Existing law, the Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, permits each county to establish an emergency medical services program under which the county is required to designate a local emergency medical services (EMS) agency. The act establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority, which is responsible for the coordination and integration of all state agencies concerning emergency medical services. Existing law authorizes a local EMS agency to implement a trauma care system only if the system meets the minimum standards adopted by the authority, as prescribed. Existing law requires a local EMS agency that elects to implement a trauma care system to develop and submit a plan for that trauma care system to the authority in accordance with regulations adopted by the authority. This bill would require a local EMS agency implementing a trauma care system, as part of the minimum standards, to commission an independent nonprofit organization or governmental entity qualified to assess trauma systems to conduct a comprehensive regional assessment of equitability and access to its trauma system, and would require the assessment be performed in conjunction with other local EMS agencies in that agency's region and the regional trauma coordinating committee (RTCC) established by the authority for that region. The bill would require the local EMS agencies to submit the results of each assessment to the authority. The bill would require that the assessments occur at least once every five years, but would authorize the RTCCs and the authority to determine, after the initial assessment, whether it would be proper for subsequent assessments to occur on a more frequent basis, as specified. The bill would authorize the 5 RTCCs to assess and provide recommendations to the local EMS agencies and the authority, and would require the local EMS agencies implementing a trauma care system to incorporate these recommendations into their respective trauma care plans. This bill would require the authority to develop a statewide trauma plan that addresses all aspects of a trauma care system and would require the authority to report to the Legislature, by March 31, 2015, the status of the development or implementation of the statewide trauma plan. The bill would appropriate $500,000 from the General Fund to the authority for the implementation of a data collection system for conducting trauma care assessments across the state. The bill would require the authority to use the data to help implement and direct the statewide trauma system plan.
Sponsored bills
(1) The Passenger Charter-party Carriers' Act, with certain exceptions, prohibits a charter-party carrier of passengers from engaging in transportation services subject to regulation by the Public Utilities Commission without obtaining a specified certificate or permit, as appropriate, from the commission, subject to various requirements. The act defines a charter-party carrier of passengers as every person engaged in the transportation of persons by motor vehicle for compensation, whether in common or contract carriage, over any public highway in this state and includes any person, corporation, or other entity engaged in the provision of a hired driver service when a rented motor vehicle is being operated by a hired driver. This bill would prohibit the commission from issuing or renewing a permit or certificate to a charter-party carrier of passengers unless the applicant, in addition to existing requirements, participates in the Department of Motor Vehicles pull-notice system and provides for mandatory Department of Justice background checks of every driver, except as specified, who is either employed by or under contract to the applicant. The bill would require a driver of a charter-party carrier to submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint images and related information for the purpose of obtaining information as to the existence and content of state convictions and state arrests, as specified. The bill would require the department to charge a fee sufficient to cover the cost of processing the request described in these provisions. The bill would provide that its provisions apply to all charter-party carriers regardless of class or category created by the commission. The bill would require that drivers hired or initially retained on or after January 1, 2015, be subject to background checks and mandatory drug and alcohol testing prior to employment or retention and that drivers hired or initially retained before January 1, 2015, complete a background check and drug and alcohol test before January 1, 2016. (2) Because a violation of these provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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 grants specified persons, including laborers, as defined, who contribute labor, skill, or services to a work of improvement the right to record a mechanic's lien upon the property so improved. Under existing law, when an employer fails to pay wages due, the employee has the right to file a claim against his or her employer, or former employer, with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which is authorized to conduct investigations, hold hearings, and impose fines and penalties for nonpayment of wages. This bill would enact the California Wage Theft Recovery Act to authorize specified employees to request that the Labor Commissioner record, on his or her behalf, a wage lien upon real and personal property of an employer, or a property owner, as specified, for unpaid wages and other compensation owed the employee, and certain other penalties, interest, and costs. The bill would prescribe requirements relating to the recording and enforcement of the wage lien and for its extinguishment and removal. The bill would require a notice of lien on real property to be executed under penalty of perjury.The bill would authorize the employer or property owner to use a procedure to release the notice of lien or reduce the amount of the lien if the employer makes specified contentions, and would require a specific certification under the procedure to be made under penalty of perjury. The bill would also require the Department of Industrial Relations to issue a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2019, on the effect of these provisions, as specified. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, 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 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 state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing state board regulations require specified entities to comply with a market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2013, and require additional specified entities to comply with that market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2015. This bill instead would exempt categories of persons or entities that did not have a compliance obligation, as defined, under a market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2013, from being subject to that market-based compliance mechanism beginning January 1, 2015, and until December 31, 2017. The bill would require all participating categories of persons or entities to have a compliance obligation beginning January 1, 2018. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) to perform various functions and duties with respect to health facilities, health professions development, and health policy and planning, including, but not limited to, consulting with the Insurance Commissioner, the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care, and others to adopt a California uniform billing form format for professional health care services and a California uniform billing form format for institutional provider services. Existing law requires organizations that operate or own a health facility to file specified reports with OSHPD containing various financial and patient data. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires health care service plans and health insurers to provide an explanation of benefits or explanation of review that identifies the name of the network that has a written agreement signed by the provider whereby the payor is entitled, directly or indirectly, to pay a preferred rate for the services rendered. This bill would request the University of California to establish the California Health Data Organization and would request the organization to collect data from payers, as specified, and establish an all-payer claims database. The bill would require certain private payers to submit claims data to the organization on utilization, payment, and cost sharing for services delivered to beneficiaries. The bill would request the organization to establish working groups consisting of specified representatives to coordinate with existing stakeholder processes related to federal and state price transparency and payment reform and would request the organization to consider the recommendations of those working groups, as specified. The bill would request the organization to organize the data collected pursuant to the bill's provisions and to design and maintain an Internet Web site that allows consumers to compare the prices paid by payers for procedures, as specified. The bill would prohibit data made available to the public from containing sufficient information to identify an individual and would require the organization to keep confidential any proprietary information it obtains. The bill would request the University of California to seek available funding from the federal government and other private sources to cover the costs associated with these provisions and would authorize the organization to charge a fee to each person or entity requesting access to data stored in the database it creates. 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.
