Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to establish a program for the development, provision, and evaluation of genetic disease testing. Existing law establishes the continuously appropriated Genetic Disease Testing Fund (GDTF) , consisting of fees paid for newborn screening tests and states the intent of the Legislature that all costs of the genetic disease testing program be fully supported by fees paid for newborn screening tests, which are deposited in the GDTF. Existing law also authorizes moneys in the GDTF to be used for the expansion of the Genetic Disease Branch Screening Information System to include cystic fibrosis, biotinidase, and severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) and exempts the expansion of contracts for this purpose from certain provisions of the Public Contract Code, the Government Code, and the State Administrative Manual, as specified. This bill would require the department to expand statewide screening of newborns to include screening for adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) as soon as ALD is adopted by the federal Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP) . By expanding the purposes for which moneys from the fund may be expended, this bill would make an appropriation.
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Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health and sets forth its powers and duties, including, but not limited to, the administration of the California Diabetes Program. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health to submit a report to the Legislature by December 31, 2015, that includes, among other things, information on the progress of the implementation of evidence-based strategies aimed at preventing and managing diabetes, and actionable items for consideration by the Legislature that will aid in attaining the goals set forth by the department in the California Wellness Plan for 2014 and the Diabetes Burden Report. The bill would also authorize the department to update the report as necessary and at the department's discretion. The bill would require the department to make the report and any updates available on its Internet Web site. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to also include guidelines to reduce the fiscal burden of diabetes to the state in the Diabetes Burden Report, which is to be completed by December 31, 2014. The bill would also make related findings and declarations. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law regulates the sale of certain merchandise, including political items and sports memorabilia. This bill would prohibit the State of California from selling or displaying the Battle Flag of the Confederacy, or a similar image, or tangible personal property inscribed with those images, unless the image appears in a book, digital medium, or state museum that serves an educational or historical purpose.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including a credit against those taxes for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, in an amount equal to an applicable percentage of either 20% or 25%, respectively, of the qualified expenditures, as defined, attributable to the production of a qualified motion picture in California, or, where the qualified motion picture is a television series that relocated to California or is an independent film, as provided. Existing law imposes specified duties on the California Film Commission related to the administration of the credits, including a requirement to allocate the tax credits until July 1, 2017, and limits the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated to qualified motion pictures in any fiscal year to $100,000,000 through the 2016–17 fiscal year. Existing law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, in lieu of the credits authorized under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for qualified motion pictures described above, also allows a credit against qualified state sales and use taxes, as provided. Existing law provides for a tentative minimum tax and further provides that, except for specified credits, no other credit shall reduce the tax imposed below the tentative minimum tax. This bill would establish similar credits under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, to be allocated by the California Film Commission on or after July 1, 2015, and before July 1, 2020. This bill would, as compared to the existing tax credits, extend the scope of the credits for a qualified motion picture to the applicable percentage of qualified expenditures up to $100,000,000, would extend the credit to qualified expenditures for television pilot episodes, and would determine an applicable percentage of 25% or 20% for qualified expenditures, with an additional credit amount available, as specified. This bill would limit the aggregate amount of these new credits to be allocated in each fiscal year to up to $330 million, and would, subject to a computation and ranking of applicants based on the jobs ratio, as defined, require the California Film Commission to allocate credit amounts subject to specified categories of qualified motion pictures. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, in lieu of the credits authorized under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for qualified motion pictures described above, allow a credit against qualified state sales and use taxes, as provided. This bill would also require the Legislative Analyst's Office to prepare reports related to the effectiveness and administration of the qualified motion picture credit under the Sales and Use Tax Law, the Personal Income Tax Law, and the Corporation Tax Law. This bill would, for taxable years, beginning on or after January 1, 2016, additionally allow the credit under the Corporation Tax Law for qualified expenditures for the production of qualified motion pictures to reduce the tentative minimum tax. This bill would also make findings and declarations related to the entertainment industry, and would urge the United States Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission to investigate and impose sanctions on specified motion picture productions and elements of production to combat unfair and illegal competition. 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 bill would state that its provisions are severable. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 23036 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, proposed by AB 2754, to be operative only if AB 2754 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California. Existing law requires the Division of Licensing of the Medical Board of California to establish continuing education requirements for physicians and surgeons. Existing law abolishes the division, provides for the board to handle the responsibilities of the division, and deems a reference to the division to refer to the board. This bill would require the board in determining continuing education requirements, to consider including a course in geriatric care for emergency room physicians and surgeons. The bill would make nonsubstantive, technical, and conforming changes.
