Existing law imposes certain obligations in the context of particular transactions, and provides mechanisms to enforce those obligations. This bill would enact the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018. This act would prohibit fixed and mobile Internet service providers, as defined, that provide broadband Internet access service, as defined, from engaging in specified actions concerning the treatment of Internet traffic. The act would prohibit, among other things, blocking lawful content, applications, services, or nonharmful devices, impairing or degrading lawful Internet traffic on the basis of Internet content, application, or service, or use of a nonharmful device, and specified practices relating to zero-rating, as defined. It would also prohibit fixed and mobile Internet service providers from offering or providing services other than broadband Internet access service that are delivered over the same last-mile connection as the broadband Internet access service, if those services have the purpose or effect of evading the above-described prohibitions or negatively affect the performance of broadband Internet access service.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the Legislative Employee Whistleblower Protection Act, imposes criminal and civil liability on a Member of the Legislature or legislative employee, as defined, who interferes with, or retaliates against, a legislative employee's exercise of the right to make a protected disclosure, which is defined as a good faith allegation made by a legislative employee to specified entities that a Member of the Legislature or a legislative employee has engaged in, or will engage in, activity that may constitute a violation of law or a violation of a legislative standard of conduct. This bill would define "protected disclosure" for purposes of that act to also include a complaint made at the request of a legislative employee and a complaint made against a nonemployee in specified circumstances. Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , protects and safeguards the right and opportunity of all persons to generally seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination, abridgment, or harassment on account of enumerated protected categories. Existing law also precludes an employer, labor organization, employment agency, or person from discharging, expelling, or otherwise discriminating against any person because the person has opposed any practices forbidden under FEHA or because the person has filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any FEHA proceeding. Existing law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, states that all people in California are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments, no matter their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status. Existing law establishes a cause of action for violations of that act. Existing law also separately establishes liability for sexual harassment if a plaintiff proves specified elements, including, among other things, that there is a business, service, or professional relationship between the plaintiff and defendant. This bill would declare that neither house of the Legislature may retaliate against a legislative advocate or employee, as defined, because that person has opposed any practices forbidden under the above provisions, or filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any proceeding relating to a complaint of harassment under those provisions. This bill would impose civil liability for a violation of that prohibition. This bill would also require each house of the Legislature to maintain a record of each harassment complaint made to that house for a period of at least 12 years after the complaint is made. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Existing law, the California Financing Law, generally provides for the licensure and regulation of finance lenders, brokers, and, beginning on January 1, 2019, program administrators, by the Commissioner of Business Oversight. The CFL makes a willful violation of specified provisions a crime. The CFL, until January 1, 2023, establishes the Pilot Program for Increased Access to Responsible Small Dollar Loans (pilot program) , which requires licensees and other entities that wish to participate in the pilot program to file an application and pay a specified fee to the commissioner to participate in the pilot program. The pilot program authorizes a licensee approved by the commissioner to participate in the pilot program to impose specified alternative interest rates and charges, including an administrative fee and delinquency fees, on unsecured loans of at least $300 and less than $2,500, subject to certain requirements. This bill would increase the upper limit on the amount of a permissible loan under the pilot program from $2,500 to $7,500 and make corresponding changes. (2) Under the pilot program, a licensee is prohibited from making a loan if that licensee determines, through its underwriting, that the borrower's total monthly debt service payments exceed 50% of the borrower's monthly gross income. This bill would instead prohibit a licensee from making a loan under these circumstances if the borrower's total monthly debt service payments exceed 50% of the borrower's gross monthly income for a loan of no more than $2,500, or exceed 36% of the borrower's gross monthly income for a loan in excess of $2,500. (3) The pilot program establishes that a loan with a principal balance, upon origination, of at least $1,500 is required to have a term of not less than 180 days. As an alternative to other authorized charges, a licensee approved by the commissioner to participate in the pilot program may contract for and receive charges at an annual simple interest rate not exceeding specified amounts. This bill would additionally require a loan under the pilot program that has a principal balance exceeding $2,500 to have a minimum term of one year and a maximum term of 5 years. The bill would also require licensees to reduce the interest rates on each subsequent loan to the same borrower by a minimum of one percentage point and subject to additional reductions, if specified conditions are satisfied. (4) Under the pilot program, licensees are required to develop and implement policies and procedures designed to respond to questions raised by applicants and borrowers regarding their loans, including those involving finders. Existing law describes a finder as an entity that brings a licensee and a prospective borrower together for the purpose of negotiating a loan contract. This bill would also require licensees to perform reasonable background checks on any finders associated with a licensee's participation in the pilot program. (5) The pilot program authorizes a licensee who is approved to participate in the program to use the services of one or more finders. Existing law defines a "finder" for these purposes as an entity that, at the finder's physical location for business, brings a licensee and a prospective borrower together for the purpose of negotiating a loan contract. This bill would authorize the commissioner to charge a licensee participating in the program an additional fee to offset the commissioner's costs to oversee and examine the activities of that licensee's finder or finders. (6) Existing law requires the Commissioner of Business Oversight to examine each licensee that is accepted into the program at least once every 24 months. This bill would require the commissioner also to examine each finder whose services were used by the licensee at least once every 24 months. (7) Existing law requires the Commissioner of Business Oversight to post reports containing specified information on his or her Internet Web site that summarize utilization of the Pilot Program for Increased Access to Responsible Small Dollar Loans. If more than one licensee is approved to participate in the program, existing law requires that information in the report to be stated in aggregate to avoid identifying data by specific licensee. This bill would require that these reports also contain specified information for each finder whose services were used by a licensee in connection with the loans or loan applications, along with the finder's identity. By increasing the scope of the program, the bill would expand the definition of a crime, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. (8) 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 generally regulates the transfer of firearms and divides the state into agricultural districts. District 1-A is the County of San Mateo and the City and County of San Francisco. A violation of the statutes governing agricultural districts is generally a misdemeanor. This bill would, on and after January 1, 2020, prohibit the sale of firearms and ammunition at the Cow Palace located in District 1-A, as specified, and would thereby make a violation of that prohibition a misdemeanor. The bill would exclude from its provisions a gun buy-back event held by a law enforcement agency. By creating a new 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.
