(1) Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and requires the Energy Commission to nominate, and the Governor to appoint, an attorney admitted to the practice of law to serve as a public advisor to the Energy Commission, as specified. This bill would eliminate the requirement that the public advisor be an attorney. (2) Existing law provides for the establishment of an Independent System Operator, referred to as the ISO, as an incorporated nonprofit public benefit corporation. The ISO is required to ensure efficient use and reliable operation of the transmission grid consistent with achieving certain planning and operating criteria. Existing law establishes the Electricity Oversight Board to, among other duties, oversee the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange. This bill would abolish the Electricity Oversight Board and would make various conforming changes. (3) Existing law establishes a Power Exchange as a nonprofit public benefit corporation to provide an efficient competitive auction, open on a nondiscriminatory basis to all suppliers of electricity, that meets the loads of all of its customers at efficient prices. This bill would abolish the Power Exchange and would make various conforming changes. (4) Existing law, the Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979, requires the Energy Commission to provide grants and loans to local governments and public institutions to maximize energy use savings, expand installation of energy storage systems, and expand the availability of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Existing law creates various continuously appropriated accounts for purposes of the act. Existing law repeals the act on January 1, 2028. This bill would, instead, repeal the Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979 on January 1, 2038. By extending the operation of those continuously appropriated accounts, the bill would make an appropriation. (5) Existing law requires the Energy Commission, on or before March 1, to annually publish on its internet website and report to the budget and relevant policy committees of the Legislature specific information about specified clean energy programs, including the Equitable Building Decarbonization Program. This bill would expand that reporting requirement to also include additional information about the Equitable Building Decarbonization Program, including its progress, status, budget, and impacts, as provided. (6) Existing law requires the PUC to continue the Family Electric Rate Assistance program (FERA) to provide a discount to residential customers of the state's 3 largest electrical corporations consisting of households with total household annual gross income levels between 200% and 250% of the federal poverty guideline level. Existing law requires the PUC, on or before March 1 of each year, to require the state's 3 largest electrical corporations to report on their efforts to enroll customers in the FERA program and requires the PUC to review those reports on or before June 1 of each year. This bill would, instead, require the PUC, on or before May 1 of each year, to require the state's 3 largest electrical corporations to report on their efforts to enroll customers in the FERA program and require the PUC to review those reports on or before December 1 of each year. (7) Existing law defines an "electrical cooperative" to mean any private corporation or association organized for the purposes of transmitting or distributing electricity exclusively to its stockholders or members at cost. Existing law specifies that every electrical cooperative is subject to the Public Utilities Act, except as specified. This bill would exempt an electrical cooperative from any provision of the Public Utilities Act that becomes effective after January 1, 2027, that does not expressly provide that it applies to an electrical cooperative. (8) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act, or of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC, is a crime. Because certain provisions of this bill would be part of the act, and a violation of a PUC action implementing its requirements 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law, the State Aeronautics Act, governs various matters relative to aviation in the state, and authorizes the Department of Transportation to adopt, administer, and enforce rules and regulations for the administration of the act. This bill, the Advanced Air Mobility Infrastructure Act, would require the department, in coordination with specified agencies, to include advanced air mobility, as defined, in the next update to the California Transportation Plan prepared after January 1, 2027, and to establish a statewide working group to facilitate ongoing collaboration to explore California's role as a leader in the development and implementation of advanced air mobility, as specified. The bill would prohibit its provisions from being construed to (1) interfere with or suspend the authority of the Federal Aviation Administration or any other federal department or agency, or state zoning laws or regulations, as specified, or (2) limit or interfere with the jurisdiction, authority, rights, or responsibilities of any airport sponsor or operator, as specified.
