State & local government employee unions

Existing law requires that, on and after January 1, 2008, the minimum wage for all industries be not less than $8.00 per hour. This bill would increase the minimum wage, as of January 1, 2012, to not less than $8.50 per hour. This bill would provide for an adjustment to the hourly minimum wage on January 1, 2013, and annually thereafter, to maintain employee purchasing power. The automatically adjusted minimum wage would be calculated using the California Consumer Price Index, as specified. The bill would prohibit the Industrial Welfare Commission from adjusting the minimum wage downward and from adjusting the minimum wage upward if the average percentage of inflation for the previous year was negative. The bill would require the Industrial Welfare Commission to publicize the automatically adjusted minimum wage. This bill would provide that its provisions not be construed to preclude an increase in the minimum wage greater than the formula would provide. Hide

(1)Existing law authorizes employees of public schools to form, join, and participate in the activities of an employee organization for the purpose of representation on matters of employer-employee relations, including terms and conditions of employment. The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer child care and development programs that offer a full range of services for eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age. This bill would authorize family child care providers, as defined, to choose whether to be represented by a single provider organization, as defined, that would be designated pursuant to a specified petition and election process overseen by the Public Employment Relations Board or a neutral 3rd party designated by the board. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Education, with the assistance of specified state departments and agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors, to make specified information regarding individual family child care providers available to provider organizations and would require the provider organization requesting the information to bear the costs of collecting the information. The bill would authorize a certified provider organization to perform various functions, including meeting with state regulatory agencies and engaging in various types of negotiation on matters within a specified scope of representation with the Department of Personnel Administration, in consultation with the Superintendent and other state agencies that administer programs of publicly funded child care. The bill would prohibit provider organizations from calling strikes and from interfering with, intimidating, restraining, coercing, or discriminating against a family child care provider because the family child care provider joins or refuses to join a provider organization. The state, as defined, also would be subject to the latter prohibition. (2)Existing law, the Budget Act of 2011, identifies AB 101 as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill, to take effect immediately. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding the Budget Act of 2011, this act is not a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill, thereby declaring that this act not take effect immediately. Hide

Existing law authorizes the state, each city, each city and county, and each county to employ people. This bill would require all state, city, city and county, and county employees to verify each person who requests state-funded benefits through the United States Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program. By imposing new duties on local officials, 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, 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 Personal Income Tax Law imposes a tax upon taxable income at various rates depending upon the amount of that income. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, impose tax at the rate of 10.3%, instead of tax at the current rate of 9.3%, on taxable income over $500,000. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. This act provides for a tax levy within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. Hide

Existing law regulates the operation of health facilities. Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, establishes certain safety and other responsibilities of employers and employees, including the requirement that employers provide safety devices and safeguards reasonably necessary to render the employment safe. Willful or repeated violations are a crime. This bill would make findings and declarations concerning the lifting, repositioning, and transfer of patients in acute care hospitals and resulting injuries to hospital personnel. This bill would amend the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 to require an employer to maintain a safe patient handling policy, as defined, for patient care units, and to provide trained lift teams, as defined, or staff trained in safe lifting techniques in each general acute care hospital, except for specified hospitals. The safe patient handling policy would require the replacement of manual lifting and transferring of patients with powered patient transfer devices, lifting devices, or lift teams, as specified. As part of the injury and illness prevention programs required by existing regulations, employers would be required to adopt a patient protection and health care worker back and musculoskeletal injury prevention plan, which shall include a safe patient handling policy component, as specified, to protect patients and health care workers, as defined, in health care facilities. By changing the definition of a crime, 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 provides that a person who comes into any school building or upon any school ground, or adjacent street, sidewalk, or public way, whose presence or acts interfere with or disrupt a school activity, without lawful business, or who remains after having been asked to leave, as specified, is guilty of a misdemeanor. “School” is defined to mean any preschool or public or private school having kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive. This bill would expand this provision to also apply to any person who comes into any school building or upon any school ground, or adjacent street, sidewalk, or public way, and willfully or knowingly creates a disruption with the intent to threaten the immediate physical safety of any pupil in preschool, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 8, inclusive, arriving at, attending, or leaving from school. Because this bill would expand the definition of an existing crime, it would create a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. Hide

The E-Verify Program of the United States Department of Homeland Security, in partnership with the United States Social Security Administration, enables participating employers to use the program, on a voluntary basis, to verify that the employees they hire are authorized to work in the United States. The bill would prohibit the state, or a city, county, city and county, or special district, from requiring an employer other than one of those government entities to use an electronic employment verification system except when required by federal law or as a condition of receiving federal funds. Hide

The Personal Income Tax Law imposes a tax upon taxable income at various rates depending upon the amount of that income, and also imposes an alternative minimum tax based upon specified tax preference items. This bill would declare that it is the intent of the Legislature to reinstate income tax brackets for the highest income earners to address the state’s budget problems. This bill would, for any taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2012, and before January 1, 2017, increase the tax rate applicable to taxable income over specified amounts to 10% and 11%, and increase the alternative minimum tax rate to 8.5%. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax 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. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy. Hide

Existing law provides for various programs to provide health care coverage to persons with limited financial resources, including the Medi-Cal program and the Healthy Families Program. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. Existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), requires each state to, by January 1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit Exchange that facilitates the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers, as specified, and meets certain other requirements. Existing law, the California Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange), specifies the powers and duties of the board governing the Exchange relative to determining eligibility for enrollment in the Exchange and arranging for coverage under qualified health plans, and requires the board to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans through the Exchange by qualified individuals and qualified small employers by January 1, 2014. This bill would enact the Health Care Reform Eligibility, Enrollment, and Retention Planning Act, which would require the California Health and Human Services Agency, in consultation with specified entities, to establish standardized single, accessible application forms and related renewal procedures for state health subsidy programs, as defined, in accordance with specified requirements. The bill would specify the duties of the agency and the State Department of Health Care Services under the act, and would require the agency to provide specified information to the Legislature by July 1, 2012, regarding policy changes needed to implement the bill. The application development requirements of the bill would otherwise be operative January 1, 2014, except as specified. Hide

Existing law requires that a person, other than a nonimmigrant alien, as defined, who has attended high school in California for 3 or more years, who has graduated from a California high school or attained the equivalent thereof, who has registered at or attends an accredited institution of higher education in California not earlier than the fall semester or quarter of the 2001–02 academic year, and who, if he or she is an alien without lawful immigration status, has filed a prescribed affidavit, is exempt from paying nonresident tuition at the California Community Colleges and the California State University. This bill would enact the California Dream Act of 2011. This bill would provide that, on and after January 1, 2012, a student attending the California State University, the California Community Colleges, or the University of California who is exempt from paying nonresident tuition under the provision described above would be eligible to receive a scholarship derived from nonstate funds received, for the purpose of scholarships, by the segment at which he or she is a student. The Donahoe Higher Education Act sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California’s public and independent segments of higher education, and their respective institutions of higher education. Provisions of the act apply to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, act to make a provision applicable. This bill would find and declare that the amendments to the Donahoe Higher Education Act described above are state laws within the meaning of a specified federal provision. Hide

(1)The Donahoe Higher Education Act sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California’s public and independent segments of higher education, and their respective institutions of higher education. Provisions of the act apply to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, act to make a provision applicable. Existing law requires that a student, other than a nonimmigrant alien, as defined, who has attended high school in California for 3 or more years, who has graduated from a California high school or attained the equivalent thereof, who has registered at or attends an accredited institution of higher education in California not earlier than the fall semester or quarter of the 2001–02 academic year, and who, if he or she is an alien without lawful immigration status, has filed a prescribed affidavit is exempt from paying nonresident tuition at the California Community Colleges and the California State University. This bill would amend the Donahoe Higher Education Act, as of January 1, 2013, to require the Trustees of the California State University and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and to request the regents, to establish procedures and forms that enable students who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition under the above-described provision, or who meet equivalent requirements adopted by the regents, to apply for, and participate in, all student aid programs administered by these segments to the full extent permitted by federal law, except as provided. This provision would apply to the University of California only if the regents, by appropriate resolution, act to make it applicable. This bill would provide that students who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition under the above provision, or who meet equivalent requirements adopted by the regents, are eligible to apply for, and participate in, any student financial aid program administered by the State of California to the full extent permitted by federal law. This bill would require the Student Aid Commission to establish procedures and forms that enable those students who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition under the above provision to apply for, and participate in, all student financial aid programs administered by the State of California to the full extent permitted by federal law. This bill would prohibit students who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition under the provision described above from being eligible for Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards unless specified conditions are met. The bill would make these provisions operative as of January 1, 2013. (2)Existing federal law requires that a state may provide that an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States is eligible for any state or local public benefit for which that alien would otherwise be ineligible under a specified federal law only through enactment of a state law that affirmatively provides for that eligibility. This bill would find and declare that the amendments to the Donahoe Higher Education Act described above are state laws within the meaning of this federal provision. (3)Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law authorizes the establishment of community college districts under the administration of community college governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction, for prescribed fees, at community college campuses throughout the state. Existing law authorizes the waiver of these fees for, among others, students who are eligible under income standards established by the board of governors. This bill, as of January 1, 2013, would require community college districts to waive the fees of students who are exempt from nonresident tuition under the provision described in (1) above, and who otherwise qualify for a waiver under this provision, under regulations and procedures adopted by the board of governors. Because the bill would impose new duties on community college districts with respect to determining eligibility for fee waivers, the bill would constitute 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, 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

Existing law establishes procedures regarding the registration of voters. Under existing law, a person may not be registered to vote except by affidavit of registration, and a voter may not vote in an election unless his or her affidavit of registration is executed and received by the county elections official on or before the 15th day prior to the election. Existing law permits any registered voter to vote by a vote by mail ballot, and further permits any voter using a vote by mail ballot to vote the ballot at the office of the elections official beginning 29 days before the election. Existing law requires that the affidavit of registration show facts necessary to establish the affiant as an elector, as specified, and provides that if the affiant has not been issued a current and valid driver’s license or social security number, he or she shall be provided a unique identification number for voter registration purposes. This bill would establish conditional voter registration, using an affidavit of registration, whereby a person would be permitted to register to vote after the 15th day prior to an election or on election day, and cast a provisional ballot to be counted if the conditional voter registration is deemed effective. This bill would provide that a conditional voter registration shall be deemed effective if the county elections official is able to determine before or during the canvass period for the election that the registrant is eligible to register to vote and that the registrant has provided information that matches specified state or federal databases. The bill would provide that if the information provided by the registrant cannot be verified by matching the information to those specified state or federal databases and the registrant is otherwise eligible to vote the registrant shall be issued a unique identification number pursuant to the above-referenced provisions and the conditional voter registration shall be deemed effective. If a conditional voter registration is not deemed effective pursuant to these new provisions, the elections official would be required to process the affidavit of registration as specified and, if the registrant meets all other eligibility requirements to vote, the registration would be deemed effective in forthcoming elections. The bill would require the county elections official to offer conditional voter registration and provisional voting at its permanent offices, and would permit the official to offer this registration and voting at satellite offices on election day, in accordance with specified procedures. The bill would also require the county elections official to cancel, as specified, duplicate voter registrations that may arise due to conditional voter registration. Existing law provides that upon conviction for a crime pertaining to an election for which no fine is prescribed, the court may impose, in addition to any prescribed imprisonment, a fine on the offender not more than $1,000 for a misdemeanor or $10,000 for a felony. This bill would increase the amount of that fine for a felony to $25,000. By creating new duties for local elections officials, 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, 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

Existing law contains provisions that define unlawful discrimination and employment practices by employers and employment agencies. This bill would make it unlawful, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification or any other provision of law, for an employer, an employment agency, or a person who operates an Internet Web site for posting jobs in this state to take specified employment actions relating to employment status, as defined, including, among other things, refusing to hire a person because of that person’s employment status and publishing an advertisement or announcement for any job that includes provisions pertaining to an individual’s current employment or employment status, as specified. This bill would subject an employer, an employment agency, or a person who operates an Internet Web Site for posting jobs in this state who violates the above provisions to civil penalties that increase as the number of violations increase. The State Contract Act governs contracting between state agencies and private contractors, and sets forth requirements for the procurement of materials, supplies, equipment, and services by state agencies. This bill would provide that failure to comply with the requirements of the bill would constitute a breach of a contract entered into on or after January 1, 2013, and may be grounds for canceling, terminating, or suspending the contract, as specified, and debarring the contractor from eligibility for an award of future state agency contracts for a period not to exceed 3 years, as specified. Hide

(1)Existing law requires a public or private hospital, clinic, or birthing center, at the time of discharge of a child, to provide and discuss information on the current law requiring child passenger restraint systems, safety belts, and the transportation of children in rear seats to the parents or the person to whom the child is released if the child is under 8 years of age, but specifies that a public or private hospital, clinic, or birthing center shall not be responsible for the failure of the parent or person to whom the child is released to properly transport the child. This bill would require a public or private hospital, clinic, or birthing center, at the time a child under 8 years of age is discharged, to also provide and discuss contact information relating to obtaining, at no cost or low cost, information and assistance relating to child passenger restraint system requirements, installation, and inspection, including, among other things, the telephone number of the local office of the Department of the California Highway Patrol. Because this bill would expand the definition of an existing crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program. (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

The County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 prescribes the rights, benefits, and duties of members of the retirement systems established pursuant to its provisions. The act vests the management of these systems in retirement boards, and sets forth the membership and qualifications of the boards. Existing law authorizes the board of supervisors of any county in which the assets of the retirement system exceed $800,000,000 to, by resolution, establish a board of investments, which would be responsible for all investments of the retirement system. This bill would require a retirement board and a board of investments to adopt a policy for providing education for members of retirement boards, as specified, and would require all board members to receive a minimum of 24 hours of board member education within the first 2 years of assuming office and for every subsequent 2-year period in which the person serves on the board. The bill would require each board to maintain a record of a board member’s compliance with the policy and to post the policy and an annual report on board member compliance on the retirement system’s Internet Web site. 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

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. Under existing law, a health care service plan contract and a health insurance policy are required to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of severe mental illnesses of a person of any age. Existing law does not define the term “severe mental illnesses” for this purpose but describes it as including several conditions. This bill would expand this coverage requirement for certain health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2013, to include the diagnosis and treatment of a mental illness of a person of any age and would define mental illness for this purpose as a mental disorder defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV), including substance abuse but excluding nicotine dependence and specified diagnoses defined in the manual, subject to regulatory revision, as specified. The bill would specify that this requirement does not apply to a health care benefit plan, contract, or health insurance policy with the Board of Administration of the Public Employees’ Retirement System unless the board elects to purchase a plan, contract, or policy that provides mental health coverage.This bill would also exempt certain health care service contracts entered into by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board from its provisions.Because this bill would expand coverage requirements for health care service plans, the willful violation of which would be a 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 designates the Department of Boating and Waterways as the lead agency in cooperating with other agencies in controlling water hyacinth and Egeria densa in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, its tributaries, and the Suisun Marsh. This bill would additionally designate the department as the lead agency in cooperating with other agencies in controlling South American Spongeplant (Limnobium laevigatum) in the delta, its tributaries, and the marsh. 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 existing Bill of Rights for State Excluded Employees prescribes various rights and terms and conditions of employment for excluded employees, defined as certain supervisory, managerial, and confidential state employees. This bill would enact the Public Employees’ Bill of Rights Act that would apply to state employees other than excluded employees. The stated purpose of this act would be to inform public employees of their rights and terms of employment in order to promote harmonious personnel relations between public employees and their employers. This bill would, among other things, provide that state employees shall be entitled to priority over contractors in filling permanent, overtime, and on-call positions. This bill would also prescribe certain rights for employees who are required to maintain a professional license and would authorize the formation of a peer review committee for those licensed professionals, if there are no management or supervisory professional staff employed by the employer, to provide input regarding workplace operations. Existing law requires notice of any adverse action against any state employee for any cause for discipline based on any civil service law to be served within 3 years after the cause for discipline, upon which the notice is based, first arose. Existing law provides that an adverse action based on fraud, embezzlement, or the falsification of records is valid if notice of the adverse action is served within 3 years after the discovery of the fraud, embezzlement, or falsification. This bill would require notice of the adverse action to be served and the investigation to be completed within one year after discovery of the cause for discipline in order for an adverse action to be valid against any state employee for any cause for discipline based on any civil service law of this state. The bill also would provide that an adverse action based on fraud, embezzlement, or the falsification of records is valid if notice of the adverse action is signed within one year after the discovery of the fraud, embezzlement, or falsification. Hide

Existing law authorizes the juvenile court, if a minor is found to be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court by reason of the commission of a gang-related offense, and the court finds that the minor is a first-time offender and orders that a parent or guardian retain custody of that minor, to order the parent or guardian to attend antigang violence parenting classes. Under existing law, the father, mother, spouse, or other person liable for the support of the minor, the estate of that person, and the estate of the minor are liable for the cost of the classes, unless the court finds that the person or estate does not have the financial ability to pay. This bill would expand the authority of the juvenile court to order the parent or guardian of a minor to attend antigang violence parenting classes to additionally apply to a minor who is within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court for habitual disobedience, a curfew violation, truancy, or an offense that is not gang-related if the court finds the presence of significant risk factors for gang involvement on the part of the minor. Hide

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages and the granting of licenses for the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages within the state. This bill would prohibit off-sale licensees from selling alcoholic beverages using a customer-operated checkout stand located on the licensee’s physical premises. This bill makes findings and declarations regarding the effects of allowing alcoholic beverages to be sold using self-service checkouts. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act provides that a violation of any of its provisions for which another penalty or punishment is not specifically provided is a misdemeanor. This bill would expand existing crimes by imposing additional duties on a licensee under the act, thus, 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 for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Under existing law, a health insurer that provides maternity coverage may not restrict inpatient hospital benefits, as specified, and is required to provide notice of the maternity services coverage. This bill, commencing July 1, 2012, would require every group health insurance policy to provide coverage for maternity services for all insureds covered under the policy. This bill would become operative only if SB 222 is also enacted. Hide

The Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act proscribes crimes against elder and dependent adults involving physical and financial abuse. The act provides for the award of attorney’s fees and costs, and damages to a plaintiff, when it is proven that a defendant is liable for physical abuse, neglect, or financial abuse, and the defendant has also been guilty of recklessness, oppression, fraud, or malice in the commission of the abuse. The Civil Discovery Act provides that it is the policy of the state that confidential settlement agreements are disfavored in any civil action the factual foundation for which establishes a cause of action for violation of the Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act. The Civil Discovery Act prohibits the court from recognizing or enforcing provisions of such a confidential settlement agreement in the absence of specified conditions. This bill would provide that an agreement to settle a civil action for physical abuse, neglect, or financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult shall not include any provision that, among other things, prohibits contact or cooperation with the county adult protective services agency, the local law enforcement agency, the long-term care ombudsman, the California Department of Aging, the Department of Justice, or the Licensing and Certification Division of the State Department of Public Health, as specified. The bill would provide that any such provision is void as against public policy. 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 authorizes school districts to provide specified medical services in connection with athletic events that are under the jurisdiction of, or sponsored or controlled by, school districts. These services include medical or hospital insurance for pupils injured while participating in athletic activities and ambulance service for pupils, instructors, spectators, and other individuals in attendance at athletic activities. This bill would require a school district that elects to offer athletic programs to immediately remove from a school-sponsored athletic activity for the remainder of the day an athlete who is suspected of sustaining a concussion or head injury during that activity. The bill would prohibit the return of the athlete to that activity until he or she is evaluated by, and receives written clearance from, a licensed health care provider, as specified. The bill would require, on a yearly basis, a concussion and head injury information sheet to be signed and returned by the athlete and the athlete’s parent or guardian before the athlete’s initiating practice or competition. These provisions would not apply to an athlete engaged in an athletic activity during the regular schoolday or as part of a physical education course, as specified. 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

The California Health Facilities Financing Authority Act authorizes the California Health Facilities Financing Authority to make loans from the continuously appropriated California Health Facilities Financing Authority Fund to participating health institutions for financing or refinancing the acquisition, construction, or remodeling of health facilities. The act defines a health facility to include various specified facilities and facilities operated in conjunction with these facilities. It also defines a participating health institution to mean specified entities authorized by state law to provide or operate a health facility and undertake the financing or refinancing of the construction or acquisition of a project or of working capital, as defined. Existing law authorizes the authority to award grants to any eligible health facility, as defined, for purposes of financing defined projects. This bill would authorize the authority to award one or more grants that, in the aggregate, do not exceed $1,500,000 to one or more projects designed to demonstrate new or enhanced cost-effective methods of delivering health care services, as specified. This bill would create the California Health Access Model Program Account in the California Health Facilities Financing Authority Fund, and would transfer up to $1,500,000 from the fund to the account for the purposes of the bill. The bill would require that any moneys remaining in the account as of January 1, 2015, revert to the fund. This bill would require the authority to report to the Governor and the Legislature on the outcomes of the demonstration grant program, as specified. By expanding the purposes for which a continuously appropriated fund may be used, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Hide

Under existing law, the State Department of Public Health licenses and regulates hospitals, as defined. Violation of these provisions is a crime. Existing law requires hospitals, not less than annually, to conduct a security and safety assessment and, using the assessment, develop a security plan with measures to protect personnel, patients, and visitors from aggressive or violent behavior. Existing law provides that the plan may include, but is not limited to, prescribed considerations. This bill would, instead, require the plan to include these considerations, as well as other considerations prescribed by the bill. It would also require the hospital to adopt specified security policies as part of the plan. The bill would also require the hospital to evaluate and treat an employee who is involved in a violent incident and to provide specified followup care. The bill would prohibit a hospital from prohibiting an employee from, or taking punitive or retaliatory action against an employee for, seeking assistance from local emergency services or law enforcement when a violent incident occurs. Under existing law, an act of assault that results in injury or involves the use of a firearm or other dangerous weapon against on-duty hospital personnel is required to be reported to law enforcement within 72 hours of the occurrence of the incident. This bill would, instead, require reporting to law enforcement within 24 hours. This bill would also require a hospital to report incidents of assault or battery to the department, as specified. This bill would allow the imposition of a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $100 per day for each day that certain incidents are not reported, as prescribed. The bill would require the department to make an onsite inspection or investigation when it receives a report from a hospital that indicates an ongoing, urgent, or emergent threat of imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm to patient, personnel, or visitors. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature, as prescribed, beginning on January 1, 2014, and annually thereafter until January 1, 2018, certain information regarding incidents of violence at hospitals. Under existing law, all hospital employees who are regularly assigned to the emergency department are required to receive, on a continuing basis as provided by the security plan, specified training. This bill would require training to be provided annually, and would include in the required training hospital employees who provide direct care to patients.Because this bill expands the definition of a crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program. Under existing law, the Corrections Standards Authority is required to establish minimum standards for state and local correctional facilities. This bill would require the standards to include a safety and security plan to protect health care personnel who provide care to persons confined in state and local correctional facilities, as specified. 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 for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, pursuant to which medical benefits are provided to public assistance recipients and other low-income persons. Existing law provides for the department to enter into contracts with managed care systems, hospitals, and prepaid health plans for the provision of various Medi-Cal benefits. Existing law prohibits services covered by the California Children’s Services program (CCS) from being incorporated into a Medi-Cal managed care contract entered into after August 1, 1994, until January 1, 2012, except with respect to contracts entered into for county organized health systems in specified counties. This bill would extend to January 1, 2016, the termination of the prohibition against CCS covered services being incorporated into a Medi-Cal managed care contract entered into after August 1, 1994. Existing law requires the provider rates of payment for services rendered for the Healthy Families Program to be identical to the rates of payment for the same service performed by the same provider type pursuant to the Medi-Cal program if the services are provided by a Medi-Cal provider. This bill would require identical rates only if the service was provided by a Medi-Cal provider pursuant to specified contracts. Hide

The State Teachers’ Retirement System, the Public Employees’ Retirement System, the Judges’ Retirement System, and the Judges Retirement System II provide pension benefits based in part upon credited service. Under existing law, counties and districts, as defined, may provide retirement benefits to their employees pursuant to the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to convene a conference committee to craft responsible, comprehensive legislation to reform state and local pension systems in a manner that reflects both the legitimate needs of public employees and the fiscal circumstances of state and local governments. Hide

(1)Existing law prohibits an elections official, in any county in which only the incumbent has filed nomination papers for the office of superior court judge, to place the incumbent’s name on the ballot unless, within 10 days after the final date for filing nomination papers for the office, a petition indicating that a write-in campaign will be conducted for the office and signed by 100 registered voters qualified to vote with respect to the office is filed with the elections official. This bill would revise the signature requirement for that petition to 0.1% of the registered voters qualified to vote with respect to the office, provided that the petition contains at least 100 signatures but need not contain more than 600 signatures. (2)Existing law requires every person who desires to be a write-in candidate and have his or her name as written on the ballot of an election counted for a particular office to file a statement of write-in candidacy that contains specified information. This bill would require that a statement of write-in candidacy for any of several specified local offices also include a statement that the candidate meets statutory and constitutional requirements for that office as described in a specified statute. Hide

Existing law provides that an injury of an employee arising out of and in the course of employment is generally compensable through the workers’ compensation system. Existing law provides that, in the case of certain public employees, the term “injury” includes heart trouble, hernia, pneumonia, human immunodeficiency virus, lower back impairment, and other injuries and diseases. This bill would provide, with respect to hospital employees who provide direct patient care in an acute care hospital, as defined, that the term “injury” includes a bloodborne infectious disease, as defined, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that develops or manifests itself during the period of the person’s employment with the hospital. This bill would further create a disputable presumption that the above injury arises out of and in the course of the person’s employment if it develops or manifests as specified. Hide

Existing law gives control of the state park system to the Department of Parks and Recreation. Existing law authorizes the department to enter into agreements with an agency of the United States, a city, county, district, or other public agency or any combination thereof, for the care, maintenance, administration, and control by a party to the agreement of lands under the jurisdiction of a party to the agreement, for the purpose of the state park system. This bill would authorize the department to enter into an operating agreement for the development, improvement, restoration, care, maintenance, administration, or operation of a unit or units, or portion of a unit, of the state park system, as identified by the director, with a qualified nonprofit organization, as provided. This bill would require the operating agreement to include, among other things, a requirement that the nonprofit organization annually submit a report to the department, to be available on the Internet Web site of both the department and the nonprofit organization. The bill would require the nonprofit organization and the district superintendent for the department to hold a joint public meeting for discussion of the report. The bill would require the department to notify a Member of the Legislature of an intention to enter into an operating agreement relating to a park in the member’s district, as well as notify specified committees of the Legislature. The bill would also require the department to report to the Legislature, on a biennial basis, the status of any operating agreement. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2019. Hide

Existing law, as added by constitutional initiative, establishes the Citizens Redistricting Commission, and charges it with various duties and responsibilities in connection with redistricting Assembly, Senate, Board of Equalization, and congressional districts, as specified. Existing law establishes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and charges it with various duties and responsibilities in connection with the incarceration and rehabilitation of prisoners, as specified. This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to furnish to the Citizens Redistricting Commission, not sooner than April 1, 2020, and not later than July 1, 2020, and in each year of the decennial census thereafter, specified information regarding the last known place of residence, as defined, of each inmate incarcerated in a state adult correctional facility, except an inmate whose last known place of residence is outside of California. The bill also would request the Citizens Redistricting Commission to deem each incarcerated person as residing at his or her last known place of residence, rather than at the institution of his or her incarceration, and to utilize the above information in carrying out its redistricting responsibilities. Hide

The Meyers-Milias-Brown Act contains various provisions that provide methods for local public employers and their employees to resolve disputes regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. This bill would additionally provide that when a local public agency has established a personnel commission or merit commission to administer personnel rules or a merit system, the governing board of the public agency would appoint 12 of the members of the commission, and 12 of the members of the commission, nominated by the recognized employee organization, would be appointed by the governing board of the public agency. Whenever multiple bargaining units are represented by different recognized employee organizations, the employee organization representing the largest number of employees would designate commission members pursuant to that provision. 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

Existing law, the Moore-Brown-Roberti Family Rights Act, makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer, as defined, to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid protected leave during any 12-month period (1) to bond with a child who was born to, adopted by, or placed for foster care with, the employee, (2) to care for the employee’s parent, spouse, or child who has a serious health condition, as defined, or (3) because the employee is suffering from a serious health condition rendering him or her unable to perform the functions of the job. Under the act, “child” means a biological, adopted, foster, or stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in loco parentis, who is either under 18 years of age or an adult dependent child. The act defines “parent” to mean the employee’s biological, foster, or adoptive parent, stepparent, legal guardian, or other person who stood in loco parentis to the employee when the employee was a child. This bill would increase the circumstances under which an employee is entitled to protected leave pursuant to the Family Rights Act by (1) eliminating the age and dependency elements from the definition of “child,” thereby permitting an employee to take protected leave to care for his or her independent adult child suffering from a serious health condition, (2) expanding the definition of “parent” to include an employee’s parent-in-law, and (3) permitting an employee to also take leave to care for a seriously ill grandparent, sibling, grandchild, or domestic partner, as defined. Hide

Existing law states the intent of the Legislature to ensure that recipients of specified aid under the CalWORKs program, and former recipients who have left aid for employment, are connected as soon as possible to local child care resources, make stable child care arrangements, and continue to receive subsidized child care services after they no longer receive aid as long as they require those services and meet the eligibility requirements, as specified. The bill would require the State Department of Education to collaborate with welfare rights and legal services advocates to develop and adopt regulations and other policy statements to provide CalWORKs recipients of child care the same level of due process and procedural protections as are afforded to public assistance recipients, as specified. Hide

Existing law establishes various boards and commissions within state government. Existing law establishes various transit districts and other local entities for development of public transit on a regional basis and makes various state revenues available to those entities for those purposes. Existing law declares that the fostering, continuance, and development of public transportation systems are a matter of statewide concern. The Public Transportation Account is designated as a trust fund and funds in the account shall be available only for specified transportation planning and mass transportation purposes. This bill would establish, until March 30, 2013, the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Public Transportation for the 21st Century. The bill would require the task force to be comprised of 12 members and would require the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly to each appoint 6 specified members, by January 31, 2012. The bill would require the task force to elect one of its nonlegislative members as chair. The bill would require the task force to issue a written report that contains specified findings and recommendations relating to, among other things, the current state of California’s transit system, the estimated cost of creating the needed system over various terms, and potential sources of funding to sustain the transit system’s needs, and to submit the report by September 30, 2012, to the Governor, the Legislature, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Senate Committee on Rules, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the transportation committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the task force, for purposes of collecting information for the written report, to consult with appropriate state agencies and departments and would require the task force to contract with consultants for preparation of the report. The bill would require the Department of Transportation to provide administrative staffing to the task force. The bill would appropriate $750,000 from the Public Transportation Account to the department, as specified, to accomplish the purposes of these provisions. Hide

Existing law establishes the California State University as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. The university includes 25 specified campuses and is administered by a board, known as the Trustees of the California State University. This bill would require the trustees to ensure that campuses meet specific requirements with respect to appeal procedures for a denial of admission. Hide

Existing law requires agents and insurers to fulfill certain requirements with regard to the replacement of existing life insurance policies and annuities. This bill would require insurers and insurance producers, as defined, to comply with specified requirements regarding the purchase, exchange, or replacement of an annuity recommended to a consumer, including, but not limited to, having reasonable grounds for the insurance producer believing the annuity transaction would be suitable for the consumer, as provided. The bill would also prohibit an insurance producer from selling annuities unless he or she has received Insurance Commissioner-approved training, and would authorize the commissioner to require certain actions by, and impose sanctions and penalties on, insurers and their agents for a violation of the bill’s provisions. The bill would further provide that sales by a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) broker-dealer that comply with the suitability and supervision requirements of FINRA shall be deemed to satisfy the suitability and supervision requirements of this bill, as specified. Hide

Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, requires the Secretary of State to establish and maintain on the Internet an updated Directory of Lobbyists, Lobbying Firms, and Lobbyist Employers. The act further requires lobbyist employers and persons making certain payments to influence legislative or administrative actions to file periodic reports disclosing, among other information, their lobbying interests. This bill would require that the online directory maintained by the Secretary of State also contain information regarding lobbying interests. The bill would require that the periodic reports filed by lobbyist employers and other persons contain, in addition to their lobbying interests, the bill numbers of any legislation lobbied during the reporting period. The bill would also require the Secretary of State to display on his or her Internet Web site, within 90 days of the end of each calendar quarter, a list of the lobbying interests containing a specific reference to a bill number, accompanied by a list of all lobbyist employers who reported each of those lobbying interests, reported for the prior calendar quarter. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating additional crimes. 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. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act’s purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act. Hide

Existing law authorizes the creation of retirement systems for public employees by counties, cities, and districts. Existing law creates the Public Employees’ Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System, which provide a defined benefit to their members based on age at retirement, service credit, and final compensation. Existing law establishes the criteria for membership in the various public employee retirement systems and may exclude certain employment classifications from membership. Existing law prohibits Members of the Legislature elected on or after November 1, 1990, from accruing any retirement or pension benefit, provided that other elective officers provided for by the California Constitution may elect to become members of Legislators’ Retirement System. The California Constitution provides for the division of the state into counties and requires that a county have an elected sheriff, elected district attorney, elected assessor, and elected governing body. Existing law provides for the incorporation of cities in various forms and requires that certain city offices be filled pursuant to elections, as prescribed. Existing law provides for the creation of districts, the governing bodies of which may be elected. This bill would prohibit a person who is publicly elected to an office of any kind that is less than full time, as defined, on and after January 1, 2013, from becoming a member of a retirement system by virtue of that service or acquiring any retirement right or benefit for serving in that elective office. The bill would also apply these prohibitions to a person who is appointed to fill the term of a person so elected. The bill would except from this prohibition a person who obtained membership by virtue of holding an elective public office prior to January 1, 2013, and remains in that office or is reelected to it. Hide

Existing law authorizes state agencies to use personal services contracts if specified standards are satisfied, including, among other things, the contract does not cause the displacement of civil service employees and the contract is awarded through a publicized, competitive bidding process. The State Personnel Board is required to review a proposed contract upon the request of an employee organization for compliance with those standards. This bill would require a state agency to immediately discontinue a contract disapproved by action of the board or its delegate unless ordered otherwise by the board or its delegate. The bill would prohibit the state agency from circumventing or disregarding the board’s action by entering into another contract for the same or similar services or to continue the services that were the subject of the contract that was disapproved. The bill would require the state agency to serve notice of the discontinuation of the contract to the vendor within 15 days from the board’s final action, and to serve a copy of the notice on the board and the employee organization that filed the contract challenge. The bill would provide that failure to serve this notice may be grounds for rejection of future contracts for the same or similar services. The bill would make a related statement of legislative findings. Hide

(1)The Charter Schools Act of 1992 allows one or more persons seeking to establish a charter school within a school district to circulate a petition to that effect. The act allows a charter petition to be submitted to the governing board of a school district for review after the petition has been signed by a number of parents or guardians of pupils that is equivalent to at least 12 of the number of pupils that the petitioner estimates will enroll in the charter school for its first year of operation or has been signed by a number of teachers that is equivalent to at least 12 of the number of teachers that the petitioner estimates will be employed at the charter school during its first year of operation. This bill, with respect to charter petitions signed by teachers, would require instead that the petition be signed by a number of nonsupervisorial certificated staff and classified employees that combined is equivalent to at least 12 of the total number of nonsupervisorial certificated staff and classified employees that the charter school estimates will be employed at the school during its first year of operation. (2)The act allows a petition that proposes to convert an existing public school to a charter school that would not be eligible for a loan, as specified, to be circulated by one or more persons seeking to establish the charter school. The act allows such a petition to be submitted to the governing board of a school district for review after the petition has been signed by not less than 50% of the permanent status teachers currently employed at the public school to be converted. This bill, instead, would require the petition to be signed by a number of permanent status nonsupervisorial certificated staff and permanent classified employees that combined is equivalent to at least 12 of the total number of permanent status nonsupervisorial certificated staff and permanent classified employees currently employed at the public school to be converted to a charter school. (3)The bill also would make conforming changes. (4)This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 47605 of the Education Code proposed by AB 1034 that would become operative if this bill and AB 1034 are enacted, and this bill is enacted last. Hide

