Sen. Tom Berryhill

This measure would call upon the State Air Resources Board, prior to any regulatory action being taken consistent with the scoping plan for the implementation of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, to perform an economic analysis that will give the State of California a more complete and accurate picture of the costs and benefits of the act's implementation. The measure would also call upon the Governor to use the authority granted by the act to adjust any applicable deadlines for regulations.

This resolution would respectfully request that the International Maritime Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, adopt the North American Emission Control Area, as proposed by the United States, Canada, and France at the 60th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee, scheduled for March 2010.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation and local authorities, by order, ordinance, or resolution, with respect to freeways, expressways, or designated portions thereof under their respective jurisdictions, to which vehicle access is completely or partially controlled, to prohibit or restrict the use of those freeways, expressways, or any portion thereof by pedestrians, bicycles or other nonmotorized traffic or by any person operating a motor-driven cycle, motorized bicycle, or motorized scooter. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to these provisions.

This bill would urge the President of the United States and the Congress to employ necessary measures to ensure that no terrorist or suspected terrorist detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is permitted to enter California in custody or otherwise.

This measure would declare February 19, 2010, as a Day of Remembrance in order to increase public awareness of the events surrounding the internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry during World War II.

Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of his or her employment. Existing law requires an employer to provide, or pay for all reasonable costs of, medical services necessary to care for or relieve work-related injuries. Existing law further provides that in the case of active firefighting members of certain state and local fire departments and in the case of certain peace officers, a compensable injury includes cancer that develops or manifests itself during the period when the firefighter or peace officer demonstrates that he or she was exposed, while in the service of the public agency, to a known carcinogen, as defined, and the carcinogen is reasonably linked to the disabling cancer. Existing law establishes a presumption that the cancer in these cases is presumed to arise out of, and in the course of, employment, unless the presumption is controverted by evidence that the primary site of the cancer has been established and that the carcinogen to which the member has demonstrated exposure is not reasonably linked to the disabling cancer. Existing law extends this presumption to a member following termination of service for a period of 3 calendar months for each full year of the requisite service, but not to exceed 60 months in any circumstance, commencing with the last date actually worked in the specified capacity. This bill would provide that the above-described presumption shall be extended to a member following termination of service for a period of 3 calender months, but not to exceed 120 months in any circumstance, commencing with the last date actually worked in the specified capacity.

Existing law prescribes procedures for the issuance of registered warrants and provides that a registered warrant is acceptable and may be used as security for the performance of any public or private trust or obligation. This bill would, if the Controller makes a specified determination, require a state agency to accept, from a person or entity, a registered warrant issued by the Controller and endorsed by that payee, at full face value, for the payment of any obligations owed by that payee to that state agency. The bill would specify that its requirements do not apply to certain obligations and would require the Controller, on or before the September 1 following the conclusion of a fiscal year in which a state agency is required to accept registered warrants pursuant to these provisions, to submit a report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. The bill would make its provisions inoperative on July 1, 2012, and would repeal them on January 1, 2013. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the California High-Speed Rail Act, creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state, with specified powers and duties. Existing law, pursuant to the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, approved by the voters as Proposition 1A at the November 4, 2008, general election, provides for the issuance of $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds for high-speed rail and related purposes. The federal Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA) and the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provide funding for allocation nationally to high-speed rail projects. This bill would require federal high-speed rail funds received on a reimbursement basis from ARRA to be deposited in the federal trust fund. The bill would require certain ARRA funds to be used for planning and engineering, and for capital costs, for the high-speed train system consistent with federal law and regulations and specified provisions of SB 965 of the 2009–10 Regular Session. The bill would identify the corridors eligible for federal PRIIA funds. The above provisions would become operative only if SB 965 is also enacted and becomes operative. Existing law provides for appointment of an executive director by the authority, who is exempt from civil service and serves at the pleasure of the authority. Under existing law, the salary of the executive director is established by the authority and approved by the Department of Personnel Administration. This bill, for purposes of managing and administering the ongoing work of the authority in implementing the high-speed rail project, would authorize the Governor, upon recommendation of the executive director and subject to an appropriation, to appoint up to 6 additional executive staff exempt from civil service who would serve in specified positions at the pleasure of the executive director. The bill would require the authority to cause a salary survey to be conducted to determine the compensation for the executive director and additional exempt staff, and would require the salaries to be approved by the Department of Personnel Administration. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to approve additional positions at the authority for purposes of creating an Office for Project Controls and Risk Management in the authority.

The California Constitution provides for the delegation to the Fish and Game Commission of powers relating to the protection and propagation of fish and game. Existing statutory law delegates to the commission the power to regulate the taking or possession of birds, mammals, fish, amphibia, and reptiles in accordance with prescribed laws. Under existing law, the Department of Fish and Game exercises various functions with regard to the taking of fish and game. Under existing law, a city or county exercises certain limited authority with regard to the regulation of fish and game for the protection of public health and safety. This bill would provide that the state fully occupies the fields of hunting and fishing. The bill would prohibit a city or county from adopting an ordinance or regulation that affects hunting or fishing, unless the ordinance or regulation is both necessary to protect public health and safety and has only an incidental impact on the fields of hunting and fishing preempted by state law. The bill would also provide that unless otherwise authorized by the Fish and Game Code or other state or federal law, the commission and the department are the only entities that shall adopt or promulgate regulations regarding hunting and fishing on any lands or waters within the state, except as specified. The bill would apply only to activities for which a hunting or fishing license is required by the Fish and Game Code or regulations adopted by the commission.

(1) The California Constitution creates the Fish and Game Commission. Existing law establishes the commission in the Natural Resources Agency to perform specified functions. Existing law requires the commission to hold no fewer than 10 regular meetings per year, with no more than 2 regular meetings to be held in Sacramento per year. This bill would require the commission to hold no fewer than 10 meetings per year, if the commission has adequate funding for related travel, including funding for department travel. It would also require no more than 3, rather than 2, regular meetings to be held in Sacramento per year. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Game to prescribe a minimum level of skill and knowledge to be required of all hunter education instructors, and authorizes the department to limit the number of students per instructor in all required classes. This bill would require the department to offer special hunting opportunities to qualified hunter education instructors by providing a limited number of existing tags and other hunting opportunities. (3) Under existing law,12 of all fines and forfeitures imposed or collected in any court of this state for violations of the Fish and Game Code are paid to the county in which the offense was committed and deposited in a county fish and wildlife propagation fund to be expended for the protection, conservation, propagation, and preservation of fish and wildlife, in accordance with specified requirements. Existing law authorizes the department to audit, or to require the county to audit, expenditures by the county from its fish and wildlife propagation fund in order to determine compliance with these requirements. The bill would authorize the department to require that all expenditures from the fund be temporarily suspended, or to seek reimbursement of funds that the department determines, based on the audit, were expended improperly, or both, if, after reviewing the audit, the department determines that expenditures are not in compliance with the requirements.