Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, 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 Medi-Cal benefits of an individual who is an inmate of a public institution to be suspended effective the date the individual becomes an inmate of a public institution. Existing law requires the suspension to end on the date that the individual is no longer an inmate of a public institution or one year from the date they become an inmate of a public institution, whichever is sooner. Existing law generally requires a county to redetermine a Medi-Cal beneficiary's eligibility to receive Medi-Cal benefits every 12 months and whenever the county receives information about changes in a beneficiary's circumstances that may affect their eligibility for Medi-Cal benefits. This bill would, commencing October 1, 2020, and subject to federal approval, for individuals under 26 years of age, instead require the suspension of Medi-Cal eligibility to end either on the date that the individual is no longer an inmate of the public institution or is no longer otherwise eligible for benefits under the Medi-Cal program, whichever is sooner, and would require the department, in consultation with specified stakeholders, to develop and implement a simplified annual redetermination of eligibility for individuals under 26 years of age whose eligibility is suspended pursuant to these provisions. Because counties are required to make Medi-Cal eligibility determinations, and the bill would expand Medi-Cal annual redetermination of eligibility for certain inmates of public institutions, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law makes these provisions inoperative if any part of these provisions is in conflict, or does not comply, with federal law. This bill, instead, would make inoperative only the provision that is noncompliant or in conflict with federal law. 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
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Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. The California State University comprises 23 institutions of higher education throughout the state, and the Chancellor of the California State University serves as the university's chief executive officer. This bill would provide, contingent upon the enactment of an appropriation for this purpose to the trustees from the General Fund for the 2019–20 fiscal year, for allocation of those funds by the chancellor through competitive grants to speech-language pathologist programs at campuses of the university, as specified.
This measure would recognize September 2020 as Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month and encourage the Legislature to appropriate funds for research, treatment, and monitoring of sickle cell disease, and for related education and outreach.
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. Under existing law, if a health care service plan or insurer, or one of its contracting providers, denies, modifies, or delays a health care service because the proposed service is not a covered benefit, the statement of that decision is to clearly specify the provision in the policy or contract that excludes that coverage. This bill would authorize a provider that contracts with a health care service plan or health insurer to bill an enrollee or insured for a service that is not a covered benefit if the enrollee or insured consents in writing and that written consent meets specified criteria. The bill would require a contracting provider to provide an enrollee or insured with a written estimate of the person's total cost, based on the standard rate the provider would charge for the service, if the service sought is not a covered benefit under the person's health care service plan contract or health insurance policy. The bill would require these written consent and estimate documents to be in the language spoken by the enrollee or insured, if the language is a primary language of a limited-English-proficient population group meeting a specified numeric threshold. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements relative to health care service plans 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.
This measure would urge specified state departments and the Attorney General to use their authority to ensure that health care service plans and health insurers subject to their authority comply with the federal Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.
(1) Existing law authorizes the teacher of any class from which a pupil is suspended to require the suspended pupil to complete any assignments and tests missed during the suspension. This bill would additionally require, upon the request of a parent, a legal guardian, or other person holding the right to make educational decisions for the pupil, or the affected pupil, a teacher to provide to a pupil in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who has been suspended from school for 2 or more schooldays the homework that the pupil would otherwise have been assigned. The bill would also require, if a homework assignment that is requested pursuant to the bill and turned into the teacher by the pupil either upon the pupil's return to school from suspension or within the timeframe originally prescribed by the teacher, whichever is later, is not graded before the end of the academic term, that the assignment not be included in the calculation of the pupil's overall grade in the class. By imposing new duties on school districts, the bill would constitute a state-mandated local program. (2) The Charter Schools Act of 1992 provides for the establishment and operation of charter schools. Existing law requires a petition for the establishment of a charter school to contain comprehensive descriptions of various matters and procedures and provides that the governing board of the school district shall not deny a petition for the establishment of a charter school except as supported in written findings on specified matters. One of those findings that can support the denial of a petition is that the petition does not contain a reasonably comprehensive description of the procedures by which pupils can be suspended or expelled from the charter school for disciplinary reasons or otherwise involuntarily removed for any reason. This bill would require that the suspension procedures include that, upon request by the parent, legal guardian, or other person holding the right to make educational decisions for the pupil, a teacher would be required to provide to a pupil in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, who has been suspended from school for 2 or more schooldays the homework that the pupil would otherwise have been assigned. The bill would also require, if a homework assignment that is requested pursuant to the bill and turned into the teacher by the pupil either upon the pupil's return to school from suspension or within the timeframe originally prescribed by the teacher, whichever is later, is not graded before the end of the academic term, that the assignment not be included in the calculation of the pupil's overall grade in the class. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on county boards of education, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
