The Donahoe Higher Education Act sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California's public and independent segments of higher education and their respective institutions of higher education. A provision of the act applies to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, act to make the provision applicable. A portion of the Donahoe Higher Education Act, known as the Equity in Higher Education Act, provides, among other things, that all students have the right to participate fully in the educational process, free from discrimination and harassment, and that California's postsecondary educational institutions have an affirmative obligation to combat racism, sexism, and other forms of bias, and a responsibility to provide equal educational opportunity. For purposes of the Equity in Higher Education Act, existing law defines "nationality" to include citizenship, country of origin, and national origin and defines "religion" to include all aspects of religious belief, observance, and practice, as provided. This bill would instead provide that California's postsecondary educational institutions have an affirmative obligation to combat discrimination on the basis of disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, nationality or national identity, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and other specified characteristics, and a responsibility to provide equal educational opportunity. For purposes of the Equity in Higher Education Act, the bill would instead define "nationality" or "national identity" to include a person's actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, citizenship, or residency in a country with a dominant religion or distinct religious identity, as provided. For purposes of the Equity in Higher Education Act, the bill would define "discrimination on the basis of religion" to include, but not be limited to, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. The bill would also state that it is the intent of the Legislature that each postsecondary educational institution undertake supportive measures to help students who have encountered discriminatory incidents, regardless of the location of the discriminatory incident, if the student feels the incident impairs their access to equal educational opportunities. This bill would require the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and independent institutions of higher education and private postsecondary educational institutions that receive state financial assistance, and would request the University of California, to include training to address discrimination against the 5 most targeted groups in the state, as provided, as part of any general antidiscrimination training or diversity, equity, and inclusion training that is offered by the institution, except as specified. By imposing new requirements on community college districts, 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, 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
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The Donahoe Higher Education Act sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California's public and independent segments of higher education and their respective institutions of higher education. A provision of the act applies to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, act to make the provision applicable. A portion of the Donahoe Higher Education Act, known as the Equity in Higher Education Act, provides, among other things, that all students have the right to participate fully in the educational process, free from discrimination and harassment, and that California's postsecondary educational institutions have an affirmative obligation to combat racism, sexism, and other forms of bias, and a responsibility to provide equal educational opportunity. This bill would state that the Trustees of the California State University and the Regents of the University of California have the primary responsibility to prevent and address conduct that either creates a hostile environment for students on campus or results in differential treatment of students on campus, as specified. The bill would require the trustees to, among other things, adopt rules and procedures, as specified, to prohibit violent, harassing, intimidating, or discriminatory conduct that creates a hostile environment on campus, to prohibit conduct that limits or denies a person's ability to participate in or benefit from the free exchange of ideas or the educational mission of the California State University, and to establish, and require each campus to publish on campus internet websites, reasonable content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions and, if applicable, any advance permitting requirements for protests on campus. The bill would require the trustees to develop mandatory training programs to educate students on what constitutes violent, harassing, intimidating, or discriminatory conduct that creates a hostile environment on campus, the procedures for investigating violations of the student code of conduct, when and where protests and gatherings may be held, as specified, and on how to exchange views in an atmosphere of mutual respect and civility. The bill would require the trustees to submit a report, on or before January 2, 2025, and annually thereafter, to the Legislature on the implementation and administration of the bill. The bill would request the University of California to comply with these provisions. The bill would make its provisions severable.
