The County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (CERL) prescribes the membership composition requirements for boards of retirement in counties that are subject to certain provisions regarding safety members. CERL requires the retirement boards in these counties to be comprised of 9 members and one alternate member, as specified. CERL requires the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 9th members to be qualified electors of the county who are not connected with the county government, except that one may be a member of the county board of supervisors. The California Constitution prohibits modification of the composition of certain public retirement boards that include elected employee members without ratification by the electors of the jurisdiction in which the participants of the system are employed. This bill would permit the Board of Supervisors of Orange County, by resolution adopted by majority vote, to appoint an alternate member for the 4th, 5th, 6th, or 9th member of the board of retirement. The bill would require that the alternate member be a qualified elector of the county who is not connected with the county government in any capacity. The bill would require the alternate member to have the same term of office as the 9th member, would permit the alternate member to vote only if the 4th, 5th, 6th, or 9th member is absent from a board meeting, and would require the alternate member to fill a vacancy with respect to those members until a successor qualifies. The bill would entitle the alternate member to compensation equal to his or her counterparts for attendance without regard to whether he or she is a voting member and would generally provide the alternate member with the same rights, privileges, and responsibilities as his or her counterparts. The bill would permit the alternate member to hold positions on committees and participate in deliberations independent of his or her counterparts. The bill would prohibit the alternate member from serving until service of this type is approved by a majority of the electors in the county.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing, including requiring the reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures, as defined, and imposing other reporting and recordkeeping requirements on campaign committees, as defined. The Fair Political Practices Commission administers and enforces the act. A violation of the act's provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would revise the definition of "contribution" to include certain payments made by a person to a multipurpose organization, as specified. This bill would require multipurpose organizations that meet specified criteria to comply with the registration and campaign reporting requirements of the act, as specified, including the disclosure of information relating to the organization's donors. This bill would require state ballot measure committees and state candidate committees that raise $1,000,000 or more for an election to maintain an accurate list of the committee's top 10 contributors. This bill would require a committee to provide accurate lists of these contributors to the Commission, and would require the Commission to post the top 10 contributor lists on its Internet Web site, as specified, and to post updates to those lists when prescribed events occur. The bill would require the Commission to provide copies of the top 10 contributor lists to the Secretary of State, at the Secretary of State's request, for purposes of posting those lists on the Secretary of State's Internet Web site. (2) The act requires a candidate or committee that receives contributions of $5,000 or more from any person to inform the contributor within 2 weeks that he or she may be subject to the act's reporting requirements. This bill would require that the candidate or committee inform the contributor within one week for a contribution of $10,000 or more received during the period in which late contribution reports must be filed. The bill would also require the notifications to reference the reporting requirements for multipurpose organizations. By expanding the scope of existing crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires the Secretary of State to prepare a ballot pamphlet that includes specified information with respect to an election. This bill would require the Secretary of State to include in the ballot pamphlet a written explanation of the top 10 contributor lists required by the bill, including a description of the Internet Web sites where those lists would be available to the public. (4) 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. (5) 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. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. The bill would delay the operative date of its provisions until July 1, 2014.
This measure would designate April 2014 as Autism Awareness Month and would encourage residents to show support for autism awareness by lighting their homes, businesses, schools, and places of worship with blue light bulbs.
Until January 1, 2014, the provisions of the Horse Racing Law required a thoroughbred racing association and fair that conducts a racing meeting to deduct a percentage of the total amount handled in exotic parimutuel pools of thoroughbred racing, to be distributed to a specified organization for the purpose of defraying the costs of workers' compensation insurance in connection with thoroughbred horse racing. Until January 1, 2014, provisions of the Horse Racing Law authorized similar deductions from the total amount handled for races for quarter horses and other breeds, and for harness races, to be distributed to specified organizations for defraying workers' compensation insurance costs for trainers and owners in connection with those races. This bill would reestablish those provisions requiring the deduction specified above to be made by a thoroughbred racing association, and would reestablish those provisions authorizing the deductions to be made for races for quarter horses and other breeds, and for harness races. Because a violation of the Horse Racing Law is generally a misdemeanor, the bill would create new crimes, thereby imposing 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.
