Sen. Andy Vidak

This measure would redesignate a portion of State Highway Route 41 in the County of Fresno as the Joe Levy Memorial Highway, instead of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Freeway, and would adjust the portion of State Highway Route 41 designated as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Freeway. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the costs of erecting the appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

Existing federal law provides for the 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 under which, through a combination of state and county funds and federal funds received through the TANF program, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, no later than July 1, 2017, to design and implement a 5-year pilot project under which monetary grants are provided to organizations operating programs that assist individuals receiving CalWORKs benefits achieve economic independence. The bill would require the department, in developing the pilot project, among other things, to develop a competitive review process for all grant proposals submitted, to develop eligibility requirements for organizations seeking a grant, and to develop an ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of an organization receiving grant funding in teaching its program participants the skills necessary to achieve economic independence. The bill would authorize the department to enter into an agreement with an academic institution or other entity with sufficient expertise for the purpose of creating, performing, or both creating and performing the evaluation. The bill would authorize an organization receiving a grant to utilize the funds in any reasonable manner, as long as the funds are expended in furtherance of the organization's program or other requirements established by the department. The bill would require organizations receiving grant funding to contact the county welfare department upon being notified of the grant and to make a good faith effort to coordinate their programs with CalWORKs requirements. The bill would require the department, or the academic institution or other entity the department contracted with, to send a report evaluating the effectiveness of the programs funded by the grants to the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature by December 31, 2021. The bill would appropriate $50,000,000 from the General Fund for the purpose of funding these provisions. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2022, and would repeal them on January 1, 2023.

The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new personal income tax credit to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements, as provided. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, allow a credit in an amount equal to 15% of the tuition paid or incurred during the taxable year by a taxpayer for education and training obtained by the taxpayer or a dependent of the taxpayer at a vocational institution, as defined, not to exceed $2,500 per taxable year. The bill would also include that additional information required for any bill authorizing a new personal income tax credit. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law, the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Law of 1997, establishes the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to provide grants or revolving fund loans for the design and construction of projects for public water systems that will enable those systems to meet safe drinking water standards. This bill would require the State Water Resources Control Board to establish a program to provide low-interest loans and grants to local agencies for low-interest loans and grants to eligible applicants for specified purposes relating to drinking water and wastewater treatment. This bill would create the Water and Wastewater Loan and Grant Fund and provide that the moneys in this fund are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the board for expenditure for the program. This bill would transfer to the Water and Wastewater Loan and Grant Fund $10,000,000 from the General Fund. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity to federal income tax law, authorizes a credit for household and dependent care expenses necessary for gainful employment, as provided. The amount of the credit is a percentage of the allowable federal credit determined on the basis of the amount of federal adjusted gross income, up to $100,000. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, would increase that amount of federal adjusted gross income, up to $250,000, and would increase the amount of employment-related expenses incurred during a taxable year which may be taken into account in determining the amount of the credit from $3,000 to $4,000 if there is one qualifying dependent and from $6,000 to $12,000 if there are 2 or more qualifying dependents. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law, the Sex Offender Registration Act, requires persons convicted of specified sex offenses to register with local authorities for life while residing, located, attending school, or working in California. Existing law, as adopted by the voters by the passage of Proposition 83 at the November 7, 2006, statewide general election, prohibits a person who is required to register as a sex offender from living in specified places, including within 2,000 feet of a school or park where children regularly gather. Existing law authorizes municipal jurisdictions to enact local ordinances that further restrict the residency of the registered sex offender. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person who is on parole for specified sex offenses to enter any park where children regularly gather without express permission from the person's parole agent. This bill would state that a local agency is not preempted by state law from enacting and enforcing an ordinance that restricts a registered sex offender from residing or being present at certain locations within the local agency's jurisdiction. The bill would authorize a local agency to adopt ordinances, rules, or regulations that are more restrictive than state law relating to a registered sex offender's ability to reside or be present at certain locations within the local agency's jurisdiction.

