Existing law authorizes a pupil to wear traditional tribal regalia or recognized objects of religious or cultural significance as an adornment at school graduation ceremonies. Existing law prohibits that authorization from limiting a local educational agency's discretion and authority to prohibit an item that is likely to cause a substantial disruption of, or material interference with, the ceremony. This bill would establish a 10-member task force, convened by the State Department of Education, to gather certain information and develop recommendations for best practices, protocols, proposed legislation, and other policies that will address how to comprehensively implement all aspects of existing law related to wearing traditional tribal regalia or recognized objects of religious or cultural significance as an adornment at school graduation ceremonies. The bill would require the task force, on or before April 1, 2023, to submit a report to the Legislature on that information and those recommendations. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2024.
Sponsored bills
This measure would proclaim August 2021 as Breastfeeding Awareness Month of 2021 in California. The measure would recognize the unique benefits that breastfeeding provides, as specified, and would affirm that Californians should work to ensure that barriers to initiation and continuation of breastfeeding are removed. The measure would encourage Californians to work together to explore ways to, among other things, improve women's access to breastfeeding support services in medical, social, and employment settings.
This measure would designate the month of August 2021 as "HPV-Attributable Cancers, Screening, and Vaccination Awareness Month" in the State of California. The measure would encourage all Californians, the State Department of Public Health, and the State Department of Health Care Services to observe the month and appropriate activities that support prevention, including promoting screening and educational outreach to all eligible Californians, increasing the awareness of HPV-attributable cancer and prevention measures within the medical and public health community, and implementing programs to raise awareness about the causes and symptoms of, and prevention measures for, HPV-attributable cancers.
(1) Existing law prohibits sterilization of a person with developmental disabilities without the person's consent, if the person has the ability to consent to sterilization, as defined, unless a limited conservator authorized to consent to the sterilization of an adult with a developmental disability is appointed and obtains court authorization to consent to the sterilization, as specified. Existing law prohibits sterilization for the purpose of birth control in county jails and state prison facilities, as specified. Existing law establishes a procedure for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of certain crimes by the California Victim Compensation Board from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund consisting of General Fund moneys, for specified losses suffered as a result of those crimes. Existing law sets forth eligibility requirements and specified limits on the amount of compensation the board may award, and requires applications for compensation to be verified under penalty of perjury. Under existing law, certain property is exempt from enforcement of money judgments, including benefits from a disability or health insurance policy or program. This bill would establish the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program, to be administered by the California Victim Compensation Board for the purpose of providing victim compensation to survivors of state-sponsored sterilization conducted pursuant to eugenics laws that existed in California between 1909 and 1979 and to survivors of coercive sterilization performed in prisons after 1979. The bill would require the board, in consultation with community-based organizations, to conduct outreach to locate qualified recipients, as defined, disclose a coerced sterilization to that person if the person was sterilized while imprisoned, notify that person of the process to apply for victim compensation, and review and verify all applications for victim compensation, as specified. The bill would require the board to keep confidential and not disclose to the public a record pertaining to a person's application for victim compensation or the board's verification of the application. The bill would exempt victim compensation payments from, among other things, being considered taxable income for state tax purposes or being subject to enforcement of a money judgment, as specified. The bill would provide that these provisions would become operative only upon an appropriation of not less than $7,500,000 in the annual Budget Act or other statute, collectively appropriated to the board, the State Department of State Hospitals, the State Department of Developmental Services, and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for the purposes of implementing the program. The bill would also require the board and departments to post a notice on their internet websites, once the appropriation described above is made, to inform the public of the operative date of the program. (2) Existing law provides that information and records obtained in the course of providing specified mental health and developmental services are confidential, but allows the disclosure of the information and records under specified circumstances. This bill would additionally authorize the State Department of Developmental Services and the State Department of State Hospitals to disclose the above-described information and records to authorized employees of the board for the purposes of verifying the identity and eligibility of individuals claiming compensation under the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program, or to an attorney for a person who was sterilized or alleges a person was sterilized. The bill would require the board to maintain the confidentiality of any information or records received from the departments. (3) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
