Sen. John J Benoit

Existing law prohibits a person from engaging in, or aiding or abetting, a motor vehicle speed contest on a highway. Existing law prohibits a person from engaging in, or aiding or abetting, a motor vehicle exhibition of speed on a highway. Existing law also prohibits a person, for purposes of facilitating or aiding, or as an incident to, a motor vehicle speed contest or exhibition on a highway, from obstructing or placing a barricade or obstruction, or assisting or participating in placing a barricade or obstruction, on a highway. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

Existing federal law requires the federal government to compensate a state for the costs of incarcerating undocumented criminal illegal aliens, or to take the undocumented criminal alien into federal custody, as specified. This bill would require the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to annually bill the federal government for the costs of incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens within California's correctional system. The bill would require the Attorney General to utilize all available legal resources to obtain compliance with payment of the written bill if the federal government fails to make payment. This bill would also require the Department of Justice to collect data on the total number of, and percentage of, undocumented alien inmates in all state and local correctional institutions in the state and to publish the data on its Internet Web site. The data would be required to be annually updated and published.

The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities Commission with jurisdiction over all public utilities, as defined. The California Constitution grants the commission certain general powers over all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature, and authorizes the Legislature, unlimited by the other provisions of the Constitution, to confer additional authority and jurisdiction upon the commission that is cognate and germane to the regulation of public utilities. The existing Public Utilities Act authorizes the commission to supervise and regulate every public utility, and to do all things which are necessary and convenient in the exercise of its power and jurisdiction. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to this authorization.

Existing law provides for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which, either through employment by the recipient, by or through contract by the county, by the creation of a public authority, or pursuant to a contract with a nonprofit consortium, qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons receive services enabling them to remain in their own homes. Existing law requires a nonprofit consortium or public authority to provide for various functions, including establishing a registry of in-home supportive service providers and investigating the qualifications and background of prospective registry applicants. Under existing law, the investigation may include criminal background checks requested by the nonprofit consortium or public authority and conducted by the Department of Justice. This bill would, instead, require the investigation to include criminal background checks. This bill would require that, as part of the criminal background check, an in-home supportive services provider be fingerprinted and submit the fingerprint images and any other related information required by the Department of Justice to assist the department in obtaining information related to the existence and content of any records of any state or federal convictions and arrests. The bill would provide that an in-home supportive services provider shall be responsible for covering the cost of providing fingerprint images and other information to the Department of Justice. This bill would provide that, in order to be employed as an in-home supportive services provider in a county that has contracted with a nonprofit consortium or established a public authority, an applicant shall, as a condition of employment, be on the registry or be placed on that registry within 90 days of when the applicant first begins to provide in-home supportive services. The bill would provide that an in-home supportive services provider who is already providing services on January 1, 2010, and who is not on the registry on that date shall have until April 1, 2010, to be placed on the registry in order to continue to provide in-home supportive services. Because the bill would require certain counties to perform additional responsibilities in administering the IHSS program, 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.

Under existing law an employer is prohibited from requiring an employee to work during a meal or rest period mandated by an applicable order of the Industrial Welfare Commission and is required to pay a nonexempt employee one additional hour's pay at the employee's regular rate of compensation upon failure to provide the mandated meal or rest period. This bill would provide that the payment to the employee for failure to provide a mandated meal or rest period is a statutory penalty and does not constitute additional wages to the employee. The bill also would clarify that an employer provides a meal or rest period by making one available to the employee without interfering with its use. Existing law requires an employer to provide an employee who works more than 5 hours with a meal period of not less than 30 minutes, unless the employee's total daily work period does not exceed 6 hours, in which case it may be waived by mutual agreement. This bill would provide that this meal period may commence at any time before the start of the 6th hour of work.

Under existing law, the Federal Communications Commission licenses and partially regulates providers of commercial mobile radio service, including providers of cellular radiotelephone service (cellular) , broadband Personal Communications Services (PCS) , and digital Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) services (collectively, mobile telephony service providers) . Under existing law, no state or local government may regulate the entry of, or the rates charged by, any commercial mobile radio service, but a state or local government is generally not prohibited from regulating the other terms and conditions of commercial mobile radio service. Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to regulate telecommunications services and rates of telephone corporations, except to the extent regulation of commercial mobile radio service is preempted by federal regulation, and to require telephone corporations to provide certain customer services. Existing provisions of the Warren-911 Emergency Assistance Act, establishes the number "911" as the primary emergency telephone number for use in the state and requires the providing of enhanced service capable of selective routing, automatic number identification, or automatic location identification. Existing law requires that a provider of commercial mobile radio service, as defined, provide access for end users of that service to the local "911" emergency telephone systems, and that user validation not be required. Existing law authorizes a "911" call from a commercial mobile radio service telecommunications device to be routed to a public safety answering point other than the Department of the California Highway Patrol under certain circumstances. This bill would require a mobile telephony services provider to provide call location information relative to a telecommunications device of a user to a requesting law enforcement agency, in order for the law enforcement agency to respond to a call for emergency services or in an emergency situation that involves the risk of death or serious physical harm. The bill would provide that no cause of action shall lie in any court against a mobile telephony services provider, its officers, employees, or agents, for providing call location information relative to a telecommunications device of a user in good faith pursuant to the bill's provisions.

Existing law, with certain exceptions, establishes 8 hours as a day's work and a 40-hour workweek, and requires payment of prescribed overtime compensation for additional hours worked. Existing law authorizes the adoption by 23 of employees in a work unit of alternative workweek schedules providing for workdays no longer than 10 hours within a 40-hour workweek. This bill would permit an individual nonexempt employee to request an employee-selected flexible work schedule providing for workdays up to 10 hours per day within a 40-hour workweek, and would allow an employer to implement this schedule without any obligation to pay overtime compensation. The bill would require the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in the Department of Industrial Relations to enforce this provision and adopt regulations.

Existing law defines, among other things "sustainable green building" and "green business program" for the purposes of conserving natural resources and protecting the environment. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would define "green jobs."

Existing law requires the Department of Finance, in its role of assisting the Governor in preparing the annual state budget, to develop, issue, and implement consistent and adequate guidelines for agencies required to submit budgets. This bill would additionally require the Department of Finance to develop a performance budgeting pilot project under which the budgets of at least 4 departments in specified fiscal years would be analyzed by specified criteria. The bill would require these pilot project budgets to be considered by the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review and the Assembly Committee on Budget. The bill would require the Department of Finance to evaluate this pilot project and report its findings to the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on or before January 1, 2014.

Existing law requires a public safety agency, as defined, to maintain a "911" emergency telephone number, as specified, and sets forth the duties of the Division of Telecommunications of the Department of General Services, including the provision of management oversight of statewide telecommunications developments. Existing law authorizes a local public agency, as defined, to establish a nonemergency "311" telephone system, and authorizes the Division of Telecommunications to, among other things, aid local public agencies in the formulation of concepts, methods, and procedures that will improve the operation of the "311" systems and to increase cooperation among public agencies. This bill would require an information and referral service provider, as defined, to operate a "211" system in a manner that is consistent with the applicable orders of the Federal Communications Commission and the Public Utilities Commission. The bill would provide that an information and referral services provider and its employees, directors, officers, agents, or any public or nonprofit agency that provides information to a "211" system are not liable to any person in a civil action for injuries or losses to persons or property, as a result of an act or omission of the provider or its employees, directors, officers, or agents, in connection with certain specified activities, unless the act or omission constitutes willful or wanton misconduct.