Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages and the granting of licenses for the manufacture, distribution, and sale of alcoholic beverages within the state. Existing law limits the amount of on-sale general licenses that may be issued by the department based on the population of the county in which the licensed premises are located. Existing law provides an exception to this limitation for the County of Inyo, allowing a total of 5 extra new licenses to be issued between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2019. This bill would recast those provisions to allow a total of 5 extra new licenses to be issued between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2025. The bill would also authorize an additional 5 extra new licenses to be issued between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2025. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for County of Inyo.
(1) Existing law specifies the order in which statewide ballot measures are required to appear on the ballot, with referendum measures required to be last after all initiative measures. This bill would instead require initiative and referendum measures to appear in the order in which they qualify for the ballot. (2) The California Constitution provides that the electors may approve or reject a statute by referendum. Senate Constitutional Amendment 1 of the 2021–22 Regular Session, if approved by the voters, would require that the ballot for a referendum measure provide that a "Yes" vote is in favor of the referendum and rejects the statute or part of the statute subject to the referendum, and a "No" vote is against the referendum and approves the statute or part of the statute subject to the referendum, thus requiring a majority vote in favor of the referendum to reject the statute or part of the statute subject to the referendum. This bill would make conforming statutory changes contingent on the approval of the voters of SCA 1 of the 2021–22 Regular Session.
(1) 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 the department to create and implement a simplified application package for children, families, and adults applying for Medi-Cal benefits. Existing federal law, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, among other provisions, prohibits any person within the United States, or any person outside the United States if the recipient is within the United States, from making any call to any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call, without the prior express consent of the called party, using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice. Under existing case law, a text message is considered a call for purposes of those provisions. This bill would require the application for Medi-Cal enrollment to include a statement that if the applicant is approved for Medi-Cal benefits, the applicant agrees that the department, county welfare department, and a managed care organization or health care provider to which the applicant is assigned may communicate with them regarding appointment reminders or outreach efforts at no more than a 6th grade reading level through Free to End User text messaging unless the applicant opts out. (2) Existing federal law, known as the 340B discount drug purchasing program, generally requires pharmaceutical manufacturers participating in Medicaid to give discounts on pharmaceutical drugs to covered entities, as defined, serving the Medicaid population. This program is commonly referred to as the 340B program. Under existing law, the Medi-Cal program requires a covered entity to dispense only drugs purchased through the 340B program to a Medi-Cal beneficiary, except under specified circumstances. This bill would prohibit the Director of Health Care Services from taking action that materially increases the administrative burden or cost of dispensing 340B drugs by federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics, including, but not limited to, changes that adversely impact the use of contract pharmacy arrangements. The bill would require the director to prepare a report, including specified information, before taking any action that materially impacts the 340B program, and to publish the report on the department's internet website and distribute it to the Assembly Committee on Health and the Senate Committee on Health.
Existing state and federal law defines and regulates the provision of consumer credit reports. Existing state law requires a consumer credit reporting agency to place a security freeze on the provision of consumer reports for certain protected consumers, as defined, if specified requirements are met. For these purposes, existing law defines a "protected consumer" as including, among others, an individual under the jurisdiction of a county welfare department or a county probation department who has been placed in foster care and is under 16 years of age at the time the security freeze request is made. This bill would revise the definition of a protected consumer, as described above, to include individuals under the jurisdiction of a county welfare department or a county probation department who have been placed in foster care and are under 18 years of age at the time the security freeze request is made.
Existing law establishes within state government the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. Existing law also establishes various public health programs, including grant programs, throughout the state for purposes of promoting maternal, child, and adolescent health. This bill would require the office, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to establish, develop, implement, and administer the Project ECHO (registered trademark) Grant Program. Under the grant program, the bill would require participating children's hospitals to establish yearlong pediatric behavioral health teleECHO (trademark) clinics for specified individuals, including primary care clinicians and educators, to help them develop expertise and tools to better serve the youth that they work with by addressing their mental health needs stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. The bill would authorize an eligible children's hospital to partner with another eligible children's hospital, or with another general acute care hospital, to implement its project. The bill would require the office to ensure that the grant program includes a maximum of 8 grants that support pediatric behavioral health teleECHO (trademark) clinics to be administered and operated by an eligible children's hospital, and that grant funding be made available, at a minimum, to participants for specified purposes, such as recruiting efforts and funding salaries and fringe benefits for pediatric behavioral health teleECHO (trademark) clinic personnel. The bill would require a pediatric behavioral health teleECHO (trademark) clinic to target specified audiences, including school-based health care professionals who serve kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and would require a participant to perform prescribed duties, such as preparing a report that evaluates the grant program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027.
Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) program for the purpose of providing jurisdictions, as defined, with one-time grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified. Under existing law, grants under the HHAP program are allocated in 2 rounds of funding, the first of which is administered by the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and the second of which is administered by the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, as provided. Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to submit an annual report to the Governor and both houses of the Legislature on the operations and accomplishments during the previous fiscal year of the housing programs administered by the department. Existing law requires that the report include, among other things, the number of units assisted by those programs and the number of individuals and households served and their income level. This bill would additionally require that this report include an evaluation of the HHAP program.
(1) Existing law requires each person who, after being employed for 2 complete consecutive school years by a county superintendent of schools in a teaching position in schools or classes maintained by the county superintendent of schools requiring certification qualifications, is reelected for the next succeeding school year to a teaching position to be classified as a permanent employee of the county superintendent of schools. This bill would instead authorize each person who, after being employed for 3 complete consecutive school years by a county superintendent of schools in a teaching position maintained by the county superintendent of schools requiring certification qualifications, is reelected for the next succeeding school year to a teaching position to be classified as a permanent employee of the county superintendent of schools. The bill would authorize the county superintendent of schools to offer an employee of the county superintendent of schools in a teaching position in schools or classes maintained by the county superintendent of schools requiring certification qualifications to continue for up to 5 complete consecutive school years as a probationary employee. (2) Existing law requires an employee of a school district with an average daily attendance of 250 or more who, after having been employed by the school district for 2 complete consecutive school years in a position or positions requiring certification qualifications, is reelected for the next succeeding school year to a position requiring certification qualifications, at the commencement of the succeeding school year, to be classified as a permanent employee of the school district. This bill would instead authorize an employee of such a school district who, after having been employed by the school district for 3 complete consecutive school years in a position or positions requiring certification qualifications, is reelected for the next succeeding school year to a position requiring certification qualifications, at the commencement of the succeeding school year, to be classified as a permanent employee of the school district. The bill would authorize the governing board of a school district to offer an employee of the school district in a position or positions requiring certification qualifications to continue for up to 5 complete consecutive school years as a probationary employee. The bill would require the governing board of a school district, before an employee of the school district in a position or positions requiring certification qualifications is classified as a permanent employee of the school district, to determine that the employee has demonstrated 2 complete consecutive school years of effective teaching, as provided. The bill would require the governing board of a school district to adopt rules and regulations for this purpose. Because the bill would impose additional duties on local educational agency officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) This bill would provide that, to the extent these provisions conflict with any provision of a collective bargaining agreement entered into before January 1, 2022, by a public school employer and an exclusive bargaining representative, these provisions shall not apply until the expiration or renewal of that collective bargaining agreement. 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 defines rape as an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a person not the spouse of the perpetrator under certain circumstances, including where the victim is incapable of giving legal consent because of a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, where the victim is not aware of the essential characteristics of the act due to the perpetrator's fraudulent representation that the act serves a professional purpose, and where the victim submits to the act under the belief that the perpetrator is someone known to the victim other than the perpetrator, and the perpetrator intentionally and fraudulently induces that belief. Existing law separately defines rape of a spouse as an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with the spouse of the perpetrator under similar circumstances as nonspousal rape, except that spousal rape does not include acts of sexual intercourse accomplished under the specific circumstances described above. This bill would repeal the provisions relating to spousal rape and make conforming changes, thereby making an act of sexual intercourse accomplished with a spouse punishable as rape if the act otherwise meets the definition of rape. By changing the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes an employer to request from the Department of Justice records of all convictions or any arrest pending adjudication for specified offenses for a person who applies for a license, employment, or volunteer position, in which the person would have supervisory or disciplinary power over a minor and requires the employer to notify the parent or guardian of a child if a person with specified convictions will have supervisory or disciplinary power over that child. Existing law exempts certain convictions, including spousal rape, from that notification requirement. This bill would remove the exemption for spousal rape or any other felony conviction and would instead exempt only misdemeanor convictions from that notification. The bill would make numerous conforming changes. 