Retail trade

The Administrative Procedure Act governs the procedures for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. Existing law requires each state agency to prepare a standardized regulatory impact analysis, as specified, with respect to the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a major regulation, as defined, that is proposed on or after November 1, 2013. Existing law requires the Department of Finance and the office, from time to time, to review the standardized regulatory impact analyses for adherence to regulations adopted by the department. This bill would instead require the Department of Finance and the office to annually review the standardized regulatory impact analyses for adherence to the regulations adopted by the department. Existing law requires, on or before November 1, 2015, the office to submit to the Senate and Assembly Committees on Governmental Organization a report describing the extent to which submitted standardized regulatory impact analyses for proposed major regulations adhere to the regulations adopted by the department. This bill would instead require the office to annually prepare that report for the Senate Committee on Governmental Organization and the Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review and include recommendations for actions the Legislature might consider for improving state agency performance and compliance in the creation of the standardized regulatory impact analyses. This bill would also require the office to notify the Legislature of noncompliance by a state agency and to post the report and the notice of noncompliance on the office’s Internet Web site. Hide

(1)Existing law, the California Retail Food Code, reestablishes uniform health and sanitation standards for retail food facilities, including mobile food facilities and temporary food facilities, by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law provides that local health agencies are primarily responsible for enforcing these provisions. A person who violates any provision of the code is guilty of a misdemeanor, except as otherwise provided. (2)The code requires that all employees of food facilities thoroughly wash their hands before engaging in food preparation and before donning gloves for working with food. The code requires that employees wear gloves when contacting food and food-contact surfaces under certain conditions, including when they have cuts, sores, or rashes. The code also requires owners of food facilities and others, as specified, to require food employees to report to the person in charge if a food employee has a lesion or wound that is open or draining, as specified, unless the lesion is covered or protected. This bill would, among other things, revise the code to require handwashing when changing gloves, except as specified, and that employees wear single-use gloves, as specified, when contacting food and food-contact surfaces under the conditions described above. The bill would prohibit an employee who has a wound, as specified, that is open and draining from handling food, unless the wound is covered, as specified. The bill would make conforming changes to the reporting requirement described above. (3)The code requires that a mobile food facility have a water heater with a minimum capacity of 3 gallons, except as specified. This bill would increase the required minimum amount of capacity for a water heater on a mobile food facility to 4 gallons, or, if the facility only utilizes the water for handwashing purposes, require only 12 gallon, except as specified. The bill would make other changes relating to mobile food facilities.(4)The code requires a food facility to prevent the entrance and harborage of animals and prohibits a food employee from caring for or handling animals that may be present. The code permits a food employee with a service animal to handle or care for the service animal if the employee washes his or her hands as required. The code defines a service animal to mean a guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability. This bill would revise the definition of a “service animal” for purposes of the code to mean a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of, and directly related to, an individual with a disability. The definition would specifically exclude other species of animals, as specified. The bill would also define a “hot dog” for purposes of the code and would make a clarifying change to the definition of “limited food preparation.”(5)By revising the standards that must be enforced by local health agencies and by expanding the scope of existing crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.(6)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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. Hide

The Enterprise Zone Act provides for the designation and oversight by the Department of Housing and Community Development of various types of economic development areas throughout the state, including enterprise zones, targeted tax areas, and manufacturing enhancement areas, collectively known as geographically targeted economic development areas, or G-TEDAs. Pursuant to these provisions, qualifying entities in those areas may receive certain tax and regulatory incentives. This bill would revise various definitions for purposes of the act and modify specified requirements for designating and administering enterprise zones and G-TEDAs, collectively. The bill would impose new requirements on the Department of Housing and Community Development with respect to the enterprise zone program and modify department and Franchise Tax Board reporting requirements. Existing law, the Enterprise Zone Act, authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to assess a fee of not more than $15 on each enterprise zone and manufacturing enhancement area for each application for issuance of a certificate pursuant to specified tax credit provisions. This bill would instead authorize the department to charge a fee for those applications not to exceed the reasonable cost of administering the Enterprise Zone Act, but not to exceed $20. The bill would require any increase in the fee higher than the amount that was charged by the department as of January 1, 2014, to be adopted by regulation.This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Hide

Existing law generally regulates the operation of swap meets, flea markets, and open-air markets where personal property is exchanged, sold, or offered for sale or exchange. Existing law also regulates food vendors operating at swap meets.This bill would authorize, subject to exceptions and commencing January 1, 2016, a swap meet operator to permit a vendor to offer animals for sale at a swap meet provided the local jurisdiction has adopted certain standards for the care and treatment of those animals during the time that the animals are present at the swap meet and transported to and from the swap meet. These provisions would not apply to the sale of a particular species of animal if a local jurisdiction has adopted a local ordinance prior to January 1, 2013, that applies specifically to the sale of that particular species of animal at swap meets. The bill would provide that a swap meet vendor who offers animals for sale at a swap meet in violation of the requirements of this bill would be guilty of an infraction punishable by a fine not to exceed $250 for the first violation, or, if the animal suffers or is endangered, or for a 2nd or subsequent violation, a fine not to exceed $1,000. By creating new 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. Hide

Existing law provides that no person in the state shall, on the basis of race, national origin, ethnic group identification, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, color, genetic information, or disability, be unlawfully denied full and equal access to the benefits of, or be unlawfully subjected to discrimination under, any program or activity that is conducted, operated, or administered by the state or by any state agency, is funded directly by the state, or receives any financial assistance from the state. This bill would enact the Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights and Fairness Act, which would provide that no person’s rights, privileges, or access to public services may be denied or abridged because he or she is homeless. The bill would provide that every homeless person has the right, among others, to move freely, rest, eat, share, accept, or give food or water, and solicit donations in public spaces, as defined, and the right to lawful self-employment, as specified, confidentiality of specified records, assistance of legal counsel in specified proceedings, and restitution, under specified circumstances. By requiring a county to pay the cost of providing legal counsel, as specified, the bill would increase the duties of local agencies, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide immunity from employer retaliation to a public employee who provides specified assistance to a homeless person. The bill would require local law enforcement agencies to make specified information available to the public and report to the Attorney General on an annual basis with regard to enforcement of local ordinances against homeless persons and compliance with the act, as specified, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide for judicial relief and impose civil penalties for a violation of the act. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health to fund the provision of health and hygiene centers, as specified, for use by homeless persons in designated areas. This bill would provide that its provisions address a matter of statewide concern. The bill would provide that its provisions are severable. 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. Hide

The Pharmacy Law governs the practice of pharmacy in this state, including the permissible duties of licensed pharmacists. Among other permitted acts, a pharmacist filling a prescription order for a drug product prescribed by its trade or brand name may select another drug product with the same active chemical ingredients of the same strength, quantity, and dosage form, and of the same generic drug name as determined, as specified, of those drug products having the same active chemical ingredients. A person who violates the Pharmacy Law is guilty of a crime, as specified. This bill would prohibit a pharmacist or pharmacy employer from receiving any payment or other compensation, in the form of money or otherwise to specifically recommend or replace a patient’s originally prescribed drug product with a drug product that does not have the same active ingredient as the originally prescribed drug product, unless the recommendation or replacement is the result of, and the payment is included in the reimbursement for, the pharmacist performing a comprehensive medication review, as specified. By creating a new 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. Hide

Existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), enacts various health care coverage market reforms that take effect January 1, 2014. Among other things, PPACA allows the premium rate charged by a health insurance issuer offering small group or individual coverage to vary only by family composition, rating area, age, and tobacco use, as specified, and prohibits discrimination against individuals based on health status, as specified. PPACA prohibits a health insurance issuer from requiring any individual to pay a premium or contribution that is greater than the premium or contribution paid by a similarly situated individual on the basis of any health status-related factor and prohibits construing this provision to prevent a group health insurance issuer from establishing premium discounts or rebates or modifying copayments or deductibles in return for adherence to wellness programs, as specified. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law allows small employer health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies for plan years on or after January 1, 2014, to vary rates only based on age, geographic region, and family size, as specified. This bill, until January 1, 2020, would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer from offering a wellness program in connection with a group health care service plan contract or group health insurance policy, or offering an incentive or reward under a group health care service plan contract or group health insurance policy, based on adherence to a wellness program, unless specified requirements are satisfied. The bill would specify that it does not apply to wellness programs established prior to its enactment provided that those programs comply with all other applicable laws, as specified. Because a willful violation of the bill’s requirements relative to health care service plans 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. Hide

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, protects and safeguards the right and opportunity of all persons to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination or abridgment on account of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, or sexual orientation. This bill would include “familial status,” as defined, as an additional basis upon which the right to seek, obtain, and hold employment cannot be denied. Hide

Existing law regulates the placement of unattended collection boxes and requires specified information, including the name, address, and telephone number of the collection box owner and operator, to be displayed on the front of each collection box. Existing law authorizes a city, county, or city and county to declare a collection box that is in violation of these provisions a public nuisance and to abate the nuisance. This bill would authorize a city or county that has adopted a local ordinance regulating or permitting the placement of unattended collection boxes, as specified, to impose a charge on the owner or operator of a collection box that is in violation of the ordinance for the reasonable costs of its removal and storage if the county or city removes the collection box under the local ordinance. The bill would require the city or county to send a written notice of removal and charge to the address displayed on the collection box 5 days prior to removal. The bill would authorize the city or county to sell or dispose of the collection box and its contents if the collection box owner or operator does not pay the charge. Hide

(1)Existing law establishes within state government the State and Consumer Services Agency comprised of various state agencies, including, but not limited to, the Sixth District Agricultural Center which is also known as the California Science Center. The California Science Center includes the California African American Museum, has jurisdiction over certain facilities at Exposition Park in Los Angeles, and is required to establish the position of the Exposition Park Manager for the purpose of administering all park-related events. The Governor’s Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 2012 (GRP 2) proposes to reorganize state departments and agencies to, among other things, eliminate the State and Consumer Services Agency and transfer jurisdiction over the California Science Center, including the California African American Museum, the Exposition Park, and the Exposition Park Manager, to the Natural Resources Agency. GRP 2 also proposes to revise the organizational relationships between the California Science Center, the California African American Museum, the Exposition Park, and the Exposition Park Manager. This bill would enact the provisions of law proposed by GRP 2 to transfer jurisdiction over the California Science Center, including the California African American Museum, the Exposition Park, and the Exposition Park Manager, to the Natural Resources Agency, except that this bill would not make the changes proposed by GRP 2 to revise the organizational relationships between those transferred entities. (2)Existing law, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009, establishes the Delta Stewardship Council as an independent agency of the state. Existing law establishes various departments and state entities in the Natural Resources Agency and GRP 2 proposes to revise the departments and entities that the agency consists of to, among other things, include the Delta Stewardship Council. This bill would enact the provision of law proposed by GRP 2 revising the various departments and state entities that the Natural Resources Agency consists of, except that the bill would exclude the council from that agency. (3)GRP 2 is proposed to become operative on July 1, 2013, if not disapproved by the Legislature in accordance with specified procedures. This bill would become operative on July 1, 2013, and only if GRP 2 becomes effective. Hide

