The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The act authorizes the state board to include use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law imposes limitations on any link, as defined, between the state and another state, province, or country for purposes of a market-based compliance mechanism by, among other things, prohibiting any state agency, including the state board, from taking any action to create such a link unless the state agency notifies the Governor, and the Governor issues specified written findings on the proposed link that consider the advice of the Attorney General. This bill would prohibit the Governor's written findings on the proposed link from being subject to judicial review. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would require the moneys in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to be used for specified purposes. The bill would require the Department of Finance, in consultation with the state board and any other relevant state entity, to develop, as specified, a 3-year investment plan that includes specified analysis and information and to submit the plan to the Legislature, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Finance to submit a report no later than March 1, 2014, and annually thereafter, to the appropriate committees of the Legislature containing specified information. This bill would make its provisions contingent on the enactment of other legislation, as specified.
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(1) Existing law permits the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board within the Department of Industrial Relations to adopt occupational health and safety standards to protect the welfare of employees. The Division of Occupational Safety and Health enforces occupational safety and health standards and orders. Certain violations of these standards and orders are crimes. Existing regulations prescribe duties with respect to heat illness prevention in outdoor places of employment. This bill would prescribe specified duties on employers to reduce the risk of heat illness among agricultural employees, including the adopted heat illness prevention regulatory requirements. The bill would impose specified civil penalties, and create a private right of action, for violations of these requirements. The bill would impose a state-mandated local program because certain violations of the bill's requirements would be a crime under existing provisions of law. The bill would require the Director of Industrial Relations to provide an annual report to the Legislature regarding the enforcement of the requirements. (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.
Under existing law, classified employees of school districts and community college districts subject to layoff as a result of the expiration of a specially funded program at the end of a school year are required to be given written notice on or before April 29 informing them of certain rights. Existing law also requires that notice be given not less than 45 days before the effective layoff date if the termination date of a specially funded program is other than June 30, or if classified employees are subject to layoff as a result of a bona fide reduction or elimination of a service performed by a department. This bill would instead require that written notice be given to a classified employee of a school district or community college district subject to layoff not less than 60 days before the effective layoff date if the termination date of a specially funded program is other than June 30, or if a classified employee is subject to layoff as a result of a bona fide reduction or elimination of a service performed by a department. To the extent that this bill would impose new duties on school districts and community college districts, 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.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including a credit against those taxes for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, in an amount equal to a specified percentage of the qualified expenditures, as defined, attributable to the production of a qualified motion picture in California, or, where the qualified motion picture has relocated to California or is an independent film, as provided. Existing law allows specified qualified taxpayers to elect to assign the credit, requires specified information from qualified taxpayers that apply for a tax credit allocation, and imposes specified duties on the California Film Commission related to the administration of the credits, including a requirement to allocate the tax credits until July 1, 2015, and limits the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated to qualified motion pictures in any fiscal year to $100,000,000, through the 2014–15 fiscal year. Existing law additionally allows, in lieu of the credits under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for qualified motion pictures, a credit against qualified state sales and use taxes, as provided. This bill, under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, would impose additional duties on the California Film Commission related to the administration of the credits and would extend the requirement to allocate the tax credits 2 additional years, until July 1, 2017. This bill would also extend the limit on the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated through the 2016–17 fiscal year. This bill would also require assigning qualified taxpayers to provide the Franchise Tax Board with specified information, would revise the information included in an application for a tax credit allocation, and require the Legislative Analyst's Office to prepare reports related to the effectiveness and administration of the qualified motion picture credit under the Sales and Use Tax Law, the Personal Income Tax Law, and the Corporation Tax Law. This bill would require the California Film Commission to annually post on its Internet Web site and make available for public release specified information, including a list of qualified taxpayers and the tax credit amounts allocated to each qualified taxpayer by the commission. The bill would authorize various state agencies to disclose specified taxpayer information for purposes of the Legislative Analyst's Office report, and would impose specified criminal penalties on the disclosure of that information. By expanding the crime of knowingly and wrongfully accessing, using, or disclosing specified information, 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 declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law provides for the regulation of various professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs and for the licensure or registration of individuals in that regard. Existing law authorizes any licensee whose license expired while he or she was on active duty as a member of the California National Guard or the United States Armed Forces to reinstate his or her license without examination or penalty if certain requirements are met. This bill would require the boards described above, with certain exceptions, to waive the renewal fees, continuing education requirements, and other renewal requirements as determined by the board, if any are applicable, of any licensee or registrant who is called to active duty as a member of the United States Armed Forces or the California National Guard if certain requirements are met. The bill would, except as specified, prohibit a licensee or registrant from engaging in any activities requiring a license while a waiver is in effect. The bill would require a licensee or registrant to meet certain renewal requirements within a specified time period after being discharged from active duty service prior to engaging in any activity requiring a license. The bill would require a licensee or registrant to notify the board of his or her discharge from active duty within a specified time period.
