Article XVI of the California Constitution requires a general obligation bond act to specify the single object or work to be funded by the bonds, and further requires a bond act to be approved by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and by a majority of the voters. Article XVI authorizes the Legislature, at any time after the approval of a general obligation bond act by the voters, to reduce the amount of the indebtedness authorized by the act to an amount not less than the amount contracted at the time of the reduction or to repeal the act if no debt has been contracted. Existing law, pursuant to the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, approved by the voters as Proposition 1A at the November 4, 2008, statewide general election, provides for the issuance of $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds for high-speed rail and related rail purposes. Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority with specified powers and duties related to the development and implementation of a high-speed train system. This bill would provide that no further bonds shall be sold for high-speed rail and related rail purposes pursuant to the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century. The bill would amend the bond act to authorize redirection of the net proceeds received from outstanding bonds issued and sold prior to the effective date of this act, upon appropriation by the Legislature, from those high-speed rail purposes to retiring the debt incurred from the issuance and sale of those outstanding bonds. This bill would provide that, pursuant to Article XVI of the California Constitution, these provisions shall become effective only upon approval by the voters at the next statewide general election. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
Existing law authorizes the Public Employment Relations Board to, in accordance with reasonable standards, designate positions or classes of positions which have duties consisting primarily of the enforcement of state laws. Existing law prohibits employees in these designated positions or classes from being denied the right to be in a bargaining unit composed solely of those employees. Existing regulations provide the procedure by which an employee organization may file a petition to become the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit consisting of a group of employees who are already members of a larger established unit represented by an incumbent exclusive representative. Existing regulations require a petition to sever to be accompanied by proof of majority support in the unit claimed to be appropriate. This bill would declare that state employee peace officers, as prescribed, have the right to be in a unit composed solely of those employees, provided they have complied with the regulations governing severance petitions described above. The bill would require the State Personnel Board to grant any complying petition within 30 days of the effective date of this act. The bill would also make related, conforming changes to those provisions.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA establishes judicial review procedures for challenging a lead agency action on the ground of noncompliance with CEQA. This bill would require a judicial proceeding challenging a project, except for a high-speed rail project, located in a distressed county, as defined, to be filed with the Court of Appeal with geographic jurisdiction over the project.
The Administrative Procedure Act governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. This bill would enact the Government Accountability Act of 2012 and require that a major regulation, as defined, proposed on or after January 1, 2013, include a provision to repeal the regulation 2 years after the date that the regulation is approved by the office. The bill would require the office to return to an agency any proposed regulation that does not include the repeal provision. The bill would provide that the repeal date shall be void if the Legislature enacts a statute that expressly validates and approves the content of the regulation, as specified.
Existing law establishes a motor vehicle inspection and maintenance (smog check) program, administered by the Department of Consumer Affairs. The smog check program requires inspection of motor vehicles upon initial registration, biennially upon renewal of registration, upon transfer of ownership, and in certain other circumstances. Existing law exempts specified vehicles from being inspected biennially upon renewal of registration, including, among others, all motor vehicles manufactured prior to the 1976 model-year. This bill instead would exempt all motor vehicles prior to the 1981 model-year from being inspected biennially upon renewal of registration.
Existing law requires an employer to provide a meal period or periods to an employee who works a specified number of hours in a shift. The meal periods may be waived by mutual consent under specified circumstances. Existing law provides exemptions from these requirements for specified occupations and employees covered by collective bargaining agreements. This bill, in addition, would provide an exemption from the meal period requirements for commercial drivers and other persons who are employed in the transportation industry and are either (a) governed by specified federal and state regulations with regard to their hours of service, or (b) employed by a "motor carrier," as defined by federal law, if compliance would commit the employer to a particular price, route, or service. The bill would provide that these exemptions apply to wage claims that are pending as of the bill's date of enactment.
Existing law provides that any elected public officer who takes public office, or is reelected to public office, on or after January 1, 2006, who is convicted of any specified felony arising directly out of his or her official duties, forfeits all rights and benefits under, and membership in, any public retirement system in which he or she is a member, effective on the date of final conviction, as specified. This bill would require that an employee of a school district, county office of education, or charter school, who is convicted of any state or federal felony for conduct arising out of, or in the performance of, his or her official duties in pursuit of the office or appointment, or in connection with obtaining salary, disability retirement, or service retirement, or other benefits, forfeit retirement benefits earned or accrued from the earliest date of the commission of the felony to the forfeiture date, as specified. The bill would also require any contributions to the public retirement system made by the employee on or after the earliest date of commission of the felony to be returned, without interest, to the employee upon the occurrence of a distribution event, as defined, unless otherwise ordered by a court or determined by the pension administrator.
Existing law establishes the Department of Food and Agriculture, which is tasked with, among other things, promoting and protecting the agricultural industry of the state. The Legislature has found and declared that adopting more efficient resource-conserving systems of agricultural production can benefit both the producing and consuming public. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would address agricultural production in California.
This measure would proclaim the month of February 2012 as California Craft Brewery Month.