Sen. Monique Limón

This measure would recognize the value of all women's contributions to agriculture and resolve to help realize their success as leaders on the land.

(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, headed by the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation. Under existing law, the commissioner and the department are charged with oversight and enforcement of various laws, including the Money Transmission Act. Existing law, the Money Transmission Act, prohibits a person from engaging in the business of money transmission in this state, or advertising, soliciting, or holding out as providing money transmission in this state, unless the person is licensed or exempt from licensure, as specified. Existing law requires each licensee or agent to prominently post on the premises of each branch office that conducts money transmission a specified notice regarding how to contact the department. This bill would update the department's contact information in that notice requirement. (2) Existing law, the Escrow Law, provides for the licensing and regulation of escrow agents by the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation and authorizes an applicant for an escrow agent's license or a licensee, in lieu of depositing a required bond, to deposit with the commissioner a cash bond that is evidenced, as specified. The Escrow Law prohibits a person who has been convicted of or pleaded nolo contendere to specified crimes within the past 10 years, or who has been held liable in any civil action, as provided, within the past 7 years, from serving in any capacity as an officer, director, stockholder, trustee, agent, or employee of an escrow agent, or in any position involving any duties with an escrow agent, except as specified. This bill would correct obsolete references in those provisions. (3) Existing law, the California Financing Law, provides for the licensing and regulation of finance lenders, brokers, and specified program administrators by the commissioner. Until January 1, 2022, the California Financing Law exempted from its provisions a person who made only one loan, if it was a commercial loan, as defined, in a 12-month period. This bill would reenact the above exemption for a person who makes no more than one loan in a 12-month period, if that loan is a commercial loan, as defined, and would make this provision remain operative indefinitely. (4) Existing law establishes the Bank on California Program within the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation as a voluntary collaborative to assist Californians in opening bank or credit union accounts. Existing law requires the department to report annually to specified committees of the Legislature on the activities of the program. This bill would repeal that annual reporting requirement. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

This measure would declare February 17, 2022, as PTA Day, commend the National Parent Teacher Association on the occasion of its 125th anniversary, and encourage all California residents to attend and participate in the celebration of this commemorative event.

This measure would proclaim the week of March 6, 2022, to March 12, 2022, inclusive, as Women in Construction Week.

Existing law, the Reproductive Privacy Act, prohibits the state from denying or interfering with a person's right to choose or obtain an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, or when the abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the person. The act defines "abortion" as a medical treatment intended to induce the termination of a pregnancy except for the purpose of producing a live birth. Existing law also establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services through, among other things, managed care plans licensed under the act that contract with the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, requires the Department of Managed Health Care to license and regulate health care service plans and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also requires the Department of Insurance to regulate health insurers. Existing law requires group and individual health care service plan contracts and disability insurance policies to cover contraceptives, without cost sharing, as specified. This bill would prohibit a health care service plan or an individual or group policy or certificate of health insurance or student blanket disability insurance that is issued, amended, renewed, or delivered on or after January 1, 2023, from imposing a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement on coverage for all abortion and abortion-related services, as specified. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan and an insurer subject to these requirements from imposing utilization management or utilization review on the coverage for outpatient abortion services. The bill would require that for a contract, certificate, or policy that is a high deductible health plan, the cost-sharing prohibition would apply once the enrollee's or insured's deductible has been satisfied for the benefit year. The bill would not require an individual or group contract or policy to cover an experimental or investigational treatment. The bill's requirements would also apply to Medi-Cal managed care plans and their providers, independent practice associations, preferred provider groups, and all delegated entities that provide physician services, utilization management, or utilization review. The bill would require the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to adopt related regulations on or before January 1, 2026. Because a violation of the bill by a health care service plan would be 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.