This measure would proclaim the Legislature's support for the extension of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program and would memorialize the United States Congress to promptly renew the extension of unemployment benefits.
This measure would designate March 2014 as California Essential Tremor Awareness Month.
Existing law, the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A and B Entitlement awards, the California Community College Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B awards, the Cal Grant C awards, and the Cal Grant T awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs for participating students attending qualifying institutions. Under the Cal Grant B Entitlement Program, awards may be made for access costs, defined as living expenses and expenses for transportation, supplies, and books, in an amount not to exceed $1,551 annually, as adjusted in the annual Budget Act. This bill would require the Treasurer to certify the amount of moneys available in an academic year from the College Access Tax Credit Fund for distribution, and provide that an amount determined by the Student Aid Commission would be available for expenditure, upon appropriation to the commission by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, from the College Access Tax Credit Fund, for distribution to students to supplement Cal Grant B access cost awards to bring those students' total annual awards for access costs to not more than $5,000 and to defray the administrative costs incurred by the commission in implementing the bill. The bill would become operative only if SB 284 is enacted and becomes operative on or before January 1, 2014.
Existing law requires the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board to, by January 20, 2004, report to the Legislature specified information with regard to the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Existing law requires the board to provide, by April 15, 1998, a proposal relating to drug and alcohol treatment programs for children. This bill would delete those obsolete provisions. Existing law requires the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to maintain a joint senior level working group to ensure clarity for health care consumers about who enforces their patient rights and consistency in the regulations of these departments. Existing law requires the working group to report its findings for review by the Insurance Commissioner and the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care for review and approval and submission every 5 years to the Legislature. This bill would delete those reporting requirements.
Existing law imposes various taxes, including taxes on the privilege of engaging in certain activities. The Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges. This bill would, on and after July 1, 2014, and until July 1, 2024, impose a tax on every distributor, as defined, for the privilege of distributing in this state bottled sweetened beverages, at a rate of $0.01 per fluid ounce and for the privilege of distributing concentrates in this state, either as concentrate or as sweetened beverages derived from that concentrate, at the rate of $0.01 per fluid ounce of sweetened beverage to be produced from concentrate. The tax would be administered by the State Board of Equalization and would be collected pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Fee Collection Procedures Law. This bill would exempt from the tax, among other things, the distribution in this state of bottled sweetened beverages or concentrate made by a distributor to another distributor registered with the board and supported by an exemption certificate that consists of a statement signed under penalty of perjury. By expanding the definition of the existing crime of perjury and by expanding the application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, this bill imposes a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the board to deposit all taxes, penalties, and interest collected, less refunds and administrative costs, in the Children's Health Promotion Fund, which this bill would create. This bill would require all moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be allocated to the State Department of Public Health and Superintendent of Public Instruction, as specified, for the purposes of statewide childhood obesity prevention activities and programs and to provide funds to either the University of California or the California State University to conduct a specified report. This bill would also authorize the State Public Health Officer and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to make rules and regulations, and provide procedural measures, to bring into effect those purposes. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations relating to the consumption of sweetened beverages, childhood obesity, and dental disease. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. 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 California Coastal Act of 1976 requires the planning and regulation of development, under a coastal development permit process, within the coastal zone, as defined, to be based on various coastal resources planning and management policies set forth in the act. Existing law allows the construction of revetments, breakwaters, groins, harbor channels, seawalls, cliff retaining walls, and other construction that alters natural shoreline processes when required to serve coastal-dependent uses or to protect existing structures or public beaches in danger from erosion and when designed to eliminate or mitigate adverse impacts on local shoreline sand supply. This bill would additionally allow construction of those structures when designed to account for sea level rise.
Existing law creates the California Central Coast State Veterans Cemetery at Fort Ord Endowment Fund (Endowment Fund) in the State Treasury, and requires moneys in the Endowment Fund to be allocated, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the annual administrative and oversight costs of the veterans cemetery, as specified, and to generate funding through interest for the veterans cemetery. Existing law requires moneys in the Endowment Fund to be invested to generate ongoing earnings to cover the estimated annual oversight and maintenance costs associated with the veterans cemetery, as provided. This bill would instead require any moneys to be allocated to the department for the nonreimbursable costs of design and construction and the annual operations and maintenance costs of the veterans cemetery for the next 10 years. This bill would allow, but not require, moneys in the fund to be invested to generate ongoing earnings to offset the estimated annual operations and maintenance costs associated with the veterans cemetery. Existing law requires the department to develop and submit a State Veterans Cemetery Grant Program application to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs for the establishment of a veterans cemetery upon the Controller's determination that the Endowment Fund has adequate principal to yield sufficient investment earnings in each year for the next 10 years, from the date of the determination, to fully fund the respective year's administrative and oversight costs, and to fund the estimated costs of developing and submitting the application, as specified. This bill would instead require the department to develop and submit an application upon the Controller's determination that the Endowment Fund has adequate amounts, in addition to funding the estimated costs of developing and submitting the application, to fully fund the nonreimbursable costs of design and construction and the operations and maintenance costs for the next 10 years. This bill would require the Controller to consider the estimated revenues from specified fees expected to be deposited into the Endowment Fund in making this determination. This bill would allow any moneys, if awarded, received from the State Veterans Cemetery Grant Program to be used to reimburse the Endowment Fund for specified allowable costs as established by that program. Existing law authorizes the Director of Finance to transfer up to $1,500,000 as a loan from the General Fund to the Endowment Fund, and requires the loan to be repaid with interest, as provided. This bill would repeal that authorization, and instead make an appropriation of $1,000,000 from the General Fund to the Endowment Fund for the construction of the California Central Coast State Veterans Cemetery at Fort Ord. This bill would require any amounts transferred by the Director of Finance as a loan from the General Fund to the Endowment Fund to be returned to the General Fund. This bill would make technical, conforming changes to change the references to "administrative and oversight" to "operations and maintenance." This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires farm labor contractors to be licensed by the Labor Commissioner and to comply with specified employment laws applicable to farm labor contractors. Under existing law, a person who violates farm labor contractor requirements is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by specified fines, or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 6 months, or both. This bill, in addition, would make a farm labor contractor successor to any predecessor farm labor contractor that owed wages or penalties to a former employee of the predecessor, whether the predecessor was a licensee or not, liable for those wages and penalties, if the successor farm labor contractor meets one or more specified criteria. By imposing a new requirement on farm labor contractor successors, the violation of which would be a crime, 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, 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. This bill would, until January 1, 2019, require a health care service plan to ensure that there is at least one full-time equivalent primary care physician for every 2,000 enrollees. This bill would, until January 1, 2019, authorize the assignment of up to an additional 1,000 enrollees, as specified, to a primary care physician for each full-time equivalent nonphysician medical practitioner, as defined, supervised by that physician. By imposing new requirements on health care service plans, the willful violation of which would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services. Prior to a Medi-Cal managed care plan commencing operations, existing law requires the department to evaluate, among other things, the extent to which the plan has an adequate provider network, including the location, office hours, and language capabilities of the plan's primary care physicians. Existing law defines primary care provider for these purposes as an internist, general practitioner, obstetrician-gynecologist, pediatrician, family practice physician, or, as specified, types of clinics and defines primary care physician as a physician who has the responsibility, among other duties, for providing initial and primary care to patients. This bill would require that the department evaluate the location, office hours, and language capabilities of a plan's primary care physicians and, if applicable, nonphysician medical practitioners. The bill would add nonphysician medical practitioners to the definition of a primary care provider and would define nonphysician medical practitioner, as specified. The bill would make conforming changes. 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.
