Under existing law, a person sentenced to imprisonment in state prison or in a county jail for a felony offense, as specified, may, during that period of confinement, be deprived only of those rights as are reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide inmates with accessible, functional voice communication services free of charge to the person initiating and the person receiving the communication. This bill would additionally require the department to provide inmates electronic messaging services as described above. The bill would prohibit staff at a department facility, if an incarcerated individual is authorized to possess and use a tablet or other device for voice communications, from disconnecting any communications conducted by the individual on the device based solely on the duration of the call.
Sponsored bills
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 establishes the Independent Medical Review System within each department, under which an enrollee or insured may seek review if a health care service has been denied, modified, or delayed by a health care service plan or health insurer and the enrollee or insured has previously filed a grievance that remains unresolved after 30 days. This bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to annually report to the appropriate department the total number of claims processed by the health care service plan or health insurer for the prior year and its number of treatment denials or modifications, separated and disaggregated as specified, commencing on or before June 1, 2026. The bill would require the departments to compare the number of a health care service plan's or health insurer's treatment denials and modifications to (1) the number of successful independent medical review overturns of the plan's or insurer's treatment denials or modifications and (2) the number of treatment denials or modifications reversed by a plan or insurer after an independent medical review for the denial or modification is requested, filed, or applied for. For a health care service plan or health insurer with 10 or more independent medical reviews in a given year, the bill would make the health care service plan or health insurer liable for an administrative penalty, as specified, if more than 50% of the independent medical reviews filed with a health care service plan or health insurer result in an overturning or reversal of a treatment denial or modification in any one individual category of specified general types of care. The bill would make a health care service plan or health insurer liable for additional administrative penalties for each independent medical review resulting in an additional overturned or reversed denial or modification in excess of that threshold. The bill would require the departments to annually include data, analysis, and conclusions relating to these provisions in specified reports. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law creates the Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund in the State Treasury for the deposit of fines and administrative penalties collected pursuant to provisions licensing and regulating health care service plans. This bill would create the Managed Care Independent Medical Review Administrative Penalties Subaccount in the Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund for the receipt and deposit of moneys generated from the administrative penalties described above with respect to health care service plans. The bill would create the Health Insurance Independent Medical Review Administrative Penalties Fund in the State Treasury for the receipt and deposit of moneys generated from the administrative penalties described above with respect to health insurers. The bill would authorize the moneys in the Managed Care Independent Medical Review Administrative Penalties Subaccount and Health Insurance Independent Medical Review Administrative Penalties Fund to be expended, as specified, upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would declare that its provisions are severable. 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 measure would acknowledge and celebrate 50 years of coastal protection and affirm the state's longstanding commitment to protecting its coastal waters, as specified.
This measure would request that the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management hold public hearings in California on the proposed 2026–2031 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, prepare an environmental impact statement to accompany the program, and provide the public the opportunity to comment on a draft programmatic environmental impact statement for potential offshore oil and gas leasing in California. The measure would strongly and unequivocally oppose any new offshore drilling and declare unequivocal support for the current federal prohibition on new oil or gas drilling in federal waters offshore of the Pacific coast.
This measure would affirm the Legislature's commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and encourage local, state, and federal policymakers, among other organizations, to adopt and uphold DEI principles.
Maddy summarySenate Resolution 122 formally recognizes November 2026 as Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month in California. This non-binding resolution highlights the severity of the disease, noting its high mortality rate and lack of early detection methods, while also pointing out that current federal funding for pancreatic cancer research is low compared to other areas. The bill urges all Californians to take action to end pancreatic cancer and calls for increased awareness and support for research efforts. It does not change any laws or allocate state funds but serves to draw public attention to the issue.
Existing law establishes procedures for the formation of regional park, park and open-space, and open-space districts and prescribes the powers, functions, and duties of those districts. Existing law requires the board of directors of these districts to appoint a general manager as chief administrative officer of the district, as provided. Existing law generally authorizes the general manager of a regional park, park and open space, and open-space district, with district board approval, to bind the district, in accordance with board policy, and without advertising, for the payment for supplies, materials, labor, or other valuable consideration for any purpose in amounts not exceeding $50,000. Existing law authorizes the district, by action of the board in an open meeting, to increase the amount by which the general manager of the district may bind the district above that limit. Existing law authorizes a general manager of a district with a population of 200,000 or more, with the approval of the board, to bind the district, in accordance with board policy that has been adopted in an open meeting, for the payment for equipment, supplies, and materials for any purpose, including new construction of a building, structure, or improvement, excluding labor and services, when the annual aggregate cost does not exceed $150,000. This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2032, the general manager of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, with the approval of the board, to bind the district, in accordance with board policy that has been adopted in an open meeting, for the payment of equipment, supplies, materials, labor, or other valuable consideration for any purpose, including new construction of a building, structure, or improvement, in amounts not exceeding $72,000, as provided. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District.
Existing law requires the State Department of Education to identify an evidence-based online training program that a county office of education, school district, state special school, or charter school that serves pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, can use to train school staff and pupils as part of their policy on pupil suicide prevention. Existing law requires the department, subject to an appropriation for these purposes, to provide a grant to a county office of education to acquire a training program identified by the department and disseminate that training program at no cost to specified educational entities, as specified. This bill would revise and recast these provisions by (1) deleting the requirement to provide the above-described grant, (2) deleting the requirement of the department to identify the above-described evidence-based online training program, (3) instead requiring the Behavioral Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission to develop an online training program to train school staff, pupils who are 13 years of age or older, and parents, guardians, or caregivers of pupils as part of the policy on pupil suicide prevention adopted by county offices of education, school districts, state special schools, and charter schools that serve pupils in kindergarten or in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as specified. The bill would require those educational entities that elect to conduct suicide risk screenings to report, on or before June 30, 2027, and June 30 annually thereafter, the number of pupils screened, and which screening instruments were used, for the reporting year, to the department, as provided, and would require the department to compile and post statewide aggregate data on these screenings on its internet website, as provided. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
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 establishes the Public Transit Revenue Measure District, governed by the same board that governs the commission, with jurisdiction extending throughout the boundaries of the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, and Santa Clara, and the City and County of San Francisco. Existing law authorizes a retail transactions and use tax applicable to the entire district to be imposed by the board of the district or by a qualified voter initiative for a duration of 14 years, and in specified amounts, subject to voter approval at the November 3, 2026, statewide general election. Existing law establishes specified procedures for that election, including a requirement that the elections officials of the counties where the measure will appear on the ballot mutually agree to use the same letter designation for the measure. This bill would revise those election procedures by, among other things, instead requiring the measure to be identified on the ballot by the designation "Regional Transit Measure" in each county included in the district and by requiring each county elections official in the district to select, from among the submissions of proposed arguments in favor of, and against, the measure, the arguments to be included in the county voter information guide of that county, as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Under existing law, the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires retail sellers and local publicly owned electric utilities to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources during certain compliance periods up to December 31, 2030. Existing law provides that a local publicly owned electric utility is not required to procure a certain amount of eligible renewable energy resources if, during a year within those compliance periods, the local publicly owned electric utility receives more than 40% of its retail sales from large hydroelectric generation under an ownership agreement or contract in effect as of January 1, 2018. Existing law authorizes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to establish appropriate multiyear compliance periods for local publicly owned electric utilities beyond December 31, 2030. This bill would provide that the provision related to the procurement of eligible renewable energy resources by local publicly owned electric utilities also applies to the compliance periods established by the Energy Commission.