This bill would urge the United States Patent and Trademark Office to place a satellite office in California.
Existing law provides that 2 unmarried, unrelated adults who have chosen to share one another's lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring may establish a domestic partnership by filing a declaration with the Secretary of State if certain requirements are met, including that both persons have a common residence and that both persons are at least 18 years of age. Existing law authorizes 2 unmarried persons, not minors, who have been living together as husband and wife to obtain a confidential marriage license, as specified. This bill would eliminate the requirement that domestic partners have a common residence. This bill would also permit a person who is under 18 years of age who otherwise meets the requirements for establishing a domestic partnership to do so upon obtaining a court order that provides that authority to the underage person. The bill would also provide for the consent of the underage person's parent or guardian, except as specified, and would require that the court order and the written consent be filed with the court clerk and submitted to the Secretary of State with a Declaration of Domestic Partnership. The bill would also require the Secretary of State to establish a process by which 2 persons could enter into a confidential domestic partnership and maintain each confidential Declaration of Domestic Partnership, as specified, and permit the Secretary of State to charge a reasonable fee in this regard. Existing law prohibits a judgment of dissolution of marriage from being entered unless one of the parties to the marriage has been a resident of this state for 6 months and of the county in which the proceeding is filed for 3 months before the filing of the petition. This bill would authorize a judgment for dissolution, nullity, or legal separation of a marriage between persons of the same sex to be entered if the marriage was entered in California and neither party to the marriage resides in a jurisdiction that will dissolve the marriage.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. A willful violation of these provisions is a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies to provide benefits for specified conditions, including certain mental health conditions. This bill, effective July 1, 2012, would require those health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies, except as specified, to provide coverage for behavioral health treatment, as defined, for pervasive developmental disorder or autism. The bill would provide, however, that no benefits are required to be provided that exceed the essential health benefits that will be required under specified federal law. Because a violation of these provisions with respect to health care service plans would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. These provisions would be inoperative July 1, 2014, and repealed on January 1, 2015. The bill would require the Department of Managed Health Care, in conjunction with the Department of Insurance, to convene an Autism Advisory Task Force by February 1, 2012, to provide assistance to the department on topics related to behavioral health treatment and to develop recommendations relating to the education, training, and experience requirements to secure licensure from the state. The bill would require the department to submit a report of the Task Force to the Governor and specified members of the Legislature by December 31, 2012. Existing law establishes various communicable disease prevention and control programs. Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to establish a list of reportable diseases and conditions and requires health care providers and laboratories to report cases of HIV infection to the local health officer using patient names and sets guidelines regarding these reports. Existing law requires the local health officers to report unduplicated HIV cases by name to the department. This bill would authorize the department to revise the HIV reporting form without the adoption of a regulation, as specified. Under the Bronzan-McCorquodale Act, the State Department of Mental Health administers the provision of funds to counties for community mental health services programs. Existing law also permits counties to receive, under certain circumstances, Medi-Cal reimbursement for mental health services. Under existing law, negotiated net amounts or rates are used as the cost of services in contracts between the state and the county and between the county and a subprovider of services. Existing law establishes the method for computing negotiated rates. Existing law prohibits the charges for the care and treatment of each patient receiving service from a county mental health program from exceeding the actual or negotiated cost of the services. This bill would only allow the use of negotiated net amounts as the cost of services in a contract between the state and a county and the county and a subprovider of services, and would eliminate the use of negotiated rates. The bill would also specify that the charges for the care and treatment of each patient receiving a service from a county mental health program shall not exceed the actual cost of the service. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which basic health care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid provisions. Under existing law, the State Department of Health Care Services promulgates regulations for determining reimbursement of Short-Doyle mental health services allowable under the Medi-Cal program. Existing law requires the State Department of Mental Health and the State Department of Health Care Services to jointly develop a ratesetting methodology for use in the Short-Doyle Medi-Cal system that maximizes federal funding and utilizes, as much as practicable, federal Medicare reimbursement principles. Existing law requires that this ratesetting methodology contain incentives relating to economy and efficiency. The bill would delete the requirement that the ratesetting methodology in the Short-Doyle Medi-Cal system include incentives relating to economy and efficiency. 