(1)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. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to prohibit the use of risk factors and specified characteristics to deny an injured worker his or her rightful benefit when disabled in the workplace. The bill would also state the intent of the Legislature to prohibit the apportionment of risk factors and characteristics without prohibiting the apportionment of documentable preexisting nonindustrial causes of disability or holding an employer liable for any percentage of permanent disability not directly caused by an injury arising out of and occurring in the course of employment. (2)Existing law requires any physician who prepares a report addressing the issue of permanent disability due to a claimed industrial injury to address the issue of causation of the permanent disability, and requires that the report include an apportionment determination in order to be considered complete on the issue of permanent disability. Existing law requires a physician to make an apportionment determination by finding what approximate percentage of the permanent disability is caused by the direct result of injury arising out of and occurring in the course of employment and what approximate percentage is caused by other factors. This bill would prohibit the approximate percentage of the permanent disability caused by other factors from including consideration of race, religious creed, color, national origin, age, gender, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, or genetic characteristics. Hide

Existing law, the Money Transmission Act, provides for the regulation of money transmission businesses in California by the Department of Financial Institutions. Existing law provides that corporations or limited liability companies may become licensed for money transmission, and that a licensee may appoint agents, as specified, to conduct money transmission on behalf of the licensee. This bill would require specified money transmission licensees to provide, on or before April 1, 2013, and annually thereafter, each of their agents with training materials on recognizing elder or dependent adult financial abuse, and on the appropriate response to suspected elder or dependent adult financial abuse in a transaction. Hide

The Sales and Use Tax Law imposes a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state, measured by sales price. That law defines a “retailer engaged in business in this state” to include retailers that engage in specified activities in this state and requires every retailer engaged in business in this state and making sales of tangible personal property for storage, use, or other consumption in this state to register with the State Board of Equalization and to collect the tax from the purchaser and remit it to the board. This bill would include in the definition of a retailer engaged in business in this state any retailer entering into agreements under which a person or persons in this state, for a commission or other consideration, directly or indirectly refer potential purchasers, whether by an Internet-based link or an Internet Web site, or otherwise, to the retailer, provided the total cumulative sales price from all sales by the retailer to purchasers in this state that are referred pursuant to these agreements is in excess of $10,000, within the preceding 12 months, and provided further that the retailer has cumulative sales of tangible personal property to purchasers in this state of over $500,000, within the preceding 12 months, except as specified. This bill would further provide that a retailer entering specified agreements to purchase advertising is not a retailer engaged in business in this state and would define a retailer to include an entity affiliated with a retailer under federal income tax law, as specified. This bill would further provide that these provisions would not apply if the retailer can demonstrate that the referrals would not satisfy specified United States constitutional requirements, as provided.This bill would provide that the provisions of this bill are severable. Hide

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The act authorizes the state board to include use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law imposes limitations on any link, as defined, between the state and another state, province, or country for purposes of a market-based compliance mechanism by, among other things, prohibiting any state agency, including the state board, from taking any action to create such a link unless the state agency notifies the Governor, and the Governor issues specified written findings on the proposed link that consider the advice of the Attorney General. This bill would prohibit the Governor’s written findings on the proposed link from being subject to judicial review. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would require the moneys in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to be used for specified purposes. The bill would require the Department of Finance, in consultation with the state board and any other relevant state entity, to develop, as specified, a 3-year investment plan that includes specified analysis and information and to submit the plan to the Legislature, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Finance to submit a report no later than March 1, 2014, and annually thereafter, to the appropriate committees of the Legislature containing specified information. This bill would make its provisions contingent on the enactment of other legislation, as specified. Hide

Existing law imposes a sales tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, and a use tax on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state, measured by sales price. That law requires every retailer engaged in business in this state, as defined, and making sales of tangible personal property for storage, use, or other consumption in this state to collect the tax from the purchaser. Existing law defines a “retailer engaged in business in this state” to include a retailer that has substantial nexus with this state and a retailer upon whom federal law permits the state to impose a use tax collection duty; a retailer entering into an agreement or agreements under which a person or persons in this state, for a commission or other consideration, directly or indirectly refer potential purchasers of tangible personal property to the retailer, whether by an Internet-based link or an Internet Web site, or otherwise, provided that 2 specified conditions are met, including the condition that the retailer, within the preceding 12 months, has total cumulative sales of tangible personal property to purchasers in this state in excess of $500,000; and a retailer that is a member of a commonly controlled group, as defined under the Corporation Tax Law, and a member of a combined reporting group, as defined, that includes another member of the retailer’s commonly controlled group that, pursuant to an agreement with or in cooperation with the retailer, performs services in this state in connection with tangible personal property to be sold by the retailer. This bill would revise the definition of a “retailer engaged in business in this state” to temporarily eliminate the above-mentioned inclusions in that definition, and would condition the commencement of the operation of these inclusions upon the enactment of a certain federal law and the state’s election to implement that law. This bill, for purposes of one of those inclusions, would revise the cumulative sales condition to increase the amount of total cumulative sales of tangible personal property to purchasers in this state to an amount in excess of $1,000,000. This bill would provide that certain provisions of this bill are severable. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Hide

The Public Employees’ Retirement Law establishes the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) for the purpose of providing pension benefits to specified public employees. PERS is funded by investment returns and employer and employee contributions. Existing law authorizes a contracting agency and its employees to agree in writing to share the costs of any optional benefit that is inapplicable to a contracting agency until the agency elects to be subject to the benefit. This bill would instead authorize a contracting agency and its employees to agree in writing to share the costs of the employer contribution with or without a change in benefits, as specified. The bill would prohibit an employer from using impasse procedures to impose member cost sharing on any contribution amount above that which is authorized by law. The County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (CERL) authorizes counties and districts, as defined, to provide a system of retirement benefits to their employees. CERL defines compensation earnable for the purpose of calculating benefits as the average compensation for the period under consideration with respect to the average number of days ordinarily worked by persons in the same grade or class of positions during the period, and at the same rate of pay, as determined by the retirement board. This bill would exclude from the definition of compensation earnable any compensation determined by the board to have been paid to enhance a member’s retirement benefit. The bill would also exclude various payments from the definition of compensation earnable, including payments for unused vacation, annual leave, personal leave, sick leave, and compensatory time off, as well as payments made at the termination of employment, except what may be earned and payable in each 12-month period during the final average salary period. Hide

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the state Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act define and regulate consumer credit reports and authorize the use of consumer credit reports for employment purposes, pursuant to specified requirements. The FCRA provides that it does not preempt state law, except as specifically provided or to the extent that state laws are inconsistent with its provisions. Existing federal and state law specify the procedures that an employer is required to follow before requesting a report and if adverse action is taken based on the report. Existing federal law provides that, subject to certain exceptions, an employer may not procure a report or cause one to be procured for employment purposes, unless prior disclosure of the procurement is made to the consumer and the consumer authorizes the procurement, as specified. Existing federal law further requires, subject to certain exceptions, an employer, before taking any adverse action based on the report, to provide the consumer with a copy of the report and a written description of certain rights of the consumer. Under existing state law, an employer may request a credit report for employment purposes so long as he or she provides prior written notice of the request to the person for whom the report is sought. Existing state law also requires that the written notice inform the person for whom the consumer credit report is sought that a report will be used and of the source of the report and contain space for the person to request a copy of the report. Existing state law further requires an employer, whenever he or she bases an adverse employment decision on information contained in a consumer credit report, to advise the person for whom the report was sought that an adverse action was taken based upon information contained in the report and provide the person with the name and address of the consumer credit agency making the report. A consumer who suffers damages resulting from a violation of these state law provisions may bring a court action to recover monetary damages, as specified, but no person is liable for the violation if he or she shows reasonable procedures were maintained to assure compliance with the provisions, as specified. This bill would prohibit an employer or prospective employer, with the exception of certain financial institutions, from obtaining a consumer credit report, as defined, for employment purposes unless the position of the person for whom the report is sought is (1) a position in the state Department of Justice, (2) a managerial position, as defined, (3) that of a sworn peace officer or other law enforcement position, (4) a position for which the information contained in the report is required by law to be disclosed or obtained, (5) a position that involves regular access to specified personal information for any purpose other than the routine solicitation and processing of credit card applications in a retail establishment, (6) a position in which the person is or would be a named signatory on the employer’s bank or credit card account, or authorized to transfer money or enter into financial contracts on the employer’s behalf, (7) a position that involves access to confidential or proprietary information, as specified, or (8) a position that involves regular access to $10,000 or more of cash, as specified. This bill would also require the written notice informing the person for whom a consumer credit report is sought for employment purposes to also inform the person of the specific reason for obtaining the report, as specified. Hide

Existing law provides that a defendant in any litigation pending in any court in the state may move the court, upon notice and hearing, for an order requiring the plaintiff to furnish security, based upon the ground that the plaintiff is a vexatious litigant, as defined, and has no reasonable probability of prevailing. Upon motion, existing law requires the court to consider specified evidence as may be material to the ground of the motion, but prohibits any determination made by the court to be or be deemed a determination of any issue in the litigation. Existing law requires the court to order the plaintiff to furnish security if, after hearing the evidence upon the motion, the court determines that the plaintiff is a vexatious litigant and that there is no reasonable probability that the plaintiff will prevail. Existing law provides that when a motion to require security is filed prior to trial, the litigation is stayed and the moving defendant is not required to plead until 10 days after the motion is denied or, if granted, 10 days after the required security has been furnished and the moving defendant has been given notice. Existing law provides that if a motion is filed any time after trial begins, the litigation is required to be stayed for such period after the denial of the motion or the furnishing of the required security, as determined by the court. This bill would additionally authorize a defendant to move for an order to dismiss litigation or to seek relief in the alternative, as specified. The bill would require the defendant to combine all grounds for relief in one motion. This bill would require the court to order the litigation dismissed if, after hearing evidence on the motion, the court determines the litigation has no merit. The bill would specify that these provisions would only apply to litigation filed in a court of this state by a vexatious litigant subject to a prefiling order, as specified, who was represented by counsel at the time the litigation was filed and who became in propria persona after the withdrawal of his or her attorney. Hide

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law impose taxes on, or measured by, income. Existing law requires the Franchise Tax Board to make available as a matter of public record each calendar year a list of the 250 largest tax delinquencies in excess of $100,000, and requires the list to include specified information with respect to each delinquency. This bill would, on or before December 1, 2013, and annually thereafter until January 1, 2018, require that the Franchise Tax Board publish a list of the 500 largest corporate taxpayers per taxable year, that includes each taxpayer’s tax liability, charitable contribution information, and income apportionment information, as provided. This bill would also make findings and declarations regarding the intent of the Legislature. Hide

Existing law authorizes the board of supervisors of each county to appoint, prescribe the qualifications of, and fix the compensation of an officer to be titled “county veterans service officer,” whose duty is to administer specified aid provided veterans, to investigate all claims, applications, or requests for aid made, and to perform any other veteran-related services as requested by the county board of supervisors. Existing law provides for the establishment and operation of the Veterans’ Home of California at various sites for aged and disabled veterans who meet certain eligibility requirements.This bill would continuously appropriate, on a fiscal year basis, from the General Fund, $90 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the purpose of operating specified veterans’ homes in California and $15 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the purposes of funding county veterans service officers, thereby making an appropriation. Hide

