(1) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various healing arts professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Under existing law, it is unlawful for healing arts licensees, except as specified, to offer, deliver, receive, or accept any rebate, refund, commission, preference, patronage dividend, discount, or other consideration, in the form of money or otherwise, as compensation or inducement for referring patients, clients, or customers to any person, subject to certain exceptions. This bill would provide that the payment or receipt of consideration for internet-based advertising, appointment booking, or any service that provides information and resources to prospective patients of licensees does not constitute a referral of a patient if the internet-based service provider does not recommend or endorse a specific licensee to a prospective patient. (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 provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a contract issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, between a health care service plan or health insurer and a health care provider to require the plan or insurer to reimburse the provider for the diagnosis, consultation, or treatment of an enrollee, subscriber, insured, or policyholder appropriately delivered through telehealth services on the same basis and to the same extent as the same service through in-person diagnosis, consultation, or treatment. This bill would delete that date restriction, thereby extending the telehealth reimbursement parity requirement for all contracts between a health care service plan or a health insurer and a health care provider. The bill would provide that these provisions are severable. The bill would also enact the Protection of Patient Choice in Telehealth Provider Act, and would require a health care service plan and a health insurer to comply with specified notice and consent requirements if the plan or insurer offers a service via telehealth to an enrollee or an insured through a third-party corporate telehealth provider, as defined. For an enrollee or insured that receives specialty telehealth services for a mental or behavioral health condition, the bill would require that the enrollee or insured be given the option of continuing to receive that service with the contracting individual health professional, a contracting clinic, or a contracting health facility. The bill would exempt specified health care service plan contracts and Medi-Cal managed care plan contracts from those provisions. The bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to consider the appropriateness of applying those requirements to the Medi-Cal program, as specified. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements relative to health care service plans 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.
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Existing law authorizes a peace officer to make an arrest pursuant to a warrant or based upon probable cause, as specified. Under existing law, an arrest is made by the actual restraint of the person or by submission to the custody of the arresting officer. Existing law authorizes a peace officer to use reasonable force to effect the arrest, to prevent escape, or to overcome resistance. Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to maintain a policy on the use of force, as specified. Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training to implement courses of instruction for the regular and periodic training of law enforcement officers in the use of force. Existing law prohibits a law enforcement agency from authorizing the use of a carotid restraint or a choke hold, as defined. This bill would additionally prohibit a law enforcement agency from authorizing techniques or transport methods that involve a substantial risk of positional asphyxia, as defined. By requiring local agencies to amend use of force policies, 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, 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.
Under the California Constitution and the Public Utilities Act, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations. The act establishes the Universal Lifeline Telephone Service program (lifeline program) in order to provide low-income households with access to affordable basic residential telephone service. This bill would require the commission, before March 1, 2022, to adopt updated rules for the lifeline program establishing a modified recertification process that minimizes barriers to lifeline subscriber recertification and reduces the burden and cost of recertification on the lifeline program, as specified. The bill would require the commission, in consultation with lifeline service providers, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Universal Service Administrative Company, before January 1, 2023, to adopt updated rules for the lifeline program with the goal of achieving recertification rates at least equivalent to those rates achieved for the federal lifeline program. The bill would require the commission to annually publicly report on its internet website the participation and recertification rates of eligible lifeline subscribers. Under existing law, a violation of the act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, 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.
Existing federal law requires the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development to establish a Housing Trust Fund to provide grants to states to increase the supply of rental housing for extremely low and very low income families, including homeless families, and home ownership for extremely low and very low income families. Existing federal law establishes regulations for the implementation of these grants. Existing state law designates the Department of Housing and Community Development as the state agency responsible for administering funds received by the state from the federal Housing Trust Fund. The department is required to administer the funds through existing or newly created programs that produce, preserve, rehabilitate, or support the operation of rental housing for extremely low income and very low income households, except that up to 10% of funding may be used to support home ownership for extremely low income and very low income households. Existing law requires the department to collaborate with the California Housing Finance Agency to develop an allocation plan to demonstrate how the funds will be distributed, based on the priority housing needs identified in the state's consolidated plan, and to convene a stakeholder process to inform the development of the plan. Existing law requires the allocation plan and program guidelines to prioritize projects based on enumerated factors such as the extent to which project rents are affordable. The department is required to submit this plan to the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development and the Senate Transportation and Housing Committees 30 days after receipt of the federal funds. This bill would require the department to prioritize funding for projects that serve people experiencing homelessness, to the extent that a sufficient number of projects exist. The bill would authorize the department to alter priority for funding to align eligibility for possible benefits, including Medi-Cal benefits that are intended to assist people experiencing homelessness.
