(1) Existing law, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Act, until January 1, 2029, establishes the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority to raise and allocate resources for the restoration, enhancement, protection, and enjoyment of wetlands and wildlife habitat in the San Francisco Bay and along its shoreline. The act establishes a governing board of the authority composed of specified members, including a member who is a resident of the San Francisco Bay area with expertise in the implementation of the San Francisco Bay Conservancy Program, who serves as the chair. The act grants to the board all powers that are necessary to carry out the act, including, among other things, the power to levy specified benefit assessments, special taxes, and property-related fees, and to issue revenue bonds and general obligation bonds. However, the act limits the total amount of outstanding indebtedness incurred pursuant to those provisions authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds to 10% of the authority's total revenues in the preceding fiscal year. Existing law generally requires a district to reimburse the county elections official for the actual costs incurred in conducting an election for the district. However, the act authorizes, until January 1, 2017, the authority to reimburse only the incremental costs, as defined, that are incurred by the county elections official related to submitting a special tax measure to the voters. This bill would delete the requirement that one member of the board, who serves as the chair, be a resident of the San Francisco Bay area with expertise in the implementation of the San Francisco Bay Conservancy Program and would instead require that member to be an elected official of a bayside city or county, or an elected member of a special district, with expertise in the implementation of the San Francisco Bay Conservancy Program. The bill would also delete the limit on the authority's total amount of outstanding general obligation bonded indebtedness and would, instead, prohibit the authority from having a total amount of outstanding bonded indebtedness that exceeds $1,500,000,000. The bill would specify that the authority may incur general obligation bonded indebtedness for the acquisition or improvement of real property or for the funding or refunding of any outstanding bonded indebtness incurred by the authority. The bill would extend to January 1, 2019, the operation of the provision authorizing the authority to reimburse county elections officials for only the incremental costs of submitting a special tax measure to the voters, expanded to apply to other specified measures that would generate revenues for the authority. The bill would postpone to January 1, 2049, the repeal date for the act, and would make related conforming changes. By imposing additional duties on local government officials with regard to implementation of the act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The act specifies that the special taxes are to be levied, and submitted to the voters, consistent with specified provisions of the California Constitution relating to voter approval for local tax levies and property-related fees, charges, and assessments. This bill would instead specify that measures that will generate revenues are to be submitted to the voters, consistent with those requirements of the California Constitution and the requirements of the California Constitution relating to general obligation bond indebtedness and ad valorem taxes. (2) 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.
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This measure would recognize the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
(1) Existing law permits minors who are detained in juvenile hall for habitual disobedience, truancy, or curfew violation to be held in the same facility as minors who are detained for violating any law or ordinance defining a crime, if they do not come or remain in contact with each other. Existing law also permits the detention of minors in jails and other secure facilities for the confinement of adults if the minors do not come or remain in contact with confined adults and other specified conditions are met. Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, authorizes the involuntary detention for a period of 72 hours for the evaluation of a person, including a minor who is dangerous to himself or herself or others, or gravely disabled, as defined. This bill would prohibit a person confined in a juvenile facility who is an imminent danger to himself, herself, or others as a result of a mental disorder, or who is gravely disabled, from being subject to solitary confinement. The bill would also prohibit a person, other than a person described above, who is detained in any secure state or local juvenile facility from being subject to solitary confinement unless certain conditions are satisfied, including that the person poses an immediate and substantial risk of harm to the security of the facility, to himself or herself, or to others that is not the result of a mental disorder. The bill would permit, if those conditions are satisfied, the person to be held in solitary confinement only in accordance with specified guidelines, including that the person be held in solitary confinement only for the minimum time required to address the risk, and that does not compromise the mental and physical health of the person, but no longer than 4 hours. The bill would require each local and state juvenile facility to document the usage of solitary confinement, as prescribed. The bill would authorize a person confined in a juvenile facility to request a voluntary time out, as defined, for no longer than 2 hours in a 24-hour period and would require voluntary time outs to be documented. By increasing the duties of local juvenile facilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law establishes a juvenile justice commission in each county, but authorizes the boards of supervisors of 2 or more adjacent counties to agree to establish a regional juvenile justice commission in lieu of a county juvenile justice commission. Existing law specifies the membership of these commissions, including that 2 or more members shall be persons who are 14 to 21 years of age, inclusive, and that a regional juvenile justice commission shall consist of not less than 8 citizens. This bill would increase the membership of a regional juvenile justice commission to no less than 10 members. The bill would also require that 2 or more members of a juvenile justice commission or a regional juvenile justice commission be parents or guardians of previously incarcerated youth, and one member be a licensed psychiatrist, licensed psychologist, or licensed clinical social worker with expertise in adolescent development. Existing law requires a juvenile justice commission to annually inspect any jail or lockup that, in the preceding calendar year, was used for confinement for more than 24 hours of any minor, and to report the results of the inspection, together with its recommendations based thereon, in writing, to the juvenile court and the Board of State and Community Corrections. This bill would instead require a juvenile justice commission to inspect any jail, lockup, or facility that, in the preceding calendar year, was used for confinement for more than 24 hours of any minor and would require, as a part of that inspection, a review of the records of the jail, lockup, or facility relating to the use of solitary confinement. The bill would require the commission to report the results of the inspection, together with its recommendations based thereon, in writing, to the juvenile court, the Board of State and Community Corrections, and the county board of supervisors. The bill would require the commission to annually present its report at a regularly scheduled public meeting of the county board of supervisors, and to publish the report on the county government's Internet Web site. The bill also would authorize a commission to publicize its recommendations made to any person charged with administration of the Juvenile Court Law on the county government's Internet Web site or other publicly accessible medium. By increasing the duties of local commissions and county boards of supervisors, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (4) 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.
