Asm. Patrick O'Donnell

Existing law requires the board of education of any school district and of any county to appoint a supervisor of attendance and any assistant supervisors of attendance as may be necessary to supervise the attendance of pupils in the district or county, and requires the board to prescribe the duties of the supervisor of attendance and assistant supervisors of attendance in accordance with specified provisions. Existing law authorizes a school district, with the approval of the county board of education, to contract with the county superintendent of schools for the supervision of attendance of pupils in the school district. This bill would delete the requirement that a county board of education approve a contract between a school district and the county superintendent of schools for the supervision of attendance of pupils in the school district. The bill would express the Legislature's intent that a supervisor of attendance perform specified functions, and would authorize the supervisor of attendance to provide support services and interventions, as provided. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes.

Existing law, the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, prohibits a person from introducing into interstate commerce any new drug unless the drug has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) . Existing law requires the sponsor of a new drug to submit to the FDA an investigational new drug application and to then conduct a series of clinical trials to establish the safety and efficacy of the drug in human populations and submit the results to the FDA in a new drug application. Existing law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, regulates the packaging, labeling, and advertising of drugs and devices and is administered by the State Department of Public Health. A violation of that law is a crime. The Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law prohibits, among other things, the sale, delivery, or giving away of a new drug or new device unless either the department has approved a new drug or device application for that new drug or new device and that approval has not been withdrawn, terminated, or suspended or the drug or device has been approved pursuant to specified provisions of federal law, including the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The Medical Practice Act provides for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California and requires the board to take action against a licensee who is charged with unprofessional conduct. The Osteopathic Act provides for the licensure and regulation of osteopathic physicians and surgeons by the Osteopathic Medical Board of California and requires the board to enforce the Medical Practice Act with respect to its licensees. This bill would permit a manufacturer of an investigational drug, biological product, or device to make the product available to eligible patients with an immediately life-threatening disease or condition, as specified. The bill would authorize, but not require, a health benefit plan, as defined, to provide coverage for any investigational drug, biological product, or device made available pursuant to these provisions. The bill would prohibit the Medical Board of California and the Osteopathic Medical Board of California from taking any disciplinary action against the license of a physician based on the physician's recommendation to an eligible patient regarding, or prescription for, or treatment with, an investigational drug, biological product, or device if the recommendation or prescription is consistent with protocol approved by the physician's institutional review board or an accredited institutional review board, and would require the institutional review board to biannually report specified information to the State Department of Public Health, among others. The bill would prohibit a state agency from altering any recommendation made to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regarding a health care provider's certification to participate in the Medicare or Medicaid program based solely on the recommendation from an individual health care provider that a patient have access to an investigational drug, biological product, or device.

Existing law authorizes certain persons, including, among others, any person 16 years of age or older, to have his or her proficiency in basic skills taught in public high schools verified according to criteria established by the State Department of Education. Existing law requires the State Board of Education to award a certificate of proficiency to persons who demonstrate that proficiency. Existing law requires the department to develop standards of competency in basic skills taught in public high schools and to provide for the administration of examinations prepared by, or with the approval of, the department to verify competency. Existing law authorizes the department to charge a fee for each examination application in an amount sufficient to recover the costs of administering the requirements of these provisions but prohibits the fee from exceeding an amount equal to the cost of test renewal and administration per examination application. Existing law prohibits the department from charging the fee to an examinee who qualifies as a homeless child or youth and meets other specified criteria. This bill would additionally prohibit the department from charging the fee to a foster youth, as defined, who is under 25 years of age. Existing law separately requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to issue a high school equivalency certificate and an official score report, or an official score report only, to a person who has not completed high school and who meets specified requirements, including, among others, having taken all or a portion of a general education development test that has been approved by the state board and administered by a testing center approved by the department, with a score determined by the state board to be equal to the standard of performance expected from high school graduates. Existing law authorizes the Superintendent to charge an examinee a one-time fee to pay costs related to administering these provisions and issuing a certificate, as specified. Existing law limits the amount of the fee to $20 per person and requires each scoring contractor to forward that fee to the Superintendent. Existing law prohibits a scoring contractor or testing center that charges its own separate fee from charging that separate fee to an examinee who qualifies as a homeless child or youth, is under 25 years of age, and can verify his or her status as a homeless child or youth. This bill would additionally prohibit the scoring contractor or testing center from charging the fee to a foster youth, as defined, who is under 25 years of age. Existing law requires the Superintendent, on or before December 1, 2018, to submit 2 reports to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, one relating to high school proficiency tests, and one relating to high school equivalency tests, that each include, among other things, the number of homeless youth that took a high school proficiency or equivalency test in each of the 2016, 2017, and 2018 calendar years, and the impact of the opportunity to take a high school proficiency or equivalency test at no cost on the number and percentage of homeless youth taking a high school proficiency or equivalency test. This bill would require the Superintendent to also incorporate data on high school proficiency or equivalency test examinees who are foster youth, as defined, into each report.

