Asm. Blanca Rubio

(1) The California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act generally requires the State Department of Social Services to license, inspect, and regulate residential care facilities for the elderly and imposes criminal penalties on a person who violates the act or who willfully or repeatedly violates any rule or regulation adopted under the act. The act prohibits a placement agency, as defined, from placing an individual in a licensed residential care facility for the elderly if the individual, because of a health condition, cannot be cared for within the limits of the license or requires inpatient care in a health facility. The act requires an employee of a placement agency who knows, or reasonably suspects, that a facility is improperly operating without a license to report the facility to the department, and requires the department to investigate those reports. The act further requires a placement agency to notify the appropriate licensing agency of any known or suspected incidents that would jeopardize the health or safety of residents in a facility. The act specifically makes a violation of these requirements a crime. This bill would recast the requirements on a placement agency and its employees to instead be requirements on a referral source, defined to mean any specified county department, stated-funded program, agency, or person that is engaged in identifying senior housing options at residential care facilities for the elderly. The bill would prohibit a referral source from, among other things, referring a person to a residential care facility for the elderly in which the referral source has an ownership or management interest without a waiver. The bill would require a referral source, before sending a compensated referral to a residential care facility for the elderly, to provide a person or their representative with specific written, electronic, or verbal disclosures that include, among others, the referral source's privacy policy. The bill would additionally require a compensated referral source to comply with additional requirements that include, among others, maintaining a minimum amount of liability insurance coverage. The bill would impose criminal penalties and civil penalties for a violation of these provisions, as specified. By expanding the existing crime under the act and specifying new criminal penalties, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) 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 requires the Labor Commissioner to enforce and administer a program to register and supervise foreign labor contractors who perform foreign labor contracting activities to recruit or solicit foreign workers. Existing law requires foreign labor contractors to register under the program, as prescribed, and imposes specific requirements relating to recruitment or solicitation for employment and relating to work contracts. Existing law authorizes the commissioner to adopt regulations or policies and procedures to implement these provisions. A violation of these provisions is a crime. Existing law makes these provisions applicable only to nonagricultural workers, and exempts persons licensed as farm labor contractors, specified persons exempt from farm labor contractor licensing requirements, and employers of agricultural workers. This bill would delete those limitations. By expanding the application of the foreign labor contractor registration provisions, the bill would expand an existing 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.

(1) Existing law authorizes a judge to enter an ex parte order authorizing interception of wire or electronic communications within the territorial jurisdiction of the court. Existing law also authorizes a peace officer to apply for, and a magistrate to issue, an order, or extension of an order, authorizing or approving the installation and use of a pen register or trap and trace device. This bill would prohibit the issuance of an ex parte order authorizing interception of wire or other electronic communication or an order, or extension of an order, authorizing or approving the installation and use of a pen register or trap and trace device for the purpose of investigating or recovering evidence of a prohibited violation. The bill would define "prohibited violation" for this purpose as a violation of a law that creates liability for, or arising out of, either providing, facilitating, or obtaining an abortion or intending or attempting to provide, facilitate, or obtain an abortion that is lawful under California law. Existing law provides for the issuance of a search warrant upon specified grounds. This bill would prohibit the issuance of a search warrant for any item or items that pertain to an investigation into a prohibited violation. Existing law requires a California corporation that provides electronic communication services or remote computing services to the general public to comply with a warrant issued by another state to produce records that would reveal the identity of the customers using those services, data stored by, or on behalf of, the customer, the customer's usage of those services, the recipient or destination of communications sent to or from those customers, or the content of those communications as if that warrant had been issued by a California court. This bill would require an out-of-state warrant for the records listed above to include an attestation that the evidence sought is not related to an investigation into, or enforcement of, a prohibited violation. The bill would prohibit the production of records by a California corporation when the corporation knows or should know that the warrant relates to an investigation into, or enforcement of, a prohibited violation. (2) Existing law includes a declaration of the Legislature that every individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to reproductive decisions, including the fundamental right to choose to bear a child or obtain an abortion. Existing law prohibits the state from denying or interfering with a woman's fundamental right to choose to bear a child or obtain an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, as defined, or when necessary to protect her life or health. Existing law, the Reproductive Rights Law Enforcement Act, requires