Existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, requires each state to establish an American Health Benefits Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and small employers. PPACA prohibits an Exchange from making available any health plan other than a qualified health plan, except for certain stand-alone dental plans. Existing state law establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange within state government, specifies the powers and duties of the board governing the Exchange, and requires the board to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans through the Exchange by qualified individuals and small employers by January 1, 2014. This bill would establish the California Vision Care Access Council within state government and would require that the Council be governed by the executive board that governs the California Health Benefit Exchange. The bill would require the Council to establish an interagency agreement with the California Health Benefit Exchange allowing the Council to utilize the executive, administrative, and other related resources of the Exchange and would prohibit the use of specified Exchange funds for purposes of the Council. The bill would require the Council to construct, manage, and maintain an Internet Web site to inform consumers about individual and employer-based vision plans offered by participating carriers. The bill would require the Council to work with the Exchange to establish a direct link between that Internet Web site and the Internet Web site of the Exchange. The bill would require the Council to refer consumer questions regarding health care eligibility and enrollment options to the Exchange and to licensed insurance agents, as specified. This bill would impose specified requirements on participating carriers and would also require the Council to establish other requirements for carrier participation and the standards and criteria for participating vision plans that are in the best interests of individuals and employers eligible to purchase coverage through the Exchange. The bill would require participating vision plans to be issued on a guarantee issue basis without preexisting condition provisions and would require a participating carrier to make available to consumers an electronic directory of contracting vision care providers. The bill would also enact other related provisions. This bill would create the California Vision Care Access Trust Fund, the moneys of which would be available to the board for purposes of the bill's provisions upon appropriaton by the Legislature, would authorize the Council to assess a charge on participating vision plans that is reasonable and necessary to support the development, operations, and prudent cash management of the Council, and would make the implementation of the bill's provisions contingent on a determination by the board that sufficient moneys exist in the fund to implement the bill's provisions. The bill would prohibit General Fund moneys from being used for any of these purposes and would require that any costs associated with the implementation of these provisions be paid from the California Vision Care Access Trust Fund. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Sponsored bills
Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services to implement regulations establishing minimum standards for business plans and area plans relating to the handling and release or threatened release of hazardous materials. Existing law requires the establishment of a statewide environmental reporting system for these plans. This bill would require a rail carrier, as defined, to report specified information regarding the transportation of hazardous materials, beginning no later than January 31, 2015, to the office on a quarterly basis. The bill would require a rail carrier to prospectively estimate and submit to the office notification of the weekly movements of trains through a county, as specified. The bill would require a rail carrier to update that notification once every 6 months. The bill also would require a rail carrier to update and notify the office within 30 days of the rail carrier determining that there will be a material change in the estimated volume of Bakken oil, as defined, plus or minus 25% per week relative to the most recent estimate previously submitted to the office. The bill would require each rail carrier to maintain a response management communications center, as specified. The bill would require the office to disseminate information necessary for developing emergency response plans from the reports it receives pursuant to this act to each unified program agency, as defined, when the office determines a unified program agency area of responsibility may be impacted by a hazardous material or oil cargo spill. The bill would require each rail carrier to provide the office with a summary of the rail carrier's hazardous materials emergency response plan, as specified. The bill would require the office to provide a copy of each summary report of a rail carrier's hazardous materials emergency response plan to each unified program agency when the office determines a unified program agency area of responsibility may be impacted by a rail carrier spill of hazardous material or oil cargo, as specified. The bill would prohibit a recipient of the reports and hazardous materials emergency response plan from divulging or making known that information to unauthorized recipients, as specified.
Existing law, the Money Transmission Act, provides for the regulation of money transmissions and, unless an exemption applies, requires the licensure by the Commissioner of Business Oversight of persons, including corporations and limited liability companies, to engage in this activity. Existing law declares the need to regulate money transmission businesses in the state, to maintain public confidence in financial institutions doing business in this state, and to preserve the health, safety, and general welfare of the people of California. Under existing law, a licensee under the act is required to file various reports with the commissioner with specified information, including the total volume of activities, number of transactions conducted, and outstanding money transmissions in California and the United States in a given calendar year quarter, as specified. Existing law makes it a felony to intentionally make a false statement, misrepresentation, or false certification in a record filed or required to be maintained under the act, or to knowingly engage in an activity for which a license is required without being licensed or exempt from licensure. This bill would exempt from the requirements of the act a transaction in which the recipient of the money or other monetary value is an agent of the payee pursuant to a preexisting written contract and delivery of the money or other monetary value to the agent satisfies the payor's obligation to the payee. The bill would revise and reorganize various provisions of the act relating to, among other things, the definition of relevant terms under the act and the required contents of license applications and customer receipts. The bill would require that the report described above also include, if feasible, whether an outstanding money transmission was conducted via a mobile application or an Internet Web site. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would authorize the commissioner to exercise any power set forth in the act with respect to a money transmission business, if necessary for the general welfare of the public, regardless of the licensure status of the money transmission business. The bill would revise provisions relating to the commissioner's authority to provide guidance to prospective applicants for a license to operate a money transmission business. 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, the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency Act, makes legislative findings and declarations relating to the establishment and purposes of the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency. The act provides that the membership, boundaries, purposes, and governance of the agency are to be as set forth in a specified joint exercise of powers agreement. The act grants to the agency the authority to impose assessments or special taxes, and issue bonds, to finance projects in accordance with specified laws. This bill would authorize the agency to change the boundaries of an assessment district, a project, an assessment, or an act, determination, or provision with respect to an assessment district in accordance with specified procedures. This bill would prohibit the agency from undertaking any change with respect to any assessment district while bonds secured by the assessments levied in that assessment district are outstanding unless the board of the agency determines in the resolution of intention with respect to the change that the change will not interfere with the timely retirement of the bonds.
