The Cobey-Porter Saline Water Conversion Law authorizes the Department of Water Resources, either independently or in cooperation with public or private entities to conduct a program of investigation, study, and evaluation in the field of saline water conversion, to provide assistance to persons or entities seeking to construct desalination facilities, and after submission of a written report and upon appropriation from the Legislature, to finance, construct, and operate saline water conversion facilities. Existing law required the department, not later than July 1, 2004, to report to the Legislature on potential opportunities and impediments for using seawater and brackish water desalination, and to examine what role, if any, the state should play in furthering the use of desalination technology. Existing law also required the department to convene a Water Desalination Task Force, comprised of representatives from listed agencies and interest groups, to advise the department in carrying out these duties and in making recommendations to the Legislature. The California Ocean Protection Act establishes the Ocean Protection Council in state government. Existing law requires the Ocean Protection Council to coordinate activities of state agencies that are related to the protection and conservation of coastal waters and ocean ecosystems to improve the effectiveness of state efforts to protect ocean resources within existing fiscal limitations, to establish policies to coordinate the collection, evaluation, and sharing of scientific data related to coastal and ocean resources among agencies, and to identify and recommend to the Legislature changes in law needed to achieve these goals. This bill would require the council to report to the Legislature, by December 31, 2014, on opportunities for improving the current statewide permitting processes for seawater desalination facilities and to recommend potential administrative and legislative actions for improving the permitting process while maintaining current regulatory protections. The bill would require the chair of the council to select a member of the council to be the chair of the Seawater Desalination Permit Improvement Task Force. This bill would require the chair of the task force to convene the Seawater Desalination Permit Improvement Task Force to review the current permitting processes required by all state regulatory agencies for the planning, design, construction, monitoring, and operation of seawater desalination facilities, to identify opportunities for improving the permitting process, and to advise the council in making the report.
Sponsored bills
This measure would recognize National Flag Day on June 14, 2012, honor the 52nd anniversary of the flying of the current American flag, and encourage all Californians to celebrate the occasion with appropriate activities.
Under existing law, several state agencies have prescribed responsibilities relating to homeless youth. Existing law requires the California Emergency Management Agency to administer a program to provide shelter and other services to runaway and nonrunaway youth and their families. This bill would establish the Statewide Office of the Homeless Youth Advocate in the California Health and Human Services Agency. This bill would require the office, among other things, to provide information and assistance to reduce the provision of overlapping services to, identify obstacles to the provision of services to, make recommendations to remove those obstacles and improve the quality of services provided to, and update and disseminate information received from service providers relating to services available for, homeless youth.
Existing law provides for protection, care, and assistance for people of the state, and the promotion of the welfare and happiness of all people in the state by providing appropriate aid and services to the needy and distressed. Programs established for this purpose include CalWORKs, which provides cash assistance and other social services to needy families, using federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program, state, and county funds, and CalFresh, whereby nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Counties administer the CalWORKs and CalFresh programs. This bill, the Social Services Modernization Act of 2012, would require a final operational state plan submitted by any department administered by the Secretary of California Health and Human Services state agency to a federal agency in the context of providing public social services to be electronically available on the relevant department's Internet Web site, as specified. This bill would, pending approval of any necessary federal waivers, require the State Department of Social Services to promulgate regulations to authorize applicants for and recipients of aid to electronically access notices and communications pertaining to eligibility and benefit issuance, as specified. The bill would authorize applicants and recipients to opt out of receiving electronic notice, and would provide for the confidentiality of an applicant's or recipient's electronic information, as specified. This bill would prohibit a county from requiring an applicant or recipient for public benefits to verify information provided to the county, except when the verification is required by federal law, or is necessary to determine eligibility for aid or to compute the amount of aid. If the verification is inconsistent with other verified information, this bill would require a county eligibility worker to provide to the applicant or recipient a notice of action specifying the type of verification required to verify eligibility, as specified. This bill would require county human services departments to maximize use of electronic means of verifying applicant and recipient information, and would require the state to work with counties to develop a protocol enabling statewide use by applicants and recipients of public social services programs of a specified electronic database developed to verify eligibility information for the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This bill would provide that the identity of, or certain information relating to, an applicant or recipient shall be considered to be verified under prescribed circumstances. This bill would revise procedures relating to public social services application and recertification interviews to require these interviews to be conducted in person, by telephone, or by other electronic means, to promote administrative efficiency and reduce costs to applicants and recipients. Existing law, with certain exceptions, requires every individual, as a condition of eligibility for aid under the CalWORKs program, to participate in welfare-to-work