(1) Existing law establishes the public school system in this state, and, among other things, provides for the establishment of school districts throughout the state and for their provision of instruction at the public elementary and secondary schools they operate and maintain. Existing law, the Interagency School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985, among other things, requires school districts and county offices of education to be responsible for the overall development of comprehensive school safety plans for schools operating kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and further requires the Department of Justice and the State Department of Education to contract with one or more professional trainers to coordinate statewide workshops for school districts, county offices of education, and schoolsite personnel to assist them in the development of school safety and crisis response plans. This bill, as of July 1, 2012, would encourage the inclusion of policies and procedures aimed at the prevention of bullying in comprehensive school safety plans. The bill also would require the Department of Justice and the State Department of Education to contract to provide training in the prevention of bullying, as defined in the bill. (2) Existing law requires each person between 6 and 18 years of age, inclusive, who is not otherwise exempt, to attend the public full-time day school in the school district in which his or her parent or guardian is a resident. Existing law authorizes the governing boards of 2 or more school districts to enter into an agreement, for a term not to exceed 5 school years, for the interdistrict attendance of pupils who are residents of the districts. Existing law requires the supervisor of attendance of the school district of residence to issue an individual permit verifying the district's approval, pursuant to policies of the governing board of the school district and terms of the agreement, for the transfer. Existing law establishes an appeal process for pupils whose permits are denied, or, in the absence of an agreement between the school districts, if the school districts fail or refuse to enter into an agreement. This bill, as of July 1, 2012, would require that a pupil who has been determined by personnel of either the school district of residence or the school district of proposed enrollment to have been the victim of an act of bullying, as defined, committed by a pupil of the school district of residence be given priority for interdistrict attendance under any existing interdistrict attendance agreement or, in the absence of an agreement, be given additional consideration for the creation of an interdistrict attendance agreement, at the request of the person having legal custody of the pupil. To the extent this provision would impose new or additional duties on school districts, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law prohibits the suspension, or recommendation for expulsion, of a pupil from school unless the school district superintendent or the school principal determines that the pupil has committed any of various specified acts, including, but not limited to, bullying, as defined to include sexual harassment, hate violence, or harassment, threats, or intimidation. This bill, as of July 1, 2012, would amend the definition of bullying in this provision by specifying that bullying means any severe or pervasive physical or verbal act or conduct, including communications made in writing or by means of an electronic act, as defined, including, but not limited to, sexual harassment, hate violence, or harassment, threats, or intimidation, that has the effect or can reasonably be predicted to have the effect of placing a reasonable pupil, as defined, in fear of harm to that pupil's or those pupils' person or property, causing a reasonable pupil to experience a substantially detrimental effect on his or her physical or mental health, causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial interference with his or her academic performance, or causing a reasonable pupil to experience substantial interference with his or her ability to participate in or benefit from the services, activities, or privileges provided by a school. (4) The bill would also make various technical and conforming changes. (5) 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.
Sponsored bills
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including a credit against those taxes for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, in an amount equal to a specified percentage of the qualified expenditures, as defined, attributable to the production of a qualified motion picture in California, or, where the qualified motion picture has relocated to California or is an independent film, as provided. Existing law requires the California Film Commission to allocate the tax credits until July 1, 2014, and limits the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated to qualified motion pictures in any fiscal year to $100,000,000, through the 2013–14 fiscal year. This bill, under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, would extend the California Film Commission's requirement to allocate the tax credits one additional year, until July 1, 2015. This bill would also extend the limit on the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated through the 2014–15 fiscal year. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law provides that it is the policy of the state to afford all persons in public schools, regardless of their disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic that is contained in the definition of hate crimes, equal rights and opportunities in the educational institutions of the state, and that it is the purpose of existing law to prohibit acts that are contrary to that policy and to provide remedies therefor. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to develop a model handout, posted on appropriate department Internet Web sites, describing the rights and obligations set forth in these provisions and the policies addressing bias-related discrimination and harassment in schools. Existing law also requires the department to monitor adherence to these provisions and, as part of its regular monitoring and review of local educational agencies, to assess whether local educational agencies have adopted a policy that prohibits discrimination and harassment and a process for receiving and investigating complaints of discrimination and harassment, as specified. This bill would require the policy adopted by the local educational agencies to prohibit discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying based on actual or perceived characteristics, as specified. The bill also would require the process for receiving and investigating complaints to include complaints of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying based on actual or perceived characteristics, as specified, and to include a requirement that school personnel who witness such acts take immediate steps to intervene when safe to do so, a timeline to investigate and resolve complaints, and an appeal process, as specified. The bill would make other conforming changes. Because this bill would require local educational agencies to perform additional duties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to post, and annually update, on his or her Internet Web site, and to provide to each school district, a list of statewide resources, including community-based organizations, that provide support to youth who have been subjected to school-based discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying, and their families. The bill would make its provisions operative on July 1, 2012. 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 Constitution establishes the civil service and creates the State Personnel Board to enforce the civil service statutes. Existing law authorizes the State Personnel Board to hold hearings and make investigations concerning matters relating to the administration of the civil service. These provisions require, among other things, that a hearing or investigation be commenced within a reasonable time after the filing of the petition whenever a hearing or investigation is conducted in regard to an appeal by an employee. This bill would authorize an employee to make a written request for a priority hearing by the board for an appeal of an action that resulted in the employee's termination if an evidentiary hearing has not commenced within 6 months of the filing of the appeal. The bill would require the board to schedule an evidentiary hearing within 60 days of the written request, as specified. The bill would also authorize the board to order all of, or a portion of, any hearing to be conducted using electronic media pursuant to board rules. The bill would also make nonsubstantive, technical changes to that provision.
