Sen. Anthony Cannella

This measure would proclaim June 2012 as Scleroderma Awareness Month.

Existing law provides for the removal of public officers for willful or corrupt misconduct in office. Existing law provides that an accusation in writing against any officer of a district, county, or city for willful or corrupt misconduct in office may be presented by the grand jury of the county for, or in, which the officer accused is elected or appointed. Existing law authorizes the impaneling of an additional grand jury under specified circumstances. Under existing law, an accusation may not be presented without the concurrence of a specified number of grand jurors. This bill would provide that the grand jury presenting the accusation against an officer for willful or corrupt misconduct in office may also be the additional grand jury impaneled pursuant to those provisions. The bill would require the concurrence of 14 grand jurors in a county in which the required number of grand jurors is 23 in order for an accusation of misconduct against an officer, as described above, to be presented.

Existing law prohibits a person, for amusement or gain, from causing, permitting on his or her premises, or aiding and abetting in the fighting of specified animals, including bears and dogs. A violation of this prohibition is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year, or by a fine not to exceed $5,000, or by both. This bill would raise the fine to $10,000. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly be present as a spectator at any place, building, or tenement for an exhibition of animal fighting or for preparations for that act. A violation of this prohibition is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed 6 months, or by a fine not to exceed $1,000, or by both. This bill would raise the fine to $5,000. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to manufacture, buy, sell, barter, exchange, or for a person to have in his or her possession any of the implements commonly known as gaffs or slashers, or any other sharp implement designed to be attached in place of the natural spur of a gamecock or other fighting bird. A violation of this prohibition is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year, by a fine not to exceed $5,000, or by both, and upon conviction, in addition to any judgment or sentence imposed by the court, forfeiture of possession or ownership of those implements. This bill would raise the fine to $10,000. Existing law prohibits a person from owning, possessing, keeping, or training any bird or other animal with the intent that it be used or engaged by himself or herself, by his or her vendee, or by any other person in an exhibition of fighting. A person who violates this prohibition is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year, by a fine not to exceed $5,000, or by both. This bill would raise the fine to $10,000.

This measure would recognize the United States Navy for its contributions to California, its communities, and its citizens by proclaiming the week of July 16 to July 22, inclusive, as Navy Week Sacramento.

This measure would state the Legislature's support for the programs and initiatives administered by the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and would request the United States Department of Agriculture, the Regents of the University of California, and the board of supervisors in each county in the state to continue their support and funding of the division.

Existing law prohibits any person, except as specified, from driving any motor vehicle with any object or material placed, displayed, installed, affixed, or applied in or upon the vehicle that obstructs or reduces the driver's clear view through the windshield or side windows. Existing law makes it unlawful for any person to refuse to pay tolls or other charges on any vehicular crossing or toll highway and requires, among other things, that if a transponder or other electronic toll payment device is used to pay tolls or other charges due, the device be located in or on the vehicle in a location so as to be visible for the purpose of enforcement at all times when the vehicle is located on the vehicular crossing or toll highway. This bill would require a motorcyclist to instead use any one of 5 specified methods when using a transponder or other electronic toll payment device to pay tolls or other charges when entering a vehicle crossing or toll highway.

The California Constitution provides that a person shall be disqualified from holding office if he or she has been convicted of bribery, and directs the Legislature to enact laws to exclude persons convicted of malfeasance in office or other high crimes from office. Under existing statutory law, a person is disqualified from holding any office upon the conviction of specified crimes designated in the Constitution or statute. Existing law enumerates events causing a vacancy in office, including the conviction of a felony or any offense involving a violation of official duties. This bill would disqualify for 5 years a person who employed at will for the purposes of providing services to an elected public officer from any public employment, including, but not limited to, employment with a city, county, district, or any other public agency of this state, if he or she is convicted of a felony involving accepting or giving, or offering to give, any bribe, the embezzlement of public money, extortion or theft of public money, perjury, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes arising directly out of his or her duties as a public employee. That 5-year disqualification period would begin at the later of either the person's final conviction or release from any incarceration.

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, however, require property tax apportionment factors applied in allocating property tax revenue in the County of San Benito for the 2001–02 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.

(1) Existing law prohibits any combination of vehicles coupled together, including any attachments, from exceeding a total length of 65 feet, with certain, specified exemptions. Existing law further exempts a combination of vehicles coupled together, including attachments from the specified length limitation, and authorizes the combination to have a length of not more than 75 feet if the combination consists of a truck tractor, a semitrailer, or a semitrailer or trailer, and the length of neither the semitrailer nor the trailer in the combination of vehicles exceeds 28 feet 6 inches. This bill would, until January 1, 2018, exempt from the length limitation a combination of vehicles coupled together, including attachments not more than 75 feet in total length that (1) consist of a motortruck and two trailers; (2) includes a trailer in the combination that does not exceed 28 feet 6 inches; (3) is used exclusively to transport agricultural products from the field to either the first point of handling and return or to a designated truck route and return, and each direction of transport does not exceed a specified amount of miles; (4) is not operated on a highway designated by the United States Department of Transportation as a national network route; (5) does not exceed a speed of 50 miles per hour when operating on a highway; (6) successfully completes a commercial vehicle safety alliance inspection conducted by the Department of the California Highway Patrol; and (7) operates on the highways only after the development of safe routing techniques, as specified. The bill would also limit the application of this exemption to the County of San Benito and to cities in that county upon adoption of the exemption by ordinance or resolution. The bill would require the Department of the California Highway Patrol, in consultation with the Department of Transportation, to conduct a study of the effect that the exemption has on public safety, as prescribed, and to report the results of the study to the Legislature and the Governor on or before April 1, 2014. (2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations regarding the need for special legislation. (3) The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency measure.

This measure would recognize the week of March 4, 2012, to March 10, 2012, inclusive, as National Agriculture Week, and would designate March 21, 2012, as California Agriculture Day.