activities. This bill would deem an adult CalWORKs recipient to be in compliance with existing welfare-to-work requirements if he or she meets the minimum federal welfare-to-work requirements. The bill would provide that a person satisfying these requirements would be eligible for specified support services, and would not be subject to sanction for failure or refusal to comply with program requirements, as specified. Existing law prohibits an applicant from being granted public assistance, as specified, until he or she is personally interviewed by the county welfare department or state hospital staff. This bill would no longer require these interviews to be conducted personally, and would require the county to conduct the interview on the same day of the initial application, to the extent it is cost effective and administratively possible for the department. This bill would apply these provisions to applicants for CalFresh benefits. Existing law requires a county welfare department, to the extent provided by federal law, to provide CalFresh benefits on an expedited basis to certain households. This bill would require the department, to the extent allowed by federal law and any federal waivers secured by the department, to postpone expedited service interviews that have been attempted and require that the interviews be conducted at the same time as the interview for issuance of regular CalFresh benefits, as specified, and to issue expedited service to any applicant who meets expedited service eligibility requirements and whose identity has been verified, as specified. Existing law requires county welfare departments to provide transitional CalFresh benefits to households terminating their participation in the CalWORKs program, to the maximum extent allowable by federal law. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to implement the above requirement so as to maximize continued enrollment of eligible recipients, pursuant to a specified federal regulation. This bill would authorize the State Department of Social Services to implement the bill by means of all-county letters or similar instructions, by January 1, 2013. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would declare that no appropriation would be made for purposes of implementing the bill. Because this bill would increase duties of counties administering public social services programs, 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, 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.
The California Marine Resources Legacy Act establishes a program, administered by the Department of Fish and Game, to allow partial removal of offshore oil structures. The act authorizes the department to conditionally approve the partial removal of offshore oil structures, if specified criteria are satisfied, including a finding that the alternative of partial removal provides a net environmental benefit and substantial cost savings compared to the alternative of full removal of these structures. The act requires the first person to file an application on and after January 1, 2011, to partially remove an offshore oil structure to pay, in addition to other specified costs, the startup costs incurred by the department or the State Lands Commission to implement the act, including the costs to develop and adopt regulations. The act requires the payment of startup costs to be reimbursed by the department, as specified. The act requires the Ocean Protection Council, for purposes of determining whether partial removal provides a net environmental benefit, to establish specified criteria, to consult with the department, the California Coastal Commission, the State Lands Commission, the California Ocean Science Trust, and other responsible agencies as to those criteria, and requires certification that partial removal complies with the California Environmental Quality Act, among other things. The act requires the State Lands Commission to determine the cost savings of partial removal, and requires the applicant, upon conditional approval for conversion, to apportion a percentage of the cost-savings funds in accordance with a prescribed schedule to specified entities and funds. The act defines "cost savings" to mean the difference between the estimated cost to the applicant of complete removal of an oil platform, as required by state and federal leases, and the estimated costs to the applicant of partial removal of the oil platform pursuant to the act, and specifically provides for the inclusion of certain costs in cost savings. This bill would specifically include certain additional costs in "cost savings" calculations for purposes of these provisions, as specified. The bill would specify additional costs in "cost savings" calculations to be used for applications submitted on or before January 1, 2017, and would no longer require the payment of startup costs to be reimbursed by the department for those applications, as specified. The bill would require the council, in determining whether partial removal of the structure would provide a net benefit to the marine environment compared to full removal of the structure, to take certain adverse impacts to air quality into account and to consult with the State Air Resources Board, among other entities.
This measure would commemorate the 40th anniversary of Title IX on June 23, 2012, commend the movement toward increased equality and fair treatment of female athletes, and praise the goal of greater opportunities in sports for girls and young women in California.
Existing law, the Private Security Services Act, provides for the registration and regulation of private security personnel by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services. Under existing law, a security guard or security patrolperson may not carry or use a firearm unless he or she has a valid registration card and a valid firearm qualification card issued by the bureau. Existing law authorizes a security guard or security patrolperson to perform his or her duties pending receipt of a permanent or replacement registration card as long as he or she carries a hard copy printout of the bureau's approval form from the bureau's Internet Web site and a valid picture identification. Existing law authorizes the bureau to charge a $10 certification fee to provide a replacement certification card. This bill would authorize a security guard or security patrolperson to carry and use a firearm pending receipt of a permanent or replacement firearm qualification card as long as he or she carries a hard copy printout of the bureau's approval from the bureau's Internet Web site and a valid picture identification. The bill would also authorize the bureau to charge a $10 certification fee to provide a replacement firearm qualification card.
