The California Constitution requires the Legislature to pass the Budget Bill by midnight on June 15 of each year. The Constitution further provides that money may be drawn from the Treasury only through an appropriation made by law. This measure would provide that, if the Budget Bill has not been enacted by July 1, funds would be appropriated from the General Fund and other funds and sources to the Controller for allocation by the Department of Finance to pay current expenses for essential state functions, as determined by the Department of Finance, during the period from July 1 until the Budget Bill is enacted, at amounts equal to appropriations for those state functions in the immediately preceding fiscal year. The measure would further provide that if total revenues in the current fiscal year from the funds and sources that support those functions are estimated by the Department of Finance to be less than those revenues in the immediately preceding fiscal year, the amount appropriated for those state functions would be reduced uniformly for all of those state functions by a percentage that equals the percentage decline in revenue.
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Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. The Public Utilities Act imposes various duties and responsibilities on the commission with respect to the purchase of electricity and requires the commission to review and adopt a procurement plan and a renewable energy procurement plan for each electrical corporation pursuant to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (RPS program) . Existing law requires that an electrical corporation's proposed procurement plan include certain elements, including a showing that the electrical corporation will, in order to fulfill its unmet resource needs, until a 20% renewable resources portfolio is achieved, procure renewable energy resources with the goal of ensuring that at least an additional 1% per year of the electricity sold by the electrical corporation is generated from eligible renewable energy resources, provided sufficient funds are made available to cover certain above-market costs. The RPS program requires, in order to fulfill unmet long-term resource needs, that the commission establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all electrical corporations to procure a minimum quantity of electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources as a specified percentage of total kilowatthours sold to their retail end-use customers each calendar year, subject to certain cost limitations, so that 20% of its retail sales are procured from eligible renewable energy resources no later than December 31, 2010. This bill would require than an electrical corporation's proposed procurement plan include a showing that the electrical corporation will, in order to fulfill its unmet resource needs, procure resources from eligible renewable energy resources in an amount sufficient to meet its procurement requirements pursuant to the renewables portfolio standard. The bill would additionally require that an electrical corporation's proposed procurement plan include a showing that the electrical corporation will, in order to fulfill its unmet resource needs, procure resources in a manner that complies with the requirements for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases adopted by the State Air Resources Board pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The bill would require each electrical corporation to file with the commission a proposed fossil fuel procurement plan that complies with the requirements for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases adopted by the State Air Resources Board pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, require the commission to review and accept, modify, or reject each electrical corporation's fossil fuel procurement plan, and require each electrical corporation to review and update its fossil fuel procurement plan as the commission determines to be necessary. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill are within the act and require action by the commission to implement, a violation of these provisions 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.
The California Farmland Conservancy Program Act establishes a program for grants, for the acquisition of agricultural conservation easements or fee title, from the Department of Conservation. The act imposes requirements for the funding of agricultural conservation easements. The act creates the California Farmland Conservancy Program Fund. The moneys in the fund, upon appropriation, are required to be used for the purposes of the program, including the purchase of agricultural conservation easements. The act requires an applicant for an agricultural conservation easement to meet specified eligibility criteria related to commercial agricultural production and agricultural land conservation, and specifies criteria the Director of Conservation is required to consider in evaluating the proposal. This bill, notwithstanding any other provision of the act, would authorize the Director of Conservation to make grants from a source other than the fund, and, upon appropriation by the Legislature from that source, disburse moneys for those grants to an applicant for the acquisition of an agricultural conservation easement, if the director determines that the grant meets the purposes of the act and additional specified requirements, including that the easement does not, and will not, substantially prevent agricultural uses on the easement property and that any restriction on the current or reasonably foreseeable agricultural use of the easement property would only be imposed to restrict those areas of the property that are not in cultivation. Existing law also establishes the Soil Conservation Fund, which provides money, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified land use purposes. This bill would establish the Farm, Ranch, and Watershed Account within the Soil and Conservation Fund from which money would be disbursed to provide the above grants.
Existing law requires every employer, with specified exceptions, to pay contributions to the Unemployment Fund at specified rates to fund the payment of unemployment compensation benefits to eligible unemployed individuals. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes in those provisions requiring employer contributions to the fund.
This measure would declare April 2010 as Financial Aid and Literacy Month to raise public awareness about the need for increased financial literacy.
