Sen. Mark Wyland

Existing law prohibits the State Board of Education from adopting instructional materials until the 2015–16 school year. This bill would authorize the state board to consider the adoption of a revised curriculum framework and evaluation criteria for instructional materials in history-social science. The bill would require the State Department of Education to conduct work necessary to revise the curriculum framework and evaluation criteria for instructional materials in history-social science only after it has completed work related to the development of curriculum frameworks for the common core academic content standards as provided by law.

After January 1, 2007, and before January 1, 2013, the Sales and Use Tax Law, Use Fuel Tax Law, Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law, Alcoholic Beverage Tax Law, Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act, Oil Spill Response, Prevention, and Administration Fees Law, Underground Storage Tank Maintenance Fee Law, Fee Collection Procedures Law, and Diesel Fuel Tax Law allow the State Board of Equalization to accept an offer in compromise on a final tax liability, as defined, imposed under or in accordance with those laws regardless of whether the liabilities are generated from a business has been discontinued or transferred or whether the taxpayer or feepayer has a controlling interest or association with a similar business as the transferred or discontinued business, as prescribed. Under these laws, a taxpayer or feepayer would be guilty of a felony if the taxpayer or feepayer conceals specified property or receives, withholds, destroys, mutilates, or falsifies specified items or makes a false statement related to the offer in compromise, as specified. This bill would extend the repeal date for the above provisions to January 1, 2018. The bill, by extending the repeal date, would expand an existing crime and, thus, 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.

This measure would designate the interchange at Hazel Avenue and State Highway Route 50 in the County of Sacramento as the Senator Dave Cox Memorial Interchange. This measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering those costs, to erect those signs.

Existing law requires all insurers, brokers, agents, and others engaged in the transaction of insurance to owe to a prospective insured who is 65 years of age or older, a duty of honesty, good faith, and fair dealing. This bill would prohibit an insurance broker or agent from participating in, being associated with, or employing any party that participates in, or is associated with, obtaining veterans benefits for a senior, unless the insurance agent or broker maintains procedural safeguards designed to ensure that the agent or broker transacting insurance has no direct financial incentive to refer the policyholder or prospective policyholder to any veterans benefits program offered through the government.

This measure would designate a specified portion of State Highway Route 1 in the County of Los Angeles as the Honorable Jenny Oropeza Memorial Overcrossing. This measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering those costs, to erect those signs.

This measure would commemorate and honor the service and sacrifice of the members of the United States Armed Forces who supported the operations in Iraq, and their families, as the official combat mission in Iraq draws to a close. This measure would encourage mayors and communities across the State of California to honor veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan on November 11, 2012, in Veterans Day parades, ceremonies, and other displays of our state's gratitude for their service and sacrifice. This measure would also request that the Department of General Services work with appropriate 3rd parties to advise and oversee the creation of a memorial for the California veterans who fought and served in Iraq and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering the design, construction, and maintenance costs and ensuring that the memorial is in the best interest of the State Capitol Park, erect that memorial, in accordance with California law, in the State Capitol Park. This measure would state the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation authorizing the creation of a larger memorial commemorating and thanking those who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

This measure would urge the California delegates of Congress to protect California military bases from closure during upcoming base realignment and closure processes.

Existing statutory law establishes the Bureau of State Audits, which is headed by the State Auditor and has specified statutory duties, including the performance of statutorily mandated audits. Existing law states that the Bureau of State Audits, in order to be free of organizational impairments to independence, shall be independent of the executive branch and legislative control. This measure would require the State Auditor to biennially conduct a specified financial audit and performance evaluation of each state program, including the administration or oversight of that program by the department or agency that is responsible for the program, and submit a report of the results of that financial audit and performance evaluation to the Legislature, as prescribed. This measure would require the committee that considers the budget in each house of the Legislature to meet and consider recommendations made in each performance evaluation within 90 days of submission by the State Auditor. This measure would require the State Auditor to make each financial audit and performance evaluation available to the public on an Internet Web site and in hardcopy format and require the Legislature to appropriate to the Bureau of State Audits funds as necessary to implement these provisions.

(1) Existing law generally requires secondhand dealers and coin dealers, as defined, to report specified transactions involving tangible personal property, on forms provided or approved by the Department of Justice, to the local law enforcement agency where their businesses are located. Existing law defines "tangible personal property" for these purposes, and excludes from that definition, among other items, commercial grade ingots defined to include, among other items, 0.99 fine ingots of gold, silver, or platinum. This bill would revise the definition of commercial grade ingots to include 0.99 fine or finer ingots of gold, silver, palladium, or platinum. Under existing law, secondhand dealers and coin dealers are required to report the information described above using an electronic reporting system 12 months after the Department of Justice develops that system. This bill would eliminate the electronic filing requirements for coin dealers, and would instead require that secondhand dealers report this information using the single, statewide, uniform electronic reporting system on and after the date that the system is implemented, as specified. (2) Existing law requires a local law enforcement agency to issue a license to engage in the business of a secondhand dealer or pawnbroker to an applicant who meets designated criteria. Existing law authorizes the local licensing authority and the Department of Justice to charge an initial licensure fee and a renewal fee, as specified. This bill would require the Department of Justice to charge a licensure fee and a renewal fee of no more than $300, as specified. The bill would also require licensees issued a license before the effective date of this bill to pay an additional fee of no more than $288 for the purpose of funding the single, statewide, uniform electronic reporting system, with payment due within 120 days of the enactment of this bill. The bill would require that the fees assessed by the department be deposited in the Secondhand Dealer and Pawnbroker Fund, which the bill would create in the State Treasury. The bill would require that the money in the fund be used by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of paying for specified regulatory costs, including the cost of implementing, operating, and maintaining the single, statewide, uniform electronic reporting system. The bill would also require applicants for a license to submit fingerprint images relative to a required criminal background check, with associated fee revenue to be deposited in the Fingerprint Fee Account, and would make those revenues available to the Department of Justice, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for these purposes. This bill would make findings and declarations of the Legislature, and state the intent of the Legislature, with regard to these matters. The bill would make other related conforming changes. The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 regulates the receipt of gifts by public officials and also regulates the activities of members of the lobbying industry, including lobbyist employers. Under existing law, public officials are prohibited from accepting gifts from any single source in any calendar year with a total value of more than $250, as adjusted biennially by the Fair Political Practices Commission. Existing law also prohibits a lobbyist or lobbying firm from giving gifts to a public official aggregating more than $10 in a calendar month or from acting as an agent or intermediary in the making of any gift or arranging for the making of any gift by any other person. This bill would prohibit a lobbyist, lobbying firm, or lobbyist employer from giving to an elected state officer or a member of that officer's immediate family, and would prohibit an elected state officer from accepting from a lobbyist, lobbying firm, or lobbyist employer, certain gifts, including spa treatments, recreational trips, and gift cards. However, under the bill, these prohibitions would not apply to a fundraising event for a bona fide charitable organization. This bill would also prohibit a lobbyist employer from giving to an elected state officer, or a lobbyist, lobbying firm, or lobbyist employer from giving to a member of that officer's immediate family, specified entertainment tickets with face values exceeding $25, including theater, concert, and amateur sporting event tickets. Existing law makes a violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 subject to administrative, civil, and criminal penalties. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating additional crimes. 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. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.