Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh

Existing law requires that a school district, county office of education, or charter school that was prevented, due to certain emergencies, including, but not limited to, prescribed natural disasters, from maintaining its schools during a fiscal year for at least 180 days for a school district or county office of education or at least 175 days for a charter school, to receive the same apportionments as if it had not been prevented from maintaining those required number of days, as provided. For purposes of state apportionments based on average daily attendance, as provided, if the average daily attendance of a school district, county office of education, or charter school has been materially decreased during a fiscal year because of a specified emergency, existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to estimate the average daily attendance in a manner that credits to the school district, county office of education, or charter school approximately the total average daily attendance that would have been credited to the school district, county office of education, or charter school had the emergency not occurred. This bill would add snowstorms to the list of emergencies for which the above-described provisions apply, as provided.

Existing law requires the adopted course of study for grades 1 to 6, inclusive, and grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to include courses in mathematics. Existing law requires algebra to be included as part of the mathematics area of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, as provided. Existing law requires a pupil to complete coursework that meets or exceeds the rigor of Algebra I or Mathematics I and that is aligned to the content standards adopted by the State Board of Education, as provided, before receiving a diploma of graduation from high school. Existing law requires the Instructional Quality Commission to recommend, and the state board to adopt, curriculum frameworks, defined as outlines of the components of a given course of study designed to provide state direction to school districts in the provision of instructional programs, as provided. This bill would require the commission, when the mathematics curriculum framework is next revised after January 1, 2025, to consider including that pupils in grade 8 be offered the opportunity to take an Algebra I or Mathematics I course that is aligned to the content standards adopted by the state board.

Existing law regulates healing arts practitioners by various boards under the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing federal regulations, known as the "Three Day Rule," authorize a practitioner who is not specifically registered to conduct a narcotic treatment program to dispense not more than a 3-day supply of narcotic drugs, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws, to one person or for one person's use at one time for the purpose of initiating maintenance treatment or detoxification treatment while arrangements are being made for referral for treatment, as specified. This bill, with certain exceptions, would require each board that licenses a prescriber, as defined, to develop and annually disseminate to each licensee informational and educational material regarding the "Three Day Rule," and to post that material on their internet website. The bill would require the Medical Board of California to also annually disseminate the material it develops to each acute care hospital in the state.

(1) Existing law generally regulates classes of insurance, including life insurance and annuities. Existing law, beginning on January 1, 2025, requires a life agent, licensed on or after January 1, 2024, engaging in the sale of specified life insurance policies on or after January 1, 2025, to complete specified hours of life insurance training courses before soliciting consumers to sell these life insurance policies. Existing law requires a life agent, engaging in the sale of variable life insurance policies, to complete specified hours of training before renewing their license and applies these training provisions to licenses that are issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025. This bill would clarify that the above-described training provisions apply to life agents selling individual life insurance policies and individual variable life insurance policies, as specified. (2) Existing law authorizes service of legal process, notices, or other specified papers to be made in specified circumstances by delivering 2 copies to the commissioner or the commissioner's deputy, accompanied by payment of $12. This bill would instead authorize service of legal process, notices, or other specified papers to be made in specified circumstances by delivering 2 copies to the commissioner, the commissioner's deputy, or the commissioner's designated agent for service of process, accompanied by payment of a substituted service fee determined by the commissioner. (3) Existing law prohibits knowingly employing runners, cappers, steerers, or other persons to procure clients or patients to perform or obtain services or benefits under workers' compensation coverage or a contract of insurance or that will be the basis for a claim against an insured individual or their insurer. Existing law authorizes a district attorney, the Insurance Commissioner, or an interested person to bring a civil action for a violation of that provision. If the district attorney elects not to pursue the matter due to insufficient resources, existing law authorizes the commissioner to proceed with the action. Existing law requires a copy of a complaint filed by an interested person to remain under seal for at least 60 days. Under existing law, an action brought by an interested person may be dismissed only if the court and the district attorney or the commissioner give written consent to the dismissal and their reasons for consenting. This bill would authorize the commissioner to proceed with an action if the district attorney elects not to pursue the matter for any reason, and would eliminate the requirement that the district attorney or commissioner give their reasons for consenting to dismissal of an action brought by an interested person. The bill would clarify that a complaint filed by an interested person is required to remain under seal for at least 60 days from the date of service on the district attorney and commissioner. (4) Existing law exempts from requirements for providing insurance set forth in the Insurance Code firefighters', police officers', and peace officers' benefit and relief associations that comply with specified criteria, including, among other things, a requirement that the membership consist solely of peace officers, members of police or fire departments, and emergency medical personnel employed by fire departments, as specified. Existing law prohibits these associations from operating or doing business in the state without a certificate of authority. Existing law requires an association to renew its certificate of authority on or before July 1, 2019, and every 5 years thereafter. This bill would, instead, require an association to renew its certificate of authority within 30 days after a change in name or address or before a merger. (5) Existing law sets forth procedures for a special motion to strike in a civil cause of action arising from an act in furtherance of a person's right of petition or free speech and for offers to compromise before commencement of a civil trial or arbitration. Existing law exempts from these procedures an enforcement action brought in the name of the people of the State of California by the Attorney General, a district attorney, or a city attorney, acting as a public prosecutor. This bill would additionally exempt from these procedures an enforcement action brought in the name of the people of the State of California by the Insurance Commissioner. (6) This bill would make technical changes to eliminate outdated references and correct errors.

