State Commissions and Boards
AB 25 (Gilmore) Water discharges: mandatory minimum civil penalties. As referred to this committee, this bill would have allowed the State Water Resources Control Board and the Regional Water Quality Control Boards, in lieu of assessing a mandatory minimum penalty (MMP) for certain waste discharge violations, to instead elect to require a public school district or a publicly owned treatment works serving a small community of 20,000 persons or less (an increase from 10,000 persons or less) to apply an amount of money equivalent to the MMP towards a compliance project to remediate the causes of the violations. The bill was subsequently gutted and amended to address an unrelated issue. Status: Vetoed.
AB 153 (Ma) High-Speed Rail Authority. As heard by this committee, this bill would have authorized the California High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) to employ its own legal staff or to contract with other state agencies for legal services, clarified the HSRA's ability to exercise eminent domain power, and would have changed the HSRA’s authority governing project development. Subsequently, the bill was gutted and amended to address an unrelated issue. Status: Chapter 226, 2010.
AB 606 (Ma) California Blueberry Commission. This bill creates the California Blueberry Commission with prescribed membership, powers, duties and responsibilities, and requires a positive referendum vote by blueberry producers and handlers, as specified, to activate. This bill authorizes the Commission to commence a civil action against a person who fails to pay assessments or who violates Commission rules or regulations as provided by the bill. Status: Chapter 366, 2009.
AB 1912 (Evans) Apiary Research Commission. This bill creates the California Apiary Research Commission with a prescribed membership, and specifies the powers, duties, and responsibilities of the Commission. This bill authorizes the Commission to conduct research and education programs relating to honeybees, and the beekeeping industry, to levy an assessment on bee producers, and to spend those funds for purposes of implementing these provisions. Status: Chapter 585, 2010.
AB 2469 (Bill Berryhill) State Air Resources Board: dispute resolutions. This bill would have required the Air Resources Board (ARB) to adopt a discretionary alternative process to resolve appropriate disputes regarding proposed penalties for violation of any requirement of specified clean-air laws, or any requirement, rule, regulation, or order administered by the ARB, as long as certain conditions were met. Status: Dead, Asm. Approps.
AB 2695 (Hernandez) California Nursery Producers Commission. This bill creates the California Nursery Producers Commission and specifies its powers, duties, and responsibilities. This bill authorizes the Commission to levy an annual assessment, not to exceed $0.0006 per dollar of gross sales, on producers of nursery products and authorizes the expenditure of these funds for purposes of implementing and administering these provisions. Status: Chapter 605, 2010.
ACR49 (Evans) California Law Revision Commission: studies. This resolution authorizes the California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) to study whether specified laws should be revised, authorizes the CLRC to study the legal and policy implications of treating a charter school as a public entity for the purposes of the Tort Claims Act, and authorizes removal of one topic from the calendar of the CLRC. Status: Res. Chapter 98, 2009.
SB 1402 (Dutton) State Air Resources Board: administrative and civil penalties. This bill requires the Air Resources Board to provide a specified written explanation prior to imposing an administrative or civil penalty for a violation of air pollution law, make these explanations available to the public, annually report specified administrative penalties imposed, and publish a penalty policy pertaining to vehicular air pollution control. Status: Chapter 413, 2010.
Other Topics
AB 343 (Saldaña) Pupils: military families. This bill enacts, until January 1, 2013, the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, which addresses key issues experienced by children of military families who transfer schools frequently, including the transfer of student records, course sequencing, and graduation requirements. In addition, the compact provides for a detailed governance structure at both the state and national levels with built in enforcement and compliance mechanisms. Status: Chapter 237, 2009.
AB 442 (Arambula) Notaries public. This bill would have authorized a notary public to reasonably rely on a Matricula Consular issued by the government of Mexico as proper identification to prove the identity of an individual who executes a written instrument. Status: Vetoed.
AB 1211 (Torrico) Gang recruitment: penalties. This bill would have created a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in the county jail and/or by fine of not more than $2,500 for any person who omits the performance of any duty which causes any person under the age of 18 years of age to become an active participant in a criminal street gang, as specified. Status: Dead, Asm. Public Safety.
AB 1268 (Gaines) Financial institutions. This bill reorganizes and consolidates provisions of the Financial Code administered by the Department of Financial Institutions (DFI), by moving the powers and authority of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions into one chapter of the Financial Code and consolidating other laws that are applicable to all of DFI’s licensees into one body of law. Status: Chapter 532, 2010.
AB 1647 (Hayashi) High school athletics: training for coaches. This bill would have established new certification and training requirements for athletic trainers, and would have prohibited individuals from calling themselves a "certified athletic trainer" unless they meet those requirements. Status: Vetoed.
AB 1745 (Ammiano) Vital records: fees: disposition of human remains. This bill would have authorized the local registrar of a county to charge each applicant for a permit for the disposition of human remains (i.e. a burial permit) an additional fee of up to $8 to fund the disposition of the remains of indigent residents of that county. In addition, this bill would have exempted this fee from annual adjustments pursuant to existing law governing burial permit fees. Status: Vetoed.
AB 1993 (Strickland) State government: report declarations. This bill would have required written reports submitted to the Legislature, a member of the Legislature, or any state legislative or executive body to include a signed statement by the head of the entity declaring that the factual contents of the report are true. Status: Dead, Sen.Rules.
AB 2026 (Arambula) Standardized testing: Matricula Consular: valid identification. This bill would have required a test sponsor to accept the Matricula Consular de Alta Seguridad (MCAS) issued by the government of Mexico within the last five years as a valid form of identification for purposes of admitting a test subject to take a standardized test, and would have provided that no other identification shall be required for test takers who present a valid Matricula Consular. Status: Vetoed.
