Sen. Monique Limón

This measure would proclaim August 2023 as Breastfeeding Awareness Month of 2023 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.

(1) Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care, and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law generally authorizes a health care service plan or health insurer to use prior authorization and other utilization review functions, under which a licensed physician or a licensed health care professional who is competent to evaluate specific clinical issues may approve, modify, delay, or deny requests for health care services based on medical necessity. This bill would prohibit a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, delivered, or renewed on or after January 1, 2024, from requiring prior authorization or other utilization review for any clinically indicated treatment for endometriosis, as determined by the treating physician and consistent with nationally recognized evidence-based clinical guidelines. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) 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. Existing law sets forth a schedule of benefits under the Medi-Cal program. This bill would add any clinically indicated treatment for endometriosis, as determined by the treating physician and consistent with nationally recognized evidence-based clinical guidelines, as a covered benefit under Medi-Cal without prior authorization or other utilization review. (3) 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.

This measure would designate the plaza at the center of the California State Capitol World Peace Rose Garden in the City of Sacramento as the Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird Justice For All Plaza. The measure would also request the Department of General Services to determine the cost of erecting appropriate plaques and markers showing the designation and, upon receiving donations, to cover the cost to erect signage.

This measure would designate the portion of U.S. Route 101 in the County of San Luis Obispo, from postmile 13.173 to postmile 17.767, as the Katcho Achadjian Memorial Highway. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

Existing law requires each county to provide aid to its indigent residents not supported by other means. These county programs are known as general assistance programs. Existing law requires the board of supervisors of every county to, among other things, investigate every application for relief from the funds of the county, to supervise every person receiving that relief, and to keep full and complete records of the investigation, supervision, relief, and rehabilitation. Existing law requires those records to be confidential and not be open to examination or inspection, except as specified. This bill would provide that those provisions do not prohibit sharing of confidential information for purposes directly connected with the administration of relief or with the administration of public social services, as defined.

The California Constitution provides that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California, and federal law permanently enjoins the state from enforcing this constitutional provision. This measure would repeal this unenforceable constitutional provision and would instead provide that the right to marry is a fundamental right, as specified.

This measure would proclaim October 5, 2023, as Latina Equal Pay Day in California, in recognition of the need to eliminate the gender gap in earnings by women and to promote policies to ensure equal pay for all.

Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development and sets forth its powers and duties. Existing law establishes various programs providing assistance for, among other things, emergency housing, multifamily housing, farmworker housing, homeownership for very low and low-income households, and downpayment assistance for first-time homebuyers. This bill would enact the Laborforce Housing Financing Act of 2023, and define "laborforce housing" as housing that, among other things, is owned and managed by specified entities solely for the benefit of residents and households unable to afford market rent, and whose residents enjoy certain protections. The bill would establish the Laborforce Housing Fund in the State Treasury, and would make moneys in the fund available to the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the creation of laborforce housing and other specified housing projects by public entities, local housing authorities, and mission-driven nonprofit housing providers, as provided. The bill would limit the use of fund moneys to construction or rehabilitation projects that require either that all construction workers on the project are paid at least the applicable prevailing wage rate, or that all contractors and subcontractors at every tier will use a skilled and trained workforce to complete the project, in accordance with specified provisions. These certifications would expand the crime of perjury, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. Existing law imposes taxes upon income and real property, and taxes upon certain transactions and excise taxes. The Fee Collection Procedures Law provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges and is administered by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) . Under existing law, a violation of the Fee Collection Procedures Law is a crime. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2025, impose a tax on the occupancy of a short-term rental in this state at the rate of 15% of the rental price of the short-term rental. The bill would define "short-term rental" for this purpose to mean the occupancy of a home, house, a room in a home or house, or other lodging that is not a hotel, inn, motel, or bed and breakfast, in this state for a period of 30 days or less. The bill would require a short-term rental facilitator, as defined, to collect the tax in the case where the facilitator processes the payment for the rental. The bill would require the operator, as defined, to collect the tax where no facilitator processes payment for the rental. The bill would require all revenues, less refunds and reimbursement to the CDTFA of administration and collection costs, be deposited in the Laborforce Housing Fund. This bill would require the CDTFA to administer and collect the tax pursuant to the Fee Collection Procedures Law. By expanding the application of the crimes associated with the Fee Collection Procedures Law, 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

This measure would declare June 7, 2023, as California Nonprofits Day in recognition of the importance of nonprofit organizations to the economy and well-being of this state.