Asm. Mark Stone

This measure would proclaim the month of May 2016 as American Stroke Month in California.

This measure would designate June 22, 2016, as California Nonprofits Day and recognize the importance of nonprofit organizations to the economy and well-being of this state.

This measure would respectfully urge the recognition that the trial and conviction of the 50 African American sailors of the United States Navy for mutiny in connection with their service at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in Concord, California, during World War II was wrongfully pursued because of racial prejudice and would respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to publicly exonerate those 50 African American sailors of the United States Navy in order to further aid in healing the racial divide that continues to exist in the United States.

This bill would recognize the month of June 2016 as Portuguese National Heritage Month.

This bill would urge the Congress and the President of the United States to rename any federal buildings, parks, roadways, or other federally owned property that bear the names of elected or military leaders of the Confederate States of America.

Existing law authorizes the Monterey-Salinas Transit District and the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District to conduct a transit bus-only program using the shoulders of certain state highways as transit bus-only traffic corridors, subject to approval by the Department of Transportation and the Department of the California Highway Patrol. Existing law requires that the highway segments to be used for the program are to be jointly determined by the districts, the department, and the Department of the California Highway Patrol, and imposes other conditions and requirements. Existing law creates the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, the Central Contra Costa Transit Authority, the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, the North County Transit District, the San Diego Association of Governments, the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority with various powers and duties relative to the operation of public transit. This bill would additionally authorize the operation of transit buses on the shoulder of a segment of a state highway designated under the program within the areas served by the transit services of the 8 entities described above, subject to the same conditions and requirements. Two years after commencing the operation of the program, the bill would require a participating entity, in conjunction with the department and the Department of the California Highway Patrol, to submit a report to the Legislature that includes specified information about the program. The bill would also require the participating entity to post the report on its Internet Web site to enable the public to access the report.

The Nursing Practice Act provides for the licensure and regulation of nurse practitioners by the Board of Registered Nursing. The act authorizes the implementation of standardized procedures that authorize a nurse practitioner to perform certain acts, including ordering durable medical equipment in accordance with standardized procedures, certifying disability for purposes of unemployment insurance after physical examination and collaboration with a physician and surgeon, and, for an individual receiving home health services or personal care services, approving, signing, modifying, or adding to a plan of treatment or plan of care after consultation with a physician and surgeon. A violation of those provisions is a crime. This bill would authorize a nurse practitioner who holds a national certification from a national certifying body recognized by the board to practice without the supervision of a physician and surgeon, if the nurse practitioner meets existing requirements for nurse practitioners and practices in one of certain specified settings. The bill would prohibit entities described in those specified settings from interfering with, controlling, or otherwise directing the professional judgment of such a nurse practitioner, as specified, and would authorize such a nurse practitioner, in addition to any other practice authorized in statute or regulation, to perform specified acts, including the acts described above, without reference to standardized procedures or the specific need for the supervision of a physician and surgeon. The bill, instead, would require a nurse practitioner to refer a patient to a physician and surgeon or other licensed health care provider if a situation or condition of the patient is beyond the scope of the nurse practitioner's education and training. The bill would require a nurse practitioner practicing under these provisions to maintain professional liability insurance appropriate for the practice setting. By imposing new requirements on nurse practitioners, the violation of which would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law prohibits a licensee, as defined, from referring a person for laboratory, diagnostic, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology, physical therapy, physical rehabilitation, psychometric testing, home infusion therapy, or diagnostic imaging goods or services if the licensee or his or her immediate family has a financial interest with the person or entity that receives the referral, and makes a violation of that prohibition punishable as a misdemeanor. Under existing law, the Medical Board of California is required to review the facts and circumstances of any conviction for violating the prohibition, and to take appropriate disciplinary action if the licensee has committed unprofessional conduct. This bill would include a nurse practitioner, as specified, under the definition of a licensee, which would expand the scope of an existing crime and therefore impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require the Board of Registered Nursing to review the facts and circumstances of any conviction of a nurse practitioner, as specified, for violating that prohibition, and would require the board to take appropriate disciplinary action if the nurse practitioner has committed unprofessional conduct. Existing law provides for the professional review of specified healing arts licentiates through a peer review process. Existing law defines the term "licentiate" for those purposes to include, among others, a physician and surgeon. This bill would include a nurse practitioner, as specified, under the definition of licentiate, and would require the Board of Registered Nursing to disclose reports, as specified. 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.

Under existing law, when a prisoner is confined to a county or city jail, an industrial farm, or a road camp, for each 4-day period in which he or she is confined, he or she may have one day deducted from his or her period of confinement, as specified. Existing law also authorizes a sheriff or county director of corrections, in addition to the credits otherwise earned, to award an inmate who is sentenced to county jail for a felony, program credit reductions from his or her term of confinement for successful completion of specific program performance objectives for rehabilitative programming, including academic programs, vocational programs, vocational training, substance abuse programs, and core programs such as anger management and social life skills. These program credit reductions may be for one to 6 weeks and may be forfeited in the same manner as other program credit reductions. This bill would make the provisions applicable to sentenced and unsentenced inmates who are confined in a county jail. The bill would require credits awarded prior to sentencing to be applied to the sentence for the offense for which the inmate was awaiting sentence when the credits were awarded. The bill would prohibit evidence of an inmate's participation, or attempted participation, in this program from being admitted as an admission of guilt in any proceeding.