Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is in part governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing federal law, enacted on July 4, 2025, sets forth various changes to different health care programs, including certain requirements for Medicaid eligibility with regard to work or community engagement reporting, redeterminations, and cost sharing, among other factors, for certain Medicaid populations pursuant to a specified implementation timeline. This bill would create the California Health Access Fund, to be administered by the department. Under the bill, moneys in the fund would include deposits, through any applicable transfers made by the Legislature, equal to the amount of any savings to the state resulting from decreased enrollment in the Medi-Cal program caused by enrollment barriers created by the above-described federal law. Under the bill, moneys in the fund would, upon appropriation, be used to ensure that California residents losing health care coverage due to the impacts of the federal law or due to any other divestments from the health care system can continue to receive health care services and that health care providers are reimbursed for these services.
(1) Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act, authorizes the involuntary commitment and treatment of a person, when the person, as a result of a mental health disorder, is a danger to themselves or others, or is gravely disabled. For the purposes of these provisions, existing law defines "gravely disabled" as a condition in which a person, as a result of a mental health disorder, a severe substance use disorder, or a co-occurring mental health disorder and a severe substance use disorder, is unable to provide for their basic personal needs for food, clothing, shelter, personal safety, or necessary medical care. Existing law also authorizes a conservator of a person, estate, or person and the estate to be appointed for a person who is gravely disabled or impaired by chronic alcoholism, subject to specified procedures. Existing law provides the person for whom conservatorship is sought to have the right to demand a court or jury trial on the issue of whether the person is gravely disabled. Existing law prohibits a person from being tried or adjudged to punishment while that person is mentally incompetent, and establishes a process by which a defendant's mental competency is evaluated. This bill would prohibit a court, for purposes of LPS conservatorship, from determining a person's ability to provide for their basic personal needs based solely on the fact that the person has temporary access to those basic personal needs while incarcerated. The bill would also authorize a district attorney to be present and represent public safety interests at any hearing to determine whether an individual is gravely disabled for purposes of the LPS Act. Existing law requires the court to determine the most appropriate placement for a conservatee who is gravely disabled, as defined. Existing law requires the officer providing conservatorship investigation to investigate all available alternatives to conservatorship, as applicable, and to render to the court a comprehensive, written report of the investigation prior to the hearing, as specified. This bill would authorize the district attorney to review all filed documents regarding the investigation, initiation, termination, or modification of, and to be present and represent public safety interests at all hearings that consider, a conservatorship of a person who is gravely disabled, as defined by being found mentally incompetent and meeting the above-described conditions, to provide input to the court about appropriate placement or interim placement by the public conservator. The bill would require a copy of the conservatorship investigation report to be transmitted to the district attorney if the investigation was initiated as part of a determination of mental competence for trial. The bill would authorize the district attorney, if the individual has been appointed a conservator under specified provisions, to challenge the recommendation of the public conservator after the conservatorship investigation for an abuse of discretion in a contested hearing before a judge. The bill would prohibit the district attorney from using the information contained in these reports in subsequent criminal proceedings, except as specified. To the extent the bill imposes a higher level of service on county agencies that prepare and transmit conservatorship investigation reports and on a district attorney to receive those reports, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would authorize a county with a population size of 750,000 or greater to consider prioritizing the placement of specified conservatees in a state hospital run by the State Department of State Hospitals if at least 40 of those conservatees are waiting for placement in a state hospital. The bill would also authorize the placement to be on an interim basis at a county detention facility pending acceptance into a facility that achieves the purposes of treatment of the conservatee and protection of the public. The bill would require the conservatee to receive treatment services in accordance with the conservatorship plan within the detention facility pending permanent placement and would require the court to review the conservator's placement efforts every 60 calendar days. 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, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, under the administration and enforcement of the State Department of Public Health, provides for the regulation of various subjects relating to the manufacturing, processing, labeling, advertising, and sale of food, drugs, and cosmetics. Existing law places product testing and disclosure requirements on various products, including baby food and prenatal vitamins. A violation of the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law is punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2028, require a manufacturer of a bulk protein product or a packaged protein product, as defined, that is sold, manufactured, delivered, held, or offered for sale in this state to test a representative sample of each lot of the product for heavy metals, as defined. The bill would require both a manufacturer and brand owner to provide test results to an authorized agent of the department upon their request, as specified. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2028, require a brand owner of a packaged protein product that is sold, manufactured, delivered, held, or offered for sale in the state to disclose specified product information to the public, including, among other things, the heavy metal testing information. Commencing on or after January 1, 2028, the bill would require a statement regarding heavy metal testing to be included on the outermost package of a packaged protein product sold in a retail store and on the product details page on an internet website for products sold online or directly to consumers. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2028, prohibit a person from selling in the state or manufacturing, delivering, holding, or offering for sale in the state a protein product that does not comply with these provisions. By creating a new 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, the Medical Practice Act, establishes the Medical Board of California to license and regulate the practice of medicine. Existing law establishes within the act the Licensed Physicians from Mexico Program, which authorizes the board to issue a limited number of nonrenewable 3-year physician's and surgeon's licenses to physicians from Mexico who are licensed, certified, or recertified and in good standing in their medical specialty in Mexico and who meet specified other requirements. This bill would establish the Doctors from El Salvador Program for the purpose of permitting licensed physicians from El Salvador to practice medicine in California for up to 3 years. The bill would require the program to be developed in consultation with representatives from a community health clinic in California that has an established partnership and framework with specified universities in El Salvador and would require the program to, among other things, recruit and vet candidates and assist candidates for the program in El Salvador to meet all program requirements. The bill would require the board to issue a nonrenewable 3-year physician and surgeon's license to a person who is licensed, certified, or recertified, and in good standing in the applicable medical specialty in El Salvador and who meets other requirements of the program. This bill would require a licensee in the program to practice only in the nonprofit community health center that offered the licensee employment and the corresponding hospital. The bill would require a federally qualified health center employing a licensee in the program to take certain actions, including creating and maintaining medical quality assurance protocols for those licensees. The bill would also require the federally qualified health centers to work with a California medical school or residency program to conduct 10 secondary reviews of randomly selected patient encounters with each of those licensees every 6 months, as specified. The bill would also require the faculty from the medical school or residency program and federally qualified health center chief medical officers to jointly develop 2 quality assurance seminars to be attended by the licensees. This bill would require an evaluation of the program to be conducted 12 months after the program has commenced by one of specified universities in El Salvador and an unspecified medical school in southern California, except that if the evaluation does not begin within 18 months of commencement of the program, the bill would require the Director of Consumer Affairs to select an independent consultant to conduct the evaluation. The bill would require progress reports to be provided to the Legislature on achievable time intervals beginning in the 2nd year of implementation of the program. The bill would require the board to coordinate with the community health center, as specified, to ensure that the number of program participants that are issued a license does not exceed a certain number of licensees, based on the year in which the applicant applies. The bill would establish various fees to be deposited in the Contingent Fund of the Medical Board of California or the CURES Fund, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute.
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. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law establishes a schedule of benefits under the Medi-Cal program and provides for various services, including comprehensive perinatal services and federally qualified health center (FQHC) and rural health clinic (RHC) services, that are rendered by Medi-Cal enrolled providers. Under existing law, FQHCs and RHCs receive a per-visit prospective payment system (PPS) rate for each visit. Existing law establishes the Comprehensive Perinatal Services Program, the goals of which are to decrease and maintain the decreased level of perinatal, maternal, and infant mortality and morbidity in the State of California and to support methods of providing comprehensive prenatal care that prevent prematurity and the incidence of low birth weight infants. Under the program, the State Department of Public Health is required to develop and maintain a statewide comprehensive community-based perinatal services program and enter into contracts, grants, or agreements with health care providers to deliver these services in a coordinated effort. Existing law also requires the department to monitor the delivery of services under those contracts, grants, and agreements through a uniform health data collection system that utilizes epidemiologic methodology. This bill would instead require the State Department of Health Care Services to oversee a statewide comprehensive community-based perinatal services program and enroll health care providers to deliver these services to Medi-Cal members and make conforming changes, but would maintain the State Department of Public Health's role with related contracts, grants, and agreements. The bill would specify that any participation by the State Department of Public Health does not change the State Department of Health Care Services' authority to implement comprehensive community-based perinatal services for purposes of the Medi-Cal program. By January 1, 2028, the bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health, to clarify each department's roles and responsibilities regarding comprehensive perinatal services by regulation. The bill would, among other things, require the State Department of Health Care Services to develop informational and educational materials on comprehensive perinatal services by January 1, 2028, and require all Medi-Cal managed care plans to disseminate the materials, as specified. The bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services, no later than July 15, 2027, to submit to the Assembly Committee on Health and the Senate Committee on Health, and post on its internet website, a report that identifies the number of pregnant and postpartum individuals that received comprehensive perinatal services from January 1, 2022, to January 1, 2025, inclusive. The bill would also require the State Department of Health Care Services, commencing July 15, 2028, and every 3 years thereafter, to submit to those committees, and post on its internet website, a report that identify the number of pregnant and postpartum individuals that received and were offered comprehensive perinatal services during the previous 3 calendar years. This bill would require a Medi-Cal managed care plan to inform each Medi-Cal member treated during the perinatal period regarding the availability of and access to comprehensive perinatal services.
