Sen. Scott Wilk

Existing law makes it unlawful for any person other than a licensee of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to sell, manufacture, or import alcoholic beverages in this state. Existing law allows the serving of alcohol without a license or permit in a limousine or as part of a hot air balloon ride service, provided there is no extra charge or fee for the alcoholic beverages. This bill would additionally allow the serving of beer or wine without a license as part of a beauty salon or barber shop service if specified requirements are met, including that there be no extra charge or fee for the beer or wine, the license of the establishment providing the service is in good standing, and the servings are limited to specified amounts.

The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including certain credits that are allowed in modified conformity to credits allowed by federal income tax laws. Federal income tax laws allow a refundable earned income tax credit for certain low-income individuals who have earned income from specified sources and who meet certain other requirements. The Personal Income Tax Law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2015, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows an earned income credit against personal income tax, and a payment from the Tax Relief and Refund Account for an allowable credit in excess of tax liability, to an eligible individual in an amount determined in accordance with federal law as applicable for federal income tax purposes for the taxable year, multiplied by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor, as specified. Existing law creates the Tax Relief and Refund Account, which is continuously appropriated, and provides that required payments to be made to taxpayers or other persons from the Personal Income Tax Fund are to be paid from that account, including amounts allowable as an earned income credit in excess of any tax liability. The Personal Income Tax Law provides that the amount of the credit is calculated as a percentage of the eligible individual's earned income and is phased out above a specified amount as income increases. Under existing law, the credit percentage and the phaseout percentage is based on the number of qualifying children of the eligible individual. Existing law provides, in modified conformity with federal income tax law, in the case of an eligible individual with 3 or more qualifying children, for taxable years beginning before January 1, 2016, the credit percentage and phaseout percentage is 45%, and for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, the credit percentage and phaseout percentage is the same as for an eligible individual with 2 or more children, which is 40%. This bill, for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2016, would instead provide that, in the case of an eligible individual with 3 or more qualifying children, the credit percentage and phaseout percentage is 45%, thereby increasing the credit percentage and the phaseout percentage for those eligible individuals for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2016. By increasing the allowable credit amount, this bill would authorize new payments from the Tax Relief and Refund Account for additional amounts in excess of personal income tax liabilities, thereby making an appropriation.

Existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, states that all persons within this state are free and equal, and no matter what their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments. Under existing law, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing is responsible for receiving, investigating, conciliating, mediating, and prosecuting complaints alleging a violation of the act. This bill would enact the Stop Consumer Racial Profiling Act of 2016, which would prohibit a business establishment from using consumer racial profiling, as defined. The bill would also make the Department of Fair Employment and Housing responsible for the enforcement of the act. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12930 of the Government Code, proposed by SB 1442, to be operative only if SB 1442 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.

Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person to (a) install, reinstall, rewire, tamper with, alter, or modify for compensation, a vehicle's computer system or supplemental restraint system, otherwise referred to as an airbag, so that it falsely indicates the supplemental restraint system is in proper working order; or (b) knowingly distribute or sell a previously deployed airbag or component that will no longer meet the original equipment manufacturing form or function for proper operation. This bill would repeal these provisions and instead make it a misdemeanor for any person to knowingly and intentionally manufacture, import, install, reinstall, distribute, sell, or offer for sale any device intended to replace a supplemental restraint system component, as defined, in any motor vehicle if the device is a counterfeit supplemental restraint system component or a nonfunctional airbag, as defined, or does not meet specified federal safety requirements. The bill would also make it a misdemeanor to knowingly and intentionally sell, install, or reinstall in a vehicle any device that causes the vehicle's diagnostic systems to fail to warn when the vehicle is equipped with a counterfeit supplemental restraint system component or nonfunctional airbag, or when no airbag is installed. The bill would provide that its provisions do not affect any duties, rights, or remedies otherwise available at law or preclude prosecution under any other law. By creating new crimes, 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.

