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Assembly Approves Bill Addressing Inequality in State Justice System

May 31, 2013 By

SACRAMENTO–Today, the Assembly Floor passed AB 1118, authored by Assemblyman Curt Hagman (R-Chino Hills), with a 61-0 vote. The bill would improve the safety of all Californians by having the Judicial Council create an advisory statewide bail schedule.

“Alleviating the inequality in bail schedules between counties allows defendants to be released under constant supervision, increasing both their appearance rate in court and the safety of the public,” said Assemblyman Hagman. “Disparities in bail schedules create an incentive for criminals to commit crimes in one county over another. AB 1118 provides uniformity to these counties and equal protection under the law.”
An advisory statewide bail schedule would provide judges a guide to consult when setting bail. By opting for bail, the defendant would be supervised by their bail agent. This lessens the population burden on the jail and defendants released on bond are also 28% less likely to fail to appear than similar defendants released on their own recognizance.
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Assemblyman Curt Hagman’s AB 308 Unanimously Passes Assembly Floor

May 24, 2013 By

Sacramento— Assemblyman Curt Hagman’s (R- Chino Hills) AB 308 passed the Assembly floor with a 74-0 vote.

“Assembly Bill 308 is a pragmatic approach to establish a more efficient and sustainable system for school facility funding,” said Assemblyman Hagman. “This bill ensures that money allocated from the state goes to initial funding purposes while creating more opportunity for other educational institutions,” Hagman added.
Given the state’s lack of school construction bond funds and the need for billions of dollars in school facilities funding, it is prudent to enact legislation that requires school districts, charter schools and county offices of education who sell facilities constructed or modernized with state school facility funds to return a portion of this money to the state. Assembly Bill 308 would authorize the State Allocation Board to construct such a program.
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Assemblyman Curt Hagman’s AB 1332 Unanimously Passes Assembly Floor

May 17, 2013 By

Sacramento— Yesterday, Assemblyman Curt Hagman (R- Chino Hills) presented AB 1332 before the Assembly Floor and it passed with a 67-0 vote.

“AB 1332 is necessary to correct an outdated statute, one that discriminates against lottery winners who elect to receive their winnings in installment payments rather than a lump sum,” said Assemblyman Hagman. “This bill would correct this unfairness and permit winners who are receiving their prize in installments to sell their last three years of payments or any part thereof,” added Hagman.
Assembly Bill 1332 would allow California State Lottery prize winners to assign any portion of their last three years of prize winnings to another person or entity. By allowing victors access to the value of the last three years of payments, lottery winners whose last three years are far into the future can access the value of the payments today and meet their current financial obligations.
This bill benefits both consumers and the State of California. The consumer benefits because he or she is able to receive his or her money in today’s dollars to satisfy immediate and urgent needs. The State benefits because the lottery winner must satisfy all outstanding liens and judgments before assigning any portion of their remaining winnings.
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Let Each City Decide to Roast Marshmallows

May 17, 2013 By

Beach bonfires have long been part of the California way of life. Roasting marshmallows, making smores, and spending quality time with family and friends next to an open fire have created countless memories for generations of Californians. But if a government agency gets its way, such experiences will be a thing of the past and the beaches will be deserted after 5 PM.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) recently unveiled a proposal to ban all beach fire pits/rings within Orange and Los Angeles counties. Such fire pits would cease to exist along our coastline. Ironically, I find it amusing that the agency that oversees development of California beaches, the Coastal Commission, sees the fire pits as a form of recreation and wants the rings to stay.
The AQMD says fire pits contribute to Southern California’s pollution and harm public health. The chairman of the District even went so far to compare the smoke from the bonfires to “carpet bombing” during the Vietnam War.  To compare beach bonfires to the horrors of war is simply ludicrous. Such a comparison is offensive and it is no wonder that thousands of people have risen up to oppose the fire pit ban.  Most reasonable people would know that the environmental impact of beach bonfires is miniscule compared to other sources of smoke.
To be fair, fire pits do raise some legitimate public safety and health issues. For example, some Newport Beach residents who live next to the beach have complained about exposure to wood smoke and floating embers that have drifted to their homes. But they knowingly bought a house next to a beach with fire rings already present.  The heart of the matter is local control. Let the Newport Beach city council and residents make the choice. Let the cities and counties decide on the beach fire pits as it concerns their economy, their neighborhoods, and their quality-of-life. If the top concern of Newport Beach’s residents is soot, then it can ban its fire pits if they so desire.
Meanwhile Huntington Beach, which generates $1 million in revenue from beach parking and the purchase of bonfire supplies, can decide to keep its pits in place to maintain tourism. Plus add in the indirect value of the public spending money in beach towns because of family events around the fire pits. To impose a sweeping ban that the AQMD proposes is an unwieldy and unfair one-size-fits-all solution.
Many residents, including my Assembly colleagues who represent the area, support local control that would allow beach fire pits to continue to exist. I believe it is a sensible solution that can satisfy everyone. Equally important, local control helps keep government closest to the people.
The AQMD is a powerful agency with little public oversight. The regulations that the non-elected board members propose can have far-reaching impacts on our economy that are often little-noticed by the public – unless they touch something as popular as beach fire pits. Making the District more transparent is a topic for another day.
The Board of Directors of AQMD will vote on the fire pits ban in June. I hope the board heeds the voices of people who support local control. Until then, we must continue to make our voices heard by letting AQMD know how we feel. We cannot let a small minority of extreme environmentalists and NIMBY activists take away a special part of California’s culture.
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Assemblyman Hagman Responds to Governor Brown’s Revised 2013-2014 Budget Plan

