Existing federal law provides for 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 calender days. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to issue an all-county letter or similar instructions by April 1, 2015, and to adopt regulations to implement the provisions of the bill by July 1, 2016. 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.
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Existing law establishes the Trial Court Trust Fund, the proceeds of which are required to be apportioned for authorized purposes, including apportionment to the trial courts to fund trial court operations. Existing law, for the purpose of funding trial court operations, authorizes the Judicial Council to establish bank accounts for the superior courts, into which shall be deposited all moneys appropriated in the Budget Act and allocated or reallocated to each court by the Judicial Council, moneys held in trust, and other moneys as deemed necessary or appropriate. "Court operations" is defined for these purposes. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to the provision defining court operations.
Existing law designates area agencies on aging as local units on aging in California, which are financially supported by a variety of sources, including federal funding, state and local government assistance, the private sector, and individual contributions. Existing law also provides for independent living centers, for the purpose of assisting individuals with disabilities in their attempts to live fuller and freer lives outside institutions, and achieve social and economic independence. This bill would continuously appropriate from the Federal Trust Fund, in the absence of enactment of the annual Budget Act by July 1 of a fiscal year, (1) to the California Department of Aging, the amount of federal funds contained in the Federal Trust Fund necessary to pay area agencies on aging for the administration of programs under their jurisdiction, and (2) to the Department of Rehabilitation, the amount of federal funds contained in the Federal Trust Fund necessary to pay independent living centers for the administration of programs under their jurisdiction, pending enactment of the Budget Act. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including a credit for a percentage of specified research expenses. These laws, in modified conformity, apply the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, relating to the election of alternative incremental credit. These laws provide that the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to election of alternative simplified credit shall not apply. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, not apply the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, relating to the election of alternative incremental credit. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, and before January 1, 2022, apply the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, relating to election of alternative simplified credit in modified conformity, and for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, would apply the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, relating to the inclusion of qualified research expenses and gross receipts of an acquired person and aggregation of expenditures. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law, the California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of residential care facilities for the elderly by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law requires that every residential care facility for the elderly be subject to unannounced visits by the department, that reports on the results of each inspection, evaluation, or consultation shall be kept on file by the department, and that all inspection reports, consultation reports, lists of deficiencies, and plans of correction shall be open to the public. This bill would require the department to post, on the department's Internet Web site, all inspection reports, consultation reports, violations, and plans of correction. This bill would also require the department to post on the department's Internet Web site the number and nature of complaints filed against a facility within each calendar year, including whether a complaint is undergoing investigation, whether it has been substantiated or unsubstantiated, and whether it has been found to be inconclusive.
This measure would call upon all Californians to observe César Chávez's birthday, March 31, as a day of public service, to recognize the hard work and self-sacrifice that farmworkers go through to feed all the families in our state, and to learn from César Chávez's life and his mission of nonviolence, social justice, and selfless service to others.
Existing law requires that a vote by mail ballot be received by the issuing elections official or the precinct board no later than the close of polls on election day. This bill would make an exception for military or overseas voters, as defined, and would instead require that their vote by mail ballots be postmarked by the United States Postal Service or the Military Postal Service Agency on or before election day and received by their elections officials no later than 3 days after election day. Because the bill would impose additional duties on local elections officials, 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, 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, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998, requires the State Allocation Board to allocate to applicant school districts prescribed per-unhoused-pupil state funding for construction and modernization of school facilities, including hardship funding, and supplemental funding for site development and acquisition. The bill would revise the definition of modernization under the act to include the replacement of facilities on a site containing a permanent structure that is at least 25 years old or, in the case of a portable classroom, that is at least 20 years old, as specified. The bill would reduce the minimum amount that an applicant school district under the act must set aside for ongoing and major maintenance of school buildings from 3% to 2% of the total general fund expenditures of that district in a fiscal year. This bill would delete a provision requiring the State Allocation Board to conduct an evaluation of the cost of new construction and modernization of small high schools in conjunction with a specified pilot program. The bill would require each school district that elects to participate in a new construction or modernization program funded by the proceeds of any bond approved by the voters after November 1, 2014, to reestablish eligibility, as specified, and to conduct an inventory of existing facilities for purposes of