Under existing law, the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act, a penalty of $4 is imposed upon every conviction for a violation of the Vehicle Code, or a local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code, other than a parking offense. Existing law requires the county or the court that imposed the fine to transfer the moneys collected pursuant to this act to the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act Fund. Under existing law, the assessment of these penalties will terminate on January 1, 2016, and any moneys unexpended and unencumbered in the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act Fund on June 30, 2017, will transfer to the General Fund. Existing law repeals the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act on January 1, 2018. This bill would extend the dates of the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act, so that the assessment of the penalties will terminate commencing January 1, 2018, and any moneys unexpended and unencumbered in the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act Fund on June 30, 2019, will transfer to the General Fund. The bill would extend the operation of the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act until January 1, 2020. The bill would also make legislative findings and declarations as to the harmful effects of relying on penalty assessments to fund core state programs and the necessity to identify alternative funding sources for emergency medical air transportation services. The bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services and the Department of Finance to develop, by March 1, 2017, a funding plan that ensures adequate reimbursement to emergency medical air transportation providers following the expiration of the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act on January 1, 2020.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law provides that a search warrant may only be issued upon probable cause, supported by affidavit, naming or describing the person to be searched or searched for, and particularly describing the property, thing, or things and the place to be searched. Existing law also states the grounds upon which a search warrant may be issued, including, among other grounds, when the property or things to be seized consist of any item or constitute any evidence that tends to show a felony has been committed, or tends to show that a particular person has committed a felony, or when there is a warrant to arrest a person. This bill would prohibit a government entity from compelling the production of or access to electronic communication information or electronic device information, as defined, without a search warrant, wiretap order, order for electronic reader records, or subpoena issued pursuant under specified conditions, except for emergency situations, as defined. The bill would also specify the conditions under which a government entity may access electronic device information by means of physical interaction or electronic communication with the device, such as pursuant to a search warrant, wiretap order, or consent of the owner of the device. The bill would define a number of terms for those purposes, including, among others, "electronic communication information" and "electronic device information," which the bill defines collectively as "electronic information." The bill would require a search warrant for electronic information to describe with particularity the information to be seized and would impose other conditions on the use of the search warrant or wiretap order and the information obtained, including retention, sealing, and disclosure. The bill would require a warrant directed to a service provider to be accompanied by an order requiring the service provider to verify by affidavit the authenticity of electronic information that it produces, as specified. The bill would authorize a service provider to voluntarily disclose, when not otherwise prohibited by state or federal law, electronic communication information or subscriber information, and would require a government entity to destroy information so provided within 90 days, subject to specified exceptions. The bill would, subject to exceptions, require a government entity that executes a search warrant pursuant to these provisions to contemporaneously provide notice, as specified, to the identified target, that informs the recipient that information about the recipient has been compelled or requested, and that states the nature of the government investigation under which the information is sought. The bill would authorize a delay of 90 days, subject to renewal, for providing the notice under specified conditions that constitute an emergency. The bill would require the notice to include a copy of the warrant or statement describing the emergency under which the notice was delayed. The bill would provide that any person in a trial, hearing, or proceeding may move to suppress any electronic information obtained or retained in violation of its provisions, according to specified procedures. The bill would provide that a California or foreign corporation, and its officers, employees, and agents, are not subject to any cause of action for providing records, information, facilities, or assistance in accordance with the terms of a warrant, wiretap order, or other order issued pursuant to these provisions. (2) The California Constitution provides for the Right to Truth in Evidence, which requires a 23 vote of the Legislature to exclude any relevant evidence from any criminal proceeding, as specified. Because this bill would exclude evidence obtained or retained in violation of its provisions in a criminal proceeding, it requires a 23 vote of the Legislature.
