Asm. Robert Rivas

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 authorizes a health care service plan or health insurer to contract with a provider for alternative rates of payment. This bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer, but not a Medi-Cal managed care plan, to reimburse contracting health care providers for their business expenses to prevent the spread of respiratory-transmitted infectious diseases causing public health emergencies declared on or after January 1, 2022. 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

(1) Existing law prohibits a state agency from sending any outgoing United States mail, as defined, to an individual that contains personal information about that individual, including, but not limited to, the individual's social security number, unless that personal information is contained within sealed correspondence and cannot be viewed from the outside of that sealed correspondence. Existing law also prohibits, commencing on or before January 1, 2023, a state agency from sending any outgoing United States mail to an individual that contains the individual's social security number, except as provided. Existing law requires state agencies that are unable to comply with this prohibition to submit an annual corrective action plan to the Legislature until it is in compliance. Existing law makes the corrective action plan and related correspondence confidential and prohibits their public disclosure. This bill would require an annual corrective action plan to contain specified information and to be submitted to the Legislature every December 15. If the Employment Development Department fails to comply by January 1, 2023, the bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the department to provide access to and pay for identity theft monitoring for any individual who receives outgoing United States mail from the department that contains full social security numbers in violation of the bill's provisions. (2) Existing law establishes the department within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and sets forth its powers and duties, including administration of the unemployment and disability insurance programs for California. Existing law requires the department to pay unemployment compensation benefits to unemployed individuals meeting specified requirements, to periodically review policies and practices used to determine eligibility for and the amount of benefits in the unemployment insurance program, and to report to the Legislature, as specified. Under existing law, unemployment compensation benefits are paid from the Unemployment Fund, and the expenses for administering these provisions are paid from the Unemployment Administration Fund, which is continuously appropriated for these purposes. This bill would require the department, for purposes of unemployment compensation, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to comply with various reporting and review processes. The bill would set forth a timeline for the department to follow in implementing these tasks. In this regard, the bill would require the department, among other things, to report specified information regarding overpayments at least once every 6 months on its internet website, to immediately perform a risk assessment of its deferred workloads, and to develop a workload plan that prioritizes its deferred workloads based on that risk assessment. The bill would require the department to immediately begin modeling workload projections that account for possible scenarios that would cause a spike in unemployment insurance claims, as provided. This bill would require the department to revise its public dashboards with regard to the number of backlogged claims, as specified. The bill would require the department to determine the reasons that claimants cannot successfully complete their identity verification, as specified, and to identify the elements of the Benefit System Modernization that can assist the department in making timely payments. The bill would require the department to implement a formal policy that establishes a process for tracking and periodically analyzing the reasons why unemployment insurance claimants call for assistance and to regularly analyze this data, as specified, to improve its call center. This bill would require the department, by March 1, 2022, to designate a unit as responsible for coordinating all fraud prevention and detection, as specified. Existing law requires the Director of Employment Development to report to various committees of the Legislature by June 30 of each year on the department's fraud deterrence and detection activities. This bill would require that report to include an assessment of the effectiveness of the department's system of cross matching claims against information about incarcerated individuals, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to generalize, exclude, or redact details on fraud methods and tools to protect the fraud deterrence practices of the department. The bill would also remove an obsolete reference to a predecessor committee and would instead refer to the Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement. This bill would also require the department to request any personal identification information required from the claimant in accordance with the most recent federal National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-63 standards, as specified. 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.

