Existing law provides that, when a child is removed from his or her family by the juvenile court, placement of the child in foster care should secure, as nearly as possible, the custody, care, and discipline equivalent to that which should have been given the child by his or her parents. Existing law provides enumerated rights for children who are placed in foster care. Existing law establishes the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson to disseminate specified information, including the stated rights of foster youth, and to investigate and attempt to resolve complaints made by or on behalf of children placed in foster care, related to their care, placement, or services. This bill would enumerate rights for foster youth relating to mental health services. The bill would require the office, in consultation with various entities, to develop, no later than July 1, 2012, standardized information explaining the rights specified and to distribute this information to foster youth.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs within state government and sets forth its powers and duties, including, but not limited to, administration of veterans benefits programs. Existing law also establishes the Department of Motor Vehicles, which is charged with various duties, including reviewing applications and issuing drivers' licenses. This bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop and maintain a program for the issuance of identification cards establishing California residency to any eligible person, as defined, who is the spouse, domestic partner, or dependent child of a member or veteran of the armed services of the United States or the California National Guard, in accordance with specified requirements. Possession of a valid California residency identification card would be evidence that the person is a California resident for the purposes of entitlement to benefits at all state and local offices. The bill would require each office of the Department of Motor Vehicles to perform various duties with respect to distribution, collection, and processing of the application forms and issuing the identification cards. Among other responsibilities, the Department of Veterans Affairs would be responsible for developing protocols to be used by it and the Department of Motor Vehicles in administering the program. (2) Existing law includes various public social services programs to provide for protection, care, and assistance to the people of the state in need of those services, by providing appropriate aid and services to the needy and distressed. Counties are responsible for administrating these programs, such as CalWORKs, Medi-Cal, and in-home supportive services. State funds are continuously appropriated to pay for a share of costs under the CalWORKs program. Existing federal law limits eligibility of aliens for federal public benefits to those who satisfy the definition of a qualified alien, with specified exceptions. Existing federal law similarly limits the provision of state or local public benefits, but authorizes a state to provide state and local public benefits, as defined, to an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States by enactment of a state law that affirmatively provides for that eligibility. This bill, notwithstanding any other law, would make the spouse or domestic partner, or a dependent natural or adopted child or stepchild, of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States stationed in this state who is, or was, on active duty at any time on or after January 1, 1991, eligible to apply for and receive defined state and local public social services benefits to the same extent as any other applicant or recipient, regardless of the individual's immigration status, as specified. This bill would make an appropriation by expanding eligibility for the CalWORKs program. In addition, the bill would increase the duties of counties administering public social services programs, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. (3) 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.
(1) 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, allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services has renamed the Food Stamp Program in California as CalFresh. Existing law requires each county to provide cash assistance and other social services to needy families through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program using federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program, state, and county funds. Existing law provides that if the state does not achieve specified outcomes required by federal law, including welfare-to-work outcomes, and as a result is subject to a fiscal penalty, the penalty will be shared equally by the state and the counties after exhaustion of all reasonable and available federal administrative remedies. Existing law provides that only those counties that have failed to meet the federal requirements are required to share in the fiscal penalty, as prescribed. This bill would provide that in determining whether a county has failed to meet the federal work requirements, the number of cases subject to the federal work participation requirements is not to include specified cases granted a federally recognized good cause domestic violence waiver. (2) Existing law requires a county to redetermine CalWORKs and CalFresh recipient eligibility and grant amounts on a quarterly basis, using prospective budgeting, and to prospectively determine the benefits that a recipient is entitled to receive for each month of the quarterly reporting period. Under existing law, a CalWORKs recipient is required to report to the county, orally or in writing, specified changes that could affect the amount of aid to which the recipient is entitled. Under existing law, the CalWORKs quarterly reporting system is also implemented by the State Department of Social Services in administering SNAP. This bill would prohibit the consideration of the income and resources used to flee the abuser or that are controlled in whole or in part by the abuser if an applicant or recipient family is a victim of abuse, as defined, to the extent permitted by federal law. This bill would provide that sworn statements by a victim of past or present abuse are sufficient to establish this abuse. (3) Existing law authorizes a county to waive a program requirement for a recipient who has been identified as a past or present victim of abuse when it has been determined that good cause exists. This bill would instead require a county to waive, with certain exceptions, conditions of eligibility, program requirements, or the time limit for good cause for an applicant or recipient who has been identified as a past or present victim of abuse upon a specified determination by the county. This bill would also require a county to proactively seek information to determine at the time of application or redetermination for aid whether or not an applicant or recipient is or has been a victim of domestic violence. (4) By imposing new duties on counties, 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.
