Sen. Richard Roth

This measure would designate Monday, May 4, 2015, as California Peace Officers' Memorial Day, and would urge all Californians to honor those individuals who have given their lives for our safety and express appreciation to those who continue to dedicate themselves to making California a safer place in which to live and raise our families.

This measure would recognize May 2015 as Better Hearing and Speech Month.

This measure would proclaim the week of October 18 through October 24, 2015, as Voter Awareness Week.

This measure would designate the month of April as Aviation Awareness Month.

Existing law establishes the California Earthquake Authority and authorizes the authority to transact insurance in this state as necessary to sell policies of basic residential earthquake insurance. Existing law requires that the rates established by the authority be actuarially sound so as to not be excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory. Existing law provides that policyholders who have retrofitted their homes to withstand earthquake shake damage according to standards and to the extent set by the governing board of the authority shall enjoy a premium discount or credit of 5 percent on the authority-issued policy of residential earthquake coverage. Existing law authorizes the board to approve a premium discount or credit above 5 percent if the discount or credit is determined by the authority to be actuarially sound. This bill would instead provide that those policyholders shall enjoy a premium discount or credit of at least 5 percent on the authority-issued policy of residential earthquake coverage. The bill would also make nonsubstantive, technical changes.

This measure would recognize and honor the men and women of California agriculture for their dedication and productivity by observing March 18, 2015, as National Agriculture Day, and designating March 18, 2015, as California Agriculture Day.

Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing, including requiring the reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures and imposing other reporting and recordkeeping requirements on campaign committees. The act requires elected officers, candidates, committees, and slate mailer organizations to file various reports, including semiannual reports, preelection statements, and supplemental preelection statements. The act requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Fair Political Practices Commission, to develop online and electronic filing processes for specified entities. This bill would require elected state officers, candidates for elective state office and their controlled committees, committees primarily formed to support or oppose a candidate for elective state office or a statewide ballot measure, and state general purpose committees to file quarterly statements each year instead of semiannual statements, as specified. The bill would recast or repeal other specified reporting requirements, including supplemental preelection statements, supplemental independent expenditure reports, and odd-numbered year reports. The act defines "late contributions" and "late independent expenditures" for purposes of the act to include certain contributions and independent expenditures, respectively, that are made within 90 days before the date of the election. This bill would revise the definitions to specify that those terms also include contributions and independent expenditures that are made on the date of the election. The bill would also make conforming changes. This bill would require the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Fair Political Practices Commission, to develop a statewide Internet-based system for the electronic filing and public display of all records filed by or for specified entities. This bill would make all other changes to existing law effected by the bill operative on January 1 of the year following the year in which this system becomes operative, as certified by the Secretary of State. A violation of the act's provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. By expanding the scope 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. 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 generally provides that certain state and local public employees, including specified peace officers and firefighters, are entitled to a leave of absence without loss of salary while disabled, whether temporarily or permanently, by injury or illness arising out of, and in the course of, his or her employment. The leave of absence is in lieu of temporary disability payments or maintenance allowance payments otherwise payable under the workers' compensation system. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision.

Under the existing Political Reform Act of 1974, the Fair Political Practices Commission has primary responsibility for the impartial, effective administration and implementation of the act. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to review the Commission's responsibilities.