(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Health Care Access and Information and requires the department to maintain a Health Professions Career Opportunity Program to, among other things, implement programs at colleges and universities selected by the department and include in those programs pipeline programs that provide comprehensive academic enrichment, career development, mentorship, and advising in order to support students from underrepresented regions and backgrounds to pursue health careers. Existing law requires, in accordance with the compliance schedule approved by the department, but in any case no later than January 1, 2030, owners of all acute care inpatient hospitals to either demolish, replace, or change to nonacute care use all hospital buildings not in substantial compliance with certain regulations and standards developed by the department related to seismic safety or to seismically retrofit all acute care inpatient hospital buildings so that they are in substantial compliance with those regulations and standards. This bill would authorize the department to enter into contracts, to meet the requirements of the Health Professions Career Opportunity Program, with nonprofit entities headquartered in California that have previous experience with administering statewide workforce programs aimed at building a diverse provider workforce. This bill would establish the Small and Rural Hospital Relief Program under the administration of the department for the purpose of funding seismic safety compliance with respect to small hospitals, rural hospitals, and critical access hospitals in the state. The bill would require the department to provide grants to small, rural, and critical access hospital applicants that meet certain criteria, including that seismic safety compliance, as defined, imposes a financial burden on the applicant that may result in hospital closure. The bill would also create the Small and Rural Hospital Relief Fund and would continuously appropriate the moneys in the fund for the purposes of administering and funding the grant program. (2) The Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law imposes a tax on distributors of cigarettes at the rate of $2.87 per package of 20 cigarettes and a tax on distributors of tobacco products, based on wholesale cost, at a rate determined annually that is equivalent to the combined rate of all taxes imposed on cigarettes plus an additional rate equivalent to $0.50 per package of 20 cigarettes. These taxes are inclusive of the taxes imposed under the Tobacco Tax and Health Protection Act of 1988, the California Families and Children Act of 1998, and the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016. The California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016 (Proposition 56) , an initiative measure approved at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, revised the definition of tobacco products to include electronic cigarettes, thereby extending the taxes on distributors of tobacco products to distributors of electronic cigarettes, which is based on the wholesale cost of these products. Proposition 56 requires the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to adopt regulations providing for the implementation of the equivalent tax on electronic cigarettes and the methods for collection of the tax. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2022, require a purchaser of electronic cigarettes, as defined, at retail to pay a tax on the purchase for use in this state of an electronic cigarette from a retailer of 12.5% of the sales price from the sale of an electronic cigarette. The bill would require a retailer to collect the tax from the purchaser at the time of the retail sale of an electronic cigarette. The bill would require all revenues, interest, and penalties, less refunds, collected from the tax described above to be deposited into the California Electronic Cigarette Excise Tax Fund, a continuously appropriated fund created by the bill, and would require all amounts in the fund to be distributed to the Health Education Account in the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Surtax Fund, the California Children and Families Trust Fund, to fund the Proposition 56 Medi-Cal Physicians and Dentists Loan Repayment Act, the University of California, to support the joint program in medical education between the University of California, Merced and the University of California, San Francisco at Fresno, the Small and Rural Hospital Relief Fund created by this bill, and to the Department of Health Care Access and Information to fund the Health Professions Career Opportunity Program described above, as specified. By creating a continuously appropriated fund and allocating additional moneys to continuously appropriated funds, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would provide for the administration and collection of this tax pursuant to procedures set forth in the Fee Collection Procedures Law. By expanding the application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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.

(1) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various healing arts professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Under existing law, it is unlawful for healing arts licensees, except as specified, to offer, deliver, receive, or accept any rebate, refund, commission, preference, patronage dividend, discount, or other consideration, in the form of money or otherwise, as compensation or inducement for referring patients, clients, or customers to any person, subject to certain exceptions. This bill would provide that the payment or receipt of consideration for internet-based advertising, appointment booking, or any service that provides information and resources to prospective patients of licensees does not constitute a referral of a patient if the internet-based service provider does not recommend or endorse a specific licensee to a prospective patient. (2) 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 contract issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, between a health care service plan or health insurer and a health care provider to require the plan or insurer to reimburse the provider for the diagnosis, consultation, or treatment of an enrollee, subscriber, insured, or policyholder appropriately delivered through telehealth services on the same basis and to the same extent as the same service through in-person diagnosis, consultation, or treatment. This bill would delete that date restriction, thereby extending the telehealth reimbursement parity requirement for all contracts between a health care service plan or a health insurer and a health care provider. The bill would provide that these provisions are severable. The bill would also enact the Protection of Patient Choice in Telehealth Provider Act, and would require a health care service plan and a health insurer to comply with specified notice and consent requirements if the plan or insurer offers a service via telehealth to an enrollee or an insured through a third-party corporate telehealth provider, as defined. For an enrollee or insured that receives specialty telehealth services for a mental or behavioral health condition, the bill would require that the enrollee or insured be given the option of continuing to receive that service with the contracting individual health professional, a contracting clinic, or a contracting health facility. The bill would exempt specified health care service plan contracts and Medi-Cal managed care plan contracts from those provisions. The bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to consider the appropriateness of applying those requirements to the Medi-Cal program, as specified. 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. (3) 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.