Existing law, the Interagency School Safety Demonstration Act of 1985, among other things, requires the Department of Justice and the State Department of Education to contract with one or more professional trainers to coordinate statewide workshops for school districts, county offices of education, and schoolsite personnel, and in particular school principals, to assist them in the development of their respective school safety and crisis response plans, and provide training in the prevention of bullying, as defined. This bill would require the department to develop an online training module to assist all school staff, school administrators, parents, pupils, and community members in increasing their knowledge of the dynamics of bullying and cyberbullying, as specified.
Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses in specified areas of study, including social sciences. Existing law requires the instruction in social studies to provide instruction in, among other things, human rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust. This bill would enact the Armenian Genocide Education Act, and would provide that the instruction in human rights issues may also include particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of the Armenian Genocide. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to incorporate materials relating to civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources, consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science and other requirements. Under existing law, the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness testimony into the teaching of human rights, genocide, and the Holocaust. Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks to the State Board of Education. This bill would encourage the department to incorporate materials relating to the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources, consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science. The bill would require the commission to consider including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides in the recommended history-social science curriculum framework when the history-social science curriculum framework is revised as required by law. The bill would also specify that the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony, as defined, into the teaching of human rights, the Holocaust, and genocide, including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 51226.3 of the Education Code, proposed by SB 1380, to be operative only if SB 1380 and this bill are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last.
Existing law declares that a well-educated and highly skilled workforce is necessary for the state to remain competitive in the global economy and that workforce investment programs and services need to work collaboratively with state and local entities to accomplish this policy goal. Existing law provides that the California Workforce Investment Board (CWIB) is responsible for assisting the Governor in, among other things, the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system. Existing law requires the board, in collaboration with specified state and local partners, and the local workforce investment boards to develop a specified strategic workforce plan, updated at least every 5 years, to address the state's economic, demographic, and workplace needs, and to meet the single state plan requirement of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. In that regard, the board aligns and leverages state and local Workforce Investment Act funding streams, identifies specified industry sectors and clusters, provides skills-gap analysis, and establishes specified eligibility criteria for the Workforce Investment Act eligible training provider list. This bill would require the CWIB to establish the San Joaquin Valley Regional Economic Planning and Preparedness Council as a special committee, composed of specified members, to, among other things, identify and develop the framework of, and make recommendations as to, appropriate strategies, programs, policies, partnerships, and funding opportunities that are necessary to address the growing need for a highly skilled and well-trained workforce to meet the needs of the San Joaquin Valley's emerging technology and energy economy. The bill would require the council to report to the Legislature, by April 1 each year, on the status of its activities and its development of an oil and natural gas workforce strategic initiative.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue specialty license plates, including environmental license plates and specified special environmental design license plates. Under existing law, a state agency is authorized to apply to the DMV to sponsor a specialized license plate program, and the DMV is required to issue those license plates if the agency meets certain requirements. The DMV is required to charge specified fees for certain services related to the issuance of those plates. Existing law establishes the Breast Cancer Control Account in the Breast Cancer Fund, and requires that funds in that account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be allocated for the provision of early breast cancer detection services for uninsured and underinsured women. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to apply to sponsor a breast cancer awareness license plate program, and would require the DMV to issue the license plates if the State Department of Health Care Services meets certain requirements. The bill would authorize the State Department of Health Care Services to accept and use donated artwork from California artists for the license plate. The bill would require the revenue generated from the license plates, as specified, to be deposited in the Breast Cancer Control Account in the Breast Cancer Fund. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law provides that a grandparent may petition the court for visitation rights. The court may grant visitation if the court finds that the grandparent and grandchild have a preexisting relationship that has engendered a bond such that granting the grandparent visitation is in the best interest of the child and the court balances the interest of the child in having visitation with the grandparent against the parents' right to exercise their parental authority, subject to specified exceptions. Existing law prohibits a grandparent from filing a petition for visitation while the natural or adoptive parents are married, unless one or more of several circumstances are present, including that the child is not residing with either parent. This bill would additionally permit a grandparent to file a petition for visitation while the natural or adoptive parents are married if one of the parents is incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized.