Existing federal law provides for allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states. Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program for the allocation of federal funds received through the TANF program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Under existing law, for purposes of determining a family's maximum aid payment under the CalWORKs program, the number of needy persons in the same family is not increased for any child born into a family that has received aid under the CalWORKs program continuously for the 10 months prior to the birth of the child, with specified exceptions. This bill would repeal that exclusion for purposes of determining the family's maximum aid payment and would expressly prohibit the denial of aid or denial of an increase in the maximum aid payment if a child on whose behalf aid, or an increase in aid, is being requested was born into an applicant's or recipient's family while the applicant's or recipient's family was receiving aid under the CalWORKs program. The bill would specify that an applicant or recipient is not entitled to an increased benefit payment for months prior to January 1, 2014, as a result of the repeal of that exclusion or the enactment of that express prohibition. The bill would also prohibit the department from conditioning an applicant or recipient's eligibility for aid on the applicant or recipient's disclosure of specified information regarding rape, incest, or contraception, as specified. The bill would make related findings and declarations. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county aid grant costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would declare that no appropriation would be made for purposes of the bill. To the extent that this bill affects eligibility under the CalWORKs program, the bill would create 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.
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Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations, as defined. The Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011, within the Public Utilities Act, designates the commission as the state authority responsible for regulating and enforcing intrastate gas pipeline transportation and pipeline facilities pursuant to federal law, including the development, submission, and administration of a state pipeline safety program certification for natural gas pipelines. The Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011 requires each gas corporation to prepare and submit to the commission a proposed comprehensive pressure testing implementation plan for all intrastate transmission lines to either pressure test those lines or to replace all segments of intrastate transmission lines that were not pressure tested or that lack sufficient details related to performance of pressure testing. The comprehensive pressure testing implementation plan is required to include a timeline for completion that is as soon as practicable, and includes interim safety enhancement measures, including increased patrols and leak surveys, pressure reductions, prioritization of pressure testing for critical pipelines that must run at or near maximum allowable operating pressure values that result in hoop stress levels at or above 30% of specified minimum yield stress, and any other measure that the commission determines will enhance public safety during the implementation period. Use of engineering-based assumptions are authorized to determine maximum allowable operating pressure in the absence of complete records, but only as an interim measure until all the lines have been tested or replaced, in order to allow the gas system to continue to operate. This bill would prohibit a gas corporation from determining the maximum allowable operating pressure of an intrastate transmission line or segment of an intrastate transmission line using the highest actual operating pressure the line or segment was subject to during the 5-year period preceding July 1, 1970, pursuant to a specified federal regulation, and would require that the maximum allowable operating pressure be determined pursuant to rules or orders of the commission. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the Public Utilities Act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, gas corporations, heat corporations, and telephone corporations, as defined. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law authorizes electrical corporations, gas corporations, heat corporations, and telephone corporations to voluntarily adopt certain research and development programs and authorizes the commission to allow inclusion of expenses for research and development in rates. Existing law requires the commission to consider specified guidelines in evaluating the research, development, and demonstration programs proposed by electrical corporations and gas corporations. Beginning at an unspecified date, this bill would require that findings supporting a decision to approve the inclusion of expenses incurred for research and development projects or programs in electricity rates be informed by independent expert review, as defined. The bill would require the commission by February 1, 2016, and by February 1 of every 3 years thereafter, to submit a report to the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature listing all research and development projects where the expenses of the project were or are recovered from ratepayers during the previous 3 years, including for each project the citations of all published papers, all oral and poster presentations given at public meetings, and all patents awarded for the funded research.
Existing law makes it unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, or association to sell, or offer for sale, merchandise that advertises itself as being made or manufactured in the United States when any article, unit, or part of the merchandise has been entirely or substantially made, manufactured, or produced outside of the United States. This bill would eliminate the requirement that any article, unit, or part of the merchandise be substantially manufactured in the United States in order for the merchandise to advertise that it is made in the United States. The bill would deem any merchandise to be substantially made, manufactured, or produced within the United States if specified requirements are met, including that United States manufacturing costs constitute at least 90% of the total manufacturing costs for the merchandise and that the merchandise was last substantially transformed or assembled in the United States.
