Existing law, the California Environmental Quality Act, 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. The act 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. This bill would require the lead agency, in certifying the environmental impact report and in granting approvals for a certain water treatment project determined by the City of Porterville based on a certain feasibility study, as specified, to comply with specified procedures, including the concurrent preparation of the record of proceedings and the certification of the record of proceedings within 5 days of the filing of a specified notice. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Porterville. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
Under existing law, the Department of Rehabilitation is required to provide various services to individuals with physical or mental disabilities who are found to be eligible therefor, including independent living services. Existing law provides for the operation of independent living centers, which are private, nonprofit organizations that provide specified services to individuals with disabilities, in order to assist those individuals in their attempts to live fuller and freer lives outside institutions. Under existing law, the department has the responsibility and authority for the encouragement of the planning, developing, and funding of independent living centers. Under existing law, each independent living center, except those centers which have been both established and maintained using specified federal funding as a base funding, is required to receive, to the extent funds are appropriated by the Legislature, at least $235,000 in base grant funds allocated by the department. Existing law authorizes these state funds to be replaced by reimbursements under the federal Supplemental Security Disability Insurance and the federal Supplemental Security Income programs, as specified. This bill would delete the above provisions excluding the centers that were previously established and maintained with federal funding and would instead require each independent living center to receive at least $235,000 in base grant funds allocated by the department, to the extent funds are appropriated by the Legislature and allocated by the department to the independent living centers from reimbursements under the federal programs. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law provides for a schedule of benefits provided under the Medi-Cal program, which includes certain dental services that are referred to as Denti-Cal. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to increase Denti-Cal provider reimbursement rates for the 15 most common prevention, treatment, and oral evaluation services to the regional average commercial rates, effective January 1, 2017.
Under existing law, the Department of Food and Agriculture has various duties relating to the prevention and control of damage caused by citrus pests and diseases. The Legislature has expressed a finding and declaration that the citrus killing diseases, Huanglongbing, citrus leprosis, citrus variegated chlorosis, and citrus canker, and the associated vectors present a clear and present danger to California's citrus industry, as well as to other commodities and plant life. This bill would require the department, upon the appropriation of funds for that purpose, to support specified research activities relating to the Asian citrus psyllid and Huanglongbing. The bill would also require the department, upon the appropriation of funds for that purpose, to work with county agricultural commissioners, pest control advisors, researchers, the Citrus Research Board, or any or all of them, to establish a process for voluntary tracking of best practices for managing Asian citrus psyllid-infested and Huanglongbing-infected groves, as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law relative to electrical restructuring, within the Public Utilities Act, establishes the Independent System Operator to ensure the efficient use and reliable operation of the electric transmission grid. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, so that the total kilowatthours sold to their retail end-use customers achieves 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016, 33% by December 31, 2020, 40% by December 31, 2024, 45% by December 31, 2027, and 50% by December 31, 2030. The program additionally requires each local publicly owned electric utility, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources to achieve the procurement requirements established by the program. The Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative is a statewide initiative to help identify transmission projects to accommodate the state's renewable energy goals. This bill would require the Independent System Operator, when undertaking transmission planning activities, to take into account a specified report relating to solar photovoltaic system development in the San Joaquin Valley and specified principles of transmission corridor planning developed by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) . The bill would require the Energy Commission, the PUC, and the Independent System Operator, when undertaking activities as part of the Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative, to take into account the above-specified report and principles.
Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature that the University of California establish nonresident student tuition policies that are consistent with their resident student fee policies. The provisions are applicable to the University of California only if the Regents of the University of California act, by resolution, to make them applicable. This bill would require the University of California, in collaboration with the Academic Senate of the University of California, as a condition of receipt of funds appropriated in the annual Budget Act, to ensure that implementation of any admissions policy regarding admission of nonresident undergraduate students includes guidance that ensures the academic qualifications for admitted nonresident undergraduate students generally exceeds the academic qualifications of resident undergraduate students, and would require the University of California to report specified information to the Legislature annually regarding implementation of the policy. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys collected by the state board as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation. Existing law continuously appropriates specified portions of the annual proceeds in the fund to various programs, including 5% for the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program, which provides operating and capital assistance for transit agencies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve mobility, with a priority on serving disadvantaged communities. This bill would additionally authorize moneys appropriated to the program to be expended to support the operation of existing bus or rail service if the governing board of the requesting transit agency declares a fiscal emergency and other criteria are met, thereby expanding the scope of an existing continuous appropriation.
This measure would recognize 2016 as the 150-year anniversary of public service and protection of state parks by state park rangers and would encourage the Department of Parks and Recreation, the California State Park Rangers Association, and the California State Parks Anniversary Committee to take all appropriate action to celebrate that anniversary.
Existing law requires a pupil to be excused from school for specified types of absences and prohibits those excused absences from generating state apportionment payments by deeming them as absences in computing average daily attendance. This bill would include attending the pupil's naturalization ceremony to become a United States citizen as another type of excused absence.
This bill would recognize the month of June 2016 as Portuguese National Heritage Month.