Existing law requires certain enumerated health care providers to make all of a patient's records under their custody or control available for inspection and copying by an attorney at law, or his or her representative, who presents a written authorization therefor, as specified. Existing law provides that a person or entity that fails to make the records available 5 days after the presentation of the written authorization may be subject to reasonable expenses incurred to enforce these provisions. Existing law further authorizes any person or enumerated health care provider to charge the person whose written authorization required the availability of the records for the reasonable costs incurred in making the patient records available, as specified. This bill would require a health care provider, as defined, to provide an electronic copy of an electronic medical record or electronic health record, when an electronic a copy is requested, if the medical record exists in digital or electronic format and the medical record can be delivered electronically. The bill would extend the period following presentation of the written request and authorization after which a health care provider that fails to make the records available may be subject to reasonable expenses, including court costs, incurred to enforce these provisions from 5 days to 20 business days. The bill would additionally authorize a health care provider that provides electronic copies of medical records to charge the person whose written request required the availability of the records for the reasonable costs incurred to provide the electronic copies, as specified.
Sponsored bills
The Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act establishes a trial court employee personnel system that provides authority to hire trial court personnel, regulates the classification and compensation of trial court employees, labor relations, and personnel files, and requires each trial court to establish a system of employment selection and advancement and an employment protection system. Existing law authorizes state agencies to use personal services contracts to achieve cost savings if specified standards are satisfied, including, among other things, the contract does not cause the displacement of civil service employees and the contract is awarded through a publicized, competitive bidding process. The State Personnel Board is required to review a proposed contract upon the request of an employee organization for compliance with those standards. This bill would establish specified standards if a trial court intends to enter into a contract for any services that are currently or customarily performed by that trial court's employees. Among other things, the bill would require the trial court to clearly demonstrate that the contract will result in actual overall cost savings to the trial court for the duration of the entire contract as compared with the trial court's actual costs of providing the same services. This bill would provide that these standards apply to any contract entered into on or after January 1, 2015. The bill would provide that its provisions do not apply to a contract under specified circumstances, including when services are incidental to a contract for the purchase or lease of real or personal property. This bill would require each trial court to provide a report by February 1, 2015, to the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the chairpersons of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Assembly Judiciary Committee if the trial court entered into a contract between July 1, 2014, and December 31, 2014, inclusive, for services that were provided or are customarily provided by its trial court employees if the contract has a term extending beyond March 31, 2015. This report would be required to include specified information relating to these contracts, including an analysis of whether the contract resulted in the displacement of trial court employees. The bill would provide that its provisions are severable.
This measure would call upon all Californians to observe César Chávez's birthday, March 31, as a day of public service, to recognize the hard work and self-sacrifice that farmworkers go through to feed all the families in our state, and to learn from César Chávez's life and his mission of nonviolence, social justice, and selfless service to others.
The Budget Act of 2014 made appropriations for the support of state government for the 2014–15 fiscal year. This bill would amend the Budget Act of 2014 by revising various items of appropriation and making other changes to the Budget Act of 2014. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes in a statute relating to the administration of the California Community Colleges by the board of governors.
Existing law requires the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the State Board of Education, and the State Department of Education to provide to the State Chief Information Officer the individual nonpersonally identifiable or aggregate data related to, among other things, pupil assessment and accountability, including, but not limited to, data generated from, or related to, adequate yearly progress, graduation rates, pupils who drop out of school, and demographics of pupils and teachers. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to submit to the Governor, the Legislature, and the state board a report called the Annual Report on Dropouts in California that includes data on school climate and pupil engagement from the California Healthy Kids Survey. This bill would establish the California Healthy Kids Survey as a voluntary, comprehensive pupil self-report data collection system that addresses school climate, campus safety, and pupil health risks and behaviors. The bill would authorize school districts to administer the survey to pupils in certain grades, and would also authorize a school district to conduct 2 supplemental surveys, the California School Parent Survey and the California School Climate Survey. The bill would specify that funds shall be appropriated to the department in the annual Budget Act or other statute to administer the survey, provide technical assistance, and collect data, as specified. The bill would specify that, to the extent that funds are appropriated to the department for these purposes, the department also shall administer and make available to school districts the California School Climate Survey and the California School Parent Survey. The bill would specify various findings and declarations of the Legislature, including that school districts should administer the California Healthy Kids Survey biennially or annually, as specified.