Existing law authorizes a school nurse or other designated school personnel to assist any pupil who is required to take, during the regular schoolday, medication prescribed for him or her by a physician and surgeon or ordered for him or her by a physician assistant, if the school district receives specified written statements from the physician and surgeon or physician assistant and from the parent, foster parent, or guardian of the pupil. Existing law, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996, provides that a patient or a patient's primary caregiver who possesses or cultivates marijuana for personal medical purposes of the patient upon the written or oral recommendation or approval of a physician is not subject to conviction for offenses relating to possession and cultivation of marijuana. Existing law also requires the State Department of Public Health to establish a voluntary program for the issuance of identification cards to qualified patients who are entitled to the protections of the act. This bill would enact Jojo's Act, which would authorize the governing board of a school district, a county board of education, or the governing body of a charter school maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to adopt, at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing board or body, a policy, as provided, that allows a parent or guardian of a pupil to possess and administer to the pupil who is a qualified patient entitled to the protections of the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 medicinal cannabis, excluding in a smokeable or vapeable form, at a schoolsite. The bill would authorize the policy to be rescinded for any reason, as provided. The bill would provide that pupil records collected for the purpose of administration of medicinal cannabis are confidential, shall be used only for the purpose of administration of medicinal cannabis, shall not be open to the public for inspection, and shall not be disclosed for any reason, except as required by a state or federal court order. 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 establishes various programs, including, among others, the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program, homeless youth emergency service pilot projects, and Housing First and the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council, to provide assistance to homeless persons. Existing law establishes the council to oversee the implementation of the Housing First guidelines and regulations, and, among other things, identify resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California. This bill would require the council to assume additional responsibilities, including setting specific, measurable goals aimed at preventing and ending homelessness among youth in the state and defining outcome measures and gathering data related to those goals. The bill would also require the council, in order to coordinate a spectrum of funding, policy, and practice efforts related to young people experiencing homelessness, to coordinate with certain stakeholders and, to the extent that funding is made available, provide technical assistance and program development support.
Existing law designates the Department of General Services as the agency for the State of California responsible for distribution of federal surplus personal property, excepting food commodities, and requires the department to, among other things, do all things necessary to the execution of its powers and duties as the state agency for the distribution of federal personal surplus property, excepting food commodities, in accordance with specified federal law. Existing law, the Federal Surplus Property Acquisition Law of 1945, authorizes a local agency, as defined, to acquire surplus federal property without regard to any law which requires posting of notices or advertising for bids, inviting or receiving bids, or delivery of purchases before payment, or which prevents the local agency from bidding on federal surplus property. Existing federal law authorizes the Department of Defense to transfer surplus personal property, including arms and ammunition, to federal or state agencies for use in law enforcement activities, subject to specified conditions, at no cost to the acquiring agency. This bill would require a law enforcement agency, defined to include specified state and local entities, to publish a military equipment use policy prior to taking certain actions relating to the funding, acquisition, or use of military equipment, as defined. The bill would also impose similar publishing requirements for the continued use of military equipment acquired prior to January 1, 2019. The bill would require that the governing body of a law enforcement agency consider a proposed military equipment use policy at a regular meeting held pursuant to specified open meeting laws. The bill would also require that a law enforcement agency prepare and make public an annual report for each piece of military equipment for as long as the military equipment is in use and to hold a community engagement meeting within 30 days of the public release of that report, as provided. The bill would require the state agency that has signed a current memorandum of agreement with the federal Defense Logistics Agency for the purpose of administering a state program for acquiring surplus military equipment, pursuant to specified federal law, to develop by January 31, 2019, and annually update a list of military equipment, as specified, and post the list on its Internet Web site. The bill would also include findings that the changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. By adding to the duties of local officials with respect to the funding, acquisition, and use of military equipment, 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, 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 requires the chief of any city or county fire department or district providing fire protection services and his or her authorized representatives to inspect every building used as a public or private school within his or her jurisdiction, for the purpose of enforcing specified building standards, not less than once each year, as provided. Existing law requires every city or county fire department or district providing fire protection services that is required to enforce specified building standards to annually inspect certain structures, including hotels, motels, lodging houses, and apartment houses, for compliance with building standards, as provided. This bill would require every city or county fire department, city and county fire department, or district required to perform the above-described inspections to report annually to its administering authority, as defined, on the department's or district's compliance with the above-described inspection requirements, as provided. The bill would require the administering authority to acknowledge receipt of the report in a resolution or a similar formal document. To the extent this bill would expand the responsibility of a local agency, the bill would create 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.
