Sen. Kelly Seyarto

Existing law establishes the Farm and Ranch Solid Waste Cleanup and Abatement Grant Program, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, to award grants to public entities, defined as cities, counties, or resource conservation districts, and Native American tribes for purposes of cleaning up and abating the effects of solid waste that is illegally disposed of on farm or ranch property. Existing law creates the Farm and Ranch Solid Waste Cleanup and Abatement Account in the General Fund to include money appropriated from specified revenue sources, including tire recycling and used oil recycling fees, and authorizes the department to expend the money in the account for the grant program upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act. This bill would rename the grant program the Farm, Ranch, and Public Lands Solid Waste Cleanup and Abatement Grant Program and extend its purposes to cleaning up and abating the effects of solid waste that is illegally disposed of on public lands owned by the state or federal government. The bill would create the Public Lands Solid Waste Cleanup and Abatement Account in the General Fund and would authorize the department to expend the moneys in the account for these extended grant program purposes upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA exempts for its requirements actions taken by the Department of Housing and Community Development or the California Housing Finance Agency to provide financial assistance or insurance for the development and construction of residential housing, as provided. This bill would extend the above exemption to actions taken by a local agency not acting as the lead agency to provide financial assistance or insurance for the development and construction of residential housing, as provided.

This measure would designate a portion of State Highway Route 15 in the City of Lake Elsinore and the County of Riverside as the Deputy Darnell Andrew Calhoun Memorial Highway. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

The California Constitution provides that the electors may propose a statute or an amendment to the California Constitution by initiative and approve or reject a statute by referendum. An initiative measure may be proposed by presenting to the Secretary of State a petition that sets forth the text of the proposed statute or amendment to the Constitution and is certified to have been signed by the required number of electors, as prescribed. A referendum measure may be proposed by presenting to the Secretary of State a petition that sets forth the statute or part of the statute to be submitted to the electors, and is certified to have been signed by the required number of electors. Before the circulation of an initiative or referendum petition for signatures, the California Constitution requires that a copy of the petition be submitted to the Attorney General, who must prepare a title and summary of the measure. Existing statutory law also directs the Attorney General to prepare the ballot label and the ballot title and summary that is included in the state voter information guide for each measure that appears on a statewide ballot. This measure would transfer from the Attorney General to the Legislative Analyst the duty of preparing the title and summary for a proposed initiative or referendum. The measure would also require, for each measure that appears on a statewide ballot, the Legislative Analyst to prepare the ballot label and the ballot title and summary for the state voter information guide.

Existing law requires a state agency that is required or requested by law to submit a report to the Members of either house of the Legislature generally to submit the report in a specified manner and to post the report on the state agency's internet website. This bill would additionally require a state agency to post on its internet website any report required or requested by law, or identified in the Legislative Analyst's Supplemental Report of the Budget Act, that the state agency submits to a committee of the Legislature or to the Members of either house of the Legislature. Existing law requires the Legislative Counsel to make various categories of legislative information available to the public in an electronic form. This bill would additionally require the Legislative Counsel to make available to the public a link to the list of state and local agency reports submitted by state and local agencies to a committee of the Legislature or to the Members of either house of the Legislature generally, as specified.

Existing federal law recognizes the sovereignty of federally recognized Indian tribes and provides for financial, developmental, and operational support of tribal justice systems. Existing law, the Tribal Court Civil Money Judgment Act, governs the procedure by which the superior courts of the state recognize and enter tribal court money judgments of any federally recognized Indian tribe. The act does not apply to tribal court money judgments for taxes, fines, or other penalties. This bill would provide that the Tribal Court Civil Money Judgment Act applies to tribal court money judgments for tribal taxes, as specified, and related interest or penalties.

This measure would declare August 7, 2023, as Purple Heart Day in California.

Existing law requires the establishment of a resource center that operates a statewide, toll-free information service, consisting of legal and other information, for crime victims and providers of services to crime victims, as defined. This bill would require the resource center to additionally provide the information through an internet website and to the families of crime victims. The bill would require that the internet website include a summary of victims' rights and resources, as specified.

Existing law authorizes an individual to contribute amounts in excess of the individual's personal income tax liability for the support of specified funds. Existing law allows a taxpayer to designate an amount in excess of personal income tax liability to be deposited into the California Senior Citizen Advocacy Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the California Senior Legislature for the purpose of funding the activities of the California Senior Legislature. Existing law requires the Franchise Tax Board to revise the return for taxable years 2017 to 2023, inclusive, to include a space for that designation, and repeals these voluntary contribution provisions on January 1, 2025. This bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to revise the return for taxable years 2017 to 2030, inclusive, to allow a taxpayer to designate an amount in excess of personal income tax liability to be deposited into the California Senior Citizen Advocacy Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund, and would extend the repeal date for these provisions to January 1, 2032. By extending a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.