(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project, as defined, that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. This bill would exempt from the requirements of CEQA the installation of a solar energy system, including associated equipment, on the roof of an existing building or an existing parking lot meeting specified conditions. Because a lead agency would be required to determine whether a project would be exempt under this provision, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) CEQA requires a lead agency to call a scoping meeting for a project of statewide, regional, or areawide significance, and requires the lead agency to provide notice of at least one of those scoping meetings to specified entities, including a county or city that borders on a county or city within which the project is located, unless otherwise designated annually by agreement between the lead agency and county or city. Existing law requires, prior to action by a legislative body to adopt or substantially amend a general plan, the planning agency to refer the proposed action to a city or county within or abutting the area covered by the proposal. This bill would authorize this referral of a proposed action to adopt or substantially amend a general plan of a city or county to be conducted concurrently with the scoping meeting. The city or county would be authorized to submit specified comments at the scoping meeting. (3) CEQA authorizes the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt guidelines to include a list of classes of projects that have been determined not to have a significant effect on the environment and are exempted from the requirements of CEQA (categorical exemption) . This bill would provide that a project's greenhouse gas emissions are not, in and of themselves, deemed to cause the exemption to be inapplicable under specified conditions. This bill would require the Office of Planning and Research, on or before July 1, 2012, to prepare, develop, and transmit to the Natural Resources Agency, and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, on or before January 1, 2013, to certify and adopt guidelines for statewide standards for infill projects that would promote specified goals and priorities. (4) CEQA limits its application, in the case of the approval of a subdivision map or a project that is consistent with the zoning or community plan for which an EIR was certified, to effects upon the environment that are peculiar to the parcel on which the project is located and were not addressed as significant effects in the EIR or if new information shows the effects upon the environment will be more significant than described in the prior EIR. This bill would similarly limit the application of CEQA in the case of the approval of an infill project, as defined, that satisfies all applicable statewide standards established in the guidelines under (3) above if an EIR was certified for a planning level decision, as defined. Because this bill would require a lead agency to determine whether a project qualifies under this provision, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law authorizes a county and a city to agree upon a procedure for referral to, and comment by, the city or county concerning the other entity's proposals to adopt or amend all or part of a general or specific plan or zoning ordinance, as specified. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to this authorization. (6) Existing law vests the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission with the exclusive power to certify thermal powerplants. Under CEQA, the thermal powerplants certification process is a certified regulatory program and is therefore exempt from certain requirements under CEQA. The bill would provide that the thermal powerplants certification process would be applicable to owners of specified proposed solar thermal powerplants who are proposing to convert the facility from solar thermal technology to photovoltaic technology. (7) 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 provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services are provided to qualified low-income recipients. Existing law also creates the Healthy Families Program, administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB) , to arrange for the provision of health care services to children less than 19 years of age who meet certain eligibility requirements. Existing law, the County Health Initiative Matching Fund, establishes a fund that is administered by MRMIB in collaboration with the department to accept intergovernmental transfers to be used to increase the state's ability to use federal funds for programs to improve and expand access to health care. Under existing law, a county, a county agency, a local initiative, or a county organized health system that will provide an intergovernmental transfer may apply to MRMIB for funding to provide health care coverage to eligible children whose family income is at or below 300% of the federal poverty level or eligible adults whose family income does not exceed 200% of the federal poverty level. Existing law requires that persons receiving this coverage be ineligible for the Healthy Families Program and no share of cost Medi-Cal coverage. This bill would allow a county, a county agency, a local initiative, or a county organized health system that will provide an intergovernmental transfer to apply to MRMIB for funding to provide health care coverage to eligible children whose family income is at or below 400% of the federal poverty level, as specified, and would require persons receiving this coverage be ineligible for no share of cost Medi-Cal coverage and either ineligible for the Healthy Families Program or unable to enroll in the program as a result of specified enrollment policies due to insufficient funds. The bill would specify that implementation of these provisions is conditioned on MRMIB obtaining necessary federal approval thereof.
Existing law provides for the confidentiality of financial records but does not prohibit various state and local officers and agencies from requesting information from an office or branch of a financial institution and the office or branch from responding to the request, as to whether a person has an account or accounts at that office or branch and, if so, any identifying numbers of the account or accounts. Existing law provides that a county adult protective services office and a long-term care ombudsman when investigating the financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult is similarly not prohibited from requesting financial information and the office or branch is not prohibited from responding to the request. The Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act establishes procedures for the reporting, investigation, and prosecution of elder and dependent adult abuse. The act requires persons, defined as mandated reporters, to report known or suspected instances of elder or dependent adult abuse. Under the act, care custodians of elder or dependent adults and local law enforcement agencies are mandated reporters. A violation of the reporting requirements by a mandated reporter is a misdemeanor. Existing law, until January 1, 2013, includes within these reporting requirements mandated reporters of suspected financial abuse, as defined, and, with certain exceptions, makes failure to comply with these requirements subject to a civil penalty. This bill would delete the January 1, 2013, repeal date. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 15630.1 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, proposed by SB 718, to be operative only if SB 718 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2012, and this bill is chaptered last.
