Rep. Chris Holden

This measure would designate the month of October 2024 as California Hindu American Awareness and Appreciation Month. The measure would also recognize and acknowledge the significant contributions made by Californians of Hindu heritage to the state and seek to increase awareness and understanding of the Hindu American community, and would condemn all hate crimes and bias incidents against Hindu Americans, Hindu temples and centers, and places of significance to the Hindu American community.

This measure would request the Congress of the United States to pass, and the President to sign, the Housing Crisis Response Act of 2023 (H.R. 4233) , the Ending Homelessness Act of 2023 (H.R. 4232) , and the Downpayment Toward Equity Act of 2023 (H.R. 4231) .

Maddy summaryAssembly Concurrent Resolution 217 designates June 29, 2024, as Play Day to encourage all Californians to participate in physical activities. The resolution highlights the importance of play for youth development and addresses disparities in access to sports based on income and race. It serves as a commemorative measure rather than a law that creates new regulations or funding.

Maddy summaryThis bill designates specific periods in 2024 as Boat People Awareness Week and Month to honor Vietnamese refugees who fled their country by sea after the Vietnam War. The resolution highlights the historical hardships these individuals faced, including dangerous voyages and high mortality rates, while acknowledging their significant contributions to communities across California. It does not create new laws or funding but serves as a commemorative measure to recognize the resilience and spirit of the Vietnamese refugee community. The text is intended to be shared with the bill's author for public distribution to raise awareness about this historical event.

Maddy summaryThis bill recognizes August 15, 2024, as India's Independence Day and encourages all Californians to participate in celebrations honoring the occasion. It directly affects the residents of California, particularly the state's large Indian American community, by formally acknowledging the historical significance of the date when India gained independence from British rule. The measure does not create new laws or change government operations; instead, it serves as a symbolic gesture to highlight the cultural contributions of Indian Americans and the shared values of democracy and nonviolence between the two nations.

This measure would declare the month of June 2024 to be Portuguese Heritage Month and would recognize June 10 as the Day of Portugal and May 20 as the Day of the Azores.

Maddy summaryThis bill officially recognizes June 21, 2024, as the 2024 International Day of Yoga within the state of California. It does not create new laws or change existing regulations but serves as a formal acknowledgment of the global event. The measure is intended to highlight the history and benefits of yoga as a wellness practice.

This measure would designate the week of June 23, 2024, to June 29, 2024, inclusive, and every third week of June thereafter, as Roadside Assistance Worker Appreciation Week.

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, and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan and a health insurer that contracts with providers for alternative rates of payment to publish and maintain a provider directory or directories with information on contracting providers that deliver health care services enrollees or insureds, and requires a health care service plan and health insurer to regularly update its printed and online provider directory or directories, as specified. Existing law authorizes the departments to require a plan or insurer to provide coverage for all covered health care services provided to an enrollee or insured who reasonably relied on materially inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information contained in a health plan's provider directory or directories. This bill would require a plan or insurer to annually verify and delete inaccurate listings from its provider directories, and would require a provider directory to be 60% accurate on July 1, 2025, with increasing required percentage accuracy benchmarks to be met each year until the directories are 95% accurate on or before July 1, 2028. The bill would subject a plan or insurer to administrative penalties for failure to meet the prescribed benchmarks. The bill would require a plan or insurer to arrange care and provide coverage for all covered health care services provided to an enrollee or insured who reasonably relied on inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading information contained in a health plan or policy's provider directory or directories and to reimburse the provider the contracted amount for those services. The bill would prohibit a provider from collecting an additional amount from an enrollee or insured other than the applicable in-network cost sharing. The bill would require a plan or insurer to provide information about in-network providers to enrollees and insureds upon request, and would limit the cost-sharing amounts an enrollee or insured is required to pay for services from those providers under specified circumstances. On or before January 1, 2025, this bill would authorize the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to develop uniform formats for plans and insurers to use to request directory information from providers and to establish a methodology and processes to ensure accuracy of provider directories and consistency with other laws, regulations, or standards. The bill would require the health plan or the insurer, as applicable, to ensure the accuracy of a request to add back a provider who was previously removed from a directory and approve the request within 10 business days of receipt, if accurate. Because a violation of the bill's requirements by a health care service plan would be a 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.

Existing law establishes the office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, who serves as the director of the State Department of Education and has numerous other duties, including superintending the schools of the state. Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board to establish a grant program, in consultation with the department, to award grants to local educational agencies for the purposes of improving access to, and the quality of, drinking water in public schools serving kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and preschools and child daycare facilities located on public school property. This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a pilot program to test for and remediate lead contamination in drinking water at participating local educational agency facilities with plumbing that was installed before January 1, 2010. The bill would require the Superintendent to select no fewer than 6 and no more than 10 local educational agencies for participation in the pilot program and, if a selected local educational agency consents to participate in the pilot program, the bill would require the Superintendent to provide grants to the participating local educational agencies for testing and remediating drinking water lead levels at eligible facilities. If sampling results show lead levels in excess of 5 parts per billion in water at any potable water system outlet, the bill would require a participating local educational agency to notify the parents and guardians of pupils who attend the school of the elevated lead levels, as provided, to take immediate steps to shut down all potable water use at potable water system outlets where excess lead levels may exist, and to ensure that a lead-free source of drinking water is provided for pupils at each potable water system outlet that has been shut down. The bill would require a public institution of higher education selected by the Superintendent to provide technical assistance to participating local educational agencies on the requirements of the pilot program, as provided. The bill would require participating local educational agencies to report specified information about the pilot program to the technical assistance provider on or before January 1, 2028. The bill would require the technical assistance provider to provide the Superintendent with a report containing a completed analysis of the pilot program's results on or before July 1, 2028. The bill would require the Superintendent to provide the report to the Department of Finance and the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before July 15, 2028, and would require the Superintendent to make the report publicly available on the State Department of Education's internet website.