Office of Assemblyman Jerry Hill – Press Release
Contact: Aurelio Rojas, 916-747-3199 cell or 916-319-2019 office
Jerry Hill Completes Productive Legislative Year
SACRAMENTO
– Ten bills introduced by Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, were
approved by the Legislature during the 2011 session, including four
bills that have already been signed into law.
Among
the bills now before Gov. Jerry Brown is legislation to improve natural
gas pipeline safety, to prohibit members of the California Public
Utilities Commission from soliciting contributions from entities it
regulates, and to allow San Mateo County to lower pension benefits for
new sheriff’s deputies.
These bills the governor has to sign or veto within 30 days of reaching his desk:
AB
56 – Prompted by last year’s deadly San Bruno gas pipeline explosion,
this bill would require remote-controlled shut off valves in high
population areas and the comprehensive testing and record-keeping of
transmission lines. It would also prohibit utilities from using
ratepayer money to pay penalties for safety violations assessed by the
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and require natural gas
corporations to meet annually with local fire departments to review
emergency response plans.
AB
1055 – Would prohibit a commissioner or employee of the CPUC from
soliciting contributions from any persons or entity that the commission
regulates. Last year, the CPUC created a foundation that solicited money
from utilities that they regulate to pay for activities not authorized
by the Commission’s budget.
AB
89 – Would allow San Mateo County to implement a memorandum of
understanding providing lower retirement tiers for new employees
represented by the Deputy Sheriff’s Association. The county recently
negotiated a six-year MOU with the union that will require new hires to
choose reduced retirement formulas.
AB
75 – Allows the Secretary of State office to use its discretion and
refuse to process documents that are clearly intended for fraudulent
purposes. During the past few years, deceptive solicitation schemes have
arisen that take advantage of statutorily required filing with the
Secretary of State. The misleading solicitations sent to companies
sometimes appear to be official government documents and imply that the
company must pay an exorbitant fee in order to file the documents with
the Secretary of State.
AB
320 – Clarifies that the “real party in interest” named in a California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit for a particular project are
those identified by the lead agency as persons undertaking the
publicly-funded project or receiving the permit. Currently, to prevent
important cases from being dismissed by
procedural tactics, CEQA practitioners are forced to name and serve
parties that neither want nor need to be involved.
The governor has already signed these bills:
AB
1 X15 (Chapter 3, Statues of 2011) – Provides tax certainty for solar
energy companies located in California. Clarifies the types of
financing mechanisms that can be used to make it more affordable for
people to install solar on their homes and will make the state be more
competitive in luring solar firms. One example is Maryland-based
SunEdison, which is relocating its corporate headquarters to the city of
Belmont in San Mateo County.
AB
50 (Chapter 18, Statutes of 2011) – Exempts San Bruno residents from
paying state taxes on recovery money they received from Pacific Gas
& Electric Co., the Red Cross and the City of San Bruno after last
year’s pipeline explosion. After the disaster, PG&E began making
payments ranging from $15,000 to $50,000 to cover immediate day-to-day
expenses such as temporary housing, food and transportation.
AB 459 (Chapter 188, Statues of 2011) – Seeks
to enact a national popular vote for President wherein whichever
candidate receives the most votes will be guaranteed to be elected.
Currently, candidates campaign exclusively in a few battleground state
and often ignore issues of particular importance to California. Under
this bill California, in conjunction with other states, will award all
of its electoral votes to the candidate who receives the most votes in
all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The legislation does not go
into effect until it is adopted by states representing a majority of
the Electoral College.
AB 1349 (Chapter
185, Statues of 2011) – Strengthens the legal rights of non-biological
parents in California. The bill allows courts leeway in cases where
there is both a non-biological parent who has an established
relationship with a child and a man who signed a voluntary declaration
of paternity. It was written in response to a ruling that found that
courts could not recognize a non-biological parent who has raised a
child, even though the biological father had no relationship with the
child.
The governor vetoed this bill:
AB
293 -- Would have required local elections officials to establish a
free access system by which a vote by mail voter could determine whether
his or her ballot was counted and, if not, the reason why it was not.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/11/BARQ1L1VT8.DTL
Blogmaster's note: One thing he did vote for, which I'm not happy about, is AB353.
Posted by Steve Sinai
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