Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health to implement various programs throughout the state relating to public health. The department administers the California Wastewater Surveillance Dashboard that provides an overview of data from testing wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 virus in California. The data in the dashboard is generated by those participating in the department's California Surveillance of Wastewaters (Cal-SuWers) network, including the Cal-SuWers program, WastewaterSCAN, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Wastewater Surveillance System, wastewater utilities, and academic, laboratory, and other state and federal partners. This bill would require the department, in consultation with participating wastewater treatment facilities, local health departments, and other subject matter experts, to maintain the Cal-SuWers network to test, as appropriate for public health use, for pathogens, toxins, or other public health indicators in wastewater. The bill would require participation in the Cal-SuWers network from local health departments and wastewater treatment facilities to be voluntary. The bill would authorize the department to coordinate with health care providers, local health departments, and emergency response agencies to ensure wastewater surveillance data is used for early intervention, outbreak response, epidemiological investigations, and public health planning. The bill would authorize the department to communicate to the general public, through a publicly accessible internet website, as specified, to provide transparency and public awareness of wastewater-based disease monitoring. The bill would authorize the department to utilize external funding sources, in addition to the department's existing, noncontinuously appropriated funding sources, to implement these provisions. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
Existing law establishes the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, and the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as 2 of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law requires, on and after January 1, 2023, each student health center on a California State University or University of California campus to offer abortion by medication techniques, as specified. This bill would require a California State University campus, and would request a University of California campus, to provide adoption information to students in each location on campus where contraception and emergency contraception information is available, including when birth control and levonorgestrel are provided to students through the campus's student health center or pharmacy, as specified.
The California Constitution provides that the University of California constitutes a public trust administered by the Regents of the University of California, a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers of organization and government, subject to legislative control only for specified purposes. Existing law creates the University of California, San Francisco, San Joaquin Valley Regional Campus Medical Education Endowment Fund. Upon an appropriation by the Legislature, existing law requires moneys in the endowment fund to be allocated to the University of California to support the annual operating costs for the development, operation, and maintenance of a branch campus of the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine in the San Joaquin Valley, and to generate funding through investment earnings for support of medical education in the San Joaquin Valley, as provided. This bill would request the University of California to submit a report to the Legislature, on or before August 31, 2026, on the financial requirements necessary to expand the current University of California, San Francisco and University of California, Merced medical education collaboration, the San Joaquin Valley PRIME+ program, and to transition the program into a fully independent medical school operated by the University of California, Merced. The bill would request the report to include the projected costs associated with various program components, a list of potential health facilities at which students could conduct residencies, and a timeline and milestones for the completion of an independent school of medicine at the University of California, Merced.
Existing law establishes the University of California Kern County Medical Education Endowment Fund. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, existing law requires moneys in the endowment fund to be allocated to the University of California to support the annual operating costs for the development, operation, and maintenance of a branch campus of an existing University of California School of Medicine in the County of Kern, and to conduct a feasibility study related to that campus. This bill would require the University of California, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to complete a feasibility study, and reasonably attempt to consult with local stakeholders, to determine the steps necessary to establish a branch campus of an existing University of California medical school in the County of Kern, and to submit the feasibility study, on or before 2 years after the date of the appropriation, including detailed findings, recommendations, and an implementation timeline, to the Governor and Legislature, as provided. The bill would require the feasibility study to include a comprehensive analysis of the requirements, challenges, and opportunities related to establishing a branch campus of an existing University of California medical school in the County of Kern, as provided. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law authorizes a county to establish a homeless adult and family multidisciplinary personnel team, as defined, with the goal of facilitating the expedited identification, assessment, and linkage of homeless individuals to housing and supportive services within that county and to allow provider agencies to share confidential information for the purpose of coordinating housing and supportive services to ensure continuity of care. This bill would authorize a county to also establish a behavioral health multidisciplinary personnel team, as defined, with the goal of facilitating the expedited identification, assessment, and linkage of a justice-involved person, as defined, diagnosed with a mental illness to supportive services within that county while incarcerated and upon release from county jail and to allow provider agencies and members of the personnel team to share confidential information, as specified, for the purpose of coordinating supportive services to ensure continuity of care. The bill would require the sharing of information permitted under these provisions to be governed by protocols developed in each county, as specified. This bill would authorize a behavioral health multidisciplinary personnel team to designate a qualified person to be a member of the team for a particular case and would require a member who receives information or records regarding a justice-involved person in their capacity as a member of the team to be under the same privacy and confidentiality obligations and subject to the same confidentiality penalties as the person disclosing or providing the information or records. The bill would also require the information or records to be maintained in a manner that ensures the maximum protection of privacy and confidentiality rights.