Existing law generally regulates the transfer and registration of motor vehicles. Existing federal law requires a motor vehicle manufacturer to notify the owner or purchaser of a motor vehicle when the manufacturer determines that the vehicle contains a safety-related defect or when the manufacturer is ordered by the federal Secretary of Transportation to notify vehicle owners and purchasers that a vehicle has a safety-related defect. Existing federal law also prohibits a motor vehicle dealer from selling a vehicle if it has been notified of a safety-related defect by the manufacturer, except as specified. A violation of the Vehicle Code is a crime. This bill would enact the Consumer Automotive Recall Safety Act, which would prohibit a dealer or rental car company, as defined, with a motor vehicle fleet of 34 or fewer loaner or rental vehicles from loaning, renting, or offering for loan or rent a vehicle subject to a manufacturer's recall after receiving a notice of the recall, as specified, until the vehicle has been repaired, except as specified. The act would also require the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to include a specified recall disclosure statement with each vehicle registration renewal notice. By creating new prohibitions, the violation of which would be a crime under existing law, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires a vehicle franchisor to properly fulfill every warranty agreement made by it and adequately and fairly compensate each of its franchisees for labor and parts used to fulfill that warranty when the franchisee has fulfilled warranty obligations of diagnostics, repair, and servicing. This bill would specify that the warranty obligations include all costs directly associated with the disposal of hazardous materials that are associated with a recall repair. The bill would provide, for purposes of the above-described warranty obligations, that a warranty includes a recall conducted pursuant to federal motor vehicle safety laws. The bill would state that this provision is declaratory of existing law. Existing law authorizes the DMV to suspend or revoke the license issued to a dealer, transporter, manufacturer, manufacturer branch, remanufacturer, remanufacturer branch, distributor, or distributor branch upon determining that the person to whom the licensed was issued has, among other things, violated provisions relating to issuance of licenses and certificates to manufacturers, transporters, and dealers. This bill would also authorize the DMV to suspend or revoke the license issued to the above-mentioned persons upon determining that the person has violated any provision of the Consumer Automotive Recall Safety Act. The bill would state findings and declarations of the Legislature relative to vehicle recalls. 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) Under existing law, the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources in the Department of Conservation regulates the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state. Existing law provides that a person who fails to comply with specific laws relating to the regulation of oil or gas operations is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would require the operator of a gas storage well, before January 1, 2018, to have commenced a mechanical integrity testing regime specified by the division and would require the division to promulgate regulations that establish standards for all gas storage wells, as specified. This bill would require the division to determine by regulation what constitutes a reportable leak from a gas storage well and the timeframe for reporting those leaks, as specified. Until the regulations are in effect, this bill would require the operator to notify the division immediately of a leak of any size from a gas storage well. This bill would require the division to post information about a reported leak that cannot be controlled within 48 hours on its Internet Web site, as prescribed. This bill would require the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, within 72 hours of being notified of a reportable leak, to determine if a relief well is necessary. If the supervisor makes that determination, whether within the first 72 hours or after, the bill would require the operator to immediately begin preparation for, and, as soon as practicable at the determination of the supervisor, commence the drilling of, a relief well. This bill would require an operator of a gas storage well to develop and maintain a comprehensive gas storage well training and mentoring program for those employees whose job duties involve the safety of operations and maintenance of gas storage wells and associated equipment, as specified. This bill would require certain materials, relating to wells serving or located in a natural gas storage facility, including, among others, a risk management plan, to be submitted by the operator and approved at the supervisor's discretion. This bill would require the division to perform unannounced random onsite inspections of some gas storage wells annually. This bill would require the State Air Resources Board, in consultation with any local air district and the division, to develop guidelines for a monitoring program that includes continuous monitoring of the ambient concentration of natural gas at sufficient locations throughout a natural gas storage facility or planned natural gas storage facility to identify natural gas leaks and the presence of natural gas emissions in the atmosphere. The bill would require an operator of a natural gas storage facility to develop and submit to the state board a facility monitoring plan that satisfies the program requirements, and would require the state board to review the plan and to either approve or disapprove the plan. This bill would require an operator of a natural gas storage facility to provide the monitoring