Existing law establishes the Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) program, under which counties provide payments to foster care providers on behalf of qualified children in foster care. In order to be eligible for AFDC-FC, existing law requires, in pertinent part, a child to be placed in one of several specified placements. Existing law sets forth the rights of a minor in foster care, including, among other rights, the right to be involved in the development of and to review his or her own case plan and plan for permanent placement, and, if he or she is 12 years of age or older and in a permanent placement, the right to receive information about his or her out-of-home placement and case plan, including the right to be told of changes to the plan. Existing law establishes the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson as an autonomous entity within the State Department of Social Services for the purpose of providing children who are placed in foster care with a means to resolve issues related to their care, placement, or services. Existing law requires the office to investigate and attempt to resolve complaints made by or on behalf of children placed in foster care, that relate to their care, placement, or services. This bill would require, prior to making a change in the placement of a dependent child, a social worker or placing agency to develop and implement a placement preservation strategy to preserve the dependent child's placement, and if a placement change is necessary, would further require a social worker or placing agency to provide 14 days prior notice of the change, as specified. The bill would prohibit placement changes from occurring during specified hours, except as specified. The bill would, if a complaint alleging that a placement change occurred in violation of these requirements is made to the Office of the State Foster Care Ombudsperson and that complaint is investigated, require the office to provide the findings of the investigation to the county child welfare director, or his or her designee, for the purposes of training, technical assistance, and quality improvement. The bill would express the intent of the Legislature with regard to these provisions and would make certain findings and declarations. By increasing the duties of county social workers and placing agencies, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, if the Regents of the University of California accept the responsibility, requires the University of California to establish the California Cannabis Research Program, also sometimes referred to as the California Marijuana Research Program or the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, in order to develop and conduct studies intended to ascertain the general medical safety and efficacy of cannabis, among other duties. Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , an initiative statute approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election as Proposition 64, among other things, establishes the California Cannabis Tax Fund as a continuously appropriated fund consisting of specified taxes, interest, penalties, and other amounts imposed by AUMA. AUMA requires, after other specified disbursements are made from the fund, the Controller to disburse $2,000,000 to the University of San Diego Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research. This bill would conform the name of the program throughout the code, including for purposes of the appropriation made by AUMA, as the California Cannabis Research Program and would specify that the program is hosted by the Center for Cannabis Research. The bill would authorize the program to cultivate cannabis for its use in research, as specified. The bill would expand the purview of the program to include the study of naturally occurring constituents of cannabis and synthetic compounds that have effects similar to naturally occurring cannabinoids and would also authorize the controlled clinical trials to focus on examining testing methods for detecting harmful contaminants in cannabis, including mold and bacteria. The bill would prohibit the use of specified funds from the California Cannabis Tax Fund from being used for these purposes. Existing law requires the program to report to the Legislature every 6 months detailing the progress of the studies. This bill would, instead, require the program to report to the Legislature every 24 months.
Existing law, the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities and authorizes persons to conduct specified commercial cannabis activities, as defined, in the state. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various deductions in computing the income that is subject to the taxes imposed by those laws. The Personal Income Tax Law conforms as of a specified date to federal income tax laws with respect to itemized deductions, including business deductions and items not deductible, except as specifically provided. The Corporation Tax Law does not conform to those federal income tax provisions, but specifically provides for deductions for purposes of that law. The Personal Income Tax Law, by conformity to federal income tax laws, disallows a deduction or credit for business expenses of a trade or business whose activities consist of trafficking specified controlled substances, including marijuana. This bill, for each taxable year beginning on and after January 1, 2018, would specifically provide in the Personal Income Tax Law for nonconformity to that federal law disallowing a deduction or credit for business expenses of a trade or business whose activities consist of trafficking specified controlled substances, only for commercial cannabis activity, as defined under MAUCRSA, by a licensee under MAUCRSA, thus allowing deduction of business expenses for a cannabis trade or business under the Personal Income Tax Law, as provided. