Existing law, the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, establishes a program of cooperative federalism for the regulation of telecommunications to attain the goal of local competition, while implementing specific, predictable, and sufficient federal and state mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service, consistent with certain universal service principles. The universal service principles include the principle that consumers in all regions of the nation, including low-income consumers and those in rural, insular, and high-cost areas, should have access to telecommunications and information services, including interexchange services and advanced telecommunications and information services, that are reasonably comparable to those services provided in urban areas and that are available at rates that are reasonably comparable to rates charged for similar services in urban areas. Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to supervise and regulate every public utility in the state, including telephone corporations, and to fix just and reasonable rates and charges for the public utility. Existing law establishes the state's universal service funds, including the California High-Cost Fund-A Administrative Committee Fund (CHCF-A) and the California High-Cost Fund-B Administrative Committee Fund (CHCF-B) , in the State Treasury, and provides that moneys in each of the state's universal service funds are the proceeds of rates and are held in trust for the benefit of ratepayers and to compensate telephone corporations for their costs of providing universal service. Moneys in the funds may only be expended to accomplish specified telecommunications universal service programs, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act or upon supplemental appropriation. Existing law, until January 1, 2015, requires the commission to develop, implement, and maintain a suitable program to establish a fair and equitable local rate structure aided by universal service rate support to small independent telephone corporations that serve rural areas and are subject to rate-of-return regulation by the commission (the CHCF-A program) . This bill would revise the CHCF-A program to instead require the commission, until January 1, 2015, to exercise its regulatory authority to maintain the CHCF-A program to provide universal rate support to small independent telephone corporations in amounts sufficient to meet the revenue requirements established by the commission through rate-of-return regulation in furtherance of the state's universal service commitment to the continued affordability and widespread availability of safe, reliable, high-quality communications services in rural areas of the state. The bill would specify eligibility requirements for small independent telephone corporations to participate in the CHCF-A program and requirements for the commission in maintaining the program. This bill would require a small independent telephone corporation that receives support from the CHCF-A program to provide information regarding revenues derived from the provision of unregulated internet access service upon request from the commission and would require the commission to treat this information as confidential. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a failure by a small independent telephone corporation that receives support from the CHCF-A program to provide information regarding revenues derived from unregulated internet access service when requested by the commission would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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
(1) Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to specify the maximum amount of vinyl chloride that may be found in landfill gas. Existing law prohibits a gas producer from knowingly selling, supplying, or transporting to a gas corporation, and a gas corporation from knowingly purchasing, landfill gas containing vinyl chloride in a concentration exceeding the maximum amount determined by the PUC. Existing law requires a person who produces, sells, supplies, or releases landfill gas for sale offsite to a gas corporation to sample and test, bimonthly, the gas at the point of distribution for chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. Existing law requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) to evaluate the environmental and health risks posed by various hazardous substances. This bill would require OEHHA, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and the California Environmental Protection Agency, to compile a list of constituents of concern that could pose risks to human health and that are found in biogas, as defined, at concentrations that significantly exceed the concentrations of those constituents in natural gas. The bill would require OEHHA to determine the health protective levels for that list, as specified, and would require the state board to identify realistic exposure scenarios and the health risks associated with those scenarios, as specified. The bill would require the state board to determine the appropriate concentrations of those constituents, as specified. The bill would also provide that actions taken pursuant to the above-described requirements do not constitute regulations and are exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act. The bill would further require the PUC to adopt, by rule or order, (1) standards for biomethane that specify the concentrations of constituents of concern that are reasonably necessary to protect public health and ensure pipeline integrity and safety, as specified, and (2) requirements for monitoring, testing, reporting, and recordkeeping, as specified. The bill would require a gas corporation, as defined, to comply with those standards and requirements. The bill would require the PUC to require gas corporation tariffs to condition access to common carrier pipelines on the applicable customer meeting those standards and requirements. The bill would also prohibit a person and a gas corporation from knowingly engaging in specified transactions involving common carrier pipelines and biogas collected from a hazardous waste landfill, as defined. (2) The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and requires it to prepare an integrated energy policy report on or before November 1, 2003, and every 2 years thereafter. The act requires the report to contain an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state, including, but not limited to, supply, demand, pricing, reliability, efficiency, and impacts on public health and safety, the economy, resources, and the environment. This bill would require the Energy Commission to hold public hearings to identify impediments that limit procurement of biomethane in California, including, but not limited to, impediments to interconnection. The bill would require the Energy Commission to offer solutions to those impediments as part of the above-mentioned report. (3) This bill would require the PUC to adopt policies and programs that promote the in-state production and distribution of biomethane. (4) Existing law allows the PUC to set heating and purity