(1) Existing law authorizes any corporation organized for or engaged in the business of selling, distributing, supplying, or delivering water for irrigation purposes, and requires any corporation organized for or engaged in the business of selling, distributing, supplying, or delivering water for domestic use, to provide in its articles or bylaws that water shall be sold, distributed, supplied, or delivered only to owners of its shares and that those shares are appurtenant to certain lands, as specified. This bill would specify that any corporation organized for or engaged in the business of selling, distributing, supplying, or delivering water for irrigation purposes, and any corporation organized for or engaged in the business of selling, distributing, supplying, or delivering water for domestic use that provides in its articles or bylaws that the water shall be sold, distributed, supplied, or delivered only to owners of its shares and that those shares are appurtenant to certain lands shall be known as a mutual water company. The bill would also require each mutual water company that operates a public water system to, by December 31, 2012, submit a map depicting the approximate boundaries of the property that the municipal water company serves to the local agency commission within the county in which the mutual water company operates. The bill would prohibit a mutual water company from expanding its boundaries without approval from the appropriate local agency formation commission. The bill would require a mutual water company that operates a public water system to supply certain information to a local agency formation commission upon request, as specified. This bill would require a mutual water company that operates a public water system to maintain a financial reserve fund to be used for certain types of activities. The bill would also require each board member of a mutual water company that operates a public water system to, within 6 months of taking office, complete a 2-hour course offered by a qualified trainer, as specified. (2) Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the State Department of Public Health to administer provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health, including, but not limited to, conducting research, studies, and demonstration programs relating to the provision of a dependable, safe supply of drinking water, enforcing the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, adopting enforcement regulations, and conducting studies and investigations to assess the quality of water in domestic water supplies. Existing law establishes the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, continuously appropriated to the department for the provision of grants and revolving fund loans to provide for the design and construction of projects for public water systems that will enable suppliers to meet safe drinking water standards. Existing law requires the department to establish criteria to be met for projects to be eligible for consideration for this funding. This bill would provide that in considering an application for funding a project, the department shall not be prejudiced by the applicant initiating the project prior to the department approving the application for funding. This bill would also provide that preliminary project costs or construction costs that are otherwise eligible for funding shall not be ineligible because the costs were incurred by the applicant during certain time periods. (3) Existing law, the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000, sets forth the powers and duties of a local agency formation commission, including, among others, the powers to review and approve or disapprove with or without amendment, wholly, partially, or conditionally, proposals for changes of organization or reorganization, consistent with written policies, procedures, and guidelines adopted by the commission. This bill would additionally authorize the commission to approve, with or without amendment, wholly, partially, or conditionally, or disapprove the annexation of territory served by a mutual water company that operates a public water system into the jurisdiction of a city, a public utility, or a special district, with the consent of the respective public agency or public utility and mutual water company. (4) Under the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000, each local agency formation commission is required to develop and determine the sphere of influence of each local governmental agency within the county and enact policies designed to promote the logical and orderly development of areas within the sphere of influence. In order to prepare and update spheres of influence, the commission is required to conduct a service review, including the review of growth and population projections for the affected area, present and planned capacity of public facilities and adequacy of public services, financial ability of agencies to provide services, the status of, and opportunities for, shared facilities, accountability for community service needs, and any other matter related to effective or efficient service delivery, as required by commission policy. This bill would authorize the commission to include in the service review, a review of whether the agencies under review comply with safe drinking water standards. This bill would provide that a public water system may comply with that review by submitting certain documents. (5) Existing law provides for the imposition of civil fines in amounts up to $5,000 or $25,000 for specified violations of the California Safe Drinking Water Act. This bill would provide that a mutual water company is liable for any fines, penalties, costs, expenses, or other amounts that may be imposed upon the mutual water company under the California Safe Drinking Water Act. This bill would authorize a mutual water company to levy an assessment to pay those fines. This bill would provide that if the amount of those fines exceeds 5% of the annual budget of a mutual water company, then the mutual water company would be required to levy an assessment to pay those fines.
