(1) The California High-Speed Rail Act establishes the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement an intercity high-speed rail system in the state, exclusively grants to the authority the responsibility for planning, construction, and operation of that system, and confers upon the authority specified powers and duties relating to that system. The Planning and Zoning Law requires each city and county to prepare and adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the city or county and any land outside its boundaries that bears relation to its planning. This bill would establish the High-Speed Rail Local Master Plan Pilot Program, applicable to specified cities and counties, and would authorize each of those jurisdictions to prepare and adopt, by ordinance, a master plan for development in the areas surrounding the high-speed rail system in each jurisdiction. The bill would authorize the high-speed rail master plan to include incentives for encouraging investment and coherent growth in the areas surrounding the high-speed rail system in each participating jurisdiction. The bill would also authorize the participating jurisdictions to collaborate with the State Air Resources Board to develop incentives to encourage development while concurrently reducing greenhouse gas emissions, consistent with or pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 or another specified provision of law requiring the board to provide greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for the preparation of regional sustainable communities strategies. The bill would authorize the master plan to exceed the requirements of the jurisdiction's general plan or the applicable regional sustainable communities strategy with respect to fostering sustainable communities around the high-speed rail system. (2) Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a city or county to adopt an infrastructure financing plan for the purpose of financing certain infrastructure facilities, if specified procedural requirements are met, and requires the legislative body, if it adopts the plan, to submit the proposal to create an infrastructure financing district pursuant to the plan to qualified electors of the proposed district. Existing law authorizes the legislative body to implement the infrastructure financing plan and create an infrastructure financing district, by ordinance, if 23 of the qualified electors of the proposed district vote in favor of adoption of the plan and creation of the district, and also authorizes the legislative body to initiate proceedings to issue bonds to finance the infrastructure facilities if 23 of those electors vote in favor of the issuance. This bill would provide that, with respect to an infrastructure financing district proposed to implement a high-speed rail master plan, an election is not required to form the district, implement the infrastructure financing plan, or issue the infrastructure facilities bonds, and the geographic boundaries of this type of district are authorized to extend up to one mile from the station platform, but not farther than the limits of the area covered by the jurisdiction's high-speed rail master plan. The bill would prohibit the formation of this type of infrastructure financing district unless the city or county has prepared an environmental impact report that provides that the base population density within the area covered by the high-speed rail master plan has increased. (3) Existing law requires each metropolitan planning organization to prepare a sustainable communities strategy, as specified, for inclusion in the applicable regional transportation plan. Existing law requires the metropolitan transportation organization, in preparing the sustainable communities strategy, to consider spheres of influence that have been adopted by the local agency formation commissions within its region. This bill would instead authorize each metropolitan planning organization, in preparing the sustainable communities strategy, to consider spheres of influence that have been adopted by the local agency formation commissions within its region, and the high-speed rail system, any high-speed rail station established within the region, and any associated effects of either that bears relation to the sustainable communities strategy. (4) The Transit Village Development Planning Act of 1994 authorizes a city or county to prepare a transit village plan for a transit village development district, addressing specified characteristics. This bill would require a city or county, if it finances any portion of a transit village development district pursuant to provisions of law relating to infrastructure financing districts, to use at least 20% of property tax increment revenue it receives pursuant to those provisions of law to increase, improve, and preserve the supply of affordable housing, as defined, within the transit village development district. (5) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare or cause to be prepared, and to certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project 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 the project will not have that effect. This bill would require a participating city or county to prepare an EIR for its high-speed rail master plan in accordance with CEQA, and would exempt any proposed development project within the area of that plan that is consistent with that plan from CEQA. (6) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the cities and counties described above.
