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 requires an individual or group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, delivered, or renewed on or after July 1, 2000, to provide coverage for all generally medically accepted cancer screening tests. This bill would delete the references to individual or group health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies in those provisions. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, delivered, or renewed on or after July 1, 2022, from requiring prior authorization for biomarker testing for an enrollee or insured with advanced or metastatic stage 3 or 4 cancer. The bill would also prohibit those health care service plans or health insurance policies from requiring prior authorization for biomarker testing for cancer progression or recurrence in the enrollee or insured with advanced or metastatic stage 3 or 4 cancer. The bill would provide that its provisions do not limit, prohibit, or modify an enrollee's or insured's rights to biomarker testing as part of an approved clinical trial, as specified. With respect to health care service plans, the bill would specifically apply the provisions relating to biomarker testing to Medi-Cal managed care plans, as specified. 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. 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.
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Existing law establishes the Student Aid Commission and assigns to it numerous duties with respect to student financial aid programs, including administration of the Student Opportunity and Access Program. Under this program, the commission may apportion funds for the support of projects designed to increase accessibility of postsecondary educational opportunities for certain elementary and secondary school pupils. Existing law requires each project to be proposed and operated through a consortium, as specified, and requires at least 30% or the equivalent of each project grant to be allocated for stipends to peer advisers and tutors meeting specified criteria. This bill, among other things, would instead authorize the commission to apportion funds under the program to projects designed to increase accessibility of postsecondary educational opportunities and financial aid for pupils from underserved communities who meet specified criteria. The bill would impose additional requirements on projects receiving funding, including requiring projects to provide assistance to those pupils from underserved communities who are enrolled in high school and their parents or guardians by providing information on college preparation and on understanding the total cost of attending a postsecondary educational institution, and by assisting with completion of financial aid applications. The bill would require every consortium operating a project to allocate at least 30% or the equivalent of each project grant to college success coaches and for any costs associated with providing training or necessary supplies and equipment to the college success coaches who meet specified criteria. Existing law authorizes the initial grant for a proposed new project in an area that has demonstrated need for services provided by the Student Opportunity and Access Program to be used for planning and development and requires full project grant funding to be allocated when specified criteria are met. This bill would repeal these provisions.
Existing law, the Student Loan Servicing Act, provides for the licensure, regulation, and oversight of student loan servicers by the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation, who is the head of the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. The act prohibits a person from engaging in the business of servicing a student loan in this state without a license, unless the person falls within certain exceptions. Existing law, the Student Borrower Bill of Rights, imposes requirements on a student loan servicer, including, among others, the timely posting, processing, and crediting of student loan payments, and applying overpayments consistent with the best financial interest of a student loan borrower. Existing law also prohibits a student loan servicer from engaging in unfair or deceptive practices, or abusive acts or practices in connection with the servicing of a student loan, and authorizes a person to bring an action for actual damages, injunctive relief, restitution, punitive damages, attorney's fees, and other relief, including treble damages in certain circumstances. This bill would enact the Private Student Loan Collections Reform Act, which would become operative July 1, 2022. The act would prohibit a private education lender or a private education loan collector, as defined, from making any written statement to a debtor in an attempt to collect a private education loan unless the private education lender or private education loan collector possesses certain information regarding the loan and provides this information to the debtor, as specified. The act would require all settlement agreements between a private education lender or private education loan collector and a debtor to be documented in open court or otherwise reduced to writing, as specified. The act would also require a private education lender or private education loan collector that accepts a payment as payment in full or as a full and final compromise of a private education loan, within 30 calendar days, to provide specified information to the debtor regarding the loan. The act would also prohibit a private education lender or private education loan collector from bringing suit or initiating an arbitration or other legal proceeding to collect a private education loan if the applicable statute of limitations on the claim has expired. The act would require a complaint, with respect to an action brought by a private education lender or private education loan collector to collect a private education loan, to contain specified information and would prohibit a default or other judgment from being entered against a defendant unless documents submitted to the court establish the facts alleged. The act would require a plaintiff seeking an exemption, as an exempt entity, from those requirements to attach to the complaint a declaration or affidavit, signed under penalty of perjury, stating certain information. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. The act would also authorize a person to bring a cause of action against a creditor, private education lender, or private education loan collector for violating the act for actual damages, statutory damages, restitution, and other specified relief. 