Existing law provides for the establishment and operation of the Veterans Home of California at various sites for aged and disabled veterans who meet certain eligibility requirements. Existing law requires members of the homes to pay fees and charges as determined by the department, but prohibit the total of the member's fees and charges for specified types of care for any fiscal year to be greater than a certain percentage of the member's annual income. Existing law also requires nonveteran spouses who become members of the home on or after July 1, 2009, to pay fees and charges based on the level of care, as specified, or an amount equal to the annual amount of federal per diem received for a veteran member in domiciliary care, whichever is greater, as provided. This bill would instead require nonveteran spouses to pay the same fees and charges as paid by the veteran members of the home, as determined by the department and subject to the same prohibitions.
Sponsored bills
The California Tire Recycling Act imposes a California tire fee on a new tire purchased in the state. The revenue generated from the fee is deposited in the California Tire Recycling Management Fund for expenditure, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of programs related to waste tires, including grants to local entities involved in activities that result in reduced landfill disposal of used whole tires. The act requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to adopt a 5-year plan, which is to be updated biennially, to establish goals and priorities for waste tire programs.This bill would require the department to provide outreach to local agencies regarding a program it may establish under existing law to award grants to cities, counties, and other local government agencies for the funding of public works projects that use waste tires in public works projects, as provided. The bill would prohibit the amount appropriated from the fund for this purpose from being less than 16% of the amount of the funds appropriated for market development and new technology activities for used tires and waste tires.The bill would make the public works waste tire grant program inoperative on June 30, 2015, and would repeal the provision authorizing this program on January 1, 2016. The bill would also make conforming changes with regard to the department's 5-year plan.
Existing law provides for the creation of various programs to provide health care services to persons who have limited incomes and meet various eligibility requirements. These programs include the Healthy Families Program administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, and the Medi‑Cal program administered by the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law provides for the regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Commencing January 1, 2014, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires every individual to be covered under minimum essential coverage, as specified, and requires every health insurance issuer issuing individual or group health insurance coverage to accept every employer and individual who applies for coverage. Existing law establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans through the Exchange by qualified individuals and small employers by January 1, 2014. This bill would establish the California Healthcare System to be administered by the newly created California Healthcare Agency under the control of a Healthcare Commissioner appointed by the Governor and subject to confirmation by the Senate. The bill would make all California residents eligible for specified health care benefits under the California Healthcare System, which would, on a single-payer basis, negotiate for or set fees for health care services provided through the system and pay claims for those services. The bill would require the commissioner to seek all necessary waivers, exemptions, agreements, or legislation to allow various existing federal, state, and local health care payments to be paid to the California Healthcare System, which would then assume responsibility for all benefits and services previously paid for with those funds. The bill would create the Healthcare Policy Board to establish policy on medical issues and various other matters relating to the system. The bill would create the Office of Patient Advocacy within the agency to represent the interests of health care consumers relative to the system. The bill would create within the agency the Office of Health Planning to plan for the health care needs of the population, and the Office of Health Care Quality, headed by a chief medical officer, to support the delivery of high-quality care and promote provider and patient satisfaction. The bill would create the Office of Inspector General for the California Healthcare System within the Attorney General's office, which would have various oversight powers. The bill would prohibit health care service plan contracts or health insurance policies from being issued for services covered by the California Healthcare System, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, and would authorize the collection of penalty moneys for deposit into the Healthcare Fund, which the bill would create. The bill would create the Payments Board to administer the finances of the California Healthcare System. The bill would create the California Healthcare Premium Commission (Premium Commission) to determine the cost of the California Healthcare System and to develop a premium structure for the system that complies with specified standards. The bill would require the Premium Commission to recommend a premium structure to the Governor and the Legislature on or before January 1, 2014, and to make a draft recommendation to the Governor, the Legislature, and the public 90 days before submitting its final premium structure recommendation. The bill would specify that only its provisions relating to the Premium Commission would become operative on January 1, 2013, with its remaining provisions becoming operative on the earlier of the date the Secretary of California Health and Human Services notifies the Legislature, as specified, that sufficient funding exists to implement the California Healthcare System and the date the secretary receives the necessary federal waiver under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The bill would extend the application of certain insurance fraud laws to providers of services and products under the system, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program by revising the definition of a crime. The bill would enact other related provisions relative to budgeting, regional entities, federal preemption, subrogation, collective bargaining agreements, compensation of health care providers, conflict of interest, patient grievances, and independent medical review. 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 requires that child care be provided in 3 stages to recipients of benefits under the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program. The first stage of child care begins upon the entry of a person into the CalWORKs program. The 2nd stage of child care begins when a county determines that the work or approved work activity of the recipient is stable or when a recipient is making the transition off of aid and child care is available through a local stage 2 program. The 3rd stage of child care, which is administered by programs contracting with the State Department of Education, begins when a funded child care space becomes available for the child or children of the eligible CalWORKs recipient. This bill would reappropriate $60,000,000 in unobligated balances appropriated in the Budget Act of 2009 to the State Department of Education for CalWORKs Stage 3 child care services. The bill would also require the State Department of Education to use those funds for families that were receiving, or would have been eligible to receive, CalWORKs Stage 3 child care services, before, on, or after October 31, 2010. The bill would declare that it makes appropriations for the usual and current expenses of the state, thereby taking immediate effect.