May 14, 2013 By

Sacramento— Today, Assemblyman Curt Hagman, R-Chino Hills, responded to the release of Governor Jerry Brown’s revised 2013-2014 budget proposal. Assemblyman Hagman acknowledged the Governor did well in placing students and education at the top of the list, while also demonstrating the need to resist overspending. The Assemblyman, however, also expressed concerns about the need for more measures to ensure the state can achieve financial stability.

“Our state has a history of overspending on costly programs that we cannot afford,” cautioned Assemblyman Hagman. “Therefore, it is important that the $2.8 million surplus the Governor expects this year is harnessed with a strong and accountable rainy day fund to ensure we can permanently get the budget under control while paying off the state’s debt.”
The Assemblyman also expressed concerns about the Governor’s plan to fund K-12 schools, specifically in regard to lacking proper accountability measures. He stressed the importance of spending Prop. 30 revenue in the classroom and not allowing it to get lost in the system.
Assemblyman Hagman and his Republican colleagues will continue to work with the majority party to ensure that our students receive the funding they deserve, and that our schools have the proper resources to serve their students appropriately.
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Assemblyman Hagman’s Legislation to Update Corporations Code Passes Assembly

May 9, 2013 By

SACRAMENTO- Assemblyman Curt Hagman’s (R-Chino Hills) legislation, AB 434, which updates California’s corporation code, passed on the Assembly Floor with unanimous support. AB 434 would update a Corporation’s Code section to accurately reflect changes made by AB 571 (Hagman), which amended two sections within the code and repealed another.

“This bill is necessary to assure that documents filed by businesses with the Secretary of State are not rejected because they include language with references to code sections that are now nonexistent or incorrect,” stated Assemblyman Hagman. “AB 434 will correct the improper references in California’s Corporations Code to alleviate this additional burden on our state’s businesses.”
In 2011, Assemblyman Hagman’s AB 571 was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. This measure updated California’s Corporations Code, which was developed in the 1970s. The archaic accounting tools created barriers for a variety of business models which increased the difficulty of doing business in California. AB 571 corrected this problem by allowing businesses to use a more streamlined and modern approach to deal with company dividends and distributions of shares.
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“The Great Escape”…2013 Style

May 9, 2013 By

Steve McQueen spent several years growing up in my 55th District.  He spent two years at Boys Republic in Chino Hills and said numerous times that his experiences allowed him to grow and mature into a man.  Little did he know that his 1963 hit movie, “The Great Escape”, would predict our state’s future.  California has embarked on a risky public safety experiment that is showing signs of failure, but it is not too late to correct our course if we acknowledge those setbacks. If we fail to do so, this failure will almost surely become a more devastating catastrophe and cost more lives.

During my time at the State Capitol, my colleagues and I have weighed in on thousands of issues, but one of the most important has been Governor Jerry Brown’s flawed public safety realignment law, or what I like to call his dangerous “felon release” law known as AB 109. The Governor described the law as an “historic accomplishment” for our state, but it would be more accurate to call it an “historic disaster” as it has shifted thousands of low-level criminal offenders to already overcrowded local jails, resulting in the early release of thousands of felons. On April 30, my fellow Republicans and I sent a letter to Governor Brown urging him to stop further releases of dangerous criminals since he is again considering releasing more of them upon our city streets.
The initial statistics and anecdotal evidence in the months following realignment’s implementation in October 2011 shows that realignment is a serious problem for our state.  According to FBI statistics relating to larger cities, in the first half of 2012, California saw incidents of murder rise nearly 8%, rape nearly 8%, burglary over 10%, and vehicle theft 11 %. These increases mark a disturbing turning point after years of consistent low crime rates in California.
As local police and sheriff departments deal with an influx of criminals into their custody, they have been forced to make the difficult decision of releasing so-called “non-serious” offenders into our communities after little more than a slap on the wrist.  For Californians, it has meant having to deal with offenders who, upon their return to society, have been arrested for violent crimes. I am concerned it may be just the tip of the iceberg as the non-violent classification is only based upon the most recent crime and prior violent arrests cannot be considered when releasing an inmate back into our community.
As these sobering reports mount, we have a public safety problem on our hands that needs to be addressed. A growing number of Democrats and even the Governor now concede that some components of the law have to change. For example, under realignment, felons convicted of child abandonment, manufacturing controlled substances, and hate crimes are considered “non-serious” and “non-violent” meaning these offenders can serve their sentence in county jails. The problem, however, is that overcrowding may force local officials to grant these individuals early release.
That is why I support reforms such as Assembly Bill 1321 to re-classify “serious” or “violent” crimes. By doing so, we can ensure these “AB 109er” criminals, who should serve time in prison, actually go to prison.  AB 1321 is just one of several narrowly crafted Republican proposals designed to address public safety concerns caused by realignment. Another reform I support is Assembly Bill 2, which would send back to state prison sex offenders who violate their parole by failing to register as a sex offender. This bill has failed in the public safety committee on its first vote.
Other reforms include returning to prison criminals who disable their GPS tracking devices, requiring sex offender parolees to be supervised by the state, and tying state funding for realignment expenses at the local level to the number of “realigned” offenders in each county.
While these changes will not fix everything, these are common-sense solutions that will at least alleviate some of the pressure felt by local authorities since the law’s adoption.
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Assemblyman Hagman’s Clinical Laboratory Bill Passes Assembly Floor with Unanimous Support

