Existing law establishes the University of California, and provides for its administration by the Regents of the University of California. Existing law, known as the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, contains provisions relating to employer-employee relations between the State of California and the employees of state institutions of higher education, including the various campuses of the University of California and the California State University, as well as the Hastings College of the Law. These provisions assign major responsibilities for implementation to the Public Employment Relations Board. Under the act, an "employee" or "higher education employee" is defined as any employee of the Regents of the University of California, the Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, or the Trustees of the California State University. The act further provides that the board may find student employees whose employment is contingent on their status as students are employees only if the services they provide are unrelated to their educational objectives, or that those educational objectives are subordinate to the services they perform and that coverage under this chapter would further the purposes of the act. This bill would provide that student employees whose employment is contingent upon their status as students are employees or higher education employees for purposes of the act. In so doing, the bill would also delete the condition that students are employees or higher education employees only if the services they provide are unrelated to their educational objectives, or that those educational objectives are subordinate to the services they perform and that coverage under this chapter would further the purposes of the act.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the Health Care Reform Eligibility, Enrollment, and Retention Planning Act, requires the State Department of Health Care Services, in consultation with specified entities, to establish standardized single, accessible application forms and related renewal procedures for state health subsidy programs, as defined, in accordance with specified requirements. This bill would provide for the transmittal to a county human services department of information about an applicant initially applying for, or renewing, health care coverage using the single state application developed pursuant to the act, if the applicant consents to have his or her application information used to simultaneously initiate applications for CalWORKs and CalFresh, for initiation of the application. This bill would authorize the Secretary of California Health and Human Services to phase in implementation of these provisions under certain circumstances. The bill would require the California Health and Human Services Agency to convene a workgroup of human services and health care advocates, legislative staff, and other specified representatives, to consider the feasibility, costs, and benefits of integrating application and renewal processes for additional human services and work support programs with the single state application described in the bill, and to provide, by July 1, 2013, specified details regarding the workgroup to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature. This bill would require that the functionality necessary to implement the cross-application process be achieved by the expiration of a specified federal waiver. This bill would provide that those provisions would become inoperative under certain circumstances. By imposing new duties on counties, 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, 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.
Existing federal law authorizes any authorized immigration officer to issue an immigration detainer that serves to advise another law enforcement agency that the federal department seeks custody of an alien presently in the custody of that agency, for the purpose of arresting and removing the alien. Existing federal law provides that the detainer is a request that the agency advise the department, prior to release of the alien, in order for the department to arrange to assume custody, in situations when gaining immediate physical custody is either impracticable or impossible. This bill would prohibit a law enforcement official, as defined, from detaining an individual on the basis of a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold after that individual becomes eligible for release from criminal custody, unless, at the time that the individual becomes eligible for release from criminal custody, certain conditions are met.
Existing law requires the collection of fees for providing certified copies of vital records, including marriage certificates, birth certificates, fetal death records, and death records. Existing law provides for the establishment of county domestic violence program special funds for the purpose of funding local domestic violence programs. Certain fees payable at the time a certified copy of any of the above-referenced vital records is issued may be collected by the county clerks for deposit into these funds. Additionally, existing law authorizes certain counties, upon making certain findings and declarations, to authorize an increase in fees for certified copies of certain vital records, as specified. Existing law requires the revenue from the fee increase to be allocated for purposes relating to domestic violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution. Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors to designate a local voluntary commission, whose duties primarily relate to services for children or human services, and requires the county board of supervisors, if the local voluntary commission is designated, to establish a county children's trust fund. Existing law establishes the State Children's Trust Fund, of which money may be allocated, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Department of Social Services for the purpose of funding child abuse and neglect prevention and intervention programs. This bill would authorize a county board of supervisors and certain city councils, upon making findings and declarations regarding the need for governmental oversight and coordination of the multiple agencies dealing with domestic violence and child abuse, to authorize an increase in the fees for certified copies of certain vital records up to a maximum of $5 per license or record and to annually adjust that amount for inflation, as specified. This bill would require the fees to be allocated, as specified, by the county or city for purposes relating to the prevention and intervention of domestic violence and child abuse. This bill would require proceeds from the fee increase from birth certificates to be deposited into the county children's trust fund or the State Children's Trust Fund, as specified.
Existing law provides for the regulation of various professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs and for the licensure or registration of individuals in that regard. Existing law authorizes any licensee whose license expired while he or she was on active duty as a member of the California National Guard or the United States Armed Forces to reinstate his or her license without examination or penalty if certain requirements are met. This bill would require the boards described above, with certain exceptions, to waive the renewal fees, continuing education requirements, and other renewal requirements as determined by the board, if any are applicable, of any licensee or registrant who is called to active duty as a member of the United States Armed Forces or the California National Guard if certain requirements are met. The bill would, except as specified, prohibit a licensee or registrant from engaging in any activities requiring a license while a waiver is in effect. The bill would require a licensee or registrant to meet certain renewal requirements within a specified time period after being discharged from active duty service prior to engaging in any activity requiring a license. The bill would require a licensee or registrant to notify the board of his or her discharge from active duty within a specified time period.
The Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act establishes various procedures for the reporting, investigation, and prosecution of elder and dependent adult abuse. The act requires certain persons, called mandated reporters, to report known or suspected instances of elder or dependent adult abuse. The act requires a mandated reporter, and authorizes any person who is not a mandated reporter, to report the abuse to the local ombudsman or the local law enforcement agency if the abuse occurs in a long-term care facility. Failure to report physical abuse and financial abuse of an elder or dependent adult under the act is a misdemeanor. This bill would require that, if the suspected abuse results in serious bodily injury, as defined, a mandated reporter make a telephone report to report suspected or alleged physical abuse, as defined, that occurs in a long-term care facility, to the local law enforcement agency, immediately, and no later than within 2 hours of the reporter observing, obtaining knowledge of, or suspecting the physical abuse. The bill would require that a written report be made to the local ombudsman, the corresponding licensing agency, and the local law enforcement agency within 2 hours of the reporter observing, obtaining knowledge of, or suspecting the physical abuse. The bill would require that, if the suspected abuse does not result in serious bodily injury, a mandated reporter make a report by telephone and in writing within 24 hours of the reporter observing, obtaining knowledge of, or suspecting the physical abuse, as specified. Existing law authorizes a mandated reporter who has knowledge, or reasonably suspects, that types of elder or dependent adult abuse for which reports are not mandated occurred in a state mental hospital or a state developmental center to report to the designated investigator of the State Department of State Hospitals or the State Department of Developmental Services or to a local law enforcement agency or to the local ombudsman. This bill would delete the local ombudsman from the list of persons to whom the mandated reporter may report under these circumstances. This bill would authorize a person who is not a mandated reporter to report suspected or alleged abuse that occurred in a long-term care facility to both a long-term care ombudsman program or local law enforcement agency. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 15630 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by SB 1051, to be operative only if SB 1051 and this bill are both enacted, both bills become effective on or before January 1, 2013, and this bill is enacted last. By changing the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. By increasing the duties of local officials, 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law, the Nursing Home Administrators' Act, provides for the licensing of nursing home administrators by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law prescribes specified licensing fees, and requires that the fees be adjusted annually, as directed by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, by an amount not to exceed the California Consumer Price Index, as specified. Existing law provides for the issuance of citations and administrative fines for the violation of any state or federal statute or regulation governing licensed nursing home administrators. Existing law requires that these fees and associated fines be deposited in the Nursing Home Administrator's State License Examining Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would eliminate the Nursing Home Administrator's State License Examining Fund and instead require that these fees and fines be deposited into the State Department of Public Health Licensing and Certification Program Fund. This bill would authorize the department to adjust the fees, and would remove the adjustment limitation relating to the California Consumer Price Index. This bill would require the department, by February 1 of each year, to prepare a list of proposed fee adjustments and a specified report relating to nursing home administrator fees, fee adjustments, and nursing home administration generally. The bill would require the department to submit this list and report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature and to post this report on its Internet Web site.
Existing law provides for the regulation of insurers by the Department of Insurance, including insurers issuing policies of long-term care insurance. Existing law regulates the marketing or solicitation of long-term care insurance policies and, in that regard, requires specified disclosures to prospective applicants or enrollees. Existing law requires the Insurance Commissioner to annually prepare a consumer rate guide for long-term care insurance and to include specified information. This bill would require an insurer of long-term care insurance to clearly post on its Internet Web site and provide written notice at the time of solicitation that a specimen individual policy form or group master policy and certificate form for each policy form offered by the insurer is available upon request and to provide that form within 15 calendar days upon request. This bill would require the annual consumer rate guide to include a specimen outline of coverage for each product currently marketed by each insurer listed in the rate guide. Existing law requires the premium rate schedules for all individual and group long-term care insurance policies issued in this state to be filed with, and receive the prior approval of, the Insurance Commissioner before the policy may be offered, sold, issued, or delivered to a resident of this state. Existing law requires an insurer of long-term care insurance to submit to the Insurance Commissioner for approval all proposed premium rate schedule increases and to include specified information with the rate application, including, but not limited to, certification by an actuary as to specified matters. Approval of all premium rate schedule increases is subject to specified criteria. This bill would provide that if the premiums in any rate revision filing calculated pursuant to those criteria produce a lifetime expected loss ratio that is less than the highest lifetime expected loss ratio for the policy form in the initial filing or for requested premium rates in any filing made after January 1, 2013, the insurer would be required to reduce the premiums in that filing such that the current lifetime expected loss ratio is equal to or greater than the highest filed loss ratio, as specified. The bill would set forth criteria for calculating the margin in the determination of a lifetime expected loss ratio. Existing law prohibits an approval for an increase in the premium schedule from being granted unless the actuary performing the review for the Insurance Commissioner certifies that if the requested premium rate schedule increase is implemented and the underlying assumptions, which reflect moderately adverse conditions, are realized, no further premium rate schedule increases are anticipated. This bill would eliminate those provisions and, instead, authorize an insurer to request a premium rate schedule increase that is lower than the rate increase necessary to provide the required certification or a series of premium rate schedule increases with a present value of not more than the rate increase necessary to provide that certification. The bill would authorize the Insurance Commissioner to approve this request if, in his or her opinion, accepting the lower premium rate schedule increase or increases is in the best interest of California policyholders, and other conditions are satisfied, as specified. For long-term care insurance policies, the bill would also prohibit an insurer from justifying a rate increase prior to approval by the Insurance Commissioner based upon asset investment yield rate changes, except as specified, and would require all of the experience on all similar long-term care policy forms issued by an insurer and its affiliates and retained within the affiliated group to be pooled together and used as the basis for determining whether an increase is reasonable or shall be approved under specified provisions. The bill would require similar long-term care policy forms to be classified into benefit classifications of nursing facility and residential care facility only, home care only, or comprehensive long-term care benefits.