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care, and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law requires a health care service plan doing business in this state to establish an antifraud plan to organize and implement an antifraud strategy to identify and reduce costs, and to protect consumers through the timely detection, investigation, and prosecution of suspected fraud. Existing law specifies required elements of an antifraud plan and requires a health care service plan to annually submit a written report to the department director describing the plan's efforts to deter, detect, and investigate fraud, and to report cases of fraud to a law enforcement agency. Existing law requires a health care service plan to reimburse a claim or portion of a claim no later than 30 working days after receipt of the claim, unless the plan contests or denies the claim, in which case the plan is required to notify the claimant within 30 working days that the claim is contested or denied. Existing law extends these timelines to 45 working days for a health maintenance organization. Existing law provides for the accrual of interest after these 30- and 45-day periods. Existing law requires a health care service plan or health maintenance organization to comply with additional timelines when a claim is reasonably contested. This bill would specify that a specialized health care service plan that undertakes solely to arrange for the provision of vision care services may use a statistically reliable method, as specified, to investigate suspected fraud and to recover overpayments made as a result of fraud, under designated circumstances. The bill would require the specialized health care service plan's statistically reliable method, and how the plan intends to utilize that method to determine recovery of overpayments made as a result of fraud, to be submitted to, and approved by, the department as elements of the specialized health care service plan's antifraud plan. The bill would specify procedures and timelines for a provider to contest a specialized health care service plan's notice of suspected fraud or to request a hearing, and the circumstances under which a specialized health care service plan may offset the amount the specialized health care service plan disclosed as overpaid to the provider in an uncontested notice of suspected fraud against a provider's current claim submissions. Because a violation of these provisions by a specialized health care service plan would be a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
This measure would urge the Congress and the President of the United States to support the retention of, and investment in, the Amtrak National Network of passenger trains, specifically the California Zephyr, the Coast Starlight, the Southwest Chief, and the Sunset Limited, as vital components of the state's rail program and would also urge Congress to reject President Trump's proposed Fiscal Year 2019 federal budget cuts to Amtrak and restore full funding for the Amtrak National Network through the appropriations process.
This measure would urge the federal government and the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission to take immediate action to adequately address cross-border pollution in the Tijuana River Valley.
Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of marijuana for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. MAUCRSA prohibits any advertising or marketing placed in broadcast, cable, radio, print, and digital communications from being displayed unless at least 71.6% of the audience is reasonably expected to be 21 years of age or older. Existing law prohibits an operator of an Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application directed to minors from marketing or advertising certain products or services, including any instrument or paraphernalia that is designed for the smoking or ingestion of tobacco or any controlled substance and also makes this prohibition applicable to an advertising service that is notified by an operator that the site, service, or application is directed to minors. Existing law also prohibits an operator from knowingly using, disclosing, or compiling, or allowing a 3rd party to use, disclose, or compile, the personal information of a minor for the purpose of marketing or advertising specified types of products or services. This bill would prohibit an operator of an Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application directed to minors, or an advertising service that is notified by an operator that the site, service, or application is directed to minors, from marketing or advertising any cannabis, cannabis product, cannabis business, or cannabis-related instrument or paraphernalia on the Internet Web site, online service, online application, or mobile application. The bill would also prohibit an operator from knowingly using, disclosing, or compiling, the personal information of a minor for the purpose of marketing or advertising any cannabis, cannabis product, cannabis business, or cannabis-related instrument or paraphernalia. The AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend the act to further the purposes and intent of the act with a 23 vote of the membership of both houses of the Legislature, except as provided. This bill would declare that its provisions further specified purposes and intent of AUMA.
Existing law authorizes the legislative body of a local agency, as defined, to make, by ordinance, any violation of an ordinance subject to an administrative fine or penalty, as specified. Existing law requires the ordinance adopted by the local agency to provide for a reasonable period of time, as specified in the ordinance, for a person responsible for a continuing violation to correct or otherwise remedy the violation prior to the imposition of administrative fines or penalties, when the violation pertains to building, plumbing, electrical, or other similar structural or zoning issues, that do not create an immediate danger to health or safety. This bill would allow the ordinance to provide for the immediate imposition of administrative fines or penalties for the violation of building, plumbing, electrical, or other similar structural, health and safety, or zoning requirements if the violation exists as a result of, or to facilitate, the illegal cultivation of cannabis, except as specified.
This measure would annually designate the 2nd week of October as Code Enforcement Officer Appreciation Week.
This measure would express the support of the Legislature for the 23 Asilomar AI Principles as guiding values for the development of artificial intelligence and of related public policy.