Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of the practice of pharmacy by the California State Board of Pharmacy and makes a knowing violation of its provisions a crime. Existing law authorizes a surgical clinic, as defined, to purchase drugs at wholesale for administration or dispensing, under the direction of a physician and surgeon, to patients registered for care at the surgical clinic. Existing law requires these surgical clinics to obtain a license from the board and to comply with various regulatory requirements, and requires a surgical clinic to maintain specified records. Existing law authorizes the board to inspect a surgical clinic at any time in order to determine whether a surgical clinic is operating in compliance with certain requirements. This bill would expand these provisions to additionally authorize an outpatient setting or an ambulatory surgical center, as specified, to purchase drugs at wholesale for administration or dispensing, subject to the requirements applicable to surgical clinics. The bill would delete the requirement that a clinic operating under these provisions be licensed by the California State Board of Pharmacy and would make that licensure optional. The bill would specify that the board is authorized to inspect only a clinic that is licensed by the board. Because a knowing violation of these requirements by outpatient settings and ambulatory surgical centers 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.
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(1) Existing law authorizes the owner or operator of a tow truck who complies with the specified requirements of the Vehicle Code relating to tow trucks to stop or park the tow truck upon a highway for the purpose of rendering assistance to a disabled vehicle, but prohibits the owner or operator from soliciting an engagement for towing services or moving a vehicle without proper authorization, unless exempted as specified. A violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor. This bill would delete the reference to an owner or operator of a tow truck and would instead provide that a tow truck driver who violates these prohibitions is, in addition to being guilty of a misdemeanor, subject to punishment by having the tow truck impounded for a period of 30 days and a $2,500 fine. (2) Existing law authorizes a member of the Department of the California Highway Patrol to impound a vehicle or combination of vehicles operated by a motor carrier of property, when the vehicle or combination of vehicles is found upon a highway, any public lands, or an offstreet parking facility and the motor carrier is found to be operating, either independently or for another motor carrier, after its motor carrier permit has been suspended by the Department of Motor Vehicles. A motor carrier of property that violates this provision is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of not more than $2,500, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than three months, or by both that fine and imprisonment. The bill would authorize the law enforcement agency, an impounding agency, or the person in possession of the tow truck, or any person acting on behalf of that agency or person to release a tow-truck, before the expiration of that 30-day period to the registered or legal owner or his or her agent only if certain conditions are met, including, but not limited to, the requirement that the legal owner or the legal owner's agent pay all towing and storage fees related to the impoundment of the tow truck. The bill would require the impounding agency to remain open to issue a release to the registered owner or legal owner of a tow truck whenever the agency is open to serve the public for regular, nonemergency business. The bill would require specified facilities where impounded tow trucks are stored to accept valid bank credit cards, as defined, or cash as payment for towing, storage, and related fees and would make the facility civilly liable, as specified, for a failure to do so. The bill would make it a misdemeanor for a legal owner of an impounded tow truck to knowingly release the tow truck to the registered owner of the tow truck in certain circumstances. The bill would impose additional requirements with respect to the release of an impounded tow truck. By creating new crimes, 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.
