Existing law establishes the Office of Problem Gambling in the State Department of Public Health and requires the office to develop a gambling disorder prevention program that includes, among other components, a toll-free telephone service for immediate crisis management, public awareness campaigns, and training of gambling industry personnel in identifying customers who are at risk for gambling disorders. This bill would also include, as a component of the program, problem gambling education and awareness programs that specifically target geographically diverse multicultural populations.
Existing law, the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Act of 2006, requires a retailer, as defined, to have in place a system for the acceptance and collection of used rechargeable batteries for reuse, recycling, or proper disposal. Existing law requires the system for the acceptance and collection of used rechargeable batteries to include, at a minimum, specified elements, including, among others, the take-back of a used rechargeable battery of the type or brand that the retailer sold or previously sold at no cost to the consumer. Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control, by each July 1, to survey, as specified, battery handling or battery recycling facilities, and to post on its internet website the estimated amount, by weight, of each type of rechargeable batteries returned for recycling during the previous calendar year. This bill would authorize the department to include on its internet website the prior years' previously posted information of the estimated amount, by weight, of each type of rechargeable batteries returned for recycling.
Existing law establishes the Advance Health Care Directive Registry allowing individuals to register a written advance health care directive with the Secretary of State. The information in the registry is accessible by specified entities, upon request. Under existing law, an electronic health care directive or power of attorney for health care is legally sufficient if it contains the date of its execution, is signed by either the patient or in the patient's name by another adult in the patient's presence and at the patient's direction, and is either acknowledged before a notary public or signed by at least 2 witnesses who satisfy specified requirements. Under existing law, the signatures required can be by a digital signature, as defined. Existing law defines a request regarding resuscitative measures as a written document, signed by an individual with capacity, or a legally recognized health care decisionmaker, and the individual's physician, directing a health care provider regarding resuscitative measures. Existing law defines a Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment form, which is commonly referred to as a POLST form, and provides that a request regarding resuscitative measures includes a POLST form. Existing law requires that a POLST form and the medical intervention and procedures offered by the form be explained by a health care provider. Existing law distinguishes a request regarding resuscitative measures from an advance health care directive. Under existing law, an advance care directive or substantially similar instrument executed in another state or jurisdiction is valid and enforceable to the same extent as an advance care directive validly executed in this state, as specified, and authorizes a physician or other health care provider to presume that an advance care directive or similar document is valid in the absence of knowledge to the contrary. This bill would establish similar provisions relating to the validity and enforceability of POLST forms and would allow an electronic signature to be used for the purposes of an advance health care directive and POLST form. The bill would enact the California POLST eRegistry Act, which would require the California Health and Human Services Agency to create a statewide electronic POLST registry system for the purpose of collecting a patient's POLST information received from a health care provider or the provider's designee and disseminating the information therein to an authorized user, as defined. The bill would require the agency to promulgate regulations necessary for the operation of the POLST eRegistry, as specified, and set timelines for implementation. The bill would allow an electronic representation of a POLST form and the electronic communication of the information contained in a POLST form to have the same legal standing as a paper hardcopy of a POLST form.
Existing law relating to public contracting establishes the State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign (SABRC) , which requires state agencies to ensure specific percentages of reportable purchases from prescribed product categories to be recycled products. Existing law requires each state agency, if fitness and quality are equal, to purchase recycled products instead of nonrecycled products whenever recycled products are available at the same or a lesser total cost than nonrecycled products. Existing law establishes minimum content requirements for recycled products. Existing law requires a state agency to report annually to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery its progress in meeting the recycled product purchasing requirements using a SABRC report format. Existing law requires the Department of General Services (DGS) , if a requirement has not been met, in consultation with the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, to review purchasing policies and make recommendations for immediate revisions to ensure that the recycled product purchasing requirements are met. This bill would authorize the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, on or after January 1, 2022, to add additional products based on criteria selected by the Department of General Services. Existing law requires the Legislature, in the procurement and purchase of prescribed materials, goods, and supplies, or products containing recycled resources, as prescribed, to meet specified content requirements. This bill would authorize the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, on or after January 1, 2022, to add additional products based on criteria selected by the Department of General Services.
