(1) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law establishes the California Board of Accountancy, which is within the Department of Consumer Affairs, and requires the board to license and regulate accountants in this state. This bill would require the board to prescribe rules relating to the requirements established in this bill for all licensees who plan, direct, or approve any financial or compliance audit report on school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, as described in (6) below. (2) Existing law requires the Controller, in consultation with the Department of Finance and the State Department of Education, to develop a plan to review and report on financial and compliance audits, and with representatives of other entities, to recommend the statements and other information to be included in the audit reports filed with the state by local educational agencies, and to propose the content of an audit guide. This bill would require the Education Audits Appeal Panel to include in the audit guide, Standards and Procedures for Audits of California K–12 Local Educational Agencies, certain requirements on school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, and certified public accountants and public accountants who audit local educational agencies relating to attendance accounting documentation for independent study, including requiring these certified public accountants and public accountants to analyze enrollment at a charter school classified as a nonclassroom-based charter school each fiscal year, and to report to the State Department of Education any instance where enrollment increases or decreases by more than 5% at the charter school during any month over the prior month. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law, whenever in the Education Code the power to contract is invested in the governing board of a school district or any member thereof, authorizes that power, by a majority vote of the governing board, to be delegated to its district superintendent, or to any persons the district superintendent may designate, or if there is no district superintendent, to any other officer or employee of the district that the governing board may designate, as specified. Existing law similarly authorizes the designation of school district officers or employees to exercise the authority to purchase supplies, materials, apparatus, equipment, and services on behalf of the district. In the event of malfeasance in office, existing law requires the school district officer or employee invested by the governing board with the power to contract to be personally liable for any and all moneys of the school district paid out as a result of the malfeasance. This bill would add to existing law similar provisions relating to charter school governing bodies and charter school officials that may be designated by those governing bodies in these instances. (4) Existing law establishes the State Department of Education, under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and assigns to it numerous duties relating to the governance and financing of the public elementary and secondary schools of this state. This bill would establish the Office of Inspector General in the department. The bill would provide for the appointment of the Inspector General by the Governor, subject to confirmation by a vote of the majority of the membership of the Senate. The bill would require the Inspector General to conduct and supervise audits and investigations relating to the programs and operations of the department, to provide leadership and coordination and recommend policies to prevent and detect fraud and abuse in programs and operations of the department, and to provide a means for keeping the Superintendent and the Legislature fully and currently informed about problems and deficiencies relating to the administration of the programs and operations of the department and the necessity for and progress of corrective actions that the Inspector General deems to be appropriate. (5) Existing law, with specified exceptions, authorizes school districts to operate programs of multitrack year-round scheduling at one or more schools within the district. This bill, beginning in the 2022–23 school year, would prohibit a school district or charter school from operating a program of multitrack year-round scheduling unless a multitrack calendar is authorized by the State Board of Education due to impacted facilities, as specified. (6) Existing law requires county superintendents of schools to provide for an audit of all funds under their jurisdiction and control, and requires the governing boards of each local educational agency to either provide for an audit of the books and accounts of the agency or make arrangements with county superintendents of schools to provide for that auditing. This bill, commencing with the 2022–23 fiscal year Guide for Annual Audits of K–12 Local Education Agencies and State Compliance Reporting, would require the Controller to include instructions requiring specified supplemental information and schedules in audit report components for charter school audits. The bill would require the instructions to ensure that all school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools are audited annually. The bill would also require specified training to be provided, pursuant to regulations adopted, on or before January 1, 2023, by the California Board of Accountancy, in consultation with other entities as prescribed, to certified public accountants and public accountants who audit local educational agencies, including charter schools. The bill would also require the board, in consultation with the prescribed entities, to adopt regulations, on or before January 1, 2023, providing for peer review of certified public accountants and public accountants, as specified. (7) Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, among other duties, to establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law requires a county superintendent of schools to monitor and review school district certificated employee assignment practices, as provided. Existing law requires a county superintendent of schools to submit an annual report to the commission and the State Department of Education summarizing the results of all assignment monitoring and reviews. Existing law requires the commission to administer a State Assignment Accountability System to provide local educational agencies with a data system for assignment monitoring. Existing law requires the commission to annually use data it receives from the department to produce an initial data file of vacant positions and assignments that do not have a clear match of credential to assignment. Existing law requires a monitoring authority to review and