Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each city, county, and city and county to prepare and adopt a general plan that contains certain mandatory elements, including a housing element. Existing law requires the housing element to identify the existing and projected housing needs of all economic segments of the community. Existing federal law requires a continuum of care, a group organized under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, to develop a plan that includes planning for and conducting, at least biennially, a point-in-time count of homeless persons within the geographic area. Existing law requires that information from the point-in-time count be used to, among other things, allocate funding for the Homeless Emergency Aid program and Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program. This bill would require a city, county, and city and county, within 60 days after the local continuum of care releases the results of a point-in-time count for a city, county, or city and county's jurisdiction, to, among other things, agendize the point-in-time count results at a meeting of the city, county, or city and county and present the steps the city, county, or city and county is taking to prevent and end homelessness, including, but not limited to, consideration of specified actions. By imposing new duties on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
(1) Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of their employment. Existing law requires the employer to provide medical, surgical, chiropractic, acupuncture, and hospital treatment that is reasonably required to cure or relieve the injured worker from the effects of the injury and authorizes an insurer, employer, or entity that provides physician network services to establish or modify a medical provider network (MPN) for the provision of medical treatment to injured employees. Existing law requires every MPN to post on its internet website information about how to obtain a copy of any notification regarding the MPN that is required to be given to an employee by regulations adopted by the administrative director. This bill would allow an injured employee to authorize their primary treating physician to request an electronic copy of any notification that an injury is subject to an MPN or that an employee is required to transfer treatment to an MPN. (2) Existing law requires an MPN to post and update a roster of all participating providers, including physicians and ancillary service providers, as defined, within the MPN. This bill would instead require the roster to include all physicians and would allow the roster to include persons or entities that provide or contract with persons or entities that provide ancillary services, treatment, management services, or coordinate patient care, as specified. (3) Existing law requires an insurer, employer, or entity that provides physician network services to submit a plan for the MPN to the administrative director. Existing law requires the director to approve a plan for an MPN if they determine it meets certain requirements and deems any plan the director does not act on in 60 days approved. Existing law requires that a plan for an MPN be periodically reapproved and prohibits the director from withholding approval or disapproving a medical provider network based solely on the selection of providers. This bill would, if the director disapproves a plan or determines that it contains deficiencies, require the director to allow the applicant 45 days to submit additional information and materials, as requested. The bill would require the director to respond within 30 days of receiving additional information and either approve the plan or request additional information or clarification. (4) Under existing law, an employer or insurer has the exclusive right to determine the members of their network, and prohibits the director from withholding approval or disapproving an MPN based on the selection of providers. This bill would specify that an employer or insurer has the right to determine the members of their network in regard to physicians if the physician is duly licensed and with the scope of their practice, and in regard to a person or entity that provides ancillary services regardless of whether the person or entity is doing business as a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, or other business entity.
Existing law requires the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in injury to a person, other than that driver, or in the death of a person to immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of the accident and provide specified personal information to the injured person or the occupants of the other vehicle and to any traffic or police officer at the scene of the accident. Under existing law, if a vehicle accident results in permanent, serious injury or death, a person who violates the requirement to stop is subject to punishment by imprisonment in the state prison for 2, 3, or 4 years, or in a county jail for not less than 90 days nor more than one year, or by a specified fine, or both the imprisonment and fine. Existing law authorizes the court, in the interests of justice and for other reasons stated in the record, to reduce or eliminate the minimum imprisonment or fine requirements. This bill would instead make a person who fails to immediately stop, as required, at the scene of an accident that resulted in a permanent, serious injury subject to punishment by imprisonment in the state prison for 2, 3, or 4 years, or in a county jail for not less than 90 days nor more than one year, and a specified fine, and if the accident resulted in death, the violation of those requirements would be punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 3, 4, or 6 years, or in a county jail for not less than 90 days nor more than one year, and a specified fine.
Existing law provides various sources of funding for capital and operating expenses of public transit systems and intercity rail in the state. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation that would appropriate funds for the development and operation of a privately run public transit system connecting the Victor Valley and the Antelope Valley in southern California.
Existing law establishes the Department of Health Care Access and Information, which administers, among other programs, the Rural Hospital Grant Program, which provides grants to alternative rural hospitals and rural hospitals that are sole community providers to encourage the development and transition to an alternative rural hospital model, and to provide essential access to services not available at the alternative rural hospital level, and the Small and Rural Hospital Relief Program for the purpose of funding seismic safety compliance with respect to small hospitals, rural hospitals, and critical access hospitals in the state. This bill would establish the Hospitals First Revolving Fund, administered by the department, to offer grants and low-cost loans to hospitals in rural and medically underserved communities to prevent the closure of a hospital or facilitate the reopening of a closed hospital.
