Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health to implement and administer various programs relating to public health. Existing law requires the department to develop a coordinated state strategy for addressing the health-related needs of women, including implementation of goals and objectives for women's health. This bill would establish the California Reproductive Justice and Freedom Fund and would require the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to award grants to eligible community-based organizations over a 3-year period. The bill would require a grant recipient to use grant funds to implement a program or fund an existing program that provides and promotes medically accurate, comprehensive reproductive and sexual health education. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law provides that every individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to their personal reproductive decisions. Existing law prohibits the state from denying or interfering with a person's right to choose or obtain an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, or when the abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the person. Existing law requires a health insurer to take specified steps to protect the confidentiality of an insured's medical information, and prohibits an insurer from disclosing medical information related to sensitive health care services to the policyholder or any insureds other than the protected individual receiving care. Existing law generally prohibits a provider of health care, a health care service plan, or a contractor from disclosing medical information regarding a patient, enrollee, or subscriber without first obtaining an authorization, unless a specified exception applies, including that the disclosure is in response to a subpoena. Existing law prohibits an employer from using or disclosing medical information that it possesses pertaining to its employees without the patient having first signed an authorization, unless a specified exception applies, including that the disclosure is compelled by judicial or administrative process or by any other specific provision of law. Existing law authorizes a California court or attorney to issue a subpoena if a foreign subpoena has been sought in this state. This bill would prohibit compelling a person to identify or provide information that would identify or that is related to an individual who has sought or obtained an abortion in a state, county, city, or other local criminal, administrative, legislative, or other proceeding if the information is being requested based on another state's laws that interfere with a person's right to choose or obtain an abortion or a foreign penal civil action, as defined. The bill would authorize the Insurance Commissioner to assess a civil penalty, as specified, against an insurer that has disclosed an insured's confidential medical information. The bill would prohibit a provider of health care, a health care service plan, a contractor, or an employer from releasing medical information that would identify an individual or related to an individual seeking or obtaining an abortion in response to a subpoena or a request or to law enforcement if that subpoena, request, or the purpose of law enforcement for the medical information is based on, or for the purpose of enforcement of, either another state's laws that interfere with a person's rights to choose or obtain an abortion or a foreign penal civil action. The bill would prohibit issuance of a subpoena if the submitted foreign subpoena relates to a foreign penal civil action and the submitted foreign subpoena would require disclosure of information related to sensitive services, as defined. (2) Existing law sets forth the health care access rights of an incarcerated pregnant person and an incarcerated person who is identified as possibly pregnant or capable of becoming pregnant. Existing law prohibits the imposition of conditions or restrictions on an incarcerated person's ability to obtain an abortion. This bill would prohibit prison staff from disclosing identifying medical information related to an incarcerated person's right to seek and obtain an abortion if the information is being requested based on another state's law that interferes with a person's rights to choose or obtain an abortion or a foreign penal civil action. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 2029.300 and 2029.350 of the Code of Civil Procedure proposed by SB 107 to be operative only if this bill and SB 107 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law requires the board of governors to appoint a chief executive officer, known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law provides for the establishment of community college districts throughout the state, including the Compton Community College District. Existing law authorizes the board of governors to suspend the authority of the Board of Trustees of the Compton Community College District for a period lasting until June 30, 2011, plus a period lasting until the chancellor, the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, the Director of Finance, and the Governor concur with the special trustee that the district, for 2 consecutive academic years, has met certain requirements relating to a comprehensive assessment and a recovery plan. Existing law, in the event of a suspension, authorizes the chancellor to appoint a special trustee to manage the district, as specified. Existing law appropriates money from the General Fund to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges for apportionment to the Compton Community College District as an emergency apportionment, subject to repayment, as provided. Existing law, until July 1, 2029, requires that the Board of Trustees of the Compton Community College District assume those powers and duties of the Compton Community College District Personnel Commission that the board of trustees determines are necessary for the management of the personnel functions of the Compton Community College District. This bill would repeal the authority for the Board of Trustees of the Compton Community College District to assume the powers and duties of the Compton Community College District Personnel Commission until July 1, 2029. The bill instead would require, upon the ending of the suspension of the authority of the board of trustees, the board of trustees to assume the powers and duties of the personnel commission, as provided. The bill would require the board of trustees to establish the personnel commission in an advisory capacity, as provided, beginning in the year the Compton Community College District has repaid the emergency apportionment. The bill would, beginning one calendar year after the district has made its final repayment of the emergency apportionment, reinstate the personnel commission to exercise the powers or duties necessary for the management of the personnel functions of the district, as provided. The bill would require the district, on or before