Existing provisions of the California Constitution establish the University of California as a public trust under the administration of the Regents of the University of California. The University of California system includes 10 campuses, which are located in Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. This bill would express findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to the role of the University of California with respect to access to health care in the San Joaquin Valley. The bill would appropriate $1,255,000 from the General Fund to the regents each fiscal year, commencing with the 2016–17 fiscal year, for allocation to the University of California to support expansion of the San Joaquin Valley Program in Medical Education, as specified.
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Existing provisions of the California Constitution establish the University of California as a public trust under the administration of the Regents of the University of California. The University of California system includes 10 campuses, which are located in Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. This bill would require the University of California to obtain certain information regarding alternative investments from each private equity fund, venture fund, hedge fund, or absolute return fund in which the University of California provides or has provided funds for investment.
Under existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, the State Department of Developmental Services is authorized to contract with regional centers to provide services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities. Existing law requires an entity that receives payments between $250,000 and $500,000 per year from one or more regional centers to obtain an independent audit or review of its financial statements and requires an entity that receives payments that are equal to or more than $500,000 per year to obtain an independent audit. Existing law exempts payments made using usual and customary rates for services provided by regional centers from these requirements. This bill would instead require an entity to obtain an independent audit or review report of its financial statements relating to payments made by regional centers if it receives payments between $500,000 and $2,000,000 from one or more regional centers and would authorize these entities to apply for, and require the regional center to grant, a 2-year exemption from this requirement if the regional center does not find issues in the audit or review that have an impact on regional center services. The bill would also require an entity to obtain an independent audit if it receives payments that are equal to or more than $2,000,000 and would authorize these entities to apply for, and require the regional center to grant, a 2-year exemption from the audit requirement if the audit resulted in an unmodified opinion, an unmodified opinion with additional communication, or a qualified opinion with issues that are not material and pervasive. The bill would require a regional center to notify the department of any exemption it grants to an entity that receives a qualified opinion report. The bill would also exempt social security benefit payments from these requirements.
This measure would declare June 6, 2015, to June 14, 2015, inclusive, as the 2015 California Invasive Species Action Week and would urge all Californians to participate in activities that raise awareness of invasive species issues and to take action to prevent their spread.
This measure would proclaim the month of June to be Dairy Month in California, in honor of the work of dairy producers in California, and would encourage all Californians to continue to support the American dairy industry by including dairy products as part of a healthy diet.
The Toxics in Packaging Prevention Act generally prohibits a manufacturer or supplier from offering for sale or for promotional purposes in this state a package or packaging component that includes intentionally introduced lead, mercury, cadmium, or hexavalent chromium in the package or in a packaging component. The act exempted from this prohibition, until January 1, 2010, a package or a packaging component if the manufacturer or supplier complied with specific documentation requirements and the package or packaging component did not contain any intentionally introduced lead, mercury, cadmium, or hexavalent chromium, but exceeded a specific maximum concentration level because of the addition of a recycled material. This bill would provide a similar exemption, until January 1, 2019, for a glass beverage, food, or drink container. The bill would require the Department of Toxic Substances Control to evaluate the packaging of glass beverage, food, and drink containers, as specified, to determine if lead, mercury, cadmium, or hexavalent chromium is present in glass beverage, food, or drink containers sold in California. If the department determines that these metals are present, the bill would require the department to also evaluate whether and under what circumstances those metals can leach from the glass containers into the food or beverage and whether the presence of the metals in the glass containers presents a risk to human health and the environment. The bill would authorize the department to request any information and collect any samples necessary for the evaluations from glass manufacturers or feedstock or raw material suppliers in the state that are subject to the act, and would require the department to provide the results of the evaluations to the Legislature by January 1, 2018. The bill would authorize the department to adopt regulations, pursuant to existing authority, based on these evaluations. The bill would authorize the department to seek reimbursement from the glass manufacturers and feedstock and raw material suppliers to cover the reasonable costs directly related to collecting glass samples, reviewing and processing those samples, analyzing the samples, disseminating certain information, and implementing any regulations that are developed as a result of the evaluations. The bill would delete obsolete provisions and would make conforming changes.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation and regional transportation agencies, as defined, to enter into comprehensive development lease agreements with public and private entities, or consortia of those entities, for certain transportation projects that may charge certain users of those projects tolls and user fees, subject to various terms and requirements. These arrangements are commonly known as public-private partnerships. Existing law provides that a lease agreement may not be entered into under these provisions on or after January 1, 2017. This bill would extend this authorization indefinitely and would include within the definition of "regional transportation agency" the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, thereby authorizing the authority to enter into public-private partnerships under these provisions. The bill would also delete obsolete cross-references and make technical changes to these provisions.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act provides for specified labeling requirements for containers of alcoholic beverages sold within this state, including a requirement that any wine bottled on or after January 1, 2014, labeled with an American Viticultural Area established pursuant to federal law that is located entirely within a county of the 19th class, bear the designation "Sonoma County" on the label in specified type size as determined by the size of the wine container, as prescribed. The act provides that a violation of its provisions is a misdemeanor if not otherwise specified. This bill would require any wine bottled on or after January 1, 2019, labeled with an American Viticultural Area established pursuant to federal law that is located entirely within the County of Monterey to bear the designation "Monterey County" on the label in specified type size as determined by the size of the wine container, as prescribed. The bill also would provide that a violation of this provision does not subject a person to civil or criminal penalties pursuant to the act, except that the bill would authorize the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to suspend or revoke the license of any person who violates these provisions.
The Professional Engineers Act provides for the licensure and regulation of engineers and the Professional Land Surveyors' Act provides for the licensure and regulation of land surveyors by the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists. The Uniform Partnership Act of 1994 authorizes the formation of registered limited liability partnerships and foreign limited liability partnerships as specified. Existing law, until January 1, 2016, authorizes persons licensed to engage in the practice of engineering or land surveying to form registered limited liability partnerships and foreign limited liability partnerships and requires those partnerships to provide security of no less than $2,000,000 for claims arising out of the partnership's professional practice. Existing law, until January 1, 2016, also provides that engineers or land surveyors are not prohibited from practicing or offering to practice, within the scope of their licensure, as a limited liability partnership if specified requirements are met, including, among others, that any offer, promotion, or advertisement by the business that contains the name of any individual in the business must clearly and specifically designate the license or registration discipline of the individual named. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2016. This bill would extend the operation of these provisions until January 1, 2019.