The Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. The Telecommunications Customer Service Act of 1993 requires the commission to require telephone corporations to provide certain customer services to telecommunication customers, as specified. This bill would require a local exchange service provider to provide prescribed notice to affected subscribers in advance of a proposed change to its services, subscribers' service agreements, or nonterm contracts that may result in higher rates or charges or more restrictive terms or conditions. The bill would prohibit a local exchange service provider from assessing an early termination penalty otherwise applicable under the contract if the subscriber terminates service within 30 days from the effective date of the change. Under the bill, a proposed contract change subject to the notification requirement would not be enforceable unless the provider has complied with that requirement.
Sponsored bills
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income persons receive health care benefits. Existing law requires the department, if, and to the extent that, all necessary federal approvals are obtained for federal financial participation, to implement a federal option to extend Medi-Cal benefits to independent foster care adolescents, as defined in federal law. This bill would specify that, if the department has exercised this option, commencing April 1, 2010, specified independent foster care adolescents would be deemed eligible for the benefits and would be automatically enrolled without requiring a new application and without an interruption in coverage. This bill would require the department to develop and implement a simplified form for the annual redetermination of benefits. An independent foster care adolescent would only be required to fill out and return the form if previously provided information was no longer accurate. This bill would specify that the bill would be implemented only if, and to the extent that, federal financial participation is available and any necessary federal approvals are obtained. This bill would also prescribe a process for terminating the eligibility of an independent foster care adolescent.
Existing law designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with coordinating efforts to attain and maintain ambient air quality standards. Existing law designates the state board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution, and air pollution control districts and air quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. Existing law prohibits agricultural burning, as defined, unless a valid permit has been issued from an agency designated by the state board. Existing law allows the state board to determine days when agricultural burning will be prohibited in any particular air basin. Even when issued, existing law provides that agricultural burn permits are not valid on days during which agricultural burning has been prohibited by the state board. Existing law requires the state board, in consultation with the districts, to identify, develop, and adopt a list of the most cost-effective measures that could be employed by the state board and the districts to reduce emissions of particulate matter from area sources, including emissions from woodstoves and fireplaces. Currently, the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District has adopted a rule implementing episodic wood burning curtailment which prohibits the operation of wood burning fireplaces and heaters on certain days. This bill would provide that an agricultural burn permit for burning within the jurisdiction of the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District is invalid on days in which the district prohibition on the operation of wood burning devices is in effect. This bill would require all permits issued within the district to contain a warning regarding this provision. This bill would prohibit the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District from making any rules that would enable any person to burn agricultural waste on any day during which any program operated by the district has prohibited the operation of a wood burning device.
Existing law requires the Secretary of State to adopt regulations governing the manufacture, distribution, and inventory control of punchcards, and requiring the inspection of facilities that manufacture and store punchcards. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to approve a punchcard manufacturer prior to the manufacturer's providing of punchcards for use in California elections. This bill would instead require the Secretary of State to adopt regulations governing the manufacture, finishing, quality standards, and inventory control of ballot cards, and requiring the biennial inspection of facilities that manufacture, finish, and store ballot cards. The bill would require that, no later than 5 days prior to inspection, the ballot card manufacturer or finisher disclose to the Secretary of State known flaws or defects in its current or past manufacturing or finishing process of ballot cards or manufactured or finished ballot cards that could adversely affect the casting or tallying of votes. The bill would require a manufacturer or finisher of ballot cards to notify the Secretary of State and affected local elections officials of defects that would adversely affect the casting or tallying of ballot cards that it discovers after approval by the Secretary of State within 2 business days of their discovery. Existing law provides for a revolving fund that is continuously appropriated for the purpose of purchasing ballot paper and punchcards. This bill would repeal these provisions. Existing law provides that a person or corporation owning or being interested in a voting system or part of a voting system may apply to the Secretary of State to examine it and report on its accuracy and efficiency to fulfill its purpose. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to issue a report regarding whether, in his or her opinion, the voting system or part of a voting system can be safely used. This bill would instead require that a vendor of a voting system or part of a voting system include in its application to the Secretary of State notification of a known defect, fault, or failure of the hardware, software, or firmware of the voting system or a part of the voting system. The bill would also require the vendor to notify the Secretary of State of such a defect, fault, or failure discovered either after the vendor submitted his or her application but prior to the issuance of the Secretary of State's report or after the voting system or the part of a voting system is approved by the Secretary of State. The bill would also require the Secretary of State to notify and issue a report to the United States Election Assistance Commission regarding the defects, faults, or failures made known by the vendor at the initiation of, during, or after the approval process. Existing law permits the Secretary of State to seek damages for an unauthorized change in hardware, software, or firmware in a certified or conditionally certified voting system. This bill would also permit the Secretary of State to seek civil penalties for a known but undisclosed defect, fault, or failure in an approved or conditionally approved voting system and for a failure to comply with notification requirements concerning the defect, fault, or failure and to seek a refund of payment made for the voting system or part of the system.
