California Bills

The Budget Act of 2021 and Budget Act of 2022 made appropriations for the support of state government for the 2021–22 and 2022–23 fiscal years. This bill would amend the Budget Act of 2021 and Budget Act of 2022 by amending and adding items of appropriation and making other changes. The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.

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. Under existing law, one of the methods by which Medi-Cal services are provided is pursuant to contracts with various types of managed care plans. Existing law, inoperative on January 1, 2023, and to be repealed on January 1, 2024, imposed a managed care organization (MCO) provider tax, administered and assessed by the department, on licensed health care service plans and managed care plans contracted with the department to provide full-scope Medi-Cal services. Those provisions set forth taxing tiers and corresponding per enrollee tax amounts for the 2019–20, 2020–21, and 2021–22 fiscal years, and the first 6 months of the 2022–23 fiscal year. Under those provisions, all revenues, less refunds, derived from the tax were deposited into the State Treasury to the credit of the Health Care Services Special Fund, and continuously appropriated to the department for purposes of funding the nonfederal share of Medi-Cal managed care rates, as specified. Those inoperative provisions authorized the department, subject to certain conditions, to modify or make adjustments to any methodology, tax amount, taxing tier, or other provision relating to the MCO provider tax to the extent the department deemed necessary to meet federal requirements, to obtain or maintain federal approval, or to ensure federal financial participation was available or was not otherwise jeopardized. Those provisions required the department to request approval from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as was necessary to implement those provisions. This bill would repeal those inoperative provisions. The bill would restructure the MCO provider tax, with certain modifications to the above-described provisions, including changes to the taxing tiers and tax amounts, for purposes of the tax periods of April 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023, and the 2024, 2025, and 2026 calendar years. The bill would create the Managed Care Enrollment Fund to replace the Health Care Services Special Fund. Under the bill, moneys deposited into the fund would, upon appropriation, be available to the department for the purpose of funding the following subcomponents to support the Medi-Cal program: (1) the nonfederal share of increased capitation payments to Medi-Cal managed care plans; (2) the nonfederal share of Medi-Cal managed care rates for health care services; and (3) transfers to the Medi-Cal Provider Payment Reserve Fund, as established pursuant to specified provisions. The bill would make these provisions operative on the effective date, certified in writing by the Director of Health Care Services, of the federal approval necessary for receipt of federal financial participation, as specified. The bill would make these provisions, except for the provision relating to the Managed Care Enrollment Fund, inoperative on January 1, 2027, or as otherwise specified, and would repeal them on January 1, 2028. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

(1) Existing law, the California Public Records Act, authorizes the inspection and copying of any public record except where specifically prohibited by law. Existing law, with specified exemptions, makes confidential and exempts from disclosure the personnel records of peace officers and custodial records and certain other records maintained by their employing agencies. Existing law provides that this exemption from disclosure does not apply to investigations of these officers or their employing agencies and related proceedings conducted by a grand jury, a district attorney's office, or the Attorney General's office. Existing law establishes the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to, among other functions, certify the eligibility of those persons appointed as peace officers throughout the state. Existing law establishes the Peace Officer Standards Accountability Division within POST to review investigations conducted by law enforcement agencies and to conduct additional investigations into serious misconduct that may provide grounds for suspension or revocation of a peace officer's certification. This bill would exempt from the aforementioned confidentiality provisions, investigations of peace officers and custodial officers or their employing agencies and related proceedings conducted by POST. This bill would provide that, until January 1, 2027, specified records in the possession of POST related to these functions are not public records subject to disclosure, although those same records may be subject to disclosure by the agency that employs or previously employed the peace officer. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Justice, on a monthly basis, to review the records in the statewide criminal justice databases and identify persons who are eligible for arrest record relief and automatic conviction record relief. Commencing on July 1, 2023, existing law makes arrest record relief available to a person who has been arrested for a felony, including a felony punishable in the state prison, as specified. Commencing on July 1, 2023, existing law makes conviction record relief available for a defendant convicted, on or after January 1, 2005, of a felony for which they did not complete probation without revocation if the defendant appears to have completed all terms of incarceration, probation, mandatory supervision, postrelease community supervision, and parole, and a period of 4 years has elapsed during which the defendant was not convicted of a new felony offense, except as specified. This bill would delay the implementation of these provisions until July 1, 2024. (3) Existing law authorizes the court, in its discretion and in the interest of justice in specified cases, to permit the defendant to withdraw their plea of guilty or nolo contendere and enter a plea of not guilty, or, if the defendant has been convicted after a plea of not guilty, to set aside the verdict of guilty, and to dismiss the accusations or information against the defendant and release the defendant from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the offense for which they have been convicted. Existing law authorizes a person who was under 18 years of age at the time of commission of a misdemeanor to, in specified circumstances, petition the court for an order sealing the record of conviction and other official records in the case. Existing law authorizes the court to require the defendant or petitioner in these circumstances to reimburse the court, city, and county for actual costs of services rendered under these provisions. This bill would repeal the authority to require that reimbursement. (4) Existing law requires a court to order a defendant who is convicted of a crime in this state to pay full restitution to the victim and a separate restitution fine, as specified. Existing law, in specified cases, including when the defendant has successfully completed probation, requires a court to dismiss the accusation, as described, thus releasing the person of any penalties and disabilities of conviction, except as otherwise provided. Existing law prohibits a petition for relief from being denied due to an unfulfilled order of restitution or restitution fine. This bill would extend the prohibition against a petition being denied due to unpaid restitution to a person eligible for expungement based on successful participation in the California Conservation Camp program. (5) Existing law establishes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to, among other duties, administer the operations of numerous state prison facilities. This bill would require the department to submit reports to the Legislature, as specified, assessing the facility needs of the department in order to assist the Legislature in decisions relating to prison closures. (6) Existing law authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to prescribe and amend rules and regulations for the administration of prisons, and requires regulations, which are adopted by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, that may impact the visitation of inmates to recognize and consider the value of inmate visitation as a means of increasing safety in prisons, maintaining family and community connections, and preparing inmates for successful release and rehabilitation. Existing regulations establish the framework for establishing a visiting process in prisons that is conducted in as accommodating a manner as possible, subject to the need to maintain order, the safety of persons, the security of institutions and facilities, and required prison activities and operations. This bill would require the department to, by July 1, 2024, upon request by a visitor, scan certain documents into the Strategic Offender Management Systems (SOMS) , including, among other documents, a birth certificate for a visiting minor, as specified. The bill would require the department to allow a visitor for an in-person visit or an approved family visit to bring certain items for the visit, including, among other things, items for infants and toddlers, as specified. (7) Existing law, the Reproductive Rights Law Enforcement Act, requires the Attorney General to direct local law enforcement agencies, district attorneys, and elected city attorneys to provide to the Department of Justice, on an annual basis, specified information relating to anti-reproductive-rights crimes, as defined, and to produce an annual report for the Legislature beginning January 1, 2025. This bill would instead require the Attorney General to collect the above-described information on a monthly basis and produce an annual report for the Legislature beginning July 1, 2025. By requiring local law enforcement agencies, district attorneys, and elected city attorneys to provide information on a more frequent basis, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (8) Existing law requires the Attorney General to establish and maintain an online database known as the Prohibited Armed Persons File, also referred to as the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS) , to cross-reference persons who have ownership or possession of a firearm and who, subsequent to the date of that ownership or possession of a firearm, fall within a class of persons who are prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm. Existing law requires the Department of Justice to report to the Legislature, no later than April 1 of each year, specified information relating to the APPS, including the number of individuals in the APPS and the degree to which the backlog in the APPS has been reduced or eliminated. This bill would instead require the department to report to the Legislature no later than March 15 of each year. (9) Under existing law, there is and continues to be a state prison known as the California State Prison at San Quentin. This bill would rename the prison to San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and would make conforming changes. Existing law authorizes the Director of General Services to use the progressive design-build procurement process for the construction of up to 3 capital outlay projects, as jointly determined by the Department of General Services and the Department of Finance, and prescribes that process. Existing law defines "progressive design-build" as a project delivery process in which both the design and construction of a project are procured from a single entity that is selected through a qualifications-based selection at the earliest feasible stage of the project. Existing law, pursuant to the process, after selection of a design-build entity, authorizes the Department of General Services to contract for design and preconstruction services sufficient to establish a guaranteed maximum price, as defined. Existing law authorizes the department, upon agreement on a guaranteed maximum price, to amend the contract in its sole discretion, as specified. Existing law requires specified information to be verified under penalty of perjury. This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to use the progressive design-build procurement process for the demolition of Building 38 and the design and construction of a new educational and vocational center at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, and would prescribe that process. The bill would require each design-build entity, as defined, to submit specified information in a statement of qualifications that is to be verified under penalty of perjury. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would prescribe the process for the department to determine which design-build entity offers the best value to the public for the design-build project, as defined. The bill would require the selected design-build entity to provide payment and performance bonds and errors and omissions insurance coverage, as specified. The bill would, pursuant to the process, authorize the department to contract for design and preconstruction services sufficient to establish a guaranteed maximum price, as defined. Upon agreement on a guaranteed maximum price, the bill would authorize the department to amend a contract, as specified. The bill would also authorize the department to solicit additional proposals if the department and the design-build entity are unable to reach an agreement. Existing law requires a state agency to submit to the State Historic Preservation Officer for comment documentation for any project having the potential to affect historical resources listed in or potentially eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places or registered as or eligible for registration as a state historical landmark. Existing law prohibits a state agency from altering the original or significant historical features or fabric, or transfer, relocate, or demolish historical resources on the master list without first giving notice and a summary of the proposed action to the officer. This bill would exempt the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, San Quentin: Demolition of Building 38 and Construction of New Educational and Vocational Center project and the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, San Quentin: Improvement Projects from the requirements and prohibitions mentioned above. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA exempts from its requirements certain projects. This bill would exempt the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, San Quentin: Demolition of Building 38 and Construction of New Educational and Vocational Center project and the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, San Quentin: Improvement Projects located on the grounds of the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center from compliance with the CEQA requirements. (10) Existing law requires the judge of the juvenile court of a county to inspect any jail, juvenile hall, or special purpose juvenile hall that was used for the confinement of a minor in the preceding calendar year, as specified. Existing law requires the Board of State and Community Corrections to conduct a biennial inspection of each jail, juvenile hall, lockup, or special purpose juvenile hall used for the confinement, for more than 24 hours, of a minor. Existing law requires the board to notify the operator of a jail, juvenile hall, or special purpose juvenile hall of any observed noncompliance, as specified. Existing law additionally requires the board to conduct a biennial inspection of juvenile ranches, camps, forestry camps, and secure youth treatment facilities. The bill would require that the biennial inspections of juvenile ranches, camps, forestry camps, and secure youth treatment facilities comply with the inspection provisions regarding jails, juvenile halls, or special purpose juvenile halls. The bill would replace the term "minor" with "juvenile," as defined, and would make conforming changes. (11) Existing law authorizes a court to order a ward who is 14 years of age or older to be committed to a secure youth treatment facility, operated by the county of commitment, for a period of confinement if the ward is adjudicated and found to be a ward based on the commitment of a specified serious offense committed when the juvenile was 14 years of age or older, that adjudication is the most recent offense for which the ward has been adjudicated, and the court has made a finding on the record that a less restrictive, alternative disposition for the ward is unsuitable. Existing law requires the baseline term of confinement to be determined according to offense-based classifications, as specified. Existing law requires the court to hold a progress review hearing for the ward not less frequently than once every 6 months during the term of confinement, as specified, and authorizes the court to order a ward to be transferred from a secure youth treatment facility to a less restrictive program. Existing law authorizes a court to order a ward be returned to a secure youth treatment facility if, after placement in a less restrictive program, the court determines that the ward has materially failed to comply with court-ordered conditions of placement in the program. This bill would prohibit a baseline term of confinement for youth transferred from the Division of Juvenile Justice and committed to a secure youth treatment facility from exceeding a youth's projected juvenile parole board date, as defined, and would require that youth receive credit against their secure youth treatment facility baseline term for all programs completed or substantially completed at the Division of Juvenile Justice, as specified. The bill would specify that the term of confinement during which a court is required to hold progress review hearing includes any term spent in a less restrictive program, pursuant to certain provisions. The bill would also specify that the determination of whether the term will be modified or whether a youth will be assigned to a less restrictive program is a judicial decision and not subject to stipulations of the parties. The bill would authorize a court, if a ward is already assigned to a less restrictive program, to order a reducing in the length of time that the ward is to remain in the less restrictive program before a probation discharge hearing. The bill would prohibit a person who is 25 years of age or older, or a person who was, prior to July 1, 2023, sentenced to state prison and was found to be a ward of the court and committed to the Division of Juvenile Justice, from being detained in a county juvenile facility, unless the court finds that such commitment or detention is in the best interest of that person and does not find that it would create a risk to the other youth in the juvenile facility. The bill would specify where a person 25 years of age or older, a person who was, prior to July 1, 2023, sentenced to state prison and was found to be a ward of the court and committed to the Division of Juvenile Justice, may be committed or detained. (12) Existing law creates the Division of Juvenile Justice within the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to operate facilities to house specified juvenile offenders. Existing law requires the Division of Juvenile Justice to close on June 30, 2023, and provides for the transition of youth who are currently housed within a Division of Juvenile Justice facility to the care and custody of counties. Existing federal law defines sight or sound contact as any physical, clear visual, or verbal contact that is not brief and inadvertent. Existing federal law prohibits juveniles awaiting trial or other legal process who are treated as adults for purposes of prosecution in criminal court and housed in a secure facility from having sight or sound contact with adult inmates unless the court makes certain findings, as specified. This bill would authorize a juvenile to have sight or sound contact with other juveniles. The bill would prohibit an incarcerated adult, as defined, who is detained in a juvenile facility from having sight or sound contact with juveniles under 18 years of age. The bill would clarify that a juvenile who is still under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court and who participates in the Pine Grove Youth Conservation Camp shall be considered a juvenile as it relates to sight or sound contact if returned to a local juvenile facility. To the extent that this bill would impose a higher level of service on local facilities, it would impose a state-mandated local program. (13) This bill would appropriate $531,000 from the General Fund to the Department of Justice to establish the Advisory Council on Improving Interactions between People with Intellectual and Development Disabilities and Law Enforcement, as specified. (14) This bill would state that its provisions are severable. (15) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (16) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

