Informing & Monitoring
» Capitol Updates
» Leg. Watch
» Press Releases
» Leg Vote Record
» CA Cost Index
» Features
» Audio & Reports
» Job Data
» Calendar
» Coalitions
» Fed Update
» Policy Objectives
» Policy Principles
Membership
»Invest in CMTA
»About Us
»Yellow Pages
»Questions?
Conferences
July 23 GETTING IT RIGHT: California Energy Policies and Climate Change Goals
Directories
»CMTA Board
»CMTA Membership
»CMTA Staff
»Send us e-mail
»Directions to CMTA
»Rent Conference Room
Services & Discounts
»Insurance
»Discounts
»ETP
Grassroots Activism
Sign up to receive action alerts
Legwatch 2003-04
| Corp. counsel (46 bills) Energy (24 bills) | Environmental qual. (63 bills) Govt. Relations (4 bills) Labor, employment (36 bills) | Tax (71 bills) Worker's comp. (18 bills) |
| ENERGY CMTA lobbyist: Joe Lyons, (916) 498.3341 | Position | Status | Core-Noncore and Utility Procurement | AB 2006 (Nunez) Requires the CPUC to: (1) approve and maintain rates sufficient to ensure an IOU fully recovers the initial capital investment in resources necessary to provide reliable service; (2) in determining an IOU's full costs of contracting for generation resources with another entity, to include collateral requirements and debt equivalence associated with the contract; and (3) prepare a plan to streamline the siting process for transmission projects and submit it to the Governor and Legislature by July 1, 2005. Requires each IOU to prepare a long-term integrated resource plan (IRP) to achieve a diversified portfolio of resources to serve its customers. The IRP must include 5, 10 and 15-year forecasts and identify needed resources. Requires all load-serving entities, except municipal utilities and customer generation, to meet the same requirements for resource adequacy, resource diversity and the renewable portfolio standard applicable to IOUs. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Vetoed by Gov. | | Energy Independence Board | AB 2685 (Oropeza) Creates the Energy Independence Board within the Office of Planning and Research to facilitate the development of electricity generation facilities, as defined. Requires the focus of the board to be on streamlining regulatory requirements and processes but does not authorize it to reduce existing environmental or other regulatory requirements. This bill was gutted and amended to a new subject. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Watch | Failed passage | | Judicial Review of CPUC Decisions | AB 840 (Calderon) (Spot bill) Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Watch | Failed passage | | Election of CPUC Commissioners | SCA 6 (Battin) Creates an elected California Public Utilities Commission, consisting of seven members, elected by district, for four year terms. Requires the state to be divided into seven districts, determined by the Legislature. Replacing appointed commissioners with elected commissioners would politicize the CPUC and adversely impact the quality of CPUC deliberations. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Failed passage | ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY | CMTA lobbyist: Mike Rogge, (916) 498.3313 Position | Status | Underground Petroleum Storage Tank Fees | AB 1906 (Lowenthal) Increases the petroleum storage fee by $.001/gallon on January 1, 2005 and again on January 1, 2006 by the same amount. We have members who are both supporting and opposing this bill. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Watch | Signed by Gov. | | Hazardous Waste Facility Permits | AB 1942 (Lowenthal) This bill has been amended twice and only one positive aspect of the bill remains. If DTSC decides that changes to a structure or equipment is necessary to comply with requirements or the request of a state or federal agency or air district and if the change will decrease risks to human health and safety or the environment related to the management of the hazardous wastes in the structure, then the change can be handled as a Class I permit modification. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Support | Failed passage | | Air Pollution: Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles | AB 2042 (Lowenthal) Despite recent amendments, this bill continues to discourage growth at the ports. The bill proposes to cap emissions at the Ports of Long Beach and LA by imposing growth restrictions that will limit imports and exports, causing price increases for California consumers and cost increases for California exporters. The bill, as amended, also continues to encourage litigation against local and state government by organizations who desire to limit growth at the ports, and conflicts with federal law by placing air emission “oversight” authority with the South Coast Air Quality Management District – an area that should be left to appropriate state and federal agencies like CARB and USEPA. And, the credit trading program that was added to the bill creates a new and costly program with little or no chance of achieving success. As long as this bill continues to include an emissions cap for the ports by a date certain, and then a no-net-increase in emissions thereafter, this bill will be a major threat to California’s economy. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Governor's Desk | | California Ocean Plan | AB 2529 (Kehoe) Requires the State Water Resources Control Board to add marine protected areas, marine reserves, marine parks, marine conservation areas, marine cultural preservation areas, and marine recreational management areas to the list of beneficial uses of ocean waters. The Water Code already sets forth a process for the Board to adopt and update the California Ocean Plan to designate beneficial uses and corresponding water quality objectives to protect those uses. The bill could impose new stormwater requirements for areas far removed from the coast (i.e., foothills or Central Valley) as it does not specify how far upstream the State Water Board could go to identify and eliminate point and non-point source discharges into ocean waters. Provisions in the bill requiring new beneficial use designations for marine managed areas are unnecessary and in essence would upstage the regulatory process already in place to address these issues. This bill has been amended appeasing all of our concerns, removing our opposition. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Neutral | Signed by Gov. | | Air Pollution, Smog Checks | AB 2683 (Lieber) Exempts only motor vehicles manufactured before 1976 from smog checks rather than just the vehicles more than 30 years old. It also exempts classic cars. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Support | Signed by Gov. | | Criminal Penalties for Releases of Prop 65 Chemicals | AB 623 (Lieber) Proposes criminal penalties for releases of chemicals "known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity". AB 623 does not require knowledge of the discharge by the operator. Corporations convicted of second offenses would have their corporate licenses revoked by the Secretary of State. Proposition 65 law already prohibits discharges to drinking water and requires a "clear and reasonable warning" before a business can knowingly expose any individual. These provisions are enforced through a civil penalty scheme that includes a private right of action. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose |  Job killer Failed passage | | Replacement Drinking Water | SB 1004 (Soto) Clarifies existing law regarding the authority of state and regional water boards to require responsible parties (RPs) to provide replacement water to public water suppliers and private well owners affected by groundwater contamination. Amendments require dischargers to submit water replacement plans to the boards and provide for mediation of disputes. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Watch | Signed by Gov. | | Air Pollution: Reduction of Impact from Mobile Sources | SB 1247 (Soto) (Spot bill.) Recognizes the effect of gasoline and diesel mobile sources on air pollution. Is a likely vehicle for additional air district funding to reduce mobile source emissions. It now does not appear that this bill will be used to deal with funding for mobile source emission reductions. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Watch | Failed passage | | Radioactive Waste Disposal | SB 13 (Romero) Effectively bans disposal of any waste exhibiting trace radioactivity in California. This issue is already addressed in Governor’s Executive Order # D 62-02, which places a moratorium on disposal in municipal landfills pending a new regulation from DHS that specifically addresses disposal-related health risks. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Failed passage | | Oak Woodland Conversion | SB 1334 (Kuehl) Adds language to CEQA that mandates all counties to adopt oak woodlands management plans or oak woodlands management ordinances. Under these plans or ordinances, a property owner or business must mitigate any "conversion" of oak woodlands by buying, or otherwise setting aside, 2 acres of land for every acre converted. The purchased acreage must be preserved in its natural state in perpetuity. Under the bill, a "conversion" can be as simple as land disturbance within the drip line of one oak tree, so the land purchasing requirement is triggered even if a single tree is not removed. "Oak woodlands" are defined as a tree habitat with five or more trees per acre, or, in the case of valley oaks, only one tree per acre. There is no maximum tree size designated in the bill, so the removal or interference with seedlings could feasibly require 2:1 mitigation. Most counties already have existing mechanisms to protect oak woodlands. This bill has been significantly amended removing all but one of the opposition’s concerns. New amendments have removed concerns. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Neutral | Signed by Gov. | | Santa Susana Field Laboratory | SB 1456 (Kuehl) Establishes significantly stricter standards for the ongoing cleanup at Boeing’s Rocketdyne Santa Susanna Field Laboratory site without providing any science-based justification or public review process. Moreover, the EPA has no jurisdiction within Area IV of SSFL. Only the Department of Energy is responsible for cleanup of former DOE sites. California law can not alter the relationship between DOE and EPA. The bill attempts to place invalid restrictions on the entire 2,800 acre site, rather than only the 290 acres where DOE conducted nuclear research. This bill was gutted and amended to a new subject. