Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, an initiative measure enacted by the approval of Proposition 215 at the November 5, 1996, statewide general election, authorizes the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Existing law, enacted by the Legislature, provides for the licensing and regulation by both state and local entities of medical marijuana and its cultivation. Existing law provides that if a city, county, or city and county does not have land use regulations or ordinances regulating or prohibiting the cultivation of marijuana, commencing March 1, 2016, the Department of Food and Agriculture is the sole licensing authority for medical marijuana cultivation applicants in that city, county, or city and county. This bill would delete the provision that grants the department the sole licensing authority under those circumstances. Existing law exempts certain persons cultivating medical marijuana from the requirement to obtain both a state license from the Department of Food and Agriculture and a license, permit, or other entitlement allowing cultivation from the city, county, or city and county in which the cultivation will occur. Existing law authorizes a city, county, or city and county to regulate or ban the cultivation, storage, manufacture, transport, provision, or other activity by a person otherwise exempt from state regulation, or to enforce that regulation or ban. This bill would instead provide that an exemption from these licensure requirements does not limit or prevent a city, county, or city and county from exercising its police power authority under a specified provision of the California Constitution. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
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Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air Resources Board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism relative to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, commonly known as cap and trade revenues, to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified purposes. Existing law provides various programs to fund the acquisition of schoolbuses. This bill would create the Schoolbus Replacement for Small and Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program, and would appropriate $5 million annually from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the State Department of Education for the program. The program would be administered by the department in conjunction with the State Air Resources Board, and would provide schoolbus replacement grants to school districts or county offices of education with an average daily attendance of less than 2,501 and with more than 50% of the pupil population qualifying for free or reduced-rate lunch programs, and to certain other eligible applicants. The bill would impose various requirements in that regard. The bill would also make legislative findings and declarations.
Existing law requires the state to have the primary financial responsibility for preventing and suppressing fires in areas that the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection has determined are state responsibility areas, as defined. Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, by September 1, 2011, to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 to be charged on each habitable structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area. Existing law authorizes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, on July 1, 2013, and annually thereafter, to adjust the fire prevention fee, as specified. Existing law requires the fire prevention fee to be collected annually by the State Board of Equalization, in accordance with specified procedures, and specifies that the annual fee shall be due and payable 30 days from the date of assessment by the state board. Existing law authorizes a petition for redetermination of the fee to be filed within 30 days after service of a notice of determination, as specified. This bill would require the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, by July 1, 2016, to amend those emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $152.33 and would authorize the board, on July 1, 2017, and annually thereafter, to adjust the fire prevention fee, as specified. The bill would extend the time when the fire prevention fee is due and payable from 30 to 60 days from the date of assessment by the State Board of Equalization and would authorize the petition for redetermination to be filed within 60 days after service of the notice of determination, as specified.
Existing law establishes the Food Bank Advisory Committee and requires the committee to advise the Department of Food and Agriculture on the establishment of new food banks and to advise on the adequate and efficient distribution of surplus food commodities to all areas of the state. Existing law requires that the committee be comprised of, among other members, 2 food bank representatives from the northern portion of the state and 2 food bank representatives from the southern portion of the state. This bill would specify that the northern portion of the state is the area located above 37 degrees north of latitude and that the southern portion of the state is the area located below 37 degrees north of latitude. The bill would expand the committee's duties to include advising the department on the merging and separation of food banks within the state. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes, including recasting some provisions of existing law.
