Asm. Lorena Gonzalez

Existing law establishes the California Health and Human Services Agency. The agency includes various departments that administer social services in this state, including the State Department of Social Services. Existing federal law provides for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing state law authorizes a county to deliver CalFresh benefits through the use of an electronic benefits transfer (EBT) system. This bill would require the California Health and Human Services Agency to designate the appropriate agency or agencies to design and implement the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children (SEBTC) to provide nutrition assistance benefits to eligible households. The bill would require that the system be compatible with the state's electronic benefits transfer system, comply with federal laws and regulations, and comply with privacy and confidentiality procedures consistent with all applicable state and federal law. The bill would require, among other things, the Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency to designate the appropriate state agency which would be required to request or apply for federal approval or authorization necessary to implement and operate SEBTC. The bill would also require each agency to request or apply for all available federal funding to implement and operate SEBTC. The bill would require the secretary to notify in a timely manner the appropriate head of each agency that is required to request or apply for federal approval or authorization so as to permit the agency or agencies sufficient time to complete the process. The bill would provide that the provision of SEBTC benefits to eligible households is contingent upon federal funding for this purpose. The bill would also include a statement of legislative findings and declarations.

(1) Existing law, the State Civil Service Act, provides for filling certain state positions through the process of examinations and the establishment of eligible lists and promotional lists. Existing law requires the Department of Human Resources to administer the Personnel Classification Plan of the State of California, including the allocation of every position to the appropriate class in the classification plan. Existing law requires the Department of Human Resources to administer the Limited Examination and Appointment Program (LEAP) to provide an alternative to the traditional civil service examination and appointment process to facilitate the hiring of persons with disabilities in state civil service. Existing law requires the department to conduct competitive examinations to determine eligibility for appointment under LEAP and to refer the names of eligible applicants who meet the minimum qualifications of a job classification to the appointing powers for examination appointments, as specified. Existing law authorizes the Employment Development Department to contract with a specified nonprofit organization meeting specified criteria to manage grant programs designed to help eligible at-risk youth complete their secondary education and acquire the skills necessary to successfully transition into the workforce or enroll in postsecondary education. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations regarding the state's responsibility for the well-being of foster youth and former foster youth. The bill, until January 1, 2020, would require the Department of Human Resources to establish an emancipated foster youth program to promote the training of qualified foster youth in specified entry-level unclassified positions for their eventual hiring in classified positions within Sacramento with any state agency or department as determined by the department. The bill would require a participant in the program to pass a written examination for the classification in which he or she is trained, if generally required for applicants in that classification, after 3 months, but before 9 months, of training. (2) Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state, and authorizes local educational agencies throughout the state to operate schools and provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law establishes the Consolidated Work Program Fund in the State Treasury for the receipt of all moneys deposited pursuant to the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Existing law provides that moneys in the fund are to be made available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Employment Development Department, for expenditure consistent with the purposes of the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and the state plan required by the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. This bill would require the Sacramento County Office of Education to develop and administer the Foster Youth Job Readiness Training Pilot Program with moneys appropriated by the Legislature for that purpose. The bill would appropriate $1,100,000 from the Consolidated Work Program Fund to the Sacramento County Office of Education to develop an application and create criteria for selecting eligible organizations to provide job readiness training to eligible participants. The bill would require the Sacramento County Office of Education to award grants to selected eligible organizations to pay for trainers to provide job readiness training to eligible participants and to provide a stipend to eligible participants who satisfy specified conditions. The bill would require the Sacramento County Office of Education to compile information regarding participation in the program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2020. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Sacramento County Office of Education. 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 provides for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of specified types of crimes by the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for specified losses suffered as a result of those crimes. Existing law sets forth eligibility requirements and specified limits on the amount of compensation the board may award, and requires applications for compensation to be verified under penalty of perjury. This bill would create the San Diego County Elder or Dependent Adult Financial Abuse Crime Victim Compensation Pilot Program and would authorize the board, upon appropriation by the Legislature before January 1, 2019, to provide victims of elder or dependent adult financial abuse compensation to reimburse costs for financial counseling, mental health counseling, or supportive services, as specified, if the crime occurred in the County of San Diego. The bill would limit compensation pursuant to this authorization to $3,000 per person and an aggregate total of $1,000,000. The bill would exclude a derivative victim from eligibility for compensation if the only crime the victim suffered was elder or dependent adult financial abuse. The bill would authorize the pilot program to operate until January 1, 2020. The bill would require the board to report specified information related to the pilot program to the Legislature and Governor on or before July 1, 2020. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2021. This bill would make related legislative findings and declarations, including findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute enacting a pilot program in the County of San Diego. 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, the Child Care and Development Services Act, 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 adopt rules and regulations on eligibility, enrollment, and priority of services needed to implement the act. The act, and regulations adopted pursuant to the act, set forth eligibility requirements for families to receive federal and state subsidized child development services and impose various time limits for receipt of services and recertification for continued services. This bill would require that a family, upon establishing initial eligibility or ongoing eligibility for services under the act, be considered to meet all eligibility requirements for those services for not less than 12 months, receive those services for not less than 12 months before having their eligibility redetermined, and not be required to report changes to income or other changes for at least 12 months, except as provided. The bill would revise the definition of "income eligible" and provide that the definition applies for purposes of establishing initial income eligibility for services under the act, and would add a definition of "ongoing income eligible" for purposes of establishing ongoing income eligibility for services under the act. The bill would, except as provided, prohibit a payment made by a child development program for a child, during the period between a family's most recent eligibility determination or redetermination and its next eligibility redetermination, from being considered an error or an improper payment due to a change in the family's circumstances during that same period. The bill would, notwithstanding specified law, authorize the State Department of Education to implement this provision through management bulletins or similar letters of instruction until regulations are filed with the Secretary of State to implement the provision. The bill would require the department to initiate a rulemaking action to implement the provision on or before December 31, 2017. The bill would require the department, before initiating this rulemaking action, to convene a workgroup of parents, advocates, department staff, child development program representatives, and other stakeholders to develop recommendations regarding implementing the provision. The bill would repeal certain provisions that impose time limits for services under the act and a provision that authorizes the Superintendent to grant an extension of services, as specified. The bill would make other conforming changes.