(1) Existing law establishes the State Department of Developmental Services, and vests in the department jurisdiction over various state developmental centers for the provision of care to persons with developmental disabilities. Existing law establishes the State Department of State Hospitals within the California Health and Human Services Agency, and provides the department with jurisdiction over specified facilities for the care and treatment of persons with mental health disorders. 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. 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 recognizes that individuals with exceptional needs of mandated schoolage residing in California's state hospitals and developmental centers are entitled, under specified federal law, to have the same access to educational programs as is provided for individuals with exceptional needs residing in the community, and establishes contracting and funding provisions for that purpose. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Director of Developmental Services, and the Director of State Hospitals to develop written interagency agreements to carry out the provisions relating to educational programs for individuals with exceptional needs residing in those facilities. Existing law requires the transfer of pupils in state hospital school programs whose individualized education programs indicate that a community school program is appropriate to be transferred to schools located in the community. Existing law authorizes waivers to that requirement only when approved by both the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Director of Developmental Services. Existing law requires the State Department of Developmental Services, on the first day of each month, upon submission of an invoice by the county superintendent of schools, to pay to the county superintendent of schools 8% of the amount projected to cover the cost of hospital pupils educated in community school programs, as specified. Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools to calculate the actual cost of educating those pupils and, if the actual cost is more or less than the projected amount, requires the following year's distribution to be adjusted accordingly. This bill would authorize waivers described above to be approved by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and either the State Department of Developmental Services, for individuals receiving developmental disability services, or the State Department of State Hospitals, for individuals receiving mental health services, as specified. The bill would require the State Department of State Hospitals, rather than the State Department of Developmental Services, to make payments to county superintendents of schools with respect to pupils under the State Department of State Hospital's jurisdiction who are being educated in community school programs. The bill additionally would revise those payment provisions to require the relevant department to pay the entire amount invoiced by the county superintendent of schools, and would require an adjustment to the county's distribution to be adjusted in the following year only if the actual cost is greater than the amount invoiced by the county superintendent of schools. The bill would update existing references to state hospitals to also refer to developmental centers, and would make various other technical changes, and delete obsolete provisions. (2) Existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act (act) , requires the State Department of Developmental Services (department) to contract with regional centers to provide services and supports to persons with developmental disabilities and their families. Existing regulations require vendors and long-term health care facilities to report special incidents to regional centers, including, among others, reasonably suspected abuse or exploitation, reasonably suspected neglect, serious injuries, and unplanned or unscheduled hospitalizations, as specified. Existing regulations require regional centers to submit an initial report to the department following receipt of a report of a special incident. Existing law requires the department to provide information on topics at quarterly briefings with legislative staff of the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature addressing, among other things, regional center accountability, transparency, and oversight efforts. This bill would require the department, as part of those quarterly briefings, to provide an annual update on the status of the department's efforts to improve oversight of special incidents and respond to special incident trends. The bill would require the status update to include a summary of the most recent annual report regarding special incidents involving individuals with developmental disabilities served by regional centers. The act defines "developmental disability" as a disability that originates before an individual attains 18 years of age, continues, or can be expected to continue, indefinitely, and constitutes a substantial disability for the individual. Under existing law, "developmental disability" includes intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and autism, among other conditions, as specified. Under existing law, if a child who is 3 or 4 years of age is not otherwise eligible for regional center services under the above-described definition, the child is provisionally eligible for regional center services if the child has a disability that is not solely physical in nature and has significant functional limitations in at least 2 of specified areas of major life activity, such as learning or self-direction, as determined by a regional center and as appropriate to the age of the child. This bill would expand the above-described provisional eligibility for regional center services to children under 5 years of age, including those who are 2 years of age or younger. The act requires that an infant or toddler eligible for early intervention services, as specified, from a regional center be assessed by the regional center at least 90 days before they turn 3 years of age for purposes of determining their ongoing eligibility, including provisional eligibility, for regional center services. This bill would additionally require the regional center, after an infant or toddler has been determined eligible for early intervention services, to determine if the child is also provisionally eligible for regional center services. Existing law requires the department and regional centers to annually collaborate to compile specified data relating to purchase of service authorization, utilization, and expenditure by each regional center, including the age, race, or ethnicity of, and preferred language spoken by, the regional center consumer. Existing law requires the department and regional centers to post that information on its internet website. This bill would require the department and regional centers to compile and report that data consistent with applicable privacy laws. The bill would place additional requirements on the department and regional centers regarding the reporting of that data, including, among others, requiring that information to be posted in machine-readable format. The bill would further require that data to be deidentified in accordance with specified requirements. Existing law, on or before March 1, 2019, required the department to submit a rate study to specified committees of the Legislature regarding community-based services for individuals with developmental disabilities. Existing law requires the department to implement rate increases between April 1, 2022, and July 1, 2025, to raise service providers' rates to the fully funded rate reflected in the rate models that were included in the rate study. Existing law requires the fully funded rate models to be implemented using 2 payment components, a base rate equaling 90% of the rate model, and a quality incentive payment, equaling up to 10% of the rate model. Existing law requires the department to implement a quality incentive program, to develop quality measures or benchmarks, or both, with input from stakeholders, for consumer outcomes and regional center and service provider performance, as specified, and to develop a quality incentive payment structure for providers meeting the quality measures or benchmarks, or both. This bill would authorize the department to establish quality measures or benchmarks, or both, in the initial years of the quality incentive program that focus on building capacity, developing reporting systems, gathering baseline data, and similar activities while working towards meaningful outcome measures at the individual consumer level for all services. The bill would require the department to determine each provider's quality incentive payment percentage prior to the start of the fiscal year by measuring the provider's performance against the quality measures or benchmarks for the most recently available reporting period. The bill would require the department to provide a written communication, no later than 60 days after the quality incentive payment percentages are determined and the providers are informed of their payments, to specified committees of the Legislature that reports on the total amount of quality incentive payments estimated to be paid to providers. The bill, commencing July 1, 2024, would require the rate models to be updated to account for the current and any subsequent changes to the statewide minimum wage, as specified. Existing law authorizes a regional center to contract or issue a voucher for services and supports provided to a consumer or family. Existing law authorizes a consumer to choose a vouchered community-based training service to assist the consumer in the development of skills required for community integrated employment, among other things. Existing regulations authorize a regional center to offer participant-directed services to allow adult consumers or family members of consumers who are receiving vouchered services to procure their own community-based training service, daycare, nursing, respite, or transportation services, as specified. This bill would authorize the department to implement the provision of social recreation services, camping services, and nonmedical therapies, including, but not limited to, specialized recreation, art, dance, and music, by means of written directives or similar instructions, including the provision of those services as participant-directed services. The bill, effective July 1, 2023, would prohibit a regional center from requiring a consumer or family member to exhaust services under the In-Home Supportive Services program or to exchange respite hours or other services and supports or to pay a copayment, or a similar shared pay arrangement aimed at offsetting costs, in order to receive those services. The bill would make related findings and declarations. Existing law establishes requirements for family homes that provide services and supports for adults with developmental disabilities who do not require continuous skilled nursing care. Existing federal regulations require home and community-based settings and person-centered service plan requirements to meet specified standards. Existing law authorizes the department to adopt regulations and interim administrative program directives to implement and comply with federal home and community-based settings requirements. This bill would authorize the department to also adopt regulations and interim program directives to implement and comply with federal person-centered service plan requirements. Existing law authorizes the department to reimburse family home agencies that are vendored to recruit, approve, train, and monitor family home providers, provide social services and in-home support to family home providers, and assist adults with developmental disabilities in moving into approved family homes. Existing law requires the department to promulgate regulations related to these duties, including, among others, appropriate rates of payment for family home agencies and approved home providers. This bill would require that regional center reimbursements to family home agencies for services in a family home not exceed specified residential service provider rates for individuals who reside in a community care facility, as defined, that is vendored for 4 beds or fewer. (3) Under existing law, the California Early Intervention Services Act (act) , direct services for eligible infants and toddlers and their families are provided by regional centers and local educational agencies. The act requires an eligible infant or toddler receiving services to have an individualized family service plan (IFSP) . The act requires that parents be fully informed of their rights, including the right to invite another person, including a family member or an advocate or peer parent, to accompany them to any or all IFSP meetings. Existing law, until June 30, 2023, requires, at the request of the parent or legal guardian, an IFSP meeting to be held by remote electronic communications. This bill would extend that requirement until June 30, 2024. By extending an existing requirement for local educational agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires any vendor who provides applied behavioral analysis (ABA) or intensive behavioral intervention services to design an intervention plan that includes, among other things, the parent participation needed to achieve the goals and objectives of the infant, toddler, or minor consumer, as set forth in their IFSP or IPP, as provided. Existing law requires a regional center to only purchase ABA or intensive behavioral intervention services when the parent or parents of an infant, toddler, or minor consumer participates in the intervention plan. This bill would remove the requirement that regional centers only purchase those services when a parent or parents participate in the intervention plan. The bill would prohibit a regional center from denying or delaying the provision of ABA or intensive behavioral intervention services for an infant, toddler, or minor consumer due to a lack of parent participation, as specified. The bill would require vendors to design intervention plans that include, among other things, the recommended parent participation to achieve the goals and objectives set forth in an IFSP or IPP. (4) Existing law generally requires a regional center to identify and pursue all possible sources of funding for consumers receiving regional center services. Existing law prohibits a regional center from purchasing any service that would otherwise be available from the Medi-Cal program, the Medicare Program, private insurance, or a health care service plan, as specified. Existing law also prohibits a regional center from purchasing medical or dental services for a consumer 3 years of age or older unless the regional center is provided with documentation of a Medi-Cal, private insurance, or health care service plan denial and the regional center determines that an appeal by the consumer or family of the denial does not have merit. Existing law requires a regional center to ensure, at the time of development, scheduled review, or modification of a consumer's individual program plan or of an individualized family service plan, the establishment of an internal process. Existing law requires the internal process to ensure, among other things, utilization of generic services and supports if appropriate, and utilization of other services and sources of funding as described above. Existing law authorizes the individualized family service planning team for infants and toddlers eligible for early intervention services to determine that a medical service identified in the plan is not available through the family's private health insurance policy or health care service plan and therefore will be funded by the regional center, as specified. This bill, for purposes of the above-described determination, would specify that the medical service is not available within 60 calendar days, would include the Medi-Cal program as one of the sources, and would instead specify that the medical services would be authorized for purchase-of-service funding by the regional center. The bill would authorize the individual program plan team to make a similar determination. The bill would require a regional center to authorize the provision of services through the purchase of services during any plan delays, including the appeals process. (5) Existing law establishes the Family Cost Participation Program, which requires the department to develop and establish a Family Cost Participation Schedule, consisting of a sliding scale for families with an annual gross income of not less than 400% of the federal poverty guideline, as specified, to be used by regional centers to assess the parents' cost participation for providing respite, daycare, and camping services to their children under 18 years of age who have developmental disabilities and who are not eligible for Medi-Cal, among other eligibility criteria. Existing law also requires a regional center to assess an annual family program fee, as specified, from parents whose adjusted gross family income is at or above 400% of the federal poverty level and who have a child meeting prescribed requirements, including receiving specified services from a regional center. Existing law, commencing July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023, inclusive, requires regional centers to suspend existing and new assessments and reassessments of the cost participation and existing and new assessments, reassessments, and collections of the annual family program fee described above. This bill would require regional centers to suspend, until June 30, 2024, existing and new assessments and reassessments of the cost participation and existing and new assessments, reassessments, and collections of the annual family program fee described above. Existing law requires the department to submit to the Legislature, on or before January 10, 2023, as part of the annual budget process, a plan to revise the Family Cost Participation Program and the annual family program fee, including consideration of changes that include, but are not limited to, those that promote administrative efficiency and program compliance. This bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific the recommendations provided in the plan submitted to the Legislature, through program directives or other processes, to streamline program administration and standardize procedures. (6) Existing law establishes the Employment First Policy, which is the policy of the state that opportunities for integrated, competitive employment be given the highest priority for working age individuals with developmental disabilities, regardless of the severity of their disabilities. Existing law requires the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to form a standing Employment First Committee to, among other responsibilities, identify strategies and recommend legislative, regulatory, and policy changes to increase integrated employment, self-employment, and microenterprises for persons with developmental disabilities, as specified. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2024, instead create the Office of Employment First under the California Health and Human Services Agency, and would require the office to form the Employment First Committee, which shall consist of the same members. This bill would state the office's mission and responsibilities, and would require the office to be under the control of an executive officer known as the Chief Employment First Officer, as specified. The bill would, on or before June 30, 2025, and annually thereafter, require the office to provide a report to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature and to the Governor describing its work and recommendations made pursuant to these provisions. (7) Existing law recognizes the right of adults with disabilities to reside in the family home and requires the department to establish a Coordinated Family Support Services Pilot Program for adults who live with their families. Existing law requires that the services provided by the pilot program be flexible and tailored to assist the consumer to remain in the home of their family for as long as that remains the preferred living option for the consumer and their family. This bill would appropriate to the department $10,800,000 from the General Fund to support the pilot program's implementation. (8) Existing law grants the Department of Human Resources (department) the powers, duties, and authority necessary to operate the state civil service system, as specified. Existing law creates the Limited Examination and Appointment Program (LEAP) , which the department administers, to provide an alternative to the traditional civil service examination and appointment process to facilitate the hiring of persons with disabilities. Existing law repeals, on January 1, 2024, certain LEAP provisions regarding the department's obligation to permit a person with a developmental disability to choose to complete a written examination, readiness evaluation, or internship, as specified. This bill would delete the repeal date above, thereby indefinitely extending the operation of those provisions. (9) Existing law requires the department, no later than April 1, as specified, to submit a detailed plan to the Legislature whenever the department proposes the closure of a state developmental center. Existing law requires the department, in conjunction with the Governor's proposed 2023–24 budget, to submit to the Legislature an updated version of a specified safety net plan regarding how the department will provide access to crisis services after the closure of a developmental center and how the state will maintain its role in providing residential services to those whom private sector vendors cannot or will not serve. Existing law requires the plan update, among other provisions, to evaluate the progress made to create a safety net, including services or residences intended to facilitate transitions or diversions from institutions for mental disease, the Canyon Springs Community Facility, the secure treatment program at Porterville Developmental Center, prisons or jails, or other restrictive settings. Existing law prohibits the department from admitting anyone to a developmental center unless the person has been determined to be eligible for services, as specified, and the person meets certain conditions, including, among others, that the person is committed by a court on or before June 30, 2023, to Canyon Springs Community Facility and the person otherwise meets the criteria for admission due to an acute crisis, as defined, or is currently admitted to either an acute psychiatric hospital or an acute crisis facility due to an acute crisis, but requires continued treatment to achieve stabilization and successful community transition. This bill would delete the June 30, 2023, date, and instead apply the above-described criteria for admission to individuals committed to Canyon Springs Community Facility on or before June 30, 2024, or the opening of completed and licensed complex needs homes identified in the safety net plan, as specified, whichever is earlier. (10) 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. (11) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

(1) Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law requires the department to contract with local contracting agencies for alternative payment programs for childcare services to be provided throughout the state. Existing law requires an alternative payment program to reimburse a licensed provider for the childcare of a subsidized child based on the rate charged to nonsubsidized families or the rate established by the provider for prospective nonsubsidized families, as specified, and requires a licensed childcare provider to submit to the alternative payment program a copy of the provider's rate sheet listing the rates charged and other specified policies and statements. This bill would provide that a license-exempt childcare provider is not required to submit rate sheets. The bill would, if a childcare provider's reimbursement rate category could be construed as either full-time weekly or full-time monthly, require the alternative payment program, county, or contractor to reimburse the provider either (A) the applicable rate category that most closely corresponds to the rate category listed on the licensed childcare provider's rate sheet, or (B) if the alternative payment program, county, or contractor cannot determine a single applicable rate category from the licensed childcare provider's rate sheet, or if the license-exempt childcare provider does not have a rate sheet on file, the applicable rate category that results in the higher reimbursement. Existing law requires the department, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates, and specifies the reimbursement rate for contractors. Existing law requires the reimbursement rate to be increased by the above-described cost-of-living adjustment. The bill would suspend the annual cost-of-living adjustment for the reimbursement rate for the 2023–24 and 2024–25 fiscal years. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that any adjustment in the 2023–24 and 2024–25 fiscal years related to reimbursement for programs funded pursuant to these provisions be subject to a ratified agreement and subject to future legislation, as specified. Under existing law, for purposes of establishing initial income eligibility for services under the act, "income eligible" means that a family's adjusted monthly income is at or below 85% of the state median income, adjusted for family size. Existing regulations provide how to calculate a family's adjusted monthly income for purposes of determining income eligibility and calculating a family fee, and require that when a family's income fluctuates because of migrant, agricultural, or seasonal work, inconsistent or unstable employment; self-employment; or intermittent income, the adjusted monthly income be determined by averaging the total countable income from the preceding 12 months. This bill would codify that regulation, except the bill would require that when a family experiences income fluctuation due to any of those previously mentioned reasons, a family may choose to provide up to the 12 preceding months of income information as necessary for purposes of determining income eligibility or calculating a family fee. The bill would require that the monthly income be determined by averaging the total countable income from at least 2 months, as applicable based on the income provided, to determine income eligibility or calculating a family fee. The bill would authorize the department to implement and administer these provisions by all-county letters, bulletins, or similar written instructions until regulations are adopted. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations no later than July 1, 2026. The bill would specify that these provisions would become operative on January 1, 2024. Existing law provides for state-subsidized childcare programs and childcare for recipients of benefits under the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, which is administered by counties. Existing law establishes the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children, to be implemented at the discretion of each county, for the purpose of stabilizing foster children with families at the time of placement. Existing law authorizes counties to provide payment directly to the family or childcare provider or to contract with a local alternative payment program to distribute vouchers for childcare. This bill would require the department, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to develop and conduct an alternative methodology, as specified, in order to set reimbursement rates for state-subsidized childcare and development services. The bill would require the department to develop and conduct a survey of market rates for childcare services if the alternative methodology is not approved by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. The bill would make various conforming changes. This bill would require contracting agencies operating various childcare and development programs and preschool programs to be reimbursed the lesser of 100 percent of the contract maximum reimbursable amount or net reimbursable program costs, as specified, from July 1, 2023, to September 30, 2023, inclusive, pursuant to guidance released by the State Department of Social Services, or the Superintendent of Public Instruction, as specified. (2) Existing law, the Early Education Act, among other things, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer all California state preschool programs, including, but not limited to, part-day and full-day age and developmentally appropriate programs for 3- and 4-year-old children. Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the State Department of Education, to establish a fee schedule for families using preschool and childcare and development services and requires families who utilize those services to be assessed a family fee that is based on income, certified family need for full-time or part-time care services, and enrollment. Existing law prohibits those family fees from exceeding 10% of the family's monthly income and prohibits family fees from being collected for the 2022–23 fiscal year. This bill would, among other changes to that fee structure, prohibit family fees from being based on the cost of care or amount of subsidy payment. The bill would authorize the forgiveness of family fees that accrued but were uncollected prior to October 1, 2023. The bill would, commencing October 1, 2023, prohibit those family fees from exceeding 1% of the family's monthly income and prohibit a family with an adjusted monthly family income below 75% of the state median family income from being assessed a family fee. The bill would also prohibit a California state preschool program or a childcare provider paid with childcare subsidies from being required to absorb a reduction in pay, as specified, and would prohibit the number of California state preschool program contracted spaces or childcare contracted spaces and vouchers from being reduced because of a reduction in the collection of family fees. The bill would appropriate $56,000,000 from the General Fund to the department for family fees waived or reduced pursuant to those provisions. The Early Education Act requires at least 7.5% of a part-day or full-day California state preschool program contracting agency's funded enrollment to be reserved for children with exceptional needs commencing July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, inclusive, and at least 10% of funded enrollment to be reserved for children with exceptional needs commencing July 1, 2024. This bill would delay the implementation of those requirements by 2 years so that at least 7.5% of funded enrollment would be required to be reserved for children with exceptional needs commencing July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, inclusive, and at least 10% of funded enrollment would be required to be reserved for children with exceptional needs commencing July 1, 2026. Existing law requires each state preschool program applicant or contracting agency to give priority for enrollment for part-day and full-day programs according to a specified priority ranking. Existing law requires the 3rd priority for services to be given to eligible 4-year-old children who are not enrolled in a state-funded transitional kindergarten program and requires the 4th priority to be given to eligible 3-year-old children. This bill would instead require the 3rd priority for services to be given to eligible 3- and 4-year old children who are not enrolled in a state-funded transitional kindergarten program, and would revise the remaining priorities accordingly. Existing law authorizes a provider operating a state preschool program within the attendance boundary of certain public schools where at least 80% of enrolled pupils are eligible for free or reduced-price meals to enroll 3-year-old and 4-year-old children in accordance with the above-described enrollment priorities. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to implement that provision through management bulletins or similar letters of instruction issued on or before December 1, 2022, and requires the department to initiate a rulemaking action to implement that provision on or before December 31, 2023. This bill would extend those dates by one year to December 1, 2023, and December 31, 2024, respectively. Existing law requires the department, in collaboration with the State Department of Social Services, to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates for state preschool programs, as provided. Existing law requires those reimbursement rates to be increased annually by a specified cost-of-living adjustment commencing with the 2022–23 fiscal year. This bill would provide that the cost-of-living adjustment for those reimbursement rates does not apply for the 2023–24 and 2024–25 fiscal years. The Early Education Act, among other things, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer all California state preschool programs, including, but not limited to, part-day and full-day age and developmentally appropriate programs for 3- and 4-year-old children. Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law, until July 1, 2023, authorizes the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Fresno, Marin, Monterey, San Benito, San Diego, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, and Sonoma, as individual pilot projects, to develop and implement an individualized county childcare subsidy plan, as specified. This bill would extend the authorization for those counties to develop and implement individualized county childcare subsidy plans to July 1, 2024. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Fresno, Marin, Monterey, San Benito, San Diego, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, and Sonoma. (3) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services and the State Department of Education to promote full utilization of childcare and development and preschool funds and match available unused funds with identified service needs, and to attempt to arrange intra-agency adjustments between California state preschool program contracts and general childcare contracts for the same agency and funding allocation. This bill would require the department to promote full utilization of childcare and development program funds and match available unused funds with identified service needs, and to arrange interagency adjustments between different contractors with the same type of contract when both agencies mutually agree to a temporary transfer of funds for the balance of the fiscal year. (4) Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection, unless an exemption from disclosure applies. In this regard, the act exempts certain records of state agencies related to activities governed by the Building a Better Early Care and Education System Act, which generally authorizes collective bargaining by family childcare providers, as specified. This bill would update an obsolete cross-reference to the Building a Better Early Care and Education System Act in the California Public Records Act provision described above. (5) Existing law provides for a specified annual funding increase for special education and childcare and development programs if an inflation or cost-of-living adjustment is not otherwise provided for those programs. This bill would suspend the annual cost-of-living adjustment for childcare and development programs for the 2023–24 and 2024–25 fiscal years, except as specified. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

The Budget Act of 2023 made appropriations for the support of state government for the 2023–24 fiscal year. This bill would amend the Budget Act of 2023 by amending, adding, and repealing items of appropriation and making other changes. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.