Sponsored bills
Existing property tax law requires the county auditor, in each fiscal year, to allocate property tax revenue to local jurisdictions in accordance with specified formulas and procedures, and generally requires that each jurisdiction be allocated an amount equal to the total of the amount of revenue allocated to that jurisdiction in the prior fiscal year, subject to certain modifications, and that jurisdiction's portion of the annual tax increment, as defined. Existing property tax law also reduces the amounts of ad valorem property tax revenue that would otherwise be annually allocated to the county, cities, and special districts pursuant to these general allocation requirements by requiring, for purposes of determining property tax revenue allocations in each county for the 1992–93 and 1993–94 fiscal years, that the amounts of property tax revenue deemed allocated in the prior fiscal year to the county, cities, and special districts be reduced in accordance with certain formulas. It requires that the revenues not allocated to the county, cities, and special districts as a result of these reductions be transferred to the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF) in that county for allocation to school districts, community college districts, and the county office of education. Existing property tax law requires the auditor of each county with qualifying cities, as defined, to make certain property tax revenue allocations to those cities in accordance with a specified Tax Equity Allocation (TEA) formula established in a specified statute and to make corresponding reductions in the amount of property tax revenue that is allocated to the county. Existing law requires the auditor of Santa Clara County, for the 2006–07 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, to reduce the amount of property tax revenue allocated to qualified cities in that county by the ERAF reimbursement amount, as defined, and to commensurately increase the amount of property tax revenue allocated to the county ERAF, as specified. This bill would, for the 2012–13 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, delete the requirement that the auditor of Santa Clara County reduce the amount of property tax revenues allocated to qualified cities in that county by the ERAF reimbursement amount, and commensurately increase the amount of property tax revenues allocated to the county ERAF. This bill would make legislative findings regarding the necessity of a special statute. By imposing new duties in the allocation of ad valorem property tax revenues in the County of Santa Clara, 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, 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.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 regulates mass mailings, known as slate mailers, that support or oppose multiple candidates or ballot measures for an election. The act requires that each slate mailer identify the slate mailer organization or committee primarily formed to support or oppose one or more ballot measures that is sending the slate mailer, and to contain other specified information in specified formatting. The act requires that each candidate and each ballot measure that has paid to appear in the slate mailer be designated by an asterisk. This bill would instead require that a candidate or ballot measure appearing in the slate mailer be designated by an asterisk if the slate mailer organization or committee primarily formed to support or oppose one or more ballot measures that is sending the slate mailer has received payment to include the candidate or ballot measure in the slate mailer. The bill would also recast the language of the prescribed notice to voters that must be included on a slate mailer. The act also regulates advertisements, which are defined as any general or public advertisement that is authorized and paid for by a person or committee for the purpose supporting or opposing a candidate for elective office or a ballot measure or ballot measures. The act places certain disclosure requirements on advertisements for or against any ballot measure, including that the advertisement disclose any person who has made cumulative contributions of $50,000 or more, as prescribed. The act places more specific disclosure requirements on broadcast or mass mailing advertisements that are paid for by independent expenditures that support or oppose a candidate or ballot measure. This bill would repeal provisions relating to disclosures for advertisements paid for by an independent expenditure and required disclosures of persons who have made cumulative contributions of $50,000 or more. This bill would, instead, impose specified disclosure requirements on radio, television, and video advertisements, and certain mass mailing and print advertisements that support or oppose a candidate or ballot measure or solicit contributions in support of those purposes. The bill would require advertisements that are authorized by a candidate or agent of the candidate to include a statement in which the candidate identifies himself or herself and states that he or she approves the message. The bill would require advertisements that are not authorized by a candidate or an agent of the candidate to disclose, in a prescribed format, the 3 largest identifiable contributors, as defined, of the committee that paid for the advertisement. The bill would require mass mailings or print advertisements that are paid for by certain persons who are not committees to disclose the name of that person as the funder of the mass mailing or print advertisement. The bill would also require that certain committees establish and maintain a committee disclosure Internet Web site, as defined, which discloses the top 5 identifiable contributors and provides a link to the Internet Web site maintained by the Secretary of State for campaign finance disclosures of the committee. The bill would require these advertisements to identify the address for the committee disclosure Internet Web site. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating additional crimes. 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. 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 establishes the Runaway Youth and Families in Crises Project, and imposes certain administrative duties on the California Emergency Management Agency relating to the operation of that project. This bill would enact the California Runaway, Homeless, and Exploited Youth Act, and would require, subject to the availability of adequate resources, the California Emergency Management Agency to develop, in collaboration with the Senate Office of Research and various interested parties, a statewide plan for runaway, homeless, and exploited youth, as specified. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
This bill would urge the United States Patent and Trademark Office to place a satellite office in California.
