(1) Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing, including requiring the reporting of campaign contributions and expenditures and imposing other reporting and recordkeeping requirements on campaign committees. The act also imposes administrative, civil, and criminal fines and penalties for violations of its provisions. This bill would increase certain administrative, civil, and criminal fines and penalties imposed by the act, as specified. (2) The act also regulates advertisements, which are defined as any general or public advertisement that is authorized and paid for by a person or committee for the purpose of supporting or opposing a candidate for elective office or a ballot measure or ballot measures. The act places certain disclosure requirements on advertisements. In addition to other penalties imposed by the act, a fine of up to triple the amount of the cost of an advertisement can be imposed on a person who violates the disclosure requirements for advertisements. This bill would require that television, video, or audio broadcast advertisements supporting or opposing a candidate or soliciting contributions in support of that purpose that are authorized by a candidate include a specified disclosure statement made by the candidate. The bill would increase the maximum penalty for a violation of these provisions to 6 times the amount of the costs of the advertisement. (3) The act regulates mass mailings, known as slate mailers, that support or oppose multiple candidates or ballot measures for an election. The act requires that each slate mailer identify the slate mailer organization or committee primarily formed to support or oppose one or more ballot measures that is sending the slate mailer, and to contain other specified information in specified formatting. The act requires that each candidate and each ballot measure that has paid to appear in the slate mailer be designated by an asterisk. This bill would additionally require that a candidate or ballot measure appearing in the slate mailer as a result of a payment made by a 3rd party be designated by an "**," and would require the notice to voters included on a slate mailer be revised to describe this new requirement. The bill would require that a slate mailer that is produced in a language other than English provide the notice to voters in that same language. The bill would require that a slate mailer provide the notice in both English and another language if a substantial portion of a slate mailer is produced in the other language. (4) The act requires a ballot measure committee, within 30 days of designating the numerical order of propositions appearing on the ballot, to identify itself as committee for or against that numbered proposition in all required references. This bill would reduce the amount of time in which a ballot measure committee must reference itself as a committee for or against a numbered proposition to within 10 days of designating the numerical order of propositions. (5) The act makes a knowing or willful violation of its provisions a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. By expanding the scope of an existing 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. (6) The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Sponsored bills
Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which is permitted to adjudge certain children to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances, and prescribes various hearings and other procedures for these purposes. Existing law prohibits the court from terminating dependency jurisdiction over a nonminor who has reached 18 years of age until a hearing is conducted and the county welfare department has submitted a report verifying that specified information, documents, and services have been provided to the child. This bill would revise and recast these provisions to, among other things, require the county welfare department to submit reports at the first regularly scheduled review hearing after a dependent child has attained 16 years of age and at the last regularly scheduled review hearing before a minor attains 18 years of age, and at every regularly scheduled review hearing thereafter, verifying that the county has provided certain of the above-described information, documents, and services to the child. By increasing the reporting duties of county welfare departments, 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, 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.
Existing law establishes the California State University and the University of California as 2 of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law requires the Trustees of the California State University to establish a supplemental salary program in order to improve the recruitment and retention of faculty in specified academic disciplines, and requires the University of California to administer the Community-Based Health Professions Education Partnership Program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations that the California State University and the University of California should make the funding of student health center clinics a priority when allocating funds for student and campus services, and should give consideration for additional compensation to the physicians who address student health care challenges at student health center clinics.
This resolution would recognize April 21, 2014, though April 27, 2014, as California's Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Awareness Week.
Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Under existing law, the California State University comprises 25 institutions of higher education throughout the state. Existing law imposes various requirements with respect to contracting by the California State University. This bill would require that contracts entered into by the California State University on or after January 1, 2015, comply with all of the following: that any data collected, pursuant to the contract, by the contractor relating to a student or a faculty member of the university, including data relating to his or her use of university resources, shall be provided to the university in both electronic and paper formats; that any service or instruction provided, pursuant to the contract, by a nonstate agency contractor to a student or faculty member of the university by the contractor shall conform to pertinent federal statutes and regulations relating to student and faculty data; that any service or instruction provided, pursuant to a contract entered into by a nonstate agency subcontractor with a nonstate agency contractor, comply with the bill; and that any contract entered into with a nonstate agency explicitly address the issue of ownership of intellectual property, and acknowledge that other contracts entered into by the university may determine the rights to that intellectual property.
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.