(1) Existing law authorizes a peace officer to use reasonable force to effect the arrest, to prevent escape, or to overcome resistance. Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to maintain a policy on the use of force, as specified. Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to implement courses of instruction for the regular and periodic training of law enforcement officers in the use of force. This bill would prohibit the use of kinetic energy projectiles or chemical agents by any law enforcement agency to disperse any assembly, protest, or demonstration, except in compliance with specified standards set by the bill, and would prohibit their use solely due to a violation of an imposed curfew, verbal threat, or noncompliance with a law enforcement directive. The bill would include in the standards for the use of kinetic energy projectiles and chemical agents to disperse gatherings the requirement that, among other things, those weapons only be used to defend against a threat to life or serious bodily injury to any individual, including a peace officer, or to bring an objectively dangerous and unlawful situation safely and effectively under control. The bill would define chemical agents to include, among other substances, chloroacetophenone tear gas or 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile gas. The bill would make these provisions inapplicable within a county jail or state prison facility. This bill would also require each law enforcement agency, within a specified timeframe, to post on their internet website a summary, as described, of any incident in which a kinetic energy projectile or chemical agent is deployed by that agency for the purpose of crowd control. The bill would require the Department of Justice to provide a compiled list of links to these reports on its internet website. (2) Existing law requires each law enforcement agency to annually report specified use of force incidents to the Department of Justice and requires the Department of Justice to annually publish a summary of those incidents, as specified. This bill would require these reports to be made monthly. By imposing new duties on law enforcement agencies, this bill would create 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 the statutory provisions noted above.