(1) Existing law generally provides for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of specified types of crimes by the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for specified losses suffered as a result of those crimes. Existing law sets forth eligibility requirements and limits on the amount of compensation the board may award, and requires the application for compensation to be verified under penalty of perjury. Existing law authorizes the board to recognize an authorized representative of a victim or derivative victim, including an attorney, the legal guardian, conservator, immediate family member, parent, or relative caregiver, certified victim assistance advocate, county social worker, or other persons, as specified, to represent the victim or derivative victim pursuant to rules adopted by the board. This bill would expand the term "authorized representative" to mean any person designated by law or any person who has written authorization by the victim or derivative victim, excluding a medical or mental health provider who has provided services to the victim or derivative victim. The bill would require the initial application materials sent by the board to an applicant to be written in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, East Armenian, Tagalog, Russian, Arabic, Farsi, Hmong, Khmer, Punjabi, and Lao, and further require, if the applicant selects one of these languages, the board to send all subsequent communications in that language. (2) Existing law requires the board to verify any information it deems pertinent to an application for compensation, and requires the victim and the applicant, if other than the victim, to cooperate with the staff of the board or a victim and witness assistance center in this task. Existing law authorizes the board to reject an application solely on the basis that the victim or applicant failed to cooperate as required. This bill would instead require the applicant to cooperate in verifying the application and would specify the circumstances under which an applicant may be found to have failed to cooperate with the board. The bill would prohibit the board from requiring an applicant to submit documentation from the Internal Revenue Service, the Franchise Tax Board, the State Board of Equalization, the Social Security Administration, or the Employment Development Department to determine eligibility for compensation, but would specifically authorize the board to require and use documentation from these entities to verify the amount of compensation for income or support loss. (3) Existing law requires every law enforcement and social service agency in the state to provide to the board or to a contracted victim center reports involving the crime, public offense, or incident giving rise to a claim, for the specific purpose of the submission of a claim or the determination of eligibility to submit a claim. This bill would instead require law enforcement and social service agencies to provide a complete copy of the law enforcement report and other supplemental reports and documents for the purpose of determining the eligibility of a claim. (4) Existing law requires a victim or derivative victim seeking compensation to have sustained one or more specified physical or emotional injuries, or pecuniary losses, as a direct result of the crime. Existing law includes among those injuries emotional injury that occurred due to a violation of provisions prohibiting child abduction, as specified, if the deprivation of custody endured for 30 calendar days or more. This bill would include among those injuries emotional injury that occurred due to a violation of provisions prohibiting publishing or disseminating via an electronic communication device personal identifying information or a digital image of another person, without consent of the other person, and for the purpose of causing that other person injury or harassment, by a 3rd party. The bill would also require, in the case of emotional injury caused by a child abduction, only that criminal charges were filed. The bill would also include among those injuries emotional injury to a minor victim that incurred as a direct result of the nonconsensual distribution of pictures or video of sexual conduct in which the minor appears. The bill would limit compensation for this type of injury to mental health counseling for the victim, and prohibit compensation to a derivative victim in this regard. (5) Existing law, until January 1, 2017, authorizes the board to reimburse a crime victim or derivative victim for the amount of outpatient violence peer counseling-related expenses incurred by the victim or derivative victim from, among others, a service organization for victims of violent crime, as specified, and defines the term "violence peer counselor" as a provider of formal or informal counseling services who is employed by a service organization for victims of violent crime and meets specified requirements, including, among others, that he or she possesses at least 6 months of full-time equivalent experience in providing peer support services. This bill would specify that a service organization for victims of violent crime is a nonprofit and charitable organization instead of a nongovernmental organization. The bill would require that any peer counseling services that fall under the scope of practice of certain acts, including, among others, the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act, be performed by a licensee or a registrant of the Board of Behavioral Sciences or other appropriately licensed professional unless in an exempt setting. The bill would change the definition of "violence peer counselor" to a provider of supportive and nonpsychotherapeutic peer counseling services. (6) Existing law requires the board to deny an application if it finds that the victim or derivative victim knowingly and willingly participated in the commission of the crime that resulted in the pecuniary loss for which compensation is being sought, except as specified. This bill would instead authorize an application for compensation to be denied, in whole or in part, if the board finds that denial is appropriate based upon consideration of specified factors in determining the nature of the victim's or other applicant's involvement in the events leading to the crime, or the involvement of the person whose injury or death gives rise to the application, and specified factors that may be considered to mitigate or overcome that involvement. (7) Existing law requires an application to be denied if the victim failed to cooperate reasonably with law enforcement in apprehending and convicting the person who committed the crime. This bill would prohibit