Sen. Tony Mendoza

Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district or a county office of education to offer independent study to meet the educational needs of pupils in accordance with specified provisions. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish rules and regulations for the purposes of implementing the provisions of law related to independent study. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to the latter provision.

Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to the extent possible using federal and state funds appropriated for this purpose, to provide staff development to child care center staff and family day care providers to improve child care services to individuals with exceptional needs. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to this provision.

Existing law regulates emissions from cruise ship engines and oceangoing ship engines. Regulations of the State Air Resources Board require vessel fleets to either reduce onboard power generation to specified levels or achieve equivalent emission reductions. This bill would permit a vessel at berth or at anchor in the jurisdiction of a California port to use any method to reduce emissions that has been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the state board to reduce emissions to the level that would be achieved by using shore power.

(1) The Political Reform Act of 1974 prohibits a public official at any level of state or local government from making, participating in making, or in any way attempting to use his or her official position to influence a governmental decision in which he or she knows or has reason to know he or she has a financial interest. A violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 is subject to administrative, civil, and criminal penalties. This bill would provide, for purposes of this prohibition, that a public official who is an elected or appointed member of a state or local government agency has a financial interest in a decision of that agency if the decision involves a vote by the public official relating to the approval, modification, or cancellation of a contract and if an immediate family member of the public official (a) is acting as an agent for, or otherwise representing, any other person by making a formal or informal appearance before, or by making an oral or written communication to, the state or local government agency, or an officer or employee thereof, for the purpose of influencing the contracting decision or (b) is a director, officer, or partner of a business entity on which it is reasonably foreseeable that the contracting decision will have a material financial effect. This bill would define "immediate family member" to mean a public official's spouse or domestic partner, child, parent, sibling, or the spouse or domestic partner of a child, parent, or sibling. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by exposing these public officials to potential criminal penalties for failing to recuse themselves from participation where required by this bill. (2) 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. (3) 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, 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. Under existing law, a health care service plan and a health insurer are required to offer group coverage for the treatment of infertility, as defined. This bill would require a health care service plan and a health insurer to provide, on a group and individual basis, coverage for medically necessary expenses for standard fertility preservation services when a necessary medical treatment may directly or indirectly cause iatrogenic infertility to an enrollee or insured. Because the bill would specify additional requirements for a health care service plan under the act, the willful violation of which would be a crime, the 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 provides that every person has certain rights subject to the qualifications and restrictions provided by law. This bill would provide that a person without legal authority to reside in the United States but who has continuously resided in California since January 1, 2007, shall have the same rights and responsibilities that are afforded to any other legal permanent resident in this state pursuant to the California Constitution and any other state or local law or regulation, if the person is in compliance with certain requirements. The bill would require the Governor to seek certain federal waivers in that regard.

Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 (the Greene Act) , requires the State Allocation Board to allocate to applicant school districts prescribed per-unhoused-pupil state funding for construction and modernization of school facilities, including hardship funding and supplemental funding for site development and acquisition. Under existing law, all new construction projects submitted to the Division of the State Architect pursuant to the Greene Act are required to include locks that allow doors to classrooms and rooms with an occupancy of 5 or more persons to be locked from the inside, except as specified. Existing law requires the Department of General Services to pass upon, and approve or reject, all plans for the construction of, or, if the estimated cost exceeds $25,000, the alteration of, any building used, or designed to be used, for community college purposes. This bill, on and after July 1, 2012, would require modernization projects for school facilities submitted under the Greene Act to the Division of the State Architect that include rehabilitation in a classroom or a room with an occupancy of 5 or more persons, as well as construction plans for community college facilities submitted to the Department of General Services and plans for the alteration of community college facilities that include rehabilitation in a classroom or a room with an occupancy of 5 or more persons, to include the installation of locks that allow doors to be locked from the inside, except as specified.

This measure would designate that January 16, 2012, be observed as the official memorial of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth, commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement in changing public policy in California and in the United States of America.

This measure would proclaim May 1 through May 7, 2012, as Cinco de Mayo Week, and would urge all Californians to join in celebrating Cinco de Mayo.