This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact statutory changes relating to the Budget Act of 2015.
Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and requires the commission to administer various programs to award grants and other financial assistance for energy-related projects. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation. This bill would require the commission to develop and implement a grant program to award grants for projects that produce biomethane, that build or develop collection and purification technology or infrastructure, or that upgrade or expand existing biomethane facilities. The bill would, upon appropriation, authorize moneys in the fund to be used to fund grants awarded pursuant to the program.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, including specialty mental health services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. The department is responsible for conducting investigations and audits of claims and reimbursements for expenditures for specialty mental health services provided by mental health plans to Medi-Cal eligible individuals. This bill would limit the scope of the service billing documentation requirements the department may apply when conducting an audit of Medi-Cal specialty mental health services to criteria that is clearly and explicitly set forth in specified state regulations, letters, and directives, federal Medicaid terms and conditions, and the Medicaid state plan. The bill would require the department to allow counties and county contract providers of behavioral health services to incorporate by reference any information in a patient's existing case record in subsequent documentation and would prohibit the department from requiring any unchanged information in a patient's existing case record to be copied or reentered into specified treatment documents, unless required by a federal directive. The bill would require the department to consider further revisions to its service billing documentation requirements, and to prepare, in consultation with counties, providers, and other stakeholders, and submit to the Legislature, a proposal to accomplish those objectives, as specified.
Existing law, the California Health Facilities Financing Authority Act, establishes a program for the California Health Facilities Authority to award grants that do not exceed $1,500,000 to one or more projects designed to demonstrate specified new or enhanced cost-effective methods of delivering quality health care services to improve access to quality health care for vulnerable populations or communities, or both, that are effective at enhancing health outcomes and improving access to quality health care and preventive services. Existing law requires a recipient of that grant to adhere to all applicable laws relating to scope of practice, licensure, staffing, and building codes. Existing law authorizes the authority, if a demonstration project receiving a grant is successful at developing such a new method of delivering high-quality and cost-effective health care services, to implement a 2nd grant program, as specified, to replicate in additional California communities the model developed by that demonstration project. Existing law requires the authority to prepare and provide a report to the Legislature and the Governor on the outcomes of the demonstration grant program that includes, among other information, the total amount of grants issued and the amount of each grant issued. This bill would create the California Health Access Model Program Two Account within the California Health Facilities Financing Authority Fund for purposes of administering a 2nd competitive grant selection process, in accordance with existing grant provisions, to fund one or more projects designed to demonstrate specified new or enhanced cost-effective methods of delivering quality health care services to improve access to quality health care for vulnerable populations or communities, or both. The bill would authorize the authority to transfer moneys up to a total of $3,000,000 from the California Health Facilities Financing Authority Hospital Equipment Loan Program Fund to the account for the purposes of the bill if the authority decides to administer the 2nd competitive grant selection process, and would require that any moneys remaining in the account as of January 1, 2023, revert to the California Health Facilities Financing Authority Hospital Equipment Loan Program Fund. By expanding the purposes for which a continuously appropriated fund may be used, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would also require the authority to prepare and provide a report to the Legislature and the Governor every 2 years, commencing January 1, 2017, on the 2 grant selection programs, that includes, among other information, the total amount of grants issued and the amount of each grant issued, as specified. This bill would also make the existing requirement for adherence to all applicable laws relating to scope of practice, licensure, staffing, and building to codes applicable to a recipient of a grant provided pursuant to the 2nd grant program described above. Existing law defines health facility, for purposes of the act, to include a multilevel facility that is an institutional arrangement where a residential facility for the elderly is operated as a part of, or in conjunction with, an intermediate care facility, a skilled nursing facility, or a general acute care hospital. Existing law defines elderly, for purposes of this provision, to mean a person 62 years of age or older. This bill would instead define elderly to mean a person 60 years of age or older. This bill would become operative only if AB 648 is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2016.