Sponsored bills
Existing law requires each county to provide cash assistance and other social services to needy families through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program using federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program, state, and county funds. Existing federal law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, formerly the Food Stamp Program, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services and the California Health and Human Services Agency Data Center to design, implement, and maintain a statewide fingerprint imaging system for use in connection with the determination of eligibility for benefits under the CalWORKs program, excluding the Aid to Families with Dependent Children‑Foster Care program, and CalFresh. Existing law, with specified exceptions, requires applicants for, and recipients of, CalWORKs and CalFresh benefits, as a condition of eligibility, to be fingerprint imaged, pursuant to the statewide fingerprint imaging system. This bill would remove the requirement that applicants for, and recipients of, CalFresh benefits, as a condition of eligibility, be fingerprint imaged and would make related conforming changes. Under existing law, the county is required to annually redetermine eligibility for CalWORKs benefits. Existing law additionally requires the county to redetermine recipient eligibility and grant amounts on a quarterly basis, using prospective budgeting, and to prospectively determine the grant amount that a recipient is entitled to receive for each month of the quarterly reporting period. Under existing law, a CalWORKs recipient is required to report to the county, orally or in writing, specified changes that could affect the amount of aid to which the recipient is entitled. Under existing law, the CalWORKs quarterly reporting system is also implemented by the State Department of Social Services in administering SNAP. This bill would make inoperative October 1, 2013, and repeal January 1, 2014, the requirements relating to quarterly reporting and prospective determination grant amounts, and would, instead, impose similar requirements for a semiannual reporting period, operative April 1, 2013, to be implemented no later than October 1, 2013. This bill would require each county to transition recipients to a semiannual reporting system simultaneously and require each county to provide a certificate to the Director of Social Services certifying that semiannual reporting has been implemented in the county. The bill would also require the department to establish an income reporting threshold for CalWORKs recipients, as specified. The bill would make various related conforming changes, including revising provisions relating to the collection of CalWORKs grant overpayments. The bill would authorize counties to adopt staggered semiannual reporting requirements, as specified. This bill would prohibit administrative savings associated with the implementation of semiannual reporting from exceeding the amount necessary to fund the net General Fund costs of the semiannual reporting, and would authorize the reflection of possible additional savings in excess of this amount only to the extent that they are based on actual savings, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions through all-county letters until the adoption of implementing regulations, as prescribed. Existing law requires the Department of Community Services and Development to receive and administer the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program block grant. This bill would, to the extent permitted by federal law, require the State Department of Social Services, in conjunction with the Department of Community Services and Development, to design, implement by January 1, 2013, and maintain a utility assistance initiative. Under the bill, the State Department of Social Services would be required to grant applicants and recipients of CalFresh benefits a nominal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) service benefit, as specified, out of the federal LIHEAP block grant and any funds allocated for this purpose not expended and reinvested into the program, as prescribed. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would, instead, provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill. To the extent that the bill would expand eligibility for CalWORKs and CalFresh benefits, the bill would create 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 prohibits unauthorized communication with inmates in state prison. A person who violates that provision is guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law further prohibits a person in a local correctional facility from possessing a wireless communication device, except as specified. This bill would provide, with exceptions, that a person who possesses with the intent to deliver, or delivers, to an inmate or ward in the custody of the department any cellular telephone or other wireless communication device or any component thereof, including, but not limited to, a subscriber identity module or memory storage device, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding 6 months, a fine not to exceed $5,000 for each device, or both that fine and imprisonment. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would provide that if a person who is visiting an inmate or ward under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is found to be in possession of a cellular telephone, wireless communication device, or any component thereof, upon being searched or subjected to a metal detector, that device is subject to confiscation and would be returned the same day, except as specified. The bill would require that a notice to that effect be posted in each area where visitors are searched prior to visiting with an inmate or ward. The bill would provide that a person who brings, without authorization, a wireless communication device within the secure perimeter of a prison or institution housing offenders under the jurisdiction of the department is deemed to have consented to the department using available technology to prevent the device from sending or receiving calls or other electronic communication, and would require notice of this provision to be posted at all public entry gates. Existing law provides for the accumulation, denial, or loss of time credits for inmates of the department based on each inmate's behavior while under the jurisdiction of the department. The bill would provide that an inmate who is found to be in possession of a wireless communication device would be subject to the denial of time credits, as specified. The bill would prohibit the department from accessing data or communications that have been captured using available technology from unauthorized use of a wireless communication device except after obtaining a valid search warrant, and would provide that any contractor or employee of a contractor or the department who knowingly and willfully, without authorization, obtains, discloses, or uses, confidential data or communications from an unauthorized wireless communication device is subject to an administrative fine or civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for a first violation, $10,000 for a 2nd violation, and $25,000 for a 3rd or subsequent violation. The bill would further prohibit the department from capturing data or communications from an authorized wireless communication device, or accessing data or communications that have been captured from an authorized wireless communication device, except as authorized under existing law. The bill would provide that any contractor or employee of a contractor or the department who knowingly and willfully, without authorization, obtains, discloses, or uses, confidential data or communications from an authorized wireless communication device is subject to an administrative fine or civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for a first violation, $10,000 for a 2nd violation, and $25,000 for a 3rd or subsequent violation. The bill would also provide that until January 1, 2018, the state shall require as part of the contract for the Inmate Ward Telephone System that the total cost for intrastate and interstate calls be equal to or less than the total costs of a call established in the contract in effect on September 1, 2011, and that other than the conversation minute charges and prepaid account setup fees, there shall be no additional charges of any type, including administrative fees, call-setup fees, detail billing fees, hard copy billing fees, or any other fees. 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, headed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. This bill would, until July 1, 2017, create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative. It would require, by July 1, 2012, the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to prepare recommendations, to be presented upon request to the Legislature, regarding actions that need to be taken to promote food access in the state. The bill would establish the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Council and would require the council to implement the initiative, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish an advisory group, as specified. The bill would create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Fund in the State Treasury, to be comprised of federal, state, philanthropic, and private funds, for the purpose of expanding access to healthy foods in underserved communities and, to the extent practicable, to leverage other funding, as specified. Moneys in the fund would be expended upon appropriation by the Legislature.
Existing law provides for various state programs and services for the purpose of attracting and retaining businesses in the state. Existing law creates the Office of Small Business Advocate in the Office of Planning and Research in the Governor's office. Executive Order S-05-10 created the Office of Economic Development in the Governor's office, for the purpose of coordinating economic development activities in the state. This bill would create, within the Governor's office, the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, which would be administered by a director appointed by the Governor. The bill would require that the office serve the Governor as the lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth, and would authorize the office to exercise various powers, including, among others, making recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature regarding policies, programs, and actions to advance statewide economic goals. The bill would create the California Business Investment Services Program, as specified, within the office, under the authority of the director, for the purpose of serving employers, corporate executives, business owners, and site location consultants who are considering California for business investment and expansion. The bill would also move the Office of Small Business Advocate to the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, pursuant to which medical benefits are provided to public assistance recipients and other low-income persons. Existing law provides for the department to enter into contracts with managed care systems, hospitals, and prepaid health plans for the provision of various Medi-Cal benefits. Existing law prohibits services covered by the California Children's Services program (CCS) from being incorporated into a Medi-Cal managed care contract entered into after August 1, 1994, until January 1, 2012, except with respect to contracts entered into for county organized health systems in specified counties. This bill would extend to January 1, 2016, the termination of the prohibition against CCS covered services being incorporated into a Medi-Cal managed care contract entered into after August 1, 1994. Existing law requires the provider rates of payment for services rendered for the Healthy Families Program to be identical to the rates of payment for the same service performed by the same provider type pursuant to the Medi-Cal program if the services are provided by a Medi-Cal provider. This bill would require identical rates only if the service was provided by a Medi-Cal provider pursuant to specified contracts.
