Sen. Fran Pavley

Existing law establishes the State Air Resources Board, consisting of 12 members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to take certain actions regarding air pollution. This bill would increase the membership of the state board to 14, with the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly each appointing one member, as provided.

Existing law provides for the civil commitment of criminal offenders who have been determined to be sexually violent predators for treatment in a secure state hospital facility. Under existing law, persons to be evaluated for civil commitment are evaluated by 2 practicing psychiatrists or psychologists designated by the Director of State Hospitals. If both evaluators concur that the person is likely to engage in acts of sexual violence without appropriate treatment and custody, the director is required to forward a request for a petition for commitment to the district attorney or county counsel, who may then file the petition with the court. Under existing law, if the attorney petitioning for commitment determines that updated evaluations are necessary in order to properly present the case for commitment, the attorney may request the department to perform updated evaluations, which include the review of available medical and psychological records, including treatment records, consultation with current treating clinicians, and interviews of the person being evaluated. Existing law requires that the department forward the updated evaluations to the petitioning attorney and to the counsel for the person who is the subject of the commitment hearing. This bill would require the evaluator performing an updated evaluation to include a statement listing the medical and psychological records reviewed by the evaluator, and would direct the court to issue a subpoena, upon the request of either party to the civil commitment proceeding, for a certified copy of these records. The bill would authorize the attorneys to use the records in the commitment proceeding, but would prohibit disclosure of the records for any other purpose.

Existing law authorizes the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to impose, in addition to any other tax that it is authorized to impose, a transactions and use tax at a rate of 0.5% for the funding of specified transportation-related projects and programs, subject to various requirements, including the adoption of an expenditure plan and voter approval. Existing law authorizes the MTA to seek voter approval to extend the transactions and use tax pursuant to an amended ordinance, subject to various requirements, including adoption of an amended expenditure plan that, among other things, updates certain cost estimates and identifies expected completion dates for projects and programs under the previous expenditure plan, and also requires the amended expenditure plan to be included in an updated long range transportation plan, as specified. This bill would delete the above-referenced provisions relative to extension of the transactions and use tax and an amended ordinance and expenditure plan, The bill would instead authorize the MTA to impose an additional transportation transactions and use tax at a maximum rate of 0.5% as long as a specified existing 0.5% transactions and use tax is in effect, and at a maximum rate of 1% thereafter, as specified, for a period of time determined by the MTA, if certain conditions exist and subject to various requirements, including the adoption of an expenditure plan and voter approval, as specified. The Transactions and Use Tax Law limits to 2% the combined rate of all transactions and use taxes imposed in any county, with certain exceptions. This bill would exempt the transactions and use tax authorized by the bill from this limitation.

Existing law establishes the Department of Parks and Recreation and vests the department with the control of the state park system. This bill would require the Director of Parks and Recreation to promote and regulate the use of the state park system in a manner that conserves the scenery, natural and historic resources, and wildlife in the individual units of the system for the enjoyment of future generations. Existing law requires the department to prepare a general plan or revise an existing plan for a unit of the state park system following classification or reclassification of the unit by the State Park and Recreation Commission, and prior to the development of any new facilities in any previously classified unit. This bill would authorize the department to prepare a management or development plan that includes appropriate environmental review and analysis instead of a general plan for a park unit to which new development is necessary to comply with public service delivery obligations, operational or code compliance upgrades, or resource preservation requirements that are compatible with the classification of the unit. Existing law, until January 1, 2019, authorizes the department to enter into an operating agreement with a qualified nonprofit organization for the development, improvement, restoration, care, maintenance, administration, or operation of a unit, or units, or portion of a unit, of the state park system, but authorizes the department to enter into an operating agreement that involves the operation of the entirety of a park unit only to avoid closure of a unit or units of the state park system that may otherwise be subject to closure. This bill would delete the repeal date of that provision, thereby extending its operation indefinitely, and would delete the above limitation on the department's authority to enter into an operating agreement that involves the operation of the entirety of a park unit. The bill would also authorize the department to accept donations of money from public or private sources to be used for the purpose of funding park programs to benefit youth, as defined. The bill would authorize the department to enter into agreements with public or nonprofit organizations that serve youth, to provide service and learning opportunities for youth, as described. Existing law authorizes the Director of General Services to permit the department to carry out a project where the nature of work is historic preservation of the state park system. Existing law requires the department to solicit bids and award the project to the lowest responsible bidder or reject all bids, if the estimated total cost of the project exceeds $25,000, except as provided. This bill would make those requirements applicable if the total estimated cost of the project exceeds $50,000.

Existing law regulates the payment of compensation to employees by employers and prohibits an employer from conditioning employment on requiring an employee to refrain from disclosing the amount of his or her wages, signing a waiver of the right to disclose the amount of those wages, or discriminating against an employee for making such a disclosure. Existing law generally prohibits an employer from paying an employee at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of the opposite sex in the same establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions. Existing law establishes exceptions to that prohibition where the payment is made pursuant to a seniority system, a merit system, a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or a differential based on any bona fide factor other than sex. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for an employer or other person acting either individually or as an officer, agent, or employee of another person to pay or cause to be paid to any employee a wage less than the rate paid to an employee of the opposite sex as required by these provisions, or who reduces the wages of any employee in order to comply with these provisions. This bill would revise that prohibition to eliminate the requirement that the wage differential be within the same establishment, and instead would prohibit an employer from paying any of its employees at wage rates less than those paid to employees of the opposite sex for substantially similar work, when viewed as a composite of skill, effort, and responsibility, as specified. The bill would revise and recast the exceptions to require the employer to affirmatively demonstrate that a wage differential is based upon one or more specified factors, including a seniority system, a merit system, a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or a bona fide factor other than sex, as specified. The bill would also require the employer to demonstrate that each factor relied upon is applied reasonably, and that the one or more factors relied upon account for the entire differential. The bill would prohibit an employer from discharging, or in any manner discriminating or retaliating against, any employee by reason of any action taken by the employee to invoke or assist in any manner the enforcement of these provisions. The bill would authorize an employee who has been discharged or discriminated or retaliated against, in the terms and conditions of his or her employment because the employee engaged in any conduct delineated in these provisions, to recover in a civil action reinstatement and reimbursement for lost wages and work benefits caused by the acts of the employer, including interest thereon, as well as appropriate equitable relief. The bill would prohibit an employer from prohibiting an employee from disclosing the employee's own wages, discussing the wages of others, inquiring about another employee's wages, or aiding or encouraging any other employee to exercise his or her rights under these provisions. The bill would also increase the duration of employer recordkeeping requirements from 2 years to 3 years. By changing the definition of 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.

