FIRE Legislative Status Report
Report Date: 2/1/2007

AB 36

(Niello) Public employees' retirement: fraud. (I-12/04/2006  html  pdf)

Status:12/05/2006-From printer. May be heard in committee January 4.

Current Location:12/04/2006-A PRINT

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Summary:

Existing law provides that it is a crime to make a knowingly false material statement or representation for the purpose of obtaining workers' compensation, or supporting or denying a workers' compensation claim. The Public Employees' Retirement Law, the Teachers' Retirement Law, and the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 prescribe the rights, benefits, and duties of members of the retirement systems established by those laws. This bill would make it a crime for a person to make or present false material statements and representations in connection with those retirement systems' benefits and applications, as specified, or to aid or abet someone in this regard. The bill would also make it a crime for a person to knowingly accept, with the intent to keep for personal benefit, a payment from any of those retirement systems with the knowledge that one was not entitled to the benefit. The bill would provide that a violation of these provisions is punishable by up to one year in a county jail, or a fine, or both, and restitution, as specified. The bill would require any restitution order imposed to be satisfied before any criminal fine imposed may be collected, and would further provide that its provisions are cumulative. By creating a new crime or expanding an existing crime, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

AB 38

(Nava) State agencies: Office of Homeland Security. (I-12/04/2006  html  pdf)

Status:12/05/2006-From printer. May be heard in committee January 4.

Current Location:12/04/2006-A PRINT

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Summary:

Existing law establishes the Office of Homeland Security within the office of the Governor. This bill would transfer the Office of Homeland Security to become a division of the Office of Emergency Services and would make conforming changes.

AB 81

(Torrico) Child protection: safe surrender. (I-12/04/2006  html  pdf)

Status:12/05/2006-From printer. May be heard in committee January 4.

Current Location:12/04/2006-A PRINT

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Summary:

Existing law designates certain locations as safe-surrender sites for the safe surrender of newborn children who are 72 hours of age or younger. This bill would expand the scope of those provisions to apply to children who are 30 days old or younger. The bill would permit the governing body of a city to designate a safe-surrender site and would also designate any fire station with a paramedic or emergency medical technician on duty at all times as a safe-surrender site. The bill would specify that a safe-surrender site and its personnel have no liability for a surrendered child prior to taking actual physical custody of the child. The bill would also appropriate $5,000,000 to the State Department of Social Services to conduct a statewide awareness campaign, to establish and operate a toll-free telephone number for assistance, and to allocate $1,000,000 in the form of competitive grants to county social service agencies that conduct safe surrender site program outreach. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

AB 108

(Benoit) Taxation: California Fallen Firefighters Assistance Tax Clarification Act of 2006. (A-01/18/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/22/2007-In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

Current Location:01/22/2007-S RLS.

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Summary:

The Corporation Tax Law exempts certain organizations from taxation, as provided. This bill would provide that payments made by an exempt organization, as defined, on or after October 26, 2006, and before June 1, 2007, to any family member of a firefighter who died as a result of the October 2006 Esperanza Incident fire in Southern California would be treated as payments made in furtherance of the charitable purpose of that organization. This bill would make a legislative finding and declaration relating to the public purpose served by the bill. This bill contains other related provisions.

AB 113

(Beall) Hospitals: reduction or elimination of emergency medical services: notice. (I-01/08/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/09/2007-From printer. May be heard in committee February 8.

Current Location:01/08/2007-A PRINT

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Summary:

Existing law, with certain exceptions, requires a hospital that plans to reduce or eliminate emergency medical services to notify various entities at least 90 days before it takes that action. Violation of these provisions is a crime. This bill would, instead, require the hospital to notify those entities at least 180 days before a planned reduction or elimination of the level of emergency medical services. By changing the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

AB 124

(Price) Meal and rest periods. (I-01/10/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/11/2007-From printer. May be heard in committee February 10.

Current Location:01/10/2007-A PRINT

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Summary:

Existing law authorizes the Industrial Welfare Commission to adopt orders respecting wages, hours, and working conditions. This bill would extend the protections afforded to employees covered by an order of the commission to lifeguards and stage assistants who are employed by the state or any political subdivision thereof. By imposing new requirements on local employers of lifeguards and stage assistants, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

AB 136

(Emmerson) Search and Rescue Memorial. (I-01/16/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/17/2007-From printer. May be heard in committee February 16.

