Existing federal law provides for tax-qualified retirement plans and individual retirement accounts or individual retirement annuities by which private citizens may save money for retirement. Existing law, the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust Act, establishes the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program, administered by the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Investment Board, contingent on specified funding and interest criteria being met. Existing law prescribes the composition of the board and its duties and provides that it acts as trustee in entering contracts and accepting moneys, among other things. Existing law prohibits the board from permitting enrollment in the program until enactment of a statute expressing legislative approval of program implementation. The program requires specified eligible employers, as defined, to offer a payroll deposit retirement savings arrangement and requires eligible employees, as defined, who do not opt out of the program, to contribute a portion of their salary or wages to a retirement savings account in the program, as specified. Existing law requires contributions from the wages of employees participating in the program to be deposited in the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust, which is continuously appropriated and administered by the board. Existing law authorizes the board to adjust the employee contribution amount between 2% and 4%, inclusive, of the employee's annual salary or wages, as specified. This bill would express legislative approval of the program and its implementation on January 1, 2017. The bill would require the board, prior to opening the program for enrollment, to make a report to the Governor and Legislature affirming that certain requirements have been met, including that the program is structured to meet a United States Department of Labor regulation, as specified. The bill would require the board to design and implement the program and would prescribe certain parameters that the board is to consider and utilize in establishing the design. The bill would require the board, for up to 3 years following implementation, to establish managed accounts invested in United States Treasury securities, in myRAs, as defined, or in similar investments and would make conforming changes in this connection in provisions related to mitigating risk in the investment portfolio and payment of the costs of administration. The bill would require the board, after this period, to annually prepare and adopt a written statement of investment policy containing specified elements. The bill would require the board to consider the statement and any changes in the investment policy at a public hearing. The bill would specify that funding and first year administrative costs may be appropriated in the annual budget from the General Fund and would require the board to repay the amount appropriated, plus interest, as specified. On and after 6 years from the date the program is implemented, the bill would prohibit expenditures for the purpose of paying operative costs and administering the trust from exceeding 1% of the total program fund. The bill would revise the purposes for which administrative and program funds may be expended. The bill would provide that investment policy decisions, including asset allocation and investment options, are entrusted to the board as a fiduciary, and would revise certain principles that the board is to consider in connection with investment policy. The bill would exempt the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust from specified provisions regarding the qualification of securities for sale. The bill would make various changes to existing duties of the board, including those regarding dissemination of information and the entities with which the board is to collaborate and cooperate. The bill would require the Treasurer to appoint an executive director of the board, to serve at its pleasure, and to determine the duties of the office and its compensation. The bill would eliminate the duty of the board to ensure that insurance or some other mechanism is in place to protect the value of individual accounts and would eliminate the requirement to secure private underwriting and reinsurance, as specified. The bill would repeal the duty of the board to conduct an initial market analysis to determine if the condition for the implementation of the program can be met and associated provisions. The bill would eliminate the authority of the board to establish certain investment options. This bill would require eligible employers that do not offer specified retirement plans or accounts to have a payroll deposit retirement savings arrangement so that employees may participate in the program within specified time periods based on the number of eligible employees that the employer has, and the bill would authorize the board to extend these time periods. The bill would provide that employers retain the right at all times to set up and offer their own qualified retirement plans. The bill would define an employer of a provider of in-home supportive services as an employer if a specified determination and certification are made and would require the state or a county that makes a direct payment to a provider to assume obligations regarding retirement savings accounts, including payroll deposit IRA arrangements offered under the program. The bill would authorize the board to adjust the employee contribution amount described above up to 5% and would prescribe other limits on increasing employee contributions. The bill would authorize the board to make annual, automatic escalations of employee contributions subject to certain limitations, including that the employee may opt out, as specified. By authorizing the board to increase moneys that are deposited into the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust, which is continuously appropriated, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would authorize the board to adopt regulations to implement the program and would provide that the adoption, amendment, repeal, or readoption of a regulation authorized by this section is deemed to address an emergency. The bill would make various conforming changes.