AB 2101 (Fong) Elections: prohibiting payments. This bill provides that, upon conviction of a violation of specified crimes relating to voter registration or signature gathering for petitions, the court may order as a condition of probation that the convicted person be prohibited from receiving money or other valuable consideration for assisting another person to register to vote by receiving the completed affidavit of registration, or for gathering signatures on an initiative, referendum, or recall petition. Status: Chapter 372, 2010.
AB 2205 (Calderon) State finance: line item veto. This bill would have provided that, for purposes of the California Constitution, the term "items of appropriation" does not include reductions made in a bill to previously enacted items of appropriation. This bill would also have stated Legislative intent to supersede the Court of Appeal (1st Dist.) decision in St. John'sWell Child and Family Center, et al. v. Schwarzenegger, et al. (2010). Status: Dead, Asm. Jud.
AB 2767 (Judiciary) Civil omnibus. This bill makes several non-controversial and clarifying changes to the codes related to various aspects of civil law, including correcting drafting errors from legislation enacted in 2009. Status: Chapter 212, 2010.
ACR42 (Fong) Chinese Americans in California. This resolution acknowledges the history of the Chinese in California, recognizes the contributions made to the State of California by Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants, and expresses regret for past discriminatory laws and constitutional provisions which resulted in the persecution of Chinese living in California. Status: Res. Chapter 79, 2009.
ACR46 (Saldana) Girl Scouts. This resolution would have made various legislative findings to commend the Girl Scouts of the United States of America on its 98th anniversary for its service to the community and for inspiring millions of girls with high ideals of character, conduct, and patriotism. Status: Dead, Sen. Rules.
ACR76 (Eng) Day of Inclusion. This resolution designates December 17 as an annual “Day of Inclusion” in recognition of the contributions of all immigrants to the greatness of our state and country. Status: Res. Chapter 108, 2009.
ACR119 (Garrick) Boy Scouts of America. This resolution would have made various legislative findings to congratulate the Boy Scouts of America on the anniversary of the granting of its Federal Congressional Charter. Status: Failed, Asm. Jud.
ACR129 (Monning) International treaties: reports. This resolution requests the Attorney General to publicize specified international human rights treaties and protocols to cities, counties, and state agencies, and to prepare templates for cities, counties, and state agencies to use to create reports pertaining to those treaties and protocols. Status: Res. Chapter 149, 2010.
SB 188 (Runner) Temporary restraining orders: schools. This bill authorizes specified officers of a private postsecondary educational institution, a student of which has suffered a credible threat of violence made off the school campus or facility from any individual, to seek a temporary restraining order (TRO) and an injunction, on behalf of the student and, at the discretion of the court, any number of other students at the campus or facility, as specified. Under this bill, authority exists only if the threat of violence can reasonably be construed to be carried out or to have been carried out at the school campus or facility, and the TRO can be obtained only with the written consent of the student. The bill would provide that any intentional and knowing violation of the temporary restraining order is a misdemeanor, punishable as specified. Status: Chapter 566, 2009.
SB 544 (Judiciary) Civil law: omnibus bill. This bill, the Senate Committee on Judiciary’s omnibus bill, does the following: (1) permits the State Bar’s Board of Governors to delegate specified authority to one of their Committees to clarifying the authority of the Judicial Council to provide administrative support to a tax-exempt public benefit nonprofit corporation; (2) clarifies a fee arbiter’s authority to issue a subpoena; (3) removes certain requirements relating to the recording of oil and gas leases; (4) clarifies the deadline for the return of documents relating to writs of execution; and (5) make other technical and clarifying changes. Status: Chapter 54, 2009.
SB 950 (Wiggins) Veterans homes: accounting for charges: written notification. This bill requires the written notice given to a resident of a California veterans home to include the terms and conditions upon which the member fees and costs can be changed, and requires a signature of the veteran to acknowledge that he or she has read and understands the notice. This bill also requires the notice to be written in plain, straightforward language and posted in each veterans' home. Status: Chapter 509, 2010.
SB 1046 (Cogdill) Government tort claims: California State University. This bill removes the California State University (CSU) from the jurisdiction of the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board by allowing CSU to process its own tort claims. Status: Chapter 636, 2010.
SB 1330 (Judiciary) Maintenance of the codes. This bill makes numerous technical, non-substantive changes in the California codes that have been recommended by the Legislative Counsel's Office. Status: Chapter 328, 2010.
SB 1417 (Cox) Corporations for prevention of cruelty to animals. This bill establishes new procedures and requirements for the appointment and confirmation of humane officers by non-profit organization formed for the purpose of preventing cruelty to animals. Among other things, this bill specifies examples of documents and evidence that a petitioning organization shall submit to the court to ensure that the court has sufficient information to evaluate the petition for appointment. This bill also establishes continuing education and training requirements for humane officers and procedures for maintaining compliance. Status: Chapter 652, 2010.
SCR 76 (Corbett) Human trafficking awareness. This resolution encourages members of the Legislature, as well as organizations, businesses, and individuals, to bring visibility and support to efforts to recognize and combat human trafficking and slavery, and encourages all Californians to become educated about human trafficking and slavery, and work to eradicate these criminal practices both within and outside of California. Status: Res. Chapter 81, 2010.
SJR24 (Yee) International Violence Against Women Act. This resolution urges the United States Congress to pass the International Violence Against Women Act, legislation that would establish new offices and policies to implement a comprehensive approach to preventing violence against women and girls around the world. Status: Res. Chapter 53, 2010.
SJR28 (Kehoe) 2020 Census. This resolution urges the Congress and the President of the United States and the Secretary of Commerce to enact legislation or adopt policies to have the 2020 Census and other surveys gather data on sexual orientation and gender identity. Status: Res. Chapter 137, 2010.