AEG Status Report as of 10/8/2008
AB 583	(Hancock) Political Reform Act of 1974: California Fair Elections Act of 2008. (C-09/30/2008  html  pdf)
	Status: 09/30/2008-Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 735, Statutes of 2008.
	Current Location: 09/30/2008-A CHAPTERED
	Summary:  Under the Political Reform Act of 1974 a public officer is prohibited from expending or accepting any public moneys for the purpose of seeking elective office. This bill would repeal that prohibition and would enact the California Fair Elections Act of 2008, which would authorize eligible candidates for Secretary of State to obtain public funds according to specified procedures and requirements, provided that certain thresholds are attained. The bill would impose primary responsibility for the administration of the provisions of the bill on the Fair Political Practices Commission. This bill would create the Fair Elections Fund and, commencing January 1, 2011, would transfer funds from the Fair Elections Fund to the Fair Political Practices Commission for the purpose of the public financing provisions of the act. The bill would also establish nonrefundable fees to be imposed on lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers. The fees collected are to be deposited, in part, in the Fair Elections Fund. The bill would make funding for the administrative and enforcement costs of the act available from the Fair Elections Fund. The bill would require that the available funds, for each 4-year election cycle, would be no more than 10% of the total amount deposited in the Fair Elections Fund during the 4-year election cycle. The bill would repeal specified provisions on January 1, 2019. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.
	Organization AEG		Position Oppose	Priority 1
AB 1284	(Eng) Geologists and geophysicists. (C-09/28/2008  html  pdf)
	Status: 09/28/2008-Chaptered by the Secretary of State, Chapter Number 488, Statutes of 2008
	Current Location: 09/28/2008-A CHAPTERED
	Summary: Existing law, the Geologist and Geophysicist Act, provides for the registration and regulation of geologists and geophysicists by the Board for Geologists and Geophysicists. Existing law authorizes the board to issue a certificate of registration as a geologist or geophysicist, without written examination, to any person holding an equivalent certificate of registration as a geologist or geophysicist, issued by any state or country when the applicant's qualifications meet other specified requirements. Existing law requires each applicant for registration to pay an examination fee fixed by the board at an amount, up to $300, equal to the actual cost to the board for the purchase of a national examination for geologists, including a supplemental California specific examination. This bill would delete the exemption from the written examination for any person with an equivalent certificate of registration. The bill would also require each applicant for registration to pay an examination fee fixed by the board at an amount, up to $450, equal to the actual cost to the board to administer the written examination.
	Organization AEG		Position Support	Priority 1
AB 1869	(Anderson) State boards and commissions: reorganization. (A-04/03/2008  html  pdf)
	Status: 06/02/2008-Failed Deadline pursuant to Rule 61(b)(11). Last location was B. & P.
	Current Location: 06/02/2008-A DEAD
	Summary:  Existing law establishes within the Department of Consumer Affairs various boards and committees that are responsible for the regulation of architects, barbers and cosmetologists, geologists and geophysicists, accountants, contractors, court reporters, engineers and land surveyors, landscape architects, structural pest control companies, guide dogs for the blind, veterinarians, and various practitioners of the healing arts. Existing law also establishes the Alarm Company Operator Disciplinary Review Committee, the Committee on Dental Auxiliaries, the Physician Assistant Committee, the Registered Veterinary Technician Committee, the Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun, 2 private security disciplinary review committees, and a service agency advisory committee. This bill would abolish each of those boards and committees and transfer all of their respective duties, responsibilities, obligations, liabilities, and jurisdiction (hereafter, duties) to the department. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.
	Organization AEG		Position Oppose	Priority 1
AB 1925	(Eng) Franchise Tax Board: professional or occupational licenses. (A-07/03/2008  html  pdf)
	Status: 08/31/2008-Failed Deadline pursuant to Rule 61(b)(17). (Last location was REV. & TAX on 07/03/2008)
	Current Location: 09/24/2008-S DEAD
	Summary: The Personal Income Tax Law and the Bank and Corporation Tax Law impose taxes on, or measured by, income. Existing law allows a tax return or return information filed under those laws to be disclosed in a judicial or administrative proceeding pertaining to tax administration under certain circumstances. Existing law requires every board, as defined under the Business and Professions Code, and the Department of Insurance to, upon request of the Franchise Tax Board, furnish to the Franchise Tax Board certain information with respect to every licensee. This bill would require a state governmental licensing entity, as defined, issuing professional or occupational licenses, certificates, registrations, or permits to provide to the Franchise Tax Board the name and social security number or federal taxpayer identification number of each individual licensee of that entity. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board, if an individual licensee fails to pay taxes for which a notice of state tax lien has been recorded, as specified, to send a preliminary notice of suspension to the licensee. The bill would provide that the license of a licensee who fails to satisfy the unpaid taxes by a certain date shall be automatically suspended, except as specified, would require the Franchise Tax Board to mail a notice of suspension to the applicable state governmental licensing entity and to the licensee, and would provide that the suspension be canceled upon compliance with the tax obligation. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to meet certain requirements and would make related changes. The bill would make implementation of its provisions contingent upon appropriation of funds for that purpose in the annual Budget Act.
