Sen. Bob Wieckowski

Existing federal law allows deductions from gross income for attorney fees and court costs in connection with an action involving a claim of specified provisions. The End Double Taxation of Successful Civil Claims Act would allow deductions from gross income for attorney fees and court costs in connection with any action. This measure would urge the Congress and the President of the United States to enact the End Double Taxation of Successful Civil Claims Act.

Existing law establishes in state government the Transportation Agency, which includes various departments and state entities, including the California Transportation Commission. The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 establishes a comprehensive transportation funding program by increasing fuel taxes and imposing certain vehicle fees. The act allocates revenues from those sources to various transportation programs, including, among others, to the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program, which the act created to address deferred maintenance on the state highway system and the local street and road system. This bill would require the Transportation Agency to oversee the development and implementation of a comprehensive one-stop reporting interface available to the public through an internet website maintained by the agency. The bill would require the interface to provide timely fiscal information regarding the development and implementation status of each transportation program or project funded, at least in part, by revenues from the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.

(1) Existing law requires a person engaged in a trade or business who negotiates primarily in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, or Korean, before entering into specified contracts or agreements, to deliver to the other party a translation of the contract or agreement in the language in which the contract or agreement was negotiated, including a loan or extension of credit secured other than by real property, or unsecured, for use primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. This bill would specify that "loan or extension of credit" includes a contract or agreement to finance or secure a bail bond or immigration bond for the release of a detained individual. (2) Existing law, the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, makes unlawful certain acts identified as unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices undertaken by a person in a transaction for the sale or lease of goods or services to a consumer, and defines "services" and "consumer" for purposes of those provisions. This bill would include within the definition of "services" the securing or financing of a bail bond or immigration bond for the release of an individual from detention and would define "consumer" to include an individual who, for the purpose of their release or another person's release from detention, seeks or acquires services to finance or secure a bail bond or immigration bond. (3) Existing law, the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, prohibits debt collectors from engaging in unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the collection of consumer debts and defines "consumer debt" and "consumer credit" for purposes of that act. This bill would include within the definition of "consumer debt" money owing from a transaction for services to finance or secure a bail bond or immigration bond for the release of a detained individual. (4) Existing law requires a creditor to deliver to a person a specified notice before the person is obligated on a consumer credit contract, and defines "consumer credit contract" for those purposes to include loans or extensions of credit secured by other than real property, or unsecured, for use primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. This bill would specify that "loans or extensions of credit" includes an agreement or contract between an individual and another party to finance or secure a bail bond or immigration bond for the release of an individual from detention. (5) This bill would declare that the changes are declaratory of existing law and would make a legislative finding to that effect.

This measure would proclaim January 26, 2020, as India Republic Day, and would urge all Californians to join in celebrating India Republic Day.

Existing law requires litter receptacles to be placed in all public places in the state, as specified, and provides that any person owning or operating any establishment or public place in which litter receptacles are required to be placed shall procure, place, and maintain those receptacles at that person's own expense on the premises. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

Existing federal law establishes the federal Pell Grant Program under Title IV of the federal Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide need-based grant awards to low-income students in order to promote access to postsecondary education. Existing law, known as the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, establishes, among other programs, the Cal Grant B program and the Cal Grant C program under the administration of the Student Aid Commission and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under those programs. This bill, beginning with the 2020–21 academic year, would require an institution of higher education, as a condition of its participation in the Cal Grant Program, to implement a financial aid book advance program that would provide a line of credit for the purchase of books and educational materials at bookstores owned by or located on the campus of the institution to each student who is owed a credit balance for certain financial aid awards and who has not opted out of the program. The bill would provide for a reduction in the amount of the award moneys disbursed to the student based upon the amount of credit expended by the student at the institution's bookstores and would provide for reimbursement to the institution's bookstores for that amount. The bill would exempt from these requirements an institution that does not have a bookstore and an institution that provides its students with all of their financial aid award moneys that the institution disburses on or before the 7th day of the academic semester or term.

