Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, protects the right to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination because of race, religious creed, physical disability, mental disability, sex, age, and sexual orientation, among other characteristics. The act prohibits various forms of employment discrimination, including discharging or refusing to hire or to select for training programs on a prohibited basis. The act prescribes requirements for filing complaints of employment discrimination with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing and charges this department with investigating and determining whether or not to bring a civil action on behalf of the complainant, among other duties. The act exempts employers from remedies for specified unlawful employment practices, including when the discrimination is on the basis of physical or mental disability and the disability prevents the employee from safely performing essential duties even with reasonable accommodations. The act excludes from the definition of "employee," any individual employed under a special license in a nonprofit sheltered workshop or rehabilitation facility. A special license permits the employment of individuals with disabilities at a wage less than the legal minimum wage. This bill would authorize an individual employed under a special license in a nonprofit sheltered workshop, day program, or rehabilitation facility to bring an action under the act for any form of harassment or discrimination prohibited by the act. The bill would provide an employer against whom the individual brings this action with an affirmative defense by proving, by a preponderance of evidence, that the challenged action was permitted by statute or regulation and was necessary to serve employees with disabilities under a special license. The bill would exempt an employer's obtaining a special license, or hiring or employing a qualified individual at a wage less than the minimum wage in conformity with a special license, from the act's provisions prohibiting discrimination based on disability. The bill would provide that the definition of employee was not intended to permit the harassment of, or discrimination against, an individual employed under a special license in a nonprofit sheltered workshop, day program, or rehabilitation facility.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, establishes a program of cooperative federalism for the regulation of telecommunications to attain the goal of local competition, while implementing specific, predictable, and sufficient federal and state mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service, consistent with certain universal service principles. The universal service principles include the principle that consumers in all regions of the nation, including low-income consumers and those in rural, insular, and high-cost areas, should have access to telecommunications and information services, including interexchange services and advanced telecommunications and information services, that are reasonably comparable to those services provided in urban areas and that are available at rates that are reasonably comparable to rates charged for similar services in urban areas. The act authorizes each state to adopt regulations to provide for additional definitions and standards to preserve and advance universal service within the state, only to the extent that they adopt additional specific, predictable, and sufficient mechanisms that do not rely on or burden federal universal service support mechanisms. Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations, as defined. Existing law establishes the California Advanced Services Fund, referred to as the CASF, in the State Treasury. Existing law requires the commission to develop, implement, and administer the CASF to encourage deployment of high-quality advanced communications services to all Californians that will promote economic growth, job creation, and the substantial social benefits of advanced information and communications technologies, as provided in specified decisions of the commission and in the CASF statute. Existing law establishes the Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia Grant Account within the CASF. Existing law provides that moneys in the Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia Grant Account are available for grants to eligible consortia to fund the cost of broadband deployment activities other than the capital cost of facilities, as specified by the commission, and provides that an eligible consortium may include representatives of organizations, including local and regional government, public safety, elementary and secondary education, health care, libraries, postsecondary education, community-based organizations, tourism, parks and recreation, agricultural, and business. This bill would specifically include representatives of workforce organizations and air pollution control or air quality management districts amongst the persons that can be included in an eligible consortium. Existing law establishes the Broadband Public Housing Account within the CASF. Existing law provides that moneys in that account are available for, among other things, grants and loans to publicly supported communities to finance projects to connect to broadband networks. This bill would require the commission, in its review of applications for grants and loans for this purpose, to prioritize unserved housing developments, as defined. Existing law transferred moneys from other accounts within the CASF to the Broadband Public Housing Account for various specified purposes and provided that those transferred moneys not awarded by December 31, 2016, would be returned to the accounts from which they were transferred. This bill would postpone the return of those moneys until December 31, 2020. By authorizing the granting of moneys remaining in the Broadband Public Housing Account until that date, this bill would make an appropriation. Existing law requires the commission to annually report to the Legislature on the expenditures of CASF funds, as specified, including the geographic regions of the state affected by those expenditures in the prior year. This bill would require the commission's report to the Legislature to include that information by county, details on efforts to leverage non-CASF funds, the status of each project funded through the CASF, whether the project has been completed, and, if applicable, the expected completion date of the project.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to administer the State Energy Conservation Assistance Account, a continuously appropriated account in the General Fund, to provide grants and loans, until January 1, 2018, to schools, hospitals, public care institutions, and local governments to maximize energy use savings. For this purpose, existing law authorizes the commission, among other things, to borrow moneys from specified entities, including the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, as specified, and pledge specified loans or the principal and interest payments on those loans to provide collateral in connection with those borrowed moneys. Existing law also authorizes the commission to enter into pledge agreements setting forth the terms and conditions pursuant to which the commission is making those pledges. This bill would extend the operation of all of those provisions to January 1, 2028, and would thereby make an appropriation by extending the time during which the funds deposited in a continuously appropriated account are made available for expenditure. The bill would authorize the commission to pledge collateral to secure the repayment of bonds or other borrowings by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank. The bill would also expressly authorize the commission to enter into pledge agreements pursuant to which the commission is pledging collateral to secure the repayment of bonds or other borrowings by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law requires the commission to open a proceeding to determine appropriate targets, if any, for each load-serving entity, as defined, to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems to be achieved by December 31, 2020. This bill would require the commission to evaluate and analyze the potential for all types of long duration bulk energy storage resources to help integrate renewable generation into the electrical grid, as specified.
