Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services and sets forth its powers and duties, including, but not limited to, the licensing and administration of residential care facilities for the elderly. Existing law authorizes the department to impose various civil penalties for licensing violations. Existing law sets the minimum civil penalty at $25 and the maximum penalty at $150 per day per violation, and permits additional civil penalties for repeat violations within a 12-month period. This bill would increase the civil penalties, including the penalties for repeat offenses, and would vary the minimum and maximum penalties depending upon the seriousness of the harm to the resident. This bill would, in the case of citations imposing civil penalties for violations that caused death or serious bodily injury to the resident, require that the decision to issue the citation be reviewed by the department's legal office and be approved by the deputy director prior to the issuance of the citation. This bill would require that the appeal procedure include notice to the complainant, affected residents, and, if possible, their legal representatives, the opportunity to participate in the appeal, and an option for review by an administrative law judge. This bill would, in cases involving death or serious bodily injury of a resident, require the department to prove that the violation was a direct proximate cause of the death or serious bodily injury, and that it resulted from an occurrence of a nature that the statute or regulation was designed to prevent. The bill would require dismissal of the citation if the licensee proves that the licensee did what might reasonably be expected of a residential care facility for the elderly licensee, acting under similar circumstances, to comply with the statute or regulation. The bill would specify that, in an enforcement action pursuant to these provisions, a licensee is liable for the acts and omissions of its officers and employees. Existing law authorizes the establishment of a fund and authorizes deposit of up to 50% of the revenue from these civil penalties into this fund, to be utilized, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of relocation and care of residents when a facility's license is revoked or temporarily suspended. This bill would, instead, establish the Emergency Resident Relocation Fund and would require deposit of 50% of the revenue from these civil penalties into the fund to be used for these purposes, upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would require the department, by January 1, 2016, to amend its regulations to accommodate changes in these provision made by this bill.
Sponsored bills
Existing law establishes the practices and procedures for the issuance of an original or a renewal of a driver's license. The federal Military Selective Service Act (federal act) requires specified persons to register with the federal Selective Service System. This bill would require a person who is required to be registered under the federal act and who submits an application for an original or a renewal of a driver's license to be deemed to have consented to registration with the federal Selective Service System, as provided. The bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to include specified notices on an application for an original or renewal of a driver's license and would require the department to forward the necessary personal information required for registration to the federal Selective Service System in an electronic format. The bill would make its provisions operative on January 1, 2016.
(1) Existing law, as amended by Proposition 83, the Sexual Predator Punishment and Control Act (Jessica's Law) , approved by the voters at the November 7, 2006, statewide general election, provides that a defendant shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for 25 years to life if convicted of certain crimes, including rape, sexual penetration, sodomy, oral copulation, continuous sexual abuse of a child, or rape, spousal rape, or sexual penetration in concert, if certain circumstances were present, including, among other things, in the commission of that offense, any person kidnapped the victim, tortured the victim, or committed the offense during the commission of a burglary, as specified. Existing law further provides that a defendant shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for 15 years to life if convicted of certain crimes, including rape, sexual penetration, sodomy, oral copulation, continuous sexual abuse of a child, or rape, spousal rape, or sexual penetration in concert, if certain circumstances were present, including, among other things, in the commission of that offense any person, except as specified in the provisions above, kidnapped the victim, committed the offense during the commission of a burglary, or used a dangerous or deadly weapon in the commission of the offense. Proposition 83 provides that the Legislature may amend the provisions of the act to expand the scope of their application or increase the punishment or penalties by a statute passed by a majority vote of each house. This bill would add the crimes of rape, sexual penetration, sodomy, and oral copulation, perpetrated against a person who is incapable, because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, of giving legal consent, to the above provisions, if the victim is developmentally disabled, as defined. By applying the above enhancements to these crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law provides that a defendant shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for 25 years to life if convicted of certain crimes, including rape, spousal rape or sexual penetration in concert, sexual penetration, sodomy, or oral copulation if certain circumstances were present, including, among other things, in the commission of that offense any person kidnapped the victim, committed the offense during the commission of a burglary, or used a dangerous or deadly weapon in the commission of the offense, or under other specified circumstances, and the crime was committed against a minor 14 years of age or older. This bill would add the crimes of rape, sexual penetration, sodomy, and oral copulation, perpetrated against a person who is incapable, because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, of giving legal consent, to the above provisions, if the victim is developmentally disabled, as defined. By applying the above enhancements to these crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires that a person who commits certain enumerated crimes, including rape, sodomy, oral copulation, and sexual penetration, against a person who is 65 years of age or older, or against a person who is blind, deaf, developmentally disabled, a paraplegic, or a quadriplegic, or against a person who is under 14 years of age, receive a one-year sentence enhancement and requires that any person having a prior conviction for any of the enumerated offenses receive a 2-year sentence enhancement. This bill would add to the enumerated list of crimes rape, sodomy, oral copulation, and sexual penetration, perpetrated against a person who is incapable, because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, of giving legal consent. By applying the above enhancements to these crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) 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.
