Sen. John M. W. Moorlach

Existing law prohibits a person from applying for, voting for or attempting to vote, a vote by mail ballot by fraudulently signing the name of a fictitious person, or of a regularly qualified voter, or of a person who is not qualified to vote. Existing law provides that a person who violates the prohibition is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment. This bill would increase the maximum fine amount from $1,000 to $10,000.

(1) Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law provides for the federal Medicare Program, which is a public health insurance program for persons 65 years of age and older and specified persons with disabilities who are under 65 years of age. Existing law, the Coordinated Care Initiative (CCI) , requires the department to seek federal approval pursuant to a Medicare or Medicaid demonstration project or waiver, or a combination thereof, to establish a demonstration project that enables beneficiaries who are dually eligible for the Medi-Cal program and the Medicare Program to receive a continuum of services that maximizes access to, and coordination of, benefits between these programs. Existing law requires, with some exceptions, Medi-Cal beneficiaries who have dual eligibility in the Medi-Cal program and the Medicare Program to be assigned as mandatory enrollees into Medi-Cal managed care health plans for their Medi-Cal benefits in counties participating in the CCI. Existing law conditions implementation of the CCI on whether the Director of Finance estimates that the CCI will generate net General Fund savings, as specified. Existing law, with certain exceptions, specifies those provisions of law that are within the scope of the CCI, including those relating to the demonstration project described above, to become inoperative if this condition is not met. Existing law establishes the county-administered In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization. Existing law requires, as part of the CCI, Medi-Cal long-term services and supports, including IHSS, to be covered services under managed care health plan contracts and to be available only through managed care health plans to beneficiaries residing in the CCI counties, except as specified. This bill would provide that the provision conditioning implementation of the CCI on the above-described estimation by the Director of Finance shall not apply to the requirement that IHSS be a covered service available through managed care health plans in CCI counties, and would continue IHSS as a covered service available through Medi-Cal managed care health plans in those counties. The bill would make conforming changes to related provisions. (2) Existing law permits services to be provided under the IHSS program through the employment of individual providers, a contract between the county and an entity for the provision of services, the creation by the county of a public authority, or a contract between the county and a nonprofit consortium. Under existing law, any public authority created under the IHSS program is deemed to be the employer of in-home support services personnel within the meaning of the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, which governs local employer-employee relations. Existing law also provides that any nonprofit consortium contracting with a county is deemed the employer of in-home supportive services personnel for the purposes of collective bargaining over wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. Existing law, as part of the CCI, establishes the California In-Home Supportive Services Authority, referred to as the Statewide Authority, and requires the authority to be the entity authorized to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations for any individual provider who is employed by a recipient of supportive services, as specified. Existing law establishes the In-Home Supportive Services Fund within the State Treasury. Existing law requires that moneys in the fund be made available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Statewide Authority for the purposes of funding its functions. Existing law establishes, as part of the CCI, the In-Home Supportive Services Employer-Employee Relations Act, which serves to resolve disputes regarding wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment between the Statewide Authority and recognized employee organizations providing in-home supportive services. Under the act, the Statewide Authority is deemed to be the employer of record, for purposes of collective bargaining, of individual providers of in-home supportive services in each county, as specified. This bill would provide that the provision conditioning implementation of the CCI on the above-described estimation by the Director of Finance shall not apply to the provisions establishing the Statewide Authority, the provisions establishing the In-Home Supportive Services Fund, and the IHSS Employer-Employee Relations Act. (3) Existing law requires the state and counties to share the annual cost of providing in-home supportive services, with the state paying to the county 65% of the nonfederal cost and each county paying 35% of the nonfederal cost. Notwithstanding that provision, existing law requires all counties to have a County IHSS Maintenance of Effort (MOE) and requires counties to pay the County IHSS MOE instead of paying the nonfederal share of IHSS costs, as specified. Existing law provides that the County IHSS MOE base year is the 2011–12 state fiscal year and requires the County IHSS MOE from the previous year to be annually adjusted by an inflation factor of 3.5%. Existing law conditions the IHSS MOE requirement on the above-described determination by the Director of Finance. This bill would provide that the provision conditioning implementation of the CCI on the above-described estimation by the Director of Finance shall not apply to the IHSS MOE requirement. The bill would make conforming changes in related provisions. This bill would appropriate $650,000,000 from the General Fund to the department for the purpose of continuing to make IHSS available to Medi-Cal beneficiaries pursuant to these provisions.

