Existing federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , requires each state to establish an American Health Benefit Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health benefit plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) , also known as Covered California, to facilitate the enrollment of qualified individuals and qualified small employers in qualified health plans as required under PPACA. Until January 1, 2023, existing law requires the Exchange to administer a program of financial assistance, and authorizes the program to provide assistance, including premium assistance subsidies, to program participants with household incomes at or below 600% of the federal poverty level. This bill, contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature, would reduce premiums to zero for program participants with household incomes at or below 138% of the federal poverty level, and would scale the premium assistance subsidy amount for program participants with household incomes of 139% to 600%, inclusive, of the federal poverty level pursuant to the program design adopted by the board of the Exchange.
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(1) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, would allow a credit against those taxes to a taxpayer that is transferred, and allocated, credits pursuant to the sale of a multifamily rental housing development or mobilehome park to a qualified developer, as defined, that has received a credit reservation from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, in specified amounts. The bill would require the credits to be reserved on a first-come-first-served basis. The bill would limit the aggregate amount of credit that may be allocated by the committee, as provided. The bill would also provide that the credit amount shall be $0 for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, unless otherwise specified in a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Act. (2) Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax credit to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new income tax credit. (3) This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
This measure would proclaim March 15, 2020, to March 22, 2020, as California Down Syndrome Awareness Week and March 21, 2020, as California Down Syndrome Day, and would encourage all Californians to support and participate in related activities.
Existing federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , enacts various health care market reforms. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) , also known as Covered California, to facilitate the enrollment of qualified individuals and qualified small employers in qualified health plans as required under PPACA. Until January 1, 2023, existing law requires the Exchange to administer a program to provide health care coverage financial assistance to California residents with household incomes at or below 600% of the federal poverty level. This bill would create the Office of Health Care Quality and Affordability to analyze the health care market for cost trends and drivers of spending, develop data-informed policies for lowering health care costs, and create a strategy to control health care costs. The bill would require the office to be governed by a board with specified membership, and would require the board to hire an executive director to organize, administer, and manage the operations of the office. The bill would require health care entities to report specified data to the board, which the board would be required to keep confidential. Based on that data, the bill would require the board to annually establish statewide health care cost growth targets beginning in the 2022 calendar year and sector-based health care cost growth targets beginning in the 2023 calendar year. This bill would require health care entities to comply with the above-described health care cost growth targets and would authorize the board to assess civil penalties for violations of the health care cost growth targets. The bill would establish the Health Care Quality and Affordability Fund, within the State Treasury, into which civil penalties would be deposited. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the bill would require moneys in the fund to be expended by the board in a manner that prioritizes the return of the moneys to consumers and payers. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing law, the Song-Brown Family Physician Training Program, is a state medical contract program with medical schools, programs that train primary care physician's assistants, programs that train primary care nurse practitioners, hospitals, and other health care delivery systems that is intended to increase the number of students and residents receiving quality education and training in the specialty of family practice and to maximize the delivery of primary care family physician services to areas of California where there is a recognized unmet priority need for those services. Existing law requires the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, among other duties, to provide long-term stability and non-General Fund support for these programs, and to report on these strategies to the legislative budget committees. This bill would create the continuously appropriated California Healthcare Workforce Training Tax Revenue Fund and would require all revenues appropriated or otherwise provided to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development from the tax revenues generated from a proposed nicotine-content-based e-cigarette tax to be deposited into the fund. The bill would require all revenues in the fund to be used solely for purposes of the Song-Brown Family Physician Training Program, as specified, and would require those revenues to be used to supplement, and not to supplant, funds from other sources provided for purposes of the program. By creating a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law establishes the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Fund in the State Treasury, and requires that all revenues received from specified assessments imposed on certain lumber and engineered wood products, less amounts deducted for specified refunds and reimbursements, be deposited into the fund, and used, upon appropriation, only for specified purposes including, until July 1, 2017, as a loan to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for activities to address environmental damage occurring on forest lands resulting from marijuana cultivation. This bill would instead authorize the loan described above until July 1, 2025, for activities to address environmental damage occurring on forest lands resulting from cannabis cultivation.
Existing law provides for the regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. A willful violation of those provisions is a crime. Existing law requires health care service plans that cover prescription drug benefits and contract with pharmacy providers and pharmacy benefit managers to meet specified requirements, including requiring pharmacy benefit managers with whom they contract to register with the department and exercise good faith and fair dealing, among other requirements. Existing law provides for the registration and regulation of pharmacy benefit managers, as defined, that contract with health care service plans to manage their prescription drug coverage. Under existing law, a pharmacy benefit manager is required to submit specified information to the department to apply to register with the department. This bill would require a pharmacy benefit manager to, beginning October 1, 2021, annually report specified information to the department regarding the covered drugs dispensed at a pharmacy and specified information about the pharmacy benefit manager's revenue, expenses, health care service plan contracts, the scope of services provided to the health care service plan, and the number of enrollees that the pharmacy benefit manager serves. The bill would require the department to compile this reported information and make the report publicly available, as specified, but would exempt records other than the report from public disclosure. The bill would include in the requirements that health care service plans are required to impose on a pharmacy benefit manager with which they contract, the requirement that the pharmacy benefit manager comply with these reporting requirements. 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. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing law prohibits an entity from substantially diverting or obstructing the natural flow of, or substantially changing or using any material from the bed, channel, or bank of, any river, stream, or lake, or from depositing certain material where it may pass into any river, stream, or lake, without first notifying the Department of Fish and Wildlife of that project, and entering into a lake or streambed alteration agreement if required by the department to protect fish and wildlife resources. Existing law authorizes a habitat restoration or enhancement project proponent to submit a written request for approval of the project to the Director of Fish and Wildlife. Existing law requires the director to approve the project if the written request includes certain information, as specified, and provides for an alternate authorization process by the State Water Resources Control Board. This bill would exempt a landowner who voluntarily allows land to be used for such a project to restore fish and wildlife habitat from civil liability for property damage or personal injury resulting from the project if the project is funded, at least in part, by a state or federal agency that promotes or encourages riparian habitat restoration, unless the property damage or personal injury is caused by willful, intentional, or reckless conduct of the landowner or by a design, construction, operation, or maintenance activity performed by the landowner.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act prescribes labeling requirements for containers of alcoholic beverages sold within this state, including those imposed on wines labeled with an American Viticultural Area, as established pursuant to federal law, that is located entirely within specified counties. The act generally provides that a violation of its provisions is a misdemeanor if not otherwise specified. This bill would require any wine bottled on or after January 1, 2023, labeled with an American Viticultural Area that is located entirely within the County of Mendocino to bear the designation "Mendocino County" on the label in specified type sizes that are determined in relation to the size of the container, except as specified. The bill would authorize the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to suspend or revoke the license of a person who violates these provisions, but would otherwise exempt a violation of these provisions from civil or criminal penalties. The bill would also prescribe exceptions to these provisions.
The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) enacts various health care market reforms. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health insurer that issues, sells, renews, or offers plan contracts for health care coverage in the state to comply with the requirements of the PPACA, and any rules or regulations issued under the PPACA, that generally prohibit a health insurer offering group or individual coverage from imposing lifetime or annual limits on the dollar value of benefits for an insured. Existing law requires an insurer to comply with those provisions to the extent required by federal law. This bill would delete the requirement that a health insurer comply with the prohibition on lifetime or annual limits to the extent required by federal law, and would instead prohibit an individual or group health insurance policy from establishing lifetime or annual limits on the dollar value of benefits for an insured, thereby indefinitely extending the prohibitions on lifetime or annual limits.