Existing law authorizes the adoption of a proposition for indebtedness in the form of general obligation bonds incurred by specified educational entities 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 upon the approval of 55% of the voters, if the proposition includes specified accountability requirements. Existing law requires, if a bond measure of that kind is approved, the governing board of the school district or community college district to establish and appoint members to an independent citizens' oversight committee for the purpose of informing the public on the expenditure of the bond revenues. Existing law requires that the citizens' oversight committee consist of at least 7 members, and requires a member to serve for a minimum term of 2 years and for no more than 3 consecutive terms. This bill would instead require a member of the citizens' oversight committee to serve on the committee for no less than one 2-year term and for no more than 6 consecutive 2-year terms.
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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. This bill would exempt from the provisions of CEQA a project, or the issuance of a permit for a project, that consists of the inspection, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, replacement, or removal of, or the addition of an auxiliary lane or bikeway to, existing transportation infrastructure and that meets certain requirements. The bill would require the public agency carrying out the project to take certain actions.
The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including certain credits that are allowed in modified conformity to credits allowed by federal income tax laws. Federal income tax laws allow a refundable earned income tax credit for certain low-income individuals who have earned income from wages, salaries, tips, and other employee compensation plus net earnings from self-employment and who meet certain other requirements. The Personal Income Tax Law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows an earned income credit against personal income tax, which is only for earned income from wages, salaries, tips, and other employee compensation, and a payment in excess of that credit amount, to an eligible individual that is equal to that portion of the earned income tax credit allowed by federal law as determined by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor as set forth in the annual Budget Act which, unless otherwise specified in that act, is 0%. This bill, for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2017, would expand the earned income credit allowed by the Personal Income Tax Law by providing additional conformity with federal income tax law to include specified net earnings from self-employment in earned income, thus allowing an earned income credit for taxpayers for those earnings. This bill would additionally set the earned income tax credit adjustment factor as 85%. Existing law establishes the continuously appropriated Tax Relief and Refund Account and provides that payments required to be made to taxpayers or other persons from the Personal Income Tax Fund are to be paid from that account, including any amount allowable as an earned income credit in excess of any tax liabilities. By authorizing new payments from that account for additional amounts in excess of personal income tax liabilities, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Existing law provides that parents of currently enrolled or former pupils have an absolute right to access any and all pupil records related to their children that are maintained by school districts or private schools. Existing law prohibits a school district from permitting access to pupil records to a person without written parental consent or under judicial order except as authorized by specified state and federal law. Existing law authorizes foster family agencies with jurisdiction over currently enrolled or former pupils to access records of grades and transcripts, and any individualized education plans developed pursuant to specified law maintained by school districts or private schools of those pupils. This bill would add to the information that may be accessed records of attendance, discipline, and online communication on platforms established by schools for pupils and parents, and any plan adopted pursuant to specified federal law, as provided, and would require that these records be the current or most recent records for the pupil. The bill would additionally authorize a short-term residential treatment program staff responsible for the education or case management of a pupil and a caregiver who has direct responsibility for the care of the pupil, including a certified or licensed foster parent, an approved relative or nonrelated extended family member, or a resource family, as defined, to access this information, and would provide that a caregiver may access this information regardless of whether the caregiver has been appointed as the pupil's educational rights holder pursuant to specified law. The bill would authorize a foster family agency, short-term residential treatment program, or caregiver to review and receive these pupil records for specified purposes. The bill would extend these provisions to include pupil records maintained by county offices of education, charter schools, and nonpublic schools, in addition to school districts and private schools. The bill would require a child's caregiver to be responsible for reviewing and receiving these pupil records for those same purposes. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require, if direct communication between a caregiver and an educational rights holder is appropriate, a caregiver who is not the pupil's educational rights holder to notify the pupil's educational rights holder, and, in specified instances, the pupil's social worker, of any educational needs of the pupil that require the educational rights holder's consent or participation. If direct communication between a caregiver and an educational rights holder is inappropriate, the bill would require the pupil's social worker to direct the caregiver to communicate that information with the pupil's social worker or attorney instead of the educational rights holder. (2) Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge children to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances, including when the child suffered or there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer serious physical harm, or a parent fails to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment. Existing law establishes