Existing law regulates the wages, hours, and working conditions of any man, woman, and minor employed in any occupation, trade, or industry, whether compensation is measured by time, piece, or otherwise, except for individuals employed as outside salesmen and individuals participating in specified national service programs. Under existing law, the Industrial Welfare Commission within the Department of Industrial Relations is authorized to adopt rules, regulations, and orders to ensure that employers comply with those provisions of law. This bill would specially regulate the wages, hours, and working conditions of domestic work employees, as defined. Specifically, this bill would, among other things, provide a private right of action for a domestic work employee when those regulations are violated by his or her employer and provide an overtime compensation rate for domestic work employees. This bill would also expressly state that the provisions of Wage Order Number 15 of the Industrial Welfare Commission, with specified exceptions, apply to a domestic work employee, but would provide that these new domestic work provisions shall prevail over protections in that order or any other law that afford less protection to a domestic work employee. Existing law requires an employer to provide its employees with specified information regarding their wages either semimonthly or at the time of each wage payment. Under existing law, this requirement does not apply to employers of persons who engage in specified types of household domestic service. This bill would delete the exclusion for employers of persons who engage in specified types of household domestic service, thereby requiring those employers to provide the above-described information. Existing law requires employers to secure the payment of workers’ compensation for injuries incurred by their employees that arise out of and in the course of employment. The failure to secure workers’ compensation as required by the workers’ compensation law is a misdemeanor. Under existing law, employers of persons who engage in specified types of household domestic service and who work less than a specified number of hours are excluded from that definition of employer and are therefore excluded from the requirement to secure the payment of workers’ compensation, as specified. This bill would remove that exclusion and require all domestic work employers, as defined, to secure the payment of workers’ compensation and would make conforming changes. By expanding the definition of a crime, 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, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law creates within the Department of Managed Health Care an Office of Patient Advocate to assist enrollees with regard to health care coverage, which is headed by a patient advocate recommended to the Governor by the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. The Office of Patient Advocate is responsible for, among other things, developing educational and informational guides for consumers, compiling an annual publication of a quality of care report card, and rendering advice and assistance to enrollees. The annual budget of the Office of Patient Advocate is separately identified in the annual budget request of the department. The California Health and Human Services Agency consists of, among others, the State Department of Health Care Services, the State Department of Mental Health, the State Department of Public Health, and the State Department of Social Services. This bill would transfer the Department of Managed Health Care and, effective July 1, 2012, the Office of Patient Advocate to the California Health and Human Services Agency. The bill would delete the requirement that the patient advocate be recommended to the Governor by the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. The bill, effective January 1, 2013, would add additional duties and responsibilities to the existing duties of the Office of Patient Advocate with regard to providing outreach and education about health care coverage to consumers. The bill, effective January 1, 2013, would authorize the office to contract with community organizations, subject to specified requirements, to provide certain services and would also require the office to adopt certain standards and procedures regarding those organizations. The bill, effective January 1, 2013, would require specified state agencies to report to the office regarding consumer complaints submitted to those agencies by individuals with complaints about their health care coverage. The bill would provide that funding for the actual and necessary expenses of the office shall be provided, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, from transfers of moneys from the Managed Care Fund and the Insurance Fund, to be based on the number of covered lives in the state that are covered by plans or insurers, as determined by the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance, in proportion to the total number of covered lives in the state. The bill would establish the Office of Patient Advocate Trust Fund for those purposes and would make moneys deposited into that fund available for purposes of administering the program, subject to appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would also authorize the office to apply to the federal government for moneys to fund the office and authorize the office to request from the federal government specified grant moneys. Hide

Existing law sets forth the criteria for procedures for the foreclosure of property, including the filing of various notices with the county recorder, and generally sets forth the duties of the county recorder in this regard. This bill would, until January 1, 2015, for loans already originated as of the date that this bill becomes effective, with some exceptions, prohibit a notice of trustee’s sale from being accepted for filing with the county recorder until the mortgage servicer pays a foreclosure mitigation charge of $20,000. It would require the county recorder to keep the moneys in trust until a notice of rescission is filed, at which time the moneys would be returned to the mortgage servicer, or until a trustee deed of sale is filed, at which time the moneys would be transmitted to the Treasurer for deposit in the Foreclosure Mitigation Fund, which would be created by the bill; the interest earned on the moneys would be retained by the county recorder in either case. The fund would be continuously appropriated for distribution by the Treasurer to local agencies for specified purposes. By imposing a new duty on county recorders in collecting this fee, 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 for the regulation of insurers by the Department of Insurance, including insurers issuing policies of long-term care insurance. Existing law regulates the marketing or solicitation of long-term care insurance policies and, in that regard, requires specified disclosures to prospective applicants or enrollees. Existing law requires the Insurance Commissioner to annually prepare a consumer rate guide for long-term care insurance and to include specified information. This bill would require an insurer of long-term care insurance to clearly post on its Internet Web site and provide written notice at the time of solicitation that a specimen individual policy form or group master policy and certificate form for each policy form offered by the insurer is available upon request and to provide that form within 15 calendar days upon request. This bill would require the annual consumer rate guide to include a specimen outline of coverage for each product currently marketed by each insurer listed in the rate guide. Existing law requires the premium rate schedules for all individual and group long-term care insurance policies issued in this state to be filed with, and receive the prior approval of, the Insurance Commissioner before the policy may be offered, sold, issued, or delivered to a resident of this state. Existing law requires an insurer of long-term care insurance to submit to the Insurance Commissioner for approval all proposed premium rate schedule increases and to include specified information with the rate application. Approval of all premium rate schedule increases is subject to specified criteria. This bill would provide that if the premiums in any rate revision filing calculated pursuant to those criteria produce a lifetime expected loss ratio that is less than the highest lifetime expected loss ratio for the policy form in the initial filing or for requested premium rates in any filing made after January 1, 2012, the insurer is required to reduce the premiums in that filing such that the current lifetime expected loss ratio is equal to or greater than the highest filed loss ratio, as specified. The bill would set forth criteria for calculating the margin in the determination of a lifetime expected loss ratio. With regard to individual or group long-term care insurance policies issued before the approval of premium rate schedules by the Insurance Commissioner, the bill would limit those premium rate schedule increases to no more than one in any 5-year period. For those policies, the bill would also prohibit an insurer from justifying a rate increase prior to approval by the Insurance Commissioner based upon asset investment yield rate changes, except as specified, and would require all of the experience on all similar long-term care policy forms issued by an insurer and its affiliates and retained within the affiliated group to be pooled together and used as the basis for determining whether an increase is reasonable or shall be approved under specified provisions. The bill would require similar long-term care policy forms to be classified into benefit classifications of nursing facility and residential care facility only, home care only, or comprehensive long-term care benefits. With regard to the approval of other premium rate schedule increases by the Insurance Commissioner, the bill would limit premium rate schedule increases to no more than one in any 10-year period, except upon a demonstration of financial hardship, as specified. Hide

(1)The Community Redevelopment Law authorizes the establishment of redevelopment agencies in communities to address the effects of blight, as defined. Existing law provides that an action may be brought to review the validity of the adoption or amendment of a redevelopment plan by an agency, to review the validity of agency findings or determinations, and other agency actions. This bill would revise the provisions of law authorizing an action to be brought against the agency to determine or review the validity of specified agency actions. (2)Existing law also requires that if an agency ceases to function, any surplus funds existing after payment of all obligations and indebtedness vest in the community. The bill would suspend various agency activities and prohibit agencies from incurring indebtedness commencing on the effective date of this act. Effective October 1, 2011, the bill would dissolve all redevelopment agencies and community development agencies in existence and designate successor agencies, as defined, as successor entities. The bill would impose various requirements on the successor agencies and subject successor agency actions to the review of oversight boards, which the bill would establish. The bill would require county auditor-controllers to conduct an agreed-upon procedures audit of each former redevelopment agency by March 1, 2012. The bill would require the county auditor-controller to determine the amount of property taxes that would have been allocated to each redevelopment agency if the agencies had not been dissolved and deposit this amount in a Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund in the county. Revenues in the trust fund would be allocated to various taxing entities in the county and to cover specified expenses of the former agency. By imposing additional duties upon local public officials, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. (3)The bill would prohibit a redevelopment agency from issuing new bonds, notes, interim certificates, debentures, or other obligations if any legal challenge to invalidate a provision of this act is successful. (4)The bill would appropriate $500,000 to the Department of Finance from the General Fund for administrative costs associated with the bill. (5)The bill would provide that its provisions take effect only if specified legislation is enacted in the 2011–12 First Extraordinary Session of the Legislature. (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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (7)The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 6, 2010. Governor Brown issued a proclamation on January 20, 2011, declaring and reaffirming that a fiscal emergency exists and stating that his proclamation supersedes the earlier proclamation for purposes of that constitutional provision. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared and reaffirmed by the Governor by proclamation issued on January 20, 2011, pursuant to the California Constitution. (8)This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill. Hide

Existing provisions of the California Constitution provide that the initiative is the power of the electors to propose statutes and amendments to the Constitution and to adopt or reject those proposals. Those provisions require the Secretary of State to submit the measure at the next general election held at least 131 days after it qualifies or at any special statewide election held prior to that general election. The Governor may also call a special statewide election on the measure. This measure would require the Secretary of State to transmit a copy of an initiative measure certified for the ballot to each house of the Legislature no later than 176 days prior to the election at which the measure is to be voted upon. Within 30 days, the Legislature may propose an amended form of the initiative measure by adopting a concurrent resolution. If the Legislature proposes an amended form of the initiative measure, the measure would provide that if the proponent, or a majority of the proponents if there is more than one proponent, of the initiative measure accepts the proposed amendments, the Legislature’s proposal would appear on the ballot in place of the certified initiative measure. The measure would require that, if the amended form proposed by the Legislature is not accepted, information regarding the proposed amended form be included in the ballot materials relating to the initiative measure, as prescribed by statute. The measure would make conforming election changes. 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 also provides criminal and civil penalties for any employer or person who engages in unfair labor practices as determined by the Agricultural Labor Relations Board within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and the courts. 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, instead, refer to the above-described secret ballot elections as elections occurring at polling sites. This bill would also permit agricultural employees, as an alternative procedure, to select their labor representatives by submitting a petition to the board accompanied by representation cards signed by a majority of the bargaining unit. The board would be required to conduct an immediate investigation to determine whether to certify the labor organization as the exclusive bargaining representative for the particular agricultural employees. Within 5 days after receiving a petition, the board would be required to make a nonappealable administrative decision. If the board determined that the representation cards meet specified criteria, then the labor organization would be certified as the exclusive bargaining representative. If the board determined that the representation cards were deficient, it would notify the labor organization of the deficiency and grant the labor organization 30 days to submit additional cards. This bill would extend the existing prohibitions and penalties to employers who engage in unfair labor practices with regard to a majority signup election. This bill would require that the board keep the information on the representation cards confidential. By expanding the definition of unfair labor practices for infractions, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. Hide

Existing law requires a person under 18 years of age to wear a properly fitted and fastened bicycle helmet while operating a bicycle or riding upon a bicycle as a passenger upon the streets or any other public bicycle path. This bill would require a person under 18 years of age to wear a properly fitted and fastened snow sport helmet while operating snow skis or a snowboard, or while riding upon a seat or other device that is attached to the snow skis or a snowboard, while participating in the sport of downhill skiing or snowboarding. The bill would impose a $25 fine for a violation of this requirement. Because this bill would create a new crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would specify that nothing in those provisions shall be construed to increase or decrease duties imposed under existing law. The bill would also specify that those provisions shall not apply to Nordic skiing. The bill would require a ski resort to post signs at the resort giving reasonable notice of the snow sport helmet requirement and the fine for a violation of that requirement. The bill also would require a ski resort to provide prominent written notice of the snow sport helmet requirement on all trail maps and resort Internet Web sites. 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 any elected public officer who takes public office, or is reelected to public office, on or after January 1, 2006, who is convicted of any specified felony arising directly out of his or her official duties, forfeits all rights and benefits under, and membership in, any public retirement system in which he or she is a member, effective on the date of final conviction, as specified. This bill would additionally include tampering with a witness, money laundering, and the preparation of false documents among the specified felonies that would result in that forfeiture for any elected public officer who takes public office, or is reelected to public office, on or after January 1, 2013. This bill would also make clarifying changes to that provision. This bill would additionally require a public officer, as defined, or public employee who is convicted of any felony involving accepting or giving, or offering to give, any bribe, the embezzlement of public money, extortion or theft of public money, perjury, tampering with a witness, money laundering, the preparation of false documents, or conspiracy to commit any of those crimes arising directly out of his or her official duties on or after January 1, 2013, to forfeit all rights and benefits under any public retirement system in which he or she is a member, effective on the date of conviction. That public officer or employee would forfeit only that portion of his or her rights and benefits that accrued on or after January 1, 2013. The bill would require any contributions made by that public officer or public employee to the public retirement system that arose directly from or accrued solely as a result of his or her forfeited service would be returned to the public officer or public employee without interest.The bill would additionally specify that the pension forfeiture provisions for elected public officers, other public officers, and public employees shall not be construed to abrogate the rights of an innocent spouse who was not involved in the commission of the felony and would require the public retirement system to establish a separate account to maintain the innocent spouse’s community property interests in any benefits accrued. Hide

(1)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. That law provides various exemptions from those taxes. On and after March 1, 2012, this bill would provide partial exemptions equal to specified percentages of state sales and use taxes imposed at a combined rate of 5% for the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, tangible personal property, as defined, purchased for use by a qualified person, as defined, primarily in any stage of manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling of tangible personal property; in research and development; to maintain, repair, measure, or test specified tangible personal property; and by a contractor for use in a construction contract with a qualified person, as specified. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board and the State Board of Equalization to provide specified information to the Director of Finance and would require the director to make certain determinations regarding whether this act has caused or will cause a net increase or decrease in the amount of revenues and to correspondingly increase or decrease the exemption to certain taxpayers that received only a limited exemption, as specified. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing law authorizes districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Exemptions from state sales and use taxes are incorporated in these laws. This bill would specify that this exemption does not apply to local sales and use taxes and transactions and use taxes. (2)The Personal Income Tax Law imposes taxes based upon taxable income. That law also allows specified credits, exemptions, and exclusions, and imposes an alternative minimum tax with respect to certain items of tax preferences. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2012, exclude from taxable income under this law an amount equal to 10% of the business income of a taxpayer, not to exceed $5,000, as specified, but would require the amount excluded to be included as an item of tax preferences for purposes of the alternative minimum tax. (3)The Personal Income Tax Law allows a standard deduction, as defined, in computing the income subject to tax. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2012, increase the standard deduction by 27%, as specified. (4)The Corporation Tax Law imposes taxes measured by income at a rate of 8.84%, as specified. The Corporation Tax Law imposes a minimum franchise tax of $800, except as provided, on every corporation incorporated in this state, qualified to transact intrastate business in this state, or doing business in this state, and a tax in an amount equal to the minimum franchise tax on every limited liability company registered, qualified to transact business, or doing business in this state, as specified. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on and after January 1, 2012, reduce that rate to 8.34% on the amount of net income that is less than or equal to $50,000 for the taxable year, except as specified. The bill would reduce the annual minimum franchise tax to $750 for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2012. (5)The Corporation Tax Law imposes taxes measured by income and, in the case of a business with income derived from or attributable to sources both within and without this state, apportions the income between this state and other states and foreign countries in accordance with a specified 4-factor formula based on the property, payroll, and sales within and without this state, except that in the case of an apportioning trade or business that derives more than 50% of its gross business receipts from conducting one or more qualified business activities, as defined, business income is apportioned in accordance with a specified 3-factor formula. That law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, allows a taxpayer to have that income apportioned in accordance with a single sales factor formula, except as provided, pursuant to an irrevocable annual election, as specified. That law also provides that sales of tangible and intangible personal property are in this state in accordance with specified criteria. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2012, revise the rules which determine whether a taxpayer is doing business within this state, revise the provisions which determine whether specific sales occur in this state, and require a taxpayer, except as provided, to apportion its income in accordance with a single sales factor. (6)This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. (7)The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 6, 2010. Governor Brown issued a proclamation on January 20, 2011, declaring and reaffirming that a fiscal emergency exists and stating that his proclamation supersedes the earlier proclamation for purposes of that constitutional provision. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared and reaffirmed by the Governor by proclamation issued on January 20, 2011, pursuant to the California Constitution. (8)This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy. Hide

Existing law establishes and sets forth the missions and functions of the public and independent institutions of postsecondary education in the state. Existing law generally regulates the conduct of employers in the state. This bill would prohibit a postsecondary educational institution and an employer, whether public or private, from requiring, or formally requesting in writing, a student or an employee, or a prospective student or employee, to disclose the user name and account password for a personal social media account, as defined, or to otherwise provide the institution or employer with access to any content of that account, except as provided.The bill would prohibit a postsecondary educational institution and an employer from threatening a student or employee with or taking specified pecuniary actions for refusing to disclose permissibly requested information related to their personal social media account. 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

