gang members, as specified. The bill would provide that the distribution of funds shall be made by the CalGang Executive Board based on the recommendations of the California Gang Node Advisory Committee and the California Graffiti Advisory Committee. The bill would require the department to maintain annual fiscal reports on the fund, and to prepare an annual report with specified information for submission to the CalGang Executive Board. 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 requires the Department of Personnel Administration to establish and adjust salary ranges for each class of position in the state civil service, subject to specified merit limits. Existing law requires the salary range to be based on the principle that like salaries shall be paid for comparable duties and responsibilities. Existing law allows the state to enter into memoranda of understanding relating to employer-employee relations with employee organizations representing certain state employees. This bill would make findings and declarations regarding the budget deficit facing the state. The bill would, until January 1, 2012, prohibit a person employed by the state whose base salary on or after the effective date of the bill is greater than $150,000 per year from receiving a salary increase while employed in the same position or classification, and from receiving payment for overtime work. The bill would exempt from this prohibition a person whose compensation is governed by an operative memorandum of understanding, as described above, a person who has been exempted by executive order of the Governor, as specified, and a person whose salary is set pursuant to the California Constitution.

Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt procedures for determining the compliance of any system designed for the control of gasoline vapor emissions during gasoline marketing operations, including storage and transfer operations, and additional performance standards to ensure that systems for the control of gasoline vapors from motor vehicle fueling operations do not cause excessive spillage and emissions. Existing law prohibits the state board from requiring a gasoline dispensing facility that meets certain requirements from undergoing an Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II upgrade until April 1, 2011. Regulations adopted by the state board require an Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II upgrade by April 1, 2009, as provided. This bill would prohibit the state board from requiring a gasoline dispensing facility owned or operated by a local government that does not meet these requirements from undergoing an Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II upgrade until April 1, 2010. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, with certain exceptions, establishes 8 hours as a day's work and a 40-hour workweek, and requires payment of prescribed overtime compensation for additional hours worked. Existing law authorizes the adoption by 23 of employees in a work unit of alternative workweek schedules providing for workdays no longer than 10 hours within a 40-hour workweek. This bill would permit an individual nonexempt employee to request an employee-selected flexible work schedule providing for workdays up to 10 hours per day within a 40-hour workweek, and would allow an employer to implement this schedule without any obligation to pay overtime compensation. The bill would require the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement of the Department of Industrial Relations to enforce this provision and adopt regulations.