Existing law creates in the State Treasury the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund for the receipt and deposit of moneys received by the state from certain Indian tribes pursuant to the terms of gaming compacts entered into with the state. Existing law authorizes moneys in that fund to be used for specified purposes, including for grants for the support of state and local government agencies impacted by tribal government gaming. This bill would appropriate $9,100,000 from the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund to the California Gambling Control Commission to provide grants to local agencies.
Existing law provides for a state park system of which the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park in Tulare County is a unit. This bill would require the Department of Parks and Recreation to notify the State Park and Recreation Commission of any proposed development that may substantially impact the historical, cultural, or recreational significance of the Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, and would require the commission, upon receipt of that notification to hold a duly noticed public hearing to receive public input regarding the potential impacts of the proposed development on the park. The bill would require the commission, following the public hearing, to submit, in writing, to the department a summary of its conclusions on the potential park impacts that may be caused by the proposed development for transmission by the department to the appropriate local government entities. The bill would also require the department, in consultation with the State Office of Historic Preservation, to study the feasibility of recommending that the park be considered for designation as a National Historic Landmark. The bill would make legislative findings as to the necessity of a special statute.
(1) Existing law requires the Legislature to provide for a system of common schools by which a free school is required to be kept up and supported in each district. Existing law prohibits a pupil enrolled in school from being required to pay a fee, deposit, or other charge not specifically authorized by law. This bill would prohibit a pupil enrolled in a public school from being required to pay a pupil fee, as defined, for participation in an educational activity, as defined, as specified. The bill would provide that this prohibition is not to be interpreted to prohibit solicitation of voluntary donations, voluntary participation in fundraising activities, or school districts, schools, and other entities from providing pupils prizes or other recognition for voluntarily participating in fundraising activities. The bill would specify that these provisions apply to all public schools, including, but not limited to, charter schools and alternative schools, are declarative of existing law, and should not be interpreted to prohibit the imposition of a fee, deposit, or other charge otherwise allowed by law. The bill would require a superintendent of a school district, county superintendent of schools, or chief executive officer, or a person in the equivalent position, of a charter school, commencing with the 2011–12 fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter, to determine, within the first 8 weeks after the first day pupils attend school for that school year, or during a specified time period for the 2011–12 fiscal year, whether an unlawful pupil fee has been, or is being, charged in the current fiscal year, or on or after January 1, 2012, for the 2011–12 fiscal year. If the superintendent of a school district, county superintendent of schools, or chief executive officer, or a person in the equivalent position, of a charter school makes this determination, the bill would require him or her to present the determination at a public hearing or meeting of the applicable governing board or body at which the governing board or body would be required to identify the nature of the violation and take action to provide full reimbursements to all affected pupils, parents, or guardians within a specified time period. The bill would require the hearing or meeting to meet specified requirements. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires the Controller, in consultation with the Department of Finance and the State Department of Education, to develop a plan to review and report on financial and compliance audits, and with representatives of other entities, to recommend the statements and other information to be included in the audit reports filed with the state by local educational agencies, and to propose the content of an audit guide. This bill would require a compliance audit, commencing with audits of the 2011–12 fiscal year, to include the verification of compliance with the prohibition against the imposition of pupil fees for participation in educational activities in violation of specified law. Notwithstanding specified law, the bill would require this verification to be added to the audit guide commencing with audits of the 2011–12 fiscal year. The bill also would allow for the adoption of emergency regulations to achieve this goal and would require