(1) Existing law establishes the Multifamily Housing Program administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development. Existing law requires assistance for projects under the program to be provided in the form of deferred payment loans to pay for eligible costs of the development, as provided. Existing law also requires that funds appropriated in the 2020 Budget Act or an act related to the 2020 Budget Act, including moneys received from the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, to provide housing for individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness and who are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, be disbursed in accordance with the Multifamily Housing Program for specified uses, and provides that the above-described deferred payment loan requirement under the program does not apply to assistance provided pursuant to these provisions, as specified. Existing law, the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Act of 2014, requires the California Housing Finance Agency, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish and implement programs that focus on veterans at risk for homelessness or experiencing temporary or chronic homelessness, as specified. In this regard, existing law requires those departments to establish and implement programs that, among other things, prioritize projects that combine housing and supportive services. Existing law, the No Place Like Home Program, as ratified and amended by Proposition 2, which was approved by the voters at the November 6, 2018, statewide general election, provides funding to provide permanent supportive housing for the target population, which is defined to include individuals who have a serious mental disorder and who are homeless, chronically homeless, or at risk of chronic homelessness. Existing law authorizes the Legislature to amend Proposition 2 by a 23 vote, so long as the amendment is consistent with and furthers the intent of that measure. This bill would require, beginning January 1, 2023, that a grantee or entity operating specified state homelessness programs, including the No Place Like Home Program, as a condition of receiving state funds, to enter Universal Data Elements and Common Data Elements, as defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Homeless Management Information System Data Standards, on the individuals and families it serves into its local Homeless Management Information System, unless otherwise exempted by state or federal law. The bill would require the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to specify the format and disclosure frequency of the required data elements. The bill would apply the data entry requirements to all new state homelessness programs that commence on or after July 1, 2021. The bill would require the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to provide technical assistance and guidance to any grantee or entity that operates a program subject to the bill, if the grantee or entity does not already collect and enter into the local Homeless Management Information System the data elements required. The bill would require the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to provide the aggregate data summaries collected under these provisions to specified state agencies or departments within 45 days of receipt, as specified. Existing law creates the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council and requires it, among other things, to create a statewide data system or warehouse that collects local data through Homeless Management Information Systems, with the ultimate goal of matching data on homelessness to programs impacting homeless recipients of state programs. This bill would specify that the statewide data storage system described above be known as the Homeless Data Integration System and would grant staff of the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council specified powers in regard to its operation. The bill would require that a continuum of care, as defined in federal law, provide collected data elements, including health information, as specified, to the Homeless Data Integration System, and would except health information and personal identifying information from disclosure to the public. By imposing new duties on local entities to provide information to the state, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law authorizes the Legislature to amend Proposition 2 by a 23 vote, so long as the amendment is consistent with and furthers the intent of that measure. The bill would state the findings of the Legislature that these provisions are consistent with, and further the intent of, the No Place Like Home Act. (3) 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. 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 the statutory provisions noted above. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 8256 and 8257 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 1220 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1220 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law requires the covenants, conditions, and restrictions or other documents or written policy of a senior citizen housing development to set forth the limitations on occupancy, residency, or use on the basis of age. Existing law requires that the limitations on age require, at a minimum, that the persons commencing any occupancy of a dwelling unit include a senior citizen who intends to reside in the unit as their primary residence on a permanent basis. Existing law defines "senior citizen housing development" for these purposes as a residential development for senior citizens that has at least 35 dwelling units. Existing law defines "qualifying resident" or "senior citizen" to mean a person 62 years of age or older, or 55 years of age or older in a senior citizen housing development. This bill would authorize the establishment of an intergenerational housing development that includes senior citizens along with caregivers and transition age youth, if specified conditions are satisfied. The bill would require that the covenants, conditions, and restrictions and other documents or written policy for the development set forth the limitations on occupancy, residency, or use. The bill would prescribe definitions for "senior citizen" and "transition age youth" for these purposes. The bill would require at least 80% of the occupied dwelling units in an intergenerational housing development to be occupied by at least one senior citizen, as specified, and up to 20% of the occupied dwelling units in the development to be occupied by at least one caregiver or transition age youth, as specified. The bill would require the development to be affordable to lower income households. The bill would prescribe an optional process to be applied if a unit ceases to house a caregiver or transition age youth. The bill would prohibit the eviction or lease termination of a family with children in order to comply with the senior citizen occupancy requirement described above. The bill would make a conforming change in provisions regarding subdivided lands. The bill would create a state policy supporting intergenerational housing for senior citizens, caregivers, and transition age youth and would permit developers that have certain funds or tax credits designated for affordable rental housing to restrict occupancy to senior citizens, caregivers, and transition age youth, as specified.

The Planning and Zoning Law authorizes a local agency to provide, by ordinance, for the creation of accessory dwelling units in single-family and multifamily residential zones and requires a local agency that has not adopted an ordinance to ministerially approve an application for an accessory dwelling unit, and sets forth required ordinance standards, including that the ordinance prohibit the sale or conveyance of the accessory dwelling unit separately from the primary residence. Existing law, notwithstanding the prohibition described above, authorizes a local agency to, by ordinance, allow an accessory dwelling unit to be sold or conveyed separately from the primary residence to a qualified buyer if certain conditions are met, including that the property was built or developed by a qualified nonprofit corporation and that the property is held pursuant to a recorded tenancy in common agreement. Existing law requires that tenancy in common agreement to, among other things, allocate to each qualified buyer an undivided, unequal interest in the property based on the size of the dwelling each qualified buyer occupies. This bill would require each local agency to allow an accessory dwelling unit to be sold or conveyed separately from the primary residence to a qualified buyer if the above-described conditions are met. The bill would impose an additional condition on a tenancy in common agreement subject to these provisions and recorded on or after December 31, 2021, to include specified information, including a delineation of all areas of the property that are for the exclusive use of a cotenant, delineation of each cotenant's responsibility for the costs of taxes, insurance, utilities, general maintenance and repair, and improvements associated with the property, and procedures for dispute resolution among cotenants before resorting to legal action. By imposing additional duties on local governments in the administration of the development of accessory dwelling units, 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 the statutory provisions noted above.