Existing law establishes the Fair and Exposition Fund to, among other things, allocate moneys for the support of the network of California fairs. The balance of moneys in that fund, after appropriation by the Legislature for specified oversight and auditing costs, are continuously appropriated for capital outlay for specified fair projects. Existing sales and use laws impose taxes on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state measured by sales price, and requires that revenues, less refunds, derived from a specified rate of that tax be transferred to specified funds and then the balance to the General Fund. This bill would require a tax return filed for the purposes of the Sales and Use Tax Law to segregate the gross receipts of the seller and the sales price of the property on a form prescribed by the State Board of Equalization when the place of sale or use in this state is on or within the real property of a state-designated fair, as defined, which excludes any fair located in the County of Los Angeles, or any real property of a state-designated fair that is leased to another party. The bill would require, except as specified, that 30% of all revenues, less refunds and costs of administration, derived from those segregated sales and use tax amounts that would have been deposited into the General Fund instead be deposited into the Fair and Exposition Fund and continuously appropriated for allocation by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture for specified fair projects and subject to certain conditions. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2022.

Under the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013, the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, administers specific programs relating to small business, either administered directly by the bank or under contract with small business financial development corporations. The act authorizes bank programs to offer surety bond guarantees. The act prohibits a corporation from guaranteeing any loan unless and until it makes specified determinations, including that there is a low probability that the surety bond would be granted by a financial institution or financial company under reasonable terms or conditions, and the beneficiary has demonstrated a reasonable prospect of successful completion of the project. This bill would modify that prohibition to refer to a surety bond instead of a loan and would add private bonding companies to those entities considered when calculating the probability that a surety bond would be granted. The act, in addition to the authority described above, authorizes a corporation to act as a guarantor on a surety bond for any small business contractor, including, but not limited to, women, minority, and disabled veteran contractors. This bill would expand those entities for which a corporation may act as a guarantor on a surety bond to include disadvantaged business enterprise contractors. The bill would require a surety bond program to include technical assistance to a participating contractor, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the bank, in implementing a surety bond program under the act, to assign all or part of the program to another state entity in a prescribed manner, to establish one or more pilot projects before approving directives and guidelines for a statewide surety bond and small contractor assistance program, and to establish one or more nonstate contracts under specific circumstances. The act continues in existence the California Small Business Expansion Fund (expansion fund) , a continuously appropriated fund that includes General Fund moneys. The expansion fund may be used to pay defaulted loan guarantee or surety bond losses, or other financial product defaults or losses, to fund direct loans and other debt instruments, to pay administrative costs of corporations, to pay state support and administrative costs, and to pay costs to protect a real property interest in a financial product default. By expanding the activities of the bank that are funded by continuous appropriation from the expansion fund, this bill would make an appropriation.

Existing law establishes a statewide system of courts with a superior court of one or more judges in each county. Existing law authorizes the Judicial Council to prescribe the methods, means, and standards for electronic collection of data related to court administration, practice, and procedure. This bill would require the Judicial Council to report to the Legislature on a study of veterans and veterans treatment courts that includes a statewide assessment, as specified, of veterans treatment courts currently in operation and a survey of counties that do not operate veterans treatment courts that identifies barriers to program implementation and assesses the need for veterans treatment courts in those counties, if funds are received for that purpose. The bill would require the Judicial Council to report to the Legislature on the results of the study, as specified, on or before June 1, 2019. The bill would create the Veterans Court Assessment Fund in the State Treasury, administered by the Judicial Council, and would authorize the fund to accept private donations, as specified. The bill would appropriate specified sums from the Veterans Court Assessment Fund and from the General Fund for the purpose of conducting the study and report.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law requires the board of governors to appoint a chief executive officer, to be known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. This bill would establish the Veteran Resource Centers Grant Program, which would authorize the governing board of a community college district and a community college campus at which a veterans resource center has been or is intended to be established to jointly apply to the chancellor for a grant for purposes of providing resources to veterans and active duty members of the Armed Forces of the United States enrolled at the campus. The bill would establish the Veteran Resource Centers Grant Fund in the State Treasury. The bill would allocate moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, to the chancellor for, among other things, administration of the program and distribution of awards to recipient community college districts and campuses. The bill would repeal the program on January 1, 2023.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, and the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Each of these segments is authorized to provide instruction and other services to the students who attend the institutions under their respective jurisdictions. Existing law also authorizes the governing board of a school district to provide for the transportation of pupils to and from school whenever in the judgment of the board the transportation is advisable and good reasons exist to do so. This bill would establish the Transit Pass Program to be administered by the Department of Transportation with moneys made available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to support transit pass programs that provide free or reduced-fare transit passes to specified pupils and students. The bill would require the department to develop guidelines that describe the criteria that eligible transit providers are required to use to make available free or reduced-fare transit passes to eligible participants. The bill would exempt those guidelines from the Administrative Procedure Act. The bill would require eligible transit providers and eligible participants to enter into agreements for the distribution of free or reduced-fare transit passes to students. This bill would require that the guidelines ensure that moneys from the program are used to expand eligibility or further reduce the cost of a transit pass under existing programs. The bill would require the department to develop performance measures and reporting requirements to evaluate the effectiveness of the program, including an annual update of the number of free or reduced-fare transit passes distributed to pupils and students and whether the program is increasing transit ridership among pupils and students. The bill would set a minimum allocation of $20,000 for each eligible transit provider and would provide for the distribution and allocation of remaining Transit Pass Program moneys by formula to eligible transit providers. The bill would require, for purposes of determining an eligible transit provider's eligibility for moneys distributed to a transportation planning agency from the Public Transportation Account, that free or discounted transit fare passes be calculated at their full retail value.