Sen. Melissa Hurtado

(1) Existing law establishes the Office of Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as GO-Biz, to advocate for causes of small business and to provide small businesses with the information they need to survive in the marketplace. Existing law prescribes the duties and functions of the Small Business Advocate, who is also the Director of the Office of Small Business Advocate. This bill would establish the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program within CalOSBA to assist qualified small businesses affected by COVID-19 through administration of grants. The bill would require CalOSBA to provide grants to qualified small businesses, as defined, in accordance with specified criteria, including geographic distribution based on COVID-19 restrictions, industry sectors most impacted by the pandemic, and underserved small businesses. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2024. This bill would appropriate $2,075,000,000 from the General Fund to the Golden State Stimulus Emergency Fund to be transferred to the Office of Small Business Advocate for purposes of the program, and would allocate $50,000,000 of those funds for eligible nonprofit cultural institutions, as defined. (2) The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally define "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provide various exclusions from gross income. This bill would exclude, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2030, from gross income specified grant allocations, including grant allocations received by a taxpayer pursuant to a grant program funded by Executive Order No. 20/21-182 and pursuant to the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program. The bill would authorize the Franchise Tax Board to adopt regulations that are necessary and appropriate to implement the exclusions, and would provide the Administrative Procedure Act does not apply to any regulation, standard, criterion, procedure, determination, rule, notice, guideline, or any other guidance established or issued by the board pursuant to the exclusions. The bill would also authorize the board to include in audits the grants that are excluded from gross income by the bill's provisions. The bill would set forth procedures for recapturing grant amounts if CalOSBA determines that the grantee has failed to meet the criteria for a qualified small business. (3) This bill would also make findings and declarations related to a gift of public funds. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

(1) Existing federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , enacts various health care market reforms. 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 requires a group or individual health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, renewed, or delivered on or after September 23, 2010, to comply with the requirements of the PPACA, and any rules or regulations issued under the PPACA, that require a group health plan and health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage to, at a minimum, provide coverage for specified preventive services, and prohibits the plan or health insurance issuer from imposing any cost-sharing requirements for those preventive services. Existing law also prohibits a plan or health insurer offering group or individual coverage from imposing lifetime or annual limits on the dollar value of benefits for a participant, beneficiary, or insured. Existing law requires a plan and a health insurance issuer to comply with those provisions to the extent required by federal law. This bill would delete the requirement that a health care service plan or a health insurer comply with the requirement to cover preventive health services without cost sharing to the extent required by federal law, and would instead require a group or individual nongrandfathered health care service plan contract or health insurance policy to, at a minimum, provide coverage for specified preventive services without any cost-sharing requirements for those preventive services, thereby indefinitely extending those requirements. The bill would also delete the requirement that a health care service plan or a health insurer comply with the prohibition on lifetime or annual limits to the extent required by federal law, and would instead prohibit an individual or group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy from establishing lifetime or annual limits on the dollar value of any covered benefits for an enrollee or insured, whether provided in network or out of network, thereby indefinitely extending the prohibitions on lifetime or annual limits, except as specified. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law authorizes the State Registrar, a local registrar, or a county recorder to furnish a certified copy of a birth, death, marriage, or military service record to an authorized person, as defined, who submits a written, faxed, or digitized image request accompanied by a notarized statement sworn under penalty of perjury that the applicant is an authorized person. Existing law, until January 1, 2021, authorizes the official to accept an electronic request and an electronic acknowledgment if the request for a certified copy of a birth, death, or marriage record is made electronically and the electronic acknowledgment verifies the identity of the applicant using a multilayered remote identity proofing process. This bill would extend the above-described authorization for an electronic request and an electronic acknowledgment to January 1, 2022. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to license and regulate facilities that provide residential nonmedical services to adults who are recovering from problems related to alcohol, drug, or alcohol and drug misuse or abuse, and who need alcohol, drug, or alcohol and drug recovery treatment or detoxification services. Existing law also requires the department to implement a voluntary certification procedure for alcohol and other drug treatment recovery services. Existing law requires all programs certified and licensed by the department to disclose, among other things, ownership or control of, or financial interest in, a recovery residence, as defined. Existing law requires the department to conduct a site visit to investigate an allegation of an operating unlicensed alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facility and issue a notice to cease providing services under specified conditions. The bill would require the department to take action against an unlicensed facility that is disclosed as a recovery residence pursuant to these disclosure requirements. The bill would authorize the department to refer a substantiated complaint against a recovery residence to other enforcement entities as appropriate under state or federal law. The bill would make a technical change to refer to licensed facilities in these requirements. (4) Existing law, the California Organic Products Act of 2003, requires the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, county agricultural commissioners, and the Director of the State Department of Public Health to enforce state and federal laws governing the production, labeling, and marketing of organic products, as specified. Under existing law, all persons who handle or sell at retail organic products must keep accurate records that include specified information, which includes, if applicable, the registration numbers issued pursuant to state law, of all suppliers and other persons who sell, purchase, or otherwise transfer organic products, subject to specified exceptions. This bill would rename the act as the California Organic Food and Farming Act. The bill would remove the requirement that the registration numbers issued pursuant to state law be included in the required records. (5) Existing law establishes the Health Care Benefits Fund to support the University of California's implementation of the California Health Benefit Review Program. Existing law imposes an annual charge on health care service plans and health insurers, as specified, to be deposited into the fund. Under existing law, the fund and the program became inoperative on July 1, 2020, and are repealed as of January 1, 2021. This bill would extend the operation of the program and the fund, and would authorize the continued assessment of the annual charge on health care service plans and health insurers for that purpose. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2022, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2023. (6) Existing federal law establishes the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) , which provides specified services for older individuals at a PACE center so that they may continue living in the community. Federal law authorizes states to implement PACE as a Medicaid state option. Existing state law establishes the California Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE program) to provide community-based, risk-based, and capitated long-term care services as optional services under the state's Medi-Cal State Plan. Existing law generally requires an adult day health care center or home health agency to be licensed by the State Department of Public Health, which is required to obtain a criminal record clearance for specified individuals that own or are employed by the adult day health care center or home health agency. Under existing law, an adult day health care center or a home health agency that has been approved by the State Department of Health Care Services to exclusively serve PACE participants is exempt from licensure by the State Department of Public Health. This bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to obtain a criminal record clearance for the administrator, program director, and fiscal officer of an adult day health care center before approving the center to exclusively serve PACE participants or individuals being assessed for the PACE program. To qualify for approval as a home health agency that exclusively serves PACE participants or individuals being assessed for the PACE program, the bill would require an owner or administrator of a home health agency to submit electronic fingerprint images to the Department of Justice for the furnishing of the person's criminal record to the State Department of Health Care Services. (7) 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. (8) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes the Domestic Violence Prevention Act for the purpose of preventing acts of domestic violence, abuse, and sexual abuse and providing for a separation of the persons involved in the domestic violence for a period sufficient to enable those persons to seek a resolution of the causes of the violence. Existing law authorizes a court to issue an ex parte order enjoining a party from engaging in specified acts against another party, including threatening or harassing that party or disturbing their peace, and, in the discretion of the court, against other named family or household members. A violation of this court order constitutes contempt of court, which is punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would define "disturbing the peace of the other party" as conduct that destroys the mental or emotional calm of the other party, as specified. The bill would provide that disturbing the peace of the other party includes coercive control, which is a pattern of behavior that unreasonably interferes with a person's free will and personal liberty and includes, among other things, unreasonably isolating a victim from friends, relatives, or other sources of support. Existing law requires a family court to determine the best interests of a child in deciding child custody in specified proceedings and establishes a rebuttable presumption that an award of child custody to a person who has perpetrated domestic violence is detrimental to the best interests of the child. Existing law defines "perpetrated domestic violence" to mean, among other things, that the person engaged in behavior for which the court may issue an ex parte order to protect the child or the person seeking custody of the child. By adding coercive control to the bases for the ex parte orders described above, the bill would, for purposes of a family court determining child custody in those proceedings, create a rebuttable presumption that an award of child custody to a party who has engaged in coercive control is detrimental to the best interests of the child. Because a violation of a court order constitutes contempt of court and is therefore a crime, by expanding the bases for the issuance of these ex parte orders, 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.

The existing Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act requires a mandated reporter, as defined, to make a report to a specified agency whenever the mandated reporter, in the mandated reporter's professional capacity or within the scope of that reporter's employment, has knowledge of or observes a child whom the mandated reporter knows or reasonably suspects has been the victim of child abuse or neglect. Existing law further requires the mandated reporter to make an initial report by telephone to the agency immediately or as soon as is practicably possible, and to prepare and send, fax, or electronically transmit a written followup report within 36 hours of receiving the information concerning the incident. Existing law, only until January 1, 2021, authorizes certain county welfare agencies to develop a pilot program for internet-based reporting of child abuse and neglect, as specified, by specified mandated reporters. Existing law, only until January 1, 2021, also requires the State Department of Social Services to consult with the County Welfare Directors Association of California and the county welfare agencies of the individual counties to determine which counties may be involved in the pilot program and to oversee and administer the pilot program. Existing law requires a county that chooses to participate in the pilot program to hire an evaluator to monitor implementation of the program, to develop outcome measures that determine the effectiveness of the pilot program of the county, as specified, and to report to specified committees of the Legislature on or before January 1, 2020, on the effectiveness of the pilot program. Existing law authorizes the department to conclude a county pilot program prior to January 1, 2021, if the evaluation and monitoring indicate that implementation of the program compromises the safety of children. This bill would extend operation of the pilot program indefinitely and would permit the reporting system developed to receive reports from any mandated reporter. The bill would require a county that establishes and develops a system for internet-based reporting of child abuse and neglect to report on the efficiency of the system, based on developed outcome measures, to specified legislative committees within 2 years of establishing the system. The bill would require a county to decommission its system for internet-based reporting of child abuse and neglect when the State Department of Social Services notifies counties that internet-based reporting of child abuse and neglect is available and functional within the statewide comprehensive child welfare information system. The bill would require a county that chooses to participate in the program to hire an evaluator to monitor the implementation of the program and submit evaluations to the State Department of Social Services, as specified.