Existing law provides that a provision of a memorandum of understanding reached between the state employer and a recognized employee organization representing state civil service employees that requires the expenditure of funds does not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act. This bill would approve provisions of memoranda of understanding entered into between the state employer and State Bargaining Units 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 13, and would approve addenda to memoranda of understanding entered into by the state employer and State Bargaining Units 1, 3, 4, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21, that require the expenditure of funds, and would provide that these provisions will become effective even if funds for these provisions are approved by the Legislature in legislation other than the annual Budget Act. The bill would provide that provisions of the memoranda of understanding and addenda to memoranda of understanding approved by this bill that require the expenditure of funds will not take effect unless funds for those provisions are specifically appropriated by the Legislature, and would require the state employer and the affected employee organization to meet and confer to renegotiate the affected provisions if funds for those provisions are not specifically appropriated by the Legislature. The annual Budget Act appropriates specified amounts from the General Fund, unallocated special funds, and unallocated nongovernmental cost funds, for state employee compensation. In the event that the annual Budget Act is not enacted prior to July 1 of each year covered by the memoranda of understanding for State Bargaining Units 1, 3, 4, 11, 14, 15, 17, 20, and 21, existing law provides for a continuous appropriation for the amount necessary for the payment of compensation and benefits to members of those bargaining units. This bill would expand that provision to also include members of State Bargaining Units 2, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 13. The Public Employees’ Retirement Law (PERL) prescribes contribution rates for state employees who are state miscellaneous, state industrial, state safety members, patrol members, or state peace officer/firefighter members, among others, in amounts based on percentages of monthly compensation, as specified. Member contributions are deposited into the Public Employees’ Retirement Fund, which is a continuously appropriated trust fund. This bill would increase the contribution rates by 5% for state miscellaneous, state industrial, or state safety members who are represented by State Bargaining Unit 13, by 3% for state miscellaneous, state industrial, or state safety members who are represented by State Bargaining Unit 2, 6, 7, 9, or 10, by 3% for state peace officer/firefighter members who are represented by State Bargaining Unit 6, and by 2% for state peace officer/firefighter members who are represented by State Bargaining Unit 7, beginning on the first day of the pay period following the operative date of the bill. By increasing member contributions into a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would reduce the contribution rates by 1% for excluded state miscellaneous or state industrial members related to State Bargaining Unit 2. Existing law requires the state to pay sworn members of the California Highway Patrol who are rank-and-file members of State Bargaining Unit 5 the estimated average total compensation for each corresponding rank in specified local police departments. Existing law requires any increase in total compensation resulting from a survey of the average compensation for those departments to be implemented through a memorandum of understanding negotiated pursuant to the Ralph C. Dills Act. Existing law requires that any amount that would otherwise be used to permanently increase compensation for those members of State Bargaining Unit 5 pursuant to those provisions, effective on July 1, 2009, and on July 1, 2010, to permanently prefund postemployment health care benefits for patrol members, as provided. This bill would authorize the Director of the Department of Personnel Administration to apply the provision directing the use of those amounts to prefund postemployment health care benefits for patrol members to excluded patrol members and an officer or employee of the executive branch who is not a member of civil service. The bill would also delete duplicative provisions of law. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Hide

Existing law provides that in the absence of a credentialed school nurse or other licensed nurse onsite at the school, a school district is authorized to provide school personnel with voluntary medical training to provide emergency medical assistance to pupils with diabetes suffering from severe hypoglycemia. This bill, until January 1, 2017, would authorize a school district, county office of education, or charter school to participate in a program to provide nonmedical school employees with voluntary emergency medical training to provide, in the absence of a credentialed school nurse or other licensed nurse onsite at the school or charter school, emergency medical assistance to pupils with epilepsy suffering from seizures, in accordance with guidelines developed by the State Department of Education in consultation with the State Department of Public Health. The bill would require the State Department of Education to post these guidelines on its Internet Web site by July 1, 2012. The bill would allow a parent or guardian of a pupil with epilepsy who has been prescribed an emergency antiseizure medication by the pupil’s health care provider, to request the pupil’s school to have one or more of its employees receive voluntary training, as specified, in order to administer the emergency antiseizure medication, as defined, in the event that the pupil suffers a seizure when a nurse is not available. The bill would require a school district, county office of education, or charter school that elects to train school employees to ensure that the school or charter school distributes an electronic notice, as specified, to all staff regarding the request. The bill would authorize the State Department of Education to include, on its Internet Web site, a clearinghouse of best practices in training nonmedical personnel in administering an emergency antiseizure medication pursuant to these provisions. The bill would make various legislative findings and declarations, and state the intent of the Legislature in enacting this measure. Hide

Existing law, the Donahoe Higher Education Act, sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California’s public and independent segments of higher education, and their respective institutions of higher education. Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, and the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as 2 of the public segments of postsecondary education. Provisions of the Donahoe Higher Education Act apply to the University of California only to the extent that the regents act, by resolution, to make these provisions applicable. A provision of the act expresses legislative intent with respect to the determination of standards and criteria for admission to the University of California and the California State University. This bill would authorize the University of California and the California State University to consider race, gender, ethnicity, and national origin, along with other relevant factors, in undergraduate and graduate admissions, to the maximum extent permitted by the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, Section 31 of Article I of the California Constitution, and relevant case law. The bill would require the trustees, and request the regents, to report in writing to the Legislature and the Governor by November 1, 2013, on the implementation of the bill. The bill would require these reports to include information relative to the number of students admitted, disaggregated by race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, geographic origin, and household income, and compared to the prior 2 years of admissions. Hide

Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Under existing law, a health insurer that provides maternity coverage may not restrict inpatient hospital benefits, as specified, and is required to provide notice of the maternity services coverage. This bill, commencing July 1, 2012, would require every individual health insurance policy to provide coverage for maternity services for all insureds covered under the policy. This bill would become operative only if AB 210 of the 2011–12 Regular Session is also enacted. Hide

Existing law authorizes certain counties to impose a local vehicle license fee not exceeding $10 per vehicle, as provided, for the privilege of operating specified vehicles on public roads in the county. Existing law requires a county imposing this fee to contract with the Department of Motor Vehicles to collect and administer the fee, as specified. This bill would authorize the City and County of San Francisco to impose a voter-approved local assessment for specified vehicles if certain conditions, including approval by local voters, are met. The bill would require the city and county to contract with the department to collect and administer the assessment, as provided. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize various deductions against the income that is otherwise subject to tax under those laws, including a deduction for local taxes that were paid or incurred by a taxpayer. This bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to annually notify the department of estimated revenue losses to the state resulting from taxpayers deducting, for purposes of the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, the voter-approved local assessments authorized by this bill, as specified. This bill would require the department to transmit from the assessments collected an amount equal to these reported losses for deposit in the General Fund. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City and County of San Francisco. Hide

(1)The State Teachers’ Retirement Law (STRL) establishes the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers’ Retirement System, which provides a defined benefit to members of the system based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. STRL also establishes the Defined Benefit Supplement Program, which provides supplemental retirement, disability, and other benefits, payable either in a lump-sum payment, an annuity, or both to members of the State Teachers’ Retirement Plan. STRL defines creditable compensation for these purposes as remuneration that is payable in cash to all persons in the same class of employees, as specified, for performing creditable service. This bill would revise the definition of creditable compensation for these purposes and would identify certain payments, reimbursements, and compensation that are creditable compensation to be applied to the Defined Benefit Supplement Program. The bill would prohibit one employee from being considered a class. The bill would revise the definition of compensation with respect to the Defined Benefit Supplement Program to include remuneration earnable within a 5-year period, which includes the last year in which the member’s final compensation is determined, when it is in excess of 125% of that member’s compensation earnable in the year prior to that 5-year period, as specified. The bill would prohibit a member who retires on or after January 1, 2013, who elects to receive his or her retirement benefit under the Defined Benefit Supplement Program as a lump-sum payment from receiving that sum until 180 days have elapsed following the effective date of the member’s retirement. (2)Existing law permits a retired member of STRS to perform specified activities as an employee of an employer in the system, as an employee of a 3rd party, or as an independent contractor within the California public school system, but prohibits the member from making contributions to the retirement fund or accruing service credit based on compensation earned from that service. Existing law conditions this authorization on a variety of factors including limitations on the rate of pay of the member and the total amount of compensation. Existing law prohibits compensation, in this regard, for a member who is below normal retirement age for the first 6 months after retirement for service. This bill would apply the prohibition described above to employees retiring on or after January 1, 2013, for the first 180 days after retirement for service. The bill, beginning January 1, 2013, and until June 30, 2014, would exclude from that postretirement compensation limitation up to $2,500 of compensation earned by a member who retired for service and returned to work during the first 180 days after retirement as a substitute employee, as specified, if other conditions are met. (3)Existing law establishes the Cash Balance Benefit Program, administered by the Teachers’ Retirement Board, as a separate benefit program within the State Teachers’ Retirement Plan in order to provide a retirement plan for persons employed to perform creditable service for less than 50% of full-time service. Existing law provides that the normal form of benefit under the program is a lump-sum payment, after which further benefits are not payable. This bill would permit the board to assess penalties for late and improper adjustments on contributions in connection with the Cash Balance Benefit Program. The bill would prohibit a member who retires on or after January 1, 2013, from receiving the lump-sum payment under the program until 180 days have elapsed following the effective date of the member’s termination of employment. (4)The Public Employees’ Retirement Law (PERL) establishes the Public Employees’ Retirement System, which is administered by its board of administration, and which provides a defined benefit to its members based on age at retirement, service credit, and final compensation. PERL defines compensation earnable and other related terms for purposes of calculating a member’s retirement allowance. PERL requires employers and contracting agencies participating in the system to provide notice to the board of the change of status of a member. This bill would require a participating employer and contracting agencies to immediately notify the board of a change that may affect a member’s payrate for purposes of compensation earnable and would authorize the board to assess a reasonable fee upon an employer that fails to do so. The bill would authorize the board to assess a reasonable amount to cover the cost of audit, adjustment, or correction, if it determines that an employer knowingly failed to comply with requirements regarding the reporting of compensation. The bill would specify that payrate means, among other things, the member’s monthly base pay, would connect payrate to publicly available pay schedules, and would establish requirements for computation of the payrate of a member for a leave without pay. The bill would prescribe a process for determining if specific compensation items are special compensation. The bill would prohibit a person who retires on or after January 1, 2013, from being employed in any capacity by the state, the University of California, a school employer, or a contracting agency until that person has been separated from service for a period of at least 180 days, subject to existing exceptions, unless the employee is subject to a collectively bargained early retirement plan with the California State University in effect prior to January 1, 2013. The bill also would make additional related changes and would make a statement of legislative findings. This bill would provide that its provisions would become operative on July 1, 2012, except as specified. Hide

Existing law prohibits employment discrimination based on sex or disability. Existing law prohibits an employer from refusing to allow a female employee disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition to take a leave for a reasonable time of up to 4 months before returning to work. This bill would also prohibit an employer from refusing to maintain and pay for coverage under a group health plan for an employee who takes that leave, as specified. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12945 of the Government Code proposed by AB 592, to be operative only if AB 592 and this bill are both enacted, both bills become effective on or before January 1, 2012, and this bill is enacted last. Hide

(1)Existing law requires each school district to evaluate and assess certificated employee performance as it reasonably relates to pupil academic progress, the instructional techniques and strategies used by the employee, the employee’s adherence to curricular objectives, and the establishment and maintenance of a suitable learning environment, within the scope of the employee’s responsibilities. This bill would authorize the governing board of a school district to evaluate and assess the performance of certificated employees pursuant to a “multiple-measures evaluation system,” defined in the bill as a teacher and principal evaluation system that uses multiple research-validated approaches to measuring effectiveness, as specified. Any system developed pursuant to these provisions would be required to meet specified criteria, including a quantitative pupil academic achievement growth component that constitutes at least 30% of the overall teacher and principal effectiveness measure. (2)Existing law provides that when employees are terminated pursuant to a reduction in workforce, a school district is required to terminate the employees in order of seniority. Existing law further provides those employees with preferred right to reappointment and opportunity for substitute service in order of seniority. Existing law authorizes a school district to deviate from the order of seniority for those purposes for specified reasons, including compliance with constitutional requirements related to equal protection of the laws. This bill would provide additional reasons for which a school district may deviate from terminating employees in order of seniority, including basing a decision on performance evaluations, if the governing board has implemented the provisions relating to a multiple-measures evaluation system, as described, and on the basis that the employee is assigned to a schoolsite that has been selected by the governing board for exemption from certificated reductions in force, based upon the needs of the educational program. The bill would provide an exception to this authorization for an employee who has 18 months or less from his or her date of retirement, or is on medical leave. The bill also would authorize the governing board of a school district to deviate from seniority when reappointing employees or offering employees the opportunity for substitute service on the basis of performance evaluations, as specified. The bill would specify that the equal protection exception to the general requirement that terminations and reappointments occur in order of seniority applies to equal protection as it relates to pupils. (3)Existing law generally requires school districts to adhere to certain requirements with respect to teacher and administrator employment, and requires charter school petitions to contain certain information relating to employment. This bill would authorize school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to assign, reassign, and transfer teachers and administrators based on effectiveness and subject matter needs, without regard to years of service. (4)This bill would make various nonsubstantive and clarifying changes. Hide

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize various credits with respect to the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill would, with respect to any business tax credit, as defined, enacted after the effective date of this bill, require a qualified taxpayer, as defined, that claims a business tax credit and that has a specified net decrease in its employees in this state to pay a penalty, as specified. This bill would also require a qualified taxpayer to submit to the Franchise Tax Board on the original return specified information, including the number of annual full-time equivalent employees employed by the qualified taxpayer in the state in the current and previous year, as provided. The bill would impose a penalty if that information is not provided. Hide

(1)Existing law authorizes the Department of Parks and Recreation to enter into agreements between the department and federal and local governments and other public agencies for the care, maintenance, administration, and control of lands under the jurisdiction of any party to this agreement for the purpose of the state park system, as prescribed. This bill would require the department to post on its Internet Web site, at least 30 days prior to the date the department plans to close all, or a significant portion, of a unit of the state park system to public access, specified information about the proposed park closure, as defined, including information about how to contact the department in writing if an individual or other party is interested in entering into negotiations with the department for a contract or agreement to lease, operate, maintain, or provide concessions at a unit of the state park system that is proposed to be closed. The bill would require the department to respond in writing to any inquiry received in connection with the information provided pursuant to those provisions. (2)This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Hide

Existing law provides for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, a county-administered program under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons receive services enabling them to remain in their own homes. The IHSS program includes various eligibility requirements for individuals who provide services to recipients under the program. Under existing law, a private provider of in-home care services is not subject to the requirements of the IHSS program. Existing law provides for the licensing and regulation of various community care facilities by the State Department of Social Services. This bill would enact the Home Care Services Act of 2011, which would provide, on and after July 1, 2012, for the licensure and regulation of home care organizations, as defined, by the State Department of Social Services, and the certification of home care aides. The bill would exclude specified entities from the definition of a home care organization. The bill would impose various licensure requirements on a home care organization. The bill would also impose a civil penalty on an individual or entity that operates a home care organization without a license, except as specified. The bill would require a home care organization to provide a client with specified information before arranging for the provision of home care services, as defined, to that client, including, but not limited to, the types and hours of available home care services, and the extent to which payment may be expected from specified sources. In addition, this bill would require a home care organization, among other things, to distribute to the client its advance directive policy and provide a written notice to the client of certain rights. The bill would also prohibit a home care organization from hiring an individual as a home care aide unless that individual meets certain requirements, including, but not limited to, demonstrating that he or she has specified language skills and completing a minimum of 5 hours of training as specified. The bill would require certain employment agencies to maintain liability insurance, as specified, and ensure that any person it refers to provide home care services has been certified prior to the referral. This bill would require background clearances for home care aides, as prescribed, and would set forth specific duties of the home care organization, the department, and the Department of Justice in this regard. The bill would require home care aides to demonstrate they are free of active tuberculosis. The bill would also require a home care organization to conduct regular evaluations of its home care aides, as specified. The bill would require the department to impose various fees to be deposited in the Home Care Organization and Home Care Aide Fund. This bill, in addition, would prescribe enforcement procedures, fines, and penalties for violations of the act by a home care organization and violations of specified requirements by an employment agency, as defined. Hide

(1)The Community Redevelopment Law requires that each redevelopment agency submit the final report of any audit undertaken by any other local, state, or federal government entity to its legislative body and to additionally present an annual report to the legislative body containing specified information. This bill would require the agency to include additional information relating to any major audit violations, as defined, any corrections to those violations, and planning and general administrative expenses of the Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund. The bill would authorize the Controller to conduct quality control reviews of independent financial audit reports and require the Controller to publish the results of his or her reviews. The Controller would be required to comply with certain notification and referral provisions in the event that the audit was conducted in a manner that may constitute unprofessional conduct. The bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to conduct audits of redevelopment agencies to ensure compliance with the housing provisions of the Community Redevelopment Law. The bill would require each agency to annually deposit 0.05% of any tax increment deposited into the Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund into the Redevelopment Agency Accountability Fund, which the bill would create, to fund the department audits. (2)Existing law requires that funds used for purposes of increasing, improving, and preserving a community’s supply of low- and moderate-income housing be held in a separate Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund until used. Existing law limits the planning and general administrative costs which may be paid with moneys from the Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund. The bill would revise the costs and expenses which may be considered planning and general administrative costs for the purposes of being paid from the Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund. Except as provided, the bill would prohibit an agency from expending more than 15% of the tax increment deposited in the fund for planning and general administrative costs. The bill would impose other reporting and accountability measures on agencies with respect to the use of moneys in the fund for planning and administrative purposes. The bill would revise various provisions governing an action to compel agency compliance with specified provisions. (3)Existing law requires, except as specified, each agency to expend over each 10-year period of the implementation plan, the moneys in the Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund to assist housing for persons of moderate, low, and very low income according to specified calculations. The bill would instead require that at least 75% of the agency’s expenditures from the fund directly assist the new construction, acquisition and substantial rehabilitation, or preservation of housing for persons of extremely low, very low, low, or moderate income, with at least 25% of the expenditures required to be directed towards housing for persons of extremely low income and at least 50% of the expenditures required to be directed towards housing for persons of very low income. (4)Existing law authorizes a redevelopment agency to merge project areas under its jurisdiction, and requires that at least 20% of specified taxes allocated to the redevelopment agency be deposited into the Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund to assist in the construction or rehabilitation of housing units for very low, and low- and moderate-income households, as specified. Existing law requires that if those funds have not been committed for that purpose within 6 years, the agency shall offer the funds to the housing authority that operates within the jurisdiction of the agency, as specified. This bill would delete the requirement that the funds be offered to the housing authority. (5)Existing law requires an agency that has failed to expend or encumber excess surplus in the Low and Moderate Income Housing Fund within one year to disburse the surplus voluntarily to the appropriate county housing authority or another public agency or to expend or encumber the surplus within 2 additional years. The bill would delete these provisions. The bill would modify the definition of the term “excess surplus.” (6)Existing law provides that whenever low- or moderate-income housing dwelling units are destroyed or removed from the low- and moderate-income housing market as part of a redevelopment that is subject to a written agreement with the agency, or where financial assistance has been provided by the agency, the agency is required to provide replacement housing within 4 years of the destruction or removal. The bill would modify the agency’s obligation to provide replacement housing to low- or moderate-income persons and families and would impose new requirements on the agency with respect to the replacement housing plan and housing specifications. If a court has found that an agency has failed to comply with these provisions, the bill would require the court, at a minimum, to issue an order temporarily prohibiting the agency from issuing any debt for any project area, except as specified. Hide

