This measure designates Diane F. Boyer-Vine as the Legislative Counsel of California.
This measure would proclaim the week of January 27, 2013, through February 2, 2013, as School Choice Week.
Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies. This bill would require each agency to review each regulation adopted prior to January 1, 2014, and to develop a report with prescribed information to be submitted to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2016. The bill would also require each agency, on or before January 1, 2021, and at least every 5 years thereafter, to conduct additional reviews of regulations that have been in effect for at least 20 years, as specified, and to submit an annual report to the Legislature that identifies the regulations reviewed during that year and the associated findings.
The California Constitution prohibits a bill other than the Budget Bill from being heard or acted on by a committee or either house of the Legislature until the 31st day after the bill is introduced, unless the house dispenses with this requirement by rollcall vote entered in the journal, 34 of the membership concurring. This measure would add an additional exception to this 31-day waiting period by authorizing a committee to hear or act on a bill if the bill, in the form to be considered by the committee, has been in print and published on the Internet for at least 15 days. Existing provisions of the California Constitution prohibit either house of the Legislature from passing a bill until the bill with amendments has been printed and distributed to the Members. This measure would also prohibit either house of the Legislature from passing a bill until the bill, in the form to be voted on, has been made available to the public, in print and published on the Internet, for at least 72 hours preceding the vote. This requirement would not apply to specified urgency bills upon the submission by the Governor to the Legislature of a written statement that it is necessary to dispense with the requirement to address a state of emergency declared by the Governor.
This measure would commemorate June 6, 2013, as the 35th anniversary of the approval of Proposition 13 by California voters.
Existing law provides that, when the services of employees are terminated pursuant to a reduction in workforce, a school district is required to terminate the employees in order of seniority. Existing law further provides those employees with a preferred right to reappointment and an opportunity for substitute service in order of seniority. Existing law authorizes a school district to deviate from the order of seniority for those purposes for specified reasons, including if the school district demonstrates a specific need for personnel to teach a specific course or course of study and the certificated employee has special training and experience necessary to teach that course or course of study that others with more seniority do not possess. This bill would provide that the specific course or course of study for which a school district may deviate from the order of seniority for purposes of termination, reappointment, and the opportunity for substitute service includes, but is not limited to, a career pathways program. The bill would also make numerous nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
(1) The Ralph M. Brown Act requires that all meetings of a legislative body, as defined, of a local agency be open and public and all persons be permitted to attend unless a closed session is authorized. The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a state body be open and public and all persons be permitted to attend. This bill, with respect to the operation of the charter school only, would clarify that the governing body of a charter school is subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act, unless it is operated by an entity governed by the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, in which case the charter school would be subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. (2) The California Public Records Act requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection and to make copies available upon request and payment of a fee unless the records are exempt from disclosure. This bill, with respect to the operation of the charter school only, would clarify that the governing body of a charter school is subject to the California Public Records Act. (3) Existing law prohibits certain public officials, including, but not limited to, members of governing boards of school districts and citizens' oversight committees, from engaging in specified activities that are inconsistent or incompatible with, or inimical to, their duties as public officials, including, but not limited to, entering into a contract in which the official or the official's family member has a financial interest, as specified. This bill, with respect to the operation of the charter school only, would clarify that the governing body of a charter school is subject to these provisions unless the charter school is operated as, or operated by, a nonprofit public benefit corporation. (4) Existing law also prohibits certain self-dealing transactions, as defined, in which a nonprofit public benefit corporation is a party and in which one or more of its directors has a material financial interest, as specified. This bill would, notwithstanding the self-dealing provision described above for nonprofit public benefit corporations, impose certain requirements on the governing body of a charter school and a member of the governing body of a charter school if the charter school and the member enter into a loan agreement, real property lease agreement, or a guarantor agreement for a line of credit or real property lease, as specified. (5) The Political Reform Act of 1974 requires every state agency and local governmental agency to adopt a conflict-of-interest code, formulated at the most decentralized level possible, that requires designated employees of the agency to file statements of economic interest disclosing any investments, business positions, interests in real property, or sources of income that may foreseeably be affected materially by any governmental decision made or participated in by the designated employee by virtue of his or her position. This bill, with respect to the operation of the charter school only, would clarify that the governing body of a charter school is subject to the Political Reform Act of 1974. (6) This bill would state various exceptions and clarifications regarding the applicability of the acts described above in paragraphs (1) to (3) , inclusive, and (5) . (7) Existing law requires a member of the governing board of a school district to abstain from voting on personnel matters that uniquely affect a relative of the member. This bill would require a member of the governing body of a charter school to abstain from voting on, or influencing or attempting to influence another member of the governing body of the charter school regarding, personnel matters that uniquely affect a relative, as defined, of the member but would authorize the member to vote on collective bargaining agreements and personnel matters that affect a class of employees to which the relative belongs. The bill would prohibit a person who is disqualified from holding a civil office from serving on the governing body of a charter school. (8) This bill would make the above provisions operative on July 1, 2015.
(1) Article XVI of the California Constitution requires a general obligation bond act to specify the single object or work to be funded by the bonds, and further requires a bond act to be approved by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and by a majority of the voters. Article XVI authorizes the Legislature, at any time after the approval of a general obligation bond act by the voters, to reduce the amount of the indebtedness authorized by the act to an amount not less than the amount contracted at the time of the reduction. Existing law, the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, approved by the voters as Proposition 1A at the November 4, 2008, statewide general election, provides for the issuance of $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds for high-speed rail and related rail purposes. This bill, subject to voter approval, would amend the bond act to provide that no further bonds shall be sold for high-speed rail and related rail purposes, and would also explicitly authorize the net proceeds received from outstanding bonds issued and sold prior to the effective date of these provisions, upon appropriation, to be redirected from those high-speed rail purposes to retiring the debt incurred from the issuance and sale of those outstanding bonds. The bill would direct the Secretary of State to submit these provisions to the voters on the ballot of the November 4, 2014, statewide general election. The bill would also provide that, until November 5, 2014, bond funds made available pursuant to the bond act shall not be expended for high-speed rail purposes, and no additional bonds shall be issued or sold pursuant to the bond act. (2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would designate Monday, May 5, 2014, as California Peace Officers' Memorial Day, urge all Californians to use that day to honor California peace officers, and recognize specified California peace officers who were killed in defense of their communities.
