Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency consisting of various entities, departments, and boards, including the Department of Water Resources, the California Coastal Commission, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the State Lands Commission, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and the State Coastal Conservancy. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2016, the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with the Ocean Protection Council, to create, update biannually, and post on an Internet Web site a Planning for Sea Level Rise Database describing steps being taken throughout the state to prepare for, and adapt to, sea level rise. The bill would require various public agencies and private entities to provide to the agency, by July 1, 2015, and, beginning January 1, 2016, on a biannual basis thereafter, sea level rise planning information, as defined, that is under the control or jurisdiction of the public agencies or private entities. The bill would require the agency to determine which information is necessary for inclusion in the database and to organize the database by geographic region and provide an entry for each city, county, and city and county within the coastal zone and San Francisco Bay area. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2018.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the California Refinery and Chemical Plant Worker Safety Act of 1990, states that its purpose is to prevent or minimize the consequences of catastrophic releases of toxic, flammable, or explosive chemicals. The act provides for the adoption by the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board of specified process safety management standards for, among others, refineries that handle acutely hazardous material. The act declares the intent of the Legislature for the standards board and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to promote worker safety through implementation of training and process safety management, as defined, in refineries and other facilities as deemed appropriate. A violation of the act is a crime. This bill would require every petroleum refinery employer to, every September 15, submit to the division a full schedule for the following calendar year of planned turnarounds, meaning a planned, periodic shutdown of a refinery process unit or plant to perform maintenance, overhaul, and repair operations and to inspect, test, and replace process materials and equipment, as specified. The bill would also require a petroleum refinery employer, upon the request of the division, to provide access onsite and provide the division with specified documentation relating to a planned turnaround within a certain period of time, as provided. The bill would, except as specified, prohibit the division from releasing to the public any information submitted to the division pursuant to these provisions that is designated as a trade secret, as defined. The bill would require the division to notify a petroleum refinery employer in writing of a request for the release of information to the public that includes information that the petroleum refinery employer has notified the division is a trade secret, as provided. The bill would authorize an employer to seek a court order prohibiting public disclosure. The bill establishes misdemeanor penalties for knowingly and willfully disclosing trade secrets. Because a violation of the bill's requirements would be a crime, 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.
Existing law authorizes the compensation of victims and derivative victims of specified types of crimes by the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for specified losses suffered as a result of those crimes. Existing law sets forth eligibility requirements and specified limits on the amount of compensation the board may award. Existing law requires the board to deny an application if the board finds that the victim or derivative victim failed to cooperate reasonably with a law enforcement agency in the apprehension and conviction of a criminal committing the crime. However, existing law specifies that an application for compensation cannot be denied pursuant to that provision solely on the basis of specified behavior by the victim, such as failure to make a police report. This bill would prohibit denial of an application for compensation under the above circumstances with respect to a claim based on sexual assault, as defined, committed by military personnel against military personnel, solely because the sexual assault was not reported to a superior officer or law enforcement at the time of the crime. The bill would set forth types of evidence of sexual assault the board would be required to consider in these cases, for purposes of determining if a claim qualifies for compensation. The bill would require both the perpetrator, as defined, and the victim to be active duty military personnel at the time the sexual assault occurred for these provisions to apply. By expanding the authorization for the use of moneys in the continuously appropriated Restitution Fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Members of the board are required to be selected from outstanding lay citizens of California who have a strong interest in the further development and improvement of community colleges. This bill would specify that members of the board, to the greatest extent possible, should be inclusive and representative of the many demographic groups found in California, and that the board should reflect diversity of race and gender, and include, among others, disabled persons and veterans. The bill would also provide that each member of the board should bring his or her own best thinking and personal views to the board's discussion, as specified.
Existing law establishes the Division of Occupational Safety and Health in the Department of Industrial Relations to enforce employment safety laws. Existing law authorizes the division to conduct hearings, inspections, and investigations regarding alleged violations of employment safety laws and to issue a citation for a violation of those laws, including violations that regulations adopted by the division classify as serious, repeat, or willful violations. Existing law authorizes the division to propose appropriate modifications concerning the characterization of violations and corresponding modifications to civil penalties for violations. Existing law requires the division, if a serious violation is not abated at the time of the initial or subsequent inspection, to require the employer to submit a signed statement under penalty of perjury that he or she has complied with the abatement terms within the period fixed for abatement of the violation. Existing law establishes the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board in the department, and prescribes procedures for the appeals board to hear and decide appeals of a citation. Regulations adopted by the appeals board generally stay the abatement period of a citation until the conclusion of the appeal. This bill would prohibit the division from granting, for serious violations, a proposed modification to civil penalties for abatement or credit for abatement unless the employer has abated the violation, as specified, or has submitted a statement to the division in accordance with existing law, and would additionally require supporting evidence with the statement where necessary. The bill would authorize the division to grant such a modification only if the violation has been abated, as specified, or the signed statement and supporting evidence is received within 10 working days after the end of the period fixed for abatement. The bill would generally prohibit the stay or suspension of a requirement to abate the hazards affirmed by the decision or order during the pendency before the appeals board of a petition for reconsideration of a citation for a violation that is classified as a serious violation, repeat serious violation, or willful serious violation. The bill would authorize the appeals board to stay or suspend an abatement, upon petition by the employer, only if the employer demonstrates that a stay or suspension will not adversely affect the health and safety of employees.
Existing law requires the Board of Registered Nursing, the Physician Assistant Board, the Respiratory Care Board of California, and the Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians of the State of California to regulate and oversee the practice of healing arts within their respective jurisdictions. This bill would require these boards to collect and report specific demographic data relating to its licensees, subject to a licensee's discretion to report his or her race or ethnicity, to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. The bill would require these boards to collect this data at least biennially, at the times of both issuing an initial license and issuing a renewal license.
