Existing law, the California High-Speed Rail Act, creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state, with specified powers and duties. Existing law, pursuant to the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, approved by the voters as Proposition 1A at the November 4, 2008, general election, provides for the issuance of $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds for high-speed rail and related purposes. The federal Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA) and the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provide funding for allocation nationally to high-speed rail projects. This bill would require federal high-speed rail funds received on a reimbursement basis from ARRA to be deposited in the federal trust fund. The bill would require certain ARRA funds to be used for planning and engineering, and for capital costs, for the high-speed train system consistent with federal law and regulations and specified provisions of SB 965 of the 2009–10 Regular Session. The bill would identify the corridors eligible for federal PRIIA funds. The above provisions would become operative only if SB 965 is also enacted and becomes operative. Existing law provides for appointment of an executive director by the authority, who is exempt from civil service and serves at the pleasure of the authority. Under existing law, the salary of the executive director is established by the authority and approved by the Department of Personnel Administration. This bill, for purposes of managing and administering the ongoing work of the authority in implementing the high-speed rail project, would authorize the Governor, upon recommendation of the executive director and subject to an appropriation, to appoint up to 6 additional executive staff exempt from civil service who would serve in specified positions at the pleasure of the executive director. The bill would require the authority to cause a salary survey to be conducted to determine the compensation for the executive director and additional exempt staff, and would require the salaries to be approved by the Department of Personnel Administration. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to approve additional positions at the authority for purposes of creating an Office for Project Controls and Risk Management in the authority.
Sponsored bills
Existing law requires an additional county penalty of $7 for every $10, or part of $10, to be levied upon every fine, penalty, or forfeiture imposed and collected by the courts for all criminal offenses, for deposit into specified county funds relating to the construction of courthouses, criminal justice facilities, and forensic laboratories, and the support of emergency medical services. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services, including medical transportation services, are provided to qualified low-income persons. The Medi-Cal program is partially governed and funded under federal Medicaid provisions. Existing law, the Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, authorizes each county to designate an emergency medical services agency, for the establishment and administration of an emergency medical services program in the county. Existing law also establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority, which, among other things, adopts regulations governing the provision of emergency medical services. This bill, which would be known as the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act, would impose an additional penalty of $4 upon every conviction for an offense involving a vehicle violation, except certain parking offenses. This bill would require each county board of supervisors to establish in the county treasury an emergency medical air transportation act fund into which the penalty collected pursuant to this bill would be deposited. This bill would require, within 30 days following the last day of each calendar quarter of the year, the county treasurer to transfer moneys in the county's emergency medical air transportation act fund to the Controller for deposit into the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act Fund, which would be established by the bill. The bill would authorize the county treasurer, prior to transferring the moneys in the county fund to the Controller, to withhold a sufficient amount from being transferred to reimburse the county and the courts for their actual, reasonable, and necessary costs associated with administering the bill. Moneys in the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act Fund would be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for the purposes of offsetting the state portion of the Medi-Cal reimbursement rate for emergency medical air transportation services and augmenting emergency medical air transportation reimbursement payments made through the Medi-Cal program, as specified. This bill would terminate assessment of the penalties commencing July 1, 2016, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2018, as provided. The bill would require that any moneys in the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act Fund that remain unexpended and unencumbered on June 30, 2017, shall be transferred to the General Fund to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of augmenting Medi-Cal reimbursement of emergency medical air transportation and related costs, generally. By requiring counties to create emergency medical air transportation act funds and then deposit the levy imposed by this bill into those funds, this bill would create 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, known as the Donahoe Higher Education Act, sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California's public and independent segments of higher education, and their respective institutions of higher education. Provisions of the act do not apply to the University of California unless the regents of the university act, by resolution, to make them applicable. Among other things, the act provides that the University of California has exclusive jurisdiction in public higher education to award the doctoral degree in all fields of learning, except that it may agree with the California State University to award joint doctoral degrees in selected fields. With respect to doctoral degrees, the act limits the California State University to awarding these degrees jointly with the University of California, as described above, or jointly with independent institutions of higher education, provided that the proposed doctoral program is approved by the California Postsecondary Education Commission. This bill would instead authorize the California State University to award the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree. This bill would require the degree to be distinguished from doctoral degree programs at the University of California. The bill would require that the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree offered by the California State University be focused on preparing physical therapists to provide health care services and shall be consistent with meeting requirements of the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education. The bill would require that each student in the programs authorized by the bill be charged fees no higher than the rate charged for students in state-supported programs in physical therapy at the University of California. The bill would require the California State University, the Department of Finance, and the Legislative Analyst's Office to jointly conduct a statewide evaluation of the new programs implemented under the bill. The bill would specify topics to be included in this evaluation, and would require that the evaluation be submitted to the Legislature and the Governor on or before January 1, 2015. This provision would be repealed on January 1, 2019.