Existing provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974 require certain persons employed by agencies to file annually a written statement of the economic interests they possess during specified periods. The act requires that state agencies promulgate a conflict of interest code that must contain, among other topics, provisions that require designated employees to file statements disclosing reportable investments, business positions, interests in real property, and income. The act requires that every report and statement filed pursuant to the act is a public record and is open to public inspection. This bill would, commencing on January 1, 2013, and continuing until January 1, 2019, require every designated employee and other person, except a candidate for public office, who is required to file a statement of economic interests to include, as a part of that filing, a compensation disclosure form that provides compensation information for the preceding calendar year, as specified. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2013, and continuing until January 1, 2019, require each agency to post on that agency’s Internet Web site the information contained on the compensation disclosure form filed by a person required to file a statement of economic interests or a designated employee, and the written policy for the reimbursement of actual and necessary expenses. The bill would require the Controller, on or before March 1, 2013, to adopt emergency regulations for the implementation of these requirements, including the format of the compensation disclosure form. The bill would also require the Controller, on or before July 1, 2013, to recommend to the Governor and the Legislature methods for compiling the information contained on a person’s or a designated employee’s compensation disclosure forms in one or more publicly accessible databases, including specific proposals for establishment, operation, oversight, and funding, as specified. This bill would authorize the Bureau of State Audits to report to the Governor and the Legislature regarding the implementation and effectiveness of this bill. The bill would also authorize a district attorney or any interested person to commence an action by mandamus or injunction to enforce the provisions of the bill, as specified. Existing provisions of the act make a violation of the act subject to administrative, civil, and criminal penalties. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by imposing those criminal penalties on persons who violate the provisions of the bill. The bill would express a legislative finding and declaration that it addresses the right of access by the people of the state to information concerning the conduct of the people’s business. The bill would express a legislative finding and declaration that, to ensure the statewide integrity of local government, disclosure of compensation paid to public officials and designated employees is an issue of statewide concern and not a municipal affair and that, therefore, all cities, including charter cities, would be subject to the provisions of the bill. 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. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act’s purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. 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

Existing law requires instruction in social sciences to include a study of the role and contributions of both men and women and specified categories of persons to the development of California and the United States. This bill would update references to certain categories of persons and additionally would require instruction in social sciences to include a study of the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, persons with disabilities, and members of other cultural groups, to the development of California and the United States. Existing law prohibits instruction or school sponsored activities that promote a discriminatory bias because of race, sex, color, creed, handicap, national origin, or ancestry. Existing law prohibits the State Board of Education and the governing board of any school district from adopting textbooks or other instructional materials that contain any matter that reflects adversely upon persons because of their race, sex, color, creed, handicap, national origin, or ancestry. This bill would revise the list of characteristics included in these provisions by referring to race or ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, nationality, and sexual orientation, or other characteristic listed as specified. Existing law prohibits a governing board of a school district from adopting instructional materials that contain any matter reflecting adversely upon persons because of their race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, handicap, or occupation, or that contain any sectarian or denominational doctrine or propaganda contrary to law. This bill would revise the list of characteristics included in this provision to include race or ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, nationality, sexual orientation, and occupation, or other characteristic listed as specified. Existing law requires that when adopting instructional materials for use in the schools, governing boards of school districts shall include materials that accurately portray the role and contributions of culturally and racially diverse groups including Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, and members of other ethnic and cultural groups to the total development of California and the United States. This bill would revise the list of culturally and racially diverse groups to also include Pacific Islanders, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, and persons with disabilities. Existing law provides that there shall be no discrimination on the basis of specified characteristics in any operation of alternative schools or charter schools. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that alternative and charter schools take notice of the provisions of this bill in light of provisions of existing law that prohibit discrimination in any aspect of their operation. This bill also would make other technical, nonsubstantive changes. Hide

The Political Reform Act of 1974 regulates mass mailings, known as slate mailers, that support or oppose multiple candidates or ballot measures for an election. The act requires that each slate mailer identify the slate mailer organization that is sending the slate mailer and make other specified disclosures, and further requires the slate mailer organization to file periodic statements reporting payments received and expenditures made to produce slate mailers. This bill would provide that, if a slate mailer organization sends a slate mailer or other mass mailing that displays a logo, insignia, emblem, or trademark that is identical or substantially similar to the logo, insignia, emblem, or trademark of a governmental agency or a nongovernmental organization that represents law enforcement, firefighting, emergency medical, or other public safety personnel, and that would reasonably be understood to imply the participation or endorsement of that governmental agency or nongovernmental organization, the slate mailer organization would be required to obtain the express written consent of the governmental agency or nongovernmental organization associated with the logo, insignia, emblem, or trademark prior to using the logo, insignia, emblem, or trademark in the slate mailer or other mass mailing. This bill would also provide that, if a slate mailer organization sends a slate mailer or other mass mailing that identifies itself or its source material as representing a nongovernmental organization with a name that would reasonably be understood to imply that the organization is composed of, or affiliated with, law enforcement, firefighting, emergency medical, or other public safety personnel, the slate mailer or mass mailing would be required to disclose the total number of members in the organization identified in the slate mailer or mass mailing. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating additional crimes. 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. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act’s purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act. Hide

Existing law requires all rigid plastic bottles and rigid plastic containers sold in the state to be labeled with a code that indicates the resin used to produce the rigid plastic bottle or rigid plastic container. The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, requires every rigid plastic packaging container, as defined, sold or offered for sale in this state to generally meet one of specified criteria. This bill would prohibit a food vendor, on and after January 1, 2016, from dispensing prepared food to a customer in a polystyrene foam food container and would define related terms. The bill would provide that a food vendor that is a school district is not required to comply with the bill’s requirements until July 1, 2017, and would allow a food vendor that is a school district to dispense prepared food to a customer in a polystyrene foam food container after that date if the governing board of the school district elects to adopt a policy to implement a verifiable recycling program for polystyrene foam food containers, which would be renewable, as specified. The bill would also allow a food vendor to dispense prepared food to a customer in a polystyrene foam food container after January 1, 2016, in a city or county if the city or county elects to adopt an ordinance establishing a specified recycling program for polystyrene foam food containers, which would be operative, as specified. Hide

Existing law prohibits smoking of tobacco products inside an enclosed space, as defined, at a place of employment. The violation of the prohibition against smoking in enclosed spaces of places of employment is an infraction punishable by a specified fine. This bill would expand the prohibition on smoking in a place of employment to include an owner-operated business, as defined. This bill would also eliminate most of the specified exemptions that permit smoking in certain work environments, such as hotel lobbies, bars and taverns, banquet rooms, warehouse facilities, private residences used as family day care homes, and employee break rooms. By expanding the scope of an infraction, 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, the Banking Law, regulates the organization and operations of state-organized banks, and the California Credit Union Law regulates the organization and operation of credit unions, the willful violation of which is a crime. Existing law does not regulate the issuance or use of a signature stamp in financial transactions. This bill would define “signature stamp” and regulate the issuance of a signature stamp by a state-organized bank or credit union to an accountholder and the use of the signature stamp by the accountholder in financial transactions with a bank or credit union. The bill would require a stampholder to report a lost or stolen signature stamp to the bank or credit union, as specified. Existing law prohibits various types of elder abuse, punishable by incarceration, fines, or both incarceration and fines, including imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine not to exceed $1,000, for specified types of abuse involving theft, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, or identity theft. This bill would increase the amount of each of the fines otherwise imposed for the existing law offenses, and would provide that the additional fine amount be allocated to the adult protective services agency, or equivalent elder abuse prevention agency, of the county prosecuting the offense. The bill would make changes to conform those provisions to changes made in AB 109 of the 2011–12 Regular Session. The bill would provide for restitution for a violation of these provisions committed through use of a signature stamp. The bill would additionally incorporate changes to Section 368 of the Penal Code proposed by AB 332, to be operative if both bills are enacted and become operative, as specified.Because this bill would create new crimes, the bill would create a state-mandated local program.The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. Hide

The California Constitution prohibits the Legislature from imposing taxes for local purposes, but allows the Legislature to authorize local governments to impose them. This bill would authorize the governing board of any county or city and county, any school district, any community college district, and any county office of education subject to specified constitutional and voter approval requirements, to levy, increase, or extend a local personal income tax, transactions and use tax, vehicle license fee, and excise tax, including, but not limited to, an alcoholic beverages tax, a cigarette and tobacco products tax, a sweetened beverage tax, and an oil severance tax, as provided. This bill would require the State Board of Equalization, the Franchise Tax Board, or the Department of Motor Vehicles to perform various functions incident to the administration and operation of a local tax if the county or city and county, the school district, the community college district, or the county office of education contracts with the state agency to perform those functions. This bill would, for each fiscal year, also require a county or city and county, a school district, a community college district, and a county office of education to reimburse the state for any losses incurred by the state General Fund due to any deductions allowed under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for any local taxes levied, increased, or extended pursuant to this authorization by that county or city and county, school district, community college district, or county office of education, as specified. This bill would, for each fiscal year, require the Franchise Tax Board, with the assistance of the State Board of Equalization, to estimate the losses incurred by the state General Fund attributable to each county or city and county, a school district, a community college district, or a county office of education due to any local taxes levied, increased, or extended by that county or city and county, school district, community college district, or county office of education. Hide

Existing law, the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 (act) provides, among other things, for student protections and regulatory oversight of private postsecondary schools (institutions) in the state. The act is enforced by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education within the Department of Consumer Affairs. This bill would provide that an institution is prohibited from entering into an agreement for a program or course of instruction given in English with a nonnative speaker of English, as defined, unless the prospective student first takes and passes an English proficiency test, as specified. The bill would require that English proficiency tests be given to prospective students at a place off campus by an independent test administrator without charge to the student and in accordance with all procedures and requirements specified by the test publisher. The bill would require that the tests be paid for by the institution and graded off campus by an independent test administrator. The bill would prohibit employees or representatives of the school from influencing the giving, monitoring, or scoring of the tests. The bill would provide, if a prospective student is unable to pass the tests, that it may be readministered only as specified. The bill would prohibit a student from waiving any requirement of the act, and provides that if an institution violates any provision of the act, the enrollment agreement and any other contract with the institution is unenforceable. The bill would specify further remedies and damage provisions. The bill would specify the bureau’s authority and powers to enforce the act. This bill would require any written contract or agreement for educational services signed by a nonnative speaker of English with an institution to include an enrollment agreement containing specified information. The bill would require that the test and the score be placed in the student’s file after enrollment. The bill would declare that its provisions are severable, and make legislative declarations and findings. Hide

Existing law requires all state and local public retirement systems to prepare an annual report in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.Existing law also requires the Controller to compile and publish a report annually on the financial condition of all state and local public retirement systems containing specified data. This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2012, the Public Employees’ Retirement System, the State Teachers’ Retirement System, and the University of California Retirement System each to establish and maintain an Internet Web site that allows the public to access specified information about any retired member who receives a pension of $100,000 or more annually, and specified information regarding the costs of postretirement health care benefits. Hide

(1)Existing state and federal law regulate the terms and conditions of mortgages and deeds of trust secured by real property. Existing state law requires, upon a breach of the obligation of a mortgage or deed of trust secured by real property, that the trustee, mortgagee, or beneficiary record a notice of default in the office of the county recorder where the mortgaged or trust property is situated and mail the notice of default to the mortgagor or trustor, among other acts, prior to exercising a power of sale. Existing state law, until January 1, 2013, prohibits the filing of a notice of default on a mortgage or deed of trust, as specified, secured by owner-occupied real property, as defined, until 30 days after specified parties contact the borrower or 30 days after satisfying due diligence requirements in this regard. This bill would prohibit a mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent from recording a notice of default unless that party makes reasonable and good faith efforts to evaluate the borrower for all available loss mitigation options to avoid foreclosure. The bill would prohibit a mortgagee, trustee, beneficiary, or authorized agent from recording a notice of default on residential mortgages and deeds of trust, as defined, until various notice requirements and other requirements regarding loan modifications are fulfilled. The bill would include among these requirements informing the borrower of the deadline for applying for a loan modification, which would be prohibited from being earlier than a specified date. The bill would prohibit a mortgagee, trustee, or beneficiary from recording a notice of default on a residential mortgage or deed of trust if a borrower who is eligible for a loan modification submits an application, as specified, unless the mortgagee, trustee, or beneficiary has, in good faith, reviewed the application, rendered a decision on the application, and sent the borrower a denial explanation letter. The bill would provide a process for reviewing a mortgage loan modification application, which would depend, in part, on whether the mortgage servicer, as defined, is participating in the federal Making Home Affordable Modification Program. The bill would except certain borrowers from these requirements. The bill would require that a borrower who requests a loan modification and is denied receive a denial explanation letter stating the reason or reasons for the denial, as specified. The bill would require a mortgage servicer to whom the provisions described above apply, to perform specified actions as part of foreclosing on a residential mortgage or deed of trust, including compiling a record documenting compliance with those provisions, which would be signed, certified, and transmitted to the foreclosure trustee or authorized agent. The bill would require the declaration of compliance to be included or attached to every notice of default recorded, as specified, and a notice of default recorded without the compliance declaration would be void. The bill would prescribe a form for the declaration and would require that the declaration substantially comply with it. The bill would permit an eligible borrower to enjoin a trustee sale if provisions of the bill are not satisfied, and would authorize a borrower to recover damages, attorney’s fees, and costs, as specified, if the property is sold without compliance with the bill’s requirements. The bill would permit the Attorney General to enforce these provisions. The bill would also establish other penalties for certain acts, including for a false declaration of a lost note representing a mortgage or deed of trust. The bill would provide that any person licensed by the State of California who violates the bill’s provisions is deemed to have violated the licensing law applicable to that person. Because the violation of certain licensing laws, including those regulating mortgage services, are punishable as crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also delete duplicative provisions of law.(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 Community Redevelopment Law authorizes the establishment of redevelopment agencies in communities to address the effects of blight, as defined. Existing law provides that an action may be brought to review the validity of the adoption or amendment of a redevelopment plan by an agency, to review the validity of agency findings or determinations, and other agency actions. This bill would revise the provisions of law authorizing an action to be brought against the agency to determine or review the validity of specified agency actions. (2)Existing law also requires that if an agency ceases to function, any surplus funds existing after payment of all obligations and indebtedness vest in the community. The bill would repeal this provision. The bill would suspend various agency activities and prohibit agencies from incurring indebtedness commencing on the effective date of this act. Effective July 1, 2011, the bill would dissolve all redevelopment agencies and community development agencies in existence and designate successor agencies, as defined, as successor entities. The bill would impose various requirements on the successor agencies and subject successor agency actions to the review of oversight boards, which the bill would establish. The bill would require county auditor-controllers to conduct an agreed-upon procedures audit of each former redevelopment agency by October 1, 2011. The bill would require the county auditor-controller to determine the amount of property taxes that would have been allocated to each redevelopment agency if the agencies had not been dissolved and deposit this amount in a Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund in the county. Revenues in the trust fund would be allocated to various taxing entities in the county and to cover specified expenses of the former agency. The sum of $1,700,000,000 of these moneys would be allocated to the various counties for deposit in a Public Health and Safety Fund, which would be used to reimburse the state for health and trial court services in the county. The bill would authorize the county to elect not to administer this fund, in which case the Director of Finance would be required to designate a different entity to administer this fund. Under the bill, if the county elects not to administer the fund, it would not receive moneys remaining in the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund, which would otherwise be distributed to taxing entities in the county. The bill would also require, for the 2012–13 fiscal year and each subsequent fiscal year in which funds are available, each county auditor-controller to allocate to various educational entities a specified amount. By imposing additional duties upon local public officials, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. (3)Under the California Constitution, the Legislature is prohibited, except by a 23 vote, from changing the pro rata shares in which ad valorem property tax revenues are allocated among local agencies in a county. Because this measure would provide property tax revenues that would otherwise be received by enterprise special districts from former redevelopment tax increment allotments instead be received by the respective county, and may result in property tax moneys in the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund not being allocated to the county if it declines to administer the Public Health and Safety Fund, the bill would constitute a change in the pro rata share of property tax allocations in that county and require the passage of the bill by a 23 vote. (4)The bill would appropriate $500,000 to the Department of Finance from the General Fund for administrative costs associated with the bill. (5)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. (6)This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill. Hide

The California Public Records Act requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection and to make copies available upon request and payment of a fee unless those records are exempt from disclosure. Existing law establishes the segments of the public postsecondary education system in the state, including the University of California administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. This bill would require records maintained by an auxiliary organization of the governing board of a community college district, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and California State University, as defined, or a University of California (UC) campus foundation, as defined, to be available to the public to inspect or copy at all times during the office hours of the organization or foundation, as specified. The bill would require an auxiliary organization and a UC campus foundation to follow specified requirements when fulfilling or denying a request for a record. The bill would prohibit specified records maintained by an auxiliary organization or UC campus foundation from being subject to disclosure. The bill would prohibit an auxiliary organization from disclosing trade secrets, as defined, and would require this information to be redacted from the organization’s records before disclosure. The bill would provide specified judicial relief to persons seeking disclosure of records from an auxiliary organization or a UC campus foundation pursuant to this bill. The bill would require a disclosure of a record, which is exempt from disclosure, by an auxiliary organization or a UC campus foundation to constitute a waiver of the exemptions provided by this bill with regard to that record, except as specified. The bill would provide that a contract entered into after the effective date of this bill, which would prevent the disclosure of information required to be disclosed pursuant to this bill, is void and unenforceable. The bill would provide that its provisions do not apply to any records subject to a request made pursuant to the California Public Records Act. Hide

