This measure would recognize and honor the men and women of California agriculture for their dedication and productivity by observing March 15, 2016, as National Agriculture Day, and designating March 16, 2016, as California Agriculture Day.
This measure would dedicate the interchange at State Highway Route 2 and Interstate 5 in Los Angeles County as the Caltrans District 7 Fallen Workers Memorial Interchange. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering the cost, to erect those signs.
The Moore-Brown-Roberti Family Rights Act makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 12 workweeks of unpaid protected leave during any 12-month period (1) to bond with a child who was born to, adopted by, or placed for foster care with, the employee, (2) to care for the employee's parent, spouse, or child who has a serious health condition, as defined, or (3) because the employee is suffering from a serious health condition rendering him or her unable to perform the functions of the job. The act provides that if the same employer employs both parents entitled to leave under the act, the employer is not required to grant leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care of a child that would allow the parents family care and medical leave totaling more than the amount specified in the act. The act defines "child" to mean a biological, adopted, or foster child, a stepchild, a legal ward, or a child of a person standing in loco parentis who is either under 18 years of age or an adult dependent child. The act defines "family care and medical leave" to mean, among other things, leave for reason of the serious health condition of a child, and leave to care for a parent or a spouse who has a serious health condition. The act defines "parent" to mean a biological, foster, or adoptive parent, a stepparent, a legal guardian, or other person who stood in loco parentis to the employee when the employee was a child. This bill would make various changes to the definitions described above, thereby expanding the persons and purposes for which leave is required to be provided under the act. The bill would redefine the term "child" to include a biological, adopted, or foster son or daughter, a stepchild, a legal ward, a son or daughter of a domestic partner, or a person to whom the employee stands in loco parentis, and would remove the restriction on age or dependent status. The bill would expand the definition of leave with regard to caring for persons with a serious health condition to also include leave to care for a grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or domestic partner who has a serious health condition. The bill would include a parent-in-law in the definition of "parent."
(1) Existing law establishes the Office of Health Equity within the State Department of Public Health for the purposes of aligning state resources, decisionmaking, and programs to accomplish various goals relating to health, and requires the office to perform various duties specifically relating to vulnerable communities, as defined. Existing law requires the office to establish a comprehensive, cross-sectoral strategic plan to eliminate health and mental health disparities and inequities and to seek input from the public on the plan through an inclusive public stakeholder process. This bill would include individuals who have experienced trauma related to genocide in the definition of vulnerable communities and would require representatives from vulnerable communities to be represented in the public stakeholder process for developing the office's plan to eliminate health and mental health disparities. (2) Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to provide, to the extent resources are available, technical assistance, through its own staff, or by contract, to county mental health programs and other local mental health agencies in the areas of program operations, research, evaluation, demonstration, or quality assurance projects. Existing law requires the department, to this end, to utilize a meaningful decisionmaking process that includes, among others, stakeholders as determined by the department. This bill would require the department to include specified stakeholders from vulnerable communities in this process, including diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, and LGBTQQ communities, communities that experience trauma related to genocide, women's health advocates, mental health advocates, health and mental health providers, community-based organizations and advocates, academic institutions, local public health departments, local government entities, and low-income and vulnerable consumers.
The Budget Act of 2015 appropriated specified amounts for support of the Department of Toxic Substances Control. This bill would require the Director of Finance to transfer up to $176,600,000 as a loan from the General Fund to the Toxic Substances Control Account for the Department of Toxic Substances Control to use for activities related to the lead contamination in the communities surrounding the Exide Technologies facility in the City of Vernon. This bill would require the department to repay these funds, as specified, and would authorize the Director of Finance to forgive any unpaid balance of the loan under specified circumstances. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.
Existing law establishes the Toxic Substances Control Account in the General Fund and authorizes moneys in the account, upon appropriation, to be used for, among other purposes, the payment of all costs of removal and remedial action incurred by the state in response to a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance, as specified. This bill would appropriate $176,600,000 from the account to the Department of Toxic Substances Control for activities related to the cleanup and investigation of lead-contaminated properties in the communities surrounding the Exide Technologies facility in the City of Vernon, including job training activities, and actions taken to pursue all available remedies against potentially responsible parties. The bill would require the department to engage the impacted community, as specified; develop a Job and Development Training Program, as specified; and post on its Internet Web site specified information. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
This measure would declare the month of April 2016 as the Month of the Military Child.
