This measure would, among other things, honor the late civil rights pioneer and icon Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Existing law generally requires the State Department of Public Health to license, inspect, and regulate health facilities, including hospitals. Existing law requires health facilities to meet specified cost and disclosure requirements, including maintaining an understandable written policy regarding discount payments and charity. Existing law establishes the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) to oversee various aspects of the health care market, including oversight of hospital facilities and community benefit plans. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 (Knox-Keene Act) , provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. Violation of the Knox-Keene Act is a misdemeanor. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires each department to develop and adopt regulations to ensure that enrollees and insureds have access to needed health care services in a timely manner. Existing law requires that health care service plans and health insurers submit rates to their regulating entity for review. This bill would establish, within HCAI, the Office of Health Care Affordability to analyze the health care market for cost trends and drivers of spending, develop data-informed policies for lowering health care costs for consumers and purchasers, set and enforce cost targets, and create a state strategy for controlling the cost of health care and ensuring affordability for consumers and purchasers. The bill would also establish the Health Care Affordability Board, composed of 8 members, appointed as prescribed. The bill would require the board to establish a statewide health care cost target, as defined, for the 2025 calendar year, and specific targets for each health care sector, including fully integrated delivery system sector and geographic region, and for an individual health care entity, as appropriate, for the 2028 calendar year. The bill, commencing in 2026, would require the office to take progressive actions against health care entities for failing to meet the cost targets, including performance improvement plans and escalating administrative penalties. The bill would establish the Health Care Affordability Fund for the purpose of receiving and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, expending revenues collected pursuant to the provisions of the bill. The bill would require the office to set standards for various health care metrics, including health care quality and equity, alternative payment models, primary care and behavioral health investments, and health care workforce stability. The bill would require the office to gather data and present a report on baseline health care spending trends and underlying factors on or before June 1, 2025. On or before June 1, 2026, the bill would require the office to prepare and publish annual reports concerning health care spending trends and underlying factors, along with policy recommendations to control costs and the other stated metrics. The bill would require the Director of the Department of Health Care Access and Information to call for public statements on findings of the annual report and to solicit and collect comments from the public and purchasers, as specified. The bill would require the office to monitor cost trends in the health care market and to examine health care mergers, acquisitions, corporate affiliations, or other transactions that entail material changes to ownership, operations, or governance of health care service plans, insurers, hospitals or hospital systems, physician organizations, pharmacy benefit managers, and other health care entities. The bill would require the health care entities to provide the office with written notice, as specified, of agreements and transactions that would sell, transfer, lease, exchange, option, encumber, convey, or otherwise dispose of a material amount of assets, or that would transfer control, responsibility, or governance of a material amount of the assets or operations to one or more entities. The bill would require the office to conduct a cost and market impact review, as specified, if it finds that the change is likely to have a risk of a significant impact on market competition, the state's ability to meet cost targets, or costs for purchasers and consumers. The bill would prohibit an agreement or transaction for which a cost and market impact review proceeds to be implemented without a written waiver from the office or until 30 days after the office issues its final report. The bill would require the health care entity to pay specified costs associated with that review and completing the report. The bill would require health care service plans and health insurers, in submitting rates for review, to demonstrate the impact of any changes in the rate of growth of health care costs resulting from the health care cost targets. By creating a new crime under the Knox-Keene Act, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. This bill would declare that its provisions are severable. 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) The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law requires the department to contract with local contracting agencies for alternative payment programs for childcare services to be provided throughout the state. Existing law requires the alternative payment program to reimburse childcare providers based upon specified criteria, including the actual days and hours of attendance for those families with variable schedules. This bill would instead require the alternative payment program to reimburse childcare providers based upon the maximum certified hours of need, as documented. (2) The act requires an alternative payment program to verify childcare provider rates no less frequently than once a year. The act requires the department to develop regulations for addressing discrepancies in the childcare provider rate levels identified through the rate verification process described above. This bill would delete these provisions. (3) The act authorizes a contractor to retain a reserve fund balance for alternative payment model and certificate childcare contracts, as provided. The act prohibits these funds from exceeding either 2% of the sum of the parts of each contract, as provided, or $1,000, whichever is greater. This bill would instead prohibit the funds from exceeding either 15% of the sum of the parts of each contract, as provided, or $1,000, whichever is greater. (4) Existing law, the Early Education Act, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to, among other things, provide an inclusive and cost-effective preschool program. The Early Education Act and the Child Care and Development Services Act authorize alternative payment programs and providers operating or providing services under the acts to use digital signatures that comply with state and federal standards and authorize the use of digital forms to allow families to apply for services. This bill would instead authorize the use of electronic signatures and forms.