Existing law, known as the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, contains provisions relating to employer-employee relations between the state and the employees of state institutions of higher education, including the University of California and the California State University, as well as the Hastings College of the Law. These provisions assign major responsibilities for implementation to the Public Employment Relations Board. Under the act, an "employee" or "higher education employee" is defined as any employee of the Regents of the University of California, the Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, or the Trustees of the California State University. The act authorizes the board to find that student employees whose employment is contingent on their status as students are employees only if the services they provide are unrelated to their educational objectives, or that those educational objectives are subordinate to the services they perform and that coverage under this act would further the purposes of the act. This bill would instead provide that student employees whose employment is contingent upon their status as students are employees and higher education employees for purposes of the act. The act excludes from the "scope of representation," for purposes of the University of California only, among other things, conditions for the award of certificates and degrees to students. This bill would specify that the requirements for students to achieve satisfactory progress toward their degrees is also outside of the scope of representation.
Existing law authorizes a disabled person or disabled veteran displaying a special license plate or a distinguishing placard, as issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles or foreign jurisdiction, to park for unlimited periods in specified zones, including, but not limited to, any parking zone that is restricted to the length of time parking is permitted, and to park in metered spaces without paying parking meter fees. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to protect the needs of disabled persons and veterans and would prohibit a city or county from adopting an ordinance or passing a resolution that limits in any way the authority for a disabled person or disabled veteran to park a vehicle pursuant to these provisions.
The Permit Streamlining Act within the Planning and Zoning Law requires the lead agency that has the principal responsibility for approving a development project, as defined, to approve or disapprove the project within a specified number of days from the date of certification of an environmental impact report, the date of the adoption of a negative declaration, or the determination by the lead agency that the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act. This bill in addition, would require a city, county, or city and county, including a charter city, prior to approving or disapproving a proposed development project that would permit the construction of a superstore retailer, or where a superstore would be the recipient of over $100,000 in financial assistance, to cause an economic impact report to be prepared, as specified, to be paid for by the project applicant, and that includes specified assessments and projections, including, among other things, an assessment of the effect that the proposed superstore will have on designated economic assistance areas, and an assessment of the effect that the proposed superstore will have on retail operations and employment in the same market area. The bill would also require the governing body to provide an opportunity for public comment on the economic impact report. The bill would define certain terms for these purposes. By increasing the duties of local public officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would additionally find and declare that these provisions are an issue of statewide concern and not a municipal affair. 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 provides that, except as authorized by law, every person under the age of 18 who possesses not more than 28.5 grams of marijuana, other than concentrated cannabis, upon the grounds of or within any school that provides instruction in kindergarten or any of grades 1 through 12 during the hours the school is open for classes or school-related programs is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon a finding that a first offense has been committed, subject to a fine of not more than $250, or, upon a finding that a 2nd or subsequent offense has been committed, subject to a fine of not more than $500 or commitment to a juvenile facility, as specified, or both. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to these provisions.
The Mobilehome Residency Law governs the terms and conditions of residency in mobilehome parks, and exempts a rental agreement that satisfies specified criteria from any ordinance, rule, regulation, or initiative measure adopted by a local governmental entity that establishes a maximum amount a landlord may charge a tenant for rent. This bill would authorize the legislative body of a local governmental entity to publish a notice of preparation of and prepare a regional mobilehome park rent survey, as defined, and to consider, approve, or approve with changes the survey at a public hearing, as specified. Within 12 months following the approval of the survey, the bill would authorize the legislative body to limit the base rent amount for a mobilehome rental agreement meeting certain conditions. The bill would also authorize interested persons to seek judicial review of the approved survey or limited base rent amount.