(1) Existing law, the Used Mattress Recovery and Recycling Act, requires a mattress recycling organization, comprised of manufacturers of mattresses sold in the state, to develop and submit to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery for approval a plan, including a budget to implement the plan, for the recovery and recycling of used mattresses. The act requires the organization to submit annual reports to the department and subjects the organization to audits, if necessary. The act requires the organization to reimburse the department for costs for implementing and enforcing the act. Under the act, a retailer is prohibited from selling, distributing, or offering for sale a mattress in the state unless the retailer is in compliance with the act, and a manufacturer, renovator, or distributor is prohibited from selling, offering for sale, or importing a mattress, or selling or distributing a mattress to a distributor or retailer, unless the manufacturer, renovator, or distributor is in compliance with the act. A violation of the act may be subject to an administrative civil penalty. This bill would require distributors of beverage containers in the state to form a beverage container stewardship organization. The organization would be required to develop and submit a plan and budget for the recovery and recycling of empty beverage containers similar to that described in the Used Mattress Recovery and Recycling Act, and would require the organization to establish a stewardship fee, to be paid by distributor members of the organization, to assist in covering the costs of implementing the program. The act would require the organization to reimburse the department for the department's costs of enforcement. The bill would impose similar administrative civil penalties for a violation of these provisions. (2) The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, which is administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, is established to promote beverage container recycling, and provides for the payment, collection, and distribution of certain payments and fees based on minimum refund values established for beverage containers. The act requires the department to annually designate convenience zones statewide and requires at least one certified recycling center or location within every convenience zone, as defined, that accepts all types of empty beverage containers and pays the refund value, if any, at one location. The act authorizes the Director of Resources Recycling and Recovery to exempt, if certain conditions are met, an individual convenience zone from the requirement that it have at least one certified recycling center or location and limits the total number of exemptions the director may grant to 35% of the total number of convenience zones identified pursuant to the act. For purposes of the act, "supermarket" is defined as a full-line, self-service retail store with gross annual sales of $2,000,000, or more, and that sells specified food items. A violation of the act is an infraction. This bill, for purposes of defining a "supermarket," would increase the minimum gross annual sales to $4,000,000 and make conforming changes. The bill, until December 31, 2023, would increase the limit on the total number of exemptions the director may grant to 50%. (3) This bill, commencing January 1, 2024, would revise and recast the provisions of the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, which would be renamed the Beverage Container Recycling Program, and would include wine and distilled spirits as beverages under the program. The bill would specify a refund value for beverage containers and would require the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to provide recommendations to the Legislature on ways to increase the aggregate recycling rate if the recycling rate for beverage containers drops below a certain threshold. The bill would require the beverage container stewardship organization, as a part of its stewardship plan described above, to establish processes for the payment and collection of minimum refund values by the organization. The bill would require the organization to, among other things, designate convenience zones in the state to provide for the convenient redemption of beverage containers by consumers, establish an incentive payment to be paid by the organization to recycling centers for empty beverage containers redeemed by the recycling center, establish a payment to be paid by the organization to a processor to help ensure the processor, recycling center, or dropoff or collection program is not operating at a loss, establish procedures and funding for the recycling of empty beverage containers collected pursuant to curbside collection programs, and establish procedures for a consumer to redeem empty beverage containers if no certified recycling center is established in a convenience zone. By increasing the scope of various crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the beverage container stewardship organization to retain refund values not redeemed and to use those moneys for the administration of the beverage container stewardship program and for specified purposes relating to the recycling of beverage containers. The bill would repeal certain annual disbursements that are made by the department under the act, and would limit moneys received by the department under the program to penalties for violating these provisions and charges to fund the department's administration of the program. (4) This bill would also update cross references and make other clarifying and conforming changes. (5) 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 establishes a system of public elementary and secondary education in this state that includes, among other local educational agencies, school districts. School districts are generally divided into 3 types: unified school districts, high school districts, and elementary school districts. Existing law authorizes the reorganization of school districts pursuant to specified procedures. Existing law provides that an action to reorganize one or more school districts is initiated upon the filing with the county superintendent of schools of a petition to reorganize one or more school districts, and defines an "action to reorganize districts" as either an action to form a new school district, as specified, or an action to transfer territory, including the transfer of all or part of an existing school district to another existing school district. This bill would prohibit a reorganization from converting any of the territory of a unified school district into territory of a school district of a different kind and would make conforming changes. This bill would require the State Department of Education to prepare a detailed plan for a transition so that, as of July 1, 2025, all school districts existing in the state on that date would be unified school districts if the plan were enacted into law. The bill would require the plan to specify all of the district changes that would be necessary to accomplish the transition. The bill would also specify several topics, including certain geographic, academic, and financial factors, as well as the ethnic composition of pupils enrolled in the districts, that the department would be required to consider in preparing the plan. The bill would require the department to submit the plan, along with pertinent findings and recommendations, in the form of a written report to the chairpersons of the education policy committees of the respective houses of the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2021, as specified.

Existing law imposes various taxes, including taxes on the privilege of engaging in certain activities. The Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges. This bill would impose an oil and gas severance tax upon any operator for the privilege of severing oil or gas from the earth or water in this state at specified rates, calculated as provided. The bill would further require the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to collect the tax pursuant to the Fee Collection Procedures Law and would require all amounts collected, less refunds and administrative costs, to be deposited into the General Fund. Because the bill would expand the scope of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. 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 state and federal law defines and regulates debt collectors. Existing law prohibits a debt collector from attempting to collect a debt by means of various false representations. Existing law, the Collateral Recovery Act, licenses and regulates the activities of repossession agencies. Existing law defines a repossession agency as any person who engages in business or accepts employment to locate or recover collateral, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, for consideration. This bill would authorize the Commissioner of Business Oversight to license and regulate collection agencies. The bill would define a "collection agency" as a business entity through which a debt collector or association of debt collectors engage in debt collection. The bill would prohibit a collection agency from engaging in the business of debt collection, directly or indirectly, without first obtaining a license, which would not be transferable or assignable. The bill would except from this requirement a financial institution that collects its own debt in its own name. The bill would prescribe various informational requirements for a collection agency license application and require that an applicant, for purposes of licensure, maintain at least one office in the state that is open to the public during normal business hours, staffed by at least one full-time employee with access to specified records, and which accepts consumer payments made at that location. The bill would require a collection agency license to be renewed annually. The bill would authorize the Commissioner of Business Oversight to promulgate rules and regulations and issue orders consistent with its authority to administer the bill's provisions and would prescribe a nonexclusive list of the functions, powers, and duties of the commissioner. The bill would specifically grant the commissioner the authority to conduct investigations and examinations of applicants and licensees and, in this regard, to access, receive, and use any books, accounts, and records relating to the intent to engage in, or the practice of, collecting consumer debt and to obtain criminal history information and independent consumer credit reports. For the purposes of investigating violations or complaints, the bill would authorize the commissioner to direct, subpoena, or order the attendance of, and examine under oath, any person whose testimony may be required about the debt or account of the consumer. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the 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.