Existing law provides for the creation of various programs to provide health care services to persons who have limited incomes and meet various eligibility requirements. These programs include the Healthy Families Program administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, and the Medi‑Cal program administered by the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law provides for the regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Commencing January 1, 2014, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires every individual to be covered under minimum essential coverage, as specified, and requires every health insurance issuer issuing individual or group health insurance coverage to accept every employer and individual who applies for coverage. Existing law establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans through the Exchange by qualified individuals and small employers by January 1, 2014. This bill would establish the California Healthcare System to be administered by the newly created California Healthcare Agency under the control of a Healthcare Commissioner appointed by the Governor and subject to confirmation by the Senate. The bill would make all California residents eligible for specified health care benefits under the California Healthcare System, which would, on a single-payer basis, negotiate for or set fees for health care services provided through the system and pay claims for those services. The bill would require the commissioner to seek all necessary waivers, exemptions, agreements, or legislation to allow various existing federal, state, and local health care payments to be paid to the California Healthcare System, which would then assume responsibility for all benefits and services previously paid for with those funds. The bill would create the Healthcare Policy Board to establish policy on medical issues and various other matters relating to the system. The bill would create the Office of Patient Advocacy within the agency to represent the interests of health care consumers relative to the system. The bill would create within the agency the Office of Health Planning to plan for the health care needs of the population, and the Office of Health Care Quality, headed by a chief medical officer, to support the delivery of high-quality care and promote provider and patient satisfaction. The bill would create the Office of Inspector General for the California Healthcare System within the Attorney General’s office, which would have various oversight powers. The bill would prohibit health care service plan contracts or health insurance policies from being issued for services covered by the California Healthcare System, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, and would authorize the collection of penalty moneys for deposit into the Healthcare Fund, which the bill would create. The bill would create the Payments Board to administer the finances of the California Healthcare System. The bill would create the California Healthcare Premium Commission (Premium Commission) to determine the cost of the California Healthcare System and to develop a premium structure for the system that complies with specified standards. The bill would require the Premium Commission to recommend a premium structure to the Governor and the Legislature on or before January 1, 2014, and to make a draft recommendation to the Governor, the Legislature, and the public 90 days before submitting its final premium structure recommendation. The bill would specify that only its provisions relating to the Premium Commission would become operative on January 1, 2013, with its remaining provisions becoming operative on the earlier of the date the Secretary of California Health and Human Services notifies the Legislature, as specified, that sufficient funding exists to implement the California Healthcare System and the date the secretary receives the necessary federal waiver under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The bill would extend the application of certain insurance fraud laws to providers of services and products under the system, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program by revising the definition of a crime. The bill would enact other related provisions relative to budgeting, regional entities, federal preemption, subrogation, collective bargaining agreements, compensation of health care providers, conflict of interest, patient grievances, and independent medical review. 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 translation of ballots and ballot materials into languages other than English when specified circumstances exist. This bill would require that, if a jurisdiction provides a translation of the candidates’ alphabet-based names into a character-based language, such as Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, phonetic transliterations of the alphabet-based names of candidates be provided. The bill would also require that if a candidate’s name is to appear on the ballot in more than one jurisdiction in an election then all of those jurisdictions must use the same phonetic transliteration or character-based translation of the name. This bill would provide an exception for a candidate who has a character-based name by birth or has verifiably been known by a character-based name for at least 2 years to permit him or her to use that name on the ballot instead of a phonetic transliteration. This bill would require that, if a jurisdiction provides separate ballots containing translations of the candidates’ names in different languages, both the alphabet-based names and the translations of the candidates’ names appear on the translated ballot. This bill would also require a county to purchase voting equipment that permits compliance with this section as a part of any new purchase of voting equipment. Because the bill would impose additional duties on local elections officials, 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, 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

Existing law provides that the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or the Board of Parole Hearings, or both, may, for specified reasons, recommend to the court that a prisoner’s sentence be recalled, and that a court may recall a prisoner’s sentence. This bill would authorize a prisoner who was under 18 years of age at the time of committing an offense for which the prisoner was sentenced to life without parole to submit a petition for recall and resentencing to the sentencing court, and to the prosecuting agency, as specified. The bill would prohibit a prisoner who tortured his or her victim or whose victim was a public safety official, as defined, from filing a petition for recall and resentencing. The bill would require the petition to include a statement from the defendant that includes, among other things, his or her remorse and work towards rehabilitation. The bill would establish certain criteria, at least one of which shall be asserted in the petition, to be considered when a court decides whether to conduct a hearing on the petition for recall and resentencing and additional criteria to be considered by the court when deciding whether to grant the petition. The bill would require the court to hold a hearing if the court finds that the statements in the defendant’s petition are true, as specified. The bill would apply retroactively, as specified. Hide

Existing law provides for the county-administered In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization. Existing law authorizes services to be provided under the IHSS program either through the employment of individual providers, a contract between the county and an entity for the provision of services, the creation by the county of a public authority, or a contract between the county and a nonprofit consortium. Existing law requires a county, public authority, or nonprofit consortium, as applicable, to conduct an investigation of the qualifications and background of an IHSS provider applicant, including specified criminal background checks. This bill would require the county, public authority, or nonprofit consortium to send the State Department of Social Services a copy of the state-level criminal offender record information search response that is provided to that entity by the Department of Justice for any individual who has requested an appeal of a denial of placement on the registry of IHSS personnel or denial of eligibility to provide supportive services to an IHSS recipient. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. Under existing law, IHSS recipients who are eligible for the Medi-Cal program, are provided with personal care option services, as defined, in lieu of receiving these services under the IHSS program. Under existing law, the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the county welfare departments, is required to develop protocols and procedures for obtaining fingerprint images of all individuals who are being assessed or reassessed to receive supportive services, as specified. Existing law also requires the standardized time provider timesheet used to track the work performed by providers of in-home supportive services to contain specified information, including, effective July 1, 2011, designated spaces for the index fingerprints of the provider and recipient. This bill would delete the requirements pertaining to obtaining fingerprint images of IHSS recipients, and the requirement that the provider timesheet include spaces for provider and recipient fingerprints. Existing law requires an IHSS provider enrollment form to be completed using the provider’s physical residence address, and prohibits the use of a post office box address. Existing law also prohibits a county from mailing a provider’s paycheck to a post office box address, unless the county approves a provider request to do so, as specified. This bill would delete these requirements, and the prohibitions relating to the use of a post office box address by an IHSS provider. 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 establishes the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, which is administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, which is administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law authorizes the regents, the trustees, and the board to employ officers and other employees. This bill would prohibit the trustees from, and request the regents to refrain from, increasing the monetary compensation, as defined, of, or approving a monetary bonus for, any executive officer, as defined, of the university within 2 years of a fiscal year in which the mandatory systemwide fees of the university are increased from the immediately preceding fiscal year, or in which the General Fund appropriation to the university in the annual Budget Act is less than, or equal to, the General Fund appropriation to the university in the annual Budget Act for the immediately preceding fiscal year. The bill would prohibit the trustees from, and request the regents to refrain from, providing monetary compensation to an incoming executive officer that exceeds 105% of the monetary compensation of the immediately preceding executive officer of the same classification that the incoming executive officer is replacing. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2023. 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 are proposed to be located within 1,000 feet of a military installation, or lie 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 matters and require, to the extent feasible, that the plan be proposed, reviewed, and adopted by the PUC as part of, and pursuant to, a general procurement plan process. The bill would require the PUC 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 recast 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 by July 1, 2011, 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, by February 1 of each year, to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature a written report 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, by February 1 of each year, to prepare and submit to the policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature 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 of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. Pursuant to existing law, the ISO’s tariffs are required to be approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 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 independent 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 specified reasons. Hide

The California Constitution prohibits the Legislature from imposing taxes for local purposes, but allows the Legislature to authorize local governments to impose them. This bill would authorize the governing board of any county or city and county, any school district, any community college district, and any county office of education, subject to specified constitutional and voter approval requirements, to levy, increase, or extend a local personal income tax, transactions and use tax, vehicle license fee, and excise tax, including, but not limited to, an alcoholic beverages tax, a cigarette and tobacco products tax, a sweetened beverage tax, and an oil severance tax, as provided. This bill would require the State Board of Equalization, the Franchise Tax Board, or the Department of Motor Vehicles to perform various functions incident to the administration and operation of a local tax if the county or city and county, the school district, the community college district, or the county office of education contracts with the state agency to perform those functions. This bill would, for each fiscal year, also require a county or city and county, a school district, a community college district, and a county office of education to reimburse the state for any losses incurred by the state General Fund due to any deductions allowed under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for any local taxes levied, increased, or extended pursuant to this authorization by that county or city and county, school district, community college district, or county office of education, as specified. This bill would, for each fiscal year, require the Franchise Tax Board, with the assistance of the State Board of Equalization, to estimate the losses incurred by the state General Fund attributable to each county or city and county, a school district, a community college district, or a county office of education due to any local taxes levied, increased, or extended by that county or city and county, school district, community college district, or county office of education. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 6, 2010. Governor Brown issued a proclamation on January 20, 2011, declaring and reaffirming that a fiscal emergency exists and stating that his proclamation supersedes the earlier proclamation for purposes of that constitutional provision. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared and reaffirmed by the Governor by proclamation issued on January 20, 2011, pursuant to the California Constitution. Hide

The California Constitution conditions the imposition of a special tax by a city, county, or special district upon the approval of 23 of the voters of the city, county, or special district voting on that tax, and prohibits these entities from imposing an ad valorem tax on real property or a transactions or sales tax on the sale of real property. This measure would alternatively condition the imposition, extension, or increase of a parcel tax, as defined, by a school district, community college district, or county office of education upon the approval of 55% of its voters voting on the proposition, if the proposition meets specified requirements. This measure would also make conforming changes to related provisions. 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 purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. State sales and use tax revenues are transferred to the General Fund and to various special funds. Existing law provides various exemptions from those taxes. This bill would also exempt from those taxes from April 1 to and including April 30 of each year from 2010 to 2020, inclusive, the gross receipts from the sale in this state of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, qualified renewable energy systems, as specified. The bill would make its operation contingent upon the adoption of greenhouse gas emission fees under the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 and the appropriation by the Legislature of revenue from the fees sufficient to fully offset the revenue loss to the General Fund due to the exemption. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and the Transactions and Use Tax Law authorizes districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law. Exemptions from state sales and use taxes enacted by the Legislature are incorporated into the those taxes. Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code provides that the state will reimburse counties and cities for revenue losses caused by the enactment of sales and use tax exemptions. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for sales and use tax revenues lost by them pursuant to this bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy. 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 its provisions a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law prohibits the cancellation or nonrenewal of an enrollment or subscription by a health care service plan except in specified circumstances. Existing law prohibits the nonrenewal of individual health benefit plans by a health insurer except in specified circumstances. This bill would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer from rescinding an individual health care service plan contract or individual health insurance policy for any reason, or from canceling, limiting, or raising the premiums of the plan contract or policy due to any omission, misrepresentation, or inaccuracy in the application form, after 24 months following the issuance of the plan contract or policy, except as specified. Because this bill would impose additional requirements on health care service plans, the willful violation of which would be a 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 requires any person employed or under contract to provide mental health diagnostic or treatment or other mental health services in the state correctional system to be a physician and surgeon, psychologist, or other health professional, licensed to practice in this state, except as specified. This licensure requirement may be waived in order for a person to gain qualifying experience for licensure as a psychologist or clinical social worker in this state. This bill would also authorize the waiver for a person to gain qualifying experience for licensure as a marriage and family therapist. The bill would provide that a person gaining qualifying experience for licensure as a marriage and family therapist is limited to working within his or her scope of practice. Hide

Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services and sets forth its various powers and duties, including, but not limited to, its licensure and regulation of community care facilities, including, but not limited to, residential care facilities for the elderly. Existing law provides for the regulation by the department of continuing care contracts and providers of continuing care and requires providers to submit an annual report of their financial condition. Existing law requires the report to include, among other things, a disclosure of funds accumulated for identified projects or purposes, and any funds maintained or designated for specific contingencies. Violation of certain of these provisions is a crime. This bill would require that the report also disclose funds that are expended for identified projects or purposes. The bill would also specify that the disclosure requirement includes, but is not limited to, projects designated to meet the needs of the continuing care retirement community as permitted by a provider’s nonprofit status. This bill would require a disclosure made by a nonprofit provider to state how the project or purpose is consistent with the provider’s tax-exempt status. The bill would also require a disclosure made by a for-profit provider to identify amounts accumulated for specific projects or purposes and amounts maintained for contingencies. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, 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, the False Claims Act, provides that a person who commits any one of several enumerated acts relating to the submission to the state or a political subdivision of the state a false claim for money, property, or services, as specified, shall be liable to the state or political subdivision for certain damages and may be liable for a civil penalty. Existing law requires the Attorney General and a prosecuting authority of a political subdivision of the state to diligently investigate specific violations of the act. Existing law also authorizes the Attorney General or the prosecuting authority of a political subdivision of the state to intervene in an action filed by a qui tam plaintiff under these provisions. Existing law authorizes a court to award a defendant its reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses under certain circumstances that include when the court finds the claim was brought solely for purposes of harassment. This bill would define terms for purposes of these provisions, expand the definition of a claim, and require the imposition of a civil penalty on a person found liable for a violation. This bill would exclude from these provisions specified claims to the Commissioner of Insurance. This bill would require the written consent of the Attorney General or prosecuting authority of a political subdivision, or both, as appropriate under the allegations of the civil action, to dismiss an action filed by a qui tam plaintiff, and would prohibit the waiver or release of specified claims except as part of a settlement of a civil action filed under these provisions. The bill would also modify the statute of limitations to commence on the date of discovery by the Attorney General or prosecuting authority of a political subdivision. This bill would modify when a court is authorized to award a defendant reasonable attorney’s fees and expenses to when the court finds the claim was brought primarily, rather than solely, for purposes of harassment. This bill would state that the Attorney General or prosecuting authority of a political subdivision has a duty to investigate specific violations of the act. Hide

Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 (Knox-Keene Act), 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 and makes the violation of a final order by the Insurance Commissioner relating to rates subject to assessment of a civil penalty and makes the willful violation of specified rate provisions a misdemeanor. 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 plan and insurer during the term of a plan contract or policy from changing the rate of the premium, copayment, coinsurance, or deductible during specified time periods. This bill would, subject to specified exceptions, require approval by the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance of an increase in the amount of the premium, copayment, coinsurance obligation, deductible, and other charges under a health care service plan or health insurance policy. The bill would require a plan or insurer to submit to the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance, respectively, an application for a rate increase that would be effective on or after January 1, 2011, and would require review of the application in accordance with regulations that each department would be required to adopt no later than January 1, 2011. The bill would subject a rate increase that became effective January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2010, inclusive, to review by the appropriate department. This bill would require each department to notify the public of a rate application and would deem the application approved within 60 days of the date of that notice unless certain conditions exist and the department holds a hearing on the application, as specified. The bill would authorize the initiation of, and intervention in, proceedings relating to rate approvals and the award of advocacy fees and costs in those proceedings in specified circumstances. The bill would require the departments to work together in implementation of these provisions, and to take specified actions in order to ensure coordination and consistency in implementation. This bill would authorize each department to assess a charge in connection with its costs associated with a rate application. The bill would direct the deposit of these fees into the respective department’s Health Rate Approval Fund, which would be created by the bill, and would continuously appropriate that revenue to each department, thereby making an appropriation. Because this bill would specify that its violation is punishable by criminal sanctions under the Knox-Keene Act and under provisions applicable to insurers, 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 Emergency Medical Services System and Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority within the California Health and Human Services Agency to, among other things, provide statewide coordination of county emergency medical service programs, including, but not limited to, designated trauma centers, and to administer the Trauma Care Fund. Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, among other things, authorizes the legislative body of a city or county to adopt zoning ordinances regulating, among other things, the use of buildings, structures, and land as between industry, business, residences, open space, and other uses. Existing law sets forth related public hearing requirements. This bill would permit an EMS agency to submit a request of notification to a city, county, or city and county for notice of any zoning variance, permit, amendment, or entitlement for use that would permit the construction or operation of a heliport or helipad on the property of a general acute care hospital. The bill would also permit the local EMS agency, or an EMS agency from a county adjacent to the proposed heliport or helipad, after receiving the notice, to prepare a report, as specified, to consult with representatives of the city, county, or city and county regarding that report, and to provide written comments and appear at a hearing regarding the proposed construction or operation of a heliport or helipad. By increasing the duties of local officials, 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, 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

Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt basic instructional materials for use in kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive. Every publisher or manufacturer of instructional materials offered for adoption or sale in California is required to comply with certain requirements, including guaranteeing delivery of textbooks and instructional materials prior to the opening of school in the year in which the textbooks and instructional materials are to be used if they are ordered by a date or dates specified in the contract with the district. This bill would require a publisher or manufacturer of instructional materials offered for adoption or sale in California to guarantee delivery, if applicable, by the date specified in the contract with the district and would make a publisher or manufacturer that fails to deliver instructional materials within 60 days of the receipt of a purchase order from a school district liable for damages in the amount of $500 for each working day that the order is delayed beyond 60 calendar days unless there is a natural disaster, terrorist attack, act of war, or worker strike that prevents the normal transit of instructional materials, resulting in their late delivery, or if there is a delay in implementation of governing board requirements, as specified. This requirement would apply only to contracts with districts enrolling 25,000 or fewer pupils. Hide

The Sales and Use Tax Law imposes a sales tax on a retailer measured by the gross receipts from the retail sale in this state of tangible personal property 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. Existing law increases the state sales and use tax rate on the sale of, and on the storage, use, or other consumption of, tangible personal property, by 1% to a rate of 714% from April 1, 2009, until July 1, 2011, as provided. The Sales and Use Tax law also provides that a person who is a retailer of mobilehomes, including manufactured homes, who sells a new mobilehome to a purchaser for occupancy as a residence shall pay use tax at the time of its sale to the purchaser, measured by an amount equal to 75% of the price the retailer paid for the new mobilehome. This bill would provide that the 1% rate of tax increase does not apply to the gross receipts from the sale of a new mobilehome, or the sales price of a new mobilehome sold or stored, used, or otherwise consumed in this state, if specified conditions are met.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. 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