Existing law, the Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District Act, establishes the Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District governed by, and under the control of, 8 trustees. The act requires that 7 of the trustees are the 7 members of the City Council of the City of Vallejo and the 8th member-at-large trustee is appointed by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Solano, as specified. The act prescribes the compensation for each trustee or alternate, including that each trustee of the district who is a member of the City Council of the City of Vallejo receives $100 per month for their services as a trustee of the board and may receive their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties as trustee, as provided. Under existing law, the member-at-large trustee or alternate receives $100 for each district meeting attended, as provided, and the trustee or alternate is prohibited from being compensated for more than 3 meetings, or $300, in any calendar month. Existing law requires certain legislative bodies to prepare annually a list of, among other things, all appointive terms that will expire during the next calendar year, known as the Local Appointments List, and prescribes rules for filling unscheduled vacancies of boards, commissions, or committees for which the legislative body has the appointing power. This bill would revise the membership and size of the governing board of the district, as specified. The bill would repeal the payment for trustees who are members of the city council described above and would instead apply the above-described at-large trustee or alternate payment and prohibition to all trustees, among other changes. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on the City Council of the City of Vallejo, the Board of Supervisors of the County of Solano, and the remaining members of the Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District regarding the appointment of trustees and alternates, this bill would constitute a state-mandated local program. This bill would apply the provisions regarding the Local Appointments List and prescribed rules described above to the public members of the governing board of the district. 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 provides that everyone is responsible not only for the result of their willful acts but also for an injury occasioned to another by their want of ordinary care or skill in the management of their property or person. This bill would, until January 1, 2035, make a social media platform, as defined, liable for specified damages if the social media platform fails to exercise ordinary care or skill by causing injury to a child.
(1) Existing law requires a certificated employee of a school district of any type or class or of a county superintendent of schools, with an average daily attendance of 250 or more, who completes 2 consecutive years and is reelected for the next succeeding school year to a position requiring certification, to become and be classified as a permanent employee of the school district or county superintendent. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district of any type or class having an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils to classify as a permanent employee of the district any employee 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. If that classification is not made, existing law prohibits the employee from attaining permanent status and instead authorizes the employee to be reelected from year to year thereafter without becoming a permanent employee until a change in classification is made. Existing law further provides for the calculation of permanent status upon the unionization, unification, uniting, or consolidation of one or more school districts having different average daily attendances, as specified. This bill instead would require that a certificated employee of a school district of any type or class or of a county superintendent of schools, regardless of the average daily attendance of the school district or county superintendent of schools, who completes 2 consecutive years and is reelected to become and be classified as a permanent employee. The bill would delete the provisions specifying the calculation of permanent status upon the unionization, unification, uniting, or consolidation of one or more school districts having different average daily attendances. (2) Existing law requires a certificated employee who has served in 2 or more school districts, each having an average daily attendance of 250 or more pupils and governed by identical personnel, as specified, for a total of 2 complete consecutive school years, or who has served upon being elected for the 3rd consecutive school year in either district, to, at the commencement of that year, be classified as a permanent employee of the last district in which they were employed prior to election for the 3rd year. Existing law also requires that a certificated employee who has served in a school district having an average daily attendance of 250 or more pupils for 2 complete consecutive school years, upon being elected for a 3rd consecutive school year in a school district having an average daily attendance of 250 or more pupils and governed by a board of identical personnel as the first district, as specified, to, at the commencement of that 3rd year, be classified as a permanent employee of the last district in which they were employed before election for the 3rd year. This bill would delete the requirement that both school districts have an average daily attendance of 250 or more pupils, thereby applying these provisions to the certificated employees of all school districts, regardless of their average daily attendance. (3) Existing law requires that a person employed in an administrative or supervisory position requiring certification qualifications in a school district having an average daily attendance of 250 or more pupils, who completes the probationary period, including any time served as a classroom teacher, in the same district to be classified as and become a permanent employee as a classroom teacher. In a school district having an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils, existing law authorizes that classification. This bill would require a person employed in an administrative or supervisory position requiring certification qualifications who completes the probationary period, including