(1) The Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act requires a local public agency to adopt a plan to implement a 911 emergency telephone response system, and establishes the State 911 Advisory Board to advise on specified subjects relating to the state's 911 emergency telephone response system. The board is comprised of 11 members who are appointed by, and serve at the pleasure of, the Governor. This bill would add 2 members to the advisory board who would be selected by the Legislature, as specified. This bill would also make legislative findings and declarations and eliminate the ability of a member of the advisory board to designate another to act in his or her place. (2) Existing law requires the Public Safety Communication Division to assist a local public agency in the development of its plan to implement a 911 emergency telephone response system, and to approve a final plan before it is implemented. Existing law requires the board to, if requested by a local public agency, conduct a hearing on any conflict between a local agency and the Public Safety Communication Division regarding a final plan. This bill would, instead, require the board to, if requested by a local agency, conduct a hearing on any conflict between a local public agency and the Public Safety Communication Division regarding that agency's 911 emergency telephone response system and cost reimbursement decisions.
The Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2006 authorizes the issuance of bonds to finance various housing programs, capital outlay related to infill development, brownfield cleanup that promotes infill development, housing-related parks, and transit-oriented development programs. Existing law transfers bond moneys to the Self-Help Housing Fund to be expended for purposes of the California Homebuyer's Downpayment Assistance Program, as specified. Existing law, the CalHome Program, authorizes funds appropriated for purposes of the program to be used to enable low- and very low income households to become or remain homeowners. This bill would establish the California Neighborhood Revitalization Partnership Act of 2012, to be administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development, to provide funding to local public agencies or nonprofit corporations for the purchase and improvement of foreclosed or abandoned single-family or multifamily residential properties and for downpayment assistance associated with the resale of an improved property, subject to specified requirements. The bill would authorize the Department of Housing and Community Development to expend $25,000,000 of the bond moneys available in the Self-Help Housing Fund for the purpose above.
Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , to authorize electrical corporations to collect moneys for the self-generation incentive program (SGIP) at 2008 calendar year levels through December 31, 2014. Existing law requires the PUC to require electrical corporations to administer the SGIP, until January 1, 2016. Existing law limits eligibility for SGIP incentives to distributed energy resources that the PUC, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, determines will achieve reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. This bill would state legislative findings and declarations regarding the use of waste products from forest thinning and fire prevention activities to generate electricity at biomass facilities. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in consultation with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, to establish an incentive program to compensate producers and collectors of biomass material associated with forest fuel reduction and fire prevention activities that are delivered to eligible biomass facilities, as defined, for use as a fuel source.
Existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, requires each state to, by January 1, 2014, establish an American Health Benefit Exchange that makes available qualified health plans to qualified individuals and small employers. Existing state law establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange within state government to facilitate enrollment of qualified individuals in qualified health plans and to assist qualified employers in facilitating the enrollment of their employees in qualified health plans. The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act also authorizes the establishment of a basic health program under which a state may enter into contracts to offer one or more standard health plans providing a minimum level of essential benefits to eligible individuals instead of offering those individuals coverage through an Exchange, if specified criteria are met. Under existing law, the State Department of Health Care Services (department) administers various programs to provide health care coverage to persons with limited financial resources, including the Medi-Cal program. This bill would establish in state government a Basic Health Program, to be administered by the department. The bill would require the department to enter into a contract with the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to implement the Basic Health Program, and would set forth the powers and the duties of the department relative to determining eligibility for enrollment, setting premiums for coverage, and selecting participating health plans under the Basic Health Program, subject to requirements under federal law. The bill would require the department to permit enrollment in the Basic Health Program on January 1, 2014. The bill would create the Basic Health Program Trust Fund for those purposes and would make moneys in the fund subject to appropriation by the Legislature, except that if the annual Budget Act is not enacted by a certain date, the bill would authorize the department to transfer specified funds from the trust fund to health plans in order to comply with certain requirements, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the Basic Health Program to be funded by federal funds, private donations, premiums paid by eligible individuals, and other non-General Fund moneys available for that purpose. Notwithstanding those provisions, the bill would authorize the department to obtain loans from the General Fund for initial startup expenses, to be repaid by July 1, 2016, and would establish a procedure for continued coverage of individuals under the California Health Benefit Exchange if costs of the Basic Health Program exceed moneys available from specified sources. The bill would require the department to request an evaluation of the Basic Health Program and to seek funding for the evaluation from an unspecified independent nonprofit private foundation.
