Existing law requires the state to have the primary financial responsibility for preventing and suppressing fires in areas that the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection has determined are state responsibility areas, as defined. Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, by September 1, 2011, to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 to be charged on each habitable structure on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area. Existing law authorizes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, on July 1, 2013, and annually thereafter, to adjust the fire prevention fee, as specified. Existing law requires the fire prevention fee to be collected annually by the State Board of Equalization, in accordance with specified procedures, and specifies that the annual fee shall be due and payable 30 days from the date of assessment by the state board. Existing law authorizes a petition for redetermination of the fee to be filed within 30 days after service of a notice of determination, as specified. This bill would require the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, by July 1, 2016, to amend those emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $152.33 and would authorize the board, on July 1, 2017, and annually thereafter, to adjust the fire prevention fee, as specified. The bill would extend the time when the fire prevention fee is due and payable from 30 to 60 days from the date of assessment by the State Board of Equalization and would authorize the petition for redetermination to be filed within 60 days after service of the notice of determination, as specified.
Sponsored bills
Existing law provides for the State Supplementary Program for the Aged, Blind and Disabled (SSP) , which requires the State Department of Social Services to contract with the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to make payments to SSP recipients to supplement Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments made available pursuant to the federal Social Security Act. Under existing law, benefit payments under the SSP are calculated by establishing the maximum level of nonexempt income and federal SSI and state SSP benefits for each category of eligible recipient. The state SSP payment is the amount, when added to the nonexempt income and SSI benefits available to the recipient, which would be required to provide the maximum benefit payment. This bill, for the 2015–16 fiscal year, and annually thereafter, would require the state maximum SSP grant for individuals to be readjusted and increased so that the state SSP payment and federal SSI payment, when combined, equal 112% of the federal poverty level. By increasing the amount of SSP payments, which are expended from a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law establishes the Department of Technology within the Government Operations Agency, headed by the Director of Technology, who is required to advise the Governor on the strategic management of the state's information technology resources. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would require data collected from state and county agencies pursuant to existing mandatory reporting requirements to be shared among state agencies, would authorize state agencies to share data, between and among state agencies, county agencies, local education agencies, researchers, practitioners, and organizations serving youth and families, consistent with state and federal privacy and data protection laws, and would encourage these agencies to cooperate to utilize data and develop protocols for exchanging information safely and securely.
Existing law provides specified requirements in awarding certain public contracts. This bill would authorize the Governor to sign agreements required by the United States Olympic Committee as part of the bid process for the City of Los Angeles or the City and County of San Francisco to become the United States applicant city and candidate city for the 2024 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations that, among other things, the endorsing municipality, as defined, has developed a self-sufficient bid for financing the games. This bill would authorize the Governor to enter into an agreement for the state to be jointly liable, not to exceed a specified amount, with the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) , as specified, for obligations of the OCOG, and for any financial deficit relating to the games, as provided. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the Board of Parole Hearings to meet with an inmate during the 6th year prior to the inmate's minimum eligible parole release date to document the inmate's activities and conduct pertinent to parole eligibility. Existing law, the Victims' Bill of Rights Act of 2008: Marsy's Law, as added by Proposition 9 at the November 4, 2008, statewide general election, requires the panel, or the board if sitting en banc, to set a release date at the meeting, unless it determines that consideration of the public and victim's safety requires a more lengthy period of incarceration, and that a parole date cannot be fixed at the meeting. Existing law requires the board to schedule the next parole consideration hearing 15, 10, 7, 5, or 3 years after any hearing at which parole is denied. Existing law allows the board to advance a hearing set pursuant to these provisions to an earlier date when a change in circumstances or new information establishes a reasonable likelihood that consideration of the public and victim's safety does not require an additional period of incarceration. Existing law, as added by Proposition 184, adopted November 8, 1994, and amended by Proposition 36, adopted November 6, 2012, commonly known as the Three Strikes Law, imposes increased penalties for certain recidivist offenders. In particular, it requires that, in addition to any other enhancement or penalty provisions that may apply, if a defendant has 2 or more prior felony convictions, the term for the current felony conviction shall be an indeterminate term of imprisonment in the state prison for life with a minimum term of the greatest of 3 times the term otherwise provided as punishment for each current felony conviction subsequent to the 2 or more prior felony convictions, imprisonment in the state prison for 25 years, or the term determined by the court for the underlying conviction, including any applicable enhancement or punishment provisions. The initiative measure enacting the Three Strikes Law prohibits the Legislature from amending the act except by a statute passed by a 23 vote or by a statute that becomes effective only when approved by the electors. This bill would establish the Elderly Parole Program, for prisoners who are 60 years of age or older and who have served a minimum of 25 years of their sentence. When considering the release of an inmate who meets this criteria, the bill would require the board to consider whether age, time served, and diminished physical condition, if any, have reduced the elderly prisoner's risk for future violence. The bill would also require the Board of Parole Hearings to consider whether a prisoner will qualify for the program when determining the prisoner's next parole suitability hearing. If the prisoner is found suitable for parole under the Elderly Parole Program, the bill would require the board to release the individual on parole, as specified.
