California Bills

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California (board) within the Department of Consumer Affairs (department) . Under existing law, the biennial license renewal fee for physicians and surgeons is required to be fixed by the board and may not exceed $790. This bill would create the Physician Health Program, administered by the Physician Health, Recovery, and Monitoring Oversight Committee within the department, with 14 members to be appointed as specified. The purpose of the program would be, among other things, to promote awareness and education relative to physician and surgeon health issues, including impairment due to alcohol or substance abuse, mental disorders, or other health conditions that could affect the safe practice of medicine, and to make treatment available to all physicians and surgeons subject to a written agreement with the program that includes agreement by the physician and surgeon to pay for expenses associated with the treatment. The bill would also provide for referral by the program of physicians and surgeons, as defined, to certified monitoring programs on a voluntary basis, governed by a written agreement between the participant and the program. The bill would require the department to select a contractor to implement the program, with the committee serving as the evaluation body for submitted proposals. The bill would require the program to report the name of a participant to the board and the committee when it learns of the participant's failure to meet the requirements of the program. The bill would require the committee to report to the department certain statistics received from the program, would require the department to report to the Legislature on the outcomes of the program, and would require regular audits of the program. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2013, increase the biennial license renewal fee by $39.50 for purposes of these provisions, except as specified. The bill would direct the board to transfer this revenue on a monthly basis to the Physician Health, Awareness, and Monitoring Quality Trust Fund, which the bill would create, and would specify that the use of these funds is subject to appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would provide that the trust fund be the only source of public funding and that the trust fund may receive private donations. The bill would require that the committee manage the program within the amount of resources provided. The bill would enact other related provisions and make other conforming changes.

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 requires the lead agencies to make specified findings in an EIR. Existing law establishes the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) in the Governor's office. Existing law requires OPR to assist with, among other things, the orderly preparation of programs of transportation. Existing law authorizes a local agency that determines that a project is not subject to CEQA pursuant to certain exemptions and approves or determines to carry out that project, to file notice of the determination with the county clerk in the county in which the project is located. This bill, until January 1, 2018, would exempt from CEQA a bicycle transportation plan for an urbanized area, as specified, and would also require a local agency that determines that the bicycle transportation plan is exempt under this provision and approves or determines to carry out that project, to file notice of the determination with OPR and the county clerk. This bill would require OPR to post specified information on its Internet Web site, as prescribed.

Existing law authorizes the electronic transmission of any written notice required to be given or mailed to any person by an insurer relating to any insurance on risks or on operations in this state, as specified. This bill would authorize offers of renewal of automobile, property, or commercial insurance, as well as certain liability insurance, and any offer of coverage or renewal and any disclosure of earthquake coverage, to be provided electronically with the insured's consent, as specified.

Existing law prohibits a person from transacting any class of insurance business, including health insurance, in this state without first being an admitted insurer. Under existing law, admission is secured by procuring a certificate of authority from the Insurance Commissioner. Existing law prohibits a health insurance policy from being issued or delivered to any person in this state unless specified requirements have been met, including that a copy of the form and premium rates are filed with the commissioner. Under existing law, if the commissioner notifies the health insurer that the filed form does not comply with specified requirements, it is unlawful for that health insurer to issue any health insurance policy in that form. Existing law, with respect to small employer health insurance, requires a carrier providing aggregate or specific stop-loss coverage or any other assumption of risk with reference to a health benefit plan, as defined, to provide that the plan meets specified requirements concerning preexisting condition provisions, waiting or affiliation periods, and late enrollees. Existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , commencing January 1, 2014, prohibits a group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage from imposing any preexisting condition exclusion with respect to the plan or coverage. Existing law provides for self-funded or partially self-funded multiple employer welfare arrangements (MEWAs) and allows for MEWAs to apply for a certificate of compliance to do business in the state. This bill would require a stop-loss insurer, as defined, to offer coverage for all employees and dependents of a small employer to which it issues a stop-loss insurance policy and would prohibit the insurer from excluding any employee or dependent on the basis of actual or expected health status-related factors, as specified. Except as specified, the bill would require a stop-loss insurer to renew, at the option of the small employer, all stop-loss insurance policies. The bill would prohibit a stop-loss insurance policy issued on or after January 1, 2012, to a small employer from containing specified individual or aggregate attachment points, as defined, for a policy year or providing direct coverage, as defined, of an employee's health claims. The bill would make a stop-loss insurer in violation of these provisions subject to administrative penalties and would direct those fine and penalty moneys received to the General Fund to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would, in addition, exempt the ongoing operation of MEWAs, as specified, and a stop-loss insurance policy issued to a small employer prior to January 1, 2012, or a policy that is subsequently renewed without decrease in the attachment point or other substantial amendments from the operation of these provisions.

