Existing workers' compensation law generally requires employers to secure the payment of workers' compensation, including medical treatment, for injuries incurred by their employees that arise out of, and in the course of, employment. Existing law provides that, in the case of certain officers and employees of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and each security officer employed at the Atascadero State Hospital, the term "injury" includes heart trouble that develops or manifests itself during a period while the officer or employee is in the service of the department or hospital, and establishes a disputable presumption that heart trouble that so develops or manifests itself arose out of and in the course of the employment. Existing law establishes state hospital peace officers, as specified, and defines their authority as peace officers. This bill would delete the reference in the above-described provisions to officers at the Atascadero State Hospital as security officers, and instead, refer to those officers as peace officers. The bill would also add peace officers employed at other hospitals, developmental centers, and community centers, as specified, to the list of persons to whom the above-described injury presumption applies.
Sponsored bills
This measure would designate the first week of March of each year as Cuss Free Week.
This measure would recognize the Lunar New Year 4708 celebration.
The federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998 provides for workforce investment activities, including activities in which states may participate. Existing law contains various programs for job training and employment investment, including work incentive and employment training outreach programs. Existing law, the California Workforce Investment Act declares that it is the intent of the Legislature to deliver comprehensive workforce services to jobseekers, students, and employers through a system of one-stop career centers to, among other things, make job outreach, intake, job search and placement assistance, and other related services available in one location. Existing law provides for the payment of unemployment compensation benefits to eligible unemployed persons during the period that the person is unemployed, and requires the Employment Development Department to implement and administer the unemployment compensation program. This bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2010, to provide in-person unemployment benefit assistance in at least one comprehensive state one-stop career center in each workforce area, as prescribed. The bill would require that the unemployment benefit assistance services required to be provided at these one-stop career centers be funded with existing moneys available to the department for the administration of the unemployment compensation program.
This measure would declare February 23, 2010, to be Spay Day USA 2010 in California, and would request that Californians observe that day by having their dogs and cats spayed or neutered and by providing voluntary services or other support to organizations that provide spay and neuter services.
Existing law generally requires voters who wish to vote and who do not cast their ballots by mail to cast their ballot at the precinct polling place on election day. This bill would permit, until December 31, 2016, the Secretary of State, in conjunction with the county elections officials, the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, to select 3 college campuses, one each within the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, to serve as vote by mail ballot dropoff locations for any precinct in the county's jurisdiction during at least one general election. The bill would require voluntary consent from the local elections official within whose jurisdiction a vote by mail ballot dropoff location would be located. The bill would require that the vote by mail ballot dropoff locations be available to receive votes on the 5 business days preceding election day. The bill would require each county elections official who has a vote by mail ballot dropoff location within his or her jurisdiction during an election to report to the Legislature and the Secretary of State regarding the use of the vote by mail ballot dropoff location within 6 months of the date of the election. The Secretary of State would then be required to report to the Legislature regarding an assessment of designated vote by mail ballot dropoff locations on college campuses by examining the participation in the program and the costs to the state for implementing the program.
This resolution would respectfully request that the International Maritime Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, adopt the North American Emission Control Area, as proposed by the United States, Canada, and France at the 60th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee, scheduled for March 2010.
This measure would urge various state and private entities to withhold financial support of Arizona businesses in response to recent Arizona state laws relating to illegal immigration.
(1) Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation. Existing law provides that it is the duty of an attorney to, among other things, never reject, for any consideration personal to himself or herself, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed. Existing law provides that a lawyer may fulfill his or her ethical commitment to provide pro bono services, in part, by providing financial support to organizations providing free legal services to persons of limited means. This bill would prohibit a person or organization that is not a specified type of legal aid organization, as defined, from using the term "legal aid," or any confusingly similar name in any firm name, trade name, fictitious business name, or other designation, or on any advertisement, letterhead, business card, or sign. The bill would subject a person or organization that violates this prohibition to specified civil liability. (2) Existing law provides that, in all general civil cases, as defined, a party who has provided notice may appear by telephone at certain conferences, hearings, and proceedings, except as specified. This bill would require the Judicial Council, on or before July 1, 2010, and periodically as appropriate, to enter into one or more master agreements with a vendor or vendors to provide for telephone appearances in civil cases under the provisions described above, or as otherwise permitted by law. The bill would impose requirements regarding those master agreements, including that the vendor charge a party for an appearance by telephone in an amount set by the Judicial Council, and that the vendor pay to the state $15 for each appearance by telephone and a proportionate share of an amount equal to the total revenue received from vendors by all courts for providing telephone appearances for the 2008–09 fiscal year. The bill would require those funds to be deposited in the Trial Court Trust Fund and used for specified purposes. (3) Existing law requires that, when a witness is incapable of understanding the English language or is incapable of expressing himself or herself in the English language so as to be understood directly by counsel, court, and jury, an interpreter be sworn to interpret for him or her. This bill would require the Judicial Council, by September 1, 2010, to establish a working group to review, identify, and develop best practices to provide interpreters in civil actions and proceedings, as specified. The bill would require the Judicial Council to select up to 5 courts to participate in a pilot project, to commence on July 1, 2011, to provide interpreters in civil proceedings. The bill would provide that the initial pilot courts shall participate until June 30, 2014, and would require the Judicial Council to consider whether a pilot court shall continue participating in the project and whether to select another court or additional courts. The pilot project would be funded from the revenue derived from the telephonic appearance fee described above. (4) Existing law requires the Judicial Council to conduct a study of language and interpreter use and need in court proceedings, with commentary, and to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and to the Legislature every 5 years. Existing law requires that this study serve as the basis for determining the need to establish interpreter programs and certification and establishing these programs and examinations through the normal budgetary process. This bill would require, in addition, as of January 1, 2011, that the study described above serve as the basis of determining the need for and use of interpreters in civil and criminal court proceedings. The bill would require trial courts to collect and report the use of interpreters in all criminal and civil proceedings in the manner specified by the Judicial Council.
This measure would declare February 19, 2010, as a Day of Remembrance in order to increase public awareness of the events surrounding the internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry during World War II.