any time served as a classroom teacher, in the same district, regardless of the average daily attendance of the school district, to be classified as and become a permanent employee as a classroom teacher. (4) Existing law authorizes a certificated employee of a school district of any type or class having an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils to be offered a continuing contract to cover a period longer than one year but not to exceed 4 years. This bill would repeal this provision. (5) Existing law authorizes the establishment of regional occupational centers or programs to provide career technical education and technical training to students. Existing law requires instruction in those centers or programs to only be given by a qualified teacher holding a certificate, as provided, but prohibits service by a person as an instructor in classes conducted at regional occupational centers or programs from being included in computing the service required as a prerequisite to attainment of, or eligibility to, classification as a permanent employee of a school district, except, commencing July 1, 2025, service by a person as an instructor in classes conducted at a regional occupational center or program operated by a single school district, as provided. This bill, commencing July 1, 2027, would instead require service by a person as an instructor in classes conducted at any regional occupational centers or programs to be included in computing the service required as a prerequisite to attainment of, or eligibility to, classification as a permanent employee of the employing school district or county office of education. (6) Existing law authorizes a first- or 2nd-year probationary employee of a school district to be dismissed during the school year for unsatisfactory performance or for cause, pursuant to specified procedures. Existing law specifies that those provisions do not apply to a probationary employee in a school district having an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils and instead authorizes their suspension or dismissal for cause, including for egregious misconduct, pursuant to separate procedures that are applicable to permanent employees of a school district and prohibits their dismissal during the school year for unsatisfactory performance, except as alternatively provided. This bill would revise and recast the suspension and dismissal provisions for probationary employees to eliminate distinctions between the procedures for the suspension or dismissal of a probationary employee based upon the average daily attendance of the school district. The bill would instead apply the existing procedures specific to the dismissal of a probationary employee of a school district with an average daily attendance of 250 or more to all probationary employees of all school districts, regardless of the average daily attendance of the school district. (7) Existing law establishes the California Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers, which authorizes the governing board of a school district and the exclusive representative of the certificated employees in the school district to develop and implement a review program that meets local conditions and conforms to specified principles, including, among others, that a teacher participant is required to be a permanent employee in a school district with 250 or greater units of average daily attendance, or a permanent or probationary employee in a school district with fewer than 250 units of average daily attendance. Existing law requires that the consulting teacher be a permanent employee, or in a school district with an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils, a credentialed classroom teacher who has completed at least 3 consecutive school years as an employee of the school district in a position requiring certification qualifications. This bill would instead require participant teachers and consulting teachers to be permanent employees only, regardless of the average daily attendance of the school district. (8) This bill also would delete obsolete provisions, update references, and make conforming and nonsubstantive changes.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, including emergency or nonemergency medical or nonmedical transportation services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under this bill, commencing on July 1, 2027, and subject to an appropriation, Medi-Cal fee-for-service reimbursement for nonemergency ambulance transportation services, as defined, would be in an amount equal to 80% of the amount set forth in the federal Medicare ambulance fee schedule for the corresponding level of service, adjusted by the Geographic Practice Cost Index, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish a Medi-Cal managed care directed payment program for nonemergency ambulance transportation services, with the reimbursement rates set in an amount equal to at least the amount set forth under fee-for-service reimbursement. The bill would require the department to maximize federal financial participation in implementing the above-described provisions to the extent allowable. To the extent that federal financial participation is unavailable, the bill would require the department to implement the provisions using state funds, as specified. Under the bill, whenever the medical necessity of nonemergency ambulance transportation services needs to be certified for purposes of Medi-Cal coverage, either a physician or a nonphysician authorized under certain federal regulations would be permitted to complete that certification, as specified. The bill would require the department to revise and update the Medi-Cal provider manual or any guidance, as applicable, to implement this provision. Existing Medi-Cal regulations require that records of medical transportation providers include, among other information, odometer readings at each pickup and delivery location. Under this bill, for purposes of documenting mileage in their records under the Medi-Cal program, medical transportation providers would be authorized to utilize vehicle Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking, digital mapping software or applications, or another reasonable mechanism identified by the department, as specified, in addition to the above-described odometer readings. The bill would require the department to revise and update any corresponding regulations, including the above-described provision.