Under existing law, there are programs providing assistance for, among other things, emergency housing, multifamily housing, farmworker housing, home ownership for very low and low-income households, and downpayment assistance for first-time homebuyers. Existing law also authorizes the issuance of bonds in specified amounts pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law. Existing law requires that proceeds from the sale of these bonds be used to finance various existing housing programs, capital outlay related to infill development, brownfield cleanup that promotes infill development, and housing-related parks. This bill would enact the California Homes and Jobs Act of 2013. The bill would make legislative findings and declarations relating to the need for establishing permanent, ongoing sources of funding dedicated to affordable housing development. The bill would impose a fee, except as provided, of $75 to be paid at the time of the recording of every real estate instrument, paper, or notice required or permitted by law to be recorded. By imposing new duties on counties with respect to the imposition of the recording fee, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. The bill would require that revenues from this fee be sent quarterly to the Department of Housing and Community Development for deposit in the California Homes and Jobs Trust Fund, which the bill would create within the State Treasury. The bill would provide that moneys in the fund may be expended for supporting affordable housing, administering housing programs, and the cost of periodic audits, as specified. The bill would impose certain auditing and reporting requirements. Existing law requires the Department of Industrial Relations to monitor and enforce compliance with applicable prevailing wage requirements for specified public works projects that are funded by state bond proceeds. Moneys collected for this purpose are continuously appropriated to the department from the State Public Works Enforcement Fund to cover the costs of these monitoring and enforcement duties. This bill would require the Department of Industrial Relations to monitor and enforce prevailing wage requirements for construction contracts for certain public works projects over $1,000,000, that are funded, in whole or in part, by the bill. The bill would authorize the department to charge each person or entity awarding a construction contract for the reasonable and directly related costs of the monitoring and enforcement activities, and would require the department to deposit the moneys collected into the State Public Works Enforcement Fund. The bill would exempt projects with a collective bargaining agreement with a mechanism for resolution of wage disputes from this requirement. By establishing a new source of revenue for a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. 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 declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and related matters, including the reporting of campaign contributions, as defined. Under existing law, a payment made at the behest of a candidate for elective office is considered a contribution unless the payment is made for purposes unrelated to the candidate's candidacy, and a payment is presumed to be unrelated to a candidate's candidacy if it is made principally for legislative, governmental, or charitable purposes. The bill would prohibit an elected officer from requesting that a payment be made, or a person from making a payment, at the behest of the elected officer to a nonprofit organization that is exempt from taxation under Section 501(c) (4) of the Internal Revenue Code and that the elected officer knows or has reason to know is owned or controlled by that officer or specified family members of the officer, except as specified. The bill would provide that an elected officer is deemed to have complied with that requirement if the Commission determines that the elected officer has made a reasonable effort to ascertain whether a nonprofit organization is owned or controlled by any of the specified persons. (2) The act prohibits specified officers from receiving gifts, as defined, in excess of $440 in value from a single source in a calendar year. The act exempts gift payments for the actual costs of specified types of travel that are reasonably related to a legislative or governmental purpose, or to an issue of state, national, or international public policy, from the annual limit on the value of gifts from a single source. This bill would require a nonprofit organization that pays for these types of travel for an elected state officer or local elected officeholder to disclose the names of donors responsible for funding the payments, as specified. The bill would require a person who receives a gift of a travel payment to report the travel destination on his or her statement of economic interests. (3) The act requires that contributions deposited into a campaign account be held in trust for expenses associated with the election of the candidate or for expenses associated with holding office. The act provides that an expenditure to seek office is within the lawful execution of this trust if it is reasonably related to a political purpose and an expenditure associated with holding office is within the lawful execution of this trust if it is reasonably related to a legislative or governmental purpose. Expenditures that confer a substantial personal benefit must be directly related to a political, legislative, or governmental purpose. The act authorizes the use of campaign funds to make donations or loans to bona fide charitable, educational, civic, religious, or similar tax-exempt nonprofit organizations. The act imposes additional limitations on certain expenditures, including those relating to automotive expenses, travel expenses, tickets for entertainment or sporting events, personal gifts, and real property expenses. The bill would prohibit an elected officer or a committee controlled by the elected officer from making an expenditure of campaign funds to a nonprofit organization that is exempt from taxation under Section 501(c) (4) of the Internal Revenue Code and that is owned or controlled by the officer or specified family members of the officer, as specified. This bill would also limit the expenditure of campaign funds for other purposes, as specified, including personal vacations, payments for membership dues for a country club, health club, or other recreational facility, specified tuition payments, utility payments, vehicle use that is not directly related to an election campaign, and certain gifts for specified family members of a candidate, elected officer, or other individuals with the authority to approve the expenditure of campaign funds held by a committee. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 89513 of the Government Code, proposed by AB 1666 and AB 1692, that would become operative only if this bill and either or both of those bills are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last. (5) A violation of the act's provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. By expanding the scope of an existing 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. (6) The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Existing law requires each county to provide cash assistance and other social services to needy families through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program using federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program, state, and county funds. Under existing law, for purposes of determining a family's maximum aid payment under the CalWORKs program, the number of needy persons in the same family is not increased for any child born into a family that has received aid under the CalWORKs program continuously for the 10 months prior to the birth of the child, with specified exceptions. This bill would repeal that exclusion for purposes of determining the family's maximum aid payment and would expressly prohibit the denial of aid or denial of an increase in the maximum aid payment if a child, on whose behalf aid or an increase in aid is being requested, was born into an applicant's or recipient's family while the applicant's or recipient's family was receiving aid under the CalWORKs program. The bill would specify that an applicant or recipient is not entitled to an increased benefit payment for any month prior to January 1, 2015, as a result of the repeal of that exclusion or the enactment of that express prohibition. The bill would also prohibit the department from conditioning an applicant's or recipient's eligibility for aid on the applicant's or recipient's disclosure of information regarding rape, incest, or contraception, as specified, or the applicant's or recipient's use of contraception. The bill would make related findings and declarations. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county aid grant costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would declare that no appropriation would be made for purposes of the bill. To the extent that this bill affects eligibility under the CalWORKs program, the bill would create 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.
