Existing law prescribes various duties for the Department of General Services in connection with development and maintenance of the park around the State Capitol Building. This bill would authorize the American Portuguese Club Incorporated, in consultation with the department and a specifically created committee, to construct and maintain a memorial in the existing All Veterans Memorial to honor California American Portuguese veterans. It would require that the planning, construction, and maintenance of the memorial be funded with private donations through the American Portuguese Club Incorporated. It would prohibit construction of the memorial until the master plan of the State Capitol Park is approved and adopted by the Joint Committee on Rules and the Joint Committee on Rules, and the Department of Finance have determined that sufficient private funding is available to construct and maintain the memorial. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
Existing law establishes an archery season for the taking of deer with bow and arrow. Existing law prohibits a person taking or attempting to take deer during that archery season from carrying, or having under his or her immediate control, any firearm of any kind. Other existing law generally makes carrying a concealed firearm a crime, but establishes specified exceptions, including exceptions for peace officers, honorably retired peace officers, and hunters and fishermen while engaged in hunting or fishing. This bill would revise that archery provision to authorize a peace officer, whether active or honorably retired, to carry a firearm capable of being concealed on his or her person while engaged in the taking of deer with bow and arrow, but would prohibit taking or attempting to take deer with that firearm.
Existing law prescribes various duties for the Department of General Services in connection with development and maintenance of the park around the State Capitol Building. This bill would authorize the Ronald Reagan Centennial Capitol Foundation, in consultation with the Department of General Services, to plan a statue of Ronald Reagan in the State Capitol Building Annex. The bill would require the Department of General Services and the Ronald Reagan Centennial Capitol Foundation to approve the design and any other aspect of the statue. The bill would require that the planning, construction, and maintenance of the statue be funded with private donations through the Ronald Reagan Centennial Capitol Foundation. The bill would prohibit construction of the statue until the Joint Committee on Rules has approved and adopted the plan for the statue, and the Joint Committee on Rules and the Department of Finance have determined that sufficient private funding is available to construct and maintain the statue.
Existing law, the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, establishes a program of cooperative federalism for the regulation of telecommunications to attain the goal of local competition, while implementing specific, predictable, and sufficient federal and state mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service, consistent with certain universal service principles. The universal service principles include the principle that consumers in all regions of the nation, including low-income consumers and those in rural, insular, and high-cost areas, should have access to telecommunications and information services, including interexchange services and advanced telecommunications and information services, that are reasonably comparable to those services provided in urban areas and that are available at rates that are reasonably comparable to rates charged for similar services in urban areas. Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to supervise and regulate every public utility in the state, including telephone corporations, and to fix just and reasonable rates and charges for the public utility. Existing law establishes the state's universal service funds, including the California High-Cost Fund-A Administrative Committee Fund (CHCF-A) and the California High-Cost Fund-B Administrative Committee Fund (CHCF-B) , in the State Treasury, and provides that moneys in each of the state's universal service funds are the proceeds of rates and are held in trust for the benefit of ratepayers and to compensate telephone corporations for their costs of providing universal service. Moneys in the funds may only be expended to accomplish specified telecommunications universal service programs, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act or upon supplemental appropriation. Existing law, until January 1, 2015, requires the commission to develop, implement, and maintain a suitable program to establish a fair and equitable local rate structure aided by universal service rate support to small independent telephone corporations that serve rural areas and are subject to rate-of-return regulation by the commission (the CHCF-A program) . This bill would revise the CHCF-A program to instead require the commission, until January 1, 2015, to exercise its regulatory authority to maintain the CHCF-A program to provide universal rate support to small independent telephone corporations in amounts sufficient to meet the revenue requirements established by the commission through rate-of-return regulation in furtherance of the state's universal service commitment to the continued affordability and widespread availability of safe, reliable, high-quality communications services in rural areas of the state. The bill would specify eligibility requirements for small independent telephone corporations to participate in the CHCF-A program and requirements for the commission in maintaining the program. This bill would require a small independent telephone corporation that receives support from the CHCF-A program to provide information regarding revenues derived from the provision of unregulated internet access service upon request from the commission and would require the commission to treat this information as confidential. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a failure by a small independent telephone corporation that receives support from the CHCF-A program to provide information regarding revenues derived from unregulated internet access service when requested by the commission would be a crime, the bill 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.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. The Public Utilities Act requires the commission, in establishing residential electric rates, to ensure that the rates are sufficient to enable the electrical corporation to recover a just and reasonable amount of revenue from residential customers as a class, while observing the principle that electricity service is a necessity, for which a low affordable rate is desirable while observing that conservation is desirable. The act requires the commission to establish a program of assistance to low-income electric and gas customers, referred to as the California Alternate Rates for Energy or CARE program. This bill would authorize an electrical corporation to require proof of income eligibility for those CARE program participants whose electricity usage exceeds 400% of baseline usage. The bill would authorize an electrical corporation to require a CARE program participant whose electricity usage exceeds 400% of baseline usage to participate in the Energy Savings Assistance Program (ESAP) , which includes a residential energy assessment, and would authorize an electrical corporation to condition continued participation in the CARE program upon agreement to participate in ESAP if a participant's electricity usage exceeds 400% of baseline usage. The bill would require an electrical corporation to require a CARE program participant whose electricity usage exceeds 600% of baseline usage to participate in ESAP, which includes a residential energy assessment. The bill would authorize an electrical corporation to remove a CARE program participant from the program if, after the completion of a residential energy assessment, the program participant's monthly electricity usage exceeds 600% of baseline usage, as specified. The bill would authorize a CARE program participant with electricity usage exceeding 600% of baseline usage to participate in an appeals process with the electrical corporation to determine whether the participant's usage levels are legitimate. The bill would prohibit a CARE program participant in a rental residence from being removed from the program in situations where the landlord is nonresponsive when contacted by the electrical corporation or does not provide for ESAP participation.