the Attorney General to carry out certain functions relating to anti-reproductive-rights crimes in consultation with, among others, subject matter experts. Existing law requires all law enforcement agencies to develop, adopt, and implement written policies and standards for responding to anti-reproductive-rights calls by January 1, 2023. This bill would prohibit a state or local law enforcement agency or officer from knowingly arresting or knowingly participating in the arrest of any person for performing, supporting, or aiding in the performance of an abortion or for obtaining an abortion, if the abortion is lawful in this state. The bill would prohibit a state or local public agency from cooperating with or providing information to an individual or agency from another state or a federal law enforcement agency, as specified, regarding a lawful abortion. The bill would prohibit specified persons, including a judicial officer, court employee, an authorized attorney, among others, from issuing a subpoena in connection with a proceeding in another state regarding an individual performing, supporting, or aiding in the performance of an abortion in this state, or an individual obtaining an abortion in this state, if the abortion is lawful in this state. The bill would not prohibit the investigation of criminal activity that may involve an abortion, provided that no information relating to any medical procedure performed on a specific individual may be shared with an agency or individual from another state for the purpose of enforcing another state's abortion law. (3) Existing law requires superior court judges in each county to prepare, adopt, and annually revise a uniform countywide schedule of bail for all bailable offenses, as specified. Existing law requires a bail schedule to contain a list of the offenses and amounts of bail applicable for each, as well as a general clause for designated amounts of bail for all offenses not specifically listed in the schedule. This bill would require a uniform countywide schedule of bail to set $0 bail for an individual who has been arrested in connection with a proceeding in another state regarding and individual performing, supporting, or aiding in the performance of an abortion in this state, or an individual obtaining an abortion in this state, if the abortion is protected, as specified. Existing law requires the Governor to recognize a demand for extradition of a person if the demand meets specified requirements. Existing law requires a magistrate, upon the filing of a verified complaint, to issue a warrant directed to any peace officer commanding the officer to apprehend an individual in this state who is convicted, or has violated the terms of bail, probation, or parole, or who is charged with a crime, in another state and who is believed to be in this state. This bill would require, within 24 hours of the filing of a verified complaint, the filing agency to electronically transmit to the Attorney General a complete copy of the verified complaint, the out-of-state indictment, information, complaint, or judgment, out-of-state warrant, and the affidavit upon which the out-of-state warrant was issued. (4) Existing law, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, determines how governmental entities may access information on electronic devices and from electronic communication service providers, as defined. This bill would prohibit a California corporation or a corporation whose principal executive offices are located in California that provides electronic communication services from providing records, information, facilities, or assistance in accordance with the terms of a warrant, court order, subpoena, wiretap order, pen register trap and trace order, or other legal process issued by, or pursuant to, the procedures of another state or a political subdivision thereof that relates to an investigation into, or enforcement of, a prohibited violation. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to commence a civil action to compel compliance with the above provisions, but would only impose civil liability if the corporation knew or should have known that the warrant, court order, subpoena, wiretap order, pen register trap and trace order, or other legal process relates to an investigation into or enforcement of a prohibited violation. (5) The bill would state that its provisions are severable. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

(1) Under existing law, a person between the ages of 6 and 18 years who is not exempted by law is subject to compulsory full-time education. Existing law excludes a child under 6 years of age from the public schools, subject to specified exceptions. Existing law requires a school district maintaining a kindergarten to admit a child who will have their 5th birthday on or before September 1 of the school year. Existing law also requires a child who will have their 6th birthday on or before September 1 of the school year to be admitted to the first grade of an elementary school. Existing law authorizes a child who has been lawfully admitted to a public school kindergarten or a private school kindergarten in California and who is judged by the administration of the school district to be ready for first-grade work to be admitted to the first grade, as specified. This bill, beginning with the 2024–25 school year, would require a child to have completed one year of kindergarten before that child may be admitted to the first grade at a public elementary school, except for a child who has been lawfully admitted to a public school kindergarten or a private school kindergarten in California, but has not yet completed one school year, and is judged to be ready for first-grade work, as specified, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. (2) 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 provides for 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. Under existing law, Medi-Cal services may be provided pursuant to contracts with various types of managed care health plans, including through a county organized health system. Under existing law, in-person contact between a health care provider and a patient is not required under the Medi-Cal program for services appropriately provided through telehealth. Existing law