Existing law requires, until January 1, 2021, the California Environmental Protection Agency, in coordination with the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, the State Water Resources Control Board, the State Air Resources Board, and the Department of Food and Agriculture, to develop and implement policies to aid in diverting organic waste from landfills by promoting the composting of specified organic waste and by promoting the appropriate use of that compost throughout the state. This bill would revise and recast this and related provisions, including, among other changes, imposing additional duties on those state agencies relating to promoting the application of compost and additionally including the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in the state agencies in coordination with which the California Environmental Protection Agency is required to develop and implement the above-specified policies. The bill would also require the California Environmental Protection Agency additionally to work with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Forest Management Task Force to achieve the goal of reducing at least 5 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year through the development and application of compost on working lands. The bill would postpone the repeal of these provisions until January 1, 2026.
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Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Pursuant to existing law, the commission supervises various energy efficiency and other demand-side energy management programs administered by electrical corporations, gas corporations, and 3rd party administrators, the expenses for which are collected by electrical corporations and gas corporations from their ratepayers. Existing law requires the commission to ensure that the Internet Web site for the Energy Upgrade California program be revised to include information related to demand-side management programs for small business customers. This bill would require that the Internet Web site for the Energy Upgrade California program be revised and maintained to include information related to demand-side management programs for small business customers. Existing law creates the Office of Small Business Advocate within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development. Existing law establishes the duties and functions of the advocate, which include advisory participation in the consideration of all legislation and administrative regulations that affect small businesses. Existing law requires the office to include a link to the Energy Upgrade California Internet Web site on the homepage of its Internet Web site. Existing decisions of the commission approve of steps to be undertaken with respect to statewide marketing, education, and outreach with respect to energy efficiency and other demand-side energy management programs supervised by the commission. This bill would require the commission, in consultation with the office, to ensure that adequate marketing, education, and outreach are undertaken that is directed at small business customers to enable small business customers to fully participate in ratepayer-funded demand-side energy management programs, including specified programs that provide financial incentives, rebates, technical assistance, and support.
Existing law establishes the Department of Technology, under the supervision of the Director of Technology, to, among other things, establish and enforce state information technology strategic plans, policies, standards, and enterprise architecture. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to approve and adopt appropriate standards established by the American National Standards Institute in order to ensure that uniform statewide standards for storing and recording permanent documents in electronic media remain current and relevant. Existing law requires those standards to include a requirement that a trusted system, as defined for purposes of these provisions and for purposes of provisions relating to the duties of county auditors, treasurers, and recorders, be utilized, and further specifies that a cloud computing storage service that complies with specified standards shall be considered a trusted system. Existing law specifies that, for purposes of those provisions, "cloud computing" is defined in a specified publication of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. This bill would instead require the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Department of Technology, to approve and adopt appropriate uniform statewide standards, as specified, for the purpose of storing and recording public records, described as permanent and nonpermanent documents, in electronic media or in a cloud computing storage system. The bill would require a cloud computing storage service that complies with specified requirements that provide administrative users with controls to prevent stored public records from being overwritten, deleted, or altered to be considered a trusted system, and would require all public records stored or recorded in electronic media or in a cloud computing service by a state agency to comply with a trusted system as defined in the uniform statewide standards and as otherwise specified. The bill would require a trusted system using cloud computing storage service to comply with applicable standards articulated in the State Administrative Manual and the Statewide Information Management Manual. The bill would also require a state agency, prior to establishing an information technology system interconnection or data exchange with a local government entity or otherwise partnering with a local government entity for the development, use, or maintenance of an information technology system, product, or service to first enter into a written agreement with that local government entity for the purpose of establishing mutually agreeable terms that protect relevant public records.