(1)Existing law prohibits a person from renting a motor vehicle to another unless the person to whom the vehicle is rented is a validly licensed driver, as specified, and the person renting to that driver has inspected the person’s driver’s license and compared the signature on the license with the signature of the driver written in his or her presence. This bill would delete the requirement that the signature of the driver be written in his or her presence and would allow the person renting the vehicle to instead compare the photograph on the driver’s license of the person with the person to whom the vehicle is to be rented. The bill would also exempt a “rental company,” as defined, from these requirements if the rental is subject to the terms of a membership agreement that allows the renter to gain physical access to a car without a key through use of a code, key card, or by other means that allow the car to be accessed at a remote location or at a business location of the rental company outside of that location’s regular hours of operation. (2)Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to not issue a commercial driver’s license to any person to operate a commercial motor vehicle until the person has passed a written and driving test for the operation of a commercial motor vehicle that complies with the minimum federal standards established by the federal Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986 and specified federal regulations, and has satisfied all other requirements of that act as well as any other requirements imposed by the Vehicle Code. This bill would authorize the department to waive the driving skills test required by federal regulations for a commercial motor vehicle driver with military commercial motor vehicle experience who is currently licensed with the United States Armed Forces at the time of his or her application for a commercial driver’s license, and whose driving record in combination with his or her driving experience meets, at a minimum, specified conditions required by federal law. (3)This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 15250 of the Vehicle Code proposed by AB 2188, to become operative only if AB 2188 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2013, and this bill is chaptered last. Hide

Existing law specifies the judgments and orders from which an appeal may be taken to the court of appeal. Existing law also provides that, if the consent of any person who should have been joined as a plaintiff cannot be obtained, the person may be made a defendant. This bill would require an appellate court to permit an appeal from an order granting or denying class action certification to join a defendant pursuant to those provisions if the petition to appeal is filed within 14 days of entry of the order. Hide

Existing law, the Displaced Janitor Opportunity Act, requires contractors and subcontractors, that are awarded contracts or subcontracts by an awarding authority to provide janitorial or building maintenance services at a particular job site or sites, to retain, for a period of 60 days, certain employees who were employed at that site by the previous contractor or subcontractor. The act requires the successor contractors and subcontractors to offer continued employment to those employees retained for the 60-day period if their performance during that 60-day period is satisfactory. The act authorizes an employee who was not offered employment or who has been discharged in violation of these provisions by a successor contractor or successor subcontractor, or an agent of the employee, to bring an action against a successor contractor or successor subcontractor in any superior court of the state having jurisdiction over the successor contractor or successor subcontractor, as specified. This bill would rename the act the Displaced Property Service Employee Opportunity Act and make the provisions of the act applicable to property services, which would consist of licensed security, as defined, window cleaning, food cafeteria and dietary services, janitorial services, and building maintenance services. This bill would exclude from the definitions of “contractor” and “subcontractor” specified types of food service providers. The bill also would make conforming changes. Hide

Existing law authorizes employers to provide their employees paid sick leave. This bill would provide that an employee who works in California for 7 or more days in a calendar year is entitled to paid sick days, as defined, which shall be accrued at a rate of no less than one hour for every 30 hours worked. An employee would be entitled to use accrued sick days beginning on the 90th calendar day of employment. The bill would require employers to provide paid sick days, upon the request of the employee, for diagnosis, care, or treatment of health conditions of the employee or an employee’s family member, or for leave related to domestic violence or sexual assault. An employer would be prohibited from discriminating or retaliating against an employee who requests paid sick days. The bill would require employers to satisfy specified posting and notice and recordkeeping requirements. The bill would also make conforming changes. This bill would require the Labor Commissioner to administer and enforce these requirements, including the promulgation of regulations, investigation, mitigation, and relief of violations of these requirements. This bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner to impose specified administrative fines for violations and would authorize an aggrieved person, the commissioner, the Attorney General, or an entity a member of which is aggrieved to bring an action to recover specified civil penalties against an offender, as well as attorney’s fees, costs, and interest. The bill would specify that it does not apply to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement that provides for paid sick days, nor does it lessen any other obligations of the employer to employees. This bill would further specify that it does not apply to employees in the construction industry covered by a collective bargaining agreement if the agreement expressly waives the requirements of this article in clear and unambiguous terms. However, the bill would specify that it applies to certain public authorities, established to deliver in-home supportive services, except where a collective bargaining agreement provides for an incremental wage increase sufficient to satisfy the bill’s requirements for accrual of sick days. Hide

(1)Existing law authorizes the Labor Commissioner to investigate and enforce statutes and orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission that, among other things, specify the requirements for the payment of wages by employers. Existing law provides for criminal and civil penalties for violations of statutes and orders of the commission regarding payment of wages. This bill would provide that in addition to being subject to a civil penalty, any employer who pays or causes to be paid to any employee a wage less than the minimum fixed by an order of the commission shall be subject to paying restitution of wages to the employee. This bill would make it a misdemeanor if an employer willfully violates specified wage statutes or orders, or willfully fails to pay a final court judgment or final order of the Labor Commissioner for wages due. (2)Existing law provides that an action by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement within the Department of Industrial Relations for collection of a statutory penalty or fee must be commenced within one year after the penalty or fee became final. This bill would extend the period within which the division may commence a collection action, as defined, from one year to 3 years. (3)Existing law permits the Labor Commissioner to require an employer who has been convicted of a subsequent wage violation or who has failed to satisfy a judgment to post a bond in order to continue business operations. This bill would extend the time required for a subsequently convicted employer to maintain a bond from 6 months to 2 years and would require that a subsequently convicted employer provide an accounting of assets, as specified, to the Labor Commissioner. (4)Existing law requires an employer to post specified wage and hour information in a location where it can be viewed by employees. This bill would require an employer to provide each employee, at the time of hiring, with a notice that specifies the rate and the basis, whether hourly, salary, commission, or otherwise, of the employee’s wages and to notify each employee in writing of any changes to the information set forth in the notice within 7 calendar days of the changes unless such changes are reflected on a timely wage statement or another writing, as specified. No notice would be required for an employee who is employed by the state or any subdivision thereof, exempt from the payment of overtime, or covered by a collective bargaining agreement containing specified information. (5)In addition to the crime and employer obligations imposed by this bill, the Labor Code provides for other work-related standards and duties that, upon violation, are subject to specified penalties. This bill would state that the Labor Code establishes minimum penalties for failure to comply with wage-related statutes and regulations. Because this bill would create a new crime or expand the definition of a crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program. (6)This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 98 of the Labor Code proposed by AB 240, that would become operative only if AB 240 and this bill are both enacted, both bills become effective on or before January 1, 2012, and this bill is enacted last. This bill would also incorporate additional changes to Section 226 of the Labor Code proposed by AB 243, that would become operative only if AB 243 and this bill are both enacted, both bills become effective on or before January 1, 2012, and this bill is enacted last. (7)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. Hide

(1)Existing law prohibits an employer from issuing in payment of wages due certain instruments, including an order, check, draft, note, memorandum, scrip, coupon, card, or other acknowledgment of indebtedness or redeemable instrument, unless specified requirements are satisfied. This bill would authorize an employer to pay an employee’s wages by means of a payroll card, as defined, provided that specified requirements are satisfied. In addition, the bill would make a violation of its provisions a misdemeanor and would subject a violator to specified civil penalties. By creating new crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2)Existing law requires an employer to provide employees, at the time wages are paid, with an itemized statement containing specified items regarding the wages earned. This bill would extend the requirement for an itemized statement of wages to an employer who pays his or her employees via payroll cards. 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. Hide

Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Under existing law, no change in premium rates or coverage in a health care service plan or a health insurance policy may become effective without prior written notification of the change to the contractholder or policyholder. Existing law prohibits a health care service plan or health insurer during the term of a group plan contract or policy from changing the rate of the premium, copayment, coinsurance, or deductible during specified time periods. Existing law requires a health care service plan or health insurer that issues individual or group contracts or policies to file with the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance specified rate information at least 60 days prior to the effective date of any rate change. This bill would further require a health care service plan or health insurer that issues individual or group contracts or policies to file with the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance, on and after January 1, 2012, a complete rate application for any proposed rate, as defined, or rate change, and would prohibit the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance from approving any rate or rate change that is found to be excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory. The bill would require the rate application to include certain rate information. The bill would authorize the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance to approve, deny, or modify any proposed rate or rate change, and would authorize the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to review any rate or rate change that went into effect between January 1, 2011, and January 1, 2012, and to order refunds, subject to these provisions. The bill would authorize the imposition of fees on health care service plans and health insurers for purposes of implementation, for deposit into newly created funds, subject to appropriation. The bill would impose civil penalties on a health care service plan or health insurer, and subject a health care service plan to discipline, for a violation of these provisions, as specified. The bill would establish proceedings for the review of any action taken under those provisions related to rate applications and would require the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance, and plans and insurers, to disclose specified information on the Internet pertaining to rate applications and those proceedings. The bill would require the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance, or the court, to award reasonable advocate’s fees, including expert witness fees, and other reasonable costs in those proceedings under specified circumstances, to be paid by the plan or insurer. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan 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. Hide

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, as defined. The existing Public Utilities Act requires every public utility to furnish and maintain adequate, efficient, just, and reasonable service, instrumentalities, equipment, and facilities as are necessary to promote the safety, health, comfort, and convenience of its patrons, employees, and the public. This bill would provide that the ownership, control, operation, or management of a facility that supplies electricity to the public only for use to charge light duty plug-in electric vehicles, as defined, does not make the corporation or person a public utility for purposes of the act. Hide

Existing law generally regulates the transfer of firearms and provides for retaining specified information regarding firearm transfers by the Department of Justice. Existing law establishes different requirements regarding reportable information for handguns and firearms that are not handguns. Under existing law, the Department of Justice requires firearms dealers to keep a register or record of electronic or telephonic transfers of information pertaining to firearms transactions, as specified. Existing law exempts from these requirements certain transactions involving firearms that are not handguns. This bill would conform those provisions so that the transfers and information reporting and retention requirements for handguns and firearms other than handguns are the same. This bill would provide that those exemptions become inoperative on January 1, 2014. Existing law, subject to specified exceptions, prohibits peace officers, Department of Justice employees, and the Attorney General from retaining or compiling certain information relating to transactions regarding firearms that are not handguns, as specified. A violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor. This bill would provide that those provisions are repealed on January 1, 2014, and thereafter would require those peace officers to retain and compile information regarding firearms that are not handguns, as specified. Existing law requires a personal handgun importer to report certain information relative to bringing a handgun into the state, as specified. Violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2014, apply these reporting requirements instead to a “personal firearm importer,” as defined, and would expand the reporting requirements to apply to the importation of firearms that are not handguns. The bill would further prohibit a personal firearm importer from importing a firearm that is a .50 BMG rifle or a destructive device. By expanding these provisions, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate changes to Section 27590 of the Penal Code made by AB 109, which is chaptered but not yet operative. The bill would make additional conforming changes and would make additional technical, nonsubstantive changes. 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. Hide

Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, provides that a patient or a patient’s primary caregiver who possesses or cultivates marijuana for personal medical purposes of the patient upon the written or oral recommendation or approval of a physician is not subject to conviction for offenses relating to possession and cultivation of marijuana. Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to establish and maintain a voluntary program for the issuance of identification cards to patients qualified to use marijuana for their personal medical purposes, and to their primary caregivers, if any. Existing law states, however, that these provisions do not require any accommodation of any medical use of marijuana on the property or premises of any place of employment or during the hours of employment. This bill, notwithstanding existing law, would declare it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person in hiring, termination, or any term or condition of employment or otherwise penalize a person, if the discrimination is based upon the person’s status as a qualified patient or a positive drug test for marijuana, except as specified. The bill would authorize a person who has suffered discrimination in violation of the bill to institute and prosecute a civil action for damages, injunctive relief, reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, any other appropriate equitable relief, as specified, and any other relief the court may deem proper. The bill would not prohibit an employer from terminating the employment of, or taking other corrective action against, an employee who is impaired on the property or premises of the place of employment, or during the hours of employment, because of the medical use of marijuana. Hide