charter schools to be subject to those audits to ensure compliance with the prohibition against the imposition of unlawful pupil fees. (3) Existing law requires a school district to use its uniform complaint process to help identify and resolve any deficiencies related to instructional materials, emergency or urgent facilities conditions that pose a threat to the health and safety of pupils or staff, teacher vacancy or misassignment, and intensive instruction and services provided to pupils who have not passed one or both parts of the high school exit examination after the completion of grade 12. Existing law provides certain complainants the right to file an appeal to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who is required to provide a written report to the State Board of Education that describes the basis for the complaint and, as appropriate, proposes a remedy. A notice regarding the appropriate subjects of a complaint is required to be posted in each classroom in each school in the school district and a complaint regarding those deficiencies is required to be filed with the principal of the school or his or her designee, except as specified. This bill also would require a school district and a charter school to use its uniform complaint process to help identify and resolve any deficiencies related to the imposition of pupil fees for participation in educational activities, as those terms are defined. The bill also would provide persons with a complaint regarding the imposition of pupil fees the right to file an appeal to the Superintendent and would require the Superintendent to provide the written report to the state board and the complainant no later than 30 working days after the appeal was received by the Superintendent. If the report finds a violation, the bill would require the Superintendent to require the offending school district, charter school, or school to fully reimburse all affected pupils, parents, or guardians. The bill also would require the classroom notice to include certain information about the prohibition against charging pupil fees for participation in educational activities. The bill would require a school district, county office of education, and charter school to establish local policies and procedures, post notices, and implement the uniform complaint process provisions regarding the imposition of pupil fees for participation in educational activities by March 1, 2012. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law requires a county superintendent of schools to provide for an audit of all funds under his or her jurisdiction and requires the governing board of a local educational agency to either provide for an audit of the books and accounts of the local educational agency or make arrangements with the county superintendent of schools having jurisdiction over the local educational agency to provide for that auditing. Existing law requires a county superintendent of schools to be responsible for reviewing the audit exceptions contained in an audit of a local educational agency under his or her jurisdiction related to specified topics, and determining whether the exceptions were either corrected or an acceptable plan of correction was developed. Existing law requires the county office of education to review certain audit exceptions upon submission and receipt of a final audit report. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to be responsible for ensuring that local educational agencies have either corrected or developed plans of correction for specified audit exceptions. This bill, commencing with the 2011–12 audit of local educational agencies, would require the county superintendent of schools to also include in the review of audit exceptions those audit exceptions related to the imposition of pupil fees for participation in educational activities in violation of specified law, and to determine whether the exceptions are either corrected or an acceptable plan of correction is developed. The bill would prohibit an audit exception related to the imposition of unlawful pupil fees from being deemed corrected until the school district, county office of education, or charter school fully reimburses all affected parents, guardians, and pupils. The bill also would require the county office of education to review audit exceptions relating to the imposition of unlawful pupil fees. If, in an audit for a subsequent year, the auditor finds an uncorrected or new audit exception related to the imposition of unlawful pupil fees, the bill would require the auditor to make a specified disclosure and would require the Superintendent to withhold certain payments to the school district, county office of education, or charter school until they provide reimbursement, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law excepts certain claims from the requirement that all claims for money or damages against local public entities be presented in accordance with specified law. This bill would additionally except specified claims for reimbursement of pupil fees for participation in educational activities. (6) 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.
