Sen. Ling Ling Chang

The California Constitution generally vests the legislative power of the state in California State Legislature. Existing statutory law establishes in state government various programs and entities relating to business and employment development, private sector investment, and economic development in the state. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would place a moratorium on the enactment of legislation that would result in the net reduction of jobs in the state.

The Personal Income Tax Law imposes taxes on income and provides definitions of specified terms for purposes of that law, including a definition for "taxable year." This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to those provisions.

This measure would proclaim January 26, 2016, as India Republic Day, and would urge all Californians to join in celebrating India Republic Day.

(1) Under existing law, when school employees are terminated pursuant to a reduction in workforce, a school district is required to terminate the employees in order of seniority. Existing law authorizes a school district to deviate from the order of seniority for those purposes for specified reasons. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (2) Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to terminate the services of any permanent or probationary certificated employees of the school district during the time period between 5 days after the enactment of the Budget Act and August 15 of the fiscal year to which the Budget Act applies if the governing board of the school district determines that its total revenue limit per unit of average daily attendance for the fiscal year of that Budget Act has not increased by at least 2%, and if the governing board of the school district determines it is therefore necessary to decrease the number of permanent employees in the school district. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (3) Existing law provides that, when the services of permanent or probationary employees are terminated pursuant to a reduction in workforce, those terminated employees have a preferred right to reappointment and an opportunity for substitute service in order of seniority, as specified. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (4) Existing law prohibits, for purposes of complying with those procedures, a school district from including time spent employed in an administrative position by a certificated employee, who transfers to a teaching position and who was initially employed in an administrative position on or after July 1, 1983, in determining seniority, except in the case of a schoolsite administrator, as specified. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (5) Existing law prohibits a school district from counting as a part of the service required as a condition precedent to the classification of the employee as a permanent employee of the school district the period of absence for certain terminated probationary employees. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (6) Existing law extends the effective period of specified rights, and provides additional rights to certain permanent certificated employees, as specified. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (7) Existing law provides that certain statutory layoff provisions are inapplicable to certain probationary certificated employees who are covered by a collective agreement which contains provisions for the layoff and reassignment of those employees. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. (8) This bill would require, by July 1, 2018, each governing board of a school district, in consultation with the exclusive representative of the certificated staff, if any, to adopt policies regarding the dismissal of permanent and probationary employees when a reduction in workforce is required due to declining enrollment or insufficient funding to be used commencing with the 2018–19 school year. The bill would require those adopted policies to include as a significant factor in determining the order of dismissal the evaluation rating of certificated employees, as specified. The bill would permit a school district to deviate from using the evaluation rating of certificated employees as a significant factor in determining the order of dismissal of certificated employees if the school district demonstrates specified conditions. By requiring school districts to perform additional duties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that, to the extent these provisions conflict with any provision of a collective bargaining agreement entered into before January 1, 2016, by a public school employer and an exclusive bargaining representative, the provisions shall not apply to the school district until the expiration or renewal of that collective bargaining agreement. (9) 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 these statutory provisions.

Existing law governing the state acquisition of telecommunication services and goods, generally requires contracts for the acquisition of those goods and services, whether by lease or purchase, to be made by, or be made under the supervision of, the Department of Technology. This bill would, on and after January 1, 2016, require any contract for the acquisition of telecommunications services, or any renewal of a contract for telecommunications services, for a state agency, as defined, that interacts with, or receives inquiries from, the general public to provide for a queue callback feature, as described.

