Asm. Travis Allen

Existing provisions of the California Constitution provide that the Legislature meets in a biennial regular session, commencing with the first Monday in December in each even-numbered year, when each house is required to immediately organize, and concluding at midnight on November 30 of the next even-numbered year. This measure would create a part-time Legislature by limiting the Legislature to meet each year from January 1 to January 31 and from May 1 to June 30. The measure would require that odd-numbered years of a two-year session be limited to budget-related measures and even-numbered years to be limited to other legislation. The measure would prohibit the salary of a Member of the Legislature from exceeding $1,500 per month. The measure would delete provisions of the Constitution made obsolete by the measure, and make other conforming changes.

Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources, from time to time, to make inspections of dams and reservoirs at state expense for the purpose of determining their safety. This bill would repeal those provisions and instead would require the department to inspect dams, reservoirs, and appurtenant structures once per fiscal year with the exception of low hazard potential dams which the bill would require to receive inspections at least every 2 fiscal years, as specified. The bill would require the owner of a dam to operate critical outlet and spillway control features on an annual basis and to demonstrate their full operability in the presence of the department every 3 years or as directed by the department. The bill would provide that the dam inspection reports are public records subject to the California Public Records Act and would authorize the department to withhold from public release sensitive data, images, or other information, as prescribed, if the department includes in the public release a statement of findings that the withheld information would disclose a dam's vulnerability or pose a security threat. The bill would require the Division of Safety of Dams, in consultation with independent, national dam safety and dam safety risk management organizations to, on or before January 1, 2019, and every 10 years thereafter, propose amendments to its dam safety inspection and reevaluation protocols to incorporate updated best practices, including risk management, to ensure public safety. The bill would require the department to provide on its Internet Web site the dam safety inspection and reevaluation protocols, notice of the Division of Safety of Dams' intent to update the protocols, a schedule for the update, and any updates to the protocols. The bill would require the department to report to the Governor and the Legislature on amendments developed pursuant to these provisions and to notify dam owners and the Legislature of the division's intent to update dam safety inspection and reevaluation protocols prior to amending the protocols. 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

This measure would commend South Korea for hosting the XXIII Olympic Winter Games and the XII Paralympic Winter Games and offer wishes for a safe and successful Olympic and Paralympic Games.

This measure would proclaim the month of January 2018 as National Mentoring Month.

This measure would declare the week of January 7 to January 13, 2018, as California Fitness Week and would encourage Californians to enrich their lives through proper nutrition and exercise.

This measure would proclaim January 13, 2018, as Korean American Day.