Existing federal law establishes the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program to provide monthly benefits to qualified retired and disabled workers and their spouses, dependents, and survivors. Existing federal law provides various benefits to veterans, their dependents, and their survivors administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) . This bill would require the Department of Child Support Services to issue guidance to local child support agencies directing them to, and would require local child support agencies to, inform a custodial parent or guardian of benefits under the federal OASDI program and benefits provided to survivors of veterans by the USDVA when the local child support agency becomes aware that a child's noncustodial parent has died and the local child support agency has information that suggests that the child may be eligible for either of those programs. The bill would similarly require the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Health Care Services to jointly issue guidance to county human services agencies directing them to, and would require county human services agencies to, inform a parent or guardian of benefits under the federal OASDI program and benefits provided to survivors of veterans by the USDVA when the county becomes aware that a child's parent has died and the county has information that suggests that the child may be eligible for either of those programs. By imposing new duties on local agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to submit a report to the Legislature that includes information on the requirements and cost to establish a state-funded program to provide cash assistance to a child with a deceased parent who is not eligible for survivor benefits under the federal OASDI program and how many children in California would be eligible for that state-funded program. This bill would, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature or a provision of federal or private funds for these purposes, require the State Department of Social Services to establish and oversee the California Survivor Benefit (CalSurvivor) Program, a county- or county consortia-administered program to provide cash assistance for a minor who is a California resident with a deceased parent, who was also a California resident upon their death, when the minor is not eligible for federal OASDI survivor benefits, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to authorize counties to establish an advocacy program to assist specified applicants and recipients of CalSurvivor benefits in the application process for federal OASDI survivor benefits if they do not meet certain verification requirements of the program. The bill would require participating counties, as part of the advocacy program, to inform the applicant of the potential impact of receiving benefits under the CalSurvivor Program on their eligibility for other assistance programs. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature, by July 1, 2027, on the outcomes of the CalSurvivor Program and the advocacy programs. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions though all-county letters or similar instructions or emergency regulations. By requiring counties to administer the CalSurvivor Program, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law establishes the Education Code as the law of this state respecting the subjects to which it relates. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that provision.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires the department to establish the Medically Tailored Meals Pilot Program and the Short-Term Medically Tailored Meals Intervention Services Program, to operate in specified counties and during limited periods for the purpose of providing medically tailored meal intervention services to eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries with certain health conditions, including congestive heart failure, cancer, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or renal disease. Existing law, subject to implementation of the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative, authorizes a Medi-Cal managed care plan to elect to cover community supports approved by the department as cost effective and medically appropriate in a comprehensive risk contract that are in lieu of applicable Medi-Cal state plan services. Under existing law, community supports that the department is authorized to approve include, among other things, medically supportive food and nutrition services, including medically tailored meals. This bill would make medically supportive food and nutrition interventions, as defined, a covered benefit under the Medi-Cal program, upon issuance of final guidance by the department. The bill would require medically supportive food and nutrition interventions to be covered when determined to be medically necessary by a health care provider or health care plan, as specified. In order to qualify for coverage under the Medi-Cal program, the bill would require a patient to be offered at least 3 of 6 specified medically supportive food and nutrition interventions and for the interventions to be provided for a minimum duration of 12 weeks, as specified. The bill would only provide coverage for nutrition support interventions when paired with the provision of food through one of the 3 offered interventions. The bill would require a health care provider to match the acuity of a patient's condition to the intensity and duration of the medically supportive food and nutrition intervention and include culturally appropriate foods whenever possible. The bill would establish a medically supportive food and nutrition benefit advisory workgroup to advise the department in developing final guidance related to eligible populations, the duration and dosage of medically supportive food and nutrition interventions, the ratesetting process, determination of permitted providers, and continuing education for health care providers, as specified. The bill would require the workgroup to include certain stakeholders knowledgeable in medically supportive food and nutrition interventions and stakeholders from Medi-Cal consumer advocacy organizations. The bill would require the workgroup to meet at least quarterly and would require the department to issue final guidance on or before July 1, 2026. The bill would also include findings and declarations of the Legislature relating to the need for medically supportive food and nutrition intervention coverage under the Medi-Cal program.
