(1) The California Environmental Quality Act, commonly referred to as CEQA, requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA exempts from these requirements residential infill projects meeting specified criteria, including, among other things, that a community-level environmental review was adopted or certified within 5 years of the date that the application for the project is deemed complete and the project promotes higher density infill housing. For the purposes of this exemption, CEQA defines "residential" to include a use consisting of residential units and primarily neighborhood-serving goods, services, or retail uses that do not exceed 15% of the total floor area of the project. This bill would instead exempt as "residential" a use consisting of residential units and primarily neighborhood-serving goods, services, or retail uses that do not exceed 25% of the total building square footage of the project. (2) Because this bill would require a lead agency to determine whether a project meets the above criteria to qualify for an exemption from CEQA, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Sponsored bills
Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue specialty license plates, including environmental license plates and specified special environmental design license plates. Under existing law, a state agency is authorized to apply to the DMV to sponsor a specialized license plate program, and the DMV is required to issue those license plates if the agency meets certain requirements. The DMV is required to charge specified fees for certain services related to the issuance of those plates. Existing law establishes the Breast Cancer Control Account in the Breast Cancer Fund, and requires that funds in that account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be allocated for the provision of early breast cancer detection services for uninsured and underinsured women. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to apply to sponsor a breast cancer awareness license plate program, and would require the DMV to issue the license plates if the State Department of Health Care Services meets certain requirements. The bill would authorize the State Department of Health Care Services to accept and use donated artwork from California artists for the license plate. The bill would require the revenue generated from the license plates, as specified, to be deposited in the Breast Cancer Control Account in the Breast Cancer Fund. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would recognize the month of October 2014 as Filipino American History Month and the 427th anniversary of the first presence of Filipinos in the continental United States.
Existing law authorizes employers to provide their employees paid sick leave. This bill would enact the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 to provide that an employee who, on or after July 1, 2015, works in California for 30 or more days within a year from the commencement of employment is entitled to paid sick days for prescribed purposes, to be accrued at a rate of no less than one hour for every 30 hours worked. An employee would be entitled to use accrued sick days beginning on the 90th day of employment. The bill would authorize an employer to limit an employee's use of paid sick days to 24 hours or 3 days in each year of employment. The bill would prohibit an employer from discriminating or retaliating against an employee who requests paid sick days. The bill would require employers to satisfy specified posting and notice and recordkeeping requirements. The bill would define terms for those purposes. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to enforce these requirements, including the investigation, mitigation, and relief of violations of these requirements. The bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner to impose specified administrative fines for violations and would authorize the commissioner or the Attorney General to recover specified civil penalties against an offender who violated these provisions on behalf of the aggrieved, as well as attorney's fees, costs, and interest. The bill would not apply to certain categories of employees that meet specified requirements.
This measure would urge the federal government to take steps to reform the outdated and inadequate Official Poverty Measure to better reflect poverty and the unmet needs demonstrated by the Supplemental Poverty Measure.
This measure would designate a portion of Interstate 680 in the County of Alameda as the CHP Officers Frederick Wayne Enright and Adolfo Martinez Hernandez Memorial Bridge. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost for appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.
This measure would designate the month of October 2014 as California Hindu American Awareness and Appreciation Month. The measure would also recognize and acknowledge the significant contributions made by Californians of Hindu heritage to our state. By adoption of this resolution, the Legislature seeks to increase awareness and understanding of the Hindu American community.
This measure would designate the portion of State Highway Route 710 between Pico Avenue and the Pacific Coast Highway in the City of Long Beach as the Senator Jenny Oropeza Memorial Freeway. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.
Existing law defines human trafficking as the deprivation of the personal liberty of another person with the intent to effect a violation of certain specified sex crimes, to obtain forced labor or services, or to cause a minor to engage in a commercial sex act with the intent to effect a violation of certain specified sex crimes. Existing law requires, when more than one violation of certain specified provisions of law occurs in more than one jurisdictional territory, that jurisdiction for any of those offenses is in any jurisdiction where at least one of the offenses occurred if all district attorneys in counties with jurisdiction of the offenses agree to the venue. This bill would add human trafficking, pimping, and pandering to the specified offenses to which the above jurisdictional requirements apply. Existing law, when charges alleging multiple incidences of human trafficking that involve the same victim or victims in multiple territorial jurisdictions are filed in one county, requires the court to hold a hearing to consider whether the matter should proceed in the county of filing or whether one or more counts should be severed and to consider specified factors in making this decision, including the location and complexity of the likely evidence and where the majority of the offenses occurred. Existing law requires the district attorney in the filing county to present evidence to the court that the district attorney in each county where any of the charges could have been filed has agreed that the matter should proceed in the county of filing. This bill would reorganize these provisions.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of residential care facilities for the elderly by the State Department of Social Services, including requiring, as a condition of licensure, bonds issued by a surety company for a licensee that handles the moneys of a person in the facility. Violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor. This bill, on and after July 1, 2015, would require all residential care facilities for the elderly to maintain liability insurance in an amount of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence and $3,000,000 in the annual aggregate to cover injury to residents or guests caused by the negligent acts or omissions to act of, or neglect by, the licensee or its employees. By creating a new 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.