Asm. Luis Alejo

This measure would designate the interchange at the junction of State Routes 99 and 166 in the County of Kern as the CHP Officer Gerald E. Dormaier Memorial Interchange. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

This measure would proclaim October 17, 2015, as Firefighters Memorial Day.

This measure would designate November 2015 as a month to raise awareness about the issue of medically fragile foster care children and adoptive placement children and the actions that every Californian can take to make a positive difference in these children's lives.

The Joint Exercise of Powers Act authorizes 2 or more public agencies, as defined, if authorized by their governing bodies, by agreement to jointly exercise any power common to the contracting parties, and specifically authorizes a mutual water company to enter into a joint powers agreement with a public agency for these purposes. Existing law authorizes local public entities, as defined, to enter into a joint powers agreement for the purposes of providing risk-pooling, as specified. This bill would specifically authorize a mutual water company and a public agency to participate in joint powers agreement for the provision of insurance and risk-pooling, technical support, and other similar services for the purpose of reducing risk liability, as specified.

Existing law establishes the county-administered In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons are provided with services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization. Existing law establishes 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. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law establishes, as part of the Coordinated Care Initiative, the In-Home Supportive Services Employer-Employee Relations Act, which serves to resolve disputes regarding wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment between the California In-Home Supportive Services Authority (Statewide Authority) and recognized employee organizations providing in-home supportive services. Existing law establishes the Statewide Authority and requires the authority to be the entity authorized to meet and confer in good faith regarding wages, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment with representatives of recognized employee organizations for any individual provider who is employed by a recipient of supportive services. Existing law provides, as part of the Coordinated Care Initiative, that IHSS is a Medi-Cal benefit available through managed care health plans in specified counties. Existing law requires enrollment of eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries into managed care pursuant to a specified demonstration project or other provisions, including managed care for long-term services and supports, as one of the conditions required to be completed before the Statewide Authority assumes specified responsibilities. Existing law requires the Statewide Authority, no sooner than March 1, 2013, to assume specified responsibilities in a county upon notification by the Director of Health Care Services that the enrollment of eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries described in specified provisions of law has been completed in that county. Under existing law, the date of assumption of these responsibilities by the Statewide Authority is known as the county implementation date. This bill would, instead, make the implementation date January 1, 2016, would delete the reference to the "county" implementation date, and would make conforming changes. Existing law conditions implementation of the Coordinated Care Initiative, as defined, on whether the Director of Finance estimates that the Coordinated Care Initiative will generate net General Fund savings, as specified. Existing law, with certain exceptions, specifies those provisions of law that are within the scope of the initiative to become inoperative if this condition is not met. This bill would modify the definition of the Coordinate Care Initiative for the purposes of determining which provisions become inoperative if the condition is not met, and exclude, among others, those provisions that establish the In-Home Supportive Services Employer-Employee Relations Act; establish the Statewide Authority and determine the duties of, and when those duties are assumed by, the authority; establish the IHSS Fund, which is used to fund the Statewide Authority; and require all counties, commencing July 1, 2012, to have a County IHSS Maintenance of Effort (MOE) and to pay the County IHSS MOE instead of paying the nonfederal share of IHSS costs, as specified. The bill would make conforming changes.

Existing law requires all employment contracts between an employee and a local agency employer to contain a provision that provides for the amount of a cash settlement that may be paid out if the contract is terminated, as specified. Existing law provides that the maximum settlement that an employee can receive is an amount equal to the monthly salary of the employee multiplied by the number of months left on the unexpired term of the contract, or, if the unexpired terms of the contract is greater than 18 months, an amount equal to the monthly salary of the employee multiplied by 18. This bill would provide that in the case of a district superintendent of schools, for contracts of employment executed on or after January 1, 2016, the maximum cash settlement shall be an amount equal to the monthly salary of the employee multiplied by 12. Existing law limits the amount of a cash or noncash settlement that a local agency employer may provide its district superintendent of schools to an amount no greater than the superintendent's monthly salary multiplied by zero to 6, if it terminates the superintendent's contract of employment and confirms pursuant to an independent audit that the superintendent engaged in fraud, misappropriation of funds, or other illegal fiscal practices. In this case, existing law requires an administrative law judge, after a hearing, to determine the amount of the cash settlement. This bill, with regard to a contract for employment executed on or after January 1, 2016, would instead provide that a cash or noncash settlement in any amount may be paid by a local agency employer to its district superintendent of schools under these provisions.

Existing law generally requires all state, county, municipal, district, and school district elections be held on an established election date. Existing law also establishes certain dates for statewide elections. Existing law requires any state, county, municipal, district, and school district election held on a statewide election date to be consolidated with a statewide election, except as provided. This bill, commencing January 1, 2018, would prohibit a political subdivision, as defined, from holding an election other than on a statewide election date if holding an election on a nonconcurrent date has previously resulted in voter turnout for a regularly scheduled election in that political subdivision being at least 25% less than the average voter turnout within the political subdivision for the previous 4 statewide general elections, except as specified. This bill would require a court to implement appropriate remedies upon a violation of this prohibition. The bill would authorize a voter who resides in a political subdivision where a violation is alleged to file an action in superior court to enforce this prohibition, and it would allow a prevailing plaintiff other than the state or political subdivision to collect a reasonable attorney's fee and litigation expenses, as provided.

Existing provisions of federal law regulate immigration. Under federal law, state law regulating immigration is preempted. This bill would require the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and the Department of Food and Agriculture to convene a working group to consult with the United States Department of Homeland Security and the United States Department of Justice in order to determine the legal roles and responsibilities of federal and state agencies in implementing a program to provide undocumented persons who are agricultural employees with a permit to work and live in California. The bill would require the Governor, using the report, to either make a formal request to the federal government to implement a program to provide undocumented persons who are agricultural employees with a permit to work and live in California, or issue an explanation as to why a formal request was not made and make recommendations to the Legislature for how a program to provide undocumented persons who are agricultural employees with a permit to work and live in California should be structured. The bill would also describe a framework for a program to provide undocumented persons who are agricultural employees a permit to work and live in California if such a program were to be authorized by federal law.