FIRE Legislative Status Report
Report Date: 2/25/2007

AB 36

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

Status:02/01/2007-Referred to Com. on P.E.,R. & S.S.

Current Location:02/01/2007-A P.E.,R. & S.S.

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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:02/01/2007-Referred to Com. on G.O.

Current Location:02/01/2007-A G.O.

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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:02/09/2007-Referred to Coms. on PUB. S. and JUD.

Current Location:02/09/2007-A PUB. S.

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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:02/01/2007-Referred to Com. on HEALTH.

Current Location:02/01/2007-A HEALTH

Calendar Events:03/06/07 1:30 p.m. - Room 4202 ASM HEALTH

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:02/01/2007-Referred to Com. on L. & E.

Current Location:02/01/2007-A L. & E.

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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:02/09/2007-Referred to Com. on INS.

Current Location:02/09/2007-A INS.

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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:02/09/2007-Referred to Com. on P.E.,R. & S.S.

Current Location:02/09/2007-A P.E.,R. & S.S.

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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:02/13/2007-Referred to Com. on P.E.,R. & S.S.

Current Location:02/13/2007-A P.E.,R. & S.S.

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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:02/13/2007-Referred to Com. on U. & C.

Current Location:02/13/2007-A U. & C.

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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.

AB 275

(Soto) Public employees: retirement: industrial disability. (I-02/09/2007  html  pdf)

Status:02/16/2007-Referred to Com. on P.E.,R. & S.S.

Current Location:02/16/2007-A P.E.,R. & S.S.

Calendar Events:

Summary:

The Public Employees' Retirement Law provides a formula for calculating the retirement allowance for a local safety member for industrial disability. Existing law establishes this disability retirement allowance as 50% of the member's final compensation plus an annuity, purchased with the member's accumulated additional contributions, if any, or if the member is qualified for service retirement, the member's service retirement allowance, if the allowance, after deducting the annuity, is greater. Existing law limits the industrial disability allowance of local safety members whose membership commenced after January 1, 1980, as specified. This bill would provide a different method for calculating the disability retirement allowance of specified local safety members. The bill would provide that those local safety members shall receive a disability retirement allowance that is the greater of (a) 50% of the member's final compensation, plus an annuity purchased with accumulated contributions, if any, (b) a service retirement allowance, if the member is qualified for service retirement, or (c) 3% or 2.4%, for specified members, of the member's final compensation, multiplied by the difference of one minus 0.01 for each quarter year that the member's service age is less than 50 years, multiplied by the number of years of local safety service, as specified, if the member is not qualified for service retirement.

AB 281

(Silva) State mandates: Commission on State Mandates. (I-02/09/2007  html  pdf)

Status:02/13/2007-From printer. May be heard in committee March 15.

Current Location:02/09/2007-A PRINT

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Summary:

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish the Commission on State Mandates and specify procedures for making that reimbursement, including a provision that, with the agreement of all parties to a test claim, the commission may waive the application of any procedural requirement. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to these statutory provisions.

AB 283

(Jeffries) Fire companies: certificate of organization. (I-02/09/2007  html  pdf)

Status:02/22/2007-Referred to Com. on G.O.

Current Location:02/22/2007-A G.O.

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Summary:

Existing law permits a fire company in an unincorporated town to be organized by recording with the county recorder a certificate signed by the presiding officer and by the secretary of the fire company. That law requires the certificate to include specified information, including, but not limited to, the date of organization, the name of the fire company, the names of the officers of the fire company, and the roll of active and honorary members of the fire company. That law requires the fire company to renew and record the certificate with the county recorder every 6 months. This bill would instead permit a fire company in an unincorporated town to be organized by filing a certificate with the Office of Emergency Services and require the fire company to renew the certificate annually with the Office of Emergency Services, as specified. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to develop a form for the certificate and make that form accessible on the official Web site of the Office of Emergency Services.

AB 304

(Huff) Community care facilities: disaster and mass casualty plans. (I-02/09/2007  html  pdf)

Status:02/13/2007-From printer. May be heard in committee March 15.

Current Location:02/09/2007-A PRINT

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Summary:

Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of community care facilities, as defined, and provides for criminal sanctions for a violation of those provisions. Existing law requires any person desiring issuance of a license for a community care facility or a special permit for specialized services to file with the State Department of Social Services, an application on a prescribed form, containing specified information. This bill would, on and after January 1, 2008, require any person applying for a license for a community care facility or a special permit for specialized services pursuant to those provisions to provide a copy of the plan to any appropriate local entity or authority responsible for providing emergency services in the area or community in which the facility is located. The bill would require a community care facility that was licensed or received a special permit for specialized services on or before January 1, 2008, to, no later than January 1, 2009, provide a copy of the plan to any appropriate local entity or authority responsible for providing emergency services in the area or community in which the facility is located. By imposing a new requirement on community care facilities, a violation of which would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

AB 319

(Nava) Emergencies: tsunami hazard mitigation and preparedness. (I-02/13/2007  html  pdf)

Status:02/22/2007-Referred to Com. on G.O.

Current Location:02/22/2007-A G.O.

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Summary:

Existing law provides that the Director of the Office of Emergency Services is responsible for coordinating the emergency activities of all state agencies in connection with a state of emergency. This bill would enact the Tsunami Hazard Mitigation and Preparedness Act of 2007, to establish the California Tsunami Steering Committee to guide tsunami hazard preparation activities in the state, as specified. It would require the Office of Emergency Services to establish a statewide tsunami hazard mitigation program to maintain consistent planning efforts regarding preparation, communication, response, and mitigation in the event of a tsunami. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

AB 384

(Portantino) Firefighters. (I-02/15/2007  html  pdf)

Status:02/16/2007-From printer. May be heard in committee March 18.

Current Location:02/15/2007-A PRINT

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Summary:

Existing law requires the Regents of the University of California, the Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, and the Trustees of the California State University to excuse the mandatory systemwide tuition and fees of any surviving spouse or surviving child, natural or adopted, of a deceased person who was a resident of the state, who was employed by a public agency, who was a contractor, or who was an employee of a contractor, as defined, whose principal duties consisted of active law enforcement service or active fire suppression and prevention, and who was killed in the performance of those duties. This bill would enact the California Fallen Federal Firefighter Survivor Assistance Act of 2007, which would excuse the mandatory systemwide tuition and fees of any surviving spouse or surviving child or stepchild of a deceased permanent career civilian federal firefighter who was performing services in this state, upon specified circumstances. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.

AB 397

(Adams) Local agencies: membership dues. (I-02/15/2007  html  pdf)

Status:02/16/2007-From printer. May be heard in committee March 18.

Current Location:02/15/2007-A PRINT

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Summary:

Existing law prescribes the duties and powers of local governmental agencies. The Political Reform Act of 1974, among other things, governs campaign disclosure requirements. This bill would prohibit any local agency from paying dues to an organization of which it is a member that makes monetary contributions to a political campaign.