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 also provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services through, among other things, managed care plans licensed under the act that contract with the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law requires a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2016, to provide coverage for women for all prescribed and FDA-approved female contraceptive drugs, devices, and products, as well as voluntary sterilization procedures, contraceptive education and counseling, and related followup services. This bill would require a health care service plan or a health insurance policy issued, amended, renewed, or delivered on or after January 1, 2017, to cover up to a 12-month supply of FDA-approved, self-administered hormonal contraceptives when dispensed at one time for an enrollee or insured at one time by a provider, pharmacist, or at a location licensed or authorized to dispense drugs or supplies. The bill would specifically provide that a health care service plan contract or an insurance policy is not required to cover contraceptives provided by an out-of-network provider, pharmacy, or other location, except as authorized by state or federal law or by the plan or insurer's policies governing out-of-network coverage. The bill would also prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer, in the absence of clinical contraindications, from imposing utilization controls limiting the supply of FDA-approved, self-administered hormonal contraceptives that may be furnished by a provider or pharmacist, or at a location licensed or otherwise authorized to dispense drugs or supplies to an amount that is less than a 12-month supply. The bill would include Medi-Cal managed care plans, as specified, in the definition of a health care service plan for purposes of these provisions, and would require the State Department of Health Care Services to seek federal approval, if necessary, and to issue all-plan letters or similar instructions to implement these provisions. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes a pharmacist to dispense not more than a 90-day supply of a dangerous drug other than a controlled substance pursuant to a valid prescription that specifies an initial quantity of less than a 90-day supply followed by periodic refills of that amount if the patient has met specified requirements, including having completed an initial 30-day supply of the drug. Existing law prohibits a pharmacist from dispensing a greater supply of a dangerous drug if the prescriber indicates "no change to quantity" on the prescription. Existing law authorizes a pharmacist to furnish self-administered hormonal contraceptives in accordance with standardized procedures or protocols developed and approved by both the board and the Medical Board of California, as specified. This bill would require a pharmacist to dispense, at a patient's request, up to a 12-month supply of an FDA-approved, self-administered hormonal contraceptive pursuant to a valid prescription that specifies an initial quantity followed by periodic refills. The bill would authorize a pharmacist furnishing an FDA-approved, self-administered hormonal contraceptive, pursuant to the authorization described above, to furnish up to a 12-month supply at one time at the patient's request. This bill would incorporate changes to Section 4064.5 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by both this bill and SB 253, which would become operative only if both bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last. 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.
Sponsored bills
Existing law authorizes the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to jointly adopt a commute benefit ordinance that requires covered employers operating within the common area of the 2 agencies with a specified number of covered employees to offer those employees certain commute benefits through a pilot program. Existing law requires that the ordinance specify certain matters, including any consequences for noncompliance, and imposes a specified reporting requirement. Existing law makes these provisions inoperative on January 1, 2017. This bill would extend these provisions indefinitely, thereby establishing the pilot program permanently. The bill would also delete bicycle commuting as a pretax option under the program and instead would authorize a covered employer, at its discretion, to offer commuting by bicycling as an employer-paid benefit in addition to commuting via public transit or by vanpool. The bill would also delete the reporting requirement.
Existing law provides that the Department of Transportation has full possession and control of the state highway system and associated property. Existing law generally requires proceeds from the sale of excess state highway property to be made available for other highway purposes. Existing law generally provides for the California Transportation Commission to program available funding for transportation capital projects, other than state highway rehabilitation projects, through the State Transportation Improvement Program process, with available funds subject to various fair share distribution formulas. Existing law, in certain cases, requires the commission to instead reallocate funds from canceled state highway projects to other projects within the same county and exempts those funds from the fair share distribution formulas that would otherwise be applicable. This bill would require the net proceeds from the sale of any excess properties originally acquired for a replacement alignment for State Highway Route 101 in the County of Monterey, known as the former Prunedale Bypass, to be reserved in the State Highway Account for programming and allocation by the commission, with the concurrence of the Transportation Agency for Monterey County, for other state highway projects in the State Highway Route 101 corridor in that county. The bill would exempt these funds from the distribution formulas otherwise applicable to transportation capital improvement funds.
