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 or health insurer that covers outpatient prescription drug benefits to provide coverage for specified prescription drugs, and requires cost sharing for outpatient prescription drugs to be reasonable so as to allow access to medically necessary outpatient prescription drugs. This bill would limit the amount a health care service plan or health insurer may require an enrollee or insured to pay at the point of sale for a covered prescription to the lesser of the applicable cost-sharing amount or the retail price. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer from requiring a pharmacy to charge or collect a cost-sharing amount from an enrollee or insured that exceeds the total retail price for the prescription drug, and would provide that the payment rendered by an enrollee or insured would constitute the applicable cost sharing, as specified. The bill would require a pharmacy to inform a customer whether the retail price for a covered prescription is lower than the applicable cost-sharing amount, unless the pharmacy automatically charges the customer the lower price. If the customer pays the retail price, the bill would require the pharmacy to submit the claim to the health care service plan or health insurer in the same manner as if the customer had purchased the prescription drug by paying the cost-sharing amount when submitted by the network pharmacy. The bill would make a contract provision that is inconsistent with these provisions void and unenforceable. 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.
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Existing sales and use tax laws impose taxes on retailers measured by gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. The Sales and Use Tax Law provides various exemptions from this tax, including an exemption for retail items sold by thrift stores operated by nonprofit organizations, if the purpose of that thrift store is to obtain funding for medical, hospice, or social services provided to individuals with HIV or AIDS by the nonprofit organization, as provided. This exemption will be repealed January 1, 2019. This bill would extend the operation of this exemption until January 1, 2029. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing laws authorize districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which generally conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to the Sales and Use Tax Law are automatically incorporated into the local tax laws. Existing law requires the state to reimburse counties and cities for revenue losses caused by the enactment of sales and use tax exemptions. This bill, by automatically incorporating the amendments made to the Sales and Use Tax Law by the bill, would also extend the operation of the exemption indefinitely for those local sales and use taxes and transactions and use taxes. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse any local agencies for sales and use tax revenues lost by them pursuant to this bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law, the Professional Fiduciaries Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of professional fiduciaries and provides for the administration of those provisions by the Professional Fiduciaries Bureau, which is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Consumer Affairs. The act requires an applicant to complete 30 hours of prelicensing education courses provided by an educational program approved by the bureau as a condition of licensure. The act also requires a licensee to complete 15 hours of continuing education courses each year as a condition of license renewal or restoration. This bill, beginning January 1, 2020, would require the prelicensing education courses to include at least one hour of instruction in LGBT cultural competency, as defined by the bill, and, beginning January 1, 2020, would require a licensee to complete at least one hour of instruction in LGBT cultural competency every 3 years as a condition of license renewal or restoration.
Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and after March 7, 1973. A violation of any provision of the act is a misdemeanor. Existing law provides that, after January 1, 2008, a general acute care hospital building that is determined to be a potential risk of collapse or to pose significant loss of life in the event of seismic activity be used only for nonacute care hospital purposes, except that the office may grant 5-year and 2-year extensions under prescribed circumstances, except as specified. Existing law requires an owner of a general acute care hospital building that is classified as nonconforming to submit a report to the office no later than November 1, 2010, describing the status of each building in complying with the extension provisions, and to annually update the office with any changes or adjustments. Existing law authorizes certain hospital owners who do not have the financial capacity or other reasons to bring certain buildings into compliance by the January 1, 2013, deadline to instead replace those buildings or take other action by January 1, 2020, as specified. This bill would require all hospitals with buildings subject to the January 1, 2020, deadline described above and that are seeking an extension for their buildings to submit an application to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development by April 1, 2019, that specifies the seismic compliance method each building will use, as specified. The bill would require the office to grant an additional extension of time to an owner who is subject to the January 1, 2020, deadline if specified conditions are met. The bill would authorize the additional extension to be until July 1, 2022, if the compliance plan is based upon replacement or retrofit, as defined, or up to 5 years if the compliance plan is for a rebuild, as defined. The bill would require the office, before June 1, 2019, to provide the Legislature with a specified inventory of the hospital buildings. The bill would authorize the office to promulgate emergency regulations as necessary to implement these provisions. Existing law requires, no later than January 1, 2030, the owner of an acute care inpatient hospital to either demolish, replace, or change to nonacute care use a hospital building that is not in substantial compliance with certain seismic safety regulations and standards developed