Existing law regulates the terms and conditions of mobilehome park residencies. Existing law exempts certain mobilehome park rental agreements from any ordinance, rule, regulation, or initiative measure that establishes a maximum amount that the landlord may charge a tenant for rent, commonly referred to as rent control. Existing law specifically exempts from rent control a mobilehome space that is not the principal residence of the homeowner and that the homeowner has not rented to another party. Existing law deems a mobilehome to be the principal residence of a homeowner unless a review of state or county records demonstrates that the homeowner is receiving a homeowner's exemption for another property or mobilehome in this state or unless review of public records reasonably demonstrates that the principal residence is out of state. This bill, for a mobilehome rental agreement entered into on and after January 1, 2018, would require that a valid homeowner's exemption be filed on a mobilehome for it to be considered a principal residence or domicile of the homeowner and to be subject to rent control. If a review of records indicates that a mobilehome fails to meet this requirement, the bill would require management to notify the homeowner, in writing, of any proposed changes and to provide the homeowner with a copy of the documents upon which management relied before modifying the rent or other terms of tenancy. The bill would grant the homeowner 90 days from the date these materials are mailed to review and respond to the notice and would prohibit management from modifying the rent or terms of tenancy prior to the expiration of the 90-day period or, if the homeowner provides information within that period, prior to responding, in writing, to the information provided by the homeowner. The bill would prohibit management from modifying the rent or terms of tenancy if the homeowner provides documentation that reasonably establishes that the information relied upon by management is incorrect or that the homeowner is not the same person identified in the documents. The bill would authorize management to file an inquiry with the local county assessor requesting a determination whether the mobilehome meets the legal standards of principal residence or domicile of the homeowner. If the local county assessor or an assessment appeals board determines that the mobilehome owner unlawfully designated his or her mobilehome as a principal residence, the bill would authorize park management to bill the homeowner retroactively for the difference between the amount charged and what would have been the prevailing market rent.

(1) The Public Employees' Retirement Law creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , and the Teachers' Retirement Law creates the State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) , for the provision of service, disability, and other benefits to members. Existing law vests the Teachers' Retirement Board, which administers STRS, and the Board of Administration of PERS with fiduciary responsibility over the assets of their respective retirement systems and requires the boards to, among other things, employ public accountants who are not in public employment to audit the financial statements of the systems, as specified. This bill would create the Citizens' Pension Oversight Committee to serve in an advisory role to the Teachers' Retirement Board and the Board of Administration of PERS. The bill would require the committee, on or before January 1, 2019, and annually thereafter, to review the actual pension costs and obligations of PERS and STRS and report on these costs and obligations to the public and would require reports of audits of STRS and PERS conducted by the public accountants described above to be filed with the committee for this purpose. (2) Under the Public Employees' Retirement Law, benefits provided by PERS are funded by employer and employee contributions and investment returns. Existing law requires the Board of Administration of PERS to set and adjust employer contribution rates in relation to the system's actuarial liability and provides for the deposit of employer contributions into the Public Employees' Retirement Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Existing law authorizes the board to adopt a funding period of 30 years to amortize unfunded accrued actuarial obligations for current and prior service for the purpose of determining employer contribution rates for contracting agencies and school employers and to adopt an amortization period of 40 years for any unfunded actuarial liability for the benefits applicable to all state miscellaneous members and all state peace officer/firefighter members. This bill would require the board to determine what the level of the unfunded liability of PERS was in 1980 and would further require the board to reduce the unfunded liability of PERS to that level, to be achieved by 2030, with the goal of fully funding PERS. The bill, in any year in which the unfunded actuarial liability of PERS is greater than zero, would require the board to increase the employer contribution rate otherwise provided by law for the state, contracting agencies, and school employers by 10 percent. By increasing deposits into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. (3) Existing law prescribes different benefit formulas for members of PERS depending on a member's classification and date of entry into the system, among other factors. This bill would require the Board of Administration of PERS, on or before January 1, 2019, to develop and submit to the Legislature for approval a hybrid plan consisting of defined benefit and defined contribution components, as specified, and would require the plan to be applied to members who elect to be subject to the plan or who are first employed by the state, a contracting agency, or a school employer and become members of the system on or after the approval of the plan by the Legislature. The bill would further require the board, on or before January 1, 2019, to review the duties of officers and employees in positions included in the safety member classification pursuant to certain provisions of the Public Employees' Retirement Law and reclassify the positions according to specified criteria. The bill would apply this reclassification to persons who are first employed by the state and become state members of PERS on or after January 1, 2018. (4) The California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2013 (PEPRA) , on and after January 1, 2013, requires a public retirement system, as defined, to modify its plan or plans to comply with the act and, among other provisions, provides that the pensionable compensation of a new member of the system is the normal monthly rate of pay or base pay of the member paid in cash to similarly situated members, as specified. PEPRA also requires the final compensation used to determine a retirement benefit to be paid to the new member to be the highest average annual pensionable compensation earned by the member during a period of at least 36 consecutive months, or at least 3 consecutive school years if applicable, as specified. This bill would prohibit a public retirement board from deeming certain forms of pay to be pensionable compensation and would make related legislative findings and declarations. This bill would enact the California Public Employees' Pension Reform Act of 2018 (PEPRA 2018) . The bill, for an individual who becomes a member of any public retirement system, as defined, for the first time on or after January 1, 2018, and who was not a member of any other public retirement system prior to that date, would require the final compensation used to determine the member's retirement benefits to be the highest annual pensionable compensation earned by the member during a period of at least 60 consecutive months, or at least 5 consecutive school years if applicable, as specified. The bill would also provide that if the member leaves the employment of a public employer participating in a public retirement system for other employment, as specified, and is subsequently reemployed by the public employer at least one year later, the member will be subject to the same benefits, contributions, and other terms and conditions applicable to an individual who becomes a member of the public retirement system for the first time on the date of the member's return, for service rendered on or after that date. (5) Existing law provides for the application of cost of living adjustments to allowances paid to persons retired under, or survivors or beneficiaries of members or persons retired under, various public retirement systems. The bill, as part of PEPRA 2018, would prohibit a public retirement system from making a cost of living adjustment to any allowance payable to, or on behalf of, a person retired under the system, or to any survivor or beneficiary of a member or person retired under the system, for any year beginning on or after January 1, 2018, in which PERS or STRS is not fully funded.