(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, generally regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of solid waste. The act establishes stewardship programs for various products, including, among others, carpet. The act includes a product stewardship for carpet program and a successor carpet producer responsibility program, and requires the product stewardship for carpet program to become inoperative upon the completion of certain conditions related to the implementation of the successor carpet producer responsibility program. Existing law, the product stewardship for carpet program, requires a manufacturer of carpets sold in this state, individually or through a carpet stewardship organization, to submit a carpet stewardship plan to the department, which is required to include specified elements, including achieving specified carpet recycling rates and a funding mechanism that provides sufficient funding to carry out the plan. Existing law authorizes the department to administratively impose a civil penalty of $10,000 per day on any person in violation of the program or $25,000 per day if the violation is intentional, knowing, or negligent, as specified. This bill would instead authorize the department to impose administrative, rather than civil, penalties in those amounts, and to impose an administrative penalty of $25,000 per day if the violation is intentional or knowing. Existing law requires a carpet stewardship organization to include nonvoting board members with representation from, among others, a retailer that sells carpet. This bill would instead require the stewardship organization to create a governing board for the stewardship program, with 14 voting members, as specified. Existing law requires a manufacturer of carpets sold in this state, individually or through a carpet stewardship organization, to submit to the department an annual report describing its activities to achieve the purposes of the program, as provided. Existing law authorizes a carpet stewardship organization to award grants and subsidies to incentivize the recycling of carpet materials that have the highest recyclability. This bill would require a carpet stewardship organization to include in its annual report specified information related to the grants and subsidies provided pursuant to the program, as specified. (2) Existing law, the successor carpet producer responsibility program, requires producers of covered products to form and join a single producer responsibility organization (PRO) for the collection and recycling of a covered product. Existing law defines "PRO" to include, among others, the carpet stewardship organization, as defined by the product stewardship for carpet program. Existing law defines a "covered product" as carpet, as defined, and requires the PRO to develop a producer responsibility plan for the collection, transportation, recycling, and the safe and proper management of covered products in the state. This bill would remove the carpet stewardship organization from the definition of PRO. The bill would redefine "carpet" to have the same definition used by the product stewardship for carpet program. Existing law requires an assessment to be added to the price of all covered products sold in the state to fund the program. Existing law also requires the costs of the program to be borne by producers of covered products, as provided. This bill would eliminate the requirement for the costs of the program to be borne by producers of covered products. Existing law requires, no later than January 1, 2029, a person who removes a covered product as part of the installation of a covered product to transport, or contract to transport, all of the removed covered product to an approved collection site, as provided. Under existing law, an approved collection site is a solid waste facility that has agreed to be a collection site for the PRO. This bill would exempt a covered product from this transport requirement if certain conditions are met, including that it is returned to the producer. The bill would recast approved collection sites and would expand them to include certain carpet recycling centers, municipal facilities, and retailers. Existing law requires the governing board of a PRO to include 4 nonvoting members, including, but not limited to, a nonvoting member representing a nonprofit organization established to promote a circular economy and to address environmental issues. Existing law requires the PRO to submit an annual report to the department on or before July 1 of each year, as provided. Existing law requires a producer to publish on its internet website, for each of its covered products, an environmental product declaration that identifies a covered product's components, as provided. This bill would instead require the PRO to create a governing board for the program, with 14 voting members, as specified. The bill would require the annual report to be submitted on or before September 1 of each year, instead of July 1 of each year. The bill would instead require a producer to publish on its internet website, for each of its covered products, the components that constitute more than 1% of the product's weight and any component that is a hazardous chemical, as specified. Existing law requires the PRO to submit to the department an annual report, as specified, and to make the report publicly available on the PRO's internet website. Existing law requires the PRO to provide annual grants to apprenticeship programs for training carpet installers in proper carpet recycling techniques, as provided. This bill would require the PRO to include in its annual report specified information related to the grants and incentive payments provided pursuant to the program, as specified. Existing law requires a producer responsibility plan, among other things, to explain how producers will use standardized stamping or some other means to provide a visual mark on the back of a covered product that is a synthetic material to allow expeditious sorting of the carpet, as provided. This bill would instead require a producer responsibility plan to explain how producers will use standardized stamping or some other means to provide a visual mark on the back of a covered product that provides the name of the producer, the date of manufacture, and a listing of the types of