Asm. Liz Ortega

Existing law provides for the payment of unemployment compensation benefits and extended benefits to eligible individuals who meet specified requirements. Under existing law, unemployment benefits are paid from the Unemployment Fund, which is continuously appropriated for these purposes. Existing law makes an employee ineligible for benefits if the employee left work because of a trade dispute and specifies that the employee remains ineligible for the duration of the trade dispute. Existing case law holds that employees who left work due to a lockout by the employer, even if it was in anticipation of a trade dispute, are eligible for benefits. This bill would restore eligibility after the first 2 weeks for an employee who left work because of a trade dispute. The bill would codify specified case law that holds that employees who left work due to a lockout by the employer, even if it was in anticipation of a trade dispute, are eligible for benefits. The bill would specify that the bill's provisions do not diminish eligibility for benefits of individuals deprived of work due to an employer lockout or similar action, as specified. Because this bill would expand the categories of people eligible to receive benefits from a continuously appropriated fund, it would make an appropriation.

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 also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law sets forth specified coverage requirements for health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies. This bill, the Let California Kids Hear Act, would require a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, to include coverage for hearing aids for enrollees and insureds under 21 years of age, if medically necessary. The bill would limit the maximum required coverage amount to $3,000 per individual hearing aid, as specified. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements relative to a health care service plan would be a 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, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , protects the right to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination because of prescribed characteristics. FEHA makes various employment practices unlawful and empowers the Civil Rights Department to investigate and prosecute complaints alleging unlawful practices. FEHA makes it an unlawful practice for an employer or other entity to fail to make reasonable accommodation for the known physical or mental disability of an applicant or employee. FEHA further makes it an unlawful practice for an employer or other entity to fail to engage in a timely, good faith, interactive process with the employee or applicant to determine effective reasonable accommodations, if any, in response to a request for reasonable accommodation by an employee or applicant with a known physical or mental disability or known medical condition. This bill would make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to fail to provide to an employee who is working from home at least 30 calendar days' advance notice before requiring the employee to return to work in person. The bill would prohibit an employee from being required to return to work in person until the employer provides notice in accordance with the bill. The bill would require that notice be written and sent by mail or email and include, at a minimum, prescribed text with information about the rights of an employee to reasonable accommodation for a disability. The bill would establish specified restrictions on the interpretation of its provisions.

Existing law requires the Governor to appoint every office whose mode of appointment is not prescribed by law. Existing law also prescribes the manner of the Governor's appointment of those officers. This bill would require the office of the Governor, commencing January 1, 2025, to maintain on its internet website a list of every state board and commission that includes, for each state board or commission, the membership list, stated purpose, duties, meeting frequency, internet website, and vacancies in the membership. The bill would require the office of the Governor, on or before January 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, to create and publish on its internet website a report containing aggregate demographic information of appointments made by the office during the prior calendar year, as specified.

The California Constitution provides that a proposed constitutional amendment and a statewide initiative measure each take effect only if approved by a majority of the votes cast on the amendment or measure. This measure would further provide that an initiative measure that includes one or more provisions that would amend the Constitution to increase the voter approval requirement to adopt any state or local measure would be approved by the voters only if the proportion of votes cast in favor of the initiative measure is equal to or greater than the highest voter approval requirement that the initiative measure would impose. The measure would specify that this voter approval requirement would apply to statewide initiative measures that appear on the ballot on or after January 1, 2024. The California Constitution also permits initiative and referendum powers to be exercised by the voters of each city or county under procedures provided by the Legislature. This measure would expressly authorize a local governing body to hold an advisory vote concerning any issue of governance for the purpose of allowing voters within the jurisdiction to voice their opinions on the issue. The measure would specify that an advisory question is approved only if a majority of the votes cast on the question are in favor. This measure would further declare that its provisions are severable and that if any provision is held invalid, the other provisions of the act remain valid, as specified.

