Existing federal law provides for allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states, with California's version of this program being known as the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program. Existing law provides for the CalWORKs program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals who meet specified eligibility criteria. Existing law continually appropriates money from the General Fund to pay for a share of aid grant costs under the CalWORKs program. Existing law imposes limits on the amount of income and personal and real property an individual or family may possess in order to be eligible for aid under the CalWORKs program including specifying the allowable value of a licensed vehicle retained by an applicant for, or recipient of that aid. This bill would delete existing requirements for assessing the value of a motor vehicle for purposes of CalWORKs program eligibility. The bill would, instead, would exclude the value of a licensed motor vehicle from consideration when determining or redetermining CalWORKs eligibility. By increasing the duties of counties administering the CalWORKs program, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would declare that no appropriation would be made for purposes of the bill pursuant to the provision continuously appropriating funds for the CalWORKs 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 these statutory provisions.
Sponsored bills
Existing law establishes in the Department of Consumer Affairs the Substance Abuse Coordination Committee, comprised of the executive officers of the department's healing arts boards, as specified, and a designee of the State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. Existing law requires the committee to formulate, by January 1, 2010, uniform and specific standards in specified areas that each healing arts board shall use in dealing with substance-abusing licensees. The Medical Practice Act establishes in the Department of Consumer Affairs the Medical Board of California, which provides for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons. This bill would enact the Public Protection and Physician Health Program Act of 2009, which would, until January 1, 2021, establish the Public Protection and Physician Health Oversight Committee, consisting of members appointed by specified entities, would require the committee to be formed and to hold its first meeting by March 1, 2010, and would require the committee to adopt rules and regulations necessary to implement these provisions by June 30, 2010. The bill would authorize the committee to contract, including on an interim basis, as specified, with any qualified physician health program for purposes of care and rehabilitation of physicians and surgeons, including applicants enrolled in an approved postgraduate training program, with alcohol or drug abuse or dependency problems or mental disorders, as specified. The bill would impose requirements on the physician health program relating to, among other things, monitoring the status and compliance of physicians and surgeons, as defined, who enter treatment for a qualifying illness, as defined, pursuant to written, voluntary agreements, and would require the committee to monitor compliance with these requirements. The bill would provide that a voluntary agreement to receive treatment would not be subject to public disclosure or disclosure to the Medical Board of California, except as specified. The bill would require the board to increase physician and surgeon and applicant licensure and renewal fees for purposes of the act, and would establish the Public Protection and Physician Health Program Trust Fund for deposit of those funds, which would be subject to appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would also require specified performance audits.
Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, restricts the employment of licensed physicians and surgeons and podiatrists by a corporation or other artificial legal entity, subject to specified exemptions, and makes it a crime to practice medicine without a license. Existing law establishes, until January 1, 2011, a pilot project to allow qualified district hospitals that, among other things, provide more than 50% of patient days to the care of Medicare, Medi-Cal, and uninsured patients, to employ a physician and surgeon, if the hospital does not interfere with, control, or otherwise direct the professional judgment of the physician and surgeon. The pilot project authorizes the direct employment of a total of 20 physicians and surgeons by those hospitals to provide medically necessary services in rural and medically underserved communities, and specifies that each qualified district hospital may employ up to 2 physicians and surgeons, subject to specified requirements. This bill would delete that pilot project and would instead, until January 1, 2021, authorize a health care district, as defined, and a clinic owned or operated by a health care district, as specified, to employ physicians and surgeons if the health care district's service area includes a Medically Underserved Area (MUA) or a Medically Underserved Population (MUP) , or has been federally designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) ; the district board conducts a public hearing and adopts a specified resolution declaring the need for the district to recruit and directly employ one or more physicians and surgeons; and the executive officer of the district provides specified documentation to the Medical Board of California. Upon receipt of that documentation, the bill would require the board to approve the employment of up to 5 primary or specialty care physicians and surgeons by the district, and, upon receipt of additional documentation after that employment, to approve an additional 5 primary or specialty care physicians and surgeons. The bill would provide that a district may, until December 31, 2020, enter into, renew, or extend any employment contract with a physician and surgeon for up to 10 years. The bill would require the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health and the board, to report to the Legislature by June 1, 2018, with regard to the efficacy of the employment of physicians and surgeons by health care districts, as specified.