face fibers and backing materials contained in the product. Existing law requires a producer responsibility plan to describe how the PRO will provide free dropoff and convenient collection system for covered products. This bill would require a producer responsibility plan to instead provide the ability for people to drop off postconsumer carpet, free of charge, at collection sites that are open according to a prescribed schedule. Existing law requires a producer responsibility plan to provide annual grants to apprenticeship programs, as provided. This bill would require a producer responsibility plan to additionally allocate $2,000,000 annually to apprenticeship programs operated by labor organizations, as provided. Existing law requires the department to review a submitted producer responsibility plan and to approve or disapprove the producer responsibility plan, as provided. Existing law requires, if the PRO subsequently submits a revised producer responsibility plan and the department disapproves the revised plan, the PRO to revise and resubmit the revised plan consistent with the department's direction. This bill would authorize, rather than require, the PRO to resubmit one additional revised producer responsibility plan if the initial revised plan is disapproved and would delete the requirement for the revised plan to be consistent with the department's direction. Existing law requires a producer responsibility plan in effect as of January 1, 2025, to continue in effect, as provided, until it expires or is revoked, as provided. This bill would repeal this provision. Existing law requires a producer responsibility plan to prioritize expenditure of assessments collected pursuant to the product stewardship for carpet program on activities to carry out the producer responsibility plan, including grants for apprenticeship programs. This bill would instead require a producer responsibility plan to require the expenditure of assessments collected pursuant to the carpet producer responsibility program to be used for activities that support the implementation of the producer responsibility plan, including grants for apprenticeship programs. Existing law authorizes the department to establish, review, and adjust performance standards, which may include, but are not limited to, collection, reduction in disposal, and maximizing recycling. Existing law requires the producer responsibility plan to meet any performance standards published by the department. Existing law requires the department to use sales data to establish the performance standard for recycling carpet, as specified. This bill would eliminate the requirement for the department to use sales data to establish the performance standard for recycling carpet. Existing law authorizes the department to determine the PRO ineligible to act as the PRO if the PRO violates the provisions of the carpet producer responsibility program 3 or more times. This bill would require the above-described violations to be knowing or intentional violations. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations to implement the program with an effective date no earlier than December 31, 2026. This bill would instead require the department to adopt the regulations no later than January 1, 2029.
Existing law requires the California State University, and requests the University of California, to require each campus in their respective systems to grant students the right to reenroll in their baccalaureate degree program after withdrawing or stopping out, if the student was in good academic standing with the university. Existing law establishes uniform student residency requirements for purposes of ascertaining the amount of tuition and fees to be paid by students of public postsecondary educational institutions. Existing law entitles a student to resident classification for the purpose of determining tuition and fees if the student is a member, or a natural or adopted child, stepchild, or spouse who is a dependent of a member, of the Armed Forces of the United States stationed in the state on active duty, except as specified. Existing law prohibits a student who is attending, or has been admitted to, a public postsecondary educational institution from losing their resident classification if they are continuously enrolled at that institution and a dependent of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, even if that member is (1) thereafter transferred on military orders to a place outside this state where the member continues to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States, or (2) thereafter retired as an active member of the Armed Forces of the United States. This bill would extend the prohibition against losing resident classification to those same student dependents of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States who are granted the right to reenroll even if the member of the Armed Forces has been transferred out of state or has retired from active duty.
Existing law requires the governing board of a school district that maintains one or more schools containing any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to establish a policy regarding participation in extracurricular and cocurricular activities by pupils in those grades as a condition for the receipt of specified school funding allocations. This bill, commencing with the 2027–28 school year, would prohibit a school district, county office of education, or charter school from excluding a pupil from participating in any extracurricular activity, including sports and clubs, due to the pupil not having or using addictive feeds, as defined. Existing law provides that parents and guardians of children enrolled in public schools have the right and should have the opportunity, as mutually supportive and respectful partners in the education of their children within the public schools, to be informed by the school, and to participate in the education of their children, as specified, including by, among other things, to be notified on a timely basis if their child is absent from school without permission. This bill, commencing with the 2027–28 school year, would prohibit a school district, county office of education, or charter school from using addictive feeds, as defined, as the only means of contacting pupils or pupils' parents or guardians.
