(1) The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities Commission, with regulatory jurisdiction over all public utilities, as defined. The Public Utilities Act provides that every public utility and every officer, agent, or employee of a public utility, who violates or fails to comply with, or who procures, aids, or abets any violation by any public utility of any provision of the California Constitution or of the act, or who fails to comply with any part of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, or who procures, aids, or abets any public utility in a violation or noncompliance, in a case in which a penalty has not otherwise been provided, is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both fine and imprisonment. This bill would provide that the fine may not exceed $5,000. (2) The act additionally provides that every corporation or person, other than a public utility and its officers, agents, or employees, knowingly violating or failing to comply with, or procuring, aiding, or abetting any violation of the California Constitution relating to public utilities or of the act, or that fails to comply with any part of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, or procuring, aiding, or abetting any public utility in a violation or noncompliance, in a case in which a penalty has not otherwise been provided, is subject to a penalty of not less than $500, or more than $20,000, for each offense. This bill would increase the maximum penalty to not more than $50,000 for each offense. (3) Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires that any expense resulting from a bonus paid to an executive officer, as defined, of a public utility that has ceased to pay its debts in the ordinary course of business, be borne by the shareholders of the public utility and prohibits any expense from being recovered in rates. This bill would require the commission to determine the appropriate ratemaking treatment for incentive compensation paid to officers or employees of an electrical corporation or gas corporation for incentive compensation that is linked to the stock price or financial performance of the electrical corporation or gas corporation.
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Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities. The Public Utilities Act authorizes the commission to ascertain and fix just and reasonable standards, classifications, regulations, practices, measurements, or services to be furnished, imposed, observed, and followed by specified public utilities, including gas corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. The Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011 designates the commission as the state authority responsible for regulating and enforcing intrastate gas pipeline transportation and pipeline facilities pursuant to federal law, including the development, submission, and administration of a state pipeline safety program certification for natural gas pipelines. When the federal National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) submits a safety recommendation letter concerning gas pipeline safety to the commission, this bill would require the commission, within 90 days, to provide the NTSB with a formal written response to each recommendation stating: (1) the commission's intent to implement the recommendations in full, with a proposed timetable for implementation of the recommendations, (2) the commission's intent to implement part of the recommendations, with a proposed timetable for implementation of those recommendations, and detailed reasons for the commission's refusal to implement those recommendations that the commission does not intend to implement, or (3) the commission's refusal to implement the recommendations, with detailed reasons for the commission's refusal to implement the recommendations. When the NTSB issues a safety recommendation letter concerning any commission-regulated gas pipeline facility to the United States Department of Transportation, the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) , a gas corporation, or to the commission, or the PHMSA issues an advisory bulletin concerning any commission-regulated gas pipeline facility, the bill would require the commission to determine if implementation of the recommendation or advisory is appropriate and further require that the basis for the commission's determination be detailed in writing and be approved by a majority vote of the commission. If the commission determines that a safety recommendation made by the NTSB is appropriate or that action concerning an advisory bulletin by the PHMSA is necessary, the bill would require that the commission issue orders or adopt rules to implement the safety recommendations or advisory as soon as practical and to consider whether a more effective, or equally effective and less costly, alternative exists to address the safety issue that the recommendation or advisory addresses. The bill would require the commission to include a detailed description of any action taken on an NTSB safety recommendation, or to implement an advisory bulletin, in a specified annual report the commission is required to make to the Legislature. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because this bill would require the commission to issue orders or adopt rules to implement any safety recommendation by the NTSB relative to natural gas pipeline safety that the commission determines to be appropriate and a violation of these orders or rules would be a 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.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations, as defined. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law, the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011, among other things, prohibits a gas corporation from recovering any fine or penalty in any rate approved by the commission. This bill would require the commission to perform an analysis of benchmark data and adopt safety performance metrics for pipeline safety that consider specified principles. The bill would require the commission to evaluate a gas corporation's safety performance using those metrics and would authorize the commission to implement a rate incentive program that could contain penalties based on safety performance.
