(1) Existing law provides for licensure and regulation of residential care facilities for the elderly by the State Department of Social Services. This bill would require an agency that refers a person to a residential care facility for the elderly to register with the department, as specified, and pay a fee. The bill would require the department to maintain a registry of referral agencies. The bill would require a prescribed disclosure to be given to a client before providing a referral and would specify information that is required to be included on the referral agency's Internet Web site and other marketing materials. The bill would require an employee of a referral agency who will be in direct contact with the subject of placement to obtain either a criminal record clearance or a criminal record exemption from the department before his or her initial contact with a potential resident. The bill would require a referral agency to provide a specified disclosure to a client indicating the number of hours of annual training required of all employees who make referrals to facilities. The bill would require a referral agency to maintain liability insurance coverage in an amount of $1,000,000 per person per occurrence and $2,000,000 in total annual aggregate for negligent acts or omissions by the referral agency or any of its employees. The bill would make these provisions operative on July 1, 2019. The bill would require the department, by July 1, 2019, to develop an enforcement process for referral agencies that do not comply with the requirements described above. The bill would require enforcement measures to include the suspension of, and prohibition against registration for, noncompliant referral agencies. (2) Under existing law, a person who has assumed full or intermittent responsibility for the care or custody of an elder or dependent adult, including administrators, supervisors, and licensed staff of a public or private facility that provides care or services for elder or dependent adults, or an elder or dependent adult care custodian, health practitioner, clergy member, or employee of a county adult protective services agency or a local law enforcement agency, is a mandated reporter of elder or dependent adult abuse. Under existing law, a mandated reporter who, in the scope of his or her employment, has observed or has knowledge of an incident that reasonably appears to be physical abuse, abandonment, abduction, isolation, financial abuse, or neglect, or is told by an elder or dependent adult that he or she has experienced these behaviors, is required to report the abuse immediately or as soon as practicably possible. The failure to report on the part of a mandated reporter is a crime. This bill would make an owner, operator, or employee of a referral agency a mandated reporter of elder or dependent adult abuse. By expanding the definition of a crime, 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.
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Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. With certain exceptions, whenever any electrical, gas, heat, telephone, water, or sewer system corporation files an application to change any rate for the services or commodities furnished by it, existing law requires that the corporation furnish its customers notice of its application to the commission for approval of the new rate. The notice is required to state the amount of the proposed rate change expressed in both dollar and percentage terms for the entire rate change and for each customer class. This bill would specifically require electrical and gas corporations to include in those rate change applications and the customer notice estimated cumulative and annual rate and bill impacts on each customer class served by the corporation. Existing law prohibits any street railroad corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telegraph corporation, telephone corporation, water corporation, or sewer system corporation from beginning the construction of, among other things, a line, plant, or system, or of any extension thereof, without having first obtained from the commission a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity require or will require that construction. This bill would require an electrical or gas corporation to include in an application, other than a general rate case application, to authorize an investment greater than $50,000,000 an estimate of the total revenues to be collected from ratepayers over the life of the investment, including a separate itemization of the amount of profits and taxes in the total revenues. Existing law requires the commission to submit various reports to the Legislature, legislative committees, and the Governor, as specified. This bill would require the commission to annually report in writing to the Legislature information pertaining to pending and previously approved changes to the revenue requirements of electrical and gas corporations. The bill would require the report to include, separately for each electrical and gas corporation, information regarding pending requests for a change to a corporation's revenue requirement, and commission decisions and resolutions made within the previous 5 years that affected a corporation's revenue requirement. The bill would require the commission to make the report publicly available in written form upon written request by a member of the public and on the commission's Internet Web site. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill are within the act, these provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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.
