The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Education, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer child care and development programs that offer a full range of services to eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, inclusive. Existing law requires the Superintendent to administer all California state preschool programs, which include part-day age and developmentally appropriate programs for 3- and 4-year-old children, as provided. Existing law provides that 3- and 4-year-old children are eligible for the state part-day preschool program if the family meets one of several eligibility requirements, including income eligibility. Existing law provides that "income eligible," for purposes of the Child Care and Development Services Act, means that a family's adjusted monthly income is at or below 70% of the state median income, adjusted for family size, and adjusted annually. This bill would revise the eligibility requirements for full-day preschool programs operated at any California public school, including a charter school, that has at least 40% of its pupils being from low-income families, as specified pursuant to Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965, or a community-based organization that contracts with the above-described school or school district. This bill would require the State Department of Education to share participation data from the Medi-Cal program with local educational agencies. The bill would impose specified requirements on the State Department of Education and local educational agencies relating to the privacy and confidentiality of that participation data. The bill would require a local educational agency participating in a full-day preschool program at a high poverty school, as defined, to use that participation data, commencing with the participation data of pupils in the 2019–20 school year, to directly certify pupils eligible for full-day preschool at a high poverty school, to the extent permitted under federal law. The bill would authorize a school district or county superintendent of schools to determine a pupil's eligibility for full-day preschool at a high poverty school based on data including the direct certification match and alternative measures of poverty pursuant to specified state and federal law. This provision would become operative upon the receipt of federal funds to assist the state in implementing its provisions.
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Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and 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. The federal Medicaid program prohibits payment to a state for medical assistance furnished to an alien who is not lawfully admitted for permanent residence or otherwise permanently residing in the United States under color of law. Existing law requires that individuals under 19 years of age enrolled in restricted-scope Medi-Cal at the time the Director of Health Care Services makes a determination that systems have been programmed for implementation of these provisions be enrolled in the full scope of Medi-Cal benefits, if otherwise eligible, pursuant to an eligibility and enrollment plan. Existing law makes the effective date of enrollment for those individuals the same day that systems are operational to begin processing new applications pursuant to the director's determination. Existing law requires the department, until the director makes the above-described determination, to provide monthly updates to specified legislative committees on the status of the implementation of these provisions. This bill would extend eligibility for full-scope Medi-Cal benefits to individuals who are under 26 years of age and who are otherwise eligible for those benefits but for their immigration status. The bill would delete provisions delaying eligibility and enrollment until the director makes the determination described above. The bill would require the department to provide, indefinitely, the above-described monthly updates to the legislative committees. Because counties are required to make Medi-Cal eligibility determinations and this bill would expand Medi-Cal eligibility, 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, 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.
Existing law establishes the Office of Emergency Services, which is required to, among other things, allocate and award funds to communities developing and providing ongoing citizen involvement and crime resistance programs. This bill would require the office, to the extent funds are available for this purpose and until January 1, 2023, to allocate and award funds to up to 11 district attorney offices that employ a vertical prosecution methodology for the prosecution of human trafficking crimes and that meet other specified criteria, including minimum staffing levels for the program. The bill would require the office, on or before January 1, 2021, to submit to the Legislature and the Governor's office a report that describes the counties that received funding pursuant to this program, the number of prosecutions for human trafficking cases filed by the counties receiving funding, the number of human trafficking convictions obtained by those counties, and the sentences imposed for human trafficking crimes in those counties. The bill would be operative only to the extent that funding is provided in the annual Budget Act or another statute for the purposes of the bill.
The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. This bill, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2019, and before January 1, 2026, would allow a credit under the Personal Income Tax Law in an amount equal to the cost of health insurance premiums of the lowest cost bronze plan for the qualified individual, certified by the board of Covered California, or the qualified individual's dependent that exceeds 8% of the qualified individual's modified adjusted gross income, as specified. The bill would, for a taxpayer with an allowable credit in excess of tax liability, allow a payment to the taxpayer in excess of that credit amount, upon appropriation by the Legislature, subject to the annual Budget Act or a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Act, as provided. The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2024, the Legislative Analyst's Office to report on the number of qualified individuals who claimed the credit, the average and median credit amounts claimed, and the effectiveness of the credit in reducing health care costs. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and 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 federal law provides for allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states. Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which, through a combination of state and county funds and federal funds received through the TANF program, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Existing law, to the extent required by specified federal provisions, requires that a family who was receiving aid under the CalWORKs program in at least 3 of the 6 months immediately preceding the month in which that family became ineligible for that assistance due to income from employment, or other specified reasons, to remain eligible for health care services under the Medi-Cal program during the immediately succeeding 6-month period. Existing law, in conformance with federal law, requires the department to offer those beneficiaries the option of remaining eligible for health care services under the Medi-Cal program for an additional period of 6 months. Existing federal law authorizes a state to elect to treat any reference to the initial 6-month extension period as a reference to a 12-month period, in which case the federal provisions relating to the additional 6-month extension do not apply. This bill would require the department, commencing January 1, 2019, to implement the option available under the above-described federal law to replace the initial 6-month extension period with a 12-month initial eligibility period, making the federal and state provisions relating to the additional 6-month extension inapplicable. The bill would also make conforming changes to related provisions. Because counties are responsible for making eligibility determinations under the Medi-Cal program, by revising eligibility requirements, 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law establishes 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 the department to exercise its option under federal law to implement a program for aged and disabled persons, as described. Existing law requires an individual under these provisions to satisfy certain financial eligibility requirements, including, among other things, that his or her countable income does not exceed an income standard equal to 100% of the applicable federal poverty level, plus an income disregard of $230 for an individual, or $310 in the case of a couple, except that the income standard determined shall not be less than the SSI/SSP payment level for a disabled individual or couple, as applicable. Existing law authorizes the department to implement this program by means of all-county letters or similar instructions without taking regulatory action and thereafter requires the department to adopt regulations. This bill would instead require, upon receipt of federal approval, all countable income over 100% of the federal poverty level, up to 138% of the federal poverty level, to be disregarded, after taking all other disregards, deductions, and exclusions into account for those persons eligible under the program for aged and disabled persons. The bill would provide that the income level determined based on a countable income that does not exceed an income level equal to 100% of the applicable federal poverty level, plus an income disregard of $230 for an individual, or $310 in the case of a couple, shall not be less than the SSI/SSP payment level the individual or couple, as applicable, receives or would receive as a disabled or blind individual or couple. The bill would require a specified provision to be implemented after the Director of Health Care Services determines, and communicates that determination in writing to the Department of Finance, that systems have been programmed for implementation of that provision, but no sooner than January 1, 2019. The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific the above-described program for aged and disabled persons by means of all-county letters, plan or provider bulletins, or similar instructions until regulations are adopted, and would require the department to adopt regulations no later than July 1, 2022. The bill would require the department to provide a status report on a semiannual basis to the Legislature until regulations have been adopted. The bill would provide that the program shall be implemented only if and to the extent that any necessary federal approvals have been obtained. Because counties are required to make Medi-Cal eligibility determinations, and this bill would expand Medi-Cal eligibility by increasing the income disregard amounts and would increase the responsibility of counties in determining Medi-Cal eligibility, 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, 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.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and 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 establishes the Medi-Cal Access Program, which provides health care services to a woman who is pregnant or in her postpartum period and whose household income is within specified thresholds of the federal poverty level, and to a child under 2 years of age who is delivered by a mother enrolled in the program, as specified. Existing federal law authorizes a state to provide in its Medicaid state plan that in determining eligibility under the federal Medicaid program for a child, the state is authorized to rely on a finding made within a reasonable period from an Express Lane agency, as defined, when it determines whether a child satisfies one or more components of eligibility for medical assistance under the federal Medicaid program. Existing law establishes the California Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC Program) , which is administered by the State Department of Public Health and counties and under which nutrition and other assistance are provided to eligible low-income pregnant women, low-income postpartum and lactating women, and low-income infants and children under 5 years of age, who have been determined to be at nutritional risk. Existing law requires the former Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board and former State Department of Health Services, in collaboration with program offices for the WIC Program and other designated entities, to design, promulgate, and implement policies and procedures for an automated enrollment gateway system, subject to appropriation, allowing children applying to the WIC Program to obtain presumptive eligibility for, and to facilitate application for enrollment in, the Medi-Cal program or the former Healthy Families Program, to the extent federal financial participation is available, as specified. This bill would delete the above-described provisions relating to the automated enrollment gateway system and would instead require the State Department of Health Care Services, in collaboration with the same designated entities, to design, promulgate, and implement policies and procedures for an automated enrollment gateway system, operational no later than January 1, 2020, allowing children applying to the WIC Program to obtain express lane eligibility for, and to facilitate application for enrollment in, the Medi-Cal program, and allowing pregnant women applying to the WIC Program to obtain presumptive eligibility for the Medi-Cal program or the Medi-Cal Access Program, to the extent federal financial participation is available. The bill would also require the system to perform specified functions relating to the eligibility of those persons under the programs. The bill would require the department to seek approval of any amendments to the state plan necessary to implement these provisions, and would condition the implementation of the provisions on the department obtaining all necessary federal approvals. Because counties are responsible for making eligibility determinations under the Medi-Cal program, by revising eligibility requirements, 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
This measure would mark May 6, 2018, as the 136th anniversary of the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act in order to recognize the harm caused by racially discriminatory immigration measures, and to honor the contributions of all immigrants and refugees who have enriched our communities. The measure would also declare the opposition of the Legislature to executive orders and a presidential proclamation signed by President Trump relating to immigration, call upon the President to revoke those orders and that proclamation, condemn the expansion of deportations being undertaken under the current presidential administration, and reaffirm that the state is open and welcoming to immigrants and refugees who are integral to life in our state.
This measure would declare the intent of the Legislature to further support the housing needs of individuals with developmental disabilities by exploring models that facilitate the private donation of homes in perpetuity and would recognize the work of organizations that have developed a property donation program.