(1) Existing law, the Dental Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of the practice of dental hygienists by the Dental Hygiene Committee of California, which is comprised of 9 members appointed by the Governor, within the jurisdiction of the Dental Board of California. Existing law repeals the committee and its authority to appoint an executive officer on January 1, 2019, at which time the committee is subject to review by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature. This bill would remove the Dental Hygiene Committee from the jurisdiction of the Dental Board of California and continue the Dental Hygiene Committee of California by creating the Dental Hygiene Board of California within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The bill would change the manner of appointment of the hygiene board by requiring one public member to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules and one public member to be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly rather than the Governor. The bill would extend the repeal date of the hygiene board and related appointment provisions to January 1, 2023. (2) Existing law requires an applicant for licensure as a registered dental hygienist to furnish electronic fingerprint images. This bill would require an out-of-state applicant or a specified licensee to instead furnish a hardcopy of fingerprint cards if electronic fingerprint images are not available or shared in the applicant's or licensee's state of residence. (3) Existing law authorizes the committee to condition dental hygienist licensure renewal on a licensee's submission of assurances that he or she will complete specified continuing education if the committee makes a specified determination. This bill would delete the requirement that the committee make a determination and would require the hygiene board to conduct random audits of licensees to ensure compliance with the continuing education requirements. (4) Existing law requires the committee to grant initial licensure as a registered dental hygienist to a person who satisfies specified requirements, including satisfactory performance on the state clinical examination or satisfactory completion of the dental hygiene examination given by the Western Regional Examining Board, or any other clinical dental hygiene examination approved by the committee. This bill would instead require, within the preceding 2 years, satisfactory completion of the dental hygiene examination given by the Western Regional Examining Board or any other clinical or dental hygiene examination approved by the hygiene board. (5) Existing law requires the committee to grant approval of educational programs for dental hygienists that meet specified standards and requirements. This bill would require the hygiene board to renew approval of educational programs for dental hygienists that certify to the hygiene board that the program continues to meet the requirements prescribed by the hygiene board, would authorize the hygiene board to conduct periodic surveys, evaluations, and site visits to educational programs, and would authorize the hygiene board to place a noncompliant educational program on probation, issue a citation and fine, or have its approval withdrawn. (6) Existing law requires the committee to establish the amount of fees relating to the licensing of dental hygienists and limits the fee for a site evaluation for dental hygienist educational programs that are not accredited to no more than $2,100. This bill would delete the limit for conducting the site evaluations specified above and would instead specify that the fee to conduct a site visit to educational programs for dental hygienists shall not exceed the actual costs incurred by the hygiene board. The bill would limit the fee for a retired license to 12 of the current license renewal fee. (7) This bill would make other conforming changes. (8) The bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 101 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 1483 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1483 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1680 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 1491 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1491 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
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. 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. "Visit" is defined as a face-to-face encounter between a patient of an FQHC or RHC and specified health care professionals, including a physician. Under existing law, "physician," for these purposes, includes, but is not limited to, a physician and surgeon, an osteopath, and a podiatrist. This bill would authorize reimbursement for a maximum of 2 visits taking place on the same day at a single location if after the first visit the patient suffers illness or injury requiring additional diagnosis or treatment, or if the patient has a medical visit and a mental health visit or a dental visit, as defined. The bill would authorize an FQHC or RHC that currently includes the cost of a medical visit and a mental health visit that take place on the same day at a single location as a single visit for purposes of establishing the FQHC's or RHC's rate to apply for an adjustment to its per-visit rate, and after the department has approved that rate adjustment, to bill a medical visit and a mental health visit that take place on the same day at a single location as separate visits, in accordance with the bill. Implementation of these provisions would be contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act and the availability of federal financial participation. This bill would also make an FQHC or RHC visit to a licensed acupuncturist reimbursable on a per-visit basis. The bill would require the department, by January 1, 2020, to submit a state plan amendment to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reflect certain changes described in the bill, and to seek necessary federal approvals. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 14132.100 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 2428 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2428 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.