Asm. Joe Patterson

Existing law, the California Affordable Drug Manufacturing Act of 2020, requires the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHSA) or its departments to enter into partnerships, in consultation with other state departments as necessary, to increase competition, lower prices, and address shortages in the market for generic prescription drugs, to reduce the cost of prescription drugs for public and private purchasers, taxpayers, and consumers, and to increase patient access to affordable drugs. For purposes of implementing these provisions, existing law authorizes CHHSA and its departments, including the Department of Health Care Access and Information, to enter into exclusive or nonexclusive contracts on a bid or negotiated bases. Existing law exempts these contracts entered into by CHHSA and its departments from the review or approval of any division of the Department of General Services as well as from provisions pertaining to bidding and awarding of state contracts. This bill would prohibit a state agency from awarding a contract, pursuant to the above provisions, on a noncompetitive basis for the purchase or acquisition of an opioid antagonist, as defined, with a contractor that has entered into a multistate settlement agreement for its role in contributing to the opioid epidemic. The bill would make a contract void and unenforceable for a violation of this provision and apply those provisions retroactively to contracts entered into before January 1, 2026.

The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. This bill would allow a credit against those taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2030, to a qualified taxpayer, as defined, in an amount equal to 40% of the taxpayer's qualified expenses, as defined, not to exceed $400 per taxable year, or $2,000 cumulatively. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax credit to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. The bill would also include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, as defined. Existing law establishes within the commission an ethics officer within the legal division of the commission who is designated by the general counsel of the commission. Existing law requires the ethics officer to institute a program of enhanced ethics training for all commissioners and employees of the commission and to provide confidential advice to commissioners and employees of the commission relative to the commission's Conflict of Interest Code, Statement of Incompatible Activities, and limitations on ex parte communications. This bill would require the commission, on or before July 1, 2026, to establish an online portal or email address to report ethics concerns to the commission. This bill would prohibit a staff member who is employed by the commission from working on a proceeding at the commission for which the staff member, before their employment by the commission, was listed on a formal filing for the proceeding or sponsored testimony within the proceeding.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, under fee-for-service or managed care delivery systems. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing federal law, in accordance with third-party liability rules, Medicaid is generally the payer of last resort if a beneficiary has another source of health care coverage in addition to Medicaid coverage. Under this bill, in the case of a Medi-Cal managed care plan enrollee who also has other health care coverage and for whom the Medi-Cal program is a payer of last resort, the department would be required to ensure that a provider that is not contracted with the plan and that is billing the plan for Medi-Cal allowable costs not paid by the other health care coverage does not face administrative requirements significantly in excess of the administrative requirements for billing those same costs to the Medi-Cal fee-for-service delivery system. Under the bill, in the case of an enrollee who meets those coverage criteria, except as specified, a Medi-Cal fee-for-service provider would not be required to contract as an in-network provider with the Medi-Cal managed care plan in order to bill the plan for Medi-Cal allowable costs for covered health care services. The bill would authorize a Medi-Cal managed care plan to require a letter of agreement, or a similar agreement, under either of the following circumstances: (1) if a covered service requires prior authorization, or if a service is not covered by the other health care coverage but is a covered service under the plan, as specified, or (2) if an enrollee requires a covered service and meets the requirements for continuity of care or the completion of covered services through a Medi-Cal managed care plan pursuant to specified provisions under existing law regarding services by a terminated or nonparticipating provider. The bill would require the department to solicit input from specified stakeholders regarding the coordination of payment for services between Medi-Cal enrollees' other commercial health care coverage and their Medi-Cal managed care plans, with a specific emphasis on Medi-Cal recipients receiving regional center services. The bill would require the department to include an item on the agenda of the first meeting of the Medi-Cal Managed Care Advisory Committee of 2026 to discuss this topic and, within 6 months of the advisory committee meeting, take the actions that it deems necessary to provide clarification regarding the conditions for billing plans to providers that render services to enrollees who also have other health care coverage. The bill would specify the intent of the Legislature that the department offer educational resources to an enrollee who needs assistance with understanding continuity of care and coordinating Medi-Cal and their other health care coverage when requested by the enrollee. The bill would require the department, annually from 2026 through 2029, to update the legislative health committees on the effectiveness of implementing these provisions. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions through plan letters or similar instructions. The bill would condition implementation of these provisions on receipt of any necessary federal approvals and the availability of federal financial participation.