(1) The Ralph M. Brown Act requires that all meetings of a legislative body, as defined, of a local agency be open and public and all persons be permitted to attend unless a closed session is authorized. The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a state body be open and public and all persons be permitted to attend. This bill would expressly state that a charter school is subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act, unless it is operated by an entity governed by the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, in which case the school would be subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. (2) The California Public Records Act requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection and to make copies available upon request and payment of a fee unless the records are exempt from disclosure. This bill would expressly state that a charter school is subject to the California Public Records Act. (3) Existing law prohibits certain public officials, including, but not limited to, members of governing boards of school districts and citizens' oversight committees, from engaging in specified activities that are inconsistent or incompatible with, or inimical to, their duties as public officials, including, but not limited to, entering into a contract in which the official or the official's family member has a financial interest, as specified. This bill would expressly state that a charter school is subject to these provisions. (4) The Political Reform Act of 1974 requires every state agency and local governmental agency to adopt a conflict-of-interest code, formulated at the most decentralized level possible, that requires designated employees of the agency to file statements of economic interest disclosing any investments, business positions, interests in real property, or sources of income that may foreseeably be affected materially by any governmental decision made or participated in by the designated employee by virtue of his or her position. This bill would expressly state that a charter school is subject to the Political Reform Act of 1974. (5) This bill would state various exceptions and clarifications regarding the applicability of the acts described above in paragraphs (1) to (4) , inclusive. (6) Existing law requires a member of the governing board of a school district to abstain from voting on personnel matters that uniquely affect a relative of the member. This bill would provide that an employee of a charter school is not disqualified from serving as a member of the governing body of the charter school because of that employment status. The bill would require a member of the governing body of a charter school to abstain from voting on, or influencing or attempting to influence another member of that body regarding, any matter affecting his or her own employment or any personnel matter that uniquely affects a relative of the member. The bill would provide that a person who provides a loan to a charter school due to a school fiscal emergency, or who leases, or signs a guarantor agreement relative to the lease of, real property to be occupied by a charter school, is not disqualified because of that loan, lease, or guarantor agreement from also serving as a member of the governing body of the charter school or being an employee of the charter school and would require that person to abstain from voting on, or influencing or attempting to influence another member of that body regarding, all matters affecting the loan agreement or the real property lease agreement, as applicable. (7) The bill would make these provisions operative on July 1, 2012.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, which are administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Governing bodies of community college districts are authorized to employ any person holding appropriate certification documents, and to classify these employees as temporary employees, as prescribed. Existing law requires the issue of earning and retaining annual reappointment rights by any person employed as temporary or part-time faculty to be a mandatory subject of negotiation with respect to the collective bargaining process relating to any new or successor contract between community college districts and temporary or part-time faculty. This bill would require that issue of earning and retaining annual reappointment rights to include terms of implementation and be negotiated fully. The bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2020.

