Existing law establishes in state government the Natural Resources Agency, consisting of various departments, including the Department of Parks and Recreation, the California Coastal Commission, and the State Coastal Conservancy. Existing law, the State Urban Parks and Healthy Communities Act, requires the Director of Parks and Recreation to develop a competitive grant program to assist state parks, specified state conservancies, urbanized and heavily urbanized local agencies, and community-based organizations within those jurisdictions to provide outdoor educational opportunities to children. This bill would require the Natural Resources Agency to develop and implement a community access program focused on engagement programs, technical assistance, or facilities that maximize safe and equitable physical admittance, especially for low-income and disadvantaged communities, to natural or cultural resources, community education programs, or recreational amenities. The bill would authorize the agency, in consultation with certain state entities, to develop a grant program within a state department for innovative transportation projects that provide disadvantaged and low-income youth with access to outdoor experiences, as specified.
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Existing law prohibits an employer from discriminating against or discharging an employee for specified reasons, including that the employee is a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking and takes time off work to obtain judicial or medical relief, as provided. Existing law further provides that an employee who is discharged, threatened with discharge, or otherwise discriminated against, as provided, is entitled to reinstatement and reimbursement for lost wages and work benefits caused by the acts of the employer as well as appropriate equitable relief. Existing law authorizes an aggrieved employee to file a complaint with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement of the Department of Industrial Relations, which is created by existing law within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Existing law, the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004, authorizes an aggrieved employee on behalf of that employee and other current or former employees to bring a civil action to recover specified civil penalties, which would otherwise be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, for the violation of certain provisions affecting employees. The act prescribes specified civil penalties for violations brought under these provisions. This bill, as an alternative to filing a complaint with the division, would authorize an employee aggrieved under the provisions prohibiting specified types of discrimination described above to bring a private civil action against the employee's employer and would not require that employee to pursue any other remedy prior to bringing that action. This bill would also make nonsubstantive changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 230 of the Labor Code proposed by AB 171 to be operative only if this bill and AB 171 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A and B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement Awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards, the Cal Grant C Awards, and the Cal Grant T Awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs for participating students attending qualifying institutions. Existing law specifies the amounts of the maximum Cal Grant A and B awards for students attending private nonprofit postsecondary institutions of higher education and private for-profit postsecondary educational institutions that are regionally accredited, as specified. Beginning with the 2020–21 award year, the maximum tuition award is either $9,084 or $8,056, depending upon whether the number of new unduplicated transfer students accepted by private nonprofit postsecondary educational institutions who have been given associate degree for transfer commitments, as defined, in the prior award year meet and exceed specified targets. This bill would change, in accordance with a prescribed formula, the maximum Cal Grant award for tuition for a new recipient attending an independent institution of higher education, commencing with the 2020–21 award year. This bill would provide that the award amount for a student attending an independent institution of higher education may be determined in the annual Budget Act if the independent institutions of higher education, as a group, do not accept the specified number of transfer students who have been given associate degree for transfer commitments.
Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to, among other duties, establish standards for the issuance and renewal of credentials, certificates, and permits. Existing law requires the commission to award a credential to applicants to teach adult education classes. Existing law establishes the minimum requirements for the 3-year preliminary designated subjects adult education teaching credential and the 5-year clear designated subjects adult education teaching credential, as provided. This bill would require the commission to convene a workgroup to study issues relating to adult education teacher credentialing, as specified. The bill would require the workgroup to submit a report on its findings and recommendations to the Legislature.
This measure would recognize September 2020 as Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month and encourage the Legislature to appropriate funds for research, treatment, and monitoring of sickle cell disease, and for related education and outreach.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income persons receive health care benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law establishes a schedule of benefits under the Medi-Cal program and provides for various services, including various behavioral and mental health services. Existing law, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) , an initiative measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 at the November 2, 2004, statewide general election, establishes the continuously appropriated Mental Health Services Fund to fund various county mental health programs. The act also requires funds to be reserved for the costs of the State Department of Health Care Services, the California Behavioral Health Planning Council, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) , the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, the State Department of Public Health, and any other state agency to implement all duties pursuant to certain programs provided for by the act, subject to appropriation in the annual Budget Act. The act provides that it may be amended by the Legislature by a 23 vote of each house as long as the amendment is consistent with, and furthers the intent of, the act, and that the Legislature may also clarify procedures and terms of the act by majority vote. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to establish, no later than July 1, 2020, a statewide peer support specialist certification program, as a part of the state's comprehensive mental health and substance use disorder delivery system and the Medi-Cal program. The certification program's components would include, among others, defining responsibilities, practice guidelines, and supervision standards, determining curriculum and core competencies, specifying training and continuing education requirements, establishing a code of ethics, and determining a certification revocation process. The bill would require an applicant for the certification as a peer support specialist to meet specified requirements, including successful completion of the curriculum and training requirements. This bill would require the department to consult with OSHPD and other stakeholders in implementing the certification program, including requiring quarterly stakeholder meetings. The bill would authorize the department to use funding provided through the MHSA, upon appropriation, to develop and administer the certification program, and would authorize the use of these MHSA funds to serve as the state's share of funding to claim federal financial participation under the Medicaid program. This bill would authorize the department to establish a certification fee schedule and to require remittance of fees as contained in the schedule, for the purpose of supporting the department's activities associated with the ongoing administration of the certification program. This bill would require the department to amend the Medicaid state plan to include a certified peer support specialist as a provider type for purposes of the Medi-Cal program and to include peer support specialist services as a distinct service type for purposes of the Medi-Cal program. The bill would require Medi-Cal reimbursement for peer support specialist services to be implemented only if, and to the extent that, federal financial participation is available and the department obtains all necessary federal approvals. The bill also would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific its provisions by means of informal notices, plan letters, plan or provider bulletins, or similar instructions, without taking regulatory action, until regulations are adopted. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations by July 1, 2022, and, commencing July 1, 2020, would require the department to provide semiannual status reports to the Legislature until regulations have been adopted. This bill would declare that it clarifies terms and procedures under the Mental Health Services Act.