provides that neither face-to-face contact nor a patient's physical presence on the premises of an enrolled community clinic is required for services provided by the clinic to a Medi-Cal beneficiary during or immediately following a proclamation declaring a state of emergency. Existing law defines "immediately following" for this purpose to mean up to 90 days following the termination of the proclaimed state of emergency, unless there are extraordinary circumstances. Under existing law, federally qualified health center (FQHC) services and rural health clinic (RHC) services are covered benefits under the Medi-Cal program, to be reimbursed, to the extent that federal financial participation is available, to providers on a per-visit basis. "Visit" is defined as a face-to-face encounter between an FQHC or RHC patient and any of specified health care professionals. Under existing law, "visit" also includes an encounter between an FQHC or RHC patient and specified medical professionals when services delivered through that interaction meet the applicable standard of care. Existing law prohibits an FQHC or RHC from establishing a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction and authorizes the department to provide specific exceptions to that prohibition, developed in consultation with affected stakeholders and published in departmental guidance. This bill would authorize the department to authorize an FQHC or RHC to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the visit is related to sensitive services, as defined, and authorize an FQHC or RHC to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the patient requests an audio-only modality or attests they do not have access to video. Existing law provides that face-to-face contact is not required when covered health care services are provided by video synchronous interaction, audio-only synchronous interaction, remote patient monitoring, or other permissible virtual communication modalities when those services and settings meet certain criteria. Existing law, effective as specified, requires a provider furnishing services via audio-only synchronous interaction to also offer those same health care services via video synchronous interaction to preserve beneficiary choice. Existing law authorizes the department to provide specific exceptions to that requirement based on a Medi-Cal provider's access to requisite technologies, as specified. Existing law also prohibits a health care provider from establishing a new patient relationship with a Medi-Cal beneficiary via, among other interactions, telephonic (audio-only) synchronous interaction. Existing law authorizes the department to provide specific exceptions to that prohibition, as specified. This bill would authorize the department to take into consideration the availability of broadband access when providing those specific exceptions. The bill would authorize the department to authorize a health care provider to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the visit is related to sensitive services, as defined, and authorize a health care provider to establish a new patient relationship using an audio-only synchronous interaction when the patient requests an audio-only modality or attests they do not have access to video. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 14132.100 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by SB 966 to be operative only if this bill and SB 966 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, establishes the Board of Registered Nurses within the Department of Consumer Affairs, until January 1, 2023, for the licensure and regulation of the practice of nursing, and makes a violation of the act a crime. Existing law grants the power to remove, for cause, a member of any board within the department to the appointing authority that appointed that member. Existing law also grants the Governor the power to remove any member of the board from office for cause, as specified. This bill would extend the provisions establishing the board and the power of the board to January 1, 2027. The bill would authorize each appointing power, rather than only the Governor, to remove members of the board for cause, as specified. The bill would also make other nonsubstantive changes. Existing federal law, the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) , requires all United States facilities or sites that test human specimens for health assessment or to diagnose, prevent, or treat disease, to abide by specific standards. Existing law authorizes various licensed medical professionals, as specified, to perform provider-performed microscopy, as described, under CLIA, to dispense, furnish, prescribe, and order contraceptives, drugs, and devices, as appropriate, to their patients, and to apply topical medications, as specified. The bill would extend these authorizations to nurse practitioners, as specified. Existing law authorizes the board, with the permission of the Director of Consumer Affairs, to form advisory committees that advise the board on the implementation of the Nursing Practice Act. The Administrative Procedure Act generally governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. This bill would create within the board a Nursing Education and Workforce Advisory Committee, which the bill would require to solicit input from approved nursing programs and members of the nursing and health care profession to study and recommend nursing education standards, simulated clinical experiences, and solutions to workforce issues to the board. The bill would require the committee be comprised of representatives from various sectors of the nursing profession. The bill would limit the terms of these appointments as specified. The bill would authorize the committee to establish subcommittees as specified. The bill would authorize the board to implement, interpret, or make specific the provisions governing the committee in a charter, which would be exempt from the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. Existing law specifies that an approved school of nursing, or an approved nursing program, is one that has been approved by the board, gives the course of instruction approved by the board, covering not less than 2 academic years, is affiliated or conducted in