This measure would urge the Supreme Court of the United States to uphold the federal constitutional principle of "one person, one vote" and not deny California's children and immigrants equal protection under the law.
Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the State Air Resources Board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism relative to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Existing law continuously appropriates 10% of the annual proceeds of the fund to the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program and 5% of the annual proceeds of the fund to the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program. This bill would instead continuously appropriate 20% of those annual proceeds to the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program, and 10% of those annual proceeds to the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program, thereby making an appropriation.
Existing law regulates pawnbrokers and sets the maximum compensation charged or received by pawnbrokers on loans to their customers. A knowing violation of the provisions regulating pawnbrokers is a crime. Existing law provides a schedule of maximum charges for 21 loan brackets for the first 3 months of any loan. This bill, in that schedule, would consolidate the 21 loan brackets into 6 and set maximum charges within those brackets. Existing law, among other things, limits the charge for the 4th and subsequent months of a loan to 2.5% per month on the unpaid balance, as specified. This bill would increase the charge limit for the 4th and subsequent months to 3% per month. Existing law permits a loan setup fee of the greater of $5 or 2% of the loan amount, not to exceed $10. This bill would adjust the permitted loan setup fee to the greater of either $5 or 3% of the loan amount, not to exceed $30. Existing law establishes the maximum amount, irrespective of the duration of the loan, that may be charged based on size of pawned articles, as specified, and prohibits a storage charge for any article that can be contained within one cubic foot. This bill would permit a pawnbroker to additionally charge a maximum of $1 for handling and storage of any article that can be contained within one cubic foot. Existing law requires a written contract that provides a 4-month loan period for every loan made by a pawnbroker for which goods are received in pledge as security and, under specified circumstances, requires a pawnbroker to notify the borrower at his or her last known address of the termination of the loan period, by a means for which verification of mailing or delivery of the notification can be provided by the pawnbroker, and provides for extending the right of redemption for a period of 10 days from the date that notice is mailed. This bill instead would require a minimum 4-month loan period and would require the pawnbroker to provide that notification to the pledgor at his or her last known mailing or electronic address, by a means for which verification of mailing or, at the sole option of the pledgor, electronic transmission of the notification can be provided by the pawnbroker, as specified. This bill also would require representatives of the pawnbroker industry to poll their members annually to gather data relating to the current financial condition of the California pawn industry. Because a knowing violation of these provisions by a pawnbroker would be a 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.
Existing law designates the Division of Boating and Waterways within the Department of Parks and Recreation as the lead agency of the state for purposes of cooperating with other state, local, and federal agencies in identifying, detecting, controlling, and administering programs to manage invasive aquatic plants in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, its tributaries, and the Suisun Marsh, and prescribes the duties of the division with regard to the management and control or eradication of those plants. This bill would require the division, no later than 90 days after the effective date of the bill, to establish, and designate and provide staff support to, an advisory and oversight committee to evaluate and monitor the activities of the division relating to the management and control or eradication of those plants. The bill would require the membership of the advisory and oversight committee to include an equitable number of representatives from specified interests and would require the advisory and oversight committee to meet, at a minimum, twice per year and communicate any findings or recommendations to the division. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would declare June 6, 2015, to June 14, 2015, inclusive, as the 2015 California Invasive Species Action Week and would urge all Californians to participate in activities that raise awareness of invasive species issues and to take action to prevent their spread.
The Toxics in Packaging Prevention Act generally prohibits a manufacturer or supplier from offering for sale or for promotional purposes in this state a package or packaging component that includes intentionally introduced lead, mercury, cadmium, or hexavalent chromium in the package or in a packaging component. The act exempted from this prohibition, until January 1, 2010, a package or a packaging component if the manufacturer or supplier complied with specific documentation requirements and the package or packaging component did not contain any intentionally introduced lead, mercury, cadmium, or hexavalent chromium, but exceeded a specific maximum concentration level because of the addition of a recycled material. This bill would provide a similar exemption, until January 1, 2019, for a glass beverage, food, or drink container. The bill would require the Department of Toxic Substances Control to evaluate the packaging of glass beverage, food, and drink containers, as specified, to determine if lead, mercury, cadmium, or hexavalent chromium is present in glass beverage, food, or drink containers sold in California. If the department determines that these metals are present, the bill would require the department to also evaluate whether and under what circumstances those metals can leach from the glass containers into the food or beverage and whether the presence of the metals in the glass containers presents a risk to human health and the environment. The bill would authorize the department to request any information and collect any samples necessary for the evaluations from glass manufacturers or feedstock or raw material suppliers in the state that are subject to the act, and would require the department to provide the results of the evaluations to the Legislature by January 1, 2018. The bill would authorize the department to adopt regulations, pursuant to existing authority, based on these evaluations. The bill would authorize the department to seek reimbursement from the glass manufacturers and feedstock and raw material suppliers to cover the reasonable costs directly related to collecting glass samples, reviewing and processing those samples, analyzing the samples, disseminating certain information, and implementing any regulations that are developed as a result of the evaluations. The bill would delete obsolete provisions and would make conforming changes.
