Existing law contains various provisions relating to contracts by a public entity for the performance of public works of improvement, including provisions for the payment of progress payments and the disbursing and withholding of retention proceeds. Existing law, until January 1, 2016, prohibits progress payments upon state contracts from being made in excess of 100% of the percentage of actual work completed, and authorizes the Department of General Services to withhold not more than 5% of the contract price until final completion and acceptance of the project, except as specified. This bill would require a public entity, as defined, when authorized to order changes or additions to the work in a public works contract awarded to the lowest bidder, to issue a change order promptly, and no later than 60 days after the extra work is performed and documentation has been submitted, as specified. The bill would, if this requirement is not met, make the public entity liable to the original contractor for the completed extra work. The bill would require prejudgment interest to accrue on any amount that this bill would require to be paid that the public entity fails to pay. The bill would also authorize an original contractor to present to the public entity a request for a change order for extra work performed by a subcontractor, including a lower tier subcontractor. It would also authorize a subcontractor to request that an original contractor present a change order request for extra work directed by the public entity that was performed by the subcontractor or lower tier subcontractor. The bill would require the original contractor to notify the subcontractor as to whether the original contractor presented the request to the public entity, as specified.
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Existing law requires the Director of Pesticide Regulation to adopt regulations which govern the conduct of the business of pest control. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to this provision.
Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to allow pupils whom the district has determined would benefit from advanced scholastic or vocational work to attend community college as special part-time or full-time students, subject to parental permission. Existing law, until January 1, 2014, required credit to be awarded to these pupils, as specified, made the authority of a school principal to recommend a pupil for community college summer session contingent upon a determination that the pupil met various criteria, and prohibited the principal from recommending more than 5% of the total number of pupils from any particular grade level who completed that grade immediately before the time of recommendation for summer session attendance, except as specified. This bill would reinstate these provisions until January 1, 2017. The bill would, until July 1, 2020, authorize the governing board of a school district to enter into a concurrent enrollment partnership agreement with a community college district located within its immediate service area to allow pupils to attend community college. The bill would require a community college district and a school district, as a condition of, and before adopting, a concurrent enrollment partnership agreement, to take testimony from the public and approve or disapprove the proposed agreement at a regularly scheduled open public hearing of its respective governing board after having presented the agreement at a prior open public hearing. The bill would require the concurrent enrollment partnership agreement to outline the terms of the partnership, as specified. The bill would prohibit a school district from receiving a state allowance or apportionment for an instructional activity for which a community college district has been, or will be, paid an allowance or apportionment under a concurrent enrollment partnership agreement. The bill would authorize a participating high school to monitor the progress of its pupils attending a community college and to obtain the pupils' records from a community college district to do so. The bill would require, for each concurrent enrollment partnership agreement entered into under the bill, the affected community college district and school district to file an annual report, containing specified data, with the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. The bill would also authorize the governing board of a community college district to enter into a partnership with the governing board of a school district located within its service area with the goal of developing seamless pathways from high school to community college for career technical education or preparation for transfer. The bill would require the partnership agreement to outline the terms of the partnership, as specified, and would require copies of the partnership agreement to be filed with the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The bill would authorize a community college district to limit enrollment in a community college course to solely high school pupils under specified circumstances. The bill would authorize specified high school pupils to enroll in up to 15 units if those units are required for these pupils' partnership programs and specified circumstances are satisfied, and would authorize a community college district to exempt special part-time and full-time students taking up to a maximum of 15 units per term from specified fee requirements. The bill would prohibit a community college district from receiving a state allowance or apportionment for an instructional activity for which a school district has been, or will be, paid an allowance or apportionment under a concurrent enrollment partnership agreement. The bill would require, for each partnership agreement entered into under the bill, the affected community college district and school district to file an annual report, containing specified data, with the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. The bill would also make related and conforming changes.
(1) Existing law establishes the Agricultural Career Technical Education Incentive Program, which requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to award a grant, for the purpose of purchasing or leasing agricultural career technical education equipment, to an applicant school district that operates an agricultural career technical education program and that meets specified requirements. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district to annually adopt or update a local control and accountability plan that contains specified information. This bill would continuously appropriate the sum of $4,134,000 in each fiscal year beginning with the 2015–16 fiscal year from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for purposes of funding the Agricultural Career Technical Education Incentive Program. The bill would require the Superintendent to award a grant to a school district that, in addition to meeting the existing requirements, demonstrates how the expenditure of the grant funds will be consistent with its adopted local control and accountability plan. The bill would also express various findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to agricultural career technical education. (2) Funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.
