Asm. Cheryl R. Brown

Existing law establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is responsible for administering various programs and services for the benefit of veterans. This bill would require, by July 1, 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop a transition assistance program for veterans who have been discharged from the Armed Forces of the United States or the National Guard of any state, as specified. The bill would require the program to include certain California-specific transition assistance information.

Existing law provides for the establishment and operation of the Veterans Home of California at various sites for aged and disabled veterans who meet certain eligibility requirements. Existing law requires members of the homes to pay fees and charges as determined by the department, but prohibits the total of the member's fees and charges for specified types of care for any fiscal year to be greater than a certain percentage of the member's annual income. Existing law also requires nonveteran spouses who become members of the home on or after July 1, 2009, to pay fees and charges based on the level of care, as specified, or an amount equal to the annual amount of federal per diem received for a veteran member in domiciliary care, whichever is greater, as provided. This bill would instead require nonveteran spouses to pay the same fees and charges as paid by the veteran members of the home, as determined by the department and subject to the same prohibitions. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1012.3 of the Military and Veterans Code proposed by AB 614 that would become operative if this bill and AB 614 are both chaptered and this bill is chaptered last.

Existing law prohibits a pupil from being suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed a specified act, including, among other acts, disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of supervisors, teachers, administrators, school officials, or other school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. This bill would eliminate the authority to suspend a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 3, inclusive, and the authority to recommend for expulsion a pupil enrolled in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, for disrupting school activities or otherwise willfully defying the valid authority of those school personnel engaged in the performance of their duties. The bill would make the restrictions inoperative on July 1, 2018.

The Cal Grant Program establishes the Cal Grant A and B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement Awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards, the Cal Grant C Awards, and the Cal Grant T Awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs for participating students attending qualifying institutions. A provision of the program specifies that the commission shall require that a grade point average be submitted, as specified, to the commission for Cal Grant A and B applicants, except for those applicants permitted to provide test scores in lieu of a grade point average. This bill would require that each pupil enrolled in grade 12, except for pupils who opt out, as specified, be deemed a Cal Grant applicant. The bill would require that a grade point average be submitted for all Cal Grant A and B applicants, and submitted electronically for all grade 12 pupils at public schools, including charter schools, each academic year, except for pupils who have opted out, as specified, and would provide that grade point averages submitted shall be subject to review by the commission or its designee. The bill would require the school district or charter school, no later than October 15 of a pupil's grade 12 academic year, to notify, in writing, each grade 12 pupil and his or her parent or guardian that the pupil will be deemed a Cal Grant applicant unless the pupil is opted out, and would specify a procedure for opting out. To the extent that these provisions would impose new duties on local educational agencies and community college districts, they would constitute 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 these statutory provisions.

Existing law establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is responsible for administering various programs and services for the benefit of veterans. Existing law provides for the licensure of residential care facilities for the elderly, community care facilities, and residential care facilities for persons with chronic, life-threatening illness by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law exempts from these provisions specified facilities, including general acute care hospitals and clinics. Existing law authorizes the California State Auditor, upon the request by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and to the extent funding is available, to audit a state or local governmental agency, as defined, or any other publicly created entity. This bill would establish the Medical Foster Home Pilot Program and would, commencing June 1, 2015, and until January 1, 2018, authorize a United States Department of Veterans Affairs (USDVA) facility to establish a medical foster home that is not subject to licensure or regulation as a residential care facility for the elderly, a community care facility, or a residential care facility for persons with chronic, life-threatening illness provided that specified federal requirements are satisfied, the USDVA facility establishing the home agrees to be subject to the jurisdiction of the California State Auditor, and the USDVA obtains criminal background information for caregivers and specified individuals residing in the home. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the California State Auditor, through a request to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, conduct an audit evaluating the pilot program created by this bill no sooner than January 1, 2016, as specified.

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.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation. Existing law requires the Department of Finance, in consultation with the state board and any other relevant state agency, to develop, as specified, a 3-year investment plan for the moneys deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. This bill would authorize moneys in the fund to be allocated, as specified, for an investment in a traffic signal synchronization component that is part of a sustainable infrastructure project if the component is designed and implemented to achieve cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and includes specific emissions reduction targets and metrics to evaluate the project's effect.

Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to establish a program for the development, provision, and evaluation of genetic disease testing. Existing law establishes the continuously appropriated Genetic Disease Testing Fund (GDTF) , consisting of fees paid for newborn screening tests and states the intent of the Legislature that all costs of the genetic disease testing program be fully supported by fees paid for newborn screening tests, which are deposited in the GDTF. Existing law also authorizes moneys in the GDTF to be used for the expansion of the Genetic Disease Branch Screening Information System to include cystic fibrosis, biotinidase, and severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) and exempts the expansion of contracts for this purpose from certain provisions of the Public Contract Code, the Government Code, and the State Administrative Manual, as specified. This bill would require the department to expand statewide screening of newborns to include screening for adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) as soon as ALD is adopted by the federal Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP) . By expanding the purposes for which moneys from the fund may be expended, this bill would make an appropriation.

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, with specified exceptions, prohibits the disclosure of public health records containing personally identifiable information relating to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) that were developed or acquired by a state or local public health agency. Existing law authorizes disclosure of these public health records if otherwise provided by law for public health purposes, pursuant to a written authorization by the person who is the subject of the record, or when the confidential information is necessary to carry out the duties of the public health agency or researcher in the investigation, control, or surveillance of disease. Existing law requires these authorized disclosures to include only the information necessary for the purpose of that disclosure and to be made upon the agreement that the information will be kept confidential and will not be further disclosed without written authorization. Existing law provides exceptions to the above-described requirements on the disclosure of information regarding public health records relating to HIV or AIDS, and authorizes specified disclosures of that information for the purpose of enhancing the completeness of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted disease coinfection reporting to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , including authorizing local public agency tuberculosis control staff to disclose the information to certain state public health agency staff who may further disclose the information to the CDC, as specified. This bill would require any disclosure authorized under these provisions to include only the information necessary for the purpose of that disclosure and to be made upon the agreement that the information will be kept confidential. This bill would prohibit specified disclosures from being made without written authorization. The bill would include hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and meningococcal infection for HIV/AIDS coinfection reporting to the CDC. The bill would additionally authorize, for purposes of the investigation, control, or surveillance of HIV and its coinfection with hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and meningococcal infection, local public health agency communicable disease staff to further disclose the information to state public health agency staff, who may further disclose the information to the CDC, as specified. Existing law authorizes local public health agency sexually transmitted disease control and tuberculosis control staff to disclose the HIV/AIDS-related information to state or local public health agency sexually transmitted disease control and tuberculosis control staff, the HIV-positive person, or his or her health care provider, for the purpose of facilitating appropriate medical care and treatment of persons coinfected with HIV, tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea, or chlamydia. This bill would additionally authorize any local public health agency sexually transmitted disease control, communicable disease control, and tuberculosis staff to further disclose that information to state or local public health agency sexually transmitted disease control, communicable disease control, and tuberculosis staff for the purpose of facilitating appropriate medical care and treatment of persons coinfected with HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or meningococcal infection, as specified.