(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project, as defined, that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. This bill would exempt from the requirements of CEQA the installation of a solar energy system, including associated equipment, on the roof of an existing building or an existing parking lot meeting specified conditions. Because a lead agency would be required to determine whether a project would be exempt under this provision, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) CEQA requires a lead agency to call a scoping meeting for a project of statewide, regional, or areawide significance, and requires the lead agency to provide notice of at least one of those scoping meetings to specified entities, including a county or city that borders on a county or city within which the project is located, unless otherwise designated annually by agreement between the lead agency and county or city. Existing law requires, prior to action by a legislative body to adopt or substantially amend a general plan, the planning agency to refer the proposed action to a city or county within or abutting the area covered by the proposal. This bill would authorize this referral of a proposed action to adopt or substantially amend a general plan of a city or county to be conducted concurrently with the scoping meeting. The city or county would be authorized to submit specified comments at the scoping meeting. (3) CEQA authorizes the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt guidelines to include a list of classes of projects that have been determined not to have a significant effect on the environment and are exempted from the requirements of CEQA (categorical exemption) . This bill would provide that a project's greenhouse gas emissions are not, in and of themselves, deemed to cause the exemption to be inapplicable under specified conditions. This bill would require the Office of Planning and Research, on or before July 1, 2012, to prepare, develop, and transmit to the Natural Resources Agency, and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, on or before January 1, 2013, to certify and adopt guidelines for statewide standards for infill projects that would promote specified goals and priorities. (4) CEQA limits its application, in the case of the approval of a subdivision map or a project that is consistent with the zoning or community plan for which an EIR was certified, to effects upon the environment that are peculiar to the parcel on which the project is located and were not addressed as significant effects in the EIR or if new information shows the effects upon the environment will be more significant than described in the prior EIR. This bill would similarly limit the application of CEQA in the case of the approval of an infill project, as defined, that satisfies all applicable statewide standards established in the guidelines under (3) above if an EIR was certified for a planning level decision, as defined. Because this bill would require a lead agency to determine whether a project qualifies under this provision, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law authorizes a county and a city to agree upon a procedure for referral to, and comment by, the city or county concerning the other entity's proposals to adopt or amend all or part of a general or specific plan or zoning ordinance, as specified. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to this authorization. (6) Existing law vests the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission with the exclusive power to certify thermal powerplants. Under CEQA, the thermal powerplants certification process is a certified regulatory program and is therefore exempt from certain requirements under CEQA. The bill would provide that the thermal powerplants certification process would be applicable to owners of specified proposed solar thermal powerplants who are proposing to convert the facility from solar thermal technology to photovoltaic technology. (7) 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 laws governing the taxation of insurers, the Personal Income Tax Law, and the Corporation Tax Law, authorize, until January 1, 2012, a credit in an amount equal to 20% of a qualified investment, as defined, made into a community development financial institution, as defined, but not to exceed, in the aggregate amount under all those laws, $10,000,000 per year. The bill would extend the operation of the credits until January 1, 2017, would eliminate specified limitations on the aggregate certified investments, and would eliminate certain requirements regarding certificates issued to taxpayers. The bill would, until December 1, 2015, authorize the Insurance Commissioner to establish a California Organized Investment Network Advisory Board, as specified, to advise the California Organized Investment Network on the best methods of increasing insurance investments while providing fair returns to investors and social benefits to underserved communities, increase the level and number of contacts among executives in the insurance industry, and recommend programmatic guidelines to the California Organized Investment Network program. The bill would also authorize the California Organized Investment Network, in allocating qualified investment credits, when certain conditions are met, to prioritize applications for those credits, as specified.
