Existing law establishes the State Peace Officers' and Firefighters' Defined Contribution Plan for state peace officer/firefighter members in State Bargaining Unit 6, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, and others as specified. Under existing law, the plan applies to state peace officer and firefighter members in State Bargaining Unit 8 who have become subject by a memorandum of understanding. Existing law authorizes the plan to be provided to state peace officers or firefighters who meet stated criteria, if the Department of Human Resources has approved their inclusion for coverage. The moneys in the State Peace Officers' and Firefighters' Defined Contribution Plan Fund are continuously appropriated. Existing law entitles a participant in the plan to a lump-sum distribution of the balance of his or her account, or installment payments if he or she is entitled to $5,000 or more, upon separation from all service for the employer for any reason other than death, disability, or retirement. Existing law requires the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System to administer the Supplemental Contributions Program and requires contributions by eligible employees, as defined, participating in the program to be deposited in the Supplemental Contributions Program Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would require that contributions to the State Peace Officers' and Firefighters' Defined Contribution Plan cease, prohibit new members from participating in the plan, and would require that the plan be terminated as prescribed. The bill would repeal those provisions extending plan coverage to State Bargaining Unit 8 and certain state peace officers or firefighters. The bill would require all moneys in the State Peace Officers' and Firefighters' Defined Contribution Plan Fund to be distributed, as specified, including requiring that, if not elected otherwise, amounts that become payable from the fund be rolled over under existing federal law to the Supplemental Contributions Program. The bill would provide for rollover contributions to separate rollover contribution accounts in the Supplemental Contributions Program, as specified, and would provide for the distribution of amounts held in the participant's account. The bill would authorize participants to elect investment fund options, as specified, in the Supplemental Contributions Program. The bill would provide that a fiduciary of the program is not liable for losses resulting from investments in fund options selected by participants or provided to participants who fail to select an option. The bill would require that certain rollover contributions be invested in the applicable target retirement date fund investment fund option available until the participant elects another investment fund option. The bill would also make various clarifying and technical changes in the Supplemental Contributions Program. By changing the circumstances under which moneys in the State Peace Officers' and Firefighters' Defined Contribution Fund would be distributed, and by providing for an increase in contributions to the Supplemental Contributions Program, this bill would make an appropriation.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, the Seymour-Campbell Student Success Act of 2012, defines "matriculation" as a process that brings a college and a student into an agreement for the purpose of achieving the student's educational goals and completing the student's course of study. The act specifies the responsibilities of students and institutions entering into the agreement, including, among others, a student's responsibility to identify an academic and career goal, to declare a specific course of study, and to be diligent in class attendance and the completion of assigned coursework. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature that any student who receives priority registration for enrollment at an educational institution, to the extent that the institution provides specified matriculation services pursuant to the Seymour-Campbell Student Success Act of 2012, shall participate in those services. Existing law requires the California State University and each community college district, with respect to each campus in their respective jurisdictions that administers a priority enrollment system, to grant priority in that system for registration for enrollment to any member or former member of the Armed Forces of the United States and to a foster youth or former foster youth, as provided. This bill would require a community college district to grant priority registration for enrollment to students in the Community College Extended Opportunity Programs and Services program and to disabled students who are determined to be eligible for disabled student programs and services, as provided. The bill would make this provision inoperative on January 1, 2017. By imposing the above requirement on a community college district, 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 these statutory provisions.
The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act authorizes the State Department of Developmental Services to contract with regional centers to provide support and services to individuals with developmental disabilities. The services and supports to be provided to a regional center consumer are contained in an individual program plan (IPP) , developed in accordance with prescribed requirements. Existing law requires the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to, among other responsibilities, form a standing Employment First Committee to identify strategies and recommend legislative, regulatory, and policy changes to increase integrated employment, as defined, self-employment, and microenterprises for persons with developmental disabilities, as specified. This bill would define competitive employment, microenterprises, and self-employment for these purposes. The bill would additionally require the Employment First Committee to identify existing sources of consumer data that can be matched with employment data, as specified, and to recommend goals for measuring employment participation and outcomes for various consumers within the developmental services system. The bill would require the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to develop an informational brochure about the Employment First Policy, translate the brochure into various languages, and post the brochure on the council's Internet Web site. This bill would require each regional center planning team, when developing an individual program plan for a transition age youth or working age adult, to consider a specified Employment First Policy. The bill would also require regional centers to provide consumers 16 years of age or older, and, when appropriate, other specified persons, with information about the Employment First Policy, options for integrated competitive employment, and services and supports, including postsecondary education, that are available to enable the consumer to transition from school to work, and to achieve the outcomes of obtaining and maintaining integrated competitive employment. The bill would authorize the department to request information from regional centers on current and planned activities related to the Employment First Policy.
