This measure would recognize and honor the men and women of California agriculture for their dedication and productivity by observing March 15, 2016, as National Agriculture Day, and designating March 16, 2016, as California Agriculture Day.
(1) The California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 provides for the regulation of private postsecondary educational institutions by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education in the Department of Consumer Affairs. The act also establishes the Student Tuition Recovery Fund and requires the bureau to adopt regulations governing the administration and maintenance of the fund, including requirements relating to assessments on students and student claims against the fund, and establishes that the moneys in this fund are continuously appropriated to the bureau for specified purposes. The act caps the amount that may be in the fund at any time at $25,000,000. This bill would raise the cap for the fund to $30,000,000. (2) This bill would appropriate the sum of $1,300,000 from the Student Tuition Recovery Fund to the Attorney General for the purposes of providing grants to eligible nonprofit community service organizations to assist eligible students affected by the closure of Corinthian Colleges, Inc., as defined, with loan discharge and other student loan-related requests and tuition recovery-related claims, and to pay an amount not to exceed $150,000 for the reasonable administrative costs of the Attorney General's office related to these grants, as specified, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the bureau to notify the Attorney General of all unlawful Corinthian Colleges, Inc., closures within 15 days of the effective date of these provisions. The bill would require the Attorney General to, among other things, within 90 days of the notification, solicit grant applications from eligible nonprofit community service organizations, select one or more of these organizations deemed to be qualified, and set additional terms and conditions of the grants as necessary. The bill would set a schedule for how grant funds are to be distributed. The bill would require the grantee to submit specified information to the Attorney General on a quarterly basis, and require the Attorney General to make these reports available to the Legislature and the bureau upon request. The bill would require the Attorney General to provide the Legislature and the bureau a final report summarizing all the information submitted to it by grantees, promptly following the time when all funds are expended by the grantees, or by August, 1, 2018, whichever is earlier. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to contract with another qualified entity to perform the Attorney General's duties under these provisions. (3) This bill would, for a period not to exceed 2 years from April 27, 2015, authorize state agencies that provide certification, registration, or licensure necessary to promote the safety and protection of the public to, on a case-by-case basis, consider for certification, registration, or licensure students who were enrolled in a program of Corinthian Colleges, Inc., that provided education or training aimed towards these students receiving certification, registration, or licensure from the state agency, and who did not receive that certification, registration, or licensure due to the closure of that institution. (4) The Cal Grant Program prohibits an applicant from receiving Cal Grant awards totaling in excess of the amount equivalent to the award level for a total of four years of full-time attendance in an undergraduate program, except as provided. This bill would partially exempt from this limitation on Cal Grant awards a student who was enrolled and received a Cal Grant award at a California campus of Heald College, and who was unable to complete an educational program offered by the campus due to its closure. (5) The California National Guard Education Assistance Award Program authorizes the renewal of California National Guard Education Assistance Awards, for a maximum of the greater of either four years of full-time equivalent enrollment or the duration for which the qualifying member would otherwise be eligible pursuant to the Cal Grant Program, if specified conditions are met. This bill would partially exempt from this limitation on California National Guard Education Assistance Awards a student who was enrolled and received a California National Guard Education Assistance Award at a California campus of Heald College, and who was unable to complete an educational program offered by the campus due to its closure. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law provides for the issuance of bail licenses under the jurisdiction of the Insurance Commissioner for bail agents, bail permittees, and bail solicitors. Existing law requires persons soliciting or negotiating the execution or delivery of an undertaking of bail on behalf of a surety insurer to be licensed as a bail agent. Existing law requires the commissioner to charge and collect specified fees for an application for a new or renewed bail license by a bail agent, bail permittee, or bail solicitor. This bill would increase the fees for an application for a new or renewed bail license, as specified. The bill would require each surety insurer or bail permittee to pay a fee, not to exceed $10 per bail bond transaction. These fees would go to the Bail Investigation and Prosecution Fund, created as a special account in the Insurance Fund. The bill would provide that moneys in the Bail Investigation and Prosecution Fund be distributed by the commissioner, upon appropriation, to fund the reasonable costs incurred in regulating entities involved in the undertaking of bail, as specified. The bill would provide that if the total amount in the Bail Investigation and Prosecution Fund ever exceeds $8,000,000, then the commissioner shall reduce the amount of the assessment, as specified. The bill would authorize the commissioner to develop guidelines to implement or clarify these provisions. The bill would require the commissioner to provide an annual report on the department's Internet Web site including various information, as specified. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
This measure would declare the month of April 2016 as the Month of the Military Child.
This measure would designate April 3, 2016, to April 9, 2016, inclusive, as Women and Girls in STEM Week and would encourage all citizens and community organizations to support the observance of California Women and Girls in STEM Week by encouraging and celebrating women in the STEM fields.
This measure would declare the week of March 7, 2016, through March 13, 2016, as Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week.
Existing law establishes the CalConserve Water Use Efficiency Revolving Fund and provides that the moneys in the fund are available to the Department of Water Resources, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of water use efficiency projects. Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, establishes the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for the regulation and licensure of activities related to alcoholic beverages. This bill would require the Department of Water Resources, in consultation with the California brewing industry, to develop water and energy use efficiency certification guidelines for the production of beer that include, among other things, uniform standards for the industry's use of efficiency certification seals and would require the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to consult in label design and approval for the use of a seal on a beer bottle. The bill would require an applicant for water and energy use efficiency certification to submit an application to the Department of Water Resources and, in accordance with the guidelines, would require the department to review the application and approve or disapprove the certification of the brewery within an unspecified time. The bill would require each application for certification to be accompanied by an application fee to recover costs incurred by the Department of Water Resources for the efficiency certification.
