(1) Existing law dissolved redevelopment agencies and community development agencies as of February 1, 2012, and provides for the designation of successor agencies to wind down the affairs of the dissolved redevelopment agencies, subject to review by oversight boards, and to, among other things, make payments due for enforceable obligations and to perform obligations required pursuant to any enforceable obligation. Existing law requires the Department of Finance to issue a finding of completion to a successor agency upon confirmation by the county auditor-controller that specified payments have been fully made by the successor agency. Existing law prohibits a successor agency from entering into contracts with, incurring obligations or making commitments to, any entity, as specified; or from amending or modifying existing agreements, obligations, or commitments with any entity, for any purpose. Existing law defines "enforceable obligation" for these purposes to generally exclude any agreements, contracts, or arrangements between the city, county, or city and county that created the redevelopment agency and the former redevelopment agency. This bill would authorize a successor agency, if the successor agency has received a finding of completion, to enter into, or amend existing, contracts and agreements, or otherwise administer projects in connection with enforceable obligations, if the contract, agreement, or project will not commit new property tax funds or otherwise adversely affect the flow of specified tax revenues or payments to the taxing agencies, as specified. The bill would specifically include within the definition of "enforceable obligation" an agreement entered into by the redevelopment agency prior to June 30, 2011, if the agreement relates to state highway infrastructure improvements to which the redevelopment agency committed funds pursuant to specified law. (2) Existing law requires that loan agreements entered into between the redevelopment agency and the city, county, or city and county that created the redevelopment agency be deemed enforceable obligations if the oversight board makes a specific finding. Existing law requires that, if the loan is an enforceable obligation, the accumulated interest on the remaining principal amount of the loan be recalculated from origination at that interest rate earned by funds deposited into the Local Agency Investment Fund and requires the loan to be repaid in accordance with a defined schedule at an interest rate not to exceed that interest rate. This bill would revise those provisions to provide that any accumulated interest on the remaining principal balance of the loan be recalculated from origination using the interest rate earned by funds deposited into the Local Agency Investment Fund in effect on the date of loan origination, and as adjusted quarterly thereafter and that the remaining balance of the loan and the accumulated interest be repaid in accordance with a defined schedule at an interest rate not to exceed that interest rate as the rate is adjusted on a quarterly basis. This bill would state the Legislature's intent that these revisions be clarifying. (3) Existing law requires a successor agency to prepare a recognized obligation payment schedule, which sets forth the minimum payment amounts and due dates of payments required by enforceable obligations for each 6-month fiscal period, that is required to be submitted to, and approved by, the oversight board, and submitted to other entities, including the Department of Finance. Existing law requires the Department of Finance to make its determination of the enforceable obligations and the amounts and funding sources of the enforceable obligations no later than 45 days after the Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule is submitted. This bill would require the rejection of an enforceable obligation from a recognized obligation payment schedule for a successor agency that has received a finding of completion from the department to be submitted to the oversight board for review and approval, and would provide that the determination of the oversight board is final and conclusive without further review by the department. (4) Existing law provides that, if an enforceable obligation provides for an irrevocable commitment of property tax revenue and the allocation of those revenues is expected to occur over time, the successor agency may petition the Department of Finance to provide written confirmation that its determination of the enforceable obligation as approved in a Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule is final and conclusive, and reflects the department's approval of subsequent payments made pursuant to the enforceable obligation. This bill would require the Department of Finance to provide that written confirmation within 45 days. (5) Existing law requires a city, county, or city and county that wishes to retain any properties or other assets for future redevelopment activities, funded from its own funds and under its own auspices, to reach a compensation agreement with the other taxing entities to provide payments to them in proportion to their shares of the base property tax for the value of the property retained, as specified. This bill would specify that these provisions do not apply to the disposition of properties pursuant to a long-range property management plan. (6) Existing law requires the disposition of assets and properties of the former redevelopment agency as directed by the oversight board, as specified, and suspends these requirements until the Department of Finance has approved a long-range property management plan, as specified. Upon approval of a long-range property management plan, the plan governs and supersedes, all other provisions relating to the disposition and use of the real property assets of the former redevelopment agency. Existing law requires the property of a former redevelopment agency to be disposed of according to law if the department has not approved a long-range property management plan by January 1, 2016. This bill would prohibit the department from requiring compensation agreements as part of the approval of a long-range property management plan and would specify the criteria the department may consider in approving a long-range property management plan. The bill would require the department to approve long-range property management plans as expeditiously as possible. This bill would also provide that actions relating to the disposition