Sen. Mark Wyland

Existing law requires that program guidelines issued by the State Department of Education be designed to serve as a model or example and prohibits those guidelines from being prescriptive. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to review the guidelines before they are issued to local educational agencies. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes in these provisions.

Existing law provides that all parks, public camp grounds, monument sites, landmark sites, and sites of historical interest established or acquired by the state, or that are under its control, constitute the State Park System, excluding the State Fair Grounds in Sacramento and Balboa Park in San Diego. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

Existing law provides that there is in the state government the Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission to study problems of courses of study in the schools of the state and, upon request of the State Board of Education, recommend the adoption of minimum standards for courses of study in preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and secondary schools. Existing law also requires the commission to recommend curriculum frameworks to the state board. This bill would require the commission to consider and vote on whether to include an oral history component, as defined, specifically related to genocides in the proposed changes to the 2015 history-social science curriculum framework as part of its regular process of developing and revising curriculum frameworks as requested by the state board. The bill would specify that the oral history component, if included by the commission, would not require the inclusion of oral history materials in the frameworks, but instead require in an appendix to the updated framework the inclusion of a listing of where those materials can be found and how to use them in a history course.

Existing law requires the establishment of protocols for the examination and treatment of sexual assault victims, including the collection and preservation of evidence. Existing law provides that a law enforcement agency assigned to investigate certain sexual assault offenses should perform DNA testing of rape kit evidence in a timely manner. This bill would require rape kits collected on or after January 1, 2011, in criminal investigations be processed and analyzed for identification purposes within 30 days of delivery to law enforcement. The bill would also require that all rape kits collected prior to January 1, 2011, in criminal investigations be processed and analyzed for identification purposes not later than June 30, 2011. By imposing additional duties on local law enforcement agencies, 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 provide a procedure for paying this reimbursement. This bill would appropriate an unspecified sum to the Controller annually to reimburse local agencies and school districts for costs mandated by the state and incurred by them pursuant to this act.

The State Assistance for Fire Equipment Act authorizes the Secretary of Emergency Management to acquire specified firefighting apparatus and equipment for resale to a local agency, as defined, that provides fire suppression services or a fire company. Existing law also establishes the State Assistance for Fire Equipment Account, a continuously appropriated fund, for purposes of the act. Existing law requires the secretary to consult with a specified committee before adopting regulations implementing the act. This bill would annually appropriate $45,600,000 of revenue received by the state from the accessing of oil and gas reserves located beneath state coastal waters, generally known as the "T-Ridge Project," for firefighting purposes, including, but not limited to, the purchase of firefighting and rescue vehicles and equipment, vegetation management and defensible space projects, and specified training courses and materials, thereby making an appropriation. This bill would also require the secretary to consult with additional specified individuals involved in firefighting before adopting certain regulations.

Existing provisions of the California Constitution prohibit the annual appropriations subject to limitation, as defined, of any entity of state or local government from exceeding the entity's adjusted annual appropriations limit. These provisions also require 50% of the excess revenues received by the state in a fiscal year and the fiscal year immediately following it to be transferred and allocated, from a fund established for that purpose, to the State School Fund, and the remaining 50% of those excess revenues to be returned by a revision of tax rates or fee schedules within the next 2 subsequent fiscal years. This measure would repeal those provisions, and instead would prohibit total expenditures of state General Fund and special fund revenues from annually increasing by more than the annual percentage increase in the cost of living, multiplied by the annual percentage increase in state population. The measure would require excess General Fund revenues to be allocated in prescribed amounts first to a reserve account, and then, to the extent excess revenues remain, to the State School Fund and to personal income taxpayers.

Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt basic instructional materials for use in kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, for governing boards. Existing law sets forth a schedule for the submission of instructional materials to the state board for adoption. Notwithstanding this schedule, existing law prohibits the state board from adopting instructional materials or following the procedures related to that adoption until the 2013–14 school year. This bill would require the state board to adopt a revised curriculum framework and evaluation criteria for instructional materials in history-social science in 2011. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The Sales and Use Tax Law imposes a state sales and use tax on retailers and on the storage, use, or other consumption of tangible personal property in this state at the rate of 614%, plus, from April 11, 2009 to July 1, 2011, an additional 1%, of the gross receipts from the retail sale of tangible personal property in this state and of the sales price of tangible personal property purchased from any retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. This bill would repeal the additional 1% state sales and use tax rate on the first day of the first calendar quarter commencing more than 90 days after the effective date of this bill. The Personal Income Tax Law imposes taxes based upon taxable income. That law also allows credits for personal exemptions, and imposes an alternative minimum tax, as specified. That law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2009, and until January 1, 2011, decreases the amount allowable as a credit for personal exemption for dependents, and for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2009, and before January 1, 2011, increases the tax rate applicable to taxable income, and increases the alternative minimum tax rate, as provided. This bill would repeal the provision decreasing the amount allowable as a credit for personal exemption for dependents on January 1, 2010. This bill would repeal the provisions increasing the tax rate applicable to taxable income, and increasing the alternative minimum tax rate, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2010. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of registered nurses by the Board of Registered Nursing and makes a violation of the act a crime. Existing law requires a licensee renewing his or her license to submit proof to the board that during a specified time the licensee has been informed of developments in the registered nursing field either by pursuing a continuing education course offered by a provider approved by the board or by other means deemed equivalent by the board. Existing law requires the board to establish, by regulation, standards for continuing education. Existing law requires these standards to make a variety of alternative forms of continuing education available to licensees. Existing law requires the content of all courses of continuing education to be relevant to the practice of nursing. This bill would provide that continuing education courses, as specified, that advance or promote labor organizing on behalf of a union, or that advance or promote statutory or regulatory changes, political candidates, political advocacy, or political strategy shall not be considered content relevant to the practice of nursing and shall not be acceptable for meeting requirements for licensure renewal. The bill would also prohibit an approved provider from representing that such a continuing education course is acceptable for meeting requirements for licensure renewal and would require the board, subject to specified procedural requirements, to withdraw its approval of a provider that violates that requirement for no less than 5 years, as specified. Because a violation of these requirements by a provider would constitute a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law prohibits a pupil from receiving a diploma of graduation from high school unless he or she completes specified requirements, including, but not limited to, completing one course in visual or performing arts or foreign language. This bill, commencing with the 2011–12 school year and until July 1, 2016, would add completion of a course in career technical education, as defined, as an alternative to the requirement that a pupil complete a course in visual or performing arts or foreign language.