Existing law generally regulates the conduct of employers in the state. This bill would prohibit an employer from requiring or requesting an employee or applicant for employment to disclose a username or password for the purpose of accessing personal social media, to access personal social media in the presence of the employer, or to divulge any personal social media. This bill would also prohibit an employer from discharging, disciplining, threatening to discharge or discipline, or otherwise retaliating against an employee or applicant for not complying with a request or demand by the employer that violates these provisions. Under existing law, the Labor Commissioner, who is the Chief of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in the Department of Industrial Relations, is required to establish and maintain a field enforcement unit to investigate specified violations of the Labor Code and other labor laws and to enforce minimum labor standards. Existing law authorizes, and under specified circumstances requires, the Labor Commissioner to investigate employee complaints of violations of the Labor Code, provide for a hearing, and determine all matters arising under his or her jurisdiction. This bill would provide that the Labor Commissioner is not required to investigate or determine any violation of a provision of this bill.
(1) Existing law makes it unlawful to engage in specified practices, unfair methods of competition, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in a transaction intended to result or that results in the sale or lease of goods or services, including making false or misleading statements concerning the existence of price reductions, or the home solicitation of a consumer who is a senior citizen where a loan is made encumbering the primary residence of that consumer for purposes of paying for home improvements. A consumer who suffers damages as a result of the use or employment of the prohibited acts or practices may bring an action to recover civil damages of at least $1,000, and, if the victim is a senior citizen and the trier of fact makes specified findings, including that the consumer has suffered substantial physical, emotional, or economic damage resulting from the defendant's conduct, to recover an additional amount of up to $5,000. This bill would expand that provision to include advertising or promoting any event, presentation, seminar, workshop, or other public gathering regarding veterans' benefits or entitlements that does not include a statement that the person disseminating the statement is not authorized to file an initial application for veterans' benefits or that the event is not sponsored by or affiliated with specified veterans' organizations, including the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The bill would also make a conforming change. (2) Existing law provides that all insurers, brokers, agents, and others engaged in the transaction of insurance owe a prospective insured who is 65 years of age or older, a duty of honesty, good faith, and fair dealing. This duty is in addition to any other duty, whether express or implied, that may exist. This bill would make it unlawful for an insurance agent who is not licensed as an attorney to deliver to a person who is 65 years of age or older, or for an insurance agent who is licensed as an attorney to deliver to a person who is 65 years of age or older, a living trust or other legal document, other than an insurance contract or other insurance product document, except as specified. (3) Existing law requires any person who meets with a senior in the senior's home to deliver a specified notice to the senior in writing and in 14-point type no less than 24 hours prior to that individual's initial meeting in the senior's home. This bill would additionally require the notice to be delivered no more than 14 days prior to the meeting. The bill would also require that the notice be a stand-alone document in 16-point, rather than 14-point, type, that the notice include specified information regarding the agent, including his or her full name and license number, and that the notice include a specified statement. (4) Existing law sets certain standards with regard to any advertisement, as defined, or other device designed to produce leads based on a response from a potential insured that is directed to a person 65 years of age or older, including, but not limited to, disclosing certain information, not using certain language, names, letters, or symbols, and not using specified deceptive or misleading practices and materials. This bill would change the definition of advertisement to also include worksheets, questionnaires, or other materials designed to collect personal or financial information about a prospective insured or annuitant. The bill would also add veterans organizations or agencies and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to the list of those entities that cannot be used in specified deceptive or misleading advertising practices and materials.