of property after approval of a long-range property management plan do not require review by the department. (7) Existing law requires the Controller to review the activities of redevelopment agencies in the state to determine whether an asset transfer has occurred after January 1, 2011, between the city or county, or city and county that created a redevelopment agency or any other public agency, and the redevelopment agency. This bill would require the review to be completed no later than January 1, 2016. (8) Existing law prohibits an agency or community officer or employee who is required to participate in the formulation of, or to approve plans or policies for, the redevelopment of a project area from acquiring any interest in any property included within a project area within the community. This bill would provide that an agency or community officer or employee is not prohibited from acquiring an interest in property within a former redevelopment project area of a dissolved redevelopment agency, as specified. (9) Existing law requires each successor agency to have an oversight board composed of 7 members and requires each member to be appointed by a specified authority. This bill would allow each appointing authority to appoint an alternate representative to serve on the oversight board as may be necessary. This bill would provide that the alternative representative has the same participatory and voting rights as all other attending members of the oversight board, and would require the successor agency to promptly notify the Department of Finance regarding the appointment of any alternate representative. (10) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 34180 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by SB 1404 that would become operative only if this bill and SB 1404 are both chaptered and this bill is chaptered last. (11) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 34191.4 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by AB 2493 that would become operative only if this bill and AB 2493 are both chaptered and this bill is chaptered last.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law provides that school districts and county offices of education are responsible for the overall development of a comprehensive school safety plan for each of their constituent schools. Existing law requires the schoolsite council of a school to write and develop the school safety plan relevant to the needs and resources of the particular school. Existing law requires a schoolsite council or school safety planning committee, before adopting a school safety plan, to hold a public meeting at the schoolsite, as specified. Existing law requires schools to forward copies of their school safety plans to the school district or county office of education for approval. Existing law requires school districts and county offices of education annually to notify the State Department of Education regarding schools that fail to adopt a school safety plan. This bill would revise and recast those procedures. The bill would, among other things, require each school to adopt its comprehensive school safety plan by March 1, 2014, and to review and update its plan by March 1 of every 3rd year thereafter. The bill would require, no later than October 15, 2014, and every 3rd year thereafter, each superintendent of a school district or county office of education to provide written notification to the Superintendent of Public Instruction identifying each school within the school district or county that has not complied with the requirement to adopt, and periodically review and update, a comprehensive school safety plan. The bill would require certain school administrators to keep and maintain a copy of the most recent comprehensive school safety plan, as provided. The bill would require the department to monitor compliance with these provisions using an existing monitoring framework. By requiring school and local educational agency officers to perform additional duties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) 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 authorizes Security Housing Units for segregation of certain prisoners for disciplinary or security purposes, and because of gang membership or association. This bill would require specified due process procedures for determining if an inmate is a security threat group affiliate. The bill would require the Office of the Inspector General, commencing January 1, 2016, to review every security threat group validation and revalidation completed on or after July 1, 2015, in which confidential information was used. Any documents pertaining to the review of security threat group validations would not be subject to a public records request or discovery. The bill would require an inmate subject to an indeterminate Security Housing Unit term as a result of a security threat group validation to be placed in a multistep program with the ultimate goal of returning the inmate back into the general prison population as rapidly as possible. The bill would require the department to prepare a reentry plan for every offender who will parole directly out of the Security Housing Unit or Psychiatric Services Unit into the community. The bill would require an inmate subject to a determinate Security Housing Unit term or an offender in the multistep program to be provided with promising or evidence-based programming that promotes successful assimilation back into the general prison population. The bill would require the department to prepare a reentry plan for every offender who will parole directly out of the Security Housing Unit or Psychiatric Services Unit into the community. The bill would require the Office of the Inspector General to review the department's compliance with the above provisions and to issue reports, no less than annually, to the Governor and the Legislature summarizing its review. The bill would require an inmate in a Security Housing Unit or Psychiatric Services Unit to have access to educational programming, to have access to radio or television, and the opportunity to earn additional specified privileges. The bill would require the department to employ 2 ombudsmen to act as offender resource specialists for Security Housing Units and Psychiatric Services Units, to be responsible for, among other things, assisting an inmate with concerns about the inmate's responsibilities and rights during confinement in one of those units, and responding to an inmate's