Existing law creates the Department of General Services to provide centralized services, including, but not limited to, planning, acquisition, construction, and maintenance of state buildings and property, purchasing, printing, architectural services, administrative hearings, and accounting services. Existing law provides that the department is under the control of an executive officer known as the Director of General Services. This bill would require, by July 1, 2015, the Department of General Services to complete a long-range planning study of the state-controlled and owned office buildings in the County of Sacramento and the City of West Sacramento, including the headquarters of the State Board of Equalization (BOE) , for the management of the state's space needs in the Sacramento region, as specified. The bill would require the Director of General Services to issue one or more requests for proposals for the planning, design, construction, and acquisition of facilities recommended by the Legislature based on the planning study.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue original driver's licenses to qualified persons. Existing law requires every application for an original or a renewal of a driver's license to contain specified information about the applicant. This bill would prohibit a person from receiving financial compensation for the sole purpose of filling out an original driver's license application for another person. The bill would impose a $2,500 civil penalty for a violation of this provision and would authorize the enforcement of this provision by the Attorney General or by the district attorney, county counsel, or city attorney of the location in which the violation occurred, as specified.
Existing law states findings and declarations of the Legislature that sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the leading cause of death for children under age one. Under existing law, a coroner has a duty to inquire into and determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of, among other things, deaths where the suspected cause of death is sudden infant death syndrome. The coroner is required to perform an autopsy, within 24 hours or as soon thereafter as feasible, in any case where an infant has died suddenly and unexpectedly. This bill would define "sudden unexplained death in childhood" as the sudden death of a child one year of age or older but under 18 years of age that is unexplained by the history of the child and for which a thorough postmortem examination fails to demonstrate an adequate cause of death. This bill would require the coroner to notify the parent or responsible adult of a child within that definition about the importance of taking tissue samples. This bill would also exempt the coroner from liability for damages in a civil action for any act or omission done in compliance with these provisions. By expanding the duties of a local agency, this bill would create 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 these statutory provisions.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including a credit against those taxes for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, in an amount equal to an applicable percentage of either 20% or 25%, respectively, of the qualified expenditures, as defined, attributable to the production of a qualified motion picture in California, or, where the qualified motion picture is a television series that relocated to California or is an independent film, as provided. Existing law imposes specified duties on the California Film Commission related to the administration of the credits, including a requirement to allocate the tax credits until July 1, 2017, and limits the aggregate amount of credits that may be allocated to qualified motion pictures in any fiscal year to $100,000,000 through the 2016–17 fiscal year. Existing law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, in lieu of the credits authorized under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for qualified motion pictures described above, also allows a credit against qualified state sales and use taxes, as provided. Existing law provides for a tentative minimum tax and further provides that, except for specified credits, no other credit shall reduce the tax imposed below the tentative minimum tax. This bill would establish similar credits under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, to be allocated by the California Film Commission on or after July 1, 2015, and before July 1, 2020. This bill would, as compared to the existing tax credits, extend the scope of the credits for a qualified motion picture to the applicable percentage of qualified expenditures up to $100,000,000, would extend the credit to qualified expenditures for television pilot episodes, and would determine an applicable percentage of 25% or 20% for qualified expenditures, with an additional credit amount available, as specified. This bill would limit the aggregate amount of these new credits to be allocated in each fiscal year to up to $330 million, and would, subject to a computation and ranking of applicants based on the jobs ratio, as defined, require the California Film Commission to allocate credit amounts subject to specified categories of qualified motion pictures. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2016, in lieu of the credits authorized under the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law for qualified motion pictures described above, allow a credit against qualified state sales and use taxes, as provided. This bill would also require the Legislative Analyst's Office to prepare reports related to the effectiveness and administration of the qualified motion picture credit under the Sales and Use Tax Law, the Personal Income Tax Law, and the Corporation Tax Law. This bill would, for taxable years, beginning on or after January 1, 2016, additionally allow the credit under the Corporation Tax Law for qualified expenditures for the production of qualified motion pictures to reduce the tentative minimum tax. This bill would also make findings and declarations related to the entertainment industry, and would urge the United States Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission to investigate and impose sanctions on specified motion picture productions and elements of production to combat unfair and illegal competition. 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. The bill would state that its provisions are severable. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 23036 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, proposed by AB 2754, to be operative only if AB 2754 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to issue specialty license plates, including environmental license plates and specified special environmental design license plates. Under existing law, a state agency is authorized to apply to the DMV to sponsor a specialized license plate program, and the DMV is required to issue those license plates if the agency meets certain requirements. The DMV is required to charge specified fees for certain services related to the issuance of those plates. Existing law establishes the Breast Cancer Control Account in the Breast Cancer Fund, and requires that funds in that account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be allocated for the provision of early breast cancer detection services for uninsured and underinsured women. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to apply to sponsor a breast cancer awareness license plate program, and would require the DMV to issue the license plates if the State Department of Health Care Services meets certain requirements. The bill would authorize the State Department of Health Care Services to accept and use donated artwork from California artists for the license plate. The bill would require the revenue generated from the license plates, as specified, to be deposited in the Breast Cancer Control Account in the Breast Cancer Fund. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) The California Constitution requires the reasonable and beneficial use of water. Existing law establishes various state water policies, including the policy that the people of the state have a paramount interest in the use of all the water of the state and that the state is required to determine what water of the state, surface and underground, can be converted to public use or be controlled for public protection. This bill would state the policy of the state that groundwater resources be managed sustainably for long-term reliability and multiple economic, social, and environmental benefits for current and future beneficial uses. This bill would state that sustainable groundwater management is best achieved locally through the development, implementation, and updating of plans and programs based on the best available science. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources, in conjunction with other public agencies, to conduct an investigation of the state's groundwater basins and to report its findings to the Legislature not later than January 1, 2012, and thereafter in years ending in 5 and 0. Existing law requires the department to identify the extent of monitoring of groundwater elevations that is being undertaken within each basin or subbasin and to prioritize groundwater basins and subbasins based on specified considerations, including any information determined to be relevant by the department. This bill would specify that this relevant information may include adverse impacts on local habitat and local streamflows. This bill would require the department to categorize each basin as high-, medium-, low-, or very low priority and would require the initial priority for each basin to be established no later than January 31, 2015. This bill would authorize a local agency to request that the department revise the boundaries of a basin and would require the department, by January 1, 2016, to adopt regulations on the methodology and criteria to be used to evaluate the proposed revision. This bill would require the department to provide a copy of its draft revision of a basin's boundaries to the California Water Commission and would require the commission to hear and comment on the draft revision. (3) Existing law authorizes local agencies to adopt and implement a groundwater management plan. Existing law requires a groundwater management plan to contain specified components and requires a local agency seeking state funds administered by the Department of Water Resources for groundwater projects or groundwater quality projects to do certain things, including, but not limited to, preparing and implementing a groundwater management plan that includes basin management objectives for the groundwater basin. This bill, with certain exceptions, would prohibit, beginning January 1, 2015, a new groundwater management plan from being adopted or an existing groundwater management plan from being renewed. This bill would require all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources that are designated as basins subject to critical conditions of overdraft to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2020, and would require all other groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2022, except as specified. This bill would require a groundwater sustainability plan to be developed and implemented to meet the sustainability goal, established as prescribed, and would require the plan to include prescribed components. This bill would encourage and authorize basins designated as low- or very low priority basins to be managed under groundwater sustainability plans. This bill would authorize any local agency, as defined, or combination of local agencies to elect to be a groundwater sustainability agency and would require, within 30 days of electing to be or forming a groundwater sustainability agency, the groundwater sustainability agency to inform the department of its election or formation and its intent to undertake sustainable groundwater management. This bill would provide that a county within which an area unmanaged by a groundwater sustainability agency lies is presumed to be the groundwater sustainability agency for that area and would require the county to provide a prescribed notification to the department. This bill would provide specific authority to a groundwater sustainability agency, including, but not limited to, the ability to require registration of a groundwater extraction facility, to require that a groundwater extraction facility be measured with a water-measuring device, and to regulate groundwater extraction. This bill would authorize a groundwater sustainability agency to conduct inspections and would authorize a groundwater sustainability agency to obtain an inspection warrant. Because the willful refusal of an inspection lawfully authorized by an inspection warrant is a misdemeanor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the application of a crime. (4) 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. (5) This bill would make its operation contingent on the enactment of both AB 1739 and SB 1319 of the 2013–14 Regular Session.