Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh

(1) Existing law establishes various public social services programs to provide for protection, care, and assistance to the people of the state in need of those services. Existing law, in this regard, and with some exceptions, requires all applications and records concerning any individual made or kept by any public officer or agency in connection with the administration of public social services for which grants-in-aid are received by this state from the federal government be kept confidential. This bill would specifically include within public social services for that confidentiality requirement protective services provided through public social services agencies. Existing law exempts from the confidentiality requirement described above, among other things, the furnishing of information to other public agencies to the extent required for verifying eligibility or for other purposes directly connected with the administration of public social services, and the furnishing of information to county superintendents of schools or superintendents of school districts only as necessary for the administration of federally assisted programs providing assistance in cash or in-kind or services directly to individuals on the basis of need. This bill would also exempt from those confidentiality provisions the disclosure of information between employees of a county's adult protective services agency and a county's child welfare agency for the purpose of multidisciplinary teamwork in the prevention, intervention, management, or treatment of child abuse or neglect or abuse or neglect of an elder or dependent adult. (2) Existing law designates certain persons as mandated reporters and requires a mandated reporter who has observed, has knowledge of, or reasonably suspects abuse, including financial abuse, or neglect, of an elder or dependent adult to report the known or suspected abuse or neglect immediately or as soon as practicable to the local ombudsperson or law enforcement agency, as provided. Existing law also authorizes a person who is not a mandated reporter, who knows, or reasonably suspects, that an elder or a dependent adult has been the victim of abuse to report that abuse to a long-term care ombudsperson program or local law enforcement agency. Under existing law, the reports are confidential and may be disclosed only to specified persons, including, among others, an investigator from an adult protective services agency and persons who are trained and qualified to serve on multidisciplinary personnel teams who disclose to one another information and records that are relevant to the prevention, identification, or treatment of abuse of elderly or dependent persons. This bill would also exempt from that confidentiality requirement, employees of a county's adult protective services agency or a county's child welfare agency who disclose information with each other for the purpose of multidisciplinary teamwork in the prevention, intervention, management, or treatment of the abuse or neglect of a child or abuse or neglect of an elder or dependent adult. (3) Under existing law, the Office of Child Abuse Prevention is established in the State Department of Social Services. The office is authorized to allocate funding for child abuse treatment and prevention projects, including multidisciplinary services. Existing law also authorizes a county to establish a child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team within that county to allow provider agencies to share confidential information in order for provider agencies to investigate reports of suspected child abuse or neglect. Existing law defines "provider agency" for these purposes to mean a governmental or other agency that has as one of its purposes the prevention, identification, management, or treatment of child abuse or neglect, and specifies the provider agencies that may share information, including entities or service agencies that provide social services, children's services, and mental health services. Under this bill, "provider agency" would also include a county's adult protective services agency, and would authorize the adult protective services agency to share information when engaged in multidisciplinary teamwork for the prevention, identification, management, or treatment of the abuse or neglect of a child. Under existing law, the terms "multidisciplinary personnel" and "child abuse multidisciplinary personnel team" mean a team of a specified number of persons trained in the prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect cases and who are qualified to provide a broad range of services related to child abuse. Under existing law, those multidisciplinary personnel teams may include, among other persons, psychiatrists, psychologists, police officers, and social workers. This bill would add adult protective services personnel to the list of persons who may be included in those multidisciplinary personnel teams.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes use of the Emergency Alert System to inform the public of local, state, and national emergencies. Existing law requires a law enforcement agency to activate the Emergency Alert System within the appropriate area if that agency determines that a child 17 years of age or younger, or an individual with a proven mental or physical disability, has been abducted and is in imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death, and there is information available that, if disseminated to the general public, could assist in the safe recovery of that person. Existing law also authorizes the issuance and coordination of a Blue Alert following an attack upon a law enforcement officer or a Silver Alert relating to a person who is 65 years of age or older who is reported missing. This bill would authorize a law enforcement agency to request the Department of the California Highway Patrol to activate a "Feather Alert," as defined, if specified criteria are satisfied with respect to an endangered indigenous person who has been reported missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances. The bill would require the department, if it concurs that specified requirements are met, to activate a Feather Alert within the appropriate geographical area requested by the investigating law enforcement agency and to assist the agency by disseminating specified alert messages and signs. The bill would require the department to create and submit a report to the Governor's Office and the Legislature that includes an evaluation of the notification system established pursuant to these provisions no later than January 1, 2027. The bill would also make related legislative findings and declarations.

