Sen. Bill Monning

This measure would designate the month of February 2012 as Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, and would encourage all Californians to observe Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month with appropriate programs and activities that raise awareness about teen dating violence and promote healthy teen relationships in their communities.

This measure would declare the week of June 4, 2012, to June 10, 2012, inclusive, as Fire Safety and Disaster Preparedness Week.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 regulates mass mailings, known as slate mailers, that support or oppose multiple candidates or ballot measures for an election. The act requires that each slate mailer identify the slate mailer organization or committee primarily formed to support or oppose one or more ballot measures that is sending the slate mailer, and to contain other specified information in specified formatting. The act requires that each candidate and each ballot measure that has paid to appear in the slate mailer be designated by an asterisk. This bill would instead require that a candidate or ballot measure appearing in the slate mailer be designated by an asterisk if the slate mailer organization or committee primarily formed to support or oppose one or more ballot measures that is sending the slate mailer has received payment to include the candidate or ballot measure in the slate mailer. The bill would also recast the language of the prescribed notice to voters that must be included on a slate mailer. The act also regulates advertisements, which are defined as any general or public advertisement that is authorized and paid for by a person or committee for the purpose supporting or opposing a candidate for elective office or a ballot measure or ballot measures. The act places certain disclosure requirements on advertisements for or against any ballot measure, including that the advertisement disclose any person who has made cumulative contributions of $50,000 or more, as prescribed. The act places more specific disclosure requirements on broadcast or mass mailing advertisements that are paid for by independent expenditures that support or oppose a candidate or ballot measure. This bill would repeal provisions relating to disclosures for advertisements paid for by an independent expenditure and required disclosures of persons who have made cumulative contributions of $50,000 or more. This bill would, instead, impose specified disclosure requirements on radio, television, and video advertisements, and certain mass mailing and print advertisements that support or oppose a candidate or ballot measure or solicit contributions in support of those purposes. The bill would require radio, television, and video advertisements that are authorized by a candidate or agent of the candidate to include a statement in which the candidate identifies himself or herself and states that he or she approves the message, as specified. The bill would require radio, television, video, and certain mass mailings and print advertisements that are not authorized by a candidate or an agent of the candidate to disclose, in a prescribed format, the 3 largest identifiable contributors, as defined, of the committee that paid for the advertisement. The bill would require mass mailings or print advertisements that are paid for by certain persons who are not committees to disclose the name of that person as the funder of the mass mailing or print advertisement. The bill would also require that certain committees establish and maintain a committee disclosure Internet Web site, as defined, which discloses the top 10 identifiable contributors and provides a link to either the Internet Web site maintained by the Secretary of State for campaign finance disclosures of the committee, or a page on the committee disclosure Internet Web site that discloses all identifiable contributors to that committee, as specified. The bill would require these advertisements to identify the address for the committee disclosure Internet Web site. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating additional crimes. 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 Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the act may be amended by a statute that becomes effective upon approval of the voters. This measure would call a special statewide election to be consolidated with the statewide general election scheduled for November 4, 2014. It would provide for the submission to the voters of the provisions of this bill amending the Political Reform Act of 1974, as summarized above, at that election. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an act calling an election.

This measure would recognize National Flag Day on June 14, 2012, honor the 52nd anniversary of the flying of the current American flag, and encourage all Californians to celebrate the occasion with appropriate activities.

Existing law vests with the Department of Parks and Recreation control of the state park system. Existing law requires the department to achieve any required budget reductions, as defined, by closing, partially closing, and reducing services at selected units of the state park system, based on specified factors. This bill would instead declare that it is the intent of the Legislature that the department should achieve any required budget reductions by implementing efficiencies and increasing revenue collection, or reducing services at selected units of the state park system, as prescribed. The bill would revise the factors the department is required to use as a basis for selecting which units of the state park system are to be closed, and would, for any parks proposed or designated for closure on or after January 1, 2013, require the department to document and publicly disclose the methodology, rationale, and scoring system used to evaluate and select parks designated for closure. Existing law authorizes the department to enter into agreements between the department and the federal and local governments and other public agencies for the care, maintenance, administration, and control of lands under the jurisdiction of any party to this agreement for the purpose of the state park system, as prescribed. This bill would require the department to conduct a review of the parks that are proposed, as of July 1, 2012, or thereafter, for future closure. The bill would require the review process required to be conducted pursuant to those provisions to include an examination of proposed park closures recommended by the department, based on specified criteria. The bill would require the department, no later than July 1, 2013, with respect to any park that is closed on or after July 1, 2012, to prepare a plan for the reopening of that unit of the state park system, within one year from the date of a unit being closed to public access or the ending of all department support, including specified information. The bill would require the department to annually update any plan prepared pursuant to those provisions, if needed, or if there are any additional park closures on or after July 1, 2013, and to post a copy of the plan on its Internet Web site. The bill would require the department, no later than January 1, 2014, and by January 1 of each year thereafter so long as any unit of the state park system remains closed or is designated for closure due to budgetary restrictions, to prepare and submit to the Legislature a master parks reopening plan, which shall be compiled from park reopening plans or updated park reopening plans required to be prepared pursuant to provisions of the bill, and that sets out priority actions and determines a process for reopening any park that has been temporarily closed, to the extent that circumstances permit, as prescribed.

