Sen. Anthony Cannella

Existing law provides that an accessory to a crime is punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000, imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison. Existing law provides that prosecution for an offense punishable by imprisonment in the state prison shall be commenced within 3 years after commission of the offense and that prosecution for an offense not punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison shall be commenced within one year after commission of the offense. Existing law provides that prosecution for murder may be commenced at any time. This bill would provide that prosecution of an accessory to murder may be commenced within 10 years after commission of the offense.

Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, that generally requires employers to secure the payment of workers' compensation, including medical treatment, for injuries incurred by their employees sustained in the course of employment. Existing law provides that each inmate of a state penal or correctional institution shall be entitled to workers' compensation benefits for injury arising out of and in the course of assigned employment and for the death of the inmate if the injury proximately causes death, subject to certain conditions. Existing law provides that whenever a person confined in a county jail, industrial farm, road camp, or city jail suffers injuries or death while working in the prevention or suppression of forest, brush, or grass fires, he or she shall be considered to be an employee of the county or city, respectively, for purposes of workers' compensation. This bill would provide that each inmate of a city, county, or city and county that provides workers' compensation benefits for an inmate of a jail, is entitled to workers' compensation benefits for injuries arising out of, and in the course of, assigned employment, and for the death of the inmate if the injury proximately causes the death, subject to specified conditions.

Existing law generally requires the payment of the prevailing rate of per diem wages and the prevailing rate for holiday and overtime work to employees employed on a public work, as defined, that costs more than $1,000, and provides that workers employed by contractors or subcontractors in the execution of any contract for public work are deemed to be employed upon public work. This bill would provide that workers working in a yard, shop, or plant off the site of construction shall only be deemed to be employed upon public works if that yard, shop, or plant is specifically established for that public work project.

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law define gross income as all income from whatever source derived, unless specifically excluded. This bill would exclude from gross income any amount provided to a person by the State Air Resources Board, an air pollution control district, or an air quality management district, as defined, for the purpose of air pollution reduction. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, determine the basis for property when determining a gain or loss on the sale or other disposition of that property or when determining a depreciation deduction relating to that property. This bill would provide, under both laws, that for purposes of determining the gain or loss from the sale or other deposition of the property or when determining the depreciation deduction, the basis of the property shall be reduced to the extent the property was acquired with a grant amount by the State Air Resources Board, an air pollution control district, or an air quality management district, as defined, for the purpose of air pollution reduction. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

The Administrative Procedure Act generally sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. This bill would additionally require the California Environmental Protection Agency, the entities that comprise that agency, and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, when proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal an administrative regulation, to complete an economic impact analysis of that action prior to the adoption, amendment, or repeal. The bill would require the economic impact analysis to contain the projected cost of the action to the General Fund, the projected total economic impact of the action, including the cost to private sector employers and the estimated number of jobs to be lost, a description of all feasible regulatory alternatives and a cost-benefit analysis of each alternative, and a summary of written comments, as specified. The bill would require the agency to subject the report to a review by an independent entity, as defined, and to make the economic impact report available on the agency's Internet Web site.

Existing law makes it a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 2, 4, or 6 years to, with intent to manufacture methamphetamine or any of its analogs, as specified, or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, 2 years, or 3 years to, with the intent to sell, transfer, or otherwise furnish those chemicals, substances, or products to another person with the knowledge that they will be used to manufacture methamphetamine or any of its analogs, as specified, possess ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, or any salts, isomers, or salts of isomers of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. This bill would make it a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 2, 4, or 6 years to possess, without regard to intent, 12pound or more of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, or any salts, isomers, or salts of isomers of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, or 12pound or more of a substance containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, or any salts, isomers, or salts of isomers of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. Because this bill would create new crimes, this bill would impose a state‑mandated local program upon local governments. 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.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA provides for the judicial review of a lead agency's decision to certify an EIR. The bill would enact the CEQA Litigation Protection Pilot Program of 2011 and would require the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency to select projects that meet specified requirements from specified regions for each calendar year between 2012 and 2016. The bill would exempt from judicial review, pursuant to CEQA, a lead agency's decision to certify the EIR of, or to adopt a mitigated negative declaration based on an initial study for, the selected projects, a lead agency's and responsible agency's approval of the selected project, and the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency's selection of the projects. The bill would require the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, by December 31 of each year, to submit an annual report to the Governor and to the Legislature summarizing the designation of projects, and the job creation and investment attributable to the designated projects. The bill would repeal the pilot program as of January 1, 2017.

