Sen. Bill Dodd

Existing law, until July 1, 2023, authorizes the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, in consultation with the California State University and the University of California, to establish a statewide baccalaureate degree pilot program. Existing law requires a district baccalaureate degree pilot program to commence by the beginning of the 2017–18 academic year and requires a student participating in a baccalaureate degree pilot program to complete his or her degree by the end of the 2022–23 academic year. This bill would extend the operation of the statewide baccalaureate degree pilot program until July 1, 2028, and would extend the time by which a student participating in a baccalaureate degree pilot program is required to complete his or her degree to the end of the 2027–28 academic year.

Existing law authorizes proceedings for the formation of a regional park and open-space or regional open-space district in specified counties in the state to be initiated by resolution of the county board of supervisors adopted after a noticed hearing, and specifies the contents of the resolution. This bill, in addition, would authorize the formation of a regional district in the County of Solano to be initiated by resolution of the county board of supervisors after a noticed hearing. The bill would specify the contents of the resolution, including a requirement that the resolution call an election, as prescribed.

Existing law, the Water Rights Permitting Reform Act of 1988, authorizes a person to obtain a right to appropriate water for a small domestic use, small irrigation use, or livestock stockpond use upon first registering the use, as those uses are defined by the act, with the State Water Resources Control Board and thereafter applying the water to reasonable and beneficial use with due diligence. The act requires the registration of water use to be made upon a form prescribed by the board that requires, among other things, a certification that the registrant has contacted a representative of the Department of Fish and Wildlife and has agreed to comply with conditions set forth by the department. The act requires the board to establish reasonable general conditions to which all appropriations made pursuant to the act are required to be subject, including, among other things, that all conditions lawfully required by the department are conditions upon the appropriations. The act provides that the board is not required to adopt general conditions for small irrigation use until the board determines that funds are available for that purpose, and that a registration for small irrigation use pursuant to the act is not authorized until the board establishes general conditions for small irrigation use to protect instream beneficial uses, as specified. This bill would require the board to give priority to adopting, on or before June 30, 2021, except as provided, general conditions that permit a registrant to store water for small irrigation use during times of high streamflow in exchange for the registrant reducing diversions during periods of low streamflow, as specified. The bill would require that the actions of the board under these provisions be deemed an action taken for the protection of the environment for purposes of specified California Environmental Quality Act guidelines, if those actions do not result in the relaxation of streamflow standards. Existing law exempts certain stream segments subject to certain minimum streamflow requirements from the provisions of the act upon proper registration. This bill, if the Director of Fish and Wildlife establishes proposed streamflow requirements for a stream segment, as specified, would instead prohibit the authorization of a registration for that stream segment until the board establishes instream flow requirements as a part of the general conditions applicable to that stream segment. The bill would require that the establishment of those instream flow requirements be done after the board considers the proposed streamflow requirements, if proposed by the director. Existing law prohibits an entity from substantially diverting or obstructing the natural flow of, or substantially changing or using any material from the bed, channel, or bank of, any river, stream, or lake, or from depositing certain material where it may pass into any river, stream, or lake, without first notifying the department of that activity and entering into a lake or streambed alteration agreement, if required by the department to protect fish and wildlife resources. Existing law exempts certain routine maintenance and operation activities from those requirements after the initial notification and agreement, certain emergency activities from those notification and agreement requirements and certain activities authorized by a license or renewed license issued for cannabis cultivation from those agreement requirements. Existing law authorizes the department to establish a graduated schedule of fees to be charged to any entity subject to the notification and agreement provisions and requires any fees received to be deposited into the Fish and Game Preservation Fund. This bill would exempt an entity from the requirement to enter into a lake or streambed alteration agreement with the department if the entity submits a board-approved registration or renewed or amended registration for water use to the department and the department determines certain requirements are met, including, the payment of a fee required for a lake or streambed alteration agreement and the submission of a copy of any department conditions imposed for the registration for water use. With respect to the submission of a renewed or amended registration, the bill would require the department to modify the existing conditions, or add new conditions, which would become part of the renewed or amended registration, if the department determines the conditions for the use will not protect fish and wildlife resources that may be substantially adversely affected by the activity authorized by the renewed or amended registration. If the department determines that an entity has failed to comply with these conditions, the exemption, upon written notice by the department, would no longer apply and the entity would be required to comply with the regular notice and agreement requirements.