Existing law establishes the Department of Health Care Access and Information, which administers, among other programs, the California Reproductive Health Equity Program to ensure abortion and contraception services are affordable for and accessible to all patients and to provide financial support for safety net providers of these services. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services pursuant to a schedule of benefits. Existing law requires the department to convene a workgroup to examine the implementation of the Medi-Cal doula benefit, as specified, and, no later than July 1, 2024, to publish a report that addresses the number of Medi-Cal recipients utilizing doula services and identifies barriers that impede access to doula services, among other things. This bill would establish the Birthing Justice for California Families Pilot Project, which would include a 3-year grant program administered by the Department of Health Care Access and Information to provide grants to specified entities, including community-based doula groups, to provide full-spectrum doula care to pregnant and birthing people who are low income and do not qualify for Medi-Cal or who are from communities that experience high rates of negative birth outcomes. The bill would require the department to take specified actions with regard to awarding grants, including awarding grants to selected entities on or before January 1, 2025. The bill would require a grant recipient to use grants funds to pay for the costs associated with providing full-spectrum doula care to eligible individuals and establishing and managing doula services. The bill would require a grant recipient, in setting the payment rate for a doula being paid with grant funds, to comply with specified parameters, including that the payment rate not be less than the Medi-Cal reimbursement rate for doulas or the median rate paid for doula care in existing local pilot projects providing doula care in California, whichever is higher. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, to submit a report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on the expenditure of funds and relevant outcome data for the pilot project. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029.
Existing law requires the Attorney General to establish and maintain the Violent Crime Information Center to assist, as specified, in the identification and apprehension of persons responsible for specific violent crimes and for the disappearance and exploitation of persons, particularly children and at-risk adults. This bill would require the Attorney General to convene a working group, as specified, within the Department of Justice Missing and Unidentified Persons Section, to study and propose legislative solutions to the problem of "wandering," described as the phenomenon of cognitively impaired persons, including those with Alzheimer's disease, dementia, or autism, wandering away from home, care facilities, or other familiar surroundings and becoming lost or confused about their surroundings. The bill would require the working group to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature, as specified.
Existing law classifies controlled substances into 5 schedules and places the greatest restrictions and penalties on the use of those substances placed in Schedule I. Existing law classifies the drug fentanyl in Schedule II. Existing law prohibits a person from possessing for sale or purchasing for purposes of sale, specified controlled substances, including fentanyl, and provides for imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years for a violation of this provision. Existing law also imposes an additional term, and authorizes a trial court to impose a specified fine, upon a person who is convicted of a violation of, or of a conspiracy to violate, specified provisions of law with respect to a substance containing heroin, cocaine base, and cocaine, if the substance exceeds a specified weight. This bill would impose that additional term upon, and authorize a fine against, a defendant who violates those laws with respect to a substance containing fentanyl. By increasing the penalty for a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law provides for the county-administered In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. Existing law authorizes certain Medi-Cal recipients to receive waiver personal care services (WPCS) in order to permit them to remain in their own homes. Existing law permits services to be provided under the IHSS program either through the employment of individual providers, a contract between the county and an entity for the provision of services, the creation by the county of a public authority, or a contract between the county and a nonprofit consortium. This bill would require the department, by March 1, 2024, to issue a request for proposals for a 3-year, grant-based program to support outreach and education to encourage immigrants to become in-home supportive services (IHSS) providers, contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature for that purpose. The bill would require eligible grantees for the program to include nonprofit, community-based agencies that engage with immigrant populations, counties administering the IHSS program, and county public authorities. The bill would set forth eligible outreach activities, including developing educational and outreach materials, and providing community outreach workers. The bill would require grantees to report to the department, at least semiannually, on the outcomes achieved by the outreach campaign, including, but not limited to, activities and methods utilized to reach and recruit providers. If the grantee reporting requirements result in additional workload for counties, those provisions would be implemented only if funding for that purpose is provided in the State Budget. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature, within 6 months after the conclusion of the program, on the effectiveness of the program, including the extent to which the outreach campaign resulted in an increase in the IHSS provider workforce. The provisions of the bill would be repealed on January 1, 2028. The bill would make related findings and declarations relating to the existence of a shortage in the IHSS program workforce. The bill also would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation that permits undocumented in-home supportive services recipients to select a relative as their provider of choice, regardless of immigration status.
