Existing law establishes various grant and loan programs for research, including, among others, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, California Firefighter Cancer Prevention and Research Program, and the Public Interest Research, Development, and Demonstration Program. This bill would establish the California Institute for Scientific Research within the Government Operations Agency. The bill would create the California Institute for Scientific Research Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, and require the moneys in the fund to be used by the Government Operations Agency to award grants and make loans to public or private research companies, universities, institutes, and organizations for scientific research and development, in specific areas of research, including, but not limited to, biomedical, behavioral, and climate research. This bill would create the California Institute for Scientific Research Council, as specified. The bill would require the council to, among other things, develop the strategic objectives and priorities of the institute and determine the research projects that will be funded by the California Institute for Scientific Research Fund, as specified. The bill would require a majority vote by the appointed members for the council for the approval of funding for any research project or proposal presented for funding. The bill would authorize the council to establish one or more scientific peer review panels consisting of experts in specified fields of research for the purposes of reviewing and prioritizing proposals on the basis of the track record of the investigators, scientific merit of the proposal, and potential benefit to the health and well-being of the population, natural resources, and environment of the state. This bill would require all research and development funded by the California Institute for Scientific Research Fund to be conducted under established standards of open scientific exchange, peer review, and public oversight. The bill would require the funds to be awarded on the basis of the research priorities established for the institute by the council and the scientific merit of the proposed research, as determined by an open, competitive, scientific peer review process that ensures objectivity, consistency, and high quality. Existing law, the California Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act of 2020, requires the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHSA) or its departments to enter into partnerships to, among other things, address shortages in the market for generic prescription drugs and increase patient access to affordable drugs. The act also requires CHHSA to enter into partnerships resulting in the production, procurement, or distribution of generic prescription drugs, in accordance with specified conditions and procedures. The state has launched the CalRx Initiative, a program that in part serves to implement the act. This bill would require CHHSA, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the above-described act, to enter into partnerships or contracts resulting in the development, production, procurement, or distribution of vaccines, by any entity that is authorized to do so under federal or state law, with the intent that these drugs be made widely available to public and private purchasers, providers, suppliers, and pharmacies. Under the bill, this requirement would be implemented through the CalRx Initiative and subject to an appropriation.
The Confidentiality of Medical Information Act governs the disclosure of medical information by an employer, a provider of health care, a health care service plan, or a contractor, as those terms are defined. The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) authorizes a consumer to direct a business, as defined, that collects sensitive personal information about the consumer to limit its use of the consumer's sensitive personal information, as specified, and defines "sensitive personal information" to include personal information that reveals a consumer's neural data. The CCPA also authorizes a consumer to request that a business delete any personal information about the consumer which the business has collected from the consumer, as prescribed. The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the CCPA and establishes the California Privacy Protection Agency and vests the agency with full administrative power, authority, and jurisdiction to enforce the CCPA. This bill would require, under the CCPA, a covered business to use neural data only for the purpose for which the neural data was collected and would require a covered business to delete neural data when the purpose for which the neural data was collected is accomplished. The bill would define "covered business" to mean a person who makes available a brain-computer interface to a person in this state and would define "brain-computer interface" to mean a system that allows direct communication and control between a person's brain and an external device. This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020.
(1) Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act, authorizes the involuntary commitment and treatment of persons with specified mental disorders. Under the act, when a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to themselves or others, or is gravely disabled, the person may, upon probable cause, be taken into custody by specified individuals, including, among others, a peace officer and a designated member of a mobile crisis team, and placed in a facility designated by the county and approved by the State Department of Health Care Services for up to 72 hours for evaluation and treatment. Existing law defines "assessment" for those purposes to mean the determination of whether a person shall be evaluated and treated. This bill would require an assessment to consider reasonably available, relevant information as specified. The bill would also authorize an assessment to be used to assist specified individuals in developing an aftercare plan for an individual, if that individual has agreed to an aftercare plan and can be properly served without being detained. (2) Existing law provides a procedure for the appointment of a conservator for a person who is determined to be gravely disabled as a result of a mental disorder or an impairment by chronic alcoholism (hereafter LPS conservatorship) . Under existing law, a professional person in charge of an agency providing comprehensive evaluation or a facility providing intensive treatment may recommend a LPS conservatorship for a gravely disabled person in their care if the professional person determines that the person is unwilling to accept, or is incapable of accepting, treatment voluntarily. Under existing law, a professional person in charge of an agency providing comprehensive evaluation or a facility providing intensive treatment or a professional person in charge of providing mental health treatment at a county jail, or their designee, may recommend a conservatorship for a gravely disabled person without that person being an inpatient in a facility providing comprehensive evaluation or intensive treatment if specified conditions are met. This bill would additionally authorize recommendations for an LPS conservatorship if a determination is made that the gravely disabled person has demonstrated an inability to accept voluntary treatment due to apparent incapacity. The bill would expand the list of individuals or entities that may recommend a conservatorship for a gravely