This measure would designate June 2016 as California Fairground Appreciation Month and commend the directors, volunteers, staff, local agencies, nonprofits, and Californians who support and attend fairground events.
This measure would declare June 27, 2016, as Robotics Technology Day.
Existing law establishes the Department of Community Services and Development and requires the department to administer, among other things, the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Existing law requires the department to develop and administer the Energy Efficiency Low-Income Weatherization Program and to expend moneys appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes of the program. This bill would require the department to develop and administer the Agricultural Working Poor Energy Efficient Housing Program and to expend moneys appropriated by the Legislature for the purposes of the program to improve energy efficiency in farmworker-owned housing. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature on the program with respect to balances and expenditures, households reached, demographics of the households reached, measures funded, and energy savings. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to supervise certain low-income targeted energy efficiency programs administered by electrical corporations, gas corporations, or 3rd-party administrators, and requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to undertake various activities and administer various programs to promote energy efficiency. This bill would require the department, in developing the Agricultural Working Poor Energy Efficient Housing Program, to consult with the PUC and the Energy Commission in order to ensure compatibility with the state's energy policies and goals and to avoid duplication of the energy efficiency programs supervised by those commissions.
Under existing law, a hunting license grants the privilege to take birds and mammals. Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to issue a hunting license for specified periods of time, including for a term of one year, as provided, upon payment of a fee, to eligible residents and nonresidents. Existing law requires the department to issue a lifetime hunting license, upon payment of a fee, to eligible California residents that authorizes a person to take birds and mammals for the life of the person, as prescribed. Under existing law, a sport fishing license grants the privilege to take fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Existing law requires the department to issue a sport fishing license for specified periods of time, including for the period of a calendar year, as provided, upon payment of a fee, to eligible residents and nonresidents. Existing law requires the department to issue a lifetime sport fishing license, upon payment of a fee, to eligible California residents that authorizes a person to take fish, reptiles, and amphibians for the life of the person, as prescribed. Existing law requires the department to issue lifetime sportsman's licenses, upon payment of a fee, to eligible California residents that authorizes a person to take birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, and amphibians for the life of the person, as prescribed. This bill would require the department to reduce the fee required to obtain the lifetime licenses by 25% for a person who is a veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States, was honorably discharged, and is a resident of California.
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, on or before January 1, 2018, to adopt general conditions that would permit a registrant to construct a facility that would 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 the board, on or before June 30, 2019, to adopt general conditions and, if necessary, amend existing general conditions for the registration of small irrigation use for other purposes. Existing law exempts certain stream segments subject to certain minimum streamflow requirements from the provisions of the act upon proper registration. This bill would instead authorize the board to issue and renew registrations on those stream segments if the registration includes conditions consistent with the applicable streamflow requirements. 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. Under existing law, it is unlawful for any person to violate these notification and agreement provisions and a person who violates them is also subject to a civil penalty of not more than $25,000 for each violation. This bill would require the department, if an activity includes the diversion of water and the notification for the activity is accompanied with a proposed registration of water use, a renewal of registration, or an amended registration, to determine whether it is complete in the same manner as it determines whether a notification is complete and to propose any lawful conditions on the registration in a draft agreement. The bill would provide that lawful conditions on a registration that are included in a final lake or streambed alteration agreement are deemed conditions upon the appropriations of water under the registration. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that these provisions simplify and reduce the regulatory burden for activities that require both notification to the department of the activity and registration of the water use pursuant to the act. Because the violation of a lake or streambed alteration agreement is a crime, by including lawful conditions on a registration in a final lake or streambed alteration agreement, 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.
Existing law establishes the Fair and Exposition Fund to, among other things, allocate moneys for the support of the network of California fairs. The balance of moneys in that fund, after appropriation by the Legislature for specified oversight and auditing costs, are continuously appropriated for capital outlay for specified fair projects. Existing sales and use laws impose taxes 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 measured by sales price, and requires that revenues, less refunds, derived from a specified rate of that tax be transferred to specified funds and then the balance to the General Fund. This bill would require a tax return filed for the purposes of the Sales and Use Tax Law to segregate the gross receipts of the seller and the sales price of the property on a form prescribed by the State Board of Equalization when the place of sale or use in this state is on or within the real property of a state-designated fair, as defined, which excludes any fair located in the County of Los Angeles, or any real property of a state-designated fair that is leased to another party. The bill would require, except as specified, that 30% of all revenues, less refunds and costs of administration, derived from those segregated sales and use tax amounts that would have been deposited into the General Fund instead be deposited into the Fair and Exposition Fund and continuously appropriated for allocation by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture for specified fair projects and subject to certain conditions. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2022.
Under existing law, anyone who deprives or violates the personal liberty of another with the intent to obtain forced labor or services, or with the intent to effect a violation of specified sex crimes is guilty of human trafficking. Under existing law, any person who causes a minor to engage in a commercial sex act, with the intent to violate specified sex crimes, is guilty of human trafficking. This bill would create the Statewide Interagency Human Trafficking Task Force within the Department of Justice, which would consist of representatives from several state agencies and be chaired by a representative from the Department of Justice. The bill would require the task force to gather statewide data on sex and labor traffickers, sex buyers, and human trafficking victims to recommend interagency protocols and best practices for training and outreach to law enforcement, victim service providers, and other state and private sector employees likely to encounter human trafficking and to evaluate and implement approaches to increase public awareness about human trafficking. The bill would authorize the task force to create an advisory committee or advisory committees comprised of subject matter experts, as provided. The bill would prohibit the task force from duplicating the protocols developed by the California Child Welfare Council.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies to provide coverage for specified benefits. This bill, until January 1, 2019, would require a health care service plan contract or a health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2017, to include coverage for hearing aids for an enrollee or insured under 18 years of age, as specified. These provisions would become inoperative if the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance receive a notification from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services or any other applicable federal agency that these provisions constitute a discriminatory age limitation under federal law and the state is required to defray the costs of requiring a plan contract or policy to include coverage for hearing aids on behalf of enrollees or insureds who are 18 years of age or older pursuant to a specified federal law. Because a willful violation of these requirements by a health care service plan would be 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.
Existing law establishes the Golden State Seal Merit Diploma for the purpose of recognizing pupils who have mastered the high school curriculum. Existing law also establishes the State Seal of Biliteracy to recognize high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in one or more languages in addition to English. This bill would establish a State Seal of STEM to recognize high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. The bill would establish criteria for the receipt of the State Seal of STEM, would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to prepare and deliver to participating school districts an appropriate insignia to be affixed to pupil diplomas or transcripts, and would require participating school districts to maintain appropriate records and affix the appropriate insignia to diplomas or transcripts of recipient pupils. The bill would not become operative until after data from the statewide administration of specified state science assessments are available. The bill's provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2025.