Existing law requires employers, including the state, to provide a reasonable amount of break time to employees desiring to express breast milk. Employers are also required to make reasonable efforts to provide the use of a room, or other location, other than a toilet stall, in close proximity to the employees' work area, for the employee to express milk in private. This bill would require every state agency and department, including local offices, when notified by a female employee that she is nearing maternity leave, to notify the employee, through its usual channels of communication with state employees and in the most cost-effective manner, of specified information regarding breast-feeding, including an explanation and summary of the provisions described above relating to lactation accommodation, information regarding lactation accommodation on the Internet Web site of the Department of Public Health, and a listing of other comprehensive breast-feeding support organizations with Internet links. Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to include in its public service campaign the promotion of mothers breast-feeding their infants. This bill would require the department to provide information regarding lactation accommodation on its Internet Web site, as specified.
Existing law sets forth the courses a pupil is required to complete while in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, in order to graduate from high school and authorizes the governing board of a school district to specify by rule other required coursework. This bill would authorize the governing board of a school district to offer credit, as specified, for hours of community service provided outside of regular school hours by a pupil, for a maximum of 2 semesters. The bill would require a school district that elects to offer credit for community service to establish and maintain a list of suitable community service organizations from which a pupil would be required to choose to complete the community service hours. The bill also would require a school district to require the pupil to submit a report or other academic assignments, as determined by the district, on the community service experience and would require the community service organization to verify the hours served by the pupil.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 (Knox-Keene Act) , provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of that act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Under existing law, health care service plans and health insurers are required to offer specified types of coverage as part of their health care service plan contracts or health insurance policies. Existing law imposes specified requirements upon a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy that provides maternity coverage. This bill would require specified health care service plans and health insurers to include coverage for lactation consultation and the provision or rental of specified types of breast pumps, as defined, as part of their health care service plan contracts or health insurance policies that provide maternity coverage. Because this bill would specify additional requirements under the Knox-Keene Act, the willful violation of which would be a crime, 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.
(1) Existing law authorizes a local agency whose service area includes a groundwater basin that is not subject to groundwater management to adopt and implement a groundwater management plan pursuant to certain provisions of law. Existing law requires a groundwater management plan to include certain components to qualify as a plan for the purposes of those provisions, including a provision that establishes funding requirements for the construction of certain groundwater projects. This bill would establish a groundwater monitoring program pursuant to which specified entities, in accordance with prescribed procedures, may propose to be designated by the Department of Water Resources as groundwater monitoring entities, as defined, for the purposes of monitoring and reporting with regard to groundwater elevations in all or part of a basin or subbasin, as defined. The bill would require the department to work cooperatively with each monitoring entity to determine the manner in which groundwater elevation information should be reported to the department. The bill would authorize the department to make recommendations for improving an existing monitoring program, and to require additional monitoring wells under certain circumstances. Under certain circumstances, the department would be required to perform groundwater monitoring functions. In that event, prescribed entities with authority to assume groundwater monitoring functions with regard to a basin or subbasin for which the department has assumed those functions would not be eligible for a water grant or loan awarded or administered by the state. (2) Existing law requires the department to conduct an investigation of the state's groundwater basins and to report its findings to the Governor and the Legislature not later than January 1, 1980. This bill would repeal that provision. The department would be required to conduct an investigation of the state's groundwater basins and to report its findings to the Governor and the Legislature not later than January 1, 2012, and thereafter in years ending in 5 or 0. (3) The bill would take effect only if SB 1 and SB 7 of the 2009–10 7th Extraordinary Session of the Legislature are enacted and become effective.