The federal Reception and Placement Program (RPP) under the United States Department of State is established to serve refugees during their first 3 months after arrival in the United States, through contracts with local resettlement agencies to provide various services using federal funds. Existing state law requires the State Department of Social Services, after setting aside the necessary state administrative funds, to allocate federal funds appropriated for refugee social services programs to each eligible county or service provider, as defined, based on the number of refugees receiving aid, or who reside, in the eligible county. If an eligible county or service provider that receives funds declines all or part of those funds, or returns unexpended funds, existing law authorizes the department to exercise its discretion to reallocate the declined or returned funds among eligible counties and service providers. Existing law conditions the applicability of the requirements under these provisions on the availability of federal funds. This bill would make those requirements also applicable if state funds are available subject to an appropriation. Under the bill, if a refugee recipient of refugee social services under RPP completes 90 days of those services and exhausts the federal funds allocated for that recipient, the recipient would be eligible for a 90-day extension of those services using state funds within the first 12 months of arrival in the United States. The bill would require that services covered pursuant to these provisions include (1) English language and employment training and (2) case management services, as specified. The bill would authorize a qualified nonprofit organization, an eligible county, or any office or affiliate of the agencies authorized under RPP to provide these services. The bill would also make conforming changes to related provisions.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 (the Knox-Keene Act) , a violation of which is a crime, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. The Knox-Keene Act requires a pharmacy benefit manager under contract with a health care service plan to, among other things, register with the Department of Managed Health Care. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. This bill would additionally require a pharmacy benefit manager, as defined, to apply for a license from the Department of Insurance to operate as a pharmacy benefit manager no later than January 1, 2027. The bill would establish application qualifications and requirements, and would require initial license and renewal fees to be collected into the newly created Pharmacy Benefit Manager Account in the Insurance Fund, to be available to the department for use, upon appropriation by the Legislature, as specified, for costs related to licensing and regulating pharmacy benefit managers. This bill would require a pharmacy benefit manager to file with the department at specified annual intervals 2 reports, one of which discloses product benefits specific to the purchaser, and the other of which includes information about categories of drugs and the pharmacy benefit manager's contracts and revenues. The bill would specify that the contents of the reports are not to be disclosed to the public. The bill would require the department, at specified annual intervals, to prepare 2 reports based on the reports submitted by pharmacy benefit managers, and would require the department to post its reports on the department's internet website. This bill would impose specified duties on pharmacy benefit managers and requirements for pharmacy benefit manager services and pharmacy benefit manager contracts. The bill would require a pharmacy benefit manager to disclose to the Department of Insurance all types of fees it receives and how the fees are calculated. The bill would make a violation of the above-specified provisions subject to specified civil penalties. The bill would establish various filing and service requirements when a proceeding is brought for a violation of specified requirements by a pharmacy benefit manager. The bill would create the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Fines and Penalties Account in the General Fund, into which fines and administrative penalties would be deposited. Existing law requires a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy that provides coverage for outpatient prescription drugs to cover medically necessary prescription drugs and subjects those policies to certain limitations on cost sharing and the placement of drugs on formularies. Existing law limits the maximum amount an enrollee or insured may be required to pay at the point of sale for a covered prescription drug to the lesser of the applicable cost-sharing amount or the retail price, and requires that payment apply to the applicable deductible. Existing law requires a plan or insurer that reports rate information to report specified prescription drug information to the relevant department no later than October 1 of each year. This bill would prohibit a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, that provides prescription drug coverage from calculating an enrollee's or insured's cost sharing at an amount that exceeds the actual rate paid for the prescription drug, and would require a health care service plan contract to include specified cost-sharing provisions. The bill would require a plan or insurer to include additional information in its annual prescription drug data reporting, including the aggregate amount of rebates received by the pharmacy benefit manager for each drug. By expanding the scope of a crime under the Knox-Keene Act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would declare that it would not narrow, abrogate, or otherwise alter the authority of the Attorney General to maintain or restore competitive, fair, and honest markets and prosecute state and federal antitrust and unfair competition violations, among other violations, and would declare that the provisions of this bill are severable. 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 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.
Existing law prohibits a person from driving a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than the speed limit. Existing law also prohibits a person from driving a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed that endangers the safety of persons or property. This bill would require, commencing with the 2030 model year, every passenger vehicle, motortruck, and bus manufactured, sold as new, or leased as new in the state to be equipped with a passive intelligent speed assistance system, as specified, that would utilize a brief, one-time, visual and audio signal to alert the driver each time the speed of the vehicle is more than 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. The bill would exempt emergency vehicles, certain motortrucks, motorcycles, motorized bicycles, mopeds, and certain passenger vehicles from this requirement. The bill would require the system to be capable of being fully disabled, by the manufacturer or a franchisee, for emergency vehicles. The bill would require the system, if the system receives conflicting speed limits for the same area, to apply the higher speed limit. A violation of the above requirements would be punishable as a crime. By creating a new criminal offense, 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.
