Asm. Henry Perea

This measure would recognize the month of February 2013 as American Heart Month in California and recognize February 1, 2013, as Wear Red Day in California.

This measure would declare February 6, 2013, as Ronald Reagan Day.

This measure would designate that January 21, 2013, be observed as the official memorial of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth and commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement in changing public policy in California and in the United States of America. This measure would also recognize the anniversaries of the Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington in connection with the advancement of civil rights.

This resolution would recognize the month of January 2013, and each following January, as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and it would recognize February 1, 2013, and each following February 1, as California's Free From Slavery Day.

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 health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies to provide coverage for all generally medically accepted cancer screening tests and requires those contracts and policies to also provide coverage for the treatment of breast cancer. Existing law imposes various requirements on contracts and policies that cover prescription drug benefits. This bill would prohibit a health care service plan contract and a health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after July 1, 2013, that provides coverage for cancer chemotherapy treatment from requiring a higher copayment, deductible, or coinsurance amount for a prescribed, orally administered anticancer medication than the health care service plan or health insurer requires for an intravenously administered or injected cancer medication, as specified. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan or a health insurer from being deemed to have complied with these provisions by increasing the copayment, deductible, or coinsurance amount for an intravenously administered or injected cancer chemotherapy agent. The bill would specify that its provisions do not apply to a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy that does not provide outpatient prescription drug coverage or to a health care benefit plan, contract, or policy with the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System. The bill would also provide that no benefits are required to be provided under its provisions that exceed the essential health benefits that will be required under specified federal law. 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.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to contract with Amtrak for intercity rail passenger services and provides funding for these services from the Public Transportation Account. Existing law, until December 31, 1996, authorized the department, subject to approval of the Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, to enter into an interagency transfer agreement under which a joint powers board assumes responsibility for administering the state-funded intercity rail service in a particular corridor. Existing law, with respect to a transferred corridor, requires the board to demonstrate the ability to meet performance standards established by the secretary. This bill would authorize the department, with approval of the secretary, to enter into interagency transfer agreements for additional intercity rail corridors, to be entered into between June 30, 2014, and June 30, 2015. The bill would require the agreements to cover the initial 3-year period after the transfer, and would authorize subsequent extensions by mutual agreement. If agreements are not entered into by that the expiration of that period, the bill would require the secretary to report to the Governor and the Legislature by June 30, 2016, as specified. This bill would specifically authorize an additional interagency transfer agreement to be entered into with respect to the San Joaquin Corridor, as defined, if a joint powers authority and governing board are created and organized. In that regard, the bill would provide for the creation of the San Joaquin Corridor Joint Powers Authority, to be governed by a board of not more than 11 members. The bill would provide that the board shall be organized when at least 6 of the 11 agencies elect to appoint members. The bill would provide for the authority to be created when the member agencies enter into a joint powers agreement, as specified. The bill would provide for future appointments of additional members if the service boundaries of the San Joaquin Corridor are expanded. Existing law requires the level of service to be funded by the state pursuant to a transfer agreement to not be less than the current number of intercity round trips operated in a corridor and serving the same endpoints. This bill would require the level of service funded by the state to remain the same during the first 3 years following the effective date of the transfer agreement, and would require the entity assuming responsibility for a corridor to provide that level of service. The bill would prohibit termination of feeder bus services except for specified reasons. Existing law provides for the allocation of state funds by the secretary to a joint powers board under an interagency transfer agreement based on the annual business plan for the intercity rail corridor and subsequent appropriation of state funds. Existing law states that the interagency transfer agreement may provide that any additional funds required to operate the intercity rail service during a fiscal year shall be provided by a joint powers board from jurisdictions that receive service. This bill, if local resources are made available for operating the intercity rail service, would require a vote of the local agency providing the resources, and would require the concurrence of the joint powers board in that regard. This bill would authorize the secretary to adopt new performance standards for intercity rail services. The bill would require the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority to protect existing services and facilities and seek to expand service, as specified. Existing law authorizes the department and any entity that assumes administrative responsibility for passenger rail services through an interagency transfer agreement to contract with specified entities for the use of tracks and other facilities and for the provision of passenger rail services. This bill would require a contractor under an agreement described above to agree that its labor relations shall be governed by a specified federal act relating to labor relations on railroads.

The California Constitution establishes the State Board of Equalization, and existing law prescribes its various powers and duties with respect to various taxes and fees, including administration, assessment, and collection and prescribes its functions with respect to property taxes. The State Board of Equalization is the appellate body for disputes arising under franchise and income tax laws. The State Board of Equalization decides disputes arising under tax and fee laws administered by the board and decides specified petitions and applications arising under property tax laws. This bill would require the board to publish and make available on its Internet Web site a written formal opinion, a written memorandum opinion, or a written summary decision for each decision of the board, as specified, in which the amount in controversy is $500,000 or more, within 120 days of the date upon which the board rendered its decision. This bill would require each published opinion or decision to contain specified information.

Existing law establishes the Public Employees' Retirement System and the State Teachers' Retirement System. These systems provide defined pension benefits to public employees based on age, service credit, and final compensation. The California Constitution confers upon the retirement boards of public retirement systems plenary authority and fiduciary responsibility for the investment of moneys of those systems. This bill would authorize these public retirement system boards, consistent with their fiduciary duties and the standard for prudent investment, to prioritize investment in an in-state infrastructure project over a comparable out-of-state infrastructure project.