Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income persons receive health care benefits. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to Medi-Cal program provisions.
Existing law authorizes private organizations to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles for participation in special interest license plate programs authorized by legislation in which the department issues license plates with a participating organization's distinctive design, decal, or descriptive message and specifies the design criteria for the special license plate. Existing law requires that the organization collect and receive a minimum of 7,500 applications and fees for the special interest license plates from the date of the enactment of the legislation authorizing the special interest license plate. Existing law permits any individual to apply for an organization's special interest license plate. Existing law also authorizes a state agency to apply to the Department of Motor Vehicles to sponsor a specialized license plate program and requires the department to issue the specialized license plates for the program if the state agency complies with specified requirements. This bill would authorize the Bureau of Automotive Repair (bureau) to apply to the department to sponsor a program for a series of specialized NASCAR license plates that bear emblems, seals, or other symbols or designs displaying themes of professional stock car auto racing, or professional stock car auto racing drivers. The bill would require the department to issue the specialized plates if the bureau complies with existing requirements applicable to specialized license plate programs. The bill would require that the design of each specialty plate in the series be approved by the department and the Department of the California Highway Patrol. The bill would authorize the department and the bureau to contract with 3rd-party vendors or the Prison Industry Authority for the manufacture, processing, and distribution of the specialized NASCAR license plates. The bill would specify that the fee for the original issuance of the specialized license plates be $60, and, for the renewal of registration with the plates, the fee would be $50. The bill would also require that these fees be distributed no less frequently than each quarter annually to the department and the bureau in specified amounts. By requiring that the fees for the original issuance and the renewal of a plate be distributed directly to the department and the bureau, the bill would make a continuous appropriation of these funds.
The State Assistance for Fire Equipment Act authorizes the Secretary of Emergency Management to acquire specified firefighting apparatus and equipment for resale to a local agency, as defined, that provides fire suppression services or a fire company. Existing law also establishes the State Assistance for Fire Equipment Account, a continuously appropriated fund, for purposes of the act. Existing law requires the secretary to consult with a specified committee before adopting regulations implementing the act. This bill would annually appropriate $45,600,000 of revenue received by the state from the accessing of oil and gas reserves located beneath state coastal waters, generally known as the "T-Ridge Project," for firefighting purposes, including, but not limited to, the purchase of firefighting and rescue vehicles and equipment, vegetation management and defensible space projects, and specified training courses and materials, thereby making an appropriation. This bill would also require the secretary to consult with additional specified individuals involved in firefighting before adopting certain regulations.
Existing workers' compensation law generally requires employers to secure the payment of workers' compensation, including medical treatment, for injuries incurred by their employees that arise out of, and in the course of, employment. Existing law provides that, in the case of certain officers and employees of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and each security officer employed at the Atascadero State Hospital, the term "injury" includes heart trouble that develops or manifests itself during a period while the officer or employee is in the service of the department or hospital, and establishes a disputable presumption that heart trouble that so develops or manifests itself arose out of and in the course of the employment. Existing law establishes state hospital peace officers, as specified, and defines their authority as peace officers. This bill would delete the reference in the above-described provisions to officers at the Atascadero State Hospital as security officers, and instead, refer to those officers as peace officers. The bill would also add peace officers employed at other hospitals, developmental centers, and community centers, as specified, to the list of persons to whom the above-described injury presumption applies.
This measure would designate the first week of March of each year as Cuss Free Week.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws, including a credit for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2009, in the amount of $3,000 for each full-time employee hired by a qualified employer. Those laws define "qualified employer" as a taxpayer that employed 20 or fewer employees as of the last day of the preceding taxable year. This bill would, under both laws, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, expand the definition of "qualified employer" to mean a taxpayer that employed 50 or fewer employees as of the last day of the preceding taxable year. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of registered nurses by the Board of Registered Nursing and makes a violation of the act a crime. Existing law requires a licensee renewing his or her license to submit proof to the board that during a specified time the licensee has been informed of developments in the registered nursing field either by pursuing a continuing education course offered by a provider approved by the board or by other means deemed equivalent by the board. Existing law requires the board to establish, by regulation, standards for continuing education. Existing law requires these standards to make a variety of alternative forms of continuing education available to licensees. Existing law requires the content of all courses of continuing education to be relevant to the practice of nursing. This bill would provide that continuing education courses, as specified, that advance or promote labor organizing on behalf of a union, or that advance or promote statutory or regulatory changes, political candidates, political advocacy, or political strategy shall not be considered content relevant to the practice of nursing and shall not be acceptable for meeting requirements for licensure renewal. The bill would also prohibit an approved provider from representing that such a continuing education course is acceptable for meeting requirements for licensure renewal and would require the board, subject to specified procedural requirements, to withdraw its approval of a provider that violates that requirement for no less than 5 years, as specified. Because a violation of these requirements by a provider would constitute 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would recognize the Lunar New Year 4708 celebration.
This measure would declare February 23, 2010, to be Spay Day USA 2010 in California, and would request that Californians observe that day by having their dogs and cats spayed or neutered and by providing voluntary services or other support to organizations that provide spay and neuter services.
Existing law provides that a person placed on probation by a court shall be under the supervision of the county probation officer who shall determine the level and type of supervision consistent with the court-ordered conditions of probation. This bill would prohibit a county probation officer from placing a person subject to his or her supervision, who the officer has reason to believe may be in the country illegally, in a residential facility in another county if the person is subject to probation supervision because of an offense that occurred in the probation officer's county, except as specified.
