Sen. Bill Monning

This measure would urge state and federal departments and agencies responsible for the stewardship of public resources, as specified, to make collaborative, statewide salmon fishery restoration an urgent and high priority. The measure would also urge the federal government to undertake all appropriate measures to provide necessary disaster relief for California salmon fisheries for 2016 and 2017.

This measure would proclaim September 3, 2017, to September 9, 2017, inclusive, as Military and Veteran Suicide Prevention Awareness Week in California.

Existing law authorizes any party to obtain discovery in civil actions by taking the oral deposition of any person, including any party to the action. Under existing law, a deposition examination of the witness by all counsel, other than the witness' counsel of record, is generally limited to 7 hours of total testimony. Existing law provides an exception to the 7-hour limitation for depositions taken in cases designated as complex. In such cases, the deposition examination of a witness by all counsel other than the witness' counsel of record is limited to 2 days of no more than 7 hours of total testimony each day, or 14 hours of total testimony, unless a licensed physician attests that the deponent suffers from an illness or condition that raises substantial medical doubt of the deponent's survival beyond 6 months. This bill would require that, in any civil action for injury or illness that results in mesothelioma, a deposition examination of the witness by counsel other than the witness' counsel of record be limited to 7 hours of total testimony if a licensed physician attests in a declaration that the deponent suffers from mesothelioma, raising substantial medical doubt of the survival of the deponent beyond 6 months. A party would be authorized by this bill to seek up to 7 hours of additional deposition testimony for no more than 14 hours of total testimony. The bill would authorize a court to grant an extension beyond 7 hours if the court finds that an extension is in the interest of fairness, and determines that the health of the deponent does not appear to be endangered by the grant of additional time.

Existing law defines a hate crime as a criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of the victim's disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Existing law also defines as a hate crime a criminal act committed because of the victim's association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics. Existing law defines association for these purposes as including advocacy for or identification with people who have one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics, or as being on the ground owned or rented by, or adjacent to, a community center, educational facility, office, meeting hall, place of worship, private institution, public agency, or library that is identified with people who have these actual or perceived characteristics. Existing law provides punishments for hate crimes that range from misdemeanors with specified penalties to felonies with additional terms of one to 3 years in state prison, depending on the underlying criminal act and other circumstances. Existing law requires, with conditions, the Attorney General to direct local law enforcement agencies to report specified information relative to hate crimes to the Department of Justice. Existing law requires the department to annually submit a report to the Legislature that analyzes the results of information obtained from local law enforcement pursuant to these provisions. Local law enforcement entities are required by existing law to provide a brochure on hate crimes to victims of these crimes and to the public, and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing is required by existing law to revise those brochures as needed and to provide those brochures to local law enforcement agencies upon request. This bill would revise the definition of association for these purposes and would include representation, defense, or support of a person or group that has one or more of the above specified characteristics, whether by an individual or a public or private entity. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. By expanding the information that law enforcement agencies are required to report to the Department of Justice, 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

This measure would designate a specified portion of State Route 1 in the County of San Luis Obispo as the Charles I. Walter Memorial Highway. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering the cost, to erect those signs.

Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to implement and administer a residential lead-based paint hazard reduction program, as specified, including adopting regulations regarding accreditation of providers of health and safety training to employees who engage in or supervise lead-related construction work, as defined, and certification of employees who have successfully completed that training. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations to establish and impose fees for those accreditations and certifications and for licensing entities engaged in lead-related occupations, as specified. Existing law requires those fees to be deposited into the Lead-Related Construction Fund, as specified, and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would require the department, within one year of the Legislature providing sufficient funding, to review and amend its regulations governing lead-related construction work, including training and certification for workers and accreditation for trainers in lead-safe work practices, to comply with existing state regulations and the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule, as specified. The bill would require the adoption of those regulations to establish fee provisions for those certifications and accreditations. The bill would require the fees to be deposited into the Lead-Related Construction Fund. The bill also would make these provisions effective one year after the Legislature appropriates sufficient moneys for the implementation of the program, as provided, and would require the department to adopt emergency regulations to implement these provisions, as specified. Existing law requires certain persons engaged in lead construction work to have a certificate. A violation of that provision is a crime. This bill would further require a firm, as defined, and at least one person onsite and employed by a firm, doing renovation, repair, or painting work that will disturb lead-based paint or presumed lead-based paint, as defined, to have a certificate under these provisions. The bill would also make a violation of these provisions punishable by imprisonment in the county jail, by a fine of not more than $37,500, or by both that imprisonment and fine. By creating a new crime, the 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 California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the State Water Resources Control Board to administer provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health. Existing law declares it to be the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes. This bill would establish the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund in the State Treasury and would provide that moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to the state board. The bill would require the board to administer the fund to secure access to safe drinking water for all Californians, while also ensuring the long-term sustainability of drinking water service and infrastructure. The bill would authorize the state board to provide for the deposit into the fund of federal contributions, voluntary contributions, gifts, grants, bequests, and settlements from parties responsible for contamination of drinking water supplies. The bill would require the state board to expend moneys in the fund for grants, loans, contracts, or services to assist eligible applicants with projects relating to the provision of safe and affordable drinking water consistent with a fund implementation plan adopted annually by the state board, as prescribed. The bill would require the state board annually to prepare and make available a report of expenditures of the fund and to adopt annually, after a public hearing, an assessment of funding need that estimates the anticipated funding needed for the next fiscal year to achieve the purposes of the fund. The bill would require, by January 1, 2019, the state board, in consultation with local health officers and other relevant stakeholders, to make available a map of aquifers that are used or likely to be used as a source of drinking water that are at high risk of containing contaminants. For purposes of the map, the bill would require local health officers and other relevant local agencies to provide all results of, and data associated with, water quality testing performed by certified laboratories to the board, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local health officers and local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. By creating a new continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (2) Existing law, the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges. This bill would impose, until July 1, 2020, a safe and affordable drinking water fee in specified amounts on each customer of a public water system, to be administered by the state board, in consultation with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, in accordance with the Fee Collection Procedures Law. The bill would exempt from the fee a customer that self-certifies under penalty of perjury the customer's satisfaction of specified criteria relating to income. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require, beginning July 1, 2020, the state board to annually determine the amounts of the safe and affordable drinking water fee not to exceed the amounts imposed until July 1, 2020, and not to exceed the anticipated funding need in the most recent assessment of funding need adopted by the state board pursuant to the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund provisions, as prescribed. The bill would require the state board, by July 1, 2020, to adopt regulations, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, relating to an exemption from the fee for low-income households, as specified. The bill would require a public water system to collect the fee and to remit these moneys to the state board to be deposited into the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund. The bill would authorize a public water system to apply to the state board to use an alternative method to calculate the fee. By expanding the application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law that imposes criminal penalties for various acts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires every person who manufactures or distributes fertilizing materials to be licensed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture and to pay a license fee that does not exceed $300. Existing law requires every lot, parcel, or package of fertilizing material to have a label attached to it, as required by the secretary. Existing law requires a licensee who sells or distributes bulk fertilizing materials to pay to the secretary an assessment not to exceed $0.002 per dollar of sales for all sales of fertilizing materials, as prescribed, for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of provisions relating to fertilizing materials. In addition to that assessment, existing law authorizes the secretary to impose an assessment in an amount not to exceed $0.001 per dollar of sales for all sales of fertilizing materials for the purpose of providing funding for research and education regarding the use of fertilizing materials. Existing law specifies that a violation of the fertilizing material laws or the regulations adopted pursuant to those laws is a misdemeanor. This bill, until January 1, 2033, would require a licensee to pay to the secretary a fertilizer safe drinking water fee of $0.005 per dollar of sale for all sales of fertilizing materials. The bill, on and after January 1, 2033, would reduce the fee to $0.002 per dollar of sale and would authorize the secretary to reduce the fee as necessary to not exceed the anticipated funding need in the most recent assessment of funding need adopted by the board pursuant to the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund provisions. The bill would require these moneys to be deposited into the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund. The bill would authorize the secretary to adopt regulations relating to the administration and enforcement of these provisions. Because a violation of these provisions or regulations adopted pursuant to these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law regulates the production, handling, and marketing of milk and dairy products and requires every milk handler subject to that regulatory scheme to pay specified assessments and fees to the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to cover the costs of regulating milk. Existing law governing milk defines "handler" as any person who, either directly or indirectly, receives, purchases, or otherwise acquires ownership, possession, or control of market milk from a producer, a producer-handler, or another handler for the purpose of manufacture, processing, sale, or other handling. Existing law defines "market milk" as milk conforming to specified standards and "manufacturing milk" as milk that does not conform to the requirements of market milk. Existing law provides that a violation of that regulatory scheme or a regulation adopted pursuant to that regulatory scheme is a misdemeanor. This bill would require, beginning January 1, 2020, until January 1, 2035, each handler subject to that regulatory scheme to deduct from payments made to producers for market and manufacturing milk the sum of $0.01355 per hundredweight of milk as a dairy safe drinking water fee. On and after January 1, 2035, the bill would reduce the fee to $0.00678 per hundredweight of milk and would authorize the secretary to reduce the fee as necessary to not exceed the anticipated funding need in the most recent assessment of funding need adopted by the board pursuant to the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund provisions. The bill would require these moneys to be deposited into the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund. The bill would authorize the secretary to take specified enforcement actions and would require the secretary to adopt regulations for the administration and enforcement of these provisions. Because a violation of these provisions or regulations adopted pursuant to these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Under the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the State Water Resources Control Board and the California regional water quality control boards are the principal state agencies with authority over matters relating to water quality. The act requires the state board to formulate and adopt state policies for water quality control and requires the regional boards to adopt regional water quality control plans in compliance with the state policies. Under the act, the state board and the regional boards prescribe waste discharge requirements for the discharge of waste that could affect the quality of the waters of the state. The act requires, upon the order of a regional board, a person who has caused or permitted, causes or permits, or threatens to cause or permit any waste to be discharged or deposited where it is, or probably will be, discharged into the waters of the state and creates, or threatens to create, a condition of pollution or nuisance, to clean up the waste or abate the effects of the waste, or in the case of threatened pollution or nuisance, to take other remedial action. This bill would prohibit the state board or a regional board, until January 1, 2028, from subjecting an agricultural operation, as defined, to specified enforcement for causing or contributing to an exceedance of a water quality objective for nitrate in groundwater or for causing or contributing to a condition of pollution or nuisance for nitrates in groundwater if that agricultural operation demonstrates that it has satisfied certain mitigation requirements, including, among other requirements, the timely payment of the fertilizer safe drinking water fee or the dairy safe drinking water fee, as applicable, into the fund. The bill would prohibit the state board or a regional board, beginning January 1, 2028, until January 1, 2033, from subjecting an agricultural operation to specified enforcement for creating or threatening to create a condition of pollution or nuisance for nitrate in groundwater if that agricultural operation demonstrates that it has satisfied the prescribed mitigation requirements. The bill would require the state board, by January 1, 2027, to conduct a public review of regulatory and basin plan amendment implementation programs to evaluate progress toward achieving water quality objectives with respect to nitrates in groundwater and assess compliance with adopted timelines, monitoring requirements, and implementation of best practicable treatment or control. (6) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law prohibits the Department of Motor Vehicles from issuing a commercial driver's license to any person to operate a commercial motor vehicle unless the person has passed a written and driving test for the operation of a commercial motor vehicle that complies with the minimum standards established by the federal Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 and specified federal regulations, and has satisfied all other requirements of that act as well as any other requirements imposed by state law. This bill would require the department, no later than June 5, 2020, to adopt regulations related to entry-level driver training requirements for drivers of commercial motor vehicles including specified minimum hours of behind-the-wheel training and in compliance with the requirements of specified federal regulations. The bill would, until January 1, 2024, exempt a driver operating certain farm vehicles under certain conditions, as specified, from these new training requirements. This bill would also make legislative findings and declarations and would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

This measure would recognize the importance of access to local parks, trails, open space, and facilities for the health and development of all Californians and would declare the month of July 2017 as "Parks Make Life Better!" Month.