Existing law establishes the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, and authorizes the commission to issue teaching and service credentials, including a special education credential. Existing law also authorizes the commission to grant an added or supplementary authorization to a credentialholder who has met the requirements and standards of the commission for the added or supplementary authorization. This bill would authorize program sponsors, as defined, to offer comparability and equivalency, as those terms are defined, to a special education credentialholder seeking to add a special education authorization to his or her special education credential in accordance with specified guidelines and criteria.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies to provide benefits for specified conditions, including coverage for behavioral health treatment, as defined, for pervasive developmental disorder or autism, except as specified. A willful violation of these provisions with respect to health care service plans is a crime. These provisions are inoperative on July 1, 2014, and are repealed on January 1, 2015. This bill would extend the operation of these provisions until January 1, 2017. By extending the operation of provisions establishing crimes, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Under existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, the State Department of Developmental Services contracts with regional centers to provide services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities. Under existing law, the regional centers purchase needed services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities through approved service providers, or arrange for their provision through other publicly funded agencies. The services and supports to be provided to a regional center consumer are contained in an individual program plan (IPP) , developed in accordance with prescribed requirements. Existing law establishes, contingent upon approval of a federal waiver, the Self-Directed Services Program, and requires the program to be available in every regional center catchment area to provide participants, within an individual budget, greater control over needed services and supports. This bill would require the department, contingent upon approval of federal funding, to establish and implement a state Self-Determination Program, as defined, that would be available in every regional center catchment area to provide participants and their families, within an individual budget, increased flexibility and choice, and greater control over decisions, resources, and needed and desired services and supports to implement their IPP, in accordance with prescribed requirements. The statewide program would be phased in over 3 years, serving up to 2,500 regional center consumers during the phase-in period, and thereafter, available on a voluntary basis to all eligible regional center consumers. The bill would require the department to, among other things, apply for federal funding for the program by December 31, 2014. This bill would provide that program participants receive an individual budget, as prescribed, to be used for the purchase of services and supports necessary to implement the participant's IPP. The bill would require program participants to agree to, among other things, manage self-determination services and supports within the individual budget. The bill would require the department to require nonvendored providers of services and supports who meet specified criteria to submit to a criminal background check, as specified. The bill would require the department, with respect to this background check, to submit fingerprint images and related information to the Department of Justice, and would require the Department of Justice to provide specified responses to the department. The bill would require the Department of Justice to charge a fee sufficient to cover the cost of processing this request. The bill would, among other things, require each regional center to be responsible for implementing the program as a term of its contract, and to establish a local voluntary advisory committee to provide oversight of the project. The bill would require the State Council on Developmental Disabilities to form a volunteer statewide committee to, among other things, identify self-determination best practices. The bill would require the State Council on Developmental Disabilities, in collaboration with specified entities, to issue to the Legislature a report regarding the status of the program and recommendations to the program, as specified, and would require the department, beginning January 10, 2017, to provide to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature prescribed information relating to the program.
Existing law establishes various public social services programs to provide for protection, care, and assistance to the people of the state in need of those services, by providing appropriate aid and services to the needy and distressed. Counties are responsible for administrating some of these programs, such as CalWORKs, CalFresh, and the Medically Indigent Services Program or the County Medical Services Program. Existing law, in this regard, and with some exceptions, requires all applications and records concerning any individual made or kept by any public officer or agency in connection with the administration of public social services for which grants-in-aid are received by this state from the federal government be kept confidential, and authorizes a county welfare department in the state to release lists of applicants for, or recipients of, public social services to any other county welfare department or the State Department of Social Services, as specified. This bill would include in the definition of public social services publicly funded health care services administered or supervised by the department or the State Department of Health Care Services, except as specified. The bill would state that this provision clarifies existing law.
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 federal law authorizes a state, subject to federal approval of a state plan amendment, to offer health home services, as defined, to eligible individuals with chronic conditions. This bill would authorize the department, subject to federal approval, to create a health home program for enrollees with chronic conditions, as prescribed, as authorized under federal law. This bill would provide that those provisions shall not be implemented unless federal financial participation is available and additional General Fund moneys are not used to fund the administration and service costs, except as specified. This bill would require the department to ensure that an evaluation of the program is completed, if created by the department, and would require that the department submit a report to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature within 2 years after implementation of the program.