Existing law, commonly referred to as the Dig Safe Act, establishes a regional notification system to provide certain entities, defined as operators, that own, operate, and maintain subsurface installations with advance warning of nearby excavations or other work for the purpose of protecting those installations from damage, removal, relocation, or repair. Existing law requires an excavator planning to conduct an excavation to notify the regional notification center of their intent before beginning excavation. Existing law requires the regional notification center, in response to this notification, to provide the excavator with a ticket and to notify certain operators who have a subsurface installation in the proposed excavation area. Should a ticket obtained by an excavator expire, existing law requires an excavator to contact the regional notification center, cease all excavation, and wait a minimum of 2 working days before restarting excavation. Existing law authorizes an excavator to use a vacuum excavation device to expose subsurface installations within the tolerance zone if specified conditions are met, including that the excavator has contacted any operator whose subsurface installations may be in conflict with the excavation. Existing law requires an operator to take one of several specified actions before the legal excavation start date and time, including locating and field marking within the delineated area and, where multiple subsurface installations of the same type are known to exist together, marking the number of subsurface installations. Existing law prohibits an excavator from beginning excavation until the excavator receives a response from all known operators of subsurface installations, as specified. Existing law also establishes emergency and notification procedures for an excavator who discovers or causes damage to a subsurface installation. This bill, among other changes, would revise the procedure an excavator must follow should a ticket expire. The bill would also revise requirements for an excavator to use vacuum equipment. The bill would revise the requirements related to subsurface installation operator responses that an excavator must receive before beginning excavation, and the emergency and notification procedures when an excavator discovers or causes damage to a subsurface installation. Existing law authorizes a local agency that is required to provide specified services related to field marking to charge a fee to cover the cost of providing the service. This bill would revise those provisions by, among other things, requiring a local agency to consider specified factors with respect to charging fees, including whether the fee could deter an excavator from contacting the regional notification center. By imposing new duties on local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires statewide information provided by operators and excavators regarding incident events to be compiled in an annual report by regional notification centers and made available to the board upon request, as specified. This bill would revoke the requirement that regional notification centers compile and make available the above-described annual reports. The bill would specify the types of events that the board may investigate. Existing law establishes the California Underground Facilities Safe Excavation Board, also known as the Dig Safe Board, composed of 9 members, for the enforcement and administration of the Dig Safe Act of 2016. Existing law requires the Governor to appoint 7 of the board members and the Senate Committee on Rules to appoint one board member. Existing law imposes certain eligibility requirements upon board members, as specified. This bill would revise the knowledge and experience requirements for 3 of the members appointed by the Governor. The bill would also allow that the board member appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules be employed by an operator. The bill would also make other conforming changes and nonsubstantive 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, 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.