(1) Existing law authorizes the Department of the California Highway Patrol to retain license plate data captured by license plate recognition (LPR) technology, also referred to as an automated license plate recognition (ALPR) system, for not more than 60 days unless the data is being used as evidence or for the investigation of felonies. Existing law prohibits the department from selling the data or from making the data available to an agency that is not a law enforcement agency or an individual that is not a law enforcement officer. Existing law authorizes the department to use LPR data for the purpose of locating vehicles or persons reasonably suspected of being involved in the commission of a public offense, and requires the department to monitor the internal use of the data to prevent unauthorized use and to submit to the Legislature, as a part of the annual automobile theft report, information on the department's LPR practices and usage. This bill would impose specified requirements on an "ALPR operator," as defined, including, among others, complying with all applicable statutory and constitutional requirements and the provisions of the bill, ensuring that the information or data the ALPR operator collects is protected with certain safeguards, and implementing and maintaining specified security procedures and a usage and privacy policy with respect to that information or data. This bill would also prohibit an ALPR operator from collecting license plate data when a license plate number is not in public view. The bill would require an ALPR operator that accesses or provides access to information or data collected through the use or operation of an ALPR system to maintain a specified record of that access. The bill would, in addition to any other sanctions, penalties, or remedies provided by law, authorize an individual who has been harmed by a violation of these provisions to bring a civil action in any court of competent jurisdiction against a person who knowingly caused that violation. (2) Existing law requires any agency, and any person or business conducting business in California, that owns or licenses computerized data that includes personal information, as defined, to disclose in specified ways, any breach of the security of the system or data, as defined, following discovery or notification of the security breach, to any California resident whose unencrypted personal information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, acquired by an unauthorized person. Existing law defines "personal information" for these purposes to include an individual's first name and last name, or first initial and last name, in combination with one or more designated data elements relating to, among other things, social security numbers, driver's license numbers, financial accounts, and medical information. This bill would include information or data collected through the use or operation of an automated license plate recognition system, when that information or data is not encrypted and is used in combination with an individual's name, in the definition of "personal information" discussed above.
Existing law requires each pupil completing grade 12 to satisfy certain requirements as a condition of receiving a diploma of graduation from high school. These requirements include the successful passage of the high school exit examination and the completion of designated coursework in grades 9 to 12, inclusive. The coursework requirements include the completion of at least 2 courses in mathematics. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to adopt additional coursework requirements. This bill would authorize the governing board of a school district that requires more than 2 courses in mathematics for graduation to award a pupil up to one mathematics course credit for successfully completing an approved computer science course, as provided.
Existing law authorizes the Department of General Services, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and various local agencies to use the design-build procurement process for specified public works under different laws. Existing law also authorizes the formation of special districts, including the Marin Healthcare District and the San Diego Unified Port District. This bill would repeal those authorizations, and enact provisions that would authorize, until January 1, 2025, the Department of General Services, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and those local agencies, as defined, to use the design-build procurement process for specified public works. The bill would authorize, until January 1, 2025, the Marin Healthcare District to use the design-build process when contracting for the construction of a building and improvements directly related to a hospital or health facility building at the Marin General Hospital, and would authorize the San Diego Unified Port District to use the design-build procurement process for the construction of a building or buildings and improvements directly related to the construction of a building or buildings that exceed $1,000,000. The bill would require specified information to be verified under penalty of perjury. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Marin Healthcare District and for the San Diego Unified Port District. 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.