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Failed passage | | Air Pollution: Smog Check, Out-of-State Vehicles | SB 1615 (Denham) Amended to state that the requirement for smog checking a vehicle from out-of-state will match in-state requirements. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Support | Signed by Gov. | | Proposition 65: Enforcement Judgments | SB 1722 (Ducheny) Eliminates double jeopardy suits by a second party once a suit has already been settled for the same cause. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Support | Failed passage | | Radioactive Materials Management Authority | SB 201 (Romero) Transfers radioactive materials management and cleanup oversight authority from DHS to DTSC and requires DTSC to develop regulations for remediating licensed facilities. SB 201 disregards Governor's Executive Order D-62-02 which directs DHS to adopt a new license termination regulation through the CEQA process. The order specifically requires an environmental impact report to address a California appellate court's criticism of the existing regulation. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Failed passage | | Radioactive Contaminated Property | SB 208 (Kuehl) Prohibits sale, lease or transfer of Rocketdyne (Boeing) property in Ventura County unless it meets prescribed cleanup standards taken from outmoded federal guidance that assumes unrestricted public use of the property. SB 208 also requires out of state disposal of any material taken from the site, disregarding Governor's Executive Order D-62-02. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Failed passage | | Radioactive Contaminated Property - Disclosure | SB 415 (Kuehl) Requires property owners to disclose, prior to sale, lease or transfer, increased cancer risk to occupants of radioactive contaminated property. SB 415 prescribes benchmarks for evaluating risk that are based on outmoded federal risk screening guidelines, prohibits risk averaging and prescribes disclosure language which misrepresents and misapplies federal risk assessment policy for contaminated sites. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Failed passage | | Hazardous Materials: Liability, Brownfields | SB 493 (Cedillo) This bill initially would have limited liability for Brownfield redevelopers. It was amended in committee and no longer carries all of the previous positives. It is now primarily a funding bill. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Support | Failed passage | | CEQA Risk Assessments | SB 532 (Romero) Requires cumulative health risk assessments where a “reasonable possibility” exists that a project subject to CEQA would create a significant risk to public health from exposure to toxic substances. This concept is sufficiently vague that these highly complex risk assessments could become a default requirement, even if the project itself is an insignificant contributor. Moreover, absent any scientifically accepted methodology, projects would suffer major delays and cost increases driven by disputes over risk assessment and mitigation. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Job killer Failed passage | | Crude Oil Tax | SB 981 (Soto) Imposes a 30-cent per barrel tax on crude oil delivered to California refineries to subsidize Carl Moyer heavy duty engine conversion program. The Carl Moyer program has already secured $50 million in funding through 2004 from Proposition 40 revenues. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Job killer Failed passage | GOVERNMENT RELATIONS | CMTA lobbyist: Dorothy Rothrock, (916) 498.3319 Position | Status | Universal Waste Authority | AB 2877 (Aghazarian) Extends the sunset clause for the Integrated Waste Management Board over universal waste from 2003 to 2008. This would insure that universal waste would not have to be taken to Class I landfills. CMTA is carrying this bill for Cal EPA. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Support | Signed by Gov. | LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT | CMTA lobbyist: Willie Washington, (916) 498.3322 Position | Status | Occupational Safety and Health | AB 1923 (Lowenthal) Defines "unhealthy condition" to include exposure to a critical incident and requires employers or emergency response personnel to establish, implement, and maintain a critical incident stress program for the purpose of relieving stress generated by exposure to a critical incident. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Failed passage | | Employment Discrimination | AB 196 (Leno) Expands the prohibition on sexual discrimination and harassment by including gender in the definition of sex. Employers must allow an employee to dress consistent with the employee's gender identity. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Signed by Gov. | | Gender Pay Equity | AB 2317 (Oropeza) Existing law prohibits employers from paying an employee at a wage rate less than the rates paid to employees of the opposite sex in the same establishment for equal work, except where the payment differential is made pursuant to a bona fide factor other than sex. This bill increases the amount of damages due to employees who are paid unfairly and mandates the types of damages those employees should recover if successful in bringing a civil action against their employer. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Vetoed by Gov. | | Overtime Wages | AB 244 (Maze) Permits employers and employees to agree on the number of hours that constitute a day?s work instead of the current requirement to pay overtime after 8 hours of work in a day. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Support | Failed passage | | Minimum Wage | AB 2832 (Lieber) Sets the minimum wage at $7.25 as of January 1, 2005, and $7.75 as of January 1, 2006, and requires the commission to adopt consistent minimum wage orders without convening wage boards. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Vetoed by Gov. | | Displaced Private Security Officers | AB 2850 (Ridley-Thomas) Enacts the Private Security Service Assurance Act, requiring contractors and subcontractors providing private security services at a particular job site or sites, to retain, for a period of 90 days, certain employees who were employed at that site by the previous contractor or subcontractor. Requires that employees retained under the bill's provisions for that 90-day period be offered continued employment if their performance during that 90-day period is satisfactory. This bill would only apply to contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2005. Authorizes an employee who was not retained in accordance with the bill's provisions to bring an enforcement action in a court of competent jurisdiction. This bill additionally authorizes local government agencies to enact ordinances imposing stricter standards or additional enforcement provisions. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Governor's Desk | | Employment Discrimination | AB 2889 (Laird) Makes employers responsible for the acts of nonemployees with respect to all forms of harassment in the workplace where the employer or its agents or supervisors knew or should have known of the conduct and failed to take immediate and appropriate corrective action. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Failed passage | | Occupational Safety and Health | AB 3037 (Yee) Requires the injury and illness prevention program (IIPP) of an employer to include either a joint employer-employee occupational safety and health committee or an employer-employee safety liaison team. Requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to adopt regulations to implement this new requirement on or before January 1, 2006, and to establish minimum criteria regarding committee duties and selection of employee representatives. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Failed passage | | Employment Discrimination | AB 76 (Corbett) Expands current law to make it unlawful for an employer to fail to take immediate and appropriate corrective action to prevent harassment of an employee by any person, once the employer knows or should have known of this conduct. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Signed by Gov. | | Hearing Aids | SB 1158 (Scott) Requires health care service plans and health insurers to provide coverage up to $1,000 for hearing aids to all enrollees, subscribers, and insureds under 18 years of age. Provides that the coverage would not apply to certain types of insurance. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Vetoed by Gov. | | Single Payer Health Care Coverage | SB 921 (Kuehl) Establishes the California Health Care System to be administered by the newly created Health Care Agency under the control of an elected Health Care Commissioner. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Failed passage | TAX CMTA lobbyist: Matt Sutton, (916) 498.3318 | Position | Status | Timber Products User Fee | SB 557 (Kuehl) Amended to create the Timber Harvest Review, Fire Protection and Forest Restoration Account in the General Fund by imposing a 1 cent excise tax on distributors of all premanufactured timber products. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Oppose | Failed passage | WORKERS' COMPENSATION | CMTA lobbyist: Willie Washington, (916) 498.3322 Position | Status | Workers' Compensation Generic Drugs | SB 223 (Margett) Requires that a generic drug equivalent be offered by any person or entity dispensing medicine to a worker to cure or relieve the effects of an injury covered by workers' compensation (as is required by pharmacies), with certain exceptions. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Support | Failed passage | | Workers' Compensation Injuries | SB 414 (McClintock) Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of his or her employment. This bill revises this definition by specifying that the injury or disease arising out of the employment must be one that is certified by a physician using medical evidence based on objective medical findings. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Support | Failed passage | | Workers' Compensation Apportionment | SB 714 (Battin) Provides that the appeals board may not, in determining permanent disability, rely on any medical report that fails to fully address the issue of apportionment and fails to set forth the basis for the medical opinion, on any medical report that fails to apportion a previous injury or illness that has been the subject of a prior claim for damages, or on any medical report that fails to provide a discussion of the medical processes by which a previously asserted injury or illness was resolved without affecting bodily function. Bill text at www.leginfo.ca.gov Support | Failed passage | | ||||||||||||||||||||||||