Asm. Lorena Gonzalez

Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income persons receive health care benefits, including specialty mental health services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid provisions. Under existing law, specialty mental health services are generally provided by mental health plans that contract with the department. Existing law establishes the Drug Medi-Cal Treatment Program (Drug Medi-Cal) , under which the department is authorized to enter into contracts with each county for various alcohol and drug treatment services, including substance use disorder services, narcotic treatment program services, naltrexone services, and outpatient drug-free services, to Medi-Cal beneficiaries, or the department is required to directly arrange for these services if a county elects not to do so. Existing law provides that federally qualified health center (FQHC) services and rural health clinic (RHC) services, as defined, are covered benefits under the Medi-Cal program to be reimbursed, to the extent that federal financial participation is obtained, to providers on a per-visit basis. Existing law authorizes FQHCs and RHCs to elect to have pharmacy or dental services reimbursed on a fee-for-service basis, utilizing the current fee schedules established for those services and requires those costs to be adjusted out of the FQHC's or RHC's clinic base rate as scope-of-service changes. This bill additionally would authorize FQHCs and RHCs to elect to enroll as a Drug Medi-Cal certified provider under Drug Medi-Cal to provide Drug Medi-Cal services and would set forth the reimbursement requirements for these services. The bill would require the costs of providing Drug Medi-Cal services to be adjusted out of the FQHC's or RHC's clinic base rate as scope-of-service changes, as specified, and would prohibit the FQHC or RHC from billing the per-visit prospective payment system (PPS) rate for services reimbursed by Drug Medi-Cal. The bill would authorize a county to contract with the FQHCs and RHCs for these Drug Medi-Cal services. The bill would authorize an FQHC or RHC that entered into a contract on or before January 1, 2017, with a mental health plan to provide specialty mental health services to continue to provide, and be reimbursed for, those specialty mental health services if the costs of providing specialty mental health services are reimbursed outside of the per-visit rate. The bill's requirements would be implemented only to the extent that federal financial participation is available and any federal approvals have been obtained. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 14132.100 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 1863, that would become operative only if AB 1863 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.

Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to disburse funds, appropriated to the department for the purpose of supporting county veterans service officers pursuant to the annual Budget Act, on a pro rata basis, to a county that complies with certain conditions. This bill would require the department, no later than July 1, 2016, to develop an allocation formula based upon performance standards that encourage innovation and reward outstanding service by county veterans service officers, and would require those moneys to be allocated, upon appropriation by the Legislature, in accordance with that formula, as specified. The bill would require the department to annually report to the Legislature the efficacy, return on investment, work volume, and regional impact of the subvention funds on each county that receives those funds, as specified. The bill would also delete obsolete provisions and would make conforming changes.

Existing law, the Barbering and Cosmetology Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of barbers, cosmetologists, estheticians, manicurists, electrologists, and apprentices by the State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology. The act requires the licensure of any person, firm, or corporation operating an establishment engaged in a practice regulated by the board, as specified, and requires a licensed establishment to comply with various requirements. A violation of the Barbering and Cosmetology Act is generally a misdemeanor. Existing law declares that every gratuity, as defined, is the sole property of the employee or employees to whom it was paid, given, or left for. Existing law prohibits an employer from collecting, taking, or receiving any gratuity, or part thereof, that is paid, given to, or left for an employee by a patron, from deducting any amount from wages due an employee on account of a gratuity, or requiring an employee to credit the amount, or any part thereof, of a gratuity against and as part of the wages due an employee. Existing law also requires an employer that permits patrons to pay gratuities by credit card to pay the employee the full amount of the gratuity without any deductions for any credit card payment processing or costs, and to pay a gratuity made by a patron using a credit card to an employee not later than the next regular payday. This bill would require an establishment offering nail care services, if it accepts a debit or credit card as payment for nail care services, to also accept a debit or credit card for payment of a tip or gratuity, consistent with the above existing law regarding gratuities. By expanding the scope of the criminal penalty provisions of the Barbering and Cosmetology Act, 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 proclaim August 8, 2016, to August 12, 2016, inclusive, as Concrete Pipe Week.

Existing law authorizes the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in order to assist the state in evaluating the effectiveness of special education programs, including transition and work experience programs, to collect and utilize social security numbers of individuals with exceptional needs as pupil identification numbers beginning in the 1993–94 fiscal year and phased in over a 2-year period. In a situation where a social security number is not available, existing law requires the Superintendent to assign another pupil identification number for purposes of evaluating special education programs and related services. This bill would repeal that authorization and would instead require the Superintendent, commencing with the 2017–18 fiscal year and phased in over a 2-year period, to assign a pupil identification number to individuals with exceptional needs for purposes of evaluating special education programs and related services. The bill would prohibit school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools from collecting or soliciting social security numbers or the last 4 digits of social security numbers from pupils or their parents or guardians unless otherwise required to do so by state or federal law, and would authorize the State Department of Education to additionally prohibit the collection and solicitation of other personally identifiable information, as recommended by the Superintendent and approved by the State Board of Education.

This measure would encourage teaching sun safety practices to children to enable them to identify the importance of sun safety, practice strategies to protect against the harmful effects of the sun, and understand why and how to stay safe from overexposure to the sun.

Existing law requires the Board of Parole Hearings to provide written notice at least 30 days before it meets to review or consider the parole suitability of any inmate sentenced to a life sentence to the judge of the superior court before whom the inmate was tried and convicted, the attorney who represented the defendant at trial, the district attorney of the county in which the offense was committed, and the law enforcement agency that investigated the case. If the inmate was convicted of the murder of a peace officer, existing law also requires notice to be provided to the law enforcement agency that employed the peace officer. This bill would, in the case of an inmate who was convicted of the murder of a firefighter, require the board or the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide notice of the parole suitability hearing to the fire department that employed the firefighter, if that fire department registers with the board to receive that notification and provides the appropriate contact information.

Existing law, until July 1, 2017, authorizes the governing board of a school district to accept pupils from other school districts by adopting a resolution to become a school district of choice, as defined. This bill, commencing with July 1, 2017, would authorize a pupil attending a school in a school district of choice on or before July 1, 2017, to continue to attend that school if the school district of choice authorizes the pupil to do so.

Existing federal law, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, provides for the negotiation and execution of tribal-state gaming compacts for the purpose of authorizing certain types of gaming on Indian lands within a state. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to negotiate and conclude compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law expressly ratifies a number of tribal-state gaming compacts, and amendments to tribal-state gaming compacts, between the State of California and specified Indian tribes. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project, as defined, that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. This bill would ratify the tribal-state gaming compact entered into between the State of California and the Pala Band of Mission Indians, executed on May 6, 2016. The bill would provide that, in deference to tribal sovereignty, certain actions are not projects for the purposes of CEQA. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.