(1)The California Constitution requires the Governor to submit annually to the Legislature a budget itemizing state expenditures and estimating state revenues and requires the Legislature to pass the Budget Bill by midnight on June 15. This bill would require that the budget submitted by the Governor to the Legislature for the 2013–14 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter, as specified in a plan developed by the Department of Finance and distributed to the appropriate committees of the Legislature by August 1, 2012, be developed pursuant to performance-based budgeting, as defined, for each state agency. (2)Under existing law, a state agency for which an appropriation is made is generally required to submit to the Department of Finance for approval a complete and detailed budget setting forth all proposed expenditures and estimated revenues for the ensuing fiscal year. The bill would require the budget of a state agency, as defined, submitted to the department as specified in the plan developed by the department, to utilize performance-based budgeting for all programs, as defined to include those performed not only by state agencies, but by local agencies, contractors, or others that have a material relationship with the state, or its authorities and activities. For those programs not administered by the state, but which confer a benefit that would not otherwise be conferred but for the action of state government, state departments would be required to develop a process for consulting with responsible local agencies, contractors or other responsible entities, and stakeholders to develop information related to performance standards and program performance. The bill would require the department to include specified performance-based budgeting information in the Governor’s Budget proposal and to post that information on the department’s Internet Web site. Implementation of the requirement to use performance-based budgeting for departments and programs would be contingent on an appropriation of funding for that requirement in the annual Budget Act. Hide

Under existing law, a person who is a voter or is qualified to register to vote in this state may circulate an initiative or referendum petition, and a person who is a voter may circulate a recall petition. This bill would provide that it is a misdemeanor for a person to pay or to receive money or any other thing of value based on the number of signatures obtained on a state or local initiative, referendum, or recall petition and would prescribe penalties for doing so. By creating a new 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. Hide

Existing law, the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006, approved by the voters as Proposition 1B at the November 7, 2006, statewide general election, authorizes the issuance of general obligation bonds for various transportation-related purposes, including reducing emissions and improving air quality in trade corridors. The State Air Resources Board is required to allocate the funds to be used for air quality purposes pursuant to specified requirements through the Goods Movement Emission Reduction Program. Projects for the provision of on-shore electrical power for ocean freight carriers calling at the state’s seaports to reduce the use of auxiliary and main engine ship power are authorized for funding. This bill would require the state board to reimburse eligible project costs on a quarterly basis, as provided. Hide

(1)The Permit Streamlining Act requires the lead agency that has the principal responsibility for approving a development project, as defined, to approve or disapprove the project within 60 days from the date of adoption of a negative declaration or the determination by the lead agency that the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, unless the project proponent requests an extension of time. This bill would, in addition, require a city, county, or city and county, including a charter city, prior to approving or disapproving a proposed development project that would permit the construction of a superstore retailer, as defined, to cause an economic impact report to be prepared, as specified, to be paid for by the project applicant, and that includes specified assessments and projections including, among other things, an assessment of the effect that the construction and operation of the proposed superstore retailer will have on retail operations and employment in the same market area. The bill would also require the governing body to provide an opportunity for public comment on the economic impact report. By increasing the duties of local public officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require the lead agency to approve or disapprove the project within 180 days from the date of certification of an environmental impact report and approval of an economic impact report, or within 60 days from the date of adoption of a negative declaration and approval of an economic impact report or the determination by the lead agency that the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act and approval of an economic impact report. (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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. Hide

(1)The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA establishes procedures for creating the administrative record and judicial review procedure for any action or proceeding brought to challenge the lead agency’s decision to certify the EIR or to grant project approvals. The Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2011 establishes alternative procedures for creating the administrative record and specified judicial review procedures for the judicial review of the EIR and approvals granted for a leadership project related to the development of a residential, retail, commercial, sports, cultural, entertainment, or recreational use project, or clean renewable energy or clean energy manufacturing project. The act authorizes the Governor, upon application, to certify a leadership project for streamlining pursuant to the act if certain conditions are met. The act requires that the project result in a minimum investment of $100,000,000 in California upon completion of construction and not result in any net additional emission of greenhouse gases, including greenhouse gas emissions from employee transportation. This bill would require instead that a project result in a minimum investment of $100,000,000 spent on planning, design, and construction of the project. The bill, in order to maximize public health, environmental, and employment benefits, would require a lead agency to place the highest priority on feasible measures that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions on the project site and in the neighboring communities of the project site. (2)The act requires a party seeking judicial review of the EIR to bring concurrently other claims alleging a public agency has granted land use approvals or a leadership project in violation of relevant laws. This bill would repeal this provision. (3)The act requires the Judicial Council to report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2015, on the effects of the act, including specific information on benefits, costs, and detriments. The bill would require instead that the Judicial Council report to the Legislature on the effects of the act on the administration of justice. The bill also would make technical and clarifying changes. Because a lead agency would be required to perform additional actions, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (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. Hide

Existing law grants to the State Air Resources Board the primary authority for the control of air pollution from vehicular sources. The state board tests and certifies new motor vehicle models for compliance with air pollution emissions standards developed by the state board. This bill would require the state board, within 30 working days after receipt of an application for certification of a new, a carryover, or a partial carryover on-road or off-road vehicle, engine, or equipment family, as defined, to inform the applicant, in writing, either that the application is complete and accepted for filing, or that the application is deficient, identifying the specific information required to make the application complete. Hide

Existing law sets forth the requirements for the solicitation and evaluation of bids and the awarding of contracts by public entities and authorizes a public entity to use, enter into, or require contractors to enter into, a project labor agreement for a construction project if the agreement includes specified taxpayer protection provisions. Existing law also provides that if a charter provision, initiative, or ordinance of a charter city prohibits the governing board’s consideration of a project labor agreement for a project to be awarded by the city, or prohibits the governing board from considering whether to allocate funds to a city-funded project covered by such an agreement, state funding or financial assistance may not be used to support that project, as specified. This bill would additionally provide that if a charter provision, initiative, or ordinance of a charter city prohibits, limits, or constrains in any way the governing board’s authority or discretion to adopt, require, or utilize a project labor agreement that includes specified taxpayer protection provisions for some or all of the construction projects to be awarded by the city, state funding or financial assistance may not be used to support any construction projects awarded by the city, as specified. Hide

Existing law prohibits an employer from issuing in payment of wages due certain instruments, including an order, check, draft, note, memorandum, scrip, coupon, card, or other acknowledgment of indebtedness or redeemable instrument, unless specified requirements are satisfied. This bill would authorize an employer to pay an employee’s wages by means of a payroll card, as defined, provided that specified requirements are satisfied. In addition, the bill would make a violation of its provisions a misdemeanor and would subject a violator to specified civil penalties. By creating new crimes, this 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. Hide

Existing law regulates the labeling requirements for various consumer products. This bill would require a specified notice relating to radiofrequency energy emitted by a cellular telephone to be prominently displayed by the retailer of the cellular telephone in California immediately adjacent to the displayed purchase price at the physical retail location and on the retailer’s Internet Web sites, and on the cellular telephone’s exterior packaging or on a label attached to that exterior packaging. Hide

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 the administrative director, after public hearings, to adopt and revise periodically an official medical fee schedule to establish reasonable maximum fees paid for medical services, drugs and pharmacy services, health care facility fees, home health care, and all other treatment, care, services, and goods, other than physician services. Existing law separately requires reimbursement for certain implantable medical devices, hardware, and instrumentation, at the provider’s documented paid cost, plus an additional 10%, plus sales tax, as specified. Under existing law, this reimbursement formula is operative only until the administrative director adopts a regulation specifying reimbursement for the designated items, as prescribed. This bill would delete the above-described reimbursement specifications relating to implantable medical devices, hardware, and instrumentation. Hide

Existing law creates the State Air Resources Board and gives to the state board various duties relating to reducing emissions of air pollutants, including emissions of greenhouse gases. This bill would require the state board to make available to the public each technical, theoretical, and empirical study, report, or similar document, if any, on which the agency relies, related to, but not limited to, air emissions, public health impacts, and economic impacts, before the comment period for any regulation proposed for adoption by the state board. Hide

Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board to formulate and adopt state policy for water quality control. California regional water quality control boards are required to establish water quality objectives in water quality control plans. Under existing law, a local agency, by ordinance, may limit the availability, or prohibit the installation, of residential water softening or conditioning appliances that discharge to the community sewer system if the local agency makes certain findings and includes them in the ordinance. This bill would authorize any local agency that owns or operates a community sewer system or water recycling facility, within specified areas of the state, to take action, by ordinance or resolution, after a public hearing on the matter, to control salinity inputs from residential self-regenerating water softeners to protect the quality of the waters of the state, if the appropriate regional board makes a finding that the control of residential salinity input will contribute to the achievement of water quality objectives. The bill would state related findings and declarations of the Legislature, including findings and declarations concerning the need for special legislation. Hide

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to require the reporting and verification of emissions of greenhouse gases and to monitor and enforce compliance with the reporting and verification program, and requires the state board to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020. The act requires the state board to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. The act authorizes the state board to adopt a schedule of fees to be paid by the sources of greenhouse gas emissions regulated pursuant to the act, and requires the revenues collected pursuant to that fee to be deposited into the Air Pollution Control Fund and be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of carrying out the act. This bill would establish the California Climate Change Community Benefits Fund, and would require a minimum of 10% of revenues generated for the state each year from the state sale of compliance instruments for market-based compliance mechanisms pursuant to the act, other than revenues collected for administrative purposes, to be deposited into that fund. The moneys in the fund would be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, in the most impacted and disadvantaged communities, as defined, to fund programs or projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or mitigate direct health, or environmental, impacts of climate change through competitive grants, loans, or other funding mechanisms. The Secretary for Environmental Protection would be required to administer moneys appropriated from the fund and would be required to establish criteria and procedures, and meet other requirements in connection with implementation, as provided. Hide

Existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, contains various provisions regarding the contents, packaging, labeling, and advertising of food, drugs, and cosmetics. A violation of any of these provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would prohibit a retailer from selling or permitting to be sold after the “use by” date infant formula, as defined, or baby food, as defined, that is required to have this date on its packaging pursuant to federal law. It would also prohibit a retailer from selling or permitting to be sold after the expiration date an over the counter drug, as defined, that is required to have this expiration date on its packaging pursuant to that federal law. A violation of these provisions would, notwithstanding the above-described penalty, be punishable as an infraction with a specified fine. By creating a new crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that local and state authorities should make reasonable efforts to notify the public about potential threats to public safety resulting from the sale of expired products and, for public purchasers of expired products, to contact their respective state or local authorities. 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. Hide

Existing law requires the State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs to perform various functions and duties with respect to the development and implementation of state and local substance abuse treatment programs. This bill would, in addition, establish the Alcohol-Related Services Program and the Alcohol-Related Services Program Fund and would authorize the State Board of Equalization to assess and collect specified fees from every person who is engaged in business in this state and sells alcoholic beverages for resale, as prescribed. The bill would require the fees to be deposited into the fund and would continuously appropriate those moneys exclusively for the alcohol-related services programs established pursuant to this bill. The bill would authorize the State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs to establish, contract for, or provide grants for the establishment of component services under the 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. Hide