Existing law requires the collection of fees for issuing marriage licenses and for providing certified copies of vital records, including marriage certificates, birth certificates, fetal death records, and death records. Existing law provides for the establishment of county domestic violence program special funds for the purpose of funding local domestic violence programs. Certain fees payable at the time a marriage license is issued may be collected by the county clerks for deposit into these funds. Existing law authorizes the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and the Solano County Board of Supervisors, upon making certain findings and declarations, to authorize an increase in the fees for marriage licenses and confidential marriage licenses, up to a maximum increase of $2. Existing law authorizes those boards of supervisors, upon making certain findings and declarations, to authorize an increase in the fees for certified copies of certain vital records, up to a maximum increase of $2. Existing law authorizes those boards of supervisors to make further increases in those fees each year, as specified. Existing law requires these fees to be allocated for purposes relating to domestic violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution. This bill would, until January 1, 2021, provide the same authorization to increase fees for marriage licenses and certain vital records to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, and would require those fees to be allocated for purposes relating to domestic violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution. The bill would require the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to submit to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Judiciary preliminary reports by July 1, 2019, and final reports by July 1, 2020, regarding the fee increase for marriage licenses, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Sonoma.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law requires the commission to periodically assess the reliability of the public telecommunications network and, if necessary, to develop recommendations for improvement. The assessment is required to include (1) an analysis of those factors that pose a risk to network reliability, including the adequacy of independent sources of reserve power, (2) consideration as to whether development of reliability standards is appropriate, and (3) consideration as to whether procedures should be developed to notify customers about accessing other telecommunications companies in the event of a service disruption. This bill would require the commission, when considering the need for reliability standards, to consider standards governing the construction, operation, and maintenance of utility boxes, serving area interfaces, cross-connect facilities, cabinets, vaults, pedestals, and similar equipment located outside telephone corporation plant environments, particularly in areas that have previously experienced damage that caused a 911 outage, where the equipment is located in areas of high risk of vandalism or accidental damage and in areas lacking redundancy for backup of the main network facilities serving the area. The Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act establishes the number "911" as the primary emergency telephone number for use in the state and requires the providing of enhanced service capable of selective routing, automatic number identification, or automatic location identification for all calls. This bill would require the commission to establish service outage reporting and response requirements applicable to 911 network service providers and all facilities-based local exchange carriers, including requirements addressing outages impacting access to 911 emergency call centers. The bill would require the commission to set a threshold for reporting outages that requires the reporting of any outage involving 90,000 user minutes or 3,000 customers. The bill would authorize the commission to establish a more stringent threshold reporting requirement that ensures the timely reporting of outages impacting customers in sparsely populated areas of the state. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because this bill requires the commission to implement service outage reporting and response requirements, a violation of which 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.
Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife, when income is derived directly from real property acquired and operated by the state as a wildlife management area, as defined, to pay annually to the county in which the property is located an amount equal to the county taxes levied upon the property at the time title to the property was transferred to the state, and any assessments levied upon the property by any irrigation, drainage, or reclamation district. This bill would appropriate $19,000,000 from the General Fund to the department to make payments to counties for unpaid amounts under these provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law authorizes educational institutions of collegiate grade to make loans or forbearances to finance student educational expenses including tuition, room and board, and other costs of attendance or living at the institution, at rates not to exceed the higher of 10% per annum or 5% per annum plus the rate established by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, as provided. This bill would change those rates to 7.5% per annum or 3% per annum plus the rate established by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, as provided. The bill would also update an obsolete reference.
Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, an initiative measure enacted by the approval of Proposition 215 at the November 5, 1996, statewide general election, authorizes the use and cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes. Existing law makes it a crime to plant, cultivate, harvest, dry, or process marijuana, except as otherwise authorized by law. Under existing law, qualified patients, persons with valid identification cards, and the designated primary caregivers of qualified patients and persons with identification cards, who associate in order collectively and cooperatively to cultivate marijuana for medical purposes, are not subject to criminal sanctions solely on the basis of that fact. This bill would state that it is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that imposes an excise tax on medical marijuana at the point of sale.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to engage in disorderly conduct that delays or prevents a fire from being timely extinguished or to resist or interfere with the lawful efforts of a firefighter in the discharge of an official duty. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to impede police officers, firefighters, emergency personnel, or military personnel, in the performance of their duties in coping with an emergency. This bill would make it unlawful to knowingly, intentionally, or recklessly operate an unmanned aircraft or unmanned aircraft system, as defined, in a manner that prevents or delays the extinguishment of a fire, or in any way interferes with the efforts of firefighters to control, contain, or extinguish a fire. The bill would make a violation of this prohibition punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed 6 months, by a fine not to exceed $5,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment. 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.