Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities. Existing law requires the office of the commission to be in the City and County of San Francisco. This bill would require the commission to have offices outside of San Francisco, including in Los Angeles and Sacramento. The bill would require the staff of the commission to be allocated among those locations in a way that meets the economic and efficiency requirements of the state, as determined by the Department of Finance.
Existing law requires the attending physician of a resident in a skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility that prescribes or orders a medical intervention of a resident that requires the informed consent of a patient who lacks the capacity to provide that consent, as specified, to inform the skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility. Existing law requires the facility to conduct an interdisciplinary team review of the prescribed medical intervention prior to the administration of the medical intervention, subject to specified proceedings. Existing law authorizes a medical intervention prior to the facility convening an interdisciplinary team review in the case of an emergency, under specified circumstances. Existing law requires the team to meet within one week of the emergency for an evaluation of the medical intervention if the emergency results in the application of physical or chemical restraints. Existing law imposes civil penalties for a violation of these provisions. This bill would expand the above-described process, as specified, and would impose additional duties on a physician who prescribes a medical intervention under these provisions and on skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities, as defined, under these provisions. Among other things, the bill would require a physician who prescribes a medical intervention to document certain information in the medical record of the resident. The bill would require a skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility to notify the resident of a determination of a physician pursuant to the above within 48 hours of his or her determination, as prescribed. The bill would authorize a patient or representative of the patient, as described, to take certain action in response to a medical intervention. Under circumstances in which an emergency results in the application of physical or chemical restraints, or the administration of antipsychotic medications, the bill would require the interdisciplinary team to meet for an evaluation of the emergency intervention. The bill would impose additional requirements on the administration of antipsychotic medications by a facility, as prescribed, which would include, among other things, an independent medical review of the appropriateness of the proposed medical intervention.
Existing law provides that an insurable interest, with reference to life and disability insurance, is an interest based upon a reasonable expectation of pecuniary advantage through the continued life, health, or bodily safety of another person and consequent loss by reason of that person's death or disability or a substantial interest engendered by love and affection in the case of individuals closely related by blood or law. An individual has an unlimited insurable interest in his or her own life, health, and bodily safety and may lawfully take out a policy of insurance on his or her own life, health, or bodily safety and have the policy made payable to whomsoever he or she pleases, regardless of whether the beneficiary designated has an insurable interest. Existing law, effective January 1, 2010, provides that any device, scheme, or artifice designed to give the appearance of an insurable interest when there is no insurable interest, violates the insurable interest laws. This bill would authorize an owner of record of a life insurance policy, who believes in good faith that the insurer may challenge the policy for lack of an insurable interest, to bring an action, on or before January 1, 2018, for declaratory relief seeking a court order declaring the policy to have a valid insurable interest. The bill would limit the applicability of these provisions to policies issued for delivery in California prior to January 1, 2010, that have a death benefit equal to or greater than $1,000,000, when the owner of record was the owner of record on the effective date of these provisions. The bill would also prohibit an owner of record or the insurer from commencing an action against the named insured or a relative of the insured of the policy seeking damages or any other remedy if a court enters a judgment in an action brought pursuant to these provisions declaring a life insurance policy void on the basis that the policy was issued to a person who lacked an insurable interest. These provisions would remain in effect only until January 1, 2018, and would then be repealed.
Existing law authorizes any person who believes that he or she has been discharged or otherwise discriminated against in violation of any law under the jurisdiction of the Labor Commissioner to file a complaint, as specified, with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which is within the Department of Industrial Relations, and requires the commissioner to establish procedures for the investigation of discrimination complaints. This bill would authorize the division to, with or without receiving a complaint from an employee, commence an investigation of an employer that it suspects to have discharged or otherwise discriminated against an individual in violation of any law under the jurisdiction of the Labor Commissioner.