Existing law requires the State Board of Education, on or before June 1, 2001, to adopt content standards in the curriculum area of visual and performing arts pursuant to recommendations developed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. This bill would require the Superintendent, in consultation with the Instructional Quality Commission, to recommend revisions to the visual and performing arts content standards in certain subjects to the state board, and would require the state board to adopt, reject, or modify the recommendations on or before January 31, 2019. The bill would require the Superintendent, in consultation with the Instructional Quality Commission and the state board, to select a group of experts in visual and performing arts for purposes of assisting the Superintendent in developing recommendations under the bill. The bill would require that the National Core Arts Standards developed by the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards serve as the basis for deliberations regarding revisions to the visual and performing arts content standards. The bill would require the Superintendent, in consultation with the Instructional Quality Commission, to hold a minimum of 2 public hearings in order for the public to provide input on the Superintendent's recommendations, and would require the state board to adopt, reject, or modify the recommendations at a subsequent public meeting, in accordance with specified procedures. The bill would also provide, if the visual and performing arts content standards are adopted pursuant to the bill: (1) that the state board would be required to consider the adoption of a curriculum framework and evaluation criteria for instructional materials that are aligned to the visual and performing arts content standards no later than July 31, 2020, as specified; and (2) that the state board would be authorized to adopt instructional materials for kindergarten and grades 1 to 8, inclusive, that are aligned to the visual and performing arts content standards no later than November 30, 2021, as specified.

Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state and provides for the establishment of school districts and other local educational agencies to operate these schools and provide instruction to pupils. Existing law establishes the State Department of Education in state government and vests the department with specified powers and duties relating to the state's public school system. This bill would require the governing board or body of a local educational agency, as defined, that serves pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to, before the beginning of the 2017–18 school year, adopt a policy on pupil suicide prevention, as specified, that specifically addresses the needs of high-risk groups. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department to develop and maintain a model policy to serve as a guide for local educational agencies. 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 law generally requires, with exceptions, that specified provisions of the Civil Code apply to electronic records and electronic signatures relating to a transaction. This bill would remove various notices, including a policy change or cancellation notice by the named insured and a written notice of nonrenewal of the policy from the above exemptions, making those notices subject to the specified provisions of the Civil Code. The bill, commencing January 1, 2021, would reinstate certain exemptions of those notices from the specified provisions of the Civil Code. Existing law generally requires that any required notice related to insurance transactions be made by mail. Existing law authorizes an insurer, under specified conditions, to provide by electronic transmission the required offer of renewal for automobile insurance, the required notice of conditional renewal for commercial insurance, the required offer of coverage or renewal or any disclosure required regarding earthquake insurance, and the offer of renewal for a workers' compensation policy. The bill would, for the above-specified records, authorize additional persons licensed by the Department of Insurance to send those records electronically, as specified. The bill, as of January 1, 2021, would no longer authorize the notice of conditional renewal for commercial insurance to be sent electronically. As of January 1, 2021, the bill would permit a notice of lapse, nonrenewal, cancellation, or termination, as specified, to be transmitted electronically if it is also transmitted by mail, as prescribed by statute.

Existing law requires local educational agencies to actively and systematically seek out all individuals with exceptional needs, from birth to 21 years of age, inclusive, including children not enrolled in public school programs, who reside in a school district or are under the jurisdiction of a special education local plan area or a county office of education. This bill would require the State Department of Education, on or before July 1, 2018, to develop a manual providing guidance to local educational agencies on identifying, assessing, supporting, and reclassifying English learners who may qualify for special education services and pupils with disabilities who may be classified as English learners, as specified, with the goal of providing guidance, for voluntary use by local educational agencies, charter schools, and the state special schools on evidence-based and promising practices for the identification, assessment, support, and reclassification of those pupils and to promote a collaborative approach among general education teachers, special education teachers, school administrators, paraprofessionals, other involved personnel, and parents in determining the most appropriate academic placements and services for these pupils. The bill would require the department to post the manual on its Internet Web site and on its professional development Internet Web site. In developing the manual, the bill would require the department to review manuals and other resources produced on this topic by local educational agencies, special education administrators, other organizations, other states, and the federal government, and to establish and consult with a stakeholder group comprised of specified experts and practitioners. As part of implementing these provisions, the bill would require the department, with input from the stakeholder group, to develop a plan for the dissemination of the manual and the means of providing professional development on the content of the manual, as specified, but would condition the actual implementation of the plan on an appropriation for that purpose in the annual Budget Act or another enacted statute. The bill would require the department to submit the plan to the State Board of Education, the Department of Finance, the Legislative Analyst's Office, the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, the Advisory Commission on Special Education, and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before July 1, 2018. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that its provisions be funded with federal funds, to the extent permissible.

(1) Existing law authorizes a school district or school to provide a comprehensive program in first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation training, or both, to pupils and employees in accordance with specified guidelines. Existing law requires each pupil completing grade 12 to satisfy certain requirements as a condition of receiving a diploma of graduation from high school. These requirements include the completion of designated coursework in grades 9 to 12, inclusive. Existing law authorizes a governing board of a school district to adopt other coursework requirements. This bill would require, commencing with the 2018–19 school year, the governing board of a school district or the governing body of a charter school that requires a course in health education for graduation from high school to include instruction in performing compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation, as provided. The bill would encourage those entities to provide to pupils general information on the use and importance of an automated external defibrillator. The bill would require the State Department of Education to provide guidance on how to implement these provisions, including, but not limited to, who may provide instruction. (2) Existing law provides that no local agency, entity of state or local government, or other public or private organization that sponsors, authorizes, supports, finances, or supervises the training of citizens in cardiopulmonary resuscitation shall be liable for any civil damages alleged to result from such training programs. Existing law provides that no person who is certified to instruct in cardiopulmonary resuscitation by either the American Heart Association or the American Red Cross shall be liable for any civil damages alleged to result from the acts or omissions of an individual who received instruction on cardiopulmonary resuscitation by that certified instructor. This bill would provide that a local agency, entity of state or local government, or other public or private organization that sponsors, authorizes, supports, finances, or supervises, and a public employee who provides or facilitates, the instruction of pupils in compression-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation or the use of an automated external defibrillator pursuant to the bill shall not be liable for any civil damages alleged to result from the acts or omissions of an individual who received such instruction, except as provided.