The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. This bill would, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2012, and before January 1, 2017, allow a credit of up to $500 per eligible student for qualified costs, as defined, paid or incurred by a qualified taxpayer, as defined, at a qualified educational institution, as defined, on behalf of the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, or any dependent of the taxpayer. The credit allowed would be limited for all taxable years to a total of $2,000 per eligible student. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
This measure would designate that January 16, 2012, be observed as the official memorial of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth, commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement in changing public policy in California and in the United States of America.
Existing law provides for the county-administered In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization. Existing law authorizes services to be provided under the IHSS program either through the employment of individual providers, a contract between the county and an entity for the provision of services, the creation by the county of a public authority, or a contract between the county and a nonprofit consortium. Existing law requires a county, public authority, or nonprofit consortium, as applicable, to conduct an investigation of the qualifications and background of an IHSS provider applicant, including specified criminal background checks. This bill would require the county, public authority, or nonprofit consortium to send the State Department of Social Services a copy of the state-level criminal offender record information search response that is provided to that entity by the Department of Justice for any individual who has requested an appeal of a denial of placement on the registry of IHSS personnel or denial of eligibility to provide supportive services to an IHSS recipient. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. Under existing law, IHSS recipients who are eligible for the Medi-Cal program, are provided with personal care option services, as defined, in lieu of receiving these services under the IHSS program. Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the county welfare departments, is required to develop protocols and procedures for obtaining fingerprint images of all individuals who are being assessed or reassessed to receive supportive services, as specified. Existing law also requires the standardized time provider timesheet used to track the work performed by providers of in-home supportive services to contain specified information, including, effective July 1, 2011, designated spaces for the index fingerprints of the provider and recipient. This bill would delete the requirements pertaining to obtaining fingerprint images of IHSS recipients, and the requirement that the provider timesheet include spaces for provider and recipient fingerprints. Existing law requires an IHSS provider enrollment form to be completed using the provider's physical residence address, and prohibits the use of a post office box address. Existing law also prohibits a county from mailing a provider's paycheck to a post office box address, unless the county approves a provider request to do so, as specified. This bill would delete these requirements, and the prohibitions relating to the use of a post office box address by an IHSS provider.
The Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act creates the California Department of Aging, with prescribed duties, including the development of the state plan on aging. This bill would require, if specified conditions are met, the department to report data from the Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) , as defined, for each service area included in the state plan and use the index as a reference when making decisions about allocating resources. The act also establishes area agencies on aging with specified duties, including creation of a plan for the agencies that considers available data and population trends, assesses the need for services, identifies sources of funding for services, and develops and implements a plan for the delivery of services based on the need. This bill would require, if specified conditions are met, that the plan utilize the Elder Index as a reference when making decisions about allocating resources to specify the costs of meeting basic needs for elders in each planning and service area.
Existing law establishes a pilot program requiring the Division of Juvenile Facilities of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to purchase 2 medical laser devices for the removal of tattoos, as specified, from eligible participants who are at-risk youth, ex-offenders, and current or former gang members, as specified. This bill would additionally establish the California Voluntary Tattoo Removal Program. The bill would provide that, to the extent funds are appropriated, the California Emergency Management Agency may administer the program. The bill would require that the program be designed to serve individuals between 14 and 24 years of age, who are in the custody of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or county probation departments, who are on parole or probation, or who are in a community-based organization serving at-risk youth, through a competitive grant process, as specified. The bill would describe who may apply for grants, and specify the criteria for program participants. The bill would repeal those provisions on January 1, 2017.