(1) The Child Care and Development Services Act establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Existing law, until July 1, 2021, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to implement a plan establishing assigned reimbursement rates to be paid by the state to provider agencies for the provision of those services. Commencing July 1, 2021, existing law transfers specified childcare programs, responsibilities, services, and systems, including those programs and duties described below, from the State Department of Education and the Superintendent to the State Department of Social Services. Existing law requires the Superintendent to implement a plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates, which vary with the length of the program year and the hours of service. Existing law requires the reimbursement system to be submitted to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates that would vary with additional factors, including a quality adjustment factor to address the cost of staffing ratios. By November 10, 2022, and annually thereafter, the bill would require the reimbursement system plan, including methodology and standards, to be submitted to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. The bill would require that plan to include a formula for annually adjusting reimbursement rates. By July 1, 2022, and annually thereafter, the bill would require the department to establish a reimbursement rate target for each contracting agency that meets specific quality standards based on specified elements, including quality adjustment factors for the age range of children proposed to be served by the contracting agency. The bill would also require all providers meeting quality standards, as specified, to be paid the quality adjustment factor, as specified. The bill would require the department, by January 1, 2024, to develop, or hire a contractor to develop, a modernized reimbursement formula based on the components outlined in the state's Master Plan for Early Learning and Care, as specified. The bill would also require the department, by January 1, 2024, to convene a working group to assess the existing quality standards for equity and accessibility to all provider types and settings, and would require the department to develop recommendations to be implemented with the new reimbursement base rate, as specified. The bill would make the above provisions subject to an appropriation by the Legislature. (2) Existing law establishes adjustment factors for a provider agency's reported child days of enrollment in order to reflect the additional expense of serving specified children, including an adjustment factor for infants and toddlers who are 0 to 36 months of age and are served in a child daycare center or family childcare home. As of July 1, 2022, this bill would delete the above-described adjustment factor and would make conforming changes. The bill would add an adjustment factor for children who are served in a county experiencing a county state of emergency, or any county during a statewide state of emergency, based on the enrollment of children in the program, as specified. (3) Existing law requires reimbursement rates to be adjusted by specified reimbursement factors for childcare and development programs, and, for childcare and development providers serving children for less than 4 hours per day, requires the reimbursement factor to be 55% of the standard reimbursement rate. This bill would instead require the above-described reimbursement factor to be 50% of the standard reimbursement rate. The bill would also require a crisis adjustment factor of 150% for childcare and development program providers serving children in a county experiencing a county state of emergency, or any county during a statewide state of emergency, based on the enrollment of children in the program. (4) Existing law requires the cost of childcare services to be governed by regional market rates, and requires the regional market rate ceilings to be established at the 75th percentile of the 2016 regional market rate survey for that region or the regional market rate ceiling that existed in that region on December 31, 2017, whichever is greater. Existing law prohibits reimbursement to license-exempt childcare providers from exceeding 70% of the family childcare home rate. The bill would update the above formula to be based instead on the 2018 regional market rate survey. Subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, for the 2021 calendar year, and for the 2021–22 fiscal year, and annually thereafter, the bill would require the annual regional market ceilings to be established at no less than the 85th percentile of the 2018 regional market rate survey for that region or the regional market rate ceiling that existed in that region on December 31, 2017, whichever is greater. The bill would provide that if there is no appropriation, the existing formula, as updated for 2018, to establish a regional market rate ceiling would apply. Subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, commencing January 1, 2022, and annually thereafter, the bill instead would prohibit reimbursement to license-exempt childcare providers from exceeding 70% of the commensurate rate for both full-time and part-time care. (5) The act requires the State Department of Education to contract with local contracting agencies for alternative payment programs for services provided throughout the state. Existing law requires alternative payment childcare systems to be subject to the rates established in the regional market rate survey of childcare providers for provider payments. Existing law requires the department to contract to conduct and complete a regional market rate survey no more than once every 2 years. This bill would require the department to update the regional market rate survey methodology to include specified factors, including age ranges and hours of service.
Existing law sets forth the procedure required in any prosecution for rape or other specified offenses, with certain exceptions, if evidence of sexual conduct of the complaining witness, as defined, is offered to attack the credibility of the complaining witness. This procedure involves, among other things, the filing of a written motion by the defendant, accompanied by an affidavit filed under seal stating an offer of proof, and, if the court determines that the offer is sufficient, a hearing out of the presence of the jury regarding the offer of proof. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court may make an order stating what evidence may be introduced by the defendant. This bill would define "evidence of sexual conduct" for these purposes to include the portions of a social media account about the complaining witness that depict sexual content, as specified, unless the content is related to the alleged offense.
Existing federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , requires each state to establish an American Health Benefit Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health benefit plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange, also known as Covered California, governed by an executive board, to facilitate the enrollment of qualified individuals and qualified small employers in qualified health plans as required under PPACA. Existing law specifies the powers of the board. Existing law authorizes the board to adopt necessary rules and regulations by emergency regulations until January 1, 2022, with the exception of regulations implementing prescribed provisions relating to criminal background history checks for persons with access to confidential, personal, or financial information. Existing law authorizes the Office of Administrative Law to approve more than 2 readoptions of emergency regulations until January 1, 2027. Existing law provides that these extensions apply to any regulation adopted before January 1, 2019. This bill would instead extend the authority of the board to adopt those necessary rules and regulations by emergency regulations to January 1, 2027, and would extend the authority of the Office of Administrative Law to approve more than 2 readoptions of emergency regulations until January 1, 2032. The bill would provide that these prescribed time extensions apply to any regulation adopted before January 1, 2022, as specified.