Existing law creates various state transportation agencies, including the Department of Transportation and the High-Speed Rail Authority, with specified powers and duties. Existing law provides for the allocation of state transportation funds, including fuel tax revenues allocated from the Highway Users Tax Account, to various transportation purposes. Existing law provides funding for transportation capital improvement projects undertaken by the department or regional or local transportation agencies. This bill would create the Office of the Transportation Inspector General in state government as an independent office that would not be a subdivision of any other government entity, to ensure that all state, regional, and local agencies expending state transportation funds are operating efficiently, effectively, and in compliance with federal and state laws. The bill would provide for the Governor to appoint the Inspector General for a 6-year term, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and would provide that the Transportation Inspector General may not be removed from office during the term except for good cause. The bill would specify certain duties and responsibilities of the Transportation Inspector General, would require an annual report to the Legislature and Governor, and would provide for funding the office, to the extent possible, from federal transportation funds, with other necessary funding to be made available in proportion to the activities of the office from the Highway Users Tax Account and an account from which high-speed rail activities may be funded.
Sponsored bills
Existing law requires every employer, semimonthly or at the time of each payment of wages, to furnish each employee with an accurate itemized statement in writing showing specified information. Existing law provides that a knowing and intentional violation of this provision is a misdemeanor. This bill would additionally require, on and after July 1, 2013, that the itemized statement include, if the employer is a temporary services employer, the rate of pay and the total hours worked for each assignment, with a specified exception. Existing law requires an employer to provide each employee, at the time of hiring, with a notice that includes specified information, such as the rate and the basis, whether hourly, salary, commission, or otherwise, of the employee's wages, and to notify each employee in writing of any changes to the information set forth in the notice within 7 calendar days of the changes unless such changes are reflected on a timely wage statement or another writing, as specified. This bill would additionally require that, if the employer is a temporary services employer, as specified, the notice include the name, the physical address of the main office, the mailing address if different from the physical address of the main office, and the telephone number of the legal entity for whom the employee will perform work, and any other information the Labor Commissioner deems material and necessary. Because a willful violation of the bill's provisions would be 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. This bill would incorporate changes to Section 226 of the Labor Code proposed by SB 1255 and AB 2674, to be operative only if this bill and either or both of those bills are chaptered and became effective on or before January 1, 2013, and this bill is chaptered last.
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.
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 2012, which would provide, on and after July 1, 2013, 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 providing proof of certification as a home care aide 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 to be created by this bill. This bill, in addition, would prescribe enforcement procedures, fines, and penalties for violations of the act by a home care organization or a home care aide and violations of specified requirements by an employment agency, as defined.
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.
Existing law requires that no inmate be administered psychotropic medication on a nonemergency basis without the inmate's informed consent, unless after a noticed hearing is conducted in which an administrative law judge determines by clear and convincing evidence that the inmate has a mental illness or disorder, that as a result of that illness the inmate is gravely disabled and lacks the capacity to consent or refuse treatment or is a danger to self or others if not medicated, that there is no less intrusive alternative to involuntary medication, and that the medication is in the inmate's best interest. Existing law authorizes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to seek to initiate involuntary medication on a nonemergency basis only if specified conditions are met, including that a psychiatrist has determined that the inmate is gravely disabled or is a danger to self or others and does not have the capacity to refuse treatment with psychotropic medication. Existing law allows a physician to administer psychotropic medication to a prison inmate during an emergency consisting of a sudden and marked change in an inmate's mental condition so that action is immediately necessary for the preservation of life or the prevention of serious bodily harm. If psychotropic medication is administered during an emergency, existing law authorizes the medication to be administered for no more than 5 days. This bill would contain findings and declarations to the effect that it is the intent of the Legislature in enacting specified legislation, which was previously enacted, to terminate the permanent injunction stemming from the decision in Keyhea v. Rushen providing a process for the involuntary administration of psychotropic medication to prisoners, and to replace those provisions with the provisions previously enacted, as specified. This bill would revise the provisions authorizing the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to seek to initiate involuntary medication on a nonemergency basis only if specified conditions are met by instead requiring that the psychiatrist make a determination that the inmate is gravely disabled and does not have the capacity to refuse treatment with psychiatric medication, or is a danger to self or others. If psychiatric medication is administered on an emergency or interim basis, the bill would require the department to give notice to the inmate of its intention to seek an ex parte order if the situation necessitates the continuation of medication beyond the initial 72 hours pending a full mental health hearing, as provided. The bill would delete references to psychotropic medications throughout the provisions described above and instead refer to psychiatric medications. The bill would also enact provisions governing involuntary medication proceedings similar to those described above, as revised, that would be available to counties for inmates in a county jail, and would, in addition, authorize either a psychiatrist or a psychologist to make the determinations described above. The bill would also make clarifying changes.