The Sales and Use Tax Law imposes a tax on the gross receipts from the sale in this state of, or the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, tangible personal property. That law imposes the sales tax upon “retailers,” and defines a “retailer engaged in business in this state” to include specified entities. Existing law also provides that every retailer engaged in business in this state and making sales of tangible personal property for storage, use, or other consumption in this state, that engages in specified activities in this state shall, at the time of sale or at the time the storage, use, or other consumption becomes taxable, collect the tax from the purchaser. This bill would include in the definition of a “retailer engaging in business in this state” a retailer entering into an agreement with a resident of this state under which the resident, for a commission or other consideration, directly or indirectly refers potential customers, whether by a link or an Internet Web site or otherwise, to the retailer, if the cumulative gross receipts or sales price from sales by the retailer to customers in this state who are referred pursuant to these agreements is in excess of $10,000 during the preceding 4 calendar quarterly periods, except as specified. Hide

(1)Existing law requires an operator of a store, as defined, to establish an at-store recycling program that provides to customers the opportunity to return clean plastic carryout bags to that store. This requirement is repealed on January 1, 2013. Existing law prohibits a city, county, or other local public agency from taking specified regulatory actions with regard to the recycling of plastic carryout bags. This bill would repeal those at-store recycling program requirements on January 1, 2012, and would repeal, on January 1, 2011, the provision preempting local regulatory action. The bill would, as of January 1, 2012, prohibit stores that have a specified amount of sales or retail floor space from providing a single-use carryout bag to a customer. The bill would require these stores, from January 1, 2012, until June 30, 2013, to provide a specified type of reusable bag and after July 1, 2013, to only provide reusable bags that meet certain criteria. The bill would require these stores to make reusable bags available for purchase. The bill would allow a store, on and after January 1, 2013, to provide reusable bags to customers at no cost only when combined with a time limited store promotional program. The bill also would authorize a store, as of January 1, 2011, to provide recycled paper bags, but would require the store to charge the consumer, on and after January 1, 2012, the actual average cost of the recycled paper bag.The bill would require these stores, on and after January 1, 2012, to provide a plastic collection bin for its customers, for the purpose of collecting and recycling single-use plastic bags and reusable bags.The bill would, on and after July 1, 2013, additionally impose these prohibitions and requirements on convenience food stores, foodmarts, and certain other specified stores. The bill would, beginning January 1, 2013, require a reusable grocery bag producer to submit to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery a biennial certification, including a certification fee established by the department, that certifies that each type of reusable grocery bag that is imported, manufactured, sold or distributed in the state and provided to a store for sale or distribution meets specified requirements. The bill would require the department to deposit the certification fees into the Reusable Bag Account, which would be established by the bill in the Integrated Waste Management Fund. The bill would require that moneys in the account be expended by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to implement the certification requirements. A violation of these certification requirements would be subject to an administrative civil penalty assessed by the department. The department would be required to deposit these penalties into the Penalty Subaccount, which the bill would create in the Reusable Bag Account, for expenditure by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to implement the certification requirements.The bill would require the department, by January 1, 2015, to submit a report to the Legislature regarding the implementation of the bill’s provisions. The bill would repeal this report requirement on January 1, 2016.This bill would, as of January 1, 2011, preempt local regulations on the use and sales of reusable bags, single-use carryout bags, recycled paper bags, or other specified bags at stores, as defined.The bill would allow a city, county, city and county or the state to impose civil penalties for a violation of the bill’s requirements, except for the certification requirements. The bill would require these civil penalties to be paid to the office of the city attorney, city prosecutor, district attorney, or Attorney General, whichever office brought the action, and would allow the penalties collected by the Attorney General to be expended by the Attorney General, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to enforce the bill’s provisions. (2)The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 creates the Recycling Market Development Revolving Loan Subaccount in the Integrated Waste Management Account and continuously appropriates the funds deposited in the subaccount to the department for making loans for the purposes of the Recycling Market Development Revolving Loan Program. Existing law makes the provisions regarding the loan program, the creation of the subaccount, and expenditures therefrom inoperative on July 1, 2011, and repeals them as of January 1, 2012.This bill would appropriate $2,000,000 from the Recycling Market Development Revolving Loan Subaccount in the Integrated Waste Management Account to the department for the purposes of providing loans and grants for the creation and retention of jobs and economic activity in the manufacture and recycling of plastic bags that use recycled content. Hide

The Confidentiality of Medical Information Act prohibits a provider of health care, a health care service plan, contractor, or corporation and its subsidiaries and affiliates from intentionally sharing, selling, using for marketing, or otherwise using any medical information, as defined, for any purpose not necessary to provide health care services to a patient, unless a specified exception applies. This bill would enact the Prescription Record Privacy Act, prohibiting a person or entity, including a pharmacist, from selling or releasing to a 3rd party any physician prescribing data for marketing purposes, as defined, except when the data is necessary for any local, state, or federal governmental or oversight activity, as provided, or is necessary for the processing of a health care claim. The bill also would permit the release of physician prescribing data to a licensed health care professional, service plan, contractor, or facility, as provided, a health insurer or disability insurer, or an authorized operator of a program related to the treatment of chronic and seriously debilitating or life-threatening conditions. The bill would also permit the release of data for clinical trials or established research projects, as provided. This bill would also require that any person that knowingly fails to comply with these provisions be subject to an administrative penalty of at least $10,000 and not more than $50,000 per violation. This bill would authorize the Secretary of California Health and Human Services to adopt regulations to implement these provisions. This bill would require the office of the Attorney General to enforce payment of penalties for violations of these provisions, as provided. This bill would also authorize the Office of Health Information Integrity, upon receipt of a complaint of a violation of these provisions, to conduct an administrative hearing, in accordance with the administrative adjudication provisions set forth in the Administrative Procedure Act, and to assess an administrative fine against a person or entity found to have committed a violation of these provisions. Hide

Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person or employer who, having the ability to pay, willfully refuses to pay wages due to a current employee, an employee who has resigned, or an employee who has been discharged. Under existing law, an aggrieved employee has the right to restitution for unpaid wages. Existing law also imposes civil penalties against a person or employer who wrongfully fails to pay wages. This bill would create a separate prohibition against a person or an employer who, having the ability to pay, willfully fails to pay all wages due to an employee who has been discharged or who has quit within 90 days of the date of the wages becoming due, unless exempted, and would impose additional criminal penalties for that conduct. The bill would also require a person or employer who violates these provisions to pay restitution in an amount equal to the amount of unpaid wages to the aggrieved employee upon conviction. Because this bill would create a new crime, it 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. Hide

Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law prohibits a contract between a plan or insurer and a health care provider from containing certain terms. This bill would prohibit a contract by or on behalf of a plan or insurer and a health care facility, as defined, to provide inpatient hospital services or ambulatory care services to subscribers and enrollees of the plan or policyholders and insureds of the insurer from containing a provision that restricts the ability of the plan or insurer to furnish information to subscribers or enrollees of the plan or policyholders or insureds of the insurer concerning the cost range of procedures at the facility or the quality of services performed by the facility, provided that, among other requirements, the cost information is limited to certain elective, uncomplicated procedures, the plan or insurer also discloses the location of its facility cost ranges and quality measurements and makes specified disclosures regarding those measurements and the cost information provided, and the plan or insurer provides affected facilities an opportunity to review the information prior to furnishing it to subscribers, enrollees, policyholders, or insureds, as specified. The bill would make a contractual provision inconsistent with the bill’s requirements void and unenforceable. Hide

(1)The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, is required to reduce, recycle, and reuse solid waste generated in the state to the maximum extent feasible in an efficient cost-effective manner to conserve water, energy, and other natural resources. The bill would require, by September 30, 2011, a manufacturer of carpets sold in this state, individually or through a carpet stewardship organization, to submit a carpet stewardship plan to the department, which would be required to include specified elements, including a funding mechanism that provides sufficient funding to carry out the plan, including administrative, operational, and capital costs of the plan, the payment of fees, and incentive payments. The bill would require the funding mechanism to establish and provide for, on and after January 1, 2013, a carpet stewardship assessment to be added to the purchase price of carpet sold in the state by a manufacturer to a California retailer or wholesaler or otherwise sold for use in the state and would require each retailer and wholesaler to add the assessment to the purchase price of all carpet sold in the state. The bill would require, until April 1, 2015, the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), a 3rd-party nonprofit carpet stewardship organization, to serve as the carpet stewardship organization and would allow, on and after April 1, 2015, a carpet stewardship organization appointed by one or more manufacturers, to submit a plan. The bill would require, as of July 1, 2011, until January 1, 2013, a manufacturer of carpet to add an assessment of $0.05 per square yard upon the purchase price of all carpet sold in the state by that manufacturer. The bill would require the assessment to be remitted on a quarterly basis, as appropriate, to CARE or would allow the manufacturer to retain that assessment. The bill would require these revenues to be spent by CARE or by an individual manufacturer, prior to approval of its carpet stewardship plan, only to implement early action measures that are consistent to achieve measurable improvements in the landfill diversion and recycling of postconsumer carpet. The department would be required to, among other things, within 60 days after the department receives a plan, review and determine whether the plan complies with the bill’s requirements and notify the submitter of its decision. The bill would specify that any plan not approved by March 31, 2012, is out of compliance until determined to be complete by the department. The bill would provide that a manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer, on and after April 1, 2012, that offers carpet for sale or promotional purposes without an approved plan for that carpet is not in compliance with the act’s requirements. The bill would require the department, by July 1, 2012, and not later than January 1 and July 1 annually thereafter, to post a notice on its Internet Web site listing manufacturers that are in compliance with the bill’s requirements. The bill would require a wholesaler or retailer that distributes or sells carpets to monitor the department’s Internet Web site to determine if the sale of a manufacturer’s carpet is in compliance. The act would also require the carpet stewardship organization to demonstrate to the department that it has achieved continuous meaningful improvement in the rates of recycling and diversion and other specified goals in order to be in compliance. Each manufacturer of carpet sold in the state, individually or through a carpet stewardship organization, would be required to prepare and submit to the department an annual report describing the activities carried out pursuant to the carpet stewardship plan. A manufacturer or carpet stewardship organization submitting a carpet stewardship plan would be required to pay the department an annual administrative fee, as determined by the department. The bill would also require the department to identify the direct development or regulatory costs incurred by the department prior to the submittal of carpet stewardship plans and to establish a fee in an amount adequate to cover those costs, that would be required to be paid by a carpet stewardship organization that submits a carpet stewardship plan. The bill would provide for the imposition of administrative civil penalties upon a person who violates the bill and would provide that a plan submitter whose plan is not approved by the department by March 31, 2012, is subject to those penalties until the plan is approved. The bill would establish the Carpet Stewardship Account in the Integrated Waste Management Fund and would require the fees collected by the department to be deposited in that account, for expenditure by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the department’s cost to implement the bill’s provisions. The bill would also establish the Carpet Stewardship Penalty Subaccount in the Integrated Waste Management Fund and would require that the civil penalties collected by the department pursuant to the bill’s provisions be deposited in that subaccount, for expenditure by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to cover the department’s costs to implement the bill’s provisions. The bill would require the department and the Department of General Services to complete a study, by January 1, 2014, that examines the specifications for carpet purchases by the state, as provided in the NSF/ANSI 140-2007 Standard, Platinum Level, and to submit the study to the Governor and the Legislature, including recommendations for any appropriate changes to that standard. The bill would provide that certain actions of a carpet stewardship organization or its members are not violations of the Cartwright Act or certain provisions regulating unfair business practices or unfair competition. The bill would require the Department of General Services to revise relevant procurement rules to ensure that postconsumer carpet that is removed from state buildings is managed in a manner consistent with the purposes of the bill. (2)Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt regulations to establish a process to identify and prioritize chemicals or chemical ingredients in consumer products that may be considered as being a chemical of concern, as prescribed, and to establish a process for evaluating chemicals of concern in consumer products, and their potential alternatives, to determine how best to limit exposure or to reduce the level of hazard posed by a chemical of concern. This bill would require the Department of Toxic Substances Control to fully consider the measures taken by the carpet industry pursuant to the program established by the bill, and the results of those measures, when considering whether to include carpet in the product registry adopted under those provisions or to otherwise regulate carpet pursuant to those provisions. Hide