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. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. If an enrollee or insured receives services under a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after July 1, 2017, that includes coverage for out-of-network benefits, existing law authorizes a noncontracting individual health professional to bill or collect the out-of-network cost-sharing amount directly from the enrollee or insured if specified criteria are met, including that the enrollee or insured consents in writing to receive services from the noncontracting individual health professional at least 24 hours in advance of care. Existing law requires the consent to advise the enrollee or insured that they may seek care from a contracted provider for lower out-of-pocket costs and to be provided in the language spoken by the enrollee or insured, as specified. This bill would instead authorize a noncontracting individual health professional, excluding specified professionals, to bill or collect the out-of-network cost-sharing amount directly from the enrollee or insured receiving services under a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2022, if the enrollee consents in writing or electronically at least 72 hours in advance of care. The bill would require the consent to include a list of contracted providers at the facility who are able to provide the services and to be provided in the 15 most commonly used languages in the facility's geographic region.
Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, establishes specified grant awards for students of qualifying postsecondary educational institutions, and establishes eligibility requirements and maximum levels for those awards, as provided. This bill would establish a program entitled Cal Grant K–12 under the administration of a scholarship-granting organization for purposes of receiving donations and granting scholarships to pupils meeting certain requirements, including being in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to be used for qualified educational expenses, as defined, and including certain expenses associated with online learning. The bill would authorize private schools and education service providers, including local educational agencies, to participate under the program. The bill would require the scholarship-granting organization to administer the program by, among other things, establishing and publicizing an application process, selecting eligible pupils, allocating grants, overseeing pupil accounts, developing a system to allow access to account funds by electronic means, and demonstrating financial accountability to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. The bill would impose certain requirements on parents, pupils, private schools, and education service providers as a condition of participating in the program. The Personal Income Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2022, would exclude from gross income for purposes of the Personal Income Tax Law the amount of any scholarship payment received by the taxpayer, or a dependent of the taxpayer, pursuant to the Cal Grant K–12. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill would allow a credit against those taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2022, for qualified contributions made during the taxable year to the scholarship-granting organization for purposes of the Cal Grant K–12. The bill would allow the portion of the credit that exceeds the taxes owed for the taxable year to be carried over for 3 years. Existing law requires a bill that would authorize a new tax expenditure under the Personal Income Tax Law or the Corporation Tax Law to identify specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, and detailed performance indicators and data collection requirements for determining whether the tax expenditure achieves these goals, purposes, and objectives. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to comply with the additional information requirement for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure.
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 provides for the suspension of Medi-Cal benefits to an inmate of a public institution, which ends on the date they are no longer an inmate of a public institution or one year from the date they become an inmate of a public institution, whichever is sooner. Existing federal law prohibits a state from terminating Medi-Cal eligibility for an eligible juvenile if they are an inmate of a public institution, authorizes the suspension of Medicaid benefits to that eligible juvenile, and requires a state to conduct a redetermination of Medicaid eligibility or process an application for medical assistance under the Medicaid program for an eligible juvenile who is an inmate of a public institution. Under existing state law, the suspension of Medi-Cal benefits to an inmate of a public institution who is a juvenile, as defined in federal law, ends when the individual is no longer an eligible juvenile pursuant to federal law or one year from the date the individual becomes an inmate of a public institution, whichever is later. This bill would instead require the suspension of Medi-Cal benefits to an inmate of a public institution who is not a juvenile to end on the date they are no longer an inmate of a public institution or 3 years from the date they become an inmate of a public institution, whichever is sooner. The bill would also require the suspension of Medi-Cal benefits to an inmate of a public institution who is a juvenile on the date that the individual is no longer an inmate of a public institution or 3 years after the date the individual is no longer an eligible juvenile under federal law, whichever is sooner.
