Existing law imposes various functions and duties on the State Air Resources Board relating to reducing emissions of air pollutants. Existing law authorizes the state board to adopt standards, rules, and regulations necessary for the proper execution of those duties. Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies. Existing law requires the Office of Administrative Law to review specified regulations and make determinations using prescribed standards. This bill would require the state board to submit a major regulation, as defined, and other related information to the Office of Administrative Law, as specified. The bill would require the Office of Administrative Law to prepare an analysis of the major regulation, with prescribed elements, to determine the costs and benefits of the regulation and whether the regulation is technologically feasible, and to submit the analysis to the state board and the Legislature, as specified.
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Existing law requires the Legislative Analyst and the Department of Finance to provide the Legislature with specified fiscal analyses of matters affecting state finances, including the annual state budget. This bill would require the Legislative Analyst and the department, to the extent that any fiscal estimate of the annual state budget involves a change in state tax law, to estimate, except as specified, the statewide economic impact of the change, using a dynamic economic analysis that includes probable behavioral responses of taxpayers, businesses, and other residents of the state, and the impact of the change on state spending reductions.
Existing law prohibits the use of any vacuum or suction dredge equipment by any person in any river, stream, or lake of this state without a permit issued by the Department of Fish and Game. Existing law designates the issuance of permits to operate vacuum or suction dredge equipment to be a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) , and suspends the issuance of permits, and mining pursuant to a permit, until the department has completed an environmental impact report for the project as ordered by the court in a specified court action. Existing law prohibits the use of any vacuum or suction dredge equipment in any river, stream, or lake, for instream mining purposes, until the Director of Fish and Game certifies to the Secretary of State that (1) the department has completed the environmental review of its existing vacuum or suction dredge equipment regulations as ordered by the court, (2) the department has transmitted for filing with the Secretary of State a certified copy of new regulations, as necessary, and (3) the new regulations are operative. This bill would require the department, upon request, to refund the amount of the permit fee paid in 2009 by a person issued a vacuum or suction dredge equipment permit and subject to the latter prohibition. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law includes provisions criminalizing conduct involving obscene matter and child pornography, including making the distribution of this material criminal. Existing law defines the term "distribute" for purposes of crimes relating to obscene matter. This bill would include within this definition of "distribute" making available for access or possession over the Internet. The bill would also provide that nothing in the provisions criminalizing conduct involving obscene matter and child pornography shall be construed to permit an action against an interactive computer service, electronic communication service, or remote computing service, as defined, that is inconsistent with specified provisions of federal law. By revising the definition of existing crimes to expand their application, 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 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project, as defined, that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA provides some exemptions from its requirements for specified projects, including for a project of less than one mile in length within a public street or highway or another public right-of-way for the installation of a new pipeline or the maintenance, repair, restoration, reconditioning, relocation, replacement, removal, or demolition of an existing pipeline. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions. The state board is authorized to adopt market-based compliance mechanisms, as defined, meeting specified requirements to be used for compliance with those regulations. This bill would prohibit the state board from implementing a market-based compliance mechanism that includes caps on greenhouse gas emissions and trading among participants unless it is a part of a legally enforceable regional or federal program.
Existing law establishes the Prison Industry Authority within the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law provides that the authority is authorized and empowered to operate industrial, agricultural, and service enterprises in order to provide products and services needed by the state. Existing law requires that state agencies purchase Prison Industry Authority products, make maximum utilization of these products, and consult with the staff of the authority to develop new products and adapt existing products to meet their needs. This bill would provide that these requirements shall not restrict state agencies from entering into contracts or purchase orders of $25,000 or less with California certified small businesses, microbusinesses, or disabled veteran business enterprises for products provided at a lower price than the price available from the Prison Industry Authority.
Existing law promotes the self-sufficiency of Indian tribes and evidences the good will, cooperation, and mutual respect between the state and Indian tribes. This bill would require a state agency, as defined, to make a reasonable effort to collaborate with an Indian nation or tribe in the development and implementation of policies, agreements, and programs of the state agency that directly affect American Indians.
Existing law establishes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and invests it with various duties and powers. This bill would require the department, until January 1, 2012, to create and administer a pilot program at a facility with a low-risk inmate population for testing one or more stationary electricity generating bicycles to create additional, renewable energy to mitigate the facility's electricity use by powering one or more television monitors for viewing by inmates, as specified. The bill would require the department to report the results of the program to the chairs of the Senate Committee on Public Safety, and the Assembly Committee on Public Safety. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires the State Air Resources Board to prepare and approve a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This bill would require the State Air Resources Board, until January 1, 2012, to update the scoping plan to include the pilot program developed by the department as a greenhouse gas emission reduction measure that assists the state to achieve the goals of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. Existing law establishes the Renewable Energy Resources Program administered by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and continuously appropriates moneys in the Renewable Resource Trust Fund to foster the development of emerging renewable technologies in distributed generation applications. This bill would, until January 1, 2012, specify that the pilot program developed by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation pursuant to this measure is an eligible electricity generating system and would qualify for funding from the Renewable Resource Trust Fund, thereby making an appropriation. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring electrical corporations to procure a minimum quantity of output from eligible renewable energy resources. This bill would, until January 1, 2012, provide that the pilot program is an eligible renewable energy resource and the electricity generated by the prison under the pilot program may be considered by the electrical corporation supplying electricity to that prison in meeting that electrical corporation's renewables portfolio standard. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires an employer to provide an employee who works more than 5 hours in a workday with a meal period of not less than 30 minutes, unless the employee works no more than 6 hours in a workday and the meal period is waived by mutual consent. An employer also is required to provide an employee who works more than 10 hours in a workday with a 2nd meal period of not less than 30 minutes, unless the employee works no more than 12 hours, the first meal period was not waived, and the 2nd meal period is waived by mutual consent. The Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) of the Department of Industrial Relations adopts and amends wage orders that, among other things, specify how meal periods are required to be provided to covered employees within various industries, including the procedures for providing employees with on-duty meal periods. Existing law provides that a violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor. This bill would revise the statutory requirements for the provision of meal periods to specify that the requirements apply only to employees subject to the meal period provisions of an order of the IWC. The statutory requirements for providing the meal periods would be revised to specify that a meal period based on working more than 5 hours in a workday is required to be provided before the employee completes 6 hours of work, unless the existing waiver provision is invoked. The waiver provision for the 2nd meal period would be changed to provide an exception for different provisions within IWC wage orders in effect as of January 1, 2009, and to permit the employer and employee to agree to waive either the first or the 2nd meal period if the employee otherwise is entitled to 2 meal periods. The bill also would specify conditions under which on-duty meal periods are permitted rather than meal periods in which the employee is relieved of all duty. The meal period provisions of a valid collective bargaining agreement would be required to be implemented for covered employees rather than the statutory requirements. The bill would require that orders of the IWC be interpreted in a manner consistent with this section, and would require the Department of Industrial Relations to amend and republish specified IWC wage orders to be consistent with the revised meal period requirements. Because this bill would create a new crime, it 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.