Existing law prohibits a deficiency judgment if real property or an estate for years has been sold by the mortgagee or trustee under power of sale in the mortgage or deed of trust. Existing law also prohibits a deficiency judgment under a note secured by a first deed of trust or first mortgage for a dwelling of not more than 4 units in any case in which the trustor or mortgagor sells the dwelling for less than the remaining amount of the indebtedness due at the time of sale with the written consent of the holder of the first deed of trust or first mortgage, and provides that written consent of the holder of the first deed of trust or first mortgage to that sale obligates the holder to accept the sale proceeds as full payment and to fully discharge the remaining amount of the indebtedness on the first deed of trust or first mortgage. This bill would delete the provisions regarding written consent of the holder of the deed of trust or mortgage obligating the holder to accept the sale proceeds as full payment, as described above. The bill would expand the provisions described above to prohibit a deficiency judgment upon a note secured solely by a deed of trust or mortgage for a dwelling of not more than 4 units in any case in which the trustor or mortgagor sells the dwelling for a sale price less than the remaining amount of the indebtedness outstanding at the time of sale, in accordance with the written consent of the holder of the deed of trust or mortgage if the title has been voluntarily transferred to a buyer by grant deed or by other document that has been recorded and the proceeds of the sale are tendered as agreed. The bill would also provide that, in other circumstances, when the note is not secured solely by a deed of trust or mortgage for a dwelling of not more than 4 units, no judgment shall be rendered for any deficiency upon a note secured by a deed of trust or mortgage for a dwelling of not more than 4 units, if the trustor or mortgagor sells the dwelling for a sale price less than the remaining amount of the indebtedness, in accordance with the written consent of the holder of the deed of trust or mortgage. The bill would provide, following the sale, in accordance with the written consent, the voluntary transfer of title to a buyer, as specified, and the tender of the sale proceeds, the rights, remedies, and obligations of any holder, beneficiary, mortgagee, trustor, mortgagor, obligor, obligee, or guarantor of the note, deed of trust, or mortgage, and with respect to any other property that secures the note, shall be treated and determined as if the dwelling had been sold through foreclosure under a power of sale, as specified. The bill would except certain parties from the application of these provisions, including if the trustor or mortgagor is a limited liability company or partnership or if a public utility, as specified, made the mortgage or deed of trust. The bill would require that any waiver of these provisions is void and against public policy.
Existing law permits the county superintendent of schools of any county to use schoolbuses to transport pupils, and teachers or other employees employed by the county superintendent of schools, to and from school athletic contests or other school activities, or to and from fairs or expositions held in the state or in any adjoining state and in which the pupils participate actively or as spectators. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
The Public Employees' Retirement Law calculates service retirement allowances, in part, based on years of credited service. Members of the Public Employees' Retirement System may receive service credit for public service not otherwise subject to credit, upon payment of specified additional contributions. Existing law authorizes specified members of that system, including employees or officers of the state, the university, a school employer, or a contracting agency and certain legislative employees, to elect to make additional contributions and receive up to 5 years of additional retirement service credit, as defined, subject to specified limitations. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to that provision.
Existing law requires proof of financial responsibility before a motor carrier permit may be granted to any motor carrier of property and specifies the acceptable documentation for proof of that financial responsibility, which is required to be deposited with the Department of Motor Vehicles and cover each vehicle used or to be used under the motor carrier permit. Existing law requires every motor carrier of property, as defined, to provide adequate protection against liability for the payment of damages in certain amounts, except as specified. This bill would authorize the director of the department to initiate a rulemaking process, upon making a finding that the minimum coverage requirements are insufficient, to alter, by regulation, the required coverage amounts to better reflect market conditions, costs, and operational risks. The bill would also authorize the director to alter the minimum coverage requirements for motor carriers based on the time, place, and manner of their operations, including a motor carrier's operations while operating off of a public highway if that operation is being conducted pursuant to its motor carrier permit.
Existing law requires each domestic, foreign, and alien insurer doing business in this state to annually, on or before the first day of March of each year, file with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) a copy of its annual statement convention blank, along with any additional filings as prescribed by the Insurance Commissioner for the preceding year. Existing law provides that, in the absence of actual malice, specified members of the NAIC, its employees, and all others charged with the responsibility of collecting, reviewing, analyzing, and disseminating the information developed from the filing of the annual statement convention blanks are acting as agents of the commissioner under the authority of this article and are not subject to civil liability for libel, slander, or any other cause of action by virtue of their collection, review, and analysis or dissemination of the data and information collected from the required filings required. This bill would add NAIC working groups and subgroups to the above group of persons with immunity from civil liability.
Existing law authorizes the Commissioner of Financial Institutions to have an office in the City of Sacramento, the City of Los Angeles, the City of San Diego, the City and County of San Francisco, or any other location in the state that he or she considers appropriate. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantial change by amending and renumbering this section of law.
Existing law provides that the chief officer of the Department of Financial Institutions is the Commissioner of Financial Institutions. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change by amending and renumbering this section of law.