Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each city, county, and city and county to prepare and adopt a general plan that contains certain mandatory elements, including a housing element. Existing law requires the housing element to contain, among other things, an inventory of land suitable for residential development, including vacant sites and sites having the potential for redevelopment. This bill would require the inventory of land to be available for residential development in addition to being suitable for residential development and to include vacant sites and sites that have realistic and demonstrated potential for redevelopment during the planning period to meet the locality's housing need for a designated income level. By imposing new duties upon local agencies with respect to the housing element of the general plan, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the inventory of land to include, among other things, a listing of properties by parcel number or other unique reference and a general description of existing or planned water, sewer, and other dry utilities supply, including the availability and access to distribution facilities. Existing law specifies that this information does not need to be identified on a site-specific basis. This bill would instead require the listing of properties to be by assessor parcel number and require parcels included in the inventory to have sufficient water, sewer, and dry utilities supply available and accessible to support housing development or be included in an existing general plan program or other mandatory program or plan to secure sufficient water, sewer, and dry utilities supply to support housing development. By imposing new duties upon local agencies with respect to the housing element of the general plan, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the housing element to contain a program that sets forth a schedule of actions during the planning period that the local government is undertaking, or intends to undertake, to implement the policies and achieve the goals and objectives of the housing element. Existing law requires a city or county, based on the inventory of land, to determine whether each site in the inventory can accommodate some portion of its share of the regional housing need, as specified. This bill would also require the inventory to specify for each site the number of units that can realistically be accommodated on that site and whether the site is adequate to accommodate lower income housing, moderate-income housing, or above moderate-income housing, as specified. By imposing new duties upon local agencies with respect to the housing element of the general plan, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires a city or county, for specified sites, to specify additional development potential for each site within the planning period and to provide an explanation of the methodology used to determine the development potential. Existing law requires the methodology to consider specified factors, including the extent to which existing uses may constitute an impediment to additional residential development, development trends, market conditions, and regulatory or other incentives or standards to encourage additional residential development on these sites. This bill would require the methodology to consider, among other things, the city's or county's past experience with converting existing uses to higher density residential development, the current demand for the existing use, and an analysis of existing leases or other contracts that would perpetuate the existing use or prevent redevelopment, as specified. By imposing new duties upon local agencies with respect to the housing element of the general plan, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the program to accommodate 100% of the allocated very low and low-income housing need for which site capacity has not been identified. Existing law requires these sites to be zoned to permit owner-occupied and rental multifamily residential use by right and to be zoned with specified minimum density and development standards. This bill would restrict the use by right of these sites to developments in which at least 20% of the units are affordable to lower income households during the planning period and require these sites to have sufficient water, sewer, and other dry utilities available and accessible or be included in an existing general plan program or other mandatory program or plan to secure sufficient water, sewer, dry utilities supply to support housing development. By imposing new duties upon local agencies with respect to the housing element of the general plan, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would also make legislative findings and declarations. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65583 of the Government Code proposed by AB 879 to be operative only if this bill and AB 879 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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
Under existing law, there are programs providing assistance for, among other things, emergency housing, multifamily housing, farmworker housing, home ownership for very low and low-income households, and downpayment assistance for first-time home buyers. Existing law also authorizes the issuance of bonds in specified amounts pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law and requires that proceeds from the sale of these bonds be used to finance various existing housing programs, capital outlay related to infill development, brownfield cleanup that promotes infill development, and housing-related parks. Existing law, the Veterans' Bond Act of 2008, authorized, for purposes of financing a specified program for farm, home, and mobilehome purchase assistance for veterans, the issuance, pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law, of bonds in the amount of $900,000,000. This bill would enact the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2018, which, if adopted, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $4,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law. Of the proceeds from the sale of these bonds, $3,000,000,000 would be used to finance various existing housing programs, as well as infill infrastructure financing and affordable housing matching grant programs, as provided, and $1,000,000,000 would be used to provide additional funding for the above-described program for farm, home, and mobilehome purchase assistance for veterans, as provided. This bill would provide for submission of the bond act to the voters at the November 6, 2018, statewide general election in accordance with specified law. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Existing federal law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, formerly the Food Stamp Program, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing state law authorizes a county to deliver CalFresh benefits through the use of an electronic benefits transfer (EBT) system. Existing federal law authorizes eligible counties to participate in the Restaurant Meals Program (RMP) , which allows eligible recipients to purchase meals at qualified restaurants. This bill, the Reducing Hunger Among Vulnerable Californians Act of 2017, would require the State Department of Social Services to issue an annual all-county letter providing guidance that lists which counties or regions are eligible to participate in the Restaurant Meals Program and the instructions for how a county may choose to participate in RMP or appeal a noneligible determination by the department. The bill would also require the department to design the EBT system to, automatically and upon issuance of an EBT card, allow all CalFresh recipients who are eligible for RMP to utilize their benefits in all restaurants that have been approved to participate in RMP. (2) Existing federal law limits a participant who is an able-bodied adult without dependents (ABAWD) to 3 months of CalFresh benefits in a 3-year period unless that participant has met specified work participation requirements. Existing law directs the State Department of Social Services to annually seek a federal waiver of this limitation, and