Existing law authorizes school districts and community college districts, and schools and colleges within those districts, to enter into cooperative or contractual arrangements with business, industry, or elements within the community for improvement of the local educational program. This bill would establish the California Community Schools Act, which would authorize a local educational agency or school and one or more community partners, as defined, to form a community consortium to establish a California community school, as defined. The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction, subject to the appropriation of funds in the annual Budget Act or the availability of funds from private sources, to make grants available to qualified recipients to fund California community schools and to enhance programs at California community schools. The bill would establish qualification requirements for grant applicants, and would require grant recipients to comply with specified requirements, including, among others, conducting annual evaluations. The bill would require the State Department of Education, on or before November 1, 2019, to report specified information relating to the formation and operation of California community schools to the education policy committees of the Legislature. The bill would also make a conforming change to provisions relating to county community schools.
(1) Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998, requires the State Allocation Board to allocate to applicant school districts prescribed per-unhoused-pupil state funding for construction and modernization of school facilities, including hardship funding, and supplemental funding for site development and acquisition. This bill would revise the definition of modernization under the act to include the replacement of facilities on a site containing a permanent structure that is at least 25 years old or, in the case of a portable classroom, that is at least 20 years old, as specified. The bill would require a school district, as a condition for participation in the school facilities program, to certify that it has a long-range school facilities master plan that is consistent with the regional sustainable communities strategy, as specified. The bill would delete a provision requiring the State Allocation Board to conduct an evaluation of the cost of new construction and modernization of small high schools in conjunction with a specified pilot program. The bill would require each school district that elects to participate in a new construction or modernization program to reestablish eligibility, as specified, and to conduct an inventory of existing facilities for purposes of maintaining a statewide school facilities inventory. The bill would authorize a grant for new construction or modernization under the act to be used for seismic mitigation purposes and for related design, study, and testing costs, and require the State Allocation Board, in the development of guidelines and regulations, to provide a school district with maximum flexibility in the design, modernization, and new construction of school facilities. The bill would require the Office of Public School Construction to recommend regulations to the State Allocation Board to provide school districts with flexibility in designing instructional facilities. The bill would revise the provisions for the funding of joint-use facilities to allow an additional exemption from a general requirement that a joint-use partner contribute to at least 25% of eligible project costs, as specified. This additional exemption would apply if the joint-use agreement specifies that the joint-use partner will provide 100% of the operational costs of the joint-use project for a term of no less than 10 years. The bill would require the State Department of Education, the Division of the State Architect, the Office of Public School Construction, and the Department of Toxic Substances Control to convene for purposes of developing an interagency plan to streamline the school facilities construction application, review, and audit processes in order to reduce the time and improve the efficiency of the school facilities construction process, as specified. The bill would require that this interagency plan be submitted to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2016. (2) Existing law, the California Constitution, prohibits the Legislature from creating a debt or liability that singly or in the aggregate with any previous debts or liabilities exceeds the sum of $300,000, except by an act that (a) authorizes the debt for a single object or work specified in the act, (b) has been passed by a 23 vote of all the members elected to each house of the Legislature, (c) has been submitted to the people at a statewide general or primary election, and (d) has received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at that election. This bill would enact the Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2016 to authorize an unspecified amount of state general obligation bonds, as scheduled, to provide aid to school districts, county superintendents of schools, county boards of education, and charter schools to construct and modernize education facilities. The proceeds of these bonds would be deposited in the 2016 State School Facilities Fund, which the bill would establish as specified. The proposed bond act would become operative only if approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, and the bill would provide for its submission to the voters at that election. (3) This bill would specify that certain of its provisions would become operative only if the Kindergarten Through Grade 12 Public Education Facilities Bond Act of 2016 is approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election. (4) This bill would make conforming and nonsubstantive changes in related provisions of existing law. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, provides that all persons within the state are free and equal, regardless of their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, or sexual orientation, and are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments of every kind whatsoever. This bill would enact the Right to Rest Act, which would afford persons experiencing homelessness the right to use public space without discrimination based on their housing status. Because the bill would require local agencies to perform additional duties, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would describe basic human and civil rights that may be exercised without being subject to criminal or civil sanctions or harassment, including the right to use and to move freely in public spaces, the right to rest in public spaces and to protect oneself from the elements, the right to eat in any public space in which having food is not prohibited, the right to perform religions observances in public spaces, and the right to occupy a motor vehicle or a recreational vehicle legally parked or parked with the permission of the property owner, as specified. The bill would authorize a person whose rights have been violated pursuant to these provisions to enforce those rights in a civil action in which the court may award the prevailing party injunctive and declaratory relief, restitution, damages, statutory damages of $1,000 per violation, and fees and costs. Existing law provides that any person who lodges in any building, structure, vehicle, or place without the permission of the owner or person entitled to the possession or in control of it, is guilty of disorderly conduct. The bill would also exempt conduct that is protected by the bill from this definition of the crime of disorderly conduct. 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 federal law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , formerly the Food Stamp Program, under which nutrition assistance benefits, formerly referred to as food stamps, are allocated to each state by the federal government. That program, as administered in California, is known as CalFresh. Under existing state law, pursuant to CalFresh, California's federal allocation is distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing law establishes eligibility and benefit level requirements for receipt of CalFresh benefits. Existing law authorizes counties to participate in the CalFresh Employment and Training (CalFresh E&T) program, established with the purpose of assisting members of CalFresh households to obtain regular employment, and requires participating counties to screen CalFresh work registrants to determine whether they will participate in, or be exempt from, the CalFresh E&T program. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to request a waiver from the federal government to allow county human services agencies to serve CalFresh E&T recipients for up to 5 months, to match the length of services of transitional CalFresh benefits. By imposing additional duties on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the department, in order to improve employment opportunities and increase wages of CalFresh recipients by increasing access to adult and postsecondary education and vocational training programs at California community colleges, annually issue guidance through all county letters for county human services agencies wishing to partner with a community college in the administration of its CalFresh E&T program, as specified. Existing federal law provides for allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states. Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program for the allocation of federal funds received through the TANF program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Under existing law, when an individual fails or refuses to comply with specified components of the CalWORKs program without good cause, the individual is subject to prescribed financial sanctions. This bill would provide that when a CalWORKs recipient has been sanctioned due to noncompliance with his or her welfare-to-work plan, the recipient shall not be assigned a CalFresh penalty until the county has determined that the individual does not qualify for an exemption to the CalFresh work requirement and has not registered for work, the county has notified the recipient that the recipient is not eligible for an exemption, and has instructed the recipient about how to comply with the requirements or verify an exemption to the CalFresh work requirements. The bill would also require that if the CalFresh recipient complies with the requirement during the notice of adverse action period and has registered for work with the Employment Development Department, the proposed penalty would be canceled and would not count as an occurrence for the purposes of determining the length of future CalFresh disqualification periods. By imposing additional duties on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the CalFresh E&T program to be included in the state's Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act state plan in order to improve coordination between established workforce training programs. 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 requires the California Health and Human Services Agency, by January 1, 2005, and with recommendations from the Long-Term Care Council, to set standards for CalCareNet, which is a statewide Internet-based application, with the goal of creating an Internet Web site that links counties and planning service areas, and provides information on the long-term care services available to the consumer. Existing law provides that state funds shall not be appropriated for this purpose, and that the agency is not required to undertake these tasks unless it receives federal or private funds. This bill would require the agency to update the standards for a CalCareNet Internet Web site and create a CalCareNet Internet Web site that, in addition to the provisions above, provides information to consumers, caregivers, and health and social service providers on how to effectively navigate long-term care services and that assists consumers, caregivers, and health and social service providers in making informed decisions relating to long-term care services. The bill would delete the requirement that the agency take these actions with the recommendations from the Long-Term Care Council. The bill would require the CalCareNet Internet Web site to satisfy specified requirements, including that the Internet Web site be accessible by persons with disabilities, culturally sensitive, and accessible in multiple languages. The bill would require the agency, in connection with developing and expanding the CalCareNet Internet Web site, to, among other things, examine alternative funding sources and mechanisms to sustain and expand portal capacity over time. The bill would delete the prohibition on appropriating state funds for the purposes of these provisions, and instead require the agency, in order to develop and launch the CalCareNet Internet Web site in the most cost-effective and efficient manner, to take specified actions, including, among others, to consider the approach and execution of existing state and regional Internet Web sites with similar objectives. The bill would require the agency to develop a system that enables counties and planning service areas to contract with the agency, for a reasonable fee, for Internet Web site development and maintenance services.