Asm. Freddie Rodriguez

Existing law, until January 1, 2023, establishes a disability retirement presumption that is applicable to the members of various public employee retirement systems who are employed in certain firefighter, public safety officer, and health care job classifications, among others, who test positive for COVID-19, as specified. Existing law requires, if the member retires for disability on the basis, in whole or in part, of a COVID-19-related illness, that it be presumed that the disability arose out of, or in the course of, the member's employment, unless rebutted. This bill would extend the operation of the provisions described above until January 1, 2024.

(1) Existing law, the Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act, requires every local public agency, as defined, to have an emergency communication system and requires the digits "911" to be the primary emergency telephone number within the system. Existing law specifies provisions governing the operation and financing of community mental health services for the mentally disordered in every county through locally administered and locally controlled community mental health programs. Existing law specifies that county mental health services should be organized to provide immediate response to individuals in precrisis and crisis and to members of the individual's support system on a 24-hour, 7-day-per-week basis and authorizes provision of crisis services offsite as mobile services. Existing federal law, the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, designates the 3-digit telephone number "988" as the universal number within the United States for the purpose of the national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system operating through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline maintained by the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Abuse and the Veterans Crisis Line maintained by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. This bill would enact the Miles Hall Lifeline and Suicide Prevention Act. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to verify, no later than July 16, 2022, that technology that allows for transfers between 988 centers as well as between 988 centers and 911 public safety answering points, is available to 988 centers and 911 public safety answering points throughout the state. The bill would require, no later than 90 days after passage of the act, the office to appoint a 988 system director, among other things. The bill would require, no later than July 1, 2024, the office to verify interoperability between and across 911 and 988. The bill would require the office to consult with specified entities on any technology requirements for 988 centers. This bill would require the California Health and Human Services Agency to create, no later than December 31, 2023, a set of recommendations to support a 5-year implementation plan for a comprehensive 988 system. The bill would require that agency to convene a state 988 advisory group, as described, for purposes of advising the agency on the set of recommendations. The bill would require the agency to report annually, on or before December 31, beginning December 31, 2024, and until December 31, 2029, to the Legislature on the status of 988 implementation in the state, as described. The Administrative Procedure Act generally governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. The bill would provide that regulations and other similar instruments made pursuant to these provisions by the Office of Emergency Services and the California Health and Human Services Agency are not subject to the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. (2) Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan contract or disability insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, to provide coverage for medically necessary treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, as defined, under the same terms and conditions applied to other medical conditions. This bill would require health care service plans and insurers to cover medically necessary treatment of a mental health or substance use disorder, including behavioral health crisis services, provided by a 988 center or mobile crisis team, regardless of whether the service is provided by an in-network or out-of-network provider, at the in-network cost-sharing amount, as defined. By creating a new crime under the Knox-Keene Act, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law, the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharges Act, generally imposes a surcharge on each access line for each month or part thereof for which a service user subscribes with a service supplier, at an amount no greater than $0.80, based on the Office of Emergency Services' estimate of the number of access lines to which the surcharge will be applied per month for a calendar year period that it estimates, pursuant to a specified formula, will produce sufficient revenue to fund the current fiscal year's 911 costs. Existing law imposes a surcharge on the purchase of prepaid mobile telephony services at the time of each retail transaction in this state, at the rate equal to the monthly surcharge amount per access line, to be paid by prepaid consumers and collected by sellers, as defined. Existing law exempts certain lines from the surcharge, including lines supplying lifeline service. Existing law requires the surcharge to be remitted to, and administered by, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, in accordance with specified provisions. Existing law makes certain violations of the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act a crime. Existing law requires amounts to be paid to the state pursuant to the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act to be deposited into the State Emergency Telephone Number Account and that the amounts deposited, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be spent solely for specified purposes, including payment for the installation of, and ongoing expenses for, a basic system. This bill would create a separate surcharge, beginning January 1, 2023, on each access line for each month or part thereof for which a service user subscribes with a service supplier. The bill would set the 988 surcharge for the 2023 and 2024 calendar years at $0.08 per access line per month and, for years beginning January 1, 2025, at an amount based on a specified formula, but no greater than $0.30 per access line per month. This bill would make applicable relevant provisions of the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act to the 988 surcharge, as provided, including existing surcharge exemptions. The bill would authorize the 911 and 988 surcharges to be combined into a single-line item, as described. The bill would provide for specified costs to be paid by the fees prior to distribution to the Office of Emergency Services. The bill would make conforming changes in regard to the 988 surcharge. This bill would create the 988 State Suicide and Behavioral Health Crisis Services Fund and would require the fees to be deposited along with other specified moneys into the fund. The bill would provide that the funds be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified purposes and in accordance with specified priorities. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to require an entity seeking moneys available through the fund to annually file an expenditure and outcomes report containing specified information. (4) This bill would appropriate $300,000 from the General Fund to the 988 State Suicide and Behavioral Health Crisis Services Fund for expenditure by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration in the 2022–23 fiscal year for purposes of implementing the amendments to the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act. (5) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 41100 of the Revenue and Taxation Code proposed by SB 1496 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1496 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (6) By expanding the scope of crimes imposed by the Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Act, 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. (7) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law authorizes the governing boards of 2 or more school districts to enter into an agreement, for a term not to exceed 5 school years, for the interdistrict attendance of pupils who are residents of the school districts. Existing law also authorizes the governing board of a school district to accept pupils from other school districts by adopting a resolution to become a school district of choice, as defined, in accordance with specified procedural requirements and limitations. This bill would authorize the governing board of a school district, a county board of education, or the governing body of a charter school to enter into an agreement with one or more local educational agencies to offer the same or similar corresponding individual courses and coursework to pupils from other local educational agencies who have been impacted by disruptions, cancellations, or teacher shortages in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics classes, or dual language immersion programs, as provided. The bill would require a local educational agency subject to the agreement to accept pupils through an unbiased process that prohibits an inquiry into, or evaluation or consideration of, specified pupil characteristics, as provided, to hold random drawings to determine approval for study when the number of pupils seeking a classroom opportunity exceeds the available number of seats in a classroom, as provided, and to publicly post certain information related to these opportunities. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, to evaluate the success of these local educational agency collaborations, as provided. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2029, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2030.

Under the California Fire Service Training and Education Program Act, the State Fire Marshal is authorized to, among other things, establish courses of study and curriculum relating to fire service training, as provided. Existing law directs the State Fire Marshal to establish additional training standards that include criteria for curriculum content recommended by the Emergency Response Training Advisory Committee involving first responders to terrorism incidents, as provided. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to contract with the California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Program for the development of that curriculum content criteria. Existing law authorizes every paid and volunteer firefighter assigned to field duties in a state or local fire department or fire protection or firefighting agency to receive the training. Existing law makes these requirements contingent upon the receipt of federal funds, as provided. Existing law, the Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act, governs local emergency medical services (EMS) systems. The act establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority, which is responsible for the coordination and integration of EMS systems. The act authorizes each county to develop an emergency medical services program and requires each county developing a program to designate a local EMS agency consisting of the county health department, an agency established and operated by the county, an entity with which the county contracts for the purposes of local emergency medical services administration, or a joint powers agency, as specified. This bill would require the State Fire Marshal to establish additional training standards that include the criteria for curriculum content recommended by the Statewide Training and Education Advisory Committee involving peer-to-peer suicide prevention programming. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal to coordinate with the California Firefighter Joint Apprenticeship Program to develop and deliver the curriculum content criteria. The bill would authorize all paid personnel assigned to field duties in a state or local fire department or fire protection or firefighting agency to receive the peer-to-peer suicide prevention training, as provided. This bill would require the State Fire Marshal to make the curriculum content criteria available to the authority. The bill would make the implementation of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute. This bill would require the authority to distribute to each local EMS agency the curriculum content criteria for peer-to-peer suicide prevention programming and would require each local EMS agency to make the curriculum content criteria available to each emergency medical services employer in the local EMS agency's jurisdiction. The bill would authorize every paid emergency medical services responder to receive appropriate training consistent with the curriculum content criteria. To the extent that this bill would impose a new duty on the local EMS agencies, 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, 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 the State Department of Public Health to implement various programs throughout the state relating to public health, including licensing and regulating health facilities, control of infectious diseases, and implementing programs relating to chronic health issues. Existing law authorizes the department to implement the required programs through, or with the assistance of, local health departments. Existing law requires the department, after consultation with and approval by the California Conference of Local Health Officers, to establish standards of education and experience for professional and technical personnel employed in local health departments and for the organization and operation of the local health departments. This bill would require the department to conduct an evaluation of the adequacy of the local health department infrastructure and to make recommendations for future staffing, workforce needs, and resources, in order to accurately and adequately fund local public health. The bill would authorize the department to contract with an appropriate and qualified entity to conduct the evaluation. The bill would exempt the department from specific provisions relating to public contracting with regard to this requirement. The bill would require the department to report the findings and recommendations of the evaluation to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before July 1, 2025. The bill would also require the department to convene an advisory group, composed of representatives from public, private, and tribal entities, as specified, to provide input on the selection of the entity that would conduct the evaluation. The bill would further require the advisory group to provide technical assistance and subject matter expertise to the selected entity. The bill would make its provisions contingent on sufficient funding and repeal its provisions on January 1, 2027.

The Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983 establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Health Care Access and Information, a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and after March 7, 1973. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor. The act requires an owner of a general acute care inpatient hospital, no later than January 1, 2030, to either demolish, replace, or change to nonacute care use all hospital buildings not in substantial compliance with the regulations and standards developed pursuant to the act, or seismically retrofit all acute care inpatient hospital buildings so that they are in substantial compliance with those regulations and standards. Existing law requires, within 60 days following the department's approval of a report relating to a general acute care hospital owner's plan to comply with those regulations and standards, a general acute hospital building owner to include all pertinent information regarding the building's expected earthquake performance in emergency training, response, and recovery plans, and in capital outlay plans. This bill would instead require general acute hospital building owners, commencing July 1, 2023, to take those actions annually until each of the hospital buildings owned by that owner is compliant with those regulations and standards. Existing law required the owner of an acute care inpatient hospital whose building does not substantially comply with seismic safety regulations or standards to, before January 1, 2020, submit to the department an attestation that the board of directors of that hospital is aware that the hospital building is required to meet the January 1, 2030, deadline for substantial compliance with those regulations and standards. This bill would also require, on or before January 1, 2024, and annually thereafter, the hospital owner to provide an annual status update on the Structural Performance Category ratings of the buildings and the services provided in each hospital building on the hospital campus, until compliance, to specified entities, including the department, the county board of supervisors, and the local office of emergency services or the equivalent agency. The bill would make conforming changes to related provisions. The bill would also impose various other requirements on the hospital owners and the department relating to notifying patients and the public that the hospital is not in compliance with seismic safety regulations and standards. The bill would declare the provisions of the bill to be severable. By imposing new requirements on hospital owners, the violation of which would be a misdemeanor, 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 Labor Commissioner to enforce and administer a program to register and supervise foreign labor contractors who perform foreign labor contracting activities to recruit or solicit foreign workers. Existing law requires foreign labor contractors to register under the program, as prescribed, and imposes specific requirements relating to recruitment or solicitation for employment and relating to work contracts. Existing law authorizes the commissioner to adopt regulations or policies and procedures to implement these provisions. A violation of these provisions is a crime. Existing law makes these provisions applicable only to nonagricultural workers, and exempts persons licensed as farm labor contractors, specified persons exempt from farm labor contractor licensing requirements, and employers of agricultural workers. This bill would delete those limitations. By expanding the application of the foreign labor contractor registration provisions, the bill would expand an existing crime, thereby imposing 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.

