Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , the State Air Resources Board, electrical corporations, and the motor vehicle industry, to evaluate policies to develop infrastructure sufficient to overcome any barriers to the widespread deployment and use of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the Energy Commission and the State Air Resources Board, to direct electrical corporations to file applications for programs and investments to accelerate widespread transportation electrification to achieve specified results. Existing law requires the PUC to approve, or modify and approve, programs and investments in transportation electrification, including those that deploy charging infrastructure, through a reasonable cost recovery mechanism, under certain circumstances. Existing law requires the PUC to consider facilitating the development of technologies that promote grid integration. This bill would require the PUC, by December 31, 2020, in an existing proceeding, to establish strategies and quantifiable metrics to maximize the use of feasible and cost-effective electric vehicle grid integration by January 1, 2030, as specified. The bill would require the PUC to reference the electric vehicle grid integration strategies in relevant ongoing and subsequent proceedings that address issues of transportation electrification in any part and to identify how programs and investments that the PUC may approve will advance the achievement of the strategies. The bill would require the PUC, when executing its transportation electrification responsibilities, to consider how, or if, electric vehicle grid integration can mitigate any generation, transmission, or distribution costs, or increase the economic, social, or environmental benefits associated with transportation electrification, and to not foreclose future utilization of electric vehicle grid integration. The bill would require electrical corporations and community choice aggregators to provide to the PUC certain information relating to the electric vehicle integration strategies. The bill would require each local publicly owned electric utility serving more than 700 gigawatthours of annual electrical demand, in each integrated resource plan update adopted on and after January 1, 2020, to consider establishing electric vehicle grid integration strategies and evaluating how its existing and planned programs further those strategies. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because the above provisions amend the Public Utilities Act, and the PUC would be required to issue an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement to implement those provisions, a violation of any of which would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Further, because the bill would impose additional duties on local publicly owned electric utilities and community choice aggregators, which are local agencies, 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 specified reasons.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to designate specified areas as very high fire hazard severity zones and requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains a building or structure in, upon, or adjoining a mountainous area, forest-covered lands, brush-covered lands, grass-covered lands, or land that is covered with flammable material to take specified measures to protect that building or structure from wildfires. This bill would require the Natural Resources Agency, by July 1, 2021, and in consultation with the State Fire Marshal and the Forest Management Task Force, to review the regional capacity of each county that contains a very high fire hazard severity zone to improve forest health, fire resilience, and safety, as specified. The bill would require the Natural Resources Agency to make the review publicly available on its internet website. On or after July 1, 2021, the bill would require a seller of real property located in a high or very high fire hazard severity zone to provide specified documentation to the buyer that the real property is in compliance with the wildfire protection measures described above or a local vegetation management ordinance, or enter into an agreement with the buyer pursuant to which the buyer will obtain documentation of compliance, as provided. (2) Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal, by January 31, 2020, to develop a list of low-cost retrofits that provide for comprehensive site and structure fire risk reduction to protect structures from fires spreading from adjacent structures or vegetation and to protect vegetation from fires spreading from adjacent structures. This bill, on or after January 1, 2021, would require the seller of any real property located in a high or very high fire hazard severity zone to provide a prescribed disclosure notice to the buyer, if the home was constructed before January 1, 2020, of information relating to fire hardening improvements on the property and a list of specified features that may make the home vulnerable to wildfire and flying embers and which features, if any, that exist on the home of which the seller is aware. The bill, on or after July 1, 2025, would require the disclosure notice to also include the State Fire Marshal's list of low-cost retrofits. The bill would also require a seller who has obtained a specified final inspection report to provide to the buyer a copy of that report or information on where a copy may be obtained. (3) Existing law establishes, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services, under the direction of the Director of Emergency Services. Existing law charges the Office of Emergency Services with coordinating various emergency activities within the state. The Joint Exercise of Powers Act authorizes 2 or more public agencies, if authorized by their legislative or other governing bodies, to enter into an agreement to jointly exercise any power common to the contracting parties, as provided. That act requires, among other things, that the agreement state the purpose of agreement or power to be exercised and provides for the method by which the purpose will be accomplished or the manner in which the power will be exercised. This bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to enter into a joint powers agreement pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop and administer a comprehensive wildfire mitigation program to, among other things, encourage cost-effective structure hardening and retrofitting to create fire-resistant homes, businesses, and public buildings. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal, in consultation with specified state officials, to identify building retrofits and structure hardening measures, and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to identify defensible space, vegetation management, and fuel modification activities, that are eligible for financial assistance under the program. The bill would specify the types of designated wildfire hazard areas eligible for funding under the program. The bill would authorize the joint powers authority administering the program to accept federal funds for the bill's purposes. The bill would require the joint powers authority to develop criteria and a scoring methodology to prioritize financial assistance provided through the program based on specific factors. The bill would impose specified reporting requirements on the joint powers authority and authorize it to enter into cooperative agreements with other federal, state, regional, and local agencies. The bill would make the operation of the program contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature and would repeal the program's provisions on July 1, 2025.