(1) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to improve and maintain the state's highways, and establishes various programs to fund the development, construction, and repair of local roads, bridges, and other critical transportation infrastructure in the state, including the state highway operation and protection program (SHOPP) . Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the California Transportation Commission, to prepare a robust asset management plan to guide selection of projects for the SHOPP. Existing law requires the commission, in connection with the plan, to adopt targets and performance measures reflecting state transportation goals and objectives. Existing law requires the department to develop, in consultation with the commission, a plain language performance report to increase transparency and accountability of the SHOPP. This bill would require the targets and performance measures adopted by the commission to include targets and performance measures reflecting state transportation goals and objectives for complete streets assets that reflect the existence and conditions of bicycle, pedestrian, and transit priority facilities on the state highway system. The bill would require the department's plain language performance report to include a description of complete streets facilities, including pedestrian, bicycle, and transit priority facilities on each project, as specified. The bill would require the department to commit to specific 4-year targets to incorporate complete streets facilities, including pedestrian and bicycle facilities, into projects funded by the SHOPP, as specified. (2) Existing law creates transit districts in designated areas throughout the state and authorizes the use of various vehicles for the purpose of public and private transit. Existing law authorizes transit buses and other transit vehicles to operate on state highways. This bill would require the Director of Transportation to adopt a transit policy to guide the implementation of transit priority facilities and transit stops on the state highway system, as specified. The bill would require the department to adopt, on or before July 1, 2027, guidance that defines transit performance measures and identifies the department's responsibilities in supporting transit vehicles on the state highway system, as specified. (3) Existing law requires the department to prepare a State Highway System Management Plan (SHSMP) , which includes a 10-year state highway system rehabilitation plan for the rehabilitation or reconstruction by the SHOPP of all state highways and bridges, as provided. Existing law requires the SHSMP to include specific quantifiable accomplishments, goals, objectives, costs, and performance measures consistent with the asset management plan described above. Existing law requires the SHSMP to be updated every 2 years. This bill would expressly require the SHSMP to also include specific quantifiable accomplishments, goals, objectives, costs, and performance measures for complete streets facilities and transit priority facilities, as specified. (4) Existing law authorizes the department to issue encroachment permits and requires the department to either approve or deny an application from an applicant for an encroachment permit within 60 days of receiving a completed application, as provided. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2027, to develop and adopt a project intake, evaluation, and encroachment permit review process for complete streets facilities that are sponsored by a local jurisdiction or a transit agency. The bill would require the department to produce a report regarding project applications submitted through this process, as specified. The bill would require the department to designate an encroachment permit manager in each district to ensure that applications for complete streets facilities are reviewed in accordance with the process, as specified.
The California Coastal Act of 1976 prescribes procedures for the approval and certification of a local coastal program by the California Coastal Commission, and provides for the delegation of development review authority to a local government, as defined, with a certified local coastal program. Under the act, an action taken by a local government after certification of its local coastal program on a coastal development permit application may be appealed to the commission only on specified grounds and only for certain types of developments, including any development approved by a coastal county that is not designated as the principal permitted use under the zoning ordinance or zoning district map, as specified. This bill would exempt a local government that is both a city and county from the above provision relating to the appeal of developments approved by a coastal county. The act requires a local government taking an action on a coastal development permit to send notification of its final action to the commission by certified mail, as provided. This bill would also allow notification to the commission by electronic mail, as provided. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for certain areas of the state that are both a city and county.