Existing law, the Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists and Hearing Aid Dispensers Licensure Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of speech-language pathologists by the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers Board, and makes a violation of these provisions a crime. Existing law defines the practice of speech-language pathology to include the application of instrumental procedures for specified purposes relating to the development and disorders of speech, voice, language, or swallowing. Existing law specifies that instrumental procedures are the use of rigid and flexible endoscopes to observe specified areas of the throat for specified purposes, including collecting data. Existing law prohibits the construction of the provisions on the application of instrumental procedures as a diagnosis and imposes a requirement that any abnormalities be referred to a physician and surgeon. This bill would add to the above-specified provisions on instrumental procedures a statement that the passage of those instruments without the presence of a physician and surgeon is subject to the existing prohibition on construing those provisions as a diagnosis and the requirement to refer abnormalities to a physician and surgeon. Existing law prohibits a speech-language pathologist from performing a flexible fiber optic nasendoscopic procedure unless they have received verification from an otolaryngologist that, among other things, they have performed a minimum of 25 flexible fiber optic procedures. This bill would require the first 10 of those procedures to be supervised by a licensed physician and surgeon who performs nasal endoscopy as part of their practice and would require the subsequent 15 procedures to be supervised by either a licensed physician and surgeon who performs nasal endoscopy as part of their practice or another licensed speech-language pathologist that is verified as competent in performing flexible fiber optic transnasal endoscopic procedures. The bill would specify that the otolaryngologist shall verify that the 25 flexible fiber optic transnasal endoscopic procedures were supervised. Existing law authorizes a speech-language pathologist to pass a flexible fiber optic nasendoscopic instrument only under the direct authorization of an otolaryngologist and the supervision of a physician and surgeon. This bill would recast these provisions to, instead, authorize a speech-language pathologist to pass a flexible fiber optic transnasal endoscopic instrument only upon the orders of a licensed physician and surgeon, which the bill would deem to allow a speech-language pathologist to perform fiber optic transnasal endoscopic procedures at a location based on the patient's medical needs. The bill would require a speech-language pathologist performing flexible fiber optic transnasal endoscopic procedures on patients who have contraindications to the procedure, as specified, to consult and document clearance with the physician and surgeon that the licensed speech-language pathologist can safely perform the procedure. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 2530.2 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by AB 2686 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2686 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. By expanding the scope of 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.

Existing law establishes the California Promise, which requires at least 20 campuses of the California State University to establish a California Promise program by which the campus enters into a pledge with a student who satisfies specified criteria to support the student in earning a baccalaureate degree within 4 academic years, or if the student is a community college transfer student who earned an associate degree for transfer, within 2 academic years, of the academic year of the student's first year of enrollment at the California State University. This bill would require, commencing with the 2023–24 academic year, that at least 5% of each incoming class at each participating campus of the California State University be a participant in the California Promise program, and that at least 70% of those participating students be either low-income students, first-generation students, or students from communities that are underrepresented in postsecondary education.

Existing law requires an operator of a commercial internet website or online service that collects personally identifiable information through the internet about individual consumers residing in California who use or visit its commercial internet website or online service to conspicuously post its privacy policy on its internet website. Existing law also limits advertising by an operator of an internet website, online service, online application, or mobile application directed to minors. This bill would, until January 1, 2028, and subject to specified exceptions, require a social media platform, as defined, that operates in the state to create and publicly post a policy statement that includes, among other things, the social media platform's policy on the use of the social media platform to illegally distribute a controlled substance, as defined, and a link to the social media platform's reporting mechanism for illegal or harmful content or behavior if one exists. The bill would require a person or entity operating the social media platform to update the policy statement as necessary and consider consulting with specified entities to assist in developing and supporting the policy statement.

Existing law establishes the Mental Health Student Services Act, administered by the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, to award grants to county mental health or behavioral health departments to fund partnerships between educational and county mental health entities. This bill, contingent upon an appropriation in the Budget Act, would establish the Early Childhood Mental Health Services Act, administered in a similar manner by the commission, to award grants to eligible entities or partnerships to improve access to, and quality of care, services, and supports for, children from birth to 5 years of age, inclusive, and their parents, families, and caregivers, with emphasis on prevention and early intervention and disparities, as specified.