(1) Existing law, the State Civil Service Act, regulates employment with the state and vests in the Department of Human Resources all powers, duties, and authorities necessary to operate the state civil service system in accordance with Article VII of the California Constitution, the Government Code, the merit principle, and applicable rules duly adopted by the State Personnel Board. Existing law requires, except as specified, that the Controller establish and maintain a payroll of all persons employed by every state agency. Existing law requires, unless otherwise provided by law, that the salaries of state officers be paid monthly out of the General Fund. This bill, instead, would require the salaries of state officers and employees to be paid out of the General Fund, or another recognized state fund which a respective employee's position is funded, on a uniform payroll cycle established by the department. Under existing law, if there is a conflict between the above-described state officer payment provision and a memorandum of understanding reached between the Governor and the recognized employee organization, the memorandum of understanding is controlling without further legislative action, except as specified. This bill would delete that provision. (2) Existing law requires the department to establish and adjust salary ranges for each class of position in the state civil service, as specified, and to submit a report containing its findings relating to the salaries of employees in comparable occupations in private industry and other governmental agencies at least 6 months before the end of the term of an existing memorandum of understanding or immediately upon the reopening of negotiations under an existing memorandum of understanding. This bill would instead require that the department submit this report biennially beginning on either February 1, 2025, or February 1, 2026, as specified based on the bargaining units included in the report. (3) The Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) for the purpose of providing public employees pension and benefits to state employees and their beneficiaries and prescribes the rights and duties of employers participating in the system. Under PERL, benefits are funded by investment income and employer and employee contributions, which are deposited into the Public Employees' Retirement Fund, a continuously appropriated trust fund administered by the system's board of administration. The PERL and labor agreements prescribe different normal rates of contribution for employees depending on bargaining unit, employer, and inclusion of service in the federal social security system, among other factors. Existing laws that prescribe these normal rates of contribution for certain of these categories of employees also authorize the Director of the Department of Human Resources to exercise their discretion to establish the normal rate of contribution, as described above, for a state employee within the subject category who is excepted from a specific statutory definition of "state employee" or is an officer or employee of the executive branch of state government who is not a member of the civil service, subject to certain conditions. Some, but not all, of these authorizations require the director to exercise this discretion to set a normal contribution rate for these employees in a manner consistent with other state employees. This bill would require the director, when acting under all of these authorizations, to exercise discretion to establish retirement rates for excepted employees and employees who are not members of the civil service in a manner consistent with other state employees. Existing laws authorize the director to determine the effective date of these contribution rates but prohibit an effective date any earlier than the beginning of the pay period following notice of the contribution rates to the PERS board. This bill would authorize the director to determine the effective date of the contribution rate without being subject to these prohibitions. By authorizing the deposit of increased amounts into a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to those provisions. (4) PERL prescribes methods for the calculation and payment of the state employer contribution for its employees who are PERS members. PERL provides for an annual adjustment of the state's contribution in the budget and quarterly appropriations to the Public Employees' Retirement Fund from the General Fund and other funds that are responsible for payment of the employer contribution. Existing law makes additional supplemental General Fund appropriations to the Public Employees' Retirement Fund for the 2020–21, 2021–22, and 2022–23 fiscal years. Supplemental payments connected with appropriations for the 2020–21, 2021–22, and 2022–23 fiscal years are to be apportioned to the state employee member categories generally, as directed by the Department of Finance, and to specified state employee member categories, including to the state miscellaneous member category, the industrial member category, the state safety member category, and the state peace officer/firefighter member category. The California Constitution establishes the Budget Stabilization Account in the General Fund and requires the Controller, in each fiscal year, to transfer from the General Fund to the Budget Stabilization Account amounts that include a sum equal to 1.5% of the estimated amount of General Fund revenues for that fiscal year. These provisions further require, until the 2029–30 fiscal year, that the Legislature appropriate a percentage of these moneys, the amount of which is generated pursuant to specified calculations, for certain obligations and purposes, including addressing unfunded liabilities for state-level pension plans. This bill would appropriate $1,657,000,000 from the General Fund for the purposes identified in the constitutional provisions described above, to supplement the state's appropriation to the Public Employees' Retirement Fund. The bill would specify that this appropriation represents a portion of the amount identified in a specific provision of the Budget Act of 2023. The bill would require the Department of Finance to provide the Controller with a schedule establishing the timing of specific transfers. The bill would require the supplemental payment to the Public Employees' Retirement Fund to be apportioned to specified state employee member categories, not to exceed $769,620,000 to the state miscellaneous member category, $44,500,000 to the state industrial member category, $99,924,000 to the state safety member category, and $742,956,000 to the state peace officer/firefighter member category. The bill would require the appropriation described above to be applied to the unfunded state liabilities for the state employee member categories that are in excess of the base amounts for the 2023–24 fiscal year. (5) Existing law requires the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, upon appropriation of funding for this purpose, to establish and maintain an outreach and education program for the purpose of promoting awareness of, and compliance with, labor protections that affect the domestic work industry and fair and dignified labor standards in this industry and other low-wage industries. Under existing law, the program would continue until June 30, 2024, with an opportunity to expand or renew contingent on allocation of state funds or identification of other revenue sources. Under existing law, these provisions become inoperative on July 1, 2024, and are repealed January 1, 2025. This bill would remove the June 30, 2024, date on which the program would be discontinued. The bill would also remove the July 1, 2024, inoperative date and the January 1, 2025, repeal date, thereby making these provisions operative indefinitely. (6) Existing law requires that, except as specified, not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages be paid to workers employed on public works and imposes misdemeanor penalties for a willful violation of this requirement. Existing law defines "public works," for the purposes of regulating public works contracts, as, among other things, construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for, in whole or in part, out of public funds. Existing law generally requires a contractor or subcontractor to be registered with the Department of Industrial Relations to be qualified to bid on, be listed in a bid proposal, or engage in the performance of any public work contract. Existing law requires a contractor or subcontractor to meet specific conditions to qualify for this registration, including that a contractor or subcontractor pay a $400 initial application fee and an annual renewal fee set by the Director of Industrial Relations and that the contractor or subcontractor has not bid on a public works contract, been listed in a bid proposal, or engaged in the performance of a contract for public works without being lawfully registered, as specified. This bill would require projects or developments undertaken pursuant to the Middle Class Housing Act of 2022, the Affordable Housing and High Road Job Act of 2022, and housing development approvals, as specified, to be subject to specified prevailing wage or skilled and trained workforce requirements. This bill would impose misdemeanor penalties for a willful violation of these provisions. The bill would impose separate requirements and fees on contractors and subcontractors in order to be qualified to be awarded contracts for, or engage in the performance of, these projects or developments. This bill would, after July 1, 2026, change the initial application fee to an unspecified amount. The bill would authorize the director to establish and adjust annual registration and renewal fees of up to $800 by publishing the fees on the department's internet website, but would subject the establishment or adjustment of registration and renewal fees in excess of $800 to the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. The bill would, thereafter, require the director to publish those fees to the department's internet website. The bill would make conforming changes. (7) Existing law establishes the State Public Works Enforcement Fund and directs all registration fees and other moneys, such as fines, to be deposited into the fund for, among other purposes, the reasonable costs of administering the registration provisions described above. Existing law also requires that the annual contractor registration renewal fee and any adjusted application or renewal fee be set in amounts that are sufficient to support the annual appropriation approved by the Legislature and not result in a fund balance greater than 25% of the appropriation. Existing law requires any balance in the fund greater than 25% of the appropriation to be applied as a credit when determining any fee adjustments for the subsequent fiscal year. This bill would require the fees and other related fines associated with the new qualification requirements described above be deposited into the State Public Works Enforcement Fund. The bill would also require that the annual contractor registration renewal fees and any adjusted application or renewal fee, as specified, be set in amounts that are sufficient to support appropriations approved by the Legislature, the statewide general administrative costs assessed to the fund, and a prudent reserve fund of no less than 10% and no more than 20% of authorized expenditure levels. The bill would also require any year-end fund balance in excess of the prudent reserve fund be applied as a credit when determining any fee adjustments for the subsequent fiscal year. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (8) Existing law requires the Employment Development Department to submit to the Legislature in May and October of each year a report on the status of the Unemployment Fund and the Unemployment Compensation Disability Fund, containing actual and forecasted information on each fund, as specified. This bill would instead require the department to submit to the Legislature the report described above in January and May of each year. (9) Existing law establishes within the Workforce Services Branch of the Employment Development Department, the Community Economic Resilience Fund Program, to build an equitable and sustainable recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 on California's industries, workers, and communities, among other things, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for these purposes. Existing law requires the branch to administer the program, along with an Inter-Agency Leadership Team consisting of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, the Office of Planning and Research, and the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development. Under existing law, the program is required to include a focus on regions and communities most affected by the economic impact of COVID-19, as authorized in federal guidance, and whose economic distress has been exacerbated by COVID-19. Existing law also requires the Inter-Agency Leadership Team, in creating the program, to include guidelines and evaluation metrics that, at a minimum, support federal reporting. This bill would revise and recast certain of the above provisions to, among other things, remove references to those regions and communities most affected by the economic impact of COVID-19, as authorized in federal guidance. The bill would also delete language referring to metrics that, at a minimum, support federal reporting. The bill would make related changes, including deleting other references to specified federal law and regulations within these provisions. (10) Existing law requires high road transition collaboratives supported by the program to work directly with community capacity-building programs to support active and equitable community engagement. This bill would revise and recast certain of the above provisions to, among other things, require the collaboratives to support other similar state-sponsored local and regional economic, workforce, and community development programs and initiatives, and to seek out and invite into the engagement process local and regional planning efforts whose mission is aligned with the program. The bill would also authorize a portion of grant funding to be reserved for making planning and implementation grants to Native American tribes under criteria and conditions determined by the Inter-Agency Leadership Team, consistent with the purposes of the program, as specified. (11) Existing law requires implementation grants under the program to be awarded on a rolling and competitive basis, with the majority of funds to be used to provide economic development grants, through June 30, 2024, and grant recipients required to demonstrate a plan to fully spend or obligate all funds received by December 31, 2024. This bill would extend the above-described timeframes for the award of those grants until June 30, 2025, and for recipients to fully spend or obligate funds received until December 31, 2025. (12) 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. (13) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

