Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of professions and vocations by various boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law provides for the payment of a fee for the renewal of certain licenses, certificates, or permits in an inactive status, and, for certain licenses, certificates, and permits that have expired, requires the payment of all accrued fees as a condition of reinstatement of the license, certificate, or permit. This bill would limit the maximum fee for the renewal of a license in an inactive status to no more than 50% of the renewal fee for an active license. The bill would also prohibit a board from requiring payment of accrued and unpaid renewal fees as a condition of reinstating an expired license or registration.
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Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a driver's license to an applicant when the department determines that the applicant is lawfully entitled to a license. Existing law allows an in-person applicant for a driver's license or identification card to request the word "VETERAN" be printed on the face of the driver's license or identification card, subject to certain requirements, including, among others, verification of veteran status, as specified, and payment of a $5 fee, which the department is authorized to increase by regulation, in an amount not to exceed $15, as specified. Commencing July 1, 2019, existing law prohibits a fee from being charged for that request if made by (1) a person who has been determined to have a current income level that meets the eligibility requirements for specified assistance programs, or (2) a person who can verify their status as a homeless person, in accordance with specified provisions. This bill would make the payment of a fee by any veteran inoperative no later than July 1, 2020, and repeal the law on January 1, 2021, thereby indefinitely requiring the department to make a veteran designation on a verified applicant's license, without charge. The bill also would make technical and conforming changes. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax credit to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would allow a credit against those taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, in an amount equal to 50% of the cost paid or incurred during the taxable year for an initial professional license fee. The bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new income tax credit. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations by boards, as defined, within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law generally requires the department and each board in the department to charge a fee of $2 for the certification of a copy of any record, document, or paper in its custody. Existing law generally requires that the delinquency, penalty, or late fee for any licensee within the department to be 50% of the renewal fee for that license, but not less than $25 nor more than $150. This bill would instead authorize the department and each board in the department to charge a fee not to exceed $2 for the certification of a copy of any record, document, or paper in its custody. The bill would also require that the delinquency, penalty, or late fee for any licensee within the department to be 50% of the renewal fee for that license, but not to exceed $150.
Existing law requires the Secretary of State and the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish the California New Motor Voter Program. Under the program, the Department of Motor Vehicles is required to provide to the Secretary of State specified information associated with each person who submits an application for a driver's license or identification card, and additionally to report to the Secretary of State that an applicant has attested that the applicant meets the voter preregistration requirements for a person who is at least 16 years of age and otherwise meets all voter eligibility requirements. The prescribed information submitted by the department to the Secretary of State constitutes a completed or submitted affidavit of registration, and the Secretary is required to register or preregister the person to vote, unless the person affirmatively declines to register to vote during a transaction with the department, the department does not represent to the Secretary of State that the person attested that the person meets all voter eligibility requirements, or the Secretary of State determines that the person is ineligible to vote. This bill would instead require a person to affirmatively agree to become registered or preregistered to vote during a transaction with the department before the Secretary registers or preregisters that person, and it would make other conforming changes.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing, including the use of campaign funds for specific expenditures. This bill would provide that campaign funds may be used to pay for child care provided for a candidate's dependent child if the costs are incurred as a direct result of campaign activity. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law establishes the California High-Cost Fund-A Administrative Committee Fund, the California High-Cost Fund-B Administrative Committee Fund, the Universal Lifeline Telephone Service Trust Administrative Committee Fund, the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program Administrative Committee Fund, the Payphone Service Providers Committee Fund, the California Teleconnect Fund Administrative Committee Fund, and the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) in the State Treasury and provides that moneys in the funds are held in trust and may be expended only to accomplish specified telecommunications universal service programs, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act or upon supplemental appropriation. This bill would prohibit the commission from collecting, for deposit into any universal service fund, any revenues derived from charges upon the provision of a communications service that the Federal Communications Commission has determined is an information service, as specified. Existing law establishes the Public Utilities Commission Utilities Reimbursement Account and authorizes the commission to annually determine a utility reimbursement fee to be paid by every public utility providing service directly to customers or subscribers and subject to the jurisdiction of the commission, except for a railroad corporation. The commission is required to establish the fee, with the approval of the Department of Finance, to produce a total amount equal to that amount established in the authorized commission budget for the same year, and an appropriate reserve to regulate public utilities, less specified sources of funding. This bill would prohibit the commission from imposing a utility reimbursement fee that is applicable to the provision of a communications service that the Federal Communications Commission has determined is an information service, as specified.
This measure would name the public street, circle, and plaza at 914 and 915 Capitol Mall in the City of Sacramento as the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Circle and Plaza. The measure would request the Department of General Services to determine the cost of erecting the appropriate signage commemorating this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources, to cover that cost to erect that signage.
Existing law sets forth the duties and authority of a county coroner. Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors, by ordinance, to abolish the office of coroner and provide instead for the office of medical examiner, to be appointed by the board and to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the coroner. Existing law requires a county coroner, or the coroner's appointed deputy, upon notification of a death involving a motor vehicle, as specified, to take blood and urine samples from the body of the deceased and make related chemical tests to determine the alcoholic contents, if any, of the body. Existing law authorizes the coroner to perform other chemical tests, as deemed appropriate. Existing law requires the detailed medical findings resulting from these examinations to be reduced to writing or otherwise permanently preserved, as specified. These requirements do not apply to testing of deceased persons under 15 years of age unless circumstances indicate the possibility of alcohol or specified drug consumption, and do not apply when the death has occurred more than 24 hours after the accident. This bill would additionally apply these provisions to a county medical examiner. The bill would require the coroner or medical examiner to perform screening and confirmatory tests of specified drugs, and to include blood alcohol content and blood drug concentrations in the detailed medical findings, when available. The bill would require a coroner or medical examiner to use antemortem samples, if available, if the decedent was hospitalized prior to death. The bill would revise the provisions applicable to a decedent under 15 years of age, including prohibiting application of the provisions if the period between the accident and death is more than 48 hours, rather than 24 hours. Existing law requires a county coroner, on or before the 10th day of each month, to report in writing to the Department of the California Highway Patrol the death of any person during the preceding calendar month as the result of an accident involving a motor vehicle and the circumstances of the accident. The bill would require a coroner or medical examiner under the above circumstances to report in writing chemical test results including blood alcohol content and blood drug concentrations, when available. By imposing new requirements on county coroners and medical examiners, 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, 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 the statutory provisions noted above.