This measure would recognize the month of September 2019 as Pain Awareness Month. The measure would also recognize September 1, 2019, as Women In Pain Awareness Day.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health and sets forth its powers and duties, including, but not limited to, the licensing and regulation of health facilities, as defined. Existing law requires that every health facility for which a license or special permit has been issued be periodically inspected by the State Department of Public Health, or by another governmental entity under contract with the department. Existing law requires the department to inspect those facilities for compliance with provisions of state law and regulations during a state periodic inspection, or at the same time as a federal periodic inspection. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations governing the operation of a health facility, including, but not limited to, regulations that require prescribed health facilities to meet minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, and to assign additional staff according to a documented patient classification system for determining nursing care requirements. Violation of these provisions, or willful or repeated violation of the rules or regulations, is a crime. This bill would require state periodic inspections of health facilities to include reviews of compliance with the nurse-to-patient ratios and staff assignment regulations described above. The bill would require the department to ensure that these inspections are not announced in advance of the date of inspection. Existing law requires the department to promulgate regulations establishing criteria to assess an administrative penalty against a general acute care hospital, acute psychiatric hospital, or special hospital. Until the effective date of specified regulations, existing law authorizes the department to assess the licensee an administrative penalty not to exceed $100,000, as specified, when a licensee of a hospital receives a notice of deficiency constituting an immediate jeopardy to the health or safety of a patient and is required to submit a plan of correction. After the effective date of these specified regulations, existing law authorizes the department to assess administrative penalties not to exceed $125,000, for a deficiency constituting an immediate jeopardy violation, as specified. Existing law requires certain penalties collected by the department to be deposited into the Internal Departmental Quality Improvement Account, to be expended, upon appropriation, for internal quality improvement activities in the Licensing and Certification Program. This bill would require the department to assess specified penalties for a violation of the nurse-to-patient ratios and staff assignment regulations described above. The bill would require those penalty moneys to be deposited into the State Department of Public Health Licensing and Certification Program Fund, to be expended, upon appropriation, for the purpose of enforcing those regulations.
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) prohibits various actions as unlawful employment practices unless the employer acts based upon a bona fide occupational qualification or applicable security regulations established by the United States or the State of California. In this regard, FEHA makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer, labor organization, employment agency, apprenticeship training program, or any training program leading to employment, to engage in harassment of an employee or other specified person. FEHA also makes harassment of those persons by an employee, other than an agent or supervisor, unlawful if the entity, or its agents or supervisors, knows or should have known of this conduct and fails to take immediate and appropriate corrective action. Under FEHA, an employer may also be responsible for the acts of nonemployees, with respect to sexual harassment of employees and other specified persons, if the employer, or its agents or supervisors, knows or should have known of the conduct and fails to take immediate and appropriate corrective action. This bill would specify that an employer may be responsible for the acts of nonemployees with respect to other harassment activity. The bill, with certain exceptions, would prohibit an employer, in exchange for a raise or bonus, or as a condition of employment of continued employment, from requiring the execution of a release of a claim or right under FEHA or from requiring an employee to sign a nondisparagement agreement or other document that purports to deny the employee the right to disclose information about unlawful acts in the workplace, including, but not limited to, sexual harassment. The bill would provide that an agreement or document in violation of either of those prohibitions is contrary to public policy and unenforceable. FEHA provides that an employer may be responsible for the acts of nonemployees, with respect to sexual harassment of employees, applicants, unpaid interns or volunteers, or persons providing services pursuant to a contract in the workplace, if the employer, or its agents or supervisors, knows or should have known of the conduct and fails to take immediate and appropriate corrective action. This bill would instead make the above provision apply with respect to any type of harassment prohibited under FEHA of employees, applicants, unpaid interns or volunteers, or persons providing services pursuant to a contract in the workplace. FEHA requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide at least 2 hours of prescribed training and education regarding sexual harassment to all supervisory employees within 6 months of their assumption of a supervisory position and once every 2 years, as specified. This bill would also authorize an employer to provide bystander intervention training, as specified, to their employees. FEHA authorizes the court in certain circumstances and in its discretion to award the prevailing party in a civil action reasonable attorney's fees and costs, including expert witness fees. This bill would provide that a prevailing defendant is prohibited from being awarded fees and costs unless the court finds the action was frivolous, unreasonable, or groundless when brought or that the plaintiff continued to litigate after it clearly became so. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature about the application of FEHA in regard to harassment. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12940 of the Government Code proposed by SB 1038 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1038 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law imposes various restrictions on employers with respect to contracts and applications for employment. A violation of those restrictions is a misdemeanor. Existing law creates the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, which is under the direction of the Labor Commissioner, and generally commits to the commissioner the authority and responsibility for the enforcement of employment laws. This bill would prohibit a person from, as a condition of employment, continued employment, the receipt of any employment-related benefit, or as a condition of entering into a contractual agreement, prohibiting an applicant for employment, employee, or independent contractor from disclosing to any person an instance of sexual harassment that the employee or independent contractor suffers, witnesses, or discovers in the workplace or in the performance of the contract, or otherwise opposing any lawful practice, or from exercising any right or obligation or participating in any investigation or proceeding with respect to unlawful harassment or discrimination. The bill would also prohibit an employer from requiring any applicant for employment or any employee to waive any right, forum, or procedure for a violation of any provision of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) or other specific statutes governing employment, as a condition of employment, continued employment, the receipt of any employment-related benefit, or as a condition of entering into a contractual agreement. The bill would also prohibit an employer from threatening, retaliating or discriminating against, or terminating any applicant for employment or any employee because of the refusal to consent to the waiver of any right, forum, or procedure for a violation of specific statutes governing employment. The bill would establish a specific exemption from those prohibitions. Because a violation of these prohibitions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. FEHA makes specified employment and housing practices unlawful and provides procedures for enforcement by the Department of Fair Employment and Housing. FEHA authorizes a person alleging a violation of specified provisions of the act relating to employment discrimination to submit a verified complaint to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, and requires the department to take actions to investigate and conciliate that complaint. FEHA authorizes the department to bring a civil action on behalf of the person who submitted the complaint upon the failure to eliminate an unlawful practice under these provisions. FEHA requires the department to issue a right-to-sue notice to a person who submitted the complaint if certain conditions occur, and FEHA requires a person who has been issued a right-to-sue notice to bring an action within one year from when the department issued that notice. This bill would additionally make violations of the prohibitions described above, relating to sexual harassment and waivers, unlawful employment practices under FEHA. 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 requires the Division of Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation of the Department of Parks and Recreation to develop and implement a grant and cooperative agreement program to support the planning, acquisition, development, maintenance, administration, operation, enforcement, restoration, and conservation of trails, trailheads, areas, and other facilities associated with the use of off-highway motor vehicles, and programs involving off-highway motor vehicle safety or education. This bill would require the Director of Parks and Recreation to establish the Outdoor Equity Grants Program, to increase the ability of underserved and at-risk populations to participate in outdoor environmental educational experiences at state parks and other public lands where outdoor environmental education programs take place. The bill would require the director to, among other things, give priority for funding to outdoor environmental education programs that primarily provide outreach to and serve students who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, foster youth, or pupils of limited English proficiency, as provided. The bill would authorize the director to accept private funds to support the program. The bill would establish the California Outdoor Equity Account in the State Parks and Recreation Fund and would require any private funds donated for the program and any funds appropriated by the Legislature for purposes of the program to be deposited into the account. The California Coastal Act of 1976 (coastal act) requires any person wishing to perform or undertake any development in the coastal zone, as defined, to obtain a coastal development permit, except as provided. Existing law establishes the State Coastal Conservancy and prescribes its membership and responsibilities relating to the protection, preservation, and enhancement of coastal lands within the conservancy's jurisdiction. Existing law establishes the Coastal Access Account in the State Coastal Conservancy Fund and authorizes the conservancy to expend funds in the account, upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, to pay for the development, maintenance, and operation of facilities that provide public access to the shoreline. The coastal act requires every person receiving a coastal development permit or a certificate of exemption for development on any vacant lot within specified designated areas, prior to commencement of construction, to pay to the California Coastal Commission for deposit in the Coastal Access Account an in-lieu public access fee, with the amount of the fee determined by specified costs of acquisition, as provided. This bill would delete the requirement, for purposes of this provision, that a coastal development permit or a certificate of exemption for development apply on any vacant lot within a designated area. The coastal act, for purposes of the above provisions governing the in-lieu public access fee amount and with respect to the Hollister Ranch public access program