(1) Existing law requires a public agency, as defined, to administer its programs and activities relating to housing and community development in a manner to affirmatively further fair housing, and to not take any action that is materially inconsistent with this obligation. This bill would clarify that a public agency has a mandatory duty to comply with the obligation described above. The bill would specify that this provision is a clarification of existing law and not to be deemed a change in previous law. (2) The Planning and Zoning Law requires each city, county, and city and county to prepare and adopt a general plan that contains certain mandatory elements, including a housing element. Existing law requires the housing element to include a schedule of actions during the planning period that the local government is undertaking or intends to undertake to implement the policies and achieve the goals and objectives of the housing element. Existing law requires this schedule of actions to, among other things, affirmatively further fair housing and include an assessment of fair housing issues in the jurisdiction that includes specified components, including an analysis of available federal, state, and local data and knowledge to, among other things, identify integration and segregation patterns and trends and an assessment of the jurisdiction's fair housing enforcement and fair housing outreach capacity. This bill would revise the items to be included in the analysis and would require that analysis to be done in a specified manner. The bill would also require that the schedule of actions assess the local and regional historical origins and current policies and practices that contribute to fair housing factors identified in the schedule. (3) Existing law requires the housing element to include an inventory of land suitable and available for development and requires that inventory to be used to identify sites that can be developed for housing within the planning period and that are sufficient to provide for the jurisdiction's share of the regional housing need for all income levels. This bill would require the inventory of land to include an analysis of the relationship of the sites identified in the inventory to the jurisdiction's duty to affirmatively further fair housing. Existing law requires the inventory of land to include an analysis of whether the inventory can provide for a variety of types of housing, including multifamily rental housing, factory-built housing, mobilehomes, housing for agricultural employees, supportive housing, single-room occupancy units, emergency shelters, and transitional housing. This bill would additionally require that the analysis in the inventory determine whether the inventory affirmatively furthers fair housing. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65583 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1398 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1398 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65583.2 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1398 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1398 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (5) By expanding local duties with regard to the administration of housing elements, 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.
(1) Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health (department) to implement various programs throughout the state relating to public health, including licensing and regulating health facilities and control of infectious diseases. Existing law requires the department and the Office of Emergency Services, in coordination with other state agencies, to, upon appropriation and as necessary, establish a personal protective equipment (PPE) stockpile. Existing law requires the department to establish guidelines for the procurement, management, and distribution of PPE, taking into account, among other things, the amount of each type of PPE that would be required for all health care workers and essential workers, as defined, in the state during a 90-day pandemic or other health emergency. This bill would specifically include wildfire smoke events among health emergencies for these purposes. The bill would include agricultural workers, as defined, in the definition of essential workers. Existing law also establishes the Personal Protective Equipment Advisory Committee (committee) , consisting of representatives from, among other groups, an association representing skilled nursing facilities, a statewide association representing physicians, 2 representatives of labor organizations that represent health care workers, and 2 representatives of labor organizations that represent essential workers, as defined, to make recommendations to the department for the development of guidelines for the procurement, management, and distribution of PPE, as specified. This bill would require the committee to include a representative of a labor organization representing agricultural workers and a representative of an organization that represents agricultural employers. The bill would also require the department to report to the Legislature regarding the PPE stockpile within 6 months of the effective date of these provisions. (2) Existing law establishes the Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board within the Department of Industrial Relations and sets forth their powers and duties relating to the adoption of health and safety standards for workers. Under existing law, certain violations of a standard, order, or special order pursuant to these provisions are crimes. Existing regulations of the division protect employees exposed to wildfire smoke and include control by respiratory protective equipment among the methods to control harmful exposure. This bill would require the division to review and update the contents of the protection from wildfire smoke training and thereafter post it on its internet website. The bill would require that training provided by the employer is required to be in a language and manner readily understandable by employees, taking into account their ethnic and cultural backgrounds and education levels, including the use of pictograms, as necessary. Because a violation of certain safety and health standards or orders constitutes a crime, 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the Board of State and Community Corrections to promote effective state and local efforts and partnerships in California's adult and juvenile criminal justice system and requires the board to inspect each local detention facility in the state biennially. Existing law requires a privately operated local detention facility responsible for the custody and control of a local prisoner to operate pursuant to a contract with the city, county, or city and county, as appropriate. Existing law requires each contract to include a provision whereby the private agency or entity agrees to operate in compliance with all appropriate state and local building, zoning, health, safety, and fire statutes, ordinances, and regulations, and with specified minimum jail standards established by regulations adopted by the board. Existing law provides that the failure of a privately operated local detention facility to comply with the appropriate health, safety, and fire laws, or with the minimum jail standards adopted by the board may be grounds for the termination of the contract. Under existing law, private detention facilities are generally prohibited, except for those operating pursuant to a valid contract in effect before January 1, 2020, as specified. This bill would require a private detention facility responsible for the custody and control of a prisoner or civil detainee to operate in compliance with these standards and to maintain specified insurance coverages, including general, automobile, and umbrella liability, and workers' compensation. The bill would authorize an insurer providing insurance to consider whether the private detention facility complies with prescribed standards. The bill would exempt identified detention facilities from specified provisions, and would provide that the bill does not create any additional authority or responsibility for the Board of State and Community Corrections and Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, as specified. The bill would make provisions of the act severable.