(1) 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 requires a health care service plan to provide disclosures regarding the benefits, services, and terms of the plan contract, as specified, to provide the public, subscribers, and enrollees with a full and fair disclosure of the provisions of the plan. This bill would require the department to develop standard templates for the disclosure form and evidence of coverage, to include, among other things, standard definitions, benefit descriptions, and any other information that the director determines, consistent with the goals of providing fair disclosures of the provisions of a health care service plan. The bill would require the department to consult with the Department of Insurance and interested stakeholders in developing the standard templates. The bill would require health care service plans, beginning January 1, 2025, to use the standard templates for any disclosure form or evidence of coverage published or distributed, except as specified. Because a willful violation of these requirements is a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would authorize the department to develop standard templates for a schedule of benefits, an explanation of benefits, a cost-sharing summary, or any similar document. The bill would authorize the department to require health care service plans to use the standard templates, except as specified, and would authorize the director to require health care service plans to submit forms the health care service plan created based on the department's templates for the purpose of compliance review. The bill would additionally specify that the department may implement these provisions by issuing and modifying templates and all-plan letters or similar instructions, without taking regulatory action. The bill would also update cross-references in various provisions. (2) Existing law requires a health care service plan contract or disability insurance policy to cover mental health and substance use disorder treatment, including medically necessary treatment of a mental health or substance use disorder provided by an in-network or out-of-network 988 center or mobile crisis team. Existing law prohibits a health care service plan or insurer from requiring prior authorization for medically necessary treatment of a mental health or substance use disorder provided by a 988 center or mobile crisis team. This bill would instead specify that mental health and substance use disorder treatment includes behavioral health crisis services that are provided by a 988 center, mobile crisis team or other provider of behavioral health crisis services. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer from requiring prior authorization for behavioral health crisis stabilization services and care, but would authorize prior authorization for medically necessary mental health or substance use disorder services following stabilization from a behavioral health crisis addressed by services provided through the 988 system. This bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer that is contacted by a 988 center, mobile crisis team, or other provider of behavioral health crisis services to, within 30 minutes of initial contact, either authorize poststabilization care or inform the provider that it will arrange for the prompt transfer of the enrollee's care to another provider. The bill would require the plan or insurer to reimburse a provider for poststabilization care in specified circumstances, including if the plan or insurer did not respond within 30 minutes to authorize care or arrange for transfer. The bill would require a plan or insurer to prominently display on its internet website its authorization telephone number for noncontracting providers, and would require the Department of Managed Health Care to post the telephone number on its internet website. 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. (3) Existing federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , requires each state to establish an American Health Benefit Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health benefit plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. PPACA generally requires an individual, and any dependents of the individual, to maintain minimum essential coverage. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange, also known as Covered California, to facilitate the enrollment of qualified individuals and qualified small employers in qualified health plans as required under PPACA. Existing law imposes the Individual Shared Responsibility Penalty for the failure to maintain minimum essential coverage, and requires the moneys collected to be deposited into the General Fund. Existing law requires the Exchange to administer a financial assistance program to help low-income and middle-income Californians access affordable health care coverage through the Exchange. Existing law creates the Health Care Affordability Reserve Fund and requires moneys in the fund to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for health care affordability programs operated by the Exchange. This bill would require moneys collected from the Individual Shared Responsibility Penalty to be deposited into the Health Care Affordability Reserve Fund beginning July 1, 2023, and on every July 1 thereafter. The bill would authorize a loan from the Health Care Affordability Reserve Fund to the General Fund upon order of the Department of Finance. (4) 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. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law requires that the Medi-Cal program covers specified health care services, including inpatient intensive rehabilitation hospital services, and requires those services consist of programs for, among other services, strengthening and training of selected muscle groups. Existing law requires those programs to provide for an initial evaluation for assessment of medical condition, functional limitations, possible need for surgery, attitude toward rehabilitation, functional goals and plans for discharge. This bill would eliminate the requirement for the above-described initial evaluation, and would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes. (5) This bill would, for dates of service no sooner than January 1, 2024, or on the effective date of any necessary federal approvals, whichever is later, require the reimbursement rates for primary care services, obstetric care services, doula services, and certain outpatient mental health services to be the greater of 87.5% of the lowest maximum allowance established by the federal Medicare Program for the same or similar services or the level of reimbursement, as specified. The bill would require the department to annually review and revise the reimbursement rates, and to develop and implement a methodology for establishing rates or payments for the services. The bill would require each Medi-Cal managed care plan to reimburse a network provider furnishing those services at least the amount the network provider would be paid for those services in the Medi-Cal fee-for-service delivery system, as specified. The bill would condition implementation of these provisions on receipt of any necessary federal approvals and the availability of federal financial participation. The bill would require the department to submit to the Legislature, as part of the 2024–25 Governor's Budget, a plan for targeted increases to Medi-Cal payments or other investments, in relation to certain domains. Under the bill, the above-described payments would be supported by the managed care organization provider tax revenue, as specified, or other state funds appropriated to the department as the state share for this purpose, including, but not limited to, funds transferred to the Medi-Cal Provider Payment Reserve Fund, as described below, and to the Healthcare Treatment Fund under the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016, as specified. The bill would create the Medi-Cal Provider Payment Reserve Fund. The bill would require the department, subject to an appropriation, to use the moneys transferred to the fund pursuant to other specified provisions for purposes of funding targeted increases to Medi-Cal payments or other investments that advance access, quality, and equity for Medi-Cal beneficiaries and promote provider participation in the Medi-Cal program. The bill would require the department to provide an annual report to all health plans accounting for the funds deposited in, and expended from, the fund. The bill would require those expenditures to include increased costs as a result of the above-described reimbursement requirements, transfers to the Distressed Hospital Loan Program Fund, certain transfers or appropriations to the University of California to expand graduate medical education programs, as specified, and, effective no sooner than January 1, 2025, increased costs for targeted increases to Medi-Cal payments or other investments pursuant to the above-described plan. Existing law requires that Medi-Cal provider payments and payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs be reduced by 10% for dates of service on and after June 1, 2011, and conditions implementation of those payment reductions on receipt of any necessary federal approvals. Existing law exempts certain services, facilities, and payments from those payment reductions. This bill would make an additional exemption, for dates of service on and after July 1, 2022, or the effective date of any necessary federal approvals, whichever is later, for Community-Based Adult Services, as specified. The bill would make additional exemptions, for dates of service on and after January 1, 2024, or the effective date of specified payments, whichever is later. Existing law establishes the Distressed Hospital Loan Program, administered by the Department of Health Care Access and Information, in order to provide interest-free cashflow loans to not-for-profit hospitals and public hospitals in significant financial distress or to governmental entities representing a closed hospital, except as otherwise provided, to prevent the closure of, or facilitate the reopening of, those hospitals. Existing law establishes the Distressed Hospital Loan Program Fund, with moneys in the fund being continuously appropriated for the department and the California Health Facilities Financing Authority to implement the program. This bill would authorize the Department of Finance to transfer up to $150,000,000 from the Medi-Cal Provider Payment Reserve Fund to the Distressed Hospital Loan Program Fund in state fiscal year 2023–24 to implement the program, as specified, and would make a conforming change. (6) Existing law requires Medi-Cal benefits to be provided to individuals eligible for services pursuant to prescribed standards, including a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) eligibility standard. Existing law prohibits the use of an asset or resources test for individuals whose financial eligibility for Medi-Cal is determined based on the application of MAGI. Existing federal law authorizes a state to establish a non-MAGI standard for determining the eligibility of specified individuals, and existing law imposes the use of a resources test for establishing Medi-Cal eligibility for prescribed populations. Existing law prohibits the use of resources, including property or other assets, to determine Medi-Cal eligibility for applicants or beneficiaries whose eligibility is not determined using the MAGI-based financial methods, and requires the department to seek federal authority to disregard all resources as authorized by the flexibilities provided pursuant to federal law. Existing law conditions implementation of that provision on the Director of Health Care Services determining that systems have been programmed for those disregards and their communicating that determination in writing to the Department of Finance, no sooner than January 1, 2024. Existing law also conditions implementation of that provision on the department obtaining any necessary federal approvals, and to the extent federal financial participation under the Medi-Cal program is available and not otherwise jeopardized. This bill, subject to the above-described timeline and implementation of the prohibition on the use of resources for determining Medi-Cal eligibility, would make various conforming changes to related provisions. Because this bill would increase county duties relating to the prohibition on the use of resources for determining Medi-Cal eligibility, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (7) Existing law requires Medi-Cal reimbursement rates to be set by an applicable methodology for specified dates of service operative on August 1 of a given year. This bill would, for dates of services on or after January 1, 2024, require the department to adopt a rate year based on the calendar year for intermediate care facilities for the developmentally disabled and facilities providing continuous skilled nursing care to developmentally disabled individuals, nursing facilities, licensed intermediate care facilities, freestanding pediatric subacute care units, and skilled nursing facilities, as specified. The bill would make these provisions subject to any necessary federal approvals and to the extent federal financial participation is available and is not otherwise jeopardized. (8) Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services, no later than April 1, 2022, and until December 31, 2023, to convene a workgroup to examine the implementation of the doula benefit provided under the Medi-Cal program. Existing law requires the department, no later than July 1, 2024, to publish a report relating to Medi-Cal recipients utilizing doula services, as specified. Existing law repeals those provisions on January 1, 2025. This bill would instead require the department to convene the workgroup no later than April 1, 2023, and until June 30, 2025, and to publish the report no later than July 1, 2025. The bill would extend the repeal date of those provisions to January 1, 2026. (9) Existing law, until July 1, 2024, requires the State Department of Health Care Services to work with stakeholders to conduct a study to identify current requirements for medical interpretation services and make recommendations on strategies that may be employed regarding the provision of medical interpretation services for Medi-Cal beneficiaries who are limited English proficient (LEP) . Existing law requires the department to establish a pilot project to evaluate certain factors, including whether disparities in care are reduced, with respect to LEP Medi-Cal beneficiaries compared with Medi-Cal beneficiaries who are proficient in English. Existing law requires the department to expend up to $5,000,000 for the pilot project pursuant to an appropriation made in the Budget Act of 2019, and makes those funds available for that purpose until June 30, 2024. This bill would extend these provisions until July 1, 2025, and make those funds available until June 30, 2025. By extending the period of time in which previously appropriated funds are available for encumbrance, the bill would make an appropriation. (10) Existing law establishes the Drug Medi-Cal Treatment Program (Drug Medi-Cal) under which the State Department of Health Care Services is authorized to enter into contracts with counties for various drug treatment services to Medi-Cal recipients, or is required to directly arrange for these services if a county elects not to do so. Existing law specifies the method of determining the maximum allowable reimbursement rates for Drug Medi-Cal and group outpatient drug free services, as described. Existing law requires the claims for reimbursement of Drug Medi-Cal services to be submitted within 6 months from the date of service. This bill would instead require claims for reimbursement of Drug Medi-Cal services to be submitted within 12 months from the date of service. (11) Under existing law, certain medically needy persons, including those in long-term care, with higher incomes qualify for Medi-Cal with a share of cost, if they meet specified criteria. Under existing law, the term "share of cost" means the amount of the costs of health care that a specified person or family must incur prior to being certified by the department. This bill would instead apply the term "spend down of excess income" to the above-described definition for "share of cost" for medically needy persons. The bill would change references from "share of cost" to "long-term care patient liability," in the context of those entering or in long-term care and define that term as the result of the "post-eligibility treatment of income" calculation and the amount of medical expenses the person in long-term care or an institutionalized spouse must incur or expect to incur. The bill would define the term "post-eligibility treatment of income" as the determination of long-term care patient liability for each month the person is in long-term care or as an institutionalized spouse, as specified. (12) Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to prepare and submit assumptions and estimates, as prescribed, relating