Asm. Blanca Rubio

(1) Existing law provides for licensure and regulation of residential care facilities for the elderly by the State Department of Social Services. This bill would require an agency that refers a person to a residential care facility for the elderly to register with the department, as specified, and pay a fee. The bill would require the department to maintain a registry of referral agencies. The bill would require a prescribed disclosure to be given to a client before providing a referral and would specify information that is required to be included on the referral agency's Internet Web site and other marketing materials. The bill would require an employee of a referral agency who will be in direct contact with the subject of placement to obtain either a criminal record clearance or a criminal record exemption from the department before his or her initial contact with a potential resident. The bill would require a referral agency to provide a specified disclosure to a client indicating the number of hours of annual training required of all employees who make referrals to facilities. The bill would require a referral agency to maintain liability insurance coverage in an amount of $1,000,000 per person per occurrence and $2,000,000 in total annual aggregate for negligent acts or omissions by the referral agency or any of its employees. The bill would make these provisions operative on July 1, 2019. The bill would require the department, by July 1, 2019, to develop an enforcement process for referral agencies that do not comply with the requirements described above. The bill would require enforcement measures to include the suspension of, and prohibition against registration for, noncompliant referral agencies. (2) Under existing law, a person who has assumed full or intermittent responsibility for the care or custody of an elder or dependent adult, including administrators, supervisors, and licensed staff of a public or private facility that provides care or services for elder or dependent adults, or an elder or dependent adult care custodian, health practitioner, clergy member, or employee of a county adult protective services agency or a local law enforcement agency, is a mandated reporter of elder or dependent adult abuse. Under existing law, a mandated reporter who, in the scope of his or her employment, has observed or has knowledge of an incident that reasonably appears to be physical abuse, abandonment, abduction, isolation, financial abuse, or neglect, or is told by an elder or dependent adult that he or she has experienced these behaviors, is required to report the abuse immediately or as soon as practicably possible. The failure to report on the part of a mandated reporter is a crime. This bill would make an owner, operator, or employee of a referral agency a mandated reporter of elder or dependent adult abuse. By expanding the definition of a 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.

The Personal Income Tax Law excludes from the gross income of an employee amounts paid or incurred by an employer for educational assistance to the employee, as specified, up to $5,250 during a calendar year. This bill would exclude from the gross income of an employee amounts, not exceeding an aggregate amount of $5,250 per year, that are paid or incurred by an employer on and after January 1, 2018, and before January 1, 2023, for the payment of principal or interest on a qualified education loan, as defined, incurred by the employee. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law, the Open and Transparent Water Data Act, requires the Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to coordinate and integrate existing water and ecological data from local, state, and federal agencies. This bill would require the Department of Water Resources, the board, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to work to improve the open and transparent access to data by reducing the fractured or duplicative reporting of the same or similar data to multiple governmental agencies or departments, and by reducing the reporting burden on entities providing data to governmental agencies.

Existing law requires the California Victim Compensation Board to administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to trauma recovery centers funded by moneys in the Restitution Fund. Existing law provides that these funds for the support of trauma recovery center grants are not continuously appropriated and the administrative costs of the board are subject to annual review and appropriation as part of the state budget process. Existing law recognizes the Trauma Recovery Center at San Francisco General Hospital, University of California, San Francisco, as the State Pilot Trauma Recovery Center (State Pilot TRC) . Existing law requires the board to use the evidence-informed Integrated Trauma Recovery Services model developed by the State Pilot TRC when it provides grants to trauma recovery centers. This bill would require the board to administer a program to evaluate applications and award grants to school-based trauma recovery centers, upon appropriation by the Legislature for these purposes. The bill would require the board to award a grant only to a school-based trauma recovery center that meets specified criteria, including, among other things, providing a whole-school, systematic approach to trauma and that uses certain core elements. The bill would permit the board to award a grant providing for funding for up to 3 years, and would require the board, when considering grant applications, to give preference to school-based trauma recovery centers that meet outlined criteria. The bill would require school-based trauma recovery centers that are awarded grants to report to the board annually on how grant funds were spent, as well as other specified information.

