The Real Estate Law provides for the regulation and licensure of real estate brokers and real estate salespersons by the Real Estate Commissioner. Existing law authorizes the commissioner to require that materials used in obtaining advance fee agreements be submitted to him or her at least 10 calendar days before the materials are used and makes it a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding 6 months, or both, to use any agreement that the commissioner has ordered not to be used. Existing law authorizes the commissioner to determine the form of the advance fee agreements. This bill would instead require the commissioner to determine the form of advance fee agreements and to mandate the submission of advance fee agreement materials prior to their use. The bill would also prohibit advertisements used in obtaining advance fee agreements from using words, letters, initials, symbols, or other devices that are similar to those used by a governmental agency or nonprofit entity, as specified. The bill would also increase the maximum fine for using any agreement that the commissioner has ordered not to be used from $1,000 to $2,500, and would increase the maximum imprisonment time for a violation to 12 months. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The Real Estate Law makes it unlawful for any person to claim, demand, charge, receive, collect, or contract for an advance fee for soliciting lenders on behalf of borrowers or performing services for borrowers in connection with a mortgage loan before the borrower becomes obligated to complete the loan and for performing any other activity for which a license is required, unless the person is a licensed real estate broker and has complied with the provisions of the Real Estate Law. A violation of that provision constitutes a public offense punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 for an individual or $50,000 for a corporation. Existing law exempts from that prohibition state-chartered banks, savings associations, credit unions, industrial loan companies, and licensed finance lenders and brokers. This bill would increase those fines to $20,000 and $60,000, respectively, and would increase the maximum imprisonment time for a violation to 12 months. The bill would also make it unlawful, until January 1, 2013, for a real estate broker, or any other person who performs loan modification services, as specified, to claim, demand, charge, receive, or collect a fee paid for by a borrower for a loan modification agreement, as defined, until the terms of the loan have been modified, and would require provision of a specified notice prior to entering into a loan modification agreement with a borrower. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make an attorney subject to disciplinary sanctions if he or she claims, demands, charges, receives, or collects a fee paid for by a borrower in connection with a loan modification agreement until the terms of the loan have been modified. The bill would further exempt from the fee prohibition licensed residential mortgage lenders and servicers. The bill would also exempt nonprofit community-based organizations, and employees of those organizations, that provide counseling services at no cost to borrowers in connection with loan modifications from certain provisions of the Real Estate Law regulating certain activities of real estate brokers and salespersons. 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.
Sponsored bills
Existing law authorizes the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to, by regulation, provide for periodic inspections of nurseries and prescribe standards of cleanliness for nursery stock which is produced or sold within the state. This bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture to develop and establish the Citrus Nursery Stock Pest Cleanliness Program to protect citrus nursery source propagative trees, as defined, from harmful diseases, pests, and other risks and threats. The Secretary of Food and Agriculture would be required to administer the program and to consider input from parties interested in the development of the program. The bill would specify that the program shall include, among other things, a requirement that a person who, by any method of propagation, produces any citrus nursery stock shall comply with all eligibility requirements and testing protocols issued by the secretary. Testing for important diseases and pathogens would be required to be included in the program within 45 days after valid and reliable diagnostic protocols have been developed and proven to be efficient and effective for the testing of those diseases and pathogens. The bill would authorize the department to designate specified types of entities to perform the disease and pathogen diagnostic testing and analysis under the program, as provided. The bill would authorize the secretary to adopt and enforce regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of the program, and would require the secretary to issue orders establishing rates or prices to cover the department's costs for its administration, testing, inspection, and other services under the program, as provided. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The Corporation Tax Law authorizes various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2010, allow to a qualified taxpayer, as defined, a credit, not to exceed $10,000,000, for specified percentages of qualified expenditures, as defined. In general, the credit would be allowed to automobile manufacturers in this state that employ a specified number of qualified employees, as provided. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 19, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
(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 and the amounts the department would be authorized to expend annually for market development payments for empty plastic beverage containers. 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 reduce the amounts the department is authorized to expend annually to issue grants for recycling market development and expansion-related activities aimed at increasing 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, from on or after July 1, 2009, to on or before July 1, 2010, to provide, subject to the availability of funds, retroactive full funding, on or before July 1, 2010. (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 is 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 authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 19, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution. (9) 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 provides that no costs incurred by a qualified health care professional, hospital, or other emergency medical facility for the examination of the victim of a sexual assault for the purposes of gathering evidence for possible prosecution shall be charged directly or indirectly to the victim of the assault. Existing law provides that the law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction in which the alleged sexual assault was committed which requests the examination has the option of determining whether or not the examination will be performed in the office of a physician and surgeon, and that local jurisdiction shall bear the cost of these examinations. This bill would provide that victims of sexual assault are not required to participate in the criminal justice system or cooperate with law enforcement in order to be provided with a forensic medical examination. Because this bill would expand a victim's right to a medical exam paid for by a local agency, 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, 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. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 19, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution.