Existing law prohibits any person from being registered as a voter except by affidavit of registration and requires that the affidavit be mailed or delivered to the county elections official. The Secretary of State has certain administrative duties under existing law in providing voter registration materials. The federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993 provides for state departments of motor vehicles to make voter registration information and materials available to an applicant for a driver's license and other vehicular documents. Existing state law requires licensed persons to provide to the Department of Motor Vehicles a signature and the Department of Motor Vehicles is required to digitize that signature and forward the digitized signature to the Secretary of State if a person wishes to register to vote. Under existing law, operative when the Secretary of State certifies that the state has a statewide voter registration database that complies with the requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002, a person who is qualified to register to vote and who has a valid California driver's license or state identification card is authorized to submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the Internet Web site of the Secretary of State. Under the above-described online voter registration provisions, the Secretary of State, for each electronic affiant, is required to obtain an electronic copy of the applicant's signature from his or her driver's license or state identification card directly from the Department of Motor Vehicles. This bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Secretary of State to develop a process and the infrastructure to allow electronic copies of the applicants' signatures and other information required under the above provisions that is in the possession of the department to be transferred to the Secretary of State and to the county election management systems to allow a person who is qualified to register to vote in California to register to vote under the above provisions. This bill would provide, as an alternative operative date, that the above provisions shall become operative on the date the Secretary of State either certifies that the state has a statewide voter registration database that complies with the requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 or executes a declaration stating that certain specified conditions have occurred. For purposes of implementing the above provisions as expeditiously as possible, if the provisions become operative under the latter, the Secretary of State's office would be exempt from certain provisions relating to information technology, as specified, in implementing the provisions.
Existing law requires each county to provide cash assistance and other social services to needy families through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program using federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program, state, and county funds. Existing federal law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, formerly the Food Stamp Program, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services and the California Health and Human Services Agency Data Center to design, implement, and maintain a statewide fingerprint imaging system for use in connection with the determination of eligibility for benefits under the CalWORKs program, excluding the Aid to Families with Dependent Children‑Foster Care program, and CalFresh. Existing law, with specified exceptions, requires applicants for, and recipients of, CalWORKs and CalFresh benefits, as a condition of eligibility, to be fingerprint imaged, pursuant to the statewide fingerprint imaging system. This bill would remove the requirement that applicants for, and recipients of, CalFresh benefits, as a condition of eligibility, be fingerprint imaged and would make related conforming changes. Under existing law, the county is required to annually redetermine eligibility for CalWORKs benefits. Existing law additionally requires the county to redetermine recipient eligibility and grant amounts on a quarterly basis, using prospective budgeting, and to prospectively determine the grant amount that a recipient is entitled to receive for each month of the quarterly reporting period. Under existing law, a CalWORKs recipient is required to report to the county, orally or in writing, specified changes that could affect the amount of aid to which the recipient is entitled. Under existing law, the CalWORKs quarterly reporting system is also implemented by the State Department of Social Services in administering SNAP. This bill would make inoperative October 1, 2013, and repeal January 1, 2014, the requirements relating to quarterly reporting and prospective determination grant amounts, and would, instead, impose similar requirements for a semiannual reporting period, operative April 1, 2013, to be implemented no later than October 1, 2013. This bill would require each county to transition recipients to a semiannual reporting system simultaneously and require each county to provide a certificate to the Director of Social Services certifying that semiannual reporting has been implemented in the county. The bill would also require the department to establish an income reporting threshold for CalWORKs recipients, as specified. The bill would make various related conforming changes, including revising provisions relating to the collection of CalWORKs grant overpayments. The bill would authorize counties to adopt staggered semiannual reporting requirements, as specified. This bill would prohibit administrative savings associated with the implementation of semiannual reporting from exceeding the amount necessary to fund the net General Fund costs of the semiannual reporting, and would authorize the reflection of possible additional savings in excess of this amount only to the extent that they are based on actual savings, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions through all-county letters until the adoption of implementing regulations, as prescribed. Existing law requires the Department of Community Services and Development to receive and administer the federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program block grant. This bill would, to the extent permitted by federal law, require the State Department of Social Services, in conjunction with the Department of Community Services and Development, to design, implement by January 1, 2013, and maintain a utility assistance initiative. Under the bill, the State Department of Social Services would be required to grant applicants and recipients of CalFresh benefits a nominal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) service benefit, as specified, out of the federal LIHEAP block grant and any funds allocated for this purpose not expended and reinvested into the program, as prescribed. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would, instead, provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill. To the extent that the bill would expand eligibility for CalWORKs and CalFresh benefits, the bill would create 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.
Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, headed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. This bill would, until July 1, 2017, create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative. It would require, by July 1, 2012, the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to prepare recommendations, to be presented upon request to the Legislature, regarding actions that need to be taken to promote food access in the state. The bill would establish the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Council and would require the council to implement the initiative, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish an advisory group, as specified. The bill would create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Fund in the State Treasury, to be comprised of federal, state, philanthropic, and private funds, for the purpose of expanding access to healthy foods in underserved communities and, to the extent practicable, to leverage other funding, as specified. Moneys in the fund would be expended upon appropriation by the Legislature.