The Corporation Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, and before January 1, 2020, would allow a credit against the taxes imposed under that law for 50% of monetary contributions to qualified K-College education scholarship organizations, as defined, to fund qualified K-College education scholarships, as defined. The bill would provide that the credit would not exceed $200,000 per taxpayer, that the credit would be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, and that the credit would have an aggregate cap of $10,000,000 for each calendar year. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board and the State Department of Education to administer the credit, as specified. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, and before January 1, 2020, allow a credit in the amount of 20% of the monetary contributions made to a qualified tuition program, as defined, by a qualified taxpayer, as defined, not to exceed $500. This bill would provide for the payment of a credit amount in excess of tax liability upon an appropriation by the Legislature for that purpose. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The County Transportation Commissions Act provides for the creation of county transportation commissions with specified powers and duties in certain counties. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
Existing law establishes and sets forth the duties of the State Department of Health Care Services, the State Department of Public Health, and the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , relating to, among other duties, the administration of the Medi-Cal program, the administration of the California Diabetes Program, and the administration of the Public Employees' Medical and Hospital Care Act, respectively. This bill would require those agencies to each submit a report to the Legislature, no later than July 1, 2015, that includes specified information, including the diabetes-related programs administered by each agency and the diabetes-related contractual or statutory requirements placed on a health care service plan contract or a health insurance policy in the Medi-Cal program or on a health care benefit plan or contract entered into with the Board of Administration of PERS. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to coordinate a response that assesses the quality of care of, and manages the costs paid for by, state-financed health programs relating to the diabetes crisis.
(1) Existing law, the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Act, establishes the Monterey County Water Resources Agency as a flood control and water agency within the County of Monterey. This bill would authorize the agency to award a design-build contract for the combined design and construction of a project to connect Lake San Antonio, located in the County of Monterey, and Lake Nacimiento, located in the County of San Luis Obispo, with an underground tunnel or pipeline for the purpose of maximizing water storage, supply, and groundwater recharge. Certain alternative provisions of the bill that would authorize the agency to use a different design-build procedure, as specified, would become operative only if SB 785 is enacted and becomes effective on or before January 1, 2015. (2) The bill would declare that, due to the unique circumstances of the agency, a general statute within the meaning of specified provisions of the California Constitution cannot be made applicable and a special statute is necessary.
Existing law provides that the Department of Transportation shall have full possession and control of the state highway system and specifies the duties and responsibilities of the department on various other transportation matters. Existing law requires the department to prepare the interregional transportation improvement program which, along with the regional transportation improvement programs adopted by regional transportation agencies, becomes part of the state transportation improvement program and identifies most transportation capital improvements to be undertaken over a multiyear period with state and federal funds. Existing law also requires the department to separately prepare the state highway operation and protection program, which identifies capital projects limited to maintenance, safety, and rehabilitation work necessary to preserve and protect the state highway system. Existing law requires the California Transportation Commission to, among other things, adopt the state transportation improvement program and approve the state highway operation and protection program, and further provides for the commission to allocate transportation capital funds to specific projects contained in the state transportation improvement program, but not the state highway operation and protection program, which is managed by the department. This bill would authorize the commission to prescribe study areas for analysis and evaluation by the department and to establish guidelines for updates to the California Transportation Plan, commencing with the plan required to be updated by December 31, 2020. The bill would require the department, on or before June 30, 2015, to submit to the commission for approval an interregional transportation strategic plan directed at achieving a high functioning and balanced interregional transportation system. The bill would revise the procedures for the development of the interregional transportation improvement program by requiring the department to submit a draft 5-year interregional transportation improvement program to the commission by October 15 of each odd-numbered year. The bill would require projects included in the draft interregional transportation improvement program to be consistent with the interregional transportation strategic plan. The bill would require the commission to hold public hearings by November 15 of each odd-numbered year regarding the draft program and to attempt to reconcile any objections. The department would be required to consider the input received at the hearings and develop and submit a final interregional transportation improvement program to the commission for approval not later than December 15 of each odd-numbered year. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the commission, to prepare a robust asset management plan to guide selection of projects for the state highway operation and protection, which plan would be subject to approval by the commission. The bill would require the department to specify, for each project in the program, a capital and support budget and projected delivery date for various components of the project. The bill would specifically authorize the commission to decline to adopt the program if it determines that the program is not sufficiently consistent with the asset management plan. This bill would require the department to report quarterly to the commission on the approved capital and support budgets compared to expenditures at contract construction acceptance for each major state highway operation and protection program project completed in the previous quarter. Existing law requires the department, by June 30, 1994, to apply for federal funding to be used for conversion of data pertaining to the state highway system from paper storage to intelligent computer information, and to commence implementation of the conversion process within 6 months of receiving federal funding approval. This bill would repeal these provisions. The bill would also make legislative findings and declarations.