Existing law, the California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act, requires a distributor to pay a redemption payment for every beverage container sold or offered for sale in the state to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery for deposit in the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The department, until January 1, 2017, is authorized to annually expend up to $10,000,000 from the fund to make market development payments to an entity certified by the department as a recycling center, processor, or dropoff or collection program for empty plastic beverage containers that are subsequently washed and processed into flake, pellet, or other form, and made usable for the manufacture of a plastic product, or to a product manufacturer for empty plastic beverage containers that are subsequently washed and processed into flake, pellet, or other form, and used by that product manufacturer to manufacture a product. This bill would authorize the department to pay a market development payment to both certified entities and product manufacturers for empty plastic beverage containers.
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Existing law generally regulates false advertising and specifically prohibits certain unfair acts or practices undertaken by, or omissions of, a person in the operation of a contest, including misrepresenting the odds of winning a prize or failing to award and distribute all prizes. A violation of this provision is a misdemeanor. This bill would apply the prohibition described above to unfair acts or practices undertaken by, or omissions of, a person in the operation of a sweepstakes, as defined. The bill would prohibit using or offering to use any method intended to be used by a person interacting with an electronic video monitor to simulate gambling or play gambling-themed games in a business establishment, as defined, that directly or indirectly implements the predetermination of sweepstakes cash, cash-equivalent prizes, or other prizes of value, or otherwise connects a sweepstakes player or participant with sweepstakes cash, cash-equivalent prizes, or other prizes of value. By creating new crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also except from this prohibition game promotions and sweepstakes conducted on a limited basis as an advertising and marketing tool incidental to substantial bona fide sales of consumer products or services, as specified. 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 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 also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law imposes various requirements on contracts and policies that cover prescription drug benefits. Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacists by the California State Board of Pharmacy and prohibits the refilling of a prescription without the authorization of the prescriber, except as specified. This bill would require a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2016, that provides coverage for prescription drug benefits to permit and apply a prorated daily cost-sharing rate to refills of prescriptions that are dispensed by a participating pharmacy for less than the standard refill amount if the prescriber or pharmacist indicates that the refill is in the best interest of the enrollee or insured and is for the purpose of synchronizing the refill dates of the enrollee's or insured's medications, provided that certain requirements are satisfied. The bill would also require a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2016, that provides coverage for prescription drug benefits to allow for the early refill of covered topical ophthalmic products at 70% of the predicted days of use. Because a willful 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 regulates the sale of certain merchandise, including political items and sports memorabilia. This bill would prohibit the State of California from selling or displaying the Battle Flag of the Confederacy, or a similar image, or tangible personal property inscribed with those images, unless the image appears in a book, digital medium, or state museum that serves an educational or historical purpose.
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 also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan or health insurer to comply with specified minimum medical loss ratios and requires a plan or insurer to provide an annual rebate to enrollees and insureds if the ratio of the amount of premium revenue expended by the plan or insurer on specified costs to the total amount of premium revenue is less than a certain percentage. Existing law specifies that these requirements do not apply to specialized health care service plan contracts or specialized health insurance policies. This bill would require health care services plans that issue, sell, renew, or offer specialized dental health care service plan contracts and health insurers that issue, sell, renew, or offer specialized dental health insurance policies to, no later than September 30, 2015, and each year thereafter, file a report, to be known as the MLR annual report, with the departments that contains the same information required in the 2013 federal Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) Annual Reporting Form. The bill would require the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance, as applicable and, if a financial examination is determined to be necessary to verify the representations in the MLR annual report, to provide the health care service plan or health insurer with a notification before conducting the examination, and would require the plan or insurer to electronically submit to the appropriate department specified requested records, books, and papers. The bill would declare the intent of the Legislature that the data reported pursuant to these provisions be considered by the Legislature in adopting a medical loss ratio standard for health care service plans and specialized health insurance policies that cover dental services that would take effect no later than January 1, 2018. The