The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act requires the State Department of Developmental Services to contract with regional centers to provide services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities. Under existing law, regional centers purchase needed services for individuals with developmental disabilities through approved service providers or arrange for those services through other publicly funded agencies. Existing law establishes specified rates and wages to be paid to certain service providers and the rates to be paid for certain developmental services. Existing law requires that rates to be paid to other developmental service providers either be set by the department or negotiated between the regional center and the service provider. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which basic health care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments to be reduced, as specified. This bill would appropriate a specified sum to the State Department of Developmental Services to, commencing July 1, 2016, among other things, increase rates and wages for certain developmental services providers and fund incentive payments for competitive integrated employment opportunities and internships for individuals with developmental disabilities. The bill would require the department to submit a rate study to specified committees of the Legislature on or before March 1, 2019, regarding community-based services for individuals with developmental disabilities. The bill would require each regional center to report specified information to the department regarding increased funding for regional center operations. The bill would, for dates of service on or after August 1, 2016, increase the payment rates for intermediate care facilities and skilled nursing facilities that provide services to developmentally disabled individuals under the Medi-Cal program, as specified. The bill would also prohibit the State Department of Health Care Services from seeking to retroactively implement certain Medi-Cal provider payment reductions and limitations with regards to reimbursements for services provided by skilled nursing facilities that are distinct parts of general acute care hospitals for dates of service on or after June 1, 2011, and on or before September 30, 2013, and from seeking to recoup overpayments, as specified. Existing law requires the department and regional centers to annually collaborate to compile specified data relating to purchase of service authorization, utilization, and expenditure by each regional center. Existing law requires each regional center to annually report to the department regarding the regional center's implementation of these requirements, including whether the data indicates a need to reduce disparities in the purchase of services among consumers in the regional center's catchment area and the regional center's recommendations and plan to promote equity, and reduce disparities, in the purchase of services. Existing law requires the department to consult with specified stakeholders to review the data, develop recommendations to help reduce disparities in purchase of service expenditures, and encourage development and expansion of culturally appropriate services, among other things, and to report the status of its efforts during the 2016–17 legislative budget subcommittee hearing process. The bill would also require the department, subject to available funding, to allocate funding to regional centers to assist in implementing specified recommendations and plans, including the recommendations and plans of the regional centers to promote equity, and reduce disparities, in the purchase of services. Existing law requires an entity that receives payments between $250,000 and $500,000 per year from one or more regional centers to obtain either an independent audit or an independent review report of its financial statements, and requires an entity that receives payments that are equal to or more than $500,000 per year to obtain an independent audit. This bill would instead require an entity that receives payments between $500,000 and $2,000,000 from one or more regional centers to obtain an independent review report of its financial statements, and would authorize these entities to apply for, and require the regional center to grant, a 2-year exemption from this requirement if the regional center does not find issues in the independent review report that have an impact on regional center services. The bill would require an entity that receives payments from one or more regional centers that are equal to or more than $2,000,000 to obtain an independent audit and would authorize these entities to apply for, and require the regional center to grant, a 2-year exemption from the audit requirement if the audit resulted in an unmodified opinion, an unmodified opinion with additional communication, or a qualified opinion with issues that are not material. The bill would require a regional center to annually report to the State Department of Developmental Services any exemptions granted pursuant to these provisions.
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The Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act creates a state medical contract program to increase the number of students and residents receiving quality education and training in specified primary care specialties or in nursing, and to maximize the delivery of primary care and family physician services to specific areas of California where there is a recognized unmet priority need for those services. The act requires the Director of Statewide Health Planning and Development to, among other things, contract with accredited medical schools, teaching health centers, training programs, hospitals, and other health care delivery systems for those purposes, based on recommendations of the California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission and in conformity with the contract criteria and program standards established by the commission. This bill would appropriate $300,000,000 from the General Fund to the director for the purpose of funding new and existing graduate medical education physician residency positions, and supporting training faculty, pursuant to the act, for expenditure as specified. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.
Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the California regional water quality control boards prescribe waste discharge requirements in accordance with the federal Clean Water Act and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (state act) . The state act defines various terms for its purposes. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to these definitions.
Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt a state master plan for services to migrant children. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in implementing the master plan, to establish the service regional system as the primary method for the delivery of services to migrant children, and authorizes the State Department of Education to directly fund local educational agencies, in whole or in part, to provide services to eligible migrant children if certain conditions are met. Existing law requires the Superintendent to adopt rules and regulations requiring each operating agency receiving migrant education funds or services to actively solicit parental involvement in the planning, operation, and evaluation of its programs through the establishment of, and consultation with, a parent advisory council. Existing law specifies the responsibilities of parent advisory councils at the district, regional, and state levels, and of school districts or other agencies operating programs for migrant pupils, and requires the responsibilities of the state board and the department to be set forth in the master plan. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to that latter provision.