maintaining a statewide school facilities inventory. The bill would authorize a grant for new construction or modernization under the act to be used for seismic mitigation purposes and for related design, study, and testing costs, and require the State Allocation Board, in the development of guidelines and regulations, to provide a school district with maximum flexibility in the design, modernization, and new construction of school facilities. The bill would require the Office of Public School Construction to recommend regulations to the board to provide school districts with flexibility in designing instruction facilities. The bill would require the State Department of Education, the Division of the State Architect, the Office of Public School Construction, and the Department of Toxic Substances Control to convene for the purposes of developing an interagency plan to streamline the school facility construction application, review, and audit processes in order to reduce the time and improve the efficiency of the school facility construction process. The bill would require that this interagency plan be submitted to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2015. (2) Existing law, the California Constitution, prohibits the Legislature from creating a debt or liability that singly or in the aggregate with any previous debts or liabilities exceeds the sum of $300,000, except by an act that (a) authorizes the debt for a single object or work specified in the act, (b) has been passed by a 23 vote of all the members elected to each house of the Legislature, (c) has been submitted to the people at a statewide general or primary election, and (d) has received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at that election. This bill would enact the Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2014 to authorize $4,300,000,000 of state general obligation bonds, as scheduled, to provide aid to school districts, county superintendents of schools, county boards of education, charter schools, the California Community Colleges, the University of California, the Hastings College of the Law, and the California State University to construct and modernize education facilities. The proceeds of these bonds would be deposited in the continuously appropriated 2014 State School Facilities Fund, which this bill would establish, thereby making an appropriation. The proposed bond act would become operative only if approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, and the bill would provide for its submission to the voters at that election. The bill would require the Secretary of State to publish, and separately mail, a supplemental ballot pamphlet regarding the proposed bond act if it is not possible to include information regarding this proposed bond act in the ballot pamphlet for the November 4, 2014, statewide general election. The bill would provide for public examination of the translations of the ballot title and condensed statement of the ballot title of the proposed bond act, as specified. (3) This bill would specify that certain of its provisions would become operative only if the Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2014 is approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election. (4) The bill would make conforming changes in related provisions of existing law. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Pursuant to its existing authority, the commission issued Electrical Rule 21 establishing operational and metering requirements for a generation facility to be connected to an electrical corporation's distribution system. Existing law relative to private energy producers requires every electric utility, as defined, to develop a standard contract or tariff providing for net energy metering, as defined, and to make this contract or tariff available to eligible customer-generators, as defined, upon request for generation by a renewable electrical generation facility, as defined. The existing definition of an eligible customer-generator requires that the generating facility use a renewable source of energy, as specified, and have a generating capacity of not more than one megawatt. Existing law requires that every electric utility ensure that requests for an interconnection agreement from an eligible customer-generator are processed in a time period not to exceed 30 working days from the date it receives a completed application form from the eligible customer-generator for an interconnection agreement. This bill would require the commission to determine criteria that would allow an independent generation facility, as defined, to apply for interconnection to the utility electric distribution grid under the fast track review process, as defined under Rule 21. Under existing law, a violation of an order, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a failure of an electric utility to process an interconnection request from an independent generation facility pursuant to Rule 21 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.
Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services regulates the licensure and operation of community care facilities, residential care facilities for the elderly, child day care centers, and family day care homes. Existing law requires that these facilities be subject to unannounced visits by the department that occur at least once every 5 years. Existing law requires the department to conduct an annual unannounced visit under specified circumstances, including when a license is on probation, and to conduct annual unannounced visits to no less than 20% of the facilities not subject to an evaluation under those specified circumstances. This bill would instead make every facility of the types described above subject to an annual unannounced visit by the department on and after July 1, 2017. The bill would revise the provisions requiring the department to conduct annual unannounced visits to no less than 20% of the facilities by instead requiring the department to conduct annual unannounced visits to no less than 30% of facilities on or before July 1, 2015, and no less than 20% of those facilities on or before July 1, 2016. The bill would also delete the provisions requiring an unannounced visit at least once every 5 years. Existing law requires the department to immediately request a fire clearance and notify an applicant to arrange a time for the department to conduct a prelicensure survey if an application for initial licensure is complete. This bill would provide that the prelicensure survey is optional at the discretion of the department if the department determines that an application is for licensure of a currently licensed facility for which there will be no material change to the management or operations of the facility.