(1) Existing law requires the State Board of Education to develop guidelines that school districts may use in the development of teacher evaluation procedures, and distribute such guidelines to every school district. This bill would require the state board to revise, update, and adopt guidelines that school districts may use in the development of teacher evaluation procedures by July 1, 2016. The bill would also require that the updated guidelines include a determination of a teacher's overall performance, as specified. (2) Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district or a county board of education, as specified, after a public hearing on the matter, to request the state board to waive all or part of any section of the Education Code or any regulation adopted by the state board that implements a provision of the Education Code that may be waived, except for specified provisions. This bill would prohibit the state board from granting any waiver request by a governing board of a school district if the state board finds that the governing board of the school district is out of compliance with specified requirements relating to teacher evaluation. (3) Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that governing boards of school districts establish a uniform system of evaluation and assessment of the performance of all certificated personnel within each school district of the state. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district to establish standards of expected pupil achievement at each grade level in each area of study and to evaluate and assess certificated employee performance on a continuing basis as it reasonably relates to the progress of pupils toward the established standards and, if applicable, the state adopted academic content standards as measured by state adopted criterion referenced assessments, the instructional techniques and strategies used by the employee, the employee's adherence to curricular objectives, and the establishment and maintenance of a suitable learning environment, within the scope of the employee's responsibilities. Existing law authorizes school district governing boards to develop and adopt additional evaluation and assessment guidelines or criteria. This bill would encourage the governing board of a school district to use peer observation and surveys of parents and pupils as part of the evaluation and assessment guidelines and criteria. (4) Existing law requires that an evaluation and assessment of the performance of a certificated employee be made on a continuing basis, as provided. This bill would instead require an annual evaluation and assessment of the performance of a certificated employee. The bill would require the evaluation and assessment to include a determination of the teacher's performance, as specified. By requiring school districts to perform additional duties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that, to the extent these provisions conflict with any provision of a collective bargaining agreement entered into before January 1, 2016, by a public school employer and an exclusive bargaining representative, the provisions shall not apply to the school district until the expiration or renewal of that collective bargaining agreement. (5) This bill would update cross-references and would make other nonsubstantive changes. (6) 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 these statutory provisions.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing state board regulations require specified entities to comply with a market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2013, and require additional specified entities to comply with that market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2015. This bill would instead exempt those categories of persons or entities that did not have a compliance obligation, as defined, under a market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2013, from being subject to that market-based compliance mechanism through December 31, 2020. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law creates the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to exercise various powers, including, among others, making recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature regarding policies, programs, and actions to advance statewide economic goals. Existing law establishes the Office of Small Business Advocate, within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, that is headed by the Director of the Office of Small Business Advocate who is also referred to as the Small Business Advocate. This bill would require the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, in consultation with the advocate, to establish a process for the ongoing review of existing regulations. The bill would require the review to be primarily focused on regulations affecting small businesses adopted prior to January 1, 2016, to determine whether the regulations could be less administratively burdensome or costly to affected sectors. The bill would require the office to submit the results of its review, including its conclusions and recommendations, to the agency with jurisdiction over the reviewed regulations and to post the same information on its Internet Web site. The bill would also require the office to report to the Legislature and the Governor prior to January 1, 2021, and would repeal all of these requirements on January 1, 2021.

Existing property tax law provides, pursuant to the authority of a specified provision of the California Constitution, for a homeowners' exemption in the amount of $7,000 of the full value of a "dwelling," as defined, and authorizes the Legislature to increase this exemption. This bill, beginning with the lien date for the 2016–17 fiscal year, would increase the homeowners' exemption from $7,000 to $25,000 of the full value of a dwelling. This bill would also require, for the 2017–18 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, the county assessor to adjust the amount of the homeowners' exemption by the percentage change in the House Price Index for California for the first 3 quarters of the prior calendar year, as specified. The California Constitution requires the Legislature, whenever it increases the homeowners' property tax exemption, to provide a comparable increase in benefits to qualified renters. The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including a credit for qualified renters in the amount of $120 for married couples filing joint returns, heads of household, and surviving spouses if adjusted gross income is $50,000 or less, and in the amount of $60 for other individuals if adjusted gross income is $25,000 or less. Existing law requires the Franchise Tax Board to annually adjust for inflation these adjusted gross income amounts. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2016, increase this credit for a qualified renter to $428 for married couples filing joint returns, heads of household, and surviving spouses if adjusted gross income is $50,000 or less, as adjusted for inflation, and to an amount equal to $214 for other individuals if adjusted gross income is $25,000 or less, as adjusted for inflation. The bill would also require, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, the Franchise Tax Board to annually adjust for inflation, based upon the California Consumer Price Index, the amount of these credits. The bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes to the renters' credit. The California Constitution requires the Legislature, in each fiscal year, to reimburse local governments for the revenue losses incurred by those governments in that fiscal year as a result of the homeowners' property tax exemption. 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 these statutory provisions. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law requires a certificated probationary employee to become a permanent employee of a school district if his or her probationary period commenced during the 1983–84 fiscal year or any fiscal year thereafter, the school district has an average daily attendance of 250 pupils or more, the employee completes 2 consecutive school years, and the employee is reelected for the next succeeding school year to a position requiring certification. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2018, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2019. This bill would, after July 1, 2018, require a certificated probationary employee to become a permanent employee of a school district if the school district has an average daily attendance of 250 pupils or more, the employee completes 3 consecutive school years, received 3 consecutive evaluation ratings of effective or better, and is reelected for the next succeeding school year to a position requiring certification. The bill would require a certificated employee to lose permanent status if specified conditions occur. The bill would require school districts to offer a professional growth or remediation plan to certain certificated employees. By requiring school districts to perform additional duties, 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 these statutory provisions. This bill would become operative only if AB 1078 of the 2015–16 Regular Session is also enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2016.