Existing law grants a defendant the right to counsel in a noncapital case, and requires a defendant to be represented by counsel in a capital case. Existing law requires specified assigned counsel to receive a reasonable sum for compensation and for necessary expenses, as determined by the court, to be paid out of the general fund of the county. This bill would, commencing with contracts or memoranda of understanding for indigent defense services entered into after January 1, 2028, revise the process and require a county or court, when contracting for the provision or administration of indigent defense services, to include certain elements in the contract or other agreement for indigent services, as specified. The bill would prohibit a county or court from entering into flat fee contracts, as defined, or per case compensation contracts in cases involving the death penalty or the potential sentence of life without the possibility of parole. The bill would require the structure of the contract for indigent defense services to ensure that attorneys have the resources and time necessary to provide competent legal representation. The bill would require counties that contract with a private entity or law firm to provide indigent defense services to provide all those contracts to the Office of the State Public Defender every 2 years. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
Existing law requires a licensed health care practitioner who provides prenatal, postpartum, or interpregnancy care for a patient to offer to screen or appropriately screen a mother for maternal mental health conditions. For purposes of that requirement, existing law defines "maternal mental health condition" to mean a mental health condition that occurs during pregnancy, the postpartum period, or interpregnancy, as specified. This bill would limit the definition of "maternal mental health condition" to a mental health condition that occurs during the pregnancy or the postpartum period, as specified. The bill would authorize a licensed health care practitioner to satisfy the above-described requirement for maternal mental health screening by referring the patient or client to another licensed health care practitioner who is authorized to screen, evaluate, diagnose, and treat the patient or client for a maternal mental health condition. The bill would require a licensed health care practitioner who provides prenatal, postpartum, or perinatal care for a patient or client who screens positive for a maternal mental health condition to ensure that the patient or client receives appropriate clinical evaluation, and, if the practitioner diagnoses a patient or client with a maternal mental health condition, offer or provide treatment to the patient or client, consistent with the provider's scope of practice. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan or health insurer to develop a maternal mental health program designed to promote quality and cost-effective outcomes. Existing law requires the program to, among other things, conduct specified maternal mental health screenings during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Existing law requires the program guidelines and criteria to be provided to relevant medical providers, including all contracting obstetric providers. Existing law encourages health care service plans and health insurers to, among other things, improve screening, treatment, and referral to maternal mental health services. For purposes of these provisions, existing law defines "maternal mental health" to mean a mental health condition that occurs during pregnancy or during the postpartum period, as specified. This bill would modify the term to "maternal mental health condition" and define it as a mental health condition that occurs during the pregnancy or the postpartum period, as defined by the most recent clinical guidelines adopted by the American College of Obstetricians, as specified. The bill would instead require the above-described maternal mental health program to include maternal mental health screening to be conducted during pregnancy and one or more mental health screenings to be conducted during the postpartum period in accordance with applicable clinical guidelines and the standards of care appropriate to the provider's scope of practice, as specified. The bill would require program guidelines and criteria to be provided to relevant licensed health care practitioners, as defined, including all contracting obstetric providers. The bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to provide case management or care coordination for an enrollee or insured who screens positive for a maternal mental health condition in accordance with the plan's or insurer's existing case management and care coordination programs. The bill would encourage health care service plans and health insurers to improve treatment, including through the use of outpatient prescription drugs approved for maternal mental health by the United States Food and Drug Administration. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA provides that when an EIR has been prepared for a project, no subsequent or supplemental EIR shall be required by a lead agency or responsible agency, unless specified events occur. This bill would require a lead agency, before issuing the initial discretionary approval for a large-volume bulk coal facility, defined as a facility with a design capacity exceeding 5,000,000 short tons per year of coal handling, storage, or export to prepare or cause to be prepared an EIR. The bill would prohibit a lead agency, air pollution control district, or air quality management district from relying on an existing EIR to issue a discretionary approval for, or to, a large-volume bulk coal facility, and would require a subsequent or new EIR to be prepared, if any of a list of specified conditions are met, including that there is an increase in design capacity of a project that did not previously meet the definition of a large-volume bulk coal facility, as provided; there is a change in the type of coal handled, stored, or exported, or the EIR did not explicitly address the type of coal handled, stored, or exported; or there is a significant increase in the quantity of coal handled, stored, or exported, or the EIR did not explicitly disclose the quantity of coal to be handled, stored, or exported. The bill would require an EIR or subsequent EIR prepared pursuant to these provisions to, among other things, evaluate the large-volume bulk coal facility's potential to generate PM2.5 and PM10 fugitive dust emissions during construction and operations, and to require mitigation measures, as provided. The bill would apply these provisions to a discretionary approval that is pending or made after June 4, 2026, as specified. Because the bill would create new duties for a lead agency, 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.