Existing law establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs. The department, among other services, provides veterans and their dependents and survivors with assistance in processing service-related disability claims, assistance in obtaining affordable housing, and information about health ailments associated with military service. This bill would require the department to establish a program to fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, an academic study of mental health among women veterans in California, as specified. The bill would require the department to submit a report that summarizes the findings and recommendations of the study to the Legislature no later than June 30, 2029. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030.
Existing law establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to oversee the implementation of Housing First guidelines and regulations, and, among other things, identify resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California. Existing law requires a state agency or department that funds, implements, or administers a state program that provides housing or housing-related services to people experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness to revise or adopt guidelines and regulations to include enumerated Housing First policies. Existing law specifies the core components of Housing First, including services that are informed by a harm-reduction philosophy that recognizes drug and alcohol use and addiction as a part of tenants' lives and where tenants are engaged in nonjudgmental communication regarding drug and alcohol use. This bill would authorize state programs to fund supportive-recovery residences, as defined, that emphasize abstinence under these provisions as long as the state program meets specified criteria, including that at least 90% of program funds awarded to each jurisdiction is used for housing or housing-based services using a harm-reduction model. This bill would specify requirements for applicants seeking funds under these programs and would require the state to perform periodic monitoring of select supportive-recovery residence programs to ensure that the supportive-recovery residences meet certain requirements, including that core outcomes of the supportive-recovery housing emphasize long-term housing stability and minimize returns to homelessness. The bill would also prohibit eviction on the basis of relapse, as specified. The bill would require, if a tenant is no longer interested in living in a supportive-recovery residence with an abstinence focus, is at risk of eviction, or is discharged from the program, the tenant to reside in the supportive recovery residence until the operator secures the tenant a new permanent housing placement option operated with harm-reduction principles that is also permanent housing. The bill would require supportive housing and services to support residents' access to and use of medications to treat behavioral and physical health conditions, as specified, and to provide overdose prevention training and overdose reversal medication to staff and residents, as specified. Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development and requires it to administer various programs that provide services to homeless individuals. This bill would require the department to adopt the most recent standards approved by the National Alliance for Recovery Residences or other national standards as the minimum standard for supportive-recovery residences that receive public funds under these provisions. The bill would require the department to establish a separate process for determining if the supportive-recovery residence complies with the core components of Housing First. The bill would require the department to verify compliance with the core components of Housing First for residences seeking Housing First certification, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to charge an annual fee to verify that supportive-recovery residences comply with the core components of Housing First in an amount not to exceed the reasonable cost of administering the program, not to exceed $100, and would establish the Supportive-Recovery Residence Program Fund for collection of the fee, to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature.
Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, an initiative measure enacted by Proposition 215 at the November 6, 1996, statewide general election, declares that its purpose is, among other things, to ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes, as specified, and exempts from state criminal liability certain patients and their primary caregivers who possess or cultivate marijuana for the personal medical purposes of the patient. The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult-Use of Marijuana Act of 2016 (AUMA) , an initiative measure approved as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, established a comprehensive system to legalize, control, and regulate the cultivation, processing, manufacture, distribution, testing, and sale of nonmedical marijuana. Existing law, the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities, including the retail sale of medicinal cannabis. MAUCRSA also authorizes specified licensees to provide free medicinal cannabis or medicinal cannabis products to medicinal cannabis patients if specified criteria are met. Existing law, the Medicinal Cannabis Patients' Right of Access Act, prohibits a local jurisdiction from adopting or enforcing any regulation that prohibits the retail sale by delivery within the local jurisdiction of medicinal cannabis to medicinal cannabis patients or their primary caregivers by medicinal cannabis businesses, as defined, or that has the effect of prohibiting the retail sale by delivery within the local jurisdiction of medicinal cannabis to medicinal cannabis patients or their primary caregivers, as specified. This bill, until January 1, 2029, would authorize a licensed microbusiness with an M-license, as defined, whose licensed activities include retail sale, manufacturing, distribution, and outdoor cultivation to directly ship certain medicinal cannabis or medicinal cannabis products to a medicinal cannabis patient in the state, if the licensed microbusiness complies with specified requirements, including that the medicinal cannabis is shipped by a common carrier, as described, the amount shipped to a medicinal cannabis patient in a single day does not exceed specified possession limits, and the package is received and signed for by someone 21 years of age or older. The bill would require the shipment to comply with specified laws and regulations governing cannabis and cannabis products sold by licensed retailers, as provided. If the medicinal cannabis patient is a qualified patient that possesses a valid physician's recommendation, the bill would require the licensed microbusiness to certify in writing that they verified the recommendation and would require the retailer to keep a copy of that certification for no less than 7 years. The bill would amend the Medicinal Cannabis Patients' Right of Access Act to, among other things, prohibit a local jurisdiction from adopting or enforcing any regulation that prohibits the retail sale by delivery within or shipment into the local jurisdiction of medicinal cannabis to medicinal cannabis patients or their primary caregivers by a licensed microbusiness, as specified. The bill would also authorize free medicinal cannabis or medicinal cannabis products provided to medicinal cannabis patients in compliance with MAUCRSA to be shipped to those patients by a licensed microbusiness with an M-license, as provided. To the extent this bill would impose additional duties on local jurisdictions, and to the extent the bill would expand the crime of perjury by requiring the licensed microbusiness to certify verification of physician recommendations, 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, under the administration of community college district governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate. Existing law establishes a statewide baccalaureate degree program that authorizes up to a total of 30 baccalaureate degree programs at community college districts to be approved per academic year, as provided. This bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to develop a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing Pilot Program that authorizes select community college districts to offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. The bill would limit the pilot program to 10 community college districts statewide and would require the chancellor's office to identify and select eligible community college districts based on specified criteria. The bill would require the chancellor's office to develop a process designed to assist community college districts with nursing programs that are applying for national accreditation for the purpose of qualifying for the pilot program, as provided. The bill would require each participating community college district to give priority registration for enrollment in the pilot program to students with an associate degree in nursing from that community college district. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to conduct an evaluation of the pilot program to determine the effectiveness of the program and the need to continue or expand the program, as specified, to be submitted to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2033. The bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2035.
