Asm. Jim Wood

This measure would proclaim August 2023 as Breastfeeding Awareness Month of 2023 in California. The measure would recognize the unique benefits that breastfeeding provides, as specified, and would affirm that Californians should work to ensure that barriers to initiation and continuation of breastfeeding are removed. The measure would encourage Californians to work together to explore ways to, among other things, improve women's access to breastfeeding support services in medical, social, and employment settings.

This measure would recognize the 50th anniversary of hip hop on August 11, 2023, as a time of celebration, pride, and nostalgia for the citizens of California.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, including federally qualified health center (FQHC) services and rural health clinic (RHC) services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, to the extent that federal financial participation is available, FQHC and RHC services are reimbursed on a per-visit basis, as specified. "Visit" is defined as a face-to-face encounter between a patient of an FQHC or RHC and a physician or other specified health care professionals. Under existing law, "visit" also includes an encounter using video or audio-only synchronous interaction or an asynchronous store and forward modality, as specified. This bill would authorize reimbursement for a maximum of 2 visits that take place on the same day at a single site, whether through a face-to-face or telehealth-based encounter, if after the first visit the patient suffers illness or injury that requires additional diagnosis or treatment, or if the patient has a medical visit and either a mental health visit or a dental visit, as defined. The bill would require the department, by July 1, 2024, to submit a state plan amendment to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reflecting those provisions. The bill would include a licensed acupuncturist within those health care professionals covered under the definition of a "visit." The bill would also make a change to the provision relating to physicians and would make other technical changes.

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 requires a health care service plan that intends to merge with, consolidate with, or enter into an agreement resulting in its purchase, acquisition, or control by, an entity, to give notice to, and secure prior approval from, the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care. Existing law authorizes the director to disapprove the transaction or agreement if the director finds it would substantially lessen competition in health care service plan products or create a monopoly in this state. Existing law authorizes the director to conditionally approve the transaction or agreement, contingent upon the health care service plan's agreement to fulfill one or more conditions to benefit subscribers and enrollees of the health care service plan, provide for a stable health care delivery system, and impose other conditions specific to the transaction or agreement, as specified. This bill would additionally require a health care service plan that intends to acquire or obtain control of an entity, as specified, to give notice to, and secure prior approval from, the director. Because a willful violation of this provision would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also authorize the director to disapprove a transaction or agreement if it would substantially lessen competition in the health system or among a particular category of health care providers, and would require the director to provide information related to competition to the Attorney General. The bill would revise the director's authority to conditionally approve a transaction or agreement, including authorizing the director to review information from federal agencies and other state agencies, including agencies in other states, that is relevant to any of the parties to the transaction, as specified. With respect to a conditional approval, the bill would also authorize the director to contract with an independent entity to monitor compliance with the established conditions and report to the department. The bill would prohibit the director from waiving, or delaying implementation of, certain requirements imposed under existing law and the bill, notwithstanding a specified provision. 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 California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA requires each state agency to establish, by resolution or order, time limits for completing the environmental review of a project where the state agency is the lead agency for the project, as specified. This bill, until January 1, 2031, would require a state agency, acting as the lead agency, to complete its environmental review for an electrical infrastructure project and to approve or deny the project within 2 years of the submission and acceptance of a complete application for the issuance of a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use for electrical infrastructure to the state agency. If the state agency fails to meet this deadline, the bill would require the state agency to submit to the Legislature a report setting forth the reasons that the review could not be completed within the time period and identifying potential impacts to the electrical system that could result from the delay.

Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. Existing law under Article XVI of the California Constitution requires measures authorizing general obligation bonds to specify the single object or work to be funded by the bonds and further requires a bond act to be approved by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and a majority of the voters. This bill would enact the Climate-resilient Farms, Sustainable Healthy Food Access, and Farmworker Protection Bond Act of 2024, which, if approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $3,650,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law, to finance programs related to, among other things, agricultural lands, food and fiber infrastructure, climate resilience, agricultural professionals, including farmers, ranchers, and farmworkers, workforce development and training, air quality, tribes, disadvantaged communities, nutrition, food aid, meat processing facilities, and fishing facilities. The bill would make its provisions severable. The bill would provide for the submission of the bond act to the voters at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

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 regional centers to provide independent living skills services to an adult consumer that provide the consumer with functional skills training that enables the consumer to acquire or maintain skills to live independently or to achieve greater independence while living in the home of another person. Existing law requires the department to promulgate regulations establishing program standards and an equitable process for setting rates of state payment for community-based day programs, which include independent living programs, among other things. This bill would require that independent living skills services have functional skills training components, including, among others, cooking, money management, use of medical and dental services, and community resource awareness, and would prohibit those services from being conducted in a center-based environment. The bill would require the department, on or before April 1, 2024, to revise and implement an equitable and cost-effective ratesetting procedure for state payment for independent living skills services according to specified requirements, including that independent living skills services shall not be categorized as a community-based day program or adult day program and the ratesetting procedure shall reflect the reasonable cost of independent living skills services, as determined using the most up-to-date United States Bureau of Labor Statistics's State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates for California, as specified.

Existing law, the California Disaster Assistance Act, requires the Director of Emergency Services to provide financial assistance to local agencies for their personnel costs, equipment costs, and the cost of supplies and materials used during disaster response activities, incurred as a result of a state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor, subject to specified criteria. The act continuously appropriates moneys in the Disaster Assistance Fund and its subsidiary account, the Earthquake Emergency Investigations Account, without regard to fiscal year, for purposes of the act. This bill would enact the California Individual Assistance Act to establish a grant program to provide financial assistance to local agencies, community-based organizations, and individuals for specified costs related to a disaster, as prescribed. The bill would require the director to allocate from the fund, subject to specified conditions, funds to meet the cost of expenses for those purposes. By authorizing increased expenditure of moneys from a continuously appropriated fund for a new purpose, the bill would make an appropriation. This bill would authorize the director to adopt regulations, as determined to be necessary, to govern the administration of the program. The bill would require the director to enter into agreements with local agencies or community-based organizations to retroactively provide individual and family grants for specific disaster events. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.