Sen. Melissa Hurtado

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 state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) , also known as Covered California, to facilitate the enrollment of qualified individuals and qualified small employers in qualified health plans as required under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Existing law requires an entity making eligibility determinations for an insurance affordability program to ensure that an eligible applicant and recipient meets all program eligibility requirements and complies with all necessary requests for information. Under existing law, if an individual is ineligible for an insurance affordability program for a reason other than income eligibility, that individual is to be referred to the county health coverage program in the individual's county of residence. This bill would require the Exchange, beginning no later than July 1, 2021, to enroll an individual in the lowest cost silver plan or another plan, as specified, upon receiving the individual's electronic account from an insurance affordability program. The bill would require enrollment to occur before coverage through the insurance affordability program is terminated, and would prohibit the premium due date from being sooner than the last day of the first month of enrollment. The bill would require the Exchange to provide an individual who is automatically enrolled in the lowest cost silver plan with a notice that includes specified information, including the individual's right to select another available plan or to not enroll in the plan. 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 health care service plan providing individual or group health care coverage or a health insurer to notify an enrollee, subscriber, policyholder, or certificate holder who ceases to be enrolled in coverage that the individual may be eligible for coverage through the Exchange or Medi-Cal. This bill would require a health care service plan providing individual or group health care coverage or a health insurer to notify an enrollee, subscriber, policyholder, or certificate holder that the health care service plan or health insurer will provide the individual's contact information to the Exchange if the individual ceases to be enrolled in coverage, and to include a notice that includes specified information, including advising individuals to consider their options carefully if they are eligible for enrollment in the Medicare Program. The bill would allow an individual to opt out of that transfer of information, and would require a health care service plan or health insurer to transfer the information of an individual who ceased to be enrolled in coverage and who did not opt out to the Exchange beginning January 1, 2021, in a manner prescribed by the Exchange. Because the bill would expand the scope of a crime with respect to health care service plans, 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.

Existing law establishes an Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) program, administered by the California Department of Aging, to provide information to consumers and their families on available long-term services and supports (LTSS) programs and to assist older adults, caregivers, and persons with disabilities in accessing LTSS programs at the local level. Existing law requires the ADRC program to provide services within the geographic area served and provide information to the public about the services provided by the program. Existing law requires the department to administer the ADRC Infrastructure Grants Program for the purpose of implementing a No Wrong Door System, as defined. Existing law makes the operation of these provisions contingent upon the appropriation of funds for that purpose. This bill would require the California Department of Aging to develop a core model of ADRC best practices, and would require ADRC programs operated jointly by area agencies on aging and independent living centers to implement these best practices by July 1, 2022. In developing those best practices, the bill would require the department to consider specified practices, including, among others, a person-centered counseling process. The bill would delete the contingent operation and instead make the implementation of these provisions, and the existing ADRC provisions, contingent on an appropriation of funds for that express purpose. This bill would require the California Department of Aging to take specified actions with regard to the implementation of the No Wrong Door System, including, among other things, developing a plan for, and overseeing the implementation of, the No Wrong Door System and coordinating funding sources for the No Wrong Door System. The bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to determine if the Medicaid administrative claiming process may be used to fund the No Wrong Door System, or activities associated with the No Wrong Door System, and, if so, would authorize the department to take necessary action to receive that funding. The bill would make the implementation of these provisions contingent on an appropriation of funds for those express purposes.