Existing federal law provides for the allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states, with California's version of this program known as the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program. Under the CalWORKs program, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals who meet specified eligibility criteria. Existing law imposes limits on the amount of income and personal and real property an individual or family may possess in order to be eligible for aid under the CalWORKs program, including specifying the allowable value of a licensed vehicle retained by an applicant for, or recipient of, that aid. This bill would delete existing requirements for assessing the value of a motor vehicle for purposes of CalWORKs program eligibility. The bill would exclude the value of a licensed motor vehicle from consideration when determining or redetermining CalWORKs eligibility. By increasing the duties of counties administering the CalWORKs program, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law continually appropriates money from the General Fund to pay for a share of aid grant costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would declare that no appropriation would be made for purposes of the bill pursuant to the provision continuously appropriating funds for the CalWORKs 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, 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.
Existing law requires various state entities, including, but not limited to, the State Board of Equalization, the Franchise Tax Board, and the Department of Justice, to enforce laws relating to the taxation and legal operation of businesses throughout the state under their respective jurisdictions. This bill would establish, until January 1, 2018, a pilot program to create a multiagency partnership consisting of the Employment Development Department, Franchise Tax Board, and State Board of Equalization, to be known as the Centralized Intelligence Partnership, to collaborate in combating illegal underground operations by, among other activities, providing a central intake process and organizational structure, with an administrator and support staff, to document, review, and evaluate data and complaints. The bill would authorize other specified state entities to participate in the pilot program in an advisory capacity. The bill would create an advisory committee, comprised of one representative from each entity in the partnership, and those serving in an advisory capacity, as specified, to provide guidance on the activities and operations of the partnership. The bill would require the advisory committee to the partnership to determine the appropriate agency to house the processing center for the partnership. The bill would authorize duly authorized representatives of members of the partnership to exchange information for the purpose of investigating illegal underground operations. The bill would require the partnership, on or before July 1, 2014, to annually report to the Legislature and entities participating in the partnership on its activities. The bill would require an additional report to be filed with the Legislature by December 1, 2016, to include the number of complaints received by the partnership and cases investigated or prosecuted, as specified.
Existing law, the Moore-Brown-Roberti Family Rights Act, makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer, as defined, to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid protected leave during any 12-month period (1) to bond with a child who was born to, adopted by, or placed for foster care with, the employee, (2) to care for the employee's parent, spouse, or child who has a serious health condition, as defined, or (3) because the employee is suffering from a serious health condition rendering him or her unable to perform the functions of the job. Under the act, "child" means a biological, adopted, foster, or stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in loco parentis, who is either under 18 years of age or an adult dependent child. The act defines "parent" to mean the employee's biological, foster, or adoptive parent, stepparent, legal guardian, or other person who stood in loco parentis to the employee when the employee was a child. This bill would increase the circumstances under which an employee is entitled to protected leave pursuant to the Family Rights Act by (1) eliminating the age and dependency elements from the definition of "child," thereby permitting an employee to take protected leave to care for his or her independent adult child suffering from a serious health condition, (2) expanding the definition of "parent" to include an employee's parent-in-law, and (3) permitting an employee to also take leave to care for a seriously ill grandparent, sibling, grandchild, or domestic partner, as defined.
