Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and after March 7, 1973. Existing law authorizes the office to assess an application fee for the review of facilities' design and construction, and requires that full and complete plans be submitted to the office for review and approval. Existing law requires that, after January 1, 2008, any general acute care hospital building that is determined to be a potential risk of collapse or pose significant loss of life be used only for nonacute care hospital purposes, except that the office may grant an extension under prescribed circumstances. Existing law allows certain hospital owners who do not have the financial capacity to bring certain buildings into compliance by 2013 to, instead, replace those buildings by January 1, 2020. This bill would require a health care district that has been denied an extension of the seismic retrofit and replacement deadlines to make a specified report to the office, on or before March 1, 2010. Because this bill would impose additional duties upon local officials, this 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.
Sponsored bills
The State Assistance for Fire Equipment Act authorizes the Secretary of Emergency Management to acquire specified firefighting apparatus and equipment for resale to a local agency, as defined, that provides fire suppression services or a fire company. Existing law also establishes the State Assistance for Fire Equipment Account, a continuously appropriated fund, for purposes of the act. Existing law requires the secretary to consult with a specified committee before adopting regulations implementing the act. This bill would annually appropriate $45,600,000 of revenue received by the state from the accessing of oil and gas reserves located beneath state coastal waters, generally known as the "T-Ridge Project," for firefighting purposes, including, but not limited to, the purchase of firefighting and rescue vehicles and equipment, vegetation management and defensible space projects, and specified training courses and materials, thereby making an appropriation. This bill would also require the secretary to consult with additional specified individuals involved in firefighting before adopting certain regulations.
The Administrative Procedure Act generally sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. This bill would additionally require the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, and the State Air Resources Board, when proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal an administrative regulation, to complete an economic impact analysis of that action prior to the adoption, amendment, or repeal. The bill would require the economic impact analysis to contain the projected cost of the action to the General Fund, the projected total economic impact of the action, including the cost to small business and the estimated number of jobs to be lost, a description of all feasible regulatory alternatives and a cost-benefit analysis of each alternative, and a summary of written criticisms, as specified. The bill would require the agency to make the economic impact report available on the agency's Internet Web site.
Existing law establishes various offenses for vandalizing property, including for the vandalism of polling place materials at an election. This bill would prohibit a person from knowingly destroying, marking, tearing down, or otherwise defacing a sign supporting or opposing a candidate for elective office or a ballot measure without authorization from the campaign responsible for the production or creation of the sign. The bill would make a person who violates this provision subject to an additional fine not to exceed $1,000. The bill would provide that the imposition of this fine does not relieve a person of specified duties relating to court ordered graffiti cleanup or repair or replacement of damaged property. Because this bill would create a new crime, it 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.
(1) Existing law establishes the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009, which, among other things, provides for student protections and regulatory oversight of private postsecondary schools in the state. Existing law establishes the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education to regulate private postsecondary institutions through the powers granted, and the duties imposed, by the act. This bill would prohibit the bureau, for the period July 1, 2010, to July 1, 2011, inclusive, from enforcing the act against institutions that offer flight instruction or institutions that offer Federal Aviation Administration certified educational programs in aircraft maintenance. The bill would also require those institutions to notify the bureau if they operate during that period. (2) The act prohibits institutions, as defined, from performing various actions. This bill would prohibit an institution from offering an unaccredited doctoral degree program without disclosing to prospective students that the degree program is unaccredited, and any known limitation of the unaccredited degree, including, but not limited to, whether the degree is recognized for licensure or certification in other states. (3) The act prohibits an ability-to-benefit student, defined as a student who does not have a certificate of graduation from a school providing secondary education, or a recognized equivalent of that certificate, from enrolling in an institution unless the student achieves a specified score on an independently administered examination from a specified list of examinations prescribed by the United States Department of Education that demonstrates that the student may benefit from the education and training being offered. This bill would authorize the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education to publish its own list of acceptable examinations if the United States Department of Education does not have a list of relevant examinations that pertain to the intended occupational training. (4) The act requires specified private postsecondary institutions to refund 100% of the amount paid for institutional charges, less specified expenses, if notice of cancellation is made through attendance at the first class session, or the 7th class day after enrollment, whichever is later. This bill would change the 2nd deadline for notice of cancellation from the 7th class day after enrollment to the 7th day after enrollment. (5) Existing law defines "graduates employed in the field," for purposes of the act, as