Existing law, referred to as the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 (MICRA) , prohibits an attorney from contracting for or collecting a contingency fee for representing any person seeking damages in connection with an action for injury or damage against a health care provider based upon alleged professional negligence in excess of specified limits. This bill would recast those provisions and base the amount of contingency fee that may be contracted for upon whether recovery is pursuant to settlement agreement and release of all claims executed before a civil complaint or demand for arbitration is filed, or pursuant to settlement, arbitration, or judgment after a civil complaint or demand for arbitration is filed, as specified. The bill would add and revise definitions for these purposes. Existing law provides that in any action against a health care provider based upon professional negligence, the injured plaintiff is entitled to recover noneconomic losses to compensate for pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, and other nonpecuniary damage. Existing law limits the amount of damages for noneconomic losses in an action for injury against a health care provider based on professional negligence to $250,000. This bill would remove the $250,000 limit on noneconomic damages and expand the recast provisions to include an action for injury against a health care institution, as defined. The bill would increase the applicable limitation based upon whether the action for injury involved wrongful death. The bill would specify that these limitations would increase by $40,000 each January 1st for 10 years and beginning on January 1, 2034, the applicable limitations on noneconomic damages for personal injury and for wrongful death would be adjusted for inflation on January 1st of each year by 2%. Existing law specifies that in any action for injury or damages against a provider of health care services, a superior court shall, at the request of either party, enter a judgment ordering that money damages or its equivalent for future damages of the judgment creditor be paid in whole or in part by periodic payments rather than by a lump-sum payment if the award equals or exceeds $50,000. This bill would increase the minimum amount of the judgment required to request periodic payments to $250,000. Existing law makes statements, writings, or benevolent gestures expressing sympathy or a general sense of benevolence relating to the pain, suffering, or death of a person involved in an accident and made to that person, or to the family of that person, inadmissible as evidence of an admission of liability in a civil action. This bill would specify that statements, writings, or benevolent gestures expressing sympathy, regret, a general sense of benevolence, or suggesting, reflecting, or accepting fault relating to the pain, suffering, or death of a person, or to an adverse patient safety event or unexpected health care outcome, as specified, shall be confidential, privileged, protected, not subject to subpoena, discovery, or disclosure, and shall not be used or admitted into evidence in any civil, administrative, regulatory, licensing, or disciplinary board, agency, or body action or proceeding, and shall not be used or admitted in relation to any sanction, penalty, or other liability, as evidence of an admission of liability or for any other purpose.
Sponsored bills
The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, establishes various rights that a consumer, as defined, has with respect to personal information, as defined, collected by a business, as defined, including the right of a person to direct a business that sells or shares personal information about the consumer to third parties not to sell or share the consumer's personal information. The act also provides a consumer with the right to direct a business that collects sensitive personal information about the consumer to limit its use of the consumer's sensitive personal information to certain prescribed uses, including a use that is necessary to perform the services or provide the goods reasonably expected by an average consumer who requests those goods or services. The act defines "sensitive personal information" to mean, among other things, the processing of biometric information, as defined, for the purpose of uniquely identifying a consumer. On or before September 1, 2023, this bill would require a private entity in possession of biometric information, as defined, to develop and make available to the public a written policy establishing a retention schedule and guidelines for permanently destroying the biometric information, as prescribed. The bill would require a private entity to comply with that retention schedule and those guidelines. The bill would, among other things, prohibit a private entity from disclosing biometric information unless certain criteria are met, including the disclosure completes a financial transaction requested or authorized by the subject of the biometric information or the subject's legally authorized representative. The bill would prohibit a private entity from conditioning the provision of a service on the collection, use, disclosure, transfer, sale, or processing of biometric information unless biometric information is strictly necessary to provide the service. The bill would authorize a person to bring a civil action against a private entity for violation of these provisions and to obtain certain relief, including the greater of statutory damages in an amount not less than $100 and not greater than $1,000 per day or actual damages.
