Sen. Richard Roth

Existing law authorizes the Department of Finance to require financial and statistical reports, duly verified and covering the period of each fiscal year, from all agencies of the state. Existing law provides that every person who fails or neglects to make, verify, and file with the department any required report, or fails or neglects to follow the directions of the department in keeping the accounts of his or her office, is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would require the department to require each department head or designee whose duty it is to audit the accounts of a state agency or other state entity to provide a certification under penalty of perjury to the department that the budgeting and accounting information provided reconciles to the year-end finance reports submitted to the Controller's office. By creating a new 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 provisions of the California Constitution establish the University of California as a public trust under the administration of the Regents of the University of California. The University of California system includes 10 campuses, which are located in Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. The bill would request the School of Medicine at the University of California, Riverside, to develop a program consistent with its mission, in conjunction with the health facilities of its medical residency programs, to identify eligible medical residents and to assist those medical residents to apply for physician retention programs, including, but not limited to, the Steven M. Thompson Physician Corps Loan Repayment Program.

Existing law authorizes a service member to apply to the court for relief of an obligation, liability, tax, or assessment, as specified. Existing law authorizes, in the case of an obligation payable under its terms in installments under a contract for the purchase of real estate, or secured by a mortgage or other instrument, as specified, a stay of the enforcement of the obligation during the applicant's period of military service and, from the date of termination of the period of military service or from the date of the application if made after the service, for a period equal to the period of the remaining life of the installment contract or other instrument plus a period of time equal to the period of military service of the applicant or any part of the combined period, as specified. This bill would instead authorize, in the case of an obligation payable in installments under a contract for the purchase of real estate, or secured by a mortgage or other instrument, a deferment of the payments due on the obligation for a period of time equal to the period of military service, as specified. The bill would prohibit penalties from being imposed on the nonpayment of principal or interest during this period and interest from being charged or accumulated on the principal or interest on which the payment was delayed. The bill would also prohibit foreclosure or repossession of property on which payment has been deferred, as specified. The bill would require mortgage payments deferred during this period to be due and payable upon the occurrence of specified conditions. The bill would provide that a service member with a mortgage subject to an impound account for the payment of property taxes, special assessments, and certain insurance shall not be relieved from making monthly payments, as specified, and that a service member shall not be precluded from making payments toward mortgage payments deferred, as specified.

This measure would designate the portion of Interstate 80 between Midway Road and the State Route 12 East interchange in the County of Solano as the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Highway to honor the Tuskegee Airmen and the contributions they made during World War II. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost for appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

This measure would proclaim the week of April 23 to April 30, 2013, inclusive, as Black April Memorial Week, a special time for Californians to remember the countless lives lost during the Vietnam War era, and to hope for a more humane and just life for the people of Vietnam.

Existing law, the Professional Engineers Act, generally regulates the practice of persons engaged in the practice of engineering. The act provides for a temporary authorization to practice engineering, as specified. This bill would delete the provisions allowing for a temporary authorization to practice as an engineer and would make additional conforming changes. Existing law, the Geologist and Geophysicist Act, generally regulates the practice of persons engaged in the practice of geology and persons engaged in the practice of geophysics. Violations of the act are a misdemeanor. The act provides for a temporary authorization to practice as a geologist or geophysicist, as specified. This bill would, subject to exceptions, require geologists and geophysicists to use a written contract when contracting to provide geological or geophysical services to a client, as specified. The bill would specify certain information to be included in the contract. The bill would delete the provisions allowing for temporary authorizations to practice as a geologist or geophysicist and would make additional conforming changes. By imposing requirements on geologists and geophysicists, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate changes to Section 7887 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 822 that would become operative if this bill and SB 822 are both chaptered and this bill is chaptered last. 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 makes it a misdemeanor to sell, or expose for sale, any intoxicating liquor within one mile of the entrance to La Sierra College in the City of Riverside, as provided. A person who violates this provision is subject to a fine of not less than $100, imprisonment in a county jail of not less than 50 days nor more than one year, or both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would reduce that distance to one-half mile. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

This measure would encourage all superior courts to consider establishing veterans treatment courts or veterans treatment review calendars to assist troubled veterans who have service-related mental health issues.

Existing law establishes the Dealers' Record of Sale Special Account in the General Fund with moneys in the account available upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law requires the Attorney General to establish and maintain an online database to be known as the Prohibited Armed Persons File, sometimes referred to as the Armed Prohibited Persons System, to cross-reference persons who have ownership or possession of a firearm with those who are prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm. This bill would appropriate $24,000,000 from the Dealers' Record of Sale Special Account to the Department of Justice to address the backlog in the Armed Prohibited Persons System, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the department to report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee regarding ways the backlog in the Armed Prohibited Persons System has been reduced or eliminated, as specified. The bill would make related findings and declarations. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.