Existing law authorizes a taxpayer who has a tax liability with respect to personal income taxes or bank and corporation taxes, and who is a payee named in a registered warrant to pay the tax liability with the registered warrant, as specified. This bill would provide that if a registered warrant is issued for the payment of principal or interest due on a state bond, then the beneficial owner of that state bond may offset the principal amount of the registered warrant that is attributable to that beneficial owner's beneficial interest in the state bond against an existing tax liability, subject to certain requirements and procedures.
Existing law suspends various activities of redevelopment agencies, including, among other things, refunding, restructuring, or refinancing indebtedness or obligations that existed prior to January 1, 2011, or amending or modifying existing agreements, obligations, or commitments with any entity for any purpose. Existing law authorizes a redevelopment agency to issue Emergency Refunding Bonds in specified circumstances, including, among others, when it is the only means available to the agency to avoid a default on outstanding agency bonds. Existing law also dissolves redevelopment agencies and community development agencies, as of October 1, 2011, and designates successor agencies, as defined. The bill would, notwithstanding these restrictions, authorize a redevelopment agency, for purposes of certain bonds secured with a credit enhancement issued by a 3rd-party credit provider, to seek an extension of the credit enhancement or to modify or amend the terms of existing agreements with the credit provider to avoid or delay the incurrence of certain types of reimbursement obligations. This bill would also authorize a redevelopment agency to issue Emergency Refunding Bonds in specified situations relating to lines of credit obtained from a financial institution. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 6, 2010. Governor Brown issued a proclamation on January 20, 2011, declaring and reaffirming that a fiscal emergency exists and stating that his proclamation supersedes the earlier proclamation for purposes of that constitutional provision. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared and reaffirmed by the Governor by proclamation issued on January 20, 2011, pursuant to the California Constitution. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would recognize the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks as a day of solemn commemoration.
Existing law requires any agency, and any person or business conducting business in California, that owns or licenses computerized data that includes personal information, as defined, to disclose in specified ways, any breach of the security of the system or data, as defined, following discovery or notification of the security breach, to any California resident whose unencrypted personal information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, acquired by an unauthorized person. This bill would require any agency, person, or business that is required to issue a security breach notification pursuant to existing law to fulfill certain additional requirements pertaining to the security breach notification, as specified. The bill would also require any agency, person, or business that is required to issue a security breach notification to more than 500 California residents pursuant to existing law to electronically submit a single sample copy of that security breach notification to the Attorney General, as specified. This bill would provide that a covered entity under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is deemed to have complied with these provisions, if it has complied with existing federal law, as specified. The bill would also incorporate additional changes made by the Governor's Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 2009.
Existing law prohibits a manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, or other person from selling, transferring, or otherwise furnishing a specified substance, including ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, to a person under 18 years of age, except as specified. A first violation of this provision is a misdemeanor. Existing law further regulates the sale of nonprescription drugs, as specified. This bill would, in addition, make it an infraction, punishable by a fine not exceeding $250, for any person, corporation, or retail distributer, in an over-the-counter sale to, without a prescription, to willfully and knowingly supply, deliver, or give possession of a nonprescription drug containing dextromethorphan to a person under 18 years of age. The bill would provide that proof that bona fide evidence of majority and identity was demanded and shown shall be a defense to any criminal prosecution. The bill would further provide that a retail clerk who fails to require and obtain proof of age from the purchaser shall not be guilty of an infraction or subject to any civil penalties, unless the retail clerk is a willful participant in an ongoing criminal conspiracy to violate the provisions prohibiting the sale of dextromethorphan to minors. By creating new crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require a person, corporation, or retail distributor that sells a product containing dextromethorphan to use a cash register that is equipped with an age-verification feature that directs the retail clerk to request identification before the product may be purchased, as provided. 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 Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000, sets forth the procedures for incorporations and changes of organizations of cities, including procedures for disincorporation. This bill would provide that every city with a population of less than 150 people as of January 1, 2010, would be disincorporated into that city's respective county as of 91 days after the effective date of the bill, unless a county board of supervisors determines, by majority vote within the 90-day period following enactment of these provisions, that continuing such a city within that county's boundaries would serve a public purpose if the board of supervisors determines that the city is in an isolated rural location that makes it impractical for the residents of the community to organize in another form of local governance. The bill would also require the local agency formation commission within the county to oversee the terms and conditions of the disincorporation of the city, as specified. The bill would become operative only if AB 781 of the 2011–12 Regular Session is enacted.
Existing law provides for the regulation of health care practitioners, as defined. Existing federal law requires a written report of the results of each mammography examination and requires a summary of that report to be sent to the patient within a specified time period. This bill would require, under specified circumstances, a health care practitioner who performs a mammography examination to include in the summary of the written report sent to the patient a specified notice on breast density. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2018.