The California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report, or EIR, on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. Existing law establishes regulations related to numerous environmental issues. This bill would enact the Sustainable Environmental Protection Act and would specify the environmental review required pursuant to CEQA for projects related to specified environmental topical areas. For a judicial action or proceeding filed challenging an action taken by a lead agency on the ground of noncompliance with CEQA, the bill would prohibit a cause of action that (1) relates any topical area or criteria for which compliance obligations are identified or (2) challenges the environmental document if: (A) the environmental document discloses compliance with applicable environmental law, (B) the project conforms with the use designation, density, or building intensity in an applicable plan, as defined, and (C) the project approval incorporates applicable mitigation requirements into the environmental document. The bill would provide that the Sustainable Environmental Protection Act only applies if the lead agency or project applicant has agreed to provide to the public in a readily accessible electronic format an annual compliance report prepared pursuant to the mitigation monitoring and reporting program. Because this bill would impose additional duties on local agencies, it 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.
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Under existing law, certain specified felonies are punished by imprisonment in a county jail for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years or, where the term is specified, for the term described in the underlying offense. Notwithstanding these provisions, existing law requires that a sentence be served in state prison where the defendant has a prior or current conviction for a serious or violent felony, has a prior felony conviction in another jurisdiction that has all of the elements of a serious or violent felony, is required to register as a sex offender, or has an aggravated white collar crime enhancement imposed as part of the sentence. This bill would additionally require a sentence to be served in state prison when the defendant is convicted of a felony or felonies otherwise punishable in a county jail and is sentenced to an aggregate term of more than 3 years.
(1) Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature that governing boards of school districts establish a uniform system of evaluation and assessment of the performance of all certificated personnel of a school district, including schools conducted or maintained by county superintendents of education. This bill would instead require the governing board of a school district to establish an evaluation and assessment system for certificated employees that uses a multiple-measures evaluation system with multiple research-validated approaches to measuring effectiveness, as specified. The governing board would be required to establish the system by the 2015–16 school year and to fully implement the system by the 2016–17 school year. The bill would require a compliance audit to include the verification of the development and implementation of the evaluation system. Because the bill would increase the duties of school districts, it would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law provides that, when employees are terminated pursuant to a reduction in workforce, a school district is required to terminate the employees in order of seniority. Existing law further provides those employees with preferred right to reappointment and opportunity for substitute service in order of seniority. Existing law authorizes a school district to deviate from the order of seniority for those purposes for specified reasons, including compliance with constitutional requirements related to equal protection of the laws. This bill would provide additional reasons for which a school district may deviate from terminating employees in order of seniority, including authorizing school districts to terminate employees on the basis of performance evaluations and on the basis that the employee is assigned to a schoolsite that has been selected by the governing board for exemption from certificated reductions in force, based upon the needs of the educational program. The bill would provide an exception to this authorization for an employee who has 18 months or less from his or her date of retirement, or is on medical leave. The bill would specify that the equal protection exception to the general requirement that terminations and reappointments occur in order of seniority applies to equal protection as it relates to pupils. (3) Existing law generally requires school districts to adhere to certain requirements with respect to teacher and administrator employment, and requires charter school petitions to contain certain information relating to employment. This bill would authorize school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to assign, reassign, and transfer teachers and administrators based on effectiveness and subject matter needs, without regard to years of service. (4) This bill would make various nonsubstantive and clarifying changes. (5) 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
Existing law establishes the public school system in this state, and, among other things, provides for the establishment of county superintendents of schools, school districts, and charter schools throughout the state and for their provision of instruction at the public elementary and secondary schools these local educational agencies maintain. Existing law establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for county superintendents of schools, school districts, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula, as specified. Existing law establishes various education programs under which funding is provided for specific educational purposes, which are commonly known as categorical programs, including, among many others, programs for community-based English tutoring, teacher training, and class size reduction. Existing law further authorizes local educational agencies to expend, for any local educational purpose, the funds previously required to be spent on specified categorical education programs. This bill would repeal many provisions requiring, authorizing, or prescribing the elements of certain categorical education programs, and would make conforming changes, correct cross-references, and make other nonsubstantive changes.