Current Location:01/16/2007-A PRINT

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Summary:

Existing law prescribes various duties for the Department of General Services in connection with development and maintenance of the park around the State Capitol Building. This bill would make the department, in consultation with the California Search and Rescue Association, responsible for the planning and construction of a memorial in the Capital Historic Region in honor of California search-and-rescue volunteers who have died in the line of duty. It would require that the planning, construction, and maintenance of the memorial be funded with private donations through a nonprofit foundation to be established. It also would prohibit construction of the memorial until the master plan of the State Capitol park is approved and adopted by the Joint Committee on Rules.

AB 166

(Bass) Public safety personnel: presumption: MRSA skin infections. (I-01/22/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/23/2007-From printer. May be heard in committee February 22.

Current Location:01/22/2007-A PRINT

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Summary:

Existing law provides that an injury of an employee arising out of, and in the course of, employment is generally compensable through the workers' compensation system. Existing law provides that, in the case of certain state and local firefighting and law enforcement personnel, the term "injury" includes, among other conditions, hernia, pneumonia, heart trouble, tuberculosis, meningitis, and any blood-borne infectious disease that develops or manifests itself during a period while the member is in the service of the governmental entity, and establishes a disputable presumption in this regard. This bill would expand the scope of this provision to include any methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MSRA) or Staph/MSRA skin infection.

AB 219

(Jeffries) Disability retirement: medical examinations. (I-01/29/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/30/2007-From printer. May be heard in committee March 1.

Current Location:01/29/2007-A PRINT

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Summary:

Under the Public Employees' Retirement System, if a recipient of a disability retirement allowance who is under the minimum age for voluntary retirement for service applicable to members of his or her class refuses to submit to a medical examination, the pension portions of his or her allowance may be discontinued until his or her withdrawal of the refusal, or cancelled if the refusal continues for one year. This bill would provide that if a recipient of a disability retirement allowance who is over the minimum age for voluntary retirement for service applicable to members of his or her class, and who has been receiving a retirement allowance for less than 36 months, refuses to submit to a medical examination, the pension portions of his or her allowance may be discontinued until the withdrawal of the refusal. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

AB 220

(Bass) Firefighters. (I-01/29/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/30/2007-From printer. May be heard in committee March 1.

Current Location:01/29/2007-A PRINT

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Summary:

The Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act prescribes various rights of public safety officers, as defined, with regard to representation, discrimination, discipline, and interrogation, as specified. This bill would enact the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act to prescribe various rights of firefighters, defined as any firefighter, including a firefighter who is a paramedic or emergency medical technician, with specified exceptions. The bill would prescribe rights related to, among others, political activity, interrogation, punitive action, and administrative appeals. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

AB 231

(Eng) Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act. (I-01/30/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/31/2007-From printer. May be heard in committee March 2.

Current Location:01/30/2007-A PRINT

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Summary:

The Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act requires any person supplying intrastate telephone communication services, as specified, in the state to collect a surcharge imposed on amounts paid by every person in the state for intrastate telephone communication service including "toll telephone service," as defined. It requires the Department of General Services to annually determine a surcharge rate that it estimates will produce sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal year's costs, but prohibits the surcharge rate in any year to be greater than3/4 of 1% nor less than 1/2 of 1%. It establishes the State Emergency Telephone Number Account into which the payments made pursuant to the act are deposited. It requires, upon appropriation, funds in the account to pay, among other things, bills submitted to the department by service suppliers or communications equipment companies for the installation of, and ongoing expenses for, specified communications services. This bill would specify that a "toll telephone service" would include a telephonic quality communication for which there is a toll charge that varies in amount with the distance or elapsed transmission time of each individual communication, and the charge is paid within the United States. This bill also would provide that "toll telephone service" includes, but is not limited to, bundled service that does not separately state the periodic charges for local and long distance telephonic quality communication and prepaid calling cards. This bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision.

ACA 2

(Walters) Eminent domain. (I-12/04/2006  html  pdf)

Status:12/05/2006-From printer. May be heard in committee January 4.