Existing law establishes a comprehensive statewide domestic violence program in the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) and requires the agency to provide financial and technical assistance to local domestic violence centers. Existing law requires the Maternal and Child Health Branch of the State Department of Public Health to administer a comprehensive shelter-based services grant program to battered women's shelters, as prescribed. This bill would, among other things, require Cal EMA to administer the above-described grant program. This bill would require the Department of Finance, upon the enactment of this bill, to transfer $16,300,000 from the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund to the General Fund as a loan. The bill would require the full amount of the loan to be repaid, with interest at the rate earned by the Pooled Money Investment Account at the time of the transfer, on or before June 30, 2013. The bill would appropriate $16,300,000 from the General Fund to Cal EMA for the purpose of funding the above-described comprehensive shelter-based services grant program to shelters for victims of domestic violence. This bill would require grantees funded under the above-described grant program, during the 2008–09 fiscal year, to be funded by Cal EMA for a period of one fiscal year, retroactively, commencing July 1, 2009. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 19, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the collection of fees for issuing marriage licenses and for providing certified copies of vital records, including marriage certificates, birth certificates, fetal death records, and death records. Existing law provides for the establishment of county domestic violence program special funds for the purpose of funding local domestic violence programs. Certain fees payable at the time a marriage license or a certified copy of any of the above vital records is issued may be collected by the county clerks for deposit into these funds. Existing law authorizes the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, until January 1, 2010, upon making certain findings and declarations, to authorize an increase in the fees for marriage licenses and confidential marriage licenses, up to a maximum increase of $2. Existing law authorizes the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, and the City Council of the City of Berkeley, upon making certain findings and declarations, to authorize an increase in the fees for certified copies of certain vital records, up to a maximum increase of $2. Existing law authorizes those governmental entities to make further increases in those fees each year, as specified. Existing law requires these fees to be allocated for purposes relating to domestic violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution. This bill would extend the operation of those provisions indefinitely. Existing law requires the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and the City Council of the City of Berkeley to submit to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Judiciary, by July 1, 2009, reports regarding the above fee increases, as specified. This bill would, instead, require the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and the City Council of the City of Berkeley, if they elect to increase fees pursuant to the above-described provisions, to submit preliminary reports by July 1, 2009, and final reports by July 1, 2014. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2015. The bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive related changes.
Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacists by the California State Board of Pharmacy and provides that a knowing violation of the law is a crime. Existing law requires a prescription, as defined, to include a legible, clear notice of the condition for which the drug is prescribed, if requested by the patient. Existing law prohibits a pharmacist from dispensing any prescription unless it is in a specified container that is correctly labeled to include, among other information, the condition for which the drug was prescribed if requested by the patient and the condition is indicated on the prescription. This bill would instead require that every prescription include a legible, clear notice of the condition or purpose for which the drug is prescribed, if requested by the patient. The bill would also require that every prescription container be correctly labeled to include that information if so indicated on the prescription. By revising these requirements, the knowing violation of which would be a 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.
Existing law provides for the issuance of dealer's licenses, and sets the fees for an original license at $150 and for an annual renewal at $100. Existing law sets the fees for an original autobroker's endorsement at $50 and for the annual renewal at $25. This bill would enact the California Car Buyers' Protection Act of 2009. The bill would impose certain requirements when a dealer purchases or obtains a vehicle in trade in a retail sale or lease transaction and the vehicle is subject to a prior credit or lease balance, relating to the discharge of the credit or balance. The bill would increase dealer's license and renewal fees to $175 and $125, respectively. The bill would increase autobroker's endorsement and renewal fees to $100 and $75, respectively.
(1) The California Oil Recycling Enhancement Act, administered by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, among other things, defines terms and establishes the used oil recycling program, consisting of a recycling incentive system, grants or loans to local governments and nonprofit entities for specified purposes related to used lubricating oil collection and recycling and stormwater pollution from used oil and oil byproducts, development and implementation of an information and education program to promote alternatives to the illegal disposal of used oil, and a reporting, monitoring, and enforcement program to ensure that laws relating to used oil are properly carried out. A violation of the act is a crime. This bill would revise the definition of "used oil hauler" and define the term "rerefined oil," for purposes of the act, and would revise and recast the used oil recycling program, so that, among other things, it would no longer provide for loans, and it would provide for the development and implementation of an information and education program to promote methods to reduce the amounts of used oil generated, among other things. The bill would revise the purposes for which grants under the program may be made and would authorize grants additionally to be made to private entities. (2) The act generally imposes a charge on oil manufacturers, payable to the board, in the amount of $0.04 for every quart, or $0.16 for every gallon, of lubricating oil sold or transferred in the state, or imported into the state for use in the state. This bill would increase those amounts to $0.065 and $0.26, respectively through December 31, 2013, and on and after January 1, 2014, those charges would be $0.06 for every quart and $0.24 for every gallon. The charges for finished lubricant containing at least 70% rerefined base lubricant would be revised to $0.03 for every quart and to $0.12 for every gallon. (3) The act requires the board to pay a recycling incentive to every industrial generator, curbside collection program, and certified used oil collection center, for