requirements for biomethane injected into a gas pipeline. Existing law allows gas corporations to impose tariffs on biomethane injected into their pipelines. This bill would require the PUC to adopt pipeline access rules that ensure that each gas corporation provides nondiscriminatory open access to its gas pipeline system to any party for the purposes of physically interconnecting with the gas pipeline system and effectuating the delivery of gas. (5) This bill would become operative only if this bill and AB 2196 of the 2011–12 Regular Session are both enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2013. (6) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because this bill would require action by the PUC to implement certain of its requirements, a violation of which would be a crime, these provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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 makes it a felony, generally known as human trafficking, to deprive or violate the personal liberty of another with the intent to effect or maintain a felony violation of, among other crimes, pimping, pandering, and abducting a minor for the purpose of prostitution. Existing law, the California Control of Profits of Organized Crime Act, defines criminal profiteering as any act committed or attempted, or any threat made for financial gain or advantage, that may be charged as a crime under specified provisions, including murder, money laundering, human trafficking, and crimes in which the perpetrator induces, encourages, persuades, threatens, or forces a person under 18 years of age to engage in a commercial sex act. Under existing law, property and assets acquired or received in exchange for the proceeds immediately derived from the pattern of criminal profiteering activity are subject to forfeit. The money proceeds from that forfeiture are distributed as prescribed. In cases involving human trafficking of minors for purposes of prostitution or lewd conduct or in any case involving taking a person for prostitution in which the victim is a minor, the funds are deposited in the Victim-Witness Assistance Fund to be available for appropriation to fund child sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse victim counseling centers and prevention programs and for grants to community-based organizations that serve minor victims of human trafficking. This bill would authorize the forfeiture of vehicles, boats, airplanes, money, negotiable instruments, securities, real property, or other things of value used for the purpose of facilitating the human trafficking involving a commercial sex act where the victim is an individual under 18 years of age at the time of the commission of the crime and property acquired through human trafficking or which was received in exchange for the proceeds of human trafficking of a person under 18 years of age when the crime involved a commercial sex act. The bill would prescribe the distribution of those funds, including to the General Fund of the state or local governmental entity, whichever prosecutes, and to the Victim-Witness Assistance Fund to be used upon appropriation for grants to community-based organizations that serve victims of human trafficking.
Existing law requires specified information to be provided to patients regarding their health care. Existing federal law requires a written report of the results of each mammography examination and requires a summary of that report to be sent to the patient within a specified time period. This bill, from April 1, 2013, until January 1, 2019, would require, under specified circumstances, a health facility at which a mammography examination is performed to include in the summary of the written report that is sent to the patient a prescribed notice on breast density.
Under existing law, the segments of the public postsecondary education system in the state include the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, which is administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, which are administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes uniform student residency requirements for purposes of ascertaining the amount of tuition and fees to be paid by students of public postsecondary education institutions. Existing law entitles a student who was a member of the Armed Forces of the United States stationed in this state on active duty for more than one year immediately prior to being discharged from the Armed Forces to resident classification for the length of time he or she lives in this state after being discharged up to the minimum time necessary to become a resident. This bill instead would make those students exempt from paying nonresident tuition, and would revise that provision for purposes of the California Community Colleges by making a community college student who was a member of the Armed Forces of the United States stationed in this state on active duty for more than one year immediately prior to being discharged from the Armed Forces exempt from paying nonresident tuition for up to one year, to be used while he or she lives in this state and within two years of being discharged, if he or she files an affidavit with the community college stating that he or she intends to establish residency in California as soon as possible, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. The bill would prohibit a former member of the Armed Forces of the United States who received a specified discharge from being eligible for an exemption. 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
Under existing law, a hunting license grants the privilege to take birds and mammals. Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Game to issue a hunting license, upon payment of a fee, to eligible California residents and nonresidents, as specified. Existing law requires the department to issue a reduced fee hunting license, as specified, to a disabled veteran, as defined. This bill would also require the department to issue a reduced fee hunting license to military personnel who are recovering service members, as defined, and who provide documentation of eligibility, as prescribed.
Under existing law, a sport fishing license grants the privilege to take fish, reptiles, and amphibia. Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Game to issue a sport fishing license, upon payment of a fee, to eligible California residents and nonresidents, as specified. Existing law requires the department to issue a reduced fee sport fishing license, as specified, to a disabled veteran, as defined, that is valid for the calendar year of issue, or, if issued after the beginning of the year, for the remainder of the year. This bill would also require the department to issue a reduced fee sport fishing license to active military personnel who are recovering service members, as defined, and who demonstrate eligibility, as prescribed. Existing law establishes the lengths of time a sport fishing license is valid, including for a period of one calendar year, for anyone over 16 years of age, as provided. This bill would provide that a reduced fee sport fishing license is valid for one year as specified by existing law.