a victim of domestic violence from being determined to have failed to cooperate based on his or her conduct with law enforcement at the scene of the crime, and would prohibit lack of cooperation from being found solely because a victim of sexual assault, domestic violence, or human trafficking delayed reporting the qualifying crime. The bill would also prohibit a claim based on a sexual assault from being denied solely because a police report was not made by the victim. The bill would require the board to adopt guidelines that allow it to consider and approve applications for assistance based on a sexual assault relying upon evidence other than a police report to establish that a sexual assault crime has occurred. (8) Existing law prohibits any person who is convicted of a felony from being granted compensation until he or she has been discharged from probation or has been released from a correctional institution, and has been discharged from parole, if any. Existing law prohibits compensation from being granted to an applicant being held in a correctional institution. Existing law prioritizes the applications of victims who are not felons over those who are felons who have been discharged from probation or have been released from a correctional institution, and have been discharged from parole. This bill would instead prohibit any person who is convicted of a violent felony, as specified, from being granted compensation until he or she is discharged from probation or released from a correctional institution, and discharged from parole, or until he or she is discharged from postrelease community supervision or mandatory supervision. This bill would also prohibit compensation from being granted to an applicant while he or she is required to be registered as a sex offender. This bill would remove provisions prioritizing the applications of victims who are not felons. (9) Existing law authorizes derivative victims, including parents and siblings, of a victim of a crime that directly led to the death of the victim, to be reimbursed for the expense of their outpatient mental health counseling. This bill would include grandparents and grandchildren among those derivative victims who are eligible to be reimbursed for their mental health counseling. Because an application for reimbursement is required to be submitted under penalty of perjury, this bill would expand the definition of a crime and thus impose a state-mandated local program. (10) Existing law limits the reimbursement amount for outpatient mental health counseling of a victim of a crime of unlawful intercourse with a minor in which a person 21 years of age or older engaged in an act of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor who was under 16 years of age to an amount not exceeding $5,000. Existing law prohibits a derivative victim of that crime from being eligible to receive reimbursement for mental health counseling expenses. This bill would remove provisions limiting this reimbursement of a victim of a crime of unlawful intercourse with a minor, as described above, and remove provisions prohibiting a derivative victim of that crime from being eligible to receive reimbursement for mental health counseling expenses. (11) Existing law authorizes the board to grant reimbursement for pecuniary loss of the expense of nonmedical remedial care and treatment rendered in accordance with a religious method of healing recognized by state law if it determines it will best aid the person seeking compensation. This bill would remove this provision authorizing reimbursement for this type of care or treatment. (12) Existing law authorizes the board to grant for pecuniary loss if it determines it will best aid the person seeking compensation reimbursement for the expense of installing or increasing residential security, if it receives verification by law enforcement that the security measures are necessary for the personal safety of the claimant or verification by a mental health treatment provider that the security measures are necessary for the emotional well-being of the claimant. This bill would remove the provisions requiring the verification by law enforcement or a mental health treatment provider described above. (13) Existing law also allows reimbursement for renovating or retrofitting a victim's residence or vehicle for a victim permanently disabled by the crime, as specified. The bill would also allow reimbursement for the purchase of a vehicle for a victim permanently disabled by the crime. (14) Existing law authorizes the board to provide a cash payment to a victim for expenses incurred in relocating, as specified, and requires a victim of sexual assault or domestic violence, who receives a relocation payment to, among other things, agree not to allow the offender on the premises at any time. Existing law also authorizes the board to provide reimbursement to any individual who voluntarily, and without anticipation of personal gain, pays or assumes the obligation to pay the reasonable costs to clean the scene of the crime inside a residence in an amount not to exceed $1,000, or a crime victim's funeral or burial expenses, up to $7,500, as specified. This bill would authorize the board to require a victim to repay the relocation payment or reimbursement to the board if he or she violates those terms. The bill would also require the board to be named as the recipient of funds upon the expiration of a rental agreement if a security deposit was required for a relocation. This bill would also authorize the board to reimburse any individual who voluntarily, and without anticipation of personal gain, pays or assumes the obligation to pay the reasonable costs for a trauma scene waste practitioner to clean the scene of the crime if the crime occurred inside a vehicle. The bill would prohibit the board from creating or complying with a regulation or policy that mandates a lower maximum potential amount of an award for the compensation of a crime victim's funeral or burial expenses than prescribed by statute. (15) Existing law authorizes the board to pay attorney's fees for legal services rendered to an applicant, in an amount equal to 10% of the amount of the award, or $500, whichever is less, for each victim and each derivative victim. This bill would authorize the board to request that an attorney provide verification, and to contact an applicant to verify, that legal services were provided. (16) Existing law requires the board to grant a hearing to an applicant who contests a staff recommendation to deny compensation. Existing law requires the board to schedule the hearing in as convenient a location as possible if the applicant's presence is required. Existing law authorizes