Asm. Cecilia Aguiar-Curry

Existing law requires the Secretary of California Health and Human Services to be responsible for oversight and coordination of programs serving people living with Alzheimer's disease and related conditions, and their families. Existing law establishes the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Advisory Committee in the California Health and Human Services agency, and specifies the committee's duties, including requirements for making policy and plan recommendations. This bill would rename the advisory committee to the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Conditions Advisory Committee, and expand the number of members serving on the committee from 14 to at least 16, but not more than 20, members. The bill would prescribe the qualifications of certain members on the committee, and revise the duties of the committee. The bill would, in the provisions governing the committee, revise references to Alzheimer's disease to also refer to related conditions. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1568.17 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by AB 2207 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2207 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

The Cannella Environmental Farming Act of 1995 requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to establish and oversee an environmental farming program to provide incentives to farmers whose practices promote the well-being of ecosystems, air quality, and wildlife and their habitat. The act also requires the department to establish the Healthy Soils Program and a technical assistance grant program, as specified. Existing law, the Farmer Equity Act of 2017, requires the department to ensure the inclusion of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, as defined, in the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of food and agriculture laws, regulations, and policies and programs, as specified. This bill would require the department, in collaboration with certain entities, to establish the Regional Farmer Equipment and Cooperative Resources Assistance Pilot Program as part of the Farmer Equity Act of 2017 to provide financial and technical assistance to support regional farm equipment sharing and enhance cooperative benefits for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers and, if funding is available, for limited resource farmers and ranchers or eligible entities that serve socially disadvantaged or limited resource farmers and ranchers, as specified. The bill would specify the entities eligible for financial assistance under the program and would require that applications for financial assistance to develop and expand equipment sharing programs include certain information. The bill would make the operation of the program contingent upon the voters approving a specified bond measure at the November 2024 election and the Legislature making an appropriation for purposes of the program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030.

The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, a violation of which is a crime, requires a distributor of beverage containers, as defined, to pay to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery a monthly redemption payment for every beverage container sold or transferred, as provided. The act requires the department to deposit those amounts into the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The fund is continuously appropriated to, among other things, pay refund values and administrative fees to processors that receive empty beverage containers from recyclers. The act specifies that a beverage container that is a box, bladder, or pouch, or similar container, containing wine or distilled spirits has a redemption payment and refund value of $0.25. This bill would reduce the redemption payment and refund value for one of those wine or distilled spirit beverage containers, if it has a capacity of less than 24 fluid ounces, from $0.25 to $0.10, beginning January 1, 2025. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The act authorizes a distributor that displays a pattern of operation in compliance with the act and regulations adopted pursuant to the act, to the satisfaction of the department, to make a single annual payment of redemption payments. The act requires a beverage manufacturer to pay to the department a specified processing fee for each beverage container sold or transferred within 40 days of the sale, as provided. The act authorizes a beverage manufacturer that displays a pattern of operation in compliance with the act and regulations adopted pursuant to the act, to the satisfaction of the department, to make a single annual payment of processing fees, if the beverage manufacturer meets certain conditions. This bill would additionally authorize a distributor who sells or transfers not more than 375,000 beverage containers annually, as specified, to make a single annual payment of redemption payments, except as provided. The bill would additionally authorize a beverage manufacturer who sells or transfers not more than 375,000 beverage containers annually, as specified, to make a single annual payment of processing fees, except as provided. 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 establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and 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. Under existing law, subject to federal approval, in-person, face-to-face contact is not required under Medi-Cal when covered health care services are provided by video synchronous interaction, asynchronous store and forward, audio-only synchronous interaction, remote patient monitoring, or other permissible virtual communication modalities, when those services and settings meet certain criteria. Existing law defines "asynchronous store and forward" as the transmission of a patient's medical information from an originating site to the health care provider at a distant site. This bill would expand that definition, for purposes of the above-described Medi-Cal provisions, to include asynchronous electronic transmission initiated directly by patients, including through mobile telephone applications. Existing law prohibits a health care provider from establishing a new patient relationship with a Medi-Cal beneficiary via asynchronous store and forward, telephonic (audio-only) synchronous interaction, remote patient monitoring, or other virtual communication modalities, except as specified. Among those exceptions, existing law authorizes a health care provider to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the visit is related to sensitive services, as defined, and when established in accordance with department-specific requirements and consistent with federal and state law, regulations, and guidance. This bill would expand that exception to include asynchronous store and forward when the visit is related to sensitive services, as specified. Existing law authorizes a health care provider to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the patient requests an audio-only modality or attests that they do not have access to video, as specified. This bill would remove, from that exception, the option of the patient attesting that they do not have access to video.

Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which is administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the application, issuance, and suspension of alcoholic beverage licenses. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of craft distillers and prohibits issuance of a craft distiller's license to any person, or any officer, director, employee, or agent of a person, among others, who manufactures more than 150,000 gallons of distilled spirits per year within or without the state, as specified. Existing law, until January 1, 2025, authorizes a licensed craft distiller to directly ship distilled spirits manufactured or produced by the licensee at its premises to a consumer pursuant to specified requirements. This bill would extend the authorization for a craft distiller to directly ship distilled spirits until January 1, 2026.

Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, regulates the application for, the issuance of, the suspension of, and the conditions imposed upon alcoholic beverage licenses by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Existing law generally provides that a violation of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act is a misdemeanor. Existing law authorizes the issuance of a caterer's permit, upon application to the department, to a licensee under an on-sale general license, an on-sale beer and wine license, a club license, or a veterans' club license, that authorizes the holder of the permit to sell alcoholic beverages at specified locations and events, including, among others, conventions, sporting events, and trade exhibits. Existing law requires the permitholder to obtain consent from the department for each event in the form of a catering authorization and imposes a fee for the authorization based on the estimated attendance at each day of the event. Existing law imposes various limitations on the permits, including prohibiting a catering authorization from being issued for use at any one premises for more than 36 events in one calendar year, except as specified. This bill would similarly authorize a licensed beer manufacturer to apply for, and the department to issue, a beer caterer's permit for the sale of up to 124 gallons of beer manufactured by or for the licensee per catering event for consumption at specified locations and events, including, among others, conventions, sporting events, and trade exhibits. The bill would require a permitholder to obtain consent from the department for each event in the form of a beer catering authorization and would impose the same fees as described above, and would require the permitholder to maintain records of all beer sales conducted under a beer caterer's permit for a minimum of 3 years. The bill would prohibit a beer catering authorization from being issued for more than 36 events per licensee per calendar year and would prohibit the department from issuing more than 2 beer catering authorizations for the same day at the same catering event. The bill would impose an annual fee for a beer caterer's permit of $275 and would authorize the permit to be transferable as part of the beer manufacturer's license. By expanding the definition of a crime, this 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 establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and 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 requires the department to standardize applicable covered Medi-Cal benefits provided by Medi-Cal managed care plans under comprehensive risk contracts with the department on a statewide basis and across all models of Medi-Cal managed care, in accordance with the Terms and Conditions of the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) initiative. Existing law requires, commencing January 1, 2022, that Community-Based Adult Services (CBAS) continue to be available as a capitated benefit for a qualified Medi-Cal beneficiary under a comprehensive risk contract with an applicable Medi-Cal managed care plan. For contract periods during which that provision is implemented, existing law requires each applicable plan to reimburse a network provider furnishing CBAS to a Medi-Cal beneficiary enrolled in that plan, and requires each network provider of CBAS to accept the payment amount that the network provider of CBAS would be paid for the service in the Medi-Cal fee-for-service delivery system, as specified, unless the plan and network provider mutually agree to reimbursement in a different amount. This bill, for purposes of the mutual agreement between a Medi-Cal managed care plan and a network provider, would require that the reimbursement be in an amount equal to or greater than the amount paid for the service in the Medi-Cal fee-for-service delivery system.

This measure would, among other things, urge the United States Congress and President Joseph R. Biden to fully fund the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Comprehensive Infrastructure Solution for the Tijuana River due to the ongoing impacts to public health, the environment, and the local economy caused by cross-border pollution and would urge President Joseph R. Biden to declare a national emergency due to those ongoing impacts.

This measure would urge the Congress of the United States to repeal the state and local tax deduction limitation so that residents of California and married taxpayers are no longer penalized by the federal tax code.

Maddy summaryAssembly Concurrent Resolution 120 designates January 2024 as Positive Parenting Awareness Month in California. This measure does not change laws or allocate funding but instead encourages state agencies, communities, and organizations to focus on the importance of positive parenting strategies. The resolution highlights how supportive family environments can improve children's health and well-being while acknowledging the diverse forms families take in the state. It serves as a formal acknowledgment of existing programs and resources rather than creating new mandates or policies.