The Vehicle License Fee Law, in lieu of any ad valorem property tax upon vehicles, imposes an annual license fee for any vehicle subject to registration in this state in the amount of 1% of the market value of that vehicle, as provided, for a specified amount of time. Existing law also, until June 30, 2011, imposes an additional tax equal to 0.15% of the market value of specified vehicles, as determined by the Department of Motor Vehicles, to the vehicle license fee, to be deposited in the General Fund and transferred to the Local Safety and Protection Account, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would repeal the provision relating to the sunset date and repeal of the additional 0.15% tax, thereby depositing additional moneys into a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would constitute a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.
Sponsored bills
Existing law creates the California renewables portfolio standard program (RPS program) and the Renewable Energy Resources Program to increase the amount of electricity generated per year from eligible renewable resources, as defined. Effective on the 91st day after the adjournment of the 2011–12 First Extraordinary Session, the Energy Commission is required to refer a local publicly owned electric utility to the State Air Resources Board if the utility fails to comply with these programs and authorizes the state board to impose penalties. This bill would delete these provisions and instead authorize the Energy Commission to impose certain civil penalties on a local publicly owned utility that fails to comply with these programs. The bill would require the Energy Commission to establish, by regulation, a prescribed penalty structure. The bill would subject any order imposing penalties to judicial review and enforcement. Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to deposit any penalties it collects to enforce these programs into the Air Pollution Control Fund. This bill would delete this requirement and instead require the Energy Commission to deposit any civil penalties imposed on a local publicly owned utility in the Energy Resources Programs Account of the General Fund, to be available, upon appropriation, for the purposes of the program. The bill would make conforming changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 399.30 of the Public Utilities Code, proposed by SB 23, to be operative only if SB 23 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective January 1, 2012, and this bill is chaptered last.
This measure would proclaim October 22 to October 30, 2011, as including Red Ribbon Week, and would encourage all Californians to help build drug-free communities and participate in drug prevention activities.
Existing law, subject to exceptions, provides that every defendant convicted of a misdemeanor and not granted probation and every defendant convicted of an infraction shall be permitted by the court to withdraw his or her plea of guilty or nolo contendere and enter a plea of not guilty or, if he or she has been convicted after a plea of not guilty, have the court set aside the verdict of guilty after one year from the date of judgment, provided he or she satisfies certain conditions. In either case, the court is required to dismiss the accusatory pleading against the defendant, as specified. The bill would make this relief unavailable for misdemeanor convictions of specified sex offenses that apply if the victim is a child 14 or 15 years of age or a dependent person. This bill would authorize, if a defendant does not satisfy all of the above requirements, the court, in its discretion and in the interests of justice, to afford a defendant that relief as to other charges to which these provisions apply if, after a lapse of one year from the date of pronouncement of judgment, the defendant has fully complied with his or her sentence, is not currently serving a sentence for any offense, and is not under charge of commission of any crime. The bill would specify that the dismissal of an accusatory pleading pursuant to the above provisions does not permit a person to own, possess, or have a firearm, or to hold public office if the person is prohibited from holding public office as a result of the conviction. The bill would make a clarifying change to its provisions.
This measure would recognize June 19, 2011, as Veterans of the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces Day, in memory of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for freedom and democracy and the victims of the Vietnam War, and in honor of the survivors, activists, and freedom fighters of that war.
This measure would recognize March 31, 2011, as the anniversary of the birth of César Chávez, and would call upon all Californians to participate in appropriate observances to remember César Chávez as a symbol of hope and justice to all persons.
This measure would urge the President and the Congress of the United States to continue to provide resources to increase the supply of physicians in California and to consider solutions that would increase the number of graduate medical education residency positions.
This measure would continue designation and observance of the month of October as Italian American Heritage Month. This measure would also encourage the Legislature to continue the Italian American Legislator Project and welcome the exhibit "The Italian American Legislator Project of 2011: A Legacy of Service to the California Legislature" to the State Capitol Building in October 2011 and encourage all Californians, through the K–12 curriculum and otherwise, to learn about the history, role, and contributions of Italian Americans to the State of California.
Existing law, the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000, sets forth the procedures for incorporations and changes of organizations of cities, including procedures for disincorporation. This bill would provide that every city with a population of less than 150 people as of January 1, 2010, would be disincorporated into that city's respective county as of 91 days after the effective date of the bill, unless a county board of supervisors determines, by majority vote within the 90-day period following enactment of these provisions, that continuing such a city within that county's boundaries would serve a public purpose if the board of supervisors determines that the city is in an isolated rural location that makes it impractical for the residents of the community to organize in another form of local governance. The bill would also require the local agency formation commission within the county to oversee the terms and conditions of the disincorporation of the city, as specified. The bill would become operative only if AB 781 of the 2011–12 Regular Session is enacted.