Sen. Shannon Grove

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation. Existing law continuously appropriates 20% of the annual proceeds of the fund to the Strategic Growth Council for the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program, as provided. This bill would reduce the continuous appropriation to the Strategic Growth Council for the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program by half. This bill, beginning in the 2016–17 fiscal year, would continuously appropriate 50% of the annual proceeds of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, with 50% of that appropriation to the Department of Transportation for maintenance of the state highway system or for projects that are part of the state highway operation and protection program, and 50% to cities and counties for local street and road purposes.

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 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 establishes a procedure by which a person may seek judicial review of the decision of the lead agency made pursuant to CEQA or proceeding challenging a lead agency's action on the grounds of noncompliance with CEQA. The bill would prohibit a court in a judicial action or proceeding under CEQA from staying or enjoining the construction or improvement of a highway unless it makes specified findings.

(1) Existing law requires the governing board of each school district to establish standards of expected pupil achievement at each grade level in each area of study and to evaluate and assess certificated employee performance on a continuing basis as it reasonably relates to the progress of pupils toward the established standards and, if applicable, the state adopted academic content standards as measured by state adopted criterion referenced assessments, the instructional techniques and strategies used by the employee, the employee's adherence to curricular objectives, and the establishment and maintenance of a suitable learning environment, within the scope of the employee's responsibilities. This bill would require the superintendent of a school district and a county superintendent of schools to make available to the public, and post on its Internet Web site, if it has one, specified information relating to the evaluation of teachers and principals. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) 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.

Existing law establishes the Valley Fever Vaccine Project, administered by the State Department of Public Health and provides for state support and funding of efforts by the project to conduct valley fever vaccine research. This bill would appropriate $1,000,000 from the General Fund to the department for the 2015–16 fiscal year, for purposes of extending the project. The bill would allocate $100,000 to the department for administrative costs, as specified.

This measure would declare June 6, 2015, to June 14, 2015, inclusive, as the 2015 California Invasive Species Action Week and would urge all Californians to participate in activities that raise awareness of invasive species issues and to take action to prevent their spread.

This measure would commemorate the centennial of the founding of Locke, California, would recognize and honor Locke, California, as the last remaining Chinatown in North America, and would urge all Californians to learn about the important history of Locke, California, and its inhabitants.

This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to support H.R. 167, the federal Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, in order to provide a long-term, stable source of funding for federal agencies to conduct the necessary fuels management on national forest lands, while retaining resources to suppress catastrophic wildfires.

This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to enact legislation allowing immigrants to serve in the military if they are eligible under the President's Executive Order for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or Executive Order for Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents.

This measure would designate a portion of State Highway Route 44 in the City of Redding as the Richard "Dick" Dickerson 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.