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires the department to provide presumptive Medi-Cal eligibility to pregnant women and children. Existing law authorizes a qualified hospital to make presumptive eligibility determinations if it complies with specified requirements. Existing law authorizes the department, on a regional pilot project basis, to issue an identification card to a person who is eligible for Medi-Cal program benefits, but does not possess a valid California driver's license or identification card issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles. Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the board governing the California Health Benefit Exchange, to develop a single paper, electronic, and telephone application for insurance affordability programs, including Medi-Cal. This bill would require the department to implement a program of presumptive eligibility for persons experiencing homelessness, under which a person would receive full-scope Medi-Cal benefits without a share of cost. The bill would require the department to authorize an enrolled Medi-Cal provider to issue a temporary Medi-Cal benefits identification card to a person experiencing homelessness, and would prohibit the department from requiring a person experiencing homelessness to present a valid California driver's license or identification card issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles to receive Medi-Cal services if the provider verifies the person's eligibility. This bill would authorize an enrolled Medi-Cal provider to make a presumptive eligibility determination for a person experiencing homelessness. The bill would require the department to reimburse an enrolled Medi-Cal provider who bills the Medi-Cal program for Medi-Cal services provided off the premises to a person experiencing homelessness, as specified. The bill would require a Medi-Cal managed care plan to allow a beneficiary to seek those services and to reimburse a provider for providing those services, but would authorize a Medi-Cal managed care plan to establish reasonable requirements governing network participation. The bill would require a Medi-Cal managed care plan to reimburse a participating Medi-Cal provider providing covered services, without requiring the provider to obtain prior approval, as specified. The bill would authorize an enrolled Medi-Cal provider to refer a Medi-Cal beneficiary who is experiencing homelessness for specialist care and diagnostics. The bill would require the department to seek any necessary federal approvals to implement the above provisions, and would condition their implementation on receipt of those federal approvals and the availability of federal financial participation. The bill would require the insurance affordability program's application to include information collection means for the applicant to indicate if they are experiencing homelessness at the time of application. If Medi-Cal covered health care services covered by a Medi-Cal managed care plan are not provided within the first 60 calendar days of enrollment to a Medi-Cal beneficiary who has indicated that they are a person experiencing homelessness at the time of application, the bill would require the department to deduct the capitation payments made by the department to the plan from subsequent payments due to the plan for the time period from when the person was initially enrolled into a plan until the first receipt of plan-covered services. If a person experiencing homelessness who is assigned a primary care provider (PCP) receives services by another provider off the premises of the assigned PCP, the bill would require the department or the Medi-Cal managed care plan to notify the assigned PCP that their patient was seen by another provider.
The California Constitution prohibits the state, including any political subdivision or government instrumentality of or within the state, from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. Existing law establishes in state government various commissions and committees, including, among others, the California Commission on Disability Access, the Healthy California for All Commission, the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, and the Committee on Revision of the Penal Code to study and recommend reforms on certain topics, including issues related to equality and justice. This bill would establish in state government the California Commission on Human Rights, as an advisory commission, and would require it to, among other things, identify and evaluate California's successes and failures in protecting human rights of individuals living within the state, determine statutory, regulatory, or budgetary solutions to better protect human rights, and report, at least annually, on the status of human rights to the Legislature and the Governor with statutory and regulatory recommendations. The bill would require the commission to consist of 17 members, including, among others, Members of the Assembly and the Senate. The bill would also create the California Commission on Human Rights Fund in the General Fund to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, carry out these provisions and support the commission. The bill would make related findings and declarations. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027.