	Organization AEG		Position Oppose	Priority 1
AB 1978	(Solorio) Public records: computer mapping systems. (I-02/14/2008  html  pdf)
	Status: 05/06/2008-Failed Deadline pursuant to Rule 61(b)(6). Last location was G.O.
	Current Location: 05/06/2008-A DEAD
	Summary: Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires state and local agencies to make their records available during regular business hours and, upon request, to provide a copy of a record upon payment of any applicable fee, unless an exemption from disclosure applies. The act provides that computer software developed by a state or local agency is not a public record, with "computer software" defined for this purpose as including computer mapping systems, computer programs, and computer graphics systems. This bill would further provide that, for this purpose, computer mapping systems include assembled model data, metadata, and listings of metadata, regardless of medium, and tools by which computer mapping system records are created, stored, and retrieved.
	Organization AEG		Position Oppose	Priority 1
AB 3034	(Galgiani) Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century. (C-08/26/2008  html  pdf)
	Status: 08/26/2008-Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter No. 267, Statutes of 2008
	Current Location: 08/26/2008-A CHAPTERED
	Summary: Existing law, Chapter 697 of the Statutes of 2002, as amended by Chapter 71 of the Statutes of 2004 and Chapter 44 of the Statutes of 2006, provides for submission of the Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Act for the 21st Century to the voters for approval at the November 4, 2008, general election. Subject to voter approval, the act would provide for the issuance of $9.95 billion of general obligation bonds, $9 billion of which would be available in conjunction with any available federal funds for planning and construction of a high-speed train system pursuant to the business plan of the High-Speed Rail Authority, and $950 million of which would be available for capital projects on other passenger rail lines to provide connectivity to the high-speed train system and for capacity enhancements and safety improvements to those lines. This bill would repeal the above-referenced provisions and enact new provisions submitting a $9.95 billion general obligation bond act to the voters for approval at the November 4, 2008, general election for the same purposes. The bill would revise and recast the previously proposed bond act. The bill would refer to construction of a high-speed train system consistent with the authority's certified environmental impact reports of November 2005 and July 9, 2008, rather than with the final business plan of June 2000. The bill would revise the descriptions of route corridors of the proposed high-speed train system. The bill would require excess revenues from operation of the high-speed train system beyond the amount needed for operating and maintenance costs and financing obligations, as determined by the authority, to be used for construction, expansion, improvement, replacement, and rehabilitation of the high-speed train system. The bill would require that not more than 10% of high-speed rail bond proceeds be used for environmental studies, planning, and preliminary engineering activities and that not more than 2.5% of high-speed rail bond proceeds be used for administrative expenses, except as specified. The bill would generally require the authority to complete various funding plans and financial analyses, as specified, prior to submitting a request for appropriation of bond funds for eligible capital costs and prior to committing bond proceeds for expenditure for construction and real property and equipment acquisition, but would also provide that up to 7.5% of high-speed rail bond proceeds may be used for specified expenditures outside of those requirements. The bill would require the authority to give priority in selecting corridors for construction to those corridors that are expected to require the least amount of bond funds as a percentage of total cost of construction, among other considerations. The bill would provide for the bonds to have a final maturity of not more than 40 years. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.
	Organization AEG		Position Support	Priority 1
SB 797	(Ridley-Thomas) Professions and vocations. (C-06/23/2008  html  pdf)
	Status: 06/23/2008-Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter No. 33, Statutes of 2008
	Current Location: 06/23/2008-S CHAPTERED
	Summary:  Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law authorizes a board to suspend or revoke a license on certain bases, including the licensee's conviction of a crime that is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of the business or profession for which the license was issued. This bill would specify that this authorization to suspend or revoke a license is in addition to any other action that a board is permitted to take against the licensee. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.
	Organization AEG		Position Watch	Priority 1
SB 963	(Ridley-Thomas) Department of Consumer Affairs: regulatory boards. (C-09/27/2008  html  pdf)
	Status: 09/27/2008-Chaptered by the Secretary of State, Chapter Number 385, Statutes of 2008
	Current Location: 09/27/2008-S CHAPTERED
	Summary:  Existing law establishes the Board of Psychology, the Acupuncture Board, the Board of Behavioral Sciences, the Contractors' State License Board, the Board for Geologists and Geophysicists, the Court Reporters Board of California, and the State Athletic Commission. Existing law authorizes or requires those boards to appoint an executive officer. Under existing law, excess funds, as specified, generated by the initial certificate fee collected by the Court Reporters Board of California are used to provide shorthand reporting services for indigent persons, as defined, and are transferred from the Court Reporters' Fund into the Transcript Reimbursement Fund for expenditure for that purpose. Existing law provides that these provisions become inoperative on July 1, 2009, and are repealed on January 1, 2010. This bill would change the dates on which these provisions are to become inoperative and repealed to January 1, 2011. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.
	Organization AEG		Position Support	Priority 1
Total Position Forms: 8