to the Medi-Cal program to the Department of Finance on a semiannual basis for the purpose of clearly identifying changes within the Medi-Cal program and producing reliable forecasts of Medi-Cal expenditures. Existing law requires the department to separately identify expenditures for rate increases and fiscal intermediary services, requires that certain assumptions or estimates contain a narrative description of how the forecast is prepared, and requires that estimates compare budgeted to implemented rate increases for the current year, by provider category, among other things. This bill would, effective July 1, 2023, strike these latter requirements and require, beginning with the estimates for the 2024–25 fiscal year, that they include separately identifying expenditures for county and other local assistance administration and a narrative description of how those forecasts were prepared. (13) Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal Access Program, which provides health care services to a person who is pregnant or in their postpartum period and whose household income is between certain thresholds, and to a child under 2 years of age who is delivered by a mother enrolled in the program, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to provide presumptive eligibility to qualified individuals through programs in which authorized Medi-Cal providers make presumptive eligibility determinations. Existing law requires the department to adopt the Newborn Hospital Gateway, which is an electronic process for families to enroll a deemed eligible newborn in the Medi-Cal program from hospitals that have elected to participate in the process. Existing law authorizes the expenditure of moneys in the Gateway Fund, upon appropriation, for purposes of establishing and maintaining the gateway. Existing law conditions adoption of the gateway on the deposit of sufficient moneys in the Special Funds Account of the Gateway Fund and on the availability of sufficient new staff, as specified, and would require the department to implement the gateway within 12 months after the occurrence of those conditions. This bill would require that the gateway be accessed through existing presumptive eligibility portals. The bill would require all qualified Medi-Cal providers participating in presumptive eligibility programs to use the gateway system to report a Medi-Cal eligible newborn born in their facilities, as specified, within 72 hours after birth, or one business day after discharge, whichever is sooner. The bill would impose a related requirement on Medi-Cal providers for purposes of reporting the birth of an infant eligible under the Medi-Cal Access Program, as specified. The bill would delete the conditions of sufficient moneys and staff and the 12-month timeline from the above-described provisions. The bill would make other changes to related contracting provisions. The bill would make the above-described changes operative on July 1, 2024, or the effective date for implementation of the Children's Presumptive Eligibility Program portal, whichever is later. Existing law requires the department to develop an electronic application to serve as the application for the Children's Presumptive Eligibility Program, to the extent allowed under federal law. Existing law authorizes the department to also use the electronic application as a means to enroll newborns into the Medi-Cal program as is authorized under specified federal law. Existing law conditions implementation of these provisions on receipt of any necessary federal approvals and the availability of federal financial participation. This bill would authorize providers to submit newborn enrollments through the electronic application on behalf of patients without a patient's signature. To the extent that the above-described provisions would create new duties for counties relating to Medi-Cal eligibility determinations, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (14) Existing law authorizes the State Department of Health Care Services to establish a Whole Child Model program, under which managed care plans served by a county organized health system or Regional Health Authority in designated counties provide California Children's Services (CCS) to Medi-Cal eligible CCS children and youth. Existing law, commencing no sooner than January 1, 2024, expands managed care plans under the Whole Child Model program to also include an alternate health care service plan (AHCSP) , requires the department, in implementing the program, to develop specific CCS program monitoring and oversight standards for managed care plans, and establish a statewide Whole Child Model program stakeholder advisory group that includes specified persons, including CCS case managers, and to consult with that advisory group on prescribed matters. Existing law terminates the advisory group on December 31, 2023. Existing law requires a Medi-Cal managed care plan participating in the Whole Child Model program to meet certain requirements, such as ensuring that each CCS-eligible child receives case management, care coordination, provider referral, and service authorization services from an employee or contractor of the plan, as described. Existing law imposes various requirements on a Medi-Cal managed care plan serving children and youth with CCS-eligible conditions under the CCS program, including, but not limited to, coordinating services, as specified, providing appropriate access to care, services, and information, and providing for case management, among others. This bill, no sooner than January 1, 2025, would expand the above-described authorization to establish a Whole Child Model program to additional counties, as specified, and would extend the operation of the advisory group until December 31, 2026. The bill would require the department, no later than January 1, 2025, to take certain actions related to oversight standards, such as developing utilization and quality measures that relate to CCS specialty care and providing analysis regarding trends on CCS enrollment for Whole Child Model counties, among others. The bill would require a managed care plan participating in the Whole Child Model program to ensure that a CCS-eligible child has a primary point of contact who shall be responsible for the child's care coordination and would require a Medi-Cal managed care plan serving children and youth with CCS-eligible conditions under the CCS program to support the establish referral pathways in the non-Whole Child Model counties, as described. 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 dual and non-dual beneficiary groups from that mandatory enrollment, including, among others, non-dual-eligible beneficiaries eligible on the basis of their receipt of services through a state foster care program, but excludes from that exemption, those who reside in a county that is authorized to operate a county organized health system. This bill would additionally exclude those non-dual-eligible beneficiaries who reside in a county operating a Single Plan model of managed care from that exemption, thereby subjecting that population to mandatory enrollment in a Medi-Cal managed care plan and would prescribe certain requirements for Medi-Cal managed care plans and the department in transitioning that population to a Medi-Cal managed care plan, such as compliance with access requirements and department guidance and use of a specified transfer process for immediate access to care and treatment services. (15) Under existing law, specialty mental health services include federal Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) services provided to eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries under 21 years of age. Existing law requires each local mental health plan to establish a procedure to ensure access to outpatient specialty mental health services, as required by the EPSDT program standards, for youth in foster care who have been placed outside their county of adjudication, as described. Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to issue policy guidance on the conditions for, and exceptions to, presumptive transfer of responsibility for providing or arranging for specialty mental health services to a foster youth from the county of original jurisdiction to the county in which the foster youth resides, as prescribed. On a case-by-case basis, and when consistent with the medical rights of children in foster care, existing law authorizes the waiver of presumptive transfer, with the responsibility for the provision of specialty mental health services remaining with the county of original jurisdiction if certain exceptions exist. Under existing law, the county probation agency or the child welfare services agency is responsible for determining whether waiver of the presumptive transfer is appropriate, with notice provided to the person requesting the exception. Under existing law, commencing July 1, 2023, in the case of placement of foster children in short-term residential therapeutic programs, community treatment facilities, or group homes, or in the case of admission of foster children to children's crisis residential programs, the county of original jurisdiction is required to retain responsibility and presumptive transfer provisions apply only if certain circumstances exist. This bill, for purposes of foster children placed or admitted in those specific settings, would delay, until July 1, 2024, the requirement on the county of original jurisdiction to retain responsibility and the limitation on the presumptive transfer provisions. By extending the period during which a county agency is responsible for making determinations about presumptive transfer waivers and making certain notifications, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law conditions implementation of the above-described provisions on the availability of federal financial participation and receipt of all necessary federal approvals. If the department makes the determination that it is necessary to seek federal approval, existing law requires the department to make an official request for approval from the federal government no later than July 1, 2024. This bill would delay the deadline for any necessary federal approval requests to July 1, 2025. (16) 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 State Department of Health Care Services, to the extent authorized by the CalAIM Terms and Conditions, to claim federal financial participation for expenditures associated with the designated state health programs identified in those terms and conditions for use solely by the department. Existing law requires that any federal financial participation claimed be used to offset applicable General Fund expenditures. Existing law makes an appropriation of those amounts to the department and makes them available for transfer to the General Fund for that purpose. Existing law appropriates an amount of General Fund moneys, equal to the federal financial participation that may be claimed, to the continuously appropriated Health Care Deposit Fund for use by the department for purposes of implementing the CalAIM initiative. This bill would require the department to maintain reimbursement rates in the Medi-Cal program for primary care, obstetric care, and behavioral health services, and to increase reimbursement rates for those service codes as necessary to meet federally imposed minimum requirements specified in the terms and conditions for dates of service on or after January 1, 2024, to the extent required by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a condition of claiming federal financial participation for designated state health programs as set forth in the above-described provisions, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would, to the extent required by the CalAIM Terms and Conditions, apply those provisions to claims for the identified codes paid by the department in fee-for-service and to claims paid by a Medi-Cal managed care plan. Existing law requires the department to standardize applicable covered Medi-Cal benefits provided by Medi-Cal managed care plans under comprehensive risk contracts with the department on a statewide basis and across all models of Medi-Cal managed care in accordance with specified requirements and the CalAIM Terms and Conditions. Existing law, commencing July 1, 2023, and subject to CalAIM implementation, requires the department to include, or continue to include, institutional long-term care services, with exceptions, as capitated benefits in the comprehensive risk contract with each Medi-Cal managed care plan. Existing law, for contract periods from July 1, 2023, to December 31, 2025, inclusive, requires each Medi-Cal managed care plan to reimburse a network provider furnishing those services to a Medi-Cal beneficiary enrolled in that plan, as specified. This bill would delay the above-described requirements for institutional long-term care services, from July 1, 2023, to January 1, 2024. Existing law, subject to implementation of the CalAIM initiative, requires each Medi-Cal behavioral health delivery system to comply with the behavioral health payment reform provisions approved in the CalAIM Terms and Conditions and any associated instruction issued by the department, as specified. Existing law requires the department, as a component of that reform, to design and implement an intergovernmental transfer-based reimbursement methodology to replace the use of certified public expenditures for claims associated with covered Specialty Mental Health and Drug Medi-Cal services provided through Medi-Cal behavioral health delivery systems. Existing law requires that the nonfederal share of any payments consist of voluntary intergovernmental transfers of funds provided by eligible governmental agencies or public entities associated with a respective Medi-Cal behavioral health delivery system. Existing law requires the department to establish and implement prospective reimbursement rate methodologies, as specified. This bill would create the Medi-Cal County Behavioral Health Fund for the deposit of the nonfederal moneys collected by the department pursuant to the above-described provisions. Under the bill, deposited moneys would be continuously appropriated to the department for purposes of implementing those provisions. For counties that elect to participate in the offset and transfer of funds, moneys would be offset and transferred by the Controller into the fund from the Behavioral Health Subaccount in the Support Services Account in the Local Revenue Fund 2011, the Mental Health Subaccount in the Sales Tax Account in the Local Revenue Fund, and the Mental Health Services Fund. The bill would require that the fund contain all interest and dividends earned on moneys in the fund and be used only for the purpose of implementing those provisions. The bill would require the department to provide schedules under specified procedural steps and timelines. Existing law, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) , an initiative measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 at the November 2, 2004, statewide general election, establishes the continuously appropriated Mental Health Services Fund to fund various county mental health programs. The MHSA may be amended by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature if the amendment is consistent with, and furthers the intent of, the act. The Legislature may clarify procedures and terms of the act by majority vote. This bill would make legislative findings that the above-described provisions are consistent with, and further the intent of, the MHSA. (17) Existing law creates the continuously appropriated Medical Providers Interim Payment Fund for the purposes of paying Medi-Cal providers, providers of drug treatment services for persons infected with HIV, and providers of services for the developmentally disabled, during a fiscal year for which a budget has not yet been enacted or there is a deficiency in the Medi-Cal budget. During a fiscal year in which these payments are necessary, existing law requires the Controller to transfer up to $2,000,000,000 from the General Fund in the form of loans, and appropriates $2,000,000,000 