Sen. Sam Blakeslee Ph.D.

This measure would proclaim January 13, 2010, as Korean-American Day.

Existing law establishes the requirements and standards for continuing education programs for specified insurance agents and brokers. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision.

The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature, by rollcall vote entered in the journal, 23 of the membership of each house concurring, to submit at a general election the question whether to call a convention to revise the Constitution. If a majority vote yes on that question, the Legislature is required, within 6 months, to provide for the convention. Delegates to the convention are required to be voters elected from districts as nearly equal in population as may be practicable. This bill would provide for the selection of 56 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, with 14 delegates selected from each of the State Board of Equalization districts, as specified. The bill would prohibit a delegate to the Convention from holding a specified office or position, including an elective or appointed federal, state, county, or city office, for 4 years following the date of his or her appointment as a delegate to the Convention. The term of each delegate would expire at the time the Convention submits its proposal to the Secretary of State to be voted on at the next statewide election. The bill would further prohibit a voter from being eligible to serve as a delegate to the Convention if the voter or his or her immediate family member held a specified office or position, including an elective or appointed federal, state, county, or city office, for the 10 years preceding the date of his or her application. The bill would require the Convention to convene in the Assembly Chambers at the Capitol in the City of Sacramento and would specify the rules for the Convention. The delegates to the Convention would be paid $300 for each day he or she engaged in Convention business. The bill would further provide for the removal of a delegate by the Governor with the concurrence of ¾ of the Members of the Senate after the delegate has been served with written notice and provided an opportunity for a response. Any vacancy of a delegate shall be filled within 30 days from the date of the vacancy by an applicant for the Convention who is of the same voter registration category and the same State Board of Equalization district as the vacating delegate. The bill would provide that no employer shall discharge, threaten to discharge, intimidate, coerce, or retaliate against any employee by reason of the employee's scheduled attendance at any meeting of the Constitutional Convention. The bill would become operative only if ACR ____ is approved by the voters at a statewide general election.

Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt procedures for determining the compliance of any system designed for the control of gasoline vapor emissions during gasoline marketing operations, including storage and transfer operations, and additional performance standards to ensure that systems for the control of gasoline vapors from motor vehicle fueling operations do not cause excessive spillage and emissions. Existing law prohibits the state board from requiring a gasoline dispensing facility that meets certain requirements from undergoing an Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II upgrade until April 1, 2011. This bill, except as specified, would limit the fines imposed on a gasoline dispensing facility that fails to meet an April 1, 2009, compliance deadline to a total of no more than $1,000 for all violations that occur between April 1, 2009, and December 31, 2009, if the gasoline dispensing facility meets specified requirements. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes the California State University under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University. Existing law, known as the California State University Contract Law sets forth a process through which contracts for projects, as defined, that are entered into with respect to the California State University may be competitively bid, entered into, and executed. This bill would authorize the trustees to enter into a contract with the government of a foreign country to provide the services of California State University staff or personnel in that foreign country. The bill would require that any contract entered into by the trustees and the government of a foreign country, to the extent permitted by federal law, contain the following clauses: (1) a clause requiring that a contractor and its subcontractors shall be required to maintain a workplace that is free from harassment and discrimination against any employee on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, race, color, ancestry, religious creed, national origin, mental disability, physical disability, medical condition, age, marital status, or use of family care leave, (2) a clause requiring that a contractor and its subcontractors shall provide written assurance that they will comply with specified nondiscrimination laws and regulations in the contract, (3) a clause requiring that a contractor and any subcontractor subject to the requirements of the bill shall provide specified written notice to any labor organizations with which the contractor or subcontractor has a collective bargaining or other labor agreement, and (4) a clause requiring either that the foreign country make a specified waiver or that the contract is subject to specified laws.

The California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority Act established the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority. The authority is authorized to do all things necessary and convenient to carry out the purposes of the act. The authority is also required to establish a renewable energy program to provide financial assistance, as defined, to certain entities for projects to generate new and renewable energy sources, develop clean and efficient distributed generation, and demonstrate the economic feasibility of new technologies. Existing law provides that the transfer of title of tangible personal property constituting a project under the act to the authority by a participating party or the lease or transfer of tangible personal property constituting a project under the act by the authority to a participating party pursuant to the act is not a "sale" or "purchase" for the purposes of the Sales and Use Tax Law. This bill would include as a project, machinery or equipment that is utilized for the design, technology transfer, manufacture, production, assembly, distribution, or service of an alternative source component. The bill would include as "financial assistance" for the purposes of the act purchases, sales, or lease arrangements that qualify for exclusion from the Sales and Use Tax Law. The bill would require the authority to consider specified criteria in approving a project for which the purchase, sale, or lease of tangible personal property qualifies for the sales and use tax exclusion. The bill would require, when the sales and use tax exclusion for projects approved by the authority exceed $100,000,000 annually, the authority to provide a 20-day notice to the Legislature for additional project approval.

Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority with various powers and duties relative to implementation of an intercity high-speed train system. Existing law creates the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission and the California Emergency Management Agency with various powers and duties relative to earthquake hazard mitigation and governmental responses to calamities, respectively. This bill would require the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop an earthquake early warning system and coordinate development of that system with the California Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Education, and the Public Utilities Commission. The bill would require the earthquake early warning system to be designed to protect the lives of high-speed train passengers and schoolchildren, and protect critical infrastructure in this state by providing advanced earthquake warning and by enabling preventive measures seconds before an earthquake.

(1) Existing law establishes various grant, loan, and loan guarantee programs that are administered by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to provide assistance to private and public entities to maximize energy use savings in existing and planned buildings and facilities. This bill would require the commission to implement the Building Energy Retrofit Revolving Loan Program to provide loans for energy conservation projects retrofitting nonresidential buildings built before July 1, 1978. The bill would create the Building Energy Retrofit Revolving Loan Program Fund in the State Treasury that would be continuously appropriated to the commission for the implementation of the program, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require that moneys from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that are appropriated to the commission be transferred to the fund as authorized by federal law.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of lobbyists, as defined. Among its provisions, the act requires a lobbyist to prepare a certification and periodic expenditure and contribution reports, containing specified information, to be filed with the Secretary of State. The act also contains various proscriptions regarding lobbyists giving gifts and engaging in other specified activities that may unduly influence governmental functions. This bill would expand the definition of "lobbyist" to include an individual who acts as an agent or representative of a foreign principal, as defined, and who communicates with any elective state official, agency official, or legislative official for the purpose of influencing legislative or administrative action. This bill would require those individuals to register by filing a certification with the Secretary of State and to file periodic expenditure and contribution reports with the Secretary of State. This bill would also make those individuals subject to all of the act's existing proscriptions regarding gift giving and engaging in other prohibited activities. In addition, this bill would provide that if a lobbyist who is an agent of a foreign principal violates any of the act's requirements or proscriptions, all representatives of that foreign principal shall be prohibited from entering the State Capitol Building and all other legislative offices for the balance of the legislative session during which the violation occurred. Existing law makes a 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.