The Information Practices Act of 1977 requires any agency that owns or licenses computerized data that includes personal information to disclose any breach of the security of the system following discovery or notification of the breach, as specified. The act also requires any agency that maintains computerized data that includes personal information that the agency does not own to notify the owner or licensee of the information of any breach of the security of the data, in accordance with certain procedures. Existing law requires the security breach notification to include specified information, including, among other things, the names and addresses of the major credit reporting agencies. Existing law authorizes the security breach notification to include, at the discretion of the agency, among other things, advice on steps that people whose information has been breached may take to protect themselves. This bill would additionally require the security breach notification to include the internet websites of the major credit reporting agencies and the Uniform Resource Locator for the main internet website operated by the Federal Trade Commission to provide information for victims of identity theft. The bill would authorize the security breach notification to include how to place a credit or security freeze by visiting the internet website of the major credit reporting agencies, as specified. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
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, including comprehensive perinatal services, among other reproductive health services, and specialty or nonspecialty mental health services and substance use disorder services, among other behavioral health services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law establishes the Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment (Family PACT) Program pursuant to a federal waiver, as part of the schedule of Medi-Cal benefits. Under existing law, the Family PACT Program provides comprehensive clinical family planning services to a person who has a family income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level and who is eligible to receive those services pursuant to the waiver. Under the Family PACT Program, comprehensive clinical family planning services include, among other things, contraception and general reproductive health care, and exclude abortion. Abortion services are covered under the Medi-Cal program. This bill would, on or before July 1, 2024, subject to an appropriation, require the department to make grants, incentive payments, or other financial support available to Medi-Cal managed care plans to develop and implement reproductive and behavioral health integration pilot programs in partnership with identified qualified providers, in order to improve access to behavioral health services for beneficiaries with mild-to-moderate behavioral health conditions. The bill would define "qualified provider" as a Medi-Cal provider that is enrolled in the Family PACT Program and that provides abortion- and contraception-related services. For funding eligibility, the bill would require a Medi-Cal managed care plan to identify the qualified providers and the services that will be provided through the pilot program, as specified. The bill would, on or before July 1, 2024, subject to an appropriation, require the department to make grants or other financial support available to qualified providers for reproductive and behavioral health integration pilot programs, in order to support development and expansion of services, infrastructure, and capacity for the integration of behavioral health services for beneficiaries with mild-to-moderate behavioral health conditions. For funding eligibility, the bill would require a qualified provider to identify both the patient population or gap in access to care and the types of services provided, as specified. The bill would require the department to convene a working group, with a certain composition, to develop criteria for evaluating applications and awarding funding, to conduct an evaluation of the pilot programs, and to submit a report to the Legislature, as specified.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires the Director of Health Care Services to develop and implement standards for the timely processing and payment of each claim type. Existing law requires that the standards be sufficient to meet minimal federal requirements for the timely processing of claims. Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that claim forms for use by physicians and hospitals be the same as claim forms in general use by other payors, as specified. This bill would require the department to allow a provider to submit an electronic signature for a claim or remittance form under the Medi-Cal program, to the extent not in conflict with federal law.
The California Health Facilities Financing Authority Act authorizes the California Health Facilities Financing Authority to, among other things, make loans from the continuously appropriated California Health Facilities Financing Authority Fund to participating health institutions, as defined, for financing or refinancing the acquisition, construction, or remodeling of health facilities. This bill would create the Distressed Hospital Loan Program, until January 1, 2032, for the purpose of providing loans to not-for-profit hospitals and public hospitals, as defined, in significant financial distress, or to governmental entities representing a closed hospital to prevent the closure or facilitate the reopening of a closed hospital. The bill would require, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, the Department of Health Care Access and Information to administer the program and would require the department to enter into an interagency agreement with the authority to implement the program. The bill would require the department, in collaboration with the State Department of Health Care Services, the Department of Managed Health Care, and the State Department of Public Health, to develop a methodology to evaluate an at-risk hospital's potential eligibility for state assistance from the program, as specified. Notwithstanding that methodology, the bill would deem a hospital applying for aid to be immediately eligible for state assistance from the program if the hospital has 90 or fewer days cash on hand and has experienced a negative operating margin over the preceding 12 months. The bill would require a hospital or a closed hospital to provide the authority and the department with financial information, in a format determined by the authority, demonstrating the hospital's need for assistance due to financial hardship. The bill would additionally require that the department, in consultation with the authority, develop a loan forgiveness application and approval process, as specified. The bill would specify that the authority and the department may implement these provisions by information notices or other similar instructions, without taking any further regulatory action. This bill would create the Distressed Hospital Loan Program Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for use by the department and the authority to administer the loan program, as specified. The bill would authorize both the authority and the department to recover administrative costs from the fund, as specified. By creating a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. Existing law generally requires a health care facility to report specified data to the department, including total inpatient and outpatient revenues by payer, including Medicare and Medi-Cal. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations regarding the identification and reporting of charity care services, and specifies various obligations to provide hard copies of hospital data reports submitted pursuant to these provisions. This bill would additionally require data for total inpatient and outpatient revenues by payer to include commercial coverage payers. The bill would require a hospital subject to these data reporting requirements to submit a balance sheet detailing the assets, liabilities, and net worth at the end of the quarter as specified by the department. The bill would also remove the provisions regarding regulations related to charity care services and obligations to provide hard copies of hospital data reports. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Read. Adopted. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 1515.)
Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which is administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the application, issuance, and suspension of alcoholic beverage licenses. Existing law authorizes the department to issue a retail package off-sale beer and wine license which authorizes the licensee to sell, to consumers only and not for resale, beer and wine in prescribed quantities, for consumption off the premises where sold. This bill would authorize a retail package off-sale beer and wine licensee to also sell low alcohol-by-volume (ABV) spirits beverages, as defined, in containers no larger than 16 ounces.
Existing law prohibits discrimination on the basis of various specified personal characteristics, including disability. Existing law imposes minimum statutory damages for construction-related accessibility claims if the violation of a construction-related accessibility standard denied the plaintiff full and equal access to the place of public accommodation on a particular occasion, including by causing difficulty, discomfort, or embarrassment. Existing law, for claims filed on or after a specified date, presumes that certain technical violations do not cause a person difficulty, discomfort, or embarrassment for these purposes if specified criteria are satisfied. Existing law limits a defendant's liability for statutory damages under specified conditions, including if a defendant corrects the construction-related violations within a specified time. This bill would prohibit a construction-related accessibility claim for statutory damages from being initiated in a legal proceeding against a defendant who employs 50 or fewer individuals, as specified, until the defendant has been served with a letter specifying each alleged violation of a construction-related accessibility standard and given 120 days to correct the alleged violation. The bill would provide that a defendant is not liable for statutory damages, plaintiff's attorney's fees, or costs for an alleged violation that is corrected within 120 days of service of a letter alleging the violation. The bill would also prohibit a plaintiff from avoiding the notice and opportunity to correct provisions and the liability limitations by claiming they are seeking general discrimination damages based on a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 if the underlying claim is based on a defendant's failure to comply with physical accessibility standards under California law.
Read. Adopted. (Ayes 66. Noes 0. Page 2191.).
Read. Adopted. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 1490.)
Existing law establishes the Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment (Family PACT) Program, administered by the Office of Family Planning within the State Department of Health Care Services, under which comprehensive clinical family planning services are provided to a person who has a family income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, and who is eligible to receive these services. Under existing law, those comprehensive clinical family planning services include coverage for contraceptive devices approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration. This bill would clarify that Family PACT comprehensive clinical family planning services include inpatient services relating to the placement or insertion of a contraceptive device.
The California Hospice Licensure Act of 1990 requires a person, political subdivision of the state, or other governmental agency to obtain a license from the State Department of Public Health to provide hospice services to an individual who is experiencing the last phase of life due to a terminal disease, as defined, and their family, except as provided. The act also provides for the renewal of a license. Existing law prohibits any person, political subdivision of the state, or other governmental agency from establishing, conducting, maintaining, or representing itself as a hospice agency unless a license has been issued under the act. Existing law requires that the department issue a license to a hospice agency that applies to the department for a hospice agency license and meets specified requirements, including accreditation as a hospice by an entity approved the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a national accreditation organization, and the national accreditation organization forwards copies to the department of all initial and subsequent survey and other accreditation reports or findings. This bill would require any hospice agency obtaining a license to obtain certification to participate in the federal Medicare program within 12 months of licensure and continuously serve patients as validated by data submission to the Department of Health Care Access and Information, or forfeit its license.
Existing law establishes a statewide system of courts with a superior court of one or more judges in each county. Existing law authorizes the Judicial Council to prescribe the methods, means, and standards for electronic collection of data related to court administration, practice, and procedure. Existing law requires a criminal court to make a determination as to whether a defendant who was a member of the United States military may be suffering from sexual trauma, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, or mental health problems as a result of the person's service. Existing law allows the court to consider these circumstances in granting probation, referring the defendant to mental health treatment, and granting restorative relief, as provided. Existing law authorizes a court to grant restorative relief to a veteran defendant who was granted probation and who met specified criteria, including successful participation in court-ordered treatment services to address sexual trauma, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, or mental health problems stemming from military service. This bill, until January 1, 2029, would require that, on appropriation by the Legislature, the Judicial Council operate a grant program to establish and support veterans treatment courts or the equivalent services in counties where veterans treatment courts would be inefficient or impracticable. The bill would require the Judicial Council to establish standards and procedures for the operation of veterans courts, and condition the award of grant funds on adherence to those standards and procedures. The bill would require veterans treatment courts that receive grant funds to report information to the Judicial Council, as specified. The bill would also require the Judicial Council to report information to the Legislature, as specified.