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, or to adopt a negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration, as specified, if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA includes exemptions from its environmental review requirements for numerous categories of projects, as prescribed. This bill would, with certain specified exceptions, exempt from CEQA certain projects consisting solely of the installation, repair, or reconstruction of water infrastructure, as specified, that primarily benefits a small disadvantaged community water system, as defined, or a state small water system, as defined, by improving the small disadvantaged community water system's or state small water system's water quality, water supply, or water supply reliability, by encouraging water conservation, or by providing drinking water service to existing residences within a disadvantaged community, a small disadvantaged community water system, or a state small water system where there is evidence that the water exceeds maximum contaminant levels for primary or secondary drinking water standards or where the drinking water well is no longer able to produce an adequate supply of safe drinking water. To qualify for this CEQA exemption, the bill would require these projects to meet certain labor requirements and certain conditions, including fully mitigating all construction impacts and not affecting wetlands or sensitive habitat. The bill would also define various terms for purposes of this exemption. The bill would require the lead agency, before determining a project is exempt under these provisions, to contact the State Water Resources Control Board to determine whether claiming the exemption will affect the ability of the small disadvantaged community water system or the state small water system from receiving federal financial assistance or federally capitalized financial assistance. If the lead agency approves or carries out a project that is exempt from CEQA by the above provisions, the bill would require the lead agency to file a notice of exemption with the Office of Planning and Research and the county clerk of the county in which the project is located, as provided. Because a lead agency would be required to file the notice of exemption with the Office of Planning and Research and the county clerk, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would repeal this exemption on January 1, 2028. 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 the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program under which, through a combination of federal, state, and county funds, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Under existing law, when the federal government provides funds for the care of a needy relative with whom a needy child is living, aid to the child for any month includes aid to meet the need of that relative, if CalWORKs payments are made with respect to the child for that month, except as prescribed. Existing law requires that the parent or parents be considered living with the needy child for a period of up to 180 consecutive days of the needy child's absence from the family assistance unit, and provides that the parents are eligible for CalWORKs services, but not for the payment of aid, if certain conditions are met, including that the child has been removed from the parents and placed in out-of-home care, and that the county has determined that the provision of services is necessary for family reunification. This bill would instead provide that those eligible parents are eligible for the payment of aid, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose. Because the bill would increase the administrative duties of counties, it would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would, instead, provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill. 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 California Fostering Connections to Success Act, revises and expands the scope of various programs relating to the provision of cash assistance and other services to and for the benefit of certain foster and adopted children, and other children who have been placed in out-of-home care, including children who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) , Adoption Assistance Program, California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) , and Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) benefits. Among other provisions, the act extends specified foster care benefits to nonminor dependents up to 21 years of age, if specified conditions are met. Existing law defines a nonminor dependent for these purposes as a foster child who is a current dependent child or ward of the juvenile court, or who is a nonminor under the transition jurisdiction of the juvenile court pursuant to a voluntary reentry agreement, and in accordance with a transitional independent living case plan who has attained 18 years of age while under an order of foster care placement by the juvenile court and is not older than 21 years of age. Existing law authorizes the juvenile court to retain jurisdiction over any person who is found to be a ward of the juvenile court until the ward attains 21 years of age. On March 4, 2020, the Governor proclaimed a state of emergency to exist in California as a result of the threat of COVID-19. Executive Order No. N-53-20, signed by the Governor on April 17, 2020, and as extended by Executive Order No. N-69-20, signed by the Governor on June 15, 2020, authorizes temporary waivers of certain foster youth program requirements to ensure continuity of care in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under this bill, a nonminor dependent who turned 21 years of age between March 4, 2020, and June 30, 2021, inclusive, would be eligible to continue receiving extended foster care support through June 30, 2021. The bill would, for a state of emergency declared by the Governor on or after January 1, 2021, as specified, require that extended foster care support continue for 6 months from the date of the declaration for a nonminor dependent who turns 21 years of age while the state of emergency is in effect. The bill would also, for any state of emergency declared by the Governor on or after January 1, 2021, require a nonminor dependent who is unable to meet certain participation conditions or to qualify for an exception, as specified, to continue to receive foster care support for 6 months from the date of the declaration. The bill would also, for a ward or nonminor dependent, that meets the above criteria for expanded eligibility to receive foster care support, allow the court to retain jurisdiction over that ward or nonminor dependent, as specified. The bill would authorize the Governor to extend these provisions under specified circumstances. By expanding the application of the above county-administered programs and imposing additional duties on county employees, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.