in the County of Santa Barbara, requires that the Hollister Ranch in-lieu fee for public access be $5,000 for each permit. The coastal act also requires that all in-lieu fees received pursuant to those provisions be deposited in the State Coastal Conservancy Fund and be available for appropriation to the conservancy for specified conservancy purposes. This bill would require that all past, present, and future in-lieu fees received pursuant to those provisions, as well as other moneys received by the State Coastal Conservancy for providing public access at Hollister Ranch from public and private sources, including nonprofit sources, be deposited in the Hollister Access Management Subaccount, which the bill would create in the fund, and used for any action necessary to implement the 1982 adopted coastal access program for the Hollister Ranch. Existing law, the Kapiloff Land Bank Act, creates the Land Bank Fund and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund, subject to a statutory trust, to the State Lands Commission, acting as the Land Bank Trustee, to acquire real property or any interest in real property for the purposes of public trust title settlements. Existing law requires that moneys in the fund be available for expenditure by the trustee to purchase outstanding interests in land where the public use and ownership of the land is necessary or extremely beneficial for furtherance of public trust purposes. Existing law authorizes acquisitions by negotiated agreement with the owner of the outstanding interests and specifies that the act is not intended to confer any authority to exercise the power of eminent domain for its purposes. This bill would create the Hollister Ranch Subaccount in the fund, and would require moneys received by the State Lands Commission from public and private sources, including nonprofit sources, to be used for the implementation of the 1982 adopted coastal access program for Hollister Ranch to be deposited into that subaccount and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, expended by the State Lands Commission for prescribed purposes. The bill would also authorize the State Lands Commission to transfer moneys from the fund to the subaccount, in an amount not to exceed $1,000,000, for expenditure for those purposes. Existing law states it is the intent of the Legislature that the State Coastal Conservancy and the State Public Works Board utilize their authority to implement specified public access policies and provisions at the Hollister Ranch in the County of Santa Barbara as expeditiously as possible. This bill would additionally state the intent of the Legislature that all other relevant state agencies, boards, and commissions utilize their authority to implement specified public access policies and provisions at the Hollister Ranch in the County of Santa Barbara as expeditiously as possible. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Hollister Ranch.
Existing law declares that timely DNA analysis of rape kit evidence is a core public safety issue affecting men, women, and children in the State of California. Existing law encourages law enforcement agencies to either submit sexual assault forensic evidence received on or after January 1, 2016, to a crime lab within 20 days after it is booked into evidence or to ensure that a rapid turnaround DNA program is in place, as specified. Existing law also encourages a crime lab that receives sexual assault forensic evidence on or after January 1, 2016, to either process the evidence, create DNA profiles when able, and upload qualifying DNA profiles into the Combined DNA Index System, as specified, or transmit the sexual assault forensic evidence to another crime lab as soon as practically possible, but no later than 30 days after receiving the evidence, for processing of the evidence for the presence of DNA. This bill would instead require a law enforcement agency to either submit sexual assault forensic evidence to a crime lab or ensure that a rapid turnaround DNA program is in place, as specified, and require a crime lab to either process the evidence or transmit the evidence to another crime lab for processing, as specified. Because this bill would impose a higher level of service on local law enforcement agencies in processing that evidence, it would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 680 of the Penal Code proposed by SB 1494 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1494 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
The General Corporation Law provides for the formation of domestic general corporations by the execution and filing of articles of incorporation with the Secretary of State. Under that law, the business and affairs of these corporations are generally managed by, and all corporate powers exercised by or under, the direction of their boards of directors, and each director is elected by shareholder vote, with certain exceptions, as specified. That law also allows foreign corporations to transact intrastate business by obtaining certificates of qualification from the Secretary of State and requires foreign corporations that meet certain criteria to comply with specified provisions applicable to domestic general corporations to the exclusion of the law of the jurisdiction in which the foreign corporation is incorporated. This bill, no later than the close of the 2019 calendar year, would require a domestic general corporation or foreign corporation that is a publicly held corporation, as defined, whose principal executive offices, according to the corporation's SEC 10-K form, are located in California to have a minimum of one female, as defined, on its board of directors, as specified. No later than the close of the 2021 calendar year, the bill would increase that required minimum number to 2 female directors if the corporation has 5 directors or to 3 female directors if the corporation has 6 or more directors. The bill would require, on or before specified dates, the Secretary of State to publish various reports on its Internet Web site documenting, among other things, the number of corporations in compliance with these provisions. The bill would also authorize the Secretary of State to impose fines for violations of the bill, as specified, and would provide that moneys from these fines are to be available, upon appropriation, to offset the cost of administering the bill.