(1)Existing law provides that if any provision of a memorandum of understanding reached between the state employer and a recognized employee organization representing state civil service employees requires the expenditure of funds, those provisions of the memorandum of understanding shall not become effective unless approved by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act. This bill would approve provisions that require the expenditure of funds for memoranda of understanding entered into between the state employer and State Bargaining Units 8, 16, and 19 and would provide that the provisions of any memorandum of understanding that require the expenditure of funds shall become effective even if the provisions of the memorandum of understanding are approved by the Legislature in legislation other than the annual Budget Act. The bill would provide that provisions of the memoranda of understanding approved by this bill that require the expenditure of funds will not take effect unless funds for these provisions are specifically appropriated by the Legislature, and would authorize the state employer and the affected employee organizations to reopen negotiations on all or part of the memorandum of understanding if the memorandum of understanding that requires the expenditure of funds is not approved by the Legislature. This bill would, with respect to salaries that are continuously appropriated prior to the enactment of the annual Budget Act, require the Director of Finance to reduce the necessary items for the payment of salaries from specified funds scheduled in that Budget Act to reflect the salaries paid prior to the enactment of the annual Budget Act. (2)Existing law establishes an alternate retirement program and provides that state employees, as defined, who become new members of the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) during their first 24 months of employment, do not make contributions to the system or receive service credit for their service, and the state employer shall not make contributions on their behalf. These members are instead required to contribute either 5% or 6% of their monthly compensation, as specified, to the alternate retirement program, administered by the Department of Personnel Administration, and these contributions cease when the state employees begin making their own contributions to PERS. This bill would require all state employees participating in the alternate retirement system to contribute an amount equal to the same amount that employees in the same employment classifications in the same state bargaining units are required to contribute to PERS. (3)The Public Employees’ Retirement Law (PERL) provides a comprehensive set of rights and benefits based upon age, service credit, and final compensation. Existing law defines final compensation variously for different member classifications and bargaining units and, in this regard, defines final compensation for a state member for the purpose of calculating retirement benefits as the highest annual average compensation earnable by the member during a designated 12-month or 36-month period, depending upon the bargaining unit and classification of that employee. Currently the final compensation for members hired on or after July 1, 2006, who are represented by State Bargaining Units 12, 16, 18, and 19, means the final compensation earnable by the member during a designated 36-month period. This bill would provide that final compensation for a person who becomes a state member, as specified, on or after October 31, 2010, and who is represented by State Bargaining Units 5 and 8, means the highest annual average compensation earnable by the member during a designated 36-month period. (4)PERL provides that the contribution rate for state miscellaneous members and specified state safety members is 5% or 6% of the compensation in excess of $513. Existing law provides that the contribution rate for specified state firefighters is 8% of compensation in excess of $238 per month. Existing law provides that the contribution rate for specified state safety patrol members is 8% of the compensation in excess of $863 per month. This bill would increase the contributions rates by 5% for state miscellaneous members of State Bargaining Units 5, 8, 12, 16, 18, and 19 and state safety members of State Bargaining Units 12, 16, 18, and 19, and by 2% for state firefighter members of State Bargaining Unit 8 and state patrol members of State Bargaining Unit 5. By increasing member contributions into a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (5)PERL establishes various retirement formulas that apply to specified membership categories. Under PERL, state miscellaneous members are generally subject to a retirement formula commonly known as 2% at 55, which, if the member retires at 55 years of age, yields a benefit equal to 2% of the member’s final compensation multiplied by the member’s years of service credit, as specified. Under PERL, patrol members and specified state peace officer/firefighter members are generally subject to a 3% at 50 retirement formula. Under PERL, state safety members are generally subject to a 2.5% at 55 retirement formula. This bill would provide that state miscellaneous members who are first employed on and after the date the act takes effect, are subject to a 2% at 60 retirement formula. The bill would also provide that patrol members and firefighter members in State Bargaining Units 5 and 8 who are first employed on and after October 31, 2010, are subject to a 3% at 55 retirement formula. (6)The annual Budget Act appropriates specified amounts from the General Fund, unallocated special funds, and unallocated nongovernmental cost funds, for state employee compensation. This bill would, in the event that the annual Budget Act is not enacted prior to July 1 of each year covered by the memoranda of understanding for State Bargaining Units 5, 8, 12, 16, 18, and 19, provide for a continuous appropriation for the amount necessary for the payment of compensation and benefits to members of those bargaining units. (7)This bill would provide that its provisions would not become operative unless SB 846 of the 2009–10 Regular Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2011. (8)This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. 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 also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Under existing law, a health care service plan contract and a health insurance policy are required to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of severe mental illnesses of a person of any age. Existing law does not define “severe mental illnesses” for this purpose but describes it as including several conditions. This bill would expand this coverage requirement for certain health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2011, to include the diagnosis and treatment of a mental illness of a person of any age and would define mental illness for this purpose as a mental disorder defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV, including substance abuse but excluding nicotine dependence and specified diagnoses defined in the manual, subject to regulatory revision, as specified. The bill would specify that this requirement does not apply to a health care benefit plan, contract, or health insurance policy with the Board of Administration of the Public Employees’ Retirement System unless the board elects to purchase a plan, contract, or policy that provides mental health coverage. Because this bill would expand coverage requirements for health care service plans, the willful violation of which would be a 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 provides various programs to provide health care coverage to persons with limited financial resources, including the Medi-Cal program and the Healthy Families Program. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of its provisions a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), requires each state to, by January 1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit Exchange that facilitates the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers, as specified, and meets certain other requirements. This bill would enact the California Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and would, contingent on the enactment of SB 900, which would create the California Health Benefit Exchange (the Exchange), specify the powers and duties of the board governing the Exchange relative to determining eligibility for enrollment in the Exchange and arranging for coverage under qualified health plans, and would require the board to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans through the Exchange by qualified individuals and qualified small employers by January 1, 2014. The bill would create the California Health Trust Fund as a continuously appropriated fund and would make the implementation of these provisions contingent on a determination by the board that sufficient financial resources exist or will exist in the fund, as specified. The bill would enact other related provisions. The bill would impose various requirements on participating plans and insurers and, commencing January 1, 2014, on nonparticipating plans and insurers, as specified. Because a willful violation of these requirements by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Under existing law, the California Health Facilities Financing Authority Act, the California Health Facilities Authority is empowered to make loans under certain conditions from the continuously appropriated California Health Facilities Financing Authority Fund to nonprofit corporations or associations for financing or refinancing the acquisition, construction, or remodeling of health facilities. This bill would authorize the authority to provide a working capital loan of up to $5 million to assist in the establishment and operation of the California Health Benefit Exchange. The bill would require that loans awarded under the bill be made from the California Health Facilities Authority Fund and would require repayment of the loan by a specified date. Because the bill would expand the purposes for which a continuously appropriated fund may be used, it would make an appropriation. 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

Existing law regulates investments made by public pension and retirement systems and defines the term “placement agent” to mean a person or entity hired, engaged, or retained by an external manager, as defined, to raise money or investment from a public retirement system in California. Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of the lobbying industry, including defining the term “lobbyist” and regulating the conduct of lobbyists. Among its provisions, the act requires lobbyists to register with the Secretary of State and to file periodic disclosure reports, and it prohibits lobbyists from engaging in certain activities, including accepting or agreeing to accept any payment in any way contingent upon the defeat, enactment, or outcome of any proposed legislative or administrative action, as defined. This bill would amend the existing definition of “placement agent” to mean a person, as defined, hired, engaged, or retained by, or serving for the benefit of or on behalf of, an external manager, as defined, to act as a finder, solicitor, marketer, consultant, broker, or other intermediary in connection with the offer or sale of the securities, assets, or services of an external manager to a public retirement system in California for compensation, and would exclude from that definition an employee, officer, director, equityholder, partner, member, or trustee of an external manager who spends 13 or more of his or her time, during a calendar year, managing the securities or assets owned, controlled, invested, or held by the external manager. The bill would define “placement agent” in a similar way for purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974, except that the definition would be limited to an individual acting in connection with the offer or sale of the securities, assets, or services of an external manager to a state public retirement system in California and would not include employees, officers, or directors of specified external managers or of affiliates of those external managers. In addition, the bill would prohibit a person from acting as a placement agent in connection with any potential system investment made by a state public retirement system unless that person is registered as a lobbyist and is in full compliance with the Political Reform Act of 1974 as that act applies to lobbyists. The bill would also require a person acting as a placement agent in connection with any potential system investment made by a local public retirement system to file any applicable reports with a local government agency that requires lobbyists to register and file reports and to comply with any applicable requirements imposed by a local government agency. The bill would provide that an individual acting as a placement agent is a lobbyist for purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974 and is thereby required to comply with all regulations and restrictions imposed on lobbyists by the act, and the bill would further expand the definition of “administrative action” for purposes of the act to include, with regard only to placement agents, the decision by any state agency to enter into a contract to invest state public retirement system assets on behalf of a state public retirement system. The bill would specify that a placement agent who is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and regulated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is permitted to receive a payment of fees for contractual services provided to an investment manager, except to the extent that payment of fees is prohibited by the proscription on contingency payments to placement agents. Additionally, the bill would require the Public Employees’ Retirement System and the State Teachers’ Retirement System to each provide to the Legislature, not later than August 1, 2012, a report on the use of placement agents in connection with investments made by those retirement systems. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating additional crimes. 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. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act’s purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act. 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

Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Under existing law, a health insurer that provides maternity coverage may not restrict inpatient hospital benefits, as specified, and is required to provide notice of the maternity services coverage. This bill would require health insurance policies issued, amended, or renewed on or after July 1, 2011, and prior to January 1, 2014, to provide coverage for maternity services, as defined and would require health insurance policies issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2014, to provide coverage for maternity services consistent with the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as specified. The bill would also, until January 1, 2014, to the extent permitted under federal law, authorize certain individual health insurance policies to include an exclusionary period of up to 12 months on maternity services, as specified, and would require the insurer to provide a specified notice regarding that exclusionary period at the time of solicitation for the policy. Hide

(1)Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board (state board) and the California regional water quality control boards prescribe waste discharge requirements for the discharge of stormwater in accordance with the national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit program and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. Existing law authorizes a regional water management group, as defined, to adopt an integrated regional water management plan that addresses specified matters. Existing law authorizes a city, county, or special district to develop, jointly or individually, stormwater resource plans that meet certain standards. This bill would enact the Rainwater Capture Act of 2010, which would authorize a landowner to install, maintain, and operate, on the landowner’s property, a rainwater capture system meeting specified requirements. The bill would authorize a public agency to lead a statewide stakeholder process to consider and address issues arising out of expansion of rainwater and stormwater capture. The bill would require participants in the stakeholder process to be responsible for costs incurred as a result of their participation and would require the initiating public agency to be responsible for specified costs. (2)Existing law, the Contractors’ State License Law, creates the Contractors’ State License Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs and provides for the licensing and regulation of contractors. Existing law authorizes a landscape contractor working within the classification of his or her license to enter into a prime contract for the construction of a swimming pool, spa, or hot tub, an outdoor cooking center, or an outdoor fireplace, if certain conditions are met. Under existing law, a violation of these provisions and related provisions of existing law is grounds for disciplinary action. This bill would additionally authorize a landscape contractor working within the classification of his or her license to enter into a prime contract for the construction of a rainwater capture system, as defined, if the system is used for landscape irrigation. The bill would authorize a landscape contractor holding a specified classification to design and install all exterior components of a rainwater capture system that are not a part of, or attached to, a structure. 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 that cause global warming in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. This bill would enact the Carbon Labeling Act of 2009. The act would require the state board to develop and implement a program for the voluntary assessment, verification, and standardized labeling of the carbon footprint, as defined, of consumer products sold in this state. Hide

(1)The Public Employees’ Retirement Law (PERL) creates the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS), which provides a defined benefit to its members based on age at retirement, service credit, and final compensation. PERL defines “final compensation” for purposes of calculating a member’s retirement allowance. The State Teachers’ Retirement Law, which applies to specified school employees, and the retirement laws for county employees and city employees also provide for a defined benefit based on age at retirement, service credit, and final compensation. This bill would generally provide, effective July 1, 2011, that any change in salary, compensation, or remuneration principally for the purpose of enhancing a member’s benefits would not be included in the calculation of a member’s final compensation for purposes of determining that member’s defined benefit. The bill would require the board of each state and local public retirement system to establish, by regulation, accountability provisions that would include an ongoing audit process to ensure that a change in a member’s salary, compensation, or remuneration is not made principally for the purpose of enhancing a member’s retirement benefits. This bill would limit the calculation of a member’s final compensation to an amount not to exceed the average increase in compensation received within the final compensation period and the 2 preceding years by employees in the same or a related group as that member. This bill would also provide that a person who retires on or after January 1, 2012, may not perform services for any employer covered by a state or local retirement system until that person has been separated from service for a period of at least 180 days. This bill would provide for the implementation of the changes under the applicable retirement laws that apply to counties and cities. This bill includes legislative findings expressing the public purpose that would be served by the enactment of this bill. (2)This bill would, except as otherwise specified, provide that its provisions would become operative on July 1, 2011. This bill would further provide that its provisions would not become operative unless SB 1425 of the 2009–10 Regular Session is also enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2011. 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

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. Under existing law, no change in premium rates or coverage in a health care service plan contract or a health insurance policy may become effective without prior written notification of the change to the contractholder or policyholder. Existing law prohibits a plan or 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. This bill would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer from altering the rates, as defined, that apply to individual health care service plan contracts or individual health insurance policies, or altering any benefits included in individual contracts or policies, more than once each calendar year, except as specified. Among those exceptions, the bill would provide that, if a brand name drug becomes available as a generic drug, the application of a lower cost-sharing rate for the generic drug would not constitute an alteration of benefits. The bill’s provisions would apply to a new individual plan contract or policy issued to an enrollee or insured who transfers from another plan or policy, as specified, and would prohibit the issuance of new plan contracts or policies more often than annually. Because a willful violation of these requirements 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

Existing law provides unemployment compensation benefits to eligible persons who are unemployed through no fault of their own. Existing law, until January 1, 2015, provides for retraining benefits to eligible individuals pursuant to the federal Trade Act of 1974, as amended by the federal Trade Act of 2002. Existing law authorizes an unemployed individual who files a claim for unemployment compensation benefits or extended duration benefits, or an application for federal-state extended benefits or any federally funded unemployment compensation benefits, to apply to the Employment Development Department for benefits during a period of training or retraining. Existing law also requires that a determination of potential eligibility for specified training and retraining benefits be issued to an unemployed individual if the Director of Employment Development finds that specified conditions apply. This bill would establish the California Training Benefits Program, which, among other things, would revise those eligibility requirements to, instead, specify that an unemployed individual who qualifies for unemployment compensation benefits, extended duration benefits, or federal-state extended benefits or any federally funded unemployment compensation benefits, and applies for the program shall be deemed to automatically be eligible for the program during a period of training or retraining. Existing law requires that a determination of potential eligibility for training or retraining benefits be issued to an unemployed individual if the director makes a specified finding. This bill would, instead, require that a determination of automatic eligibility for training or retraining be issued to an unemployed individual if any of specified conditions apply. The bill would also require that, if training or retraining is not authorized under those provisions governing automatic eligibility for those benefits, a determination of potential eligibility for benefits be issued to the unemployed individual if the director finds that specified criteria apply. Existing law requires the department to inform all individuals who claim unemployment compensation benefits in this state of the benefits potentially available, and permits the department to convey this information verbally or in written form, as provided. This bill would, instead, require the department to convey that information verbally, in written form, or online, and would require that the information be made available on the department’s Internet Web site in close proximity to information on unemployment compensation claim forms. This bill would provide that these changes are effective on January 1, 2011, unless the department determines that implementation by that date is not feasible, in which case it would require the department to implement the changes no later than July 1, 2011. Because the bill would make various changes to existing eligibility requirements for training and retraining benefits, which would result in additional amounts being payable from the Unemployment Fund for those benefits, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the department, not later than September 1, 2016, to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature a report evaluating the effectiveness of the program, containing data and information as prescribed. Hide

Existing law, the Newborn and Infant Hearing Screening, Tracking, and Intervention Act, requires every general acute care hospital with licensed perinatal services to offer every newborn a hearing screening test for the identification of hearing loss, as specified, and provide written information on the availability of community resources and services for children with hearing loss to the parents of those who are diagnosed with a hearing loss. Existing law, the California Early Intervention Services Act, commonly known as the Early Start Program, provides various early intervention services for infants and toddlers who have disabilities to enhance their development and to minimize the potential for developmental delays. This bill would also require that the State Department of Education develop an informational pamphlet, as specified, for newborns and infants identified as deaf or hard of hearing, that is about visual and auditory communication and language options and that would help a parent make informed decisions for his or her child. This bill would require the department to convene an advisory stakeholder panel, composed as prescribed, to develop and revise the informational pamphlet, as specified, until January 1, 2017. This bill would require that the informational pamphlet be provided to parents of all newborns and infants identified as deaf or hard of hearing by an audiologist immediately upon identification of a newborn or infant as deaf or hard of hearing, and by a local provider for the Early Start Program upon initial contact with the parents of a newborn or infant newly identified as deaf or hard of hearing. This bill would require the audiologist to note in the newborn’s or infant’s record that the parent has received the informational pamphlet and, during the course of evaluation and treatment, to inform and counsel the parent of all available communication options. This bill would require the informational pamphlet to be made available in Cantonese, English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, and be made available on the department’s Internet Web site, as prescribed. This bill would provide that these provisions would be implemented only upon determination by the Director of Finance that sufficient donations have been collected and deposited into the Language and Communication for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children Fund, which this bill would create in the State Treasury, and upon the appropriation of that fund. This bill would provide that no state funds shall be used to implement these provisions. This bill would also state the intent of the Legislature that every newborn or infant who does not pass his or her preliminary hearing screening test receive a followup hearing screening no later than 3 months of age, and that the Legislature strongly encourages the State Department of Health Care Services to work toward this goal. 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 of, or, and 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. That law requires every retailer engaged in business in this state, as specified, and making sales of tangible personal property for storage, use, or other consumption in this state to, at the time of making the sales or, if the storage, use, or other consumption of the tangible personal property is not then taxable, at the time the storage, use, or other consumption becomes taxable, collect the tax from the purchaser.This bill would provide a rebuttable presumption that any retailer that is part of a controlled group of corporations, and that controlled group of corporations has a component member that is a retailer engaged in business in this state, as described, is presumed to be a retailer engaged in business in this state. This bill would require each retailer that is not required to collect use tax to provide notification on its retail Internet Web site or catalogue that tax is imposed on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of the tangible personal property purchased from the retailer that is not exempt, and is required to be paid by the purchaser, as provided.This bill would provide that its provisions are severable. 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 disability insurers by the Department of Insurance and requires disability insurance policies to include a provision setting forth a grace period for making premium payments. Under existing law, that grace period must equal no less than 7 days for weekly premium policies, no less than 10 days for monthly premium policies, and no less than 31 days for all other policies. Existing law prohibits the Insurance Commissioner from approving a policy for issuance or delivery, and authorizes the commissioner to withdraw approval of the policy, if it fails to meet these requirements. This bill would require individual health care service plan contracts and individual health insurance policies issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2011, to provide a grace period of 50 days for the payment of premiums and would make an enrollee or insured who fails to pay the premium during that period liable for any medical costs incurred during the period, except as specified. The bill would require plans and insurers to provide specified notice of this grace period upon issuance, amendment, or renewal of an individual contract or policy.Because a willful violation of the bill’s requirements with respect 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

