Sen. Anthony Cannella

Existing law requires various boards in the Department of Consumer Affairs to provide information concerning the status of licensees on the Internet, including a licensee's address of record. Existing law requires the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists to disclose information on its registrants and licensees. This bill would eliminate the requirement that the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists disclose any information about its registrants and would modify the disclosure information for its licensees to exclude the address of record.

Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, on or before September 1, 2011, to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 to be charged on each habitable structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area, as defined, and requires that the fire prevention fee be adjusted annually using prescribed methods. Existing law requires the State Board of Equalization to collect the fire prevention fees, as prescribed, commencing with the 2011–12 fiscal year. Existing law establishes the State Responsibility Area Fire Prevention Fund and prohibits the collection of fire prevention fees if, commencing with the 2012–13 fiscal year, there are sufficient amounts of moneys in the fund to finance specified fire prevention activities for a fiscal year. Existing law requires that the fire prevention fees collected, except as provided, be deposited into the fund and be made available to the board and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for certain specified fire prevention activities that benefit the owners of structures in state responsibility areas who are required to pay the fee. Existing law further requires the board, on and after January 1, 2013, to submit an annual written report to the Legislature on specified topics. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to repeal the state responsibility area fire prevention fees imposed by the above provisions.

Existing property tax law requires the county auditor, in each fiscal year, to allocate property tax revenue to local jurisdictions in accordance with specified formulas and procedures, and generally requires that each jurisdiction be allocated an amount equal to the total of the amount of revenue allocated to that jurisdiction in the prior fiscal year, subject to certain modifications, and that jurisdiction's portion of the annual tax increment, as defined. Existing law provides for the computation, on the basis of these allocations, of apportionment factors that are applied to actual property tax revenues in each county in order to determine actual amounts of property tax revenue received by each recipient jurisdiction. This bill would deem to be correct those property tax revenue apportionment factors that were applied in allocating property tax revenues in the County of San Benito for each fiscal year through the 2000–01 fiscal year. This bill would, notwithstanding specified audit requirements, require the county auditor to make the allocation adjustments identified in the State Controller's audit of the County of San Benito for the 2001–02 fiscal year. The bill would additionally require property tax apportionment factors applied in allocating property tax revenue in the County of San Benito for the 2002–03 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter to be determined on the basis of apportionment factors for prior fiscal years that have been corrected or adjusted as would be required if those prior apportionment factors were not deemed correct by this bill. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of San Benito.

Existing law provides that a city may incur indebtedness and liability in excess of the income and revenue provided by it for the current fiscal year, with certain limitations, for specific purposes including protecting the city from overflow by water, to drain the city, or to secure an outlet for overflow water and drainage. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes.

Existing law provides that any person convicted of a felony under the laws of the United States, the State of California, or any other state, and who owns, purchases, receives, or has in possession or under custody or control any firearm is guilty of a felony. Other existing law prescribes the punishment for that felony as imprisonment for a term of 16 months, or 2 or 3 years. This bill would provide that the punishment for subsequent convictions of that felony would be imprisonment for a term of 4, 5, or 6 years. By increasing the penalties for an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision. 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.

Existing law provides that the Department of Transportation has full possession and control of all state highways. Existing law describes the authorized routes in the state highway system and establishes a process for adoption of a highway on an authorized route by the California Transportation Commission. Existing law provides for relinquishment by the commission of highways to local agencies upon relocation and under various other circumstances. This bill would provide for relinquishment by the commission of a portion of State Highway Route 25 in the City of Hollister prior to relocation of that route to a proposed new easterly bypass alignment. The relinquishment would be subject to a determination by the commission that it is in the best interest of the state to do so and terms and conditions approved by the commission. The relinquishment would be subject to an agreement by the city to accept the relinquishment. The bill would thereafter require the commission to adopt the new bypass alignment into the state highway system upon a determination that it is in the best interests of the state to do so.

Existing law generally prohibits a vehicle from exceeding a length of 40 feet, and a combination of vehicles from exceeding a total length of 65 feet, with various specific exceptions. Existing law exempts from these requirements a truck tractor and semitrailer combination, when operating on certain highways qualified by the United States Secretary of Transportation for that use or when using routes appropriately identified by the Department of Transportation or local authorities, if the semitrailer does not exceed 53 feet in length and, if configured with 2 or more axles, the rearmost axle is 40 feet or less from the kingpin, or when configured with a single axle, the axle is 38 feet or less from the kingpin. This bill would additionally exempt a truck tractor and semitrailer combination that exceeds these length requirements if the vehicle is designed and used exclusively to transport livestock, the semitrailer does not exceed a total length of 53 feet, and the design of the semitrailer prohibits the owner or operator from configuring the axles to meet the kingpin-to-axle length requirements described above.

The Medi-Cal Act establishes 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 requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments to be reduced by 1% or 5%, and provider payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 1%, for dates of service on and after March 1, 2009, and until June 1, 2011. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments and payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 10% for dates of service on and after June 1, 2011. This bill would instead require that, to the extent permitted by federal law, this payment reduction not apply to skilled nursing facilities or subacute care units that are a distinct part of a general acute care hospital, intermediate care or other specified facilities serving developmentally disabled individuals, or specified Medi-Cal provider payments for fee-for-service benefits, including payments to pharmacies, for dates of service on or after June 1, 2011. The bill would also provide that this payment reduction shall not apply to managed health care plans for dates of service after the effective date of the bill. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law provides that the Department of Transportation has full possession and control of the state highway system. Existing law includes specified state highway routes under the jurisdiction of the department. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to amend those provisions of law applicable to state highway routes.

Existing law specifies a 3-, 4-, or 5-year enhancement for a felony conviction of arson in specified circumstances, including previous convictions for arson or aggravated arson or when a firefighter, peace officer, or other emergency personnel suffered great bodily injury as a result of the offense. This bill would authorize the enhancement to be imposed if the fire was set with the intent to disrupt the commercial operations of an animal feeding operation, an animal feedlot, or livestock salesyard. Existing law creates the crime of aggravated arson, and, in pertinent part, makes a person guilty of that crime if he or she willfully, maliciously, deliberately, with premeditation, and with intent to cause injury to a person or cause damage to a property under circumstances likely to produce injury or damage, sets fire to or burns a structure, forest land, or property if one of specified aggravating factors exist, including that the property damage or other losses exceed $6,500,000. This bill would specify that an aggravating factor exists if the fire was set with the intent to disrupt the commercial operations of an animal feeding operation, animal feedlot, or livestock salesyard. Because this bill would expand the scope of existing crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.