(1) Existing law prohibits a person from operating a motor vehicle, as defined, on a highway unless that person and all passengers 16 years of age or older are properly restrained by a safety belt. This bill would define the phrase "properly restrained by a safety belt" for purposes of those provisions. Existing law prohibits the operator of a limousine for hire or the operator of an authorized emergency vehicle, as defined, from operating the limousine for hire or authorized emergency vehicle, unless the operator and any passengers 6 years of age or over or weighing 60 pounds or more in the front seat are properly restrained by a safety belt. Existing law also prohibits the operator of a taxicab from operating the taxicab unless any passengers 6 years of age or older or weighing 60 pounds or more in the front seat are properly restrained by a safety belt. This bill would instead prohibit the operator of a limousine for hire or authorized emergency vehicle or the operator of a taxicab, from operating the limousine for hire, authorized emergency vehicle, or taxicab unless the operator and any passengers 8 years of age or older in the front seat are properly restrained by a safety belt. Existing law requires a child or ward under 6 years of age who weighs less than 60 pounds to be secured in a rear seat in a child passenger restraint system that meets specified federal standards, but permits such a child or ward to ride in the front seat of a motor vehicle if properly secured in a child passenger restraint system that meets specified federal standards, under specified circumstances, including, among other things, if all rear seats are already occupied by children under 12 years of age. This bill would instead prohibit a parent, legal guardian, or driver from transporting on a highway in a motor vehicle, as defined, a child or ward who is under 8 years of age without securing that child in an appropriate child passenger restraint system meeting applicable federal motor vehicle safety standards, except as provided. The bill would impose specified fines and penalties for violations of those requirements, as prescribed. Existing law authorizes a law enforcement officer reasonably suspecting a violation of those child passenger restraint system requirements to stop a vehicle transporting a child appearing to the officer to be within a specified age or weight range of under 6 years of age or less than 60 pounds. This bill would instead authorize a law enforcement officer reasonably suspecting a violation of those requirements to stop a vehicle transporting a child appearing to the officer to be within the age range of less than 8 years of age. Existing law permits a court to exempt from the above-described child passenger restraint system requirements any class of child by age, weight, or size if it is determined that the use of a child passenger restraint system would be impractical by reason of physical unfitness, medical condition, or size, and establishes 2 statutory exemptions. This bill would revise that provision to also specify that a child or ward under 8 years of age who is 4 feet 9 inches in height or taller may be properly restrained by a safety belt rather than a child passenger restraint system. Existing law requires every public or private hospital, clinic, or birthing center, at the time of the discharge of a child to provide and discuss information on the current law requiring child passenger restraint systems to the parents or person to whom the child is released when the child is less than 6 years of age or weighs less than 60 pounds. This bill would instead require a public or private hospital, clinic, or birthing center, at the time of the discharge of a child, to provide and discuss information on the current law requiring child passenger restraint systems, safety belts, and the transportation of children in rear seats to the parents or person to whom the child is released if the child is under 8 years of age. Existing law requires every car rental agency in California to inform each of its customers of a specified child safety restraint law by posting, in a place conspicuous to the public in each established place of business of the agency notice that meets specified requirements and includes a prescribed statement. This bill would revise the language that would be required to be included in the notice, with regard to the application of those child safety restraint laws to children under 8 years of age. Because a violation of the vehicle law constitutes a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the scope of an existing crime. (2) 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.
Sponsored bills
The California Disaster Assistance Act generally provides that the state share for disaster project allocations to local agencies is no more than 75% of total state eligible costs, except for specified events for which the state share is up to 100% of state eligible costs. This bill would add the effects of the tsunami that occurred in Del Norte County in March 2011, to the list of events for which the state share of state eligible cost is up to 100% and exempt the county from a specified planning requirement as a condition of receiving this level of assistance. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation. (1) Under existing law, the State Bar is governed by a board known as the Board of Governors of the State Bar. The board of governors consists of 23 members, including 15 attorney members, one attorney member elected by the board of directors of the California Young Lawyers Association, 6 public members, and the President of the State Bar. Existing law provides for the election of attorney members to the board from specified counties included in State Bar Districts. Under existing law, the public members of the board are appointed by the Governor and the Legislature. Existing law requires a public member to have never been a member of the State Bar or admitted to practice before any court in the United States. Public members are subject to specified conflict-of-interest provisions. This bill would revise and recast these provisions by renaming the board of governors as the board of trustees and would also revise the composition of the board to include no more than 23 members and no less than 19 members, as specified and determined by the State Bar, to include the existing 6 public members appointed by the Governor and the Legislature and 13 attorney members. Under the bill, the 13 attorney members would consist of 6 attorney members elected from State Bar Districts based on the 6 court of appeal districts, 5 attorney members appointed by the Supreme Court, and 2 attorney members appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly. The bill would require these attorney