The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. The act requires the state board to approve a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020 and to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. The act requires the state board, when adopting rules and regulations to achieve greenhouse gas emissions reductions beyond the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit and to protect the state's most impacted and disadvantaged communities, to follow specified requirements, consider the social costs of the emissions of greenhouse gases, and prioritize specified emission reduction rules and regulations. This bill would additionally require the state board to consider and account for the social costs of the emissions of greenhouse gases when adopting those rules and regulations. The bill would authorize the state board to adopt or amend regulations that establish a market-based compliance mechanism, applicable from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2030, to complement direct emissions reduction measures in ensuring that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. The bill would authorize the state board to adopt no-trade zones or facility-specific declining greenhouse gas emissions limits where facilities' emissions contribute to a cumulative pollution burden that creates a significant health impact. This bill would require the state board, in consultation with affected air pollution control and air quality management districts, to adopt air pollutant emissions standards for emissions of criteria air pollutants and toxic air contaminants at industrial facilities that are subject to a market-based compliance mechanism. The bill would prohibit the state board from allocating allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to industrial facilities that do not meet the air pollutant emissions standards for criteria air pollutants and toxic air contaminants. This bill would require the state board, in ensuring that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030, to adopt the most effective and equitable mix of emissions reduction measures and ensure that emissions reduction measures collectively and individually support achieving air quality and other environmental and public health goals.
Sponsored bills
Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation and regional transportation agencies to enter into comprehensive development lease agreements with public and private entities, or consortia of those entities, for certain transportation projects that may charge certain users of those projects tolls and user fees, subject to various terms and requirements. These arrangements are commonly known as public-private partnerships. Existing law provides that a lease agreement may not be entered into under these provisions on or after January 1, 2017. This bill would extend this authorization indefinitely. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions by correcting obsolete cross-references.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has broad regulatory authority pursuant to the California Constitution and the Public Utilities Act over public utilities, as defined. Existing law provides compensation for reasonable advocate's fees, reasonable expert witness fees, and other reasonable costs for participation or intervention in any proceeding of the commission. Existing law specifies that no state, federal, or local government agency, publicly owned public utility, or entity that, in the commission's opinion, was established or formed by a local government entity for the purpose of participating in a commission proceeding is eligible to receive that compensation, except as specified. This bill would authorize public school districts, county offices of education, and community college districts, and the authorized representatives of those entities, to receive that compensation.
The Personal Income Tax Law imposes taxes based upon taxable income at specified rates. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2019, impose an additional tax of 1% on income that exceeds $1,000,000, as provided. The bill would deposit the revenues derived from this tax into the Higher Education Assistance Fund, a continuously appropriated fund established by this bill, for the purposes of funding student financial assistance for tuition and fees required of specified students enrolled at the University of California, the California State University, and the California Community Colleges. This bill would become operative only if ACA 13 of the 2017–18 Regular Session is approved by the voters and becomes operative.
Under existing law, the right to water or to the use of water is limited to that amount of water that may be reasonably required for the beneficial use to be served. Existing law provides for the reversion of water rights to which a person is entitled when the person fails to beneficially use the water for a period of 5 years. Existing law declares that the storing of water underground, and related diversions for that purpose, constitute a beneficial use of water if the stored water is thereafter applied to the beneficial purposes for which the appropriation for storage was made. This bill would revise the above declaration to additionally provide that certain uses of stored water while underground constitute beneficial use. The bill would provide that the forfeiture periods of a water right do not apply to water being beneficially used, as provided, or being held in storage for later beneficial use.
Existing law authorizes a county to establish a pretrial diversion program for defendants who have been charged with a misdemeanor offense. Existing law defines "pretrial diversion," for these purposes, to mean the procedure of postponing prosecution either temporarily or permanently at any point in the judicial process from the point at which the accused is charged until adjudication. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation and regional transportation agencies, as defined, to enter into comprehensive development lease agreements with public and private entities, or consortia of those entities, for certain transportation projects that may charge certain users of those projects tolls and user fees, subject to various terms and requirements. Existing law prohibits lease agreements under these provisions on or after January 1, 2017. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to reestablish the authority under state law to engage in public-private partnerships for projects on the state highway system with appropriate public interest and safety protections.
Existing law, until January 1, 2020, requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to annually compile a list of names of Vietnam veterans to be added to the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the grounds of the State Capitol, as specified, and requires the department to form a specified committee to review and consider requests from the public to include names on the memorial, as specified. Existing law authorizes the names on the list to be added to the memorial if specified requirements are met, including the availability of adequate private funding. The California Vietnam Veterans Memorial is the official state Vietnam veterans war memorial. This bill would extend the provisions relating to the listing of names on the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the existence and operation of the committee to January 1, 2023. The bill would provide for the establishment of an "In Memory" plaque to be affixed to the memorial to honor those veterans who died as a result of subsequent illness or injury, including physical or mental injury, as specified, that can reasonably be presumed to have resulted from military service during the Vietnam War. The bill also would require the department to maintain a public, searchable "Honor Roll" database to honor those veterans, as specified. The provisions of the bill relating to the "In Memory" plaque and the "Honor Roll" database would become inoperative and be repealed on January 1, 2023. This bill would revise the eligibility criteria for the name of a deceased Vietnam veteran to be listed on the memorial or in the database, including, but not limited to, requiring the deceased veteran to have been born or raised in, or a resident of, California, as specified. The bill would require the committee to determine whether an individual's name is to be listed on the memorial or in the database, as specified. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the committee, to identify the names of any California veterans listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. or the Vietnam veterans "In Memory Honor Roll" maintained by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and to include those names on the state's Vietnam Veterans Memorial or in the "Honor Roll" database, as appropriate. The bill would prohibit the removal of any name from the memorial or database.
Existing law, the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act, provides for the award of attorney's fees and costs to, and the recovery of damages by, a plaintiff when it is proven by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant is liable for physical abuse or neglect, and the defendant has also been found guilty of recklessness, oppression, fraud, or malice in the commission of that abuse. This bill would instead apply a preponderance of the evidence standard to any claim brought against a residential care facility for the elderly or a skilled nursing facility, except as specified, for remedies sought pursuant to the above provisions, upon circumstances in which spoliation of evidence has been committed by the defendant, as specified. The bill would make conforming changes to a related provision.