Existing law establishes the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, which requires the Public Utilities Commission to implement annual procurement targets for the procurement of eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, for all retail sellers, as defined, to achieve the targets and goals of the program. The existing definition of an eligible renewable energy resource includes small hydroelectric generation facilities of 30 megawatts or less that meet specified criteria. This bill would revise the definition of an eligible renewable energy resource to include a hydroelectric generation facility of any size, and remove other restrictions regarding which hydroelectric generation facilities meet the definition of an eligible renewable energy resource. The bill would also make conforming changes. This bill would incorporate certain changes in Section 399.12 of the Public Utilities Code, proposed by SB 2 of the First Extraordinary Session, to be operative only if SB 2 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2012, and this bill is chaptered last.

(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant impact on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that impact. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant impact on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant impact on the environment. This bill would provide that impacts, potential impacts, or cumulative impacts on the environment of a project that is subject to an environmental regulation are deemed to be insignificant for the purposes of CEQA unless a preponderance of evidence demonstrates that the specific impact, potential impact, or cumulative impact is significant after giving full effect to the environmental regulation. (2) CEQA requires a lead agency to prepare a negative declaration if there is no substantial evidence in the administrative record that a project would have a significant environmental impact or a mitigated negative declaration if the project's environmental impacts may be avoided through a revision of the project so that there is no substantial evidence in the administrative record that the revised project would have a significant environmental impact. CEQA requires the preparation of an EIR if there is substantial evidence in the administrative record that a project may have a significant environmental impact. This bill would instead require the lead agency to prepare a negative declaration or a mitigated negative declaration if there is a preponderance of the evidence in the record that a project or a revised project would not have a significant environmental impact. The bill would require the preparation of an EIR if the lead agency finds, in light of the whole record, that a project, based on a preponderance of the evidence, will have a significant environmental impact that could not be avoided through a revision of the project. Because the bill would require a lead agency to determine whether there is a preponderance of the evidence in the record that a project would not have a significant environmental impact, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) CEQA authorizes the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt guidelines to include a list of classes of projects that have been determined not to have a significant effect on the environment and are exempted from the requirements of CEQA. This bill would provide that a project's greenhouse gas emissions are not, in and of themselves, deemed to cause the exemption to be inapplicable under specified conditions. (4) CEQA prohibits a person from bringing or maintaining an action or proceeding unless the alleged grounds for noncompliance with CEQA were presented to the public agency during the public comment period or before the close of the public hearing on the project before the issuance of the notice of determination. This bill would authorize, with specified exceptions, a lead agency to not consider written materials submitted after the close of the public comment period and would prohibit the use of those materials as a basis for challenging the lead agency's action pursuant to CEQA. (5) CEQA requires the Office of Planning and Research to prepare and develop, and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt, guidelines for the implementation of CEQA that include criteria for public agencies to follow in determining whether or not a proposed project may have a "significant effect on the environment." CEQA defines "significant effect on the environment" to include, among other things, effects on the environment that are "cumulatively considerable." CEQA defines "cumulatively considerable" to mean incremental effects of an individual project that are considerable when viewed in connection with the effects of past projects, other current projects, and probable future projects. This bill would revise the definition of "cumulatively considerable" to delete reference to the effects of "probable future projects" and instead include the effects of "reasonably foreseeable future projects," which are projects that have been proposed or approved 90 days before the issuance of an EIR or 30 days prior to the circulation of a negative declaration or a mitigated negative declaration. (6) Existing law authorizes the court, upon the motion of a party, to award attorney's fees to a prevailing party in an action that has resulted in the enforcement of an important right affecting the public interest if 3 conditions are met. The bill would require the court to additionally consider specified factors in awarding the attorney's fees. (7) Existing law authorizes the court until January 1, 2016, to impose a sanction of up to $10,000 for the filing of a frivolous claim in an action brought pursuant to CEQA. This bill would increase the maximum amount of a sanction for such a filing to $20,000. (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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

This bill would urge the United States Patent and Trademark Office to place a satellite office in California.