(1) Existing law requires the Department of Parks and Recreation to issue a park pass for free use of all park facilities in the state park system to a veteran of war in which the United States has been, or may be, engaged, who is a resident of this state, who presents to the department proof of a disability, proof of being held captive as a prisoner of war, or proof of being a recipient of a Congressional Medal of Honor, and proof of an honorable discharge from service. This bill would eliminate from the eligibility requirements for this pass that a veteran be a veteran of war. (2) Existing law authorizes the department to offer to a veteran or current active duty or reserve military personnel for the United States Armed Forces or the National Guard of any state a reduced fee or free day use of California state parks, as provided, on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, if proper proof of military service is provided, as specified. This bill would require the department to issue a discount pass entitling the bearer to 15% off the cost to use all facilities in the state park system to these veterans and military personnel, as provided.
Existing law provides for the licensure of alcohol or other drug recovery or treatment facilities, and the certification of alcohol or other drug programs, by the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law requires the department to develop and maintain a centralized indicator data collection system that gathers and obtains information on the status of alcohol and other drug problems in the state, and requires the information to include, among other things, the number and characteristics of persons receiving recovery or treatment services from alcohol and other drug programs providing publicly funded services or services licensed by the state. Existing data collection systems developed by the department, known as the California Outcomes Measurement System Treatment and Drug and the Alcohol Treatment Access Report, collect data for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services and SUD treatment capacity from specified treatment providers. This bill would require the above-described facilities and programs, commencing on January 1, 2028, to submit to the department certain data, including, treatment and outcome information and treatment availability information consistent with the requirements of the California Outcomes Measurement System Treatment and the Drug and the Alcohol Treatment Access Report. The bill would not apply to an entity that is contracted to provide Medi-Cal treatment services or contracted with the department, among others, and would clarify that these provisions do not impose additional or new reporting requirements on an entity that reports data to the department through the California Outcomes Measurement System Treatment and the Drug and Alcohol Treatment Access Report.
Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention and home hardening education activities in California and extends eligibility for grants to specified entities, including local agencies. Existing law provides that eligible activities under the local assistance grant program include, among other things, technical assistance to local agencies to improve fire prevention and reduce fire hazards and projects to improve public safety, including, but not limited to, access to emergency equipment and improvements to public evacuation routes. Existing law makes funding for this program subject to an appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would expand eligible activities under the local assistance grant program to include projects undertaken by a local governmental entity involving the acquisition or installation of mobile rigid dip tanks or similar mobile and permanent infrastructure that is capable of providing helicopter-accessible water supplies for firefighting response or suppression purposes in very high fire and high fire hazard severity zones, as provided.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state and authorizes them to provide instruction at the campuses they operate. Existing law requires the governing boards of community college districts, among other postsecondary educational entities, to the fullest extent consistent with state and federal law, to implement various precautionary measures when federal immigration enforcement activities are undertaken on campuses of those entities, as specified. This bill would require a community college district to allow its faculty who departed the United States on or after January 1, 2027, for a specified reason, including, among others, due to immigration enforcement actions by the Department of Homeland Security, and who was teaching for the community college district at the time of departure to perform their instruction and professional duties through distance education or other remote modalities offered by the community college district, as provided. By imposing new duties on community college districts, 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, 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 prohibits a person from engaging in the business of soliciting or receiving an application for the registration, renewal of registration, or transfer of registration or ownership of a vehicle that is required to be registered, for compensation, without a license or temporary permit issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles. In order to obtain a license to be a registration service, existing law requires the applicant to submit an application to the Department of Motor Vehicles that includes, among other things, a bond and nonrefundable application fee. Existing law requires every registration service to keep accurate business records containing specified information and provide a disclosure to each customer that certain services may be provided by the department without an additional fee. This bill would require, for any service that is also provided by the department, that the additional fee imposed by the registration service be limited to 5 % above the fee that the department would charge to the consumer for that same service.