Existing law establishes the California State University and its various campuses under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University. Existing law requires the California State University to offer undergraduate and graduate instruction through the master's degree in the liberal arts and sciences and professional education, including teacher education. This bill, until July 1, 2018, would authorize the California State University to establish a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree pilot program at 3 campuses chosen by the Board of Trustees to award the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree. The bill would distinguish the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from the doctor of philosophy degree offered at the University of California. The bill would require the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree pilot program to be designed to enable professionals to earn the degree while working full time, train nurses for advanced practice, and prepare clinical faculty to teach in postsecondary nursing programs. The bill would require the California State University to enroll and maintain no more than 90 full-time equivalent students in the degree pilot program at all 3 campuses combined. The bill would require initial funding to come from existing budgets, without diminishing the quality of undergraduate programs or reducing enrollment therein. The bill would require the California State University, the Legislative Analyst's Office, and the Department of Finance to jointly conduct a statewide evaluation of the degree pilot program and report the results to the Legislature and the Governor on or before January 1, 2017.
The California Farmland Conservancy Program Act establishes a program for grants from the Department of Conservation for the acquisition of agricultural conservation easements or fee title. The act imposes requirements for the funding of agricultural conservation easements. The act creates the California Farmland Conservancy Program Fund. The moneys in the fund, upon appropriation, are required to be used for the purposes of the program, including the purchase of agricultural conservation easements. The act requires an applicant for an agricultural conservation easement to meet specified eligibility criteria related to commercial agricultural production and agricultural land conservation, and specifies criteria the Director of Conservation is required to consider in evaluating the proposal. This bill, notwithstanding any other provision of the act, would authorize the Director of Conservation to make grants from a source other than the fund, and, upon appropriation by the Legislature from that source, disburse moneys for those grants to an applicant for the acquisition of an agricultural conservation easement, if the director determines that the grant meets the purposes of the act and additional specified requirements, including that the easement does not, and will not, substantially prevent agricultural uses on the easement property and that any restriction on the current or reasonably foreseeable agricultural use of the easement property would only be imposed to restrict those areas of the property that are not in cultivation. Existing law also establishes the Soil Conservation Fund, which provides money, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified land use purposes. This bill would establish the Farm, Ranch, and Watershed Account within the Soil and Conservation Fund from which money would be disbursed to provide the above grants.
Existing law, until January 1, 2014, allows certain state and local transportation entities, if authorized by the California Transportation Commission, to use a design‑build process for contracting on transportation projects, as specified. This bill would authorize the Riverside County Transportation Commission, if authorized by the commission, to utilize this design-build procurement process for the State Route 91 Corridor Improvements Project on the state highway system. The bill would make the Department of Transportation responsible for the performance of construction inspection services for the project, as specified, and would require the commission to report on the progress of the project and related matters to specified legislative committees. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law provides for the regulation of various professions and vocations, including those of an athlete agent. This bill would make it unlawful for any person to hold himself or herself out as a certified athletic trainer unless he or she has been certified by the Board of Certification, Inc., and has either graduated from a college or university, after completing an accredited athletic training education program, as specified, or completed requirements for certification by the Board of Certification, Inc., prior to January 1, 2004. The bill would make it an unfair business practice to violate these provisions.
This measure would recognize March 31, 2010, as the anniversary of the birth of César Chávez, and would call upon all Californians to participate in appropriate observances to remember César Chávez as a symbol of hope and justice to all persons.
This measure would recognize the contributions of the automotive aftermarket to the state and consumers and its efforts to educate the motoring public about the benefits of proper vehicle maintenance. The measure also would recognize and support the designation of April as National Car Care Month and encourage all citizens to participate in activities that promote proper vehicle maintenance.
This measure would recognize May 2010 as Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month.