The California Tire Recycling Act requires a person who purchases a new tire to pay a California tire fee in the amount of $1.75, of which $0.75 of the fee is designated for programs and projects that mitigate or remediate air pollution caused by waste tires and the remainder is deposited in the California Tire Recycling Management Fund, for expenditure by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for programs related to the disposal of waste tires. After January 1, 2015, existing law decreases the amount of the fee to $0.75 and provides for the deposit of all of that amount in that fund. This bill would decrease the amount of the California tire fee that is imposed until January 1, 2015, to $1.15.
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Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. This bill would require that every regulation proposed by an agency after January 1, 2012, include a provision repealing the regulation in 5 years. The bill would prohibit the office from approving a proposed regulation unless it contains repeal provisions. The bill would authorize an agency, in the year prior to a regulation's scheduled repeal, to amend the regulation to extend the repeal date, as specified, after complying with certain public hearing requirements.
This bill would urge the United States Patent and Trademark Office to place a satellite office in California.
(1) 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, 2013, 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) . Existing law, until January 1, 2012, requires the commission to develop, implement, and maintain a suitable, competitively neutral, and broadbased program to establish a fair and equitable local rate support structure aided by universal service rate support to telephone corporations serving areas where the cost of providing services exceeds rates charged by providers, as determined by the commission (the CHCF-B program) . This bill would extend the repeal date of the CHCF-A and CHCF-B program requirements until January 1, 2015. (2) This bill would require the commission to require interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers to collect and remit surcharges on their California intrastate revenues in support of the universal service funds. The bill would make this requirement operative only if AB 841 is not enacted or fails to become effective on or before January 1, 2012. (3) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order or direction of the commission is a crime. Because the program that is extended under the provisions of this bill is within the act and a decision or order of the commission implements the program requirements, a violation of these provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. (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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Under existing law, the process of school district reorganization begins with the submission of a petition that is reviewed by the county superintendent of schools and, if sufficient, forwarded to the county committee on school district organization and the State Board of Education for additional review and public hearings. The county committee on school district organization is authorized to formulate plans and recommendations for the reorganization of school districts. The reorganization, if approved by the county committee on school district organization or the state board, is required to be voted upon during the next available election. The reorganization plans are also required to meet specified requirements, and the reorganization plans for school districts with more than 500,000 pupils based on average daily attendance are required to satisfy additional conditions. This bill would, with respect to a school district involved in a reorganization, as specified, require the interim or governing board of the existing school district or districts, and, where applicable, the administrators of the existing school district or districts, to notify the county superintendent of schools in writing and provide relevant documents and information no less than 10 schooldays, as defined, before taking any action on any matter that could have a material fiscal impact on, or impose a debt or liability on, the existing, proposed, newly formed, or newly organized school district. The bill would authorize the county superintendent of schools to review any action taken or proposed to be taken by any interim or existing governing board of the school district or school district administrators to determine whether that action would have a material fiscal impact, debt, or liability on the existing, proposed, newly formed, or newly organized school district. The bill would further provide that if, based on the county superintendent of schools review, the county superintendent of schools determines that the action or proposed action would have a material fiscal impact on the existing, proposed, newly formed, or newly organized school district, and that action is unnecessary for the immediate functioning of the existing or newly formed school district, the county superintendent of schools would be authorized to stay or rescind that action.