connection with one or more hospitals, and is an institution of higher education, as specified. Existing law imposes specified duties on the board related to the approval and regulation of schools of nursing and nursing programs, including a requirement that the board prepare and maintain a list of approved schools of nursing in this state whose graduates are eligible to apply for a license to practice nursing. This bill would provide that the board's executive officer is required to develop a uniform method for evaluating requests and granting approvals pursuant to the above-described provisions, as specified, and would require the executive officer to post the uniform method and any revisions on the board's website. The bill would prohibit an institution of higher education or a private postsecondary school of nursing subject to the above-described provisions from paying any clinical agency or facility for clinical experience placements for students enrolled in a nursing program offered by that school of nursing, as specified. By adding a prohibition to the Nursing Practice Act, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would additionally require an approved school of nursing or nursing program to meet a minimum of 500 direct patient care clinical hours, as specified. The bill would authorize an approved school of nursing or nursing program to cover fewer than 2 academic years if approved to providing a course of instruction that prepares a licensed vocational nurse, as specified. This bill would, for approved schools of nursing actively accredited, as specified, require the board to accept continuing approval decisions from the accreditor, approve substantive change requests if approved by the accreditor, and consider limited factors when considering a request to increase enrollment, among other things. The bill would prohibit the board from requiring a fee for substantive changes approved under those provisions. Existing law, until the end of the 2021–22 academic year, and whenever the Governor declares a state of emergency for a county, as provided, requires a board nursing education consultant to approve a request from an approved nursing program to revise certain clinical experience requirements, provided the request meets specified conditions. Existing law authorizes an approved nursing program to request to reduce the required number of direct patient care hours as specified if it meets certain conditions, including using the list of alternative agencies or facilities designated by the facility finder on the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development website to show no alternative agency or facility has a sufficient number of open placements, as specified. Existing law requires the board's executive officer to develop a uniform method for evaluating those requests and granting approvals. This bill would extend these provisions to the end of the 2023–24 academic year and require the board's executive officer to post the uniform method and any revisions on the board's website. The bill would authorize an approved nursing program to request to reduce the number of direct patient care hours only when it provides more than 500 direct patient care hours and would specify the approved nursing program would use the list of alternative agencies or facilities on the facility finder on the Department of Health Care Access and Information's website. Existing law prescribes various fees, not to subceed or exceed specified amounts, to be paid by licensees and applicants for licensure, and requires these fees to be credited to the Board of Registered Nursing Fund, which is available upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law prescribes specified fees for certain approvals by the board of institutions of higher education or a private postsecondary school of nursing approved by the board, and requires these fees not to subceed or exceed certain amounts. Existing law requires these fees to be deposited into the Registered Nurse Education Fund, as specified, which is available upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would remove the minimum fee amounts stated for each type of licensure application, as specified. The bill would require fees for certificates, as specified, to be an amount sufficient to cover the reasonable regulatory cost of issuing that certificate. Existing law authorizes a nurse practitioner who meets certain education, experience, and certification requirements to perform, in certain settings or organizations, specified functions without standardized procedures, including prescribing, administering, dispensing, and furnishing pharmacological agents. Existing law, beginning January 1, 2023, also authorizes a nurse practitioner who holds an active certification issued by the board to perform those functions without standardized procedures outside of specified settings in accordance with certain conditions and requirements. Existing law requires a nurse practitioner who is practicing pursuant to those provisions to consult with a physician under specified circumstances and to establish a referral plan for referral of complex medical cases and emergencies that addresses specified situations. This bill would revise the circumstances under which consultation with a physician is required and the situations required to be addressed in the referral plan, including when a patient is acutely decompensating. The bill would impose additional requirements for a nurse practitioner practicing pursuant to the above provisions to prescribe, administer, dispense, and furnish pharmacological agents, including requiring the issuance of a furnishing number by the board. 