Under existing law, the State Department of Public Health is responsible for the licensing and regulation of various facilities and settings that provide health care services, as specified. Existing law, the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act prohibits, except to the extent expressly authorized by a patient, enrollee, or subscriber, or as otherwise permitted or required, a provider of health care, health care service plan, contractor, or corporation and its subsidiaries and affiliates from disclosing medical information for immigration enforcement. Existing law requires health care provider entities, as defined, to establish or amend procedures for monitoring, documenting, and receiving visitors to health care provider entities to the extent possible, and prohibits, unless required by state or federal law, a health care provider entity and its personnel from allowing any person access to nonpublic areas of the provider's facilities for immigration enforcement purposes, except as specified. This bill would, among other things, require a health care provider entity to, when there is a patient accompanied by an immigration enforcement officer, verify and document the identities and agencies of the accompanying immigration enforcement officers, to the extent possible. The bill would require a health care provider entity to ask an immigration enforcement officer to step out of the patient's room when discussing any matters pertaining to patient care, or performing any physical examination, or providing any medical care, except as specified, would prohibit an immigration enforcement officer from having any authority to make, influence, or participate in medical decisions on behalf of patient they accompany, and would require the health care provider entity personnel to report a refusal to comply with the requirements of this bill to the health care provider entity management, administration, or legal counsel, who is required to then document the actions, and, to the extent possible, the name and badge number of an immigration enforcement officer. The bill would also prohibit a health care provider entity from using blackout policies when admitting a patient who is accompanied by an immigration enforcement officer, except as specified, and defines blackout policies to mean any policy that is used by health care provider entities to conceal a patient's presence or identity at the entity's facility, including, but not limited to, registering patients under a pseudonym, removing the patient's name from the health care provider entity's directory, or prohibiting personnel from confirming that a patient is in the health care provider entity.
This Senate Resolution designates the week of May 10 to May 16, 2026, as Hospital Week in California to honor the state's hospitals and their staff. The measure recognizes the vital role hospitals play in providing care, training medical professionals, and supporting the local economy across rural, suburban, and urban areas. By officially acknowledging these institutions, the resolution aims to highlight their importance during National Hospital Week without changing any laws or policies.
This bill designates April 2026 as Parkinson's Disease Awareness Month in California. It directly affects state officials and the public by formally recognizing the importance of raising awareness for this specific health condition. The primary mechanism is a legislative proclamation that appears in the state statutes to mark the month. This action serves as an official acknowledgment of the disease without changing laws or funding.
This Senate Resolution designates May 2026 as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Awareness Month in California to highlight the challenges faced by individuals with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The measure calls on the public and government officials to support research funding, advocate for better access to medical equipment, and stand in solidarity with patients and their families. While the resolution does not change laws or allocate specific funds, it serves to raise awareness about the disease's impact and the need for continued clinical trials and treatment development.
Senate Resolution 103 designates the first full week in May 2026 as Tardive Dyskinesia Awareness Week in California. This proclamation aims to raise public and medical awareness about tardive dyskinesia, a movement disorder that can occur in people taking antipsychotic medications for mental health conditions. The resolution emphasizes the importance of early detection and routine screening for this condition, which affects a significant portion of patients who may be undiagnosed. By highlighting these issues, the bill encourages healthcare providers and patients to prioritize regular check-ups and education regarding the risks and symptoms associated with long-term antipsychotic use.