determine any potential misassignments, as defined, reported in and identified through the system for local educational agencies within its authority, as provided. Existing law grants the commission the authority to make a final determination for all potential misassignments. Existing law requires, commencing with the 2020-21 school year, the commission to make annual misassignment and vacant position data publicly available on its internet website. Existing law specifies that, for these purposes, in a charter school, "misassignment" applies only to employees in teaching positions. This bill would delete the provision that limits the application of "misassignment" in charter schools only to employees in teaching positions. To the extent that this provision would create new duties for county superintendents of schools, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. The bill would require teachers of certain courses offered by a local educational agency to hold the certificate, permit, or other document required by the commission for that assignment and be monitored. The bill would require any person who is employed by a vendor providing direct services to pupils at a local educational agency for which certification qualifications are established to hold the certificate, permit, or other document required by the commission for their assignment, or would require supervision of pupils by an appropriate credentialholder, as specified, during services provided by the vendor. The bill would require direct services to pupils provided by the vendor to be standards-aligned curriculum. (8) Existing law establishes a system of financing public elementary and secondary schools in this state. This system includes the apportionment of state funds to local educational agencies based, to a significant degree, on the average daily attendance of pupils as reported to the State Department of Education by those local educational agencies. This bill would require the department to provide a report, including specified data, to the Legislature relating to the possible integration of the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System and the average daily attendance apportionment data system. The bill would authorize the State Board of Education to adopt regulations as it deems appropriate and consistent with these provisions. The bill would also, upon the operative date of the bill, require, as specified, the state board to adopt regulations specifying that the record of daily engagement is no longer required of a charter school day of nonclassroom-based independent study attendance. (9) The Charter Schools Act of 1992 authorizes the establishment, operation, and governance of charter schools. Existing law requires a petition to establish a charter school to include reasonably comprehensive descriptions of certain things, including the manner in which annual, independent financial audits shall be conducted, and the manner in which audit exceptions and deficiencies shall be resolved to the satisfaction of the chartering authority. The bill would require, not later than May 1 of each fiscal year, each chartering authority to provide for an audit of all funds of charter schools authorized by that authority, and would expressly require the governing body of each charter school to either provide for an audit of the books and accounts of the charter school or to make arrangements with the chartering authority to provide for that audit, as specified. The bill would require each chartering authority to certify specified data relating to the verification of the reporting of average daily attendance by nonclassroom-based charter schools. The bill would require the state board, in consultation with the Superintendent, to revise regulations to require charter schools to report periodic and annual financial data in the same manner and on the same form prescribed for school districts. The bill would phase in, from the 2023–24 fiscal year to the 2025–26 fiscal year, inclusive, and based on the average daily attendance of the charter school, the requirement that charter schools report this data in the same manner and on the same form prescribed for school districts. The bill would require the state board to appoint an advisory committee on charter schools that would include representatives from school district superintendents, charter schools, teachers, members of the governing boards of school districts, county superintendents of schools, and the Superintendent. The bill would limit the size of the totality of nonclassroom-based charter schools that a school district may authorize based on the average daily attendance of the school district. The bill would establish the Charter Authorizing Support Team program, which would be implemented only upon an appropriation for its purposes in the annual Budget Act or other statute, to be administered by the County Office Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, as an initiative to expand uniform charter school authorizing and oversight practices. The bill would specify the goals and proposed activities of the program, including the appointment of a 12-member advisory board with designated membership and responsibilities. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to submit to the Governor and the appropriate education policy and budget committees, on or before December 1, 2026, an evaluation of the program. The bill would require charter schools, in addition to complying with existing requirements relating to minimum minutes of instruction, to adhere to designated minimum schoolday requirements in applicable statutes generally relating to school districts. Existing law authorizes a chartering authority to charge for the actual costs of supervisorial oversight of a charter school (A) not to exceed 1% of the revenue of the charter school, or (B) not to exceed 3% of the revenue of the charter school if the charter school is able to obtain substantially rent-free facilities from the chartering authority. The bill would gradually change the costs a chartering authority can charge such that, on and after July 1, 2023, the chartering authority could charge for the actual costs of supervisorial oversight of a charter school (A) not to exceed 3% of the revenue of the charter school, or (B) not to exceed 2% of the revenue of the charter school if the charter school is able to obtain substantially rent-free facilities from the chartering authority. On and after July 1, 2022, the bill would require charter schools to comply with specified requirements relating to the expenditure of public funds for the payment of vendors, and would require the extent of the charter school's compliance with these requirements to be reviewed and reported as part of the annual, independent