This measure would designate November 2015 as a month to raise awareness about the issue of medically fragile foster care children and adoptive placement children and the actions that every Californian can take to make a positive difference in these children's lives.
Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to prepare a State Highway Operation and Protection Program every other year for the expenditure of transportation capital improvement funds for projects that are necessary to preserve and protect the state highway system, excluding projects that add new traffic lanes. Existing law provides for apportionment of specified portions of revenues in the Highway Users Tax Account derived from gasoline and diesel excise taxes to cities and counties by formula, with the remaining revenues to be deposited in the State Highway Account for expenditure on various state transportation programs, including maintenance of state highways and transportation capital improvement projects. This bill would continuously appropriate $1 billion from the General Fund, with 50% to be made available to the Department of Transportation for maintenance of the state highway system or for purposes of the State Highway Operation and Protection Program, and 50% to be made available to the Controller for apportionment to cities and counties by a specified formula for street and road purposes.
Existing law, the California Fostering Connections to Success Act, revises and expands the scope of various programs relating to cash assistance and other services to and for the benefit of certain foster and adopted children, and other children who have been placed in out-of-home care, including children who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) , Adoption Assistance Program, California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) , and Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) benefits. Among other provisions, the act extends specified foster care benefits to youth up to 21 years of age, if specified conditions are met. Existing law defines a nonminor dependent for these purposes as a foster child who is a current dependent child or ward of the juvenile court, or who is a nonminor under the transition jurisdiction of the juvenile court pursuant to a voluntary reentry agreement, and in accordance with a transitional independent living case plan who has attained 18 years of age while under an order of foster care placement by the juvenile court and is not older than 21 years of age. Existing law defines a nonminor former dependent or ward as a person who meets these criteria who reached 18 years of age while subject to an order for foster care placement, for whom dependency, delinquency, or transition jurisdiction has been terminated, and who is still under the general jurisdiction of the court. This bill would revise the definition of a nonminor dependent and former nonminor dependent to include a person who has not attained 21 years of age, if he or she was adjudged a ward of the court on the basis of criminal activity, was subject to an order for foster care placement at the time the petition to adjudge him or her a ward of the court was filed, and was held in secure confinement when he or she attained 18 years of age. This bill would make conforming changes to allow a court to assume or resume dependency jurisdiction or transition jurisdiction over a nonminor who satisfies this criteria. Because the bill would expand the application of the above county administered programs, 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, 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.
(1) Existing law requires the governing board of each school district to establish standards of expected pupil achievement at each grade level in each area of study and to evaluate and assess certificated employee performance on a continuing basis as it reasonably relates to the progress of pupils toward the established standards and, if applicable, the state adopted academic content standards as measured by state adopted criterion referenced assessments, the instructional techniques and strategies used by the employee, the employee's adherence to curricular objectives, and the establishment and maintenance of a suitable learning environment, within the scope of the employee's responsibilities. This bill would require the superintendent of a school district and a county superintendent of schools to make available to the public, and post on its Internet Web site, if it has one, specified information relating to the evaluation of teachers and principals. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) 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.
Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer child care and development programs that offer a full range of services for eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age. Existing law requires the Superintendent to administer all California state preschool programs, including, but not limited to, part-day and full-day age and developmentally appropriate programs for 3- and 4-year-old children. This bill would, until January 1, 2021, authorize the department, as part of a pilot program, to accept monetary contributions made to the California Preschool Investment Fund, which this bill would create, by a person for purposes of preschool education, as provided. The bill would require the money in the fund to be used to, among other things, fund state preschools part of the California state preschool program located in one of the 5 counties participating in the pilot program, as provided. The bill would require participating counties to report to the department's Early Education & Support Division regarding the county's assessment of how the pilot program is performing. The bill would require any moneys remaining in the fund after January 1, 2021, to be transferred to any other state fund identified by the department that provides funding for increased access to preschool programs for low-income children. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill, under both laws, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, and before January 1, 2020, would allow a credit equal to 40% of the amount contributed by the taxpayer during the taxable year to the California Preschool Investment Fund, as provided. The bill would limit the aggregate amount of credit allowed under both laws to not exceed $250,000,000 and would require the State Department of Education to establish a procedure for a person to obtain from the department a receipt indicating specified information, including the amount of monetary contributions made, for purposes of the tax credits allowed under these provisions. This bill would, until January 1, 2021, require the total annual amount of credits claimed pursuant to these provisions to be treated as though they were proceeds of taxes for purposes of calculating the moneys to be applied by the state for the support of school districts and community college districts pursuant to a specified provision of the California Constitution.
Existing federal law provides for the allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states. Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program under which, through a combination of state and county funds and federal funds received through the TANF program, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Existing law, with certain exceptions, provides eligible families with homeless assistance, including temporary shelter assistance for one period of up to 16 consecutive calendar days. This bill would eliminate the requirement that the temporary assistance be provided during one period of consecutive days, and instead would limit the temporary assistance to a maximum of 16 calendar days. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to issue an all-county letter or similar instructions by April 1, 2016, and to adopt regulations to implement the provisions of the bill by July 1, 2017. The bill also would make conforming and technical, nonsubstantive changes. Because this bill would create new administrative duties for counties, it would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would, instead, provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill. 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.
This measure would declare June 6, 2015, to June 14, 2015, inclusive, as the 2015 California Invasive Species Action Week and would urge all Californians to participate in activities that raise awareness of invasive species issues and to take action to prevent their spread.
This measure would commemorate the centennial of the founding of Locke, California, would recognize and honor Locke, California, as the last remaining Chinatown in North America, and would urge all Californians to learn about the important history of Locke, California, and its inhabitants.
This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to support H.R. 167, the federal Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, in order to provide a long-term, stable source of funding for federal agencies to conduct the necessary fuels management on national forest lands, while retaining resources to suppress catastrophic wildfires.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Consumer Affairs to enter into a contract with a vendor for the licensing and enforcement of the BreEZe system, which is a specified integrated, enterprisewide enforcement case management and licensing system, no sooner than 30 days after written notification to certain committees of the Legislature. Existing law requires the amount of contract funds for the system to be consistent with costs approved by the office of the State Chief Information Officer, based on information provided by the department in a specified manner. This bill would, on or before March 1, 2016, or thereafter when available, require the department to submit an annual report to the Legislature and the Department of Finance that includes, among other things, the department's plans for implementing the BreEZe system at specified regulatory entities included in the department's's 3rd phase of the BreEZe implementation project, when available, including, but not limited to, a timeline for the implementation. The bill would also require the department to post on its Internet Web site the name of each regulatory entity that is utilizing the BreEZe system once the regulatory entity begins using the BreEZe system. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
