Existing law provides employees with the right to take time off work without discharge or discrimination for a number of reasons. This bill would prohibit an employer from refusing to grant a request by any employee to take up to 3 days of bereavement leave or to interfere with or restrain an employee from doing so. This bill would authorize an employee who has been discharged, disciplined, or discriminated against for exercising his or her right to bereavement leave to bring a civil action against his or her employer for reinstatement, specified damages, and attorney's fees. The provisions of the bill would not apply to an employee who is covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement that provides for bereavement leave and other specified working conditions.
Sponsored bills
(1) The Lempert-Keene-Seastrand Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act generally requires the administrator for oil spill response, acting at the direction of the Governor, to implement activities relating to oil spill response, including drills and preparedness, and oil spill containment and cleanup, and to represent the state in any coordinated response efforts with the federal government. The act requires the administrator to periodically carry out announced and unannounced drills to test response and cleanup operations, equipment, contingency plans, and procedures. This bill would require the administrator to develop and implement a screening mechanism and a comprehensive risk-based monitoring program for inspecting the bunkering and lightering operations of vessels at anchor and alongside a dock. The bill also would require that the administrator identify bunkering and lightering operations that pose the highest risk of a pollution incident and coordinate with the United States Coast Guard to routinely monitor and inspect those operations. The bill would require the administrator to establish regulations to provide for the best achievable protection during bunkering and lightering operations in the marine environment. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2015. (2) Existing law imposes an oil spill prevention and administration fee in an amount determined by the administrator to be sufficient to implement oil spill prevention activities, but not to exceed $0.05 per barrel of crude oil or petroleum products, on persons owning crude oil or petroleum products at a marine terminal. The fee is deposited into the Oil Spill Prevention and Administration Fund in the State Treasury. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys in the fund are available for specified purposes. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2012, revise that fee to an amount not to exceed $0.065 per barrel of crude oil or petroleum products and, beginning January 1, 2015, to an amount not to exceed $0.05. (3) Existing law requires the Department of Fish and Game to contract with the Department of Finance to prepare and submit to the Governor and the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2005, a detailed report on the financial basis and programmatic effectiveness of the state's oil spill prevention, response, and preparedness program. This bill would require the Department of Fish and Game and the State Lands Commission, independently, to contract with the Department of Finance to prepare and submit that report to the Governor and the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2013, and no less than once every 4 years thereafter. (4) Under existing law, the State Lands Commission has jurisdiction over state lands and ungranted tidelands and submerged lands owned by the state. This bill would require the State Lands Commission, on or before March 1, 2012, in consultation with the Department of Conservation, to report to the Legislature on regulatory action, pending or already taken, and statutory recommendations for the Legislature to ensure maximum safety and prevention of harm during offshore oil drilling. This provision would be repealed on January 1, 2016.