(1) Existing federal law provides for allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states. California's version of this program is CalWORKs. Under the CalWORKs program, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits, through a combination of state and county funds and federal funds received through the TANF program, to qualified low-income families and individuals who meet specified eligibility criteria. Under the CalWORKs program, recipients are required to participate in specified welfare-to-work activities, unless an exception applies. Existing law prohibits medically disabled individuals, as specified, from being required to participate in welfare-to-work activities for so long as the condition continues to exist. Existing law requires that an applicant or recipient be excused from participation in welfare-to-work activities for good cause when the county determines that the applicant or recipient is a victim of domestic violence, as specified. Existing law also authorizes specified supportive services and accommodations for applicants and recipients who are victims of domestic violence or who are experiencing specified conditions, including emotional, mental, or developmental disabilities. Existing law requires applications for public social services or public assistance, including CalWORKs, to be made to the county welfare department of the county in which the applicant is living. Existing law authorizes applications to be made in writing or upon the standard form prescribed in regulations of the State Department of Social Services. Existing law also requires counties to redetermine the eligibility and grant amounts of a CalWORKs recipient on a semiannual basis through the submission of a semiannual report form. The federal Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits public entities, such as a state or local government, from discriminating against individuals with a qualified disability or denying those individuals with access to the benefits, services, programs, or activities of that public entity due to disability. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to include questions that enable an applicant for, or recipient of, public social services or public assistance, including CalWORKs, to disclose a disability, the need for accommodation due to disability, or any experience of domestic violence in any amendment or revision to the standard form for initial applications and the CalWORKs semiannual report form adopted on or after January 1, 2019. (2) Existing law directs the Office of Systems Integration within the California Health and Human Services Agency to implement a statewide automated welfare system for specified public assistance programs, including, among others, the CalWORKs program. Existing law requires that statewide implementation of the statewide automated welfare system be achieved through no more than 4 county consortia, including the Interim Statewide Automated Welfare System (SAWS) consortia, and the Los Angeles Eligibility, Automated Determination, Evaluation, and Reporting (LEADER) System. Existing law establishes specified goals for the system, including, among others, the equitable, timely, and consistent treatment of recipients within each program and the reduction of administrative complexity. Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature that representatives from the State Department of Social Services, the State Department of Health Care Services, the Office of Systems Integration, the SAWS consortia, and counties meet with advocates, clients, and other stakeholders no less than quarterly to review the development status of the California Automated Consortium Eligibility System (CalACES) and the California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWS) projects. Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, the State Department of Health Care Services, and the Office of Systems Integration to develop, in consultation with the County Welfare Directors Association of California, the SAWS consortia, and stakeholders, a formal process for health and human services advocates and clients to provide input into new or changing public facing elements of CalACES and CalSAWS. This bill would require any single state automated welfare system implemented pursuant to the above provisions to include a notification to inform the caseworker of a public assistance program applicant or recipient that the applicant or recipient has disclosed the need for an accommodation consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act or has disclosed a disability or domestic violence experience that may affect his or her eligibility for certain exemptions from, and exceptions to, CalWORKs program requirements. The bill would require the State Department of Social Services to collaborate with county welfare departments in developing this notification. The bill would require the notification to be immediately visible to the caseworker upon opening the applicant's or recipient's file in the system.