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 various offenses for a person who places or displays certain symbols, marks, signs, emblems, and other physical impressions, including, but not limited to, a Nazi swastika, hangs nooses, or burns or desecrates crosses or other religious symbols on private and nonprivate property, as specified, with the intent to terrorize a person, as specified. Existing law, for the first conviction, punishes a person who hangs a noose or places or displays a sign, mark, symbol, emblem, or other physical impression with the intent to terrorize a person, as specified, with imprisonment in county jail not to exceed one year, a fine not more than $5,000, or both the fine and imprisonment, and with imprisonment in county jail not to exceed one year, a fine not to exceed $15,000, or both the fine and imprisonment for a subsequent conviction. Existing law, for a person who engages in a pattern of conduct by placing or displaying certain symbols, as specified, allows a person's punishment to be increased to imprisonment of 16 months or 2 or 3 years, a fine not more than $10,000, or both. Existing law punishes a person convicted of burning or desecrating a religious symbol with imprisonment for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, by a fine of not more than $10,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment, or imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, by a fine not to exceed $5,000, or both the fine and imprisonment for the first conviction, and the same punishment for a subsequent conviction except the misdemeanor fine increases to $15,000. This bill would expand these offenses to include hanging a noose, placing or displaying a sign, mark, symbol, emblem, or other physical impression, including, but not limited to, a Nazi swastika, and burning, desecrating, or destroying a religious symbol, such as a cross, at schools and public places, generally, as specified, for the purpose of terrorizing a person, as specified. The bill would, for the first conviction, punish a person who hangs a noose, places or displays certain symbols, or burns or desecrates a religious symbol, as specified, with imprisonment for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, by a fine of not more than $10,000, or both the fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, by a fine not to exceed $5,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment. For a 2nd or subsequent conviction under these provisions, the bill would punish a person with imprisonment for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, by a fine of not more than $15,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, by a fine not to exceed $10,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature is to criminalize, for the purpose of terrorizing a person, the display or placement of the Nazi swastika and not swastikas associated with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. By creating a new crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, requires, with specified exceptions, that all meetings of a legislative body of a local agency, as those terms are defined, be open and public and that all persons be permitted to attend and participate. The act generally requires posting an agenda at least 72 hours before a regular meeting that contains a brief general description of each item of business to be transacted or discussed at the meeting, and prohibits any action or discussion from being undertaken on any item not appearing on the posted agenda. The act authorizes a legislative body to take action on items of business not appearing on the posted agenda under specified conditions. The act contains specified provisions regarding providing for the ability of the public to observe and provide comment. The act allows for meetings to occur via teleconferencing subject to certain requirements, particularly that the legislative body notice each teleconference location of each member that will be participating in the public meeting, that each teleconference location be accessible to the public, that members of the public be allowed to address the legislative body at each teleconference location, that the legislative body post an agenda at each teleconference location, and that at least a quorum of the legislative body participate from locations within the boundaries of the local agency's jurisdiction. The act provides an exemption to the jurisdictional requirement for health authorities, as defined. Existing law, until January 1, 2024, authorizes a local agency to use teleconferencing without complying with those specified teleconferencing requirements in specified circumstances when a declared state of emergency is in effect, or in other situations related to public health. This bill would revise and recast those teleconferencing provisions and, until January 1, 2026, would authorize a local agency to use teleconferencing without complying with the teleconferencing requirements that each teleconference location be identified in the notice and agenda and that each teleconference location be accessible to the public if at least a quorum of the members of the legislative body participates in person from a singular physical location clearly identified on the agenda that is open to the public and situated within the local agency's jurisdiction. Under this exception, the bill would authorize a member to participate remotely under specified circumstances, including participating remotely for just cause or due to emergency circumstances. The emergency circumstances basis for remote participation would be contingent on a request to, and action by, the legislative body, as prescribed. The bill, until January 1, 2026, would authorize a legislative body to consider and take action on a request from a member to participate in a meeting remotely due to emergency circumstances if the request does not allow sufficient time to place the proposed action on the posted agenda for the meeting for which the request is made. The bill would define terms for purposes of these teleconferencing provisions. This bill would impose prescribed requirements for this exception relating to notice, agendas, the means and manner of access, and procedures for disruptions. The bill would require the legislative body to implement a procedure for receiving and swiftly resolving requests for reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities, consistent with federal law. 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 requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

This measure would proclaim the month of September 2022 as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

This measure would designate a specified portion of State Highway Route 44, near Oak Run in the County of Shasta, as the Stan Statham Memorial Highway. This measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.