(1) The Donahoe Higher Education Act sets forth, among other things, the missions and functions of California's public and independent segments of higher education, and their respective institutions of higher education. Provisions of the act apply to the University of California only to the extent that the Regents of the University of California, by appropriate resolution, act to make a provision applicable. Existing law requires that a student, other than a nonimmigrant alien, as defined, who has attended high school in California for 3 or more years, who has graduated from a California high school or attained the equivalent thereof, who has registered at or attends an accredited institution of higher education in California not earlier than the fall semester or quarter of the 2001–02 academic year, and who, if he or she is an alien without lawful immigration status, has filed a prescribed affidavit is exempt from paying nonresident tuition at the California Community Colleges and the California State University. This bill would amend the Donahoe Higher Education Act, as of January 1, 2013, to require the Trustees of the California State University and the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and to request the regents, to establish procedures and forms that enable students who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition under the above-described provision, or who meet equivalent requirements adopted by the regents, to apply for, and participate in, all student aid programs administered by these segments to the full extent permitted by federal law, except as provided. This provision would apply to the University of California only if the regents, by appropriate resolution, act to make it applicable. This bill would provide that students who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition under the above provision, or who meet equivalent requirements adopted by the regents, are eligible to apply for, and participate in, any student financial aid program administered by the State of California to the full extent permitted by federal law. This bill would require the Student Aid Commission to establish procedures and forms that enable those students who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition under the above provision to apply for, and participate in, all student financial aid programs administered by the State of California to the full extent permitted by federal law. This bill would prohibit students who are exempt from paying nonresident tuition under the provision described above from being eligible for Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards unless specified conditions are met. The bill would make these provisions operative as of January 1, 2013. (2) Existing federal law requires that a state may provide that an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States is eligible for any state or local public benefit for which that alien would otherwise be ineligible under a specified federal law only through enactment of a state law that affirmatively provides for that eligibility. This bill would find and declare that the amendments to the Donahoe Higher Education Act described above are state laws within the meaning of this federal provision. (3) Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges. Existing law authorizes the establishment of community college districts under the administration of community college governing boards, and authorizes these districts to provide instruction, for prescribed fees, at community college campuses throughout the state. Existing law authorizes the waiver of these fees for, among others, students who are eligible under income standards established by the board of governors. This bill, as of January 1, 2013, would require community college districts to waive the fees of students who are exempt from nonresident tuition under the provision described in (1) above, and who otherwise qualify for a waiver under this provision, under regulations and procedures adopted by the board of governors. Because the bill would impose new duties on community college districts with respect to determining eligibility for fee waivers, the bill would constitute a state-mandated local program. (4) 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 requires private employers to secure the payment of compensation by obtaining and maintaining workers' compensation insurance or to self-insure as an individual employer or as one employer in a group of employers. The Contractors' State License Law requires every licensed contractor to have on file at all times with the Contractors' State License Board a current and valid Certificate of Workers' Compensation Insurance or Certification of Self-Insurance, or a statement certifying that he or she has no employees and is not required to obtain or maintain workers' compensation insurance coverage. This bill would require, at the time of renewal, an active contractor licensee with an exemption for workers' compensation insurance on file with the board to either recertify the licensee's exemption or to provide a current and valid Certificate of Workers' Compensation Insurance or Certificate of Self-Insurance. The bill would also provide for retroactive license renewal, as specified, for otherwise acceptable license renewal applications when the applicant provides the required documentation within 30 days after notification by the board of the renewal rejection.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the 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 creates within the Department of Managed Health Care an Office of Patient Advocate to assist enrollees with regard to health care coverage, which is headed by a patient advocate recommended to the Governor by the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. The Office of Patient Advocate is responsible for, among other things, developing educational and informational guides for consumers, compiling an annual publication of a quality of care report card, and rendering advice and assistance to enrollees. The annual budget of the Office of Patient Advocate is separately identified in the annual budget request of the department. The California Health and Human Services Agency consists of, among others, the State Department of Health Care Services, the State Department of Mental Health, the State Department of Public Health, and the State Department of Social Services. This bill would transfer the Department of Managed Health Care and, effective July 1, 2012, the Office of Patient Advocate to the California Health and Human Services Agency. The bill would delete the requirement that the patient advocate be recommended to the Governor by the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. The bill, effective January 1, 2013, would add additional duties and responsibilities to the existing duties of the Office of Patient Advocate with regard to providing outreach and education about health care coverage to consumers. The bill, effective January 1, 2013, would authorize the office to contract with community organizations, subject to specified requirements, to provide certain services and would also require the office to adopt certain standards and procedures regarding those organizations. The bill, effective January 1, 2013, would require specified state agencies to report to the office regarding consumer complaints submitted to those agencies by individuals with complaints about their health care coverage. The bill would provide that funding for the actual and necessary expenses of the office shall be provided, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, from transfers of moneys from the Managed Care Fund and the Insurance Fund, to be based on the number of covered lives in the state that are covered by plans or insurers, as determined by the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance, in proportion to the total number of covered lives in the state. The bill would establish the Office of Patient Advocate Trust Fund for those purposes and would make moneys deposited into that fund available for purposes of administering the program, subject to appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would also authorize the office to apply to the federal government for moneys to fund the office and authorize the office to request from the federal government specified grant moneys.