Sponsored bills
Existing law requires a school district, charter school, or private school that elects to offer an athletic program to comply with certain requirements relating to pupil safety, including, among other things, removing an athlete who is suspected of sustaining a concussion or head injury from an athletic activity. This bill would create the Eric Paredes Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act and would require the State Department of Education to post on its Internet Web site guidelines, videos, and an information sheet on sudden cardiac arrest symptoms and warning signs, and other relevant materials relating to sudden cardiac arrest. The bill would require a pupil in any public school, including a charter school, or private school that elects to conduct athletic activities, and the pupil's parent or guardian, to sign and return an acknowledgment of receipt of an information sheet on sudden cardiac arrest symptoms and warning signs each school year before the pupil participates in an athletic activity, as specified. The bill would require an athletic director, coach, athletic trainer, or authorized person, as defined, to remove from participation a pupil who passes out or faints while participating in or immediately following an athletic activity, and would require a coach of an athletic activity to complete a sudden cardiac arrest training course every other school year. The bill would impose penalties, on and after July 1, 2019, for a violation of the provision requiring a coach to complete a sudden cardiac arrest training course, as specified. The bill would make the act's provisions operative on July 1, 2017.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 generally requires elected officials, candidates for elective office, and committees formed primarily to support or oppose a candidate for public office or a ballot measure, along with other entities, to file periodic campaign statements. The act requires that these campaign statements contain prescribed information related to campaign contributions and expenditures of the filing entities. Existing law, the Online Disclosure Act, requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Fair Political Practices Commission, to develop online and electronic filing processes for use by these persons and entities. This bill, in addition, would require the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Commission, to develop and certify for public use an online filing and disclosure system for campaign statements and reports that provides public disclosure of campaign finance and lobbying information in a user-friendly, easily understandable format. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Existing law prescribes limits on the hours of employment of minors, but authorizes the Labor Commissioner to grant an exemption to employers operating agricultural packing plants for the employment of minors 16 and 17 years of age for up to 10 hours on days when school is not in session, during the peak harvest season. Existing law provides an exception to those provisions for the County of Lake by limiting the employer exemption that may be issued by the Labor Commissioner to the employment of minors, 16 or 17 years of age, who reside in the County of Lake, and only on days when school is not in session, for up to 10 hours a day, as well as for more than 48 hours but not more than 60 hours in a week, upon prior written approval of the Lake County Office of Education. Existing law also requires the Labor Commissioner, prior to issuing the County of Lake exemption or renewing an exemption, to inspect an affected agricultural packing plant. Existing law requires the Labor Commissioner to file a written report with the Legislature on or before November 1, 2016, describing the general working conditions of minors employed in the agricultural packing industry during the period from March 1, 2011, to October 1, 2016, inclusive, as specified. Existing law further requires an affected employer, on or before March 1 of each year, as a condition of receiving that exemption or a renewal of that exemption, to file a written report to the Labor Commissioner, as specified. These provisions are set to expire on January 1, 2017. This bill would extend the operation of the exception pertaining to the employment of minors in the County of Lake until January 1, 2022. It would additionally require the Labor Commissioner to report to the Legislature on or before November 1, 2020, on the working conditions for the period from October 1, 2016, to October 1, 2020, inclusive.