Existing law provides for the county-administered In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization. Existing law authorizes services to be provided under the IHSS program either through the employment of individual providers, a contract between the county and an entity for the provision of services, the creation by the county of a public authority, or a contract between the county and a nonprofit consortium. Existing law establishes the California In-Home Supportive Services Authority (Statewide Authority) and requires the authority to be the entity authorized to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations for any individual provider who is employed by a recipient of supportive services. Existing law establishes the In-Home Supportive Services Employer-Employee Relations Act, which serves to resolve disputes regarding wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment between the Statewide Authority and recognized employee organizations. Existing law authorizes individual providers to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations for the purpose of representation on all matters within the scope of representation. Under existing law, the Statewide Authority is the employer of record, for collective bargaining purposes, of individual providers of in-home supportive services in each county upon implementation by a county. This bill, would, among other things, clarify that predecessor agencies to the Statewide Authority cannot meet and confer in good faith with a recognized employee organization after the Statewide Authority assumes those agencies' rights and responsibilities. The bill would also require, if the Statewide Authority and the recognized employee organization negotiate changes to locally administered health benefits, the Statewide Authority to give a county and a specified entity 90 days' notice before the changes are implemented. This bill would provide that the scope of representation shall exclude providing assistance to IHSS recipients through the establishment of emergency backup services. This bill would change references from the employer and public agency to the Statewide Authority in these provisions, and would make other technical and clarifying changes to these provisions. Existing law authorizes managed care health plans, as defined, to assume the authority, previously granted to counties, to contract for the provision of in-home supportive services with a qualified agency, as defined, subject to specified restrictions and requirements. Existing law requires qualified agencies to establish procedures to ensure specified contract limitations on caseload are being met and there is coordination of information among managed care health plans, qualified agencies, counties, and the department. This bill would, among other things, create an alternative means to meet a documentation requirement for entities seeking authorization as a qualified agency, as specified, and would specify that counties and managed care health plans are also required to establish those procedures. By increasing the duties of local entities, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. This bill would provide that the state shall be immune from liability resulting from the state's implementation of those provisions, and from the negligence or intentional torts of a contract provider providing services pursuant to those provisions. Existing law requires all counties, commencing July 1, 2012, to have a County IHSS Maintenance of Effort (MOE) , and requires counties to pay the County IHSS MOE instead of paying the nonfederal share of IHSS costs, as specified. This bill would specify that the MOE shall be adjusted for the annualized cost of increases in provider wages or health benefits that are locally negotiated, mediated, or imposed before the Statewide Authority assumes specified responsibilities for certain counties. This bill would require the Department of Finance to consult with a specified organization, as prescribed, to implement the MOE. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. One of the methods by which these services are provided is pursuant to contracts with various types of managed care plans. Existing law provides that, not sooner than March 1, 2013, IHSS shall be a Medi-Cal benefit available through managed care health plans in specified counties, and requires managed care health plans to, among other things, enter into a contract with the State Department of Social Services to pay wages to IHSS providers, as specified. Existing law requires the department to assume responsibility for providing workers' compensation coverage for specified employees who provide in-home supportive services pursuant to contracts with counties. This bill would, among other things, require managed care health plans to enter into a contract with the department to pay benefits to IHSS providers, as specified. This bill would provide that a managed care health plan shall not be deemed to be the employer of an in-home supportive services provider for purposes of liability, as specified. This bill would also require the department to provide workers' compensation coverage for specified employees pursuant to contracts with managed care health plans. Existing law provides that specified provisions relating to the California In-Home Supportive Services Authority and managed care health plans that contract for the provision of in-home supportive services shall become inoperative under certain circumstances. This bill would include among those provisions the In-Home Supportive Services Employer-Employee Relations Act. Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, among other provisions, authorizes a licensee of certain adult residential facilities or group homes to utilize secured perimeters, as defined. Under existing law, only individuals meeting specified criteria may reside in a facility that utilizes secured perimeters. These criteria include a requirement that the individual is not a foster care child under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court pursuant to specified law. This bill would revise the list of laws, pursuant to which the juvenile court has jurisdiction over a foster child, for purposes of eligibility to reside in a facility with secured perimeters, as described above. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish an income reporting threshold for CalWORKs assistance units that do not include an eligible adult. Under existing law, a recipient in one of these assistance units may report to the county any changes in income that may increase the recipient's grant, as specified. This bill would revise procedures for redetermining a recipient's grant under the circumstances described above, including requiring the county to issue the increased benefit amount within 10 days of receiving the recipient's verification of income change. By increasing county duties under the CalWORKs program, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes a student required to participate in CalWORKs welfare-to-work activities to continue in an undergraduate degree or certificate program that leads to employment, if certain conditions are met. A student subject to these provisions is required to concurrently participate in welfare-to-work activities, if participation in educational or vocational training is not at least 32 hours per week. This bill would decrease the number of required hours before concurrent welfare-to-work participation is required, to 30 hours per week, or 20 hours per week for an adult recipient in a one-parent assistance unit that does not include a child less than 6 years of age. Under existing law, for a family that does not include a needy child qualified for CalWORKs benefits, a pregnant mother is eligible for aid for the month in which the birth is anticipated, and the 3 months immediately prior to that month. However, CalWORKs aid is required to be paid to a pregnant woman who is also eligible for the Cal-Learn Program, as specified, at any time after verification of pregnancy. Existing law requires the Cal-Learn Program to be fully operative on April 2, 2013, with a transitional phase-in period for counties from July 1, 2012 to March 31, 2013. This bill would revise provisions specifying that a pregnant woman with no other children who is, or would be, eligible for the Cal-Learn Program, is eligible for CalWORKs aid, as specified, at any time after verification of pregnancy. Under existing law, prior to the initial licensure or first renewal of a license of any person to operate or manage specified psychiatric and mental health care facilities, the State Department of Social Services is required to submit fingerprint images and other information pertaining to the applicant or licensee to the Department of Justice. Existing law imposes similar requirements on the State Department of Social Services upon the employment of, or contract with or for, any direct care staff. This bill would transfer the responsibilities of the State Department of Social Services with respect to submitting the fingerprint images and information described above to the applicant, licensee, or direct care staff person, as appropriate. Existing law requires each county to pay 30% of the nonfederal share of costs of administering the CalFresh program. Existing law also requires counties to expend an amount for programs that provide services to needy families that, when combined with the funds expended above for the administration of the CalFresh program, equals or exceeds the amount spent by the county for corresponding activities during the 1996–97 fiscal year. Existing law provides that any county that equals or exceeds the amount spent by the county for corresponding activities during the 1996–97 fiscal year entirely through expenditures for the administration of the CalFresh program in the 2010–11 and 2011–12 fiscal years shall receive the full state General Fund allocation for the administration of the CalFresh program without paying the county's share of the nonfederal costs for the amount above the 1996–97 expenditure requirement. This bill would extend counties' eligibility to receive the full allocation for CalFresh administration under the above circumstances to the 2012–13 state fiscal year. This bill would make various other procedural and technical changes to provisions relating to health and human services programs. This bill would appropriate $1,000 from the General Fund to the California Health and Human Services Agency. 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 these statutory provisions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

