Sen. Ed Hernandez

This measure would recognize the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks as a day of solemn commemoration.

(1) Existing law contains legislative findings and declarations stating that advanced placement courses, among other things, help to improve the overall curriculum at schools where they are provided and provide a cost-effective means for high school pupils to obtain college-level coursework experience. This bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to annually update the information on advanced placement available on the Internet Web site of the State Department of Education to include current information on the various means available to school districts to offer or access advanced placement courses, including online courses, and to annually communicate with high schools that offer advanced placement courses in fewer than 5 subjects and inform them of the various options for making advanced placement courses and other rigorous courses available to pupils who may benefit from them. (2) Existing law authorizes a system of incentives to encourage high schools to operate International Baccalaureate Diploma Programs, and to encourage pupils in these schools to enroll in, attempt, and pass the International Baccalaureate course of study and examinations that lead to the International Baccalaureate Diploma. This bill would require the Superintendent to annually update information on the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program available on the department's Internet Web site and to provide support to high schools that offer International Baccalaureate courses, as specified. The bill would encourage the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges, the Academic Senate of the California State University, and the Academic Senate of the University of California to continue their efforts to adopt consistent systemwide guidelines for the acceptance and granting of credit for International Baccalaureate Diploma Program courses taken by students while they are in high school.

This measure would request that law enforcement, first responders, schools, local elected officials, and parents educate youth about the risks associated with synthetic drugs.

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 a contract between a plan or insurer and a health care provider from containing certain terms. This bill would prohibit a contract by or on behalf of a plan or insurer and a licensed hospital, as defined, or any other licensed health care facility owned by a licensed hospital to provide inpatient hospital services or ambulatory care services to subscribers and enrollees of the plan or policyholders and insureds of the insurer from containing a provision that restricts the ability of the plan or insurer to furnish information to subscribers or enrollees of the plan or policyholders or insureds of the insurer concerning the cost range of procedures at the hospital or facility or the quality of services performed by the hospital or facility. The bill would make a contractual provision inconsistent with this requirement void and unenforceable. The bill would require a plan or insurer to provide a hospital or facility the opportunity to review the methodology and data used before cost or quality information is provided to subscribers or enrollees of the plan or to policyholders or insureds of the insurer, as specified. The bill would also establish requirements applicable to information displayed on an Internet Web site pursuant to these provisions by, or on behalf of, a plan or insurer.

Existing law, the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000, sets forth the procedures for incorporations and changes of organizations of cities, including procedures for disincorporation. This bill would provide that every city with a population of less than 150 people as of January 1, 2010, would be disincorporated into that city's respective county as of 91 days after the effective date of the bill, unless a county board of supervisors determines, by majority vote within the 90-day period following enactment of these provisions, that continuing such a city within that county's boundaries would serve a public purpose if the board of supervisors determines that the city is in an isolated rural location that makes it impractical for the residents of the community to organize in another form of local governance. The bill would also require the local agency formation commission within the county to oversee the terms and conditions of the disincorporation of the city, as specified. The bill would become operative only if AB 781 of the 2011–12 Regular Session is enacted.

This measure would memorialize the President and the Congress of the United States to renew the commitment to accessible higher education and the support of research in the interest of the nation.

This measure would declare June 2011 as Scleroderma Awareness Month.

This measure would declare June 26, 2011, a Day in Support of Victims of Torture in California, and would urge the Office of Refugee Resettlement to direct torture treatment funding through the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998 so as to reflect California's role as the nation's largest resettlement destination for torture survivors.

The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act regulates the provision of signs and other advertising matter to licensed retail premises by manufacturers and others. The act provides that nothing in the act prohibits any alcoholic beverage manufacturer, manufacturer's agent, winegrower, or wholesaler from furnishing electronic data services, which are limited to transmission by telephone line, microwave, or other electronic means, to a licensed retail premises. This bill would revise the description of electronic data services transmissions to include those transmissions by internet or other wireless means of data transmission.