Existing law authorizes the establishment and maintenance of 9 subject matter projects by the Regents of the University of California with the approval of the Concurrence Committee. Existing law provides that the subject matter projects are to create opportunities for researchers, higher education faculty, and elementary and secondary school faculty to work together to identify exemplary teaching practices, examine and develop research on learning, knowledge, and educational materials, and provide support to teachers to develop and enhance content knowledge and pedagogical skills. Under existing law, these provisions do not apply to the University of California unless the Regents of the University of California, by resolution, makes them applicable. This bill would authorize the establishment and maintenance of the California Computer Science Project as a 10th subject matter project pursuant to these provisions.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law authorizes the establishment of community college districts under the administration of community college governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at community college campuses throughout the state. Existing law authorizes these districts to establish compensation levels for academic employees, as provided. Existing law requires community college districts, as a condition of receiving funding allocated for the Student Success and Support Program, to negotiate in good faith with the exclusive representatives for part-time, temporary faculty, the terms of reemployment preference for part-time, temporary faculty assignments based on minimum standards up to the range of 60% to 67% of a full-time equivalent load and a regular evaluation process for part-time, temporary faculty, as specified. Existing law establishes procedures for community college districts to demonstrate compliance with these requirements. This bill would require persons who are employed to teach adult or community college classes part time, as provided, to receive compensation in at least an amount that bears the same ratio to the amount provided to full-time employees as the time actually served by those part-time employees bears to the time actually served by full-time employees with comparable duties. The bill would impose this pay requirement upon the expiration or renewal of existing collective bargaining agreements, as provided. This bill would also require community college districts, as a condition of receiving funds allocated for the Student Success and Support Program in the annual Budget Act, to commence the negotiation of terms of compensation consistent with the proportional pay requirement for part-time employees, as well as terms governing reemployment preferences and evaluation processes, no later than the expiration of any negotiated agreement in effect on January 1, 2023, and for any community college district that does not have a collective bargaining agreement in effect as of January 1, 2023, upon the effective date of the bill.
Existing law requires the Governor to establish the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, formerly known as the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, and to appoint specified members of that coordinating council. Existing law requires agencies and departments administering state programs created on or after July 1, 2017, to collaborate with the council to adopt guidelines and regulations to incorporate core components of Housing First, as defined. Existing law establishes the goals of the council, which include identifying mainstream resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California. Existing law requires that the coordinating council be under the direction of an executive director, who is under the direction of the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, and staffed by employees of that agency. This bill would place the California Interagency Council on Homelessness under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Interagency Council on Homelessness, which the bill would establish within the Governor's office, under the control of a director, on or before September 30, 2023. The bill would require the Governor to appoint a director of the office to perform specified duties and responsibilities in connection with overseeing the work of the office. The bill would specify the primary purposes of the office, which would include coordinating homelessness programs, services, data, and policies. The bill would require state agencies and departments with representatives on the council, or workgroups established by the council, to report to and coordinate with the director of the office and would require the director to coordinate with the chairs of the council. The bill would require the office to serve the Governor as the lead entity for ending homelessness in California. The bill would require the office to fulfill various duties including convening a funding workgroup, comprised of council staff and staff working for agencies or departments represented on the council to accomplish specified goals, including, among others, aligning requests for proposals, all-county letters, and notices of funding proposals with standards following evidence-based housing and housing-based service models. The bill would require the documents and meetings of the funding workgroup to be confidential, as provided. The bill would also require the workgroup to coordinate with relevant state agencies and departments to reduce the risk of long-term homelessness by developing specific protocols and procedures to accomplish various goals, including connecting older adults to programs and services that assist independent living. The bill would also require the council, as part of its goals, to develop and implement a statewide strategic plan on