Existing law requires the Employment Development Department, in consultation and coordination with veterans' organizations and veteran service providers, to research the needs of veterans throughout the state and develop a profile of veterans' employment and training needs and to seek federal funding for those purposes. This bill would require the Employment Development Department and the Department of Consumer Affairs, on or before January 1, 2015, jointly to present a report to the Legislature containing best practices by state governments around the nation in facilitating the credentialing of veterans by using their documented military education and experience.
Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A and B Entitlement awards, the California Community College Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B awards, the Cal Grant C awards, and the Cal Grant T awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs for participating students attending qualifying institutions. Under the Cal Grant B Entitlement Program, awards may be made for access costs, defined as living expenses and expenses for transportation, supplies, and books, in an amount not to exceed $1,551 annually, as adjusted in the annual Budget Act. This bill would require the Treasurer to certify the amount of moneys available in an academic year from the College Access Tax Credit Fund for distribution, and provide that an amount determined by the Student Aid Commission would be available for expenditure, upon appropriation to the commission by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, from the College Access Tax Credit Fund, for distribution to students to supplement Cal Grant B access cost awards to bring those students' total annual awards for access costs to not more than $5,000 and to defray the administrative costs incurred by the commission in implementing the bill. The bill would become operative only if SB 284 is enacted and becomes operative on or before January 1, 2014.
The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act requires the State Department of Developmental Services to contract with regional centers to provide services and support to individuals with developmental disabilities, including autism. This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2019, the establishment of a demonstration program that would be known as the Regional Center Excellence in Community Autism Partnerships (RE CAP) program to provide improved services, supports, interventions, and other resources to assist individuals with autism spectrum disorders, and their families, who are regional center consumers and who reside in underserved communities, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to contract with a University of California or California State University campus to serve as a coordinating center to develop the program. The bill would authorize the coordinating center to establish guidelines by which regional centers participating in the program would implement measures in underserved communities, in a linguistically and culturally competent manner, to promote awareness and reduce the stigma associated with autism, improve the early screening, diagnosis, and assessment of autism, and increase access to evidence-based interventions and treatments for autism, as specified.
Existing law, the Municipal Water District Law of 1911, authorizes the formation of a municipal water district to acquire and sell water, and specifies the powers and purposes of a municipal water district. The Municipal Water District of Orange County is a district established pursuant to that law. The Orange County Water District Act establishes the Orange County Water District, consisting of specified lands in the County of Orange, including the Cities of Anaheim, Fullerton, and Santa Ana. The act authorizes the district to investigate the quality of the surface and groundwaters within the district to determine whether the waters are contaminated or polluted and authorizes the district to expend funds to perform any cleanup, abatement, or remedial work to prevent, abate, or contain the contamination of, or pollution to, the surface or groundwaters of the district. The act requires the person causing or threatening to cause the contamination or pollution to be liable to the district for reasonable costs actually incurred in cleaning up or containing the contamination or pollution, abating the effects of the contamination or pollution, or taking other remedial action. This bill would require the person also to be liable for the costs actually incurred in investigating the contamination or pollution. The bill would provide that these remedies are in addition to all other legal and equitable remedies available to the water district, including declaratory relief.
The California Constitution establishes the State Personnel Board and requires the board to, among other things, enforce the civil service statutes, prescribe probationary periods and classifications, adopt rules authorized by statute, and review disciplinary actions. Existing law requires the board to establish and maintain, by regulation, standards on a merit basis for local agencies, as specified, necessary for proper and efficient administration, and to assure state conformity with applicable federal requirements. Existing law authorizes the board to waive administration of all or part of a local agency merit system under specified conditions. This bill would prohibit, in Orange County, any administrative waiver of merit system standards, as described above, if an audit finds the county to be out of compliance with a merit-based personnel system. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Orange.