Existing law provides for unemployment compensation benefits to eligible persons who are unemployed through no fault of their own. Existing law, until January 1, 2015, provides for retraining benefits to eligible individuals pursuant to the federal Trade Act of 1974, as amended by the federal Trade Act of 2002. Existing law authorizes an unemployed individual who files a claim for unemployment compensation benefits or extended duration benefits, or an application for federal-state extended benefits or any federally funded unemployment compensation benefits, to apply to the Employment Development Department for benefits during a period of training or retraining. This bill would establish the California Training Benefits Program, which, among other things, would, instead, specify that an unemployed individual shall be automatically eligible for those training and retraining benefits, regardless of whether the individual applies to the department for a determination of potential eligibility if specified criteria apply, or if the Director of Employment Development makes a determination of eligibility. Existing law requires that a determination of potential eligibility for specified training and retraining benefits be issued to an unemployed individual if the Director of Employment Development finds that specified conditions apply. This bill would delete those provisions, and instead specify that an unemployed individual who is able to work is eligible to receive training and retraining benefits if he or she certifies on the unemployment insurance claim form for benefits that he or she is enrolled in a training program that meets criteria specified by this bill, and a responsible person connected with the training or retraining program certifies that the individual is enrolled and is satisfactorily pursuing the training or retraining program. Existing law specifies that any unemployed individual receiving certain unemployment compensation benefits, who applies for a determination of potential eligibility for those benefits no later than the 16th week of his or her receiving those benefits, and is determined to be eligible for those benefits, is entitled to a training extension on his or her unemployment claim, if necessary, to complete approved training. This bill would eliminate that requirement that an individual apply for a determination of potential eligibility no later than the 16th week of his or her receiving those benefits, and would instead require that any unemployed individual receiving unemployment compensation benefits be entitled to a training extension on his or her unemployment compensation claim, if necessary, to complete approved training. Existing law requires the department to inform all individuals who claim unemployment insurance compensation benefits in this state of the benefits potentially available, as provided. This bill would require the department to also publicize and promote the benefits available under those provisions on its Internet Web site. Existing law specifies that, for purposes of provisions governing eligibility for work with respect to any week an individual is eligible for unemployment benefits, an unemployed individual who is able to work is eligible to receive benefits with respect to any week during a period of training or retraining, if the director finds that specified conditions apply. This bill would remove that requirement that the director make a specified finding for an unemployed individual who is able to work to be eligible to receive those benefits, if those specified conditions apply. Because the bill would make various changes to existing eligibility requirements for training and retraining benefits, which would result in additional amounts being payable from the Unemployment Fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, restricts the employment of licensed physicians and surgeons and podiatrists by a corporation or other artificial legal entity, subject to specified exemptions, and makes it a crime to practice medicine without a license. Existing law establishes, until January 1, 2011, a pilot project to allow qualified district hospitals that, among other things, provide more than 50% of patient days to the care of Medicare, Medi-Cal, and uninsured patients, to employ a physician and surgeon, if the hospital does not interfere with, control, or otherwise direct the professional judgment of the physician and surgeon. The pilot project authorizes the direct employment of a total of 20 physicians and surgeons by those hospitals to provide medically necessary services in rural and medically underserved communities, and specifies that each qualified district hospital may employ up to 2 physicians and surgeons, subject to specified requirements. This bill would delete that pilot project and would instead, until January 1, 2021, authorize a health care district, as defined, and a clinic owned or operated by a health care district, as specified, to employ physicians and surgeons if the health care district's service area includes a Medically Underserved Area (MUA) or a Medically Underserved Population (MUP) , or has been federally designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) ; the district board conducts a public hearing and adopts a specified resolution declaring the need for the district to recruit and directly employ one or more physicians and surgeons; and the executive officer of the district provides specified documentation to the Medical Board of California. Upon receipt of that documentation, the bill would require the board to approve the employment of up to 5 primary or specialty care physicians and surgeons by the district, and, upon receipt of additional documentation after that employment, to approve an additional 5 primary or specialty care physicians and surgeons. The bill would provide that a district may, until December 31, 2020, enter into, renew, or extend any employment contract with a physician and surgeon for up to 10 years. The bill would require the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health and the board, to report to the Legislature by June 1, 2018, with regard to the efficacy of the employment of physicians and surgeons by health care districts, as specified.
Existing law specifies information that must be included in the statewide ballot pamphlet for each state measure to be voted upon. This bill would require the Secretary of State to include in the ballot pamphlet a list of the 5 highest contributors of $50,000 or more to each primarily formed committee supporting each state measure, as well as the total amount of their contributions, as of 110 days before election day. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, generally 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. The act also provides that, notwithstanding this requirement, the Legislature may amend specified provisions to add to the ballot pamphlet information regarding candidates or other information. This bill, which would permit or require additional information to be included in the ballot pamphlet, would therefore require a majority vote.
