(1) Existing law establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state. This system comprises local educational agencies throughout the state that provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, at schoolsites operated by these agencies. Existing law requires the governing board of a school district and the county superintendent of schools to make applications for free or reduced-price meals available to pupils at all times during each regular schoolday. Existing law authorizes the governing boards of school districts and county superintendents of schools to make applications for free or reduced-price meals electronically available online. Existing law specifies requirements to be met by the governing boards of school districts, county offices of education, and school food authorities that choose to provide access to an online application. This bill would require applications for free or reduced-price meals made electronically available online by school district governing boards or county offices of education to comply with specified requirements, including provisions prohibiting the misuse of information provided online by applicants. The bill would require applications for free and reduced-price meals, which are authorized to be submitted at any time during a schoolday, to be processed within 10 days of submission. To the extent that this provision would impose new duties on local educational agencies, it would constitute a state-mandated local program. The bill would make private third-party vendors who violate its provisions subject to specified civil penalties. The bill would specify that its provisions would not prevent the use of information provided by a school meal applicant from being used by a governmental entity to increase access to a government-administered anti-hunger program. The bill would authorize each school district and county superintendent of schools to establish a secured internet website providing access to an online data collection form as part of the annual enrollment process, and would require the department to host a sample application by July 1, 2024, unless the Superintendent of Public Instruction determines that use of the form would negatively impact the local control funding formula. (2) Existing law provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , administered in California as CalFresh, under which each county distributes nutrition assistance benefits provided by the federal government to eligible households. Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families using federal, state, and county funds. Existing law establishes 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. Existing federal law provides for the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program, under which the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States is authorized to approve state plans to provide eligible children with temporary emergency nutrition assistance benefits during fiscal years 2020 and 2021 in any case in which a school is closed or has reduced the number of days or hours that students attend the school during a public health emergency designation during which the school would otherwise be in session. This bill would establish the Better Out of School Time (BOOST) Nutrition EBT Program, to be administered by the State Department of Social Services, to provide benefits to eligible pupils during regularly scheduled summer breaks. The bill would make eligible pupils who receive benefits under Medi-Cal, CalFresh, or CalWORKs, or are in foster care. The bill would make implementation of the BOOST Nutrition EBT Program contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act or another statute for its purposes. The bill would require the department to seek all available funding for, and maximize participation in, the P-EBT program. The bill would also require the department to issue BOOST Nutrition EBT benefits to any pupil who was eligible to receive benefits under the P-EBT program, as of July 1, 2021, for the 5-month period following the end of the P-EBT program, and any child who was eligible to receive benefits under the P-EBT program, as of July 1, 2021, for the 5-month period following the end of the P-EBT program and who also receives benefits under Medi-Cal, CalFresh, or CalWORKs, or is in foster care. By imposing new duties on local educational agencies, 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, 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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Under existing law, the State Department of Health Care Services is responsible for the administration and oversight of various health care programs, including those related to cancer screening and research. This bill, the California Childhood Cancer Research Fund Act, would request the Regents of the University of California to establish and administer the Childhood Cancer Research Grant Program to provide funding to various entities to support research and treatment for children impacted by cancer and the long-term effects of cancer treatment. The bill would create the Childhood Cancer Research Council composed of 7 members, including specialists in pediatric oncology, appointed by the Governor, Senate Committee on Rules, or Speaker of the Assembly, and would require the council to develop the strategic objectives and priorities of the program and make grant recommendations to the University of California in accordance with the program's goals. The bill would require the council to submit an annual report to the Legislature describing the grants made, grants in progress, program accomplishments, and future program directions. The bill would create the Andrew Hirschman Childhood Cancer Research Fund for the implementation and administration of the grant program, upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would make these provisions operative until January 1, 2028.
