(1) Article XIX of the California Constitution restricts the expenditure of revenues from taxes imposed by the state on fuels used in motor vehicles upon public streets and highways to street and highway and certain mass transit purposes, and restricts the expenditure of revenues from fees and taxes imposed by the state upon vehicles or their use or operation to state administration and enforcement of laws regulating the use, operation, or registration of vehicles used upon the public streets and highways, as well as to street and highway and certain mass transit purposes. These restrictions do not apply to revenues from taxes or fees imposed under the Sales and Use Tax Law or the Vehicle License Fee Law. Article XIX prohibits the Legislature from borrowing revenues from taxes imposed by the state on fuels used in motor vehicles, and from using those revenues other than as specifically permitted by Article XIX. Article XIX provides that up to 25% of fuel tax revenues allocated to the state may be pledged or used for the payment of principal and interest on voter-approved transportation bonds issued for street and highway purposes on and after November 2, 2010, upon voter approval and appropriation by the Legislature. Article XIX provides that up to 25% of fuel tax revenues allocated to cities and counties may be pledged or used for the payment of principal and interest on voter-approved transportation bonds issued for street and highway purposes. However, in counties where voters have approved the use of fuel tax revenues for certain mass transit purposes, Article XIX provides that the Legislature may authorize any fuel tax revenues allocated to mass transit purposes to be pledged or used for payment of principal and interest on voter-approved bonds issued for those mass transit purposes. This measure would prohibit the Legislature from borrowing revenues from fees and taxes imposed by the state on vehicles or their use or operation, and from using those revenues other than as specifically permitted by Article XIX. The measure would also provide that none of those revenues may be pledged or used for the payment of principal and interest on bonds or other indebtedness. The measure would delete the provision that provides for use of any fuel tax revenues allocated to mass transit purposes to be pledged or used for payment of principal and interest on voter-approved bonds issued for those mass transit purposes, and would instead subject those expenditures to the existing 25% limitation applicable to the use of fuel tax revenues for street and highway bond purposes. This measure would also restrict the expenditure of revenues from taxes imposed by the state on motor vehicle fuels used in propelling water-borne vessels solely to purposes relating to boating facilities, safety, and boating-related activities, as specified, and would prohibit the Legislature from borrowing those revenues. (2) Article XI of the California Constitution requires the revenues derived under the Vehicle License Fee Law from a rate that does not exceed 0.65% of the market value of a vehicle to be allocated to cities and counties, and does not restrict expenditure of those revenues for a particular purpose. This measure would require revenues derived from that portion of the vehicle license fee rate that exceeds 0.65% of the market value of a vehicle to be used solely for street and highway purposes and would prohibit the Legislature from borrowing those revenues. The measure would also prohibit those revenues from being pledged or used for the payment of principal and interest on bonds or other indebtedness. (3) This measure would make other conforming changes.
Sponsored bills
This measure would call upon Congress to immediately pass legislation, to be titled "Kate's Law," which would create a mandatory minimum federal sentence of 5 years in a federal penitentiary for an individual that has returned to the United States illegally after having been deported and previously convicted of a felony in the United States.
The Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975 prohibits a person from conducting a surface mining operation unless, among other things, a reclamation plan has been submitted to and approved by the lead agency, as defined, for the mining operation. The act requires an amendment to an approved reclamation plan that is a substantial deviation from the approved plan to be filed with, and approved by, the lead agency and submitted to the Director of Conservation for review and comment. This bill would require a lead agency to consider the construction and operation of a renewable energy generation facility on disturbed mined lands to be an interim use and would prohibit a lead agency from requiring an amendment to an approved reclamation plan if specified criteria are met. The bill would require a lead agency to submit to the director an application for an operating permit for a renewable energy generation facility prior to approving the operating permit, as specified. The bill would authorize the director to prepare written comments to the operating permit application and would require the lead agency, at least 30 days prior to approving the operating permit, to prepare a written response to the director's comments. By adding to the duties of a local government acting as a lead agency, 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.