Existing law, the California Organic Products Act of 2003 (the act) , requires the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, county agricultural commissioners, and the Director of the State Department of Public Health to enforce state and federal laws governing the production, labeling, and marketing of organic products, as specified. Existing federal law establishes the National Organic Program which requires operations that produce or handle organic agricultural products to comply with federal organic standards and be certified by a certifying agent, as specified. This bill would revise and recast the California Organic Products Act of 2003 as the California Organic Food and Farming Act and would set forth the purposes of the act. Existing law establishes the California Organic Products Advisory Committee, comprised of 15 members, to advise the secretary on his or her responsibilities under the act. This bill would revise the composition of the advisory committee and would expand the scope of the advisory committee's duties to include advising the secretary on education, outreach, and technical assistance for producers. The bill would authorize the secretary, in consultation with the advisory committee, to establish procedures for and conduct certain activities, including supporting organic agriculture through education, outreach, and other programmatic activities. The bill would specify that penalties collected by the secretary and fees collected by county agricultural commissioners pursuant to the act's provisions shall be expended to fulfill the responsibilities authorized under the act, and would exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a registration fee. Existing law requires every person engaged in the state in the production or handling of raw agricultural products sold as organic to register with the county agricultural commissioner and specifies the information required on the registration form. Existing law requires a certification organization that certifies product in the state as organic to register with the secretary and to pay an annual registration fee based on the number of clients the organization has certified, up to a maximum of $250. This bill would require those persons to instead register with the secretary, would revise the registration fees required to be paid by certain registrants, and would revise the information required on the registration form. The bill would also revise the type of information and records that persons who produce, handle, or retail products sold as organic are required to keep or make available. The bill would increase the maximum annual registration fee for certification agencies from $250 to $500. The bill would define certain terms for purposes of the act's provisions and would make technical and conforming changes to various code sections. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on county agricultural commissioners, 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
Existing law authorizes a county to establish a repository and distribution program under which a pharmacy, including a pharmacy that is owned by, or contracts with, the county, may distribute surplus unused medications, as defined, to persons in need of financial assistance to ensure access to necessary pharmaceutical therapies. Under existing law, only medication that is donated in unopened, tamper-evident packaging or modified unit dose containers that meet the United States Pharmacopoeia standards, and that includes lot numbers and expiration dates, is eligible for donation to the program. Existing law prohibits medication that does not meet the requirements for donation and distribution from being sold, dispensed, or otherwise transferred to any other entity. Existing law requires medication donated to the repository and distribution program to be maintained in the donated packaging units. This bill would authorize a pharmacy that exists solely to operate the repository and distribution program to repackage a reasonable quantity of donated medicine in anticipation of dispensing the medicine to its patient population. The bill would require a pharmacy that repackages medication to have repackaging policies and procedures in place for identifying and recalling medications, and to label the repackaged medicine with the earliest expiration date.
Existing law sets wage, hour, meal break requirements, and other working conditions for employees and requires an employer to pay overtime wages as specified to an employee who works in excess of a workday or workweek, as defined, and imposes criminal penalties for the violation of these requirements. Existing law exempts agricultural employees from these requirements. Under existing law, the function of the Department of Industrial Relations is to, among other things, foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of California, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment. This bill would remove the exemption for agricultural employees regarding hours, meal breaks, and other working conditions, including specified wage requirements, and would create a schedule that would phase in overtime requirements for agricultural workers, as defined, over the course of 4 years, from 2019 to 2022, inclusive. Beginning January 1, 2022, the bill would require any work performed by a person, employed in an agricultural occupation, in excess of 12 hours in one day to be compensated at the rate of no less than twice the employee's regular rate of pay. The bill would provide employers who employ 25 or fewer employees an additional 3 years to comply with the phasing in of these overtime requirements. The bill would authorize the Governor to delay the implementation of these overtime pay provisions if the Governor also suspends the implementation of a scheduled state minimum wage increase, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Industrial Relations to update a specified wage order for consistency with these provisions, as specified. The bill would create a state-mandated local program by including agricultural employees as a class of employees protected by criminal penalties under existing law. 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 Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including certain credits that are allowed in modified conformity to credits allowed by federal income tax laws. Federal income tax laws allow a refundable earned income tax credit for certain low-income individuals who have earned income and who meet certain other requirements. The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, allows an earned income credit against personal income tax, and a payment in excess of that credit amount, to an eligible individual that is equal to that portion of the earned income tax credit allowed by federal law as determined by the earned income tax credit adjustment factor as set forth in the annual Budget Act. Existing law, the Earned Income Tax Credit Information Act, requires an employer, as defined, to notify all employees that they may be eligible for the federal earned income tax credit, as specified. This bill would require those same employers currently required to notify employees who may be eligible for the federal earned income tax credit to also notify these employees that they may be eligible for the California Earned Income Tax Credit under the same conditions.
This measure would designate the interchange at Interstate 10 and Interstate 710 in the County of Los Angeles as the Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Thomas H. Pohlman Memorial Interchange. The measure would request that the Department of Transportation determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, erect those signs.
This measure would recognize the week of October 16, 2016, to October 22, 2016, inclusive, as Digital Citizenship Week.
(1) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to approve a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020 and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. This bill would require the state board to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. (2) This bill would become operative only if AB 197 of the 2015–16 Regular Session is enacted and becomes effective on or before January 1, 2017.