Existing law requires the boundaries of an election precinct to be fixed so that it contains no more than 1,000 voters on the 88th day prior to the election. This bill would authorize a local elections official to subtract permanent vote by mail voters from that total.
Existing law prohibits the State Auditor, any current or former employee of the Bureau of State Audits, any person or business entity that is contracting with or has contracted with the bureau and the current and former employees of those persons and business entities, the officers and employees of any state or local governmental agency or publicly created entity that has assisted the bureau in its audits or has received specified information from the bureau for comment or review, and any person or business entity that is contracting with or has contracted with those state or local governmental agencies or publicly created entities from divulging or making known to any person not employed by the bureau, in any manner not expressly permitted by law, any particulars of any record, document, or information, the disclosure of which is restricted by law from release to the public. Existing law provides that any officer, employee, or person who violates this prohibition is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would specify that the officers and employees described above include the officers and employees of any state or local governmental agency or publicly created entity that is the subject of an ongoing audit or investigation. The bill would also state that its provisions are declarative of existing law.
Existing law establishes the Department of Industrial Relations in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and designates the Director of Industrial Relations as the executive officer in control of the department. Under existing law, the director is appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and his or her compensation is determined under other provisions of existing law. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to this provision relating to the Director of Industrial Relations.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Parks and Recreation to assist every department, commission, board, agency, and officer of the state in rendering recreational services in conformity with their respective authorized powers and duties and encourage and assist in the coordination of federal, state, and local recreational activities. This bill would additionally authorize department encouragement and assistance in coordination of regional recreational activities.
Existing law declares that the protection and conservation of state fish and wildlife resources are of the utmost public interest and provides for the conservation of these resources. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would fund salmon restoration projects.
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 specified health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies to provide coverage for the use of amino acid-based elemental formulas, regardless of the delivery method, for the diagnosis and treatment of eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders, as defined, when the prescribing physician has issued a written order stating that the amino acid-based elemental formula is medically necessary. Because a willful violation of the bill's provisions relative to health care service plans 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.
Under existing law, prosecution for specified felony sex offenses, including rape, sodomy, lewd or lascivious acts, oral copulation, continuous sexual abuse of a child, and acts of sexual penetration that are alleged to have been committed when the victim was under the age of 18 years, may be commenced at any time prior to the victim's 28th birthday. Existing law also allows a complaint alleging one or more of these offenses to be filed beyond this time limitation in certain specified instances if the crimes involve substantial sexual conduct and there is independent corroborating evidence of the allegations. This bill would allow the prosecution of the felony sex offenses specified above to be commenced at any time if the crime is alleged to have been committed when the victim was under the age of 14.
Existing law, known as the Ortiz-Pacheco-Poochigian-Vasconcellos Cal Grant Program, establishes, among other programs, the Cal Grant A Entitlement Program, the Cal Grant B Entitlement Program, the California Community College Transfer Cal Grant Entitlement Program and the Competitive Cal Grant A and B award program, under the administration of the Student Aid Commission, and establishes eligibility requirements for awards under these programs. This bill would, commencing with the 2010–11 academic year, entitle an otherwise eligible student who is a member or former member of the Armed Forces of the United States, as defined, who meets prescribed requirements, including enrollment in a qualifying undergraduate certificate or degree program, to a Cal Grant A Entitlement Award or a Cal Grant B Entitlement Award. The bill also would require the Student Aid Commission to make preliminary awards to all applicants currently eligible for an award under the program, and would require each person who receives a preliminary award to affirm, in writing, that he or she meets specified requirements for eligibility in the program. The bill would require the commission to randomly select at least 10% of the new and renewal awards made under the program and verify that the student meets specified requirements for eligibility. The bill would require the commission to seek repayment of any funds found to be improperly disbursed under the program, and would require the commission to submit an annual report to the Legislature and the Governor regarding, among other things, the number of awards made under this program.
Existing law provides for the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, under which qualified aged, blind, and disabled persons receive services enabling them to remain in their own homes and avoid institutionalization. Existing law permits services to be provided under the IHSS program either through the employment of individual providers, a contract between the county and an entity for the provision of services, the creation by the county of a public authority, or a contract between the county and a nonprofit consortium. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. Under existing law, IHSS recipients who are eligible for the Medi-Cal program are provided with personal care option services, as defined, in lieu of receiving these services under the IHSS program. Existing law, enacted in 2009, makes various statutory changes with respect to the provision of in-home supportive services, relating to matters, including, but not limited to, provider enrollment procedures, criminal background checks, orientation, and duties, as well as eligibility standards for recipients, unannounced home visits, and program integrity and fraud prevention. This bill would make the operation of the statutory changes described above subject to a stakeholder process, to be conducted, as specified, by the State Department of Social Services, prior to the implementation of those changes. The bill would require implementation of any of the statutory changes described in the bill to occur either on the date specified in an applicable statute, or 60 days after the department notifies the Joint Legislative Budget Committee that the changes may be implemented, whichever is later. This bill would prohibit information notices relating to the implementation of these statutory changes from being sent to recipients or providers until the stakeholder process is completed. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to, among other things, establish a telephone hotline for the public to report adverse health consequences and a process to evaluate and respond to adverse health consequences, if the department determines that an invasive pest has entered the state and an urban aerial application of a pesticide or a communitywide ground application of a pesticide is the selected response. This bill would require the telephone hotline number to be toll free and staffed by public health personnel familiar with the pesticide being applied. The bill would require the public health personnel to do certain things with respect to callers complaining of adverse health consequences. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, by regulation, to proclaim any area within the state an eradication area with respect to a pest, prescribe the boundaries of the area, and name the pest or hosts of the pest that are known to exist within the area, together with the means or methods that are to be used to eradicate or control the pest. The secretary or county agricultural commissioner, when the secretary proclaims an eradication project in an urban area, is required to, among other things, notify residents and physicians practicing in the area, and the local broadcast and print media, before aerially applying a pesticide to effect the eradication. The notice is required to contain specified information, including a telephone number and address of public health personnel who are familiar with the eradication program. This bill would instead require the telephone number on the notice to be a toll-free telephone hotline number and would require that the purpose of the number be included on the notice as well.