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. The existing Public Utilities Act requires the CPUC to review and adopt a procurement plan for each electrical corporation in accordance with specified elements, incentive mechanisms, and objectives. The existing California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (RPS program) requires the CPUC to implement annual procurement targets for the procurement of eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, for all retail sellers, including electrical corporations, community choice aggregators, and electric service providers, but not including local publicly owned electric utilities, to achieve the targets and goals of the program. The existing Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), and requires it to undertake a continuing assessment of trends in the consumption of electricity and other forms of energy and to analyze the social, economic, and environmental consequences of those trends and to collect from electric utilities, gas utilities, and fuel producers and wholesalers and other sources, forecasts of future supplies and consumption of all forms of energy. Existing law requires the CPUC, in consultation with the Independent System Operator (ISO), to establish resource adequacy requirements for all load-serving entities, as defined, in accordance with specified objectives. The definition of a “load-serving entity” excludes a local publicly owned electric utility. That law further 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. Other existing law requires that each local publicly owned electric utility serving end-use customers to prudently plan for and procure resources that are adequate to meet its planning reserve margin and peak demand and operating reserves, sufficient to provide reliable electric service to its customers. That law additionally requires the utility, upon request, to provide the Energy Commission with any information the Energy Commission determines is necessary to evaluate the progress made by the local publicly owned electric utility in meeting those planning requirements, and requires the Energy Commission to report the progress made by each utility to the Legislature, to be included in the integrated energy policy reports. Under existing law, the governing body of a local publicly owned electric utility is responsible for implementing and enforcing a renewables portfolio standard for the utility that recognizes the intent of the Legislature to encourage renewable resources, while taking into consideration the effect of the standard on rates, reliability, and financial resources and the goal of environmental improvement. This bill would require the CPUC, by March 1, 2012, to open a proceeding to determine appropriate targets, if any, for each load-serving entity to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems and, by October 1, 2013, to adopt an energy storage system procurement target, if determined to be appropriate, to be achieved by each load-serving entity by December 31, 2015, and a 2nd target to be achieved by December 31, 2020. The bill would require the governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility, by March 1, 2012, to open a proceeding to determine appropriate targets, if any, for the utility to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems and, by October 1, 2014, to adopt an energy storage system procurement target, if determined to be appropriate, to be achieved by the utility by December 31, 2016, and a 2nd target to be achieved by December 31, 2021. The bill would require each load-serving entity and local publicly owned electric utility to report certain information to the CPUC, for a load-serving entity, or to the Energy Commission, for a local publicly owned electric utility. The bill would make other technical, nonsubstantive revisions to existing law. The bill would exempt from these requirements an electrical corporation that has 60,000 or fewer customers within California and a public utility district that receives all of its electricity pursuant to a preference right adopted and authorized by the United States Congress pursuant to a specified law. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the CPUC is a crime. Because certain of the provisions of this bill require action by the CPUC to implement, a violation of these provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. Because certain of the bill’s requirements are applicable to local publicly owned electric utilities, 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 specified reasons. Hide

Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law.This bill would require the State Air Resources Board, Energy Commission, Department of Fish and Game, and the Department of Housing and Community Development to complete a related economic impacts analysis, as defined, for any proposed regulation that will have an adverse economic impact on California business enterprises and individuals in an amount exceeding $10,000,000, as specified. This bill would also require these entities to submit the related economic impacts analysis to a prescribed peer review process, if certain conditions occur. The bill would require the office to notify specified committees in the Legislature of each major proposed regulation that is approved or deemed approved by the office. This bill would repeal its provisions on January 1, 2016, as specified. Hide

The Corporation Tax Law, which is administered by the Franchise Tax Board, authorizes various credits, deductions, exclusions, exemptions, and other tax benefits with respect to the taxes imposed by that law. This bill would, for each taxable year on or after January 1, 2010, require the board to compile information on any tax expenditure claimed and reported by a taxpayer that is a publicly traded company, and would require, beginning on June 30, 2013, and by June 30 of each year thereafter, the board to submit the information to the State Chief Information Officer for publication on the Reporting Transparency in Government Internet Web site. This bill would require the State Chief Information Officer to develop on the Reporting Transparency in Government Internet Web site a searchable database of that information, as specified. Hide

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the state Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act define and regulate consumer credit reports and authorize the use of consumer credit reports for employment purposes, pursuant to specified requirements. The FCRA provides that it does not preempt state law, except as specifically provided or to the extent that state laws are inconsistent with its provisions. Existing federal and state law specify the procedures that an employer is required to follow before requesting a report and if adverse action is taken based on the report. Under existing law, an employer may request a credit report for employment purposes so long as he or she provides written notice of the request to the person for whom the report is sought. Existing law requires that the written notice inform the person for whom the consumer credit report was sought of the source of the report and contain space for the person to request a copy of the report. Existing law further requires an employer, whenever he or she bases an adverse employment decision on information contained in a consumer credit report, to advise the person for whom the report was sought that an adverse action was taken based upon information contained in the report and provide the person with the name and address of the consumer credit agency making the report. This bill would prohibit an employer, with the exception of certain financial institutions, from obtaining a consumer credit report for employment purposes unless the information is (1) substantially job-related, meaning that the position of the person for whom the report is sought has access to money, other assets, or trade secrets or other confidential information, and (2) the position of the person for whom the report is sought is a position in the state Department of Justice, a managerial position, that of a sworn peace officer or other law enforcement position, or a position for which the information contained in the report is required to be disclosed by law or to be obtained by the employer. Hide

Existing law prohibits, subject to certain exceptions, an employer from requiring an employee to work more than 5 hours per day without providing a meal period and, notwithstanding that provision, authorizes the Industrial Welfare Commission to adopt a working condition order permitting a meal period to commence after 6 hours of work if the order is consistent with the health and welfare of affected employees. This bill would exempt from these provisions employees in a construction occupation, commercial drivers, employees in the security services industry employed as security officers, and employees of electrical and gas corporations or local publicly owned electric utilities, as defined, if those employees are covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement containing specified terms, including meal period provisions. It would specify that its provisions do not affect the requirements for meal periods for certain other employees or employers. Hide

The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to adopt those regulations that are necessary to carry out the act. The act also requires the commission, after one or more public hearings, to prescribe, by regulation, standards for minimum levels of operating efficiency and prescribe other measures, such as energy and water consumption labeling not preempted by federal labeling law, to promote the use of energy and water efficient appliances that do not result in any added total costs for consumers over the designed life of the appliances concerned. This bill would provide that the television product labeling regulations adopted by the commission would not be effective until July 1, 2011, and would be effective on that date only if a United States Federal Trade Commission labeling rule for those products is not effective on or before July 1, 2011. The bill also would provide that those regulations would remain in effect only until a Federal Trade Commission labeling rule for television products becomes effective. Hide

Existing law imposes various taxes, including taxes on the privilege of engaging in certain activities. The Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges. This bill would impose a tax on every distributor, as defined, at the rate of $0.01 per teaspoon of added caloric sweetener in bottled sweetened beverages or concentrate sold or offered for sale to a retailer in this state, or on a retailer who sells bottled sweetened beverages or concentrate in this state to consumers on which the tax has not been paid by a distributor. This bill would exempt from the tax the sale, use, or consumption in this state of bottled sweetened beverages or concentrate that the state is prohibited from taxing, as provided. The tax would be administered by the State Board of Equalization and would be collected pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Fee Collection Procedures Law. The bill would require the board to deposit all taxes, penalties, and interest collected, less refund and administrative costs, in the Children’s Health Promotion Fund, which this bill would create. This bill would require all moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be allocated to the State Department of Public Health for distribution of grants to eligible school districts for the purposes of statewide childhood obesity prevention activities and programs. Because this bill would expand the application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations relating to the consumption of sweetened beverages, childhood obesity, and dental disease. This bill would result in a change in state taxes for the purpose of increasing state revenues within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. 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. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy, but its operative date would depend on its effective date. Hide

