The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act requires the State Department of Developmental Services to contract with regional centers to provide services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities. Under existing law, the regional centers purchase needed services for individuals with developmental disabilities through approved service providers or arrange for those services through other publicly funded agencies. Existing law requires a regional center to have a fair hearing procedure and afford an applicant for or recipient of services, or the authorized representative of the applicant or recipient, the opportunity for a fair hearing, or to request a voluntary informal meeting or voluntary mediation, if they are dissatisfied with any decisions of the regional center, as specified. Existing law requires the department to implement a mediation process to be used if mediation is requested and agreed to. This bill would require each regional center to establish a dispute resolution program to hear and decide disputes between the regional center and consumers regarding the provision of services and eligibility for services. The bill would authorize the department to establish a grant program to provide funding to regional centers to establish the dispute resolution programs and enable regional centers to operate the dispute resolution programs, as specified. The bill would establish standards for the operation of the dispute resolution programs, including by, among others, requiring regional centers to provide consumers indicating an intention to utilize the dispute resolution process with a specified written statement and specifying the applicable rules of evidence for the dispute resolution proceedings. The bill would also create within the department a Developmental Disabilities Dispute Resolution Advisory Council comprised of 7 persons, the Chair of the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, 4 appointed by the Governor, one appointed by the Senate Rules Committee, and one appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, with specified qualifications. The bill would require the advisory council to, among other things, adopt rules and regulations for the dispute resolution programs and would require the department, beginning January 1, 2021, or an earlier date by which the advisory council completes its duties, to periodically review the effectiveness of rules and regulations for the dispute resolution programs, adopt changes as necessary, and monitor and evaluate the programs as to their compliance with the rules and regulations.
Sponsored bills
Existing law authorizes the operation of an autonomous vehicle on public roads for testing purposes by a driver who possesses the proper class of license for the type of vehicle being operated if specified requirements are met. Existing law defines an "autonomous vehicle" for this purpose as any vehicle equipped with autonomous technology, as defined, that has been integrated into the vehicle. This bill would expand the definition of the term "autonomous vehicle" to also include a remotely operated vehicle, defined as a specified type of vehicle that is capable of being operated by a driver or operator that is not inside of the vehicle. Existing law specifies that a vehicle equipped with a collision avoidance system that is not capable of driving the vehicle without the active control or monitoring of a human operator is not an autonomous vehicle. The bill would instead specify that a vehicle is not an autonomous vehicle if it is equipped with a collision avoidance system that is not capable of driving the vehicle without the active control or monitoring of a human operator that is seated in the driver's seat of the vehicle.
This measure would name the public street, circle, and plaza at 914 and 915 Capitol Mall in the City of Sacramento as the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Circle and Plaza. The measure would request the Department of General Services to determine the cost of erecting the appropriate signage commemorating this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources, to cover that cost to erect that signage.
Existing law establishes the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and charges it with certain duties and powers, including, among other things, the operation of prisons and other specified institutions. This bill would require the department to establish a Peace Officer Peer Support Labor Management Committee tasked with crafting, updating, and monitoring the implementation of a standardized statewide peace officer policy for the department's peer support program to provide substantive assistance to the peace officers employed by the department. The bill would require the committee to be composed of an equal number of representatives of the employer and peace officer employees, and would require the members of the committee to be selected and hold their first meeting on or before July 1, 2020. The bill would require the policy to address, among other things, the selection process and training for peer support team members, and guidelines for the types of communication that would remain confidential within the peer support program. The bill would require the policy to be fully implemented by January 1, 2022. The bill would require the department to submit, beginning July 1, 2020, an annual report to the Legislature that contains data pertaining to the utilization rates of the peace officer peer support program statewide.
Existing law establishes the Rural Indian Crime Prevention Program, a program of financial and technical assistance for local law enforcement, within the Office of Emergency Services. Existing law establishes the Rural Indian and Law Enforcement Local Advisory Committee, composed of specified members, including one Native American law enforcement officer, and requires the Director of Emergency Services to provide staff services to the advisory committee. Existing law requires the director, in consultation with the advisory committee, to develop guidelines and procedures for the selection of projects to be funded by the program. This bill would create the Missing or Murdered Native American Women Task Force in the Department of Justice, and would provide for the membership of that task force. The bill would require the task force to complete a formal consultation with California's Native American tribes on how to improve tribal access to databases, to develop recommendations on how to increase state resources for reporting and identifying missing and murdered Native American persons in the state, and to develop a database of nonprofit or nongovernmental organizations that provide aid or support in locating missing Native American persons. The bill would require the task force to submit a report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2023, detailing improvements to tribal database access, interjurisdictional coordination, and law enforcement resource allocation for cases of missing or murdered Native American persons. The bill would additionally require the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, in consultation with the task force, to prepare and distribute to law enforcement agencies in the state guidelines and uniform procedures for the reporting and investigation of missing and murdered Native American persons, and would require the Department of Justice to employ a missing Native American persons specialist responsible for building relationships to increase trust between governmental organizations and native communities.
This measure would recognize September 2020 as Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month and encourage the Legislature to appropriate funds for research, treatment, and monitoring of sickle cell disease, and for related education and outreach.
Under existing law, the California Transportation Commission allocates various state and federal transportation funds through specified state programs to local and regional transportation agencies to implement projects consistent with the requirements of those programs. Existing law continuously appropriates $200,000,000 annually from the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account for allocation by the commission for a program commonly known as the Local Partnership Program to local or regional transportation agencies that have sought and received voter approval of taxes or that have imposed certain fees, which taxes or fees are dedicated solely for road maintenance and rehabilitation and other transportation improvement projects. Existing law requires the commission, in cooperation with the Department of Transportation, transportation planning agencies, county transportation commissions, and other local agencies, to develop guidelines for the allocation of those moneys. This bill would require the commission to annually deposit 85% of these funds into the Local Partnership Formula Subaccount, which the bill would create, and 15% of these funds into the Small Counties and Uniform Developer Fees Competitive Subaccount, which the bill would create. The bill would require the commission to distribute the funds in the Local Partnership Formula Subaccount pursuant to a specified formula to local or regional transportation agencies that meet certain eligibility requirements. The bill would require the commission to allocate funds in the Small Counties and Uniform Developer Fees Competitive Subaccount through a competitive grant program to local or regional transportation agencies that meet other eligibility requirements. The bill would require the commission, in consultation with transportation planning agencies, county transportation commissions, and other local agencies, to develop separate guidelines for the distribution or allocation of the funds in each subaccount that, among other things, establish the types of eligible projects consistent with specified requirements. In order to receive a distribution of funds from the Local Partnership Formula Subaccount from the commission in a funding cycle, the bill would require an eligible entity to submit to the commission a description of a project nominated to be funded with the funds, including the project's status and the amount of eligible local matching funds the eligible entity is committing to the project. The bill would require the commission to review the accompanying documentation for nominated projects to ensure that each nominated project meets certain requirements, and would require that projects determined to meet those requirements be deemed eligible for funding.
This measure would urge specified state departments and the Attorney General to use their authority to ensure that health care service plans and health insurers subject to their authority comply with the federal Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.