Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. The chief executive officer of the board is the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law authorizes the establishment of community college districts under the administration of community college governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction at community college campuses throughout the state. Existing law requires that community college districts with less than 75% of their hours of credit instruction taught by full-time instructors apply a portion of their program improvement allocation, as provided, to reaching the 75% standard. This bill would state that these requirements may not be waived by the Board of Governors or the Chancellor. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that by the end of the 2013–14 fiscal year, 75% of the hours of credit instruction shall be taught by full-time instructors.
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Existing law requires the Governor to submit to the Legislature, on or before January 10 of each year, a proposed budget for the ensuing fiscal year that shall contain estimates of anticipated state revenues and itemized statements of all proposed expenditures of the state for that fiscal year. Existing law further requires the Director of Finance to submit to the Legislature, on or before May 14 of each year, revised estimates of General Fund revenues for the current fiscal year and the ensuing fiscal year. This bill would require the Governor's proposed budget to also include estimates of revenues and expenditures for the 3 subsequent fiscal years. In addition, the bill would require the Director of Finance to submit to the Legislature revised estimates of revenues and expenditures for the current fiscal year and for the 3 subsequent fiscal years on or before May 14, July 15, and September 15 of each year. For each of those revised estimates, the bill would require the Controller and the Treasurer to review the revised estimates and to submit an assessment of those estimates to the fiscal committees of each house of the Legislature and to the Director of Finance on or before specified dates.
Existing law establishes the Regional Planning, Housing, and Infill Incentive Account within the Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund of 2006 and allocates $200,000,000 for the creation, development, or rehabilitation to encourage infill development. Existing law establishes the Habitat Conservation Fund for, among other things, the acquisition of habitat, including native oak woodlands, necessary to protect deer and mountain lions, and to protect rare, endangered, threatened, or fully protected species. Existing law establishes the State Coastal Conservancy Fund for the support of coastal conservation, and establishes the San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy Program Account within the State Coastal Conservancy Fund, for the purpose of depositing and disbursing funds, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the administration and implementation of the San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy Program. This bill would require the state to loan $10,000,000, $2,500,000 from the Regional Planning, Housing, and Infill Incentive Account within the Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund of 2006, $2,500,000 from the Habitat Conservation Fund, $2,500,000 from the State Coastal Conservancy Fund, and $2,500,000 from the San Francisco Bay Area Conservancy Program Account within the State Coastal Conservancy Fund, to the City of Half Moon Bay to purchase certain property known as the Beachwood Property to assist the city relating to its settlement of a specified case, which would result in an appropriation.
Existing law provides for the licensure of long-term health care facilities by the State Department of Public Health. Under existing law, the Long-Term Care, Health, Safety, and Security Act of 1973, the department may assess penalties for violation of prescribed state and federal requirements. Moneys collected as a result of the penalties imposed pursuant to these provisions are required to be deposited into either the State Health Facilities Citation Penalties Account or the Federal Health Facilities Citation Penalties Account, and used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the protection of health or property of residents of long-term health care facilities, including reimbursing residents for personal funds lost and costs associated with informational meetings. Existing law establishes the Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman in the California Department of Aging. Under existing law, the office is responsible for, among other things, investigating and resolving complaints and concerns communicated by or on behalf of patients, residents, or clients of long-term care facilities, as defined. Existing law authorizes the California Department of Aging to allocate all federal and state funds for local ombudsman programs according to a specified distribution schedule. This bill would require at least 12 of the funds in the State Health Facilities Citation Penalties Account and the Federal Health Facilities Citation Penalties Account be used to fund local ombudsman programs pursuant to the aforementioned distribution schedule.