Existing law, the Field Act, generally requires the Department of General Services to supervise the design and construction of, the reconstruction or alteration of, or the addition to, a school building to ensure, among other things, that plans and specifications comply with adopted rules and regulations and building standards, including those relating to seismic safety. Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services, in cooperation with the State Department of Education, the Department of General Services, and the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission, to develop an educational pamphlet for use by school personnel to identify and mitigate the risks posed by nonstructural earthquake hazards. This bill would require each school district, county office of education, and charter school, on or before January 1, 2020, to complete an inspection of the contents in areas that are accessible to or occupied by pupils in each of its school buildings located in an area of higher seismicity, as defined, to assess whether the contents in each area comply with the guidelines set forth in the pamphlet and to develop corrective actions to bring noncompliant contents into compliance with the published guidelines. The bill would require, within 60 days of completing the inspection for each area within a school building, that a checklist of compliant and noncompliant contents be reported to the governing board of the school district, the county board of education, or the governing body of the charter school, as applicable, with a prioritization of noncompliant items that threaten the safety of pupils and school personnel and a set of recommended corrective actions to bring high-priority noncompliant contents into compliance with the published guidelines. By imposing additional duties on local educational agency officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Department of Conservation, on or before February 1, 2017, to post instructions or a hyperlink on its Internet Web site on how to determine whether a school district, county office of education, or charter school building is located in an area of higher seismicity. The bill would make implementation of these provisions contingent upon funding being provided in the annual Budget Act or another statute. 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, the Basic Inspection of Terminals (BIT) program, makes it unlawful for a motor carrier to operate a specified type of vehicle, including, but not limited to, combination of a motortruck and a specified vehicle or vehicles that exceeds 40 feet in length when coupled together, without identifying to the Department of the California Highway Patrol all terminals, as defined, in this state where vehicles may be inspected by the department and where vehicle inspection and maintenance records and driver records will be made available for inspection. Existing law requires motor carriers to make vehicles and records available for inspection upon request by an authorized representative of the department. This bill would, until January 1, 2023, exclude an agricultural vehicle from being subject to the BIT program, and would define agricultural vehicle to mean a vehicle or combination of vehicles with a gross combination weight rating or a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,000 pounds or less if specified conditions are met, including that the vehicle is operated by certain individuals and is used exclusively in the conduct of agricultural operations when operating in commerce. The bill would require the Department of the California Highway Patrol, in consultation with the Department of Motor Vehicles, to, on or before January 1, 2022, report to the Governor and the Legislature about the impact of excluding agricultural vehicles from the BIT program, as specified. This bill would incorporate changes to Section 34500.6 of the Vehicle Code, as proposed to be added by this bill, that would become operative only if AB 995 is enacted on or before January 1, 2017, and adds Section 36103 to the Vehicle Code. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 34501.12 of the Vehicle Code proposed by AB 995, that would become operative only if this bill and AB 995 are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.
Existing law, the Small Business Financial Assistance Act of 2013, establishes the California Small Business Expansion Fund, a continuously appropriated fund that includes General Fund moneys. The act requires guarantees made by small business financial development corporations to be backed by funds on deposit in the corporation's trust fund account or by receivables due from funds loaned from the corporation's trust fund account to another fund in state government, as specified, and requires these loan guarantees to be secured by a reserve of at least 20%, until January 1, 2018, and 25% thereafter, as specified. This bill would reduce the required reserve to 10% indefinitely and would make conforming changes with respect to related statements of legislative intent. Existing law prohibits the amount of guarantee liability outstanding at any one time from exceeding 5 times the amount of funds on deposit in the expansion fund plus any receivables due from funds loaned from the expansion fund to another fund in state government, as specified, until January 1, 2018, and 4 times thereafter. This bill would increase that maximum amount to 10 times the amount of funds on deposit in the expansion fund plus any receivables due from funds loaned from the expansion fund to another fund in state government, as specified, would apply that increased amount indefinitely, and would make conforming changes. Existing law requires the program manager under the guidance of the executive director of the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, to, among other things, authorize the distribution, transfer, and withholding of moneys in the expansion fund and trust funds. This bill would also require the program manager to leverage moneys in the expansion fund and trust funds.
