(1) Existing law establishes in state government the Transportation Agency, which includes various departments and state entities, including the California Transportation Commission. Existing law vests the California Transportation Commission with specified powers, duties, and functions relative to transportation matters. Existing law requires the commission to retain independent authority to perform the duties and functions prescribed to it under any provision of law. This bill would exclude the California Transportation Commission from the Transportation Agency, establish it as an entity in state government, and require it to act in an independent oversight role. The bill would also make conforming changes. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to prepare a state highway operation and protection program every other year for the expenditure of transportation capital improvement funds for projects that are necessary to preserve and protect the state highway system, excluding projects that add new traffic lanes. The program is required to be based on an asset management plan, as specified. Existing law requires the department to specify, for each project in the program, the capital and support budget and projected delivery date for various components of the project. Existing law provides for the California Transportation Commission to review and adopt the program, and authorizes the commission to decline to adopt the program if it determines that the program is not sufficiently consistent with the asset management plan. This bill would additionally require the department to program capital outlay support resources for each project in the program. The bill would provide that the commission is not required to approve the program in its entirety, as submitted by the department, and may approve or reject individual projects programmed by the department. The bill would require the department to submit any change in a programmed project's cost, scope, or schedule to the commission for its approval.
Sponsored bills
Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation and regional transportation agencies, as defined, to enter into comprehensive development lease agreements with public and private entities, or consortia of those entities, for certain transportation projects that may charge certain users of those projects tolls and user fees, subject to various terms and requirements. These arrangements are commonly known as public-private partnerships. Existing law provides that a lease agreement may not be entered into under these provisions on or after January 1, 2017. This bill would extend this authorization indefinitely and would include within the definition of "regional transportation agency" the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, thereby authorizing the authority to enter into public-private partnerships under these provisions. The bill would also delete obsolete cross-references and make technical changes to these provisions.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Consumer Affairs to enter into a contract with a vendor for the licensing and enforcement of the BreEZe system, which is a specified integrated, enterprisewide enforcement case management and licensing system, no sooner than 30 days after written notification to certain committees of the Legislature. Existing law requires the amount of contract funds for the system to be consistent with costs approved by the office of the State Chief Information Officer, based on information provided by the department in a specified manner. This bill would, on or before March 1, 2016, or thereafter when available, require the department to submit an annual report to the Legislature and the Department of Finance that includes, among other things, the department's plans for implementing the BreEZe system at specified regulatory entities included in the department's's 3rd phase of the BreEZe implementation project, when available, including, but not limited to, a timeline for the implementation. The bill would also require the department to post on its Internet Web site the name of each regulatory entity that is utilizing the BreEZe system once the regulatory entity begins using the BreEZe system. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The Joint Exercise of Powers Act authorizes 2 of more public agencies to enter into an agreement to jointly exercise any power common to the contracting parties. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding any other provision of the act, a private, nonprofit corporation that provides services to homeless persons or for the prevention of homelessness may form a joint powers agency or enter into a joint powers agreement with a public agency for the purpose of providing frequent user coordinated care housing services, defined by to mean housing combined with other supportive services, as defined, for homeless persons identified by a city or county as the most costly, frequent users of publicly funded emergency services. The bill would require the public agency or agencies to determine the composition of a board of directors to govern an agency formed pursuant to these provisions and would prohibit representation of private nonprofit corporations on the board in excess of 50%. The bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2024. The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development that includes, among other things, a housing element. A housing element is required to include an analysis of any special housing needs. This bill would provide that the analysis of special housing needs by a city or county may include an analysis of the need for frequent user coordinated care housing services.
The Professional Engineers Act provides for the licensure and regulation of engineers and the Professional Land Surveyors' Act provides for the licensure and regulation of land surveyors by the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists. The Uniform Partnership Act of 1994 authorizes the formation of registered limited liability partnerships and foreign limited liability partnerships as specified. Existing law, until January 1, 2016, authorizes persons licensed to engage in the practice of engineering or land surveying to form registered limited liability partnerships and foreign limited liability partnerships and requires those partnerships to provide security of no less than $2,000,000 for claims arising out of the partnership's professional practice. Existing law, until January 1, 2016, also provides that engineers or land surveyors are not prohibited from practicing or offering to practice, within the scope of their licensure, as a limited liability partnership if specified requirements are met, including, among others, that any offer, promotion, or advertisement by the business that contains the name of any individual in the business must clearly and specifically designate the license or registration discipline of the individual named. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2016. This bill would extend the operation of these provisions until January 1, 2019.
Existing law, until January 1, 2017, authorizes the County of Orange to establish a neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV) transportation plan for the Ranch Plan Planned Community in that county. Under existing law, operation of a neighborhood electric vehicle in violation of certain provisions is an infraction. This bill would extend the operative period of these provisions until January 1, 2022. By extending the operative period of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires NEV lanes to be classified, as specified, for the purposes of the NEV transportation plan for the Ranch Plan Planned Community. Existing law requires that a lane used by both NEVs and conventional vehicle traffic on a street with a speed limit of 25 miles per hour or less be classified as a Class III NEV route. This bill would, instead, require that a lane used by NEVs and conventional vehicle traffic on a street with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or less be classified as a Class III NEV route. Existing law requires the county to provide a report to the Legislature, by November 1, 2015, if the county adopts a plan as authorized. This bill would, instead, require the county to provide that report by November 1, 2020. 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 measure would urge each University of California campus to adopt a resolution condemning all forms of anti-Semitism and racism, and would condemn any act of anti-Semitism at all publicly funded schools in the State of California.
This measure would recognize July 2015 as California Kindness Month.
This measure would recognize June 2015 as Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month, and June 21, 2015, as The Longest Day in California, and would urge all residents to wear purple on this day to help spread global awareness of the Alzheimer's Association's vision of imagining a world without Alzheimer's disease.
Existing provisions of the California Constitution establish the University of California as a public trust under the administration of the Regents of the University of California. The University of California system includes 10 campuses, which are respectively located in Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz. This measure would require that, for the 2017–18 academic year, and each academic year thereafter, out-of-state undergraduate students, as defined, constitute not more than 10% of an incoming undergraduate class, and not more than 10% of the total undergraduate enrollment, at each campus in the University of California system. The bill would prohibit the University of California from providing state-funded financial assistance to an undergraduate student who, in the absence of financial assistance, is statutorily required to pay tuition or any mandatory fee at a rate higher than a California resident. This measure would also prohibit the total amount of tuition and mandatory systemwide fees charged to undergraduate students of the University of California from being increased from the 2016–17 academic year to the 2020–21 academic year, inclusive.