The Political Reform Act of 1974 generally requires elected officials, candidates for elective office, and committees formed primarily to support or oppose a candidate for public office or a ballot measure, along with other entities, to file periodic campaign statements. The act requires that these campaign statements contain prescribed information related to campaign contributions and expenditures of the filing entities. Existing law, the Online Disclosure Act, requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Fair Political Practices Commission, to develop online and electronic filing processes for use by these persons and entities. This bill would also require the Secretary of State to conspicuously post on his or her Internet Web site hyperlinks to the Internet Web site of any local government agency that contains publicly disclosed campaign finance information and to update these hyperlinks accordingly. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing and activities. The act requires a committee that supports or opposes ballot measures to name and identify itself using a name or phrase that clearly identifies the economic or other special interests of its major donors of $50,000 or more. The act also requires that the identity of a common employer shared by major donors be disclosed. This bill would repeal these provisions. (2) The act defines "expenditure" as a payment, a forgiveness of a loan, a payment of a loan by a 3rd party, or an enforceable promise to make a payment, unless it is clear from the surrounding circumstances that it is not made for political purposes. This bill, which would be known as the California Disclose Act, would describe circumstances in which a payment would be made for political purposes within the meaning of the definition of "expenditure." (3) The act prohibits a candidate or committee from sending a mass mailing unless the name, street address, and city of the candidate or committee are shown on the outside of each piece of mail in the mass mailing, as specified. This bill would additionally require the name of such an entity to be disclosed in a mass electronic mailing, as defined, that the entity sends. The bill would provide that these disclosure requirements do not apply if the mass mailing or mass electronic mailing is paid for by an independent expenditure. (4) The act prohibits a candidate, committee, or slate mailer organization from expending campaign funds to pay for specified telephone calls that advocate support of, or opposition to, a candidate, ballot measure, or both, unless the name of the organization that authorized or paid for the call is disclosed to the recipient of the call during the course of each call. This bill would instead apply these requirements to a candidate, a candidate controlled committee established for an elective office for the controlling candidate, a political party committee, and a slate mailer organization that expends campaign funds to pay for such telephone calls. The bill would provide that these disclosure requirements do not apply if the telephone call is paid for by an independent expenditure. (5) The act also requires advertisements, as defined, to include prescribed disclosure statements, including, among others, a requirement that the disclosure statements include the names of the persons who made the 2 highest cumulative contributions, as defined, to the committee paying for the advertisement. This bill would repeal and recast provisions of the act relating to advertisement disclosure statements. The bill would revise the definition of "advertisement" to exclude a number of communications, including communications that involve wearing apparel, sky writing, and certain electronic media communications, as specified. The bill would also replace existing advertisement disclosure statements with newly prescribed disclosure statements that identify the name of the committee paying for the advertisement and the top contributors to that committee. The bill would define "top contributors" for purposes of these provisions as the persons from whom the committee paying for the advertisement received its 3 highest cumulative contributions, as specified. The bill would exempt certain committees, including committees that make independent expenditures totaling $1,000 or more in a calendar year, from the requirement to disclose the top contributors in advertisement disclosure statements. The bill would also prescribe location and format criteria for the disclosure statements that are specific to radio and telephone, television and video, print, and electronic media advertisements. (6) The act imposes, in addition to other penalties, a fine of up to triple the amount of the cost of an advertisement on a person who violates the disclosure requirements for advertisements. This bill would revise the scope of violations subject to that fine by specifying that it applies to certain disclosure requirements and intentional violations. (7) The act prohibits a person from making a contribution as an intermediary on behalf of another person without disclosing to the recipient of the contribution specified information about both the intermediary and the source of the contribution. The act also prohibits a person from making a contribution to a committee on the condition or with the agreement that it will be contributed to a particular candidate unless the contribution is disclosed in compliance with those requirements for contributions made by an intermediary. This bill would prohibit a person from making a contribution to a committee or candidate that is earmarked unless the contribution is disclosed in compliance with the requirements for contributions made by an intermediary. The bill would also describe circumstances in which a contribution is deemed to be earmarked. The bill would impose additional disclosure requirements in connection with earmarked contributions from one committee to another. (8) Because a violation of the act is punishable as a misdemeanor, 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. (9) The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires specified businesses and other establishments to post a notice, as specified, that contains information related to slavery and human trafficking, including information related to specified nonprofit organizations that provide services in support of the elimination of slavery and human trafficking. Existing law makes a violation of this requirement punishable by a civil penalty. This bill would additionally require hotels, motels, and bed and breakfast inns, as defined, not including personal residences, to post the notice relating to slavery and human trafficking, as specified. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 52.6 of the Civil Code proposed by SB 225 that would become operative if this bill and SB 225 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law requires specified businesses and other establishments to post a notice, as developed by the Department of Justice, that contains information relating to slavery and human trafficking, including information regarding specified nonprofit organizations that a person can call for services or support in the elimination of slavery and human trafficking. This bill would require the notice to specify that a person can also text a specified number for services and support and would revise the names of the nonprofit organizations listed in the notice. The bill, by January 1, 2019, would also require the department to revise and update the notice, as specified. The bill would provide that any business or establishment required to post the model notice would not be required to post the updated model notice until on and after January 1, 2019. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 52.6 of the Civil Code proposed by AB 260 to be operative only if this bill and AB 260 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
(1) The Planning and Zoning Law requires each city, county, and city and county to prepare and adopt a general plan that contains certain mandatory elements, including a land use element and an open-space element. Existing law requires the land use element to, among other things, designate the proposed general distribution and general location and extent of the uses of the land for agricultural use. Existing law requires the open-space element to include a plan for the comprehensive and long-range preservation and conservation of open-space land within the city or county that prepares it. This bill would authorize a city and county to develop an agricultural land component of the city or county's open-space element, or a separate agricultural land element. The bill would require a city or county to comply with specified requirements when preparing that component or element, including identifying and mapping, where applicable, using specified data, agricultural lands that are within the city's or county's jurisdiction; establishing a comprehensive set of goals, policies, and objectives to support the long-term protection of agricultural land; identifying and designating priority land for conservation; and identifying and establishing a set of feasible implementation measures designed to promote those goals, policies, and objectives. The bill would authorize the Department of Conservation, to the extent funds are available, to award grants to a city or county to implement these provisions. The bill would, at least 45 days before adopting or amending the open-space element or the agricultural land element, require a city or county to submit to the department a draft of the agricultural land component or amendment, or agricultural land element or amendment, prepared pursuant to these provisions, and any maps used in creating that component or amendment. The bill would authorize the department to review any drafts submitted, and to provide recommendations to the city or county, as provided. The bill would require the department to give priority consideration for grants, bond proceeds, and other local assistance provided by the department to a city or county that complies with specified requirements. The bill would authorize a city or county with an existing agricultural land component of their open-space element or an existing separate agricultural land element that substantially complies with the requirements set out in this bill, and complies with certain procedures, to receive priority consideration as described in the previous sentence. (2) Existing law requires the department to prepare, and to update biennially, Important Farmland Series maps using data compiled by the United States Soil Conservation Service, and collect or acquire information on the amount of land converted to or from agricultural use using specified data for every county for which Important Farmland Series maps exist. Existing law requires the department to submit a report to the Legislature on the data collected pursuant to these provisions by June 30, 1988, and biennially thereafter. Existing law also requires the department to update and send counties copies of current Important Farmland Series maps by August 1, 1986, and biennially thereafter. This bill would require the department to also collect or acquire information on the amount of land converted between agricultural categories. This bill would require the department to submit the report described above to the Legislature by December 31, 2018, and biennially thereafter. The bill would require the department to update and send counties copies of the updated current Important Farmland Series maps by December 31, 2018, and biennially thereafter. This bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to those provisions. (3) Existing law establishes the California Land Conservation Act of 1965, otherwise known as the Williamson Act, and authorizes a city or county to enter into 10-year contracts with owners of land devoted to agricultural use, whereby the owners agree to continue using the property for that purpose, and the city or county agrees to value the land accordingly for purposes of property taxation, as specified. Existing law authorizes the cancellation of a Williamson Act contract under certain circumstances, and authorizes the city or county to charge a cancellation fee in an amount equal to 1212 of the cancellation valuation of the property. Existing law requires these cancellation fees to be transmitted by the county treasurer to the Controller upon collection, and specifies that those cancellation fees are to be deposited in the General Fund, except for a portion of those cancellation fees, as approved in the final Budget Act for each fiscal year, which are to be deposited in the Soil Conservation Fund to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature to support, among other things, the cost of the farmlands mapping and monitoring program of the Department of Conservation. This bill would provide that if funds are available after providing other specified support, that those funds be