Existing law authorizes and regulates the formation and operation of corporations and nonprofit corporations and specifies the respective purposes for which they may lawfully be formed. Existing law specifies the duties of corporate directors and the rights of shareholders. This bill would enact the Corporate Flexibility Act of 2010 and would authorize and regulate the formation and operation of a new form of corporate entity known as a flexible purpose corporation. The bill would authorize existing corporations and other forms of business entities to merge into or convert into a flexible purpose corporation upon completion of specified requirements, including approval of the transaction by a supermajority 23 vote of shareholders, or a greater vote if required in the articles, as specified. The bill would also authorize a flexible purpose corporation to convert into a nonprofit corporation, a corporation, or a domestic other business entity, upon satisfaction of equivalent conditions. The bill would also provide dissenters' rights of appraisal for shareholders voting against certain transactions, as specified. The bill would specify the required and permitted contents of articles of incorporation that a flexible purpose corporation would be required to file with the Secretary of State, including the special purposes, in addition to any other lawful purpose, that the corporation shall engage in, that may include, but not be limited to, charitable and public purpose activities that could be carried out by a nonprofit public benefit corporation. The bill would also require management and directors to specify objectives for measuring the impact of the flexible purpose corporation's efforts relating to its special purpose, and to include an analysis of those efforts in annual reports, together with specified financial statements, to shareholders and would require specified information to be made publicly available, as specified. The bill would also specify that a flexible purpose corporation is subject to many existing provisions of the Corporations Code. The bill would also make conforming changes. Existing law imposes specified requirements with respect to the merger of one or more corporations and other business entities, including, but not limited to, a requirement that the surviving entity shall file a specified agreement of merger or certificate of merger with the Secretary of State. This bill would prohibit the filing of an agreement of merger or certificate of merger until a certification of satisfaction of the Franchise Tax Board has been filed certifying that all taxes of the party to be terminated by the merger have been paid or secured.
(1) The California Constitution requires the State Board of Equalization to assess the property, other than franchises, of companies transmitting or selling gas or electricity. Existing property tax law provides for the valuation, as a unit, of properties of a state assessee that are operated as a unit as a primary function of that assessee, and for the allocation of the assessed value of the unit among various counties in which the state assessee's unitary property is located. Existing law also provides, pursuant to specified formulas, for the application in each county of specified tax rates to unitary assessed value, and for the allocation among jurisdictions in that county of the resulting revenues. This bill would, for the 2011–12 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, require that a specified amount of property tax revenues derived from applying a specified tax rate to qualified property, as defined, be allocated first to the county in which the qualified property is located and to all of the school entities located in that county, 2nd to the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, and 3rd to specified special districts, with the balance allocated to the redevelopment agency governing the project area in which the qualified property is located. This bill would also require that a specified amount of property tax revenues derived from applying another specified tax rate to the qualified property be first allocated to taxing jurisdictions in those tax rate areas in the county in which the qualified property is located, with the balance allocated to taxing jurisdictions pursuant to a specified formula. The bill would require the Oakley Redevelopment Agency to reimburse the county auditor for the actual and reasonable costs incurred by the county auditor in administering these allocations. The bill would also require the Oakley Redevelopment Agency to develop one new housing unit for each 40 jobs created on real property within the project area, as prescribed. (2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute. (3) This bill would also incorporate additional changes in Section 100 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, proposed by AB 308, to be operative if AB 308 and this bill are both enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2011, and this bill is enacted last. (4) By establishing new duties with respect to the annual allocation of property tax revenues derived from state‑assessed property, 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. (5) This bill would change the pro rata shares in which ad valorem property tax revenues are allocated among local agencies in a county, within the meaning of paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 25.5 of Article XIII of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.
Existing law provides for the county-administered In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization. Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services is vested with state administrative authority over the IHSS program. Existing law permits services to be provided under the IHSS program either through the employment of individual providers, a contract between the county and an entity for the provision of services, the creation by the county of a public authority, or a contract between the county and a nonprofit consortium. Existing law, upon request of a recipient of in-home supportive services, or a recipient of personal care services under the Medi-Cal program, authorizes the procurement of a criminal background check on certain provider applicants, pursuant to specified provisions. Existing legislation that will become effective on October 23, 2009, requires counties, public authorities, and nonprofit consortiums to complete criminal background checks of specified persons who seek to become supportive services providers. That legislation requires that the criminal background checks be conducted at the provider's expense. This bill would, instead, require that the criminal background checks be conducted at the provider's expense, unless the nonprofit consortium or public authority agrees to pay for the criminal background check in which case the department shall seek federal financial participation, to the extent possible, to cover costs associated with conducting the criminal background check. This bill would also incorporate changes to Section 12301.6 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 19 of the 2009–10 4th Extraordinary Session, to take effect if this bill and that bill are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2010, and this bill is enacted last.