Existing law authorizes a warrant of arrest, issued by a magistrate pursuant to a specific statute, to be substantially in a specified form. This bill would change all references in the specified form from magistrate to judge.
This measure urges the President of the United States of America to use his executive powers to call for the release of Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi from prison in Mexico.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing state board regulations require specified entities to comply with a market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2013, and require additional specified entities to comply with that market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2015. This bill instead would exempt categories of persons or entities that did not have a compliance obligation, as defined, under a market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2013, from being subject to that market-based compliance mechanism through December 31, 2020. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, authorizes the State Department of Developmental Services to contract with regional centers to provide services and support to individuals with developmental disabilities. Existing law requires habilitation services to be provided to an adult who receives services for the developmentally disabled when he or she satisfies specified eligibility requirements. If a consumer is referred for vocational rehabilitation services and placed on a waiting list for certain reasons, the regional center is required to authorize appropriate services for the consumer until services can be provided by the vocational rehabilitation program. Existing law requires providers of individualized or group-supported employment services to be paid at an hourly rate of $30.82, and requires an interim program provider to be paid a fee of $360 or $720, as specified. This bill would increase the hourly rate paid to providers of individualized and group-supported employment services to $34.24, and increase the fees paid to interim program providers to $400 and $800, respectively.
(1) Existing law establishes the Agricultural Career Technical Education Incentive Program, which requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to award a grant, for the purpose of purchasing or leasing agricultural career technical education equipment, to an applicant school district that operates an agricultural career technical education program and that meets specified requirements. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district to annually adopt or update a local control and accountability plan that contains specified information. This bill would continuously appropriate the sum of $4,134,000 in each fiscal year beginning with the 2015–16 fiscal year from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for purposes of funding the Agricultural Career Technical Education Incentive Program. The bill would require the Superintendent to award a grant to a school district that, in addition to meeting the existing requirements, demonstrates how the expenditure of the grant funds will be consistent with its adopted local control and accountability plan. The bill would also express various findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to agricultural career technical education. (2) Funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.
The Corporation Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, and before January 1, 2020, would allow a credit against the taxes imposed under that law for 50% of monetary contributions to qualified K-College education scholarship organizations, as defined, to fund qualified K-College education scholarships, as defined. The bill would provide that the credit would not exceed $200,000 per taxpayer, that the credit would be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, and that the credit would have an aggregate cap of $10,000,000 for each calendar year. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board and the State Department of Education to administer the credit, as specified. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, and before January 1, 2020, allow a credit in the amount of 20% of the monetary contributions made to a qualified tuition program, as defined, by a qualified taxpayer, as defined, not to exceed $500. This bill would provide for the payment of a credit amount in excess of tax liability upon an appropriation by the Legislature for that purpose. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.