the board to grant no more than one request for reconsideration with respect to any one decision on an application for compensation. This bill would also authorize the hearing to be conducted by telephone. The bill would also prohibit evidence submitted after the board has denied a request for reconsideration from being considered unless the board chooses to reconsider its decision on its own motion. (17) Existing law provides that the board is entitled to a lien on any judgment, award, or settlement in favor of or on behalf of the recipient for losses suffered as a direct result of the crime that was the basis for receipt of compensation in the amount of the compensation granted by the board. If a claim is filed within one year of the date of recovery, the board is required to pay 25% of the amount of the recovery that is subject to a lien on the judgment, award, or settlement, to the recipient responsible for recovery thereof from the perpetrator of the crime, provided that the total amount of the lien is recovered and the remaining 75% is deposited in the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would instead require the board to pay 25% of the amount of the recovery that is subject to a lien on the judgment, award, or settlement, to the recipient responsible for recovery only if the recipient notified the board of the action prior to receiving any recovery with the remainder being deposited into the Restitution Fund. By increasing deposits to be made to a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (18) Under existing law, a person who has been overpaid pursuant to these provisions governing victim compensation is liable for that amount, except as specified. This bill would require that all actions to collect overpayments be commenced within 7 years of the date of the overpayment, except as specified. The bill would also authorize any recipient of an overpayment to contest the related staff recommendation. (19) Existing law authorizes a private citizen, his or her surviving spouse, his or her surviving children, or a person dependent upon the citizen for his or her principal support to file a claim for indemnification, as specified, if the private citizen incurred personal injury, death, or damage to his or her property in preventing the commission of a crime, in apprehending a criminal, or rescuing a person in immediate danger of injury or death as a result of fire, drowning, or other catastrophe. Existing law defines "private citizen" for this and related provisions as a natural person except as specified. This bill would also authorize any person who is legally liable for the citizen's pecuniary losses to file a claim for indemnification. This bill would revise the definition of "private citizen" to mean a person, except as specified. (20) Existing law provides that if a parolee or a prisoner owes a specified order of restitution, any moneys owing are collected from the parolee or prisoner, as specified, and transferred to the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board for direct payment to the victim. Existing law requires that the victim be paid within 60 days from the date the restitution revenues are received, however, the restitution payment need not be forwarded to that victim unless it is $50 or more, or until 180 days from the date the first payment is received, whichever occurs sooner. This bill would provide instead that the payment need not be forwarded to the victim until it is $25 or more, or the victim requests payment of the lesser amount. (21) Existing law requires board hearings to be informal and authorizes these hearings to not be conducted according to the technical rules relating to evidence and witnesses. This bill would require the board to allow a service animal to accompany and support a witness while testifying at a board hearing. (22) Existing law requires the court to order a person who is convicted of a crime to pay restitution to the victim or victims for the full amount of economic loss, unless the court finds compelling and extraordinary reasons for not doing so and states them on the record. Existing law provides the defendant the right to a hearing before a judge to dispute the determination of the amount of restitution and authorizes the court to modify the amount of restitution. This bill would authorize a victim at a restitution or modification hearing to testify by live, 2-way audio and video transmission, if that type of transmission is available at the court. (23) The bill would make other conforming and nonsubstantive changes. (24) By expanding the authorizations for use of moneys in the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (25) 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 federal law, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, provides for the negotiation and execution of tribal-state gaming compacts for the purpose of authorizing certain types of gaming on Indian lands within a state. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to negotiate and conclude compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law expressly ratifies a number of tribal-state gaming compacts, and amendments to tribal-state gaming compacts, between the State of California and specified Indian tribes. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project, as defined, that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. This bill would ratify the tribal-state gaming compact entered into between the State of California and the United Auburn Indian Community, executed on August 14, 2015. The bill would provide that, in deference to tribal sovereignty, certain actions are not projects for the purposes of CEQA. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing federal law provides for construction funding assistance for elementary and secondary public schools that are located on United States military installations and that meet specified criteria. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature that assistance be provided to school districts in the 2015–16 fiscal year to meet the matching share requirement of a school construction grant made by the Office of Economic Adjustment of the federal Department of Defense to construct, renovate, repair, or expand elementary and secondary public schools located on military installations. The bill would require the Department of Finance to explore options, including, but not necessarily limited to, making low-interest loans available to school districts through the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, on how best to assist school districts in meeting the matching share requirement of the federal school construction grant referenced in the bill.
