Existing law specifies the officers of a county, including, but not limited to, the coroner. The California Constitution requires that certain county officers, other than the coroner, be elected. Existing statutory law requires that certain other county officers are to be elected, but establishes a process by which those offices that are required by statute to be elected may be converted to offices appointed by the board of supervisors. Existing law authorizes the board of supervisors to abolish the office of coroner and provide instead for the office of medical examiner, to be appointed by the board and to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the coroner and requires that the medical examiner be a licensed physician and surgeon duly qualified as a specialist in pathology. Commencing July 1, 2020, this bill would, for counties with a population of 500,000 or greater, excluding a county that has adopted a charter, require that the office of the coroner or the sheriff-coroner's office, as applicable, either be replaced with an office of the medical examiner to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the coroner without a public vote or election, or adopt a policy requiring referral of death investigations to a county that has implemented an office of medical examiner for any case when there is a potential conflict of interest for the office of the coroner or the sheriff-coroner's office, as specified. By requiring that counties comply with these requirements, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require that the office of medical examiner operate independently from any other county agency or official in the conduct of autopsies. 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
Sponsored bills
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 and to, among other things, dispose of assets and properties of the former redevelopment agency as directed by the oversight board of the successor agency. Existing law requires a successor agency to dispose of specified assets and properties of the former redevelopment expeditiously and in a manner aimed at maximizing value. This bill would, until January 1, 2022, authorize the successor agency to the Redevelopment Agency of the County of Sacramento to dispose of a specified property previously used as the San Juan Hotel and Mobile Home Park for an amount less than fair market value, provided that the agency require that the property be used for housing affordable to, and occupied by, persons and families of low or moderate income and very low income and extremely low income households and include an enforceable covenant to that effect. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations regarding the public purpose served by the bill. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the successor agency to the Redevelopment Agency of the County of Sacramento.
Existing law requires an employer, semimonthly or at the time of payment of wages, to furnish an employee, an accurate, itemized, written statement containing specified information regarding the amounts earned, hours worked, and the employee's identity, among other things, subject to certain variations. Existing law grants current and former employees of employers who are required to keep this information the right to inspect or copy records pertaining to their employment, upon reasonable request. Existing law requires an employer to respond to these requests within a specified time and prescribes a penalty of $750 for an employer's failure to permit a current or former employee to inspect or copy records within that time, to be recovered by the employee or the Labor Commissioner. This bill would provide that employees have the right to receive a copy of the employment records described above and apply the associated time requirements and penalty provisions in this context. The bill would state that it is declaratory of existing law.
Existing law, the Teachers' Retirement Law, establishes the State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers' Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. STRS is administrated by the Teachers' Retirement Board. Existing law creates the Cash Balance Benefit Program, which is administered by the board, to provide a retirement plan for the benefit of participating employees who provide creditable service for less than 50% of full time. (1) Existing law, applicable to both the Defined Benefit Program and the Cash Balance Benefit Program, defines "school year" as the fiscal year or the academic year. Existing law defines "school term" with reference to a minimum period of time that creditable service is required to be performed by a member employed on a full-time basis, subject to certain exclusions. Under existing law, the "school term" is the same for members employed less than full-time who perform the same duties as members employed on a full-time basis. This bill would redefine "school year" as the period of time beginning on July 1 of one calendar year and ending on June 30 of the following calendar year. The bill would make a variety of conforming amendments to reference school term instead of school year. (2) Existing law authorizes concurrent membership, as defined, in STRS and other specified retirement systems and grants certain rights to members with concurrent membership, among them having compensation from the other retirement system included as an element in the final compensation calculation. Existing law prohibits service under another system performed during the same pay period as service under the Defined Benefit Program from being used to determine final compensation for purposes of a concurrent retirement in connection with two different formulations of final compensation. The Defined Benefit Program prescribes, in this regard, different pay periods to be considered periods of service, as specified. This bill would clarify the prohibition on using service under another retirement system for determination of final compensation when it is performed during the same pay period as Defined Benefit Program service by linking it directly to provisions describing the pay periods. (3) Existing law authorizes a retired member to cancel a selected pension option upon divorce if specified conditions are met and prescribes a procedure for a subsequent election of a new option. This bill would authorize a retired member who has elected a new option upon divorce, as described above, who was not married or in a registered