The California Meat and Poultry Supplemental Inspection Act authorizes the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to adopt, by regulation, standards and requirements relating to inspection, sanitation, facilities, equipment, reinspection, preparation, processing, buying, selling, and transporting, among other acts, for carrying out the purposes of the act. The act requires each person to be licensed before operating a meat processing establishment or a custom livestock slaughterhouse. The act does not apply in specified circumstances, including to a mobile slaughter operator who provides services to an owner of cattle, subject to specified conditions, including the condition that the person who raised the cattle and the mobile slaughter operator maintain records, as provided. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor. This bill would exempt from the requirements of the act a mobile slaughter operator that provides services to an owner of livestock, defined to mean any cattle, sheep, goat, and swine used for human food, and slaughters multiple livestock from multiple owners under certain specified conditions, including, among others, that the slaughter occurs on the premises of one of the owners of the livestock or on the premises of the producer, as defined, and the producer that has mobile slaughter operations conducted on their premises has registered with the Department of Food and Agriculture, the meat is not for sale, and the premises or the mobile slaughter facility where the slaughter is conducted has an adequate sewer, facilities, and potable water. The bill would require a mobile slaughter operator performing these services to be licensed with the department, as prescribed. The bill would require the department to establish a license fee and a renewal fee to cover costs associated with oversight and inspection of mobile slaughter operators, and would limit the fees to the department's reasonable regulatory costs and not to exceed a specified amount. The bill would require the producer to reregister with the department if the producer moves locations or if the operation changes ownership. The bill would require a mobile slaughter operator of livestock and a producer who produces livestock to maintain records for at least one year, as prescribed, and to exhibit the records on demand of any inspector or peace officer. By expanding the scope and number of possible crimes under the act to certain slaughterers and producers of livestock that fail to comply with the act's provisions, 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.

(1) Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health (department) to implement various programs throughout the state relating to public health, including licensing and regulating health facilities and control of infectious diseases. Existing law requires the department and the Office of Emergency Services, in coordination with other state agencies, to, upon appropriation and as necessary, establish a personal protective equipment (PPE) stockpile. Existing law requires the department to establish guidelines for the procurement, management, and distribution of PPE, taking into account, among other things, the amount of each type of PPE that would be required for all health care workers and essential workers, as defined, in the state during a 90-day pandemic or other health emergency. This bill would specifically include wildfire smoke events among health emergencies for these purposes. The bill would include agricultural workers, as defined, in the definition of essential workers. Existing law also establishes the Personal Protective Equipment Advisory Committee (committee) , consisting of representatives from, among other groups, an association representing skilled nursing facilities, a statewide association representing physicians, 2 representatives of labor organizations that represent health care workers, and 2 representatives of labor organizations that represent essential workers, as defined, to make recommendations to the department for the development of guidelines for the procurement, management, and distribution of PPE, as specified. This bill would require the committee to include a representative of a labor organization representing agricultural workers and a representative of an organization that represents agricultural employers. The bill would also require the department to report to the Legislature regarding the PPE stockpile within 6 months of the effective date of these provisions. (2) Existing law establishes the Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board within the Department of Industrial Relations and sets forth their powers and duties relating to the adoption of health and safety standards for workers. Under existing law, certain violations of a standard, order, or special order pursuant to these provisions are crimes. Existing regulations of the division protect employees exposed to wildfire smoke and include control by respiratory protective equipment among the methods to control harmful exposure. This bill would require the division to review and update the contents of the protection from wildfire smoke training and thereafter post it on its internet website. The bill would require that training provided by the employer is required to be in a language and manner readily understandable by employees, taking into account their ethnic and cultural backgrounds and education levels, including the use of pictograms, as necessary. Because a violation of certain safety and health standards or orders constitutes a crime, this 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.