2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
STATE LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
3PM
City Hall, Room 288
Meeting Minutes
I . ROLL CALL
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Mayor’s Office (Chair) – Nancy Kirshner-Rodriguez
Supervisor Alioto-Pier – Jennifer Stuart
City Attorney’s Office – MaryJane Winslow
Assessor’s Office – Kevin Matthews
Controller’s Office – Andrew Murray
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Supervisor Chiu – David Noyola
Treasurer’s Office – Pauline Marx / David Augustine
II. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES
The Committee approved the minutes of the April 29, 2009 meeting of the State Legislation Committee.
III. CA STATE BUDGET UPDATE
IV. PROPOSED LEGISLATION
The Committee took action on the following state legislation affecting the City andCounty of San Francisco.
Mayor's Office
Nancy Kirshner-Rodriguez
AB 303 (Beall) – Medi-Cal: designated public hospitals: seismic safety requirements.
This bill would, to the extent federal financial participation is available, extend similar supplemental reimbursement provisions to capital projects of designated public hospitals, as defined, or nonprofit private hospitals, as defined, meeting prescribed requirements for which final plans have been submitted to OSHPD after January 1, 2007, and prior to December 31, 2011, provided those projects are related to meeting seismic safety deadlines.
Recommended Action: Support
Action taken: None taken, watch
CA State Senator Leland Yee's Office
Jordan Curley
SB 218 (Yee)
The bill would expand the definition of the term “state agency” in the California Public Records Act (CPRA) to include entities that receive public funds or which perform a government function on behalf of the University of California, the California State University or the California Community Colleges.
Recommended Action: Support
Action taken: Support
SB 219 (Yee)
This bill would correct the oversight in statute and provide UC employees the same whistleblower protections and legal standing as all other state employees. SB 219 will protect UC workers from unfair retaliation for rightfully reporting waste, fraud, or abuse.
Recommended Action: Support
Action taken: Support
SB 242 (Yee)
This bill would add language to the list of protected classes within California’s Civil Rights Act. Under SB 242, it would be a violation of state law for an entity to adopt or enforce a policy that limits or prohibits the use of any language in a business establishment, unless the language restriction is justified by a business necessity and notification has been provided of the circumstances at the time when the language restriction is required and of the consequences.
Recommended Action: Support
Action taken: Support
SB 288 (Yee)
The bill would create standard guidelines for the fair use of candidates’ names on ballots in jurisdictions that have Chinese, Korean or Japanese ballot translations. SB 288 will establish statewide guidelines for counties and the Secretary of State’s Office to follow to ensure the integrity of the translated names on ballots in California.
Recommended Action: Support
Action taken: Support
SB 399 (Yee)
The bill would require that after ten years or more of incarceration for those who were sentenced as youth to life without parole, the Department of Corrections do a paper review of the person’s crime/s, the sentence received, and their actions and behavior in prison. If the prisoner’s record meets a certain, high threshold, SB 399 grants a resentencing hearing, at which the person could be resentenced to 25-years-to-life.
Recommended Action: Support
Action taken: None taken, watch
SB 557 (Yee)
The bill would allow any real property used to facilitate human trafficking to be declared a public nuisance and seized by the court until the nuisance is abated, and further subjects the trafficker to the costs of the seizure and a civil fine of up to $25,000.
Recommended Action: Support
Action taken: Support
SB 782 (Yee) - Domestic Violence Eviction Protection Act
The bill would allows tenants who are victims of domestic violence to petition the court to stay in their homes if issued an evection notice based primarily on the acts of domestic violence.
Recommended Action: Support
Action taken: Support
Treasurer/Tax Collector’s Office
Pauline Marx
AB 125 (De Leon) - California Employees’ Savings Program
Creates a voluntary, universal, portable retirement savings account for California workers who do not have access to a retirement savings plan at their workplace. The account supplements the current employer-based system and Social Security. It promotes expanded retirement security for working Californians by making it easier for them to save through payroll deduction while providing small businesses a basic retirement savings plan to offer their employees. This bill is co-sponsored by AARP California and New America.
Recommended Action: Support
Action taken: Support
AB 325 (Beall) - California Working Families Economic Stimulus Act
Seeks to draw down millions in unclaimed 100% federally-funded Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) dollars for working families by designating the Department of Community Services and Development as the lead agency to administer the (EITC) outreach options specified in the Department of Social Services report due out in the spring of 2009. This bill is co-sponsored by Catholic Charities of California and New America.
Recommended Action: Support
Action taken: Support
AB 550 (Lieu) - California Financial Literacy Initiative
Creates a financial literacy program in the office of the Controller funded by a financial literacy fund established in the Office of the Treasurer. It represents a much-needed commitment by the state to start addressing the root causes of personal financial struggles precipitated by a lack of consumer financial education and codifies the state’s financial interest in reducing consumer debt and bolstering personal savings. This bill is co-sponsored by California State Controller John Chiang and New America.
Recommended Action: Support
Action taken: Support
AB 1058 (Beall & Fuentes) - California Workforce Mobility and Savings Initiative
Repeals the asset limit for CalWORKs recipients and raises the asset limit for applicants to encourage low-income families to build the savings they need to permanently exit CalWORKs. The eligibility rules currently penalize low-income families for saving with a reduction or loss of benefits, thereby discouraging families from building the personal safety net they so desperately need to climb out of poverty and become self-sufficient. This bill is sponsored by New America.
Recommended Action: Support
Action taken: Support
SB 323 (Oropeza) - Tax-Time College Savings
Creates an easy way for California families to save for college by amending the state income tax form to allow filers to directly deposit their refund into an existing state-administered tax-advantaged 529 college savings account designed to help children and their families save for postsecondary education. This bill is sponsored by California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer.
Recommended Action: Support
Action taken: Support
Mayor’s Office of Housing
Doug Shoemaker
ACA 9 (Huffman)
This bill would ease Prop 13’s voter thresholds for local taxes three different ways: 1) Add an exception to the 1% cap on real-estate taxes to allow for taxes to pay interest on voter-approved bonded indebtedness accrued to fund facility-related construction work.; 2) Lower the voter-approval threshold for accruing debt to 55% from two-thirds when the debt's proceeds will fund “construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement” of public improvements, public safety agency facilities, affordable housing, the purchase or lease of real property for any of those, or any combination of the above 3) Lower the voter-approval threshold for imposing, extending, or increasing local special taxes from two-thirds to 55%.
Tabled from State Leg Committee Meeting 4/29/09
Recommended action: Support
Action taken: Support
SB 120 (Lowenthal)
This bill extends important protections in existing law that protect tenants from abuses such as utility shut-offs, lock-outs, and having personal property removed from the premises. It ensures that these protections are offered to tenants residing in property acquired through foreclosure. This bill is identical to AB 2586 (Torrico, 2008) which was vetoed by the Governor.
Recommended action: Support
Action taken: Support
V. SET REGULAR SCHEDULE FOR FUTURE COMMITTEE MEETINGS
VI. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT
No Public Comment
VII. ADJOURNMENT