September 15, 2023, and annually thereafter, to provide an update on the repayment of the emergency apportionment to the Department of Finance, the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance, and the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education. By imposing new duties on the Compton Community College District, 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 provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, 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 provides that Medi-Cal funding be made available to a new hospital, now known as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital, to serve the population of South Los Angeles. This bill would require the department, in consultation with the hospital, to create a directed payment program in Medi-Cal managed care for outpatient hospital services to provide that total Medi-Cal managed care reimbursement received for services is approximately equal to the hospital's costs for those services, as specified. The bill would establish funding provisions if those minimum reimbursements required under the program would result in payments above the level of compensation the hospital would have otherwise received, and if a nonfederal share is necessary with respect to the additional compensation. The bill would require that the hospital's projected costs be based on specified principles. The bill would also require the department, in consultation with the hospital, to develop an alternative mechanism for ensuring inpatient services payment levels from Medi-Cal managed care plans, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to develop value-based quality directed payment, for use in payments to the hospital. The bill would authorize the department to implement those provisions by means of, among other things, all-facility letters. The bill would require the department to obtain federal approvals or waivers as necessary to implement those provisions, to obtain federal matching funds to the maximum extent permitted by federal law, and would condition the implementation of those provisions on obtaining federal approval. This bill would make related findings and declarations. The bill would also make the implementation of its provisions contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles.
Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes use of the Emergency Alert System to inform the public of local, state, and national emergencies. Existing law requires a law enforcement agency to activate the Emergency Alert System within the appropriate area if that agency determines that a child 17 years of age or younger, or an individual with a proven mental or physical disability, has been abducted and is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death, and there is information available that, if disseminated to the general public, could assist in the safe recovery of that person. Existing law also authorizes the issuance and coordination of a Blue Alert following an attack upon a law enforcement officer or a Silver Alert relating to a person who is 65 years of age or older who is reported missing. This bill would authorize a law enforcement agency to request the Department of the California Highway Patrol to activate a "Feather Alert," as defined, if specified criteria are satisfied with respect to an endangered indigenous person who has been reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances. The bill would require the department, if it concurs that specified requirements are met, to activate a Feather Alert within the appropriate geographical area requested by the investigating law enforcement agency and to assist the agency by disseminating specified alert messages and signs. The bill would require the department to create and submit a report to the Governor's Office and the Legislature that includes an evaluation of the notification system established pursuant to these provisions no later than January 1, 2027. The bill would also make related legislative findings and declarations.
The California Constitution provides that the University of California constitutes a public trust, and requires the university to be administered by the Regents of the University of California, a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers of organization and government, subject to legislative control only for specified purposes. Existing law establishes the Hastings College of the Law, under the governance of an 11-member Board of Directors of the Hastings College of the Law, within the University of California. Existing law provides that the college shall forever be known and designated as the Hastings College of the Law. Under existing law, six directors constitutes a quorum for the transaction of all business of the college's board of directors. Existing law requires one of the directors to always be an heir or representative of Serranus Clinton (S.C.) Hastings and all other directors to serve 12-year terms. Existing law requires vacancies occurring in the board of directors other than the death or resignation of the heir or representative of S.C. Hastings to be filled by the Governor and approved by the Senate. This bill would instead provide that the college shall be designated as the College of the Law, San Francisco, as provided. The bill would make conforming changes. The bill would specify that a majority of directors constitutes a quorum for the transaction of all of the board of directors' business, and would require all directors to serve 12-year terms, except as provided. The bill would require all vacancies occurring on the board of directors, including a vacancy of the heir or representative of S.C. Hastings, to be filled by the Governor and approved by the Senate. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 67385 of the Education Code proposed by AB 1467 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1467 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency, which consists of various departments and commissions, including the Department of Conservation, Department of Parks and Recreation, and State Lands Commission. Existing law vests in the agency various powers, including those related to conservation of lands. Pursuant to the agency's general authority, the agency established the California Advisory Committee on Geographic Names to be a liaison to the United States Board on Geographic Names. The duties, powers, and responsibilities of the committee are established by its internal charter. Commencing on January 1, 2025, this bill would require the term "squaw" to be removed from all geographic features and place names in the state. The bill would require the Natural Resources Agency to direct the committee to revise its existing charter to perform specified responsibilities, including notifying public agencies, as defined, of each geographic feature and place name that includes the term "squaw." The bill would require the committee to choose a replacement name, under its discretion, and in consultation