Existing law, the California Retail Food Code, establishes uniform health and sanitation standards for retail food facilities for regulation by the State Department of Public Health, and requires local enforcement agencies to enforce those provisions. Existing law defines "food facility" as an operation that stores, prepares, packages, serves, vends, or otherwise provides food for human consumption at the retail level, as specified. Existing law regulates temporary food facilities and nonprofit charitable temporary food facilities, as specified. Existing law exempts, among others, a nonprofit association that gives or sells food to its members and guests and not to the general public, as specified, from the definition of food facility. A violation of the California Retail Food Code is generally a misdemeanor. This bill would exempt a limited service charitable feeding operation from the definition of food facility. The bill would define that operation as an operation for food service to a consumer solely for providing charity, that is conducted by a nonprofit charitable organization, as defined, and whose food service is limited to any of specified functions. The bill would specify that the operation would not include a temporary food facility or a nonprofit charitable temporary food facility, as specified. The bill would prohibit the operation from providing food service unless it has registered with the local enforcement agency, with specified exceptions involving performance of a certain function or operation in conjunction with a food bank, and would require a limited service charitable feeding operation subject to registration, or a food bank, if applicable, to submit certain information to the agency. The bill would exempt a limited service charitable feeding operation from the requirements of the California Retail Food Code, except for specified general food safety and other requirements. The bill would require the operation to comply with best management practices approved by the local enforcement agency. The bill would, among other things, authorize the operation to distribute food in an outdoor location, as specified, in compliance with the approved best management practices and subject to approval by the local enforcement agency, with food service limited to no more than 4 hours per day. By creating a new crime and by imposing duties on local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would authorize the local enforcement agency to recover the reasonable regulatory costs of the administration, implementation, investigation, and enforcement of the above-described provisions from a limited service charitable feeding operation. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 113789 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by AB 626 and AB 2524 to be operative only if this bill and AB 626, this bill and AB 2524, or all 3 bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law establishes in state government the Natural Resources Agency, consisting of various departments, including the Department of Parks and Recreation, the California Coastal Commission, and the State Coastal Conservancy. Existing law, the State Urban Parks and Healthy Communities Act, requires the Director of Parks and Recreation to develop a competitive grant program to assist state parks, specified state conservancies, urbanized and heavily urbanized local agencies, and community-based organizations within those jurisdictions to provide outdoor educational opportunities to children. This bill would require the Natural Resources Agency to develop and implement a community access program focused on engagement programs, technical assistance, or facilities that maximize safe and equitable physical admittance, especially for low-income and disadvantaged communities, to natural or cultural resources, community education programs, or recreational amenities. The bill would authorize the agency to develop a grant program for innovative transportation projects that provide disadvantaged and low-income youth with access to outdoor experiences, as specified.
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. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law prohibits, until January 1, 2019, an individual or group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2015, that provides coverage for prescribed, orally administered anticancer medications used to kill or slow the growth of cancerous cells from requiring an enrollee or insured to pay, notwithstanding any deductible, a total amount of copayments and coinsurance that exceeds $200 for an individual prescription of up to a 30-day supply of a prescribed orally administered anticancer medication, as specified. Existing law authorizes health care service plans to adjust that $200 limit on January 1 of each year, to the extent that adjustment does not exceed the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for that year. Under existing law, a willful violation of this prohibition by a health care service plan is a crime. This bill would extend the duration of this prohibition until January 1, 2024. The bill would increase the total amount of copayments allowed under those provisions to $250. The bill would remove the authorization for a health care service plan to adjust that limit. Because the bill would expand the scope of 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.
The Charge Ahead California Initiative, administered by the State Air Resources Board, includes goals of, among other things, placing in service at least 1,000,000 zero-emission and near-zero-emission vehicles by January 1, 2023, and increasing access for disadvantaged, low-income, and moderate-income communities and consumers to zero-emission and near-zero-emission vehicles. This bill would require the state board, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, air pollution control and air quality management districts, and the public, to require existing agricultural vanpool programs to serve disadvantaged communities, as defined, and low-income communities, as defined, and to allocate a minimum of 25% of the moneys appropriated for agricultural vanpool programs to those programs servicing low-income communities.
This measure would urge the Congress and the President of the United States to support the retention of, and investment in, the Amtrak National Network of passenger trains, specifically the California Zephyr, the Coast Starlight, the Southwest Chief, and the Sunset Limited, as vital components of the state's rail program and would also urge Congress to reject President Trump's proposed Fiscal Year 2019 federal budget cuts to Amtrak and restore full funding for the Amtrak National Network through the appropriations process.
This measure would urge the federal government and the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission to take immediate action to adequately address cross-border pollution in the Tijuana River Valley.