Asm. Marie Waldron

This measure would urge the United States Department of Transportation, Department of Energy, and the Office of Management and Budget to expedite the rulemaking and implementation processes for federal safety regulations governing the transport by rail of flammable and combustible liquids, including crude oil, and would also urge the President and the Congress of the United States to pass specified federal legislation mandating public safety measures regulating the transport by rail of those liquids.

This measure would proclaim August 8, 2016, to August 12, 2016, inclusive, as Concrete Pipe Week.

This measure would proclaim April 12, 2016, as Equal Pay Day in recognition of the need to eliminate the gender gap in earnings by women and to promote policies to ensure equal pay for all.

Existing federal law, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, provides for the negotiation and execution of tribal-state gaming compacts for the purpose of authorizing certain types of gaming on Indian lands within a state. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to negotiate and conclude compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law expressly ratifies a number of tribal-state gaming compacts, and amendments to tribal-state gaming compacts, between the State of California and specified Indian tribes. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project, as defined, that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. This bill would ratify the tribal-state gaming compact entered into between the State of California and the Pala Band of Mission Indians, executed on May 6, 2016. The bill would provide that, in deference to tribal sovereignty, certain actions are not projects for the purposes of CEQA. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

This measure would recognize the month of June 2016 as Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month, would recognize June 21, 2016, as The Longest Day in California, and would urge all residents to wear purple on this day to help spread global awareness of the Alzheimer's Association's vision of imagining a world without Alzheimer's disease.

This measure would recognize the year of 2016 as the 50th anniversary of California's community-based developmental services system, and would reaffirm the commitment of the Legislature to support this system. This measure would declare the importance of ensuring a sustainable system that protects the rights of individuals with developmental disabilities.

This measure would respectfully urge Congress to appropriate $248 million in funding to complete Phase 2 of the Calexico West Land Port of Entry reconfiguration and expansion project in order to realize the benefits the improvements of this project will have on the nation's economy.

Existing law describes the California Interscholastic Federation as a voluntary organization that consists of school and school-related personnel with responsibility for administering interscholastic athletic activities in secondary schools, and sets forth the Legislature's intent regarding the California Interscholastic Federation's implementation of certain policies. Existing law required the California Interscholastic Federation, on or before January 1, 2016, to report to the Legislature and the Governor on its evaluation and accountability activities undertaken pursuant to specified provisions. Existing law repeals those provisions on January 1, 2017. This bill would delete the repeal date, and would require the California Interscholastic Federation, on or before January 1, 2023, and on or before January 1 every 7 years thereafter, to report to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature and the Governor on its evaluation and accountability activities undertaken pursuant to specified provisions. The bill would require the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature, upon receiving a report, to hold a joint hearing at which the California Interscholastic Federation would be required, and members of the public would be encouraged, to testify on information in the report.

This measure will proclaim the month of June as California Technology and Innovation Month, a special time for Californians to celebrate this ever-growing industry that is changing the way we view communication, health care, transportation, energy, travel, and business.