with advisory bodies, if the local governing body fails to recommend a replacement name within the allotted 180 days. The bill would require the committee to work in formal consultation with California Native American tribes on the list maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission to establish a procedure for receiving name recommendations. This bill would require public agencies to no longer replace signs, interpretive markers, or any other marker or printed material with the discontinued name containing the word "squaw." The bill would require each agency or local governing body to ensure that map updates and sign replacements use the new name. Commencing January 1, 2025, the bill would require the committee to annually report to the Legislature regarding the implementation of these provisions, and would require that report to include specified information, including each geographic feature and place name that uses the term "squaw" in that public agency's jurisdiction and the proposed replacement name. By imposing requirements on local governments to remove the term "squaw" from geographic features and place names and to report specified information to the committee, 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.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services through various delivery systems, including fee-for-service and managed care. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under federal law, covered services include "preventive services," which are defined as, services recommended by a physician or other licensed practitioner of the healing arts acting within the scope of authorized practice under state law to prevent disease, disability, and other health conditions or their progression, prolong life, and promote physical and mental health and efficiency. On July 26, 2022, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved the department's Medicaid State Plan Amendment to add community health workers as a preventive service. This bill would codify the requirement that community health worker services be a covered Medi-Cal benefit. The bill would require a Medi-Cal managed care plan to engage in outreach and education efforts to enrollees, as determined by the department, but that would include, at a minimum, specified information to enrollees, including, among other things, a description of the community health worker services benefit and a list of providers that are authorized to refer an enrollee to community health worker services. The bill would require the department, through existing and regular stakeholder processes, to inform stakeholders about, and accept input from stakeholders on, implementation of the community health worker services benefit. The bill would be implemented only to the extent that federal financial participation is available and not otherwise jeopardized. The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific this bill by means of policy letters, provider bulletins, or other similar instructions, without taking any further regulatory action.
Existing law establishes the California DREAM Loan Program, which authorizes a student attending a participating campus of the University of California or California State University to receive a loan, referred to as a DREAM loan, if the student satisfies certain requirements. Existing law prohibits a student from borrowing more than $20,000 in the aggregate under the program from any one participating institution. Existing law requires each participating institution to provide entrance and exit counseling to borrowers that is generally comparable to that required by federal student loan programs. This bill would prohibit a student from borrowing more than $40,000 in the aggregate under the program. The bill would prohibit a student who is enrolled in an undergraduate program from borrowing, as an undergraduate student, or a student who is enrolled in a graduate program from borrowing, as a graduate student, more than $20,000 in the aggregate under the program. The bill would require a participating institution, on or before January 1, 2024, to establish DREAM loan forgiveness options for borrowers with similar standards as those set forth in the Federal Perkins Loan Program. The bill would require borrowers to qualify for or be granted certain administrative relief, and would require borrowers to qualify for state of emergency administrative forbearance, as specified. The bill would specify that exit counseling provided by a participating institution includes information about DREAM loan repayment, forbearance, deferment, discharge, and forgiveness. The bill would require a participating institution to post information about the DREAM loan on its internet website, as specified.
Existing law provides for the establishment of California American Indian education centers by any tribal group or incorporated American Indian association to meet specified objectives, and further provides for the administration of grants, upon application, by the State Department of Education for those purposes in accordance with specified provisions. Existing law requires each center to annually submit specified data to the department that reflects each center's ability to meet its stated objectives and any other objectives chosen by the center. Existing law requires the department to enter into a contract with a county office of education or a consortium of county offices of education for the purpose of developing model curriculum related to Native American studies, as provided. This bill would establish the California Indian Education Act and encourage school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to form California Indian Education Task Forces with California tribes local to their regions or tribes historically located in the region. The bill would encourage task force participants to discuss issues of mutual concern and to undertake certain work. The bill would require California Indian Education Task Forces to submit, within one year of formation and annually thereafter, a report of findings to the department, as provided. The bill would require the department to submit, within one year of receiving task force reports and annually thereafter, a report to certain education committees of both houses of the Legislature regarding the narrowing of the achievement gap and the adoption of curriculum, as provided. The bill would authorize California Indian Education Task Forces to submit curricular materials to the county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, that contracted to develop the model curricula related to Native American studies. The bill would require the contracted county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, to consider these submitted materials for inclusion in the model curriculum. To the extent that this bill imposes new duties on the county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, that contracted to develop the model curriculum, 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.