financial audit that the charter school is required to submit. The bill would revise and recast provisions of the act relating to the reporting of average daily attendance by charter schools, and would distinguish between the reporting of average daily attendance for classroom-based instruction and the reporting of average daily attendance for nonclassroom-based instruction. To the extent that these additions to the act would impose new duties on local educational agencies, they would constitute a state-mandated local program. The bill would also make various conforming changes to the act. (10) Existing law requires community school and independent study average daily attendance to be claimed by school districts, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools only for pupils who are residents of the county in which the apportionment claim is reported, or who are residents of a county immediately adjacent to the county in which the apportionment claim is reported. This bill would delete the provision allowing community school and independent study average daily attendance to be claimed by nonclassroom-based charter schools for residents of a county immediately adjacent to the county in which the apportionment claim is reported. (11) Existing law authorizes the governing boards of school districts and county offices of education to offer independent study to meet the educational needs of pupils when certain requirements are met. Existing law prohibits courses that are required for high school graduation from being offered exclusively through independent study. This bill would recast and revise provisions related to the calculation of average daily attendance for independent study pupils, and extend the scope of those provisions to charter schools. These provisions would become operative on July 1, 2022. (12) Existing law prohibits a school district or county office of education from being eligible to receive apportionments for independent study by pupils unless the school district or county office has adopted written policies, and implemented those policies, in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the Superintendent, as specified. This bill would extend this prohibition to charter schools, and would add requirements to the independent study policies and procedures. The bill would require that an independent study written agreement, with specified content, be agreed to and signed, under penalty of perjury. This provision would impose a state-mandated local program by imposing new duties on local educational agencies and by creating a new crime. The bill would require the course of study, including specific courses, offered through independent study to be annually certified by a school district, county office of education, or charter school governing board or body resolution, to be of the same rigor and educational quality as an equivalent classroom-based course of study, and to be aligned to relevant local and state content standards. These provisions would become operative on July 1, 2022, and to the extent that they impose new duties on local educational agencies, would constitute a state-mandated local program. (13) This bill would make certain provisions relating to independent study, and rendered duplicative by other provisions added by this bill, inoperative on July 1, 2022, and would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2023. (14) The Local Agency Public Construction Act regulates, among other things, the letting of contracts by school district governing boards involving an expenditure of more than $50,000 for specified purposes, including the purchase of equipment, materials, or supplies to be furnished, sold, or leased to the district, services other than construction services, and repairs, including maintenance, as defined. This bill would extend to charter schools the provisions of the act that currently apply to school districts. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on charter schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (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.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing, including requiring elected officials, candidates for elective office, committees formed primarily to support or oppose a candidate for public office or a ballot measure, and other entities to file periodic campaign statements and reports concerning campaign finances. This bill would require a limited liability company that qualifies as a committee or a sponsor of a committee under the act, as specified, to file a statement of members with the Secretary of State. The bill would require the statement of members to include certain information about the limited liability company, including a list of all persons who have a membership interest in the limited liability company of at least 10% or who made a cumulative capital contribution of at least $10,000 to the limited liability company after it qualified as a committee or sponsor of a committee, or within the 2 calendar quarters before it qualified. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this 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. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention activities, as defined, in the state. Existing law requires the department to prioritize, to the extent feasible, projects that are multiyear efforts. Existing law authorizes the department to consider the fire risk of an area, among other things, when awarding local assistance grants. This bill would expand the definition of "fire prevention activities" to include the removal of hazardous dead trees, creation of fuel breaks and community defensible spaces, and creation of ingress and egress corridors. The bill would also require the department to prioritize projects that have a completed, or nearly completed, environmental review document, as provided. The bill would authorize the department to consider and evaluate the wildfire risk within the proposed project area, as well as the socioeconomic characteristics of communities that the various education and mitigation projects are intended to protect, when awarding local assistance grants. Existing law requires the department to provide a report to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature on or before July 1, 2022, that includes a summary of specified findings relating to fire prevention activities and the local assistance grant program. This bill would also require the report to include, but not be limited to, the total amount of acreage treated by an awarded grant recipient, whether the project was awarded funding for vegetation management activities, the number of communities protected by an awarded project, and the total number of population receiving a benefit of the project.