(1) Existing law establishes within the California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan a low-cost automobile insurance program in order to provide a means for eligible consumers to buy automobile insurance, as specified. This bill would authorize a California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan (plan) certified producer to accept and process an application to purchase low-cost automobile insurance policies through an Internet Web site, as provided. The bill would require the plan to coordinate with the Department of Insurance in order to develop a system for receiving and assigning policies issued through Internet Web sites, and would provide that the plan may request, and the department may include in its plan submitted to the Legislature the use of $50,000 from the department's existing consumer outreach fund for the sole purpose of implementing these provisions. The bill would require the plan, subject to the approval of the Insurance Commissioner, to establish and maintain, or contract with an entity, by way of an open bidding process, to establish and maintain, an Internet Web site to refer or assign, at the consumer's option, persons to certified agents or brokers, for the purchase of a low-cost automobile insurance policy. The bill would also provide that the plan may request and the department may include in its plan submitted to the Legislature, that up to $100,000 from the department's existing consumer outreach fund be made available for development of the Primary California Low-Cost Auto Web Site. This bill would prohibit a low-cost automobile insurance policy applicant from being required to provide a copy of his or her, or other household member's, driver's license, if the department finds another suitable means of verifying the driver's licensure. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to suspend, cancel, or revoke the registration of a vehicle if the financial responsibility requirements have not been met. Existing law requires the department, prior to suspending, canceling, or revoking the registration of a vehicle, to notify the vehicle owner of its intent to suspend, cancel, or revoke the registration, and to provide in the notification document in plain, boldface type not less than 12 point in size, and in both English and Spanish, a statement that a program offering affordable automobile insurance to low-income households has been established. This bill would revise this statement and rename the program as "California Low-Cost Auto Insurance" and would require that the statement include an Internet Web site address, a toll-free telephone number, and eligibility requirements for applicants.
Existing law authorizes the awarding body for a public works project to not require the payment of the general prevailing rate of per diem wages on public works projects of specified sizes and types of work, if the awarding body elects to initiate and enforce a labor compliance program containing specified requirements for every public works project under the authority of the awarding body or the awarding body elects to meet certain requirements with regard to any public works project under its authority, including payment of a fee to the Department of Industrial Relations for the enforcement of prevailing wage obligations, as specified, which may be waived under specified circumstances, determined by the department and deposited in the State Public Works Enforcement Fund. Existing law also requires the Director of Industrial Relations, with the approval of the Director of Finance, to assess a fee on any awarding body using funds derived from any bonds issued by the state to fund public works projects, as specified, which are deposited in the State Public Works Enforcement Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Existing law also requires an awarding body that chooses to use funds derived from either the Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2002 or the Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2004, or the body awarding any contract for a public works project financed in any part with funds made available by the Water Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach Protection Act of 2002 or the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, to pay a fee to the department sufficient to support the department's costs in ensuring compliance with and enforcing prevailing wage requirements on the project and labor compliance enforcement, as specified, to be deposited in the State Public Works Enforcement Fund. Existing law authorizes the department to waive the fee where specified criteria are met. Existing law gives specified authority for certain school district governing boards, governing boards of community college districts and community college facility construction projects, cities, counties, qualified entities that operate a wastewater facility, solid waste management facility, or water recycling facility, transit operators, and unified school districts to enter into design-build contracts for specified projects if certain requirements are met, including the establishment and enforcement of a labor compliance program or the contracting with a 3rd party to operate a labor compliance program. Existing law gives specified authority for the San Diego Model School Development Agency to award construction contracts, as specified, and requires it to establish and enforce a labor compliance program or to contract with a 3rd party to operate a labor compliance program. Existing law requires entities contracting under the above provisions to pay a fee to the department, established by the department as specified, sufficient to support the department's costs in ensuring compliance with and enforcing prevailing wage requirements on the project and labor compliance. Existing law requires all fees collected pursuant to these provisions to be deposited in the State Public Works Enforcement Fund and to be used only for enforcement of prevailing wage requirements on those projects and authorizes the department to waive the fee if specified criteria are met. This bill would make revisions regarding the method by which the Department of Industrial Relations sets reimbursement rates for its costs of performing prevailing wage monitoring and enforcement on the specified public works projects described above, when the reimbursement to the department may be waived, and would exempt from the above-described requirements those public works projects financed in any part by the Water Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach Protection Act of 2002. This bill would also provide that, upon an order of the Director of Finance, a loan in an amount not to exceed $4,300,000 shall be made from the Uninsured Employers Benefit Trust Fund to the State Public Works Enforcement Fund, thereby depositing additional moneys into a continuously appropriated fund.