Existing law defines probation to mean the suspension of the imposition or execution of a sentence of an individual convicted of a crime and the order of his or her conditional and revocable release in the community under the supervision of a probation officer. Existing law authorizes probation for some, but not all, felony convictions. Existing law requires all eligible people released from prison on and after October 1, 2011, or, whose sentences have been deemed served, as provided, after serving a prison term for a felony, upon release from prison, and for a period not exceeding 3 years immediately following release, to be subject to postrelease community supervision provided by a county agency designated by each county's board of supervisors that is consistent with evidence-based practices, including, but not limited to, supervision policies, procedures, programs, and practices demonstrated by scientific research to reduce recidivism among individuals under postrelease supervision. Existing law authorizes a court, when sentencing a person to county jail for a felony, to commit the person to county jail for either the full term in custody, as specified, or to suspend the execution of a concluding portion of the term selected at the court's discretion. Under existing law, this period of suspended execution is supervised by the county probation officer and is known as mandatory supervision. This bill, until January 1, 2021, would establish the Supervised Population Workforce Training Grant Program to be administered, as provided, by the California Workforce Investment Board and funded, upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would provide grant program eligibility criteria for counties and provide that eligible uses for grant funds include, but are not limited to, vocational training, stipends for trainees, and apprenticeship opportunities for the supervised population, which would include individuals on probation, mandatory supervision, and postrelease community supervision. By January 1, 2018, the board would be required to submit a report to the Legislature containing specified information, including an evaluation of the effectiveness of the grant program.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue specialty license plates, including environmental license plates and specified special environmental design license plates. Under existing law, a state agency is authorized to apply to the DMV to sponsor a specialized license plate program, and the DMV is required to issue those license plates if the agency meets certain requirements. The DMV is required to charge specified fees for certain services related to the issuance of those plates. Existing law establishes the Breast Cancer Control Account in the Breast Cancer Fund, and requires that funds in that account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be allocated for the provision of early breast cancer detection services for uninsured and underinsured women. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to apply to sponsor a breast cancer awareness license plate program, and would require the DMV to issue the license plates if the State Department of Health Care Services meets certain requirements. The bill would authorize the State Department of Health Care Services to accept and use donated artwork from California artists for the license plate. The bill would require the revenue generated from the license plates, as specified, to be deposited in the Breast Cancer Control Account in the Breast Cancer Fund. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law prescribes the duties of the State Registrar of Vital Statistics and local registrars of births and deaths with respect to the registration of a live birth. Under existing law, a certificate of live birth is required to contain, among other things, the full name, birthplace, and date of birth of both the father and mother of a child, except as provided. Existing law provides for the Vital Statistics Advisory Committee, which, among other things, is required to review and make recommendations to the State Registrar as to proposals for addition or deletion of items on the certificate of live birth and advise the State Registrar on the content and format of the certificate. Existing law requires the State Registrar to publish within 30 days of receipt of recommendations by the committee, both a list of the recommendations adopted and a list of the recommendations not adopted, with reasons for the action. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2016, instead require the State Registrar, with regard to identification of the parents, to modify the certificate of live birth to contain 2 lines that both read "Name of Parent" and contain, next to each parent's name, 3 checkboxes with the options of mother, father, and parent to describe the parent's relationship to the child. The bill would also require that all local registrars, deputy registrars, and subregistrars use the modified certificate of live birth, update all forms to incorporate the modification, and discard all forms in use before the modification. The bill would, for a birth occurring prior to January 1, 2016, authorize a parent to amend specified parental titles on the certificate of live birth to the parent relationship designation described above. The bill would require, if the birth mother is listed on the certificate of live birth, the birth mother's name, date of birth, and place of birth to be linked to her medical and social information, and would require that the linkage be confidential, as specified. The bill would make technical and conforming changes.
(1) Existing property tax law requires, when valuing property by comparison with sales of other properties, that to be considered comparable the sales be sufficiently near in time to the valuation date, as defined, and that the properties sold be located sufficiently near, and be sufficiently alike, the property being valued, as specified. This bill would revise that definition. (2) Existing federal law imposes a tax, for each taxable year, on the taxable income of every corporation, as defined, and includes an association within the definition of a corporation. Existing federal law permits specified business entities to elect their classification for federal income tax purposes as an association, a partnership, or disregarded as an entity separate from its owner and provides for a default classification. Existing state law, the Corporation Tax Law, generally imposes a tax on every corporation, as defined, for each taxable year, according to or measured by its net income. Existing law requires the classification of a business entity, for state corporate income tax purposes, to be determined pursuant to the regulations of the Franchise Tax Board, consistent with federal regulations as in effect January 1, 1997, that classify a business entity as a partnership or an association taxable as a corporation or disregard the separate existence of certain business entities for tax purposes. Existing law requires that the state classification of an eligible business entity to be the same as the federal classification of that entity for tax purposes. This bill would instead require that the regulations issued by the Franchise Tax Board, related to the classification of a business entity, be consistent with federal regulations as in effect May 1, 2014. (3) Existing law provides that specified limited liability companies and corporations that are suspended or forfeited for failure to file a tax return or for failure to pay delinquent taxes, penalties, or interest are subject to specified consequences, including contract voidability. This bill would subject foreign nonregistered limited liability companies to contract voidability if the foreign nonregistered limited liability company is subject to suspension or forfeiture for failure to file a tax return or for failure to pay delinquent taxes, penalties, or interest. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.