Existing law establishes a procedure, until January 1, 2024, for the County of Los Angeles, the County of San Diego, and the City and County of San Francisco, if the board of supervisors authorizes the appointment of a conservator for a person who is incapable of caring for the person's own health and well-being due to a serious mental illness and substance use disorder, as evidenced by frequent detention for evaluation and treatment, which is 8 or more detentions for evaluation and treatment in the preceding 12 months. Existing law automatically terminates a conservatorship initiated pursuant to these provisions one year after the appointment of the conservator unless the court specifies a shorter period. Existing law authorizes the person for whom conservatorship is sought to demand a court or jury trial on the issue of whether the person meets the criteria for the appointment of a conservator pursuant to these provisions. Existing law authorizes the Judicial Council to adopt rules, forms, and standards necessary to implement these provisions. This bill would additionally authorize the court to establish a temporary conservatorship for a period of 28 days or less if the court is satisfied that the person is presently incapable of caring for the person's own health and well-being due to a serious mental illness and substance use disorder, as those terms are defined by the bill, the person has been detained 8 times for evaluation and treatment in a 12-month period pursuant to existing law authorizing the detention of mentally disordered persons who are a danger to self or others or gravely disabled, without reference to evidence of frequent detention for evaluation and treatment, the temporary conservatorship is necessary, and the county health director, or their designee, has met specified requirements relating to those previous detentions. The bill would also change the definition of "frequent detention for evaluation and treatment" for purposes of these conservatorship provisions to mean 8 or more detentions in a 12-month period. The bill would require that a petition seeking to establish the above-described conservatorship be filed with the court no later than 28 days following the 8th detention in a 12-month period, and would provide that the petition may be filed only in conjunction with a petition to establish a temporary conservatorship. The bill would require a supplement to the petition, which includes a detailed description of the comprehensive clinical evaluation of the person conducted during the temporary conservatorship, to be filed within 14 days after the initial petition. The bill would require a court making the determination of whether a person meets the criteria for appointment of a conservator to make that determination by clear and convincing evidence based on comprehensive clinical evaluations conducted under temporary conservatorship. This bill would require that the person for whom the conservatorship is sought have the right to demand a court or jury trial to determine whether the person meets the criteria for appointment of a conservator beyond a reasonable doubt. The bill would provide that the conservatorship would automatically terminate 6 months, rather than one year, after the appointment of the conservator by the superior court, or a shorter period if ordered by the court. The bill would require the conservator to file a report with the court every 60 days regarding the conservatee's progress and engagement with treatment and, if the court is not satisfied that the conservatorship continues to be justified, the bill would require the court to terminate the conservatorship. Existing law makes the establishment of a conservatorship pursuant to these provisions subject to, among other things, a finding by the court that the behavioral health director of the county or the city and county has previously attempted by petition to obtain a court order authorizing assisted outpatient treatment pursuant to the Assisted Outpatient Treatment Demonstration Project Act of 2002, known as Laura's Law, for the person for whom conservatorship is sought, that the petition was denied or the assisted outpatient treatment was insufficient to treat the person's mental illness, and that assisted outpatient treatment would be insufficient to treat the person in the instant matter in lieu of a conservatorship. This bill would instead make the establishment of the above-described conservatorship subject to a finding by the court that the health director, or the director's designee, has fulfilled specified requirements and (1) has previously attempted to obtain the above-described court order and that the petition was denied or the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that assisted outpatient treatment was insufficient to treat the person's mental illness, or (2) recommends, and the court finds by clear and convincing evidence, that the person, as a matter of law, does not meet the criteria described for assisted outpatient treatment or determines that assisted outpatient treatment would be insufficient to treat the person in lieu of a conservatorship, as specified. The bill would authorize assisted outpatient treatment to be ordered at that hearing if the behavioral health director, or the director's designee, fails to demonstrate that assisted outpatient treatment would be insufficient to treat the person, and the person qualifies for that treatment. Existing law requires the County of Los Angeles, the County of San Diego, and the City and County of San Francisco to establish a working group to conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of the implementation of the above-mentioned provisions in addressing the needs of persons with serious mental illness and substance use disorders in the county or the city and county, and requires the evaluation to include an assessment of the number and status of persons who have been conserved under those provisions, among other things. This bill would additionally require the evaluation to include, among other things, the service planning and delivery process for those conserved persons, an analysis of demographic data of those conserved persons, and the number of those conserved persons who successfully complete substance use disorder treatment programs. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Under existing law, a person injured in the course of employment is generally entitled to receive workers' compensation on account of that injury. Existing law provides that, in the case of certain state and local firefighting personnel and peace officers, the term "injury" includes various medical conditions that are developed or manifested during a period while the member is in the service of the department or unit, and establishes a disputable presumption in this regard. This bill would provide, only until January 1, 2025, that in the case of certain state and local firefighting personnel and peace officers, the term "injury" also includes post-traumatic stress that develops or manifests itself during a period in which the injured person is in the service of the department or unit. The bill would apply to injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2020. The bill would prohibit compensation from being paid for a claim of injury unless the member has performed services for the department or unit for at least 6 months, unless the injury is caused by a sudden and extraordinary employment condition.
This measure would call upon all Californians to embrace the individual and social benefits of family and community acceptance, upon religious leaders to counsel on LGBTQ matters from a place of love, compassion, and knowledge of the psychological and other harms of conversion therapy, and upon the people of California and the institutions of California with great moral influence to model equitable treatment of all people of the state.
This measure would commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras.
This measure would proclaim September 29, 2019, as Gold Star Mothers' and Families' Day.
This measure would state that the Legislature strongly and unequivocally objects to federal preemption of state authority relating to the regulation of vessel discharges in California waters, remains steadfast in its commitment to protect California's waters from aquatic invasive species introductions, and is resolved to consider any appropriate actions to overturn the federal preemption of California authority.
(1) Existing law, the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to annually designate convenience zones and requires that at least one certified recycling center that meets certain requirements be located within every convenience zone. Existing law authorizes the department to grant a convenience zone an exemption from certain redemption requirements, including certain dealer and recycling center redemption requirements, based on certain factors. Existing law limits the total number of exemptions that may be granted to 35% of the total number of convenience zones identified as having one or more of those factors applicable. This bill would increase the total number of exemptions that may be granted to 40% of the number identified as eligible. The bill would require the department to review exemptions every 2 years to determine if each exemption still meets the prescribed exemption criteria. (2) The act requires dealers within a convenience zone where no recycling location has been established, or within a convenience zone that is unserved for 60 days and not exempt from convenience zone requirements, to submit an affidavit to the department stating that the dealer has met specified standards for redemption, including, among others, that the dealer is redeeming all empty beverage container types at all open cash registers or at one designated location on the dealer's premises, during all hours that the dealer is open for business. If the dealer does not submit that affidavit, existing law requires the dealer to pay $100 per day to the department, for deposit in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund, a continuously appropriated fund described in (3) , until a recycling location is established or until the dealer meets the standards for redemption specified in the affidavit provision. This bill would revise these convenience zone redemption duties and exempt from those duties dealers with gross annual sales of less than $2,000,000 and dealers that are not supermarkets and that have less than 5,000 square feet of interior retail space. The bill, until January 1, 2022, would also exempt certain other dealers from these requirements. (3) The act establishes the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund and, except for administrative costs, continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the department for specified purposes, including the amount necessary to pay handling fees to certain types of recyclers to provide an incentive for the redemption of empty beverage containers in convenience zones. This bill would require the department to offer a handling fee payment from the fund to certain certified recyclers within unserved convenience zones. The bill would make an appropriation by changing the terms and conditions under which the department is authorized to make payments from a continuously appropriated fund. The bill would authorize the department, until July 1, 2022, to annually expend $3,000,000 from the fund for specified supplemental handling fee payments to low-volume recycling centers. By authorizing the expenditure of a continuously appropriated fund for new purposes, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the department to develop and submit to the Legislature recommended revisions to the handling fee provisions, as specified. The bill would require the department to suspend usage of surveys and