Existing law requires any markings that are used or required to be used on any container of honey to identify the container or describe its contents to be plainly and conspicuously marked, stamped, stenciled, printed, labeled, or branded in letters that are large enough to be readily discernible by any person, upon the top, front, or side of the container, except as provided. Existing law requires a container or subcontainer of extracted honey to be conspicuously marked with one of the United States grades that are established for honey by the United States Department of Agriculture. Existing law requires a container or subcontainer of imported honey to be labeled with the name of the territory or foreign country from which it is imported. Existing law makes a violation of these provisions an infraction. Existing law requires the Secretary of Food and Agriculture and the county agricultural commissioners, their deputies and inspectors, under the supervision and control of the secretary, to enforce these provisions. This bill would require a container or subcontainer of imported honey to be conspicuously labeled with the name of the territory or foreign country from which it is imported in letters or type of like size and character, and on the same panel as, the statement for the United States grade. By expanding the enforcement duties of county agricultural commissioners and because a violation of this requirement would be 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 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.
Existing law provides for 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, which are delivered through various delivery systems, including fee-for-service and managed care. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires the department to implement managed mental health care for Medi-Cal beneficiaries through contracts with mental health plans. Under existing law, mental health plans are responsible for providing specialty mental health services to enrollees, and Medi-Cal managed care plans deliver nonspecialty mental health services to enrollees. Under existing law, emergency services and care, mental health benefits, substance use disorder benefits, and specialty mental health services are covered under the Medi-Cal program. This bill would specify that observation services for a psychiatric emergency medical condition, as defined, are covered under the Medi-Cal program, consistent with coverage under the above provisions and any other applicable law. Under the bill, the scope of coverage of those services would include facility services for observation services provided within the emergency department, or an onsite or offsite observation unit, as defined, of a general acute care hospital to a Medi-Cal beneficiary with a confirmed or suspected psychiatric emergency medical condition. Existing law imposes certain requirements on mental health plans and Medi-Cal managed care plans, including network adequacy standards and a requirement to enter into a memorandum of understanding if the 2 plans serve some of the same Medi-Cal recipients. This bill would require the applicable mental health plan and Medi-Cal managed care plan to notify each other within 24 hours from notification by a general acute care hospital of a Medi-Cal beneficiary with a condition as described above. The bill would require the memorandum of understanding to include a process to coordinate the provision of the above services, as specified. The bill would require disputes between a mental health plan and a Medi-Cal managed care plan, or between mental health plans, regarding the responsibility to pay for the charges for those services to be resolved pursuant to certain processes under existing law. The bill would require that the mental health plan be responsible for observation services for a psychiatric emergency medical condition. If those services are provided to a Medi-Cal fee-for-service beneficiary, the bill would require the department to reimburse the hospital using a specified formula. The bill would also exempt from the observation services billing requirements for emergency psychiatric services a hospital campus with a psychiatric observation unit that has been designated as a crisis stabilization unit by a mental health plan. The bill would, for purposes of meeting certain network adequacy standards under existing law, require agreements between a mental health plan and a general acute care hospital that is not licensed to provide inpatient psychiatric care to include provisions governing the coordination between the hospital and the plan for the provision of the above-described services. The bill would authorize the plan and the hospital to agree to rates of reimbursement other than the above-described fee-for-service rate. The bill would condition implementation of these provisions on any necessary federal approvals being obtained and the availability of federal financial participation. The bill would require the department to seek any necessary federal approvals for implementation of these provisions.
Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to establish a list of reportable communicable and noncommunicable diseases and conditions and to specify the timeliness requirements related to the reporting of each disease and condition, and the mechanisms required for, and the contents to be included in, a report. This bill would require the department to report COVID-19 death data by ZIP Code on its COVID-19 dashboard and to create a uniform dashboard for county health departments to use for the purposes of reporting COVID-19 death data on their public internet websites. The bill would require the data reported to comply with federal and state privacy standards, including the deidentification of protected health information in accordance with the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
The California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access For All Act of 2018, approved by the voters as Proposition 68 at the June 5, 2018, statewide primary direct election, authorizes the issuance of bonds in the amount of $4,100,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance a drought, water, parks, climate, coastal protection, and outdoor access for all program. Article XVI of the California Constitution requires measures authorizing general obligation bonds to specify the single object or work to be funded by the bonds and further requires a bond act to be approved by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and a majority of the voters. This bill would enact the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparation, Flood Protection, Extreme Heat Mitigation, and Workforce Development Bond Act of 2022, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $7,080,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance projects for safe drinking water, wildfire prevention, drought preparation, flood protection, extreme heat mitigation, and workforce development programs. This bill would provide for the submission of these provisions to the voters at the June 7, 2022, statewide primary election. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Existing law authorizes the board of supervisors in each county to designate an entity or entities to assist county jail inmates with applying for a health insurance affordability program, as defined, consistent with federal requirements. Commencing January 1, 2023, this bill would instead require the board of supervisors, in consultation with the county sheriff, to designate an entity or entities to assist both county jail inmates and juvenile inmates with the application process. The bill would make conforming changes to provisions relating to the coordination duties of jail administrators. By creating new duties for local officials, including boards of supervisors and jail administrators, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. No sooner than January 1, 2023, this bill would require the department to develop and implement a mandatory process for county jails and county juvenile facilities to coordinate with Medi-Cal managed care plans and Medi-Cal behavioral health delivery systems to facilitate continued behavioral health treatment in the community for inmates, as specified. The bill would authorize the sharing of health information, records, and other data with and among counties and other specified entities to the extent the department determines necessary to implement these provisions. (2) Existing law establishes 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, including mental health and substance use disorder services, pursuant to a schedule of benefits, and through a fee-for-service or managed care delivery system. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, for individuals 21 years of age and older, a service is "medically necessary" if it is reasonable and necessary to protect life, to prevent significant illness or significant disability, or to alleviate severe pain. Existing law provides that for individuals under 21 years of age, "medically necessary" or "medical necessity" standards are governed by the definition in federal law. This bill would provide that the above-specified medical necessity standards do not preclude coverage for, and reimbursement of, a clinically appropriate and covered mental health or substance use disorder assessment, screening, or treatment service under specified circumstances, including before a provider renders their diagnosis. The bill would provide that the above-described medical necessity criteria for a Medi-Cal beneficiary under 21 years of age is applicable to the Drug Medi-Cal Treatment Program and the Drug Medi-Cal organized delivery system. For the 2022–23 and 2023–24 fiscal years, the bill would require the department to include as part of the Medi-Cal program assumptions and estimates certain information relating to Medi-Cal specialty mental health services, including changes to the department's clinical auditing standards. The bill would require the department to develop, in consultation with specified individuals, including certain Medi-Cal providers, standardized screening tools and statewide transition tools, and to require the use of these tools after those tools have been field tested. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions by various means, including provider bulletins, and, by July 1, 2023, would require the department to promulgate regulations, as necessary, on these provisions. (3) For purposes of the Medi-Cal program, behavioral health services, which encompass specialty mental health services and substance use disorder treatment are provided under the Medi-Cal Specialty Mental Health Services Program, the Drug Medi-Cal Treatment Program, and the Drug Medi-Cal organized delivery system, respectively. Under existing law, specialty mental health services and substance use disorder treatment are funded through certified public expenditures. Existing law requires the department to implement managed mental health care for purposes of delivering specialty mental health services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries through contracts with county mental health plans. Existing law, the Medi-Cal 2020 Demonstration Project Act, requires the department to implement specified components of a Medi-Cal demonstration project, including the Global Payment Program, the Whole Person Care pilot program, the Public Hospital Redesign and Incentives in Medi-Cal (PRIME) program, and the Dental Transformation Initiative, consistent with the Special Terms and Conditions approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Pursuant to existing law, the department has created a multiyear initiative, the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative, for purposes of building upon the outcomes of various Medi-Cal pilots and demonstration projects, including the Medi-Cal 2020 demonstration project. This bill would require the department to establish, implement, and administer the Behavioral Health Quality Improvement Program to assist county mental health plans and counties that administer the Drug Medi-Cal Treatment Program or the Drug Medi-Cal organized delivery system for purposes of preparing those entities for implementation of the behavioral health components included in CalAIM, and would establish in the State Treasury the Behavioral Health Quality Improvement Account to fund those efforts. The bill would require the department to determine the methodology and distribution of funds appropriated to those entities. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions by various means, including provider bulletin, without taking regulatory action, and to enter into contracts that would be exempt from specified provisions of state contracting requirements. The bill would condition the implementation of these provisions to the extent that the department determines that federal financial participation is not jeopardized. For purposes of the CalAIM initiative, commencing January 1, 2022, this bill would require the department to continue to implement the Medi-Cal Specialty Mental Health Services Program and the Drug Medi-Cal organized delivery system, as a component of CalAIM and consistent with the Special Terms and Conditions approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Commencing no sooner than July 1, 2022, the bill would require each Medi-Cal behavioral health delivery system to comply with the behavioral health payment reform provisions approved in the CalAIM Terms and Conditions. As a component of these payment reforms, the bill would require the department to design and implement, at a minimum, an intergovernmental transfer-based reimbursement methodology to replace the use of certified public expenditures for specified claims provided through Medi-Cal behavioral health delivery systems. Commencing no sooner than July 1, 2022, the bill would require the nonfederal share of any payments associated with Medi-Cal behavioral health systems to consist of voluntary intergovernmental transfers of funds provided by eligible governmental agencies or public entities associated with those systems. The bill would require the department to establish and implement prospective reimbursement rate methodologies utilizing past county cost experience for specified covered services provided through Medi-Cal behavioral health delivery systems. Commencing January 1, 2027, the bill would require a county, or counties acting jointly, to provide and administer covered behavioral health Medi-Cal benefits under a single Medi-Cal behavioral health delivery system contract pursuant to the CalAIM Terms and Conditions. Under the GPP, existing law makes designated public hospitals, and any successor or differently named hospital, eligible to receive global payments that are calculated using a value-based point methodology based on the health care that they provide to the uninsured. This bill would allow those designated hospitals, if restructured or reorganized, to continue to participate in the GPP. Commencing January 1, 2021, the bill would authorize the continuation of the GPP, as modified, and as a component of the CalAIM initiative. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal Hospital/Uninsured Care Demonstration Project Act, which revises hospital reimbursement methodologies in order to maximize the use of federal funds consistent with federal Medicaid law and stabilize the distribution of funding for hospitals that provide care to Medi-Cal beneficiaries and uninsured patients. Under the Medi-Cal 2020 demonstration project, existing law establishes prescribed payment methodologies and requirements relating to the Medi-Cal Hospital/Uninsured Care Demonstration Project Act. This bill would generally extend the specified payment methodologies set forth under the Medi-Cal 2020 demonstration project as part of the CalAIM initiative, and would make technical and conforming changes. For the 2020–21 state fiscal year, and subsequent state fiscal years, the bill would modify reimbursement methodologies for designated public hospitals, as prescribed. Existing law requires the department to establish and maintain the County Administrative Cost Control Plan, whereby costs for county administration of the determination of eligibility for benefits under the Medi-Cal program are effectively controlled within the amounts annually appropriated for that administration. Existing law requires this plan to establish standards and performance criteria, including workload, productivity, and support services standards, and requires counties to adhere to these requirements. Existing law imposes various duties on counties relating to Medi-Cal eligibility, such as requiring counties to submit reconciliation files of its Medi-Cal eligible population to the department every 3 months. No later than July 1, 2022, this bill would require the department to issue guidance, in consultation with specified individuals and entities, including the exclusive representative of county eligibility workers, to restart county performance reporting and monitoring processes. During the consultation process, the bill would require the department to perform specified duties, such as reviewing the corrective action processes relating to prescribed provisions, including those on the County Administrative Cost Control Plan. Commencing with the 2017–18 state fiscal year, existing law requires the department, in consultation with the designated public hospital systems and applicable Medi-Cal managed care plans, to establish a program under which a designated public hospital system may earn performance-based quality incentive payments from Medi-Cal managed care plans, as specified, and requires payments to be earned by each designated public hospital system based on its performance in achieving identified targets for quality of care. Under existing law, these payments are federally and nonfederally funded, and the nonfederal share may consist of voluntary intergovernmental transfers of funds that the department, in its discretion, may deposit the transfer in the Medi-Cal Inpatient Payment Adjustment Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Existing law requires the department to establish uniform performance measures and parameters for the designated public hospital systems to select the applicable measures and requires these performance measures to advance at least one goal identified in the state's Medicaid quality strategy. Commencing with the 2020–21 state fiscal year, this bill would additionally require the department to consult with district and municipal hospitals, would expand the performance-based quality incentive payments to district and