Asm. Tony Thurmond

This measure would recognize the month of August 2017 as Opportunity Youth Reengagement Month, and state the intent of the Legislature to encourage the expansion of schools authorized to specifically reengage "opportunity youth" 16 to 24 years of age by developing recommendations for a statewide student reengagement strategy and identifying the cost of the strategy compared to the cost of inaction; authorizing systems for accountability to students, parents, and families through transparency, active engagement, and outreach strategies; and highlighting, promoting, and uplifting evidence-based practices for successful student reengagement efforts that maintain multiple measures for evaluation of student success.

This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to support S. 349, the Access to Counsel Act, which would ensure that those persons held or detained while attempting to enter the United States, whether at a border crossing or a port of entry, would be guaranteed access to legal counsel.

This measure would urge the President and the Congress of the United States to continue to place an emphasis on increasing funding to NASA's budget and encouraging the expansive use of public-private partnerships to propel the industry forward into the next generation of advancement.

This measure would recognize adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) , also known as post-traumatic "street" disorder in communities of color, as having lasting negative outcomes to both physical and mental health with growing implications for our state.

Existing law, the Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, governs local emergency medical service systems and plans and establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority, which is responsible for the coordination and integration of all state activities concerning emergency medical services. Existing law provides that emergency medical personnel have specified due process rights when they are subject to suspension or termination for disciplinary cause or reason, as defined. Existing law prohibits an employer from requiring an employee to work during a meal or rest or recovery period mandated by an applicable statute, or an applicable regulation, standard, or order of the Industrial Welfare Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, or the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. Existing orders of the commission applicable to ambulance drivers and attendants and to medical technicians require that unless the employee is relieved of all duty during a 30 -minute meal period, the meal period shall be considered an on-duty meal period and counted as time worked. Those orders authorize an on-duty meal period only when the nature of the work prevents an employee from being relieved of all duty and when the parties, by written agreement, agree to an on-the-job paid meal period. This bill would require an employer that provides emergency medical services as part of an emergency medical services system or plan to authorize and permit its employees engaged in prehospital emergency services to take prescribed rest periods, including specifying grounds for interruption of a rest period and compensation for an interrupted rest period. The bill also would require the employer to provide these employees with prescribed meal periods, including specifying grounds for interruption of a meal period and compensation for an interrupted meal period. The bill would authorize an employer to require during rest and meal periods that employees monitor pagers, radios, station alert boxes, intercoms, cellular telephones, or other communication methods to provide for the public health and welfare. Existing federal law, the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, preempts a state from enacting or enforcing any law, regulation, or other provision that relates to an air carrier's price, route, or service. The bill would specify that an employer who is an air carrier under federal law and who conducts business as an air ambulance service, without penalty, may avoid disruption of services by requiring an employee to remain on call during meal and rest periods, or as otherwise dictated by federal law. The bill would require such an employer to provide another meal period or authorize and permit another rest period, or both a meal and rest period, as applicable, when an employee is affirmatively required to interrupt his or her meal or rest period to respond to the needs of patients. The bill would also specify that such an employer may avoid disruption of services by requiring an employee to continue to provide emergency care during a patient transport during meal and rest periods, or as otherwise dictated by federal law. The bill would require such an employer, if it cannot provide a meal or rest period to an employee with direct responsibility for emergency air ambulance services within the timeframes established under applicable law, due to patient needs or the necessity to provide service, to provide a meal or rest period as soon as reasonably possible. Existing law establishes the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board within the Department of Industrial Relations, and authorizes the board to adopt, amend, or repeal occupational safety and health standards and orders. Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, requires the standards board to adopt standards developed by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health that require specified licensed hospitals to adopt a workplace violence prevention plan to protect health care workers and other facility personnel from aggressive and violent behavior, but prohibits this provision from being interpreted to preclude the standards board from adopting standards that require other employers to adopt plans to protect employees from workplace violence, including workplace violence prevention plans that include elements or requirements additional to, or broader in scope than, those described in the provision. This bill would require an EMS provider, as defined, to send the information contained in the violent incident log it is required to maintain under a specified regulation to the Emergency Medical Services Authority. The bill would require the authority, on or before January 1, 2019, and annually thereafter, to post a report on its Internet Web site containing this information. The bill would prohibit these provisions from altering or amending the existing reporting and recordkeeping requirements of EMS providers imposed by the specified regulation. The bill would exempt certain public employers from these provisions.

Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, 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 law provides that specified services provided by local educational agencies (LEAs) are covered Medi-Cal benefits, including, but not limited to, mental health evaluations, mental health education, and mental health and counseling services. Existing law provides that an LEA may be reimbursed for the provision of those benefits on a fee-for-service basis through the Medi-Cal billing option for LEAs. This bill would require the department to establish the Local Educational Agency Behavioral Health Integration Pilot Program for the purpose of improving the behavioral health outcomes of students by improving the delivery of direct behavioral health services, as defined. The bill would require the department to encourage eligible participants to participate in the program, to provide technical assistance to eligible participants, to develop a request for a proposals process to determine funding allocation, and to formulate any necessary Medi-Cal State Plan amendments, and award grants pursuant to these provisions. The bill would require an LEA receiving funding through the program to use funds received to undertake specified activities in support of the program, including, among others, providing, or building capacity for the provision of, direct behavioral health services to all students with a demonstrated need, with a concerted effort toward improving the delivery of underutilized services to students enrolled in the Medi-Cal program. The bill would authorize an LEA to provide direct behavioral health services through direct employment of health care providers, or by contracting, as specified, with health care providers or school health centers, as defined. The bill would provide for implementation of the program to the extent that any necessary federal approvals have been obtained. The bill would require the department, upon termination of the program and depletion of appropriated funds, to report to the Legislature, as specified, on the outcomes of the program and the need for funding school-based health services and their connection to early behavioral health outcomes. Existing law, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) , an initiative measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 at the November 2, 2004, statewide general election, funds a system of county mental health plans for the provision of mental health services, as specified. The MHSA provides that it may be amended by the Legislature by a 23 vote of each house as long as the amendment is consistent with and furthers the intent of the MHSA. Existing law establishes the Mental Health Services Fund (MHSF) , continuously appropriated to and administered by the department, to fund specified county mental health programs, including prevention and early intervention programs and programs implemented under the Adult and Older Adult Mental Health System of Care Act. The MHSA authorizes the payment of administrative costs of the state from the fund in an amount not greater than 5% of the annual total deposited in the fund and otherwise specifies the distribution of moneys in the fund. To implement the pilot program, this bill would appropriate $10 million per year for the fiscal years from the 2018–19 fiscal year through and including the 2021–22 fiscal year to the department, subject to availability, from the MHSF moneys reserved for administrative costs described above. The bill would provide that funds not fully expended in a single fiscal year shall be available for the purpose of implementing this article in any one, or across one or more of, subsequent fiscal years, as specified. The bill would require the program to operate for 4 years from the date of that appropriation. By changing the use of the reserved administrative funds from that approved by the voters, the bill would amend the MHSA.

This measure would designate a specified portion of Interstate 680 in the City of San Ramon in the County of Contra Costa as the Detective Sergeant Thomas A. Smith, Jr. Memorial Highway. The measure would also request that the Department of Transportation determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, erect those signs.

This measure would urge the United States Congress to propose and send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to abolish the electoral college and provide for the direct election of the President and Vice President of the United States by the popular vote of all eligible citizens of the United States.