Sen. Bob Huff

Existing law provides that any person, firm, or corporation, and their lessees, trustees, or receivers, who sell, lease, rent, or deliver water to any person, firm, corporation, municipality, or any other political subdivision of the state, whether under contract or otherwise, is a public utility, and is subject to the provisions of the Public Utilities Act and to the jurisdiction, control, and regulation of the Public Utilities Commission, except as specified. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision.

Existing law authorizes local authorities and the Department of Transportation to establish exclusive or preferential use of highway lanes for high-occupancy vehicles. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision of law.

(1) Existing law classifies controlled substances into 5 schedules, with the most restrictive limitations placed on controlled substances classified in Schedule I, and the least restrictive limitations placed on controlled substances classified in Schedule V. A controlled substance in any of the schedules may be possessed or dispensed only upon a lawful prescription, as specified. Existing law does not classify ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norpseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine within any of these 5 schedules, but provides that it is a crime, punishable as specified, for a person in this state who engages in specified transactions involving those drugs to fail to submit a report to the Department of Justice of all of those transactions, or to fail to submit an application to, and obtain a permit for the conduct of that business from, the Department of Justice, as specified. Existing law prohibits the sale of more than 3 packages or 9 grams of a nonprescription product containing ephedrine or the other drugs, as specified. This bill would instead provide that it is a misdemeanor, punishable as specified, for any retail distributor, except pursuant to a valid prescription from a licensed practitioner with prescriptive authority, to sell or distribute to a person specified amounts of nonprescription products containing ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norpseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine within specified time limits, to sell or distribute any of those substances to a person whose information has generated an alert, or, except under specified conditions, to sell or distribute to any purchaser a nonprescription product containing any amount of those substances. The bill would contain provisions requiring the secure storage of products containing any amount of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, norpseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine and providing for the creation of an electronic authorization and monitoring system for the collection of, access to, and sharing of information regarding these transactions, as specified. The bill would provide that the information in the system may not be used for any purpose other than to meet the requirements of, or comply with, this act or a certain federal act, as specified. The bill would specify legislative findings, declarations, and intent. The bill's provisions would remain in effect only until January 1, 2017. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) 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.

Under existing law, businesses are required to obtain various licenses from regulatory agencies. Existing law also requires state agencies to take specified actions, including, but not limited to, designating a small business liaison to assist small businesses to comply with statutory and regulatory requirements. This bill would create the Business Master License Center, which would have prescribed duties, including, but not limited to, developing and administering a computerized one-stop master license system capable of storing, retrieving, and exchanging license information, as well as issuing and renewing master licenses, as specified. The bill would permit the Governor to appoint a 3rd-party facilitator from the business community, to provide oversight over the creation of the center and the development of its master license system. This bill would charge license applicants, in addition to any other fees or deposits required to obtain a particular license, a master license administrative fee in specified amounts, to be deposited into the Business Master License Fund, which this bill would create. This bill would require that the moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be used only to administer the Business Master License Center.

(1) Existing law establishes the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009, which, among other things, provides for student protections and regulatory oversight of private postsecondary schools in the state. Existing law establishes the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education to regulate private postsecondary institutions through the powers granted, and the duties imposed, by the act. This bill would prohibit the bureau, for the period July 1, 2010, to July 1, 2011, inclusive, from enforcing the act against institutions that offer flight instruction or institutions that offer Federal Aviation Administration certified educational programs in aircraft maintenance. The bill would also require those institutions to notify the bureau if they operate during that period. (2) The act prohibits institutions, as defined, from performing various actions. This bill would prohibit an institution from offering an unaccredited doctoral degree program without disclosing to prospective students that the degree program is unaccredited, and any known limitation of the unaccredited degree, including, but not limited to, whether the degree is recognized for licensure or certification in other states. (3) The act prohibits an ability-to-benefit student, defined as a student who does not have a certificate of graduation from a school providing secondary education, or a recognized equivalent of that certificate, from enrolling in an institution unless the student achieves a specified score on an independently administered examination from a specified list of examinations prescribed by the United States Department of Education that demonstrates that the student may benefit from the education and training being offered. This bill would authorize the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education to publish its own list of acceptable examinations if the United States Department of Education does not have a list of relevant examinations that pertain to the intended occupational training. (4) The act requires specified private postsecondary institutions to refund 100% of the amount paid for institutional charges, less specified expenses, if notice of cancellation is made through attendance at the first class session, or the 7th class day after enrollment, whichever is later. This bill would change the 2nd deadline for notice of cancellation from the 7th class day after enrollment to the 7th day after enrollment. (5) Existing law defines "graduates employed in the field," for purposes of the act, as graduates who are gainfully employed within 6 months of graduation in a position for which the skills obtained through the education and training provided by the institution are required or provided a significant advantage to the graduate in obtaining the position. This bill would revise this definition to remove skills obtained that have provided a significant advantage to the graduate in obtaining the position, and include skills that are utilized to perform the purpose or objective of the position or the major responsibilities of the position. (6) Existing law appropriates $580,000 from the Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Administration Fund to the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, for the purpose of funding 5 private postsecondary education specialist and senior specialist positions. This bill would require those positions to be permanent, full-time positions to perform work in conformity with the classification specifications as directed by the bureau chief. (7) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes the California State University and provides for its administration by the Trustees of the California State University. Existing law requires the trustees to provide by rule for the government of their appointees and employees. The bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that requirement.

Existing law governs commercial contracts for the sale of goods and specifies damages that a buyer is entitled to recover upon a seller's breach, including incidental and consequential damages. Consequential damages include any loss resulting from requirements and needs of which the seller had reason to know and that could not be prevented by the buyer through obtaining substitute goods, and injury to person or property proximately resulting from any breach of warranty. This bill would provide that a seller is only liable for consequential damages to a buyer in an action for breach of warranty alleging that a product is defective if the seller is (1) the manufacturer of the product, (2) exercised substantial control over that aspect or aspects of the design, testing, manufacture, packaging, or labeling of the product, (3) altered or modified the product and that action was a substantial factor in causing the harm, or (4) had actual or constructive knowledge of the defect as specified.

Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of registered nurses by the Board of Registered Nursing and makes a violation of the act a crime. Existing law requires a licensee renewing his or her license to submit proof to the board that during a specified time the licensee has been informed of developments in the registered nursing field either by pursuing a continuing education course offered by a provider approved by the board or by other means deemed equivalent by the board. Existing law requires the board to establish, by regulation, standards for continuing education. Existing law requires these standards to make a variety of alternative forms of continuing education available to licensees. Existing law requires the content of all courses of continuing education to be relevant to the practice of nursing. This bill would provide that continuing education courses, as specified, that advance or promote labor organizing on behalf of a union, or that advance or promote statutory or regulatory changes, political candidates, political advocacy, or political strategy shall not be considered content relevant to the practice of nursing and shall not be acceptable for meeting requirements for licensure renewal. The bill would also prohibit an approved provider from representing that such a continuing education course is acceptable for meeting requirements for licensure renewal and would require the board, subject to specified procedural requirements, to withdraw its approval of a provider that violates that requirement for no less than 5 years, as specified. Because a violation of these requirements by a provider would constitute a crime, the 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

This measure would call upon the State Air Resources Board, prior to any regulatory action being taken consistent with the scoping plan for the implementation of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, to perform an economic analysis that will give the State of California a more complete and accurate picture of the costs and benefits of the act's implementation. The measure would also call upon the Governor to use the authority granted by the act to adjust any applicable deadlines for regulations.

This bill would urge the President of the United States and the Congress to employ necessary measures to ensure that no terrorist or suspected terrorist detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is permitted to enter California in custody or otherwise.