(1) Existing law establishes the Safe Drinking Water Account to be available to the State Water Resources Control Board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of providing funds necessary to administer the California Safe Drinking Water Act. This bill would expand the use of available funds in the account to be used by the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to include the administration of the Water Shutoff Protection Act. The bill would, subject to the availability of funding, require the state board to make funds available for providing training statewide to community water systems with between 15 and 200 service connections to assist in compliance with the Water Shutoff Protection Act. (2) Existing law, the Water Shutoff Protection Act, prohibits an urban and community water system, defined as a public water system that supplies water to more than 200 service connections, from discontinuing residential service for nonpayment, as specified, and requires specified procedures before it can discontinue residential service for nonpayment. Existing law defines a community water system as a public water system that serves at least 15 service connections used by yearlong residents or regularly serves at least 25 yearlong residents of the area served by the system. Existing law requires an urban and community water system to have a written policy on discontinuation of residential service for nonpayment available in English, other designated languages, and any other language spoken by at least 10% of the people residing in its service area. This bill would expand the scope of the Water Shutoff Protection Act by requiring that it instead apply to a covered water system, defined to include specified water systems and suppliers, including a community water system. The bill would require a community water system, that is not otherwise required to comply, to comply with the act's provisions on and after August 1, 2024. The bill would instead apply the above-described language requirements for the written policy of discontinuation of residential service for nonpayment to a covered water system that serves 200 or more service connections. The bill would require a covered water system that serves fewer than 200 service connections to have a written policy on disconnection of residential service for nonpayment available in English, any language spoken by at least 10% of the people residing in its service area, and, upon request of a customer, other designated languages. The bill would authorize, as part of the act, the Attorney General, at the request of the board or upon the Attorney General's own motion, to bring an action in state court to restore to any person in interest any money or property, real or personal, that may have been acquired by any method, act, or practice prohibited by the act. The bill would make related changes.