Existing law establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, formerly known as the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, and requires the council to set and measure progress toward goals to prevent and end homelessness among youth in California by setting specific, measurable goals aimed at preventing and ending homelessness among youth in the state and defining outcome measures and gathering data related to the goals. This bill would establish the Transition Aged Youth Housing Program for the purpose of creating housing for transition aged youth under 26 years of age, who have been removed from their homes, are experiencing homelessness unaccompanied by a parent or legal guardian, or are under the jurisdiction of a court, as specified, and would require the council to develop, implement, and administer the program. This bill would require the council to award grants, in the form of forgivable deferred loans, to local government agencies and nonprofit corporations to defray costs of eligible activities. The bill would define "eligible activities" to include the funding of capital development programs for the development of emergency shelter, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing for transition aged youth, and capital development loans for the conversion of emergency shelters or transitional housing to permanent supportive housing for transition aged youth. This bill would require the council to develop a program criteria for evaluating applications and require the council to award grants to applicants that best meet the criteria. The bill would require the council to give preference to applications from organizations that have experience providing direct services to transition aged youth, and organizations working in partnership with those that provide direct services to transition aged youth. The bill would require the council to maintain and make available on its internet website specified information, including the number of applications received, the number of applications denied, the name of each recipient of program funds, and the number of new and converted units created for transition aged youth through the program. This bill would create the Transition Aged Youth Housing Fund within the State Treasury and would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, provide that the moneys in the fund be made available to the council for purposes of the program.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. The federal Medicaid program provisions prohibit payment to a state for medical assistance furnished to an alien who is not lawfully admitted for permanent residence or otherwise permanently residing in the United States under color of law. Existing law requires individuals under 19 years of age enrolled in restricted-scope Medi-Cal at the time the Director of Health Care Services makes a determination that systems have been programmed for implementation of these provisions to be enrolled in the full scope of Medi-Cal benefits, if otherwise eligible, pursuant to an eligibility and enrollment plan, and extends eligibility for full scope Medi-Cal benefits to individuals who are under 25 years of age, and who are otherwise eligible for those benefits but for their immigration status. Existing law makes the effective date of enrollment for those individuals the same day that systems are operational to begin processing new applications pursuant to the director's determination. Existing law requires an individual eligible for Medi-Cal under these provisions to enroll in a Medi-Cal managed care health plan. Existing law provides that Medi-Cal benefits for individuals who are 65 years of age or older, and who do not have satisfactory immigration statuses or are unable to establish satisfactory immigration statuses, as specified, are to be prioritized in the Budget Act for the upcoming fiscal year if the Department of Finance projects a positive ending balance in the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties for the upcoming fiscal year and each of the ensuing 3 fiscal years that exceeds the cost of providing those individuals full scope Medi-Cal benefits. Effective January 1, 2022, this bill would instead extend eligibility for full scope Medi-Cal benefits to anyone regardless of age, and who is otherwise eligible for those benefits but for their immigration status, pursuant to an eligibility and enrollment plan. The bill would delete the above-specified provisions regarding individuals who are under 25 years of age or 65 years of age or older and delaying implementation until the director makes the determination described above. The bill would require the eligibility and enrollment plan to ensure that an individual maintains continuity of care with respect to their primary care provider, as prescribed, would provide that an individual is not limited in their ability to select a different health care provider or Medi-Cal managed care health plan, and would require the department to provide monthly updates to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on the status of the implementation of these provisions. Because counties are required to make Medi-Cal eligibility determinations and this bill would expand Medi-Cal eligibility, 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.
Existing law creates the Metropolitan Transportation Commission as a local area planning agency for the 9-county San Francisco Bay area with comprehensive regional transportation planning and other related responsibilities. Existing law creates the Bay Area Toll Authority as a separate entity governed by the same governing board as the commission and makes the authority responsible for the administration of toll revenues from the state-owned toll bridges in the San Francisco Bay area. Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to collect tolls, operate, maintain, and provide rehabilitation of all state-owned toll bridges in the San Francisco Bay area, and makes the department responsible for the design and construction of improvements on those bridges in accordance with programming and scheduling requirements adopted by the authority. This bill would require the department, in consultation with the commission, the authority, relevant transit operators, and relevant local transportation agencies, to establish speed and reliability performance targets no later than July 1, 2024, for buses traveling in the eastbound and westbound directions through the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge corridor. The bill would require the department to establish an online reporting process, in consultation with relevant transit operators, to publicly share bus speed and reliability performance results relative to the performance targets on no less than a quarterly basis. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the commission, the authority, relevant transit operators, and relevant local transportation agencies, to submit a report to the Legislature no later than December 1, 2024, that identifies a strategy for achieving bus speed and reliability performance targets in the Bay Bridge corridor. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