(1) Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, and the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law appropriates funding, in the annual Budget Act and in other statutes, from the state General Fund for the support of these segments. Existing law also authorizes these segments to require their students to pay mandatory systemwide fees and tuition, among other costs, for matriculation at these institutions. Proposition 30, known as the Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012, was approved by the voters at the November 6, 2012, statewide general election and, among other things, increases personal income tax and sales and use tax rates and provides revenue for public elementary and secondary schools and community colleges. This bill would express a finding and declaration of the Legislature, and express the intent of the Legislature, relating to the enactment of Proposition 30 by the voters and to the provision of funding to the California State University, the University of California, and the California Community Colleges. The bill, from the 2013–14 fiscal year to the 2018–19 fiscal year, inclusive, would prohibit mandatory systemwide fees or tuition charged to students of the California State University from exceeding the level of the mandatory systemwide fees or tuition charged to students of the California State University for the 2011–12 fiscal year. The bill, from the 2013–14 fiscal year to the 2018–19 fiscal year, inclusive, would prohibit the mandatory systemwide fees charged to students of the California Community Colleges from increasing beyond the level of the mandatory systemwide fees charged to students of the California Community Colleges for the 2011–12 fiscal year. The bill, from the 2013–14 fiscal year to the 2018–19 fiscal year, inclusive, would prohibit the mandatory systemwide fees or tuition charged to students of the University of California from exceeding the level of the mandatory systemwide fees or tuition charged to students of the University of California for the 2011–12 fiscal year. (2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Under existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, the State Department of Developmental Services contracts with regional centers to provide services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities. Under existing law, the regional centers purchase needed services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities through approved service providers, or arrange for their provision through other publicly funded agencies. The services and supports to be provided to a regional center consumer are contained in an individual program plan (IPP) , developed in accordance with prescribed requirements. Existing law establishes, contingent upon approval of a federal waiver, the Self-Directed Services Program, and requires the program to be available in every regional center catchment area to provide participants, within an individual budget, greater control over needed services and supports. This bill would require the department, contingent upon approval of federal funding, to establish and implement a state Self-Determination Program, as defined, that would be available in every regional center catchment area to provide participants and their families, within an individual budget, increased flexibility and choice, and greater control over decisions, resources, and needed and desired services and supports to implement their IPP, in accordance with prescribed requirements. The statewide program would be phased in over 3 years, serving up to 2,500 regional center consumers during the phase-in period, and thereafter, available on a voluntary basis to all eligible regional center consumers. The bill would require the department to, among other things, apply for federal funding for the program by December 31, 2014. This bill would provide that program participants receive an individual budget, as prescribed, to be used for the purchase of services and supports necessary to implement the participant's IPP. The bill would require program participants to agree to, among other things, manage self-determination services and supports within the individual budget. The bill would require the department to require nonvendored providers of services and supports who meet specified criteria to submit to a criminal background check, as specified. The bill would require the department, with respect to this background check, to submit fingerprint images and related information to the Department of Justice, and would require the Department of Justice to provide specified responses to the department. The bill would require the Department of Justice to charge a fee sufficient to cover the cost of processing this request. The bill would, among other things, require each regional center to be responsible for implementing the program as a term of its contract, and to establish a local voluntary advisory committee to provide oversight of the project. The bill would require the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to form a volunteer statewide committee to, among other things, identify self-determination best practices. The bill would require the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, in collaboration with specified entities, to issue to the Legislature a report regarding the status of the program and recommendations to the program, as specified, and would require the department, beginning January 10, 2017, to provide to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature prescribed information relating to the program.
(1) The Pharmacy Law provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacists and pharmacy corporations in this state by the California State Board of Pharmacy. Existing law requires the board to adopt regulations establishing standards for compounding injectable sterile drug products in a pharmacy. Existing law requires pharmacies to obtain a license from the board, subject to annual renewal, in order to compound injectable sterile drug products. A similar licensing requirement applies to nonresident pharmacies compounding injectable sterile drug products for shipment into California. A violation of the Pharmacy Law is a crime. This bill, commencing July 1, 2014, would expand these provisions to prohibit a pharmacy from compounding or dispensing, and a nonresident pharmacy from compounding for shipment into this state, sterile drug products for injection, administration into the eye, or inhalation, unless the pharmacy has obtained a sterile compounding pharmacy license from the board. The bill, commencing July 1, 2014, would specify requirements for the board for the issuance or renewal of a license, and requirements for the pharmacy as a licensee. The bill would require the board to adopt regulations to implement these provisions, and, on and after July 1, 2014, to review formal revisions to specified national standards relating to the compounding of sterile preparations to determine whether amendments to those regulations are necessary, as specified. By adding additional requirements to the Pharmacy Law concerning sterile drug products, the violation of which is a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law specifies the fee for issuance or renewal of a nongovernmental license to compound sterile drug products. This bill, commencing July 1, 2014, would establish the fee for the issuance or renewal of a nonresident sterile compounding pharmacy license in the amount of $780 and would require the applicant to deposit a reasonable amount, as determined by the board, necessary to cover the board's estimated cost of performing an inspection of the nonresident pharmacy location, as specified. (3) The bill would also require the board to report to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2018, regarding the regulation of nonresident pharmacies, including, among other things, a detailed description of board activities related to the inspection and licensure of nonresident pharmacies. (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.