Existing law allows every person who is unlawfully imprisoned or restrained of his or her liberty to prosecute a writ of habeas corpus to inquire into the cause of his or her imprisonment or restraint. Existing law allows a writ of habeas corpus to be prosecuted for, but not limited to, false evidence that is substantially material or probative to the issue of guilt or punishment that was introduced at trial and false physical evidence which was a material factor directly related to the plea of guilty of the person. This bill would additionally allow a writ of habeas corpus to be prosecuted on the basis of new evidence that is credible, material, presented without substantial delay, and of such decisive force and value that it would have more likely than not changed the outcome at trial. Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board to recommend an appropriation be made by the Legislature for the purpose of indemnifying a person if the evidence shows that a crime with which the person was charged was either not committed at all, or, if committed, was not committed by that person. Existing law requires that the appropriation recommended shall be a sum equivalent to $100 per day of incarceration served subsequent to the person's conviction. If a court grants a writ of habeas corpus or vacates a judgment on the basis of new evidence and finds that the new evidence points unerringly to innocence, existing law requires the board to recommend an appropriation to the Legislature pursuant to these provisions without a hearing. This bill would require the board to recommend an appropriation to the Legislature if the court finds that the person is factually innocent. The bill would make additional clarifying and technical changes.
The California Coastal Sanctuary Act of 1994 authorizes the State Lands Commission to enter into a lease for the extraction of oil or gas from state-owned tide and submerged lands in the California Coastal Sanctuary if the commission determines that the oil or gas deposits are being drained by means of producing wells upon adjacent federal lands and the lease is in the best interest of the state. This bill would enact the California Coastal Protection Act of 2015, which would delete this authorization. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations.
Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board to administer a program to assist state residents to obtain compensation for their pecuniary losses suffered as a direct result of criminal acts. Payment is made under these provisions from the Restitution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the board for these purposes. Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board to administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers funded by moneys in the Restitution Fund. This bill would make legislative findings and recognize the Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC) . The bill would require the board to use the evidence-based Integrated Trauma Recovery Services model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it provides grants to trauma recovery centers.
This bill would designate the month of June 2015 as Student Safety Month, and would recognize the importance of providing young people with a learning environment and foundation that will promote successful careers and that will be the force to help California grow and prosper.
Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the approval of the State Board of Education, to develop a high school exit examination in English language arts and mathematics in accordance with state academic content standards. Existing law requires, commencing with the 2003–04 school year and each school year thereafter, each pupil completing grade 12 to successfully pass the high school exit examination as a condition of receiving a diploma of graduation or a condition of graduation from high school. This bill would provide that the high school exit examination shall not be required as a condition of receiving a diploma of graduation or a condition of graduation from high school for a pupil completing grade 12 in 2015 and who has met all other high school graduation requirements. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law allows a person who has been subjected to gender violence to bring a civil action for damages against any responsible party and defines gender violence for this purpose as a crime of violence motivated by the gender of the victim or a physical intrusion or invasion of a sexual nature, as specified. The Unruh Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on a person's sex, race, religion, or sexual orientation, among others, and specifies that sex includes gender, which includes a person's gender identity and gender expression. This bill, for the purposes of the former provision, would specify that gender has the same meaning as in the Unruh Civil Rights Act. The bill would also allow a person who has been subject to sexual orientation violence, as defined, to bring a civil action for damages against any responsible party under provisions identical to those for gender violence.
Existing law requires that each member of a precinct board be a voter of the county, except that an elections official may appoint not more than 5 pupils per precinct to serve under the direct supervision of designated board members, as specified. Among other qualifications, such a pupil must be a United States citizen or be a citizen at the time of the election for which he or she is serving as a member of the precinct board. This bill would additionally authorize an elections official to appoint a pupil who is lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States, as defined in federal law, to serve as a precinct board member.