Existing law generally requires the licensure and regulation of various health care facilities, including, among others, a hospice facility. The Compassionate Use Act of 1996, an initiative measure enacted by the approval of Proposition 215 at the November 5, 1996, statewide general election, prohibits specified criminal penalties from being imposed on a patient or a patient's primary caregiver who possesses or cultivates cannabis for the personal medical purposes of the patient upon the written or oral recommendation or approval of a physician. Existing law, known as the Medical Marijuana Program, requires counties to administer an identification card program for qualified patients and provides immunity from arrest to qualified patients with a valid identification card or designated primary caregivers, within prescribed limits. This bill, the Compassionate Access to Medical Cannabis Act or Ryan's Law, would prohibit specified types of health care facilities from prohibiting or interfering with a terminally ill patient's use of medical cannabis within the health care facility, subject to certain restrictions. The bill would require a patient to provide the health care facility with a copy of their medical marijuana card or written documentation that the use of medical cannabis is recommended by a physician. The bill would authorize a health care facility to reasonably restrict the manner in which a patient stores and uses medical cannabis to ensure the safety of other patients, guests, and employees of the health care facility, compliance with other state laws, and the safe operations of the health care facility. The bill would prohibit the department that licenses the health care facility from enforcing these provisions, and compliance with the bill would not be a condition for obtaining, retaining, or renewing a license as a health care facility. The bill would authorize a health care facility to suspend compliance with these provisions if a regulatory agency, the United States Department of Justice, or the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services takes specified actions, including initiating an enforcement action against a health care facility related to the facility's compliance with a state-regulated medical marijuana program.
Existing property tax law requires the county auditor, in each fiscal year, to allocate property tax revenue to local jurisdictions in accordance with specified formulas and procedures, subject to certain modifications. Existing law requires an annual reallocation of property tax revenue from local agencies in each county to the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF) in that county for allocation to specified educational entities. Existing law authorizes certain local agencies to form an enhanced infrastructure financing district, affordable housing authority, transit village development district, or community revitalization and investment authority for purposes of, among other things, infrastructure, affordable housing, and economic revitalization. This bill would establish in state government the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Program, which would be administered by the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Committee. The bill would authorize a city, county, city and county, joint powers agency, enhanced infrastructure financing district, affordable housing authority, community revitalization and investment authority, transit village development district, or a combination of those entities, to apply to the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Committee to participate in the program and would authorize the committee to approve or deny plans for projects meeting specific criteria. The bill would also authorize certain local agencies to establish an affordable housing and community development investment agency and authorize an agency to apply for funding under the program and issue bonds, as provided, to carry out a project under the program. The bill would require the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Committee to adopt guidelines for plans. Subject to the Legislature enacting a budget bill for the applicable fiscal year that specifies the amount for the committee to allocate pursuant to the program, the bill would require the committee to approve no more than $200,000,000 per year from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2026, and $250,000,000 per year from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2030, in transfers from a county's ERAF for applicants for plans approved pursuant to this program. This bill would provide that eligible projects include, among other things, the predevelopment, development, acquisition, rehabilitation, and preservation of workforce and affordable housing, certain transit-oriented development, and projects promoting strong neighborhoods. The bill would require the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Committee, upon approval of a plan and subject to specified conditions, to issue an order directing the county auditor to transfer an amount of ad valorem property tax revenue that is equal to the affordable housing and community development investment amount approved by the committee, except as provided, from the county's ERAF. The bill would require the county auditor to either deposit that amount into the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Fund, which this bill would create in the treasury of each county, or, if the applicant is a specified type of authority or special district to transfer to the city or county that created the authority or district an amount of property tax revenue equal to the amount approved by the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Committee for that authority or district. The bill would require the city or county that created the district to, upon receipt, transfer those funds to the authority or district in an amount equal to the affordable housing and community development investment amount for that authority or district. By imposing additional duties on local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize applicants to use approved amounts to incur debt or issue bonds or other financing to support an approved project. The bill also would require each applicant that has received funding to submit annual reports, as specified, and would require the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Committee to provide a report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, if it approves funding under the program, that includes certain project information. Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution sets forth a formula for computing the minimum amount of revenues that the state is required to appropriate for the support of school districts and community college districts for each fiscal year. This bill would require the Director of Finance to adjust the percentage of General Fund revenues appropriated for school districts and community college districts for these purposes in a manner that ensures that the transfers from a county's ERAF pursuant to the Affordable Housing and Community Development Investment Program have no net fiscal impact upon the total amount of the General Fund revenue and local property tax revenue allocated to school districts and community college districts pursuant to Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, as specified. 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.
This measure would urge specified state departments and the Attorney General to use their authority to ensure that health care service plans and health insurers subject to their authority comply with the federal Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.