The Personal Income Tax Law excludes from the gross income of an employee amounts paid or incurred by an employer for educational assistance to the employee, as specified, up to $5,250 during a calendar year. This bill would exclude from the gross income of an employee amounts, not exceeding an aggregate amount of $5,250 per year, that are paid or incurred by an employer on and after January 1, 2018, and before January 1, 2023, for the payment of principal or interest on a qualified education loan, as defined, incurred by the employee. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing property tax law requires the county auditor, in each fiscal year, to allocate property tax revenue to local jurisdictions in accordance with specified formulas and procedures, and generally provides that each jurisdiction be allocated an amount equal to the total of the amount of revenue allocated to that jurisdiction in the prior fiscal year, subject to certain modifications, and that jurisdiction's portion of the annual tax increment, as defined. Existing property tax law also requires that, for purposes of determining property tax revenue allocations in each county for the 1992–93 and 1993–94 fiscal years, the amounts of property tax revenue deemed allocated in the prior fiscal year to the county, cities, and special districts be reduced in accordance with certain formulas. It requires that the revenues not allocated to the county, cities, and special districts as a result of these reductions be transferred to the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund in that county for allocation to school districts, community college districts, and the county office of education. Beginning with the 2004–05 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, existing law requires that each city, county, and city and county receive additional property tax revenues in the form of a vehicle license fee adjustment amount, as defined, from a Vehicle License Fee Property Tax Compensation Fund that exists in each county treasury. Existing law requires that these additional allocations be funded from ad valorem property tax revenues otherwise required to be allocated to educational entities. Existing law, for the 2006–07 fiscal year, and for each fiscal year thereafter, requires the vehicle license fee adjustment amount to be the sum of the vehicle license fee adjustment amount for the prior fiscal year, if specified provisions did not apply, and the product of that sum and the percentage change from the prior fiscal year in the gross taxable valuation within the jurisdiction of the entity. Existing law establishes a separate vehicle license fee adjustment amount for a city that was incorporated after January 1, 2004, or on or before January 1, 2012. This bill, for the 2018–19 fiscal year, would instead require the vehicle license fee adjustment amount to be the sum of the vehicle license fee adjustment amount in the 2017–18 fiscal year, the product of that sum and the percentage change in gross taxable assessed valuation within the jurisdiction of that entity between the 2017–18 fiscal year to the 2018–19 fiscal year, and the product of the amount of specified motor vehicle license fee revenues that the Controller allocated to the applicable city in July 2010 and 1.17. This bill, for the 2019–20 fiscal year, and for each fiscal year thereafter, would require the vehicle license fee adjustment amount to be the sum of the vehicle license fee adjustment amount for the prior fiscal year and the product of the amount as so described and the percentage change from the prior fiscal year in gross taxable assessed valuation within the jurisdiction of the entity. By imposing additional duties upon local tax officials with respect to the allocation of ad valorem property tax revenues, 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
The federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 provides for various workforce investment activities and requires that local workforce development boards be established in each local area of a state, which are required to submit a local plan that meets specified requirements. Existing law establishes local workforce development boards to perform duties related to the implementation and coordination of local workforce development activities and requires each local board to perform specified duties consistent with the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, including leading efforts to engage with a diverse range of employers and with entities in the region involved to do specified things. This bill would also require a local board to lead those efforts in order to provide support to the efforts of employers to align with public contracting needs in a manner that will support local workforce opportunities. By increasing the duties of the local workforce development board, 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law requires each county to provide cash assistance and other social services to needy families through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program using federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program, state, and county funds. Existing law establishes the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, under which counties provide payments to foster care providers on behalf of qualified children in foster care. Under existing law, a child who is placed in the approved home of a relative is eligible for AFDC-FC if he or she is eligible for federal financial participation in the AFDC-FC payment, as specified. Existing law establishes the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Program (ARC) for the purpose of making the amount paid to relative caregivers for the in-home care of children placed with them who are ineligible for AFDC-FC payments equal to the amount paid on behalf of children who are eligible for AFDC-FC payments. Existing law provides for the temporary or emergency placement of dependent children of the juvenile court and nonminor dependents with relative caregivers or nonrelative extended family members under specified circumstances. Existing law requires counties, until June 30, 2018, to provide an emergency assistance payment or ARC payment to an emergency caregiver who meets specified requirements, and is caring for a child or nonminor dependent placed in the caregiver's home under specified circumstances, if the child or nonminor dependent resides in California, and is not otherwise eligible for AFDC-FC or ARC. Existing law requires the payments to be made either through ARC or through the TANF block grant emergency assistance program for child welfare services, as specified. This bill would extend indefinitely the requirement that counties provide an emergency assistance payment or ARC payment to an emergency caregiver, but would remove the requirement that the child or nonminor dependent reside in California and not otherwise be eligible for AFDC-FC or ARC. Existing law provides for the implementation of the resource family approval process, which replaces the multiple processes for licensing foster family homes, certifying foster homes by foster family agencies, approving relatives and nonrelative extended family members as foster care providers, and approving guardians and adoptive families. Existing law defines a resource family as an individual or family that has successfully met both home environment assessment standards and permanency assessment criteria, as specified, necessary for providing care for a child placed by a public or private child placement agency by court order, or voluntarily placed by a parent or legal guardian. This bill would authorize a county to waive the permanency assessment criteria and approve an individual or family as a resource family upon completion of a home environment assessment if exceptional circumstances exist, as specified. The bill would require the county to document the reason for the waiver and indicate its applicability to a specific child. The bill would require the permanency assessment to be completed as soon as possible and no later than the annual update of the resource family approval. This bill would require a county welfare department, immediately following the placement of a child in the home of a relative or nonrelative extended family member who has not been approved as a resource family, to initiate funding through an emergency assistance payment or ARC payment, as specified. By expanding the duties of counties relating to foster care, 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.