(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 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 exempts from its requirements railroad grade separation projects that eliminate existing grade crossings or that reconstruct existing grade separations. CEQA authorizes a lead agency, if it determines that a project is exempt from the requirements of CEQA, to file a notice of exemption with specific public entities. This bill would require a lead agency, if it determines that the above exemption applies to a project that the agency approves or determines to carry out, to file a notice of exemption with the Office of Planning and Research and, in the case of a local agency, with the county clerk in each affected county. Because the bill would impose additional duties on local agencies with regards to the filing of a notice of exemption, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law grants to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) the authority to regulate railroad crossings, as prescribed. CEQA, until January 1, 2016, exempts from its requirements the closure of a railroad grade crossing by order of the PUC under that authority if the PUC finds the crossing to present a threat to public safety. CEQA requires a state or local agency that determines that this exemption applies to a project that the agency approves or determines to carry out to file a notice of exemption with the Office of Planning and Research and, in the case of a local agency, with the county clerk in each affected county. This bill would postpone until January 1, 2019, the repeal date for those provisions. Because the bill would impose additional duties on local agencies with regard to the filing of a notice of exemption, the bill would impose 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of real estate brokers and real estate salespersons by the Bureau of Real Estate headed by the Real Estate Commissioner. Existing law requires an applicant who desires to have his or her license issued under a fictitious business name to file with his or her application a certified copy of his or her fictitious business name statement. Existing law authorizes a responsible broker, as defined, by contract, to permit a salesperson to apply for a fictitious business name with the appropriate county, and to maintain ownership of a fictitious business name. Existing law defines a team name and provides, for purposes of the provisions described above, that a team name is not a fictitious business name if specified criteria apply. This bill would provide that a team name is also not a fictitious business name for purposes of any other law or for purposes of filing a fictitious business name statement with an application as described above when the criteria apply. This bill would make technical and clarifying changes to the provisions described above. Existing law requires advertising and solicitation materials using a fictitious business name or that contain a team name to display the responsible broker's identity, as provided. Existing law defines "responsible broker's identity" to mean the name under which the responsible broker operates or conducts business. This bill would revise the definition of "responsible broker's identity" to mean a name and the associated license identification number under which the responsible broker is currently licensed and conducts business in general or is a substantial division of the real estate firm and that does not include a fictitious business name or a team name, as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would encourage the State Department of Health Care Services, the State Department of Public Health, and other state entities to partner with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) stakeholders to improve education regarding COPD in the course of implementing a specified COPD statewide strategic plan. This measure would also designate November 2015 as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Awareness Month in California and encourage public officials and the citizens of California to increase awareness of the symptoms of, and the methods of preventing, COPD.
Existing law, as amended by the DNA Act, requires a person who has been convicted of a felony offense to provide buccal swab samples, right thumbprints, and a full palm print impression of each hand, and any blood specimens or other biological samples required for law enforcement identification analysis. Existing law makes these provisions retroactive, regardless of when the crime charged or committed became a qualifying offense. This bill would expand these provisions to require persons convicted of specified misdemeanors to provide buccal swab samples, right thumbprints, and a full palm print impression of each hand, and any blood specimens or other biological samples required for law enforcement identification analysis. By imposing additional duties on local law enforcement agencies to collect and forward these samples, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law prohibits a judge from relieving a person of the separate administrative duty to provide specimens, samples, or print impressions required by the DNA Act if the person has been found guilty of an offense for which DNA collection is required. Existing law, added by Proposition 47, allows a person to petition the court for resentencing if he or she was convicted of a felony that was reduced to a misdemeanor by Proposition 47. Existing law requires the court to resentence the petitioner, unless the court determines that the person would pose an unreasonable risk to public safety. This bill would clarify that the prohibition on judges relieving a person of the duty to provide specimens, samples, or print impressions is not affected by resentencing under Proposition 47. 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.