(1) Existing law, the Psychology Licensing Law, establishes the Board of Psychology to license and regulate psychologists and the practice of psychology. Existing law repeals the provision establishing the board on January 1, 2026. This bill would extend operation of the board to January 1, 2030. Existing law authorizes a person who is licensed as a psychologist at the doctoral level in another state or territory of the United States or Canada to offer psychological services in this state for up to 30 days per year. Existing law authorizes a person other than a licensed psychologist to perform psychological functions in preparation for licensure as a psychologist if the person is registered with the board as a registered psychological associate, and establishes requirements in that regard. This bill would require an out-of-state licensee to satisfy certain conditions to offer psychological services, including informing the client of the limited timeframe of the services and that the person is not licensed in California. The bill would require an applicant for registration as a psychological associate who was trained in an educational institution outside the United States or Canada to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the board that the applicant possesses a doctoral degree in psychology or education that is equivalent to a degree earned from a regionally accredited academic institution in the United States or Canada, as specified. Existing law establishes qualifications for registration as a psychological testing technician, including proof of completion of a bachelor's degree or graduate degree, or proof of current enrollment in a graduate degree program in psychology or in education with a field of specialization in educational psychology, counseling psychology, or school psychology. Existing law also establishes various fees relating to the licensure and regulation of the practice of psychology. This bill would expand the list of authorized areas of study for registration as a psychological testing technician to include neuroscience, cognitive science, or behavioral science, and would specify that the board shall make the final determination as to whether a degree or degree program meets the educational requirements. The bill would establish a fee of $25 to add or change a supervisor for a psychological testing technician. Existing law provides that a psychologist's license shall be suspended automatically during any time the holder of the license is incarcerated after conviction of a felony, and provides for the continued suspension of the license if, after a hearing, it is determined in the hearing that the felony for which the licensee was convicted is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a licensee. Existing law requires any discipline ordered to cease if the conviction is overturned on appeal. This bill would revise and recast those provisions, including authorizing the board to decline to set aside the suspension when it appears to be in the interest of justice to do so. The bill would revise and recast provisions relating to suspended, revoked, and surrendered licenses and obtaining a new license after a license is void after not being renewed within 3 years. The bill would make various technical and other changes to the Psychology Licensing Law, including defining the term "client." (2) Existing law provides for the registration and regulation of research psychoanalysts and student research psychoanalysts by the Board of Psychology, and establishes acts for which the board may revoke or suspend registration and that are deemed unprofessional conduct. Existing law establishes fees for registration, which are deposited into the Psychology Fund. This bill, among other changes to the provisions regulating research psychoanalysts and student research psychoanalysts, would expand the list of acts constituting unprofessional conduct that would authorize the board to suspend or revoke a registration. The bill would revise education and training requirements for registration as a research psychoanalyst, including requiring an applicant to complete certain coursework or training in detection and treatment of alcohol and other chemical substance dependency, suicide risk assessment and intervention, and aging and long-term care. The bill would establish continuing professional development requirements for research psychoanalysts. The bill would require the board to adopt a program of consumer and professional education in matters relevant to the ethical practice of psychoanalysis. The bill would establish fingerprint hard card processing fees for out-of-state applicants, as specified. Existing law requires certain behavioral health professionals to complete training in human sexuality and to complete coursework or training in child abuse assessment and reporting, as specified. Existing law provides that the Board of Psychology and the Board of Behavioral Sciences are encouraged to include coursework regarding the assessment and reporting of elder and dependent adult abuse in the required training on aging and long-term care issues before licensure or license renewal. Existing law makes findings and declarations related to the training of certain licensed behavioral health professionals in the areas of child, elder, and dependent adult abuse assessment reporting. This bill would include research psychoanalysts in the behavioral health professionals subject to the above-described training requirements and provisions. The bill would make various technical and other changes to the Psychology Licensing Law. (3) Existing law establishes the Board of Behavioral Sciences in the Department of Consumer Affairs to regulate licensees under the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act, the Educational Psychologist Practice Act, the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act, and the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Act, and authorizes the board to appoint an executive officer to exercise certain powers and perform specified duties. Existing law repeals the provision establishing the board and authorizing the board to appoint an executive officer on January 1, 2026. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, authorizes a person who holds a license in another jurisdiction of the United States as a marriage and family therapist, a clinical social worker, or a professional clinical counselor to provide those services in this state for a period not to exceed 30 days. Existing law specifies that a person who provides services pursuant to those provisions is deemed to have agreed to practicing under the jurisdiction of the board and to be bound by the laws of this state. This bill would extend the date of the operation of the board and of authorizing the board to appoint an executive officer to January 1, 2030, and would extend the date on which the provision authorizing a person who is licensed out-of-state as a marriage and family therapist, a clinical social worker, or professional clinical counselor to practice in this state to January 1, 2030. The bill would deem a person who is licensed in another jurisdiction who provides services to have attested under penalty of perjury to practicing under the jurisdiction of the board and to be bound by the laws of this state. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires a registrant or applicant for licensure as a marriage and family therapist to pass a clinical examination, and establishes a fee of $250, which the board is authorized to increase by regulation to up to $500, for the clinical examination. This bill would specify that the clinical examination may be administered either by the board or by a public or private organization, and would revise the fee requirement so that if the examination is administered by a public or private organization, the fee would be paid directly to the organization. Existing law requires certain applicants for registration or licensure as a marriage and family therapist who completed graduate study on or before December 31, 2018, to submit to the board a certification by the applicant's educational institution that the institution's required curriculum for graduation and associated coursework includes certain instruction in alcoholism and other chemical substance dependency and in spousal or partner abuse assessment, detection, and intervention. This bill would delete that requirement. Existing law requires an applicant for licensure or registration as a professional clinical counselor to obtain a degree in a program that includes a minimum of 280 hours of face-to-face supervised clinical experience counseling individuals, families, or groups. Existing law requires a professional clinical counselor trainee to receive an average of at least one hour of direct supervisor contact for every 5 hours of direct clinical counseling performed each week and specifies that not more than 6 hours of supervision shall be credited during any single week. This bill would delete the provision limiting the number of hours of supervision credited in a single week to 6 hours. Existing law, effective August 29, 2022, until January 1, 2026, revised provisions related to supervision via videoconferencing. In this regard, existing law defines "face-to-face contact" for purposes of the definition of "one hour of direct supervisor contact" to mean in-person contact, contact via 2-way, real-time videoconferencing, or some combination of these. Existing law requires a supervisor within 60 days of the commencement of supervision to conduct a meeting with the supervisee during which the supervisor is required to assess the appropriateness of allowing the supervisee to receive supervision via 2-way, real-time videoconferencing, as specified, and to document the results of that assessment. Existing law prohibits the supervisor from utilizing supervision via 2-way, real-time videoconferencing if their assessment finds it is inappropriate. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2026. This bill would extend the operation of those provisions indefinitely. By extending the operation of requirements, the violation of which would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires an applicant for licensure as a marriage and family therapist, clinical social worker, or licensed professional clinical counselor to provide copies of tax returns for each year of experience claimed for purposes of satisfying the experience requirement for licensure. This bill would require an applicant to provide the board with a copy of the applicant's most recent pay stub for experience gained during a tax year that has not ended by the date the application for licensure is received. Existing law requires direct supervisor contact for certain experience required for licensure as a marriage and family therapist, clinical social worker, or licensed professional clinical counselor. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, authorizes contact to be via in-person contact, 2-way, real-time videoconferencing, or some combination of these, as specified. Existing law, effective January 1, 2026, authorizes only a supervisee working in an exempt setting, as specified, to obtain direct supervisor contact via 2-way, real-time videoconferencing. This bill would make the above-described authorization related to videoconferencing permanent and would consequently delete the latter provision authorizing direct supervisor contact via videoconferencing in exempt settings. Existing law requires the board to issue a retired license to a marriage and family therapist, licensed educational psychologist, licensed professional clinical counselor, or clinical social worker upon satisfaction of specified requirements. Existing law also authorizes a person who holds a license in another jurisdiction of the United States as a marriage and family therapist, professional clinical counselor, or clinical social worker to practice in this state for a period not to exceed 30 consecutive days if they satisfy certain conditions, and deems a person who provides services pursuant to those provisions to have agreed to practicing under the jurisdiction of the board and to be bound by the laws of this state. The bill would revise the requirements for the issuance of a retired license, including submitting a statement under penalty of perjury that, among other things, the information provided on the application is true and correct. The bill would require out-of-state marriage and family therapists, professional clinical counselors, and clinical social workers, as a condition of practicing in this state, to submit a signed statement under penalty of perjury acknowledging that they are subject to the jurisdiction of the board and agreeing to be bound by the laws of this state. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would revise the education, experience, and other qualifications required for licensure as an educational psychologist. The bill would make various technical and other changes to the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act, the Educational Psychologist Practice Act, the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act, and the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Act. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 27 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 861 to be operative only if this bill and SB 861 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (5) 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.