Existing law requires specified information to be provided to patients regarding their health care. Existing federal law requires a written report of the results of each mammography examination and requires a summary of that report to be sent to the patient within a specified time period. This bill, from April 1, 2013, until January 1, 2019, would require, under specified circumstances, a health facility at which a mammography examination is performed to include in the summary of the written report that is sent to the patient a prescribed notice on breast density.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law provides for the Health Care Coverage Initiative, which is a federal waiver demonstration project established to expand health care coverage to low-income uninsured individuals who are not currently eligible for the Medi-Cal program and other specified public health coverage programs. Existing law requires the department, pursuant to federal approval of a successor demonstration project, to authorize a local Low Income Health Program (LIHP) to provide health care services to eligible low-income individuals under certain circumstances. Under existing law, a county, city and county, consortium of counties serving a region of more than one county, or a health authority may be eligible to operate an approved LIHP. Existing law establishes the continuously appropriated LIHP Fund, which consists of moneys transferred to the fund from a participating entity to meet the nonfederal share of estimated payments to the LIHP. This bill would provide that a nondesignated public hospital, as defined, or the entity with which it is affiliated, may be eligible to operate an approved LIHP if it is located in a county that does not have a designated public hospital, as defined, the county does not intend to operate a LIHP, and, if the county previously filed an application to operate a LIHP, the county has formally withdrawn its application. By increasing the number of entities that may transfer funds into the LIHP Fund, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing state law governs common carriers, including contracts for the conveyance of property, persons, or messages from one place to another. Federal law specifically governs commercial space flight activities. Among other provisions, federal law requires that space flight providers obtain both the written consent of space flight participants and liability insurance. This bill would require a space flight entity, as defined, to collect a signed warning statement, as specified, from each participant in space flight activities, as defined. In addition to the disclosures required by federal law, the bill would require the warning statement to, at a minimum, inform the participant that there is limited civil liability for bodily injury sustained as a result of the inherent risks associated with space flight activities. The bill would limit the liability of a space flight entity that complies with these provisions, except as provided.
Under existing law, a hunting license grants the privilege to take birds and mammals. Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Game to issue a hunting license, upon payment of a fee, to eligible California residents and nonresidents, as specified. Existing law requires the department to issue a reduced fee hunting license, as specified, to a disabled veteran, as defined. This bill would also require the department to issue a reduced fee hunting license to military personnel who are recovering service members, as defined, and who provide documentation of eligibility, as prescribed.
Under existing law, a sport fishing license grants the privilege to take fish, reptiles, and amphibia. Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Game to issue a sport fishing license, upon payment of a fee, to eligible California residents and nonresidents, as specified. Existing law requires the department to issue a reduced fee sport fishing license, as specified, to a disabled veteran, as defined, that is valid for the calendar year of issue, or, if issued after the beginning of the year, for the remainder of the year. This bill would also require the department to issue a reduced fee sport fishing license to active military personnel who are recovering service members, as defined, and who demonstrate eligibility, as prescribed. Existing law establishes the lengths of time a sport fishing license is valid, including for a period of one calendar year, for anyone over 16 years of age, as provided. This bill would provide that a reduced fee sport fishing license is valid for one year as specified by existing law.