Existing law requires the operator of a private detention facility, as defined, to comply with, and adhere to, the detention standards of care and confinement agreed upon in the facility's contract for operations, as specified. This bill would require a private detention facility operator to comply with, and adhere to, all local and state public health orders and occupational safety and health regulations. The bill would state that its provisions are declaratory of existing law. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law dissolved redevelopment agencies and community development agencies as of February 1, 2012, and provides for the designation of successor agencies to wind down the affairs of dissolved redevelopment agencies and to, among other things, make payments due for enforceable obligations. Existing law requires the successor agency to dispose of all remaining assets and terminate its existence within a specified period after the final debt payment, and requires any passthrough payment obligations to cease at that time. Existing law requires the county auditor-controller, as a part of the wind down process, to determine the amount of property taxes that would have been allocated to each redevelopment agency if the agencies had not been dissolved and deposit this amount in a county Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund. Revenues in the trust fund are to be allocated to various taxing entities in the county and to cover specified expenses of the former agency, including remitting amounts in the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund to specified entities in the county according to passthrough agreements between the former redevelopment agency and the taxing jurisdiction. This bill would authorize a successor agency and one or more taxing agencies to enter into an agreement to modify the interest owed by a former redevelopment agency under a passthrough agreement that was entered into before January 1, 1994, or owed under any successive amendment of that passthrough agreement, and which is owed as interest on passthrough payments agreed to be deferred by the taxing entity under the passthrough agreement, subject to specified terms and conditions, including that the interest rate on a passthrough agreement modified under these provisions be 0%. The bill would additionally authorize an agreement to modify a passthrough agreement under this bill's provisions to forgive the entirety or a portion of the principal amount of outstanding deferred passthrough payment owed by the former redevelopment agency to a taxing entity. The bill would require that the computation of the amount of passthrough payments made under the above-described existing provisions take into account any modification of a passthrough agreement made under this bill's provisions. The bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the public purpose served by these provisions.
(1) Existing law relating to employment regulation and supervision imposes special provisions on certain occupations and industries. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner and the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement with the enforcement of labor laws. This bill, among other things, would require specified employers to provide to each employee, defined as a nonexempt employee who works at a warehouse distribution center, upon hire, or within 30 days of the effective date of these provisions, with a written description of each quota to which the employee is subject, including the quantified number of tasks to be performed, or materials to be produced or handled, within the defined time period, and any potential adverse employment action that could result from failure to meet the quota. The bill would provide that an employee shall not be required to meet a quota that prevents compliance with meal or rest periods, use of bathroom facilities, or occupational health and safety laws, as specified. The bill would prohibit an employer from taking adverse action against an employee for failure to meet a quota that has not been disclosed or for failure to meet a quota that does not allow a worker to comply with meal or rest periods or occupational health and safety laws. The bill would require that any action taken by an employee to comply with occupational health and safety laws or division standards be considered time on task and productive time for the purposes of any quotas or monitoring system. This bill would provide that if a current or former employee believes that meeting a quota caused a violation of their right to a meal or rest period or required them to violate any occupational health and safety law or standard, they have the right to request, and the employer is required to provide, a written description of each quota to which the employee is subject and a copy of the most recent 90 days of the employee's own personal work speed data. The bill would limit a former employee to one of these requests. The bill would also authorize a current or former employee to bring an action for injunctive relief to obtain compliance with specified requirements, and may, upon prevailing in the action, recover costs and reasonable attorney's fees in that action. This bill would require the Labor Commissioner to enforce these provisions by engaging in coordinated and strategic enforcement efforts with the Department of Industrial Relations, including the Division of Occupational Safety and Health and the Division of Workers' Compensation. The bill would authorize the commissioner to have access to data from the department including employer-reported injury data and enforcement actions in warehouses, the identity of uninsured employers, and employers who are committing workers' compensation fraud, wage theft, or other information relevant to the commissioner's authority, and would make other conforming changes. The bill would require the commissioner to report to the Legislature by January 1, 2023, the number of claims filed with the commissioner, data on warehouse production quotas in warehouses in which annual employee injury rates are above the industry average, and the number of investigations undertaken and enforcement actions initiated, per employer, as specified. This bill would require the Division of Occupational Safety and Health or the Division of Workers' Compensation to notify the commissioner, who is required to determine whether an investigation of violations pursuant to these provisions is appropriate, if a particular worksite or employer is found to have an annual employee injury rate of at least 1.5 times higher than the warehousing industry's average annual injury rate. The bill would authorize the commissioner to adopt regulations relating to the procedures for an employee to make a complaint alleging a violation of this part. (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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.