Sen. Ben Hueso

Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue license plates for vehicles, as specified, and to issue one or more stickers, tabs, or other suitable devices in lieu of the license plates, as specified. This bill would authorize the department to establish a pilot program, to be completed no later than January 1, 2017, to evaluate the use of alternatives to stickers, tabs, license plates, and registration cards, subject to certain requirements, and to report the results of the pilot program, as specified, to the Legislature no later than July 1, 2018.

(1) Existing law authorizes the governing board of any school district or community college district to order an election and submit to the electors of the district the question whether the bonds of the district should be issued and sold to raise money for specified purposes. Existing law requires the bonds to bear a rate of interest that does not exceed 8% per annum and requires the number of years the whole or any part of the bonds are to run to not exceed 25 years. This bill would require the ratio of total debt service to principal for each bond series to not exceed 4 to one. The bill would require each bond, as defined, that allows for the compounding of interest, including, but not limited to, a capital appreciation bond, maturing more than 10 years after its date of issuance to be subject to redemption before its fixed maturity date, as specified, beginning no later than the 10th anniversary of the date the bond was issued. The bill would authorize a school district or community college district with a note issued before December 31, 2013, to seek from the State Board of Education or the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, as applicable, a one-time waiver from certain requirements of this bill if 2 specified conditions are satisfied. (2) Existing law requires the governing board of a school district or community college district, before the sale of bonds, to adopt a resolution as an agenda item at a public meeting that includes specified information. This bill would require, if the sale includes bonds that allow for the compounding of interest, including, but not limited to, capital appreciation bonds, the agenda item to identify that bonds that allow for the compounding of interest are proposed and require the governing board of the school district or community college district to be presented with specified information concerning the bonds. The bill would require the resolution to be publicly noticed on at least 2 consecutive meeting agendas, first as an information item and 2nd as an action item. (3) Additionally and alternatively to the authority described above, existing law authorizes the legislative body of an issuer, by resolution, to provide for the issuance of bonds or refunding bonds. This bill would provide that bonds issued pursuant to this authority by a school district or community college district that do not allow for the compounding of interest may have a maturity that is greater than 30 years, but not greater than 40 years, if certain requirements are satisfied. The bill would require a school district or community college district that intends to issue bonds that allow for the compounding of interest, including, but not limited to, capital appreciation bonds, pursuant to this authority to conform the bond issuance to certain requirements otherwise applicable to bonds issued by a school district or community college district pursuant to the authority specified in (1) , above.

Existing law establishes within the State Department of Social Services the Foster Family Home and Small Family Home Insurance Fund for the purposes of paying, on behalf of foster family homes and small family homes, as defined, claims of foster children, their parents, guardians, or guardians ad litem resulting from occurrences peculiar to the foster care relationship and the provision of foster care services. Under existing law, the fund is not liable for any loss arising out of a dishonest, fraudulent, criminal, or intentional act of any person, or for damages of more than $300,000 for any single foster family home or small family home for all claims arising due to one or more occurrences during a single calendar year. This bill would narrow that limitation on the liability of the fund to exclude only a loss arising out of a dishonest, fraudulent, criminal, or intentional act of a foster parent, except as specified. The bill would also limit the liability of the fund to damages of no more than $300,000 for any single home for all claims arising during a consecutive 12-month period, instead of during a single calendar year. The bill would require that multiple incidents of a general course of conduct be considered one occurrence, regardless of the period of time during which the acts transpired, and would provide that the fund shall be liable only once for damages arising from that one occurrence.

Existing law, until January 1, 2013, established the Salton Sea Restoration Council as a state agency in the Natural Resources Agency to oversee the restoration of the Salton Sea. This bill would require the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation and coordination with the Salton Sea Authority, to lead Salton Sea restoration efforts. This bill would authorize the authority to lead a restoration funding and feasibility study, in consultation with the agency, as prescribed. This bill would also require the secretary to seek input from the authority with regard to specified components of restoration of the Salton Sea. By imposing duties on a local joint powers authority, the 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.