Existing law establishes the Department of Transportation and vests it with full possession and control of the state highway system. This bill would require the department to conduct a study to identify certain locations in the state highway system with regard to vehicle collisions, projects that could improve road safety at each of those locations, and common factors, if any, contributing to the delay in the delivery of those projects. The bill would require the department to post the study on its internet website on or before January 1, 2026.

Existing law, the Mobilehome Parks Act, establishes requirements for the construction, maintenance, occupancy, use, and design of mobilehome parks. Existing law generally requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to enforce the act, except that a city, county, or city and county may assume the responsibility for the enforcement of the act upon the approval of the department, as provided. Existing law makes a violation of the act a crime. Existing law, until January 1, 2025, requires an enforcement agency, after conducting an inspection and determining that a violation exists, to issue a notice to correct the violation to the registered owner of the manufactured home or mobilehome and provide a copy to the occupant thereof, if different from the registered owner. Existing law requires the registered owner to be responsible for the correction of any violations for which a notice of violation has been given. For violations other than imminent threats to health and safety, as provided, existing law requires the notice of violation to allow 60 days from the postmarked date of the notice or date of personal delivery for the elimination of the condition constituting the alleged violation. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2025. This bill would extend certain of these provisions until January 1, 2027, and would commencing on that date require an enforcement agency that issues a notice of violation to be responsible for exhausting all administrative and legal recourse against a resident who fails to correct violations before looking to the mobilehome park owner or operator for corrective action, as provided. By requiring local officials to perform these additional duties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. For violations other than imminent threats to health and safety, as specified, the bill would, instead, require the notice of violation to allow 90 days from the postmarked date of the notice or date of personal delivery for the elimination of the condition constituting the alleged violation. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 18420 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by AB 2247 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2247 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks and instructional materials to the State Board of Education for adoption and develop criteria for evaluating instructional materials submitted for adoption, as specified. This bill would require the commission, when it revises a curriculum framework in mathematics or science, to ensure that the associated curriculum framework and evaluation criteria committee includes representation from higher education faculty with relevant subject matter expertise, and would authorize the Intersegmental Committee of the Academic Senates to nominate 2 faculty from California public institutions of higher education for consideration to serve on the relevant curriculum framework and evaluation criteria committee. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 33530 of the Education Code proposed by SB 1412 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1412 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks and instructional materials to the State Board of Education for adoption. Existing law requires the membership of the commission to consist of one Member of the Assembly and one public member appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, one Member of the Senate and one public member appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules, one public member appointed by the Governor, and 13 public members appointed by the state board upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Public Instruction or the members of the state board, and prescribes their qualifications. Existing regulations of the state board prohibit certain communications between publishers, and their representatives, and members of the commission and certain people involved in the instructional material adoption process, as provided. This bill would prohibit curriculum vendors, as defined, from being eligible for appointment to a curriculum framework and evaluation criteria committee of the commission or being selected to serve as a member of the writing team, as defined. The bill would prohibit communications between (1) curriculum vendors and (2) members of the commission or the writing team, during their tenure, except as specifically authorized. If there is a prohibited communication, the bill would authorize the state board to take corrective action, including disqualification from further participation in the adoption at issue. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 33530 of the Education Code proposed by SB 1411 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1411 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, each hospital designated by the department as a critical access hospital, and certified as such by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services under the federal Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program, is eligible for supplemental payments for Medi-Cal covered outpatient services rendered to Medi-Cal eligible persons. Existing law sets forth various other provisions regarding Medi-Cal reimbursement in consideration of small and rural hospitals. This bill would require the department to convene a Rural Hospital Technical Advisory Group, with a certain composition of stakeholders, at least bimonthly during the 2025 calendar year. The bill would set forth the purposes of the advisory group, including, among other things, analyzing the continued ability of small, rural, or critical access hospitals, as defined, to remain financially viable under existing Medi-Cal reimbursement methodologies, providing related recommendations, and identifying key contributors to the financial challenges of those hospitals, as specified. The bill would require, by March 31, 2026, the department, in consultation with the advisory group, to report to the Legislature on the findings and recommendations arising out of the convenings, as specified.