Sen. Noreen Evans

This measure would memorialize the Legislature's support of legislation currently pending in the United States Congress that would protect the Pacific Coast from new offshore oil drilling. This measure would also memorialize the Legislature's opposition to the proposed expansion of oil and gas drilling off the Pacific Coast and any federal energy policies and legislation that would weaken California's role in energy siting decisions due to those policies.

Existing law requires the collection of fees for providing certified copies of vital records, including marriage certificates, birth certificates, fetal death records, and death records. Existing law authorizes the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and the City Council of the City of Berkeley, upon making certain findings and declarations, to authorize an increase in fees for certified copies of certain vital records, up to $2. Existing law, until January 1, 2011, authorizes the Solano County Board of Supervisors, upon making certain findings and declarations, to authorize an increase in fees for certified copies of certain vital records, up to $2. Existing law, until January 1, 2015, authorizes the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, upon making certain findings and declarations, to authorize an increase in fees for certified copies of certain vital records, up to $2. Existing law authorizes the above-described county boards of supervisors and that city council to make further increases in fees each year, as specified. Existing law requires the fees to be allocated for purposes relating to domestic violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution. This bill, until January 1, 2016, would authorize a county board of supervisors, upon making certain findings and declarations, to authorize an increase in fees of up to $4 for certified copies of certain vital records. The bill would require that12 of the fee increase be allocated for purposes relating to domestic violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution and the other12 of the fee increase be allocated for nonprofit, community-based organizations that serve domestic violence victims and their families, as specified. This bill, until January 1, 2016, notwithstanding the above-described authorization, would authorize the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and the City Council of the City of Berkeley, to authorize an increase in fees of up to $2 for certified copies of certain vital records. This bill, until January 1, 2011, notwithstanding the above-described authorization, would authorize the Solano County Board of Supervisors, to authorize an increase in fees of up to $2 for certified copies of certain vital records. This bill, until January 1, 2015, notwithstanding the above-described authorization, would authorize the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, to authorize an increase in fees of up to $2 for certified copies of certain vital records. The bill would require proceeds from the above-described fee increases to be allocated for nonprofit, community-based organizations that serve domestic violence victims and their families, as specified. This bill would provide that when the authorization for the fee increase of up to $2 ends for Solano County and Sonoma County on January 1, 2011, and January 1, 2015, respectively, the above-described provisions authorizing an increase in fees of up to a maximum of $4 shall apply with respect to those counties. This bill would require a county board of supervisors or the City Council of the City of Berkeley to direct, when appropriate, the local registrar, county recorder, and county clerk, to deposit the fees into a special fund, and would authorize a county or the City of Berkeley to retain up to 4% of the special fund for administrative costs, as specified. This bill would require that, prior to using the fee proceeds, a county board of supervisors or the City Council of the City of Berkeley provide for public hearings and comment on the specific manner in which funds are to be used and confer with its local domestic violence shelter or shelters before determining the specific manner in which funds are to be used. The bill would require a county board of supervisors or the City Council of the City of Berkeley to submit to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Judiciary, by February 1, 2015, a report regarding the above fee increases, as specified.

Existing law authorizes the state, under specified conditions, to issue bonds to fund specified projects. This bill would require the Department of Finance to semiannually survey state agencies on project readiness, as defined, of projects funded by bonds, and provide the Joint Legislative Budget Committee with the results of the surveys. This bill would also require and authorize the department to, under specified circumstances, prioritize the sale of bonds in a specified manner.

Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, restricts the employment of licensed physicians and surgeons and podiatrists by a corporation or other artificial legal entity, subject to specified exemptions, and makes it a crime to practice medicine without a license. Existing law establishes, until January 1, 2011, a pilot project to allow qualified district hospitals that, among other things, provide more than 50% of patient days to the care of Medicare, Medi-Cal, and uninsured patients, to employ a physician and surgeon, if the hospital does not interfere with, control, or otherwise direct the professional judgment of the physician and surgeon. The pilot project authorizes the direct employment of a total of 20 physicians and surgeons by those hospitals to provide medically necessary services in rural and medically underserved communities, and specifies that each qualified district hospital may employ up to 2 physicians and surgeons, subject to specified requirements. This bill would delete that pilot project and would instead, until January 1, 2021, authorize a health care district, as defined, and a clinic owned or operated by a health care district, as specified, to employ physicians and surgeons if the health care district's service area includes a Medically Underserved Area (MUA) or a Medically Underserved Population (MUP) , or has been federally designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) ; the district board conducts a public hearing and adopts a specified resolution declaring the need for the district to recruit and directly employ one or more physicians and surgeons; and the executive officer of the district provides specified documentation to the Medical Board of California. Upon receipt of that documentation, the bill would require the board to approve the employment of up to 5 primary or specialty care physicians and surgeons by the district, and, upon receipt of additional documentation after that employment, to approve an additional 5 primary or specialty care physicians and surgeons. The bill would provide that a district may, until December 31, 2020, enter into, renew, or extend any employment contract with a physician and surgeon for up to 10 years. The bill would require the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health and the board, to report to the Legislature by June 1, 2018, with regard to the efficacy of the employment of physicians and surgeons by health care districts, as specified.

Existing workers' compensation law generally requires employers to secure the payment of workers' compensation, including medical treatment, for injuries incurred by their employees that arise out of, and in the course of, employment. Existing law provides that, in the case of certain officers and employees of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and each security officer employed at the Atascadero State Hospital, the term "injury" includes heart trouble that develops or manifests itself during a period while the officer or employee is in the service of the department or hospital, and establishes a disputable presumption that heart trouble that so develops or manifests itself arose out of and in the course of the employment. Existing law establishes state hospital peace officers, as specified, and defines their authority as peace officers. This bill would delete the reference in the above-described provisions to officers at the Atascadero State Hospital as security officers, and instead, refer to those officers as peace officers. The bill would also add peace officers employed at other hospitals, developmental centers, and community centers, as specified, to the list of persons to whom the above-described injury presumption applies.

This measure would designate the first week of March of each year as Cuss Free Week.

Existing law establishes training and certification programs for various healing arts professionals including, among others, nurses, midwives, occupational therapists, dietitians, and social workers. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health to assess the grants to promote positive health behaviors and outcomes available pursuant to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for funding opportunities related to the use of promotores, as defined, in medically underserved communities, require the department, in consultation with the University of California, to include in this assessment an inventory of prescribed programs related to the use of promotores in California, and report on this assessment to the fiscal and health policy committees of the Legislature by April 1, 2011, with recommendations for attaining and maximizing federal funding. This bill would also require the department to rely upon past research about the efficacy of promotores and not permit the department to conduct new research.

This measure would recognize the Lunar New Year 4708 celebration.

This resolution would respectfully request that the International Maritime Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, adopt the North American Emission Control Area, as proposed by the United States, Canada, and France at the 60th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee, scheduled for March 2010.

This measure would urge various state and private entities to withhold financial support of Arizona businesses in response to recent Arizona state laws relating to illegal immigration.