Existing law, the Physician Assistant Practice Act, provides for regulation of physician assistants and authorizes a physician assistant to perform medical services as set forth by regulations when those services are rendered under the supervision of a licensed physician and surgeon, as specified. The act requires the supervising physician and surgeon to review, countersign, and date a sample consisting of, at a minimum, 5% of the medical records of patients treated by the physician assistant functioning under adopted protocols within 30 days of the date of treatment by the physician assistant. The act requires the supervising physician and surgeon to select for review those cases that by diagnosis, problem, treatment, or procedure represent, in his or her judgment, the most significant risk to the patient. A violation of those supervision requirements is a misdemeanor. This bill would require that the medical record for each episode of care for a patient identify the physician and surgeon who is responsible for the supervision of the physician assistant. The bill would delete those medical record review provisions, and, instead, require the supervising physician and surgeon to use one or more of described review mechanisms. By adding these new requirements, the violation of which would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by changing the definition of a crime. The act authorizes a physician assistant, while under prescribed supervision of a physician and surgeon, to administer or provide medication to a patient, or transmit orally, or in writing on a patient's record or in a drug order, an order to a person who may lawfully furnish the medication or medical device. The act prohibits a physician assistant from administering, providing, or issuing a drug order to a patient for Schedule II through Schedule V controlled substances without advance approval by a supervising physician and surgeon for that particular patient unless the physician assistant has completed an education course that covers controlled substances and that meets approved standards. The act requires that the medical record of any patient cared for by a physician assistant for whom a physician assistant's Schedule II drug order has been issued or carried out to be reviewed, countersigned, and dated by a supervising physician and surgeon within 7 days. This bill would establish an alternative medical records review mechanism, and would authorize the supervising physician and surgeon to use the alternative mechanism, or a sample review mechanism using a combination of the 2 described mechanisms, as specified, to ensure adequate supervision of the administration, provision, or issuance by a physician assistant of a drug order to a patient for Schedule II controlled substances. 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, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation. Existing law requires an attorney or law firm that receives or disburses trust funds to establish an interest-bearing demand trust account and to deposit in the account all client deposits that are nominal in amount or are on deposit for a short period of time. Existing law creates the Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Program, which is administered by the Student Aid Commission, to provide loan repayment assistance for licensed attorneys who practice or agree to practice in public interest areas of the law in California. Existing law provides for the escheat of property to the state. Existing law requires all property that escheats to the state to be deposited into the Abandoned Property Account in the Unclaimed Property Fund, which is continuously appropriated for specified purposes. Existing law establishes procedures for submitting a claim for property that has escheated. This bill would require funds in Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts (IOLTA) that escheat to the state to be deposited into the Abandoned IOLTA Property Account, which would be established within the Unclaimed Property Fund. The bill would establish the IOLTA Claims Reserve Subaccount within the account and would require that 25% of IOLTA escheated funds be deposited into the subaccount to be used by the Controller, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of paying refunds, claims, and costs associated with escheated IOLTA funds. The bill would require the balance of the escheated IOLTA funds to be transferred annually into the Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Account to be established by this bill within the State Treasury for the purposes of providing, upon appropriation by the Legislature, additional funding to the Student Aid Commission for the administration of, and provision of loan assistance pursuant to, the Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Program.

Existing law makes it a crime to import into the state for commercial purposes, to possess with intent to sell, or to sell within the state, the dead body, or any part or product thereof, of an elephant. Existing law exempts the possession with intent to sell, or sale of the dead body, or any part or product thereof, of any elephant before June 1, 1977, or the possession with intent to sell or the sale of any such item on or after June 1, 1977, if the item was imported before January 1, 1977. This bill would delete this exemption. By changing the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make it unlawful to purchase, sell, offer for sale, possess with intent to sell, or import with intent to sell ivory or rhinoceros horn, except as specified, and would make this prohibition enforceable by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The bill would make a violation of this provision or any rule, regulation, or order adopted pursuant to this provision a misdemeanor subject to specified criminal penalties. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. In addition to the specified criminal penalties, the bill would authorize the department to impose an administrative penalty of up to $10,000 for a violation of this provision or any rule, regulation, or order adopted pursuant to this provision. This bill would provide that the provisions of this bill are severable. This bill would make these provisions operative on July 1, 2016. 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.

This measure would urge the United States Congress to require the United States Postal Service to take all appropriate measures to restore service standards in effect as of July 1, 2012, would urge Congress to place a moratorium on planned shutdowns of mail sorting centers, and would urge Congress to oppose any postal reform legislation that does not continue the mandate for 6-day delivery service or protect door-to-door delivery as it currently exists. The measure would also urge the Secretary of State to publicly oppose changes in the United States Postal Service that negatively impact the rights of California voters who vote by an absentee ballot.