Existing law, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, requires, on or before January 1, 2025, the State Air Resources Board to develop and adopt regulations to require a reporting entity to annually disclose to the emissions reporting organization, as defined, all of the reporting entity's scope 1 emissions, scope 2 emissions, and scope 3 emissions, as defined. Existing law requires the state board to ensure that the regulations require a reporting entity, starting in 2027 and annually thereafter, to publicly disclose its scope 3 emissions no later than 180 days after its scope 1 emissions and scope 2 emissions are publicly disclosed to the emissions reporting organization. Existing law requires the reporting entities to pay an annual fee upon filing the disclosure. Existing law also requires the state board to contract with an emissions reporting organization to develop a reporting program to receive and make certain required disclosures publicly available, and sets forth other duties of the emissions reporting organization and the state board. This bill would delay the requirement that the state board adopt regulations until July 1, 2025, and would require that the regulations adopted by the state board require, among other things, a reporting entity to make the annual disclosure to either the emissions reporting organization or the state board, and that the reporting entity publicly disclose its scope 3 emissions on a schedule specified by the state board, rather than no later than 180 days after its scope 1 emissions and scope 2 emissions are publicly disclosed. The bill would authorize reports to be consolidated at the parent company level and would delete the requirement that the annual fee be paid upon filing the disclosure. The bill would authorize, rather than require, the state board to contract with an emissions reporting organization to develop a reporting program to receive and make certain required disclosures publicly available. The bill would make other related changes to the duties of the emissions reporting organization and the state board, as provided. Existing law requires, on or before January 1, 2026, and biennially thereafter, a covered entity, as defined to mean a corporation, partnership, limited liability company, or other business entity with total annual revenues in excess of $500,000,000, as specified, to prepare a climate-related financial risk report disclosing the entity's climate-related financial risk and measures adopted to reduce and adapt to climate-related financial risk. Existing law requires the state board to contract with a climate reporting organization, as defined, to prepare a biennial public report on the climate-related financial risk disclosures and requires the climate reporting organization to be contracted to take other actions, including biennially preparing a public report that includes a review of the disclosure of climate-related financial risk contained in a subset of publicly available climate-related financial risk reports and monitoring federal regulatory actions, as specified. Existing law requires, on or before January 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, a covered entity to pay a fee upon filing its disclosure to the state board for the administration and implementation of these requirements. This bill would authorize, rather than require, the state board to contract with a climate reporting organization to carry out the above-described actions that the state board deems appropriate. The bill would also delete the requirement that the entity's fee be paid upon filing its disclosure.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, under the administration of community college district governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at the community college campuses they operate. Existing law establishes a statewide baccalaureate degree program that authorizes up to a total of 30 baccalaureate degree programs at community college districts to be approved per academic year, as provided. This bill would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to develop a Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing Pilot Program that authorizes select community college districts to offer a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. The bill would limit the pilot program to 10 community college districts statewide and would require the chancellor's office to identify and select eligible community college districts based on specified criteria. The bill would require the chancellor's office to develop a process designed to assist community college districts with nursing programs that are applying for national accreditation for the purpose of qualifying for the pilot program, as provided. The bill would require each participating community college district to give priority registration for enrollment in the pilot program to students with an associate degree in nursing from that community college district. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to conduct an evaluation of the pilot program to determine the effectiveness of the program and the need to continue or expand the program, as specified, to be submitted to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2032. The bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2034.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 (hereafter the act) , 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 the records, books, and papers of a health care service plan and other specified entities to be open to inspection by the director of the department during normal business hours. This bill would instead require the records, books, and papers of a health care service plan and other specified entities to be open to inspection by the director, including through electronic means. The bill would require a plan and other specified entities to furnish in electronic media records, books, and papers that are possessed in electronic media and to conduct a diligent review of records, books, and papers and make every effort to furnish those responsive to the director's request. The bill would require records, books, and papers to be furnished in a format that is digitally searchable, to the greatest extent feasible. The bill would require records, books, and papers to be preserved until furnished, if requested by the department. The bill would authorize the director to inspect and copy these records, books, and papers, and to seek relief in an administrative law proceeding if, in the director's determination, a plan or other specified entity fails to fully or timely respond to a duly authorized request for production of records, books, and papers. Because a willful violation of these requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the department to conduct periodically an onsite medical survey of the health delivery system of each plan. Existing law requires the director to publicly report survey results no later than 180 days following the completion of the survey, and requires a final report to be issued after public review of the survey. Existing law requires the department to conduct a followup review to determine and report on the status of the plan's efforts to correct deficiencies no later than 18 months following release of the final report. This bill would state that nothing in those provisions prohibits the director from taking any action permitted or required under the act in response to the survey results before the followup review is initiated or completed, including, but not limited to, taking enforcement actions and opening further investigations. The bill would declare that these provisions are declaratory of and clarify existing law with regard to the director's enforcement authority. Existing law enumerates acts or omissions by a health care service plan that constitute grounds for disciplinary action by the director. This bill would add to those enumerated acts or omissions the failure by a health care service plan to respond fully or timely, or both, to a duly authorized request for production of records. 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.