(1) The Legislative Open Records Act requires that a legislative record, as defined, be open to public inspection unless the record is exempt from disclosure under the act. The act provides that specified legislative committees are the custodians of all legislative records and requires that requests to inspect legislative records be submitted to the appropriate committee. Under the act, the custodian committee is required, upon receiving a request, to either produce the requested legislative record or justify in writing the withholding of the record by demonstrating that the record is exempt from disclosure under the act. The act exempts from disclosure, among other records, preliminary drafts, notes, and legislative memoranda, and correspondence of and to individual Members of the Legislature and their staff. This bill would require the custodian committee that has received a request for a legislative record to search both the committee files and the individual Member files related to the request and to attest to having done so when responding to the request. This bill would further provide that demonstrating that a legislative record is exempt from disclosure means articulating the exemption claimed and describing the general nature of the record withheld from inspection pursuant to that exemption. In addition, this bill would provide that the exemption for legislative memoranda applies only to preliminary legislative memoranda, and the exemption for correspondence applies only to correspondence between individual Members of the Legislature and their staff. (2) Existing law requires that all meetings, as defined, of a house of the Legislature or a committee thereof be open and public and that all persons be permitted to attend. This bill would provide that each Member of the Legislature who attends a meeting of the Assembly, the Senate, or any committee or subcommittee thereof in violation of the requirement that the meeting be open and public, with knowledge of the fact that the requirement was violated, is guilty of a misdemeanor. (3) Existing law provides that all contracts entered into by any state agency for specified purposes are void unless and until approved by the Department of General Services. Specified contracts are exempt from this requirement, including any contract let by the Legislature. This bill would instead provide that a contract let by the Legislature is exempt from the requirement that it be approved by the Department of General Services only in the case of an emergency where the contract is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, or safety, or protection of state property, or if the total amount payable under the contract is less than $50,000.
Sponsored bills
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 imposes specified duties on state agencies and provides for public access to government records. This bill would require each state department and agency to develop and operate a searchable Internet Web site accessible by the public that includes specified information relating to expenditures of state funds, defined to include, among other things, contracts, grants, purchase orders, subcontracts, and tax refunds, rebates, and credits.
The Sales and Use Tax Law imposes a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state, and provides various exemptions from the taxes imposed by that law. This bill would exempt from a specified portion of those taxes, for calendar years beginning on and after January 1, 2011, the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, sustainable development equipment investments of tangible personal property purchased for use by a qualified person, as specified, and tangible personal property used primarily during the research and development process on qualified research. The bill would also exempt from a specified portion of those taxes, for calendar years beginning on and after January 1, 2013, the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption of, tangible personal property purchased by a qualified person for use primarily in any stage of the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling of property, as specified, and tangible personal property purchased for use by a contractor purchasing that property for use in the performance of a construction contract for the qualified person who will use the property as an integral part of the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling process, or as a storage facility for use in connection with the manufacturing process. This bill would specify that this exemption does not apply to local sales and use taxes or transactions and use taxes. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The Sales and Use Tax Law imposes a tax on the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the sales price of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for the storage, use, or other consumption of that property in this state. That law defines the terms "gross receipts" and "sales price." This bill would provide, for purposes of that law, that the terms "gross receipts" and "sales price" do not include the value of a motor vehicle traded in for a new motor vehicle, including a new motorcycle, if the value of the trade-in motor vehicle is separately stated on the new motor vehicle invoice or bill of sale or similar document provided to the purchaser. Counties and cities are authorized to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and districts are authorized to impose transactions and use taxes in conformity with Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to the Sales and Use Tax Law are incorporated into these laws. Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code provides that the state will reimburse counties and cities for revenue losses caused by the enactment of sales and use tax exemptions. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse cities and counties for sales and use tax revenues lost by them pursuant to this bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy, but its operative date would depend on its effective date.
Existing federal law requires the federal government to compensate a state for the costs of incarcerating undocumented criminal illegal aliens, or to take the undocumented criminal alien into federal custody, as specified. This bill would require the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to annually bill the federal government for the costs of incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens within California's correctional system. The bill would require the Attorney General to utilize all available legal resources to obtain compliance with payment of the written bill if the federal government fails to make payment. This bill would also require the Department of Justice to collect data on the total number of, and percentage of, undocumented alien inmates in all state and local correctional institutions in the state and to publish the data on its Internet Web site. The data would be required to be annually updated and published.
Existing law requires the Department of Finance, in its role of assisting the Governor in preparing the annual state budget, to develop, issue, and implement consistent and adequate guidelines for agencies required to submit budgets. This bill would additionally require the Department of Finance to develop a performance budgeting pilot project under which the budgets of at least 4 departments in specified fiscal years would be analyzed by specified criteria. The bill would require these pilot project budgets to be considered by the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review and the Assembly Committee on Budget. The bill would require the Department of Finance to evaluate this pilot project and report its findings to the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on or before January 1, 2014.
The Real Estate Law provides for the licensing and regulation of real estate salespersons and real estate brokers by the Real Estate Commissioner, and authorizes the commissioner to deny, revoke, or suspend a license for specified reasons. Existing law requires persons convicted of certain sex offenses to register as sex offenders, as specified. A violation of various provisions of the Real Estate Law is a crime. This bill would, with regard to an individual who is required to register as a sex offender, require the commissioner to deny an application for licensure, renewal, or reinstatement of, or to revoke, a license under the Real Estate Law, with specified exceptions. The bill would require an individual who is convicted of an offense that requires registration as a sex offender to notify the commissioner within 5 days of the imposition of sentence, with specified exceptions. The bill would allow an individual, under specified circumstances, to petition the superior court to hold a hearing in order for the court to determine whether the individual no longer poses a possible risk to the public, and would provide for the court to order the commissioner to restore the individual's license if it so finds. Because a failure to comply with this requirement would be a crime, the bill would thereby 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.
The Vehicle License Fee (VLF) Law establishes, in lieu of any ad valorem property tax upon vehicles, an annual license fee for any vehicle subject to registration in this state, on and after May 19, 2009, and until July 1, 2013, in the amount of 1.15% of the market value of specified vehicles, the revenues derived thereof to be deposited in specified funds. Existing law provides that, on and after July 1, 2013, the annual license fee for specified vehicles subject to registration in this state shall be 0.65% of the market value of that vehicle. This bill would provide that for new vehicles, including new motorcycles, the annual license fee shall be 0.65% of the market value of the vehicle. This bill would also state the intent of the Legislature with regard to funding levels for local law enforcement. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law provides that criminal trials may only be continued for good cause. Under existing law, good cause is defined to include when a prosecutor assigned to specific types of criminal cases has another trial, preliminary hearing, or motion to suppress in progress in that court or another court. This bill would include, as good cause, a case involving a violent gang felony, as defined, when the assigned prosecutor has another case in progress, as specified. Existing law provides that only one such continuance per case may be granted to the prosecutor for cases involving stalking, hate crimes, or cases handled under the Career Criminal Prosecution Program. This bill would also limit the prosecutor to one such continuance per case in cases involving violent gang felonies.