Existing federal law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, formerly the Food Stamp Program, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish and maintain a plan, known as the County Administrative Cost Control Plan, whereby costs for county administration of CalFresh are effectively controlled within the amounts annually appropriated for that administration, and whereby standards and performance criteria are established and are required to be adhered to by counties. This bill would require the department, in collaboration with key stakeholders, to establish statewide customer service standards and performance goals with regard to CalFresh, revise the standards and goals to reflect changes in CalFresh performance over time, measure the progress made toward the execution of the standards and goals on an annual basis, and make the standards and goals publicly available for the purpose of informing the Legislature and the public. The bill would also require the department to develop a data management tool that includes specified data, including, but not limited to, data regarding CalFresh applications received through multiple channels. This bill would require data from the data management tool to be made publicly available on an ongoing basis and updated at least on a quarterly basis within 60 days following the end of each quarter, and would require the department to use the data from the tool to measure the progress made towards the standards and goals established pursuant to these provisions. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
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The School Safety Violence Protection Act establishes the School Safety and Violence Prevention Strategy Program, which is administered by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, for the purpose of providing grant funding and coordination of programs and strategies that promote school safety and emphasize violence prevention among children and youth in the public schools. Existing law establishes the school safety consolidated competitive grant, from which grant funds are distributed to school districts in order to carry out one or more purposes for which various specified school safety programs were established, including programs under the School Safety and Violence Prevention Strategy Program. Existing law authorizes a state agency to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles to sponsor a specialized license plate program, and requires the department to issue specialized license plates for that program, if the state agency complies with specified requirements. This bill would require the State Department of Education to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles for the purpose of creating a specialized license plate program. The bill would require that the fees collected from the sale of the specialized license plates be deposited in the School Violence Prevention Fund, which the bill would establish, and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be allocated to the State Department of Education for purposes of carrying out those same school safety programs funded under the school safety consolidated competitive grant program, or as determined by the department for purposes of school violence prevention. The bill would authorize the Superintendent to consult with the Board of State and Community Corrections, the State Department of Social Services, and the State Department of Public Health on school violence prevention and intervention in order to carry out one or more of the purposes of those specified school safety programs.
Existing law, commencing January 1, 2014, prohibits a person from discharging from nonvehicular sources air contaminants or other materials that cause injury, detriment, nuisance, or annoyance to the public, or that endanger the comfort, repose, health, or safety of the public, or that cause injury or damage to business or property, as specified. Under existing law, a person who violates this provision is guilty of a misdemeanor, as specified, or is liable for a civil penalty of not more than $10,000, unless that person alleges by affirmative defense and establishes that the act was not the result of intentional or negligent conduct, in which case that person is liable for a civil penalty of not more than $1,000. A person who violates this provision and who acts negligently, knowingly, willfully and intentionally, or with reckless disregard, is liable for a civil penalty in a greater amount, as specified. This bill would make a person who violates this provision liable for a civil penalty of not more than $100,000, as specified, if the violation results from a discharge from a stationary source required by federal law to be included in an operating permit program established pursuant to Title V of the federal Clean Air Act, the discharge results in a severe disruption to the community, the discharge contains or includes one or more toxic air contaminants, as specified, and 100 or more people are exposed to the discharge. The bill would prohibit this provision from applying if the violation is caused by unforeseen and unforeseeable criminal acts, acts of war, acts of terrorism, or civil unrest. The bill would require moneys collected pursuant to this provision to be expended in support of air quality programs. The bill would require that the recovery of a civil penalty under these provisions precludes prosecution of a misdemeanor for the same offense.
Existing law provides for the registration, certification, and licensure of various healing arts professionals. Existing law provides for various programs to eliminate alcohol and drug abuse, and states the finding of the Legislature that state government has an affirmative role in alleviating problems related to the inappropriate use of alcoholic beverages and other drug use. This bill would establish licensure and registration provisions relating to advanced alcohol and drug counselors and advanced alcohol and drug counselor interns, respectively, to be administered by the newly created Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor Licensing Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The bill would authorize the board to commence issuing these licenses and registrations on January 1, 2018. The bill would make it a misdemeanor for a person to style himself or herself or to hold himself or herself out to be a licensed advanced alcohol and drug counselor or advanced alcohol and drug counselor intern, without holding a license or registration in good standing under these provisions. The bill would also make it unlawful for a person to operate an individual private practice for alcohol and drug treatment or engage in the practice of alcohol and drug counseling outside of an alcohol and drug treatment facility or program, or DUI program, unless at the time of so doing, the person holds a valid, unexpired, and unrevoked license or registration under these provisions. The bill would require a licensed alcohol and drug counselor working in a private practice setting to refer all clients to prescribed professionals, within 30 days of intake, to assess any co-occurring needs or disorders. Because the bill would create a new crime, it would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would authorize the board to assess related fees and penalties to be deposited into the Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselors License Fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the board for the purposes of supporting licensing and registration activities pursuant to these provisions. The bill would set various licensing and registration fees, until the board establishes different fees by regulation, 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.