(1) Existing law requires the Department of Parks and Recreation to achieve any required budget reductions by closing, partially closing, and reducing services at selected units of the state park system. This bill would instead state that it is the intent of the Legislature that the department consistently operate the state park system, as specified. This bill would state that it is the intent of the Legislature, if budget reductions necessitate changes to the continued operation of state park units, that the department achieve any required budget reductions by implementing efficiencies and increasing revenue collection or reducing services and that full park closures only be considered as a last option, as provided. The bill would require, for any park units proposed for closure on or after July 1, 2014, that the department document and publicly disclose, among other things, the methodology used to evaluate and select the park units proposed for closure. Existing law requires the department to select park units for closure based solely on certain factors, including factors related to rate of visitation and proximity to other closed park units. This bill would, among other things, require that the rate of visitation be measured not only based on the raw number of visitations to the park unit, but also the extent to which the total capacity of the park unit is used. The bill would eliminate proximity to other closed park units as a factor for closure. In addition, the bill would add additional factors for consideration, including the extent to which closure of a unit would increase public safety hazards or impair the state's ability to protect iconic natural and historical resources. The bill would require the State Parks and Recreation Commission to hold a public hearing on any park unit closures that are proposed by the department on or after July 1, 2014. (2) Existing law prohibits the department from closing or proposing to close a state park in the 2012–13 or 2013–14 fiscal year. Existing law authorizes the department to enter into an operating agreement with a qualified nonprofit organization for the purposes of operating the entirety of a park unit, as identified by the director of the department, to the extent the operating agreement would enable the department to avoid closure of a unit or units of the state park system that may otherwise be subject to closure. This bill would provide that the prohibition to close, or propose to close, a state park in the 2012–13 or 2013–14 fiscal year does not limit or affect the department's authority to enter into an operating agreement during the 2012–13 or 2013–14 fiscal year, for purposes of the operation of the entirety of a state park, as agreed to by the director, during the 2012–13 or 2013–14 fiscal year. (3) Existing law establishes the State Parks Revenue Incentive Subaccount in the State Parks and Recreation Fund. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys in the account to the department to create incentives for projects that are consistent with the mission of the department and generate revenue, as provided. This bill would specify that projects referred to above include, but are not limited to, capital outlay projects. (4) Existing law requires the department to develop a revenue generation program as an essential component of a long-term sustainable park funding strategy. Existing law requires the incremental revenue generated by the revenue generation program to be deposited into the State Parks and Recreation Fund and transferred to the California State Park Enterprise Fund, as provided, once revenue targets have been met and the excess revenue is identified. Existing law further requires the department to allocate 50% of the total amount of revenues deposited into the California State Park Enterprise Fund, generated by a park district to that district if the amount of revenues generated exceeds the targeted revenue amount prescribed in the revenue generation program and requires the department to use 50% of the funds deposited into the California State Park Enterprise Fund for specific purposes. This bill would instead require that the incremental revenue generated by the program that is to be deposited into the State Parks and Recreation Fund be transferred instead to the State Parks Revenue Incentive Subaccount, rather than the California State Park Enterprise Fund, and would retain the same requirements for the allocation to a district and use of the revenues as described above. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature, commencing on July 1, 2014, and annually on or before each July 1 thereafter, on the revenue distributed to each district. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

(1) Existing law regulates the wages, hours, and working conditions of any man, woman, and minor employed in any occupation, trade, or industry, whether compensation is measured by time, piece, or otherwise, except as specified. Existing law creates the Industrial Welfare Commission and authorizes it to adopt rules, regulations, and orders to ensure that employers comply with those provisions. Wage Order No. 15-2001 of the commission regulates wages, hours, and working conditions for household occupations. Existing law makes violations of certain of these provisions a misdemeanor. This bill would enact the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights to, until January 1, 2017, regulate the hours of work of certain domestic work employees and provide an overtime compensation rate for those employees. The bill would define various terms for the purposes of the act, including defining domestic work to mean services related to the care of persons in private households or maintenance of private households or their premises, which would include childcare providers, caregivers of people with disabilities, sick, convalescing, or elderly persons, house cleaners, housekeepers, maids, and other household occupations. The bill would, until January 1, 2017, require the Governor to convene a committee to study and report to the Governor on the effects of this act. By expanding the definition of 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.

This measure would proclaim the week of September 8, 2013, through September 14, 2013, as Suicide Prevention Week in California.

This bill would recognize October of each year as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

This measure would declare December 12, 2013, as California Bullying Prevention Day, and would recognize the need for individuals, schools, communities, businesses, local governments, and the state to take action on behalf of bullying prevention in California.

Existing federal law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , formerly the Food Stamp Program, under which nutrition assistance benefits, formerly referred to as food stamps, are allocated to each state by the federal government. That program, as administered in California, is known as CalFresh. Under existing state law, pursuant to CalFresh, California's federal allocation is distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing law establishes eligibility and benefit level requirements for receipt of CalFresh benefits. Existing law authorizes counties to participate in the CalFresh Employment and Training (CalFresh E&T) program, established by federal law with the purpose of assisting members of CalFresh households to obtain regular employment, and requires participating counties to screen CalFresh work registrants to determine whether they will participate in, or be deferred from, the CalFresh E&T program. Existing law requires deferral for specified groups, including people under 16 years of age or over 60 years of age. This bill would require participating counties to defer from the CalFresh E&T program a person who is a veteran who has been honorably discharged from the United States Armed Forces. The bill would require, in a county that elects to participate in the program, that a veteran applying for CalFresh benefits who is required to register to work, but who is exempt from mandatory placement in the CalFresh E&T program, be provided with a referral to the local county veterans service office and a referral to local veterans' assistance and job training agencies, if those agencies are known to the county, and given the opportunity to participate as a volunteer in the CalFresh E&T program.