AB 1199 – This bill seeks to save the sole public hospital in Trinity County. Specifically, it grants the Trinity Public Utilities District (TPUD) the powers of a healthcare district for an interim period of three years.

The bill was signed by the Governor: Chapter 930, Statues of 2004.

AB 1881 extends a sunset date placed on AB 1259 (Strom-Martin), which provides funding flexibility in administering health and human services programs at the county level. These integrated programs, which have been successful in providing quality care and access to health and human service programs, are currently administered in Humboldt, Mendocino, and Alameda counties. This bill would authorize every county in California to participate, pending approval from the Secretary of California Health and Human Services Agency. The funding flexibility allows county Health and Human Services programs to be co-located and allows the consumer to access to all programs they qualify for. The bill was signed into law: Chapter 655, Statues of 2004.

AB 1994 separates the California Commission on Aging and the California Senior Legislature in statute and funding. The bill was signed into law: Chapter 633, Statues of 2004.

AB 2517 establishes two accounts within the Special Deposit Fund (SDF) in the State Treasury for the deposit of environmental mitigation funds collected by the Department of Fish and Game (DFG). Specifically, this bill: Establishes the Fish and Game Mitigation and Protection Endowment Principal Account, and establishes the Fish and Game Mitigation and Protection Expendable Funds Account. In addition, this bill specifies what monies may be deposited into each account. The bill was signed into law: Chapter 427, Statues of 2004.

AB 2519 allows the Department of Fish and Game (DFG), in consultation with the Commercial Salmon Trollers Advisory Committee (CSTAC), to allocate funds from the Commercial Salmon Stamp Account (CSSA) to assist in the recovery of salmon stocks listed as threatened or endangered.

This bill enhances efforts to protect and restore salmon stocks and the commercial roe herring fishery. Specifically, this bill allows the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to allocate funds from the Commercial Salmon Stamp Account to match federal salmon restoration money and for restoration projects to help in the recovery of threatened or endangered salmon stocks.

In addition, this bill allows the Fish and Game Commission (FGC) to adjust herring permit fees to ensure sufficient funds to cover the department's costs of managing the herring fishery. The FGC to adopt regulations to facilitate the transfer of herring permits in an effort to revitalize the fishery.

The bill was signed into law: Chapter 713, Statues of 2004.

AB 2706 ensures that even the state’s smallest school districts have a fair chance at receiving federal grant money to give all children better access to technology in the classroom.

It could nearly triple the amount of federal funds going to small Northern California school districts in coming years. The bill requires that each of the state’s 11 regions have access to at least $1 million, and that every district in the region have a fair shot at getting some of the money.

The bill could mean significant increases in the amount of technology grants that go to Northern California’s Region One, which includes school districts in Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino and Sonoma counties. In 2002, the most recent year for which grant totals are available, District One received about $377,000, just over a third of the amount it would likely receive if this bill becomes law.

The Governor signed this bill into law: Chapter 681, Statues of 2004.

AB 2758 extends, by two years, the Public Utilities Commission's Rural Telecommunications Infrastructure Grant program that will allocate $10 million a year to establish telecommunications service in remote areas not currently served by existing local exchange carriers. The Governor signed the bill into law: Chapter 767, Statues of 2004.

AB 2760 makes several changes to provisions of the law dealing with marine resources and licensing. This bill: Eliminates a loophole allowing the take of undersized halibut; Clarifies regulations concerning take of species by marine aquaria collectors; Eliminates a loophole allowing certain dive boats to fish without a license; Reestablishes commercial hook-and-line fishing gear restrictions. The bill was signed into law: Chapter 431, Statues of 2004.

AB 3095 ensures that sentencing courts have discretion to order a person convicted of elder abuse engage in counseling as a condition of probation; and (2) to require financially able defendants to pay for counseling. The bill was signed into law: Chapter 893, Statues of 2004.

ACR 226 recognizes the month of May 2004 as Older Americans Month and encourages all Californians to promote and participate in activities and services that contribute to the health, welfare, and independence of older citizens. The bill was signed into law: Resolution Chapter 86, Statues of 2004.

ACR 255 declares the second week in November as Healthcare Decisions Week and encourages all citizens to think and talk with loved ones about their wishes for end-of-life care. The Governor signed the bill into law: Resolution Chapter 200, Statues of 2004.