bill would authorize the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance, until January 1, 2018, to issue guidance to health care service plans and health insurers of specialized health insurance policies subject to these provisions regarding compliance with these provisions, as specified. Because a willful 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 authorizes the Department of Housing and Community Development to make loans from the Mobilehome Park Purchase Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, to qualified mobilehome park residents, resident organizations, and nonprofit housing sponsors or local public entities to finance conversion of the parks to resident ownership to make monthly housing costs more affordable. Existing law also requires the provision of specified information to the department before making loans for mobilehome park conversions. This bill would change the name of the fund to the Mobilehome Park Rehabilitation and Purchase Fund. The bill would require the department to consider specified criteria in determining eligibility for, and the amount of, loans made from the fund to nonprofit housing sponsors or local public entities to acquire a mobilehome park. The bill would authorize loans to a resident organization or nonprofit housing sponsor to assist park residents with needed repairs or accessibility upgrades to the mobilehomes if specified criteria are met. The bill would also make conforming changes. By expanding the authorization to use continuously appropriated funds, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Bronzan-McCorquodale Act, sets out a system of community mental health care services provided by counties and administered by the State Department of Health Care Services. The act requires the Director of Health Care Services to establish a Performance Outcome Committee, as specified, and requires the committee to develop measures of performance for evaluating client outcomes and cost-effectiveness of mental health services provided by counties, as specified. The act requires counties to annually report data on these performance measures to local mental health advisory boards and to the director. The act requires the director to annually make this county performance data available to the Legislature, as specified. This bill would additionally require the director to annually post the county performance data described above on the department's Internet Web site. The act also establishes the California Mental Health Planning Council, the purpose of which is to fulfill certain mental health planning requirements mandated by federal law. The act also requires the council, among other things, to review program performance in delivering mental health services based on specified data and reports, and to report findings and recommendations on programs' performance annually to the Legislature, the department, and the local boards. This bill would require the council to post these findings and recommendations annually on the council's Internet Web site.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including a credit against those taxes for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, in an amount equal to an applicable percentage of either 20% or 25%, respectively, of the qualified expenditures, as defined, attributable to the production of a qualified motion picture in California, or, where the qualified motion picture is a television series that relocated to California or is an independent film, as provided. Existing law imposes specified duties on the California Film Commission related to the administration of the credits, including a requirement to allocate the tax credits until July 1, 2017, and limits the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated to qualified motion pictures in any fiscal year to $100,000,000 through the 2016–17 fiscal year. Existing law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, in lieu of the credits authorized under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for qualified motion pictures described above, also allows a credit against qualified state sales and use taxes, as provided. Existing law provides for a tentative minimum tax and further provides that, except for specified credits, no other credit shall reduce the tax imposed below the tentative minimum tax. This bill would establish similar credits under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, to be allocated by the California Film Commission on or after July 1, 2015, and before July 1, 2020. This bill would, as compared to the existing tax credits, extend the scope of the credits for a qualified motion picture to the applicable percentage of qualified expenditures up to $100,000,000, would extend the credit to qualified expenditures for television pilot episodes, and would determine an applicable percentage of 25% or 20% for qualified expenditures, with an additional credit amount available, as specified. This bill would limit the aggregate amount of these new credits to be allocated in each fiscal year to up to $330 million, and would, subject to a computation and ranking of applicants based on the jobs ratio, as defined, require the California Film Commission to allocate credit amounts subject to specified categories of qualified motion pictures. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, in lieu of the credits authorized under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for qualified motion pictures described above, allow a credit against qualified state sales and use taxes, as provided. This bill would also require the Legislative Analyst's Office to prepare reports related to the effectiveness and administration of the qualified motion picture credit under the Sales and Use Tax Law, the Personal Income Tax Law, and the Corporation Tax Law. This bill would, for taxable years, beginning on or after January 1, 2016, additionally allow the credit under the Corporation Tax Law for qualified expenditures for the production of qualified motion pictures to reduce the tentative minimum tax. This bill would also make findings and declarations related to the entertainment industry, and would urge the United States Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission to investigate and impose sanctions on specified motion picture productions and elements of production to combat unfair and illegal competition. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The bill would state that its provisions are severable. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 23036 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, proposed by AB 2754, to be operative only if AB 2754 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to offer courses in specified areas of study, including social sciences. Existing law requires the instruction in social studies to provide instruction in, among other things, human rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust. This bill would enact the Armenian Genocide Education Act, and would provide that the instruction in human rights issues may also include particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of the Armenian Genocide. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to incorporate materials relating to civil rights, human rights violations, genocide, slavery, and the Holocaust into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources, consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science and other requirements. Under existing law, the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness testimony into the teaching of human rights, genocide, and the Holocaust. Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks to the State Board of Education. This bill would encourage the department to incorporate materials relating to the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources, consistent with the subject frameworks on history and social science. The bill would require the commission to consider including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides in the recommended history-social science curriculum framework when the history-social science curriculum framework is revised as required by law. The bill would also specify that the Legislature encourages the incorporation of survivor, rescuer, liberator, and witness oral testimony, as defined, into the teaching of human rights, the Holocaust, and genocide, including the Armenian, Cambodian, Darfur, and Rwandan genocides. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 51226.3 of the Education Code, proposed by SB 1380, to be operative only if SB 1380 and this bill are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last.
Existing law authorizes local agencies to adopt and implement a groundwater management plan. Existing law requires a groundwater management plan to contain specified components and requires a local agency seeking state funds administered by the Department of Water Resources for groundwater projects or groundwater quality projects to do certain things, including, but not limited to, preparing and implementing a groundwater management plan that includes basin management objectives for the groundwater basin. AB 1739 of the 2013–14 Regular Session, if enacted, would authorize the state board to designate a basin as a probationary basin, if the state board makes a certain determination. If the state board finds that litigation challenging the formation of a groundwater sustainability agency prevented a groundwater sustainability program from being implemented pursuant to one of the determinations, AB 1739 would prohibit the state board from designating a basin as a probationary basin for a specified time period. SB 1168 of the 2013–14 Regular Session, if enacted, would require the department to categorize each basin as high-, medium-, low- or very low priority. This bill would additionally authorize the state board to designate certain high- and medium-priority basins as a probationary basin if, after January 31, 2025, prescribed criteria are met, including that the state board determines that the basin is in a condition where groundwater extractions result in significant depletions of interconnected surface waters. This bill would add to the prescribed determinations that would prevent the state board from designating the basin as a probationary basin for a specified time period. This bill would require the state board to exclude from probationary status any portion of a basin for which a groundwater sustainability agency demonstrates compliance with the sustainability goal. AB 1739 would authorize the state board to develop an interim plan for a probationary basin if the state board, in consultation with the Department of Water Resources, determines that a local agency has not remedied a deficiency that resulted in designating the basin as a probationary basin within a certain timeframe. AB 1739 would authorize the board to adopt an interim plan for a probationary basin after notice and a public hearing and would require state entities to comply with an interim plan. AB 1739 would authorize the board to rely on, or incorporate elements of, a groundwater sustainability plan, groundwater sustainability program, or adjudication into the interim plan adopted by the board or allow local agencies to continue implementing those parts of a plan or program that the board determines are adequate. This bill would remove the authority of the local agencies to continue to implement parts of the plan or program that the board determines to be adequate and instead require the state board to include in its interim plan a groundwater sustainability plan, or any element of a plan, that the board finds either complies with the sustainability goal for that portion of the basin or would help meet the sustainability goal for the basin. The bill would prohibit the state board, before January 1, 2025, from establishing an interim plan under the bill to remedy a condition where groundwater extractions result in significant depletions of interconnected surface waters. This bill would make its operation contingent on the enactment of AB 1739 and SB 1168 of the 2013–14 Regular Session.