The Gambling Control Act provides for the licensure of certain individuals and establishments involved in various gambling activities, and for the regulation of those activities, by the California Gambling Control Commission. The act requires an application for a gambling license to be made on a specified form, and prohibits a local jurisdiction from authorizing an expansion of gambling, except as specified. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding the above provisions, a gambling establishment licensed by the commission and operating in the City of San Jose on January 1, 2010, may change its location within the County of Santa Clara by providing the commission with notice at least 3 months prior to that change. The bill would provide that these provisions do not supersede any local measure prohibiting or regulating gambling establishments.
Sponsored bills
Existing law specifies the number of judges for the superior court of each county and for each division of each district of the court of appeal. This bill would, upon the Legislature's appropriation in the Budget Act of moneys expressly identified for the purpose of initially funding the costs of additional new judges, authorize 50 additional judges, to be allocated to the various superior courts pursuant to uniform criteria approved by the Judicial Council.
(1) Under the Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (energy commission) has the exclusive authority to certify a site for the construction of a new thermal powerplant or the modification of an existing thermal powerplant and related facilities. The California Coastal Act of 1976 provides for the planning and regulation of development, under a coastal development permit process, within the coastal zone, as defined. The act regulates various types of developments within the coastal zone, including industrial developments and thermal electric generating plants. This bill would prohibit a state agency, as defined, from authorizing, approving, or certifying a new powerplant or industrial facility, as defined, that uses once-through cooling, as defined. The bill would require the State Water Resources Control Board (state board) to adopt and implement a statewide policy on once-through cooling at coastal and estuarine powerplants. The bill would also require each regional water board to review and issue a powerplant's national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit for its once-through cooling system within 6 months of the expiration of that permit. (2) Under existing law, the state board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality in accordance with the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (act) and the federal Clean Water Act. Under the act, the state board is required to adopt specified state policies with respect to water quality as it relates to the coastal marine environment, including a policy requiring coastal powerplants and other industrial installations using seawater for cooling, heating, or industrial processing to use the best available site, design, technology, and mitigation measures feasible to minimize the intake and mortality of all forms of marine life. Existing law establishes the State Coastal Conservancy in the Natural Resources Agency and authorizes the conservancy to acquire, manage, direct the management of, and conserve specified coastal lands and wetlands in the state. Existing law establishes the Coastal Trust Fund (fund) in the State Treasury to receive and disburse funds paid to the conservancy in trust. Existing law authorizes the conservancy to expend the moneys in the fund for purposes of the San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy Program and for other specified purposes. This bill would require a powerplant that uses once-through cooling, as defined, to pay a specified fee. The bill would require the state board to collect the fee and to deposit the revenues from the fee in the Marine Life Restoration Account, which the bill would establish in the fund. The bill would require the conservancy to administer the account and would authorize money in the account to be expended, only upon appropriation by the Legislature, by the conservancy and the state board to reimburse their costs of administering the fee, by the conservancy for specified projects and activities that address the impacts of once-through cooling processes, and by the state board to provide grants to powerplants currently using once-through cooling, as specified.
Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation. (1) Existing law requires the State Bar to comply with specified standards applicable to state agency contracts when awarding a contract for goods, services, or both, for an aggregate amount in excess of $50,000. This bill would require the State Bar to comply with those standards when awarding a contract for information technology goods, services, or both, only when the contract is for an aggregate amount in excess of $100,000. The bill would require the State Bar to report to the judiciary committees of the Legislature by April 1, 2010, and annually thereafter until January 1, 2014, on the impact of this change. The bill would also require the State Bar to have a preference for using in-house employees for information technology projects. (2) Existing law requires the Board of Governors of the State Bar to charge an annual membership fee for active members of up to $315 for the year 2009. Existing law also requires the board to charge an annual membership fee for inactive members of up to $75. Under existing law, these fees are payable on or before the first day of February of each year. This bill would require the board to charge that annual membership fee for active members for 2010. The bill would specify that, for 2010, the annual membership fee for active members and inactive members is payable on or before the first day of March. (3) Existing law provides for the registration and regulation of law corporations, as defined. Existing law requires law corporations to apply to the State Bar for registration and to supply the State Bar with specified information. Existing law also requires law corporations to pay a registration fee and an annual renewal fee and specifies that all fees are paid into the treasury of the State Bar. This bill would require these fees to be used for regulatory and disciplinary purposes. (4) Existing law, the Uniform Partnership Act of 1994, provides for the registration and regulation of limited liability partnerships, including those partnerships providing legal services. The act requires, at the time of registration and at all times these partnerships transact intrastate business, that these partnerships provide specified security for claims arising out of the practice of law. The act also requires a limited liability partnership providing professional services in this state to comply with the administrative registration or filing requirements of that profession's respective regulatory entity. In this regard, the State Bar, pursuant to its Rules of the State Bar, requires those partnerships that provide legal services to register with the State Bar by submitting an initial application and thereafter to renew annually and to include the payment of a fee in each of these instances. This bill would require these fees to be used for regulatory and disciplinary purposes. The bill would also require applicants for registration with the State Bar to file a separate form stating that the limited liability partnership has complied with the security requirements for claims arising out of the practice of law. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement Act (STAKE Act) , establishes various requirements for retailers relating to tobacco sales to minors. A violation of this act is a crime. This bill would authorize action to halt the sale, distribution, or offering for sale of electronic cigarettes that have not been approved or cleared by the federal Food and Drug Administration. By changing the definition of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, requires the State Department of Public Health to regulate the manufacture, sale, labeling, and advertising activities related to food, drugs, devices, and cosmetics in conformity with the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. A violation of these provisions is a crime. This bill would deem any article that can provide inhaled doses of nicotine by delivering a vaporized solution a drug under these provisions. By expanding the definition of an existing crime, 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, the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act (act) , requires that every beverage container sold or offered for sale in this state is required to have a minimum refund value. A distributor is required to pay a redemption payment for every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the state to the Department of Conservation and the department is required to deposit those amounts in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the department to pay refund values, administrative fees to processors, and a reserve for contingencies. A violation of the act is a crime. "Beverage" is defined, for purposes of the act, to include, among other things, beer and other malt beverages, wine and distilled spirit coolers, carbonated mineral and soda waters, noncarbonated fruit drinks, and vegetable juices, in liquid form that are intended for human consumption, but excludes from that definition vegetable drinks in beverage containers of more than 16 ounces. The act also excludes, from the definition of beverage, any product sold in a container that is not an aluminum beverage container, a glass container, a plastic beverage container, or a bimetal container. This bill would, as of July 1, 2010, revise the term beverage to include vegetable, fruit, nut, grain, or soy drinks or juices or noncarbonated drinks that contain any percentage of those drinks or juices, and would delete the requirement that a vegetable, drink, subject to the act, be sold in a container of 16 ounces or less. The bill would delete the exclusion from the term beverage, for a product that is not sold in the above-specified types of containers. The bill would additionally exclude from the definition a beverage in a flexible foil, plastic pouch, or aseptic container delivering 7 or less fluid ounces. Since the additional payments for the plastic beverage containers and other beverage containers that this bill would make subject to the act would be deposited in a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would also impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes relating to beverage containers. (2) Existing law requires a distributor of specified beverage containers to pay a redemption payment to the Department of Conservation for each beverage container sold or transferred for deposit in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The money in the fund is continuously appropriated to the department to pay refund values, administrative fees to processors, and a reserve for contingencies. This bill would raise the amount of the redemption payment paid by the distributor and the refund value, as specified. Since the increased payments for the beverage containers that are subject to the act would be deposited in a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. Existing law requires that a distributor pay the redemption payment not later than the last day of the 3rd month following the sale and authorizes a distributor, upon the approval of the department, to elect to make a single annual payment if the distributor meets specified conditions and notifies the department of its intent to make annual redemption payments. This bill would require all beverage distributors to make the redemption payment no later than the last day of the 2nd month following the sale of the beverages. This bill would revise the conditions under which a distributor would be authorized to make a single annual payment. The bill would also authorize a distributor to withhold payment of redemption payments until the next payment period when the distributor has not received payment for beverage containers on which redemption payments are owed. (3) Existing law requires certified recycling centers to accept any empty beverage container from a consumer or dropoff or collection program and pay the refund value, which can be based on weight. This bill would provide, with exceptions, that a recycling center that does not receive handling fees is not required to redeem empty beverage containers of a container type not included in the program before July 1, 2009. (4) The department is authorized to make specified expenditures from the moneys remaining in the fund after the moneys for certain purposes have been set aside. This bill would increase the amount of moneys for grants to certified community conservation corps for beverage container litter reduction programs and recycling programs. The bill would suspend, for the 2009–10 fiscal year, expenditures for grants for beverage container recycling and litter reduction programs and a statewide public education and information campaign aimed at promoting increased recycling of beverage containers. The bill would eliminate funds the department is authorized to expend for grants for specified beverage container recycling and litter reduction programs. The bill would require the department, if there are any reductions in certain expenditures due to insufficient funds, on or after July 1, 2009, to provide, subject to the availability of funds, retroactive full funding, on or before July 1, 2010. The bill would require the department, for any reduction in expenditures that resulted in a reduction in the amount of funds available to make processing payments and an increase in processing fees paid by manufacturers, to credit beverage manufacturers for any overpayment of processing fees, subject to the availability of funds. (5) Existing law requires the department to continuously assist dealers and recyclers to establish certified recycling centers within in each convenience zone. This bill would provide assistance and incentives to reduce the number of zones not serviced by a certified recycling center. (6) Existing law requires that regulations governing solid waste facilities include standards for design, operation, maintenance, and ultimate reuse of solid waste facilities. This bill would prohibit those regulations from including any requirements for processors or recyclers, as defined, where the amount of outgoing