The Community Services District Law authorizes the establishment of community services districts to provide various services to the geographic area within each district, and further authorizes specified community services districts to enforce covenants, conditions, and restrictions within that district, as provided. This bill would authorize the Lake Arrowhead Community Services District to enforce all or part of the covenants, conditions, and restrictions for tracts within that district, and to assume the duties of the Arrowhead Woods Architectural Committee for those tracts, as provided. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Lake Arrowhead Community Services District.

(1) The California Cultural and Historical Endowment Act establishes the California Cultural and Historical Endowment in the Natural Resources Agency. Among other things, the act authorizes the endowment to make grants and loans on a competitive basis to public agencies and nonprofit organizations, as defined, to encourage development of California's historical and cultural resources. Existing law, to the extent funding is available, requires the endowment to establish a program to assist and enhance the services of California's museums and of other groups and institutions that undertake cultural projects that are deeply rooted in and reflective of previously underserved communities. Existing law requires the program to give priority to certain museum and cultural programs and projects, as provided. This bill would revise and recast those provisions to, among other things, instead require the endowment to establish a competitive grant program to assist and enhance the services of museums in the state that undertake programs and projects that are deeply rooted in and reflective of underserved communities. The bill would instead require the grant program to give priority to those programs and projects (A) serving pupils and teachers at schools eligible to be served under Title I, Part A of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, (B) serving children in low-income communities, (C) supporting a museum in engaging or collaborating with underserved communities, as specified, (D) advancing preservation of at-risk cultural and natural collections and historic buildings, as provided, (E) improving access to historic buildings, cultural sites, or museums, as specified, (F) supporting the ethical stewardship of culturally sensitive art and artifacts, as provided, or (G) educating the public about critical issues affecting Californians. (2) Existing law authorizes the California Cultural and Historical Endowment to create a specified competitive grant program to support, among other things, small capital projects in museums. Existing law requires funding for the grant program to only be made, upon appropriation by the Legislature, from certain collected funds. This bill would expand that authority to support capital projects in museums, without regard to size, and publications in museums. The bill would delete the funding limitation for the grant program.

(1) Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which is administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the application, issuance, and suspension of alcoholic beverage licenses. Existing law, known as tied-house restrictions, generally prohibits specified licensees, or their officers, directors, or agents, from giving or lending money or a thing of value to a person operating, owning, or maintaining any on-sale premises where alcoholic beverages are sold. In this regard, existing law specifically prohibits paying a retailer for advertising. Existing law creates a variety of exceptions to this prohibition, including permitting specified licensees to purchase advertising space and time from, or on behalf of, an on-sale retail licensee that is an owner, manager, agent or assignee of the owner, or major tenant of certain venues, subject to specified conditions. Existing law requires the purchase of advertising space or time, in this context, to be conducted pursuant to a written contract and, in certain instances, specifically authorizes a contract to be made with the owner, a long-term tenant of the complex, or a licensee of the complex, whether or not the owner, long-term tenant, or licensee holds an on-sale license. In this context, existing law makes certain acts of coercion crimes, including when an on-sale licensee coerces other specified licensees to purchase advertising space or time. This bill would expand the above-described exception to tied-house restrictions that allows for the purchase of advertising by applying it to a fully enclosed arena with a fixed seating capacity in excess of 10,000 seats located in the County of Riverside. By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make conforming changes in the above-described provisions relating to written contracts, and the parties with whom these contracts may be made, to apply them to this arena. (2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Riverside. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 25503.6 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by AB 98 and SB 1280 to be operative only if this bill and AB 98 or SB 1280, or all 3 bills, are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law specifies the process by which a corporation may be converted into a domestic other business entity if specified conditions are met. This bill would instead provide that this process applies to the conversion of a corporation into a domestic other business entity, foreign other business entity, or foreign corporation, as specified. The bill would define terms for purposes of these provisions, make other conforming changes, and establish the means by which an obligation of a corporation that has converted to a foreign corporation or foreign other business entity may be enforced. Existing law requires a corporation that desires to convert to a domestic other business entity to approve a plan of conversion that includes, among other things, the jurisdiction of organization of the converted entity after conversion. This bill would require a corporation to also provide the name and form after conversion. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to charge a fee to an entity not exceeding $150 for its conversion made under these provisions. This bill would remove the authorization of the Secretary of State to charge a fee for corporate conversions.