the grounds for removal of a dependent child from the custody of his or her parents or guardian, and establishes procedures to determine temporary and permanent placement of a dependent child. Existing law prescribes various hearings, including specified review hearings, and other procedures for these purposes. Whenever a court orders a hearing to terminate parental rights to, or to establish legal guardianship of, a dependent child to be held, existing law requires the court to direct the agency supervising the child and the county adoption agency, or the State Department of Social Services when it is acting as an adoption agency, to prepare an assessment and requires this assessment to include, among other things, a preliminary assessment of the eligibility and commitment of any identified prospective adoptive parent or legal guardian, as specified, and including an evaluation of the child's medical, developmental, scholastic, mental, and emotional status. Existing law further requires the status of every dependent child in foster care to be reviewed periodically as determined by the court but no less frequently than once every 6 months. This bill would require the above evaluation and review to include providing a copy of the complete health and education summary, as specified. The bill would make conforming changes. By increasing the duties on county staff, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires, when a child is placed in foster care, the case plan to include a summary of the health and education information or records, including mental health information, of the child. This bill would authorize the case plan to also include the name and contact information of the person or persons currently holding the right to make educational decisions for the child, except as specified, and would make other conforming changes. Existing law makes various findings and declarations with regard to foster parents and caregivers, including that caregivers should have certain basic information, including among other things, a plan outlining the child's needs and services, including information on family and sibling visitation. This bill would provide that a caregiver should also have access to a copy of the health and education summary, as specified, and would provide that a caregiver should have knowledge of the importance of the caregiver's role in education, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to implement the resource family approval process in all counties and with all foster family agencies. Existing law requires counties to be responsible for various implementing tasks, including, among other things, ensuring a resource family applicant completes a minimum of 12 hours of caregiver training, including training on permanence, well-being, and education needs of children. This bill would require counties to ensure that the above training includes, among other things, training on the importance of the caregiver's role in education, as specified. By increasing duties on county staff, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 361 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 1332 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1332 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 366.21 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 976 to be operative only if this bill and AB 976 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (4) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
(1) The Horse Racing Law provides that any unallocated balance from the total revenue received by the Department of Food and Agriculture pursuant to that law, except as specified, is hereby appropriated without regard to fiscal years for allocation by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture for capital outlay to California fairs for, among other things, fair projects involving public health and safety and projects that are required to protect fair property. That law also provides that a portion of these funds may be allocated to California fairs for general support. This bill would revise these provisions to include revenue deposited into the Fair and Exposition Fund pursuant to a specified provision and funding appropriated by the Legislature or otherwise designated for California fairs pursuant to the Horse Racing Law or any other law that is to be appropriated without regard to fiscal years for allocation by the secretary for those capital outlay purposes. (2) Existing law provides that all funds appropriated for California fairs and expositions pursuant to specified provisions of law shall not be utilized for the purposes specified in those provisions but shall instead be utilized for the construction or operation of recreational and cultural facilities of general public interest and may be allocated by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to all state-designated fairs for those purposes. This bill would delete these provisions and instead require that all funds appropriated or designated for California fairs and expositions pursuant to specified law or any other law be deposited into the Fair and Exposition Fund and be continuously appropriated as provided in specified provisions of the Horse Racing Law. (3) By increasing the amounts to be deposited into the Fair and Exposition Fund, which is continuously appropriated, and by appropriating these amounts for new purposes, the bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law requires each school district or county superintendent of schools maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to provide one nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal for each needy pupil during each schoolday, except as specified. Existing law authorizes a school district or county office of education to use funds made available through any applicable federal or state program or to use its own funds to provide the required meals. This bill would enact the Child Hunger Prevention and Fair Treatment Act of 2017. The act would require certain local educational agencies, as defined, that provide school meals through the federal National School Lunch Program or the federal School Breakfast Program to ensure that a pupil whose parent or guardian has unpaid school meal fees is not shamed, treated differently, or served a meal that differs from what a pupil whose parent or guardian does not have unpaid school meal fees would receive under that local educational agency's policy. The act would prohibit school personnel and volunteers at a local educational agency that serves nutritionally adequate meals to pupils during