Existing law provides for the appointment of a road commissioner in each county by the board of supervisors, with specified powers and duties relating to county roads. Existing law provides for exceptions to this requirement in cases in which the duties of the road commissioner have been transferred by the board of supervisors to the county director of transportation or another authorized person. Existing law, in the case of Orange County, authorizes the board of supervisors of that county to transfer the duties of the county road commissioner to a county environmental management agency. This bill, until January 1, 2018, would authorize the board of supervisors of Merced County to transfer the duties of the county road commissioner to the county director of the department of public works, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Merced County.
(1) Existing law requires an attorney to provide a written advisory to a building owner or tenant with each demand for money or complaint for any construction-related accessibility claim, as specified. A violation of this requirement may subject the attorney to disciplinary action. This bill would, instead, require an attorney to provide a written advisory with each demand letter or complaint, as defined, sent to or served upon a defendant or potential defendant for any construction-related accessibility claim, as specified. The bill would require the Judicial Council to update the form that may be used by attorneys to comply with this requirement on or before July 1, 2013. The bill would require an allegation of a construction-related accessibility claim in a demand letter or complaint to state facts sufficient to allow a reasonable person to identify the basis for the claim. The bill would require any complaint alleging a construction-related accessibility claim to be verified by the plaintiff, and would make any complaint filed without verification subject to a motion to strike. The bill would prohibit a demand letter from including a request or demand for money or an offer or agreement to accept money. The bill also would prohibit an attorney, or other person acting at the direction of an attorney, from issuing a demand for money to a building owner or tenant, or an agent or employee of a building owner or tenant, on the basis of one or more construction-related accessibility violations, as specified. The bill would require an attorney to include his or her State Bar license number in a demand letter, and to submit copies of the demand letter to the California Commission on Disability Access and, until January 1, 2016, to the State Bar. The bill also would require, until January 1, 2016, an attorney to submit a copy of a complaint to the commission. The bill would provide that a violation of these requirements may subject the attorney to disciplinary action, as specified. This bill would require the commission to review and report on the demand letters and complaints it receives until January 1, 2016. The bill also would require the State Bar, commencing July 31, 2013, and annually each July 31 thereafter, to report specified information to the Legislature regarding the demand letters that it receives. (2) Existing law provides, upon being served with a summons and complaint asserting a construction-related accessibility claim, a qualified defendant, as defined, may file a request for a court stay and early evaluation conference in the proceedings, as specified. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to prepare and post on its Internet Web site instructions and a form for a qualified defendant to use to file an application for stay and early evaluation conference pursuant to this provision. This bill would permit other defendants to file a request for a court stay and early evaluation conference pursuant to this provision, including (A) a defendant, until January 1, 2018, whose site's new construction or improvement on or after January 1, 2008, and before January 1, 2016, was approved pursuant to the local building permit and inspection process, (B) a defendant whose site's new construction or improvement was approved by a local public building department inspector who is a certified access specialist, and (C) a defendant who is a small business, as described. The bill would require the Judicial Council to prepare and post a form for filing an application for stay and early evaluation conference for use by qualified defendants and these additional defendants, and any additional forms appropriate to implement these provisions, as specified. The bill also would authorize a defendant who does not qualify for an early evaluation conference pursuant to these provisions, or who forgoes those provisions, to request a mandatory evaluation conference, as specified. The bill would authorize a plaintiff to make that request if the defendant does not make that request. (3) Existing law provides statutory damages in a construction-related accessibility claim against a place of public accommodation if a violation of construction-related accessibility standards denied the plaintiff full and equal access to that site on a particular occasion. A plaintiff is denied full and equal access only if, on a particular occasion, the plaintiff personally encountered the violation or was deterred from accessing the site. These statutory damages are in the amount of actual damages and any additional amount determined by a jury or the court up to a maximum of 3 times the amount of actual damages but not less than $4,000, or, for certain violations, $1,000. This bill would require the court, in assessing liability in any action alleging multiple claims for the same construction-related accessibility violation on different particular occasions, to consider the reasonableness of the plaintiff's conduct in light of the plaintiff's obligation, if any, to mitigate damages. The bill would reduce a defendant's minimum liability for statutory damages in a construction-related accessibility claim against a place of public accommodation to $1,000 for each offense if the defendant has corrected all construction-related violations that are the basis of the claim within 60 days of being served with the complaint and other specified conditions apply, and would reduce that minimum liability to $2,000 for each offense if the defendant has corrected all construction-related violations that are the basis of the claim within 30 days of being served with the complaint and the defendant is a small business, as specified. The bill would require the Department of General Services to make a biannual adjustment to financial criteria defining a small business for these purposes, and to post those adjusted amounts on its Internet Web site. (4) Existing law requires the State Architect to develop and submit for approval and adoption building