calculations of recycling costs until at least January 1, 2021. (4) The act also continuously appropriates from the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund $10,500,000 annually for payments to cities and counties for beverage container recycling and litter cleanup activities. The act authorizes the department to withhold those payments to any city, county, or city and county that has restricted or prohibited the siting of a supermarket site, as provided. This bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2020, to convene a public hearing, as specified, for purposes of discussing and receiving public testimony on the development of guidelines for evaluating the circumstances that might prompt the department to withhold beverage container recycling and litter cleanup activities payments to any city, county, or city and county that has restricted or prohibited the siting of a supermarket site. (5) Under the act, the department is required to calculate a processing fee for each beverage container with a specified scrap value, which is required to be paid by beverage manufacturers for each beverage container sold or transferred to a distributor or dealer. The department is required to calculate the processing fee in a specified manner, so that the processing fee generally equals 65% of the processing payment that the department is required to pay to processors if the scrap value of the container having a refund value pursuant to the act is less than the cost of recycling. The department is required to determine the statewide weighted average cost to recycle each beverage container type by conducting a survey, as specified. The department is required to establish a processing fee account in the continuously appropriated California Beverage Container Recycling Fund for each material type and to deposit processing fees and other amounts in the applicable account. This bill would authorize the director of the department, notwithstanding any other provision of the act, to declare a recycling exigency if the department makes specified determinations. If the director declares a recycling exigency, the bill would authorize the department to take the following actions: for any type of beverage container for which the annual recycling rate has dropped by a specified amount, adjust the processing payment to reflect a cost of recycling that is increased by at least 10%; increase the handling fee by at least 10%; establish and distribute from the fund supplemental recycling incentives totaling up to $500,000 per month to encourage the siting of new recycling centers; and establish and distribute from the fund PET quality incentive payments totaling up to $500,000 per month to material recovery facilities, as specified. The bill would establish a contingency for each of these actions that would trigger the termination of the department's authority to undertake the action. The bill would also authorize the department, if the director declares a recycling exigency, to approve limited-term pilot projects in accordance with prescribed criteria. By expanding the purposes of a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
The Economic Revitalization Act establishes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as "GO-Biz," to, among other duties, serve the Governor as the lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth. Existing law authorizes the director of GO-Biz to establish and terminate international trade and investment offices outside of the United States as the director determines is appropriate, if specific requirements are met. Existing law establishes the Economic Development and Trade Promotion Account, a continuously appropriated account, to accept private moneys to fund international trade and investment offices. Existing law prohibits a donor from donating in a calendar year more than 25% of the annual budget of an international trade and investment office operated under contract with a nonprofit entity, and requires GO-Biz to post a specified report on its internet website within 30 days of receiving a donation to fund an international trade and investment office operated under contract with a nonprofit entity. This bill would require the director of GO-Biz, on or before January 1, 2023, to establish and operate, to contract with a nonprofit entity to establish and operate, to create a public-private partnership to establish and operate, or otherwise provide for the operation of, an international trade and investment office in Yerevan, in the Republic of Armenia. The bill would require the director of GO-Biz to include information regarding the Yerevan trade and investment office in existing reporting requirements relating to an International Trade and Investment Program, as specified. The bill would establish the Armenia Trade and Investment Office Account as a separate subaccount within the Economic Development and Trade Promotion Account and would require GO-Biz to accept and administer private sector moneys specified for the Yerevan trade and investment office or international trade and investment activities through this account. The bill would restrict the use of the funds in this account to the establishment or operation of that office, as specified, or the undertaking of international trade and investment events through that office, and would make these funds available upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would require the Yerevan trade and investment office to, among other things, promote the export of California goods and services into the Republic of Armenia and facilitate access to educational exchange programs between California and the Republic of Armenia. This bill would apply the above-described provisions relating to donations to fund an international trade and investment office operated under contract with a nonprofit entity to a Yerevan trade and investment office operated under contract with a nonprofit entity.