The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act of 2016 (AUMA) , an initiative measure enacted by the approval of Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. MAUCRSA generally divides responsibility for the state licensure and regulation of commercial cannabis activity among the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Depart of Food and Agriculture, and the State Department of Public Health and requires those state licensing authorities to begin issuing licenses by January 1, 2108. AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend its provisions with a 23 vote of both houses to further its purposes and intent. MAUCRSA requires an applicant for a state license under MAUCRSA to provide to the licensing authority specified information, including a statement, signed by the applicant under penalty of perjury, that the information provided is complete, true, and accurate. This bill would require an applicant for a state license under MAUCRSA to provide a statement that the applicant employs, or will employ within one year of receiving a license, an employee who has successfully completed a federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration 10-hour general industry course. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would declare that its provisions further specified purposes and intent of AUMA. 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 the adopted course of study for grades 1 to 6, inclusive, and for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses in specified areas of study, including social sciences. Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks to the State Board of Education. This bill would require the commission to develop, and the state board to adopt, reject, or modify, a model curriculum in media literacy for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. The bill would require the commission to submit the model curriculum to the state board on or before January 1, 2019, and would require the state board to adopt, reject, or modify the model curriculum on or before March 31, 2019, in accordance with specified procedural requirements. The bill would require the State Department of Education to make available on its Internet Web site a list of resources and instructional materials on media literacy, including media literacy professional development programs for teachers.

Existing state sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. The Sales and Use Tax Law provides various exemptions from those taxes, including an exemption for the sale of, or the storage, use, or other consumption of, meals and food products that are furnished or served by any nonprofit veteran's organization for purposes of fundraising, as specified. This bill, on and after April 1, 2017, and before January 1, 2023, would exempt from these taxes the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, building materials and supplies purchased by a qualified person for use by that qualified person in the construction of specified military and veteran medical facilities. The bill would make a legislative finding and declaration that the retroactive application of the bill serves a public purpose and does not constitute a gift of public funds. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes cities and counties to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing laws authorize districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which generally conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to the Sales and Use Tax Law are automatically incorporated into the local tax laws. Existing law requires the state to reimburse cities and counties for revenue losses caused by the enactment of sales and use tax exemptions. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding these provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse cities and counties for sales and use tax revenues lost by them pursuant to this bill.

