Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. Existing law requires the commission, in consultation with the Office of Emergency Services, to identify the need for telecommunications service systems not on customers' premises to have backup electricity to enable telecommunications networks to function, and to enable customers to contact a public safety answering point operator during an electrical outage, to determine performance criteria for backup systems, and to determine whether specified best practices for backup systems have been implemented by telecommunications service providers operating in California. Existing law requires the commission to report certain information to the Legislature. This bill would require the commission to collect specified information from telecommunications service providers relating to the provider's efforts and resources used to restore telecommunications service outages caused by, and to repair or replace related network infrastructure or facilities that were damaged as a result of, certain emergencies or natural disasters. The bill would require the commission to annually prepare a report that summarizes the information collected and the service providers' plans for fully restoring telecommunication service outages caused by, or repairing or replacing related network infrastructure or facilities as necessitated by, the emergency or natural disaster. The bill would require the president of the commission to annually present a summary of the information collected to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature. The bill would authorize the commission to require telecommunications service providers to collect and forward to the commission any relevant information for these purposes. The bill would authorize the commission to make this information public and to withhold from the public information it deems would pose a security threat if publicly disclosed. Under existing law, a violation of any provision of the Public Utilities Act or of any of the rules or orders issued under the act is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill are within the act and require action by the commission to implement its requirements, a violation of which would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to 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. 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.
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Existing law, the Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement (STAKE) Act, prohibits a person from selling or otherwise furnishing tobacco products, as defined, to a person under 21 years of age. Existing law also prohibits the use of tobacco products in county offices of education, on charter school or school district property, or near a playground or youth sports event, as specified. This bill would prohibit a tobacco retailer from selling, offering for sale, or possessing with the intent to sell or offer for sale, a flavored tobacco product, as defined. The bill would make a violation of this prohibition an infraction punishable by a fine of $250 for each violation. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that these provisions not be construed to preempt or prohibit the adoption and implementation of local ordinances related to the prohibition on the sale of flavored tobacco products. The bill would state that its provisions are severable. 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 establishes the State Department of Public Health, which, among other things, administers various programs that prevent disease and promote health. This bill would prohibit a retailer from selling, offering for sale, or otherwise providing to a consumer an unsealed beverage container, as defined, that is able to contain more than 16 fluid ounces, except for an unsealed beverage container designated for the consumption of water. The bill would define retailer to mean any person, firm, corporation, or business that sells, offers for sale, or otherwise provides a sugar-sweetened beverage to a consumer. This bill would make a violation of this prohibition punishable as an infraction, or a civil penalty in an action brought by the Attorney General, or a district attorney, county counsel, or city attorney, of $200 for the first violation, $500 for the second violation, and $1,000 for each subsequent violation. 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 authorizes the Department of Transportation to acquire real property for future highway purposes. Existing law requires structures maintained or allowed to remain on property that has been acquired for future highway needs to be maintained in conformance with applicable city or county building and safety ordinances. This bill would specify that safety ordinances, for the purposes of the provision described above, include an ordinance requiring a property owner to abate weeds. The bill would require the department to comply with a notice of weed abatement issued by a city or county fire department or fire chief, or their designee, pursuant to a safety ordinance to property owned by the department within 60 days of the notice. The bill would entitle a city or county to reimbursement for actions taken by the city or county to abate weeds that the department fails to abate 60 days after receipt of the notice of weed abatement if the city or county makes specified findings at a regularly scheduled public hearing.