Read. Adopted. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2508.)
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law requires the Department of Finance, in consultation with the state board and any other relevant state agency, to develop, as specified, a 3-year investment plan for the moneys deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact statutory changes necessary to implement the 2015 investment plan for the moneys deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
This measure would commend the Associated Chaplains in California State Service for its continued efforts over the years to bring the various faith communities together in a common purpose to maintain and upgrade the professional chaplaincy and to assist the state departments in their various missions to effect rehabilitation, guidance, and service to those entrusted to their care.
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 persons receive health care benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid provisions. Existing federal law requires the state to seek adjustment or recovery from an individual's estate for specified medical assistance, including nursing facility services, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug services, if the individual was 55 years of age or older when he or she received the medical assistance. Existing federal law allows the state, at its own option, to seek recovery for any items or services covered under the state's Medicaid plan. Existing state law, with certain exceptions, requires the department to claim against the estate of a decedent, or against any recipient of the property of that decedent by distribution or survival, an amount equal to the payments for Medi-Cal services received or the value of the property received by any recipient from the decedent by distribution or survival, whichever is less. Existing law provides for certain exemptions that restrict the department from filing a claim against a decedent's property, including when there is a surviving spouse during his or her lifetime. Existing law requires the department, however, to make a claim upon the death of the surviving spouse, as prescribed. Existing law requires the department to waive its claim, in whole or in part, if it determines that enforcement of the claim would result in a substantial hardship, as specified. Existing law, which has been held invalid by existing case law, provides that the exemptions shall only apply to the proportionate share of the decedent's estate or property that passes to those recipients, by survival or distribution, who qualify for the exemptions. This bill would instead require the department to make these claims only in specified circumstances for those health care services that the state is required to recover under federal law, and would define health care services for these purposes. The bill would limit any claims against the estate of a decedent to only the real and personal property or other assets the state is required to seek recovery from under federal law. The bill would delete the proportionate share provision and would delete the requirement that the department make a claim upon the death of the surviving spouse. The bill would require the department to waive its claim when the estate subject to recovery is a homestead of modest value, as defined. The bill would limit the amount of interest that is entitled to accrue on a voluntary postdeath lien, as specified. The bill would also require the department to provide a current or former beneficiary, or his or her authorized representative, upon request, with the total amount of Medi-Cal expenses that have been paid on his or her behalf that would be recoverable under these provisions, as specified. The bill would apply the changes made by these provisions only to individuals who die on or after January 1, 2016.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law requires the Department of Finance, in consultation with the state board and any other relevant state agency, to develop, as specified, a 3-year investment plan for the moneys deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that amends the Budget Act of 2015 to reflect an expenditure plan for moneys in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that conforms to the 2015 investment plan for the moneys in the fund as adopted by the Legislature.
Existing law establishes various advisory boards and commissions in state government with specified duties and responsibilities. Existing law establishes in state government the Governor's Office of Emergency Services and the Department of Technology. This bill would continue in existence the California Cyber Security Task Force, consisting of specified members, previously created by the Governor's Office of Emergency Services and the Department of Technology, in the Governor's Office of Emergency Services. The bill would authorize the task force to convene stakeholders to act in an advisory capacity and compile policy recommendations on cyber security for the state. The bill would require the task force to meet quarterly, or more often as necessitated by emergency circumstances. The bill would require the task force to complete and issue a report of policy recommendations to the Governor's office and the Legislature. The bill would also require the task force to perform specified functions relating to cyber security. The bill would create a State Director of Cyber Security with specified duties within the Governor's Office of Emergency Services. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2020.
Existing law establishes various programs to fund the development, construction, and repair of local roads, bridges, and other critical transportation infrastructure in the state. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to establish permanent, sustainable sources of transportation funding to improve the state's key trade corridors and support efforts by local governments to repair and improve local transportation infrastructure.
Read. Amended. Adopted. (Page 2827.).