provides that an eligible county is included in this waiver unless the county declines to participate in the waiver request. Existing law authorizes counties to participate in the CalFresh Employment and Training program (CalFresh E&T) , established by federal law, and requires participating counties to demonstrate in its CalFresh E&T plan how it is effectively using CalFresh E&T funds for each of the specified components that the county offers, including work experience or training and job search. This bill would include subsidized employment as a CalFresh E&T component that a county may offer, and would, to the extent permitted by federal law, require the State Department of Social Services to seek a federal waiver that would allow 50% federal reimbursement for eligible CalFresh E&T activities to be used to provide a wage subsidy for ABAWD participants in counties that do not participate in the waiver of the ABAWD time limit. (3) Existing law requires each county to provide cash assistance and other social services to needy families through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program using federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant program, state, and county funds. Existing law generally requires a recipient of CalWORKs benefits to participate in welfare-to-work activities as a condition of eligibility for aid. Existing law requires that necessary supportive services be available to participants in welfare-to-work activities, including child care. Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature that the annual Budget Act appropriate state and federal funds in a single allocation to counties for the support of administrative activities undertaken by the counties to provide benefit payments to recipients of aid under the CalWORKs program and to provide required work activities and support services. This bill would authorize a county to provide employment services to a noncustodial parent from its single allocation funds. (4) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to develop an allocation methodology to distribute additional funding for expanded subsidized employment programs for CalWORKs recipients, or recipients who have exceeded the 48-month time limit, and authorizes the allocated funds to be utilized to cover all expenditures related to the operational costs of the program. This bill would authorize a county to use existing funds provided under these provisions to provide employment services for noncustodial parents of children receiving benefits under the CalWORKs program. (5) Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would instead provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill. (6) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 18926.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 563 to be operative only if this bill and AB 563 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
The Trial Jury Selection and Management Act, among other things, requires a trial judge to examine the prospective jurors in civil jury trials. The act gives the counsel for each party, after this initial examination, the right to examine any of the prospective jurors, as specified, in order to enable counsel to intelligently exercise both peremptory challenges and challenges for cause. The act prohibits a court from arbitrarily or unreasonably refusing to submit a reasonable written questionnaire to the jury if requested by counsel and states that the parties should be provided reasonable time to evaluate the responses to the questionnaire, if utilized, before oral questioning commences. The act states that the trial judge should consider, among other criteria, any unique or complex elements in the case when exercising his or her discretion as to the form and subject matter of voir dire questions. This bill would require that the parties be provided reasonable time to evaluate the responses to a questionnaire, if utilized, before oral questioning commences. The bill would authorize the parties to submit questions to the trial judge before he or she conducts voir dire and authorize the judge to include these questions if he or she deems them proper. The bill would modify the scope of questioning allowed by the parties, require a trial judge to consider specific factors in conducting voir dire, and prohibit the judge from establishing an inflexible time limit policy for voir dire. The bill would also require a judge in civil trials to, at the earliest practical time, provide the parties with both the alphabetical list and the list of prospective jurors in the order in which they will be called.
Existing law requires the court, in a criminal case, to conduct an initial examination of prospective jurors. Upon completion of this initial examination, existing law grants counsel for each party the right to examine any of the prospective jurors, as specified. Existing law authorizes the court to limit the oral and direct questioning of prospective jurors, as specified. This bill would require a trial judge to permit counsel for each party to conduct a jury examination that is calculated to discover bias or prejudice with regard to the circumstances of a particular case or the parties before the court. The bill would require the scope of the examination conducted by counsel to be within reasonable limits prescribed by the trial judge in the judge's sound discretion, as specified. The bill would also require the trial judge to permit supplemental time for questioning based on individual responses or conduct of jurors that may evince attitudes inconsistent with suitability to serve as a fair and impartial juror in the particular case. The bill would require the trial judge to, in his or her sound discretion, consider the use of reasonable written questionnaires for jury examination when requested by counsel. The bill would also require the trial judge, at the earliest practical time, to provide the parties with the list of prospective jurors in the order in which they will be called to help facilitate the jury selection process.
This measure would state that the Legislature respectfully disagrees with statements posted on Twitter by the President of the United States proposing to ban transgender Americans from military service, and would call upon the Governor of California to direct the Armed Forces of the state to take no action that discriminates against transgender service members on the basis of their gender identity or expression, unless superseded by federal law. The measure would also urge the United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis to allow transgender service members who are otherwise able to serve to remain in the United States Armed Forces and recommend to President Trump that transgender individuals who are otherwise able to serve be permitted to join the United States Armed Forces.
This measure would proclaim the week of September 25, 2017, to October 1, 2017, as Diaper Need Awareness Week and encourage California citizens to support organizations that help alleviate diaper need.
This measure would request that the Congress of the United States pass a law to reschedule marijuana or cannabis and its derivatives from a Schedule I drug to an alternative schedule and that the President of the United States sign such legislation.
This measure would urge the President and the Congress of the United States to condemn the government-sanctioned persecution, torture, and murder of gay men in the Chechen Republic, join in solidarity with all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Russians in their fight for their lives, dignity, and respect, and take action to encourage the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, consistent with existing federal protocols, to grant asylum and refugee status for individuals fleeing persecution, including individuals fleeing persecution due to their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
This measure would designate the month of November 2017 as California Runaway and Homeless Youth Prevention Month and would recognize the need for individuals, schools, communities, businesses, local governments, and the state to take action on behalf of runaway and homeless youth in California.