Existing law governs the procedure by which crime victims may obtain compensation from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Existing law establishes eligibility for compensation when prescribed requirements are met and authorizes the California Victim Compensation Board to grant compensation from the fund for pecuniary loss when the board determines it will best aid the person seeking compensation. Existing law authorizes the board to provide compensation equal to the loss of income or loss of support, or both, that a victim or derivative victim incurs as a direct result of the victim's or derivative victim's injury or the victim's death. Under existing law, as amended by Proposition 35, the Californians Against Sexual Exploitation Act, an initiative measure approved by the voters at the November 6, 2012, statewide general election, a person who deprives or violates another person's personal liberty with the intent to obtain forced labor or services or who deprives or violates another person's personal liberty for the purpose of prostitution or sexual exploitation is guilty of human trafficking, a felony. This bill would authorize the board to provide compensation equal to loss of income or support that a victim incurs as a direct result of the victim's deprivation of liberty during the crime, if the qualifying crime is human trafficking, in an amount not exceeding the value of the victim's labor as guaranteed under California law for up to 40 hours per week, as specified. The bill would require the board to adopt guidelines on or before July 1, 2020, that allow the board to rely on evidence other than official employment documentation in considering and approving an application for loss of income or support, including any reliable corroborating information approved by the board. The bill would prohibit compensation for loss of income paid by the board if the qualifying crime is human trafficking from exceeding $10,000 per year that the services were performed, for a maximum of 2 years. By expanding the authorizations for use of moneys in the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 13957 of the Government Code proposed by AB 415 to be operative only if this bill and AB 415 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

(1) 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 also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires that health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies provide coverage for certain services and treatments, including emergency medical transportation services. This bill would require a health care service plan contract or a health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2020, to provide that if an enrollee, insured, or subscriber (individual) receives covered services from a noncontracting air ambulance provider, the individual shall pay no more than the same cost sharing that the individual would pay for the same covered services received from a contracting air ambulance provider, referred to as the in-network cost-sharing amount. The bill would provide that an individual would not owe the noncontracting provider more than the in-network cost-sharing amount for services. The bill would authorize a noncontracting provider to advance to collections only the in-network cost-sharing amount that the individual has failed to pay. The bill would authorize a health care service plan, health insurer, or provider to seek relief in any court for the purpose of resolving a payment dispute, and would not prohibit a provider from using a health care service plan's or health insurer's existing dispute resolution processes. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements relative to health care service plans would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law, the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act, effective until January 1, 2022, imposes a penalty of $4 until January 1, 2020, upon every conviction for a violation of the Vehicle Code or a local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code, other than a parking offense. The act requires the county or the court that imposed the fine to transfer the moneys collected pursuant to that act to the Treasurer for deposit into the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children's Coverage Fund. Under the act, moneys in the fund are made available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Department of Health Care Services for children's health care coverage and administrative costs relating to emergency medical air transportation provider payments. Existing law requires the assessed penalty to continue to be collected, administered, and distributed until exhausted or until June 30, 2021, whichever occurs first, and requires any remaining unexpended and unencumbered moneys in the fund to be transferred to the General Fund, to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified purposes, including funding children's health care coverage. This bill would impose the penalty until July 1, 2020, and would extend the above-specified dates by six months. (3) 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 provides for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , administered in California as CalFresh, under which each county distributes nutrition assistance benefits provided by the federal government to eligible households. Existing law requires each county human services agency to carry out the local administrative responsibilities of this program, subject to the supervision of the State Department of Social Services and to rules and regulations adopted by the department. Existing law requires current and future CalFresh benefits to be reduced, as specified, to recover a benefit overissuance caused by administrative error. If a household is no longer receiving CalFresh benefits, existing law prohibits the establishment or collection of a CalFresh overissuance caused by administrative error if the overissuance is less than $125 or the minimum statewide cost-effective threshold established by the state, whichever is greater, and existing law requires collection if the overissuance is caused by inadvertent household error and the overissuance is $35 or more. This bill would increase those threshold overissuance claim amounts to $400 for a household that is no longer receiving CalFresh benefits. The bill would require the department to develop and implement a policy for compromising administrative error claims, in whole or in part, for households that include at least one elderly or disabled member, as specified. The bill would authorize its provisions to be implemented through an all-county letter no later than January 1, 2021.