(1) Existing law generally prohibits the state, or a county, city, district, or other political subdivision, or any public officer or body acting in its official capacity on behalf of any of those entities, from being required to pay any fee for the performance of an official service. Existing law exempts from this provision any fee or charge for official services required pursuant to specified provisions of law relating to water use or water quality. This bill would expand the exemption to other provisions relating to water use, including provisions that require the payment of fees to the State Water Resources Control Board for official services relating to statements of water diversion. (2) Existing law authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board to investigate all streams, stream systems, lakes, or other bodies of water, take testimony relating to the rights to water or the use of water, and ascertain whether water filed upon or attempted to be appropriated is appropriated under the laws of the state. Existing law requires the board to take appropriate actions to prevent waste or the unreasonable use of water. Under existing law, the board makes determinations with regard to the availability of recycled water. This bill would authorize the board, in conducting an investigation or proceeding for these purposes, to order any person or entity that diverts water or uses water to submit any technical or monitoring report related to the diversion or use of water by that person or entity. The bill would authorize the board, in connection with the investigation or proceeding, to inspect the facilities of any person or entity to determine compliance with specified water use requirements. (3) Existing law authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board, upon the submission of a petition signed by a claimant to water of any stream system requesting a determination of rights among the claimants to that water, to enter an order granting the petition. After granting the petition, the board is required to investigate the stream system to gather information necessary to make a determination of the water rights of that stream system. This bill would authorize the board to initiate a determination of rights under its own motion if after a hearing it finds, based on substantial evidence, that the public interest and necessity will be served by a determination of rights. (4) Existing law declares that the diversion or use of water other than as authorized by specified provisions of law is a trespass. Existing law authorizes the administrative imposition of civil liability by the board for a trespass in an amount not to exceed $500 for each day in which the trespass occurs. Moneys generated by the imposition of civil liability under these provisions are deposited in the Water Rights Fund. This bill would provide that a person or entity committing a trespass may be liable in an amount not to exceed the sum of $1,000 or $5,000 for each day in which the trespass occurs, as specified, or the highest market value of the water, whichever is the greater amount. The moneys would be required to be deposited in the Water Rights Fund, as specified. The bill would establish the Water Rights Protection Subaccount in the Water Rights Fund. Specified penalties would be required to be deposited in the subaccount. The bill would state legislative intent regarding the expenditure of the moneys in the subaccount. (5) Existing law, with certain exceptions, requires each person who diverts water after December 31, 1965, to file with the State Water Resources Control Board a prescribed statement of diversion and use. Existing law requires a statement to include specified information, including, on and after January 1, 2012, monthly records of water diversions. Under existing law, the monthly record requirement does not apply to a surface water diversion with a combined diversion capacity from a natural channel that is less than 50 cubic feet per second or to diverters using siphons in the tidal zone. Existing law subjects a person who makes a material misstatement in connection with the filing of the diversion and use statements to administratively imposed civil penalties in the amount of $500 for each violation. This bill would revise the types of water diversions for which the reporting requirement does not apply, including, among other diversions, a diversion that occurs before January 1, 2009, if certain requirements are met. The bill would delete exceptions to the monthly record requirement, and revise requirements relating to the contents of the statement of diversions and use. The bill would subject a person to civil liability if that person fails to file, as required, a diversion and use statement for a diversion or use that occurs after January 1, 2009, tampers with any measuring device, or makes a material misstatement in connection with the filing of a diversion and use statement. The board would be authorized to impose the civil liability in accordance with a specified schedule. Funds recovered pursuant to these provisions would be