members to serve for a term of 3 years and would limit the elected and Supreme Court appointed members to being reappointed or reelected for one additional term. With respect to the Supreme Court appointments, the bill would specify criteria that the Supreme Court should consider in making these appointments and would require the State Bar to carry out the administrative responsibilities related to the Supreme Court's appointments. The bill would require the State Bar to reduce the board of trustees from 23 members to 19 members by October 31, 2014. The bill would require the State Bar to develop a plan for implementing the transition to a 19-member board by January 31, 2012, and to submit a written report detailing that plan to the Committees on Judiciary by January 31, 2012. The bill would also require the State Bar to report annually to the Committees on Judiciary on its progress toward implementing this transition. The bill would prohibit the State Bar from changing or abolishing a board member's term that commenced prior to December 31, 2011, or forcing any board member to resign whose term commenced prior to that date in order to accomplish the transition. The bill would also declare the intent of the Legislature in this regard. The bill would make public members subject to additional conflict-of-interest provisions, such as the provision that prohibits a public member from being a close family member of a member of the State Bar. The bill would make other conforming changes related to the renaming of the board and the establishment of both an election and appointment process for attorney members of the board. (2) Under existing law, the officers of the State Bar are a president, 4 vice presidents, a secretary, and a treasurer, and one of the vice presidents may also be elected to the office of treasurer. Existing law requires the board, within 270 days before the annual meeting, to elect the officers for the ensuing year. Existing law requires the president and other officers to be elected from among members with specified terms. Under existing law, the president may vote only in the case of a specified tie vote. This bill would instead provide that the officers shall include a president, a vice president, a secretary, and a treasurer. The bill would require the board to elect the officers within 90 days before the annual meeting. The bill would also authorize the president and the other officers to be elected from among all members of the board. The bill would also delete the limitation on the president's voting authority. (3) The bill would require the board to complete and implement a 5-year strategic plan and would require the president to report to the Supreme Court, the Governor, and the Committees on Judiciary on certain aspects of the strategic plan. (4) Existing law establishes a Governance in the Public Interest Task Force within the State Bar. The task force is made up of 11 specified board members, including the President of the State Bar, and these board members are appointed by the president. Existing law requires the task force to prepare a report that includes its recommendations for, among other things, enhancing and ensuring the protection of the public. This bill would repeal that provision establishing that task force. The bill would, on and after January 1, 2013, and no later than February 1, 2013, establish a task force to be comprised of a total of 7 members, including 2 elected attorney members, 2 appointed members, and 2 public members, who would be selected as specified, and the president. The bill would require the task force to make suggestions to the board of trustees regarding the strategic plan described above and other issues as requested by the Legislature. (5) Existing law requires the board of governors to charge an annual membership fee for active members of up to $315 for 2011. Existing law also requires the board to charge an annual membership fee for inactive members of up to $75. Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2014, $10 of those membership fees to be allocated to support nonprofit organizations that provide free legal service to persons of limited means, and authorizes a member to deduct that amount from his or her annual fee if the member elects not to make this allocation. This bill would require the board to charge that annual membership fee for active members for 2012 minus a $10 rebate to be described in a specified manner on the annual dues statement. The bill would require the board to charge that annual membership fee for inactive members minus a $10 rebate to be described in a specified manner on the annual dues statement. The bill would increase the amount of those membership fees that may be allocated to support nonprofit organizations that provide free legal services to $20.
(1) Existing law requires an attorney to provide a written advisory to a building owner or tenant with each demand for money or complaint for any construction-related accessibility claim, as specified. This bill would clarify that the requirement to provide the written advisory applies whether or not the attorney intends to file a complaint or eventually files a complaint in state or federal court, and would provide that a violation of this requirement may also subject the attorney to disciplinary action. (2) Existing law requires a $550 fee to be paid by each party to a civil action at the time of filing its first paper if the case is designated as a complex case or whenever the case is determined by the court to be a complex case. Existing law imposes a limitation of $10,000 on the total amount of fees collected from all plaintiffs, and the same limitation on the total amount of fees collected from all defendants, intervenors, respondents, and adverse parties appearing in a complex case. This bill would require the payment of a single complex case fee on behalf of all plaintiffs, as specified, and would make other conforming changes. The bill would provide that these changes are declaratory of existing law. (3) Existing law permits a party to move for summary adjudication of one or more causes of action, affirmative defenses, claims for damages, or issues of duty. The bill, until January 1, 2015, would additionally authorize a party to move for summary adjudication of a legal issue or claim for damages, other than punitive damages, that does not completely dispose of a cause of action, an affirmative defense, or an issue of duty, according to specified procedures.
This measure would congratulate the California State University system on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, commend the invaluable contributions it has made to the intellectual and social growth of its students, and extend best wishes for its continued success in the future.