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 establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes community college districts, each of which is administered by a governing board, throughout the state, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction to students at the community college campuses maintained by the districts. The bill would establish the Pilot Program for Innovative Nursing and Allied Health Care Profession Education at the California Community Colleges under the administration of the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to facilitate the graduation of community college nursing and allied health students by piloting innovative models to expand the state’s capacity to prepare a qualified health care workforce. The bill would require the chancellor’s office to establish the pilot program at up to 5 campuses throughout the state according to specified requirements. The bill would express legislative intent that the pilot program be funded with a combination of state apportionment funding, federal grants, employer-based partnerships, and private philanthropic resources. The bill would require the chancellor’s office to collect appropriate data for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of the pilot program. The bill would require the chancellor’s office to analyze this data, and contract with an external evaluator to conduct an independent evaluation, with findings and recommendations with respect to the pilot program to be reported to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2017. The bill would provide that its provisions would be implemented in any fiscal year only to the extent that the chancellor’s office determines that sufficient moneys are available to administer the program. The bill would provide that the pilot program would become inoperative on July 1, 2017, and as of January 1, 2018, would be repealed. 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 Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 (Knox-Keene Act), 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 insurers by the Department of Insurance, including health insurers. Existing law makes the violation of a final order by the Insurance Commissioner relating to rates imposed by certain insurers, other than health insurers, subject to assessment of a civil penalty and makes the willful violation by those insurers of specified rate provisions a misdemeanor. 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 plan and 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. This bill would require approval by the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance of an increase in the amount of the premium, copayment, coinsurance obligation, deductible, and other charges under health care service plan contracts or health insurance policies, other than Medicare supplement, dental-only, or vision-only contracts or policies. The bill would require a plan or insurer to submit to the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance, respectively, an application for a rate increase that would be effective on or after January 1, 2012, and would require review of the application in accordance with regulations that each department would be required to adopt no later than January 1, 2012. The bill would subject a rate increase that became effective January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2011, inclusive, to review by the appropriate department. The bill would require each department to notify the public of a rate application and would deem the application approved within 60 days of the date of that notice unless the department holds a hearing on the application, as specified. The bill would authorize the initiation of, and intervention in, proceedings relating to rate approvals and the award of advocacy fees and costs in those proceedings in specified circumstances. The bill would require the departments to work together in implementation of these provisions and to take specified actions in order to ensure coordination and consistency in implementation. The bill would authorize each department to assess a charge in connection with its costs associated with a rate application. The bill would direct the deposit of these fees into the respective department’s Health Rate Approval Fund, which would be created by the bill, and would make those funds available to each department for those purposes, upon appropriation. The bill would specify that a violation of its provisions is punishable by criminal sanctions under the Knox-Keene Act and under provisions applicable to insurers and, therefore, 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

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

Existing law requires an employer to provide employees with a safe workplace and authorizes the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the Department of Industrial Relations to enforce health and safety standards in places of employment and to investigate and to issue a citation and impose civil penalties when an employer commits a serious violation that causes an employee to suffer or potentially suffer, among other things, “serious injury or illness” or “serious physical harm.” This bill would establish a rebuttable presumption as to when an employer commits a serious violation of these provisions and would define serious physical harm, as specified. The bill would also establish new procedures and standards for an investigation and the determination by the division of a serious violation by an employer which causes harm or exposes an employee to the risk of harm. Hide

Existing state law provides that every person who possesses, sells, transports, or cultivates marijuana, concentrated cannabis, or derivatives of marijuana, except as authorized by law, is guilty of one or more crimes. This bill would remove marijuana and its derivatives from existing statutes defining and regulating controlled substances. It would instead provide for regulation by the Department of Alcoholic Beverages of the possession, sale, cultivation, and other conduct relating to marijuana and its derivatives, not including medical marijuana, by persons 21 years of age and older, for specified purposes. It would set up a wholesale and retail marijuana sales regulation program to be administered and enforced by the department, that imposes special fees to fund drug abuse prevention programs, as specified, to commence after regulations concerning the program have been issued by the department. It would ban local and state assistance in enforcing inconsistent federal and other laws relating to marijuana, and would provide specified infraction penalties for violations of these new marijuana laws and regulations, as specified. The bill would make existing prohibitions against the smoking of tobacco products in specified areas, including public offices and restaurants, applicable to the smoking of marijuana products. It would make other conforming changes. By creating various crimes for violations of regulations and laws created by this act, 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

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 establishes various programs for the prevention of disease and the promotion of health, including, but not limited to, the licensing and regulation of health facilities to be administered by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires specified health facilities to report patient adverse events to the department within 5 days. A violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor. This bill would require the medical director and the director of nursing of a hospital to annually report adverse events and hospital acquired conditions to its governing board. By changing the definition of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to convene a technical working group to evaluate options for implementing nonpayment policies and practices for hospital acquired conditions for the Medi-Cal program, as specified. This bill would require the technical working group to provide the best options to the Director of Health Care Services, the Secretary of California Health and Human Services, and the Legislature by February 1, 2011. This bill would also require the department to implement nonpayment policies and procedures for hospital acquired conditions for the Medi-Cal program, as specified. Existing law imposes various functions and duties on the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board with respect to the regulation and administration of various insurance programs, including the Healthy Families Program. This bill would require certain managed care plans contracting with the board to implement nonpayment policies and practices for hospital acquired conditions that are consistent with those adopted by the Medi-Cal program through their contracts with health care facilities, as defined. 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 Passenger Charter-Party Carriers Act, with certain exceptions, prohibits a charter-party carrier of passengers from engaging in transportation services subject to regulation by the Public Utilities Commission without obtaining a specified certificate or permit, as appropriate, from the commission. The act makes it unlawful, among other things, for the owner of a charter-party carrier of passengers to permit the operation of any vehicle upon any public highway for compensation without having obtained from the commission a certificate or permit, as specified, pursuant to the act. This bill would require the commission to permanently revoke the authority to operate a charter-party carrier or to permanently bar from receiving a permit or certificate from the commission a charter-party carrier that, among other things, operates a bus without having been issued a permit from the commission, operates a bus with a permit that was suspended by the commission for specified reasons, has one or more buses improperly registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles, or knowingly employs a busdriver who has not been issued the required driver’s license of the proper class, a passenger vehicle endorsement, or the required certificate to drive a bus. The bill also would suspend for a period of 5 years a person who drives a bus for a charter-party carrier without having been issued the proper driver’s license of the proper class, passenger vehicle endorsement, or the required certificate from driving a bus of any kind. The bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to refuse to issue or renew, or to suspend or revoke, that person’s passenger vehicle endorsement and would provide that such a person would be ineligible for a passenger vehicle endorsement that would permit him or her to drive a bus, as defined, for 5 years. The bill would also authorize a charter-party carrier subject to the bar described above, that has received a notice of refusal or revocation of its permit to operate pursuant to these provisions, to submit a written request for a specified hearing within 15 days after the mailing of the notice. The bill would authorize an officer of the Department of the California Highway Patrol to impound a bus of a charter-party carrier that is operating a bus without having been issued a permit or certificate from the commission, operates a bus with a suspended permit or certificate from the commission, or is operating a bus that is being driven by a driver to whom the appropriate driver’s license of the proper class, a passenger vehicle endorsement, or the required certificate has not been issued. The bill would also prohibit the commission from issuing a new permit or certificate to operate a charter-party carrier if an officer, director, or owner of that charter-party carrier was an officer, director, or owner of a charter-party carrier that had its authority to operate as a charter-party carrier permanently revoked by the commission or was permanently barred from receiving a permit or certificate from the commission pursuant to these provisions. (2)Under existing law, a violation of the Passenger Charter-Party Carriers Act, or a violation of an order or direction of the commission issued pursuant to the act, is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of those provisions or of an order or decision of the commission implementing those provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes. (3)Existing law requires the clerk of a court in which a person was convicted of a violation of the Vehicle Code to prepare within 5 days after conviction and immediately forward to the Department of Motor Vehicles an abstract of the record of the court covering the case in which the person was so convicted. This bill would expand the Vehicle Code violations that the clerk of a court is required to report to the department to include violations of specified provisions of the Public Utilities Code, which include driving a bus for a charter-party carrier without having a current and valid driver’s license of the proper class, a passenger vehicle endorsement, or the required certificate, as specified. (4)This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 1803 of the Vehicle Code proposed by AB 134, that would become operative only if AB 134 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2010, and this bill is chaptered last. (5)This bill would become operative only if AB 951 of the 2009–10 Regular Session is enacted and becomes operative on or before January 1, 2010. (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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. Hide

Existing law authorizes the State Personnel Board to prescribe rules governing the temporary assignment or loan of employees within an agency or between agencies or between jurisdictions for specified time limits, for the purpose of providing training to employees, enabling an agency to obtain expertise needed to meet a compelling program or management need, or facilitating the return of injured employees to work. This bill would provide that a temporary assignment or loan shall not exceed 4 years, as specified. Existing law also requires a temporary assignment or loan between educational agencies or jurisdictions to be extended for up to 2 additional years upon a finding that the extension is necessary to substantially complete work on an educational improvement project. This bill would delete that provision and would instead prohibit a temporary assignment or loan between educational agencies or jurisdictions from exceeding 4 years of total time per individual performing the duties of a represented classification in any combination of assignments or loans. Hide

Existing law, the Local Health Care District Law, provides for the formation of local health care districts and, until January 1, 2011, authorizes each local district to transfer, at fair market value, any part of its assets to one or more corporations to operate and maintain the assets. Commencing January 1, 2011, existing law, instead, restricts these transfers only to nonprofit corporations. This bill would, notwithstanding any provision of law, require, with certain exceptions, when a district is under contract with a public or private entity to operate a district facility, the district and the public or private entity that operates the district facility to (1) require that assets of any facility within the geographic boundaries of the district and owned by the district be used exclusively for the benefit of a facility owned by the district, except as specified, (2) require the hospital and the operating entity to annually undergo an independent financial audit and that the resulting report be made public, and (3) preclude, in the case of a subsequent sale of the facility or any assets of the district to the operating entity, any losses incurred by the entity in the operation of the facility from being used as a credit against the purchase price of the facility or other district assets. Existing law permits a health care district board of directors to provide for the operation and maintenance through tenants of the whole or any part of a hospital acquired or constructed by it, and for that purpose may enter into a lease agreement that it believes will best serve the interest of the district. This bill would, instead, permit those lease agreements only to the extent that the agreement does not provide benefits to the tenants beyond those reasonably necessary to ensure the operation of the hospital for the benefit of the district and allow the tenant to recoup its capital investments made during the lease agreement. By requiring that districts comply with these requirements, 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. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 32126 of the Health and Safety Code, proposed by S.B. 894, to be operative only if S.B. 894 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2011, and this bill is chaptered last. Hide

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize various credits, deductions, exclusions, exemptions, and other tax benefits with respect to the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill would require a taxpayer, as described, doing business in California that claims a business tax incentive, as provided, to submit to the Franchise Tax Board on the original return specified information, including the number of employees employed by the taxpayer in the state. The bill would also require, in cases in which a taxpayer has a disqualifying event resulting in a net decrease in the number of full-time employees for a business tax incentive added by statute on or after January 1, 2011, the business tax incentive to be recaptured, and the taxable amount computed in accordance with specified procedures. 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

Existing law provides that the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or the Board of Parole Hearings or both may, for specified reasons, recommend to the court that a prisoner’s sentence be recalled, and that a court may recall a prisoner’s sentence. This bill would authorize a prisoner who was under 18 years of age at the time of committing an offense for which the prisoner was sentenced to life without parole to submit a petition for recall and resentencing to the sentencing court, and to the prosecuting agency, as specified. The bill would establish certain criteria, at least one of which shall be asserted in the petition, to be considered when a court decides whether to conduct a hearing on the petition for recall and resentencing and additional criteria to be considered by the court when deciding whether to grant the petition. The bill would require the court to hold a hearing if the court finds that the defendant’s statement is true, as specified. The bill would apply retroactively, as specified. This bill would incorporate amendments to Section 1170 of the Penal Code proposed by AB 2263, contingent on the prior enactment of that bill. Hide

Existing law requires any person, entity, or government agency that is presenting a document for recording or filing with a county recorder to only list the last 4 digits of a social security number. Existing law also requires a county recorder to use due diligence to truncate social security numbers in the public record version of official records. This bill would provide that a document containing more than the last 4 digits of a social security number is not entitled for recording. This bill would also provide that a recorder shall be deemed to be in compliance if he or she uses due diligence to truncate social security numbers in documents recorded, as provided. Existing law requires an abstract of judgment ordering a party to pay spousal, child, or family support to contain the social security number of the party who is ordered to pay. This bill would instead require an abstract of judgment to contain only the last 4 digits of the social security number of the party who is ordered to pay. The provisions of this bill would not apply to documents created prior to January 1, 2010. 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

Existing law prohibits the manufacture, sale, or distribution in commerce of certain toys and child care articles, as defined, if those products contain specified types of phthalates in concentrations exceeding 110 of 1%. Existing law also requires manufacturers to use the least toxic alternative when replacing phthalates in their products and would prohibit manufacturers from replacing phthalates with certain carcinogens and reproductive toxicants. The bill would enact the Toxin-Free Infants and Toddlers Act, which would, except as specified, prohibit, on and after January 1, 2012, the manufacture, sale, or distribution in commerce of any bottle, cup, or liquid, food, or beverage in a can, jar, or plastic bottle that contains bisphenol A, or that is lined with a material that contains bisphenolA, at a level above 0.1 parts per billion (ppb). It would also, except as specified, prohibit, on and after July 1, 2012, the manufacture, sale, or distribution of liquid infant formula in a can or plastic bottle containing bisphenolA or lined with a material containing it. The bill would also require manufacturers to use the least toxic alternative when replacing bisphenolA in containers in accordance with this bill. This bill would repeal these provisions if the Department of Toxic Substances Control adopts a specified regulatory response. Hide

Existing law does not provide a system of universal health care coverage for California residents. Existing law provides for the creation of various programs to provide health care services to persons who have limited incomes and meet various eligibility requirements. These programs include the Healthy Families Program administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, and the Medi‑Cal program administered by the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law provides for the regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and health insurers by the Department of Insurance. This bill would establish the California Healthcare System to be administered by the newly created California Healthcare Agency under the control of a Healthcare Commissioner appointed by the Governor and subject to confirmation by the Senate. The bill would make all California residents eligible for specified health care benefits under the California Healthcare System, which would, on a single-payer basis, negotiate for or set fees for health care services provided through the system and pay claims for those services. The bill would provide that a resident of the state with a household income, as specified, at or below 200% of the federal poverty level would be eligible for the type of benefits provided under the Medi-Cal program. The bill would require the commissioner to seek all necessary waivers, exemptions, agreements, or legislation to allow various existing federal, state, and local health care payments to be paid to the California Healthcare System, which would then assume responsibility for all benefits and services previously paid for with those funds. The bill would create the Healthcare Policy Board to establish policy on medical issues and various other matters relating to the system. The bill would create the Office of Patient Advocacy within the agency to represent the interests of health care consumers relative to the system. The bill would create within the agency the Office of Health Planning to plan for the health care needs of the population, and the Office of Health Care Quality, headed by a chief medical officer, to support the delivery of high quality care and promote provider and patient satisfaction. The bill would create the Office of Inspector General for the California Healthcare System within the Attorney General’s office, which would have various oversight powers. The bill would prohibit health care service plan contracts or health insurance policies from being issued for services covered by the California Healthcare System. The bill would create the Healthcare Fund and the Payments Board to administer the finances of the California Healthcare System. The bill would create the California Healthcare Premium Commission (Premium Commission) to determine the cost of the California Healthcare System and to develop a premium structure for the system that complies with specified standards. The bill would require the Premium Commission to recommend a premium structure to the Governor and the Legislature on or before January 1, 2013, and to make a draft recommendation to the Governor, the Legislature, and the public 90 days before submitting its final premium structure recommendation. The bill would specify that only its provisions relating to the Premium Commission would become operative on January 1, 2011, with its remaining provisions becoming operative on the date the Secretary of California Health and Human Services notifies the Legislature, as specified, that sufficient funding exists to implement the California Healthcare System. The bill would require that system to be operative within 2 years of that date and would provide for various transition processes for that period. The bill would extend the application of certain insurance fraud laws to providers of services and products under the system, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program by revising the definition of a crime. The bill would enact other related provisions relative to budgeting, regional entities, federal preemption, subrogation, collective bargaining agreements, compensation of health care providers, conflict of interest, patient grievances, independent medical review, and associated matters. 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 creates the Federal Trust Fund in the State Treasury for the deposit of moneys received from the federal government where the expenditure is administered through or under the direction of any state agency. This bill would appropriate $1,201,534,585 from the Federal Trust Fund to the Office of Planning and Research for the 2010–11 fiscal year upon notification to the state of a funding award pursuant to the federal Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act. From that amount, the bill would require the Office of Planning and Research to transfer $1,201,406,585 to the State Department of Education for purposes of implementing that federal act and make $128,000 available to the Office of Planning and Research for the purposes of providing oversight of funds allocated to local educational agencies pursuant to the bill. Of the amount transferred to the department, the bill would require that $1,199,906,585 be allocated to local educational agencies, as specified, and would make $1,500,000 available to the department for administrative purposes related to that allocation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Hide

(1)Under existing law, various measures have been approved by the voters to provide funds for water supply and protection facilities and programs. This bill would enact the Safe, Clean, and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2010, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $11,140,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance a safe drinking water and water supply reliability program. The bill would provide for the submission of the bond act to the voters at the November 2, 2010, statewide general election. (2)This bill would take effect only if SB 1 of the 2009–10 7th Extraordinary Session is enacted and becomes effective. (3)This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Hide