(1) Existing law authorizes the governing board of any school district or community college district to order an election and submit to the electors of the district the question of whether the bonds of the district shall be issued and sold to raise money for specified purposes. Existing law generally requires, to pass a school bond measure, that either at least 23 of the votes cast on the proposition of issuing bonds be in favor of issuing the bonds to pass the measure, or, if certain conditions are met, at least 55% of the votes cast on the proposition of issuing bonds be in favor of issuing the bonds. Existing law prohibits the total amount of bonds issued by a school district or community college district from exceeding 1.25% of the taxable property of the district, as provided. This bill would raise that limit to 2%. (2) Existing law also authorizes a unified school district to issue bonds receiving at least 55% of the votes cast on the proposition of issuing the bonds that, in aggregation with bonds issued with a 23 favorable vote, do not exceed 2.5% of the taxable property of the district, as provided. This bill would raise that limit to 4%. The bill would make a similar percentage increase for community college districts. (3) The Leroy F. Greene School Facilities Act of 1998 provides for the adoption of rules, regulations, and procedures, under the administration of the Director of General Services, for the allocation of state funds by the State Allocation Board for the construction and modernization of public school facilities. This bill would, among other things, require a school district to submit to the Department of General Services a 5-year school facilities master plan or updated 5-year school facilities master plan, as provided, as a condition of participating in the school facilities program under the act, would require the school district to submit specified information in the school district's application for an apportionment of state funds, and would make other changes to requirements a school district is required to comply with before participating in programs under the act. The bill would require the department to process applications to participate in the program, as specified, and would make other changes to the method by which the board makes apportionments of moneys under the act. This bill would establish the 2020 State School Facilities Fund, and authorize the board to apportion, and make disbursements of, moneys in the fund, as provided. The bill would require, for bonds approved by voters in 2020 or thereafter, the board to adjust a school district's required local and state contribution, as specified. The bill would authorize new construction and modernization grants to be used for seismic mitigation purposes and, among other things, to establish schoolsite-based infrastructure to provide broadband internet access. The bill would also authorize modernization grants to be used, among other things, for the control, management, or abatement of lead and for the demolishment and construction of a building on an existing schoolsite that meets specified conditions. The bill would prohibit the use of new construction and modernization grants for the purchase of portable electronic devices with a useful life of less than 3 years. This bill would authorize funding for health and safety projects by a school district, as provided. This bill would authorize the board to provide a grant to test for lead in water outlets used for drinking or preparing food on schoolsites serving kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, as provided. The bill would specify procedures that small school districts, as defined, may use to obtain project and construction management, new construction grants, and modernization grants. The bill would also make conforming changes in, and remove inoperative provisions from, the act. (4) The act also requires the board to adopt regulations for determining the amount of funding and the eligibility and prioritization of funding that school districts with a financial hardship may receive from bond acts for construction, modernization, or relocation assistance. The act requires those regulations to include consideration of various factors, including whether the school district's total bonding capacity is $5,000,000 or less, in which case the school district shall be deemed eligible for financial hardship. This bill, for purposes of the regulations related to financial hardship eligibility, would increase the total bonding capacity cap to $15,000,000, to be adjusted as specified. (5) The California Constitution prohibits the Legislature from creating a debt or liability that singly or in the aggregate with any previous debts or liabilities exceeds the sum of $300,000, except by an act that (A) authorizes the debt for a single object or work specified in the act, (B) has been passed by a 23 vote of all the Members elected to each house of the Legislature, (C) has been submitted to the people at a statewide general or primary election, and (D) has received a majority of all the votes cast for and against it at that election. This bill would set forth the Public Preschool, K-12, and College Health and Safety Bond Act of 2020 as a state general obligation bond act that would provide $15,000,000,000 to construct and modernize education facilities, as specified. This bond act would become operative only if approved by the voters at the March 3, 2020, statewide primary election. The bill would also provide for the submission of the bond act to the voters at that election. (6) Existing law establishes the California State University, which is administered by the Board of Trustees of the California State University, and the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as segments of public postsecondary education in this state. This bill would require the Board of Trustees and the Regents to comply with certain conditions, as provided, before receiving funds from the 2020 University Capital Outlay Bond Fund established pursuant to the Public Preschool, K-12, and College Health and Safety Bond Act of 2020. (7) Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to impose, as specified, an alternative fee, charge, dedication, or requirement on developers to fund school facilities, until the date new construction bond proceeds authorized by the Preschool-College Public Education Bond Act of 2016 are expended, or December 31, 2020, whichever is earlier. This bill would remove this authority beginning the earlier of January 1, 2021, or the date new construction bond proceeds authorized by the 2016 bond act are expended or apportioned, until January 1, 2028. The bill would also exempt multifamily housing developments that are located no further than 12 mile from a major transit stop, and reduce by 20% from specified amounts for any other multifamily housing developments, as specified, from any fee, charge, dedication, or other requirement for the construction or reconstruction of school facilities, as provided. (8) This bill, except for the provision making the provisions of the bill severable, would become effective upon the adoption of the Public Preschool, K-12, and College Health and Safety Bond Act of 2020 by the voters at the March 3, 2020, statewide primary election.