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 provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law generally authorizes a health care service plan or health insurer to use prior authorization and other utilization review or utilization management functions, under which a licensed physician or a licensed health care professional who is competent to evaluate specific clinical issues may approve, modify, delay, or deny requests for health care services based on medical necessity. Existing law requires a health care service plan or health insurer, including those plans or insurers that delegate utilization review or utilization management functions to medical groups, independent practice associations, or to other contracting providers, to comply with specified requirements and limitations on their utilization review or utilization management functions. Existing law requires the criteria or guidelines used to determine whether or not to authorize, modify, or deny health care services to be developed with involvement from actively practicing health care providers. This bill would specify that the health care providers involved with developing the above-described criteria or guidelines include contracted physicians and surgeons and other health professionals acting within their scopes of practice that have experienced, or are currently subject to, utilization review or utilization management. The bill would grant a physician and surgeon the right to have an appeal of a prior authorization decision conducted by a physician and surgeon of the same or similar specialty, and would prohibit a plan or insurer from requiring an appeal of an adverse prior authorization request result to be filed before filing an independent medical review. On or after January 1, 2024, this bill would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer from requiring a contracted health professional to complete or obtain a prior authorization for any health care services if the plan or insurer approved or would have approved not less than 90% of the prior authorization requests they submitted in the most recent one-year contracted period. The bill would set standards for this exemption and its denial and appeal. The bill would authorize a plan or insurer to evaluate the continuation of an exemption not more than once every 12 months, and would prohibit a plan or insurer from rescinding an exemption outside of the end of the 12-month period unless a contracted health professional has committed fraud or a pattern of abuse, as specified. Under the bill, a "health care service" for prior authorization exemption purposes would include brand name prescription drugs until January 1, 2027. The bill would require the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to each conduct an analysis of the inclusion of brand name prescription drugs as a health care service and report its findings to the Legislature by July 1, 2026. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements relative to health care service plans 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. 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 provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan or health insurer to establish criteria or guidelines that meet specified requirements to be used to determine whether or not to authorize, modify, or deny health care services. This bill would authorize the Department of Managed Health Care and the Insurance Commissioner, as appropriate, to review a plan's or insurer's clinical criteria, guidelines, and utilization management policies to ensure compliance with existing law. If the criteria and guidelines are not in compliance with existing law, the bill would require the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care or the commissioner to issue a corrective action and send the matter to enforcement, if necessary. The bill would require each department, on or before July 1, 2022, to develop a methodology for a plan or insurer to report the number of prospective utilization review requests it denied in the preceding 12 months, as specified. This bill would require a health care service plan contract or health insurance contract issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2022, to reimburse a contracting individual health professional, as defined, the in-network cost-sharing amount for services provided to an enrollee or insured at a contracting health facility, as defined. The bill would also require a plan or insurer and its delegated entities, on or before January 1, 2023, and annually thereafter, to report, among other things, its average number of denied prospective utilization review requests, as specified. The bill would require, on and after January 1, 2023, a plan or insurer to examine an individual health professional's record of prospective utilization review requests during the preceding 12 months and grant the individual health professional "deemed approved" status for 2 years, meaning an exemption from the prospective utilization review process, if specified criteria are met. The bill would authorize a plan or insurer to request an audit of an individual health professional's records after the initial 2 years of an individual health professional's deemed approved status and every 2 years thereafter, and would specify the audit criteria by which an individual health professional would keep or lose that status. The bill would authorize the commissioner to adopt regulations to implement these provisions, as specified. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law establishes the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in the Natural Resources Agency to provide fire protection and prevention services, as specified. This bill would require the department to maintain a standard minimum level of staffing for each of its engines, as specified, without the regular practice of forcing overtime on its personnel. The bill would require the department to increase its existing firefighter fuel crews, as specified. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2024, to provide to the Legislature a long-term staffing plan to meet the new era of wildfire firefighting.
Existing law establishes the University of California, which is administered by the Regents of the University of California, the California State University, which is administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and the California Community Colleges, which is administered by the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in the state. This bill would require the Office of the Chancellor of the California State University and the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, and request the Office of the President of the University of California, to collect data on student housing insecurity at each of their respective campuses, as specified. The bill would require each segment to submit a report that compiles the collected data to the Legislature and the Legislative Analyst's Office on or before October 15, 2023, on or before October 15, 2025, and on or before October 15, 2027, as specified. To the extent the bill imposes additional duties on community college districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2028. 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.