The California Constitution prohibits a bill other than the Budget Bill from being heard or acted on by a committee or either house of the Legislature until the 31st day after the bill is introduced, unless the house dispenses with this requirement by rollcall vote entered in the journal, 34 of the membership concurring. This measure would add an additional exception to this 31-day waiting period by authorizing a committee to hear or act on a bill if the bill, in the form to be considered by the committee, has been in print and published on the Internet for at least 15 days. Existing provisions of the California Constitution prohibit either house of the Legislature from passing a bill until the bill with amendments has been printed and distributed to the Members. This measure would also prohibit either house of the Legislature from passing a bill until the bill, in the form to be voted on, has been made available to the public, in print and published on the Internet, for at least 72 hours preceding the vote. This requirement would not apply to specified urgency bills upon the submission by the Governor to the Legislature of a written statement that it is necessary to dispense with the requirement to address a state of emergency declared by the Governor.
Existing law protects the privacy of personal information, including customer records, and requires a business that owns or licenses personal information about a California resident to implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the information, in order to protect the personal information from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure. Existing law requires an operator of a commercial Internet Web site or online service that collects personally identifiable information through the Internet about consumers residing in California who use or visit its commercial Internet Web site or online service to conspicuously post its privacy policy on its Internet Web site or online service and to comply with that policy. Unless required or authorized by federal or state law to share the personal information with a 3rd party or prohibited by federal or state law from providing access to the personal information, this bill would require a data broker, as defined, that sells or offers for sale to a 3rd party the personal information of any resident of California, to (1) permit a subject individual, as defined, to review his or her personal information and (2) conspicuously post an opt-out notice on its Internet Web site that would include specific and easily understood instructions for the subject individual to make a demand on the data broker's Internet Web site that his or her personal information not be shared with or sold to a 3rd party. The bill would require a data broker that receives a demand from a subject individual pursuant to these provisions to cease sharing or selling that information with a 3rd party as soon as is reasonably possible, and thereafter to only retain as much personal information as is reasonably necessary to comply with the subject individual's demand. This bill would also make it unlawful for a data broker to solicit or accept the payment of a fee or other consideration to review or permanently remove personal information from the data broker's database. The bill would authorize a subject individual to bring a civil action against any person in violation of these provisions for specified damages.
The Sales and Use Tax Law exempts from the taxes imposed by that law the sales of food products, nonalcoholic beverages, and other tangible personal property made or produced by an organization, as defined, but only if sold on an irregular or intermittent basis and the organization's profits from the sales are used exclusively in furtherance of the purposes of the organization. The Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, exempts the income of various types of organizations from taxes imposed by that law. This bill would revise the Sales and Use Tax Law exemption for those organizations, as provided. This bill would also provide, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2014, that an organization that is a public charity youth organization that discriminates on the basis of gender identity, race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or religious affiliation is not exempt from the taxes imposed by that law. 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 bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
This measure would designate Monday, May 5, 2014, as California Peace Officers' Memorial Day, urge all Californians to use that day to honor California peace officers, and recognize specified California peace officers who were killed in defense of their communities.
Existing law establishes criteria for determining if a handgun is unsafe. Existing law generally requires manufacturers to submit samples of new handgun models for testing to determine if they are unsafe or may be approved for sale, as specified. Existing law requires the Department of Justice to compile a roster listing all of the handguns that have been tested and determined not to be unsafe. Other provisions of existing law, subject to exceptions, generally make it an offense to manufacture or sell a handgun that is not safe. This bill would define an owner-authorized handgun as a handgun that has a permanent feature that renders the handgun incapable of being fired except when activated by the lawful owner or owners of the handgun. The bill would specify requirements that an owner-authorized handgun would be required to meet, and would require a manufacturer that has developed an owner-authorized handgun meeting those requirements to submit the handgun for testing, at the manufacturer's expense, before the handgun may be placed on the roster of handguns determined not to be unsafe. If two owner-authorized handguns have been placed on the roster, the bill would, commencing two years from the date that the second handgun was placed on the roster, prohibit the Department of Justice from placing a handgun on the roster that is not an owner-authorized handgun. By expanding the application of provisions of law that define a criminal offense, 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.
Existing law creates an enhanced fleet modernization program for the retirement of high polluting vehicles to be administered by the Bureau of Automotive Repair in the Department of Consumer Affairs pursuant to guidelines adopted by the State Air Resources Board. Existing law requires the department to pay a person who retires his or her vehicle $1,500 for a low-income motor vehicle owner, as defined, and $1,000 for all other motor vehicle owners, and authorizes additional payments above these amounts based on consideration of specified criteria. Under existing law, the Bureau of Automotive Repair establishes the Consumer Assistance Program to provide incentives for low-income motor vehicle owners to retire a qualified vehicle. This bill would require the guidelines adopted by the state board to additionally include specific goals for retirement and replacement of passenger vehicles and light- and medium-duty trucks that are high polluters. The bill would require the state board and the bureau to cooperate in the issuance of a specified number of replacement vouchers through the Enhanced Fleet Modernization Program for specified fiscal years and a specified number of retirement vouchers through the Consumer Assistance Program and the Enhanced Fleet Modernization Program for specified fiscal years. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature regarding the funding of these activities. The bill would require the state board to study and consider specified elements. The bill would require the state board and the bureau, on or before September 1, 2016, to make publicly available, on their respective Internet Web sites, a report regarding whether the goals for the numbers of vehicle retirements and replacements have been met and, if not, the manner in which the state board and the bureau plan to revise the program to increase the numbers of vehicle retirements and replacements.