Existing law establishes the University of California, administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in the state. The Donahoe Higher Education Act prohibits the campuses of those segments from charging mandatory systemwide tuition or fees to specified students who apply for a waiver, including a child of any veteran of the United States military who has a service-connected disability, has been killed in service, or has died of a service-connected disability, an undergraduate student who is a recipient of a Medal of Honor, or an undergraduate student who is a child of a recipient of a Medal of Honor and who is no more than 27 years old, if certain requirements are satisfied. This bill would additionally prohibit the campuses of the 3 segments of public postsecondary education from charging those students any mandatory campus-based fees, as provided. To the extent the bill would add additional duties on community college districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would apply to the campuses of the University of California only to the extent that the regents, by appropriate resolution, make it apply. 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.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA requires the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, formerly named the Office of Planning and Research, to prepare and develop, and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt, guidelines for the implementation of CEQA. The CEQA guidelines require a lead agency, immediately after deciding that an environmental impact report is required for a project, to send a notice of preparation stating that an environmental impact report will be prepared to the office and each responsible and trustee agency, as specified. This bill would require the office to conduct a study to, among other things, evaluate how locked-in guidelines could impact regulatory certainty for future project proponents, lead agencies, and stakeholders and assess how locked-in guidelines could affect the speed and efficiency of the environmental review process pursuant to CEQA. The bill would define "locked-in guidelines" as CEQA guidelines, that are in effect at the time of the first issuance of the notice of preparation for a project, that apply to the project throughout the course of the environmental review process pursuant to CEQA, regardless of changes in the guidelines that occur after the first issuance of the notice of preparation. The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2027, the office to submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on the study. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2028.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires each electrical corporation and gas corporation to disclose on the billing statement of a residential customer certain information, including itemized components in the bill to identify state and local taxes, identification of delivery, generation, public purpose, and other charges, and the contact information for the commission's Consumer Affairs Branch. This bill would require the commission, on or before June 1, 2026, to evaluate all customer billing and noticing requirements existing on January 1, 2026, that apply to gas or electric utilities, and to identify and consider potential avenues to consolidate and enhance billing transparency, including avenues that clearly show the source and value of each charge within each customer's bill, as specified, and use the most cost-effective communications channels, as provided. The bill would authorize the commission to seek and consider input from utilities and other relevant stakeholders to inform its evaluation and identification and consideration of potential avenues to consolidate notices and enhance billing transparency.

The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines gross income as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025, and before January 1, 2030, would provide an exclusion from gross income for amounts received from a settlement entity, as defined, by a qualified taxpayer, as defined, to replace property that is located in a city or county in this state and that was damaged or destroyed by a disaster or accidental or human-caused event for which a state of emergency or local emergency, as defined, was proclaimed. Existing law requires a bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the tax imposed by that law. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax credit to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would allow credits against the tax imposed by the Personal Income Tax Law for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, to a qualified taxpayer for qualified costs relating to qualified home hardening, as defined, and for qualified costs relating to qualified vegetation management, as defined, in specified amounts, not to exceed an aggregate amount of $50,000,000 per taxable year. This bill would require a qualified taxpayer to reserve a credit for qualified costs relating to qualified home hardening or qualified vegetation management to be eligible for the above-described credits and provide all necessary information for this purpose, as specified. This bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new income tax credit and would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to prepare a written report regarding the credits, as provided. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law requires that each death be registered with the local registrar of births and deaths in the district in which the death was officially pronounced or the body was found. Existing law designates persons responsible for completing a certificate of death and the required contents of the certificate. Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to implement an internet-based electronic death registration system for the creation, storage, and transfer of death registration information. Existing law authorizes the State Registrar to incorporate computer or telephone facsimile technology, or both, in the statewide program of death registration. This bill would require the State Registrar to use updated technology, including computer and mobile telephone applications, to upgrade the system. The bill would also require that specified individuals, including a physician, medical examiner, and local registrar, have the ability to access the electronic death registration system in addition to the individuals currently responsible for completing a certificate of death.