used for program support costs incurred by the Department of Conservation in carrying out specified duties of the department related to open-space lands. (4) Existing law establishes the Agricultural Protection Planning Grant Program within the Department of Conservation to provide planning grants to improve the protection of agricultural lands and grazing lands, including oak woodlands and grasslands. Under existing law, the program authorizes a local government entity, nonprofit organization, authority, or joint powers authority to apply for a grant under the program, to be used for the protection of agricultural lands and grazing lands, and requires those applicants to demonstrate that the changes to the existing goals, objectives, policies, or programs of the city, county, or city and county that will logically result from the grant will improve protection of agricultural land, grazing land, or grasslands. Existing law requires the Department of Conservation, in consultation with certain parties and entities, to develop and adopt guidelines and criteria for awarding grants pursuant to this program. Existing law requires a grant proposal by a park or open-space district, resource conservation district, other special district, nonprofit organization, authority, or joint powers authority to be approved by resolution of the city, county, or city and county, or multiple cities and counties, whose jurisdiction the proposal is intended to benefit. This bill would eliminate the requirement that a proposal by a nonprofit organization be approved by resolution of the city, county, or city and county, or multiple cities and counties, whose jurisdiction the proposal is intended to benefit. The bill would require the Department of Conservation, prior to awarding funds, to instead develop guidelines and selection criteria for awarding grants in accordance with certain criteria, and would additionally specify that the adoption of guidelines and criteria by the Department of Conservation for awarding grants pursuant to these provisions is not subject to the Administrative Procedure Act.
Existing law provides that when more than one violation of certain specified offenses occurs in more than one jurisdictional territory, jurisdiction for any of those offenses and any other properly joinable offenses may be in any jurisdiction where at least one of the offenses occurred if all district attorneys in the counties with jurisdiction over any of the offenses agree to the venue. This bill would add the offense of sexual intercourse, sodomy, oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child 10 years of age or younger to the list of specified offenses to which the above jurisdictional provisions apply.
Existing law declares that the Secretary of State is the chief elections officer of the state and that he or she has prescribed powers and duties. This bill would clarify the scope of those powers and duties and would require the Secretary of State to make reasonable efforts to promote voter registration and voting, as specified, especially in underrepresented communities.
Existing law provides for the protection, enhancement, and restoration of rivers in this state. Existing law establishes the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and prescribes the membership and functions and duties of the conservancy with regard to the acquisition, preservation, and improvement of real property within the Santa Monica Mountains zone, as defined. This bill would establish within the conservancy the Upper Los Angeles River and Tributaries Working Group. The bill would require the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation with the conservancy, and, to the extent they wish to consult, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the City of Los Angeles, to consider requests from specified local agency representatives to participate in the working group and would authorize them to appoint no more than 23 representatives to the working group. The bill would require, by March 1, 2019, the working group to develop, through watershed-based planning methods and community engagement, a revitalization plan for the Upper Los Angeles River, the tributaries of the Pacoima Wash, Tujunga Wash, and Verdugo Wash, and any additional tributary waterway that the working group determines to be necessary. The bill would require the revitalization plan to address the unique and diverse needs of the Upper Los Angeles River, Pacoima Wash, Tujunga Wash, and Verdugo Wash, and the communities through which they pass, and to include watershed education programs. The bill would require the conservancy to provide any necessary staffing to assist the working group. The bill would require the working group to submit the revitalization plan to the conservancy for approval. The bill would require the revitalization plan to be considered an amendment to the watershed and open space plan for the San Gabriel and Los Angeles Rivers upon adoption by the conservancy and, to the extent that the city or county wishes to consider the plan, would require the conservancy to submit the plan to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles City Council, as prescribed. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Upper Los Angeles River and its tributaries.
Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and after March 7, 1973. Existing law provides that, after January 1, 2008, a general acute care hospital building that is determined to be a potential risk of collapse or to pose significant loss of life in the event of seismic activity be used only for nonacute care hospital purposes, except that the office may grant a 5-year extension under prescribed circumstances. Existing law allows the office to grant a hospital that has received extensions under specified provisions an additional extension of up to 7 years for a hospital building that it owns or operates if the hospital meets specified milestones. This bill would authorize a hospital in the Tarzana neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles that has received specified extensions to request an additional extension, as specified, until October 1, 2022, in order to obtain a certificate of occupancy from the office for a replacement building. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Tarzana neighborhood in the City of Los Angeles.
This measure would proclaim September 3, 2017, to September 9, 2017, inclusive, as Military and Veteran Suicide Prevention Awareness Week in California.