Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to adopt emergency regulations to establish a fire prevention fee in an amount not to exceed $150 to be charged on each habitable structure, as defined, on a parcel that is within a state responsibility area, as defined. Existing law requires the state board to adjust the fire prevention fee annually using prescribed methods, and requires the state board, until January 31, 2017, to submit a report to the Legislature every January 31 on the status and uses of the fund, containing specified information and recommendations. This bill would instead require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to submit that report to the Legislature and the board, and would extend to January 31, 2021, the time until which the report is required to be submitted. The bill would additionally require that the report include specified information on each program, subprogram, and element for which the department uses money generated from that fire prevention fee, and other information regarding fund expenditures, as provided.
Sponsored bills
This measure would encourage the Department of Consumer Affairs and its boards, bureaus, and committees to create policies that promote fairness and equity to guarantee that each licensee pays a fair amount, especially in regard to initial and ongoing license fees.
Existing law authorizes a county to establish a pretrial diversion program for defendants who have been charged with a misdemeanor offense and authorizes other diversion programs, including for defendants with cognitive developmental disabilities, defendants in nonviolent drug cases, and traffic violations. This bill, until January 1, 2020, would establish the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) pilot program, to be administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections, to improve public safety and reduce recidivism by increasing the availability and use of social service resources while reducing costs to law enforcement agencies and courts stemming from repeated incarceration. The bill would require the board to award grants, on a competitive basis, to up to 3 jurisdictions to establish LEAD programs and would require the board to establish minimum standards, funding schedules, and procedures for awarding grants. The bill would establish requirements for referral of people who may be arrested for, or who have a history of, low-level drug offenses or prostitution, as defined, to social services in lieu of prosecution. The bill would require the board to contract with a nonprofit research entity, university, or college to evaluate the effectiveness of the LEAD program and submit a report of the findings to the Governor and the Legislature by January 1, 2020.
Existing law uses the term "hearing impaired," or a close variation of that term, in numerous provisions. This bill would replace the term "hearing impaired" with the term "hard of hearing," or a close variation of "hard of hearing," and would make additional technical, nonsubstantive changes in those provisions.
Existing law requires a pupil to be excused from school for specified types of absences and prohibits those excused absences from generating state apportionment payments by deeming them as absences in computing average daily attendance. This bill would include attending the pupil's naturalization ceremony to become a United States citizen as another type of excused absence.
The Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 authorizes the formation of a community facilities district to finance various services. The act requires a community facilities district formed after January 1, 1992, to prepare, if requested by a person who resides in or owns property in the district and within 120 days after the last day of each fiscal year, a separate document titled an "Annual Report." The act requires a legislative body to report specific information regarding the sale of bonds to the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission (CDIAC) . Other existing law requires each county, city, and special district that assesses a parcel tax to provide specific information to the Controller in connection with reports compiled and published by the Controller on the financial transactions of counties, cities, and special districts. This bill would require a legislative body that has an Internet Web site, within 7 months after the last day of each fiscal year of the district, to display prominently on its Internet Web site a copy of that annual report, if requested, a copy of the report to CDIAC, and a copy of the report to the Controller. By increasing the duties of local 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law provides that when a subpoena duces tecum is served upon the custodian of records or other qualified witness of a business in a criminal action in which the business is neither a party nor the place where any cause of action is alleged to have arisen, and the subpoena requires the production of all or any part of the records of the business, it is sufficient compliance therewith if the custodian or other qualified witness, within 5 days after the receipt of the subpoena or within a time otherwise agreed upon, delivers a copy of all the records described in the subpoena to the clerk of the court, the judge, or another person, as specified. Existing law requires that the records be accompanied with an affidavit from the custodian attesting to specified information. Existing law also provides for the service of search warrants for the seizure of business records, as specified. This bill would authorize a custodian of business records to comply with a search warrant for certain business records by delivering a true, legible, and durable copy of all of the records described in the search warrant to the law enforcement agency ordered to execute the search warrant, if the warrant provides for compliance in that manner. The bill would require that the records be delivered within 5 days of receipt of the search warrant or such other time as is specified in the search warrant. The bill would require that the records be accompanied by an affidavit of the custodian of records attesting to the same information that is required with respect to a subpoena duces tecum. Existing law authorizes all reasonable costs, as specified, incurred by a nonparty witness to be charged against the party serving the subpoena duces tecum. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.
Existing law authorizes the beneficiaries of an irrevocable trust, upon the consent of all beneficiaries, to compel the modification or termination of the trust upon petition to the court. Existing law prohibits the modification or termination of an irrevocable trust if the continuance of the trust is necessary to carry out a material purpose of the trust, unless the court determines that modification or termination under the circumstances outweighs the interest in accomplishing a material purpose of the trust. Notwithstanding that provision, existing law prohibits the court from terminating a trust that is subject to a valid restraint on the transfer of a beneficiary's interest. This bill would revise and recast these provisions to instead require the court, in making the determination described above with respect to a proposed termination of an irrevocable trust, to consider whether the trust is subject to a valid restraint on the transfer of a beneficiary's interest. The bill would delete the provision that the court is prohibited from terminating an irrevocable trust that is subject to a valid restraint on the transfer of a beneficiary's interest. The bill would also make clarifying changes. Existing law authorizes the settlor and the beneficiaries of a trust, upon the consent of the settlor and all beneficiaries, to compel the modification or termination of the trust. This bill would revise and recast those provisions and instead authorize the trust to be modified or terminated by the written consent of the settlor and all beneficiaries without court approval of the modification or termination.
Existing law imposes an excise tax on motor vehicle fuel (gasoline) . Existing law, as a result of the elimination of the sales tax on gasoline effective July 1, 2010, provides for a commensurate increase in the excise tax on gasoline. These taxes are deposited to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account in the Transportation Tax Fund. Existing law requires certain moneys attributable to taxes imposed upon distribution of gasoline related to specified off-highway motor vehicles and off-highway vehicle activities to be transferred monthly from the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account to the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund. Existing law, however, transfers, with respect to the increase in gasoline excise taxes as a result of the elimination of the sales tax on gasoline, to the General Fund the revenues attributable to off-highway vehicles that would otherwise be deposited in the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund. Existing law also requires the Controller to withhold $833,000 from the monthly transfer, and transfer that amount to the General Fund. The moneys in the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund are required to be used, upon appropriation, for specified purposes related to off-highway motor vehicle recreation. This bill would, on June 30, 2017, eliminate the requirement that the Controller withhold $833,000 from the monthly transfer and transfer it to the General Fund and would thereby transfer this amount monthly to the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund.
This act would commend the meaningful contributions that Latino customs, such as the celebration of La Virgen de Guadalupe, make to the diverse heritage of American society.