Existing law proscribes the crime of rape, including the rape of an unconscious person and the rape of the unconscious spouse of the perpetrator. The punishment for the crime of rape is generally imprisonment in the state prison for 3, 6, or 8 years, except as specified. Existing law provides that it is the intent of the Legislature that persons sentenced to prison for a determinate sentence serve the entire sentence imposed by the court, except for a reduction in the time served in the custody of the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as specified. Existing law generally authorizes a prisoner to earn one day of credit for each day in custody, up to a maximum of 6 months for every 6 months served, except as otherwise provided. Under existing law, for each 4-day period in which a prisoner is confined in or committed to a county jail, industrial farm, or road camp, up to 2 days may be deducted from his or her period of confinement unless it appears by the record that the prisoner has refused to satisfactorily perform labor as assigned or the prisoner has not satisfactorily complied with the reasonable rules and regulations. This bill would make a person who has been convicted of raping an unconscious person, or of raping his or her unconscious spouse, ineligible to receive a reduction in the time served or a deduction from his or her period of confinement pursuant to those provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act (act) authorizes the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (department) to conduct administrative hearings for, among other things, violations of the act by a licensee. Existing law allows a licensee to appeal specified decisions to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board, authorizes a person to request a transcript of a hearing from the department for a case on appeal, and allows a party to an appeal to request the right to appear before the board for argument. This bill would require an audio record to be kept as the official record of any administrative hearing conducted by the department, would require the department to provide an audio recording, when one has been made, of a hearing to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board and each party in lieu of a transcript for a case on appeal, and would require an audio record to be kept of an argument before the board. The bill would prohibit the department from making the official record of any administrative hearing by videographic recording and would provide that this type of recording is inadmissible in any proceeding before the board. (2) The act authorizes a licensee under an on-sale general license or an on-sale beer and wine license to apply to the department for an event permit that allows the sale of alcoholic beverages under that license for consumption on property adjacent to the licensed premises and owned or under the control of the licensee. The act also authorizes a licensed beer manufacturer to apply to the department for a brewery event permit that allows the sale of beer produced by that beer manufacturer for consumption on property contiguous and adjacent to the licensed premises of the manufacturer. Under the act, the fee for an event permit issued to an on-sale general licensee or an on-sale beer and wine licensee is $110 for permits issued during the 2004 calendar year and indexed for inflation thereafter, and the fee for a brewery event permit issued during the 2017 calendar year is $110 and indexed for inflation thereafter, as specified. Under the act, these and other fees collected pursuant to the act are deposited in the Alcohol Beverage Control Fund and are generally allocated to the department upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would revise the fee for a brewery event permit to be identical to the fee for an event permit issued to an on-sale general licensee or an on-sale beer and wine licensee, as described above. (3) The act authorizes the holder of a winegrower's license, a beer manufacturer, a distilled spirits manufacturer, or a distilled spirits manufacturer's agent, to purchase advertising space and time from, or on behalf of, an on-sale retail licensee, under certain conditions, if the on-sale retail licensee is the owner, manager, agent of the owner, assignee of the owner's advertising rights, or major tenant of facilities meeting specified criteria, including location in a specified city, county, or university campus. This bill would, in addition, allow a beer manufacturer, the holder of a winegrower's license, a rectifier, a distilled spirits manufacturer, or distilled spirits manufacturer's agent to purchase advertising time and space from, or on behalf of, an on-sale retail licensee if the licensee is the owner, manager, agent of the owner, assignee of the owner's advertising rights, or major tenant of stadiums and arenas subject to specified conditions, including that the advertising time and space is purchased only in connection with events to be held on the premises of those stadiums or arenas, but without specifying the location of the facility.
The Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 authorizes an aggrieved employee to bring a civil action to recover specified civil penalties on behalf of the employee and other current or former employees for the violation of certain provisions affecting employees. The act provides procedures pertaining to specified violations that include an aggrieved employee giving written notice by online filing with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and by certified mail to the employer of the alleged violation and the facts and theories in support thereof, the agency notifying the employer and the aggrieved employee whether it does, or does not, intend to investigate an alleged violation, and, if it does intend to investigate, the agency providing other notices, all within specified time periods. Existing law authorizes a plaintiff as a matter of right to amend an existing complaint to add a cause of action arising under the act at any time within 60 days of the specified time periods. This bill would extend the time to add a cause of action to any time within 90 days of the specified time periods.
