(1) Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the California regional water quality control boards prescribe waste discharge requirements for the discharge of stormwater by municipalities and industries in accordance with the federal national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit program. Existing law, the Professional Engineers Act, requires all civil engineering plans, calculations, specifications, and reports to be prepared by, or under the responsible charge of, a licensed civil engineer. A violation of the act is a crime. This bill would exempt a civil engineer from any requirement of additional experience, training, or certification requirements in order to perform activities in the preparation of a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan pursuant to a specified general permit for stormwater discharges. (2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
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This measure would declare the week of September 5 through September 11, 2011, Yellow Ribbon Week to show support for military families and for troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Existing law defines rendering as the recycling, processing, and conversion of animal and fish byproducts and carcasses from the meat, poultry, and seafood industries, as well as used kitchen grease into fats, oils, and proteins that are used primarily as feed in the animal, poultry, and pet food industries. Existing law requires every person engaged in the business of rendering to obtain a license from the Department of Food and Agriculture for each rendering plant, establishes the qualifications for obtaining that license, and authorizes a peace officer or any employee of the department to inspect any premises maintained by a renderer that is licensed pursuant to these provisions. This bill would establish in state government a Rendering Industry Advisory Board to advise and to make recommendations to the Secretary of Food and Agriculture regarding, among other things, licensing matters, regulations, procedures for employment, training, supervision, and compensation of inspectors and other personnel, and the rate and collection of license fees and penalties related thereto. The board would consist of 7 members, appointed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, 6 of whom are licensed pursuant to the provisions described above and are subject to payment of the rendering program licensing fees. The bill would specify the term of office of members of the board and would require the board to meet at least once a year. The bill would require the secretary, in adopting regulations and procedures, to accept the recommendations of the board if he or she finds them to be practicable and in the interest of the rendering industry and the public. Existing law requires every person engaged in the business of rendering or of operating a collection center to obtain a license from the Department of Food and Agriculture for each rendering plant or collection center operated, as specified. Existing law requires licensees to keep specified records and authorizes the department to suspend or revoke a registration certificate under specified circumstances. Existing law regulates transporters of inedible kitchen grease. Law operative until January 1, 2010, and repealed as of January 1, 2011, authorized the collection of administrative fees, as specified, from renderers and collection centers in connection with rendering. Other provisions of existing law require the funds collected to be deposited into a special fund, the continuously appropriated Food and Agriculture Fund. This bill would reenact the provisions repealed as of January 1, 2011. The bill would make these provisions inoperative as of July 1, 2015. By reenacting these provisions requiring collection and deposit of funds into a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. Existing law requires, until January 1, 2012, that every operator of a certified farmers' market remit to the department a fee equal to the number of agricultural producers participating on each market day for the entire previous quarter which shall be used by the department upon appropriation by the Legislature, as specified. This bill would extend these provisions until January 1, 2014. Existing law provides that California farmers may transport for sale and sell California-grown fresh fruits, nuts, and vegetables that they produce directly to the public at a certified farmers' market, as specified. Existing law provides that it is unlawful for any person operating under these provisions to commit certain acts related to the conduct of farmers' markets. Existing law, until January 1, 2012, provides that in lieu of prosecution, but not precluding suspension or revocation of certified producer's certificates or certified farmers' market certificates, the secretary or the county commissioner may levy a civil penalty against a person who violates these provisions or any regulation implemented pursuant to these provisions, as specified. This bill would extend the provision authorizing the civil penalty until January 1, 2014.