Existing law establishes the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, which is administered under the control of an executive officer known as the Director of Resources Recycling and Recovery. This bill would require the Director of Resources Recycling and Recovery to establish a working group to study the need for and value of alternative methods of methane reduction, as specified. The bill would require the working group to submit its findings and recommendations to the director on or before January 1, 2029.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care, and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law sets forth requirements by which a health care service plan or health insurer reimburses a provider for health care services. This bill would require a determination to downcode a claim, which is the unilateral alteration by a payer of the service or procedure code submitted on a claim resulting in a lower payment, to include a documented review of the clinical information supporting the billed service. The bill would set forth requirements for and limitations of downcoding decisions, and, if a claim is downcoded, would require a plan or insurer to provide a billing provider with specified information and a clear and accessible process for disputing downcoded claims. The bill would prohibit a plan or insurer from using downcoding practices in a targeted or discriminatory manner against physicians or other health care providers who routinely treat patients with high acuity, complex, or chronic conditions, and would authorize the departments to take action against a plan or insurer that engages in a pattern or practice of discriminatory downcoding or that otherwise violates these provisions. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the departments to collect data on coding and claims adjustment practices, evaluate the information, and submit a report with specified information to the Legislature. 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 Office of Child Abuse Prevention in the State Department of Social Services. Existing law requires the office to use certain funds to undertake specified activities, including, among other things, supporting coordination and sharing of best practices implemented by family resource centers with other agencies, when the best practices reflect strategies and outcomes that were achieved and supported by evidence-informed programs and data. This bill would require the Office of Child Abuse Prevention to establish the Community Supporting Innovation Pilot Program to assess and demonstrate the effectiveness of community-based organizations, including family resource centers, serving as resource and referral avenues and alternative support pathways for families with complex needs or multiple stressors, or who are navigating significant barriers, but whose children are not at substantial risk of suffering serious physical harm or illness. The bill would require organizations wishing to participate in the pilot program to submit an application that demonstrates that the organization meets certain criteria, including, among others things, that the organization has the commitment of at least one partnering school district, hospital, clinic, or law enforcement agency that will refer potentially eligible families to the organization. The bill would require the office to select 25 organizations to receive grants to operate community pathway teams and provide related training. The bill would require a community pathway pilot site to receive referrals of the families described above and provide assistance to referred families navigating services related to basic needs, childcare access, behavioral health coordination, financial stability, benefits continuity, and other supports that stabilize families and reduce unnecessary involvement in the child welfare system. The bill would require the an evaluation of the pilot program and require the office, based on that evaluation, to submit a report to the Legislature no later than July 1, 2030, that provides recommendations for statewide implementation. This bill would also require the office to establish an internal unit of least 3 staff positions to oversee the pilot and would authorize the office to contract with a nonprofit organization to undertake certain tasks related to the pilot program, such as developing and implementing outreach materials.
Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to license and regulate community care facilities, residential care facilities for persons with chronic, life-threatening illness, residential care facilities for the elderly, and childcare centers. Existing law requires the department to obtain a criminal record for all applicants for licenses for these facilities and services and specified other employees and officers of these facilities. Existing law requires the department to issue an exemption from disqualification to certain applicants who have been convicted of an offense, if the individual's state and federal criminal history information independently supports a reasonable belief that the applicant is of present good character necessary to justify the granting of an exemption, as specified. Existing law authorizes the department to use its discretion in evaluating a an individual for the purposes of making an exemption decision, as necessary to protect the health and safety of a child. This bill would require the department to issue an exemption from disqualification for current or former foster youth who have been convicted of certain offenses that occurred prior to the individual reaching 21 years of age and the youth will be employed in a peer support capacity and not a caregiving capacity and would not require any additional evidentiary showing.
Existing law requires that every individual with exceptional needs, as defined, who is eligible, be provided with educational instruction, services, or both, at no cost to their parent or guardian or, as appropriate, to them. Under existing law, a free appropriate public education is required to be made available to individuals with exceptional needs in accordance with specified federal regulations adopted pursuant to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to investigate a complaint alleging a violation of the act and to issue a written decision within 60 days of the complaint being filed, as provided. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2030, to create, or contract to create, and maintain a publicly available online aggregate database of all complaints that the department receives on and after July 1, 2027, that allege a violation of the federal law described above. The bill would require the database to include specified data for each complaint, including, among other things, the total number of complaints the department investigated disaggregated by school district, county office of education, or charter school. After the database has been created, the bill would require the department to ensure that the data required to be included in the database is updated and published on or before December 31 of each year.
Existing law generally provides for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of specified types of crimes by the California Victim Compensation Board from the Restitution Fund, which is continuously appropriated to the board. Existing law authorizes the board to grant for pecuniary loss, when the board determines that it will best aid the person seeking compensation, as specified. Existing law authorizes the board to reimburse, among other things, the amount of medical or medical-related expenses and outpatient psychiatric, psychological, or other mental health counseling-related expenses incurred by the victim or derivative victim, as specified. This bill would also authorize the board to reimburse the expense of tuition at an educational institution, not to exceed $10,000, to a full- or part-time student who is a victim of sexual assault or violence if the victim is unable to continue attendance or suffers an academic setback, as described. The bill would authorize the board to limit compensation to the term the crime occurred and the immediately following term, and would require the calculation of an award based on certain factors, as specified. By expanding the board's authorization for use of moneys in the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
Existing federal law establishes the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. This bill would, in the event of a federal funding lapse that results in the withholding, suspension, or delay of federally funded CalFresh benefits, require the State Department of Social Services to utilize state funds to ensure that CalFresh benefits continue to be issued to existing recipients. The bill would define "federal funding lapse" to mean any period during which the federal government fails to appropriate sufficient funds to the United States Department of Agriculture to cover the full monthly allotment of SNAP benefits for eligible households in California, and would require the Director of Social Services to declare a federal funding lapse during any period that meets that definition. The bill would, in the event of a declaration by the director of a federal funding lapse, continuously appropriate to the department from the General Fund an amount necessary to cover the costs to implement these provisions, as determined by the director. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