(1)Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law requires the PUC to require the state’s 3 largest electrical corporations, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Diego Gas and Electric, and Southern California Edison, to identify a separate electrical rate component to fund programs that enhance system reliability and provide in-state benefits. This rate component is a nonbypassable element of local distribution and collected on the basis of usage. Existing PUC resolutions refer to the nonbypassable rate component as a “public goods charge.” The public goods charge moneys are collected to support cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation activities, public interest research and development not adequately provided by competitive and regulated markets, and renewable energy resources. The existing Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission). Existing law establishes the Renewable Resource Trust Fund as a fund that is continuously appropriated, with certain exceptions for administrative expenses, in the State Treasury and requires that certain moneys collected to support renewable energy resources through the public goods charge are deposited into the fund and authorizes the Energy Commission to expend the moneys pursuant to the Renewable Energy Resources Program. The program states the intent of the Legislature to increase the amount of electricity generated from eligible renewable energy resources per year so that amount equals at least 20% of total retail sales of electricity in California per year by December 31, 2010. This bill would revise the Renewable Energy Resources Program to state the intent of the Legislature to increase the amount of electricity generated from eligible renewable energy resources per year, so that amount equals at least 33% of total retail sales of electricity in California per year by December 31, 2020. The bill would revise certain terms used in the program and revise certain eligibility criteria for a renewable electrical generation facility, as defined, pursuant to the program. The bill would require the Energy Commission, by May 31, 2010, to report to the Legislature whether out-of-state, run-of-river hydroelectric generating facilities should be considered renewable electric generating facilities, as defined. (2)Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature, in establishing the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (RPS program), to increase the amount of electricity generated per year from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, to an amount that equals at least 20% of the total electricity sold to retail customers in California per year by December 31, 2010. This bill would express the intent that the amount of electricity generated per year from eligible renewable energy resources be increased to an amount that equals at least 20% of the total electricity sold to retail customers in California per year by December 31, 2013, and 33% by December 31, 2020. (3)The Public Utilities Act imposes various duties and responsibilities on the PUC with respect to the purchase of electricity and requires the PUC to review and adopt a procurement plan and a renewable energy procurement plan for each electrical corporation, as defined, pursuant to the RPS program. The RPS program requires that a retail seller of electricity, including electrical corporations, community choice aggregators, and electric service providers, but not including local publicly owned electric utilities, purchase a specified minimum percentage of electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources in any given year as a specified percentage of total kilowatthours sold to retail end-use customers each calendar year. The RPS program requires the PUC to implement annual procurement targets for each retail seller to increase its total procurement of electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources by at least an additional 1% of retail sales per year so that 20% of its retail sales of electricity are procured from eligible renewable energy resources no later than December 31, 2010. Existing law requires the PUC to make a determination of the existing market cost for electricity, which PUC decisions call the market price referent, and to limit an electrical corporation’s obligation to procure electricity from eligible renewable energy resources, that exceeds the market price referent, to an amount collected through the renewable energy public goods charge. This bill would instead require the PUC to require that a retail seller procure the following percentages of electricity from eligible renewable energy resources by the following dates: (A) Until December 31, 2012, the same percentage as actually achieved by the retail seller during 2009; (B) 20% by December 31, 2013; (C) 25% by December 31, 2016; and (D) 33% by December 31, 2020. The bill would authorize the PUC to permit a retail seller to delay compliance with (B) or (C) procurement levels when specified circumstances are present, but would not authorize the PUC to permit a retail seller to delay compliance with the (D) procurement level. The bill would delete the existing market price referent provisions and instead require the PUC to establish a methodology to determine the market price of electricity for terms corresponding to the length of contracts with eligible renewable energy resources, in consideration of, and reflecting, certain matters. The bill would require the PUC to establish a limitation on the annual expenditures made above the market price, by an electrical corporation, in order to achieve the procurement levels established by the PUC. The bill would require the PUC to permit an electrical corporation to limit its procurement of electricity from eligible renewable energy resources to that quantity that can be procured at or below the market prices established by the PUC, up to the limitation. The bill would delete an existing requirement that the PUC adopt flexible rules for compliance for retail sellers. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill are within the act and require action by the PUC to implement its requirements, a violation of these provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the definition of a crime. (4)Under existing law, the governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility is responsible for implementing and enforcing a renewables portfolio standard for the utility that recognizes the intent of the Legislature to encourage renewable resources, while taking into consideration the effect of the standard on rates, reliability, and financial resources and the goal of environmental improvement. This bill would repeal this provision and instead make certain of the requirements of the RPS program, as discussed below, applicable to local publicly owned electric utilities. By placing additional requirements upon local publicly owned electric utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5)Existing law requires the Energy Commission to certify eligible renewable energy resources, to design and implement an accounting system to verify compliance with the RPS requirements by retail sellers, and to develop tracking, accounting, verification, and enforcement mechanisms for renewable energy credits, as defined. This bill would require the Energy Commission to design and implement an accounting system to verify compliance with the RPS requirements by retail sellers and local publicly owned electric utilities. The bill would require the Energy Commission, among other things, to adopt regulations specifying procedures for enforcement of the RPS requirements that include a public process under which the Energy Commission is authorized to issue a notice of violation and correction with respect to a local publicly owned electric utility and for referral to the State Air Resources Board for penalties imposed pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The bill would require that the RPS established for a local publicly owned electric utility require it to procure the following percentages of electricity from eligible renewable energy resources by the following dates: (A) Until December 31, 2012, the same percentage as actually achieved by the utility during 2009; (B) 20% by December 31, 2013; (C) 25% by December 31, 2016; and (D) 33% by December 31, 2020. The bill would provide that the local publicly owned electric utility retains discretion with respect to certain matters in complying with the RPS, would require that certain notices be given by the utility when adopting and periodically revising its procurement plan, and would require the utility to report certain information relative to RPS compliance to the Energy Commission and its customers. (6)Existing law requires the PUC to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature a written report annually before February 1 of each year on the costs of programs and activities conducted by an electrical corporation or gas corporation that have more than a specified number of customers in California. The bill would require the PUC to prepare and submit to the policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, annually before February 1 of each year, a report on (A) all electrical corporation revenue requirement increases associated with meeting the renewables portfolio standard, (B) all cost savings experienced, or costs avoided, by electrical corporations as a result of meeting the renewables portfolio standard, (C) all costs incurred by electrical corporations for incentives for distributed and renewable generation, (D) all cost savings experienced, or costs avoided, by electrical corporations as a result of incentives for distributed generation and renewable generation, (E) specified costs for which an electrical corporation is seeking recovery in rates that are pending determination or approval by the PUC, (F) the decision number of each PUC decision in the prior year authorizing an electrical corporation to recover costs incurred in rates, and (G) any changes in the prior year in load serviced by an electrical corporation. (7)This bill would appropriate $322,000 from the Public Utilities Commission Utilities Reimbursement Account to the PUC for additional staffing to identify, review, and approve transmission lines reasonably necessary or appropriate to facilitate achievement of the renewables portfolio standard. (8)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 specified reasons. Hide

Existing law prohibits employers from engaging in unfair labor practices, including interfering in the election by agricultural employees of labor representatives to engage in collective bargaining for the designated bargaining units. Existing law provides for a secret ballot election for employees in agricultural bargaining units, as defined, to select labor organizations to represent them for collective bargaining purposes. This bill would authorize the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, under specified circumstances, to set aside an election where there has been misconduct by the employer affecting the outcome of the election and to certify a labor organization as the exclusive bargaining representative for a bargaining unit if the organization had previously presented the board with authorization cards signed by more than 50% of the employees in that bargaining unit. Hide

The federal Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 establishes an Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking, as specified. Existing state law makes human trafficking a crime. Existing state law also allows a victim of human trafficking to bring a civil action for actual damages, compensatory damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief, any combination of those, or any other appropriate relief. Existing law generally regulates various business activities and practices, including those of retail sellers and manufacturers of products. This bill would enact the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010, and would, beginning January 1, 2012, require retail sellers and manufacturers doing business in the state to disclose their efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their direct supply chains for tangible goods offered for sale, as specified. That provision would not apply to a retail seller or manufacturer having less than $100,000,000 in annual worldwide gross receipts. The bill would also make a specified statement of legislative intent regarding slavery and human trafficking. The bill would also require the Franchise Tax Board to make available to the Attorney General a list of retail sellers and manufacturers required to disclose efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking pursuant to that provision, as specified. Hide

(1)Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations, as defined. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. This bill would prohibit the commission from requiring or permitting an electrical corporation to do any of the following: (A) employ mandatory or default time-variant pricing, as defined, with or without bill protection, as defined, for residential customers prior to January 1, 2013, (B) employ mandatory or default time-variant pricing, without bill protection, for residential customers prior to January 1, 2014, or (C) employ mandatory or default real-time pricing, without bill protection, for residential customers prior to January 1, 2020. The bill would authorize the commission to authorize an electrical corporation to offer residential customers the option of receiving service pursuant to time-variant pricing and to participate in other demand response programs. The bill would require the commission to only approve an electrical corporation’s use of default time-variant pricing for residential customers, beginning January 1, 2014, if those residential customers have the option to not receive service pursuant to time-variant pricing and incur no additional charges, as specified, as a result of the exercise of that option. The bill would exempt certain customers from being subject to default time-variant pricing. (2)Existing law requires the commission to establish a program of assistance to low-income electric and gas customers, referred to as the California Alternate Rates for Energy or CARE program, and prohibits the cost to be borne solely by any single class of customer. This bill would require the commission to establish the CARE program to provide assistance to low-income electric and gas customers with annual household incomes that are no greater than 200% of the federal poverty guideline levels, and require that the cost of the program, with respect to electrical corporations, be recovered on an equal cents-per-kilowatthour basis from all classes of customers that were subject to the surcharge that funded the CARE program on January 1, 2008. For a public utility that is both an electrical corporation and a gas corporation, the bill would require that the cost of the program be recovered on an equal cents-per-kilowatthour or per-therm basis from all classes of customers that were subject to the surcharge that funded the CARE program on January 1, 2008. (3)Existing law relative to electrical restructuring requires that the electrical corporations and gas corporations that participate in the CARE program administer low-income energy efficiency and rate assistance programs described in specified statutes, and undertake certain actions in administering specified energy efficiency and weatherization programs. This bill would require that electrical corporations, in administering the specified energy efficiency and weatherization programs, target energy efficiency and solar programs to upper-tier and multifamily customers in a manner that will result in long-term permanent reductions in electricity usage at the dwelling units and develop programs that specifically target nonprofit affordable housing providers, including programs that promote weatherization of existing dwelling units and replacement of inefficient appliances. The bill would require the commission, by not later than December 31, 2020, to ensure that all eligible low-income electricity and gas customers are given the opportunity to participate in low-income energy efficiency programs, including customers occupying apartment houses or similar multiunit residential structures, and would require the commission and electrical corporations and gas corporations to expend all reasonable efforts to coordinate ratepayer-funded programs with other energy conservation and efficiency programs and to obtain additional federal funding to support actions undertaken pursuant to this requirement. (4)Existing law relative to electrical restructuring requires the commission to authorize and facilitate direct transactions between electricity suppliers and retail end-use customers. Existing law requires the commission to designate a baseline quantity of electricity and gas necessary for a significant portion of the reasonable energy needs of the average residential customer, and requires that electrical and gas corporations file rates and charges, to be approved by the commission, providing baseline rates and requires the commission, in establishing baseline rates, to avoid excessive rate increases for residential customers. Existing law, enacted during the energy crisis of 2000–01, authorized the Department of Water Resources, until January 1, 2003, to enter into contracts for the purchase of electricity, and to sell electricity to retail end-use customers and, with specified exceptions, local publicly owned electric utilities, at not more than the department’s acquisition costs and to recover those costs through the issuance of bonds to be repaid by ratepayers. That law provides that the department is entitled to recover certain expenses resulting from its purchases and sales of electricity and authorizes the commission to enter into an agreement with the department relative to cost recovery. That law prohibits the commission from increasing the electricity charges in effect on February 1, 2001, for residential customers for existing baseline quantities or usage by those customers of up to 130% of then existing baseline quantities, until the department has recovered the costs of electricity it procured for electrical corporation retail end-use customers. That law also suspends the right of retail end-use customers, other than community choice aggregators and a qualifying direct transaction customer, to acquire service through a direct transaction until the Department of Water Resources no longer supplies electricity under that law. This bill would delete the prohibition that the commission not increase the electricity charges in effect on February 1, 2001, for residential customers for existing baseline quantities or usage by those customers of up to 130% of then existing baseline quantities. The bill would authorize the commission to increase the rates charged residential customers for electricity usage up to 130% of the baseline quantities by the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index from the prior year plus 1%, but not less than 3% and not more than 5% per year. This authorization would be subject to the limitation that rates charged residential customers for electricity usage up to the baseline quantities, including any customer charge revenues, not exceed 90% of the system average rate, as defined. The bill would authorize the commission to increase the rates for participants in the CARE program, subject to certain limitations. The bill would delete the existing suspension of direct transactions in the Water Code that was adopted during the energy crisis of 2000–01, and would instead require the commission to authorize direct transactions subject to a reopening schedule that commences immediately and will phase in over a period of not less than 3 years and not more than 5 years, and subject to an annual maximum allowable total kilowatthour limit established, as specified, for each electrical corporation. The bill would continue the suspension of direct transactions except as expressly authorized, until the Legislature, by statute, repeals the suspension or otherwise authorizes direct transactions. (5)Existing law requires the commission to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature a written report on an annual basis before February 1 of each year on the costs of programs and activities conducted by an electrical corporation or gas corporation that has more than a specified number of customers in California. This bill would change the reporting date to April 1 of each year. The bill would require that by May 1, 2010, and by May 1 of each year thereafter, the commission also report to the Governor and Legislature with its recommendations for actions that can be undertaken during the upcoming year to limit utility cost and rate increases, consistent with the state’s energy and environmental goals, including the state’s goals for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. The bill would require the commission to annually require electrical and gas corporations to study and report to the commission on measures that they recommend be undertaken to limit costs and rate increases. (6)Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain of the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. (7)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. (8)This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Hide

