Sen. Sam Aanestad

This measure would urge Congress and the President to restore funding for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program.

The Administrative Procedure Act generally sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. Existing law establishes the Bureau of State Audits, which is headed by the State Auditor and has specified statutory duties, including the performance of statutorily mandated audits. This bill would require the Bureau of State Audits to review, report, and make recommendations on each regulation, before May 1 of the 5th year after the regulation was amended or adopted, that the State Energy Resources and Development Commission, the Public Utilities Commission, the California Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority, or any other state agency that has duties relating to state energy regulations or the implementation of those regulations adopts or amends on or after January 1, 2011. The bill would require the review, report, and recommendations to include specified factors, including a summary of the written criticisms received by the agency that adopted or amended the regulation within the preceding 5 years and the estimated economic, small business, and consumer impact of the regulation, as specified. The bill would require the bureau to make the report available on its Internet Web site. The bill would authorize the adopting agency to take specified actions in response to the bureau's report, and would provide that a regulation ceases to be operative, as specified, if the agency takes no action. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

This measure would request that the President and the Congress of the United States pass the H.R. 2474 that would restore funding for California veterans pursuing higher education.

Existing law prohibits the use of any vacuum or suction dredge equipment by any person in any river, stream, or lake of this state without a permit issued by the Department of Fish and Game. Existing law designates the issuance of permits to operate vacuum or suction dredge equipment to be a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) , and suspends the issuance of permits, and mining pursuant to a permit, until the department has completed an environmental impact report for the project as ordered by the court in a specified court action. Existing law prohibits the use of any vacuum or suction dredge equipment in any river, stream, or lake, for instream mining purposes, until the Director of Fish and Game certifies to the Secretary of State that (1) the department has completed the environmental review of its existing vacuum or suction dredge equipment regulations as ordered by the court, (2) the department has transmitted for filing with the Secretary of State a certified copy of new regulations, as necessary, and (3) the new regulations are operative. This bill would require the department, upon request, to refund the amount of the permit fee paid in 2009 by a person issued a vacuum or suction dredge equipment permit and subject to the latter prohibition. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature to delegate to the Fish and Game Commission powers relating to the protection and propagation of fish and game. Existing statutory law delegates to the commission the power to regulate the taking or possession of birds, mammals, fish, amphibia, and reptiles in accordance with prescribed laws. Under existing law, the Department of Fish and Game exercises various functions with regard to the taking of fish and game. This measure would establish the right to hunt and fish wildlife, as defined, subject only to statutes enacted by the Legislature and regulations adopted by the Fish and Game Commission to promote wildlife conservation and management. It would provide that public hunting and fishing, including the use of traditional methods, as defined, would be a preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife.

Existing law provides that there is in existence within the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation the Prison Industry Authority under the direction of the Prison Industry Board. Under existing law, the authority has jurisdiction over the operation of all industrial, agricultural, and service enterprises employing prisoners in institutions under the jurisdiction of the department and has the power to establish new enterprises which it deems appropriate. Under existing law, products made by enterprises under the authority's jurisdiction shall be purchased by the state or a state agency, and may be purchased by a local agency or by a state agency to be offered for sale to persons residing in state-operated institutions at prices fixed by the authority. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding requirements imposed on state agencies to purchase Prison Industry Authority products, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall not be restricted from entering into contracts with private entities or other public agencies for locally produced perishable goods provided at a lower price than the price available from the Prison Industry Authority, provided that the contract is to provide these goods to a facility that is located in a county with a population of 50,000 or less.

Existing law allows the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to approve experimental health workforce pilot projects in specified fields. Under existing law, pilot projects in rural and central city areas are given priority. This bill would require the office, not later than June 30, 2010, and annually thereafter, to submit a report to the Legislature that includes specified information relating to approved or renewed health workforce pilot projects. The bill would also prohibit the office from granting a continuing approval unless all of the information that the applicant agreed to provide has been reported.

(1) Existing law defines a necessary small school as an elementary school with an average daily attendance of less than 101, exclusive of pupils attending grades 7 and 8 of a junior high school, maintained by a school district that maintains 2 or more schools, that meets other criteria involving combinations of distance and average daily attendance. Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools to make computations for each elementary and secondary school district that has fewer than 2,501 units of second principal apportionment average daily attendance and maintains at least one school that meets the criteria for a necessary small school. This bill would deem Gasquet Mountain Elementary School and Margaret Keating Elementary School to be necessary small schools and make the Del Norte County Unified School District eligible to receive apportionments for each school pursuant to its status as a necessary small school. The bill also would deem Rail Road Flat Elementary School to be a necessary small school and make the Calaveras Unified School District eligible to receive apportionments for this school pursuant to its status as a necessary small school. This bill would provide that if the average daily attendance of any of these schools exceeds 100, then the school would no longer be eligible to receive apportionments as a necessary small school. (2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Del Norte County Unified School District and the Calaveras Unified School District. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes the California Major Risk Medical Insurance Program (MRMIP) that is administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB) to provide major risk medical coverage to residents, as defined, who, among other matters, have been rejected for coverage by at least one private health plan. Existing law requires MRMIB to provide that coverage through participating health plans, except as specified, and authorizes MRMIB to provide or purchase stop-loss coverage under which MRMIP and participating health plans share the risk for health plan expenses that exceed plan rates. Existing law requires that benefits under the program be subject to copayments and deductibles authorized by the board and sets forth certain maximum amounts for deductibles and copayments. The bill would require MRMIB to offer at least 4 different options for major risk medical coverage with varying deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums, as specified. The bill would require those options to include at least one Health Savings Account-compatible option and would authorize MRMIB to subsidize that option, as specified. The bill would also authorize MRMIB, until a specified date and if sufficient funds are available, to participate in deductible and out-of-pocket maximum reinsurance using specified products. The bill would require MRMIB to release all program actuarial data for 2004 to 2007, inclusive, to the Legislative Analyst's Office, as requested by that office.

Existing law prohibits, with exceptions, a person from conducting a surface mining operation unless, among other things, a reclamation plan has been submitted to and approved by the lead agency for the operation. Existing law requires an operator, within 90 days of a surface mining operation becoming idle, as defined, to submit to the lead agency for review and approval, an interim management plan. Existing law requires the State Mining and Geology Board to impose an annual reporting fee on each active and idle mine. Existing law establishes an exemption to the fee for certain low grossing mines. This bill would provide that a single operator of a mining operation or a mining company with a single mining operation that becomes idle, and that is operating under an interim management plan because of its minimum annual production level, shall qualify, on a calendar year basis, for the low gross exemption, if the mining operation is also in compliance with applicable sections of the Public Resources Code, including the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975, as well as with the regulations adopted thereunder.