Asm. Michael Villines

Existing provisions of the California Constitution prohibit the Legislature from making any gift of public money or thing of value to any person, and this prohibition applies to local government. Existing law specifies the duties of various local officials. This bill would prohibit a local official, subject to specified exceptions, from making available to an immediate family member, as defined, a vehicle or credit card provided by the local agency that the local official represents.

This measure would proclaim May 12, 2010, as California Lab Day.

This measure would designate the 2nd week of October 2010, and annually thereafter, as Disability History Week, and would encourage public and private institutions of higher education, state and local agencies, nonprofit and community-based organizations, and private businesses and corporations to observe Disability History Week by dedicating appropriate classroom instructional time or by coordinating all-inclusive activities to be conducted during that week to afford opportunities for students and the general public to learn more about the disability community and to celebrate and honor its role in contemporary American society.

This measure would declare the Legislature's support for the observance of "Spirit of '45 Day" on the second Sunday in August to commemorate the anniversary of the end of World War II on August 14, 1945.

This measure would recognize each 2nd week of February hereafter as African American Mental Health Awareness Week.

This measure would proclaim the 3rd Monday of each September as California Memorial Project Remembrance Day in California, to honor and restore dignity to individuals who lived and died in California institutions.

This measure would recognize May 10, 2010, and each May 10 thereafter, as Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day, and acknowledge the importance of raising awareness about mental health in the Asian Pacific American community.

Existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, requires the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a temporary high risk health insurance pool program to provide health insurance coverage for eligible individuals until January 1, 2014. Existing law authorizes the secretary to implement this program directly or through contracts with eligible entities, including the states, and requires that federal money made available pursuant to these provisions be used to establish a qualified high risk pool that meets certain requirements. Existing law establishes the California Major Risk Medical Insurance Program, which is administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB) , to provide major risk medical coverage to persons who, among other things, have been rejected for coverage by at least one private health plan. This bill would require MRMIB to enter into an agreement with the federal Department of Health and Human Services to administer a temporary high risk pool to provide health coverage, until January 1, 2014, to specified individuals who have preexisting conditions, consistent with the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2020. The bill would also appropriate $761,000,000 from the Federal Trust Fund to MRMIB for the purposes of these provisions. 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 requires a health care service plan or a health insurer that rejects an applicant for individual coverage or offers individual coverage at a rate higher than the standard rate to inform the applicant about the California Major Risk Medical Insurance Program. This bill would also require the plan or insurer to inform the applicant about the temporary high risk pool established pursuant to the bill and would require that information to be provided in accordance with standards developed by the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance, as specified. Because a willful violation of this requirement by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to post information on their Internet Web sites about the temporary high risk pool established pursuant to the bill. 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. This bill would provide that it shall become operative only if AB 1887 of the 2009–10 Regular Session is also enacted and becomes operative. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, requires the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a temporary high risk health insurance pool program to provide health insurance coverage for eligible individuals until January 1, 2014. Existing law authorizes the secretary to carry out this program directly or through contracts to eligible entities, including states, and requires that money made available pursuant to these provisions be used to establish a qualified high risk pool that meets certain requirements. Existing law establishes the California Major Risk Medical Insurance Program, which is administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB) , to provide major risk medical coverage to persons who, among other matters, have been rejected for coverage by at least one private health plan. This bill would establish the Federal Temporary High Risk Health Insurance Fund as a continuously appropriated fund to administer the qualified high risk pool required by federal law, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2020. Existing law exempts from the Public Records Act records of MRMIB related to contract negotiations and deliberations, and exempts from the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act matters related to the development of rates and contracting strategy for entities contracting or seeking to contract with MRMIB. This bill would add to those exemptions records and meetings of MRMIB with regard to contract negotiations with entities with which MRMIB is considering or enters into any arrangement under which MRMIB provides, receives, or arranges services or reimbursement, including those negotiations conducted for purposes of the qualified high risk pool and the fund created by the bill. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. This bill would provide that it shall become operative only if SB 227 of the 2009–10 Regular Session is also enacted and becomes operative. The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

This measure would memorialize Congress and the President of the United States to act to vindicate the sailors unjustly blamed for, and the sailors convicted of mutiny following, the Port Chicago disaster, and to rectify any mistreatment by the military of those sailors, as specified.