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) Existing law requires unemployment compensation benefits administered by the Employment Development Department (EDD) , child support payments made through the State Disbursement Unit of the Department of Child Support Services, and specified public assistance payments, including payments made under the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, that are directly deposited to an account of the recipient's choice to be deposited into a qualifying account. Existing law defines "qualifying account" for these purposes to mean either a demand deposit or savings account at an insured financial institution in the name of the person entitled to receipt of the payments, as applicable, or a prepaid card account that meets certain requirements, including that the prepaid card account may not be attached to any credit or overdraft feature that is automatically repaid from the account after delivery of the payment. This bill would change the definition of qualifying account, including eliminating a prepaid card account and instead authorizing a prepaid account or a demand deposit or savings account offered by or through an entity other than an insured depository financial institution, as specified, that is not attached to an automatic credit or overdraft feature, unless the credit or overdraft feature has no fee, charge, or cost, or it complies with the requirements for consumer credit under the federal Truth in Lending Act. To the extent this bill would increase the responsibilities of counties in providing benefits under the CalWORKs program, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. For purposes of the above-mentioned public assistance payments under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Social Services, including payments made under the CalWORKs program, the bill would authorize the department to implement, administer, interpret, or make specific those provisions through all-county letters or similar written instructions, to be issued no later than October 1, 2022, with the same force and effect as regulations. (2) Existing law also authorizes the EDD to administer the disability insurance compensation program, which includes family temporary disability insurance benefits. Existing law requires the EDD to make disability compensation payments through public employment offices or other agencies approved by the Director of Employment Development. Existing law requires, beginning January 1, 2024, the EDD to provide a person entitled to receive disability benefits and family temporary disability insurance benefits with the option to receive payments by direct deposit into a qualifying account, as defined, of the recipient's choice, in addition to other alternative disbursement payment methods. This bill would revise the description of a person to whom EDD must provide the option of direct deposit and would require, if the benefits are directly deposited to an account of the recipient's choice, the payments to only be deposited to an account that meets the requirements of a qualifying account. The bill would prohibit a person or entity that is not an insured depository financial institution, as defined, that offers, maintains, or manages an account that is not a qualifying account from soliciting, accepting, or facilitating the direct deposit of these benefits to the account. Under the bill, the EDD would not be held liable for authorizing a direct deposit of these benefits into an account designated by the recipient that is not a qualifying account. (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, 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 the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, establishes the California State Board of Pharmacy in the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law authorizes a county to establish a voluntary drug repository and distribution program for the purpose of distributing surplus medications through a surplus medication collection and distribution intermediary that is licensed by the board. Existing law authorizes the board to charge a fee in the amount of $300 to issue or renew a license to operate as a surplus medication collection and distribution intermediary. Existing law makes a violation of the Pharmacy Law a crime. This bill would establish, until January 1, 2027, a program for the collection and distribution of eligible unused cancer medications, to be known as the Cancer Medication Recycling Act. The bill would require each participating practitioner, as defined, in the collection and distribution of those medications to be registered with a surplus medication collection and distribution intermediary, as specified, and would require a surplus medication collection and distribution intermediary to create a registry for up to 50 participating practitioners, including developing both a donor and a recipient form containing specified information. The bill would authorize a surplus medication collection and distribution intermediary to charge a fee, not to exceed $300, as specified, to issue or renew the registration certificate of a participating practitioner under the program. The bill would require participating practitioners to meet specified requirements, including establishing criteria for determining medication distribution to patients. This bill would exempt a participating practitioner from licensure as a wholesaler and would require the practitioner to keep and maintain for 3 years records created by the participating practitioner for purposes of the program. The bill would also exempt a donor and other specified persons and entities from criminal or civil liability for an injury caused when participating in the program, including, but not limited to, donating, accepting, or dispensing medication in compliance with the requirements of the act, unless the person or entity acted with gross negligence, recklessness, intentional conduct, or in cases of malpractice unrelated to the quality of the medication. The bill would also exempt a participating practitioner that receives a donated medication and redistributes it from a specified penalty resulting from the condition of the donated medication, except as specified. The bill would authorize the board to prohibit a participating practitioner from participating in the program if the participating practitioner does not comply with the requirements of the bill. Because a violation of the requirements of the bill contained in the Pharmacy Law 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.