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.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities. Existing law establishes the independent Public Advocate's Office within the commission to represent and advocate on behalf of the interests of public utility customers and subscribers within the commission's jurisdiction. Existing law requires the commission to develop appropriate procedures to ensure that the existence of the office does not create a conflict of roles for any employee. This bill would require the commission to triennially update those procedures.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the PUC to establish rules for all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature, and authorizes the PUC to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the Independent System Operator, to take specified actions by December 1, 2020, to facilitate the commercialization of microgrids for distribution customers of large electrical corporations. This bill would require the PUC to develop and implement a Clean Community Microgrid Incentive Program by 2022 to fund community microgrids that support the critical needs of vulnerable communities that utilize distributed energy resources for the generation of electricity. The bill would establish the budget for the program in an unspecified amount to be dispersed in successive phases to local public agencies for community microgrid development and would require that expenses incurred by a large electrical corporation to fund the program be allocated to all distribution customers of the large electrical corporation on a nonbypassable basis. The bill would require that a third-party administrator that is not a public utility administer the program. The bill would provide that a community microgrid project undertaken pursuant to the program is not subject to the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000. The bill would require the PUC to include a discussion of the costs and benefits of community microgrid projects implemented pursuant to the program in a specified smart grid report annually submitted to the Governor and the Legislature. The bill would require the PUC to modify Electric Tariff Rule 21 to allow a microgrid developer the option of submitting a single interconnection application for the distributed energy resources to be used in a qualifying microgrid. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because certain of the provisions of this bill require PUC implementation, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law requires the state, through the State Department of Social Services and county welfare departments, to establish and support a public system of statewide child welfare services, as specified, and declares the intent of the Legislature, in providing for this statewide system of child welfare services, that all children are entitled to be safe and free from abuse and neglect. Existing law requires the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson to be established in the State Department of Social Services with prescribed powers and duties relating to the management of foster children, including the dissemination of information on the rights of children and youth in foster care. Existing law requires the Director of Social Services, in consultation with a committee of interested individuals chosen by the director, to appoint the ombudsperson for a term of 4 years. This bill would establish the Office of the Child Protection Ombudsperson, with the intent to provide all California children with similar protections. The bill would require the State Child Protection Ombudsperson to be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate, for a term of 2 years. The bill would specify the duties of the office, including investigating specified child deaths caused by abuse or neglect. The bill would also authorize the office to take specified actions, including investigating systemic issues and suggesting corrective action accordingly. The bill would require the Office of the State Child Protection Ombudsperson to report to the Legislature, at the end of each 2-year legislative session, data collected by the office describing the nature of the complaints received and systemic suggestions to improve the child welfare system.
Existing law classifies certain controlled substances into Schedules I to V, inclusive. Existing law requires the Department of Justice to maintain the Controlled Substances Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) for the electronic monitoring of the prescribing and dispensing of Schedule II, Schedule III, and Schedule IV controlled substances by a health care practitioner authorized to prescribe, order, administer, furnish, or dispense a Schedule II, Schedule III, or Schedule IV controlled substance. Existing law requires an authorized health care practitioner to consult the CURES database to review a patient's controlled substance history before prescribing a Schedule II, Schedule III, or Schedule IV controlled substance to the patient for the first time and, on or before July 1, 2021, at least once every 6 months thereafter, as specified. Existing law makes exceptions for the requirement to consult the CURES database, including if a health care practitioner prescribes, orders, administers, or furnishes a controlled substance to a patient as part of the patient's treatment for surgical, radiotherapeutic, therapeutic, or diagnosed procedure, as specified. This bill would create an additional exception to the requirement to consult the CURES database for a health care practitioner who is employed by a substance use disorder treatment clinic or program who is treating patients who are enrolled in substance abuse disorder treatment with regularly prescribed or furnished controlled substances if there have been consultations in the CURES database within the previous 6 months.