(1) Existing law provides that school districts and county offices of education are responsible for the overall development of a comprehensive school safety plan for each of their constituent schools. Existing law requires the schoolsite council of a school to write and develop the school safety plan relevant to the needs and resources of the particular school. Existing law requires a schoolsite council or school safety planning committee, before adopting a school safety plan, to hold a public meeting at the schoolsite, as specified. Existing law requires schools to forward copies of their school safety plans to the school district or county office of education for approval. Existing law requires school districts and county offices of education annually to notify the State Department of Education regarding schools that fail to adopt a school safety plan. This bill would revise and recast those procedures. The bill would, among other things, require each school to adopt its comprehensive school safety plan by March 1, 2014, and to review and update its plan by March 1 of every 3rd year thereafter. The bill would require, no later than October 15, 2014, and every 3rd year thereafter, each superintendent of a school district or county office of education to provide written notification to the Superintendent of Public Instruction identifying each school within the school district or county that has not complied with the requirement to adopt, and periodically review and update, a comprehensive school safety plan. The bill would require certain school administrators to keep and maintain a copy of the most recent comprehensive school safety plan, as provided. The bill would require the department to monitor compliance with these provisions using an existing monitoring framework. By requiring school and local educational agency officers to perform additional duties, the bill would impose 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 these statutory provisions.
(1) Existing law authorizes a county superintendent of schools for each county to be elected or appointed by the county board of education, as specified, and sets forth the qualifications and general duties of a county superintendent of schools, including superintending the schools of his or her county. Existing law also provides for the election or employment of a district superintendent of schools to, among other things, act as the chief executive officer of the governing board of the school district. This bill would provide that an employment contract for a district or county superintendent of schools that is executed or renewed on or after January 1, 2015, may include a loan for the purchase of a home only if certain conditions are met, including that the employee is relocating to an area with a high cost of housing. The bill would require the governing board of a school district, before executing or renewing an employment contract between the school district and the district superintendent of schools, to review the proposed contract, including each contract term and the value of each element of compensations at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing board, and would make the proposed employment contract void unless all elements of compensation are listed on the agenda of the meeting. The bill would require a school district or county office of education that maintains an Internet Web site to post annual expenditures for its activities on its Internet Web site, including, but not limited to, the salary schedules for certificated and classified employees. Because the bill would impose additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires all local agency officials to receive training in ethics, at specified intervals, if the local agency provides any type of compensation, salary, or stipend to those officials. Existing law defines "local agency" for purposes of those provisions. This bill would include a county office of education and a school district in the definition of "local agency." The bill would require local agency officials who serve a county office of education or school district as of January 1, 2015, to receive the ethics training before January 1, 2016, and at least every 2 years thereafter, except as specified. (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, 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 these statutory provisions.
Existing property tax law provides that property is "enforceably restricted," for purposes of determining assessed value, pursuant to a historical property contract executed under specified statutes. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision.
Existing law authorizes the Employment Development Department within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to perform various functions and duties with respect to job creation and retention activities. Existing law requires the department to research the needs of veterans throughout the state and develop a profile of veterans' employment and training needs and to develop a statewide plan for the equitable distribution of employment funds for veterans' employment services. Existing law further requires the department to seek federal funding for these purposes and to submit an annual report to the Legislature, as provided, following any fiscal year in which state funds support the Veterans Employment Training services program. Under existing law, the expense of administration of these programs is paid out of the Unemployment Administration Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would establish the Veterans Workforce Development and Employment Office within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency for the purpose of coordinating state veterans workforce development and employment programs and services. The bill would require the office to administer specified state and federal unemployment programs and services for veterans, and would require the office to develop a plan, by May 1, 2014, in collaboration with the department for the transfer of its responsibilities from the department, and to transfer staff from the department to the office according to that plan. The bill would further require the office to research the needs of veterans throughout the state, develop a profile of veterans' employment and training needs, develop a statewide plan for the equitable distribution of employment funds for veterans' employment services, and develop a strategy and program for identifying employers and small businesses interested in hiring veterans and establish the means by which appropriate training and placement may occur. The bill would also require the office to seek federal and other funding for these research and development purposes and to submit an annual report to the Legislature, as specified. By authorizing expenditure of money in the Unemployment Administration Fund for a new purpose, the bill would make an appropriation.