disabled person without that person being an inpatient in a facility providing comprehensive evaluation or intensive treatment to include, among others, the county agency providing investigations for conservatorships of the person. (3) Existing law separately provides for the establishment of a conservatorship for a person who is unable to properly provide for their personal needs or is substantially unable to manage their finances (hereafter probate conservatorship) . Existing law requires the officer providing conservatorship investigation, if they concur with the recommendation of the professional person or facility, to petition the superior court in the patient's county of residence to establish a conservatorship. Existing law requires the officer providing conservator investigation to investigate all available alternatives to conservatorship, including, among other things, assisted outpatient treatment, as specified, and the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment Act program. Existing law requires the officer to recommended conservatorship to the court only if no suitable alternatives are available. Existing law requires the officer to render to the court a comprehensive written report of investigation prior to the hearing and to set forth all alternatives available if the officer recommends either for or against conservatorship. This bill would specify probate conservatorships with or without major neurocognitive disorder powers in the list of available alternatives that the officer providing conservatorship investigation is required to investigate. In a county where probate conservatorship and LPS conservatorship duties are split between separate agencies, the bill would require LPS conservatorship referrals that include the presence of a major neurocognitive disorder to be reviewed by both agencies to ensure the continuity of evaluations. The bill would additionally require an officer providing conservatorship investigation to include a recommended individualized plan for treatment and care drawn from the documented list of less-restrictive alternatives in the written report described above if the officer recommends against an LPS conservatorship. The bill would also make various clarifying changes. By expanding the duties of county agencies that provide services related to probate conservatorships and LPS conservatorships, and by expanding the duties of the county officer providing conservatorship investigation, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law authorizes a conservator of the person, the estate, or the person and the estate to be appointed for a person who is gravely disabled as a result of a mental health disorder or impairment by chronic alcoholism for the purpose of providing individualized treatment, supervision, and placement. Existing law requires the creation of an individualized treatment plan within 10 days of the establishment of a conservatorship, as specified. Existing law requires the treatment plan to specify goals for the conservatee's treatment, the criteria by which the accomplishment of those goals can be adjudged, and a plan for reviewing the progress of the treatment. If a treatment plan is not developed or if the conservator fails to report to the court that the conservatee is no longer gravely disabled, existing law requires specified individuals, including a person designated by the county, to refer the matter to the court. Existing law requires the court, upon report by a person designated by the county that the goals have been reached and the person is no longer gravely disabled, to terminate the conservatorship. This bill would require an individualized treatment plan to specify goals for stabilization, the individual's evidenced-based treatment, and movement to a less-restrictive setting. The bill would require those goals to include the criteria by which accomplishment can be judged. The bill would require the treatment plan to be filed with the court, as specified, after it is developed. The bill would require the court to order the treating agency to remedy any perceived defects in a treatment plan if the plan does not meet the specified goals and criteria and would create procedures for remedying those defects and terminating the conservatorship. The bill would authorize the court, upon termination of the conservatorship, to refer the individual to assisted outpatient treatment or CARE court, as specified. This bill would prohibit the court from terminating the conservatorship prior to the end of the conservator's one-year mark if the conservatee cannot be located at any point during that one-year period, except as specified. The bill would require, when a county is filing a petition and the county is aware that the subject of the petition was, within the prior 6 months, a conservatee whose conservatorship was terminated before the one-year termination date, to include in its petition the circumstances that gave rise to the termination. Because this bill would increase the duties on county personnel, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law, the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act, authorizes specified people to petition a civil court to create a CARE plan to provide an individualized, appropriate range of community-based services and supports to an eligible individual. Under the CARE Act, all reports, evaluations, diagnoses, and other information filed with the court that are related to the respondent are confidential, except as specified. This bill would authorize that information to be shared only by a court order or as approved by the respondent. If the information is used outside of the above-described proceedings, the bill requires a court order for that information to be shared. This bill would authorize a court, at any point after entry of a CARE agreement or adoption of a CARE plan, to order the respondent to an evaluation under the LPS without a petition from the county if the court believes the respondent has become gravely disabled. The bill would establish the procedures required before a court could issue an order pursuant to these provisions. (6) 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
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, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and 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 sets forth specified prior authorization limitations for health care service plans and health insurers. This bill would prohibit a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2027, that provides coverage for physical therapy from imposing prior authorization for the initial 12 physical therapy treatment visits for a new condition. The bill would authorize prior authorization for physical therapy for a recurring condition, as specified. The bill would require a physical therapy provider to verify an enrollee's or an insured's coverage and disclose their share of the cost of care, as specified. The bill would require a physical therapy provider to obtain separate written consent for costs that may not be covered by the enrollee's or insured's plan contract or policy, that includes a written estimate of the cost of care for which the enrollee or insured is responsible if coverage is denied or otherwise not applicable. With respect to health care service plans, the bill would specify that its provisions do not apply to Medi-Cal managed care plan contracts. Because a willful violation of this provision by a health care service plan 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.