(1) Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the State Water Resources Control Board to administer provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health. Existing law declares it to be the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes. This bill would establish the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund in the State Treasury and would provide that moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to the state board. The bill would require the board to administer the fund to secure access to safe drinking water for all Californians, while also ensuring the long-term sustainability of drinking water service and infrastructure. The bill would authorize the state board to provide for the deposit into the fund of federal contributions, voluntary contributions, gifts, grants, bequests, and settlements from parties responsible for contamination of drinking water supplies. The bill would require the state board to expend moneys in the fund for grants, loans, contracts, or services to assist eligible applicants with projects relating to the provision of safe and affordable drinking water consistent with a fund implementation plan adopted annually by the state board, as prescribed. The bill would require the state board annually to prepare and make available a report of expenditures of the fund and to adopt annually, after a public hearing, an assessment of funding need that estimates the anticipated funding needed for the next fiscal year to achieve the purposes of the fund. The bill would require, by January 1, 2019, the state board, in consultation with local health officers and other relevant stakeholders, to make available a map of aquifers that are used or likely to be used as a source of drinking water that are at high risk of containing contaminants. For purposes of the map, the bill would require local health officers and other relevant local agencies to provide all results of, and data associated with, water quality testing performed by certified laboratories to the board, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local health officers and local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. By creating a new continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (2) Existing law, the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges. This bill would impose, until July 1, 2020, a safe and affordable drinking water fee in specified amounts on each customer of a public water system, to be administered by the state board, in consultation with the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, in accordance with the Fee Collection Procedures Law. The bill would exempt from the fee a customer that self-certifies under penalty of perjury the customer's satisfaction of specified criteria relating to income. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require, beginning July 1, 2020, the state board to annually determine the amounts of the safe and affordable drinking water fee not to exceed the amounts imposed until July 1, 2020, and not to exceed the anticipated funding need in the most recent assessment of funding need adopted by the state board pursuant to the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund provisions, as prescribed. The bill would require the state board, by July 1, 2020, to adopt regulations, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, relating to an exemption from the fee for low-income households, as specified. The bill would require a public water system to collect the fee and to remit these moneys to the state board to be deposited into the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund. The bill would authorize a public water system to apply to the state board to use an alternative method to calculate the fee. By expanding the application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law that imposes criminal penalties for various acts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires every person who manufactures or distributes fertilizing materials to be licensed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture and to pay a license fee that does not exceed $300. Existing law requires every lot, parcel, or package of fertilizing material to have a label attached to it, as required by the secretary. Existing law requires a licensee who sells or distributes bulk fertilizing materials to pay to the secretary an assessment not to exceed $0.002 per dollar of sales for all sales of fertilizing materials, as prescribed, for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of provisions relating to fertilizing materials. In addition to that assessment, existing law authorizes the secretary to impose an assessment in an amount not to exceed $0.001 per dollar of sales for all sales of fertilizing materials for the purpose of providing funding for research and education regarding the use of fertilizing materials. Existing law specifies that a violation of the fertilizing material laws or the regulations adopted pursuant to those laws is a misdemeanor. This bill, until January 1, 2033, would require a licensee to pay to the secretary a fertilizer safe drinking water fee of $0.005 per dollar of sale for all sales of fertilizing materials. The bill, on and after January 1, 2033, would reduce the fee to $0.002 per dollar of sale and would authorize the secretary to reduce the fee as necessary to not exceed the anticipated funding need in the most recent assessment of funding need adopted by the board pursuant to the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund provisions. The bill would require these moneys to be deposited into the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund. The bill would authorize the secretary to adopt regulations relating to the administration and enforcement of these provisions. Because a violation of these provisions or regulations adopted pursuant to these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law regulates the production, handling, and marketing of milk and dairy products and requires every milk handler subject to that regulatory scheme to pay specified assessments and fees to the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to cover the costs of regulating milk. Existing law governing milk defines "handler" as any person who, either directly or indirectly, receives, purchases, or otherwise acquires ownership, possession, or control of market milk from a producer, a producer-handler, or another handler for the purpose of manufacture, processing, sale, or other handling. Existing law defines "market milk" as milk conforming to specified standards and "manufacturing milk" as milk that does not conform to the requirements of market milk. Existing law provides that a violation of that regulatory scheme or a regulation adopted pursuant to that regulatory scheme is a misdemeanor. This bill would require, beginning January 1, 2020, until January 1, 2035, each handler subject to that regulatory scheme to deduct from payments made to producers for market and manufacturing milk the sum of $0.01355 per hundredweight of milk as a dairy safe drinking water fee. On and after January 1, 2035, the bill would reduce the fee to $0.00678 per hundredweight of milk and would authorize the secretary to reduce the fee as necessary to not exceed the anticipated funding need in the most recent assessment of funding need adopted by the board pursuant to the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund provisions. The bill would require these moneys to be deposited into the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund. The bill would authorize the secretary to take specified enforcement actions and would require the secretary to adopt regulations for the administration and enforcement of these provisions. Because a violation of these provisions or regulations adopted pursuant to these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Under the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the State Water Resources Control Board and the California regional water quality control boards are the principal state agencies with authority over matters relating to water quality. The act requires the state board to formulate and adopt state policies for water quality control and requires the regional boards to adopt regional water quality control plans in compliance with the state policies. Under the act, the state board and the regional boards prescribe waste discharge requirements for the discharge of waste that could affect the quality of the waters of the state. The act requires, upon the order of a regional board, a person who has caused or permitted, causes or permits, or threatens to cause or permit any waste to be discharged or deposited where it is, or probably will be, discharged into the waters of the state and creates, or threatens to create, a condition of pollution or nuisance, to clean up the waste or abate the effects of the waste, or in the case of threatened pollution or nuisance, to take other remedial action. This bill would prohibit the state board or a regional board, until January 1, 2028, from subjecting an agricultural operation, as defined, to specified enforcement for causing or contributing to an exceedance of a water quality objective for nitrate in groundwater or for causing or contributing to a condition of pollution or nuisance for nitrates in groundwater if that agricultural operation demonstrates that it has satisfied certain mitigation requirements, including, among other requirements, the timely payment of the fertilizer safe drinking water fee or the dairy safe drinking water fee, as applicable, into the fund. The bill would prohibit the state board or a regional board, beginning January 1, 2028, until January 1, 2033, from subjecting an agricultural operation to specified enforcement for creating or threatening to create a condition of pollution or nuisance for nitrate in groundwater if that agricultural operation demonstrates that it has satisfied the prescribed mitigation requirements. The bill would require the state board, by January 1, 2027, to conduct a public review of regulatory and basin plan amendment implementation programs to evaluate progress toward achieving water quality objectives with respect to nitrates in groundwater and assess compliance with adopted timelines, monitoring requirements, and implementation of best practicable treatment or control. (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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law generally prohibits the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages at a public schoolhouse or any grounds thereof. Existing law provides for various exceptions to this prohibition, including wine that is produced by a bonded winery owned or operated as part of an instructional program in viticulture and enology. This bill would provide that the prohibition against the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages on the grounds of a public schoolhouse does not apply to beer produced by a bonded brewery owned or operated as part of an instructional program in brewing.

