Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the State Water Resources Control Board to administer provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health. The board's duties include, but are not limited to, conducting research, studies, and demonstration programs relating to the provision of a dependable, safe supply of drinking water, enforcing the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, and adopting and enforcing regulations. Existing law, the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Law of 1997, establishes the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the board for grants and revolving fund loans for the design and construction of projects for public water systems that will enable suppliers to meet safe drinking water standards. Existing law sets the maximum grant to each participating public water system for its share of the costs of the construction at $3,000,000, except as provided. This bill would increase the maximum amount of a construction grant award to $5,000,000 for a water system serving severely disadvantaged communities, except as provided. By authorizing the increased expenditure of moneys in a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
Sponsored bills
Existing law prohibits the sale of a plastic product labeled as "compostable," "home compostable," or "marine degradable" unless it meets a certain specification, certification, or standard, and prohibits the sale of a plastic product that is labeled as "biodegradable," "degradable," "decomposable," or as otherwise specified. The term "plastic product" is defined for purposes of these prohibitions, and local agencies and the state are authorized to impose civil liability for a violation of those requirements. This bill would require each manufacturer of plastic products, as defined, to include specified information in either an Internet Web site that is available to the public or as part of a specified annual report, with regard to whether the manufacturer has established a sustainability policy or has established or implemented goals to reuse, recover, and reduce the use of plastic.
(1) Existing law establishes the Agricultural Career Technical Education Incentive Program, which requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to award a grant, for the purpose of purchasing or leasing agricultural career technical education equipment, to an applicant school district that operates an agricultural career technical education program and that meets specified requirements. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district to annually adopt or update a local control and accountability plan that contains specified information. This bill would continuously appropriate the sum of $4,134,000 in each fiscal year beginning with the 2015–16 fiscal year from the General Fund to the State Department of Education for purposes of funding the Agricultural Career Technical Education Incentive Program. The bill would require the Superintendent to award a grant to a school district that, in addition to meeting the existing requirements, demonstrates how the expenditure of the grant funds will be consistent with its adopted local control and accountability plan. The bill would also express various findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to agricultural career technical education. (2) Funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.
This measure would urge the United States Congress to phase out the use of the Special Minimum Wage Certificate provision and eventually repeal Section 14(c) of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act.
Existing law defines the term "public works" for purposes of requirements regarding the payment of prevailing wages. Existing law generally defines "public works" to include construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid in whole or in part out of public funds. Existing law defines "construction" for these purposes to include work performed during the design and preconstruction phases of construction. Existing law makes a willful violation of laws relating to payment of prevailing wages on public works a misdemeanor. This bill would revise the definition of "construction" to also include work performed during the postconstruction phases of construction, including, but not limited to, all cleanup work at the jobsite. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 1720 of the Labor Code proposed by AB 2272, that would become operative only if SB 2272 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered 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.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 establishes certain limits on the amount of contributions that a person or group can make to a candidate for elective state office, or to a committee. This bill would prohibit an administrator of a school district or community college district, as defined, from knowingly soliciting, accepting, or receiving a contribution for the campaign of an elected official of the district employing the administrator, or any candidate for an office of the school district or community college district employing the administrator. The bill would clarify that this prohibition does not apply to an administrator who is soliciting, accepting, or receiving a contribution for his or her own campaign for an office of a school district or community college district. The bill would also prohibit an elected official of a school district or community college district, or a candidate for an office of a school district or community college district, from requesting an administrator of the school district or community college district to solicit, accept, or receive a contribution for the campaign of that elected official or candidate. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. By expanding the scope 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 Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, and authorizes them to operate campuses and provide instruction. This bill would authorize the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to enter into agreements with up to 10 community college districts to provide additional funds for services in support of postsecondary education for foster youth. The bill would provide that these services include, when appropriate, but are not necessarily limited to, outreach and recruitment, service coordination, counseling, book and supply grants, tutoring, independent living and financial literacy skills support, frequent in-person contact, career guidance, transfer counseling, child care and transportation assistance, and referrals to health services, mental health services, housing assistance, and other related services. The bill would require a community college district that wishes to participate in this program to apply to the board of governors for funding under the program created by the bill, as specified. The bill would require, if more than 10 community college districts apply for funding, the board of governors to give priority to those districts with the higher number of eligible students. The bill would require that a participating student be a current or former foster youth in California whose dependency was established or continued by the court on or after the student's 16th birthday and be no older than 25 years of age at the commencement of any academic year in which he or she participates in the program. The bill would express the intent of the Legislature that, consistent with specified requirements in the Seymour-Campbell Student Success Act of 2012, and to the extent that a participating community college meets specified responsibilities set forth in that act, any student who participates in the program established by this bill also receive specified matriculation services under that act. The bill would require the board of governors to adopt regulations for the program and to be responsible for the administration of funds for the program, as specified. The bill would require the board of governors to submit a biennial report, commencing no later than March 31, 2018, and every 2 years thereafter, providing prescribed information, including recommendations on whether and how the program can be expanded to all community college districts and campuses. The bill would be operative in a fiscal year only if sufficient funds have been appropriated for purposes of the bill for that fiscal year.