standards for making buildings, structures, sidewalks, curbs, and related facilities accessible to, and usable by, persons with disabilities, as specified. Existing law provides for the inspection of places of public accommodation by certified access specialists to determine if the sites meet all applicable construction-related accessibility standards, and the provision of specified certificates and reports regarding those inspections. Existing law regulates the hiring of real property. This bill would require a commercial property owner to state on a lease form or rental agreement executed on or after July 1, 2013, if the property being leased or rented has undergone inspection by a certified access specialist. (5) The federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the California Building Standards Code require that specified buildings, structures, and facilities be accessible to, and usable by, persons with disabilities. Existing law establishes in the Department of General Services, the Division of the State Architect with responsibilities relating to architectural services, state buildings, and disability access. Existing law requires the State Architect to establish a certified access specialist program for voluntary certification by the state of any person who meets specified criteria as a certified access specialist. Existing law authorizes the State Architect to require applicants for certification and renewal of certification under the certified access specialist program to pay specified fees, including an application fee, a course fee, and an examination fee, at a level sufficient to meet the costs of administering the program, for deposit into the Certified Access Specialist Fund. In administering the certified access specialist program, this bill would require the State Architect to periodically review its schedule of fees for certification under the program to ensure that the fees are not excessive. The bill would prohibit the State Architect from charging a California licensed architect, landscape architect, civil engineer, or structural engineer, an application fee for certification that exceeds $250. This bill would impose, on and after January 1, 2013, and until December 31, 2018, an additional state fee of $1 on any applicant for a local business license or equivalent instrument or permit, or renewal thereof, for purposes of increasing disability access and compliance with construction-related accessibility requirements and developing educational resources for businesses to facilitate compliance with federal and state disability laws, as specified. The bill would divide those moneys for the state between the local entity that collected the moneys and the Division of the State Architect, pursuant to specified percentages. The bill would create a continuously appropriated fund, the Disability Access and Education Revolving Fund, for the deposit of funds to be transferred to the Division of the State Architect, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would make an appropriation by authorizing local government entities to retain 70% of the fees imposed. By adding to the duties of a local entity, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (6) Existing law establishes the California Commission on Disability Access for purposes of developing recommendations to enable persons with disabilities to exercise their right to full and equal access to public facilities and facilitating business compliance with the laws and regulations to avoid unnecessary litigation. Existing law sets forth the powers and duties of the commission, as specified. Existing law requires the commission to study and make reports to the Legislature regarding disability access laws and compliance, as specified. Existing law requires the commission to act as an information center on the status of compliance with disability access laws, to publish a biennial report, and to coordinate with other state agencies and local building departments to ensure the uniformity of information provided to the public on disability access. This bill would revise and recast those duties and powers, as specified, and eliminate the biennial reporting requirement. The bill would instead provide that a priority of the commission shall be the development and dissemination of educational materials and information to promote and facilitate disability access compliance, including a requirement that the commission work with the Division of the State Architect and the Department of Rehabilitation to develop educational materials for use by businesses. The bill would require the commission to post specified information on its Internet Web site, including, but not limited to, educational materials and information that will assist business owners. The bill would require the commission to report to the Legislature on its implementation by a specified date. The bill would require the commission to compile data with respect to any demand letter or complaint sent to the commission and post that information on its Internet Web site. (7) Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, requires a state agency responsible for the adoption of building standards to submit its standards to the California Building Standards Commission for review and approval, subject to specified procedures and a triennial code adoption cycle. Existing law requires the commission to codify and publish approved standards in the California Building Code, as set forth in Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations. Existing law provides that building standards become effective 180 days after its publication, as specified. This bill would provide, for the purpose of an alleged violation of a construction-related accessibility standard, that upon publication of the 2013 California Building Standards Code, but prior to its effective date, as specified, compliance with the building standards for disabled accessibility in the 2013 California Building Standards Code is authorized as an alternative method of compliance. (8) 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions. (9) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would recognize the 25th anniversary of the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial on November 23, 2013, and encourage all Californians to take part in ceremonies, organized by the California State Council of Vietnam Veterans of America along with assistance from the Department of Veterans Affairs and other veterans service organizations. This measure would call upon the state archives to display memorabilia in a special display on the Vietnam War, as provided, the California State Military Museum to prepare and display exhibits on the Vietnam War, as provided, and the Department of Veterans Affairs to add names to the memorial, as provided.