Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to maintain a dental program that includes, but is not limited to, development of comprehensive dental health plans within the framework of a specified state plan. This bill would make these provisions inoperative for a specified period of time upon the creation of a Statewide Office of Oral Health within the State Department of Public Health with a licensed dentist who serves as the dental director. The bill would provide that the office would be established only upon receipt of sufficient funds, as specified, for the purposes of performing various duties relating to the oversight of dental care in California. This bill would prohibit General Fund moneys from being used to implement the provisions creating the office. This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2017, the dental director or, in the absence of a dental director, the Secretary of California Health and Human Services or his or her designee to provide administrative oversight with respect to a specified study conducted under described circumstances.
Sponsored bills
This measure would proclaim June 2012 as Scleroderma Awareness Month.
Existing law prohibits smoking of tobacco products inside an enclosed space, as defined, at a place of employment. The violation of the prohibition against smoking in enclosed spaces of places of employment is an infraction punishable by a specified fine. This bill would expand the prohibition on smoking in a place of employment to include an owner-operated business, as defined. This bill would also eliminate most of the specified exemptions that permit smoking in certain work environments, such as hotel lobbies, bars and taverns, banquet rooms, warehouse facilities, private residences used as family day care homes, and employee break rooms. By expanding the scope of an infraction, this 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.
(1) Under existing law, a permanent school employee is prohibited from being dismissed, except for one or more of certain enumerated causes, including for immoral or unprofessional conduct and unsatisfactory performance. Upon a charging that there exists cause for the dismissal or suspension of a permanent employee, existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to give notice to the employee of its intention to dismiss or suspend the employee, as specified. Existing law prohibits the governing board of a school district from giving notice of dismissal or suspension of a permanent employee between May 15 and September 15 of any year. This bill would include serious or egregious unprofessional conduct, as specified, as a ground for dismissal of a permanent school employee, and would except from the prohibition of giving notice to the employee between May 15 and September 15 proceedings where the charges involve specified offenses. (2) Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district to immediately suspend a permanent employee under specified conditions, including immoral conduct, and give the employee notice of the suspension, as specified. This bill would include serious or egregious unprofessional conduct, as defined, within the conditions that a governing board may immediately suspend a permanent employee. (3) Existing law provides that a certificated employee may be charged with a mandatory leave of absence offense for certain specified sex offenses or controlled substance offenses with the exception of marijuana, mescaline, peyote, or tetrahydrocannabinols. Existing law also provides that a certificated employee may be charged with an optional leave of absence offense for certain offenses, including controlled substance offenses, as specified, with the exception of marijuana, mescaline, peyote, or tetrahydrocannabinols. Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to immediately place a certificated employee on compulsory leave of absence if the employee is charged with a mandatory leave of absence offense. This bill would remove marijuana, mescaline, peyote, and tetrahydrocannabinols as exceptions to the controlled substance offenses for which a certificated employee may be charged with a mandatory leave of absence offense or an optional leave of absence offense. Because this bill would increase the number of employees subject to immediate placement on compulsory leave of absence, thereby increasing the duties of school districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law requires that a requested hearing on the dismissal or suspension of a permanent employee be conducted by a Commission on Professional Competence, as specified, and provides that the decision of the commission is deemed to be the final decision of the governing board of a school district. Existing law prohibits testimony from being given and evidence from being introduced relating to matters that occurred more than 4 years prior to the filing of the notice, and prohibits a decision relating to the dismissal or suspension of an employee from being made based on charges or evidence relating to matters that occurred more than 4 years before the filing of the notice of charges for the dismissal or suspension of the employee. This bill would, for hearings on the dismissal or suspension of a permanent employee that involve certain sex offenses, controlled substance offenses, or child abuse offenses, as specified, require these hearings to be conducted solely by an administrative law judge of the Office of Administrative Hearings and would provide that the decision of the administrative law judge related to these specified offenses would be advisory, and require the final decision regarding the discipline of the employee to be determined by action of the governing board of the school district, as specified. The bill would require the governing board, before making its final determination, to allow the employee to submit a written statement or response or, at the election of the governing board, an oral statement concerning the disciplinary action, and to only consider the record produced during the hearing conducted by the administrative law judge, and would require the governing board's final determination to be subject to review and appeal, as specified. The bill also would exempt hearings that involve these specified offenses from the prohibition on giving testimony and introducing evidence relating to matters that occurred more than 4 years before the date of the filing of the notice, and would, for hearings that involve the specified offenses, permit a decision relating to the dismissal or suspension of an employee to be made based on charges or evidence related to matters occurring more than 4 years before the date of the filing of the notice of charges for the dismissal or suspension of the employee. (5) This bill also would make nonsubstantive and conforming changes to these provisions. (6) 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 these statutory provisions.
This measure would designate Monday, May 7, 2012, as California Peace Officers' Memorial Day, urge all Californians to use that day to honor California peace officers, and recognize specified California peace officers who were killed in defense of their communities.