(1)Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law requires the PUC to require the state’s 3 largest electrical corporations, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Diego Gas and Electric, and Southern California Edison, to identify a separate electrical rate component to fund programs that enhance system reliability and provide in-state benefits. This rate component is a nonbypassable element of local distribution and collected on the basis of usage. Existing PUC resolutions refer to the nonbypassable rate component as a “public goods charge.” The public goods charge moneys are collected to support cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation activities, public interest research and development not adequately provided by competitive and regulated markets, and renewable energy resources. The existing Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission). The act requires the commission to certify sufficient sites and related facilities that are required to provide a supply of electric power sufficient to accommodate projected demand for power statewide. The act requires the commission to transmit a copy of an application for certification of a site and related facility to, among other entities, each federal and state agency having jurisdiction or special interest in matters pertinent to the proposed site and related facilities and to the Attorney General. This bill would require an applicant to inform the United States Department of Defense of a proposed project and that an application will be filed with the commission if the site and related facility specified in the application is proposed to be located within 1,000 feet of a military installation, or lies within special use airspace or beneath a low-level flight path, as defined. Existing law establishes the Renewable Resource Trust Fund as a fund that is continuously appropriated, with certain exceptions for administrative expenses, in the State Treasury, and requires that certain moneys collected to support renewable energy resources through the public goods charge are deposited into the fund and authorizes the Energy Commission to expend the moneys pursuant to the Renewable Energy Resources Program. The program states the intent of the Legislature to increase the amount of electricity generated from eligible renewable energy resources per year so that amount equals at least 20% of total retail sales of electricity in California per year by December 31, 2010. This bill would revise the Renewable Energy Resources Program to state the intent of the Legislature to increase the amount of electricity generated from eligible renewable energy resources per year, so that amount equals at least 33% of total retail sales of electricity in California per year by December 31, 2020. The bill would revise certain terms used in the program, and revise certain eligibility criteria for a renewable electrical generation facility, as defined, pursuant to the program. (2)Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature, in establishing the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (RPS program), to increase the amount of electricity generated per year from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, to an amount that equals at least 20% of the total electricity sold to retail customers in California per year by December 31, 2010. The RPS program requires that a retail seller of electricity, including electrical corporations, community choice aggregators, and electric service providers, purchase a specified minimum percentage of electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, in any given year as a specified percentage of total kilowatthours sold to retail end-use customers each calendar year. The RPS program requires the PUC to implement annual procurement targets for each retail seller to increase its total procurement of electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources by at least an additional 1% of retail sales per year so that 20% of its retail sales of electricity are procured from eligible renewable energy resources no later than December 31, 2010. Existing law requires the PUC to make a determination of the existing market cost for electricity, which PUC decisions call the market price referent, and to limit an electrical corporation’s obligation to procure electricity from eligible renewable energy resources, that exceeds the market price referent, by a specified amount. This bill would express the intent that the amount of electricity generated per year from eligible renewable energy resources be increased to an amount that equals at least 20% of the total electricity sold to retail customers in California per year by December 31, 2013, and 33% by December 31, 2020. The bill would require the PUC, by January 1, 2012, to establish the quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources to be procured by each retail seller for specified compliance periods, sufficient to ensure that the procurement of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources achieves 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016, and 33% of retail sales by December 31, 2020, and that retail sellers procure not less than 33% of retail sales in all subsequent years. The bill, consistent with the goals of procuring the least-cost and best-fit eligible renewable energy resources that meet project viability principles, would require that all retail sellers procure a balanced portfolio of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as specified. The bill would require the PUC to waive enforcement of the renewables portfolio standard procurement requirement if the PUC finds that the retail seller has demonstrated certain conditions exist that are beyond the control of the retail seller and will prevent compliance, and has taken all reasonable actions under its control to achieve compliance. The bill would require the PUC to direct each electrical corporation to annually prepare a renewable energy procurement plan containing specified matter and require, to the extent feasible, that the plan be proposed, reviewed, and adopted by the commission as part of, and pursuant to, a general procurement plan process. The bill would require the commission to direct all retail sellers to prepare and submit an annual compliance report. The bill would delete the existing market price referent provisions, and instead require the PUC to establish a limitation for each electrical corporation on the procurement expenditures for all eligible renewable energy resources used to comply with the renewables portfolio standard. The bill would require that by January 1, 2016, the PUC report to the Legislature assessing whether each electrical corporation can achieve a 33% renewables portfolio standard by December 31, 2020, and maintain that level thereafter, within the cost limitations. The bill would provide that, if the cost limitation for an electrical corporation is insufficient to support the projected costs of meeting the renewables portfolio standard procurement requirements, the electrical corporation is authorized to refrain from entering into new contracts or constructing facilities beyond the quantity that can be procured within the limitation, unless eligible renewable energy resources can be procured without exceeding a de minimis increase in rates, consistent with the electrical corporation’s general procurement plan. The bill would delete an existing requirement that the PUC adopt flexible rules for compliance for retail sellers. The bill would revise the definitions of certain terms for purposes of the RPS program, would revise certain provisions applicable only to an electrical corporation with 60,000 or fewer customer accounts in California that serves retail end-use customers outside of California, and would add provisions applicable to certain smaller electrical corporations. The bill would authorize an electrical corporation to apply to the PUC for approval to construct, own, and operate an eligible renewable energy resource, and would require the PUC to approve the application if certain conditions are met, until electrical corporation owned and operated resources provide 8.25% of the corporation’s anticipated retail sales. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill are within the act and require action by the PUC to implement its requirements, a violation of these provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the definition of a crime. (3)Under existing law, the governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility is responsible for implementing and enforcing a renewables portfolio standard for the utility that recognizes the intent of the Legislature to encourage renewable resources, while taking into consideration the effect of the standard on rates, reliability, and financial resources and the goal of environmental improvement. This bill would repeal this provision, and instead generally make the requirements of the RPS program applicable to local publicly owned electric utilities, except that the utility’s governing board would be responsible for implementation of those requirements, instead of the PUC, and certain enforcement authority with respect to local publicly owned electric utilities would be given to the Energy Commission and State Air Resources Board, instead of the PUC. By placing additional requirements upon local publicly owned electric utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4)Existing law requires the Energy Commission to certify eligible renewable energy resources, to design and implement an accounting system to verify compliance with the RPS requirements by retail sellers, and to develop tracking, accounting, verification, and enforcement mechanisms for renewable energy credits, as defined. This bill would require the Energy Commission to design and implement an accounting system to verify compliance with the RPS requirements by retail sellers and local publicly owned electric utilities. The bill would require the Energy Commission, among other things, to adopt regulations specifying procedures for enforcement of the RPS requirements that include a public process under which the Energy Commission is authorized to issue a notice of violation and correction with respect to a local publicly owned electric utility and for referral to the State Air Resources Board for penalties imposed pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 or other laws if that act is suspended or repealed. This bill would revise the definition of renewable energy credit. The bill would require the Energy Commission, by June 30, 2011, to study and provide a report to the Legislature that analyzes run-of-river hydroelectric generating facilities, as defined, in British Columbia, including whether these facilities are, or should be, included as renewable electrical generation facilities for purposes of the Renewable Energy Resources Program administered by the Energy Commission or eligible renewable energy resources for purposes of the RPS program. (5)Existing law requires the PUC to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature a written report annually before February 1 of each year on the costs of programs and activities conducted by an electrical corporation or gas corporation that have more than a specified number of customers in California. This bill would require the PUC to prepare and submit to the policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, annually before February 1 of each year, a report on (A) all electrical corporation revenue requirement increases associated with meeting the renewables portfolio standard, (B) all cost savings experienced, or costs avoided, by electrical corporations as a result of meeting the renewables portfolio standard, (C) all costs incurred by electrical corporations for incentives for distributed and renewable generation, (D) all cost savings experienced, or costs avoided, by electrical corporations as a result of incentives for distributed generation and renewable generation, (E) specified costs for which an electrical corporation is seeking recovery in rates that are pending determination or approval by the PUC, (F) the decision number of each PUC decision in the prior year authorizing an electrical corporation to recover costs incurred in rates, (G) any changes in the prior year in load serviced by an electrical corporation, and (H) the efforts each electrical corporation is taking to recruit and train employees to ensure an adequately trained and available workforce. (6)The bill would require the PUC, by July 1, 2011, to determine the effective load carrying capacity of wind and solar energy resources on the electrical grid. The bill would require the PUC to use those values in establishing the contribution of those resources toward meeting specified resource adequacy requirements. (7)The Public Utilities Act prohibits any electrical corporation from beginning the construction of, among other things, a line, plant, or system, or of any extension thereof, without having first obtained from the PUC a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity require or will require that construction, termed a certificate of public convenience and necessity. This bill would require the PUC to issue a decision on an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity within 18 months of the filing of a completed application under specified circumstances. (8)Existing law establishes the Department of Fish and Game in the Natural Resources Agency, and generally charges the department with the administration and enforcement of the Fish and Game Code. This bill would require the department to establish an internal division with the primary purpose of performing comprehensive planning and environmental compliance services with priority given to projects involving the building of eligible renewable energy resources. (9)The existing restructuring of the electrical industry within the Public Utilities Act provides for the establishment of an Independent System Operator (ISO). Existing law requires the ISO to ensure efficient use and reliable operation of the transmission grid consistent with achieving planning and operating reserve criteria no less stringent than those established by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council and the American Electric Reliability Council. Pursuant to existing law, the ISO’s tariffs are required to be approved by the FERC. This bill would require the ISO and other California balancing authorities to work cooperatively to integrate and interconnect eligible renewable energy resources to the transmission grid by the most efficient means possible with the goal of minimizing the impact and cost of new transmission facilities needed to meet both reliability needs and the renewables portfolio standard procurement requirements, and to accomplish this in a manner that respects the ownership, business, and dispatch models for transmission facilities owned by electrical corporations, local publicly owned electric utilities, joint power agencies, and merchant transmission companies. (10)This bill would appropriate $322,000 from the Public Utilities Commission Utilities Reimbursement Account to the PUC for additional staffing to identify, review, and approve transmission lines reasonably necessary or appropriate to facilitate achievement of the renewables portfolio standard. (11)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. Hide

Existing law, the Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation Act, which establishes the Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation, requires that all seating furniture sold or offered for sale for use in this state be fire retardant, as defined, and requires all bedding products, other than mattresses and mattress sets, that the bureau determines to contribute to mattress bedding fires to comply with specified regulations adopted by the bureau. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions a crime. This bill would exempt strollers, infant carriers, bassinets, and nursing pillows from those requirements, and would require products that do not meet those requirements to be labeled in a specified manner. The bill would authorize the bureau to modify this exemption if it determines that any of the exempted products pose a serious fire hazard. Because a violation of the labeling requirement 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. Hide

Existing law provides that a gift certificate sold after January 1, 1997, is redeemable in cash or subject to replacement with a new gift certificate. Existing law also provides that a gift certificate with a cash value of less than $10 may be redeemed in cash, as defined, for its cash value. Existing law prohibits the sale of a gift certificate that contains a dormancy fee, subject to specified exceptions. This bill would delete those exceptions and expressly prohibit the sale of a gift certificate that contains a dormancy fee. Hide

Existing law prohibits a retailer from imposing a surcharge on a credit cardholder who elects to use a credit card instead of paying by cash, check or similar means, as provided. Existing law also provides that any retailer who imposes a surcharge and who fails to pay that amount to the cardholder within 30 days of written demand is liable for 3 times the amount at which actual damages are assessed. The cardholder is entitled to recover reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred in the action. Existing law exempts from these provisions charges for payment made to an electrical, gas, or water corporation. Existing law also regulates the use of debit cards, as defined. This bill would make these provisions applicable to a retailer in any sales, service, or lease transaction with a consumer who elects to use a debit card instead of paying by cash, check, or similar means. This bill would also include a prepaid card or other means of access to prepaid funds, as provided, in the definition of debit card. Hide