Under existing law, the Office of Child Abuse Prevention is established in the State Department of Social Services and is required to apply for federal funding for the administration of its functions. Existing law requires the office to use those funds to undertake specified activities, including, among other things, assisting and providing funds for the coordination of child abuse prevention programs. This bill would also require the office to use those funds to support coordination and sharing of best practices implemented by family resource centers. The bill would define a "family resource center" for the purposes of these provisions. Existing law authorizes a county to establish a child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team, consisting of specified individuals, within that county to allow provider agencies to share confidential information in order for provider agencies to investigate reports of suspected child abuse or neglect. This bill would authorize the team to also include a representative of a local child abuse prevention council or family-strengthening organization, including, but not limited to, a family resource center.

Under existing law, a person injured in the course of employment is generally entitled to receive workers' compensation on account of that injury. Existing law provides that, in the case of certain state and local firefighting personnel and peace officers, the term "injury" includes various medical conditions that are developed or manifested during a period while the member is in the service of the department or unit, and establishes a disputable presumption in this regard. This bill would provide, only until January 1, 2025, that in the case of certain state and local firefighting personnel and peace officers, the term "injury" also includes post-traumatic stress that develops or manifests itself during a period in which the injured person is in the service of the department or unit. The bill would apply to injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2020. The bill would prohibit compensation from being paid for a claim of injury unless the member has performed services for the department or unit for at least 6 months, unless the injury is caused by a sudden and extraordinary employment condition.

Existing law creates the Transformative Climate Communities Program, which is administered by the Strategic Growth Council. Existing law requires the council to award competitive grants to specified eligible entities for the development and implementation of neighborhood-level transformative climate community plans that include greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects that provide local economic, environmental, and health benefits to disadvantaged communities, as defined. This bill would require the council to consider applications for projects undertaken in unincorporated areas of a county.

The Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act requires a person who discharges waste into the waters of the state in violation of waste discharge requirements or other order or prohibition issued by a California regional water quality control board or the State Water Resources Control Board to clean up the waste or to abate the effects of the waste. The act authorizes the state board or a regional board to issue a cleanup or abatement order that may require, among other things, the provision of, or payment for, uninterrupted replacement water service to each affected public water supplier or private well owner. The act, to the extent that funding is made available, authorizes the state board to provide grants to a county or qualified nonprofit organization that would award grants or loans, or both, to eligible applicants for specified purposes relating to drinking water and wastewater treatment. This bill would authorize the state board to provide grants to eligible applicants to be used to provide interim relief, as specified, to households in which a private water well has gone dry, or has been destroyed, due to drought, wildfire, or other natural disaster, subject to an appropriation of funds for that purpose by the Legislature. The bill would authorize the board to provide up to 10% of the funds appropriated for these purposes to eligible applicants for planning related to permanent solutions for private water wells that have gone dry, or have been destroyed, due to drought, wildfire, or other natural disaster.