municipal hospitals, and would make various conforming changes relating to this expansion. By increasing the intergovernmental transfers of funds that the department may deposit in the Medi-Cal Inpatient Payment Adjustment Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. Through and until June 30, 2020, the bill would provide that specified performance measures shall not duplicate measures utilized in the PRIME program. Commencing with the 2020–21 state fiscal year, this bill would require specified payments to be earned by a district and municipal public hospital based on its performance in achieving identified targets for quality of care, would require the department to establish a class of district or municipal public hospitals, and would impose specified requirements relating to the implementation of these payments to district and municipal public hospitals. The bill would cease the implementation of the expanded quality incentive payments if the implementation is no longer financially and programmatically supportive of the Medi-Cal program, as determined pursuant to prescribed factors. (4) The bill would make its provisions severable and would make other legislative findings and declarations. (5) 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 authorizes and regulates the formation and operation of various corporations, including a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation. Existing law , the Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation Law, provides that subject to any other provision of law of this state applying to the particular class of corporation or line of activity, a corporation may be formed as a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation for any lawful purpose, except when a corporation's assets are irrevocably dedicated to charitable, religious, or public purposes and which as a matter of law or according to its articles or bylaws are required, upon dissolution, to distribute its assets to a person carrying on a charitable, religious, or public purpose. Existing law creates in the Department of Industrial Relations, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. Under existing law, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement is under the direction of the Labor Commissioner, who is authorized to investigate employee complaints and charged with the enforcement of labor laws. This bill would require the Labor Commissioner to organize, and members to maintain, a corporation under the Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation Law named the "Federation of California Worker Cooperatives" (federation) or a substantially similar name. The bill would require the federation to function as a membership organization for worker cooperatives. This bill would require the Governor to appoint the initial board of directors, to serve for one year or until the first regular meeting of the members, whichever comes later. This bill would provide that the federation is a nonpublic entity, does not constitute a public agency or state employer for any purpose, and that once the Labor Commissioner organizes the federation as a nonprofit mutual benefit corporation and the Governor chooses the first board of directors, there shall be no further involvement in the operation of the federation by any governmental entity. This bill would require the members in the federation to be restricted to legal entities with certain characteristics, including, but not limited to, uniform hiring and ownership eligibility criteria and for whom a majority of the work is performed by worker-owners, at least 51% of the workers are worker-owners, and a majority of the voting ownership interest is held by worker-owners. The bill would also require the federation to set labor policies of the members and provide all management to the members. The bill would provide that the federation is the employer of the management professionals and each member's workers and worker-owners for purposes of federal law and that the federation and the member are both employers of the workers and worker-owners for purposes of state law.
Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality and prescribe waste discharge requirements in accordance with the federal national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit program established by the federal Clean Water Act and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. Existing law requires each regional board to formulate and adopt water quality control plans for all areas within the region, as provided. Existing law authorizes the imposition of civil penalties for violations of certain waste discharge requirements and requires that penalties imposed pursuant to these provisions be deposited into the Waste Discharge Permit Fund, to be expended by the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified purposes related to water quality. For violations of certain other waste discharge requirements, including the violation of a waste discharge requirement effluent limitation, existing law imposes specified civil penalties, the proceeds of which are deposited into the continuously appropriated State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account, which is established in the State Water Quality Control Fund. This bill would require, by January 1, 2023, the state board and regional boards to prioritize enforcement of all water quality standard violations that are causing or contributing to an exceedance of a water quality standard in a surface water of the state. The bill would require the state board and regional boards, by January 1, 2025, to evaluate impaired state surface waters and report to the Legislature a plan to bring all water segments into attainment by January 1, 2050. The bill would require the state board and regional boards to update the report with a progress summary to the Legislature every 5 years. The bill would create the Waterway Recovery Account in the Waste Discharge Permit Fund and would make moneys in the Waterway Recovery Account available for the state board to expend, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to bring impaired water segments into attainment in accordance with the plan. The bill would require penalties obtained pursuant to the above-described prioritized enforcement of water quality standards to be deposited into the Waterway Recovery Account. The bill would require, by January 1, 2026, and subject to a future legislative act, 50% of the annual proceeds of the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account to be annually transferred to the Waterway Recovery Account. The bill would require the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to expend 5% of the annual proceeds of the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account to fund a specified state board program.
Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue to a person a driver's license as applied for when the department determines that the applicant is lawfully entitled to a license. Existing law requires the license to state specified information, including the true name, age, and mailing address of the licensee and a brief description and engraved picture or photograph of the licensee for the purpose of identification. Existing law authorizes the department to issue an identification card to any person attesting to their true full name, correct age, and other identifying data as certified by the applicant for the identification card. This bill would authorize the department to establish a pilot program to evaluate the use of optional mobile or digital alternatives to driver's licenses and identification cards if specified requirements are met, including that the Department of the California Highway Patrol approve alternative licenses, that the pilot program be completed no later than January 1, 2028, and that all participants receive both a physical and digital driver's license or identification card. The bill would require the department, in developing and implementing the use of digital driver's licenses and identification cards, to ensure the protection of personal information and include security features that protect against unauthorized access to information, as specified. The bill would require that the department limit data exchanged between the department and any electronic device, between the department and the provider of any electronic device, and between any electronic device and the provider of that electronic device, as specified. The bill would prohibit an entity that contracts with the department from using, sharing, selling, or disclosing information obtained as part of the contract except as necessary to satisfy the terms of the contract, as specified. The bill would state that the holder of a digital driver's license or identification card is not required to turn over their electronic device to any other person or entity in order to use the digital driver's license or identification card for identity verification and that turning over an electronic device for the purpose of identity verification does not constitute consent to a search or access to any information other than that which is immediately available on the driver's license or identification card, as specified. The bill would provide that a request for remote access to a digital driver's license or identification card requires the express consent of the holder of the digital driver's license or identification card and shall be limited to the information requested, as specified, and that consent to remote access does not constitute consent to a search, as specified. The bill would state that a participant in the pilot program is not required to use a digital driver's license or identification card rather than the physical version, as specified. The bill would prohibit a person or entity from providing preferential service based on a person's use of a digital driver's license or identification card. The bill would authorize the department to evaluate the use of private industry partners in the conduct of the pilot program, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to include the issuance of Real ID driver's licenses and identification cards in the pilot program upon authorization of the United States Secretary of Homeland Security. The bill would require the department, if it conducts the pilot program, to submit a report to the Legislature, as specified.
Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention activities in the state. Existing law requires the local assistance grant program to establish a robust year-round fire prevention effort in and near fire threatened communities. Exiting law requires that the eligible activities include, among other things, fire prevention activities, as provided. Existing law permits the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to authorize advance payments, not exceeding 25% of the total grant award, from a grant awarded pursuant to the local assistance grant program. Existing law requires the grantee to expend these funds from the advance payment within 6 months of receipt, as provided. Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, through a joint powers agreement pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act, to develop and administer a comprehensive wildfire mitigation program to, among other things, encourage cost-effective structure hardening and retrofitting to create fire-resistant homes, businesses, and public buildings. This bill would establish the California Fire Safe Council in the Natural Resources Agency consisting of 11 members, as specified. The bill would require the council to identify programs administered by public agencies to address and minimize the risks of wildfire and to coordinate the implementation of those programs, to identify public and private programs that may be leveraged to facilitate structure-hardening and community resilience to minimize the impacts of wildfire to habitable structures, to conduct public outreach effects to regional and local wildfire mitigation groups, and to make recommendations to the Legislature on how the programs identified by the council can be coordinated to increase the effectiveness of those programs. The bill would require the Natural Resources Agency to post on its internet website the membership of the council and recommendations made by the council. This bill would state that, upon appropriation by the Legislature, an amount not to exceed $7,000,000 shall be available from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the Natural Resources Agency for purposes of the bill.
