Asm. Lorena Gonzalez

(1) Under existing law, when the Department of Motor Vehicles determines that an applicant is lawfully entitled to a driver's license, the department is required to issue that license to the applicant. Existing law specifies the contents of a driver's license and requires the application for a driver's license or identification card to contain a space for an applicant to indicate whether he or she has served in the Armed Forces of the United States and to give his or her consent to be contacted regarding eligibility to receive state or federal veterans' benefits. This bill would, commencing November 11, 2015, allow an applicant for a driver's license or identification card to allow a person to request the driver's license or identification card be printed with the word "VETERAN." The applicant would be required to present to the Department of Motor Vehicles, on a form developed jointly by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Motor Vehicles, proof of veteran status. The bill would require county veterans service offices to verify an applicant's veteran status for these purposes, as specified. The department would be required to print the word "VETERAN" on the face of a driver's license or identification card issued to a person who makes that request and presents that verification to the department. (2) Existing law establishes certain fee amounts for the applications for, and renewal of, driver's licenses and identification cards. This bill would authorize the department to charge an additional fee in an unspecified amount to a person who requests that the person's driver's license or identification card be designated as provided above.

Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources, in conjunction with other public agencies, to conduct an investigation of the state's groundwater basins and to report its findings to the Governor and the Legislature not later than January 1, 2012, and thereafter in years ending in 5 or 0. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change in these provisions.

Existing law requires the State Department of Education to ensure that the nutrition levels of meals served to schoolage children pursuant to the federal National School Lunch Act be of the highest quality and greatest nutritional value possible. This bill would establish the Farm to School Program within the Department of Food and Agriculture, to provide for the allocation of grants and technical assistance to school districts and county offices of education for specified purposes, including serving healthy meals in school cafeterias. The bill would authorize the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to distribute grants of up to $5,000 per schoolsite to eligible school districts and county offices of education for specified purposes, including, among others, food literacy education. The bill would require a school district or county office of education that receives a grant pursuant to those provisions to comply with specified reporting requirements. The bill would require the secretary to convene an interagency working group on increasing the provision of fresh and nutritious school meals to pupils that includes representatives of the Department of Food and Agriculture, the State Department of Education, and the State Department of Public Health. The bill would make the implementation of the Farm to School Program contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature for those purposes.

(1) Existing law, the California Coastal Act of 1976, provides for the planning and regulation of a development and requires any person undertaking development in the coastal zone to obtain a coastal development permit issued by the California Coastal Commission in accordance with prescribed procedures. This bill would require a city or county, including a charter city or charter county, to apply for a coastal development permit to remove or restrict the use of a beach fire ring, as defined, and would require that application to include specified information. The bill would not affect the applicability of a specified provision relating to ambient air quality standards, emission standards, or air pollution control programs or facilities established by the State Air Resources Board or an air pollution control or air quality management district. The bill would not prohibit the City of Newport Beach from distributing charcoal free of charge for use in a beach fire ring within 700 feet of a residence. By increasing the duties of local officials with respect to the California Coastal Act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) The bill would declare these provisions to be declaratory of existing law. (3) 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 establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools maintained and operated by local educational agencies throughout the state. Existing law establishes a system of public postsecondary education in this state, consisting of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California. The University of California administers Student Academic Preparation and Educational Partnerships with the goal of raising student achievement levels generally and to close achievement gaps among groups of students from kindergarten to the postgraduate level. Existing programs within the Student Academic Preparation and Educational Partnerships (SAPEP) include the Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP) , the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program, and the Puente program. This bill would express legislative intent to provide increased financial support for SAPEP programs and to make it easier for SAPEP students to meet their educational goals. (2) This bill would appropriate $82,243,000 from the General Fund to the Regents of the University of California for allocation, without regard to fiscal year, to Student Academic Preparation and Educational Partnerships. The bill would further provide that, of the amount appropriated under this provision, an unspecified amount would be allocated to the Puente program.

Existing law requires the Instructional Quality Commission to recommend, and the State Board of Education to adopt, curriculum frameworks, as provided. Existing law defines "curriculum framework" as an outline of the components of a given course of study designed to provide state direction to school districts in the provision of instructional programs. Existing law prohibits the state board from adopting instructional materials until the 2015–16 school year, except as provided. This bill would require the commission to consider incorporating computer science curriculum content into the mathematics, science, history-social science, and English language arts/English language development curriculum frameworks, as it deems appropriate, when those frameworks are next revised. The bill would require computer science curriculum to focus on foundational concepts in computer science by integrating basic skills in technology with simple ideas about computational thinking, communication, and collaboration, and being responsible citizens in a changing digital world, as specified. The bill would require the commission to consult with classroom teachers and school administrators to ensure the age-appropriateness of the computer science curriculum. If computer science curriculum content is incorporated into the curriculum frameworks at their next revision, the bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to identify and post on the State Department of Education's Internet Web site professional development resources for teaching computer science curriculum content. The bill would require its provisions to be implemented in a manner that does not result in new duties or programs being imposed on local educational agencies, as specified.

(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 grants specified persons, including laborers, as defined, who contribute labor, skill, or services to a work of improvement the right to record a mechanic's lien upon the property so improved. Under existing law, when an employer fails to pay wages due, the employee has the right to file a claim against his or her employer, or former employer, with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which is authorized to conduct investigations, hold hearings, and impose fines and penalties for nonpayment of wages. This bill would enact the California Wage Theft Recovery Act to authorize specified employees to request that the Labor Commissioner record, on his or her behalf, a wage lien upon real and personal property of an employer, or a property owner, as specified, for unpaid wages and other compensation owed the employee, and certain other penalties, interest, and costs. The bill would prescribe requirements relating to the recording and enforcement of the wage lien and for its extinguishment and removal. The bill would require a notice of lien on real property to be executed under penalty of perjury.The bill would authorize the employer or property owner to use a procedure to release the notice of lien or reduce the amount of the lien if the employer makes specified contentions, and would require a specific certification under the procedure to be made under penalty of perjury. The bill would also require the Department of Industrial Relations to issue a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2019, on the effect of these provisions, as specified. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, 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.

(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 grants the Department of Transportation the full possession and control of all state highways, and authorizes the department to construct all state highways. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to these provisions.