Existing law provides for the creation of various programs to provide health care services to persons who have limited incomes and meet various eligibility requirements. These programs include the Healthy Families Program administered by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, and the Medi‑Cal program administered by the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law provides for the regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Commencing January 1, 2014, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires every individual to be covered under minimum essential coverage, as specified, and requires every health insurance issuer issuing individual or group health insurance coverage to accept every employer and individual who applies for coverage. Existing law establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange 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 Healthcare System to be administered by the newly created California Healthcare Agency under the control of a Healthcare Commissioner appointed by the Governor and subject to confirmation by the Senate. The bill would make all California residents eligible for specified health care benefits under the California Healthcare System, which would, on a single-payer basis, negotiate for or set fees for health care services provided through the system and pay claims for those services. The bill would require the commissioner to seek all necessary waivers, exemptions, agreements, or legislation to allow various existing federal, state, and local health care payments to be paid to the California Healthcare System, which would then assume responsibility for all benefits and services previously paid for with those funds. The bill would create the Healthcare Policy Board to establish policy on medical issues and various other matters relating to the system. The bill would create the Office of Patient Advocacy within the agency to represent the interests of health care consumers relative to the system. The bill would create within the agency the Office of Health Planning to plan for the health care needs of the population, and the Office of Health Care Quality, headed by a chief medical officer, to support the delivery of high-quality care and promote provider and patient satisfaction. The bill would create the Office of Inspector General for the California Healthcare System within the Attorney General's office, which would have various oversight powers. The bill would prohibit health care service plan contracts or health insurance policies from being issued for services covered by the California Healthcare System, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, and would authorize the collection of penalty moneys for deposit into the Healthcare Fund, which the bill would create. The bill would create the Payments Board to administer the finances of the California Healthcare System. The bill would create the California Healthcare Premium Commission (Premium Commission) to determine the cost of the California Healthcare System and to develop a premium structure for the system that complies with specified standards. The bill would require the Premium Commission to recommend a premium structure to the Governor and the Legislature on or before January 1, 2014, and to make a draft recommendation to the Governor, the Legislature, and the public 90 days before submitting its final premium structure recommendation. The bill would specify that only its provisions relating to the Premium Commission would become operative on January 1, 2013, with its remaining provisions becoming operative on the earlier of the date the Secretary of California Health and Human Services notifies the Legislature, as specified, that sufficient funding exists to implement the California Healthcare System and the date the secretary receives the necessary federal waiver under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The bill would extend the application of certain insurance fraud laws to providers of services and products under the system, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program by revising the definition of a crime. The bill would enact other related provisions relative to budgeting, regional entities, federal preemption, subrogation, collective bargaining agreements, compensation of health care providers, conflict of interest, patient grievances, and independent medical review. 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 requires that child care be provided in 3 stages to recipients of benefits under the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program. The first stage of child care begins upon the entry of a person into the CalWORKs program. The 2nd stage of child care begins when a county determines that the work or approved work activity of the recipient is stable or when a recipient is making the transition off of aid and child care is available through a local stage 2 program. The 3rd stage of child care, which is administered by programs contracting with the State Department of Education, begins when a funded child care space becomes available for the child or children of the eligible CalWORKs recipient. This bill would reappropriate $60,000,000 in unobligated balances appropriated in the Budget Act of 2009 to the State Department of Education for CalWORKs Stage 3 child care services. The bill would also require the State Department of Education to use those funds for families that were receiving, or would have been eligible to receive, CalWORKs Stage 3 child care services, before, on, or after October 31, 2010. The bill would declare that it makes appropriations for the usual and current expenses of the state, thereby taking immediate effect.
Existing law requires the Judicial Council to provide an annual status report, on or before December 1 of each year until project completion, to the chairpersons of the budget committee in each house of the Legislature and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee regarding the California Case Management System and Court Accounting and Reporting System, as specified. The report is required to include, among other things, annual revenues and expenditures to date in support of these projects, including all costs for the Administrative Office of the Courts and incremental court personnel, contracts, and hardware and software. Existing law also requires the Administrative Office of the Courts, on or before December 1 of each year until project completion, to annually provide to those chairpersons copies of any independent project oversight report for the California Case Management System. This bill would require the Judicial Council to provide that annual status report on or before December 1 of each year until project completion and full implementation. The report additionally would be required to include all costs of the trial courts in support of these projects, total estimated costs to complete these projects, a general description of the nature of costs that justice partners, as defined, will incur from making changes as necessary to access the California Case Management System, and an explanation for deviation from any recommendation of the California Technology Agency pursuant to the provisions described below. The bill would require the Administrative Office of the Courts, on or before December 1 of each year until project completion and full implementation, to annually provide to those chairpersons an independent project oversight report for the California Case Management System. Existing law provides that the California Case Management System, and all other administrative and infrastructure information technology projects of the Judicial Council or the courts with total costs estimated at more than $5,000,000, shall be subject to the review and recommendations of the California Technology Agency, as specified. Existing law requires the Secretary of California Technology to submit a copy of those reviews and recommendations to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. This bill would instead make all administrative and infrastructure information technology projects of the Judicial Council or the courts with total costs estimated at more than $1,000,000, subject to the review and recommendations of the California Technology Agency. The bill would make other technical, nonsubstantive changes.
