Sen. Jim Beall

Existing law, prohibits, and prescribes heightened penalties for, the commission of specified offenses of abuse committed against an elder or dependent person or dependent adult. Existing law also mandates reporting of known or suspected cases of elder and dependent adult abuse. Existing law defines the terms "dependent person" and "dependent adult" for purposes of these provisions. This bill would change those terms in selected statutes to "person with a disability" and "adult with a disability" and would state the intent of the Legislature that those terms be changed in the remaining provisions of law that use them as those statutes are amended in the future.

Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of the state highway system and associated real property. Existing law generally requires vehicles to be driven upon the right half of a roadway, defined to include only that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel. Existing law generally prohibits the driver of a vehicle from overtaking and passing another vehicle by driving off the paved or main-traveled portion of the roadway. Existing law authorizes the Monterey-Salinas Transit District and the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District to conduct a transit bus-only program using the shoulders of certain state highways as transit bus-only traffic corridors, subject to approval by the Department of Transportation and the Department of the California Highway Patrol. Existing law requires that the highway segments to be used for the program are to be jointly determined by the districts, the department, and the Department of the California Highway Patrol, as provided. This bill would authorize the Department of Transportation to establish a pilot program to authorize a transit operator or operators to operate transit buses on the shoulders of state highways, under a project selected under the program. The bill would authorize an operator or operators, in partnership with a regional transportation agency that meets specified requirements, to submit an application to the department to establish and operate a project under the program. The bill would authorize the department to select no more than 8 total projects under the program using guidelines developed with input from the Department of the California Highway Patrol and the public. The bill would require the department, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, and the operator or operators and regional transportation agency that submitted the application to jointly determine the state highways, or segment of state highways, that will be used in a project. The bill would require the applicable regional transportation agency to be responsible for all costs attributable to the project. Two years after commencing a project, the bill would require an operator or operators, in conjunction with the applicable regional transportation agency, to submit a report to the Legislature that includes certain information about the project.

Under existing law, a person is guilty of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, if they intentionally distribute an image that was intended to remain private of the intimate body parts of another or of the person depicted engaged in a sex act, as specified. Existing law requires prosecution for this offense to be commenced within one year after commission of the offense. This bill would instead allow prosecution for this offense to commence within one year of the discovery of the commission of the offense.

This measure would designate the week of February 24, 2020, to March 1, 2020, as Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

Existing law, notwithstanding the requirement that each person between 6 and 18 years of age who is not otherwise exempted is subject to compulsory full-time education, requires a pupil to be excused from school for specified types of absences, including, among others, if the absence was due to the pupil's illness. This bill would include as another type of required excused absence an absence that is for the benefit of the mental or behavioral health of the pupil. To the extent that this bill would impose additional duties on local educational entities, the 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, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) , an initiative measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 at the November 2, 2004, statewide general election, funds a system of county mental health plans for the provision of mental health services, as specified. The act establishes the Mental Health Services Fund, which is continuously appropriated to, and administered by, the State Department of Health Care Services to fund specified county mental health programs. This bill would require the department to establish a pilot program in up to 10 counties, as specified, and would authorize funding from the MHSA, commencing January 1, 2022, and continuing until January 1, 2027, to be used by participating counties to treat a person with cooccurring mental health and substance use disorders when the person would be eligible for treatment of the mental health disorder pursuant to the MHSA. The bill would also authorize participating counties during the specified time period to use MHSA funds to assess whether a person has cooccurring mental health and substance use disorders and to treat a person who is preliminarily assessed to have cooccurring mental health and substance use disorders, even when the person is later determined not to be eligible for services provided with MHSA funds. The bill would require a person being treated for cooccurring mental health and substance use disorders who is determined to not need the mental health services that are eligible for funding pursuant to the act, to be, as quickly as possible, referred to substance use disorder treatment services. By authorizing the use of continuously appropriated funds for a new purpose, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would require the department to submit a progress report to the Legislature on the efficacy of the pilot program on or before July 1, 2023, and to submit a final report to the Legislature on the efficacy of the pilot program not later than July 1, 2027.

Existing law establishes in state government the Transportation Agency, which includes various departments and state entities, including the California Transportation Commission. The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 establishes a comprehensive transportation funding program by increasing fuel taxes and imposing certain vehicle fees. The act allocates revenues from those sources to various transportation programs, including, among others, to the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program, which the act created to address deferred maintenance on the state highway system and the local street and road system. This bill would require the Transportation Agency to oversee the development and implementation of a comprehensive one-stop reporting interface available to the public through an internet website maintained by the agency. The bill would require the interface to provide timely fiscal information regarding the development and implementation status of each transportation program or project funded, at least in part, by revenues from the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.

Existing law generally requires a vehicle, stopped or parked upon a roadway where there are adjacent curbs, to be stopped or parked with the right-hand wheels of the vehicle parallel with, and within 18 inches of, the right-hand curb, with specified exceptions. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to publish a synopsis or summary of laws regulating the operation of vehicles and the use of highways, and requires the department to furnish copies of the publication to its field offices for general distribution at no charge. Existing law requires an applicant for a driver's license to submit to examination by the department. This bill would require the department to include in its California Driver Handbook publication information advising drivers on the Dutch Reach method, as defined, when opening a vehicle door after parallel parking the vehicle. The bill would also require the department to include test questions regarding driving safely in the presence of bicycles in the question pool used for the written portion of the driver's license examination. The bill would permit one of those questions to be a question regarding the Dutch Reach method.

This measure would proclaim January 26, 2020, as India Republic Day, and would urge all Californians to join in celebrating India Republic Day.