Existing law provides that any person who feloniously steals, takes, or carries away the personal property of another, or who fraudulently appropriates property that has been entrusted to him or her, is guilty of theft. Existing law also provides that a person who, being a dealer in or collector of junk, metals, or secondhand materials, buys or receives any wire, cable, copper, lead, solder, mercury, iron, or brass that he or she knows or reasonably should know is ordinarily used by, or ordinarily belongs to, a railroad or other transportation, telephone, telegraph, gas, water, or electric light company or county, city, or city and county without using due diligence to ascertain that the person selling or delivering the same has a legal right to do so, is guilty of criminally receiving that property. Existing law establishes the Department of Justice, which is headed by the Attorney General and tasked with, among other things, representing California in criminal cases. This bill, until January 1, 2020, would require the Department of Justice to establish a Metal Theft Task Force Program designed to enhance the capacity of the department to serve as the lead law enforcement agency in the investigation and prosecution of illegal recycling operations, and metal theft and related recycling crimes, and would authorize the department to enter into partnerships, as defined, with local law enforcement agencies, regional task forces, and district attorneys for the purpose of achieving the goals of the program. The bill would authorize the department to enter into an agreement with any state agency for the purpose of administering the program. The bill would establish the Metal Theft Task Force Fund, to be administered by the Department of Justice, and would continuously appropriate all moneys in that fund to the department for the purposes of the program, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the Department of Justice to submit a comprehensive report to the Legislature, no later than December 31, 2018, on the status and progress, since the year 2016, of the program in deterring, investigating, and prosecuting illegal recycling operations, and metal theft and related recycling crimes. The bill would specify that the program would not be implemented until the Department of Justice determines that sufficient moneys have been deposited in the fund to implement the program. Existing law requires, until January 1, 2019, a weighmaster who is a junk dealer or recycler to pay an additional annual fee of $500 to the Department of Food and Agriculture for each location at which the weighmaster operates, as specified, for the administration and enforcement of specified provisions. The bill would extend the operation of the above provisions until January 1, 2020, and would additionally require a weighmaster who is a junk dealer or recycler, as defined, to pay a specified additional license fee to be deposited into the Metal Theft Task Force Fund and to be expended by the Department of Justice for the purpose of administering the Metal Theft Task Force Program. The bill would prohibit the proceeds of this fee from exceeding an aggregate total of $2,000,000 per year.
Existing law establishes the Commission for Economic Development, as solely an advisory body, and provides that the purpose of the commission is to provide continuing bipartisan legislative branch, executive branch, and private sector support and guidance for the best overall economic development of the state by any specified means. Under existing law, the membership of the committee consists of the Lieutenant Governor and 16 other members, including 6 Members of the Legislature appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly and 10 members representing business, industry, and labor organizations appointed by the Governor. Existing law authorizes the commission to appoint task forces to study and report on specific issues relating to these purposes. Existing law authorizes the commission to act at any regular or special meeting and requires regular meetings to be held once during each 3-month period. Existing law requires the commission to appoint advisory committees from outside its membership to represent, among other industries, aerospace and to study laws and programs of other states relating to economic development and the encouragement of business and industry. This bill would provide that the purpose of the commission is to provide that continuing support and guidance on public policies and economic development activities that support job creation and business growth in this state. The bill would additionally authorize the commission to collaborate with statewide and regional organizations on economic and community development initiatives and identify and support this state's access to federal programs, as provided. The bill would authorize the addition of up to 3 Members of the California Congressional Delegation to the commission and would require these members to apply and be appointed by the Governor. The bill would declare all studies and reports of the commission to be public documents and would require them to be posted on the Internet Web site of the Lieutenant Governor for not less than 24 months. The bill would additionally authorize the commission to act by teleconference, via an Internet Web site, or other electronic means, or a combination of a meeting and electronic means and would instead require regular meetings to occur once during each 4-month period. The bill would authorize, rather than require, the commission to appoint advisory committees from outside its membership and to study laws and programs of other states relating to economic development, including, among others, economic mobility. The bill would also make numerous technical and conforming changes.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. Existing law creates the California Competes Tax Credit Committee, which has specified duties in regard to tax credits for economic development. Existing law establishes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as "GO-Biz," to, among other duties, serve the Governor as the lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth. Existing law imposes an annual tax on the gross premiums of an insurer, as defined, doing business in this state at specified rates. This bill would allow a credit under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, and a credit against the tax imposed on an insurer, in modified conformity with a federal New Markets Tax Credit, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2017, and before January 1, 2029, in a specified amount for investments in low-income communities. The bill would limit the total annual amount of credit allowed pursuant to these provisions to an amount equal to any portion not granted under a specified sales and use tax exclusion, not to exceed $40,000,000 per calendar year, and would limit the allocation of the credit to a cumulative total of no more than $200,000,000, as provided. The bill would impose specified duties on the California Competes Tax Credit Committee and GO-Biz with regard to the application for, and allocation of, the credit. The bill would require GO-Biz to establish and impose reasonable fees upon entities that apply for the allocation of the credit, to be deposited in the California New Markets Tax Credit Fund established by the bill, and use the revenue, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to defray the cost of applying to, and administering the program, as specified. The bill would specify that the credit would not be allowed unless the Legislature makes an appropriation from the fund. The bill would provide that its provisions are severable. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The Economic Revitalization Act establishes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as "GO-Biz," to serve the Governor as the lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth. The Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act establishes the Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank within GO-Biz to, among other things, assist in the promotion of economic development throughout the state. This bill would enact the Small Business Technical Assistance Act of 2015, within the bank under the direction of GO-Biz to, among other things, serve as the lead state entity for overseeing the state's participation with the federal California Small Business Development Center Program, the Women's Business Center program, the Veteran Business Outreach Center program, the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) , and the Procurement Technical Assistance Cooperative Agreement program. The bill would also recognize those federal programs, and would authorize GO-Biz or any other state entity to contract with a federal small business technical assistance center. The bill would require the State Chair of the California Small Business Development Center Leadership Council, or the contract lead for any of the other federal small business technical assistance centers, to report specific information to GO-Biz relating to any year that state funds are appropriated to support the California Small Business Development Center Program or any of the other federal small business technical assistance center programs, and would, in turn, require the director of GO-Biz or the contract lead for any of the other small business technical assistance centers to provide that report to the Legislature and post the report on the GO-Biz's Internet Web site. The bill would also require the state chair, as a condition of accepting state funds, to allow access to other information about those federal programs under certain conditions. The bill would make legislative findings and declarations in this regard.