(1) Existing law prohibits, during the prosecution of specified sex crimes, the admission of evidence of the manner in which the victim was dressed, when offered by either the prosecution or the defendant on the issue of consent, unless the court finds the evidence relevant and admissible in the interests of justice. This bill would prohibit the court from admitting evidence, in the above circumstances, of the manner in which the victim was dressed, upon a finding that the evidence is relevant and admissible in the interests of justice. (2) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1103 of the Evidence Code proposed by AB 1171 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1171 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (3) The California Constitution provides that relevant evidence shall not be excluded in any criminal proceeding except as provided by statute enacted by a 23 vote of the membership of each house of the Legislature. Because this bill would limit the admissibility of evidence in criminal proceedings, it would require a 23 vote.
(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Health Care Access and Information and requires the department to maintain a Health Professions Career Opportunity Program to, among other things, implement programs at colleges and universities selected by the department and include in those programs pipeline programs that provide comprehensive academic enrichment, career development, mentorship, and advising in order to support students from underrepresented regions and backgrounds to pursue health careers. Existing law requires, in accordance with the compliance schedule approved by the department, but in any case no later than January 1, 2030, owners of all acute care inpatient hospitals to either demolish, replace, or change to nonacute care use all hospital buildings not in substantial compliance with certain regulations and standards developed by the department related to seismic safety or to seismically retrofit all acute care inpatient hospital buildings so that they are in substantial compliance with those regulations and standards. This bill would authorize the department to enter into contracts, to meet the requirements of the Health Professions Career Opportunity Program, with nonprofit entities headquartered in California that have previous experience with administering statewide workforce programs aimed at building a diverse provider workforce. This bill would establish the Small and Rural Hospital Relief Program under the administration of the department for the purpose of funding seismic safety compliance with respect to small hospitals, rural hospitals, and critical access hospitals in the state. The bill would require the department to provide grants to small, rural, and critical access hospital applicants that meet certain criteria, including that seismic safety compliance, as defined, imposes a financial burden on the applicant that may result in hospital closure. The bill would also create the Small and Rural Hospital Relief Fund and would continuously appropriate the moneys in the fund for the purposes of administering and funding the grant program. (2) The Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law imposes a tax on distributors of cigarettes at the rate of $2.87 per package of 20 cigarettes and a tax on distributors of tobacco products, based on wholesale cost, at a rate determined annually that is equivalent to the combined rate of all taxes imposed on cigarettes plus an additional rate equivalent to $0.50 per package of 20 cigarettes. These taxes are inclusive of the taxes imposed under the Tobacco Tax and Health Protection Act of 1988, the California Families and Children Act of 1998, and the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016. The California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016 (Proposition 56) , an initiative measure approved at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, revised the definition of tobacco products to include electronic cigarettes, thereby extending the taxes on distributors of tobacco products to distributors of electronic cigarettes, which is based on the wholesale cost of these products. Proposition 56 requires the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to adopt regulations providing for the implementation of the equivalent tax on electronic cigarettes and the methods for collection of the tax. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2022, require a purchaser of electronic cigarettes, as defined, at retail to pay a tax on the purchase for use in this state of an electronic cigarette from a retailer of 12.5% of the sales price from the sale of an electronic cigarette. The bill would require a retailer to collect the tax from the purchaser at the time of the retail sale of an electronic cigarette. The bill would require all revenues, interest, and penalties, less refunds, collected from the tax described above to be deposited into the California Electronic Cigarette Excise Tax Fund, a continuously appropriated fund created by the bill, and would require all amounts in the fund to be distributed to the Health Education Account in the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Surtax Fund, the California Children and Families Trust Fund, to fund the Proposition 56 Medi-Cal Physicians and Dentists Loan Repayment Act, the University of California, to support the joint program in medical education between the University of California, Merced and the University of California, San Francisco at Fresno, the Small and Rural Hospital Relief Fund created by this bill, and to the Department of Health Care Access and Information to fund the Health Professions Career Opportunity Program described above, as specified. By creating a continuously appropriated fund and allocating additional moneys to continuously appropriated funds, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would provide for the administration and collection of this tax pursuant to procedures set forth in the Fee Collection Procedures Law. By expanding the application of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (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.