domestic partnership at the time of election, and who subsequently marries or registers in a domestic partnership, to elect a new pension option naming his or her new spouse or partner as an option beneficiary. The bill would prescribe a procedure for this purpose. (4) Existing law authorizes a member of the Defined Benefit Program who becomes employed by different entities subject to membership in the Public Employees' Retirement System to elect to have this new service covered by the Defined Benefit Program and excluded from the other systems, if certain requirements are met. Existing law requires a member's election forms to be received at the STRS headquarters within 30 days of the date of the member's signature, among other things. This bill would revise the required date of receipt, described above, to instead be 60 days and require that the election be made within 60 calendar days from the date of hire. The bill would specify that the election be on a form that is properly executed. (5) Existing law authorizes specified people while performing what may be creditable service to elect membership in the Defined Benefit Program while they are employed. Existing law requires a member's election forms to be received at the STRS headquarters within 30 days of the date of the member's signature, among other things, and provides that membership is effective the first day of the pay period following the election. This bill would revise the required date of receipt, described above, to instead be 60 days. The bill would require that membership not be earlier than the first day of the pay period in which the election is made. The bill would specify that the election be on a form that is properly executed. (6) Existing law entitles beneficiaries of Defined Benefit Program members, in certain instances, to receive payments or benefits, as applicable, in the event of the member's death. This bill would specify that a beneficiary may waive the right to these payments and benefits and would prescribe a process for this purpose. (7) Existing law prescribes requirements pursuant to which a Defined Benefit Program member may apply for a disability allowance or disability retirement. Existing law requires that when a member who was granted a disability allowance attains normal retirement age the disability allowance is terminated and the member becomes eligible for a service retirement. This bill would clarify these provisions with regard to the filing of a written disability application and the termination of the disability allowance if the member has an eligible dependent child. (8) Existing law prescribes how an annuity under the Defined Benefit Supplement Program is to be determined and paid. If a joint and survivor annuity is elected, existing law requires the annuity to be calculated using the age of the member and the age of the member's beneficiary on the member's retirement date. This bill would require, if a joint and survivor annuity is elected, that the calculation use the annuity effective date, rather than the member's retirement date. The bill would also provide for the continuance of certain Defined Benefit Supplement Program annuities upon the termination of a member's disability retirement for subsequent service retirement, as specified, and would make a conforming change. (9) Existing law authorizes certain employees participating in the Cash Balance Benefit Program to elect coverage under the federal Social Security Act or an alternative retirement plan. Existing law requires members of the Cash Balance Benefit Program to terminate coverage under that program when they become subject to mandatory membership in the Defined Benefit Program in various instances. This bill would provide that a person who elected coverage under federal Social Security or an alternative retirement plan who becomes a member of the Defined Benefit Program for another employer may continue that coverage. (10) The bill would make technical, correctional, and conforming changes.
Existing law provides that the Capitol Area Plan is the official state master plan for development in the central city of the City of Sacramento. The Capitol View Protection Act requires specified height and setback requirements in specified areas surrounding Capitol Park. The act, among other things, requires a height limit of 120 feet for the blocks between L Street on the north, 17th Street on the east, N Street on the south, and 16th Street on the west. This bill, instead, would designate Matsui Alley as the southern boundary of that area with the height limit of 120 feet.
This measure would call upon the President and the United States Congress to acknowledge that the separation of immigrant children from their families at the border is detrimental to the short- and long-term physical and mental well-being of the children and incompatible with our fundamental values as a nation. The measure would also call upon the United States Congress to issue a formal apology to all child detainees who were forcibly separated from their parents and legal guardians and seized by the United States Department of Homeland Security or United States Customs and Border Protection and to the parents of those children.
This measure would urge the Congress and the President of the United States to support the retention of, and investment in, the Amtrak National Network of passenger trains, specifically the California Zephyr, the Coast Starlight, the Southwest Chief, and the Sunset Limited, as vital components of the state's rail program and would also urge Congress to reject President Trump's proposed Fiscal Year 2019 federal budget cuts to Amtrak and restore full funding for the Amtrak National Network through the appropriations process.
This measure would declare June 2, 2018, to June 9, 2018, inclusive, as the California Invasive Species Awareness Week and would encourage all Californians to participate in activities that raise awareness of invasive species issues.
This measure would declare the week of September 10, 2018, and that week every year thereafter, as Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Week, with the purpose of expanding the acknowledgment of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region's contributions to a higher quality of life for all Californians.
This measure would proclaim October 13, 2018, as Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day, and requests the citizens of California, on that day, to become informed and aware of this disease.