(1) Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University; the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California; the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges; and independent institutions of higher education as the 4 segments of postsecondary education in this state. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to reduce the incidence of hunger and homelessness among college students in California. (2) Existing law requires each public and private postsecondary educational institution that is located in a county that participates in the Restaurant Meals Program to apply to become an approved food vendor for the program, if the institution operates any qualifying food facilities on campus, or to provide contracting on-campus food vendors with specified information about the program. This bill would provide definitions of "on-campus food vendors" and "qualifying food facility" for purposes of this provision. (3) Existing federal law provides for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, formerly the Food Stamp Program, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Under existing law, households are eligible to receive CalFresh benefits to the extent permitted by federal law. Existing federal law provides that students who are enrolled in college or other institutions of higher education at least half time are not eligible for SNAP benefits unless they meet one of several specified exemptions, including participating in specified employment training programs. Existing state law provides that, for the purposes of determining eligibility, certain educational programs, as determined by the State Department of Social Services, shall be considered employment training programs, thereby qualifying a student participating in one of those programs for an exemption, unless prohibited by federal law. Existing law also requires the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with representatives from other specified organizations, to establish a protocol to identify and verify all potential exemptions and to identify and verify participation in educational programs, including self-initiated placements, that would qualify a student for an exemption. This bill would express legislative intent to clarify educational policies for purposes of improving access for low-income students to the CalFresh program. For purposes of the federal regulation, the bill would specify the definition of half-time college enrollment. The bill would also require the Student Aid Commission to provide written notice to recipients of Cal Grant awards who qualify for participation in the CalFresh program under the federal regulation. This bill would require the Department of Social Services to maintain and regularly update a list of programs identified pursuant to existing law because they meet the employment training exemption set in the federal regulation. The bill would also require the department to issue and maintain instructions for county human services agencies to verify exemptions to the CalFresh student eligibility rules for students who participate in these programs, as specified. To the extent that this provision would impose new duties on county human services agencies, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law requires the Department of Social Services to implement the provisions described in (3) above by all-county letters or similar instructions beginning no later than October 1, 2015, until regulations are adopted, and further requires the department to adopt regulations on or before October 1, 2017. Existing law also requires the department to seek and obtain federal approval, as specified, prior to publishing that guidance or regulation, if the United States Department of Agriculture requires federal approval. This bill would adjust the dates for the implementation and adoption of regulations. The bill would delete the provision relating to federal approval. (5) 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.