Existing law appropriates the sum of $663,287,000 for the 2015–16 fiscal year from the State Highway Account to the Department of Transportation for Capital Outlay Support. 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 reduce the $663,287,000 appropriation for Capital Outlay Support by $500 million, and would appropriate $500 million from the State Highway Account for the 2015–16 fiscal year, 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 formula for street and road purposes.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the Medical Waste Management Act, regulates the disposal of medical waste, including requiring medical waste to be treated by specified methods prior to disposal, including incineration in a controlled-air, multichamber incinerator, or other method of incineration approved by the State Department of Public Health that provides complete combustion of the waste into carbonized or mineralized ash. This bill would include among those authorized treatment methods any alternative medical waste treatment solely designed to treat pharmaceutical waste, including a pharmaceutical incinerator, as defined, and would require this method to be evaluated and approved by the State Department of Public Health. The bill would require the department to complete the first evaluation of these alternative medical waste treatments by June 1, 2017, and would require the department to consult with specified entities, including the Department of Toxic Substances Control and the State Air Resources Board, in the evaluation to ensure compliance with all other applicable environmental quality laws. The bill would authorize a law enforcement agency that operates a prescription drug takeback program to utilize a pharmaceutical incinerator up to 4 times per year if the incinerator is evaluated and approved by the department and complies with all other applicable federal and state laws and local ordinances.
Existing law prohibits a law enforcement official, as defined, from detaining an individual on the basis of a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold after that individual becomes eligible for release from custody, unless, at the time that the individual becomes eligible for release from custody, certain conditions are met, including, among other things, that the continued detention of the individual on the basis of the immigration hold would not violate any federal, state, or local law, or local policy, and that the individual has been convicted of, or arrested for, specified crimes. This bill would instead require a law enforcement official to detain an individual on the basis of a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold for up to 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, after that individual becomes eligible for release from custody if that individual has been convicted of, or arrested for, specified crimes and if the continued detention of the individual on the basis of the immigration hold would not violate any federal law. By imposing additional duties on local law enforcement officers, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require a local agency that violates these provisions to pay a fine of $100,000, to be collected by the Attorney General, and would allow the Attorney General to commence a civil action to enforce the fine. The bill would require proceeds of the fine to be deposited in the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. By increasing deposits to be made to a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. 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 requires the Department of Transportation to authorize the placement of vending machines in safety roadside rests, except as specified, and requires the department to give preference in the placement of those vending machines to vendors operating under the Business Enterprises Program for the Blind. Existing law requires the department to determine the costs for specified activities, including any maintenance and operation, related to the vending machines and requires that the department be reimbursed for those costs from the revenues derived from the operation of the machines. This bill would prohibit the department from being reimbursed for utility costs incurred by vendors operating under the Business Enterprises Program for the Blind and would require the department to pay for those utility costs using state funds.
This measure would designate a portion of State Highway Route 44 in the City of Redding as the Richard "Dick" Dickerson Memorial Highway. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.
This measure would urge each University of California campus to adopt a resolution condemning all forms of anti-Semitism and racism, and would condemn any act of anti-Semitism at all publicly funded schools in the State of California.
This measure would state the Legislature's support for the memorandum of understanding for strategic partnerships for joint innovation, exchanges, and cooperation between California and Israel.