The Personal Income Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal law, generally imposes a tax on the income of residents in the state, as specified, and allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. The Personal Income Tax Law also imposes an annual tax on every limited partnership, limited liability partnership, and limited liability company doing business in this state, as specified, in an amount equal to the minimum franchise tax. The Corporation Tax Law imposes an annual tax on "S" corporations at a rate of 1.5% of its net income, or if greater, the minimum franchise tax, as specified. Existing law requires any bill introduced on or after January 1, 2020, authorizing certain tax expenditures, as defined, to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, would authorize a partnership or "S" corporation that meets certain other requirements to elect to pay an elective tax at a rate based on its net income, as specified, for the taxable year. The bill would authorize the Franchise Tax Board to adopt regulations to implement the elective tax and exempt those regulations from the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. The bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2026, would allow a credit against the personal income tax to a taxpayer, other than a partnership, that is a partner, shareholder, or member of an entity that elects to pay the elective tax authorized by the bill, in an amount equal to a specified percentage of the partner's, shareholder's, or member's pro rata share or distributive share, as applicable, of income subject to the elective tax paid by the entity. The bill would also provide findings to comply with the additional information requirement for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure.
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 provide various exclusions from gross income. Existing law, in conformity with the federal CARES Act, and its subsequent amendments in the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act and the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020, among other things, excludes any amounts of covered loans forgiven under the CARES Act from gross income for purposes of the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law. Existing law reduces the amount of any credit or deduction otherwise allowed under the Personal Income Tax and the Corporation Tax Law for any amount paid or incurred by the taxpayer upon which this exclusion is based by the amount of the exclusion allowed. Existing federal law, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, prohibits reductions in tax deductions, denials of basis adjustments, and reductions in tax attributes for federal income tax purposes based on the exclusion from gross income of specified loans provided in the federal CARES Act and its subsequent amendments. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would bring California's tax treatment of covered Paycheck Protection Program loans into conformity with federal tax laws.
Existing law provides for officers and employees of the state to receive travel expenses when away from their headquarters for state business. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would prohibit state-sponsored travel to any state that enacts any law that limits or reduces access to voting.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the PUC to establish rules for all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature, and authorizes the PUC to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the Independent System Operator, to take specified actions by December 1, 2020, to facilitate the commercialization of microgrids for distribution customers of large electrical corporations. This bill would require the PUC to develop and implement a Clean Community Microgrid Incentive Program by 2022 to fund community microgrids that support the critical needs of vulnerable communities that utilize distributed energy resources for the generation of electricity. The bill would establish the budget for the program in an unspecified amount to be dispersed in successive phases to local public agencies for community microgrid development and would require that expenses incurred by a large electrical corporation to fund the program be allocated to all distribution customers of the large electrical corporation on a nonbypassable basis. The bill would require that a third-party administrator that is not a public utility administer the program. The bill would provide that a community microgrid project undertaken pursuant to the program is not subject to the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000. The bill would require the PUC to include a discussion of the costs and benefits of community microgrid projects implemented pursuant to the program in a specified smart grid report annually submitted to the Governor and the Legislature. The bill would require the PUC to modify Electric Tariff Rule 21 to allow a microgrid developer the option of submitting a single interconnection application for the distributed energy resources to be used in a qualifying microgrid. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because certain of the provisions of this bill require PUC implementation, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes. 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 establishes the Full-Day Kindergarten Facilities Grant Program, under the administration of the State Allocation Board, to provide one-time grants to school districts to construct new school facilities or retrofit existing school facilities for the purpose of providing full-day kindergarten classrooms, as specified. Existing law provides that, commencing with the 2019–20 fiscal year, the grant program is contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill, for the 2021–22 fiscal year, would appropriate $300,000,000 from the General Fund to the State Allocation Board for allocation for purposes of the grant program. Funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.