May 8, 2013 By

SACRAMENTO- Assembly Bill 1215, authored by Assembly Members Hagman and Holden, was approved unanimously on the Assembly Floor with a vote of 76-0. AB 1215 would help meet increased demand for care by expanding the definition of “laboratory director” for the purposes of a clinical laboratory test classified as waived under the Federal Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) to include clinical laboratory scientists (CLS).

“We will continue to see an increase in demand for health services,” stated Assemblyman Hagman. “Allowing Clinical Laboratory Scientists to act as laboratory directors for waived tests will result in greater access to these services without compromising patient safety.”
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will extend health benefits to an estimated 7 million uninsured Californians by 2018.  This, in addition to an aging population, will mean increased demand for care and auxiliary services such as clinical laboratory testing.  CLS are qualified to perform waived (low level), moderate, and high complexity tests.  A large number of tests are classified as waived; they employ simple methodologies, have a low chance of erroneous results, and pose no harm to the patient if performed incorrectly.  CLS have far more training and education in clinical laboratory practice than anyone currently allowed to direct a waived laboratory, other than a pathologist.

AB 1215 has received broad bipartisan support, and is a step in the right direction for meeting future demands for care while ensuring patient safety. The bill will now move to the Senate for further consideration.

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Assemblyman Hagman’s Bill to Ensure Education Expenditure Transparency Refused Passage in Education Committee

May 6, 2013 By

Sacramento— Assembly Bill 200, authored by Assemblyman Curt Hagman (R- Chino Hills), failed to pass out of the Assembly Education Committee with a 2-4 vote. AB 200 would have required school districts to report school site level expenditures of currently flexed categorical funds.

“The average parent and taxpayer need access to clear, consistent, and detailed expenditure information to promote both accountability and transparency of education spending,” said Assemblyman Hagman. “It is in the classroom that student performance occurs; therefore we need to make sure that is where education spending occurs as well,” said Assemblyman Hagman.”
Currently, education expenditure information is reported through broad categories and by averages at the school district level. Education expenditure information for currently flexed categorical funds has not been reported since the funds were flexed, giving schools ability to direct funds according to their individual needs but preventing oversight of such spending at the same time. Upon receipt of such funds, AB 200 would have required public posting of this information down to the school site and program level.
The bill would have also updated the currently outdated funding allocation method. However, in presenting the bill, Assemblyman Hagman stressed that regardless of whatever education funding formula is put into the state budget, transparency must be tied to those funds to ensure every student at every school receives effective instruction in order to preserve the fundamental right to a basic education and opportunity to learn.
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Workers’ Compensation Bill to Close Out-of-State Loophole for Pro Athletes Passes Assembly Floor

May 3, 2013 By

Sacramento— Assembly Bill 1309, authored by Assemblymember Henry Perea (D- Fresno) and co-authored by Assemblyman Curt Hagman (R- Chino Hills) including several legislators, passed the assembly floor with a 61-4 vote.

“This bill confronts the abuses of out-of-state professional athletes who are placing significant strain on our workers compensation system,” said Assemblyman Hagman. “AB 1309 will alleviate claims from former athletes with no substantial connections to California, yet are able to exploit technical loopholes in the law to establish jurisdiction based on the slightest of contacts with the state,” Hagman added.
Assembly Bill 1309 will help reduce workers’ compensation costs by closing the loophole currently allowing out-of-state professional athletes to take advantage of California’s generous workers’ compensation system. In many cases, these former athletes have already received benefits from their home state workers’ compensation system, thus enabling them to double dip, driving up costs to the system at the expense of California employers and employees.
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