Existing law imposes an annual assessment of 1% on the gross sales of all deciduous pome and stone fruit trees, nut trees, and grapevines, including seeds, seedlings, rootstocks, and topstock, including ornamental varieties of apple, apricot, crabapple, cherry, nectarine, peach, pear, and plum, produced and sold within the state or produced within and shipped from the state by any licensed nursery dealer, and provides that for packaged or containerized stock, the assessment shall be levied on the producer's bareroot price of the plants, and specifies the purposes for which the assessment may be used. Existing law provides that the assessment shall be paid into the State Treasury and shall be credited to the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund, a continuously appropriated fund for these purposes. This bill would include olive trees within the plants that are subject to the assessment. By depositing additional money into a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. Existing law authorizes the Department of Food and Agriculture to enter into agreements with the University of California, any commissioner, and any qualified research agency, to assist in the development of planting material for pome and stone fruit, nut tree, and grapevine production. Existing law requires the agreements to provide for payment for services rendered from fees collected pursuant to the provisions described above. This bill would additionally authorize the department to enter into agreements to assist in the development of planting material for olive tree production. Because the bill would expand the scope of the services for which payment may be made for services rendered from the fees described above, the bill would deposit additional moneys into, and would expand the scope of the authorization to spend moneys from, a continuously appropriated fund, thereby making an appropriation. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Food and Agriculture, upon consultation with the pome and stone fruit tree, nut tree, and grapevine nursery industry, to appoint a board to assist and advise him or her concerning the implementation of the assessment and other related provisions of law. Existing law requires board members to represent all areas of the state involved in the production of pome and stone fruit trees, nut trees, and grapevines. This bill would extend membership on the board to include representatives of licensed olive nursery stock producers, as specified, and require the secretary to additionally consult with the olive industry in appointing the board. The bill would include olive trees among those items of production that are required to be represented by board members.
Existing law establishes in the California Environmental Protection Agency the State Air Resources Board, which is responsible for control of emissions from motor vehicles and is designated the air pollution control agency for all purposes set forth in federal law. Existing law requires the state board to consist of 11 members appointed based on certain qualifications. This bill, until January 1, 2017, would require one appointed member of the state board to be an owner within the past 5 years of a small business, as defined. The bill would also make various technical, nonsubstantive changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 39510 of the Health and Safety Code, proposed by AB 146, to be operative only if AB 146 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective January 1, 2012, and this bill is chaptered last.
The Personal Income Tax Law allows individual taxpayers to contribute amounts in excess of their tax liability for the support of specified funds. This bill would, until January 1, 2016, allow a taxpayer to designate on a tax return that a specified amount in excess of his or her tax liability be deposited into the General Fund. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 6, 2010. Governor Brown issued a proclamation on January 20, 2011, declaring and reaffirming that a fiscal emergency exists and stating that his proclamation supersedes the earlier proclamation for purposes of that constitutional provision. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared and reaffirmed by the Governor by proclamation issued on January 20, 2011, pursuant to the California Constitution.
Existing property tax law requires the county auditor, in each fiscal year, to allocate property tax revenues 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 requires, for purposes of property tax revenue allocations for the 2011–12 and 2012–13 fiscal years, the county auditor for a county for which a negative sum was calculated pursuant to a specified former statute, in reducing the amount of property tax revenue otherwise allocated to the county by an amount attributable to that negative sum, to apply a reduction amount equal to the reduction amount determined for specified fiscal years. This bill would instead require, for the 2010–11 fiscal year, the county auditor for a county for which a negative sum was calculated as described above, to increase the total amount of ad valorem property tax revenues deemed allocated to the county in the immediately preceding fiscal year by an amount equal to the absolute value of the negative sum calculated for the county, and the proportional share of any growth in assessed valuations of property attributable to that negative sum through the 2009–10 fiscal year. This bill would also require, for the 2011–12 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, the amount of property tax revenue deemed allocated to a county in the immediately preceding fiscal year include the full amount of any increase implemented by the auditor, as so described, in that fiscal year, and would require that amount to be reduced from the total amount of ad valorem property tax revenue deemed allocated to the county's Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund. By imposing new duties in the annual allocation of ad valorem property tax revenues, 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, 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. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 6, 2010. Governor Brown issued a proclamation on January 20, 2011, declaring and reaffirming that a fiscal emergency exists and stating that his proclamation supersedes the earlier proclamation for purposes of that constitutional provision. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared and reaffirmed by the Governor by proclamation issued on January 20, 2011, pursuant to the California Constitution. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would recognize the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks as a day of solemn commemoration.
This measure would continue designation and observance of the month of October as Italian American Heritage Month. This measure would also encourage the Legislature to continue the Italian American Legislator Project and welcome the exhibit "The Italian American Legislator Project of 2011: A Legacy of Service to the California Legislature" to the State Capitol Building in October 2011 and encourage all Californians, through the K–12 curriculum and otherwise, to learn about the history, role, and contributions of Italian Americans to the State of California.
This measure would designate the portion of State Highway Route 219 between State Highway Routes 99 and 108 in Stanislaus County as the CHP Officer Earl Scott Memorial Highway. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.