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 federal law prohibits federal financial participation for medical care provided to inmates of a public institution, except when the inmate is a patient in a medical institution. Commencing January 1, 2014, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expands eligibility under the Medicaid Program for certain groups and enacts various other health care coverage market reforms that take effect on that date. Existing federal law requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop and provide to each state a single, streamlined form that may be used to apply for all state health subsidy programs, as defined, within the state. This bill would authorize the board of supervisors in each county, in consultation with the county sheriff, to designate an entity or entities to assist county jail inmates to apply for a health insurance affordability program, as defined. The bill would authorize the entity, to the extent authorized by federal law and federal financial participation is available, to act on behalf of a county jail inmate for the purpose of applying for, or determinations of, Medi-Cal eligibility for acute inpatient hospital services, as specified. The bill would provide that county jail inmates who are currently enrolled in the Medi-Cal program shall remain eligible for, and shall not be terminated from, the program due to their detention, unless required by federal law, they become otherwise ineligible, or the suspension of their benefits has ended. The bill would provide that the fact that an applicant is an inmate shall not, in and of itself, preclude a county human services agency from processing an application for the Medi-Cal program submitted to it by, or on behalf of, that inmate. Existing law also provides for the suspension of Medi-Cal benefits to an inmate of a public institution who is under 21 years of age. Existing law requires county welfare departments to notify the department within 10 days of receiving information that an individual under 21 years of age who is receiving Medi-Cal is or will be an inmate of a public institution. This bill would instead make these provisions applicable without regard to the age of the individual, provided that federal financial participation would not be jeopardized. By expanding the duties of county agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also include a statement of legislative intent. 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 establishes grounds for suspension or revocation of certain business and professional licenses. This bill would subject those business licenses to suspension or revocation, with a specified exception, if the licensee has been determined by the Labor Commissioner or the court to have violated specified law and the court or Labor Commissioner has taken into consideration any harm such a suspension or revocation would cause to employees of the licensee, as well as the good faith efforts of the licensee to resolve any alleged violations after receiving notice. The bill would subject a licensee of an agency within the Department of Consumer Affairs who has been found by the Labor Commissioner or the court to have violated specified law to disciplinary action by his or her respective licensing agency. The State Bar Act establishes specific causes for the disbarment or suspension of a member of the State Bar. This bill would make it a cause for suspension, disbarment, or other discipline for any member of the State Bar to report suspected immigration status or threaten to report suspected immigration status of a witness or party to a civil or administrative action or his or her family member, as defined, to a federal, state, or local agency because the witness or party exercises or has exercised a right related to his or her employment. Existing law establishes various rights and protections relating to employment and civil rights that may be enforced by civil action. This bill would provide that it is not necessary to exhaust administrative remedies or procedures in order to bring a civil action enforcing designated rights. Under the bill, reporting or threatening to report an employee's, former employee's, or prospective employee's suspected citizenship or immigration status, or the suspected citizenship or immigration status of the employee's or former employee's family member, as defined, to a federal, state, or local agency because the employee, former employee, or prospective employee exercises a designated right would constitute an adverse action for purposes of establishing a violation of the designated right. Because a violation of certain of those designated rights is a misdemeanor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by changing the definition of a crime. Existing law prohibits an employer from discharging an employee or in any manner discriminating against any employee or applicant for employment because the employee or applicant has engaged in prescribed protected conduct relating to the enforcement of the employee's or applicant's rights. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for an employer to take adverse employment action against employees who file bona fide complaints. This bill would also prohibit an employer from retaliating or taking any adverse action against any employee or applicant for employment because the employee or applicant has engaged in protected conduct. The bill would expand the protected conduct to include a written or oral complaint by an employee that he or she is owed unpaid wages. The bill would subject an employer to a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation of these provisions. Existing law entitles an employee to reinstatement and reimbursement for lost wages and benefits if the employee has been discharged, demoted, suspended, or in any way discriminated against because the employee engaged in protected conduct or because the employee made a bona fide complaint or claim or initiated any action or notice, as prescribed. This bill would similarly grant these entitlements to an employee who is retaliated against or subjected to an adverse action. Existing law prohibits an employer from making, adopting, or enforcing any rule, regulation, or policy preventing an employee from disclosing information to a government or law enforcement agency, where the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of state or federal statute, or a violation or noncompliance with a state or federal rule or regulation. Existing law further prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee for such a disclosure. Under existing law, a violation of these provisions by an employer is a crime. This bill would additionally prohibit any person acting on behalf of the employer from making, adopting, or enforcing any rule, regulation, or policy preventing an employee from disclosing information to a government or law enforcement agency, as provided, and would extend those prohibitions to preventing an employee from, or retaliating against an employee for, providing information to, or testifying before, any public body conducting an investigation, hearing, or inquiry. Because a violation of these provisions by an employer would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1102.5 of the Labor Code proposed by SB 496 that would become operative if this bill and SB 496 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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.