(1) Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of his or her employment. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to prohibit the use of risk factors and specified characteristics to deny an injured worker his or her rightful benefit when disabled in the workplace. The bill would also state the intent of the Legislature to prohibit the apportionment of risk factors and characteristics without prohibiting the apportionment of documentable preexisting nonindustrial causes of disability or holding an employer liable for any percentage of permanent disability not directly caused by an injury arising out of and occurring in the course of employment. (2) Existing law requires any physician who prepares a report addressing the issue of permanent disability due to a claimed industrial injury to address the issue of causation of the permanent disability, and requires that the report include an apportionment determination in order to be considered complete on the issue of permanent disability. Existing law requires a physician to make an apportionment determination by finding what approximate percentage of the permanent disability is caused by the direct result of injury arising out of and occurring in the course of employment and what approximate percentage is caused by other factors. This bill would prohibit the approximate percentage of the permanent disability caused by other factors from including consideration of race, religious creed, color, national origin, age, gender, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, or genetic characteristics.
Existing law requires each contractor and subcontractor on a public works project to keep payroll records regarding his or her employees, and requires that these records contain information specified by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. Existing law requires certain personal identification information, as specified, to be removed when certified payroll records are made available for inspection to the public or to a public agency. This bill would require nonredacted copies of certified payroll records to be provided, upon request, to any agency included in, and for the purposes of, the Joint Enforcement Strike Force on the Underground Economy, or to any law enforcement agency, but would require any copies of records or certified payroll made available for inspection and furnished upon request to the public by these agencies to be marked or redacted to prevent disclosure of an individual's name, address, and social security number. The bill would also provide that an employer is not liable in a civil action for any reasonable act or omission taken in good faith in compliance with these requirements. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 1776 of the Labor Code, proposed by AB 551, to be operative only if AB 551 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2012, and this bill is chaptered last.
Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, headed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. This bill would, until July 1, 2017, create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative. It would require, by July 1, 2012, the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to prepare recommendations, to be presented upon request to the Legislature, regarding actions that need to be taken to promote food access in the state. The bill would establish the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Council and would require the council to implement the initiative, as specified. The bill would require the department to establish an advisory group, as specified. The bill would create the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Fund in the State Treasury, to be comprised of federal, state, philanthropic, and private funds, for the purpose of expanding access to healthy foods in underserved communities and, to the extent practicable, to leverage other funding, as specified. Moneys in the fund would be expended upon appropriation by the Legislature.
Existing law establishes the State Coastal Conservancy in the Natural Resources Agency with prescribed powers and responsibilities for implementing a program of agricultural land protection, area restoration, and resource enhancement within the coastal zone, as defined. Existing law authorizes the conservancy, for the purpose of implementing the provisions governing the conservancy, to fund and undertake plans and feasibility studies, and award grants to public agencies and nonprofit organizations. This bill would additionally authorize the conservancy, for the purpose of implementing the provisions governing the conservancy, to award a grant to a for-profit entity to accomplish removal or alteration of the San Clemente Dam under specified conditions. The bill would limit total expenditures of state funds for the removal or alteration of the San Clemente Dam and related activities to not more than $25,000,000.
Existing law, the California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of residential care facilities for the elderly by the State Department of Social Services. Existing law authorizes the director to take enforcement action, including, but not limited to, actions to suspend or revoke a license and to impose civil penalties for violations. Under existing law, a violation of these provisions is a crime. This bill would enact the RCFE Residents Foreclosure Protection Act of 2011 which would, with certain exceptions, require the licensee of a facility to notify the department, the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman, and all residents, applicants, and, if applicable, their legal representatives, in writing within 2 business days of specified events, and would require the department to initiate a compliance plan, noncompliance conference, or other appropriate action upon receipt of this notice. By expanding the definition of an existing crime, 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.