(1) Existing law establishes a system for the recordation of cattle brands and establishes various fees in connection with the recordation and the use of a brand, as specified. Existing law also establishes various inspection fees per cattle, as specified. Existing law requires these fees to be deposited in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would increase the inspection fees and other various fees in connection with the recordation and use of cattle brands. By increasing the amount of fees deposited in a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (2) Existing law requires cattle to be inspected before being moved or transported under certain circumstances, including whenever cattle are sold. This bill would exempt cattle that are being sold or whose ownership is being transferred from these inspection provisions if the individual or entity with a controlling interest in the cattle remains unchanged, if the cattle will not be moved out of state or out of a modified point-of-origin inspection area, and if the cattle are associated with either a registered brand or dairy exemption number. The bill would require, within 30 days of ownership transfer, all persons who have ownership in the cattle, including both the transferor and the transferee, to self-certify, under penalty of perjury, to the Department of Food and Agriculture as to their ownership in the cattle on a form prescribed by the department. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the department to charge a fee to cover the reasonable costs of processing the form but would prohibit the fee from exceeding $50 or the department's actual costs of conducting these activities. (3) 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 Alcoholic Beverage Control Act provides for the issuance of licenses for which various annual fees are charged depending upon the type of license issued. The act authorizes the issuance of a veterans' club license authorizing the sale of alcoholic beverages for consumption within the licensed establishment only to members of the veterans' organization and their guests. This bill would additionally authorize a holder of a veterans' club license to sell and serve alcoholic beverages for consumption within the licensed establishment to members of other veterans' organizations, active duty or reserve members of the Armed Forces, or veterans, as well as to the members of the veterans' organization and their guests.
Existing law provides that a person who (1) has been convicted of a felony and imprisoned in the state prison or incarcerated in a county jail for that conviction, (2) is granted a pardon by the Governor for specified reasons, and (3) has served the term or any part thereof for which he or she was imprisoned, may present a claim against the state to the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board for the pecuniary injury sustained by him or her through the erroneous conviction and imprisonment, as specified. Existing law provides an opportunity for the Attorney General to respond to a claim, and for a hearing on the claim, as specified. Existing law provides that if the evidence shows that the crime with which the claimant was charged was either not committed at all, or, if committed, was not committed by the claimant, and that the claimant has sustained pecuniary injury through his or her erroneous conviction and imprisonment, the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board shall report the facts of the case and its conclusions to the Legislature, with a recommendation that an appropriation be made by the Legislature for the purpose of indemnifying the claimant for the pecuniary injury. Existing law provides that the amount of the recommended appropriation shall be a sum equivalent to $100 per day of incarceration served after the claimant was convicted. This bill would expand the scope of a compensable injury to include nonpecuniary injuries. The bill would increase the amount of the recommended appropriation to $140 per day of incarceration served after the claimant was convicted, as specified. This bill would make other technical, nonsubstantive changes.
This measure would proclaim April 12 through April 19, 2015, as California Holocaust Memorial Week and would urge Californians to observe these days of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust in an appropriate manner.
This measure would recognize the California Association of County Veterans Service Officers for helping veterans secure their federal and state benefits over the past 70 years.