Under existing law, various agencies administer programs for the support of homeless persons. Existing law also provides for public social services programs, such as the CalWORKs program, the Medi-Cal program, and CalFresh. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services and the State Department of Social Services to inquire in both paper applications and electronic applications, as prescribed, into the housing status of persons who apply for Medi-Cal and CalFresh benefits to determine whether the beneficiary or applicant is homeless. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to refine the Medi-Cal application questions only when there is another reason to revise the application, and would require the State Department of Social Services to refine the CalFresh application questions at the next scheduled revision of the application. This bill, commencing at the end of the first fiscal year following the application changes required pursuant to these provisions, would require each department to begin including in its relevant reports to the budget committees of the Legislature specified information relating to homeless beneficiaries and households, as applicable.
Under existing law, several state agencies have prescribed responsibilities relating to homeless youth. Existing law requires the California Emergency Management Agency to administer a program to provide shelter and other services to runaway and nonrunaway youth and their families. This bill would establish the Statewide Office of the Homeless Youth Advocate in the California Health and Human Services Agency. This bill would require the office, among other things, to provide information and assistance to reduce the provision of overlapping services to, identify obstacles to the provision of services to, make recommendations to remove those obstacles and improve the quality of services provided to, and update and disseminate information received from service providers relating to services available for, homeless youth.
Existing law requires the Department of General Services, under the police power of the state, to supervise the design and construction of any school building or the reconstruction or alteration of or addition to any school building, if not exempted, to ensure that plans and specifications comply with specified rules, regulations, and building standards and to ensure that the work of construction is performed in accordance with the approved plans and specifications, for the protection of life and property. Existing law authorizes the department to issue a stop work order when construction work on a public school is not being performed in accordance with existing law and would compromise the structural integrity of the building, thereby endangering the public safety, but requires the department to allow construction of incidental and minor nonstructural additions or nonstructural alterations without invoking its stop work authority. Existing law establishes in the Department of General Services the Division of the State Architect and provides that the State Architect has general charge, under the Department of General Services, of the erection of all state buildings. This bill would require the Department of General Services to convene a workgroup, or continue to use an existing workgroup, as specified, to develop and adopt recommendations for improving the oversight of school construction projects. The bill would require the workgroup to review changes made within the Division of the State Architect to improve its oversight of school construction projects and to review the Field Act to consider changes to the act concerning occupancy of school facilities when and if significant safety concerns are identified. The bill would require the Division of the State Architect by July 1, 2013, to report the recommendations of the workgroup to the Senate Select Committee on Earthquake and Disaster Preparedness, Response and Recovery, at a public hearing with an opportunity for public comment, as specified, and to the appropriate Senate and Assembly policy committees. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2015.
The Public Schools Accountability Act of 1999 requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop an Academic Performance Index (API) to measure the performance of schools and the academic performance of pupils. Existing law requires the Superintendent to establish an advisory committee to advise the Superintendent and the State Board of Education on all appropriate matters relative to the creation of the API and the implementation of an accountability system. Existing law requires the Superintendent and the state board, in consultation with the advisory committee, by July 1, 2013, to make recommendations to the Legislature and the Governor on, among other things, the establishment of a methodology for generating a measurement of group and individual academic performance growth by using individual pupil results from a longitudinally valid achievement assessment system. This bill would require the advisory committee to consult, as appropriate, with individuals who are experts or have experience in innovation in the fields of business, science, technology, mathematics, engineering, and arts education on the development of a voluntary Creative and Innovative Education Index, to be based in part on the creative opportunities in each participating school, as specified. The bill would require the advisory committee to make recommendations by June 1, 2014, to the Superintendent on the extent to which this index may be used to foster creative and innovative education in the public schools.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the 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 prohibits certain discriminatory acts by health care service plans and health insurers. Existing federal law, beginning January 1, 2014, prohibits a group health plan and a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage from discriminating with respect to participation under the plan or coverage against any health care provider who is acting within the scope of that provider's license or certification under applicable state law. Beginning January 1, 2014, this bill would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer from discriminating against any health care provider who is acting within the scope of that provider's license, as specified. Because a willful violation of the bill's provisions relative to health care service plans 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.