(1) The Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) , which provides a defined benefit to its members based on age at retirement, service credit, and final compensation. PERL defines "final compensation" for purposes of calculating a member's retirement allowance. The State Teachers' Retirement Law (STRL) and the retirement laws for county employees and city employees also provide for a defined benefit based on age at retirement, service credit, and final compensation. This bill would provide that any change in salary, compensation, or remuneration principally for the purpose of enhancing a member's benefits would not be included in the calculation of a member's final compensation for purposes of determining that member's defined benefit. The bill would generally require the board of each state and local public retirement system to establish, by regulation, accountability provisions that would include an ongoing audit process to ensure that a change in a member's salary, compensation, or remuneration is not made principally for the purpose of enhancing a member's retirement benefits. This bill would revise the definition of "creditable compensation" and would limit the calculation of a member's final compensation to an amount not to exceed the average increase in compensation received within the final compensation period and the 2 preceding years by employees in the same or a related group as that member. This bill would also provide that a person who retires on or after January 1, 2012, may not perform services for any employer covered by a state or local retirement system until that person has been separated from service for a period of at least 180 days. This bill would provide for the implementation of these required changes under the laws that govern PERS and STRL. (2) The Defined Benefit Supplement Program under STRL provides supplemental retirement, disability, final, and termination benefits, payable either in a lump-sum payment or as an annuity, to members receiving benefits under the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers' Retirement Plan. This bill would provide that member and employer contributions credited to the Defined Benefit Supplemental Program would include remuneration earnable within a 5-year period in excess of 125% of that member's compensation earnable in the year prior to that 5-year period. This bill would provide, in the case of a member who retires on or after January 1, 2012, and who elects to receive his or her retirement benefit under the Defined Benefit Supplemental Program as a lump-sum payment, that the lump-sum payment would not be payable until 180 days have elapsed following the effective date of the member's retirement. (3) This bill includes Legislative findings expressing the public purpose that would be served by the enactment of this bill. This bill would, except as otherwise specified, provide that its provisions would become operative on July 1, 2011. This bill would further provide that it would only become operative if AB 1987 of the 2009–10 Regular Session is also enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2011.
The California Constitution conditions the imposition of a special tax by a city, county, or special district upon the approval of 23 of the voters of the city, county, or special district voting on that tax, and prohibits these entities from imposing an ad valorem tax on real property or a transactions or sales tax on the sale of real property. This measure would alternatively condition the imposition, extension, or increase of a parcel tax, as defined, by a school district, community college district, or county office of education upon the approval of 55% of its voters voting on the proposition, if the proposition meets specified requirements. This measure would also make conforming changes to related provisions.
The measure would alternatively authorize the electors to propose, and to adopt or reject, statutes and amendments to the Constitution pursuant to a process of initial review by the Legislature. The measure would require that the petition presented to the Secretary of State be certified as signed by electors equal in number to 3% in the case of a statute, or 6% in the case of an amendment to the Constitution, of the votes for all candidates for Governor at the last gubernatorial election. The measure would require the Secretary of State to transmit that petition to the Legislature within 10 days. The measure would authorize the Legislature to amend the proposed statute or amendment to the Constitution set forth in the proposed initiative measure. If a proposed statute, with or without change, is enacted, it would go into effect. If the Legislature approves a proposed amendment to the Constitution, with or without change, the amendment would be submitted to the voters for approval. Alternatively, if, by an unspecified date, the Legislature rejects the initiative measure or has taken no action on the initiative measure, the Secretary of State would be required to submit the original initiative measure to the electors for approval if the Secretary of State is presented with an additional petition signed by an additional number of specified electors equal in number to 2% of the votes for all candidates for Governor at the last gubernatorial election.
Existing law requires various state entities to perform various duties relating to economic development and job creation. This bill would create the Economic Development and Job Creation Agency in state government, and would require that the Secretary of Economic Development and Job Creation serve as the executive officer of the agency. The bill would provide for the appointment of the secretary, as specified, and that the secretary serves at the pleasure of the Governor. This bill would require the secretary to develop a reorganization plan and to propose a structure for the agency, and would also require the agency to perform specified duties relating to economic development and job creation. This bill would require the Governor to appoint the secretary only upon determining that surplus funds are available for general state government purposes.