The Calderon-Sher Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996 requires the State Department of Public Health to, among other things, adopt regulations relating to primary and secondary drinking water standards for contaminants in drinking water. The act authorizes the department to enter into primacy delegation agreements with local health officers for enforcement of these provisions. The act defines various terms, including human consumption, which means the use of water for drinking, bathing or showering, hand washing, or oral hygiene. This bill would include cooking, including, but not limited to, preparing food and washing dishes, in the definition of human consumption. The act provides that its provisions are not applicable to a public water system that meets specified conditions, including that the system sells water to users through a submetered service system if the water supply is obtained from a public water system to which the act applies. This bill would exempt public water systems that sell water, obtained from a public water system that is subject to the act, through a submetered distribution system if each user of the system is charged no more than the rate the user would be charged by the public water system. The act exempts from water quality requirements noncommunity water systems that meet specified criteria, including that the system does not provide water for human consumption, other than handwashing, unless bottled water from an approved source is provided. The act requires these exempted noncommunity water systems to be tested annually for specified bacteria. This bill would repeal this exemption. By adding entities to regulate, this bill would increase the duties of local health officers that have received primacy delegation, and would impose a state-mandated local program. The act allows the department to issue a citation if the department finds that a public water system is in violation of the act or any regulation, permit, standard, or order issued or adopted thereunder and specifies procedures for service and form of the citation. The act classifies citations according to the nature of the violation or the failure to comply and assesses penalties based on that classification. This bill would allow the department to issue a citation if it finds that a public water system is in violation of the act or any regulation, permit, standard, citation, or order issued or adopted thereunder. The bill would make specified changes to the process for service and the form of the citation. The bill would also set the penalty that may be set by the department at an amount not to exceed $1,000 per day for each day that a violation occurred and for each day that a violation continues to occur, and would eliminate the classification process. The bill would allow a separate penalty for each violation. 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.
Sponsored bills
Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, headed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. This bill would, until July 1, 2017, create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative. It would require, by July 1, 2012, the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to prepare recommendations, to be presented upon request to the Legislature, regarding actions that need to be taken to promote food access in the state. The bill would establish the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Council and would require the council to implement the initiative, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish an advisory group, as specified. The bill would create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Fund in the State Treasury, to be comprised of federal, state, philanthropic, and private funds, for the purpose of expanding access to healthy foods in underserved communities and, to the extent practicable, to leverage other funding, as specified. Moneys in the fund would be expended upon appropriation by the Legislature.
The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to grant reprieves, pardons, or commutations after sentence has been entered, but prohibits the Governor from granting a pardon or commutation to a person twice convicted of a felony except on recommendation of the Supreme Court, 4 judges concurring. The California Constitution further requires the Governor to report to the Legislature each reprieve, pardon, and commutation stating the pertinent facts and reasons for granting it. Existing statutory law provides that at least 10 days before the Governor acts upon an application for a pardon, written notice of the intention to apply therefor, signed by the person applying, shall be served upon the district attorney of the county where the conviction was had, and proof, by affidavit, of the service is required to be presented to the Governor. This bill would require that, except when there is imminent danger of the death of a person convicted or imprisoned, or when the term of imprisonment of the applicant is within 10 days of its expiration, at least 10 days before the Governor acts upon any application for a commutation, the application signed by the person applying be served upon the district attorney of the county where the conviction was had. The bill would authorize the district attorney to submit a written recommendation to the Governor for or against commutation of sentence. The bill would further require the district attorney to make reasonable efforts to notify the victim or victims of the crime or crimes related to the application for commutation of sentence and those persons' family members, and allow those persons to submit a recommendation to the Governor for or against commutation of sentence. By imposing additional duties on the district attorney, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the Governor, at the beginning of every session of the Legislature, to communicate to the Legislature, in addition to each case of reprieve or pardon, each commutation and include specified information in that communication. This bill would instead require the Governor, at the beginning of every regular session of the Legislature, to file a written report with the Legislature that includes each application that was granted for each reprieve, pardon, or commutation by the Governor, or his or her predecessor in office, during the previous regular session of the Legislature, as specified, and would require that the report be made available to the public. The bill would make other conforming changes. 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.
Existing law provides that school districts and county offices of education are responsible for the overall development of a comprehensive school safety plan for each of their constituent schools. Existing law requires the schoolsite council of a school to write and develop a comprehensive school safety plan relevant to the needs and resources of the particular school. Existing law requires a schoolsite council or school safety planning committee, before adopting a comprehensive school safety plan, to hold a public meeting at the schoolsite, as specified. Existing law requires schools to forward copies of their comprehensive school safety plans to the school district or county office of education for approval. Existing law requires school districts and county offices of education annually to notify the State Department of Education regarding schools that fail to adopt a comprehensive school safety plan. This bill would authorize school districts and county offices of education, in consultation with law enforcement officials, to elect not to have their schoolsite councils develop and write those portions of their comprehensive school safety plans that include tactical responses to criminal incidents, as defined, that may result in death or serious bodily injury at the schoolsite. The bill would authorize school district and county office of education administrators to develop those portions of a comprehensive school safety plan that include tactical responses to criminal incidents, in consultation with law enforcement officials and representatives of exclusive bargaining units of employees of that school district or county office of education, and to elect not to disclose these portions of the comprehensive school safety plan that include tactical responses to criminal incidents. The bill would specify that it would not preclude the governing board of a school district or county office of education from conferring in a closed session with law enforcement officials to approve a tactical response plan developed in consultation with those officials pursuant to the bill.
Existing law regulates various subjects relating to the protection and preservation of personal health, including infant, child, and adolescent health, reproductive privacy, and the prevention of the practice of female genital mutilation. This bill would preclude a city, county, or city and county ordinance, regulation, or administrative action from prohibiting or restricting the practice of male circumcision, or the exercise of a parent's authority to have a child circumcised. This bill would provide that the Legislature finds and declares that the laws affecting male circumcision must have uniform application throughout the state. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of residential care facilities for the elderly by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law authorizes the director to take enforcement action, including, but not limited to, actions to suspend or revoke a license and to impose civil penalties for violations. Under existing law, a violation of these provisions is a crime. This bill would enact the RCFE Residents Foreclosure Protection Act of 2011 which would, with certain exceptions, require the licensee of a facility to notify the department, the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, and all residents, applicants, and, if applicable, their legal representatives, in writing within 2 business days of specified events, and would require the department to initiate a compliance plan, noncompliance conference, or other appropriate action upon receipt of this notice. By expanding the definition of an existing crime, 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.
The Veterans' Farm and Home Purchase Act of 1974 authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to assist veterans in acquiring homes and farms by generally providing that the department may purchase a farm or home which the department then sells to a purchaser, as defined. Existing law prohibits the department, except in limited circumstances, from acquiring a home in which the veteran has an interest of record. This bill would authorize the department to acquire a home for the purpose of refinancing an existing mortgage loan that is not an existing loan acquired under the Veterans' Farm and Home Purchase Act of 1974. This bill would require the department to adopt and publish rules and regulations, as specified.
This measure would recognize October 2011 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month and urge all Californians to take a stand against domestic violence.
This measure would urge the United States government to consider the California jobs and economic stimulus provided by the California floriculture industry when advancing free trade agreements, specifically with Colombia.
This measure would proclaim February 28, 2011, as Rare Disease Day.