(1) The California Constitution prohibits the ad valorem tax rate on real property from exceeding 1% of the full cash value of the property, subject to certain exceptions. This measure would create an additional exception to the 1% limit that would authorize a city, county, city and county, or special district to levy an ad valorem tax to service bonded indebtedness incurred to fund the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of public infrastructure, affordable housing, or permanent supportive housing, or the acquisition or lease of real property for those purposes, if the proposition proposing that tax is approved by 55% of the voters of the city, county, or city and county, as applicable, and the proposition includes specified accountability requirements. The measure would specify that these provisions apply to any city, county, city and county, or special district measure imposing an ad valorem tax to pay the interest and redemption charges on bonded indebtedness for these purposes that is submitted at the same election as this measure. (2) The California Constitution conditions the imposition of a special tax by a local government upon the approval of 23 of the voters of the local government voting on that tax, and prohibits these entities from imposing an ad valorem tax on real property or a transactions or sales tax on the sale of real property. This measure would authorize a local government to impose, extend, or increase a sales and use tax or transactions and use tax imposed in accordance with specified law or a parcel tax, as defined, for the purposes of funding the construction, rehabilitation, or replacement of public infrastructure, affordable housing, or permanent supportive housing if the proposition proposing that tax is approved by 55% of its voters voting on the proposition and the proposition includes specified accountability requirements. This measure would also make conforming changes to related provisions. The measure would specify that these provisions apply to any local measure imposing, extending, or increasing a sales and use tax, transactions and use tax, or parcel tax for these purposes that is submitted at the same election as this measure. (3) The California Constitution prohibits specified local government agencies from incurring any indebtedness exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided in that year, without the assent of 23 of the voters and subject to other conditions. In the case of a school district, community college district, or county office of education, the California Constitution permits a proposition for the incurrence of indebtedness in the form of general obligation bonds for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of school facilities, including the furnishing and equipping of school facilities, or the acquisition or lease of real property for school facilities, to be adopted upon the approval of 55% of the voters of the district or county, as appropriate, voting on the proposition at an election. This measure would expressly prohibit a special district, other than a board of education or school district, from incurring any indebtedness or liability exceeding any applicable statutory limit, as prescribed by the statutes governing the special district. The measure would also similarly require the approval of 55% of the voters of the city, county, city and county, or special district, as applicable, to incur bonded indebtedness, exceeding in any year the income and revenue provided in that year, that is in the form of general obligation bonds issued to fund the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of public infrastructure, affordable housing, or permanent supportive housing projects, if the proposition proposing that bond includes specified accountability requirements. The measure would specify that this 55% threshold applies to any proposition for the incurrence of indebtedness by a city, county, city and county, or special district for these purposes that is submitted at the same election as this measure.
Sponsored bills
This measure would urge the United States Department of Health and Human Services to rescind the new Title X regulations that will impede access to essential, time-sensitive health care for low-income individuals across California and the nation.
Existing law, the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, makes certain persons, including clergy, mandated reporters. Under existing law, clergy are required to report whenever the clergy, in their professional capacity or within the scope of their employment, has knowledge of or observes a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect, except when the clergy acquires the knowledge or reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect during a penitential communication. Failure by a mandated reporter to report an incident of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect is a misdemeanor. This bill would further define a penitential communication for purposes of the exception. The bill would also exempt from the exemption any penitential communication made between a clergy member and another person employed at the same facility or location as that clergy member, or between a clergy member and another clergy member. By redefining an exemption to a crime, this 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law grants the State Department of Health Care Services the sole authority in state government to determine the qualifications of personnel working within alcoholism or drug abuse recovery and treatment programs licensed, certified, or funded under state law. Existing law requires the department to require that a person providing counseling services within those programs be registered with or certified by a certifying organization approved by the department. Existing law also generally provides for the registration, certification, and licensure of various healing arts professionals by the Department of Consumer Affairs. This bill would require the Department of Consumer Affairs, by July 1, 2020, to conduct a sunrise review for the licensing of alcohol or drug counselors and to submit a report to the Legislature proposing licensing standards for independent practitioners providing alcohol or drug abuse recovery or treatment services. Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to license and regulate alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facilities serving adults. Existing law authorizes the department to certify qualified alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment programs, as prescribed. Under existing law, the department regulates the quality of these programs, taking into consideration the significance of community-based programs to alcohol and other drug abuse recovery and the need to encourage opportunities for low-income and special needs populations to receive alcohol and other drug abuse recovery or treatment services. This bill would require an outpatient alcohol or other substance use disorder recovery or treatment services program that provides those services to the public and is not otherwise licensed under existing law, to be licensed by the department, beginning January 1, 2021. The bill would require the department to develop regulations to establish program licensure standards and would integrate existing quality assurance provisions into the licensure requirements. The bill would deem a Drug Medi-Cal certified treatment program operating under the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System Waiver to be in compliance with the bill's licensure requirements under certain conditions. The bill would require the department to charge a fee, not to exceed the reasonable regulatory costs of administering the licensing program and issuing a license under these provisions. The bill would prohibit the practice or operation of a qualified outpatient alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment service, program, or provider without first obtaining a current valid license, and would impose specified penalties for violations of that prohibition.
Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to, as specified, immediately suspend a person's driver's license if the person is administratively found to have been operating a motor vehicle with a specified quantity of alcohol in their blood. Existing law authorizes a person who has had their driver's license suspended by the department to be issued a restricted driver's license if they meet specified criteria, including the installation and maintenance of an ignition interlock device (IID) . Existing law, until January 1, 2026, requires a person, upon a criminal conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol with a prior conviction for driving under the influence or for driving under the influence and causing injury, to install and maintain an IID for a specified period of time. Existing law also authorizes a court, upon the first criminal conviction of a person for driving under the influence, to order the person to install and maintain an IID for a specified period of time, or, if the court does not order the installation of such a device, authorizes the person to apply for a restricted license. Existing law requires the department to credit any time that a person maintained a functioning IID during the period of that person's restricted licensure, but prior to the criminal conviction, toward any mandatory term of maintaining such a device, required upon conviction. This bill would require a person, upon the person's first criminal conviction for driving under the influence, to install and maintain an IID for a specified period of time. The bill would delete those provisions authorizing a restricted license in lieu of an IID for first offenders. The bill would require the department to credit any time that a person maintained a functioning IID during the period of that person's restricted licensure, but prior to the criminal conviction, toward any term of maintaining such a device, required by law upon conviction pursuant to the above-described statute. The bill would place certain recordkeeping requirements upon manufacturers of ignition interlock devices. The bill would also extend the operation of the law requiring IIDs until January 1, 2027, and make conforming changes to related reporting requirements.
Existing law prohibits the use of a voting system unless it has been certified or conditionally approved by the Secretary of State, or approved by the Secretary of State as part of a pilot program, prior to the election at which it is to be used. This bill, the Secure the VOTE Act, would authorize the Secretary of State to award up to $16,000,000 in matching funds, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to counties for the development of open-source paper ballot voting systems.
This measure would recognize June 6, 2019, as the 75th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, also known as D-Day. This measure would express the gratitude and appreciation of the Legislature to the members of the United States Armed Forces who participated in D-Day, and would call upon the people of California to observe the anniversary with appropriate reflections and recognition.
Existing law, the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act of 2006, requires every retailer, as defined, to have in place a system for the acceptance and collection of used rechargeable batteries for reuse, recycling, or proper disposal. Existing law requires the system for the acceptance and collection of used rechargeable batteries to include, at a minimum, specified elements, including, among others, the take-back of a used rechargeable battery of the type or brand that the retailer sold or previously sold at no cost to the consumer. Existing law defines "rechargeable battery" for purposes of these provisions to mean a small, nonvehicular, rechargeable nickel-cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium-ion, or sealed lead-acid battery, or a battery pack containing these types of batteries. This bill would establish the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Program in the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. The bill would require a covered entity, as defined, on or before March 1, 2021, to provide a list of covered products that it sells or offers for sale in the state to the department and the total number of each covered product it sold in the state during the prior year, and to update those lists annually. The bill would define "covered product" to mean a lithium-ion battery sold separately or sold with a product, or a product containing a lithium-ion battery or battery pack that is not designed to be removed from the product by a consumer. The bill would require a covered entity to annually achieve specified collection and recycling rates for covered products, as provided. The bill would require a covered entity to establish a stewardship program for covered batteries independently or as part of a group of covered entities through membership in a stewardship organization. The bill would authorize a covered entity to achieve the recycling rates for covered battery-embedded products through any of specified mechanisms, including through a take-back program in which the retailer offers consumers covered battery-embedded product take-back services through collection receptacles or a mail-back program. The bill would require a covered entity to pay the department an administrative fee, set by the department at an amount that, when paid by every covered entity, is adequate to cover the department's, and any other state agency's, full costs of administering and enforcing this program. The bill would require the department to deposit those administrative fees in the Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Cost of Implementation Account, which would be established by the bill, and would authorize the expenditure of those funds, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for certain purposes. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2022, to adopt regulations to implement the program. This bill would also state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to amend the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 to allow for the recovery and recycling of lithium-ion batteries and products containing lithium-ion batteries under the existing program established by the act.
This measure would proclaim and acknowledge the month of June 2019 as Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse Awareness Month in California and would reiterate the importance of annually recognizing Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse Awareness Month in the state.