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 Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and 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 requires a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, to provide coverage for medically necessary treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, as defined, under the same terms and conditions applied to other medical conditions. This bill would generally require a large group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, to reimburse an eligible enrollee or insured for up to 12 visits with a behavioral health provider if the enrollee or insured lives in a county where a local or state emergency has been declared due to wildfires and the enrollee or insured has experienced a loss, trauma, or displacement because of the fire. The bill would prohibit these benefits from being subject to utilization review. The bill would require a health care service plan contract or health insurer to provide notice to all affected enrollees of these provisions, as specified. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and 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 disability insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, including pursuant to contracts with various types of managed care plans. Existing law generally authorizes a health care service plan, including a Medi-Cal managed care plan, or disability insurer to use utilization review, under which a licensed physician or a licensed health care professional who is competent to evaluate specific clinical issues may approve, modify, delay, or deny requests for health care services based on medical necessity. For a request prior to or concurrent with the provision of health care services, existing law requires utilization review decisions to be made within 5 business days from the plan's or insurer's receipt of the information reasonably necessary and requested by the plan or insurer to make the determination, or within 72 hours if the enrollee or insured faces an imminent and serious threat to their health or the normal timeframe would be detrimental to their life or health, as specified. This bill would change the timeline for prior or concurrent authorization requests to no more than 3 business days from the plan's or insurer's receipt via electronic submission, or 5 business days from receipt via submission that is not electronic, of the information reasonably necessary and requested by the plan or insurer to make the determination. The bill would require a utilization review decision to be made within 24 hours from receipt of a prior or concurrent authorization request via electronic submission, or 48 hours from receipt via submission that is not electronic, if the enrollee or insured faces an imminent and serious threat to their health or the normal timeframe would be detrimental to their life or health. Because a willful violation of this provision by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would exclude Medi-Cal managed care plans from the above-described timeline changes. 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.
(1) Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and 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, which is under the control of the Insurance Commissioner. Existing law requires the Department of Managed Health Care and the commissioner to develop and adopt regulations establishing standards and requirements to provide enrollees and insureds with appropriate access to language assistance in obtaining health care services and covered benefits. Existing law requires the Department of Managed Health Care and commissioner, in developing the regulations, to require health care service plans and health insurers to assess the linguistic needs of the enrollee and insured population, and to provide for translation and interpretation for medical services, as indicated. This bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to take reasonable steps to provide meaningful access to each individual with limited English proficiency, including companions with limited English proficiency, eligible to receive services or likely to be directly affected by its programs and activities. The bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to offer a qualified interpreter or to utilize a qualified translator when interpretation or translation services are required, as specified. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer from requiring an individual with limited English proficiency to provide or pay for the costs of their own interpreter. The bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to comply with specified requirements when providing remote interpreting services. The bill would make a health care service plan or health insurer that violates these provisions liable for administrative penalties, as specified. (2) Existing law requires certain vital documents containing enrollee- or insured-specific information to include a written notice of the availability of interpretation services in certain threshold languages. Existing law requires a health care service plan or health insurer, upon request, to provide a written translation of those documents within a specified timeframe. For those documents that also relate to expedited plan review of a grievance for a case involving an imminent and serious threat to the health of the patient, existing law authorizes a health care service plan or health insurer to satisfy the requirement by providing notice of the availability of oral interpretation services. This bill would authorize a health care service plan or health insurer to satisfy the notice requirement by taking reasonable steps to inform the enrollee or insured of any required actions, including by providing a sight translation of a document. (3) Existing law requires a health care service plan or health insurer that advertises or markets products in a non-English language, as specified, to provide specified documents in the same non-English language. This bill would add to the list of documents required to be provided in the advertised or marketed non-English language, (A) notices related to any termination of coverage and change in covered services, (B) complaint forms to file a grievance or appeal, and (C) communications related to costs and payment of covered services, as specified. (4) Existing law requires a health care service plan or health insurer to notify enrollees or insureds, as applicable, and members of the public of nondiscrimination policies, grievance or complaint procedures, as applicable, and the availability of language assistance services and appropriate auxiliary aids and services, as specified. This bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to also provide the information to persons seeking coverage. The bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to notify enrollees or insureds, persons seeking coverage, and members of the public that the plan or insurer provides language assistance services and appropriate auxiliary aids and services, as specified. Existing law requires this information to be provided upon initial enrollment, upon renewal, and annually in or with materials that are routinely disseminated. This bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to also provide the above-described information in clear and prominent physical locations, as specified, and upon request. The bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to provide information regarding the provision of language assistance services, as described above, in a notice when specified forms or communications are provided, as specified. (5) Existing law requires a health care service plan or health insurer to report to the applicable department on internal policies and procedures relating to cultural appropriateness in specified contexts. This bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to additionally report to the applicable department on internal policies and procedures relating to language access, as specified. (6) Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, this 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.