This bill would urge the United States Patent and Trademark Office to place a satellite office in California.
This measure would designate that January 16, 2012, be observed as the official memorial of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth, commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement in changing public policy in California and in the United States of America.
Existing law requires the Corrections Standards Authority, and commencing July 1, 2012, the Board of State and Community Corrections, to establish minimum standards for state and local correctional facilities, including standards restricting the shackling of women in labor, during childbirth, and while in recovery after giving birth, and to review those standards biennially and make any appropriate revisions, as specified. This bill would require that the standards ensure that women who are pregnant not be shackled by the wrists, ankles, around the abdomen, or to another person, including during time spent outside a correctional facility, during transport to or from a correctional facility, during labor, delivery, and while in recovery after giving birth, except that the least restrictive restraints possible may be used when deemed necessary for the inmate, consistent with the legitimate security needs of the inmate, the staff, and the public, and the restraints would only remain in place as long as the threat exists. The bill would require the authority, and later the board, to develop these standards regarding the shackling of pregnant women as part of its biennial review of its standards. Under existing law, pregnant inmates of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, wards of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Division of Juvenile Facilities, and wards in the custody of a local juvenile facility, are to be transported in the least restrictive way possible when being taken to a hospital for purposes of childbirth. This bill would prohibit inmates and wards of these facilities who are known to be pregnant from being shackled by the wrists, ankles, around the abdomen, or to another person, unless deemed necessary for the safety and security of the inmate or ward, the staff, and the public. If restraints are deemed necessary, the bill would require the least restrictive means be used, consistent with the legitimate security needs of each inmate or ward, and the restraints would only remain in place as long as the threat exists. The bill would provide that these provisions are applicable to movement within the correctional facility, transport to and from the facility, time spent outside the facility to receive medical or dental care, to attend court, or other appointments.
Under existing law, whenever a person born in this state has undergone surgical treatment for the purpose of altering his or her sexual characteristics to those of the opposite sex, a new birth certificate may be prepared reflecting the change of gender and any change of name. A petition for the issuance of a new birth certificate is permitted to be filed in the superior court of the county in which the petitioner resides. Existing law requires the petition to be accompanied by an affidavit of the physician documenting the sex change and allows for the filing of objections by any person who can, in those objections, show good cause against the change in birth certificate. This bill would instead authorize a person who has undergone clinically appropriate treatment for the purpose of gender transition to file a petition in any superior court to recognize the change in gender and, additionally, if applicable, a name change and request for a new birth certificate. The bill would make the physician's affidavit conclusive proof of gender change if it contains specified language. The bill would delete the provisions of existing law that authorize the filing of objections, and would require the court to grant the petition if the affidavit shows that the petitioner has undergone clinically appropriate treatment for the purpose of gender transition. The bill would also make related changes.
The Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act creates the California Department of Aging, with prescribed duties, including the development of the state plan on aging. This bill would require, if specified conditions are met, the department to report data from the Elder Economic Security Standard Index (Elder Index) , as defined, for each service area included in the state plan and use the index as a reference when making decisions about allocating resources. The act also establishes area agencies on aging with specified duties, including creation of a plan for the agencies that considers available data and population trends, assesses the need for services, identifies sources of funding for services, and develops and implements a plan for the delivery of services based on the need. This bill would require, if specified conditions are met, that the plan utilize the Elder Index as a reference when making decisions about allocating resources to specify the costs of meeting basic needs for elders in each planning and service area.