solid waste is 15% or less of the total amount of incoming material received by weight calculated on a monthly basis after reasonable adjustment for the weight of moisture, and the amount of putrescible wastes in the outgoing solid waste shall be 3% or less of the amount of incoming material received by weight calculated on a monthly basis. (7) The bill would delete obsolete provisions and make conforming changes. (8) 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 State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation. (1) Existing law requires the State Bar to comply with specified standards applicable to state agency contracts when awarding a contract for goods, services, or both, for an aggregate amount in excess of $50,000. This bill would require the State Bar to comply with those standards when awarding a contract for information technology goods, as defined, services, or both, only when the contract is for an aggregate amount in excess of $100,000. The bill would require the State Bar to report to the judiciary committees of the Legislature by April 1, 2010, and annually thereafter, on the impact of this change. The bill would also require the State Bar to have a preference for using in-house employees for information technology projects. (2) Existing law requires the Board of Governors of the State Bar to charge an annual membership fee to active members of up to $315 for the year 2009. This bill would require the board to fix the annual membership fee for active members for 2010 at a sum not to exceed $315. (3) Existing law also provides for the registration and regulation of law corporations, as defined. Existing law requires law corporations to apply to the State Bar for registration and to supply the State Bar with specified information. Existing law also requires law corporations to pay a registration fee and an annual renewal fee and specifies that all fees are paid into the treasury of the State Bar. This bill would require these fees to be used for regulatory and disciplinary purposes. (4) Existing law, the Uniform Partnership Act of 1994, provides for the registration and regulation of limited liability partnerships, including those partnerships providing legal services. The act requires, at the time of registration and at all times these partnerships transact intrastate business, that these partnerships provide specified security for claims arising out of the practice of law. The act also requires a limited liability partnership providing professional services in this state to comply with the administrative registration or filing requirements of that profession's respective regulatory entity. In this regard, the State Bar, pursuant to its Rules of the State Bar, requires those partnerships that provide legal services to register with the State Bar by submitting an initial application and thereafter to renew annually and to include the payment of a fee in each of these instances. This bill would require these fees to be used for regulatory and disciplinary purposes. The bill would also require applicants for registration with the State Bar to file a separate form stating that the limited liability partnership has complied with the security requirements for claims arising out of the practice of law.
Under existing law, the State Department of Public Health administers provisions governing the licensure and regulation of health facilities, including hospitals. A violation of these provisions is a crime. Existing law requires any hospital that provides emergency medical services to provide notice of any intended elimination or reduction of emergency services as soon as possible, but not later than 90 days prior to a planned elimination or reduction in services to the department, the local government agency in charge of health services, and specified entities under contract with the hospital to provide the services. Existing law requires a health facility that implements a downgrade or closure to make reasonable efforts to ensure that the community served by the facility is informed. This bill would, instead, require the notice to be provided 120 days prior to the planned reduction or elimination of the level of emergency medical services, and would require the notice to also be provided to all employees of the hospital. It would also require that the hospital provide public notice of, and hold a minimum of 3 public meetings on, the intended change in a manner that is likely to reach a significant number of residents of the community served by the facility. The bill would also require that any health facility implementing a downgrade or change hold a minimum of 3 public meetings, as specified, to inform and ensure that the community served by its facility is informed of the downgrade or closure. Existing law requires, with a certain exception, not less than 30 days prior to closing a general acute care or psychiatric hospital, eliminating a supplemental service, or relocating the provision of a supplemental service to a different campus, the hospital to provide certain notice regarding the proposed closure, elimination, or relocation to the public and the applicable administering department, in accordance with certain procedures. This bill would, instead, require the notice regarding the proposed closure, elimination, or relocation to be provided to the public and the applicable administering department, in accordance with certain procedures, 60 days prior to closing a general acute care or psychiatric hospital, eliminating a supplemental service, or relocating the provision of a supplemental service to a different campus. Because the bill creates a new crime, it 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.
Existing law requires the Department of General Services, in consultation with the Seismic Safety Commission, to conduct an inventory of public school buildings that are concrete tilt-up school buildings and school buildings with nonwood frame walls that do not meet specified standards. The Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2006 makes available up to $199.5 million for the purposes of seismic repair, reconstruction, or replacement pursuant to the Hardship Assistance Program of the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998. This bill would require the Office of the State Architect, within its existing resources, to update the seismic safety inventory of school buildings and related report to more accurately identify building deficiencies in school facilities currently being used for public school purposes. The bill would require the State Allocation Board to use the information from this updated inventory and report to inform the development of eligibility criteria for the Seismic Mitigation Program, as defined.
Under existing law, a person who is a voter or is qualified to register to vote in this state may circulate an initiative or referendum petition, and a person who is a voter may circulate a recall petition. This bill would provide that it is a misdemeanor for a person to pay or to receive money or any other thing of value based on the number of signatures obtained on a state or local initiative, referendum, or recall petition and would prescribe penalties for doing so. By creating a new crime, 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.