Existing law prohibits the governing authority of a school or other institution from unconditionally admitting any person as a pupil of any private or public elementary or secondary school, childcare center, day nursery, nursery school, family daycare home, or development center, unless prior to their admission to that institution they have been fully immunized. Existing law requires the documentation of immunizations for certain diseases, including, among others, measles, mumps, pertussis, and any other disease deemed appropriate by the State Department of Public Health, as specified. Existing law authorizes certain exemptions from these provisions subject to specified conditions. This bill, the Cancer Prevention Act, would declare that pupils in the state are advised to adhere to current immunization guidelines, as recommended by specified health entities, regarding full human papillomavirus (HPV) immunization before admission or advancement to the 8th grade level of any private or public elementary or secondary school. The bill would, upon a pupil's admission or advancement to the 6th grade level, require the governing authority to submit to the pupil and their parent or guardian a notification containing a statement about that public policy and advising that the pupil adhere to current HPV immunization guidelines before admission or advancement to the 8th grade level, as specified. The bill would require that the notification also include a statement containing certain health information. The bill would incorporate that notification into existing provisions relating to notifications by school districts. By creating new notification duties for school districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the Trustees of the California State University and, subject to a resolution, the Regents of the University of California to require the first-time enrollees at those institutions who are 18 years of age or younger to provide proof of full immunization against the hepatitis B virus prior to enrollment, with certain exemptions. This bill would declare the public policy of the state that students who are 26 years of age or younger are advised to adhere to current immunization guidelines, as specified, regarding full HPV immunization before first-time enrollment at an institution of the California State University, the University of California, or the California Community Colleges. The bill would make a conforming change to a consultation-related provision. 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 provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2002, as specified, to provide coverage for an annual cervical cancer screening test, including an HPV screening test that is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) . This bill would expand the coverage requirement for an annual cervical cancer screening test to disability insurance policies that provide coverage for hospital, medical, or surgical benefits and would require a health care service plan contract, or a disability insurance policy that provides coverage for hospital, medical, or surgical benefits, issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2024, to provide coverage without cost sharing for the HPV vaccine for persons for whom the vaccine is FDA approved. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements relative to health care service plans would be a 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law generally requires the minimum wage for all industries to not be less than specified amounts to be increased until it is $15 per hour commencing January 1, 2022, for employers employing 26 or more employees, and commencing January 1, 2023, for employers employing 25 or fewer employees. Existing law makes a violation of minimum wage requirements a misdemeanor. This bill would establish 5 separate minimum wage schedules for covered health care employees, as defined, depending on the nature of the employer. This bill would require, for any covered health care facility employer, as defined, with 10,000 or more full-time equivalent employees (FTEE) , as defined, any covered health care facility employer that is a part of an integrated health care delivery system or a health care system with 10,000 or more FTEEs, a covered health care facility employer that is a dialysis clinic or is a person that owns, controls, or operates a dialysis clinic, or a covered health facility owned, affiliated, or operated by a county with a population of more than 5,000,000 as of January 1, 2023, the minimum wage for covered health care employees to be $23 per hour from June 1, 2024, to May 31, 2025, inclusive, $24 per hour from June 1, 2025, to May 31, 2026, inclusive, and $25 per hour from June 1, 2026, and until as adjusted as specified. This bill would require, for any hospital that is a hospital with a high governmental payor mix, an independent hospital with an elevated governmental payor mix, a rural independent covered health care facility, or a covered health care facility that is owned, affiliated, or operated by a county with a population of less than 250,000 as of January 1, 2023, as those terms are defined, the minimum wage for covered health care employees to be $18 per hour from June 1, 2024, to May 31, 2033, inclusive, and $25 per hour from June 1, 2033, and until as adjusted as specified. This bill would require, for specified clinics that meet certain requirements, the minimum wage for covered health care employees to be $21 per hour from June 1, 2024, to May 31, 2026, inclusive, and $22 per hour from June 1, 2026, to May 31, 2027, inclusive, and $25 from June 1, 2027, and until as adjusted as specified. This bill would require, for all other covered health care facility employers, the minimum wage for covered health care employees to be $21 per hour from June 1, 2024, to May 31, 2026, inclusive, $23 per hour from June 1, 2026, to May 31, 2028, inclusive, and $25 per hour from June 1, 2028, and until as adjusted as specified. This bill would provide that a covered health care facility that is county owned, affiliated, or operated must implement the appropriate minimum wage schedule described above, as applicable, beginning January 1, 2025. This bill would also separately require, for a licensed skilled nursing facility, as described, the minimum wage for certain other covered health care employees, as described, to be $21 per hour from June 1, 2024, to May 31, 2026, inclusive, $23 per hour from June 1, 2026, to May 31, 2028, inclusive, and $25 per hour from June 1, 2028, and until as adjusted as specified. The bill would make this minimum wage requirement effective only when a patient care minimum spending requirement applicable to skilled nursing facilities is in effect. This bill would provide that the health care worker minimum wages constitute the state minimum wage for covered health care employment for all purposes under the Labor Code and the Wage Orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission. The bill would provide that a health care worker minimum wage is enforceable by the Labor Commissioner or by a covered worker through a civil action, through the same means and with the same relief available for violation of any other state minimum wage requirement. By establishing new minimum wages, the violation of which would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require, for covered health care employment where the employee is paid on a salary basis, that the employee earn a monthly salary equivalent to no less than 150% of the health care worker minimum wage or 200% of the applicable minimum wage, whichever is greater, for full-time employment in order to qualify as exempt from the payment of minimum wage and overtime. This bill would require the Department of Health Care Access and Information to publish, on or before January 31, 2024, and on the department's internet website, specified information, including a list of hospitals that qualify under certain classifications. The bill would provide, until January 31, 2025, a process for hospitals excluded from that list to request classification. This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2025, the adoption of any necessary rules and regulations for purposes of implementing certain provisions of the bill as emergency regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act and would deem the adoption of those emergency regulations an emergency and necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, or general welfare. The bill would require the Department of Health Care Access and Information to consider input from specified stakeholders when adopting those rules and regulations, as specified. This bill would, by March 1, 2024, require the Department of Industrial Relations, in collaboration with the State Department of Health Care Services and the Department of Health Care Access and Information, to develop a waiver program that would allow a covered health care facility, as defined, to apply for and receive a temporary pause or alternative phase in schedule of the minimum wage requirements described above. In order to obtain a waiver, the bill would require a covered health care facility to demonstrate that compliance with the minimum wage requirements would raise doubts about the covered health care facility's ability to continue as a going concern under generally accepted accounting principles, as specified. The bill would provide that issuance of the terms of the pause or alternative phase in schedule is solely and exclusively within the authority of the Department of Industrial Relations, and the authority regarding whether the covered health care facility demonstrates the inability to continue as a going concern pursuant is solely and exclusively within the authority of the State Department of Health Care Services. This bill would prohibit any ordinance, regulations, or administrative action that is applicable to a covered health care facility and that establishes, requires, imposes, limits, or otherwise relates to wages or compensation for covered health care facility employees from being enacted or enforced in or by any city, county, or city and county, except as provided. This bill would also make its provisions severable. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for health care workers. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. 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.