The Donahoe Higher Education Act establishes the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, which is administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, which is administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law establishes community college districts, which operate campuses providing instruction to students throughout the state. The provisions of the act apply to the University of California only to the extent that the regents, by appropriate resolution, make them applicable. The act establishes a program with the purpose of ensuring that community college students who wish to earn baccalaureate degrees at a campus of the California State University are able to do so, and requires the Chancellor of the California State University to implement various requirements in connection with the establishment of that program. The act requires the chancellor, on or before June 1, 2005, and in consultation with the Academic Senate of the California State University and with faculty responsible for each high-demand baccalaureate degree major program, to specify for each of those major programs a systemwide lower division transfer curriculum, and requires the systemwide lower division transfer curriculum to be composed of at least 45 semester course units, or the quarter-unit equivalent. Each California State University campus, by June 1, 2006, is also required to identify campus-specific requirements beyond the systemwide lower-division transfer curriculum requirements for each major. This bill would change the date by which the chancellor is required to establish the admissions requirements for community college transfer students to June 1, 2012, and would increase to 60 the number of required semester course units, or the quarter-unit equivalent, for the systemwide lower division transfer curriculum for each high-demand baccalaureate degree major program. The bill would delete the requirement that each California State University campus identify campus-specific requirements beyond the systemwide lower division transfer curriculum requirements, and would prohibit a campus of the California State University from imposing nonelective lower division course requirements for transfer students in high-demand baccalaureate degree major programs that are in addition to those specified by the chancellor. The bill would make other conforming changes.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Mental Health, provides for the administration of state hospitals, and provides for the involuntary confinement of certain individuals in those state hospitals, including persons who have been found not guilty of a charge by reason of insanity, who have been found incompetent to stand trial by a judge, or have been determined, as a result of a mental disorder, to be a danger to themselves or others. Existing law provides that every person confined in a local detention facility, state prison, or under the jurisdiction of the Division of Juvenile Facilities of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, who commits a battery upon the person of a peace officer by "gassing," as defined, is guilty of aggravated battery. This bill would provide that a person confined to a state hospital who commits battery upon the person of a peace officer or employee of a state hospital by gassing is guilty of aggravated battery, punishable by imprisonment in county jail or state prison for 2, 3, or 4 years. The bill would also require the State Department of Mental Health to submit a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2015, regarding gassing incidents at state hospitals. 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.
(1) Existing law, the Real Estate Law, provides for the licensing and regulation of real estate brokers by the Real Estate Commissioner. Existing law requires a broker to provide specified notices and disclosures for transactions that involve the sale of, or offer to sell, a series of notes secured directly by interests in real property or the sale of undivided interests in a note secured directly by one or more parcels of real property equivalent to a series transaction. Existing law requires a real estate broker who arranges these transactions to clearly indicate in the broker's transaction file the provisions of the Corporate Securities Law of 1968 pertaining to qualification or exemption from qualification under which the transaction is being conducted. Existing law makes a willful violation of the Real Estate Law a crime. This bill would require a broker arranging those transactions to provide a copy of the information in the broker's transaction file to the person with whom the broker arranged the transaction. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a real estate broker would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law makes it unlawful for a person to offer or sell any security in an issuer transaction unless the sale has been qualified, as specified, or is exempt. This bill would require an issuer of securities that engages in hard money lending, as defined, to maintain specified records and a surety bond and to establish a contractual agreement, that meets specified requirements, with the person to whom the issuer sells securities for the purpose of investing in mortgage loans. (3) 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, relative to private energy producers, requires every electric utility, as defined, to make available to an eligible customer‑generator, as defined, a standard contract or tariff for net energy metering on a first-come-first-served basis until the time that the total rated generating capacity used by eligible customer‑generators exceeds 5% of the electric utility's aggregate customer peak demand. The existing definition of an eligible customer-generator limits the generating capacity of the solar or wind turbine electrical generating facility, or hybrid facility of both, used by the eligible customer-generator to one megawatt. This bill would require that the standard contract or tariff for net energy metering be offered on a first-come-first-served basis until the time that the total rated generating capacity used by eligible customer‑generators exceeds 6% of the electric utility's aggregate customer peak demand and, until January 1, 2016, would reserve 1% of this limit for large commercial or industrial customer-generators, as defined. This bill would prohibit the electricity fed back to the electric grid by large commercial or industrial customer-generators from offsetting charges for transmission and distribution services. The bill would revise the definition of an eligible customer-generator to authorize generating facilities of up to 5 megawatts. The bill would make other conforming and clarifying changes. (2) Existing law requires electric utilities to ensure that requests for an interconnection agreement from an eligible customer-generator are processed in a time period not to exceed 30 working days from the date the application is received. This bill would require electric utilities to process these requests from eligible large commercial or industrial customer-generators in a time period not to exceed 90 days and would require the costs of required interconnection studies and upgrades to be paid by the large commercial or industrial customer-generator. (3) Existing law makes legislative findings and declarations relative to the repeal of provisions of the net metering program for large customers. This bill would repeal these findings and declarations.
The Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act generally requires the administrator for oil spill response, acting at the direction of the Governor, to implement activities relating to oil spill response, including emergency drills and preparedness, and oil spill containment and cleanup, and to represent the state in any coordinated response efforts with the federal government. The act imposes a uniform oil spill response fee on specified owners of petroleum products, operators of a pipeline, operators of a refinery, and marine terminal operators, and that fee is deposited into the Oil Spill Response Trust Fund. The money in the fund is continuously appropriated for specified purposes. This bill would require the administrator, in consultation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United States Coast Guard, to conduct an assessment of the S.S. Montebello wreck, as defined, to determine the likelihood of an oil release from the vessel. The bill would require the administrator to request the appropriate federal agency to reimburse the state for the assessment costs, upon determining that an imminent threat of an oil release exists. If the administrator determines that a threat of an oil release exists, but the threat is not imminent, the bill would require the administrator to identify the recommended course of action to monitor the vessel. The bill would additionally require the money from the fund to be expended to carry out this assessment, thereby making an appropriation.