The Passenger Charter-party Carriers' Act, with certain exceptions, prohibits a charter-party carrier of passengers from engaging in transportation services subject to regulation by the Public Utilities Commission without obtaining a specified certificate or permit, as appropriate, from the commission. The act, except as specified, requires the driver of any limousine for hire operated by a charter-party carrier of passengers (carrier) under a valid certificate or permit to comply with prescribed requirements relating to alcoholic beverages, including ascertaining whether any passenger is under the age of 21 years, reading to the passenger a statement that the consumption of any alcoholic beverage in the vehicle is unlawful, requiring such a passenger to sign the statement, and, if a minor passenger, after signing the statement, is found to be, or to have been, consuming any alcoholic beverage during the course of the ride, immediately terminating the contract of hire and returning the passenger to the point of origin. The act also subjects the carrier to specified civil penalties, based on the number of offenses, for conviction of a driver, or any officer, director, agent, or employee of the carrier, of a violation of the Vehicle Code that prohibits storage of an opened container of an alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle. This bill would repeal the above-described provisions concerning the responsibilities of a driver of a limousine for hire operated by a carrier relating to the consumption of alcoholic beverages by passengers under 21 years of age. The bill would instead require the charter-party carrier of passengers to ask the chartering party, as defined, to disclose at the time transportation service is prearranged or the contract of carriage is made and, upon being asked, would require the chartering party to disclose (1) if alcoholic beverages will be served by the chartering party, as defined, or be transported in the passenger compartment of the vehicle during transportation and (2) if any member of the party to be provided with transportation services will be under 21 years of age. The bill would require the charting party to designate a designee, as defined, and would impose different requirements for a designee of the chartering party and the driver of the vehicle depending upon the presence of specified circumstances. The bill would make the designee or, when present, the parent or legal guardian legally responsible for any reasonably foreseeable personal injury or property damage that is proximately caused by a violation of laws prohibiting the consumption of alcoholic beverages by a person under 21 years of age when alcoholic beverages are consumed during the provision of transportation services under certain circumstances. The bill would make failure to comply with certain of its requirements a misdemeanor and would make any violation of its requirements by a charter-party carrier of passengers or its driver subject to civil penalties imposed by the commission. The bill, by creating a new crime, 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 establishes various programs for the prevention of disease and the promotion of health to be administered by the State Department of Public Health, including, but not limited to, a program for the licensing and regulation of health facilities including general acute care hospitals, acute psychiatric hospitals, and nursing facilities. A violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor. Existing law, with certain exceptions, prohibits smoking in patient care areas, waiting rooms, and visiting rooms of specified health facilities. A violation of these provisions is an infraction. Existing law generally prohibits smoking in the workplace. This bill would repeal the above described prohibition against smoking in specified areas of specified health facilities, and would instead prohibit smoking in all areas of a general acute care hospital and throughout the entire hospital campus, as specified. The bill would require general acute care hospitals to post specified signs and train employees on the smoking policy. The bill would provide that the smoking prohibition does not prevent smoking on a hospital campus by a patient if the treating physician determines that the patient's treatment will be substantially impaired by the denial to the patient of the use of tobacco and the physician enters a written order permitting the use of tobacco by that patient. The bill would also specify that violation of these provisions does not constitute either a misdemeanor or an infraction.
Existing law requires specified information to be provided to patients regarding their health care. Existing federal law requires a written report of the results of each mammography examination and requires a summary of that report to be sent to the patient within a specified time period. This bill, from April 1, 2013, until January 1, 2019, would require, under specified circumstances, a health facility at which a mammography examination is performed to include in the summary of the written report that is sent to the patient a prescribed notice on breast density.
Existing law refers to mental retardation or a mentally retarded person in provisions relating to, among other things, educational and social services, commitment to state facilities, and criminal punishment. This bill would revise these provisions to refer instead to intellectual disability or a person with an intellectual disability. This bill would provide that it is the intent of the Legislature that the bill not be construed to change the coverage, eligibility, rights, responsibilities, or substantive definitions referred to in the amended provisions of the bill. This bill would make related and technical changes.
Existing federal Medicaid provisions require a state to describe its Medicaid program in its state plan, which is required by federal law to provide for, among other things, a public process for determination of rates of payment under the plan for hospital services, nursing facility services, and services of intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded. Under existing law, various state statutes refer to mentally retarded persons in provisions relating to, among other things, services, commitment to state facilities, and criminal punishment. This bill, which would be known as the Shriver "R-Word" Act, would revise various statutes to, instead, refer to a person with an intellectual disability. The bill would also state the intent of the Legislature that the bill not be construed to change the coverage, eligibility, rights, responsibilities, or substantive definitions referred to in the amended provisions of the bill.
Existing law establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is responsible for administering various programs and services for the benefit of veterans. This bill would provide that if the federal government acts to reinstate benefits to discharged veterans, as specified, who were denied those benefits solely on the basis of sexual orientation pursuant to any federal policy prohibiting homosexual personnel from serving in the Armed Forces of the United States, the state shall reinstate to those veterans any state-offered benefits, as provided. This bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide Internet resources, Internet links, and print materials, as provided, regarding, or created by, veterans' legal services organizations that specialize in military discharge upgrades.
Existing law, the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Law, creates the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law requires a funeral director to obtain a separate license for each funeral establishment the director operates. Existing law allows the assignment of a funeral establishment's license upon payment of a fee and submission of an audit report performed by an independent certified public accountant or public accountant licensed in this state that verifies the accuracy of the establishment's trust fund balances and reports the establishment's compliance with certain provisions of the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Law. Existing law requires any shortages in the trust funds to be funded in order for a funeral establishment's license to be assigned. This bill would require a completed application to be filed in addition to payment of the fee and submission of the audit report in order to assign a funeral establishment's license. If an applicant for assignment of a funeral establishment's license is not able to submit the audit report due to specified circumstances, the bill would authorize the applicant to submit a signed request, for approval from the bureau to secure a bond guaranteeing the payment of any shortages in the establishment's trust funds, as specified. The bill would subject an applicant who knowingly provides false or misleading information pursuant to the bill's provisions to an administrative citation, which may include an order of abatement and a fine not to exceed $5,000 per violation. The bill would require an assignee to maintain the bond after assignment of the funeral establishment's license by the bureau.