(1) Existing law provides, notwithstanding any other law, for purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act, that the preliminary project alternative referred to as Alternative F-6 in the December 2012 Alternative Analysis Report of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority is no longer deemed to be a feasible alternative for consideration in any state environmental review process for the Interstate 710 North Gap Closure project. This bill would revise this provision to instead provide that the preliminary project alternatives referred to as Alternative F-5, F-6, and F-7 in the December 2012 Alternative Analysis Report of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority and any other freeway or tunnel alternatives to close the Interstate 710 North Gap are no longer deemed to be feasible alternatives for consideration in any environmental review process for the Interstate 710 North Gap Closure project. (2) Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of all state highways and associated property. Existing law designates and describes state highway routes, and also describes the state highway routes in the California freeway and expressway system, including all of Route 710 in the County of Los Angeles. This bill would, on January 1, 2024, remove from the California freeway and expressway system the portion of Route 710 between Alhambra Avenue in the City of Los Angeles and California Boulevard in the City of Pasadena.
Under existing law, the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources in the Department of Conservation regulates the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state. Existing law requires the owner or operator of a well to file a written notice of intention to commence well abandonment with, and prohibits any abandonment until approval is given by, the State Oil and Gas Supervisor or district deputy. Under existing law, the notice is deemed approved if the supervisor or district deputy fails to respond to the notice in writing within 10 working days from receipt and is deemed canceled if operations have not commenced within one year of receipt. This bill would extend the time period to commence abandonment operations from one year to 24 months before the notice is deemed canceled. Under existing law, any owner or operator of a well, or employee thereof, who refuses to permit the supervisor or the district deputy, or their inspector, to inspect a well, or who willfully hinders or delays the enforcement of provisions relating to the regulation of oil or gas operations, is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would require the division, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, to initiate a study to be conducted by independent experts of fugitive emissions from idle, idle-deserted, and abandoned wells in the state, as provided. The bill would require oil and gas operators with wells selected for purposes of sampling under these provisions to (1) make reasonable efforts to permit access to the wells to the division and the independent experts contracted to undertake the study if adequate notice is provided to the operator to ensure appropriate safety precautions are taken at the well site, and (2) submit to the division a certification stating that no action was taken to reduce emissions from the sampling site within 72 hours of the sampling taking place so as to reduce the value of measurements taken. Because a violation of these requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2022, to post all results of testing conducted pursuant to the study on the department's internet website in a machine-readable format. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2021, to produce and post an interim progress report describing the status of the study on the department's internet website. The bill would require the independent experts contracted to undertake the study, on or before July 1, 2022, to complete a written document that includes an executive summary of the findings, a description of the results, the findings, and an estimate of hydrocarbon emissions from the state's idle, idle-deserted, and abandoned wells, and would require, before public release, the written document to be provided for peer review and comments, to the operators whose wells were included in the sample, and to a group of independent experts and nongovernmental organizations selected by the division. The bill would require the division, on or before January 1, 2023, to make the results of the study, as per the required written document, available on its internet website. 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, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, prohibits an owner of housing from engaging in specific acts of discrimination against a person seeking to purchase, rent, or lease any housing accommodation. Existing law authorizes the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to receive and investigate complaints of violations of the act. The act defines "housing accommodation" for these purposes to mean any building, structure, or portion thereof that is occupied as, or intended for occupancy as, a residence by one or more families. Existing law requires a hosting platform, as defined, to provide notice, as specified, to an offeror listing a residence for short-term rental on the hosting platform. This bill would include within the definition of "housing accommodation" under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act a building, structure, or portion thereof that is occupied, or intended to be occupied, pursuant to a transaction facilitated by a hosting platform, as defined. The bill would include findings and declarations regarding the intent of these provisions as they relate to existing housing laws. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12927 of the Government Code proposed by SB 222 and SB 329 to be operative only if this bill and SB 222 or SB 329 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.