Existing law requires the Department of Technology, on or before July 1, 2018, to update the Technology Recovery Plan element of the State Administrative Manual to ensure the inclusion of cybersecurity strategy incident response standards for each state agency, as specified. Existing law authorizes a local entity that receives state funds for the purposes of storing, sharing, or transmitting data, or in support of an information technology project with a state entity, to submit a Technology Recovery Plan, upon request of the Department of Technology. This bill would create the Office of Local Cloud Migration and Digital Innovation in the Department of Technology. The bill would require the office to promote the use of technologies including, but not limited to, cloud-based computing and data storage that will assist local agencies in their efforts to further transparency, efficiency, disaster preparedness and response, as well as general accessibility to the public. The bill would require the office to operate in partnership with private industry and the nonprofit community to maximize the assistance provided to local agencies. The bill would create the Local Cloud Migration and Digital Innovation Local Assistance Fund for the purpose of receipt of donations from private industry and the nonprofit community, and funds directly allocated by the Legislature, and would make money in the fund available to the office, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the above-described purposes.
The Personal Income Tax Law, beginning on or after January 1, 2015, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows an earned income tax credit against personal income tax and a payment from the Tax Relief and Refund Account for an allowable credit in excess of tax liability, to an eligible individual that is equal to that portion of the earned income tax credit allowed by federal law as determined by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor, as specified. An "eligible individual" is defined to include specified individuals, and provides that, if a person does not have a qualifying child, he or she must be between 25 and 65 years of age at the end of the taxable year. Additionally existing law, in conformity with federal income tax laws, requires the taxpayer and the qualifying child to have a social security number to be eligible for the credit. This bill, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2019, would revise the age requirement for the definition of an "eligible individual," with regard to persons who do not have a qualifying child, to require solely that the person must have attained 18 years of age. The bill, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2019, would require the taxpayer and the qualifying child to have a social security number or a federal individual taxpayer identification number in order to be eligible for the earned income tax credit. Existing law establishes the continuously appropriated Tax Relief and Refund Account and provides that payments required to be made to taxpayers or other persons from the Personal Income Tax Fund are to be paid from that account, including any amount to be paid as an earned income tax credit in excess of any tax liabilities. This bill, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2019, would authorize new payments from that account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for additional amounts in excess of personal income tax liabilities. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law, the California Cultural and Historical Endowment Act, establishes the California Cultural and Historical Endowment in the Natural Resources Agency. Among other things, the act authorizes the endowment to make grants and loans on a competitive basis to public agencies and nonprofit organizations, as defined, to encourage development of California's historical and cultural resources. Existing law establishes the Museum and Cultural Resources Program, under the administration of the endowment, to assist and enhance the services of California's museums and of other groups and institutions that undertake cultural projects that are deeply rooted in and reflective of previously underserved communities. This bill would establish the California Museums for All program, under the administration of the endowment. The bill would require a museum, as defined, participating in the program to offer free to $3 admission fees during its normal hours of operation for each person who presents an electronic benefits transfer card and a current and valid photo identification, and up to 3 guests who are accompanying that person. Under the bill, a participating museum would be eligible to receive a grant from the endowment to enhance its programs and exhibits to meet the needs of underserved communities or to provide its staff with adequate training and provide resources for collaborative outreach to low-income communities.
This measure would declare the support of the Legislature for the expansion of sensory-friendly movie screenings and similar programs for people with autism, and would encourage families to attend a sensory-friendly movie screening during April 2018, which is National Autism Awareness Month.