Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt rules and regulations to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions to ensure that the statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined, no later than December 31, 2030. The act requires the state board to prepare and approve a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and to update the scoping plan at least once every 5 years. This bill would require the state board to include greenhouse gas emissions from wildlands and forest fires in the scoping plan.

Existing law provides for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, administered by the State Department of Social Services and counties, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with supportive services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

Existing law provides for farm and home purchase benefits for qualifying veterans under the Veterans' Farm and Home Purchase Act of 1974, which is also known as the CalVet Home Loan Program, and places responsibility for program administration with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Existing law defines specified terms for these purposes. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

The Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act governs the management and operation of common interest developments. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to the provision specifying the act's title.

Existing law requires a person to support their spouse. Existing law authorizes a court to order spousal support in an amount, and for a period of time, that the court determines is just and reasonable based on the standard of living established during the marriage. Existing law requires a court, in making spousal support awards, to consider specified factors, including, among other things, each party's earning capacity, the needs of each party, and the duration of the marriage. Existing law prohibits an award relating to spousal support and attorney's fees, provides for the setting of the date of separation, and awards community property interest in retirement and pension benefits if there is a criminal conviction for a violent sexual felony, as specified. This bill would also prohibit an award relating to spousal support and attorney's fees, provide for the setting of the date of separation, and award a community property interest in retirement and pension benefits if, in the absence of a criminal conviction, the family court finds that one spouse has perpetrated a violent sexual felony against the other.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities. The California Constitution provides that the commission consists of 5 members appointed by the Governor and approved by the Senate. Existing law, the Public Utilities Act, provides that a majority of the commissioners constitutes a quorum for the transaction of any business, for the performance of any duty, or for the exercise of any power of the commission. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to the latter provision.

Existing law generally regulates deadly weapons, including assault weapons. Existing law defines an assault weapon, including, among others, as a semiautomatic centrefire firearm, as specified, that has a threaded barrel capable of accepting a silencer. Existing law defines a silencer, among others, as any device or attachment intended to muffle the sound of a firearm. Existing law makes it a felony for any person, firm, or corporation to possess a silencer for a firearm. Existing law exempts specified actions from those provisions, including the manufacture, possession, transportation, or sale or other transfer of a silencer to specified law enforcement agencies and military or naval forces by dealers or manufacturers registered under federal law. Existing law authorizes a court to sentence an eligible person convicted of a felony to probation. Existing law prohibits granting probation in specified circumstances, including if the person possesses a silencer. Existing law requires any weapon, including a firearm and any attachments, that was carried unlawfully for specified crimes to be surrendered to specified law enforcement entities. Existing law requires weapons surrendered pursuant to these provisions to be destroyed by the law enforcement entity. This bill would replace the term "silencer" with the term "suppressor" in the above provisions.

The California Environmental Quality Act requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report 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. Existing law requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains specified structures within certain areas to maintain a defensible space around the structures meeting certain requirements. This bill would exempt from CEQA projects undertaken or approved by a public agency for purposes of maintaining defensible space to comply with the above requirements. Because a lead agency would be required to determine the applicability of the exemption, 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.

Existing law prohibits local governments from enacting or enforcing any charter provision, ordinance, or regulation requiring a person to present identification for the purpose of voting or submitting a ballot at any polling place, vote center, or other location where ballots are cast or submitted. This bill would repeal that prohibition.

Under existing law, a vote-by-mail ballot is timely cast if it is postmarked or otherwise time-stamped on or before election day and received in the mail no later than 7 days after election day. This bill would instead require a vote-by-mail ballot to be returned to the applicable elections official no later than the close of the polls on election day, except that the bill would require a vote-by-mail ballot cast by a military or overseas voter to be counted if it is postmarked on or before election day and received no later than 7 days after election day.