homelessness that establishes measurable objective and strategies to enhance state-level accountability, coordination, and best practices. The bill would provide for the transfer of employees who are engaged in the performance of functions for the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, as well as the transfer of debts and liabilities of the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency with respect to overseeing and supporting the council to the Office of the Interagency Council on Homelessness. The bill would require the Deputy Secretary on Homelessness within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to be the director of the office, subject to appointment by the Governor and Senate confirmation. The bill would require all unexpended balances of appropriations and other funds available for use in connection with the council to be transferred to the office, as specified, upon appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose. The bill would make other related, conforming changes to these provisions. 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 California Constitution authorizes the development, construction, or acquisition of developments composed of urban or rural dwellings, apartments, or other living accommodations for persons of low income financed in whole or in part by the federal government or a state public body, or to which the federal government or a state public body extends assistance, if a majority of the qualified electors of the city, town, or county in which the housing is proposed to be located approves the project by voting in favor thereof, as specified. This measure, the Housing Opportunities for Everyone (HOPE) Act, would create an account in the General Fund into which, beginning in the 2024–25 fiscal year, and each fiscal year thereafter until September 30, 2033, a sum would be transferred from the General Fund equal to or greater than 5% of the estimated amount of General Fund revenues for that fiscal year, as specified. The measure would require the moneys in the account to be appropriated by the Legislature to the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, and would authorize that agency to expend the moneys to fund prescribed matters related to homelessness and affordable housing, including housing and services to prevent and end homelessness. This measure would require the agency to develop a 10-year investment strategy, with input from stakeholders, that demonstrates how moneys in the account will be used to produce affordable housing and end homelessness through specific performance measures and benchmarks. On or before October 1 of each year, and until October 1, 2033, the measure would require the agency to annually report to the Legislature on its progress in meeting those performance measures and benchmarks.
Under existing law, the Stop Tobacco Access to Kids Enforcement Act, an enforcing agency, as defined, may assess civil penalties against any person, firm, or corporation that sells, gives, or furnishes specified tobacco and cigarette related items, including cigarette papers, to a person who is under 21 years of age, except as specified. The existing civil penalties range from $400 to $600 for a first violation, up to $5,000 to $6,000 for a 5th violation within a 5-year period. Existing law prohibits the sale, distribution, or nonsale distribution of tobacco products directly or indirectly to any person under 21 years of age through the United States Postal Service or other public or private postal or package delivery service. Under existing law, a district attorney, city attorney, or the Attorney General may assess civil penalties against a violator of not less than $1,000 or more than $2,000 for the first violation and up to $10,000 for a 5th or subsequent violation within a 5-year period. Under existing law, every person, firm, or corporation that knowingly or under circumstances in which it has knowledge, or should otherwise have grounds for knowledge, sells, gives, or furnishes a cigarette, among other specified items, to another person who is under 21 years of age is, except as specified, subject to either a criminal action for a misdemeanor or to a civil action brought by a city attorney, a county counsel, or a district attorney, punishable by a fine of $200 for the first offense, $500 for the 2nd offense, and $1,000 for the 3rd offense. This bill would prohibit a person or entity from selling, giving, or furnishing to another person of any age in this state a single-use electronic cigarette, as defined, except as specified. The bill would prohibit that selling, giving, or furnishing, whether conducted directly or indirectly through an in-person transaction, or by means of any public or private method of shipment or delivery to an address in this state. This bill would authorize a city attorney, county counsel, or district attorney to assess a $500 civil fine against each person determined to have violated those prohibitions in a proceeding conducted pursuant to the procedures of the enforcing agency, as specified. This bill would make its provisions operative on January 1, 2024.
This measure would respectfully memorialize the President of the United States and the Congress of the United States to take action to restore honor to Bernard B. James, and to take the necessary actions to ensure the treatment of Bernard B. James is rectified by a full exoneration, including having the military record of Bernard B. James cleared of any court judgment and less-than-honorable discharge.
This measure would designate a specified portion of Interstate Highway Route 405 in the County of Los Angeles as the Officer Tommy Scott Memorial Highway. The measure would request that the Department of Transportation determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, erect those signs.