Asm. Matthew Harper

(1) The California Marine Resources Legacy Act establishes a program, administered by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, to allow partial removal of offshore oil structures. The act authorizes the department to approve the partial removal of offshore oil structures, if specified criteria are satisfied. The act requires the first person to file an application to partially remove an offshore oil structure to pay, in addition to other specified costs, the startup costs incurred by the department or the State Lands Commission to implement the act, including the costs to develop and adopt regulations, and requires the payment of startup costs to be reimbursed by the department, as specified. The act requires an applicant, upon conditional approval for removal, to apportion a percentage of the cost-savings funds in accordance with a prescribed schedule to specified entities and funds. The act defines "cost savings" to mean the difference between the estimated cost to the applicant of complete removal of an oil platform, as required by state and federal leases, and the estimated costs to the applicant of partial removal of the oil platform pursuant to the act. Before the first application to partially remove an offshore oil structure is filed, this bill would authorize a prospective applicant to pay a portion of the startup costs in an amount determined by the department to be necessary for staff and other costs in anticipation of receipt of the first application. The bill would require an applicant, upon conditional approval for partial removal of an offshore oil structure, to apportion and transmit a portion of the cost savings to the department, instead of to the specified entities and funds. The bill would require the department to apportion those cost-savings funds received from the applicant in accordance with the prescribed schedule to the specified entities if certain criteria are satisfied. The bill would require the department to apportion the cost-savings funds received from the applicant who elects to pay a portion of the startup costs before the first application is filed and who files the first application in accordance with the prescribed schedule based on when the application was submitted rather than when the cost savings are transmitted. The bill would authorize the applicant to withdraw the application at any time before final approval and would require the department to return specified funds, including startup costs, submitted to process the application that have not been expended as of the date of receipt of the notification of withdrawal. The bill would require the department to promptly return the cost savings to the applicant if the partial removal of the offshore oil structure is not permitted by a court or governmental agency and the applicant is required to carry out full removal of the structure. (2) Existing law requires the Natural Resources Agency to serve as the lead agency for the environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) of a proposed project to partially remove an offshore oil structure pursuant to the California Marine Resources Legacy Act. Upon certification of environmental documents pursuant to CEQA, the California Marine Resources Legacy Act requires the State Lands Commission to determine the cost savings of partial removal compared to full removal of the structure and requires the Ocean Protection Council to determine whether partial removal provides a net environmental benefit to the marine environment compared to the full removal of the structure. This bill would instead require the commission to serve as the lead agency for the environmental review under CEQA. The bill would require the council, in determining whether partial removal of the structure would provide a net benefit to the marine environment compared to full removal of the structure, to take certain adverse impacts to air quality and greenhouse gas emissions into account and to consult with the State Air Resources Board, among other entities. In making that determination, the bill would require the council to determine the appropriate weight to be assigned to adverse impacts to air quality and greenhouse gas emissions as compared to adverse impacts to biological resources and water quality.

Existing law, the Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists and Hearing Aid Dispensers Licensure Act, regulates the licensure of hearing aid dispensers and dispensing audiologists by the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers Board. The act makes it unlawful for a licensed hearing aid dispenser to fit or sell a hearing aid unless he or she first, among other duties, provides the purchaser with specified information. Existing law requires a licensed dispensing audiologist to, upon the consummation of a sale of a hearing aid, deliver to the purchaser a written receipt, containing specified information. Existing law makes the violation of these provisions a misdemeanor. This bill would, on and after July 1, 2017, require a licensed hearing aid dispenser to, upon the sale of a hearing aid, provide the purchaser with a copy of a consumer hearing aid disclosure that this bill would require the board to develop and make available on its Internet Web site before July 1, 2017. The bill would require a licensed dispensing audiologist to do the same. By creating new requirements, the violation of which would be a 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.

The Personal Income Tax Law provides for various exclusions from gross income, including a reward from a crime hotline. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, and before January 1, 2021, also would exclude from gross income the value of any medal given by the International Olympic Committee or the International Paralympic Committee, and any prize money or honoraria received from the United States Olympic Committee, on account of either the Olympic Games or the Paralympic Games. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 to be charged on each habitable structure, as defined, on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area, as defined. Existing law requires the state board to adjust the fire prevention fee annually using prescribed methods, and requires the state board, until January 31, 2017, to submit a report to the Legislature every January 31 on the status and uses of the fund, containing specified information and recommendations. This bill would instead require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to submit that report to the Legislature and the board, and would extend to January 31, 2021, the time until which the report is required to be submitted. The bill would additionally require that the report include specified information on each program, subprogram, and element for which the department uses money generated from that fire prevention fee, and other information regarding fund expenditures, as provided.

This measure would encourage the Department of Consumer Affairs and its boards, bureaus, and committees to create policies that promote fairness and equity to guarantee that each licensee pays a fair amount, especially in regard to initial and ongoing license fees.

This measure would recognize 2016 as the 150-year anniversary of public service and protection of state parks by state park rangers and would encourage the Department of Parks and Recreation, the California State Park Rangers Association, and the California State Parks Anniversary Committee to take all appropriate action to celebrate that anniversary.

This measure would proclaim May 19, 2016, as Viral Hepatitis Awareness Day in California.