This measure would urge the federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security and the General Services Administration, to fund necessary improvements at the San Ysidro, Calexico, and Otay Mesa Ports of Entry.
This measure would call on the United States Congress to pass the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, Senate Bill No. 47, authored by Senator Leahy, and ensure the sustainability of vital programs designed to keep women and families safe from violence and abuse.
(1) Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue driver's licenses to applicants who meet specified criteria and provide the department with the required information. Existing law requires the department to establish that the applicant's presence in the United States is authorized under federal law. Under existing federal law, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security has issued a directive allowing certain undocumented individuals who meet several key criteria for relief from removal from the United States or from entering into removal proceedings to be eligible to receive deferred action for a period of 2 years, subject to renewal, and who will be eligible to apply for work authorization. This bill would allow persons who provide satisfactory proof, as described, that their presence in the United States is authorized under federal law, but who are not eligible for a social security account number, to receive an original driver's license from the Department of Motor Vehicles if they meet all other qualifications for licensure. (2) Existing law prohibits a person from renting a motor vehicle to another unless the person to whom the vehicle is rented is a validly licensed driver, as specified, and the person renting to that driver has inspected the person's driver's license and compared the signature on the license with the signature of the driver written in his or her presence. This bill would delete the requirement that the signature of the driver be written in his or her presence and would allow the person renting the vehicle to instead compare the photograph on the driver's license of the person with the person to whom the vehicle is to be rented. The bill would also exempt, a "rental company," as defined, from these requirements if the rental is subject to the terms of a membership agreement that allows the renter to gain physical access to a car without a key through use of a code, key card, or by other means that allow the car to be accessed at a remote location or at a business location of the rental company outside of that location's regular hours of operation.
Existing law requires that the governing board of a school district or a community college district grant to any classified employee, upon request, a paid leave of absence to enable the employee to serve as an elected officer of any school district public employee organization or community college district public employee organization, as specified. Existing law requires that following the school district's or community college district's payment of the employee for the leave of absence, it be reimbursed by the employee organization of which the employee is an elected officer for all compensation paid to the employee on account of the leave. This bill would expand these provisions to additionally require a school district or a community college district to provide a paid leave of absence to a classified employee who is an unelected member of a school district public employee organization or community college district public employee organization for activities the member is authorized by the organization to attend and would require the employee organization to reimburse the school district or community college district on behalf of an unelected member who receives a paid leave of absence. The bill would additionally require an employee organization to provide reasonable notification to the employer requesting a leave of absence without loss of compensation for any of the above-described activities.
Existing law defines the term "public works" for purposes of requirements regarding the payment of prevailing wages. Existing law generally defines "public works" to include construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for in whole or in part out of public funds. Existing law makes a willful violation of laws relating to the payment of prevailing wages on public works a misdemeanor. This bill would modify the definition of installation to include the assembly and disassembly of freestanding and affixed modular office systems. Because this bill would expand the definition of a 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.
Existing law, the California Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC Program) , administered by the State Department of Public Health, provides for the issuance of nutrition coupons, as defined, to certain low-income women, infants, and children who have been determined to be at nutritional risk. The WIC Program, which implements a program authorized under existing federal law, provides for the redemption of nutrition coupons by recipients at any authorized retail food vendor. Existing law provides that a vendor or any person who, among other things, knowingly redeems coupons in excess of the price charged other customers is subject to specified sanctions. This bill would require the department, within 30 days after the department has completed its first investigation, to provide written notice, as prescribed, to a vendor if the department determines that the vendor has committed an initial violation for which a pattern of the violation must be established to impose a sanction. This bill would require the notice to be delivered to the vendor 30 days before the department conducts a 2nd investigation for purposes of establishing a pattern of the violation. The bill would state that it is the intent of the Legislature in enacting these provisions to clarify existing law.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to require the reporting and verification of emissions of greenhouse gases and to monitor and enforce compliance with the reporting and verification program, and requires the state board to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020. The act requires the state board to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions. The act authorizes the state board to include use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would require the California Environmental Protection Agency to identify disadvantaged communities for investment opportunities, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Finance, when developing a specified 3-year investment plan, to allocate 25% of the available moneys in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to projects that provide benefits to disadvantaged communities, as specified, and to allocate a minimum of 10% of the available moneys in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to projects located within disadvantaged communities, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Finance, when developing funding guidelines, to include guidelines for how administering agencies should maximize benefits for disadvantaged communities. The bill would require administering agencies to report to the Department of Finance, and the Department of Finance to include in a specified report to the Legislature, a description of how administering agencies have fulfilled specified requirements relating to projects providing benefits to, or located in, disadvantaged communities. This bill would make its provisions contingent on the enactment of other legislation, as specified.
Existing law provides for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, a county-administered program under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons receive services enabling them to remain in their own homes. The IHSS program includes various eligibility requirements for individuals who provide services to recipients under the program. Under existing law, a private provider of in-home care services is not subject to the requirements of the IHSS program. Existing law provides for the licensing and regulation of various community care facilities by the State Department of Social Services. This bill would enact the Home Care Services Act of 2012, which would provide, on and after July 1, 2013, for the licensure and regulation of home care organizations, as defined, by the State Department of Social Services, and the certification of home care aides. The bill would exclude specified entities from the definition of a home care organization. The bill would impose various licensure requirements on a home care organization. The bill would also impose a civil penalty on an individual or entity that operates a home care organization without a license, except as specified. The bill would require a home care organization to provide a client with specified information before arranging for the provision of home care services, as defined, to that client, including, but not limited to, the types and hours of available home care services, and the extent to which payment may be expected from specified sources. In addition, this bill would require a home care organization, among other things, to distribute to the client its advance directive policy and provide a written notice to the client of certain rights. The bill would also prohibit a home care organization from hiring an individual as a home care aide unless that individual meets certain requirements, including, but not limited to, demonstrating that he or she has specified language skills and providing proof of certification as a home care aide as specified. The bill would require certain employment agencies to maintain liability insurance, as specified, and ensure that any person it refers to provide home care services has been certified prior to the referral. This bill would require background clearances for home care aides, as prescribed, and would set forth specific duties of the home care organization, the department, and the Department of Justice in this regard. The bill would require home care aides to demonstrate they are free of active tuberculosis. The bill would also require a home care organization to conduct regular evaluations of its home care aides, as specified. The bill would require the department to impose various fees to be deposited in the Home Care Organization and Home Care Aide Fund to be created by this bill. This bill, in addition, would prescribe enforcement procedures, fines, and penalties for violations of the act by a home care organization or a home care aide and violations of specified requirements by an employment agency, as defined.
Under existing law, classified employees of school districts and community college districts subject to layoff as a result of the expiration of a specially funded program at the end of a school year are required to be given written notice on or before April 29 informing them of certain rights. Existing law also requires that notice be given not less than 45 days before the effective layoff date if the termination date of a specially funded program is other than June 30, or if classified employees are subject to layoff as a result of a bona fide reduction or elimination of a service performed by a department. This bill would instead require that written notice be given to a classified employee of a school district or community college district subject to layoff not less than 60 days before the effective layoff date if the termination date of a specially funded program is other than June 30, or if a classified employee is subject to layoff as a result of a bona fide reduction or elimination of a service performed by a department. To the extent that this bill would impose new duties on school districts and community college districts, 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