family member's inquiries. The bill would require the department, commencing July 1, 2015, to the extent the data is already being collected, to collect specified data regarding inmates subject to a term in a Security Housing Unit. The bill would require the Office of the Inspector General, commencing January 1, 2017, and biennially thereafter, to use the data to prepare reports for the Legislature on specified criteria pertaining to inmates in a Security Housing Unit and a Psychiatric Services Unit. Existing law provides that an inmate placed in a Security Housing Unit for specified crimes or because of gang association or membership, or placed in a Psychiatric Services Unit, is ineligible to earn credits towards reducing his or her sentence during the time the inmate is in the Security Housing Unit. This bill would permit the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish regulations to allow specified inmates to earn credits, as specified. The bill would state findings and declarations by the Legislature relative to Security Housing Units. 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.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of the lobbying industry and imposes various restrictions on public officials for the purpose of avoiding conflicts of interests. The act prohibits a lobbyist or lobbying firm from making gifts to any person aggregating more than $10 in a calendar month and prohibits an elected state officer, elected officer of a local government agency, or other designated individual from accepting gifts from any single source in any calendar year with a total value of more than $250. Existing law requires the Fair Political Practices Commission to adjust the gift limitation amount on January 1 of each odd-numbered year to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index. This bill would prohibit a lobbyist or lobbying firm from making a gift of any amount. The bill would prohibit an elected state officer, elected officer of a local government agency, or other designated individual from accepting gifts from a single source in a calendar year with a total value of more than $200 and would authorize the Fair Political Practices Commission to increase the gift limitation amount each odd-numbered year based upon changes in the Consumer Price Index. The bill would further prohibit a candidate for elective state office, elected state officer, or legislative official from receiving a gift of tickets to specified venues and events or a gift comprised of specified recreational activities. The act prohibits a public official at any level of state or local government from making, participating in making, or in any way attempting to use the official's position to influence a governmental decision in which the official knows or has reason to know that he or she has a financial interest. The act provides that the public official has a financial interest in a decision if it is reasonably foreseeable that the decision will have a material financial effect on the official, the official's immediate family, or other prescribed persons, including a donor of a gift or gifts aggregating $250 or more in value within the 12 months preceding the decision. The act requires the Commission to adjust the gift value amount that creates a financial interest in the donor to equal the above-described limitation amount on the value of gifts from a single source in a calendar year. This bill would reduce to $200 the aggregate value of gifts that create a financial interest for a public official in the gift's donor. The bill would also require the Commission to adjust this amount to equal the amount of any adjustment made by the Commission to the above-described gift limitation on the value of gifts from a single source in a calendar year. Violation of the act is punishable as a misdemeanor. By creating additional crimes, the 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. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
The California Constitution requires the Governor to call an election to fill a vacancy occurring in either house of the Legislature. This measure would instead require the Governor to fill a vacancy in either house of the Legislature by appointment within 21 days of the date of the vacancy, and would require that the appointee, at the time of the appointment and during the 12-month period immediately preceding the appointment, have the same political party preference as the vacating Member had when he or she was last elected to the Legislature. The measure would allow the house to which the appointment is made to reject the appointment, by a majority vote, within 21 days of the appointment, in which case the Governor would be required to make another appointment. If an appointment is not rejected, the appointee would be eligible to take office the day after the end of the 21-day period and would serve for the remainder of the term of the vacating Member, except as specified.
(1) Existing law generally prohibits the possession or transfer of assault weapons, except for the sale, purchase, importation, or possession of assault weapons by specified individuals, including law enforcement officers. Under existing law, "assault weapon" means, among other things, a semiautomatic, centerfire rifle or a semiautomatic pistol that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine and has any one of specified attributes, including, for rifles, a thumbhole stock, and for pistols, a second handgrip. This bill would revise these provisions to mean a semiautomatic, centerfire rifle or a semiautomatic pistol that does not have a fixed magazine but has any one of those specified attributes. This bill would also define "fixed magazine" to mean an ammunition feeding device contained in, or permanently attached to, a firearm in such a manner that the device cannot be removed without disassembly of the firearm action. By expanding the definition of an existing crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires that any person who, within this state, possesses an assault weapon, except as otherwise provided, be punished as a felony or for a period not to exceed one year in a county jail. This bill would exempt from punishment under that provision a person who initially possessed an assault weapon prior to January 1, 2014, and until July 1, 2015, if specified requirements are met. (3) Existing law requires that, with specified exceptions, any person who, prior to January 1, 2001, lawfully possessed an assault weapon prior to the date it was defined as an assault weapon, and which was not specified as an assault weapon at the time of lawful possession, register the firearm with the Department of Justice. Existing law permits the Department of Justice to charge a fee for registration of up to $20 per person but not to exceed the actual processing costs of the department. Existing law, after the department establishes fees sufficient to reimburse the department for processing costs, requires fees charged to increase at a rate not to exceed the legislatively approved annual cost-of-living adjustment for the department's budget or as otherwise increased through the Budget Act. Existing law requires those fees to be deposited into the Dealers' Record of Sale Special Account. Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, establishes the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. This bill would require that any person who, from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2013, inclusive, lawfully possessed an assault weapon that does not have a fixed magazine, as defined, and including those weapons with an ammunition feeding device that can be removed readily from the firearm with the use of a tool, register the firearm with the Department of Justice before July 1, 2015, but not before the effective date of specified regulations. This bill would permit the department to increase the $20 registration fee as long as it does not exceed the reasonable processing costs of the department. This bill would also require registrations to be submitted electronically via the Internet utilizing a public-facing application made available by the department. This bill would require the registration to contain specified information, including, but not limited to, a description of the firearm that identifies it uniquely and specified information about the registrant. This bill would permit the department to charge a fee of up to $15 per person for registration through the Internet, not to exceed the reasonable processing costs of the department to be paid and deposited, as specified. This bill would require the department to adopt regulations for the purpose of implementing those provisions and would exempt those regulations from the Administrative Procedure Act. This bill would also make technical and conforming changes. (4) 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 generally defines "public work" as construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for in whole or in part out of public funds; work done for irrigation, utility, reclamation, and improvement districts, and other districts of this type; street, sewer, or other improvement work done under the direction and supervision or by the authority of any officer or public body of the state or of any political subdivision or district thereof, and public transportation demonstration projects, as specified. Existing law, the Public Works Project Peer Review Act of 2013, authorizes a public agency principally tasked with administering, planning, developing, and operating a public works project to establish a peer review group, as defined. If a peer review group is established, existing law requires the administering agency to draft a charter, published on the agency's Internet Web site, related to the duties of the peer review group. This bill would authorize these provisions, instead, to be known and cited as the Public Works Project Oversight Improvement Act. The bill would define a "megaproject" as a transportation project with total estimated development and construction costs exceeding $2,500,000,000. The bill would require the agency administering a megaproject to establish a peer review group and to take specified actions to manage the risks associated with a megaproject including establishing a comprehensive risk management plan, and regularly reassessing its reserves for potential claims and unknown risks. The bill would require the agency administering a megaproject to make available to the public via its Internet Web site a list of all engineers in responsible charge of work related to the megaproject. Because this bill would require local agencies to perform additional duties, the 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.
The Community Redevelopment Law authorizes the establishment of redevelopment agencies in communities to address the effects of blight, as defined. Existing law dissolved redevelopment agencies and community development agencies, as of February 1, 2012, and provides for the designation of successor agencies. Existing law provides for various economic development programs that foster community sustainability and community and economic development initiatives throughout the state. This bill would authorize certain public entities of a Sustainable Communities Investment Area, as described, to form a Sustainable Communities Investment Authority (authority) to carry out the Community Redevelopment Law in a specified manner. The bill would require the authority to adopt a Sustainable Communities Investment Plan for a Sustainable Communities Investment Area and authorize the authority to include in that plan a provision for the receipt of tax increment funds provided that certain economic development and planning requirements are met. The bill would authorize the legislative body of a city or county forming an authority to dedicate any portion of its net available revenue, as defined, to the authority through its Sustainable Communities Investment Plan. The bill would require the authority to contract for an independent financial and performance audit every 5 years. The bill would establish prequalification requirements for entities that will receive more than $1,000,000 from the Sustainable Communities Investment Authority and would require the Department of Industrial Relations to monitor and enforce compliance with prevailing wage requirements for specified projects within a Sustainable Communities Investment Area. The bill would deposit moneys received by the department from developer charges related to the costs of monitoring and enforcement in the State Public Works Enforcement Fund. By depositing a new source of revenue in the State Public Works Enforcement Fund, a continuously appropriated special fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
