This measure would recognize the month of January 2024 as National Human Trafficking Awareness Month.
This measure would designate, in perpetuity, the 4th week of January as Data Privacy Week and the last Sunday of January as Data Privacy Day.
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, including health insurers, by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan contract and disability insurance policy that provides coverage for hospital, medical, or surgical expenses and is issued, amended, delivered, or renewed on and after July 1, 2000, to provide coverage for the testing and treatment of phenylketonuria, including coverage for the formulas and special food products that are part of a prescribed diet, as specified. This bill would require a health care service plan contract and disability insurance policy that provides coverage for hospital, medical, or surgical expenses and is issued, amended, delivered, or renewed on and after July 1, 2024, to provide coverage for formulas, as defined, for the treatment of other chronic digestive diseases and inherited metabolic disorders, as specified. The bill would specify that these provisions do not apply to Medi-Cal managed care plans to the extent that the services are excluded from coverage under the contract between the Medi-Cal managed care plan and the State Department of Health Care Services. Because a violation of the bill's requirements 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, the California Organic Food and Farming Act, requires the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, county agricultural commissioners, and the State Public Health Officer of the State Department of Public Health to enforce state and federal laws governing the production, labeling, and marketing of organic products, as specified. Existing federal law establishes the National Organic Program, which requires operations that produce or handle organic agricultural products to comply with federal organic standards and be certified by a certifying agent, as specified. This bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture, contingent upon an appropriation of funds in the annual Budget Act or another statute, to evaluate duplicative reporting requirements that affect certified organic operations, as specified. The bill would require the department, on or before one year after the date that the Legislature makes an appropriation for this purpose, to submit a report to the Legislature, including suggestions to amend or remove unnecessary reporting requirements in order to relieve regulatory burdens on certified organic operations.
Existing law establishes the Department of Food and Agriculture, under the control of the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. Existing law authorizes the department to expend in accordance with law all money that is made available for its use. This bill would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature in the Budget Act of 2023, to provide funding for research to investigate accurate measurement of smoke compounds in winegrapes and wine, methods to mitigate the damage to winegrapes and wine that can occur from exposure to smoke, and methods to prevent smoke damage to winegrapes and wine. The bill would require the department to establish an advisory committee of specified members appointed by the secretary to provide recommendations to the secretary for funding research proposals submitted to the department under these provisions. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on January 1, 2029, or when all funds appropriated by the Legislature pursuant to the Budget Act of 2023 for these provisions have been disbursed, whichever is later.
Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. Existing law, the Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995, requires the department to establish and oversee an environmental farming program to provide incentives to farmers whose practices promote the well-being of ecosystems, air quality, and wildlife and their habitat. This bill would require the department to establish and administer a resilient and higher welfare grant program to support the implementation of higher standards of care and more climate-smart farming practices by providing education materials, outreach, and incentives to producers and processors seeking to improve farm animal welfare and increase capacity to meet growing demand for higher welfare and welfare-certified products, to comply with regulatory requirements, and to make necessary climate adaptations. The bill would require the department to establish an annual competitive grant application process that enables producers and processors seeking to improve farm animal welfare to apply to the department for financial assistance and to give priority to certain applications. The bill would require the department to conduct outreach and education to producers and processors with regard to the program and to publish a report on or before January 1, 2029, on its internet website summarizing the results of the program.
Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the State Water Resources Control Board to administer provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health. Existing law declares it to be the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes. The act prohibits a person from operating a public water system unless the person first submits an application to the state board and receives a permit to operate the system, as specified. The act requires a public water system to submit a technical report to the state board as a part of the permit application or when otherwise required by the state board, as specified, and to submit the report in the form and format and at intervals specified by the state board. Existing law provides that a specified violation of the act is a crime. This bill would require, beginning January 1, 2025, and thereafter at intervals determined by the state board, public water systems to provide specified information and data related to customer water bills and efforts to replace aging infrastructure to the state board. By requiring information and data to be provided to the state board, this bill would expand the scope of a crime and create 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.
The Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995 requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, in consultation with the Scientific Advisory Panel on Environmental Farming, to establish and oversee a Healthy Soils Program to seek to optimize climate benefits while supporting the economic viability of California agriculture by providing incentives, including loans, grants, research, and technical assistance, and educational materials and outreach to farmers whose management practices contribute to healthy soils and result in net long-term on-farm greenhouse gas benefits. Existing law authorizes the Healthy Soils Program to also include the funding of on-farm demonstration projects that further the goals of the program. Existing law requires the department, if it elects to fund those on-farm demonstration projects, to establish a technical advisory committee to review those applications for scientific validity and the proposed project's potential to achieve greenhouse gas benefits. This bill would additionally authorize the Healthy Soils Program to include the funding of organic farming projects that further the goals of the program and require the department to establish the technical advisory committee if it elects to fund those projects, as specified. The bill would require the department to support and incentivize organic production by providing grants of up to 5 years to certified organic farmers and ranchers, as defined, and during farmers' or ranchers' 3-year organic transition period, as described, and to prioritize applicants who propose to implement multiple healthy soils practices and certified organic farmer or rancher applicants. The bill would require the department to provide grants of up to 5 years for on-farm demonstration projects. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2026, to submit a report to the Legislature on how the program incentivizes farmers and ranchers to implement multiple healthy soils practices, including incentivizing farmers and ranchers to transition to organic production.
