Asm. Blanca Rubio

(1) Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health and sets forth its powers and duties to license and administer health facilities, as defined, including skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities. Existing law requires skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities to adopt certified nurse assistant training programs approved by the department. Existing law requires a training program to include 60 hours of classroom training, composed of specified topics, which may be conducted within a facility or at an educational institution. This bill would authorize the required classroom training to be offered through online or distance learning classes approved by the department. The bill would require an online or distance learning nurse assistant training program to comply with specified requirements, including, among others, having trainees sign an affidavit attesting under penalty of perjury to their identity while completing the program. By expanding the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would also authorize an experienced licensed or registered nurse, as specified, to provide instruction as part of a certified nurse assistant training program at a skilled nursing or intermediate care facility or in an educational institution, regardless of whether he or she holds a teaching credential to provide that instruction. (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 establishes the segments of the public postsecondary education system in the state, including the University of California administered by the Regents of the University of California and the California State University administered by the Trustees of the California State University. Existing law provides that a student, other than a nonimmigrant alien, as defined, who has attended high school in California for 3 or more years, who has graduated from a California high school or attained the equivalent thereof, who has registered at or attends an accredited institution of higher education in California not earlier than the fall semester or quarter of the 2001–02 academic year, and who, if he or she is an alien without lawful immigration status, has filed an affidavit, as specified, is exempt from paying nonresident tuition at the California State University. This bill would, commencing with the 2019–20 academic year, require the California State University, and request the University of California, to designate a Dream Resource Liaison on each of their respective campuses, as specified, to assist students meeting specified requirements, including undocumented students, by streamlining access to all available financial aid and academic opportunities for those students. The bill would encourage those institutions to establish Dream Resource Centers, and would authorize those centers to provide specified support services. The bill would authorize the trustees and the regents to seek and accept on behalf of the state any gift, bequest, devise, or donation whenever the gift and the terms and conditions thereof will aid in the creation and operation of Dream Resource Centers for their respective systems.

Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the campuses they operate. Existing law requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, using common course descriptors and pertinent recommendations of the American Council on Education, to determine, by July 1, 2015, for which courses credit should be awarded for prior military experience. This bill would instead require the chancellor to establish, by March 31, 2019, an initiative to expand the use of course credit at the California Community Colleges for students with prior learning. The bill would require the chancellor to submit, by January 1, 2020, a report on the initiative to the Legislature.

The Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 authorizes an aggrieved employee to bring a civil action to recover specified civil penalties, that would otherwise be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, on behalf of the employee and other current or former employees for the violation of certain provisions affecting employees. The act requires the employee to follow prescribed procedures before bringing an action and establishes alternate procedures for specific categories of violations. The act requires, except as provided, that 75% of the civil penalties recovered by aggrieved employees be distributed to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency for enforcement of labor laws and for education of employers and employees about their rights and responsibilities, and 25% be distributed to the aggrieved employees. This bill would except from the act an employee in the construction industry, as defined, with respect to work performed under a valid collective bargaining agreement in effect any time before January 1, 2025, that contains certain provisions, including, among others, a grievance and binding arbitration procedure to redress violations that authorizes the arbitrator to award otherwise available remedies. The bill would authorize the exception until the collective bargaining agreement expires or until January 1, 2028, whichever is earlier, and would repeal the bill's provisions on January 1, 2028.

Under existing law the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations. This bill would require the Public Utilities Commission, if it determines that a moratorium on new natural gas service connections is necessary to prevent substantial and imminent harm or to ensure gas system reliability, to provide a report to specified policy committees of the Legislature and the affected gas corporation stating the necessity for the action. The bill would require the report to the policy committees to contain certain information. The bill would require a gas corporation, upon receiving a report from the commission that an action is pending to suspend new gas service connections, to immediately notify potential or current customers that may experience a service impact as a result of the proposed suspension. The bill would require the commission to present to the policy committees, at specified yearly information hearings, the status of the natural gas service connections and efforts to provide natural gas supply. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

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. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law prohibits, until January 1, 2019, an individual or group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2015, that provides coverage for prescribed, orally administered anticancer medications used to kill or slow the growth of cancerous cells from requiring an enrollee or insured to pay, notwithstanding any deductible, a total amount of copayments and coinsurance that exceeds $200 for an individual prescription of up to a 30-day supply of a prescribed orally administered anticancer medication, as specified. Existing law authorizes health care service plans to adjust that $200 limit on January 1 of each year, to the extent that adjustment does not exceed the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for that year. Under existing law, a willful violation of this prohibition by a health care service plan is a crime. This bill would extend the duration of this prohibition until January 1, 2024. The bill would increase the total amount of copayments allowed under those provisions to $250. The bill would remove the authorization for a health care service plan to adjust that limit. Because the bill would expand the scope of 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.

Existing law, the Barbering and Cosmetology Act, authorizes a student who is enrolled in a school of cosmetology approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education in a course approved by the State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology to work as an unpaid extern in a cosmetology establishment participating in the educational program of the school, subject to certain requirements and conditions. This bill would authorize a student who is enrolled in an approved course of instruction in a school of cosmetology approved by the board to work as an extern in an establishment pursuant to those provisions. The bill would also provide a similar authorization for a student enrolled in an approved course of instruction in a school of barbering approved by the board to work as an extern in an establishment participating in the educational program of the school.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish contracts for electronic programs that allow qualified private industry partners to join the department in providing services that include processing and payment programs for vehicle registration and titling transactions, and services related to reporting vehicle sales and producing temporary license plates. Existing law requires the department to charge a $3 transaction fee for the provision of the information and services, and to deposit the fees collected into the Motor Vehicle Account. Existing law authorizes the private industry partner to pass on the transaction fee to the customer, as specified. Existing law requires the department, for a specified period, to charge private industry partners an additional $1 transaction fee for the implementation of the private industry partners' proportionate share of departmentwide system improvements. Existing law prohibits a private industry partner from passing on the $1 fee to the customer. This bill would delete the prohibition against passing on the $1 transaction fee to the consumer. The bill would specify that the $1 is to be imposed both in addition to, and in accordance with, the $3 transaction fee. Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to allow a person to submit any document required to be submitted to the department by using electronic media, as specified, instead of requiring the actual submittal of the original document. If a signature is required on a document in order to complete a transaction, the requirement may be satisfied for an electronically submitted document if the signature is also submitted electronically and the department retains information verifying the identity of the person submitting the electronic signature. This bill would eliminate the requirement that the department retain information verifying the identity of the person submitting the electronic signature. The bill would make additional technical, nonsubstantive changes. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

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 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.