Existing law provides that an officer of the Department of General Services of the City of Los Angeles is a peace officer if he or she is designated by the general manager of the department and his or her primary duty is the enforcement of the law in or about properties owned, operated, or administered by the department or when performing necessary duties with respect to patrons, employees, and properties of the department. A peace officer designated pursuant to those provisions and authorized to carry firearms by the department is required to complete an introductory course of firearm training and requalify for the use of firearms every 6 months, and prohibits the peace officer from carrying a firearm when he or she is not on duty. This bill would instead provide that an officer of the Department of General Services who was transferred to the Los Angeles Police Department is a peace officer if he or she is designated by the Chief of Police of the Los Angeles Police Department, or his or her designee, and the peace officer's primary duty is the enforcement of the law in or about properties owned, operated, or administered by the City of Los Angeles or when performing necessary duties, as specified. The bill would delete the provisions requiring a peace officer designated pursuant to those provisions to requalify for the use of firearms every 6 months, and would also delete the prohibition on carrying firearms while not on duty.

Existing law authorizes the Director of General Services to convey to the City of Pomona certain property for use as a fire station. Existing law requires that if the city ceases to use the property transferred as a fire station, the property shall revert to the state. This bill would authorize the City of Pomona to convey to the Consolidated Fire Protection District of the County of Los Angeles a portion of that property. The bill would authorize the director to take any action necessary to ensure that the transfer of that portion of the property not result in the reversion of the property to the state. The bill would require that if the city ceases to use that portion of the property that is not conveyed for a fire station, that the portion of the property shall revert to the state.

Articles XIIIC and XIIID of the California Constitution generally require that assessments, fees, and charges be submitted to property owners for approval or rejection after the provision of written notice and the holding of a public hearing. Existing law, the Proposition 218 Omnibus Implementation Act, prescribes specific procedures and parameters for local jurisdictions to comply with Articles XIIIC and XIIID of the California Constitution and defines various terms for these purposes. This bill would additionally define the term "real property" for purposes of the Proposition 218 Omnibus Implementation Act.