Current Location:12/04/2006-A PRINT

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Summary:

The California Constitution authorizes private property to be taken or damaged for public use only when just compensation has been paid to, or into court for, the owner of the property. This measure would instead permit private property to be taken or damaged only for a stated public use and only when just compensation has been paid to, or into court for, the owner of the property. The measure would also prohibit, with respect to both new and pending eminent domain projects that involve the exercise of the power of eminent domain, a community redevelopment agency, community development commission, or joint powers agency that has the power of eminent domain from exercising that power to acquire any real property if ownership of the property will be transferred to a private party or private entity, except as specified.

SB 41

(Battin) Taxation: California Fallen Firefighters Assistance Tax Clarification Act of 2006. (A-01/29/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/30/2007-From committee: Do pass, but first be re-referred to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

Current Location:01/30/2007-A APPR.

Calendar Events:02/01/07 9 a.m. - Room 4202 ASM APPROPRIATIONS

Summary:

The Corporation Tax Law exempts certain organizations from taxation, as provided. This bill would provide that payments made by an exempt organization, as defined, on or after October 26, 2006, and before June 1, 2007, to any family member of a firefighter who died as a result of the October 2006 Esperanza Incident fire in Southern California would be treated as payments made in furtherance of the charitable purpose of that organization. This bill contains other related provisions.

SB 65

(Cedillo) Mobilehome parks: health and safety standards. (I-01/16/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/25/2007-To Com. on RLS.

Current Location:01/25/2007-S RLS.

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Summary:

Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to adopt regulations to govern the use and occupancy of manufactured homes, mobilehomes, and recreational vehicles located in special occupancy parks. This bill would make technical, nonsubtantive changes to this requirement.

SB 114

(Florez) Disaster relief. (I-01/22/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/23/2007-From print. May be acted upon on or after February 22.

Current Location:01/22/2007-S PRINT

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Summary:

Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors to provide by ordinance for the reassessment of property that is damaged or destroyed, without fault on the part of the assessee, by a major misfortune or calamity, upon the application of the assessee or upon the action of the county assessor with the board's approval. With respect to certain counties that have adopted reassessment ordinances and have been declared by the Governor to be in a state of emergency as a result of certain events, existing law provides for state allocations of the estimated amounts of the reductions in property tax revenues resulting in certain fiscal years from reassessments under those ordinances. Existing law also continuously appropriates, without regard to fiscal years, moneys in the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties for purposes of funding these state allocations. This bill would provide for similar state allocations with respect to property tax revenue reductions resulting from a reassessment for damages incurred within the Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura that were declared by the Governor to be in a state of emergency due to severe freezing conditions that commenced January 11, 2007. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

SB 154

(Cedillo) Workers' compensation: temporary disability: public safety personnel. (I-01/29/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/30/2007-From print. May be acted upon on or after March 1.

Current Location:01/29/2007-S PRINT

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Summary:

Existing workers' compensation law generally requires employers to secure the payment of workers' compensation, including medical treatment, for injuries incurred by their employees that arise out of, or in the course of, employment. Existing law prohibits aggregate disability payments for a single injury occurring on or after April 19, 2004, causing temporary disability from extending for more than 104 compensable weeks within a period of 2 years from the date of commencement of temporary disability payment, except if an employee suffers from certain injuries or conditions. This bill would provide that the 2-year limit on the payment of temporary disability shall not apply to certain volunteer and paid law enforcement and firefighting employees, as specified.

SB 161

(Margett) Public works contracts: Internet submissions. (I-01/30/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/31/2007-From print. May be acted upon on or after March 2.

Current Location:01/30/2007-S PRINT

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Summary:

Existing public contract law authorizes public entities to adopt methods and procedures to receive bids on public works or other contracts over the Internet, as specified. This bill would authorize public entities to receive supporting materials submitted pursuant to a public works contract over the Internet, as specified. This bill would require public entities that receive bids and supporting materials over the Internet to provide an electronic receipt to the contractor, as specified.

SB 162

(Negrete McLeod) Local government: organization. (I-01/30/2007  html  pdf)

Status:01/31/2007-From print. May be acted upon on or after March 2.

Current Location:01/30/2007-S PRINT

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Summary:

Existing law, the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act, specifies the factors that a local agency formation commission is required to consider in the review of a proposal for a change of organization or reorganization including the comments of any affected local agency and information or comments from the landowner or owners, as specified. This bill would also require a local agency formation commission to consider information or comments from voters or residents of the affected territory and the extent that the proposal will promote environmental justice, as defined, thus creating a state-mandated local program. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.