Existing law establishes various crimes relating to computer services and systems, including, but not limited to, knowingly introducing a computer contaminant, as defined. Existing law makes a violation of those crimes punishable by specified fines or terms of imprisonment, or by both those fines and imprisonment. Existing law defines extortion as obtaining the property of another, with his or her consent, induced by a wrongful use of force or fear. Existing law makes extortion a crime, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years. This bill would define ransomware as a computer contaminant or lock placed or introduced without authorization into a computer, computer system, or computer network that restricts access by an authorized person to the computer, computer system, computer network, or any data therein under circumstances in which the person responsible for the placement or introduction of the ransomware demands payment of money or other consideration to remove the computer contaminant, restore access to the computer, computer system, computer network, or data, or otherwise remediate the impact of the computer contaminant or lock. The bill would provide that a person is responsible for placing or introducing ransomware into a computer, computer system, or computer network if the person directly places or introduces the ransomware or directs or induces another person do so, with the intent of demanding payment or other consideration to remove the ransomware, restore access, or otherwise remediate the impact of the ransomware. The bill would provide that a person who, with intent to extort money or other consideration from another, introduces ransomware into any computer, computer system, or computer network is punishable as if that money or other consideration were actually obtained by means of the ransomware. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would create 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.
Existing law proscribes the crime of human trafficking, as defined. A person who causes, induces, or persuades, or attempts to cause, induce, or persuade, a person who is a minor at the time of commission of the offense to engage in a commercial sex act, with the intent to effect or maintain a violation of any of specified sex offenses, is guilty of human trafficking. Existing law also proscribes the crime of prostitution. Existing law authorizes or requires, as specified, the probation officer of a county to exercise various duties with respect to a minor who has been found to be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court on the ground that he or she has violated a law or statute, or that he or she has suffered, or there is a substantial risk that he or she will suffer, abuse or neglect. Existing law establishes the Board of State and Community Corrections to provide statewide leadership, coordination, and technical assistance to promote effective state and local efforts and partnerships in California's adult and juvenile criminal justice system. This bill would, only until January 1, 2022, require the Board of State and Community Corrections to establish a pilot project in up to 4 counties that elect to participate in the pilot project and would authorize the Counties of Sacramento, San Diego, San Joaquin, and Santa Clara to elect to participate in the pilot project. The bill would authorize each participating county to determine whether that county's probation department or child welfare agency, or both, would create and operate a program funded by the pilot project. The bill would require a program funded by the pilot project to provide services to youth within that county's jurisdiction that address the need for services relating to the commercial sexual exploitation of youth. The bill would state that the purpose of the pilot project is to test a service model that would produce improved outcomes for youth victims of human trafficking. The bill would also require a county that elects to participate in the pilot project and establishes a program pursuant to these provisions to conduct at least one evaluation of the program's impact and effectiveness and to submit that evaluation to the board. The bill would provide that the pilot project established pursuant to these provisions would be funded contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act. The bill would provide that funds appropriated for these purposes shall be administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections.
Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as 2 of the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state and authorizes them to provide instruction to students at community college campuses. Existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , requires an applicable individual to ensure that he or she, and any dependent of that individual, has minimum essential health care coverage. This bill would establish the California Health Care Coverage Act of 2016, which would require the California State University and the California Community Colleges to provide their students information about insurance affordability programs commencing with the 2017–18 academic year. The act would authorize each campus of the California State University and the California Community Colleges to meet this requirement by developing an informational item or amending an existing enrollment form or Internet Web site to provide students information about insurance affordability programs, as specified. The act would authorize each campus to also meet this requirement by including a factsheet with its enrollment forms explaining basic information about insurance affordability programs for students. The bill would repeal these new provisions on January 1, 2021. By requiring community colleges to perform additional duties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires a public school, for purposes of the 2015–16, 2016–17, and 2017–18 school years, to add an informational item to its enrollment forms, or amend an existing enrollment form, in order to provide the parent or legal guardian information about health care coverage options and enrollment assistance, as specified. Existing law authorizes a school to also include a factsheet with its enrollment forms. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to, among other things, develop a standardized template for the factsheet and the informational item or amendment and make those templates available on its Internet Web site on or before August 1, 2015. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2019. This bill would make the repeal date for these provisions January 1, 2021, and thereby extend these requirements until that date. By extending these duties on local school districts, 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, 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.