Under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , each state is required, by January 1, 2014, to establish an American Health Benefit Exchange that makes available qualified health plans to qualified individuals and small employers. Existing state law establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) within state government, specifies the powers and duties of the board governing the Exchange, and requires the board to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans through the Exchange by qualified individuals and small employers by January 1, 2014. Under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) , public records of state and local agencies are open to public inspection, as specified, unless a record is exempt from disclosure. Existing law exempts specified records of the Exchange from CPRA and requires, except for the portion of a contract that contains the rates of payment, contracts entered into, and amendments to contracts entered into, by the board to be open to inspection after one year. This bill would instead make open to public inspection the impressions, opinions, recommendations, meeting minutes, research, work product, theories, or strategy of the board or its staff, or records that provide instructions, advice, or training to employees. The bill would provide that the one year exemption from disclosure for contracts with participating carriers apply to those contracts entered into on or after the effective date of the bill. The bill would also require that the portion of the contract or amendment containing the rates of payment be open to inspection 3 years after a contract or amendment is open to inspection pursuant to these provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would designate a portion of State Highway Route 38 in San Bernardino County as the Detective Jeremiah MacKay 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.
(1) Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to close the California Rehabilitation Center located in Norco, California, no later than either December 31, 2016, or 6 months after the construction of three Level II dorm facilities. This bill would suspend this requirement pending a review by the Department of Finance and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that determines the facility can be closed. (2) The California Constitution establishes the civil service, to include every officer and employee of the state, except as provided, and requires permanent appointment and promotion in the civil service to be made under a general system based on merit ascertained by competitive examination. Existing law requires the appointing power in all cases not exempted by the California Constitution to fill positions by appointment, including cases of transfers, reinstatements, promotions, and demotions, in strict accordance with specified provisions of law, and requires that appointments to vacant positions be made from employment lists. Existing law, subject to the approval of the State Personnel Board, allows an appointing agency to enter into arrangements with personnel agencies in other jurisdictions for the purpose of exchanging services and effecting transfers of employees. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, make the private California City Correctional Center in California City an agency or jurisdiction for the purpose of exchanging services pursuant to the above provision and all related rules. (3) Existing law allows the State Personnel Board to prescribe rules governing the temporary assignment or loan of employees within an agency or between agencies not to exceed 2 years, or between jurisdictions not to exceed 4 years, for specified purposes. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, make the private California City Correctional Center in California City an agency or jurisdiction for the purpose of the above provision and all related rules for a period not to exceed 2 years. (4) Existing law allows the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to enter into an agreement with a city, county, or city and county, to permit transfer of prisoners in the custody of the secretary to a jail or other adult correctional facility. Under existing law, prisoners transferred to a local facility remain under the legal custody of the department. Existing law prohibits any agreement pursuant to these provisions unless the cost per inmate in the facility is no greater than the average costs of keeping an inmate in a comparable facility of the department. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, for purposes of entering into agreements pursuant to the above provisions, waive any process, regulation, or requirement relating to entering into those agreements. The bill would, until January 1, 2017, delete the provision requiring that prisoners transferred to a local facility remain under the legal custody of the department and would delete the requirement that no agreement be entered into unless the cost per inmate in the facility is no greater than the average costs of keeping an inmate in a comparable facility of the department. The bill would, until January 1, 2017, allow a transfer of prisoners to include inmates who have been sentenced to the department but remain housed in a county jail, and would specify that these prisoners shall be under the sole legal custody and jurisdiction of the sheriff or other official having jurisdiction over the facility and not under the legal custody and jurisdiction of the department. The bill would also, until January 1, 2017, allow the secretary to enter into one or more agreements in the form of a lease or operating agreement with private entities to obtain secure housing capacity in the state or in another state, upon terms and conditions deemed necessary and appropriate to the secretary. The bill would, until January 1, 2017, waive any process, regulation, or requirement that relates to the procurement or implementation of those agreements, except as specified. The bill would make the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act inapplicable to these provisions. (5) Existing law allows the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish and operate community correctional centers. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, allow the secretary to enter into agreements for the transfer of prisoners to community correctional centers, and to enter into contracts to provide housing, sustenance, and supervision for inmates placed in community correctional centers. The bill would, until January 1, 2017, waive any process, regulation, or requirement that relates to entering into those agreements. (6) Existing law allows any court or other agency or officer of this state having power to commit or transfer an inmate to any institution for confinement to commit or transfer that inmate to any institution outside this state if this state has entered into a contract or contracts for the confinement of inmates in that institution and the inmate, if he or she was sentenced under California law, has executed written consent to the transfer. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, allow the secretary to transfer an inmate to a facility in another state without the consent of the inmate. (7) Existing law establishes the Commission on Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training (CPOST) within the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and requires the CPOST to develop, approve, and monitor standards for the selection and training of state correctional peace officers. Existing law allows for the use of training academies and centers, as specified. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, allow the department to use a training academy established for the private California City Correctional Center. (8) Existing law, the California Community Corrections Performance Incentives Act of 2009, authorizes each county to establish a Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund, and authorizes the state to annually allocate moneys into a State Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund to be used for specified purposes relating to improving local probation supervision practices and capacities. As part of the California Community Corrections Performance Incentives Act of 2009, existing law requires the Director of Finance to make certain calculations, including the cost to the state to incarcerate in prison and supervise on parole an offender who fails local supervision and is sent to prison. Existing law requires the Director of Finance to calculate a probation failure reduction incentive payment based on the estimated number of probationers successfully prevented from being incarcerated, multiplied by a specified percentage of the cost to the state to incarcerate in prison and supervise on parole a probationer who was sent to prison. Existing law requires the Department of Finance to calculate 5% of the total statewide estimated number of probationers successfully prevented from being incarcerated for counties that successfully reduce the number of adult felony probationers incarcerated multiplied by the costs to the state to incarcerate in prison and supervise on parole a probationer who was sent to prison to be used to provide high performance grants to county probation departments. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2014, remove the requirement that the Director of Finance calculate the cost to the state to incarcerate in prison and supervise on parole an offender who fails local supervision and is sent to prison, and would instead require the Director of Finance to calculate the cost to the state to incarcerate in a contract facility and supervise on parole an offender who fails local supervision and is sent to prison. The bill would require the probation failure reduction incentive payment to be based on the estimated number of probationers successfully prevented from being incarcerated multiplied by a percentage of the state's cost of housing an inmate in a contract facility, and to supervise on parole a probationer who was sent to prison. The bill would require the Department of Finance to calculate high performance grants to county probation departments as 5% of the total statewide estimated number of probationers successfully prevented from being incarcerated multiplied by the state's cost of housing an inmate in a contract facility, and to supervise on parole a probationer who was sent to prison. The bill would create the Recidivism Reduction Fund in the State Treasury to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature for activities designed to reduce the state's prison population, and would allow funds available in the Recidivism Reduction Fund to be transferred to the State Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund. (9) The bill would appropriate $315,000,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for the purposes of this measure. The bill would require the department to spend the funds only to the extent needed to avoid early release. The bill would require any amounts not encumbered by June 30, 2014 to be transferred to the Recidivism Reduction Fund, except as provided. The bill would require the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to report no later than April 1, 2014, and again on April 1, 2015, to the Director of Finance and specified legislative committees detailing the number of inmates housed in leased beds and in contracted beds both inside and outside of the state pursuant to this measure. The bill would require the administration to assess the state prison system, including capacity needs, prison population levels, recidivism rates, and factors effecting crime levels, and to develop recommendations on balanced solutions that are cost effective and protect public safety. The bill would require the Department of Finance to submit the administration's interim report to the Legislature not later than April 1, 2014, and to submit the final report to the Legislature not later than January 10, 2015. (10) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.