data to the state board. This bill would require the state board or the division, as applicable, to post and make available on its respective Internet Web site all materials that are provided to the state board or division, as applicable, in order to comply with the provisions added by this act. Because a violation of these requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires the operator of a well to file a written notice of intention to commence drilling with, and prohibits any drilling until approval is given by, the State Oil and Gas Supervisor or district deputy. Under existing law, the notice is deemed approved if the supervisor or district deputy fails to respond to the notice in writing within 10 working days from receipt and is deemed canceled if operations have not commenced within one year of receipt. Existing law provides that these provisions also apply to the deepening or redrilling of the well, any operation involving the plugging of the well, or any operations permanently altering in any manner the casing of the well. This bill would require the division, on a weekly basis, to post on its Internet Web site a list of the notices of intention received by the division, and to provide copies of those notices to the public upon request. (3) Under existing law, the State Oil and Gas Supervisor is required to impose an annual charge computed at a uniform rate based on the number of wells used to inject and withdraw gas from an underground storage facility during the preceding calendar year. Existing law requires the charge to defray the costs incurred by the state in maintaining surveillance over those facilities. This bill would instead require that annual charge to be the proportionate share of the total regulatory costs projected for each fiscal year based on the field capacity and number of wells of each underground gas storage facility, as specified. The bill would require an additional charge to be imposed on an operator, if an uncontrolled leak or release of gas occurs at the operator's underground gas storage facility, to defray the costs of the response effort of the division, as specified. (4) 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. Existing law provides that, if a state agency makes a finding that the adoption of a regulation or order of repeal is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, or general welfare, the regulation or order of repeal may be adopted as an emergency regulation or order of repeal. Under existing law, a regulation, amendment, or order of repeal adopted as an emergency regulation remains in effect no more than 180 days unless the adopting agency and the Office of Administrative Law comply with certain requirements. Until January 1, 2019, this bill would instead require that emergency regulations adopted by the division effective February 5, 2016, continue in effect until the adoption, amendment, or repeal of the regulation is promulgated by the division pursuant to the act. (5) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations. The Public Utilities Act prohibits any gas corporation from beginning the construction of, among other things, a line, plant, or system, or of any extension thereof, without having first obtained from the commission a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity require or will require that construction. This bill, if a new underground gas storage facility is proposed, would require the commission to ensure that a risk assessment evaluating the potential impact of a leak from the facility on public and environmental health, safety, and welfare is conducted by the project proponent, as specified. This bill would require that the findings of any risk assessment conducted pursuant to these provisions be subjected to peer review by independent experts and reported to the Legislature, as specified. (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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Under existing law, upon the proclamation of a state of emergency resulting from an earthquake, flood, fire, riot, storm, or natural or manmade disaster declared by the President of the United States or the Governor, or upon the declaration of a local emergency resulting from an earthquake, flood, fire, riot, storm, or natural or manmade disaster by the executive officer of any county, city, or city and county, and for a period of 30 days following that declaration, it is a misdemeanor with specified penalties for a person, contractor, business, or other entity to sell or offer to sell certain goods and services for a price that exceeds by 10% the price charged by that person immediately prior to the proclamation of emergency, except as specified. This bill would revise the definitions of a state of emergency and a local emergency to mean a natural or manmade emergency resulting from an earthquake, flood, fire, riot, storm, drought, plant or animal infestation or disease, or other natural or manmade disaster for which a state of emergency has been declared by the President of the United States or the Governor of California or for which a local emergency has been declared by an official, board, or other governing body vested with authority to make such a declaration in any city, county, or city and county in California, respectively. The bill would include towing services in the provisions described above. The bill would also specify that housing means any rental housing with an initial lease term of no longer than one year for purposes of these provisions. The bill would make other clarifying and conforming changes, including, among others, a specification that these provisions apply to both a state of emergency and a local emergency, and would make certain additional findings by the Legislature. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would create 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.