required to be deposited in the Water Rights Fund, as specified. The bill would authorize the board and the Department of Water Resources to adopt emergency regulations for the electronic filing of reports of water diversion or use that are required to be filed with those respective state agencies under specified statutory provisions. The bill would establish a rebuttable presumption, in any proceeding before the board in which it is alleged that an appropriative right has ceased or is subject to prescribed action, that no use required to be included in a statement of diversion and use occurred unless that use is included in a statement that is submitted to the board within a specified time period. The bill would require a person who files a statement of diversion and use, and certain petitions involving a change in a water right, to pay an annual fee, for deposit in the Water Rights Fund. The bill would include as recoverable costs, for which the board may be reimbursed from the fund upon appropriation therefor, costs incurred in connection with carrying out requirements relating to the statements of diversion and use and the performance of duties under the public trust doctrine and provisions that require the reasonable use of water. (6) Existing law authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board to issue a cease and desist order against a person who is violating, or threatening to violate, certain requirements, including requirements set forth in a decision or order relating to the unauthorized use of water. Any person who violates a cease and desist order may be liable in an amount not to exceed $1,000 for each day in which the violation occurs. Revenue generated from these penalties is deposited in the Water Rights Fund. This bill would increase, as specified, the civil penalties that apply to a person who violates a cease and desist order. The bill would impose civil liability, in an amount not to exceed $500 for each day in which a violation occurs, for a failure to comply with various reporting or monitoring requirements, including requirements imposed pursuant to the public trust doctrine. The bill would authorize the board to impose additional civil liability, in an amount not to exceed $500 for each day in which a violation occurs, for the violation of a permit, license, certificate, or registration, or an order or regulation involving the unreasonable use of water. Funds derived from the imposition of these civil penalties would be deposited in the Water Rights Fund, as specified. The bill would require that, in a proceeding before the board in which it is alleged that an appropriative water right has ceased, or is subject to prescribed action, there would be a rebuttable presumption that no use occurred on or after January 1, 2009, unless that diversion or use was reported to the board within 6 months after it is required to be filed with the board. (7) The Budget Act of 2009 made appropriations for the support of the State Water Resources Control Board for the 2009–10 fiscal year, with certain payments from the Water Rights Fund. This bill would amend and supplement the Budget Act of 2009 by making an additional appropriation from the fund to support water rights enforcement. The bill would, commencing with the 2010–11 fiscal year, continuously appropriate $3,750,000 on an annual basis only from fee revenue in the fund to the board for the purpose of funding permanent water rights enforcement positions. (8) This bill would take effect only if SB 1, SB 6, and 7 of the 2009–10 7th Extraordinary Session of the Legislative are enacted and become effective.
Existing law establishes a comprehensive statewide domestic violence program in the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) and requires the agency to provide financial and technical assistance to local domestic violence centers. Existing law requires the Maternal and Child Health Branch of the State Department of Public Health to administer a comprehensive shelter-based services grant program to battered women's shelters, as prescribed. This bill would, among other things, require Cal EMA to administer the above-described grant program. This bill would require the Department of Finance, upon the enactment of this bill, to transfer $16,300,000 from the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund to the General Fund as a loan. The bill would require the full amount of the loan to be repaid, with interest at the rate earned by the Pooled Money Investment Account at the time of the transfer, on or before June 30, 2013. The bill would appropriate $16,300,000 from the General Fund to Cal EMA for the purpose of funding the above-described comprehensive shelter-based services grant program to shelters for victims of domestic violence. This bill would require grantees funded under the above-described grant program, during the 2008–09 fiscal year, to be funded by Cal EMA for a period of one fiscal year, retroactively, commencing July 1, 2009. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 19, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.