Existing law requires each county to provide cash assistance and other social services to needy families through the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program using federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program, state, and county funds. Existing law establishes the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, under which counties provide payments to foster care providers on behalf of qualified children in foster care. Under existing law, a child who is placed in the approved home of a relative is eligible for AFDC-FC if he or she is eligible for federal financial participation in the AFDC-FC payment, as specified. Existing law establishes the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Program (ARC) for the purpose of making the amount paid to relative caregivers for the in-home care of children placed with them who are ineligible for AFDC-FC payments equal to the amount paid on behalf of children who are eligible for AFDC-FC payments. Existing law provides for the temporary or emergency placement of dependent children of the juvenile court and nonminor dependents with relative caregivers or nonrelative extended family members under specified circumstances. Existing law requires counties, until June 30, 2018, to provide an emergency assistance payment or ARC payment to an emergency caregiver who meets specified requirements, and is caring for a child or nonminor dependent placed in the caregiver's home under specified circumstances, if the child or nonminor dependent resides in California, and is not otherwise eligible for AFDC-FC or ARC. Existing law requires the payments to be made either through ARC or through the TANF block grant emergency assistance program for child welfare services, as specified. This bill would extend indefinitely the requirement that counties provide an emergency assistance payment or ARC payment to an emergency caregiver, but would remove the requirement that the child or nonminor dependent reside in California and not otherwise be eligible for AFDC-FC or ARC. Existing law provides for the implementation of the resource family approval process, which replaces the multiple processes for licensing foster family homes, certifying foster homes by foster family agencies, approving relatives and nonrelative extended family members as foster care providers, and approving guardians and adoptive families. Existing law defines a resource family as an individual or family that has successfully met both home environment assessment standards and permanency assessment criteria, as specified, necessary for providing care for a child placed by a public or private child placement agency by court order, or voluntarily placed by a parent or legal guardian. This bill would authorize a county to waive the permanency assessment criteria and approve an individual or family as a resource family upon completion of a home environment assessment if exceptional circumstances exist, as specified. The bill would require the county to document the reason for the waiver and indicate its applicability to a specific child. The bill would require the permanency assessment to be completed as soon as possible and no later than the annual update of the resource family approval. This bill would require a county welfare department, immediately following the placement of a child in the home of a relative or nonrelative extended family member who has not been approved as a resource family, to initiate funding through an emergency assistance payment or ARC payment, as specified. By expanding the duties of counties relating to foster care, 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 bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973 provides the Division of Occupational Safety and Health within the Department of Industrial Relations with the power, jurisdiction, and supervision over all employment and places of employment necessary to enforce and administer all occupational health and safety laws,and standards and to protect employees. The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, an independent entity within the department, has the exclusive authority to adopt occupational safety and health standards within the state. Existing law requires every employer to comply with those standards. A violation of these standards and regulations under specific circumstances is a crime. This bill would require the board to adopt occupational safety and health standards for state public works projects to prevent and control coccidioidomycosis, more commonly known as Valley Fever. By expanding the definition of an existing 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 requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to, among other things, establish professional standards, assessments, and examinations for entry and advancement in the education profession and to establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law sets forth the minimum requirements for a services credential with a specialization in health and excludes services as an occupational therapist or physical therapist from the health services the holder of a services credential with a specialization in health is authorized to perform. This bill would require the commission to convene a workgroup, as provided, to consider whether the development of a services credential with a specialization in occupational therapy or physical therapy services is warranted and, if so warranted, to consider specified requirements for the credential. The bill would require the workgroup to provide a report on its findings to the Legislature, the Governor, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction on or before January 1, 2020.

Existing law, the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, establishes procedures for the reporting and investigation suspected child abuse or neglect. The act requires certain professionals, including specified health practitioners and social workers, known as "mandated reporters," to report known or suspected child abuse or neglect to a local law enforcement agency or a county welfare or probation department, as specified. Existing law states the Legislature's intent that those receiving agencies in each county develop and implement cooperative arrangements in order to coordinate existing duties in connection with the investigation of suspected child abuse or neglect cases, and requires the local law enforcement agency to report investigations of suspected child abuse or neglect to the county welfare or probation department within 36 hours after starting its investigation. Existing law requires the receiving agencies to, within 24 hours of receiving a report of abuse alleged to have occurred in facilities licensed to care for children by the State Department of Social Services, notify the licensing office with jurisdiction over that facility. Existing law makes reports of child abuse or neglect confidential and only authorizes the disclosure of the reports to certain individuals or entities. Existing law generally provides for the placement of children in foster care, and provides for the licensure and regulation by the State Department of Social Services of certain community care facilities that provide care for foster children, including short-term residential therapeutic programs and transitional housing placement providers. This bill would, when a receiving entity receives a reported allegation of child abuse or neglect that involves a child in foster care in which the alleged abuse or neglect occurred in a community care facility, require the receiving entity to coordinate investigation efforts with the licensing agency, as specified, and notify the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson within 24 hours of receiving the report, and would require an investigation conducted by the receiving entity or the licensing agency to be completed no later than 30 days after the initial report was received by the entity. The bill would also add the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson, as specified, to the list of individuals and entities to which reports may be disclosed. By imposing new duties on local officials, 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law establishes various programs and services for the promotion of child health, administered by the State Department of Public Health or the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law provides for the regulation of health facilities by the State Department of Public Health. This bill would require specified health practice settings to offer child life specialist services, as defined, and to meet certain conditions relating to the availability of child life specialists in those settings. Existing law establishes the California Children's Services Program (CCS Program) , which is a statewide program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and by counties, as specified, that provides medically necessary services for physically handicapped children whose parents are unable to pay for those services. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the department 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 authorizes the State Department of Health Care Services to establish, no sooner than July 1, 2017, a Whole Child Model program, under which managed care plans served by a county organized health system or Regional Health Authority in designated counties provide CCS Program services to Medi-Cal-eligible CCS children and youth. This bill would require the CCS Program to offer child life specialist services, and would require a child life specialist to comply with the provider paneling requirements of the program in order to participate as a program provider. This bill would require the transition of those child life specialist services into the Medi-Cal managed care health plan contract in Whole Child Model counties, as specified, and would require the department to obtain any necessary federal approvals to implement that transition. By creating new duties for counties in implementing child life specialist services under the CCS Program, 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 various programs for job training and employment development, including, among others, establishing the California Workforce Development Board as the body responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment. This bill would create a 3-year pilot program in the counties of Sacramento and Los Angeles for the purposes of increasing long-term employment opportunities for young adults with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. The bill would provide that the pilot program be administered by the California Workforce Development Board and accomplish specified goals. The bill would require the board to submit a report to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2021, regarding information on the success of the program in accomplishing specified goals. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the counties of Los Angeles and Sacramento.