Existing law governs certain obligations arising from particular transactions, including credit card disclosures, consumer contracts, and consumer warranties. This bill would prohibit a contractor, as defined, that provides services that require entering the residence or place of lodging of a member of the public from utilizing a uniform that bears the name or logo of the contracting entity, as defined, unless each uniform meets certain disclosure requirements. Among these requirements, the bill would require each of the uniforms to clearly, conspicuously, and legibly state the contractor's name and logo, as specified. In addition to these requirements, the bill would further prohibit a contractor that provides the services described above relating to public health or safety services from using a vehicle that bears the name or logo of the contracting entity unless each vehicle also clearly, conspicuously, and legibly states the contractor's name and logo. The bill would specify that these provisions shall not apply if a contracting entity and a contractor are jointly and severally liable for any claims arising out of work performed pursuant to a contractual agreement. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to increase consumer awareness of the state's growing and sizeable contract workforce through the disclosures required by these provisions. The bill would make a specified statement of legislative intent regarding the disclosures required by these provisions.
Existing law creates the California Transportation Commission, with various powers and duties relating to the programming and allocation of certain funds available for transportation capital improvement projects and various other transportation policy matters, and authorizes the commission to develop guidelines for preparation of regional transportation plans. Existing law creates the Department of Transportation with various powers and duties relating to the state highway system and other transportation modes, including the authority to contract for conventional rail passenger service. Existing law requires the department to prepare a 10-year State Rail Plan on a biennial basis, with both passenger and freight rail elements. Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority to develop and implement a high-speed rail system in the state, with specified powers and duties, including preparation of a business plan on a biennial basis. Existing law, pursuant to the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century, provides for the issuance of $9.95 billion in general obligation bonds for high-speed rail and related purposes. This bill would require the California Transportation Commission to include in its guidelines for regional transportation plans policy direction regarding the integration of all passenger rail services into a coordinated system with emphasis on intermodal facilities and cost-effective rail services, as specified. The bill would revise the requirements for the 10-year state rail plan prepared by the department to require the plan to be consistent with the federal Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 and to contain various passenger and freight rail elements, including, among other things, plans for a comprehensive and integrated statewide rail system, a statement of the state's passenger rail service objectives, and identification of improvements that have utility both for freight and passenger rail services. The bill would delete the requirement that the state rail plan be prepared on a biennial basis. The bill would require the department to submit a draft plan under these new requirements for review and comment to the commission and authority by December 1, 2015, and would require public hearings on the plan. The bill would require the final plan to be approved by the Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing by March 1, 2016, and then to be submitted to the Legislature, Governor, and various state agencies. The bill would require the plan to be updated at least every 5 years. This bill would also impose certain requirements on the High-Speed Rail Authority with regard to implementation of blended systems by the authority, including preparation of a plan in that regard, by December 31, 2013, which would be incorporated into the authority's business plan and would be required to be consistent with any written agreements with 3rd parties operating or hosting connecting passenger rail services, as specified.
(1) Existing law provides that eating, drinking, or smoking in or on a system facility or vehicle in areas where those activities are prohibited, disturbing another person by loud or unreasonable noise, expectorating upon a system facility or vehicle, or skateboarding, roller skating, bicycle riding, roller blading, or operating a motorized scooter or other device in a system facility, vehicle, or parking structure is an infraction for the first or 2nd violation, punishable by a fine not to exceed $250 and by community service for a total time not to exceed 48 hours over a period not to exceed 30 days, during a time other than during the violator's hours of school attendance or employment. Specified public transportation agencies, including, but not limited to, the City and County of San Francisco and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority are authorized to enact and enforce ordinances providing that a person who is the subject of a citation for any of the acts described, such as fare evasion, on or in a facility or vehicle of the system for which the public transportation system has jurisdiction shall, under the circumstances set forth by the ordinance, be afforded an opportunity to complete an administrative process that imposes only an administrative penalty enforced in a civil proceeding. This bill would make the above penalties and administrative process applicable to the sale or peddling of any goods, merchandise, property, or services of any kind on the facilities, vehicles, or property of the public transportation system, if the public transportation system has prohibited those acts and neither the public transportation system nor its duly authorized representative has granted written consent to engage in those acts. Because this bill would create a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law provides for the issuance of a notice of fare evasion or passenger conduct violation in specified circumstances. This bill would authorize the officer issuing a notice described above to correct any incorrect data on the notice. (3) The bill would also make conforming changes. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 640 of the Penal Code and Section 99580 of the Public Utilities Code proposed by AB 492, to be operative only if AB 492 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2013, and this bill is chaptered last. (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.
Under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, it is unlawful to engage in specified discriminatory practices in employment or housing accommodations on the basis of sex. Under existing law, "sex," for purposes of the act, includes gender, pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth. This bill would provide that, for purposes of the act, the term "sex" also includes breastfeeding or medical conditions related to breastfeeding. This bill would also state that the changes made by this bill to the above provisions are declaratory of existing law. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 12926 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1964, that would become operative only if AB 1964 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2013, and this bill is chaptered last.