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill would authorize a credit against those taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2012, and before January 1, 2017, in an amount equal to 50% of the amount paid or incurred during the taxable year, up to $2,500, for the purchase and installation of an emergency standby generator, as defined, at a service station, as defined, located in this state. This bill would, if, in any calendar year, the State Air Resources Board or the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission establishes a certification standard for energy efficient or low emission emergency standby generators, limit this credit to emergency standby generators that satisfy that certification standard, as specified. This bill would require the State Air Resources Board or the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to notify the Franchise Tax Board of the establishment of a certification standard, as provided, and would require the Franchise Tax Board to post, on its Internet Web site, a notice to taxpayers, as provided. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law requires the Secretary of the California Health and Welfare Agency to establish an Office of Rural Health within the agency and sets forth its powers and duties relating to promoting a strong working relationship between state government, prescribed entities, and rural consumers and relating to developing health initiatives and maximizing existing resources without duplication. Existing law generally provides for the licensure of health facilities, including rural general acute care hospitals, by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires the department to provide expert technical assistance to strategically located, high-risk rural hospitals, as defined, to assist the hospitals in carrying out an assessment of potential business and diversification of service opportunities. Existing law also requires the department to continue to provide regulatory relief when appropriate through program flexibility for such items as staffing, space, and physical plant requirements. This bill would, until January 1, 2022, establish a demonstration project authorizing a rural hospital, as defined, that meets specified conditions, to employ up to 10 physicians and surgeons at one time, except as provided, to provide medical services at the rural hospital or other health facility that the rural hospital owns or operates, and to retain all or part of the income generated by the physicians and surgeons for medical services billed and collected by the rural hospital if the physician and surgeon in whose name the charges are made approves the charges. The bill would require a rural hospital that employs a physician and surgeon pursuant to those provisions to develop and implement a policy regarding the independent medical judgment of the physician and surgeon. The bill would require these physicians and surgeons to biennially sign a specified statement. The bill would impose various duties on the department and the Medical Board of California including a requirement that the board deliver a report to the Legislature regarding the demonstration project by January 1, 2019.
This bill would urge the United States Patent and Trademark Office to place a satellite office in California.
This measure would designate that January 16, 2012, be observed as the official memorial of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth, commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement in changing public policy in California and in the United States of America.
(1) The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act authorizes the issuance of an on-sale beer and wine eating place license, which authorizes the sale of beer and wine for consumption on or off the licensed premises, provided the licensee maintains the licensed premises as a bona fide public eating place, as defined, and meets other specified requirements. This bill would expand the definition of bona fide public eating place, for purposes of the on-sale beer and wine eating place license, to include a cooking school that provides courses and instructions in the preparation of food and maintains suitable kitchen facilities, as provided. The bill would make other related changes to a provision containing compliance requirements imposed upon bona fide eating places for which an on-sale license has been issued. (2) Existing law generally prohibits the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages at a public schoolhouse or any grounds thereof. Existing law provides that this prohibition does not apply if the alcoholic beverage is possessed, consumed, or used during an event at a community center owned by a community services district, as provided. This bill would expand that exception to this prohibition to include events held at a community center owned by a city. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 25608 of the Business and Professions Code, proposed by AB 319, to be operative only if AB 319 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective January 1, 2012, and this bill is chaptered last. (4) The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act provides that a violation of specified provisions of the act is punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would expand an existing crime by imposing requirements on additional licensees under the act; thus, 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 provides that 2 unmarried, unrelated adults who have chosen to share one another's lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring may establish a domestic partnership by filing a declaration with the Secretary of State if certain requirements are met, including that both persons have a common residence and that both persons are at least 18 years of age. Existing law authorizes 2 unmarried persons, not minors, who have been living together as husband and wife to obtain a confidential marriage license, as specified. This bill would eliminate the requirement that domestic partners have a common residence. This bill would also permit a person who is under 18 years of age who otherwise meets the requirements for establishing a domestic partnership to do so upon obtaining a court order that provides that authority to the underage person. The bill would also provide for the consent of the underage person's parent or guardian, except as specified, and would require that the court order and the written consent be filed with the court clerk and submitted to the Secretary of State with a Declaration of Domestic Partnership. The bill would also require the Secretary of State to establish a process by which 2 persons could enter into a confidential domestic partnership and maintain each confidential Declaration of Domestic Partnership, as specified, and permit the Secretary of State to charge a reasonable fee in this regard. Existing law prohibits a judgment of dissolution of marriage from being entered unless one of the parties to the marriage has been a resident of this state for 6 months and of the county in which the proceeding is filed for 3 months before the filing of the petition. This bill would authorize a judgment for dissolution, nullity, or legal separation of a marriage between persons of the same sex to be entered if the marriage was entered in California and neither party to the marriage resides in a jurisdiction that will dissolve the marriage.