Under existing law, everyone is generally responsible, not only for the result of their willful acts, but also for an injury occasioned to another by their want of ordinary care or skill in the management of their property or person. Existing law exempts from civil liability any person who, in good faith and not for compensation, renders emergency medical or nonmedical care or assistance at the scene of an emergency other than an act or omission constituting gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct. Existing law exempts public or private organizations that sponsor, authorize, support, finance, or supervise the training of people, or certifies those people in emergency medical services, from liability for civil damages alleged to result from those training programs. This bill would define "trauma kit" to mean a first aid response kit that contains specified items, including, among other things, a tourniquet. The bill would allow medical materials and equipment and any additional items that are approved by the medical director of the local emergency medical services agency to be included as supplements in addition to the specified items that are required to be included in a trauma kit if they adequately treat a traumatic injury and can be stored in a readily available kit. The bill would require a person or entity that supplies a trauma kit to provide the person or entity that acquires the trauma kit with all information governing the use and maintenance of the trauma kit. The bill would apply the provisions governing civil liability described above to a lay rescuer or person who renders emergency care or treatment by the use of a trauma kit at the scene of an emergency. Existing law requires certain occupied structures that are not owned or operated by any local government entity and are constructed on or after January 1, 2017, to have an automated external defibrillator on the premises. This bill would require the person or entity responsible for managing the building, facility, and tenants of the above-referenced occupied structures, including those that are owned or operated by a local government entity, and that are constructed on or after January 1, 2023, to comply with certain requirements, including acquiring and placing at least 6 trauma kits on the premises, as specified, periodically inspecting and replacing the contents of a trauma kit, restocking the trauma kit after each use if the property managing entity or person is aware, or reasonably should be aware, that a trauma kit has been used, and notifying tenants of the building or structure of the location of the trauma kits, as specified. The bill would exempt a person or entity from liability for civil damages resulting from any acts or omissions in the rendering of emergency care if those requirements have been met and would exempt a property managing entity from civil damages resulting from the failure, improper operation, or malfunction of equipment or materials within a properly stocked trauma kit.

(1) Under existing law, a person between the ages of 6 and 18 years who is not exempted by law is subject to compulsory full-time education. Existing law excludes a child under 6 years of age from the public schools, subject to specified exceptions. Existing law requires a school district maintaining a kindergarten to admit a child who will have their 5th birthday on or before September 1 of the school year. Existing law also requires a child who will have their 6th birthday on or before September 1 of the school year to be admitted to the first grade of an elementary school. Existing law authorizes a child who has been lawfully admitted to a public school kindergarten or a private school kindergarten in California and who is judged by the administration of the school district to be ready for first-grade work to be admitted to the first grade, as specified. This bill, beginning with the 2024–25 school year, would require a child to have completed one year of kindergarten before that child may be admitted to the first grade at a public elementary school, except for a child who has been lawfully admitted to a public school kindergarten or a private school kindergarten in California, but has not yet completed one school year, and is judged to be ready for first-grade work, as specified, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. (2) 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 authorizes junk dealers and recyclers, as defined, to sell and purchase junk, which includes secondhand and used furniture, pallets, or other personal property, as specified. Existing law prohibits junk dealers and recyclers from purchasing or receiving bulk merchandise pallets marked with an indicia of ownership from anyone except the indicated owner, unless specified information is provided to the junk dealer or recycler, and requires the junk dealer or recycler to maintain a written record of that information. Existing law makes a violation of these recordkeeping requirements a misdemeanor. This bill would revise the above provisions on bulk merchandise pallets to apply only to the purchase of bulk merchandise pallets marked with an indicia of ownership and would delete the provisions on receiving the bulk merchandise pallets, as described above. The bill would provide that those provisions do not prohibit a junk dealer or recycler from acquiring good faith possession of merchandise pallets based on the representations of the seller that the indicated owner cannot be located or has failed to retrieve the merchandise pallets on a timely basis. The bill would require a junk dealer or recycler who acquires good faith possession of merchandise pallets, if the indicated owner can be located, to give notice of good faith possession to the owner of those pallets. If, within 35 calendar days after the junk dealer or recycler notifies the indicated owner of having acquired good faith possession, the indicated owner demands a return of the pallets, the bill would permit a junk dealer or recycler to require payment of reasonable storage fees. The bill would provide that after 35 calendar days from when the junk dealer or recycler provides notice of good faith possession to the indicated owner, the owner is deemed to have relinquished possession of the merchandise pallets, and would permit the junk dealer or recycler to either sell the pallets or charge reasonable storage fees if the indicated owner demands a return and the pallets are still in the possession of the junk dealer or recycler. This bill would require the seller to retain a copy of the notice of good faith possession for at least 2 years, and would require the notice to contain specified information, including the name and contact information of the junk dealer or recycler that acquired good faith possession of the merchandise pallets. The bill would require the notice of good faith possession to be sent by mail or email to the indicated owner at their physical or email address, if known. By expanding the scope of a crime regarding the recordkeeping requirements of junk dealers and recyclers, 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.