Existing law, the Safe Place to Learn Act, requires the State Department of Education to assess whether local educational agencies have taken certain actions related to educational equity, including adopting a policy that prohibits discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying based on specified characteristics such as disability, gender, gender identity, race, or sexual orientation, or association with a person or group with one or more of the specified characteristics and adopting a process for receiving and investigating complaints of discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying based on the specified characteristics. Existing law, the Interagency School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985 (the act) , requires certain schoolsite councils to develop a comprehensive school safety plan relevant to the needs and resources of that particular school. The act requires the comprehensive school safety plan to identify appropriate strategies and programs that will provide or maintain a high level of school safety, including the development of a discrimination and harassment policy consistent with the Safe Place to Learn Act. The act also requires each school to forward its comprehensive school safety plan to the school district or county office of education for approval. This bill would require each local educational agency to develop and implement a policy against bullying, as specified, which includes, at a minimum, a procedure for referring victims of bullying to counseling, mental health, or other health services as appropriate; mandatory training for certificated employees on the prevention, and addressing, of bullying; and a procedure for the documentation of all incidents of bullying that take place within the local educational agency as well as the responsive actions taken, if any. The bill would require the local educational agency to report the documentation of the bullying incidents to the department, as provided. By requiring local educational agencies to develop and implement a bullying policy and to report certain information to the department, this bill would increase the duties of local school officials and thereby 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.
Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which is permitted to adjudge certain children to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances, and prescribes various hearings and other procedures for these purposes. Existing law prohibits the court from terminating dependency jurisdiction over a nonminor who has reached 18 years of age until a hearing is conducted and the county welfare department has submitted a report verifying that specified information, documents, and services have been provided to the child. This bill would revise and recast these provisions to, among other things, require the county welfare department to submit reports at the first regularly scheduled hearing after the child has attained 16 years of age and at the hearing immediately prior to the child attaining 18 years of age, verifying that the county has provided certain of the above-described information, documents, and services to the child. By increasing the reporting duties of county welfare departments, 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, 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.
Existing law provides that a child may come within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court and become a dependent child of the court in certain cases, including when the child is abused, a parent or guardian fails to adequately supervise or protect the child, as specified, or a parent or guardian fails to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment. This bill would provide, until January 1, 2017, that a minor may come within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court and become a dependent child of the court if the minor is a victim of human trafficking or sexual exploitation, or received food or shelter in exchange for, or was paid to perform, sexual acts, and the parent or guardian failed or was unable to protect the child. This bill would enact the State Plan to Serve and Protect Sexually Exploited and Trafficked Minors, and would require the California Health and Human Services Agency to, no later than January 30, 2014, convene an interagency workgroup, as prescribed, to develop the plan and require the workgroup to submit the plan to the Legislature, Judicial Council, and Governor, no later than January 30, 2015. Existing law establishes the California Child Welfare Council, which serves as the advisory body responsible for improving the collaboration and processes of the multiple agencies and courts that serve children and youth in the child welfare and foster care systems. This bill would require the California Child Welfare Council to provide recommendations and updates to the State Plan to Serve and Protect Sexually Exploited and Trafficked Minors. Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, requires the State Department of Social Services to license and regulate community care facilities, including foster family agencies and other facilities that provide foster care services for children. Existing law requires the department to develop, and an administrator of a group home facility to complete, a certification program that includes training in various areas. Existing law requires a foster family agency to provide, and a licensed foster parent to complete, prescribed preplacement training and additional annual training. Existing law requires a community college district with a foster care education program to make orientation and training available to a relative or nonrelative extended family member caregiver of a foster child, as specified. The bill would require the training for an administrator of a group home facility, licensed foster parent, and relative or nonrelative extended family member caregiver to include instruction on cultural competency and sensitivity relating to, and best practices for, providing adequate care to a sexually exploited and trafficked minor in out-of-home care. By expanding the duties of community college districts, 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, 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.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires health care service plan contracts or health insurance policies issued, amended, or renewed on or after July 1, 2000, to provide coverage for the diagnosis and medically necessary treatment of severe mental illnesses, as defined, and of serious emotional disturbances of a child, as specified, under the same terms and conditions applied to other medical conditions. Existing federal law, the federal Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) requires group health plans and health insurance issuers to ensure that financial requirements and treatment limitations applicable to mental health or substance use disorder benefits are no more restrictive than the predominant requirements or limitations applied to substantially all medical and surgical benefits. Existing state law requires individual and small group health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2014, to comply with MHPAEA. This bill would, on or after October 1, 2014, require every health care service plan that provides hospital, medical, or surgical coverage, every specialized mental health care service plan that contracts with a health care service plan to provide mental health services, and every health insurer to submit an annual report to the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance, as appropriate, certifying compliance with specified state laws and the MHPAEA, except as provided. The bill would require the departments to collaborate with each other and consult with experts and stakeholders to create the standards for the form and content of those reports on or before July 1, 2014. The bill would require those departments to report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2020, on the information obtained through those annual reports. The bill would require the reports to be a public record made available upon request and to be published on the respective departments' Internet Web sites. The bill would require those plans and insurers to conduct surveys of enrollees, insureds, and providers as part of the report, as specified. The bill would prohibit the inclusion of any information that may individually identify enrollees or insureds in the reports submitted to the respective departments pursuant to the provisions described above. Because a willful violation of the bill's provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the 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.