graduates who are gainfully employed within 6 months of graduation in a position for which the skills obtained through the education and training provided by the institution are required or provided a significant advantage to the graduate in obtaining the position. This bill would revise this definition to remove skills obtained that have provided a significant advantage to the graduate in obtaining the position, and include skills that are utilized to perform the purpose or objective of the position or the major responsibilities of the position. (6) Existing law appropriates $580,000 from the Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Administration Fund to the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, for the purpose of funding 5 private postsecondary education specialist and senior specialist positions. This bill would require those positions to be permanent, full-time positions to perform work in conformity with the classification specifications as directed by the bureau chief. (7) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of registered nurses by the Board of Registered Nursing and makes a violation of the act a crime. Existing law requires a licensee renewing his or her license to submit proof to the board that during a specified time the licensee has been informed of developments in the registered nursing field either by pursuing a continuing education course offered by a provider approved by the board or by other means deemed equivalent by the board. Existing law requires the board to establish, by regulation, standards for continuing education. Existing law requires these standards to make a variety of alternative forms of continuing education available to licensees. Existing law requires the content of all courses of continuing education to be relevant to the practice of nursing. This bill would provide that continuing education courses, as specified, that advance or promote labor organizing on behalf of a union, or that advance or promote statutory or regulatory changes, political candidates, political advocacy, or political strategy shall not be considered content relevant to the practice of nursing and shall not be acceptable for meeting requirements for licensure renewal. The bill would also prohibit an approved provider from representing that such a continuing education course is acceptable for meeting requirements for licensure renewal and would require the board, subject to specified procedural requirements, to withdraw its approval of a provider that violates that requirement for no less than 5 years, as specified. Because a violation of these requirements by a provider would constitute a crime, the 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 bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) provides a defined benefit to members of the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) based on age at retirement, service credit, and final compensation, as those terms are defined. The management and control of PERL is vested in the board of administration of PERL, including the calculation of the contribution rates for specified state employees and state employers. Existing law provides that a statute that imposes a requirement that a state agency submit a periodic report to the Legislature is inoperative on a date 4 years after the date the first report is due. This bill would require the board of administration of PERL, notwithstanding that requirement, to submit a report to the Legislature, the Governor, and the Treasurer describing the investment return assumptions, discount rates, and amortization periods utilized by the board in the calculations of the contribution rates and to include recalculations of those rates based on specified adjustments of the investment return assumptions, amortization periods, and discount rates utilized by the board any time it calculates the contribution rates. This bill would require the Treasurer, within 30 days following receipt of the report, to provide each house of the Legislature, at a publicly noticed floor session, with an explanation of the role played by the investment return assumption and amortization period in the calculation of the contribution rates and the consequences for future state budgets if the investment return assumptions are not realized, to report whether the board's amortization period exceeds the estimated average remaining service periods of employees covered by the contributions, and to express his or her opinion of the reasonableness of the board's calculation of the contribution rates. This bill would, notwithstanding the 4-year reporting limitations, also require the board, at any time it forecasts contribution rates, to submit a report to the Legislature with a revised calculation of the forecasted contribution rates utilizing a specified investment rate assumption. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would recognize the Lunar New Year 4708 celebration.
The Comprehensive Health Education Act of 1977 requires the State Department of Education to prepare and distribute to school districts guidelines for the preparation of comprehensive health education plans, and, in cooperation with county offices of education that desire to participate, to assist school districts in developing comprehensive health education plans and programs. This bill would require school districts that offer health classes to grade 9 or 10 pupils to provide at least 15 minutes of instruction on organ procurement and tissue donation that would be designed to develop a knowledge of the potentially life-saving achievement involved in organ and tissue transplantation. The bill would require the State Board of Education and the Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission to ensure that the health framework, evaluation criteria, and instructional materials adopted for pupils in grades 9 and 10 in the course of the next submission cycle following the date that this section becomes effective include organ procurement and tissue donation.
This measure would call upon the State Air Resources Board, prior to any regulatory action being taken consistent with the scoping plan for the implementation of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, to perform an economic analysis that will give the State of California a more complete and accurate picture of the costs and benefits of the act's implementation. The measure would also call upon the Governor to use the authority granted by the act to adjust any applicable deadlines for regulations.