The California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report, or 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. Existing law establishes regulations related to numerous environmental issues. This bill would enact the Sustainable Environmental Protection Act and would specify the environmental review required pursuant to CEQA for projects related to specified environmental topical areas. For a judicial action or proceeding filed challenging an action taken by a lead agency on the ground of noncompliance with CEQA, the bill would prohibit a cause of action that (1) relates any topical area or criteria for which compliance obligations are identified or (2) challenges the environmental document if: (A) the environmental document discloses compliance with applicable environmental law, (B) the project conforms with the use designation, density, or building intensity in an applicable plan, as defined, and (C) the project approval incorporates applicable mitigation requirements into the environmental document. The bill would provide that the Sustainable Environmental Protection Act only applies if the lead agency or project applicant has agreed to provide to the public in a readily accessible electronic format an annual compliance report prepared pursuant to the mitigation monitoring and reporting program. Because this bill would impose additional duties on local agencies, it 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.

(1) Existing law, the 2011 Realignment Legislation addressing public safety and related statutes, requires that certain specified felonies be punished by a term of imprisonment in a county jail for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years, and provides for postrelease community supervision by county officials for persons convicted of certain specified felonies upon release from prison or county jail. As part of the realignment of public safety services to local agencies, existing law establishes the Local Revenue Fund 2011 into which specified tax revenues are deposited and are continuously appropriated for the provision of public safety services, as defined. This bill, the 2015 Realignment Legislation addressing justice reinvestment, would establish the Realignment Reinvestment Fund in the State Treasury as a continuously appropriated fund. The bill would require the Director of Finance, in consultation with the Legislative Analyst, to annually calculate the net savings to the state for the prior fiscal year and an estimate of the net current fiscal year savings resulting from the 2011 Realignment Legislation addressing public safety, as specified. The bill would require the Controller to transfer $1,543,783,000 from the General Fund to the Realignment Reinvestment Fund for the 2015–16 fiscal year, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would, beginning in the 2016–17 fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter, require the Controller to transfer an amount equal to the estimate of net current fiscal year savings resulting from the 2011 Realignment Legislation addressing public safety, adjusted by the difference between the preceding year's estimate and the calculated prior fiscal year net savings, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the Controller to annually allocate moneys in the Realignment Reinvestment Fund, no later than September 1 of each year, to each county for deposit in the county's Realignment Reinvestment Services Account proportionally, based on the average daily population of realigned offenders under each county's supervision for the preceding fiscal year. The bill would require the Controller to consult with the Board of State and Community Corrections to determine the average daily population for each county. The bill would require a Realignment Reinvestment Services Account to be established in each county treasury. The bill would require the moneys to implement a comprehensive, locally run, supplemental community-based corrections plan, as specified. The bill would require the supplemental community-based corrections plan to be developed by each county's local Community Corrections Partnership and to be voted on by an executive committee of each county's Community Corrections Partnership, as specified. The bill would deem the supplemental community-based corrections plan accepted by the county board of supervisors unless the board rejects the plan by a 45 vote. The bill would require each county or city and county to annually report to the county board of supervisors and the Board of State and Community Corrections on the programs funded pursuant to these provisions, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Director of Finance, in consultation with the Legislative Analyst, to develop a yearly estimate of the cost avoidances expected to be realized by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that are a result of the 2011 Realignment Legislation, and would require the director to report those estimates to the Legislature, as provided. The bill would require that moneys allocated from a Realignment Reinvestment Services Account be expended exclusively for purposes of the bill's provisions. The bill would require that funds received pursuant to its provisions be expended or encumbered no later than June 30 the following year, and would require unspent moneys to be remitted for deposit in the Realignment Reinvestment Fund. (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, as amended by the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, a measure approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, generally provides that the possession of Ketamine, gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) , or flunitrazepam is a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year. This bill would make it a felony, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, to possess Ketamine, GHB, or flunitrazepam with the intent to commit sexual assault. By creating a new 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 contains provisions governing the operation and financing of community mental health services for the mentally disordered in every county through locally administered and locally controlled community mental health programs. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to the latter provisions.