Existing law establishes the Atmospheric Rivers: Research, Mitigation, and Climate Forecasting Program in the Department of Water Resources. Existing law requires the department, upon an appropriation for purposes of the program, to research climate forecasting and the causes and impacts that climate change has on atmospheric rivers, to operate reservoirs in a manner that improves flood protection, and to reoperate flood control and water storage facilities to capture water generated by atmospheric rivers. This bill would appropriate $9,250,000 from the General Fund to the department in the 2019–20 fiscal year to operate the program.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which health care services are provided to qualified, low-income persons. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, one of the methods by which Medi-Cal services are provided is pursuant to contracts with various types of managed care health plans, including through a county organized health system and geographic managed care. This bill would require, commencing January 1, 2022, a Medi-Cal managed care plan to meet a minimum performance level (MPL) that improves the quality of health care and reduces health disparities for enrollees, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish both a quality assessment and performance improvement program and a value-based financial incentive program to ensure that a Med-Cal managed care plan achieves an MPL. The bill would, among other things, require the department to establish a public stakeholder process in the planning, development, and ongoing oversight of the programs. The bill would require the department to annually and publicly report the results of the quality assessment and performance improvement program on the department's internet website. The bill would require the department to utilize the results of the quality improvement and value-based financial incentive program to inform a publicly reported Quality Rating System for Medi-Cal managed care plans, subject to federal approval.
Existing law establishes the Office of Farm to Fork within the Department of Food and Agriculture, and requires the office, to the extent that resources are available, to work with various entities, including, among others, the agricultural industry and other organizations involved in promoting food access, to increase the amount of agricultural products available to underserved communities and schools in the state. This bill would create the California Organic-to-School Pilot Program, to be administered by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, through the Office of Farm to Fork. The bill would require the secretary to expend moneys allocated for the program to provide grants for school food authorities to purchase California organic food products for school meals, as specified. The bill would require the secretary to consult with the State Department of Education to determine the recipients and amounts of grants awarded under the program. The bill would require a school food authority that receives a grant under the program to submit a report to the secretary containing specified information and would require the secretary to report to the Legislature on the outcomes of the program. The bill would make the implementation of its provisions contingent on a one-time appropriation being made for its purposes by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute.
The California Emergency Services Act establishes the Office of Emergency Services within the Governor's office under the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services and makes the office responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies. Existing law authorizes the Governor, or the director when the governor is inaccessible, to proclaim a state of emergency under specified circumstances. This bill would establish a behavioral health deputy director within the Office of Emergency Services to ensure individuals have access to necessary mental and behavioral health services and supports in the aftermath of a natural disaster or declaration of a state of emergency and would require the deputy director to collaborate with the Director of Health Care Services to coordinate the delivery of trauma-related support to individuals affected by a natural disaster or state of emergency. The bill would require the Director of Health Care Services, in collaboration with the Office of Emergency Services, to immediately request necessary federal waivers to ensure the provision of healthcare services, as specified, during a natural disaster or declared state of emergency.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health, which, among other things, administers various programs to prevent disease and promote health. Existing law also regulates certain advertising and promotion practices related to specific products, including by prohibiting the nonsale distribution of smokeless tobacco or cigarettes in designated places and the giving away of premiums, gifts, or free goods in connection with the sale or distribution of alcoholic beverages, except as specified. This bill would regulate promotion and marketing activities related to sugar-sweetened beverages, as defined, by prohibiting a beverage company, as defined, manufacturer, or distributor, as defined, from giving or offering incentives or other financial support to compensate distributors or retailers for the cost of promotional offers, coupons, or other incentives offered to consumers for branded products of the beverage company. The bill would exempt from that prohibition contracts between a beverage company, manufacturer, or distributor and a theme or amusement park, zoo, other attraction, or professional sports stadium that include nonfood promotions. The bill would authorize local governments and the Attorney General to impose civil penalties for a violation of the prohibition, as specified. The bill would state that these provisions do not preempt or prohibit the adoption and implementation of local ordinances related to promotional and marketing activities for sugar-sweetened beverages that are not inconsistent with these requirements, including ordinances that impose additional or more restrictive requirements on those activities.
Existing law, 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 and their families. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with stakeholders, to develop an alternative service delivery model that provides an Individual Choice Budget and suspends a regional center's authority to purchase certain services, including, camping services and associated travel expenses, social recreation activities, educational services, and nonmedical therapies, as specified, pending implementation of the Individual Choice Budget and certification that the Individual Choice Budget has been implemented and will result in state budget savings, as specified. This bill would repeal the above-described suspension of a regional center's authority to purchase camping services and associated travel expenses, or social recreation activities.