The Small Business Procurement and Contract Act requires the Director of General Services and the heads of other state agencies that enter into contracts for the acquisition of goods, services, and information technology and for the construction of state facilities to establish goals for the participation of small businesses and microbusinesses in these contracts, to provide for a small business preference in the award of these contracts, to give special consideration and special assistance to small businesses, and, whenever possible, to make awards to small businesses, as specified. Existing law defines a "small business" for these purposes as, among other things, an independently owned and operated business that is not dominant in its field of operation that has average annual gross receipts of $10 million, as may be adjusted to reflect changes in the California Consumer Price Index, or less over the previous 3 years. Existing law defines a "microbusiness" as a small business which, together with affiliates, has average annual gross receipts of $2.5 million, as may be adjusted to reflect changes in the California Consumer Price Index, or less over the previous 3 years. Existing law requires the director to conduct a biennial review of those average annual gross receipt levels and authorizes the director to adjust the average annual gross receipts threshold to reflect changes in the California Consumer Price Index for all items. Existing law requires a contractor requesting a small business or microbusiness preference to do so under penalty of perjury. This bill would revise those definitions by increasing the dollar amount threshold for a small business to $15 million and for a microbusiness to $5 million and would require those dollar amounts to be adjusted to reflect changes in the California Consumer Price Index biennially. The bill would further revise the definition of small business by specifying that, for the purposes of public works contracts, small business means a business with 200 or fewer employees and average annual gross receipts of $25 million or less. The bill would allow directors of the department and other state agencies to count contractors that would be considered a small business or microbusiness under the changes made by this bill for the year this bill is enacted if the directors are unable to make the small business participation goals under the existing laws. The bill would allow more contractors to qualify as a small business or microbusiness, thus expanding the group of contractors authorized to request a preference filed under penalty of perjury. By expanding the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 14837 and 14838 of the Government Code proposed by SB 1219 that would become operative if this bill and SB 1219 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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, the Small Business Procurement and Contract Act, grants a specified preference for small businesses and microbusinesses in the award of a contract for goods, services, or information technology to the state and in the construction of state facilities. Existing law defines small business and microbusiness for these and other purposes. Existing law permits a state agency and the California State University to award specified types of contracts with a value of between $5,000 and $250,000 to a certified small business, including a microbusiness and a disabled veteran business enterprise, without complying with certain competitive bidding requirements, provided the agency obtains price quotations from 2 or more small businesses, including microbusinesses, or 2 or more disabled veteran business enterprises. Existing law establishes the Office of Small Business and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Services and prescribes duties for the office, which include maintaining a bidders list of small businesses and disabled veteran businesses and noting which small businesses also qualify as microbusinesses. Existing law prescribes penalties for a small business or microbusiness that provides incorrect information or withholds information that leads to its incorrect classification as such an entity and is awarded a contract because of that classification. Existing law requires the Department of General Services to make available a report on contracting activity. This bill would, on and after October 1, 2018, grant an employment social enterprise a preference and status similar to a small business or microbusiness as described above. The bill would define an employment social enterprise as a California-based social purpose corporation, a benefit corporation, or a nonprofit corporation that earns 51% or more of its enterprise revenue from the production or assembly of goods or the provision of services and that demonstrates evidence in its articles of incorporation or bylaws of its mission to provide employment with on-the-job and life skills training to a direct labor force that is comprised of 80% or more of enterprise participants who face multiple barriers to employment. The bill would define an "enterprise participant who faces multiple barriers to employment" as an individual that meets certain criteria, including that he or she has employment barriers, is or was homeless, or is an out-of-school youth, as specified. The bill would require the above-described report by the department to include information relating to the level of participation of employment social enterprises in state contracting. The bill would require specified documents and facts to be certified under penalty of perjury. By expanding the crime of perjury, 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. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 14837 and 14838 of the Government Code proposed by SB 1176 that would become operative if this bill and SB 1176 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill also would incorporate additional changes to Section 10111 of the Public Contract Code proposed by SB 159 that would become operative if this bill and SB 159 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law requires that all revenues received by the state pursuant to specified federal laws be deposited in the Geothermal Resources Development Account and continuously appropriated as specified. Existing law requires some of those revenues to be disbursed to counties in which the federal government has leased land for geothermal development and another portion of those revenues to be available for distribution by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) as grants or loans made to local jurisdictions or private entities. Existing law specifies purposes primarily relating to geothermal energy development and mitigation for which recipients may expend these moneys. This bill would additionally authorize those recipients to expend those revenues to undertake projects to recover lithium, metals, agricultural products, and other beneficial minerals from highly mineralized geothermal brines at existing geothermal facilities that are in disadvantaged communities and provide local employment opportunities. Existing law authorizes the Energy Commission to administer funds appropriated by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (federal act) for the federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program to award contracts, grants, and loans for energy-related projects. This bill would, of the moneys appropriated to the commission in the 2016–17 fiscal year from the moneys derived from the federal act in the Federal Trust Fund for the purposes specified in existing law for funds derived from the federal act, allocate $2,500,000 to the commission for the geothermal brine treatment projects that would be authorized by this bill. The bill would, for the 2017–18 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, continuously appropriate $2,500,000 annually to the commission from the moneys derived from the federal act in the Federal Trust Fund for the above purposes specified in existing law until all of those moneys are encumbered or expended.
(1) Existing law, the California Finance Lenders Law, generally provides for the licensure and regulation of finance lenders and brokers by the Commissioner of Business Oversight and makes a willful violation of its provisions a crime. That law, until January 1, 2018, establishes the Pilot Program for Increased Access to Responsible Small Dollar Loans, which requires licensees and other entities to file an application and pay a specified fee to the commissioner to participate in the program. The program authorizes a licensee approved by the commissioner to participate in the program to impose specified alternative interest rates and charges, including an administrative fee and delinquency fees, on unsecured loans of at least $300 and less than $2,500, subject to certain requirements. The program requires the commissioner, on or before January 1, 2017, to post a report on his or her Internet Web site summarizing utilization of the program, a recommendation whether the pilot program should be continued after January 1, 2018, and the results of a random sample survey of borrowers. This bill would extend the Pilot Program for Increased Access to Responsible Small Dollar Loans until January 1, 2023, make a conforming change to the requirement for the commissioner to report a recommendation for further continuation of the program, and require additional annual reporting, as specified. The bill would remove the requirement for the commissioner to conduct and report the results of a random sample survey of borrowers. The bill would also make a technical change to a cross-reference within the program provisions. Because a willful violation of these extended provisions would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) 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 establishes the Department of Parks and Recreation and vests the department with the control of the state park system. Existing law authorizes the Director of Parks and Recreation to negotiate or renegotiate a concession contract within state parks if specified conditions exist and generally requires that a concession contract within state parks for a period of more than 2 years be awarded to the best responsible bidder. This bill would enact the California Heritage Protection Act, which would make various changes to the process for negotiating or renegotiating state parks concession contracts. The bill would modify the definition of a best responsible bidder to include that the bidder, among other things, will operate the concession in a manner that protects the state's trademark and service mark interest in the names associated with a state park venue and its historical, cultural, and recreational resources. This bill would prohibit a concession contract from providing a contracting party with a trademark or service mark interest in the name or names associated with a state park venue, or its historical, cultural, or recreational resources, and would prohibit a concession contract from serving as the basis for any legal claim that the contracting party has that interest. The bill would declare that these provisions do not constitute a change in, but are declaratory of, existing law. The bill would prohibit a bidder who makes that legal claim or assertion, and a bidder who a court has determined has made that legal claim or assertion with respect to a state or federal park venue without reasonable cause and in bad faith, from being awarded a concession contract within state parks. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations to provide a bidder who is denied a contract award based on these reasons with written notice and an opportunity to rebut the basis of the contract denial at a formal hearing. The bill would render a provision of a concession contract that, on and after January 1, 2017, provides a contracting party with a trademark or service mark interest in the name or names associated with a state park venue, or its historical, cultural, or recreational resources, void and unenforceable. This bill would require a concession contract to contain provisions requiring the concessionaire to forfeit the right to bid on future state park concession contracts if the concessionaire makes the above-described legal claim or assertion and requiring a concessionaire to be responsible for the state's attorney fees, costs, and expenses if the concessionaire in bad faith files a federal or state trademark or service mark application for a trademark or service mark that incorporates or implies association with a state park venue, or its historical, cultural, or recreational resources, and the state files a successful opposition or cancellation of the trademark or service mark application. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 5080.18 of the Public Resources Code proposed by SB 1473 to be operative only if SB 1473 and this bill are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.
Existing law, the Municipal Water District Law of 1911, provides for the formation of municipal water districts and grants to those districts specified powers. Existing law permits a district to acquire, control, distribute, store, spread, sink, treat, purify, recycle, recapture, and salvage any water for the beneficial use of the district, its inhabitants, or the owners of rights to water in the district. Existing law authorizes a district to sell water under its control, without preference, to cities, other public corporations and agencies, and persons, within the district for use within the district. Existing law authorizes a district to sell or otherwise dispose of water above that required by consumers within the district to any persons, public corporations or agencies, or other consumers. This bill, upon the request of an Indian tribe and the satisfaction of certain conditions, would require a district to provide service of water at substantially the same terms applicable to the customers of the district to an Indian tribe's lands that are not within a district, as prescribed, if the Indian tribe's lands meet certain requirements and the Indian tribe satisfies prescribed conditions. The bill would deem the service areas of a district and of any public agencies providing water to the district for all purposes to include an Indian tribe's land for a prescribed period of time if the district provides service of water to the Indian tribe's lands under these provisions. By imposing new duties on a municipal water district, this bill would create 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.