Existing law, the California Child Day Care Facilities Act, prescribes licensure requirements for the operation of child day care facilities, day care centers, and family day care homes. The act exempts specified facilities and arrangements, including public recreation programs that meet certain criteria, from its provisions. Existing law exempts a public recreation program operated as prescribed for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, that operates less than 16 hours per week and for a total of 12 weeks or less during a 12-month period. This bill would exempt from licensure a public recreation program operated as prescribed for kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, that operates less than 20 hours per week and for a total of 14 weeks or less during a 12-month period.
Existing law requires all vacancies in the classified service of a school district that has adopted the merit system to be filled from applicants on eligibility lists that are made up from promotional examinations or by appointments made by means of transfer, demotion, reinstatement, or reemployment, as specified. If a vacancy is filled from applicants on an eligibility list, the appointment is required to be made from the eligible candidates having the first 3 ranks on the list who are ready and willing to accept the position. Existing law authorizes, in a school district that has adopted the merit system, an appointment to be made from other than the first 3 ranks on the eligibility list when the ability to speak, read, or write a language in addition to English, or possession of a valid driver's license, is a requirement of the position to be filled, but in that case existing law requires the appointment to be made from among the highest 3 ranks of applicants on the list who meet the special requirements and are ready and willing to accept the position. This bill, until December 31, 2015, in a school district with a pupil population over 400,000, would authorize an appointment to specified classifications of positions to be made from other than the first 3 ranks on the eligibility list if specialized licenses, certifications, knowledge, or ability that cannot reasonably be acquired during the probationary period or a specific gender is required for successful job performance of a position, in which case the appointment would be required to be made from among the highest 3 ranks of applicants on the list who meet the special requirements and are ready and willing to accept the position. The bill also would require a school district that makes an appointment under this provision to study the effectiveness of the selection method, the vacancy rates for each class, and the length of time to hire for each class, and submit a report of its findings to any affected labor union.
Existing law generally prohibits the possession of an assault weapon, as defined, or a .50 BMG rifle, as defined. Existing law imposes specified penalties for a violation of these provisions, including imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year, or a fine, or both imprisonment and a fine, as specified. Existing law does not prohibit the sale, delivery, or transfer of an assault weapon or a .50 BMG rifle to, or the possession of an assault weapon or a .50 BMG rifle by, a sworn peace officer member of a state law enforcement entity if the peace officer is authorized by the officer's employer to possess or receive the assault weapon or the .50 BMG rifle. Existing law defines the required authorization as verifiable written certification from the head of the agency, identifying the recipient or possessor of the assault weapon or the .50 BMG rifle as a peace officer and authorizing that person to receive or possess the specific assault weapon. Existing law also requires the officer to register the weapon, as specified. These requirements do not apply to members of federal law enforcement agencies who are authorized by their employing agency to possess these weapons. This bill would require that the written authorization from an officer's employer necessary to exempt the officer from restrictions on the sale, delivery, transfer, or possession of an assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle also include language stating that the use of the assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle is "for law enforcement purposes, whether on or off duty." The bill would require that a peace officer who purchases an assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle pursuant to this provision on or after January 1, 2013, be limited to the purchase of one assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle and would prohibit the peace officer from purchasing another assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle pursuant to this provision unless the peace officer has relinquished his or her possession of the original assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle and transferred registration of the weapon out of his or her name. The bill would also require a peace officer who lawfully purchased an assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle, either before or after January 1, 2013, and properly registered the firearm in his or her name, as required pursuant to the provisions described above, and who has honorably retired, as defined, from the law enforcement agency, to notify the Department of Justice, within 90 days of the date of retirement, of his or her change in status and continued ownership of the assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle. The bill would specify that an honorably retired peace officer who acquired an assault weapon or .50 BMG rifle pursuant to the above provisions and retired prior to January 1, 2013, would not be required to surrender the weapon if he or she provides the notification specified above to the department on or before April 1, 2013. The bill would require the notification to include written documentation from the head of the law enforcement agency from which the officer retired, or a designee of the department head, stating that the officer honorably retired from the agency. The bill would require the Department of Justice to develop a program authorizing a retired officer to file a "change of status" form for purposes of these provisions, and to develop and adopt a form for that purpose. The bill would also authorize the department to charge the retired officer seeking to file that form a fee covering the reasonable cost of providing this service.