Under existing law, the state, through the State Department of Social Services and county welfare departments, is required to establish and support a public system of statewide child welfare services for the protection of children. Existing law requires the department to establish the California Child and Family Service Review System to review all county child welfare systems. Existing law requires the California Health and Human Services Agency to convene a workgroup, as specified, to establish a workplan by which child and family service reviews shall be conducted. Existing law requires the workgroup to consider, among other things, measurable outcome indicators. Existing law requires the department to identify and promote the replication of best practices in child welfare service delivery to achieve these outcomes. Existing law requires the department to provide prescribed information to legislative committees relating to child welfare system improvements, as specified. This bill would require the workgroup described above to examine outcome indicators for each racial and ethnic population served within a county. This bill would require a county to address in its self-assessment and system improvement plan, among other things, its efforts to eliminate disparities in services and outcomes for children of color in, and to provide adequate and culturally appropriate services within, its child welfare system. This bill would require the department to identify and promote best practices for increasing cultural competency in the provision of services and eliminating inequities in service delivery to racial and ethnic communities. This bill would authorize the director of the department to take various actions if he or she determines a county substantially failed to comply with the requirements of its system improvement plan, as specified. This bill would require the department to report prescribed information to the Legislature by January 1, 2015. By requiring counties to address additional matters in its self-assessment and system improvement plan, this 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, 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 these statutory provisions.
Existing law prohibits discrimination on the basis of genetic information under various provisions of law, including, among others, the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. Existing law prohibits discrimination in the enrollment of health insurance plans on the basis of an individual's genetic characteristics, as defined. Existing law also imposes prohibitions on the disclosure by a health care service plan of the results of a test for a genetic characteristic contained in an applicant's or enrollee's medical records. This bill would establish the Genetic Information Privacy Act, which would provide that an individual's genetic information, as defined, is protected by the right of privacy, as specified. The bill would, notwithstanding any other law, prohibit any person, as defined, from obtaining, analyzing, or disclosing genetic information without the written authorization of the individual to whom the information pertains, as specified. The bill would establish civil and criminal penalties for a violation of this prohibition, as specified. The bill would require a separate written authorization for each separate disclosure of an individual's genetic information. The bill would also provide a written authorization form to be used to obtain the written authorization described above. This bill would exempt certain individuals from the prohibitions and penalties described above, including, among others, law enforcement officials in the execution of their official duties, as specified, and hospitals, laboratories, and physicians carrying out court-ordered tests. The bill would permit disaggregated and anonymized data, as defined, that was collected before the bill's enactment to be used, as specified, without the authorization described above. The bill would also permit the use of disaggregated and anonymized data, as specified, if the written authorization described above is obtained and the data is used for a purpose authorized by the individual to whom the information pertains. By creating new crimes, 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 because it creates new crimes.
Existing law, the English Learner and Immigrant Pupil Federal Conformity Act, provides that the purpose of the act is to ensure that instructional services are provided to pupils with limited English proficiency in conformity with federal requirements that are designed to ensure that all pupils have reasonable access to educational opportunities necessary for the pupils to achieve at high levels in English and in other core curriculum areas of instruction. This bill would, before January 1, 2014, require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to develop the English Learner Master Plan, as specified, in order to expand the support services provided by the State Department of Education in assisting local educational agencies to establish, implement, and sustain language instruction educational programs and programs of English language development for English learner pupils. The bill would require the Superintendent to consult with specified individuals and to take into account certain considerations in developing the master plan. The bill also would, on or before July 1, 2014, require the Superintendent to report on the master plan to the Legislature and the State Board of Education and include in the report recommendations for statutory, regulatory, or administrative changes necessary to implement the master plan.
(1) Existing law, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Existing law authorizes the state board to include market-based compliance mechanisms, as defined, to comply with the regulations. Existing law prohibits conferring any authority on the state board to alter any programs administered by other state agencies for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. This bill would additionally prohibit any authority being conferred on the state board to impose any regulatory obligations on publicly owned water utilities for purposes of greenhouse gas emissions related to electricity imported for the publicly owned water utility's own use for the sole purpose of obtaining, transporting, and distributing water to its service area from an out-of-state water source unless the state board allocates to publicly owned water utilities allowances, credits, or other forms of price mitigation received by publicly owned electric utilities. (2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law sets forth the requirements for the solicitation and evaluation of bids and the awarding of contracts by public entities and authorizes a public entity to use, enter into, or require contractors to enter into, a project labor agreement for a construction project if the agreement includes specified taxpayer protection provisions. Existing law also provides that if a charter provision, initiative, or ordinance of a charter city prohibits the governing board's consideration of a project labor agreement for a project to be awarded by the city, or prohibits the governing board from considering whether to allocate funds to a city-funded project covered by such an agreement, state funding or financial assistance may not be used to support that project, as specified. This bill would additionally provide that if a charter provision, initiative, or ordinance of a charter city prohibits, limits, or constrains in any way the governing board's authority or discretion to adopt, require, or utilize a project labor agreement that includes specified taxpayer protection provisions for some or all of the construction projects to be awarded by the city, state funding or financial assistance may not be used to support any construction projects awarded by the city, as specified.