The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act makes the State Department of Developmental Services responsible for providing various services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities, and for ensuring the appropriateness and quality of those services and supports. Pursuant to that law, the department contracts with regional centers to provide services and supports to persons with developmental disabilities. The act requires regional centers to pursue all possible sources of funding for consumers receiving regional center services, including, among others, Medi-Cal. 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 establishes the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative, subject to receipt of any necessary federal approvals and the availability of federal financial participation, in order to, among other things, improve quality outcomes, reduce health disparities, and increase flexibility. Existing law authorizes the department to standardize those populations that are subject to mandatory enrollment in a Medi-Cal managed care plan across all aid code groups and Medi-Cal managed care models statewide, subject to a Medi-Cal managed care plan readiness, continuity of care transition plan, and disenrollment process developed in consultation with stakeholders, in accordance with specified requirements and the CalAIM Terms and Conditions. Existing law, if the department standardizes those populations subject to mandatory enrollment, exempts certain dual and non-dual beneficiary groups, as defined, from that mandatory enrollment. This bill would additionally exempt dual and non-dual-eligible beneficiaries who receive services from a regional center and use a Medi-Cal fee-for-service delivery system as a secondary form of health coverage.
Existing law designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution and the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. Existing law imposes various requirements related to transportation planning, including a requirement that certain transportation planning agencies prepare and adopt regional transportation plans directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system. Existing law requires each regional transportation plan to include, among other things, a sustainable communities strategy prepared by each metropolitan planning organization, as specified, which is designed to achieve certain targets for 2020 and 2035 established by the state board for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and light trucks in the region. This bill would require the state board, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research and the Department of Transportation, to develop a methodology for assessing and spatially representing light-duty vehicle miles traveled and to develop maps accordingly to display average light-duty vehicle miles traveled per capita in the state at the local, regional, and statewide level, as provided. The bill would require the state board to adopt the methodology no later than January 1, 2025, and to publish the maps no later than 6 months after the methodology is adopted. The bill would require the state board to update the methodology and maps at least once every 4 years. The bill would require the state board to make the methodology and the maps publicly available on its internet website. Under certain circumstances, the bill would require the state board, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research, to provide technical assistance with regard to the usage and interpretation of the statewide map to a local agency requesting assistance.
Existing law authorizes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (office) to develop content on its internet website or through other mediums to be used for public dissemination, through outreach activities, in order to provide information and resources to inform the general public about place-based and other geographically targeted economic development programs, including California Promise Zones and California Opportunity Zones. Existing law requires the office to convene, at least annually, representatives from various programs and agencies across the state and from various federal programs and agencies for the purpose of discussing how California can leverage Promise Zones and Opportunity Zones to meet state and local community and economic development needs. This bill would require the office, subject to available funding, to provide technical assistance to local and regional entities and collaboration on how to establish and maintain regional economic hubs through the designation of place-based economic development zones. The bill would require the director of the office, by January 15, 2024, to designate an economic development liaison to assist entities in the Eastern Coachella Valley and the Imperial Valley to establish a Southeast California Desert Valleys Economic Zone. The bill would also make clarifying changes.
Existing law authorizes a local government to grant franchises and other privileges to certain public utilities, and requires that those franchises or privileges be granted consistent with specified conditions. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that requirement.
Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, makes declarations of state policy and legislative intent, including finding and declaring that California's land is an exhaustible resource, not just a commodity, and is essential to the economy, environment, and general well-being of the people of California. Existing law further declares it is the policy of the state and the intent of the Legislature to protect California's land resource, to ensure its preservation and use in ways that are economically and socially desirable in an attempt to improve the quality of life in California. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.
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. Opiates, including fentanyl, are classified in Schedule II. Existing law prohibits a person from possessing for sale or purchasing for purposes of sale specified controlled substances, including fentanyl, and punishes a violation of that prohibition by imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years. Existing law also prohibits transporting, importing into this state, selling, furnishing, administering, or giving away specified controlled substances, including fentanyl, and punishes a violation of that prohibition by imprisonment in a county jail for 3, 4, or 5 years. Existing law also prohibits the trafficking of specified controlled substances, including fentanyl, and punishes a violation of that prohibition by imprisonment in a county jail for 3, 6, or 9 years. This bill would impose an additional punishment of 3, 4, or 5 years to a person who is convicted of the crimes mentioned above involving fentanyl or a fentanyl analog that was designed, shaped, colored, advertised, or packaged in such a way as to resemble food or candy. By imposing a new enhancement to the penalty of a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing constitutional law establishes the right of freedom of speech. Existing case law interpreting those provisions applies varying levels of scrutiny to state action that restricts protected speech, based in part on the nature of the forum in which the speech occurs. This bill would declare that, notwithstanding any law, a social media platform, as defined, shall be considered a traditional First Amendment forum for those purposes, as specified. The bill would require a social media platform located in California to develop a policy or mechanism to address content or communications that constitute unprotected speech, including obscenity, incitement of imminent lawless action, and true threats, or that purport to state factual information that is demonstrably false.
Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to license and regulate health facilities, including general acute care hospitals. A violation of those provisions is generally a crime. This bill would require a licensed general acute care hospital with an emergency department to determine the range of crowding scores, as defined, that constitute each category of the crowding scale, as provided, for its emergency department. The bill would require the hospital to calculate and record a crowding score at a minimum every 4 hours, except as specified, to assess the crowding condition of the hospital's emergency department. The bill would require, by January 1, 2025, the hospital to develop and implement a full-capacity protocol for each of the categories of the crowding scale, as specified. The bill would require the hospital to file its protocol with the Department of Health Care Access and Information and to annually report any revisions to its protocol. By expanding the scope of 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 prohibits a person from being subjected to discrimination on the basis of specified attributes, including, among others, sex, in a program or activity conducted by a postsecondary educational institution that receives, or benefits from, state financial assistance or enrolls students who receive state student financial aid. Existing law provides that sexual harassment of students is a form of sex discrimination prohibited under this prohibition. This bill instead would provide that sexual harassment of students is a form of sex-based harassment and sex-based discrimination prohibited under that prohibition.
Existing law generally regulates classes of insurance, including automobile liability insurance. Existing law prohibits classifying a private passenger motor vehicle as a commercial vehicle, for-hire vehicle, permissive use vehicle, or livery solely because its owner allows it to be shared, if specified criteria are met. Existing law requires a personal vehicle sharing program to provide insurance coverage for the vehicle and driver that is equal to or greater than the coverage maintained by the vehicle owner, but no less than 3 times the minimum coverage amounts for private passenger vehicles. Existing law requires an owner or operator of a motor vehicle, or an owner of a vehicle used to transport passengers for hire not regulated by the Public Utilities Commission, to maintain liability insurance coverage for the named insured and any other person using the vehicle with permission in the amount of $15,000 for the bodily injury or death of any one person, $30,000 for the bodily injury or death of all persons, and $5,000 for damage to the property of others resulting from any one accident. Existing law increases these minimum amounts to $30,000, $60,000, and $15,000, respectively, on January 1, 2025. Under existing law, a violation of these requirements is a crime. This bill would delete the insurance coverage requirement for a personal vehicle sharing program, and would instead require a personal vehicle sharing program, when a vehicle is engaged in personal vehicle sharing, to provide liability insurance coverage of the same minimum coverage that applies to an owner or operator of a motor vehicle. The bill would require a personal vehicle sharing program to provide the vehicle owner and operator with the ability to purchase additional coverage and to make specified disclosures. A violation of these provisions would make a person liable for a specified civil penalty, and a violation of the requirement to maintain minimum liability coverages would be a crime, thus imposing 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 establishes the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, which requires the Public Utilities Commission to implement annual procurement targets for the procurement of eligible renewable energy resources, which is defined as an electrical generating facility that meets the definition of "renewable electrical generation facility" subject to certain conditions, for all retail sellers, as defined, and requires local publicly owned electric utilities to adopt and implement a renewable energy resources procurement plan to achieve the targets and goals of the program. This bill would include a facility that uses renewable hydrogen, as defined, meeting certain requirements, including a requirement that sellers and purchasers of renewable hydrogen comply with a system for tracking and verifying the use of renewable hydrogen, as a renewable electrical generation facility for purposes of the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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 establishes various public social services programs, including, among others, CalWORKs and the State Supplementary Program for Aged, Blind and Disabled. Existing law sets forth the purposes of public social services for which state grants are made to counties that include, among others, providing reasonable support and maintenance for needy and dependent families and persons. This bill would instead state that providing reasonable support and maintenance for needy and vulnerable children, adults, and families is a purpose of public social services.