Existing law provides for 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 pursuant to a schedule of benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose, this bill would expand the schedule of benefits to include an annual cognitive health assessment for Medi-Cal beneficiaries who are 65 years of age or older if they are otherwise ineligible for a similar assessment as part of an annual wellness visit under the Medicare Program. The bill would make a Medi-Cal provider eligible to receive the payment for this benefit only if they comply with certain requirements, including completing cognitive health assessment training. The bill would require the department to determine specified training and validated tools in consultation with prescribed entities, including the State Department of Public Health's Alzheimer's Disease Program. By January 1, 2024, and every 2 years thereafter, the bill would require the department to consolidate and analyze data related to the benefit, and to post information on the utilization of, and payment for, the benefit on its internet website. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions by various means, including all-plan letters, without taking regulatory action, and would condition the implementation of these provisions to the extent federal approvals are obtained and federal financial participation is available.
Existing law provides for various memorials and monuments on the grounds of the State Capitol. Existing law requires the Department of Finance, subject to the approval of the Capitol Building and Planning Commission, to acquire and do all acts necessary to erect and maintain a monument to Father Junípero Serra on the grounds of the State Capitol. Existing law requires the Department of General Services to maintain state buildings and grounds. This bill would delete the requirement relating to the monument to Father Junípero Serra. The bill would authorize tribal nations in the Sacramento, California, region, in consultation with the Department of General Services, to plan, construct, and maintain a monument to the California Native people of the Sacramento, California, region on the grounds of the State Capitol. The bill would require the tribal nations to submit the plan for the monument to the Joint Rules Committee for its review and approval. The bill would prohibit the tribal nations from beginning construction of the monument until the Joint Rules Committee approves and adopts the plan and the Joint Rules Committee and the Department of Finance determine that sufficient private funding is available to construct and maintain the monument. The bill would require the planning, construction, and maintenance of the monument to be funded exclusively through private funding from the tribal nations in the Sacramento, California, region.
(1) Existing law, the California Coastal Act of 1976, establishes the California Coastal Commission and provides for planning and regulation of development in the coastal zone, as defined. The act requires the commission, within 90 days after January 1, 1977, to adopt, after public hearing, procedures for the preparation, submission, approval, appeal, certification, and amendment of a local coastal program, including a common methodology for the preparation of, and the determination of the scope of, the local coastal programs, as provided. This bill would also include, as part of the procedures the commission is required to adopt, recommendations and guidelines for the identification, assessment, minimization, and mitigation of sea level rise within each local coastal program, as provided. The bill would delete the timeframe specified above by which the commission is required to adopt these procedures. The bill would require the commission to take into account the effects of sea level rise in coastal resource planning and management policies and activities, as provided. In addition, the bill would require state and regional agencies to identify, assess, and, to the extent feasible and consistent with their statutory authorities, avoid, minimize, and mitigate the impacts of sea level rise. To the extent that a regional agency is a local public agency, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The act makes legislative findings and declarations relating to the basic goals of the state for the coastal zone. This bill would add, as part of those goals, the goal of anticipating, assessing, planning for, and, to the extent feasible, avoiding, minimizing, and mitigating the adverse environmental and economic effects of sea level rise within the coastal zone. (2) Existing law requires the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with the Ocean Protection Council, to create and post on an internet website a Planning for Sea Level Rise Database describing steps being taken throughout the state to prepare for, and adapt to, sea level rise. This bill would create within the council the California Sea Level Rise State and Regional Support Collaborative. The bill would require the collaborative, among other things, to provide state and regional information to the public and support to local, regional, and other state agencies for the identification, assessment, planning, and, where feasible, the mitigation of the adverse environmental, social, and economic effects of sea level rise, as provided. The bill would require, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, the collaborative to expend no more than $100,000,000 annually from appropriate bond funds and other sources for the purpose of making grants to local and regional governments to update local and regional land use plans to take into account sea level rise and for directly related investments to implement those plans, as provided. The bill would require the Secretary for Environmental Protection and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, as part of the adoption of the annual Budget Act, to annually appear before the budget committees of both houses of the Legislature regarding the implementation of the above provisions. (3) Existing law establishes the Environmental Justice Small Grant Program under the jurisdiction of the California Environmental Protection Agency, with the purpose to provide grants to eligible community groups that are located in areas adversely affected by environmental pollution and hazards and that are involved in work to address environmental justice issues. Existing law authorizes the Secretary for Environmental Protection to expend up to $1,500,000 per year for purposes of this grant program. This bill would instead authorize the secretary to expend up to $2,000,000 per year for purposes of the grant program and would require up to $500,000 of that money to be expended by the secretary for grants to organizations working to address and mitigate the effects of sea level rise in disadvantaged communities, as defined, impacted by sea level rise. (4) 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 the statutory provisions noted above.