by the office, or to seismically retrofit the building so that it is in substantial compliance. This bill would require, before January 1, 2020, the owner of an acute care inpatient hospital whose building does not substantially comply with the above-described seismic safety regulations or standards to submit to the office an attestation that the board of directors of that hospital is aware that the hospital building is required to meet the January 1, 2030, deadline for substantial compliance with those regulations and standards. By imposing new requirements under the act for owners of hospitals with regard to extension applications and the above-described attestation, this bill would expand the scope of a crime, thereby imposing 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 a specialized license plate program under which the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) issues specialized license plates on behalf of a sponsoring state agency that meets certain requirements. Existing law authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to sponsor a Gold Star Family specialized license plate program, which allows specified persons to apply for Gold Star Family license plates. Existing law requires that Gold Star Family license plates be issued in a sequential series. Existing law imposes additional fees for the issuance and renewal of specialized license plates, but exempts Gold Star Family license plates from these fees. Existing law also requires an applicant to pay specified environmental fees when applying for a specialized environmental license plate, and directs the DMV to deposit this revenue in the California Environmental License Plate Fund. This bill would, commencing January 1, 2020, require the DMV to issue Gold Star Family license plates as environmental license plates if the requester pays the above-described environmental license plate fees and specialized license plate fees. The bill would direct the revenue generated from the environmental license plate fees to be deposited into the Motor Vehicle Account within the State Transportation Fund until the DMV's upfront cost of implementing this program is covered. The bill would then direct this revenue to be deposited into the Veterans Service Office Fund.
Existing law provides for 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, including Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) for any individual under 21 years of age who is covered under Medi-Cal consistent with the requirements under federal law. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing federal law provides that EPSDT services include periodic screening services, vision services, dental services, hearing services, and other necessary services to correct or ameliorate defects and physical and mental illnesses and conditions discovered by the screening services, whether or not the services are covered under the state plan. This bill would require, consistent with federal law, that screening services under the EPSDT program include developmental screening services for individuals zero to 3 years of age, inclusive. Until July 1, 2023, the bill would require an external quality review organization entity to annually review, survey, and report on managed care plan reporting and compliance with specified developmental screening tools and schedules. The bill would also make legislative findings and declarations relating to child development.
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. A willful violation of the act is a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires the Department of Managed Health Care to adopt regulations to ensure that enrollees have access to needed health care services in a timely manner. Existing law requires the Department of Managed Health Care to develop indicators of timeliness of access to care, including waiting times for appointments with physicians, including primary care and specialty physicians. Existing law requires health care service plans to report annually to the Department of Managed Health Care on compliance with the standards developed pursuant to these provisions. Existing law requires the Insurance Commissioner to promulgate regulations applicable to health insurers that contract with providers for alternative rates to ensure that insureds have the opportunity to access needed health care services in a timely manner. This bill would require a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy that is issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2018, to permit an HIV specialist, as defined, to be an eligible primary care provider, as defined, if the provider requests primary care provider status and meets the plan's or the health insurer's eligibility criteria for all specialists seeking primary care provider status. The bill would provide that these provisions do not apply to a health insurance policy that does not require an insured to obtain a referral from his or her primary care physician prior to seeking covered health care services from a specialist. The bill would provide that these provisions shall not be construed to include an HIV specialist as a primary care physician for the purposes of network adequacy requirements. Because a willful violation of these 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.
This measure would urge the Congress and the President of the United States to support the retention of, and investment in, the Amtrak National Network of passenger trains, specifically the California Zephyr, the Coast Starlight, the Southwest Chief, and the Sunset Limited, as vital components of the state's rail program and would also urge Congress to reject President Trump's proposed Fiscal Year 2019 federal budget cuts to Amtrak and restore full funding for the Amtrak National Network through the appropriations process.
This measure would declare that the State of California welcomes the hosting of World Cup 2026, would declare the state's full support of local organizing committees in the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles area to be selected as World Cup 2026 sites, and would encourage the Governor and all affected state departments to cooperate with those committees.
This measure would urge the federal government and the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission to take immediate action to adequately address cross-border pollution in the Tijuana River Valley.