The California Constitution generally limits ad valorem taxes on real property to 1% of the full cash value of that property. For purposes of this limitation, "full cash value" is defined as the assessor's valuation of real property as shown on the 1975–76 tax bill under "full cash value" or, thereafter, the appraised value of that real property when purchased, newly constructed, or a change in ownership has occurred. Existing property tax law specifies those circumstances in which the transfer of ownership interests results in a change in ownership of the real property, and provides that certain transfers do not result in a change of ownership. This bill would provide that a transfer of a cotenancy interest, as defined, in real property from one cotenant to the other that takes effect upon the death of the transferor cotenant and that occurs on or after January 1, 2013, does not constitute a change of ownership, as provided. This bill would require the transferee cotenant to sign an affidavit, as specified, under penalty of perjury. By imposing new duties upon local tax officials with respect to changes in ownership of real property, and by requiring the transferor cotenant to sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury which would expand the scope of the existing crime of perjury, 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. Section 2229 of the Revenue and Taxation Code requires the Legislature to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2229 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law makes it a crime for a person, firm, corporation, or association to advertise, solicit, or represent by any means a product for sale or purchase if it is intended to entice a consumer into a transaction different from that originally represented. When the sale of any commodity is based upon a quantity representation either furnished by the purchaser or obtained through the use of equipment supplied by the purchaser, the purchaser is prohibited from buying the commodity according to any quantity which is less than the true quantity. A violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor. This bill would revise the latter provision by prohibiting the purchaser from buying the commodity according to any quantity which is less than the true quantity of the commodity or computing the purchase price of the commodity according to a price per unit of measure that is less than the highest applicable price per unit of measure that is represented by the purchaser to the seller for the commodity, or less than a price per unit that is established by law or regulation. Because the bill would change the definition of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law also prohibits a person from engaging in business as a service agency for the repair of weights and measures, unless that person registers with the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, as specified. This bill would make technical and conforming changes to related provisions. 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 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, entered on or after January 1, 2013, 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, the State Department of Developmental Services, the State Department of State Hospitals, a licensing or regulatory agency that has jurisdiction over the license or certification of the defendant, any other governmental entity, a protection and advocacy agency, as defined, or the defendant's current employer if the defendant's job responsibilities include contact with elders, dependent adults, or children, as specified. The bill would provide that any such provision is void as against public policy.
Existing law requires that persons laid off because of lack of work or lack of funds in a school district or community college district that has adopted the merit system be eligible for reemployment for a period of 39 months, as specified. This bill would require a person who is reemployed in a new position and fails to complete the probationary period in the new position be returned to the reemployment list for the remainder of the 39-month period, as specified. The bill also would make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
(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. Under existing law, the state board administers a water rights program pursuant to which the state board grants permits and licenses to appropriate water, upon an application to appropriate water. This bill would enact the Rainwater Capture Act of 2012, which would provide that use of rainwater collected from rooftops does not require a water right permit from the state board. (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 exclusively for landscape irrigation or as a water supply for a fountain, pond, or similar decorative water feature in a landscaping project. 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.