Sen. Steve Knight

Existing law defines "insurable interest" with respect to life and disability insurance as an interest based upon a reasonable expectation of pecuniary advantage through the continued life, health, or bodily safety of another person and consequent loss by reason of that person's death or disability or a substantial interest engendered by love and affection in the case of individuals closely related by blood or law. Existing law provides that a person has an insurable interest in, among other things, the life and health of himself or herself. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

The Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) prescribes a comprehensive set of rights and duties for members of the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) and provides those members with a defined benefit based upon age, service credit, and final compensation. PERL excludes certain persons from membership in PERS. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes in the provisions excluding certain persons from membership in PERS.

Existing law authorizes local authorities and the Department of Transportation to establish exclusive or preferential use of highway lanes for high-occupancy vehicles. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision.

Existing law defines "veteran" for the purposes of the various programs bestowing benefits upon veterans. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to do any act, as specified, for the construction, improvement, maintenance, or use of all highways that are under its jurisdiction, possession, or control. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.

Under existing law, individuals are allowed to contribute amounts in excess of their tax liability for the support of specified funds. Existing law provides for various voluntary contribution check-off funds to be listed on the personal income tax return. This bill would modify the existing voluntary check-off system by establishing the California Voluntary Contribution Program to be administered by the office of California Volunteers to expand the contribution options for a taxpayer. The bill would provide that the purpose of the program is to promote charitable giving and collect through the personal income tax return individual taxpayers' voluntary contributions either to specified charities in a pool of up to 200 qualified applicants, defined to include any charitable organization meeting certain requirements or a state or local agency, or to make a general charitable gift by donating to the Charitable Giving Fund. Not later than January 1, 2017, the bill would require the office to, among other things, develop the application to participate in the program and establish application and renewal fees. The bill would authorize the office to adopt specified policies and guidelines to regulate the number of qualified applicants participating in the program. The bill would authorize the office to adopt regulations necessary to carry out these provisions and would make these regulations subject to the Administrative Procedure Act. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to revise the personal income tax form in a manner necessary to inform an individual about how to make designations to qualified applicants or to the Charitable Giving Fund. Commencing on January 1, 2018, this bill would allow an individual taxpayer to designate a contribution to up to 5 qualified applicants or to the Charitable Giving Fund. The bill would require an applicant wishing to receive contributions to submit an application to the program, including an application fee. The bill would require the office to approve an application if specified requirements, and other reasonable requirements, are met, thereby making a qualified applicant eligible to receive voluntary contributions. The bill would require these contributions to be transferred from the Personal Income Tax Fund to the California Voluntary Contribution Fund or to the Charitable Giving Fund, both of which are created by this bill. The bill would require moneys in the California Voluntary Contribution Fund and the Charitable Giving Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be allocated to the Franchise Tax Board and the Controller for reimbursement of costs, as provided, and the balance from the California Voluntary Contribution Fund to the office of California Volunteers for distribution to each qualified applicant designated by an individual and the balance from the Charitable Giving Fund to the office for distribution as grants for charitable purposes, in accordance with policies and procedures established by the office. The bill would establish a specified minimum contribution amount for each qualified applicant. The bill would prohibit a qualified applicant from receiving voluntary contributions if, among other things, the average amount of contributions received during certain calendar years did not equal the minimum contribution amount. This bill would annually require the office to provide the Legislature with a report containing specified information on the program. The bill would also require this report to be made available to the public. The bill would also require the office to work in consultation with the Department of Finance to develop a strategy to propose to the Legislature for a continuous appropriation to distribute taxpayers' contributions to the designated qualified applicants. This bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2023.

Existing law requires the Board of State and Community Corrections to collect and maintain available information and data about state and community correctional policies, practices, capacities, and needs, as specified. Existing law requires the board, in consultation with certain individuals, including a county supervisor or county administrative officer, a county sheriff, and the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, to develop definitions of specified key terms in order to facilitate consistency in local data collection, evaluation, and implementation of evidence-based programs. This bill would enact the Criminal Justice Reinvestment Assessment Grant Program of 2014. The bill would require the grant program to be administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections for the purpose of establishing and implementing reporting systems to identify and expand programs that provide proven, evidence-based, local programming opportunities for the successful reintegration of offenders into society. The bill would authorize the board to award grants to assist counties with the creation or expansion of infrastructure that allows each county to consistently collect and report specified criminal justice information. The bill would require each local community corrections partnership, on or before June 1, 2014, to report to the board on the county's capacity to collect and report the data required. The bill requires the board to review each assessment and to prioritize and award grants to the counties. The bill would require each county to report specified data to the board, on or before January 1, 2015, and annually thereafter, pertaining to offenders sentenced as felons to serve in local correctional facilities and felons released from prison to community supervision. The bill would require the board to summarize these data and report the summaries to the Governor and the Legislature, on or before May 15, 2015, and annually thereafter. By imposing data collection and reporting duties on local governments, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would appropriate an undetermined sum to the board for purposes of funding the grants. The bill would state findings and declarations of the Legislature regarding criminal justice realignment. 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 bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law authorizes the issuance of specialized license plates sponsored by a state agency, including the Gold Star Family specialized license plate sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Existing law generally authorizes specialized license plates to be issued as environmental license plates, with a combination of letters or numbers, or both, requested by the owner of the vehicle. Under existing law, however, Gold Star Family license plates may only be issued in a sequential series. This bill would delete the requirement that Gold Star Family license plates be issued only in a sequential series, thereby authorizing the issuance of these license plates as environmental license plates.

This measure would commemorate June 6, 2013, as the 35th anniversary of the approval of Proposition 13 by California voters.