This measure would proclaim June 2015 as California-Grown Flower Month to recognize and honor the men and women of the California-grown flower industry for their dedication and productivity.
Sponsored bills
This measure would designate the interchange of Interstate Routes 80 and 505 in the County of Solano as the Lieutenant Colonel James C. Warren Memorial Interchange. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost for appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.
This measure would encourage the State Department of Health Care Services, the State Department of Public Health, and other state entities to partner with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) stakeholders to improve education regarding COPD in the course of implementing a specified COPD statewide strategic plan. This measure would also designate November 2015 as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Awareness Month in California and encourage public officials and the citizens of California to increase awareness of the symptoms of, and the methods of preventing, COPD.
Existing civil law makes a person who commits a sexual battery, as defined, upon another liable to that person for damages and authorizes a court to award equitable relief, as specified. Existing civil law provides that he or she who consents to an act is not wronged by it. This bill would prohibit consent from being a defense in any sexual battery civil action if the person committing the sexual battery is a specified adult who is in a position of authority and is able to exercise undue influence, as defined, over the minor. Under existing law, in any civil action alleging conduct which constitutes sexual harassment, sexual assault, or sexual battery, opinion evidence, reputation evidence, and evidence of specific instances of plaintiff's sexual conduct, or any of that evidence, is not admissible by the defendant in order to prove consent by the plaintiff or the absence of injury to the plaintiff. Existing law requires specified procedures to be followed in any civil action alleging conduct constituting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or sexual battery if evidence of sexual conduct of the plaintiff is offered to attack the credibility of the plaintiff, as specified. Existing law authorizes the court in its discretion to exclude evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the probability that its admission will either necessitate undue consumption of time or create substantial danger of undue prejudice, confusing the issues, or misleading the jury. This bill, in any sexual battery civil action involving a minor and an adult who is in a position of authority as described above, would prohibit evidence of the plaintiff minor's sexual conduct with the defendant adult from being admissible to prove consent by the plaintiff or the absence of injury to the plaintiff. The bill would authorize such evidence of the plaintiff's sexual conduct to be introduced only to attack the credibility of the plaintiff or to prove something other than consent by the plaintiff if, upon a hearing of the court out of the presence of the jury, the defendant proves that the probative value of that evidence outweighs the prejudice to the plaintiff, as specified.
Existing law requires a vehicle to be driven on the right half of a roadway, subject to specified exceptions. On a highway that has been divided into 2 or more roadways by means of intermittent barriers or by means of specified kinds of dividing sections, existing law makes it unlawful to drive a vehicle on that highway, except to the right of the intermittent barrier or dividing section that separates 2 or more opposing lanes of traffic. This bill would require the Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Department of the California Highway Patrol, to update a 1989 report on wrong-way driving on state highways to account for technological advancements and innovation, to include a review of methods studied or implemented by other jurisdictions and entities to prevent wrong-way drivers from entering state highways, and to provide a preliminary version of the report to specified legislative committees on or before December 1, 2015, and the final report on or before July 1, 2016. The bill would require the report to identify any additional treatments and technologies with the potential to reduce the number of instances of wrong-way driving on state highways and to include a plan to incorporate those treatments and technologies into the Department of Transportation's wrong way monitoring and mitigation program. The bill would make related findings and declarations. The bill would provide that its provisions are repealed as of January 1, 2021. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing property tax law establishes a veterans' organization exemption under which property is exempt from taxation if, among other things, that property is used exclusively for charitable purposes and is owned by a veterans' organization. This bill would provide that the veterans' organization exemption shall not be denied to a property on the basis that the property is used for fraternal, lodge, or social club purposes, and would make specific findings and declarations in that regard. The bill would also provide that the exemption shall not apply to any portion of a property that consists of a bar where alcoholic beverages are served. Section 2229 of the Revenue and Taxation Code requires the Legislature to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2229 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The California Airport District Act provides for creation of airport districts having responsibility for the development of airports, spaceports, and air navigation facilities within or including the territories of one or more counties or cities. This bill would authorize the City of Ontario to issue revenue bonds, for the purpose of financing the acquisition of the Ontario International Airport from the City of Los Angeles, that are secured solely by the revenues and charges at the Ontario International Airport. The bill would require a public agency that acquires the Ontario International Airport to comply with specified conditions relating to incumbent workers, except as provided.
This measure would proclaim and acknowledge the month of June 2015 and June of every year thereafter as Elder and Vulnerable Adult Abuse Awareness Month.