The Personal Income Tax Law provides for various exclusions from gross income, including an exclusion for the amount of student loan indebtedness repaid or canceled pursuant to a specified federal law. This bill would exclude from gross income the amount of student loan indebtedness discharged on or after January 1, 2015, and before January 1, 2020, for an eligible individual who is granted a discharge under specified conditions, as provided. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, provides that children from infancy to 13 years of age are eligible, with certain requirements, for child care and development services. The act requires the department to contract with local contracting agencies to provide for alternative payment programs, and authorizes alternative payment programs for services provided in licensed centers and family day care homes and for other types of programs that conform to applicable law. Existing law authorizes alternative payment programs and providers and other contractors providing child care development services to maintain records in electronic format if the original documents were created in electronic format, including, but not limited to, child immunization records. This bill would authorize contractors and alternative payment programs and providers to maintain any records electronically, as provided, regardless of whether the original documents were created in electronic format. The bill would authorize alternative payment programs and providers to use a digital signature, as provided, and would require that the use of a digital signature have the same force and effect as the use of a manual signature if specified requirements are met. The bill would require the above provisions relating to the electronic maintenance of records or digital signatures to be in compliance with state and federal standards, as determined by the department. The bill would additionally require any conversion from a paper record to an electronic format, as well as the storage of the electronic record, to comply with specified standards.
Existing federal law provides for construction funding assistance for elementary and secondary public schools that are located on United States military installations and that meet specified criteria. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature that assistance be provided to school districts in the 2015–16 fiscal year to meet the matching share requirement of a school construction grant made by the Office of Economic Adjustment of the federal Department of Defense to construct, renovate, repair, or expand elementary and secondary public schools located on military installations. The bill would require the Department of Finance to explore options, including, but not necessarily limited to, making low-interest loans available to school districts through the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, on how best to assist school districts in meeting the matching share requirement of the federal school construction grant referenced in the bill.
This measure would proclaim April 12 through April 19, 2015, as California Holocaust Memorial Week and would urge Californians to observe these days of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust in an appropriate manner.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, including comprehensive perinatal services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law, to the extent that federal financial participation is available, requires that midwifery services provided by a licensed midwife be covered under the Medi-Cal program. Existing law, the Licensed Midwifery Practice Act of 1993, provides for the licensure of midwives by the Medical Board of California. Existing law authorizes a licensed midwife to assist a woman only in normal pregnancy and childbirth, which is defined as meeting specified conditions, including, among others, a pregnancy in which there is an absence of any preexisting maternal disease or condition likely to affect the pregnancy and of significant disease arising from the pregnancy. Existing law requires the board to adopt regulations further specifying those conditions. Existing law establishes the Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program, administered by the State Department of Public Health, to maintain, to the extent resources are available, a permanent statewide community-based comprehensive perinatal system to provide care and services to low-income pregnant women and their infants who are considered underserved in terms of comprehensive perinatal care. Existing law generally authorizes a health care provider to employ or contract specified practitioners, including physicians and certified nurse midwives, for the purpose of providing comprehensive perinatal services. This bill would additionally authorize a health care provider to employ or contract licensed midwives for the purpose of providing comprehensive perinatal services. The bill would provide that, on the effective date of the regulations adopted by the board pursuant to the provisions described above, a licensed midwife shall be eligible to serve as a "comprehensive perinatal provider," as defined. The bill would declare that its provisions shall not be construed to revise or expand the scope of practice, as defined, of licensed midwives. The bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to commence, no later than March 1, 2016, the revision of existing regulations as it determines are necessary for the implementation of this bill.
This measure would urge the President and the Congress of the United States to enact the Chronic Kidney Disease Improvement in Research and Treatment Act of 2015.
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 to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Existing law continuously appropriates 25% of the annual proceeds of the fund to the high-speed rail project, and also continuously appropriates to that project $400,000,000 of the amount loaned from the fund to the General Fund by the Budget Act of 2013, upon repayment of the loan by the General Fund. Existing law further appropriates 35% of the annual proceeds of the fund to transit and intercity rail capital, low-carbon transit operations, and affordable housing and sustainable communities. This bill would delete the continuous appropriations from the fund for the high-speed rail project, and would prohibit any of the proceeds from the fund from being used for that project. The bill would continuously appropriate the remaining 65% of annual proceeds of the fund to the California Transportation Commission for allocation to high-priority transportation projects, as determined by the commission, with 40% of those moneys to be allocated to state highway projects, 40% to local street and road projects divided equally between cities and counties, and 20% to public transit projects. This bill would require $400,000,000 of the amount loaned from the fund to the General Fund by the Budget Act of 2013 to be immediately repaid to the fund, thereby making an appropriation.