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 establishes a procedure for the application for, and issuance of, an order authorizing the interception of a wire, electronic pager, or electronic cellular telephone communication, as those terms are defined, and, among other things, establishes additional provisions regarding those interceptions for purposes of criminal proceedings. Existing law requires the Attorney General to prepare and submit an annual report to the Legislature, the Judicial Council, and the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Court regarding these interceptions, as specified. The report is required to include, among other things, a general description of the interceptions made under the order or extension, including the approximate nature and frequency of incriminating communications intercepted, the approximate nature and frequency of other communications intercepted, the approximate number of persons whose communications were intercepted, and the approximate nature, amount, and cost of the manpower and other resources used in the interceptions. Existing law provides that a violation of these provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor with specified penalties, or as a felony. Existing law further provides that all of these provisions shall remain in effect until January 1, 2012. This bill would extend the operation of these provisions until January 1, 2015. This bill would further revise the reporting requirement to require the report to include, among other things, a general description of the interceptions made under the order or extension, including the number of persons whose communications were intercepted, the number of communications intercepted, the percentage of incriminating communications intercepted and the percentage of other communications intercepted, and the approximate nature, amount, and cost of the manpower and other resources used in the interceptions. By extending the operation of provisions of law creating a 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.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including a credit against those taxes for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, in an amount equal to a specified percentage of the qualified expenditures, as defined, attributable to the production of a qualified motion picture in California, or, where the qualified motion picture has relocated to California or is an independent film, as provided. Existing law requires the California Film Commission to allocate the tax credits until July 1, 2014, and limits the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated to qualified motion pictures in any fiscal year to $100,000,000, through the 2013–14 fiscal year. This bill, under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, would extend the California Film Commission's requirement to allocate the tax credits one additional year, until July 1, 2015. This bill would also extend the limit on the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated through the 2014–15 fiscal year. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
(1) Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board (state board) and the California regional water quality control boards prescribe waste discharge requirements for the discharge of stormwater in accordance with the national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit program and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. Existing law authorizes a city, county, or special district to develop, jointly or individually, stormwater resource plans that meet certain standards. This bill would enact the Rainwater Capture Act of 2011, which would authorize residential, commercial, and governmental landowners to install, maintain, and operate rain barrel systems, as defined, and rainwater capture systems, as defined, for specified purposes, provided that the systems comply with specified requirements. The bill would require a local agency to provide notification to the operator of a public water system, as defined, if the local agency chooses to adopt a permitting program for rainwater capture systems and approves a permit for a rainwater capture system connected to the public water system. (2) Existing law, the Contractors' State License Law, creates the Contractors' State License Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs and provides for the licensing and regulation of contractors. Existing law authorizes a landscape contractor working within the classification of his or her license to enter into a prime contract for the construction of a swimming pool, spa, or hot tub, an outdoor cooking center, or an outdoor fireplace, if certain conditions are met. Under existing law, a violation of these provisions and related provisions of existing law is grounds for disciplinary action. This bill would additionally authorize a landscape contractor working within the classification of his or her license to enter into a prime contract for the construction of a rainwater capture system, as defined, if the system is used exclusively for landscape irrigation. The bill would authorize a landscape contractor holding a specified classification to design and install all exterior components of a rainwater capture system that are not a part of, or attached to, a structure.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , on a biennial basis beginning in 2003, to adopt an integrated energy policy report providing information on specified subjects related to energy. Existing law establishes the Renewable Resource Trust Fund, a continuously appropriated fund appropriated to the Energy Commission, for the purposes of funding programs designed to foster the development of new in-state renewable electricity generation technology facilities. This bill would require the Energy Commission to conduct research on generating electricity using piezoelectric transducers under roadways or railways. The bill would require the Energy Commission to establish pilot projects that would employ piezoelectric-based energy-harvesting technology, if the Energy Commission determines that the technology has the potential to generate electricity with performance, reliability, and cost projections that are comparable to existing or emerging renewable energy sources. The bill would require the Energy Commission to collaborate with the Department of Transportation and would require the department to conduct research on the piezoelectric-based energy-harvesting technology according to the department's usual research protocol if the pilot project is conducted in a facility that is part of the state highway or rail system under the department's jurisdiction. The bill would authorize the Energy Commission to expend the moneys in the Renewable Resource Trust Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to implement this research. The Energy Commission would be required to report its findings in the integrated energy policy report adopted in 2013. These provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2015.
The Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979 requires, until January 1, 2013, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to provide loans to eligible institutions, including local governments and public institutions, to finance all or a portion of the costs incurred in implementing projects related to energy conservation. Existing law appropriated $50,000,000 from the Renewable Resource Trust Fund to the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority to implement the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Reserve program, which provides for the issuance of bonds secured by voluntary contractual assessments on property to finance the installation of distributed generation renewable energy sources, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, or energy or water efficiency improvements. This bill would appropriate $25,000,000 of the unencumbered balance of the $50,000,000 that was appropriated to the authority to the Energy Conservation Assistance Account, a continuously appropriated account, to be expended by the commission for the purposes of providing loans to eligible institutions, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would revert any unexpended funds appropriated by the above provision remaining in the Energy Conservation Assistance Account on and after January 1, 2013, except to the extent those funds are encumbered, back to the Renewable Resource Trust Fund for use by the authority for the PACE Reserve program.
(1) Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and vests with the commission jurisdiction over specified matters related to energy. Existing law requires the Attorney General, upon the request of the commission, to petition a court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin violations of law that is within the subject matter of the commission. Existing law requires the commission to prescribe, by regulation, appliance efficiency standards. This bill would authorize the commission to establish an administrative enforcement process to enforce the above standards. The bill would provide for the assessment of civil penalties by the courts or administrative civil penalties by the commission for a violation of the above standards. The bill would require the penalties collected to be deposited in the Appliance Efficiency Enforcement Subaccount, which this bill would establish in the Energy Resources Program Account, and would authorize the commission to expend the moneys in the subaccount, upon appropriation by the Legislature, as specified. The bill would require the court, upon granting of relief for a violation of the above standards, to award the commission the reasonable costs incurred by the commission in investigating and prosecuting the action. The bill would prohibit the commission from initiating an administrative enforcement process pursuant to those regulations under specified circumstances and until certain events have taken place. (2) Existing law provides that it is the policy of this state and the intent of the Legislature that the commission administer cost-effective energy efficiency programs authorized pursuant to existing statutory authority. Existing law provides for the regulation of public utilities under the Public Utilities Act. A violation of the Public Utilities Act is a crime. This bill would prohibit a public utility from issuing rebates or incentives for energy efficiency improvements unless the recipient of the rebate or incentive certifies that the improvement or installation has complied with applicable permitting requirements and licensing requirements, if applicable. Because a violation of this provision would be a crime under the Public Utilities Act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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 authorizes local and regional districts to have the primary responsibility for control of air pollution from all sources, other than emissions from motor vehicles. This bill would authorize the districts to sponsor, coordinate, and promote projects that will lead to the prevention, mitigation, or cure of the adverse effects of air pollution, including the adverse health effects of air pollution. The bill, until January 1, 2017, would authorize a district to negotiate what share, if any, of the intellectual property, or benefits resulting from intellectual property, developed from the use of district funds, including funds discharged as grants, will accrue to that district. The bill would require revenues generated from revenue sharing agreements to be deposited into a special account and used for specified purposes. Under certain circumstances, the bill would prohibit a district from receiving a benefit pursuant to these provisions in excess of the amount of the district's investment. If the state or a subdivision of the state purchases or licenses a process, machine, or article of manufacture for which a district accrues a benefit resulting from the intellectual property interest, the bill would require the district, upon the request of the Department of General Services, to provide reimbursement to the General Fund for the amount of the benefit accrued. The bill would require a district that attempts to negotiate for benefits pursuant to these provisions to report annually to the Legislature, as provided.
