This measure would make various statements regarding the importance of New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) to the California economy and would declare the necessity for the Legislature to utilize its vested powers to keep NUMMI in California.
This measure would urge the President and the Congress of the United States to expand federally funded research efforts aimed at developing a reliable means of detecting pancreatic cancer in its early stages.
(1) Existing law provides for the regulation of underground storage tanks by the State Water Resources Control Board. Existing law requires the board to take specified actions with regard to unauthorized releases from petroleum underground storage tanks, including, among other things, adopting regulations requiring the owners of those tanks to undertake certain actions. Existing law provides for a grant and loan program for small businesses to pay specified costs of complying with the underground storage tank regulations adopted by the board. Existing law contains various eligibility criteria for grant funds, including a requirement that the grant applicant, the applicant's family, or an affiliated entity, has owned and operated the project tank since January 1, 1997. This bill would delete that ownership requirement from the grant eligibility criteria. (2) Under existing law, the grant and loan program is funded through the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Financing Account. Existing law allows not more than 33% of the available funds to be used for the purpose of providing grants. Existing law requires the interest and other increments resulting from the investment of the funds in the account to be placed in a separate subaccount to be expended for the administration of the program. This bill would make a one time transfer of $8,000,000 from the administrative subaccount to be appropriated for the purpose of making grants and loans in the 2008–09 and 2009–10 fiscal years. The bill would establish specified criteria for the grants and loans awarded from funds made pursuant to this transfer. (3) Existing law, the Barry Keene Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Trust Fund Act of 1989, provides for the establishment of an Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund to pay for various costs of corrective action and abatement for the unauthorized release of hazardous materials from underground storage tanks. The provisions of this act will expire January 1, 2016. Under existing law, upon the expiration of the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Financing Account on January 1, 2011, the funds remaining in that account revert to the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund. The grant and loan program provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2011. This bill would extend the repeal date of the grant and loan program as well as the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Financing Account to January 1, 2016. Additionally, it would make provisions for the payment of loans and grants, conditions of which were effective prior to January 1, 2016, from the Underground Storage Tank Cleanup Fund and the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Financing Account, as specified. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law prohibits, except in specified circumstances, a state agency, political subdivision, municipal corporation, district, or public officer responsible for letting a public works contract from drafting bid specifications for that contract in a manner that limits the bidding to any one concern or product, unless the specification is followed by the words "or equal." Existing law requires that these bid specifications provide a period of time prior to or after, or prior to and after, the award of the contract to allow the contractor to submit data that demonstrates that a concern or product to be provided under the contract is equal to the concern or product identified in the bid specification. This bill would make findings and declarations regarding the intent of the entire provision to encourage contractors and manufacturers to develop and implement new and ingenious materials, products, and services, as specified, at a lower cost to taxpayers.
Existing law provides that any person, other than an officer or member of a fire department, who willfully wears, exhibits, or uses the authorized uniform of an officer or member of a fire department or a deputy state fire marshal, with the intent of fraudulently impersonating an officer or member of a fire department or the Office of the State Fire Marshal, or of fraudulently inducing the belief that he or she is an officer or member of a fire department or the Office of the State Fire Marshal, is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would require, subject to exceptions, that vendors of firefighting uniforms verify that a person purchasing a uniform identifying a firefighting agency or department is an employee or authorized member of the agency or department identified on the uniform, as specified. The bill would provide that violation of these provisions would be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000. By creating a new crime, 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.
This measure would declare the week of June 29 through July 5, 2009, Yellow Ribbon Week to show support for military families and for troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This measure would acknowledge the history of the Chinese in California, recognize the contributions made to the State of California by Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants, and express regret for past discriminatory laws and constitutional provisions which resulted in the persecution of Chinese living in California.
This measure would proclaim the month of May 2009 as Motorcycle Awareness Month.
This measure would designate that January 19, 2009, be observed as the official memorial of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth, and commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement in changing public policy in California and in the United States of America.
