Sen. Shannon Grove

This measure would proclaim August 2021 as Breastfeeding Awareness Month of 2021 in California. The measure would recognize the unique benefits that breastfeeding provides, as specified, and would affirm that Californians should work to ensure that barriers to initiation and continuation of breastfeeding are removed. The measure would encourage Californians to work together to explore ways to, among other things, improve women's access to breastfeeding support services in medical, social, and employment settings.

This measure would proclaim the week of September 5, 2021, through September 11, 2021, as Suicide Prevention Week in California.

Existing law authorizes the Adjutant General and the Military Department to establish support programs and educational programs for the benefit of the Military Department and its soldiers, airmen, cadets, and their family members, and to enter into agreements with nonprofit military or veteran foundations, military organizations, or other entities, to conduct California Military Department Support Fund activities. Existing law further authorizes the Adjutant General and the Military Department to solicit and accept funds or other donations for deposit into the California Military Department Support Fund and makes these funds available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for numerous purposes, including these activities. Existing law, including the State Contract Act, requires state agencies to purchase goods and services in a manner that meets certain procedures and requirements. This bill would specifically authorize the Adjutant General and the Military Department to enter into a memorandum of agreement with a nonprofit military or veteran foundation, military organization, or other entity to conduct California Military Department Support Fund activities. The bill would generally exempt these agreements and the support programs and educational programs established by the Adjutant General from specific requirements for state agency contracting, including the State Contract Act. The bill would authorize the Military Department to expend money in the California Military Department Support Fund to pay a nonprofit military or veteran foundation, military organization, or other entity for the sole purpose of supporting California Military Department Support Fund activities if that money was donated for those purposes. By creating a continuous appropriation of these donated moneys, this bill would make an appropriation of special funds. The bill would recast provisions establishing the California Military Department Support Fund and make other technical changes.

Existing law provides for the payment of unemployment compensation benefits to eligible persons who are unemployed through no fault of their own through a federal-state unemployment insurance program administered by the Employment Development Department, subject to oversight by the Director of Employment Development. Under existing law, the expenses of administering the unemployment insurance program are paid from the Unemployment Administration Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Existing law requires the Department of Justice to maintain state summary criminal history information, including the identification and criminal history of a person, including name, date of birth, social security number, physical description, fingerprints, photographs, dates of arrests, arresting agencies and booking numbers, charges, dispositions, sentencing information, and similar data about the person. Existing law requires the Attorney General to furnish this information to specified persons, agencies, or organizations, including the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, if needed in the course of their duties. Existing law makes it a crime for any person authorized by law to receive state summary criminal history information to knowingly furnish the information to a person who is not authorized by law to receive it. This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide the names and social security numbers of current inmates to the Employment Development Department for the purposes of preventing payments on fraudulent claims for unemployment compensation benefits. The bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide the information to the Employment Development Department at least every 90 calendar days and upon that department's request. Because this bill would expand the group of persons who can be convicted for knowingly furnishing state summary criminal history information to unauthorized persons, it would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require, for the purpose of preventing payments on fraudulent claims for unemployment compensation benefits, for any unemployment compensation benefits paid on and after July 1, 2021, the Director of Employment Development to verify with the information provided by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation before making any payment of unemployment compensation benefits that the claimant is not an inmate currently incarcerated in the state prisons. The bill would also prohibit the department from using the information provided by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation unless the information of current inmates is equal to or less than 90 calendar days old. This bill would require, if the department determines a claimant is an inmate currently incarcerated in the state prisons, the department to notify the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Department of Justice of the attempt to make a fraudulent claim for unemployment compensation benefits. The bill would authorize the Employment Development Department to disseminate social security numbers to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for this purpose. By expanding the purposes of a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. 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 bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law prohibits a state agency from sending any outgoing United States mail to an individual that contains personal information about that individual, including, but not limited to, the individual's social security number, telephone number, driver's license number, or credit card account number, unless that personal information is contained within sealed correspondence and cannot be viewed from the outside of that sealed correspondence. Existing law, commencing on or before January 1, 2023, prohibits a state agency from sending any outgoing United States mail that contains an individual's social security number unless the number is truncated to its last 4 digits or in specified circumstances. This bill would instead require, as soon as feasible, but not later than January 1, 2023, a state agency to stop sending any outgoing United States mail that contains an individual's social security number unless the number is truncated to its last 4 digits or in specified circumstances. The bill, commencing on or before October 1, 2021, would prohibit, with exceptions, the Employment Development Department from sending any outgoing United States mail to an individual containing the individual's social security number, unless that social security number is replaced with a modified unique identifier or the number is truncated to its last 4 digits. Existing law creates, in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, the Employment Development Department, which is vested with the duties, purposes, responsibilities, and jurisdiction with respect to job creation activities. Existing law requires the Director of Employment Development to periodically review policies and practices used to determine eligibility for and the amount of benefits in the unemployment insurance program to identify those policies and practices doing certain things, including, but not limited to, providing little or no value in identifying or preventing fraud or abuse in the unemployment insurance program. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2022, to identify the fraud prevention efforts it can adjust to improve effectiveness during periods of high demand for benefits. The bill would also require the department, on or before January 1, 2022, using existing resources, to designate a single unit responsible for coordinating fraud prevention and align the unit's duties with best practices for detecting and preventing fraud. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes the Veterans' Home of California system within the Department of Veterans Affairs and provides for the establishment and operation of veterans' homes at various sites. Existing law requires the master plan for the overall operation of the veterans' homes system be revised by the department every 5 years. Under existing law, the master plan is required to discuss, among other things, the location of future facilities at or within the vicinity of United States Department of Veterans Affairs facilities, the closure of facilities, and the expansion of existing facilities or conversion of existing facilities to provide different levels of service. This bill would, in the event the department recommends or proposes to close a veterans' home, require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to convene a taskforce that includes representatives from the department, elected officials from the community where the home is located, residents of the home, staff employed at the home, and local veterans groups. The bill would require the taskforce to conduct a review of the proposed closure that includes a cost-benefit analysis specific to the home, a community impact analysis specific to the community where the home is located, and a review of community input, as specified. The bill would require the taskforce to submit recommendations regarding the proposed closure of the veterans' home to the Legislature.

This measure would recognize the month of June 2021 as Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month and Sunday, June 20, 2021, as The Longest Day, and would urge all Californians to commemorate the month of June 2021 as Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month.