used lubricating oil if certain conditions apply, and to an electric utility, as defined, for certain used lubricating oil. Existing law requires the board to set the recycling incentive amount at not less than $0.04 per quart, and authorizes the board to set the amount at a higher amount if the board determines that a higher amount is necessary to promote recycling of used lubricating oil and sufficient funds are available in the California Used Oil Recycling Fund. This bill would revise the conditions applicable to used lubricating oil that must be met before the board is required to pay the recycling incentive, and would delete the requirement that the board pay the recycling incentive to an electric utility for certain used lubricating oil. The bill additionally would require the board on and after January 1, 2013, to pay a rerefining incentive to certain recycling facilities that produce rerefined base lubricant meeting specified requirements. The bill would require the board, to coordinate a comprehensive life cycle analysis of the used lubricating and industrial oil management process, evaluate the used oil management policies on used oil collection rates, and by January 1, 2014, report to the Legislature its findings. The bill would require the board to increase the recycling incentive to not less than $0.10 per quart, except for used oil generated by a certified used oil collection center and an industrial generator, and, on and after January 1, 2014, to set the rerefining incentive at not less than $0.02 per gallon, and would authorize the board to increase those amounts as specified if it determines that a higher amount is necessary to promote the collection and recycling of used lubricating oil or the rerefining of used lubricating oil, as applicable, and sufficient funds are available in the California Used Oil Recycling Fund. (4) The act requires the board to deposit the charges described in (2) above, civil penalties and fines paid pursuant to the act, and all other revenues received pursuant to the act, in the California Used Oil Recycling Fund, part of which is continuously appropriated to the board to pay recycling incentives, to provide a reserve for contingencies, to make specified payments for implementation of certain local used oil collection programs in a total amount equal to $10,000,000 or12 the amount remaining in the fund after specified expenditures are made, for certain grants and loans, and for reimbursement for certain disposal costs of contaminated used oil. The act authorizes money in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, among other things, to be transferred to the Farm and Ranch Solid Waste Cleanup and Abatement Account in the General Fund, to pay costs associated with implementing and operating the farm and ranch solid waste cleanup and abatement grant program. This bill would authorize the continuously appropriated moneys in the fund also to be used for rerefining incentives and to evaluate the used oil management policies, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would increase the amount available for payments for implementation of local used oil collection programs to $11,000,000, or if that amount is not available, the bill would require the board to determine the amount pursuant to a specified formula, thereby making an appropriation, and would exempt the application and grant award process for these payments from a public meeting requirement, otherwise applicable to programs under the act. The bill would prohibit money in the California Used Oil Recycling Fund attributable to increasing or adjusting the charge on oil manufacturers described in (2) above from being transferred to the Farm and Ranch Solid Waste Cleanup and Abatement Account. (5) The act prohibits a used oil collection center from being eligible for the payment of recycling incentives until the board has certified the center and authorizes the board to cancel certification, after a public hearing, upon finding noncompliance with certification requirements. The act requires a center to reapply for certification every 2 years. This bill instead would require a center to reapply for certification every 4 years and would eliminate the public hearing requirement for cancellation of certification. (6) Under the act, if the board finds that a shipment of used oil from a certified used oil collection center or a curbside collection program is contaminated by hazardous material and other specified requirements are met, the board, upon application of the center or program, is required to reimburse the center or program for the additional disposal cost of the used oil, subject to eligibility requirements and payment limitations. This bill would include uncertified publicly funded used oil collection centers in small rural counties in those entities eligible to receive that reimbursement, and would modify the eligibility requirements and payment limitations. (7) The act imposes certification requirements for used oil recycling facilities. This bill would specify requirements for out-of-state used oil recycling facilities seeking incentive payments, including requirements to register with the board and make certain declarations under penalty of perjury. Because this would expand the application of a crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize a facility registered or certified under this provision to enter into a testing and reporting agreement with the Department of Toxic Substances Control and agree to reimburse the department for its full reasonable costs associated with the agreement. The bill also would impose certification requirements on rerefiners of used oil. (8) The act imposes reporting requirements on industrial generators of used lubricating oil, used oil collection centers, and curbside collection programs, to be eligible for payment of a recycling incentive. This bill would revise those reporting requirements. (9) This bill would make other related changes to the act. (10) Because a violation of the act is a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by, among other things, bringing rerefiners of used lubricating oil within the ambit of the act. (11) Existing law generally regulates persons who generate, receive, store, transfer, transport, treat, or recycle used oil. A violation of those requirements is a crime. This bill would generally require used oil to be tested and analyzed by a laboratory accredited by the State Department of Public Health, to ensure that it meets specified criteria, before a load of used oil is shipped to a transfer facility, recycling facility, or facility located out of the state. The bill would require the testing and analysis to be accomplished by a registered hazardous waste transporter before acceptance at a transfer or recycling facility or shipment out of state, except as otherwise specified. The bill would require the person performing the test to maintain records of the test for at least 3 years and to be subject to audit and verification by the Department of Toxic Substances Control. The bill would require the registered hazardous waste transporter who is listed as the transporter on the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest used to ship used oil out of state to submit a report annually to the department containing information regarding shipment of used oil out of state. Because a violation of the used oil requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (12) 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.