from the Federal Trust Fund to the Medical Providers Interim Payment Fund. This bill would increase the General Fund loan amount to up to 10% of the amount appropriated from the General Fund to Medi-Cal benefit costs from the most recent fiscal year. The bill would also appropriate an amount not to exceed 6% of the amount appropriated from the Federal Trust Fund to Medi-Cal benefit costs in the most recent fiscal year. By increasing the amount of an appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation. (18) Existing law grants the State Department of Health Care Services the sole authority to issue, deny, suspend, or revoke the license of a driving-under-the-influence program. This bill would require the department to develop regulations on or before January 1, 2026, governing the provision of alcohol or drug recovery services pursuant to those provisions in virtual settings. The bill would authorize the department to implement those provisions by means of all-county letters, plan letters, information notices, or similar instructions, until regulations are promulgated. (19) Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to license and regulate facilities that provide residential nonmedical services to adults who are recovering from problems related to alcohol, drug, or alcohol and drug misuse or abuse, and who need alcohol, drug, or alcohol and drug recovery treatment or detoxification services. Existing law also requires the department to implement a voluntary certification procedure for alcohol and other drug treatment recovery services. This bill would repeal the voluntary certification procedure for alcohol and other drug treatment recovery services, and would instead require those programs to be certified, except as specified. The bill would prohibit a program from offering alcohol and other drug treatment recovery services without certification, and would impose civil penalties on programs that violate those provisions, as specified. The bill would establish procedures for certification, as well as for inspections of certified programs and for revocation of certification from noncompliant programs. (20) Existing federal law, the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act of 2020, designates the 3-digit telephone number "988" as the universal number within the United States for the purpose of the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system operating through the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Existing law, the Miles Hall Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Act, requires, among other things, the Office of Emergency Services (OES) to verify that technology that allows for transfers between 988 centers as well as between 988 centers and 911 public safety answering points, is available to 988 centers and 911 public safety answering points throughout the state, to appoint a 988 system director, and to verify interoperability between and across 911 and 988. Existing law defines "988" for these purposes as the 3-digit telephone number designated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the purpose of connecting individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis with counselors trained in suicide prevention and behavioral health crisis and with the capacity to connect callers to behavioral health crisis services through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline network. Existing law includes crisis receiving and stabilization services in the definition of "behavioral health crisis services." This bill would instead define "988" as the 3-digit telephone number designated by the FCC for the purpose of connecting individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis with the national suicide prevention and mental health hotline system in accordance with specified federal law. The bill would remove "crisis receiving services" from the definition of "behavioral health crisis services." This bill would authorize the State Department of Health Care Services to enter into exclusive or nonexclusive contracts, or amend existing contracts, on a bid or negotiated basis, and implement changes to existing information technology systems, as described. The bill would make conforming and other technical changes. The act requires the agency to create, no later than December 31, 2023, a set of recommendations to support a 5-year implementation plan for a comprehensive 988 system. Existing law requires the agency to convene a state 988 advisory group for purposes of advising the agency on the set of recommendations and requires the recommendations to include specified information. Existing law requires the advisory group to meet once per quarter until December 31, 2023, and prohibits the group from being disbanded before January 1, 2024. Existing law also requires the agency to annually report, commencing December 31, 2024, and until December 31, 2029, to the Legislature on the status of 988 implementation in the state, as provided. This bill would instead extend the deadline for the recommendations to December 31, 2024, require the advisory group to meet once per quarter until December 31, 2024, and prohibit the group from disbanding before January 1, 2025. The bill would revise the information required in the set of recommendations. The bill would also remove the annual reporting requirement. The bill would require, until December 31, 2029, the California Health and Human Services Agency to post regular updates, no less than annually, regarding the implementation of 988 on its public internet website. (21) Existing law, the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act, creates a separate surcharge, beginning January 1, 2023, on each access line for each month or part thereof for which a service user subscribes with a service supplier, as described (988 surcharge) . Existing law establishes the 988 State Suicide and Behavioral Health Crisis Services Fund and requires revenues generated from the 988 surcharge to be used for purposes of funding the operations of the 988 center and mobile crisis teams, as defined. Existing law, however, requires the 988 surcharge revenues to be used for certain refunds, costs of administering the surcharge, and OES costs related to the administration of the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, before being disbursed to OES for purposes of the act. This bill would allow the 988 surcharge revenue to be used to pay state departments for their costs in administering the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline before disbursement of the revenue to OES for purposes of the act. The bill would require the fund to consist of any other appropriations made to it by the Legislature. The bill would authorize the Legislature to consider additional uses for the revenue generated by the 988 surcharge based on recommendations made by the California Health and Human Services Agency and the advisory group, as specified. Existing law sets forth priorities for the moneys in the fund and prohibits money in the fund from being transferred to any fund or from being transferred, assigned, or reassigned for any other use or purpose outside of the act. Existing law requires revenue generated by the 988 surcharge to be used to supplement and not supplant federal, state, and local funding for 988 centers and mobile crisis services. Existing law requires an entity seeking funds available through the fund to annually file an expenditure and outcomes report, as described. The bill would revise the priority uses for 988 surcharge revenues, as described. The bill would instead require the 988 surcharge revenue to be used to supplement and not supplant federal, state, and local funding for 988 centers and behavioral health crisis services. This bill would require the expenditure and outcomes report to include information regarding billing to and reimbursement by health care service plans or insurers, beginning January 1, 2030, and measures of system performance, beginning July 1, 2025. (22) Existing law, the California Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act of 2020, requires CHHSA to enter into partnerships resulting in the production or distribution of generic prescription drugs to, among other things, increase patient access to affordable drugs. Existing law requires CHHSA to have the ability to hire staff to oversee and project-manage these partnerships. Existing law, for the purposes of implementing the California Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act of 2020, until December 31, 2027, permits CHHSA and its departments to enter into exclusive or nonexclusive contracts on a bid or negotiated basis. This bill would require CHHSA to enter into these partnerships for the procurement of general prescription drugs and would also give CHHSA the ability to hire contractors to oversee and project-manage these partnerships. The bill would indefinitely authorize the CHHSA and its departments to enter into exclusive or nonexclusive contracts on a bid or negotiated basis. (23) Existing law, contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, requires CHHSA to establish a grant program to reduce fentanyl overdoses and use throughout the state by giving out 6 one-time grants to increase local efforts in education, testing, recovery, and support services, as specified. Existing law requires the participating entities to provide the agency with specified information on the results of the program and requires the agency to report those results to the Legislature and Governor's office on or before January 1, 2026. This bill would require that, contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, the State Department of Public Health is to establish the grant program, as specified. The bill would require that the department submit an interim report on the progress of the programs with all available information by January 1, 2026, and a final report with all specified information by January 1, 2028. The bill would extend these provisions until January 1, 2029. (24) Existing law establishes the California Reproductive Health Service Corps within the Department of Health Care Access and Information for the purposes of recruiting, training, and retaining a diverse workforce of reproductive health care professionals who will be part of reproductive health care teams to work in underserved areas. For the purposes of this program, existing law defines "reproductive health care professionals" to include, among others, medical doctors, licensed midwives, registered nurses, and medical assistants. This bill would add pharmacists to the list of reproductive health care professionals as defined under this program. (25) Existing law, the Radiologic Technology Act, requires the State Department of Public Health to provide for the certification of radiologic technologists and for granting limited permits to persons to conduct radiologic technology, as specified. Existing law also makes the department responsible for regulating people who perform nuclear medicine technology and mammography. Existing law subjects a person who is regulated as radiologic technologist or competent to perform nuclear medicine technology to discipline for specified reasons, including habitual intemperance in the use of alcoholic beverages, narcotics, or stimulants, as to incapacitate for the performance of professional duties, incompetence, negligence, or gross negligence in performing their functions, and violation of specified statutes or regulations. Existing law also authorizes the department to deny, revoke, or suspend a certificate or permit for a conviction of more than one misdemeanor or a felony involving moral turpitude that was committed during the performance of radiologic technology duties. This bill would revise and recast the provisions relating to the discipline of a radiologic technologist or a person competent to perform nuclear medicine technology by, among other things, expanding the list of conduct for which they may be disciplined, including the addition of unprofessional conduct and making or giving a false statement or information in conjunction with the application for establishment of competence. Under existing law, a person who violates, or aids or abets the violation of, provisions relating to radiological technologists or nuclear medicine technology is guilty of a misdemeanor. A person who violates the provision relating to mammography is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $5,000 per day, per offense or by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed 180 days, or by both the fine and imprisonment. Under existing law, a person who intentionally or through gross negligence violates the act relating to mammography, or who fails or refuses to comply with a cease and desist order or other order of the department and causes a substantial danger to the health of others is also liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 per day, per offense. This bill would also make it a misdemeanor for an entity to violate, or aid and abet the violation of, the act. The bill would make any violation of the act punishable in the same manner as the provisions relating to mammography and would make conforming changes. By expanding the scope of existing crimes, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. (26) Existing law establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority, and requires the authority to be headed by a director who is a licensed physician and surgeon with substantial experience in the practice of emergency medicine. This bill would remove the requirement that the director be a licensed physician with substantial experience in the practice of emergency medicine. The bill would require the authority to have a chief medical officer that is appointed by the Governor, upon nomination by the Secretary of California Health and Human Services, who is a physician and surgeon licensed in California, as specified, and who has substantial experience in the practice of emergency medicine or emergency response in California. The bill would require the chief medical officer to provide clinical leadership and oversight concerning treatment, education, and other matters involving medical decisionmaking and delivery of patient care. (27) Under existing law, an adult having capacity may execute an advance health care directive to set forth health care instructions. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to establish an Advance Health Care Directive Registry through which a person may register information regarding their advance directive in a central information center. Under existing law, a Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form is a request regarding resuscitative measures. Existing law, the California POLST eRegistry Act, requires the Emergency Medical Services Authority to establish a statewide electronic POLST registry system to collect a patient's POLST information and disseminate that information to an authorized user. Existing law requires the authority to incorporate the Advance Health Care Directive Registry into the POLST eRegistry. This bill would the delete the requirement that the authority incorporate the Advance Health Care Directive Registry into the POLST eRegistry. (28) Existing law establishes within the State Treasury the Litigation Deposits Fund (LDF) , under the control of the Department of Justice and consisting of moneys received as litigation deposits for which the state is a party to the litigation. The State of California is a party to certain opioid-related settlements, through which the state receives funds for opioid remediation. Existing law also establishes the Opioid Settlements Fund (OSF) within the State Treasury, and requires the State Department of Health Care Services to administer the fund. Existing law requires the Controller, upon order of the Director of Finance, to transfer funds received in the LDF allocated to the state for state opioid remediation from the 2022 opioid settlements with specified pharmaceutical companies to the OSF. Existing law also requires funds received from those settlements and any future settlements for these purposes that are not deposited in the LDF to be deposited into the OSF. Existing law requires moneys in the OSF, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be used for opioid remediation in accordance with the terms of the judgment or settlement from which the funds were received. This bill would revise the above provision regarding the transfer of funds to the OSF from specified 2022 opioid settlements with pharmaceuticals to include Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. The bill would also delete the above provision regarding the deposit of funds into the OSF. The bill would also require the Controller, upon order of the Director of Finance, to transfer funds received in the LDF allocated to the state for opioid remediation from the 2023 opioid settlements with manufacturers Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Allergan, and pharmacies CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart to the OSF. The bill would further require the Controller, upon order of the Director of Finance, to transfer funds received in the LDF allocated to the state for state opioid remediation from any future judgments, bankruptcies, or settlements pursuant to future Budget Act appropriation to the OSF. The bill would require funds received from the settlements outlined in the above provisions or from future judgments, bankruptcies, or settlements allocated to the state for state opioid remediation that are not deposited in the LDF to be deposited in the OSF. (29) Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, provides for the involuntary commitment and treatment of a person who is a danger to themselves or others or who is gravely disabled. Existing law also provides for a conservator of the person or estate to be appointed for a person who is gravely disabled. Existing law requires the Director of Health Care Services to administer the act and adopt rules, regulations, and standards, as necessary. Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to collect and publish annually quantitative information concerning the operation of various provisions relating to community mental health services, including the number of persons admitted for evaluation and treatment for certain periods, transferred to mental health facilities, or for whom certain conservatorships are established, as specified. Existing law requires each county behavioral health director, each designated and approved facility, and each other entity, as specified, to provide accurate and complete data as prescribed by the department. This bill would instead require those designated and approved facilities and other entities to collect and provide data to the county behavioral health director in the county in which they operate, as specified, and would authorize a county to establish policies and procedures for this purpose. The bill would require the data provided by each county behavioral health director to the department to include that accurate and complete data. By increasing the data reporting obligations of county behavioral health agencies, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes the department to impose a plan of correction against a county that fails to submit data on a timely basis or as otherwise required. This bill would also authorize the department to assess a civil money penalty, as specified, against a county for those same reasons. The bill would create an informal written appeals process for the civil money penalty and would require the department to make a determination on the appeal within 60 calendar days of receipt of the appeal. This bill would also authorize a designated and approved facility or county to request a formal hearing, as specified. The bill would require civil money penalties to accrue until the effective date of the department's final decision. This bill would establish the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act Data and Reporting Oversight Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, to be administered by the State Department of Health Care Services. The bill would require civil money penalties assessed and collected to be deposited into the fund to be used for specified purposes. This bill would authorize the Controller to use moneys from the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act Data and Reporting Oversight Fund for cashflow loans to the General Fund. By continuously appropriating funds, this bill would make an appropriation. (30) Existing law provides for the licensure of long-term health care facilities by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law establishes the Federal Health Facilities Citation Penalties Account into which moneys from civil penalties for violations of federal law are deposited. Existing law authorizes up to $130,000 of the money in that account to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the improvement of quality of care and quality of life for long-term health care facility residents, as specified. This bill would delete the provision limiting how much money in the account can be used for that purpose. (31) Existing law requires the Department of Justice to maintain state summary criminal history information, as defined, and to furnish this information to various state and local government officers, officials, and other prescribed entities, if needed in the course of their duties. This bill would authorize the Department of Justice to furnish state summary criminal history to the State Department of State Hospitals for specified research and reporting purposes and would require the State Department of State Hospitals to use that information only for specified purposes. (32) Existing law authorizes a court to grant pretrial diversion, as specified, to a defendant suffering from a mental disorder, on an accusatory pleading alleging the commission of a misdemeanor or felony offense, in order to allow the defendant to undergo mental health treatment. Existing law conditions eligibility on, among other criteria, the diagnosis of a mental disorder, as specified, and that the defendant's mental disorder played a significant role in the commission of the charged offense. Existing law makes defendants ineligible for the diversion program for certain offenses, including murder, voluntary manslaughter, and rape. This bill would make technical changes to Section 1370 of the Penal Code that were necessitated by changes to these provisions that were enacted by Senate Bill 1223 of the 2021–2022 session. (33) The Budget Act of 2022 made appropriations for the support of state government for the 2022–23 fiscal year. This bill would revert specified items of appropriation regarding health care workforce grants to the General Fund and would state specified total program funding allocations for health care workforce grants that are reflected in the Budget Act of 2023. (34) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (35) Specified sections of this bill would become operative only if AB 119 or SB 119 of the 2023–24 Regular Session is enacted and takes effect on or before July 1, 2023. (36) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , an initiative measure, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. Existing law, the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. MAUCRSA establishes the Department of Cannabis Control, under the supervision and control of a director, to administer and enforce its provisions. MAUCRSA authorizes the director to employ and appoint all employees necessary to properly administer the work of the department, in accordance with civil service laws and regulations. MAUCRSA requires the director to designate the persons employed by the department for purposes of the administration and enforcement of MAUCRSA, and requires the director to ensure that a sufficient number of employees are qualified peace officers for purposes of enforcing MAUCRSA. This bill would require the Department of Cannabis Control to submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint images and other related information for criminal history information checks of certain employees, prospective employees, contractors, and subcontractors, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Cannabis Control to request from the Department of Justice subsequent notification service for those individuals, as specified. MAUCRSA authorizes the department to issue state licenses only to qualified applicants. MAUCRSA requires an applicant for a state license to require each owner to submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint images and related information for a criminal history information check, as specified. This bill would exempt from that requirement an owner who has previously submitted fingerprint images and related information in connection with a valid state license issued by a licensing authority, as specified. The bill would prohibit the Department of Cannabis Control from considering criminal history information from a previous check of that owner when considering whether to issue a subsequent state license. MAUCRSA authorizes the issuance of a state temporary event license to a licensee authorizing onsite cannabis sales to, and consumption by, persons 21 years of age or older at a county fair event, district agricultural association event, or at another venue expressly approved by a local jurisdiction, as specified. This bill would add Type 13—Cannabis event organizer to the codified list of license classifications. This bill would update obsolete MAUCRSA provisions. Existing law establishes the Cannabis Control Fund to support, among other things, the activities of the department under MAUCRSA, and requires licensing fees and certain other moneys associated with the recovery of investigation and enforcement costs to be deposited in the fund. This bill would appropriate $5,000 from the Cannabis Control Fund to the department for purposes of implementing the provisions of the bill. AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend its provisions with a 23 vote of both houses to further its purposes and intent, except as specified. This bill would state that the bill furthers the purposes and intent of AUMA. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

The California Constitution provides that on stipulation of the parties litigant the court may order a cause to be tried by a temporary judge who is a member of the State Bar, sworn and empowered to act until final determination of the cause. Existing law expresses the findings and declarations of the Legislature that the peaceful resolution of disputes in a fair, timely, appropriate, and cost-effective manner is an essential function of the judicial branch of state government under Article VI of the California Constitution, and that many disputes can be resolved in a fair and equitable manner through processes that are less formal than litigation culminating in a trial. Existing law requires specified parties to engage in mediation or arbitration prior to filing an action in specified civil proceedings. Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation governed by a board of trustees. The act provides for the investigation and discipline of members of the State Bar. The California Rules of Professional Conduct govern attorney conflicts of interest. This bill would require a dispute resolution neutral, as defined, or an alternative dispute resolution, as defined, provider who receives a complaint against the dispute resolution neutral alleging that they violated a provision of any applicable rule of conduct, as specified, in the course of presiding over an alternative dispute resolution proceeding to submit a report to the State Bar of California, as specified, and provide the complainant with written information regarding available procedures for notifying the State Bar of California, as specified. If the complaint arises from a mediation or arbitration, the bill would require that written information to include a notice with specified language.

Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development and sets forth its powers and duties. Existing law establishes various programs providing assistance for, among other things, emergency housing, multifamily housing, farmworker housing, homeownership for very low and low-income households, and downpayment assistance for first-time homebuyers. This bill would enact the Laborforce Housing Financing Act of 2023, and define "laborforce housing" as housing that, among other things, is owned and managed by specified entities solely for the benefit of residents and households unable to afford market rent, and whose residents enjoy certain protections. The bill would establish the Laborforce Housing Fund in the State Treasury, and would make moneys in the fund available to the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the creation of laborforce housing and other specified housing projects by public entities, local housing authorities, and mission-driven nonprofit housing providers, as provided. The bill would limit the use of fund moneys to construction or rehabilitation projects that require either that all construction workers on the project are paid at least the applicable prevailing wage rate, or that all contractors and subcontractors at every tier will use a skilled and trained workforce to complete the project, in accordance with specified provisions. These certifications would expand the crime of perjury, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. Existing law imposes taxes upon income and real property, and taxes upon certain transactions and excise taxes. The Fee Collection Procedures Law provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges and is administered by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) . Under existing law, a violation of the Fee Collection Procedures Law is a crime. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2025, impose a tax on the occupancy of a short-term rental in this state at the rate of 15% of the rental price of the short-term rental. The bill would define "short-term rental" for this purpose to mean the occupancy of a home, house, a room in a home or house, or other lodging that is not a hotel, inn, motel, or bed and breakfast, in this state for a period of 30 days or less. The bill would require a short-term rental facilitator, as defined, to collect the tax in the case where the facilitator processes the payment for the rental. The bill would require the operator, as defined, to collect the tax where no facilitator processes payment for the rental. The bill would require all revenues, less refunds and reimbursement to the CDTFA of administration and collection costs, be deposited in the Laborforce Housing Fund. This bill would require the CDTFA to administer and collect the tax pursuant to the Fee Collection Procedures Law. By expanding the application of the crimes associated with the Fee Collection Procedures Law, 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law prohibits a school district from sponsoring any activity that promotes a discriminatory bias on the basis of certain protected characteristics, including race or ethnicity, gender, religion, disability, nationality, or sexual orientation. Existing law prohibits the governing board of a school district from adopting any textbooks or other instructional materials that contain any matter reflecting adversely upon persons on the basis of those characteristics. Existing law requires the governing board of a school district, when adopting instructional materials, to include only materials that accurately portray the cultural and racial diversity of society, as specified. This bill would expressly prohibit the governing board of a school district from taking an action that contradicts any existing law requiring a school district to have inclusive policies, practices, and curriculum. The bill would authorize the governing board of a school district to censure a member or, by a 23 vote of the governing board, remove a member from office if the member prevents the governing board from conducting its business or adopts a policy that contradicts any existing law requiring a school district to have inclusive policies, practices, and curriculum.