Existing law establishes the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy in the Natural Resources Agency and specifies the authority and purposes of the conservancy. This bill would require the conservancy to complete a feasibility study on or before June 30, 2012, for the Pacoima Wash, as identified by the Los Angeles County Flood Control District. The bill would require the conservancy to use existing budget resources when preparing the study and would allow the conservancy to also use funds received from private and nonprofit sources for this purpose. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Existing law establishes the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009, which, among other things, provides for student protections and regulatory oversight of private postsecondary schools in the state. Existing law establishes the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education to regulate private postsecondary institutions through the powers granted, and the duties imposed, by the act. This bill would prohibit the bureau, for the period July 1, 2010, to July 1, 2011, inclusive, from enforcing the act against institutions that offer flight instruction or institutions that offer Federal Aviation Administration certified educational programs in aircraft maintenance. The bill would also require those institutions to notify the bureau if they operate during that period. (2) The act prohibits institutions, as defined, from performing various actions. This bill would prohibit an institution from offering an unaccredited doctoral degree program without disclosing to prospective students that the degree program is unaccredited, and any known limitation of the unaccredited degree, including, but not limited to, whether the degree is recognized for licensure or certification in other states. (3) The act prohibits an ability-to-benefit student, defined as a student who does not have a certificate of graduation from a school providing secondary education, or a recognized equivalent of that certificate, from enrolling in an institution unless the student achieves a specified score on an independently administered examination from a specified list of examinations prescribed by the United States Department of Education that demonstrates that the student may benefit from the education and training being offered. This bill would authorize the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education to publish its own list of acceptable examinations if the United States Department of Education does not have a list of relevant examinations that pertain to the intended occupational training. (4) The act requires specified private postsecondary institutions to refund 100% of the amount paid for institutional charges, less specified expenses, if notice of cancellation is made through attendance at the first class session, or the 7th class day after enrollment, whichever is later. This bill would change the 2nd deadline for notice of cancellation from the 7th class day after enrollment to the 7th day after enrollment. (5) Existing law defines "graduates employed in the field," for purposes of the act, as graduates who are gainfully employed within 6 months of graduation in a position for which the skills obtained through the education and training provided by the institution are required or provided a significant advantage to the graduate in obtaining the position. This bill would revise this definition to remove skills obtained that have provided a significant advantage to the graduate in obtaining the position, and include skills that are utilized to perform the purpose or objective of the position or the major responsibilities of the position. (6) Existing law appropriates $580,000 from the Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Administration Fund to the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, for the purpose of funding 5 private postsecondary education specialist and senior specialist positions. This bill would require those positions to be permanent, full-time positions to perform work in conformity with the classification specifications as directed by the bureau chief. (7) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law imposes residency requirements on specified elected officials in California. The California Constitution provides that each house of the Legislature is the sole judge of the qualifications of its Members. This bill would require that a person elected to a nonjudicial public office for a county, city, or school district, maintain his or her domicile, as defined, within the jurisdiction within which voters are qualified to vote for the office during his or her term of office. The bill would require a person who violates this provision to immediately forfeit his or her office and would disqualify the person from holding any state or local public office for a period of 4 years. As to persons serving terms of office that commence on or after November 2, 2010, the bill would also make a violation of the domicile requirement punishable by either a civil penalty not to exceed $1,000 or a fine not to exceed $1,000, imprisonment in a county jail for no more than 6 months, or by both fine and imprisonment, if it is established that the officeholder moved his or her domicile out of the jurisdiction of the office with the intent of retaining the office and misleading the voters within the jurisdiction to believe that he or she maintains his or her domicile within the jurisdiction of the office. The bill would authorize enforcement of its provisions by the Attorney General or the district attorney of a county for a violation involving a nonjudicial public office whose territory is located wholly or partially within that county. By creating a new 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law authorizes a city, county, or city and county to levy a tax, as provided, on the sale at retail within its jurisdiction of aerosol paint containers, felt tip markers, as specified, and marking substances or instruments at the rate of no more than $0.10 per aerosol paint container or container of other marking substance, and no more than $0.05 per felt tip marker meeting specified requirements or other marking instrument. Existing law requires the State Board of Equalization to enforce and administer these provisions. This bill would increase the amount of the tax authorized to be levied under these provisions to $0.25 per aerosol paint container or felt tip marker meeting specified requirements, would revise the definition of an aerosol paint container, would delete the authorization for the levy of a tax for containers of other marking instruments and other marking substances, and would require that 50% of the revenues from the tax be allocated for the purpose of funding the arts within the city, county, or city and county. The bill would also require any jurisdiction implementing the tax to provide retailers of products subject to the tax the option to store or display the products in an area continuously observable by employees, as specified, or in an area not accessible to the public without employee assistance.
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. Existing law makes a willful violation of the act's requirements a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires every health care service plan and certain health insurers, on or before July 1, 1999, to file with the respective departments a description of policies and procedures related to economic profiling, as defined, utilized by the plan or insurer and its medical groups and individual practice associations and requires the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care and the Insurance Commissioner to make these filings available to the public upon request with certain exceptions. Existing law requires each plan or health insurer using economic profiling to provide, upon request, a copy of economic profiling information to the profiled individual, group, or association. Existing law also requires each plan or insurer, as a contract condition, to require its contracting medical groups and individual practice associations that maintain economic profiles of individual providers to provide, upon request, a copy to the profiled individual providers. This bill would expand these provisions to apply to quality rating, as defined, utilized by the plan or insurer with respect to a particular physician, provider, medical group, or individual practice association. The bill would also require the department filings to be made immediately upon adoption of the policies and procedures and within 30 days of making any changes to the policies and procedures. The bill would modify the required content of the filings, as specified, and would require a plan or insurer that submitted a filing prior to January 1, 2011, to update the filing by March 31, 2011, to comply with the bill's requirements and to reflect the plan's or insurer's current policies and procedures. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements with respect to health care service plans would be a crime, it 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 measure would recognize the Lunar New Year 4708 celebration.
This measure would declare February 23, 2010, to be Spay Day USA 2010 in California, and would request that Californians observe that day by having their dogs and cats spayed or neutered and by providing voluntary services or other support to organizations that provide spay and neuter services.