Existing law, the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006, approved by the voters as Proposition 1B at the November 7, 2006, statewide general election, provides for transfer of $2 billion of bond proceeds to the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund, created by the bond act, for infrastructure improvements along federally designated Trade Corridors of National Significance, to be allocated by the California Transportation Commission to eligible projects, as specified. This bill would continue the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund in existence for the purpose of receipt and expenditure of revenues from sources other than the bond act. The bill would provide for allocation of these revenues, upon appropriation, by the California Transportation Commission for largely similar purposes as the bond act funds, but would specifically reference, as eligible projects, infrastructure improvements that benefit the state's land ports of entry, seaports, and airports. The bill would require the commission to consult specified plans and a specified strategy in determining the projects eligible for funding and to allocate moneys from the fund consistent with a provision of the bond act and specified fund guidelines adopted by the commission. The bill, to the extent moneys are transferred to the Trade Corridors Improvement Fund from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, would require projects funded with those moneys to be subject to all of the requirements of existing law applicable to the expenditure of moneys appropriated from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, including, among other things, furthering the regulatory purposes of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law requires the board of governors to appoint a chief executive officer, to be known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts, administered by governing boards, throughout the state, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction to students at the community college campuses maintained by the districts. Existing law requires community colleges to offer instruction through, but not beyond, the 2nd year of college and authorizes community colleges to grant associate degrees in arts and science. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2015, authorize the board of governors, in consultation with the California State University and the University of California, to establish a statewide baccalaureate degree pilot program at not more than 15 community college districts, with one baccalaureate degree program each, to be determined by the chancellor and approved by the board of governors. The bill would prohibit each participating district from offering more than one baccalaureate degree program within the district, as specified. The bill would require a district baccalaureate degree pilot program to commence by the beginning of the 2017–18 academic year, and would require a student participating in a baccalaureate degree pilot program to complete his or her degree by the end of the 2022–23 academic year. The bill would require participating community college districts to meet specified requirements, including, but not limited to, offering baccalaureate degree programs and program curricula not offered by the California State University or the University of California, and in subject areas with unmet workforce needs, as specified. This bill would also require the governing board of a participating community college district to submit certain items for review by the chancellor and approval by the board of governors, including, among other things, the administrative plan for the baccalaureate degree pilot program and documentation of consultation with the California State University and the University of California. The bill would provide that the Legislative Analyst's Office shall conduct both a statewide interim evaluation and a statewide final evaluation of the statewide baccalaureate degree pilot program implemented under this article, as specified, and report to the Legislature and Governor, in writing, the results of the interim evaluation on or before July 1, 2018, and the results of the final evaluation on or before July 1, 2022. The bill would provide that on or before March 31, 2015, the board of governors shall develop, and adopt by regulation, a funding model for the support of the statewide baccalaureate degree pilot program, as specified. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2023, and would repeal the provisions on January 1, 2024.
(1) Under existing law, when the Department of Motor Vehicles determines that an applicant is lawfully entitled to a driver's license, the department is required to issue that license to the applicant. Existing law specifies the contents of a driver's license and requires the application for a driver's license or identification card to contain a space for an applicant to indicate whether he or she has served in the Armed Forces of the United States and to give his or her consent to be contacted regarding eligibility to receive state or federal veterans' benefits. This bill would, commencing November 11, 2015, allow an in-person applicant for a driver's license or identification card to request the driver's license or identification card be printed with the word "VETERAN." The applicant would be required to present verification of veteran status to the Department of Motor Vehicles, on a form developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs in consultation with the California Association of County Veterans Service Officers and the Department of Motor Vehicles. The bill would require county veterans service offices to verify an applicant's veteran status for these purposes, as specified. The department would be required to print the word "VETERAN" on the face of a driver's license or identification card issued to a person who makes that request and presents that verification to the department. (2) Existing law establishes certain fee amounts for the applications for, and renewal of, driver's licenses and identification cards. This bill would require the department to charge an additional one-time fee of $5 to a person who requests that the person's driver's license or identification card be designated as provided above.