Existing unemployment compensation disability law requires workers to pay contribution rates based on, among other things, wages received in employment and benefit disbursement, for payment into the Unemployment Compensation Disability Fund, a special fund in the State Treasury. That fund is continuously appropriated for the purpose of providing disability benefits and making payment of expenses in administering those provisions. Existing law establishes, within the above state disability insurance program, a family temporary disability insurance program, also known as the paid family leave program, for the provision of wage replacement benefits for up to 8 weeks to workers who take time off work for prescribed purposes, including to bond with a minor child within the first year of the child's birth or placement in connection with foster care or adoption (bonding leave) . This bill would expand eligibility for benefits under the paid family leave program by expanding bonding leave relating to a child's birth to include leave for a parent who was pregnant with a child, if the child dies unexpectedly during childbirth at 37 weeks or more of pregnancy. By authorizing expenditures from the Unemployment Compensation Disability Fund for a new purpose, this bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of the employee's employment. Existing law provides that in the case of active firefighting members of certain fire departments and in the case of certain peace officers, a compensable injury includes cancer that develops or manifests itself during the period when the firefighter or peace officer demonstrates that they were exposed to a known carcinogen, as defined, while in the service of the public agency. Existing law establishes a presumption that the cancer in these cases arose out of, and in the course of, employment, unless the presumption is controverted by evidence that the primary site of the cancer has been established and that the carcinogen to which the member has demonstrated exposure is not reasonably linked to the disabling cancer. This bill would define "injury," for certain employees of a city, county, city and county, district, or other municipal corporation or political subdivision regularly exposed to active fires or health hazards directly resulting from firefighting operations, to include cancer that develops or manifests during a period in which the individual demonstrates that they were exposed to a known carcinogen while in the employment of the city, county, city and county, district, or other municipal corporation or political subdivision. The bill would establish a presumption that the cancer in those cases arose out of, and in the course of, employment, unless the presumption is controverted by evidence that the primary site of the cancer has been established and that the carcinogen to which the person has demonstrated exposure is not reasonably linked to the disabling cancer.
The Corporation Tax Law allows various credits against the tax imposed by that law. This bill would allow a credit under the Corporation Tax Law for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2022, and before January 1, 2027, to a qualified taxpayer that employs an eligible individual during the taxable year, in an amount between $2,500 and $10,000 per eligible individual, not to exceed $30,000 per taxable year, depending on the amount of hours worked by the eligible individual. The bill would define various terms for purposes of the credit, including defining "eligible individual" as a person who is homeless. The bill would require an eligible employer to obtain an eligible employer certification from the Employment Development Department to receive the credit, and would require the Employment Development Department to issue a certification to eligible employers, as specified. The bill would require each continuum of care to issue certifications to eligible individuals that are homeless, as specified. By increasing the duties of local continuum of care, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would also include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. 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. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law requires the Governor to create the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council and to appoint up to 19 members of that council, as provided. Existing law specifies the duties of the coordinating council, including creating partnerships among state agencies and departments, local governmental agencies, and specified federal agencies and private entities, for the purpose of arriving at specific strategies to end homelessness. This bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, or upon receiving technical assistance offered by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) , would require the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to conduct, or contract to conduct, a specified statewide needs and gaps analysis regarding homelessness. Among other things, the analysis would identify and describe state programs that provide housing or services to persons experiencing homelessness and create a financial model that will assess certain investment needs for the purpose of moving persons experiencing homelessness into permanent housing. The bill would provide that the obligation to conduct the analysis is fulfilled if a technical assistance provider from HUD conducts the analysis on behalf of the council and would require the council to work with the technical assistance provider to complete the analysis. The bill would authorize local governments to collaborate with the coordinating council or other entity conducting the analysis upon an appropriation by the Legislature to cover costs of the collaboration or upon provision of technical assistance by HUD. The bill would require the council to report on the analysis to specified committees of the Legislature by July 31, 2022. The bill would require a state department or agency with a member on the coordinating council to assist in data collection for the analysis by responding to data requests within 180 days, as specified.
Existing law classifies controlled substances into 5 schedules and places the greatest restrictions and penalties on the use of those substances placed in Schedule I. Existing law classifies the drug fentanyl in Schedule II. Existing law prohibits a person from possessing for sale or purchasing for purposes of sale, specified controlled substances, including fentanyl, and provides for imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years for a violation of this provision. Existing law also imposes an additional term, and authorizes a trial court to impose a specified fine, upon a person who is convicted of a violation of, or of a conspiracy to violate, specified provisions of law with respect to a substance containing heroin, cocaine base, and cocaine, if the substance exceeds a specified weight. This bill would impose that additional term upon, and authorize a fine against, a defendant who violates those laws with respect to a substance containing fentanyl. By increasing the penalty for a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
