Existing law authorizes private organizations, including veterans' organizations, to participate in special interest license plate programs in which the Department of Motor Vehicles issues license plates with a participating organization's distinctive design or decal, and specifies the various fees concerning the issuance, renewal, registration, and replacement of damaged or unserviceable plates and decals. Existing law permits an eligible person who is a former American prisoner of war to apply for specially designed license plates for his or her vehicle that include distinctive lettering indicating "POW" and "Ex-Prisoner of War" and generally exempts that vehicle from registration and vehicle license fees (VLF) . This bill would additionally require the department, in consultation with the Department of Veterans Affairs and veterans' service organizations, to design and make available for issuance a special environmental design license plate for former American prisoners of war who prefer not to have their former status as a "POW" or "Ex-Prisoner of War" identified by words or other markings or symbols. The bill would require specified design criteria for these special interest license plates.
Sponsored bills
Existing law provides that any person who, orally, in writing, or by wearing any military decoration, falsely represents himself or herself to have been awarded any military decoration, as specified, with the intent to defraud, is guilty of an infraction. This bill would instead provide that the offense is a misdemeanor, or in the case where the person committing the offense is a veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States, an infraction or a misdemeanor, as specified, and would exempt face-to-face solicitations involving less than $10. The bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 19.8 of the Penal Code proposed by AB 451 and AB 1675, to be operative only if this bill and one or both of the other bills are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2011, and this bill is chaptered last. By increasing the penalty for an existing offense, 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.
(1) Existing law prohibits the manufacturing, shipping, selling, or offering for sale of jewelry, as defined, for retail sale in the state, unless the jewelry is made entirely from specified materials. Existing law also prohibits any person from taking those actions with regard to children's jewelry, as defined, unless the children's jewelry is made entirely from certain specified materials. Existing law prohibits parties that are signatories to a specified consent judgment from being subject to enforcement under those provisions. This bill would additionally prohibit a person from manufacturing, shipping, selling, offering for sale, or offering for promotional purposes children's jewelry that contains any component or is made of any material that is more than 0.03% cadmium by weight. This bill would exempt from this prohibition any toy regulated for cadmium exposure under the federal Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and would make conforming changes. The bill would provide that the exemption from enforcement action for signatories to that consent judgment does not apply to this prohibition. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt regulations to establish a process by which chemicals or chemical ingredients in products may be identified and prioritized for consideration as being chemicals of concern and to adopt regulations to establish a process by which chemicals of concern may be evaluated. The department is prohibited from duplicating or adopting conflicting regulations for regulated product categories. This bill would prohibit cadmium-containing jewelry from being considered as a product category already regulated or subject to pending regulation for purposes of those regulations. (3) Existing law imposes criminal penalties upon a manufacturer or supplier of jewelry who knowingly and intentionally manufactures, ships, sells, offers for sale, or offers for promotional purposes jewelry containing lead in violation of those provisions or who knowingly and with intent to deceive falsifies any document or certificate required to be kept or produced pursuant to those provisions. This bill would additionally impose those criminal penalties upon a manufacturer or supplier of jewelry containing cadmium, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes. (4) 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 requires, subject to specific exemptions, public records to be open to public inspection. This bill would require the office of the State Chief Information Officer to create and maintain a Reporting Transparency in Government Internet Web site, as prescribed. This bill would require, subject to specific exemptions, state agencies to post specified audits to that Internet Web site. This bill would require the Department of General Services, the office of the State Chief Information Officer, and other state agencies to post specified summary data regarding contracts awarded by the state to that Internet Web site. This bill would also require the office of the Governor to post specified financial statements and reports to that Internet Web site. The bill would exempt certain constitutional officers from the requirement of posting the information to the Reporting Transparency in Government Internet Web site, if that officer posts the required information to his or her official Internet Web site, as specified.
Existing federal law requires that fur products be labeled with the names of any animals used, manufacturer, country of origin, and other specified information. Fur products with a relatively small quantity or value of fur that is worth $150 or less are exempt from these labeling requirements. This bill, commencing September 1, 2011, would prohibit the sale or display for sale of any coat, jacket, garment, or other clothing apparel made wholly or partially of fur, regardless of the price of the apparel or the amount or value of the fur contained therein, without having attached thereto and conspicuously displayed a tag or label including the names of the animals from which the fur was acquired and the country of origin of any imported furs. Used articles of clothing would be exempt from these labeling requirements. The bill would provide that any violation of the labeling requirements is subject to a civil penalty of not more than $500 for the first violation, and not more than $1,000 for each subsequent violation, except as specified.
Existing law provides that a marriage may be solemnized by authorized persons of any religious denomination, by specified legislators, constitutional officers, and California Members of Congress, while those persons are currently holding that office, and by specified justices, judges, and magistrates, both current and retired. This bill would authorize an elected mayor of a city, while that person holds that office, to solemnize a marriage ceremony, and would require the mayor to obtain and review from the county clerk all available instructions for marriage solemnization before the mayor first solemnizes a marriage. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires every employer to provide a reasonable amount of break time to accommodate an employee who desires to express breast milk for the employee's infant child. Existing law requires employers to make reasonable efforts to provide the employee with the use of a room, other than a toilet stall, for the employee to express breast milk, as specified. This bill would authorize an employer to use the designation "Breast-Feeding Mother-Friendly Workplace" in its promotional materials if the employer submits its workplace breast-feeding policy to the Labor Commissioner and the Labor Commissioner determines that the employer's policy provides for specified criteria.
Existing law provides for the regulation of various professions and vocations, including those of an athlete agent. This bill would make it unlawful for any person to hold himself or herself out as a certified athletic trainer unless he or she has been certified by the Board of Certification, Inc., and has either graduated from a college or university, after completing an accredited athletic training education program, as specified, or completed requirements for certification by the Board of Certification, Inc., prior to January 1, 2004. The bill would make it an unfair business practice to violate these provisions.
This measure would recognize the contributions of the automotive aftermarket to the state and consumers and its efforts to educate the motoring public about the benefits of proper vehicle maintenance. The measure also would recognize and support the designation of April as National Car Care Month and encourage all citizens to participate in activities that promote proper vehicle maintenance.
This measure would recognize May 2010 as Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month.