Existing law requires the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development within the California Health and Human Services Agency to, among other things, (1) develop a Health Manpower Plan for California that consists of, among other things, appropriate standards for determining the adequacy of supply of specified health personnel, (2) maintain a Health Professions Career Opportunity Program that includes supporting and encouraging minority health professionals in training to practice in health professional shortage areas, and (3) establish a health care workforce clearinghouse to serve as the central source of health care workforce and educational data in the state. Existing law, the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act, creates the California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission to, among other things, identify specific areas of the state where unmet priority needs for primary care family physicians and registered nurses exist. Existing law establishes the California Workforce Investment Board within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to assist the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system. This bill would require, until January 1, 2019, the California Workforce Investment Board to establish the Health Workforce Development Council to help expand California's health workforce in order to provide access to quality health care for all Californians. The bill would require the council to perform certain duties, including seeking expertise from multisector representatives to enhance the understanding of the issues and policies needed to ensure that California has the necessary workforce to provide access to quality, and culturally and linguistically appropriate, health care, as specified. The bill would require the council to inform the Legislature of its health initiatives and progress, as specified. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of persons who engage in clinical laboratory practice, conduct radiologic technology, and perform nuclear medicine technology, as defined, by the State Department of Public Health, and makes a violation of those provisions a crime. This bill would require every person described above to report to the department, upon issuance and renewal of his or her license, certificate, or permit, his or her practice status, as specified, and, unless the licensee declines to state them, his or her cultural background and foreign language proficiency. This bill would exempt the failure to report this information from those criminal provisions. This bill would require the department to collect the information as provided under those provisions, and authorize the department to aggregate and post this information on the department's Internet Web site.

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. The California Health Benefit Exchange is established in state government to facilitate enrollment of qualified individuals in qualified health plans. The State Department of Public Health is authorized to perform specified activities relating to the protection, preservation, and advancement of public health. This bill would require the Department of Managed Health Care, in collaboration with the Department of Insurance, the California Health Benefit Exchange, and the State Department of Public Health, to convene a special committee consisting of specified members to review and evaluate health and wellness incentive and rewards programs offered by health care service plans, health insurers, and employers. The bill would require the committee to evaluate these programs for effectiveness based upon scientific evidence and to examine the extent to which these programs may result in specified discrimination and would require the committee to discuss its findings in a final report submitted to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Health by March 30, 2014, as specified. The bill would require the committee to meet publicly and would require the first meeting to be conducted no later than March 30, 2013.

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. This bill would require health care service plans and health insurers to annually, commencing on the date specified health plans are required to report certain information under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, provide specified information regarding their plan contracts or policies to the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance, as applicable, including claims payment policies and practices, periodic financial disclosures, and data on enrollment and disenrollment, as specified. The bill would authorize the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care and the Insurance Commissioner to adopt rules and regulations necessary to implement these provisions, as specified. The bill would also require the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to work with stakeholders to determine the form and manner of reporting the data according to these provisions and to avoid redundant reporting, and would authorize these departments to waive specified reporting requirements or modify the timeframe of existing reporting requirements, as specified. Because a willful violation of this reporting requirement by a health care service plan 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.

This measure would commemorate the 40th anniversary of Title IX on June 23, 2012, commend the movement toward increased equality and fair treatment of female athletes, and praise the goal of greater opportunities in sports for girls and young women in California.

This measure would proclaim June 2012 as Scleroderma Awareness Month.