Existing law authorizes employers to provide their employees paid sick leave. This bill would provide that an employee who works in California for 7 or more days in a calendar year is entitled to paid sick days, as defined, which shall be accrued at a rate of no less than one hour for every 30 hours worked. An employee would be entitled to use accrued sick days beginning on the 90th calendar day of employment. The bill would require employers to provide paid sick days, upon the request of the employee, for diagnosis, care, or treatment of health conditions of the employee or an employee's family member, or for leave related to domestic violence or sexual assault. An employer would be prohibited from discriminating or retaliating against an employee who requests paid sick days. The bill would require employers to satisfy specified posting and notice and recordkeeping requirements. The bill would also make conforming changes. This bill would require the Labor Commissioner to administer and enforce these requirements, including the promulgation of regulations, investigation, mitigation, and relief of violations of these requirements. This bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner to impose specified administrative fines for violations and would authorize an aggrieved person, the commissioner, the Attorney General, or an entity a member of which is aggrieved to bring an action to recover specified civil penalties against an offender, as well as attorney's fees, costs, and interest. The bill would specify that it does not apply to employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement that provides for paid sick days, nor does it lessen any other obligations of the employer to employees. This bill would further specify that it does not apply to employees in the construction industry covered by a collective bargaining agreement if the agreement expressly waives the requirements of this article in clear and unambiguous terms. However, the bill would specify that it applies to certain public authorities, established to deliver in-home supportive services, except where a collective bargaining agreement provides for an incremental wage increase sufficient to satisfy the bill's requirements for accrual of sick days.
Existing law provides for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons receive services enabling them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization. Existing law permits services to be provided under the IHSS program either through the employment of individual providers, a contract between the county and an entity for the provision of services, the creation by the county of a public authority, or a contract between the county and a nonprofit consortium. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. Under existing law, IHSS recipients who are eligible for the Medi-Cal program are provided with personal care option services, as defined, in lieu of receiving these services under the IHSS program. Existing law, enacted in 2009, makes various statutory changes with respect to the provision of in-home supportive services, relating to matters, including, but not limited to, provider enrollment procedures, criminal background checks, orientation, and duties, as well as eligibility standards for recipients, unannounced home visits, and program integrity and fraud prevention. This bill would make the operation of the statutory changes described above subject to a stakeholder process, to be conducted, as specified, by the State Department of Social Services, prior to the implementation of those changes. The bill would require implementation of any of the statutory changes described in the bill to occur either on the date specified in an applicable statute, or 60 days after the department notifies the Joint Legislative Budget Committee that the changes may be implemented, whichever is later. This bill would prohibit information notices relating to the implementation of these statutory changes from being sent to recipients or providers until the stakeholder process is completed. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
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. 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, including general acute care hospitals. A violation of these provisions is an infraction. This bill would for a general acute care hospital, instead, prohibit smoking in all areas of the 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 specify 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, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, contains various provisions regarding the contents, packaging, labeling, and advertising of food, drugs, and cosmetics. A violation of any of these provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would prohibit a retailer from selling or permitting to be sold after the "use by" date infant formula, as defined, or baby food, as defined, that is required to have this date on its packaging pursuant to federal law. It would also prohibit a retailer from selling or permitting to be sold after the expiration date an over the counter drug, as defined, that is required to have this expiration date on its packaging pursuant to that federal law. A violation of these provisions would, notwithstanding the above-described penalty, be punishable as an infraction with a specified fine. By creating a new crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that local and state authorities should make reasonable efforts to notify the public about potential threats to public safety resulting from the sale of expired products and, for public purchasers of expired products, to contact their respective state or local authorities. 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 sets forth procedures for voting by mail and requires the local elections official to compare the signature on a vote by mail ballot received with the voter's signature that appears on the affidavit of registration. Existing law requires the elections official to establish procedures to track and confirm the receipt of vote by mail ballots that are voted and to make that information available by means of online access using the county's elections division Internet Web site, or, if it has no Internet Web site, then by toll-free telephone number that may be used to confirm the date the ballot was received. This bill would further require the local elections official to establish a free access system by which a vote by mail voter may find out whether his or her ballot was counted and, if not, the reason why it was not counted, thereby imposing 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 these statutory provisions.
Existing law prohibits a vehicle, except as specified, from being driven or moved on any highway unless the vehicle is so constructed, covered, or loaded as to prevent any of its contents or load other than clear water or feathers from live birds from dropping, sifting, leaking, blowing, spilling, or otherwise escaping from the vehicle. A violation of this provision is an infraction punishable by a fine not exceeding $100 for a first offense. This bill would instead establish a base fine of not less than $50 and not more than $100 for a violation of the above-described offenses.