This measure would recognize June 12, 2017, as the 119th Anniversary of Philippine Independence and would call upon the people of the state to observe the month of June with appropriate ceremonies, programs, and activities.
Existing law generally governs the transactions between a rental company, also referred to as a rental car company, and its customers, including, among other provisions, restrictions on a rental company's use of electronic surveillance technology. Existing law, as part of those restrictions, prohibits a rental company from using, accessing, or obtaining any information relating to the renter's use of the rental vehicle that was obtained using electronic surveillance technology, except under specified circumstances. This bill would additionally authorize that electronic surveillance technology to be used, accessed, or obtained by a rental company in circumstances in which the rental vehicle is the subject of an AMBER Alert. The bill would require a rental company, if it uses the equipment in this manner, to notify law enforcement that one of the rental company's vehicles is the subject of an AMBER Alert upon becoming aware of the situation, except as specified.
The Massage Therapy Act, until January 1, 2021, provides for certification of massage practitioners and massage therapists by the California Massage Therapy Council. The act requires the council to take reasonable actions as needed to carry out its responsibilities and duties, including, among others, hiring staff, entering into contracts, and developing policies, procedures, rules, and bylaws to implement the act. This bill would require the council to assess its contact with non-English speakers. The bill would require the council, based on this assessment, to offer and make available all publicly available written and electronic materials provided to certificate holders and applicants in languages other than English that the council determines will be used by a substantial number of non-English speakers in contact with the council. The bill would exclude examinations, denial and disciplinary legal documents, and email communications from that requirement. The bill also would require the council to provide a report to the Legislature on the findings of its assessment of contact with non-English speakers on or before January 1, 2019.
(1) Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University; the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California; the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges; and independent institutions of higher education as the 4 segments of postsecondary education in this state. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to reduce the incidence of hunger and homelessness among college students in California. (2) Existing law requires each public and private postsecondary educational institution that is located in a county that participates in the Restaurant Meals Program to apply to become an approved food vendor for the program, if the institution operates any qualifying food facilities on campus, or to provide contracting on-campus food vendors with specified information about the program. This bill would provide definitions of "on-campus food vendors" and "qualifying food facility" for purposes of this provision. (3) Existing federal law provides for the 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. Under existing law, households are eligible to receive CalFresh benefits to the extent permitted by federal law. Existing federal law provides that students who are enrolled in college or other institutions of higher education at least half time are not eligible for SNAP benefits unless they meet one of several specified exemptions, including participating in specified employment training programs. Existing state law provides that, for the purposes of determining eligibility, certain educational programs, as determined by the State Department of Social Services, shall be considered employment training programs, thereby qualifying a student participating in one of those programs for an exemption, unless prohibited by federal law. Existing law also requires the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with representatives from other specified organizations, to establish a protocol to identify and verify all potential exemptions and to identify and verify participation in educational programs, including self-initiated placements, that would qualify a student for an exemption. This bill would express legislative intent to clarify educational policies for purposes of improving access for low-income students to the CalFresh program. For purposes of the federal regulation, the bill would specify the definition of half-time college enrollment. The bill would also require the Student Aid Commission to provide written notice to recipients of Cal Grant awards who qualify for participation in the CalFresh program under the federal regulation. This bill would require the Department of Social Services to maintain and regularly update a list of programs identified pursuant to existing law because they meet the employment training exemption set in the federal regulation. The bill would also require the department to issue and maintain instructions for county human services agencies to verify exemptions to the CalFresh student eligibility rules for students who participate in these programs, as specified. To the extent that this provision would impose new duties on county human services agencies, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law requires the Department of Social Services to implement the provisions described in (3) above by all-county letters or similar instructions beginning no later than October 1, 2015, until regulations are adopted, and further requires the department to adopt regulations on or before October 1, 2017. Existing law also requires the department to seek and obtain federal approval, as specified, prior to publishing that guidance or regulation, if the United States Department of Agriculture requires federal approval. This bill would adjust the dates for the implementation and adoption of regulations. The bill would delete the provision relating to federal approval. (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 the statutory provisions noted above.
The Personal Income Tax Law provides for various exclusions from gross income, including an exclusion for the amount of student loan indebtedness discharged on or after January 1, 2015, and before January 1, 2020, for an eligible individual who is granted a discharge of any student loan pursuant to special provisions of the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program Borrower's Rights and Responsibilities Statement because the individual could not complete a program of study due to the school closing or because the individual successfully asserts that the school did something wrong or failed to do something that it should have done. This bill would replace the reference to those provisions of the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program Borrower's Rights and Responsibilities Statement to instead refer to the relevant sections in the Code of Federal Regulations that govern the above-referenced exclusion for discharged student loans.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person who has knowledge of an accidental death to actively conceal or attempt to conceal that death. Existing law provides that the punishment for that offense is imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $10,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment. Existing law also sets forth various time limits to prosecute crimes. Except as otherwise specified, prosecution for an offense that is not punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison is required to be commenced within one year after commission of the offense. Existing law provides that for certain offenses, the prescribed limitation of time does not commence to run until the discovery of the offense. Existing law also provides that for other offenses, the criminal complaint may be filed within one year after the person is initially identified by law enforcement as a suspect in the commission of the crime, as specified. This bill would provide that for the offense of actively concealing or attempting to conceal an accidental death, as described above, a criminal complaint may be filed within one year after the person is initially identified by law enforcement as a suspect in the commission of the offense, provided however, that in any case a complaint may not be filed more than 4 years after the commission of the offense.
Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , it is an unlawful employment practice for an employer, unless based upon a bona fide occupational qualification or applicable security regulations established by the United States or the State of California, to refuse to hire or employ a person or to refuse to select a person for a training program leading to employment, or to bar or discharge a person from employment or a training program leading to employment, or to discriminate against a person in compensation or in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of the race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, or military and veteran status of that person. FEHA provides that nothing in that act relating to discrimination on account of sex affects the right of an employer to use veteran status as a factor in employee selection or to give special consideration to Vietnam-era veterans. This bill would enact the Voluntary Veterans' Preference Employment Policy Act to authorize a private employer to establish and maintain a written veterans' preference employment policy, to be applied uniformly to hiring decisions, to give a voluntary preference for hiring or retaining a veteran over another qualified applicant or employee. The bill would provide that the granting of a veterans' preference pursuant to the bill, in and of itself, shall be deemed not to violate any local or state equal employment opportunity law or regulation, including, but not limited to, the antidiscrimination provisions of FEHA. The bill would revise the existing veteran status provision in FEHA to remove references to discrimination on account of sex and to Vietnam-era veterans, and would, instead, provide that nothing in that act relating to discrimination affects the right of an employer to use veteran status as a factor in hiring decisions if the employer maintains a veterans' preference employment policy established in accordance with the Voluntary Veterans' Preference Employment Policy Act. The bill would prohibit a veterans' preference employment policy from being established or applied for the purpose of discriminating against an employment applicant on the basis of a protected classification, as specified.
This measure would proclaim June 19, 2017, as Veterans of the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces Day.