the instructional day from allowing any disciplinary action that is taken against a pupil to result in the denial or delay of a nutritionally adequate meal to that pupil. The act would require a local educational agency to notify a parent or guardian of the negative balance of a pupil's school meal account no later than 10 days after the pupil's school meal account has reached a negative balance. The act would require a local educational agency, before sending this notification to the parent or guardian, to exhaust all options and methods to directly certify the pupil for free or reduced-price meals. The act would require a local educational agency to reimburse school meal fees paid by a pupil's parent or guardian when fees were paid or unpaid fees debt accrued when a pupil would have been determined to be eligible for free or reduced-price school meals. To the extent that these provisions would place additional requirements on local educational agencies, the 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, 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
The Child Care and Development Services Act has a purpose of providing a comprehensive, coordinated, and cost-effective system of child care and development services for children from infancy to 13 years of age and their parents, including a full range of supervision, health, and support services through full- and part-time programs. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop standards for the implementation of quality child care programs. Existing law authorizes the County of Alameda, the City and County of San Francisco, the County of San Mateo, and the County of Santa Clara to develop individualized county child care subsidy plans, as provided. This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2023, the County of Fresno to develop an individualized county child care subsidy plan, as specified. The bill would require the plan to be submitted to the local planning council and the Fresno County Board of Supervisors for approval, as specified. The bill would require the Early Education and Support Division of the State Department of Education to review and approve or disapprove the plan and any subsequent modifications to the plan and, in specified situations, would require the State Department of Social Services to only review the plan. The bill would require the County of Fresno to annually prepare and submit to the Legislature, the State Department of Social Services, and the State Department of Education a report that contains specified information relating to the success of the county's plan. The bill would require the State Department of Education to review that report, and other specified records, and determine whether to allow the county to continue with the plan without change, or whether to require that modifications be made to the plan. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Fresno.
Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program under which, through a combination of federal, state, and county funds, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. As part of the CalWORKs program, a homeless family that has used all available liquid resources in excess of $100 is eligible for homeless assistance benefits to pay the costs of temporary shelter if the family is eligible for aid under the CalWORKs program. This bill would also provide that homeless assistance is available to homeless families that would be eligible for aid under the CalWORKs program but for the fact that the only child or children in the family are in out-of-home placement pursuant to an order of the dependency court, if the family is receiving reunification services and the county determines that homeless assistance is necessary for reunification to occur. This bill would also require the department to work with county human services agencies, the County Welfare Directors Association, and advocates of CalWORKs recipients to gather information regarding actual costs of a nightly shelter and best practices for transitioning families from a temporary shelter to a permanent shelter and to provide that information to the Legislature on an annual basis. Under existing law, when the federal government provides funds for the care of a needy relative with whom a needy child is living, aid to the child for any month includes aid to meet the need of that relative, if CalWORKs payments are made with respect to the child for that month, except as prescribed. Existing law provides that the parent or parents shall be considered living with the needy child for a period of up to 180 consecutive days of the needy child's absence from the family assistance unit, and the parents shall be eligible for CalWORKs services, except as specified, if certain conditions are met, including that the child has been removed from the parents and placed in out-of-home care, and that the county has determined that the provision of services is necessary for family reunification. This bill would include the previously described homeless assistance benefit to pay the costs of temporary shelter as a service provided to those eligible parents. Because this bill would increase the administrative duties of counties, it would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would, instead, provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 11450 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 557 and AB 607 to be operative only if this bill and AB 557, this bill and AB 607, or all 3 bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing federal law, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, provides for the negotiation and execution of tribal-state gaming compacts for the purpose of authorizing certain types of gaming on Indian lands within a state. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to negotiate and conclude tribal-state gaming compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law expressly ratifies a number of tribal-state gaming compacts, and amendments of tribal-state gaming compacts, between the State of California and specified Indian tribes. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project, as defined, that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. This bill would ratify the tribal-state gaming compact entered into between the State of California and the Tule River Indian Tribe of California executed on August 31, 2017. The bill would provide that, in deference to tribal sovereignty, certain actions related to that amended compact are not projects for purposes of CEQA. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.