Sen. Juan Vargas

Existing law authorizes the Emergency Medical Services Authority to establish minimum training and other standards for the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and generally provides immunity from civil damages in connection with AEDs. Existing law requires persons or entities that acquire AEDs to comply with maintenance, testing, and training requirements, which are scheduled to change on January 1, 2013. Existing law, until January 1, 2013, sets forth tenant notice and other requirements for owners of buildings in which an AED is placed. This bill would extend the operation of these provisions indefinitely.

Existing law authorizes the Public Employment Relations Board to, in accordance with reasonable standards, designate positions or classes of positions which have duties consisting primarily of the enforcement of state laws. Existing law prohibits employees in these designated positions or classes from being denied the right to be in a bargaining unit composed solely of those employees. Existing regulations provide the procedure by which an employee organization may file a petition to become the exclusive representative of an appropriate unit consisting of a group of employees who are already members of a larger established unit represented by an incumbent exclusive representative. Existing regulations require a petition to sever to be accompanied by proof of majority support in the unit claimed to be appropriate. This bill would declare that state employee peace officers, as prescribed, have the right to be in a unit composed solely of those employees, provided they have complied with the regulations governing severance petitions described above. The bill would require the State Personnel Board to grant any complying petition within 30 days of the effective date of this act. The bill would also make related, conforming changes to those provisions.

(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) 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. CEQA requires the Office of Planning and Research to prepare and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt guidelines for the implementation of CEQA and requires the guidelines to include a list of classes of projects which have been determined not to have a significant effect on the environment and exempts those classes of projects from the requirements of CEQA (categorical exemption) . This bill would authorize a lead agency to grant, on an annual basis, one categorical exemption per specified site for a fireworks display held annually on a public site or large venue. Because a lead agency would be prohibited from granting more than one specified categorical exemption per site for a fireworks display, this bill would increase the level of services provided by a local agency and thereby impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the office to identify potential environmental issues related to fireworks displays and to develop guidelines to assist local agencies regarding fireworks displays. (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 designate a specified portion of State Highway Route 94 in the County of San Diego as the Stephen Palmer Sr. Memorial Highway. This measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering those costs, to erect those signs.

Existing property tax law, in accordance with the California Constitution, provides for a "welfare exemption" for property that is used exclusively for religious, hospital, scientific, or charitable purposes and that is owned or operated by certain types of nonprofit entities if certain qualifying criteria are met. This bill would provide that property used exclusively for charitable purposes and located within the former Naval Training Center in San Diego and leased by the City of San Diego or the Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Diego to a nonprofit entity or to an entity controlled by the nonprofit entity shall be deemed to be included within the welfare exemption and shall be entitled to a partial exemption, as specified, in any year in which the development of the property is being financed with funds made available through specified federal tax credit programs. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute. By imposing new duties upon local tax officials with respect to the welfare 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions. Section 2229 of the Revenue and Taxation Code requires the Legislature to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2229 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

This measure would urge the Congress of the United States and the President to amend the United States Internal Revenue Code to allow all retirees who have contributed to a qualified retirement plan the option to treat funds from those plans used to pay medical and long-term care premiums as tax-free rollovers. This measure would also urge the Congress of the United States and the President to create parity among all workers by presenting qualified retirement plan participants with the same option given to public safety members under the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

This measure would designate Monday, May 7, 2012, as California Peace Officers' Memorial Day, urge all Californians to use that day to honor California peace officers, and recognize specified California peace officers who were killed in defense of their communities.

(1) The Enterprise Zone Act provides for the designation and oversight by the Department of Housing and Community Development of various types of economic development areas throughout the state, including enterprise zones, targeted tax areas, local agency military base recovery areas (LAMBRAs) , and manufacturing enhancement areas, collectively known as geographically targeted economic development areas, or G-TEDAs. Pursuant to these provisions, qualifying entities in those areas may receive certain tax and regulatory incentives. This bill would, until January 1, 2020, establish the Clean Manufacturing and Job Creation Incentive Act of 2012, and would authorize the legislative body of a city, county, or city and county to establish a clean manufacturing zone, as defined, within the city, county, or city and county's boundaries for the purpose of providing incentives to manufacturing businesses to locate within that city, county, or city and county. (2) Existing property tax law provides for the levy of an annual ad valorem tax on personal property, with certain exceptions, based upon the full value of that property. This bill, commencing with the 2013–14 fiscal year, would, until January 1, 2020, authorize local agencies, as defined, to provide an annual rebate to a taxpayer in an amount that shall not exceed the amount of property tax revenue paid by the taxpayer for that year for qualified manufacturing property that is located within a clean manufacturing zone.

Existing law establishes the Department of Justice under the direction and control of the Attorney General, and authorizes the Attorney General to, among other things, arrange and classify the work of the Department of Justice, and consolidate, abolish, or create divisions, bureaus, branches, sections, or units within the department. Existing law also authorizes the Attorney General, in conformity with the State Civil Service Act, to employ agents and other employees that are necessary for the conduct of the affairs of the Department of Justice in carrying out various responsibilities, including narcotic enforcement. This bill would require the Attorney General to maintain a minimum of 190 special agents within the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, and a minimum of 90 special agents in the Bureau of Investigation and Intelligence. Existing law provides for the seizure and forfeiture of property in connection with specified violations of law relating to controlled substances, including possession of a controlled substance for sale. Existing law requires the proceeds of property that is seized, forfeited, and sold by the Department of General Services or a local governmental entity to be distributed first to a bona fide or innocent purchaser, conditional sales vendor, or mortgagee of the property, if the court orders distribution to that person, and then to the Department of General Services or the local governmental entity for expenditures relating to the sale of the property. Existing law requires the remaining funds to be distributed 65% to the state and local law enforcement agencies that participated in the seizure, 10% to the prosecutorial agency that processed the forfeiture action, 24% to the General Fund to be made available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for school safety and security, and 1% to eligible nonprofit entities. This bill would delete the allocation to the General Fund, and instead would require 24% to be continuously appropriated to the Department of Justice, Division of Law Enforcement, to be used to fund the efforts of special agents of the Department of Justice to investigate and enforce the Uniformed Controlled Substances Act and other violations of laws relating to controlled substances. The bill would make other technical, nonsubstantive changes.

Existing law requires instruction in social sciences to include the early history of California and a study of the role and contributions of both men and women, Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, European Americans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, persons with disabilities, and members of other ethnic and cultural groups, to the economic, political, and social development of California and the United States of America, with particular emphasis on portraying the role of these groups in contemporary society. This bill would, before January 1, 2014, require the State Department of Education to establish the California Latino Curriculum Committee to be composed of specified individuals, for the purpose of developing California Latino curriculum that is consistent with the history-social science curriculum framework and state-adopted academic content standards for use in public schools maintaining any combination of instructional settings from kindergarten to grade 12, inclusive. The bill would require the committee to, in the development of the California Latino curriculum, consult with the other groups of people whose roles and contributions to the early history of California are required to be included in instruction in social sciences and would require the committee to submit the curriculum to the State Board of Education for inclusion in the next revision of the history-social science curriculum framework.