Existing law makes it a crime for any person in this state to manufacture, import into the state for sale, keep for sale, offer or expose for sale, give, or lend an unsafe handgun. Under existing law, this prohibition does not apply to the sale or purchase of a handgun if the handgun is sold to, or purchased by, a police department, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or any federal law enforcement agency, among other entities. This bill would also make the above prohibition inapplicable to the sale or purchase of a handgun if the handgun is sold to, or purchased by, specified entities or sworn members of those entities who have satisfactorily completed the firearms portion of a training course prescribed by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. The bill would prohibit a licensed firearms dealer from processing the sale or transfer of an unsafe handgun between a person who has obtained an unsafe handgun pursuant to this exemption and a person who is not exempt. This bill would require a person, with exceptions, who obtains an unsafe handgun pursuant to this exemption to, when leaving the handgun in an unattended vehicle, as defined, lock the handgun in the vehicle's trunk or lock the handgun in a locked container, as defined, and place the container out of plain view. The bill would make a violation of this provision an infraction punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000. 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.

Existing law generally requires, with exceptions, that specified provisions of the Civil Code apply to electronic records and electronic signatures relating to a transaction. This bill would remove various notices, including a policy change or cancellation notice by the named insured and a written notice of nonrenewal of the policy from the above exemptions, making those notices subject to the specified provisions of the Civil Code. The bill, commencing January 1, 2021, would reinstate certain exemptions of those notices from the specified provisions of the Civil Code. Existing law generally requires that any required notice related to insurance transactions be made by mail. Existing law authorizes an insurer, under specified conditions, to provide by electronic transmission the required offer of renewal for automobile insurance, the required notice of conditional renewal for commercial insurance, the required offer of coverage or renewal or any disclosure required regarding earthquake insurance, and the offer of renewal for a workers' compensation policy. The bill would, for the above-specified records, authorize additional persons licensed by the Department of Insurance to send those records electronically, as specified. The bill, as of January 1, 2021, would no longer authorize the notice of conditional renewal for commercial insurance to be sent electronically. As of January 1, 2021, the bill would permit a notice of lapse, nonrenewal, cancellation, or termination, as specified, to be transmitted electronically if it is also transmitted by mail, as prescribed by statute.

(1) Existing law creates, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services, which, under the Director of Emergency Services, coordinates disaster response, emergency planning, emergency preparedness, disaster recovery, disaster mitigation, and homeland security activities. This bill would establish the Office of Emergency Services as the lead agency for emergency response to a large, ongoing leak or release of natural gas and associated gases from a natural gas storage facility that poses a significant present or potential hazard to the public health and safety, property, or the environment. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to coordinate among other state and local agencies the emergency response, public health and environmental assessment, monitoring, and long-term management and control of the leak. (2) The Public Utilities Act provides that any public utility that violates any provision of the California Constitution or the act, or that fails or neglects to comply with any order, decision, decree, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the Public Utilities Commission where a penalty has not otherwise been provided, is subject to a penalty of not less than $500 and not more than $50,000 for each offense. Existing law requires that any fine or penalty imposed by the commission and collected from a public utility be paid to the State Treasury to the credit of the General Fund. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act requires the state board to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020. Existing law requires the California Environmental Protection Agency to identify disadvantaged communities. This bill would require a penalty assessed against a gas corporation pursuant to the Public Utilities Act in regards to a natural gas storage facility leak to at least equal the amount necessary to fully offset the impact on the climate from the greenhouse gases emitted by the leak from the natural gas storage facility, as determined by the state board, and would require the commission to consider the extent to which the gas corporation has mitigated, or is in the process of mitigating, the impact on the climate from greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the leak, as specified. The bill would require the commission to deposit moneys from penalties assessed against a gas corporation in regards to a natural gas storage facility leak into the Gas Storage Facility Leak Mitigation Account, which the bill would establish in the State Treasury. The bill would require that moneys in this account be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, solely for direct emissions reductions in furtherance of achieving the greenhouse gas emissions limit and, if sufficient moneys remain after mitigating the impact on the climate from the gas corporation's emissions, to reimburse state and local response costs. The bill would require these moneys to be expended in a manner that achieves a reduction in greenhouse gases that will fully offset the impact on the climate from those gases emitted by the leak, and in accordance with provisions requiring specified allocations to disadvantaged communities. The bill would require the state board to determine the amount of, and impact on the climate from, greenhouse gases emitted by a leak for these purposes. The bill would require that moneys in the fund resulting from penalties assessed for the Aliso Canyon gas leak be expended, consistent with the state board's Aliso Canyon Climate Impacts Mitigation Program, for specified purposes.