(1) Existing law regulates the Dungeness crab fishery and, among other things, permits the Director of Fish and Game to delay the opening of the fishery in specified situations and regulates the taking of crab during those delays. Existing law sets forth the qualifications for a Dungeness crab vessel permit, and provides that no person shall use a vessel to take, possess, or land Dungeness crab for commercial purposes without a Dungeness crab vessel permit. Existing law sets forth requirements for the issuance, transfer, and revocation of a vessel permit, and prescribes fees for each permit or permit transfer. Under existing law, the holder of a Dungeness crab vessel permit, upon approval by the Department of Fish and Game, is authorized to temporarily transfer the permit to a replacement vessel for a period of up to 6 months during the current permit year, if the permitted vessel is seriously damaged, suffers major mechanical breakdown, or is lost or destroyed. Existing law requires the director to convene a Dungeness crab review panel for the purpose of reviewing applications for vessel permits and permit transfers, if the department makes a specified determination. Existing law provides that those provisions shall become inoperative on April 1, 2012, and, as of January 1, 2013, are repealed. This bill would extend the operation of those provisions until April 1, 2019, and would repeal those provisions on January 1, 2020. The bill would subject a person who fishes without a Dungeness crab vessel permit, or who uses a Dungeness crab vessel permit to fish illegally on a vessel other than the permitted one, to specified penalties. The bill would authorize a person to whom a Dungeness crab vessel permit is issued to retain the permit, and to transfer the permit to another vessel owned by that person, during a period of 2 years, in the event that the vessel for which the permit was originally issued is lost, destroyed, or seriously damaged, subject to approval by the department. The bill would require a permit retained under these circumstances to be revoked if it is not transferred to a replacement vessel within the 2-year period. The bill would require the director to adopt a program, by March 31, 2013, for Dungeness crab trap limits for all California permits. The director would be required to make specified allocations of crab trap tags. The program would require participants to pay a $5 crab trap tag fee and a $1,000 crab trap limit fee, as provided. The bill would create the Dungeness Crab Account in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, and would require the fees collected to be deposited in that account. The money in the account would be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for administering and enforcing the program. The bill would require the imposition of specified penalties for a violation of the program requirements. The bill would create a Dungeness crab task force to make recommendations relating to the program, and meet other requirements, as provided. These provisions would become inoperative on April 1, 2019, and would be repealed on January 1, 2020. (2) Existing law authorizes the director to authorize one or more operators of commercial fishing vessels to take and land a limited number of Dungeness crab in November of each year for the purpose of quality testing according to a testing program and prohibits the sale of crab taken pursuant to the testing program, except for edible crabmeat, which may be used for charitable purposes. This bill would remove that exception for edible crabmeat used for charitable purposes. (3) Under existing law, except as expressly provided otherwise, any violation of the Fish and Game Code, or of any rule, regulation, or order made or adopted under the code, is a misdemeanor. Because this bill would extend the operation of the Dungeness crab vessel permit program and thereby the crimes imposed for a violation of those provisions, and impose additional requirements the violation of which may be crimes, the bill would create a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes. (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.
The California Constitution provides for the election by the people of the Treasurer and the Controller. Existing law requires the Treasurer to receive and keep in the vaults of the treasury or to deposit in banks or credit unions all moneys belonging to the state, as specified. Existing law requires the Controller to superintend the fiscal concerns of the state. Existing law requires the Controller to audit all claims against the state, and authorizes the Controller to audit the disbursement of any state money, for correctness, legality, and for sufficient provisions of law for payment. This bill would establish the investment trust blue ribbon task force to consider the viability of establishing the California Investment Trust, which would be a state bank receiving deposits of state funds. The task force would be required to consider how the investment trust could strengthen economic and community development, provide financial stability to businesses, reduce the cost paid by state government for banking services, and provide for excess earnings of the trust to be used to supplement General Fund purposes. The bill would establish the membership of the task force, which would include the Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, or his or her designee, and specified individuals with a background in finance appointed by the Legislature, and the Governor, Controller, and Treasurer, or their designees, and would require the task force to be staffed by an organization selected by the task force that is a nonprofit corporation, or other private corporation that has specified expertise, including expertise in public finance and public institutions models. The bill would require the task force to report to the Legislature by December 1, 2012, on specified issues relative to the California Investment Trust, including, among other things, its recommendations relating to the viability of establishing the trust and its impact on state government services, as specified. The bill's provisions would become inoperative, and would be repealed, on January 1, 2017.
This measure would designate the month of September of every year as Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month throughout the State of California, and would encourage and promote efforts to educate the people and the health care practitioners of the state regarding ovarian cancer and its early detection and prevention, the risk factors involved in its development, and the early warning symptoms and signs.
This measure would designate the State Highway Route 101 interchange at State Highway Route 12 in the City of Santa Rosa as the Deputy Frank Trejo Memorial Interchange. 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 that cost, to erect those signs.
The Vehicle License Fee Law, in lieu of any ad valorem property tax upon vehicles, imposes an annual license fee for any vehicle subject to registration in this state in the amount of 1% of the market value of that vehicle, as provided, for a specified amount of time. Existing law also, until June 30, 2011, imposes an additional tax equal to 0.15% of the market value of specified vehicles, as determined by the Department of Motor Vehicles, to the vehicle license fee, to be deposited in the General Fund and transferred to the Local Safety and Protection Account, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would repeal the provision relating to the sunset date and repeal of the additional 0.15% tax, thereby depositing additional moneys into a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would constitute a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.