The Public Employees' Retirement Law creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , which provides a defined benefit to its members based on age at retirement, service credit, and final compensation. That law authorizes any public agency to make its employees members of PERS by contracting with the Board of Administration of PERS. Existing law provides for the termination of a contract, including requiring the board to enter, upon request, into a prescribed agreement with the terminating agency relating to the calculation of final compensation for employees and related necessary adjustments in the employer's contribution. This bill would require the Board of Administration of PERS to allow a contracting agency to terminate its contract with the system in a manner that does not result in excessive costs or penalties to the contracting agency, allows the contracting agency to withdraw its net assets paid into the system less payments made to its members and their beneficiaries, and ensures that the contracting agency remains responsible for its unfunded liabilities so that those liabilities are not shifted onto other PERS members or employers. Before a contracting agency would be eligible to terminate its contract, the bill would require a contract to have been in effect for at least 5 years and meet other notice and approval requirements. The bill also would require the agreement between the contracting agency and the board to contain provisions to protect the interests of the system, and would require a contracting agency, before terminating its contract, to determine how termination would affect the health care benefits of its members and also to determine the federal tax ramifications associated with its decision. The bill would contain related legislative findings.

Existing law vests in the State Department of Developmental Services jurisdiction over state hospitals, referred to as developmental centers, for the provision of residential care to individuals with developmental disabilities, including the Fairview Developmental Center. Existing law requires the department, on or before October 1, 2015, to submit to the Legislature a plan or plans to close one or more developmental centers. Existing law authorizes the Director of General Services, with the consent of the State Department of Developmental Services, to lease up to 20 acres of property located within the grounds of the Fairview Developmental Center to a nonprofit corporation, as specified. This bill would require the Director of General Services, before offering the land associated with the Fairview Developmental Center for sale or lease, to complete an assessment of the site and facilities on the land to document the property's current condition and identify potential issues and limitations at the site. The bill would also require the Department of General Services and the State Department of Developmental Services to meet and confer with the City of Costa Mesa and the County of Orange throughout the transition process for any future use of the property.

Existing law requires a county tax collector to publish various notices in a newspaper, including a notice specifying, among other things, the dates when property taxes on the secured roll will be due and the penalties and costs for delinquency. This bill would require the tax collector to also provide notice on the tax collector's regularly maintained Internet Web site of any notice required to be published in a newspaper of general circulation under the Revenue and Taxation Code, as provided. By imposing new duties upon local government officials, this 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 the statutory provisions noted above.

(1) Existing law, the Contractors' State License Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of contractors by the Contractors' State License Board. Existing law also provides for the registration and regulation of home improvement salespersons by the board. Existing law requires the board to appoint a registrar of contractors who is the executive officer and secretary of the board and is responsible for carrying out specified administrative duties. If, upon investigation, the registrar has probable cause to believe that a licensee or an applicant for a license under existing law has committed any acts or omissions that are grounds for denial, revocation, or suspension of license, he or she, in lieu of a specified proceeding, may issue a citation to the licensee or applicant. This bill would authorize the registrar to issue a written and detailed letter of admonishment to an applicant, licensee, or registrant instead of issuing a citation if, upon investigation, the registrar has probable cause to believe that a licensee, registrant, or applicant has committed acts or omissions that are grounds for denial, suspension, or revocation of a license or registration. The bill would require the letter to inform the applicant, licensee, or registrant that he or she may submit a written request for an office conference to contest the letter of admonishment, subject to specified procedures, including a process to appeal a decision, or comply with the letter, as provided. The bill would prohibit the board from issuing a letter of admonishment when specified factors are present. The bill would authorize the board to adopt regulations to further define the circumstances under which a letter of admonishment may be issued. Existing law requires the registrar to make available to members of the public the date, nature, and status of all complaints on file against a licensee that meet specific qualifications. Under existing law, complaints resolved in favor of the contractor are not subject to disclosure. The bill would distinguish a letter of admonishment from a complaint resolved in favor of the contractor and would require a letter of admonishment to be disclosed for a year. (2) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

This measure would request that the Congress of the United States pass a law to reschedule marijuana or cannabis and its derivatives from a Schedule I drug to an alternative schedule and that the President of the United States sign such legislation.

This measure would proclaim September 9, 2017, as Ocean Institute Day, in honor of the Ocean Institute's 40th anniversary, urge all Californians to join in celebrating Ocean Institute Day, and commend the Ocean Institute for its years of service and contributions to the community.