This measure would urge the President and the Congress of the United States to immediately enact the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2009.
This measure would respectfully memorialize the Congress and the President of the United States to enact one of the bills pending before Congress that would fully fund the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
This measure would designate Friday, May 7, 2010, as California Peace Officers' Memorial Day and would urge all Californians to use that day to honor California peace officers.
This measure would designate April 24, 2010, as "California Day of Remembrance for the Armenian Genocide of 1915–1923." It would memorialize the Congress and the President of the United States to act likewise to commemorate the Armenian Genocide.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity to federal income tax laws, allow a charitable contribution deduction in computing tax liability. This bill would, for a cash contribution made after January 11, 2010, and before March 1, 2010, for the relief of victims in areas affected by the earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, authorize taxpayers to treat that contribution as if it were made on December 31, 2009, and not in 2010. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law provides for the licensure of child day care centers, including centers that provide preschool services. Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that all families have access to child care and development services, through resource and referral services, where appropriate, regardless of ethnic status, cultural background, or special needs. This bill would require the State Department of Education to post, by January 1, 2011, specified data relating to early childhood education on its DataQuest Internet Web site, and any successor system. This data would be required to be updated at least every 2 years.
The Sales and Use Tax Law imposes a tax on the gross receipts from the sale in this state of, or the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, tangible personal property, and requires that all revenues derived from that tax, except as provided, be deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of the Retail Sales Tax Fund. Existing law establishes in state government the California Arts Council and imposes various duties on the council to foster arts development and to award grants and prizes to individuals and organizations in the arts, as provided. This bill would establish the Creative Industries and Community Economic Revitalization Act of 2010, which would create, in the State Treasury, the Creative Industries and Community Economic Revitalization Fund. The bill would require that 20% of all revenues derived from the payment of sales and use taxes that are remitted to the State Board of Equalization by the taxpayers engaged in specified lines of business, as provided, be deposited in the fund. The council would be authorized to expend the moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to issue grants pursuant to the act. The bill would authorize a city, county, district, including, but not limited to, a regional park district, a joint powers authority, or a nonprofit arts organization deemed eligible by the council, to apply to the council for a local assistance program grant for organizational support. The council would be required, when issuing a grant, to encourage joint partnerships between applicants, and to submit an annual report to the Legislature that includes the status of each grant made pursuant to the act.
The former Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act of 1989, which became inoperative on July 1, 2007, and was repealed on January 1, 2008, was administered by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education in the Department of Consumer Affairs. The former act generally effectuated legislative intent to ensure minimum standards of instructional quality and institutional stability in private postsecondary educational institutions and required the bureau, among other things, to review and investigate all institutions, programs, and courses of instruction approved under the act. This bill would enact the Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform and Student Consumer Protection Act of 2009, which would express the intent of the Legislature to, among other things, provide for the protection, education, and welfare of California's citizens, postsecondary educational institutions, and students, as specified. The bill would require the California Postsecondary Education Commission to establish a Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education to function as the statewide private postsecondary and vocational educational licensing and enforcement agency, in accordance with the act. The bill would require the commission, working through its executive director, to fulfill specified functions and responsibilities under the act. The bill would require each private postsecondary education institution desiring to operate in this state to apply to the bureau for licensure. The bill would establish procedures and standards for application and bureau licensure. The bill would authorize the commission to impose a school licensure fee on each institution making application to the bureau, in accordance with an unspecified fee schedule, and would require the costs of implementing the act to be covered by fee revenues. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office, by January 1, 2013, to review the effectiveness of the bureau in implementing the act and submit a report of its findings to the commission, the Legislature, and the Governor. The bill would provide that a private postsecondary institution approved under the former Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act of 1989 as of June 30, 2007, shall, at a minimum, be recognized as an approved institution through the reapproval period that the institution had as of June 30, 2007, plus 2 additional years beyond that date.
The Donahoe Higher Education Act authorizes the activities of the 4 segments of the postsecondary education system in the state. These segments include the 3 public postsecondary segments: the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, which is administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, which is administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Private and independent postsecondary educational institutions constitute the other segment. Provisions of the Donahoe Higher Education Act apply to the University of California only to the extent that the regents act, by resolution, to make them applicable. Existing law urges textbook publishers to take specified actions aimed at reducing the amounts that students pay for textbooks, including providing to faculty and departments considering textbook orders a list of all the different products the publisher sells. Existing law requires the Trustees of the California State University and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and requests the Regents of the University of California, to take specific actions with their respective academic senates, college and university bookstores, and faculty to promote the selection of textbooks that will result in cost savings to students. This bill would revise that provision affecting textbook publishers to encourage publishers to take, at a minimum, those specified actions aimed at reducing the amounts that students currently pay for textbooks. The bill would encourage publishers, in providing lists and prices of different products they sell, to include products they have sold. This bill would require the California State University and the California Community Colleges, and would request the University of California, to post a list of required textbooks and the cost of the textbook on their respective Internet Web sites, at least 30 days prior to the first day of class for each term. For bundled materials, the bill would require the course instructor to confirm his or her intent to use each individual item sold as part of the bundled package before adoption of the material is finalized. By imposing new duties on community college districts, 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, 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.