Existing law authorizes a county to establish a pretrial diversion program for defendants who have been charged with a misdemeanor offense and authorizes other diversion programs, including for defendants with cognitive developmental disabilities, defendants in nonviolent drug cases, and traffic violations. This bill, until January 1, 2020, would establish the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) pilot program, to be administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections, to improve public safety and reduce recidivism by increasing the availability and use of social service resources while reducing costs to law enforcement agencies and courts stemming from repeated incarceration. The bill would require the board to award grants, on a competitive basis, to up to 3 jurisdictions to establish LEAD programs and would require the board to establish minimum standards, funding schedules, and procedures for awarding grants. The bill would establish requirements for referral of people who may be arrested for, or who have a history of, low-level drug offenses or prostitution, as defined, to social services in lieu of prosecution. The bill would require the board to contract with a nonprofit research entity, university, or college to evaluate the effectiveness of the LEAD program and submit a report of the findings to the Governor and the Legislature by January 1, 2020.
(1) Under existing law, the segments of postsecondary education in this state include the University of California, the California State University, the California Community Colleges, independent institutions of higher education, and private postsecondary educational institutions. This bill would establish the California Covenants Program, under the administration of the Treasurer. The program would be a prepaid college tuition program, under which an individual could purchase a fixed percentage of the tuition and mandatory systemwide fees for an academic year of full-time enrollment as an undergraduate at a campus of the California State University, the University of California, or an independent institution of higher education, as specified, for a beneficiary who meets specified criteria. The bill would establish the California Covenants Program Fund. The bill would require that the moneys received by the Treasurer from the individuals who purchase tuition certificates under the program, as well as the proceeds from the sale of certain bonds authorized by the bill, be deposited in the fund. The bill would authorize the Treasurer, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, to allocate moneys deposited in the fund to the California State University, the University of California, or an independent institution of higher education to pay the tuition and mandatory systemwide fees of beneficiaries of the program during that fiscal year. The bill would require the Director of Finance to determine, at the commencement of each fiscal year, whether there are sufficient funds to implement the program in that fiscal year, and to communicate this determination to the Treasurer in a timely manner each fiscal year. The bill would specify that the California State University is required, and the University of California and independent institutions of higher education are requested, to comply with the bill's provisions. These provisions would become operative on January 1, 2018. (2) The Personal Income Tax Law provides for various exclusions from gross income, including moneys received pursuant to specified grant programs. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018, also exclude from gross income amounts invested in, and disbursed from, the California Covenants Program, as provided. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Read. Amended. Adopted. (Page 5634.).
Read. Amended. Adopted. (Page 5641.).
The California Constitution requires that the proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the committees thereof be open and public, except as specified. This measure would require the Legislature, commencing January 1, 2018, to make audiovisual recordings of the open and public proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the committees thereof, as prescribed, and to authorize members of the public who attend those proceedings to make recordings of and to broadcast the proceedings, as prescribed. The measure would require the Legislature to provide its recordings to the Legislative Counsel for purposes of making the recordings promptly available to the public and would require that the recordings remain reasonably accessible to the public for not less than 20 years. The measure would require the Legislature to enact laws to implement these provisions, provided that the bills enacting such laws would be required to be published in final form on the Internet for at least 12 days prior to the final vote in each house. The California Constitution prohibits either house from passing a bill until certain requirements are met, including that a committee or house not hear or act on the bill until the 31st day after it is introduced and that the bill with amendments has been printed and distributed to the Members of the Legislature. This measure would authorize a committee to hear or act on a bill on the 16th day after the bill is introduced. The measure would also prohibit a bill from being passed in either house until the bill, in the form to be voted on, has been made available to the public by publishing it on the Internet for at least 72 hours before the vote. The measure would authorize the Legislature to waive these requirements, as prescribed, if specified requirements are met with respect to a state of emergency declared by the Governor.