The Rees-Levering Motor Vehicle Sales and Finance Act regulates motor vehicle conditional sale contracts, and, among other things, requires a person selling or leasing a motor vehicle under a conditional sale contract to disclose certain information to a buyer. A violation of those disclosure requirements makes a conditional sale contract unenforceable, except as specified. This bill would provide that a conditional sale contract shall not be made unenforceable solely for a violation of provisions requiring the disclosure of certain fees paid to public officials, including vehicle license fees, registration fees, and California tire fees. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law prohibits unauthorized communication with inmates in state prison. A person who violates that provision is guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law further prohibits a person in a local correctional facility from possessing a wireless communication device, except as specified. This bill would provide, with exceptions, that a person who possesses with the intent to deliver, or delivers, to an inmate or ward in the custody of the department any cellular telephone or other wireless communication device or any component thereof, including, but not limited to, a subscriber identity module or memory storage device, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding 6 months, a fine not to exceed $5,000 for each device, or both that fine and imprisonment. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would provide that if a person who is visiting an inmate or ward under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is found to be in possession of a cellular telephone, wireless communication device, or any component thereof, upon being searched or subjected to a metal detector, that device is subject to confiscation and would be returned the same day, except as specified. The bill would require that a notice to that effect be posted in each area where visitors are searched prior to visiting with an inmate or ward. The bill would provide that a person who brings, without authorization, a wireless communication device within the secure perimeter of a prison or institution housing offenders under the jurisdiction of the department is deemed to have consented to the department using available technology to prevent the device from sending or receiving calls or other electronic communication, and would require notice of this provision to be posted at all public entry gates. Existing law provides for the accumulation, denial, or loss of time credits for inmates of the department based on each inmate's behavior while under the jurisdiction of the department. The bill would provide that an inmate who is found to be in possession of a wireless communication device would be subject to the denial of time credits, as specified. The bill would prohibit the department from accessing data or communications that have been captured using available technology from unauthorized use of a wireless communication device except after obtaining a valid search warrant, and would provide that any contractor or employee of a contractor or the department who knowingly and willfully, without authorization, obtains, discloses, or uses, confidential data or communications from an unauthorized wireless communication device is subject to an administrative fine or civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for a first violation, $10,000 for a 2nd violation, and $25,000 for a 3rd or subsequent violation. The bill would further prohibit the department from capturing data or communications from an authorized wireless communication device, or accessing data or communications that have been captured from an authorized wireless communication device, except as authorized under existing law. The bill would provide that any contractor or employee of a contractor or the department who knowingly and willfully, without authorization, obtains, discloses, or uses, confidential data or communications from an authorized wireless communication device is subject to an administrative fine or civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for a first violation, $10,000 for a 2nd violation, and $25,000 for a 3rd or subsequent violation. The bill would also provide that until January 1, 2018, the state shall require as part of the contract for the Inmate Ward Telephone System that the total cost for intrastate and interstate calls be equal to or less than the total costs of a call established in the contract in effect on September 1, 2011, and that other than the conversation minute charges and prepaid account setup fees, there shall be no additional charges of any type, including administrative fees, call-setup fees, detail billing fees, hard copy billing fees, or any other fees. 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the California Control of Profits of Organized Crime Act, provides the procedure for the forfeiture of property and proceeds acquired through a pattern of criminal profiteering activity, as specified, and requires the prosecution to file a petition for forfeiture in conjunction with certain criminal charges. Under existing law, criminal profiteering activity is defined to include specified crimes, including human trafficking. This bill would include within the definition of criminal profiteering activity any crime in which the perpetrator induces, encourages, or persuades, or causes through force, fear, coercion, deceit, violence, duress, menace, or threat of unlawful injury to the victim or to another person, a person under 18 years of age to engage in a commercial sex act. Under existing law, in any case involving human trafficking of minors for purposes of prostitution or lewd conduct, or in any case involving abduction or procurement by fraudulent inducement for prostitution, in lieu of the distribution procedure described above, the proceeds shall be deposited in the Victim-Witness Assistance Fund to be available for appropriation to fund child sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse victim counseling centers and prevention programs. This bill would include the proceeds from any case in which the perpetrator induces, encourages, or persuades, or causes through force, fear, coercion, deceit, violence, duress, menace, or threat of unlawful injury to the victim or to another person, a person under 18 years of age to engage in a commercial sex act, to be deposited in the Victim-Witness Assistance Fund to be available for appropriation to fund child sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse victim counseling centers and prevention programs, as specified. By expanding the scope of an existing 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.
Proposition 117, an initiative measure approved by the electors at the June 5, 1990, statewide primary election, enacted the California Wildlife Protection Act of 1990. The act establishes that the mountain lion is a specially protected mammal under the laws of this state, and makes it unlawful to take, injure, possess, transport, import, or sell any mountain lion or any part or product thereof. The act establishes certain exemptions from that prohibition. The act prohibits the Legislature from changing the act, with specified exceptions, except by a 45 vote of the membership of both houses of the Legislature and then only if consistent with, and in furtherance of, the purposes of the act. This bill would establish an exemption for the possession of a mountain lion carcass or any part or product of a mountain lion carcass, if the carcass or carcass part or product is prepared or being prepared for display, exhibition, or storage, for a bona fide scientific or educational purpose, at a nonprofit museum or government-owned facility generally open to the public or at an educational institution, if the mountain lion was taken in California consistent with the requirements of the act and any other applicable law and the department has authorized the possession. The bill would find and declare that the amendments made by the bill are consistent with, and further the purposes of, the act. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes in the California Environmental Protection Agency the State Air Resources Board, which is responsible for control of emissions from motor vehicles and is designated the air pollution control agency for all purposes set forth in federal law. Existing law requires the state board to consist of 11 members appointed based on certain qualifications. This bill, until January 1, 2017, would require one appointed member of the state board to be an owner within the past 5 years of a small business, as defined. The bill would also make various technical, nonsubstantive changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 39510 of the Health and Safety Code, proposed by AB 146, to be operative only if AB 146 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective January 1, 2012, and this bill is chaptered last.