(1) Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to close the California Rehabilitation Center located in Norco, California, no later than either December 31, 2016, or 6 months after the construction of three Level II dorm facilities. This bill would suspend this requirement pending a review by the Department of Finance and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that determines the facility can be closed. (2) The California Constitution establishes the civil service, to include every officer and employee of the state, except as provided, and requires permanent appointment and promotion in the civil service to be made under a general system based on merit ascertained by competitive examination. Existing law requires the appointing power in all cases not exempted by the California Constitution to fill positions by appointment, including cases of transfers, reinstatements, promotions, and demotions, in strict accordance with specified provisions of law, and requires that appointments to vacant positions be made from employment lists. Existing law, subject to the approval of the State Personnel Board, allows an appointing agency to enter into arrangements with personnel agencies in other jurisdictions for the purpose of exchanging services and effecting transfers of employees. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, make the private California City Correctional Center in California City an agency or jurisdiction for the purpose of exchanging services pursuant to the above provision and all related rules. (3) Existing law allows the State Personnel Board to prescribe rules governing the temporary assignment or loan of employees within an agency or between agencies not to exceed 2 years, or between jurisdictions not to exceed 4 years, for specified purposes. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, make the private California City Correctional Center in California City an agency or jurisdiction for the purpose of the above provision and all related rules for a period not to exceed 2 years. (4) Existing law allows the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to enter into an agreement with a city, county, or city and county, to permit transfer of prisoners in the custody of the secretary to a jail or other adult correctional facility. Under existing law, prisoners transferred to a local facility remain under the legal custody of the department. Existing law prohibits any agreement pursuant to these provisions unless the cost per inmate in the facility is no greater than the average costs of keeping an inmate in a comparable facility of the department. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, for purposes of entering into agreements pursuant to the above provisions, waive any process, regulation, or requirement relating to entering into those agreements. The bill would, until January 1, 2017, delete the provision requiring that prisoners transferred to a local facility remain under the legal custody of the department and would delete the requirement that no agreement be entered into unless the cost per inmate in the facility is no greater than the average costs of keeping an inmate in a comparable facility of the department. The bill would, until January 1, 2017, allow a transfer of prisoners to include inmates who have been sentenced to the department but remain housed in a county jail, and would specify that these prisoners shall be under the sole legal custody and jurisdiction of the sheriff or other official having jurisdiction over the facility and not under the legal custody and jurisdiction of the department. The bill would also, until January 1, 2017, allow the secretary to enter into one or more agreements in the form of a lease or operating agreement with private entities to obtain secure housing capacity in the state or in another state, upon terms and conditions deemed necessary and appropriate to the secretary. The bill would, until January 1, 2017, waive any process, regulation, or requirement that relates to the procurement or implementation of those agreements, except as specified. The bill would make the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act inapplicable to these provisions. (5) Existing law allows the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to establish and operate community correctional centers. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, allow the secretary to enter into agreements for the transfer of prisoners to community correctional centers, and to enter into contracts to provide housing, sustenance, and supervision for inmates placed in community correctional centers. The bill would, until January 1, 2017, waive any process, regulation, or requirement that relates to entering into those agreements. (6) Existing law allows any court or other agency or officer of this state having power to commit or transfer an inmate to any institution for confinement to commit or transfer that inmate to any institution outside this state if this state has entered into a contract or contracts for the confinement of inmates in that institution and the inmate, if he or she was sentenced under California law, has executed written consent to the transfer. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, allow the secretary to transfer an inmate to a facility in another state without the consent of the inmate. (7) Existing law establishes the Commission on Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training (CPOST) within the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and requires the CPOST to develop, approve, and monitor standards for the selection and training of state correctional peace officers. Existing law allows for the use of training academies and centers, as specified. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, allow the department to use a training academy established for the private California City Correctional Center. (8) Existing law, the California Community Corrections Performance Incentives Act of 2009, authorizes each county to establish a Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund, and authorizes the state to annually allocate moneys into a State Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund to be used for specified purposes relating to improving local probation supervision practices and capacities, as specified. As part of the California Community Corrections Performance Incentives Act of 2009, existing law requires the Director of Finance to make certain calculations, including the cost to the state to incarcerate in prison and supervise on parole an offender who fails local supervision and is sent to prison. Existing law requires the Director of Finance to calculate a probation failure reduction incentive payment based on the estimated number of probationers successfully prevented from being incarcerated, multiplied by a specified percentage of the cost to the state to incarcerate in prison and supervise on parole a probationer who was sent to prison. Existing law requires the Department of Finance to calculate 5% of the total statewide estimated number of probationers successfully prevented from being incarcerated for counties that successfully reduce the number of adult felony probationers incarcerated multiplied by the costs to the state to incarcerate in prison and supervise on parole a probationer who was sent to prison to be used to provide high performance grants to county probation departments. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2014, remove the requirement that the Director of Finance calculate the cost to the state to incarcerate in prison and supervise on parole an offender who fails local supervision and is sent to prison, and would instead require the Director of Finance to calculate the cost to the state to incarcerate in a contract facility and supervise on parole an offender who fails local supervision and is sent to prison. The bill would require the probation failure reduction incentive payment to be based on the estimated number of probationers successfully prevented from being incarcerated multiplied by a percentage of the state's cost of housing an inmate in a contract facility, and to supervise on parole a probationer who was sent to prison. The bill would require the Department of Finance to calculate high performance grants to county probation departments as 5% of the total statewide estimated number of probationers successfully prevented from being incarcerated multiplied by the state's cost of housing an inmate in a contract facility, and to supervise on parole a probationer who was sent to prison. The bill would create the Recidivism Reduction Fund in the State Treasury to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature for activities designed to reduce the state's prison population, and would allow funds available in the Recidivism Reduction Fund to be transferred to the State Community Corrections Performance Incentives Fund. (9) The bill would appropriate $315,000,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for the purposes of this measure. The bill would require the department to spend the funds only to the extent needed to avoid early release. The bill would require any amounts not encumbered by June 30, 2014 to be transferred to the Recidivism Reduction Fund, except as provided. The bill would require the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to report no later than April 1, 2014, and again on April 1, 2015, to the Director of Finance and specified legislative committees detailing the number of inmates housed in leased beds and in contracted beds both inside and outside of the state pursuant to this measure. The bill would require the administration to assess the state prison system, including capacity needs, prison population levels, recidivism rates, and factors effecting crime levels, and to develop recommendations on balanced solutions that are cost effective and protect public safety. The bill would require the Department of Finance to submit the administration's interim report to the Legislature not later than April 1, 2014, and to submit the final report to the Legislature not later than January 10, 2015. (10) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to establish rules for all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature. The Public Utilities Act imposes various duties and responsibilities on the Public Utilities Commission with respect to the purchase of electricity and requires the commission to review and adopt a procurement plan and a renewable energy procurement plan for each electrical corporation pursuant to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. The existing restructuring of the electrical industry within the Public Utilities Act provides for the establishment of an Independent System Operator as a nonprofit public benefit corporation. Existing law requires the Independent System Operator to make certain filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and to seek authority from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as needed to give the Independent System Operator the ability to secure generating and transmission resources necessary to guarantee achievement of planning and operating reserve criteria no less stringent than those established by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council and the North American Electric Reliability Council. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission, in consultation with the Independent System Operator, to establish resource adequacy requirements for all load-serving entities, as defined, in accordance with specified objectives and requires each load-serving entity to maintain physical generating capacity adequate to meet its load requirements, including peak demand and planning and operating reserves, deliverable to locations and at times as may be necessary to provide reliable electric service. The Public Utilities Commission has opened a rulemaking proceeding to consider revisions to the existing reliability framework for electrical resource and transmission planning and procurement processes pursuant to a Joint Reliability Plan adopted by the Public Utilities Commission and the Board of Governors of the Independent System Operator. This bill would prohibit the Independent System Operator from submitting any proposal to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that seeks approval of a new auction or market-based mechanism for forward procurement of electricity or capacity products to implement the Joint Reliability Plan in California unless it first obtains the formal concurrence of the Public Utilities Commission. If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves the mechanism, the bill would prohibit the Independent System Operator from proposing or endorsing any modification to the approved mechanism, unless it first obtains the formal concurrence of the Public Utilities Commission. The bill would prohibit the Public Utilities Commission from formally concurring in these proposals unless it reasonably concludes that specified principles of the state will not be diminished.