Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions, with specified coverage for eligible children and pregnant persons funded by the federal Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) . Existing federal law authorizes a state to provide services under CHIP through a Medicaid expansion program, a separate program, or a combination program. Existing federal CHIP provisions require federal payment to a state with an approved child health plan for expenditures for health services initiatives (HSI) under the plan for improving the health of children, as specified. As part of limitations on expenditures not used for Medicaid or health insurance assistance, existing federal law, with exceptions, prohibits the amount of payment that may be made for a fiscal year for HSI expenditures and other certain costs from exceeding 10% of the total amount of CHIP expenditures, as specified. Pursuant to existing state law, the department established a 3-year pilot program, from 2015 through 2017, in the County of Los Angeles that enabled school districts to allow students enrolled in Medi-Cal managed care plans to receive vision care services at the schoolsite through the use of a mobile vision service provider, limited to vision examinations and providing eyeglasses. Existing law authorizes an applicant or provider that meets the requirements to qualify as a mobile optometric office to be enrolled in the Medi-Cal program as either a mobile optometric office or within any other provider category for which the applicant or provider qualifies. Existing law defines "mobile optometric office" as a trailer, van, or other means of transportation in which the practice of optometry is performed and which is not affiliated with an approved optometry school in the state. Under existing law, the ownership and operation of a mobile optometric office is limited to a nonprofit or charitable organization, as specified, with the owner and operator registering with the California State Board of Optometry. This bill would require the department to file all necessary state plan amendments to exercise the HSI option made available under CHIP provisions to cover vision services provided to low-income children statewide through a mobile optometric office, as specified. The bill would condition implementation of these provisions on receipt of any necessary federal approvals and the availability of federal financial participation. Under the bill, the federal financial participation would be limited to no more than 3% of the total federal dollars available for expenditures not used for Medicaid or health insurance assistance, as specified. The bill would require implementation of these provisions by January 1, 2025, or the date that any necessary federal approvals have been obtained, whichever date is later. The bill would require the department to seek to fund implementation of the above-described provisions with funding other than General Fund moneys, as specified. The bill would require that all of those derived revenues and applicable federal financial participation be deposited in the State Treasury to the credit of the Vision Services CHIP-HSI Special Fund, which the bill would create. Under the bill, moneys in the fund would be available to cover the vision services upon appropriation. Commencing with the first fiscal year in which the department requests funds for this purpose and annually thereafter, the bill would require the department to report on projected and actual federal and nonfederal resources and expenditures through the budget estimate process. The bill would require continued implementation of these provisions only if no General Fund moneys are used for these provisions. Existing law prohibits the owner and operator of a mobile optometric office and the optometrist providing services from accepting payment for services other than those provided to Medi-Cal beneficiaries. This bill would authorize acceptance of payment for those services provided through any of the state's programs under CHIP, in addition to the Medi-Cal program.
Sponsored bills
Existing law prohibits a city, including a charter city, county, and city and county, from enacting or enforcing any ordinance or regulation that prohibits the installation of drought-tolerant landscaping, synthetic grass, or artificial turf on residential property, as specified. This bill would instead prohibit a city, including a charter city, county, or city and county from enacting or enforcing any ordinance or regulation that prohibits the installation of drought-tolerant landscaping using living plant material on residential property. The bill would specify that drought-tolerant landscaping does not include the installation of synthetic grass or artificial turf. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.
The Field Act requires the Department of General Services under the police power of the state to supervise the design and construction of any school building or the reconstruction or alteration of or addition to any school building, if not exempted, to ensure that plans and specifications comply with adopted rules and regulations and building standards published in regulations, and to ensure that the work of construction is performed in accordance with the approved plans and specifications for the protection of life and property. The California Building Standards Code requires that specified buildings, structures, and facilities be accessible to, and useable by, persons with disabilities, including that when alterations or additions are made to existing buildings or facilities, an accessible path of travel to the specific area of alteration or addition is provided. This bill would limit the cost of complying with the requirement to provide an accessible path of travel to a free-standing, open-sided shade structure project that meets specified requirements and that is on a school district, county office of education, charter school, or community college campus to 20% of the adjusted construction cost, as defined, of the shade structure project.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 may be amended by statute if, among other things, the bill in its final form has been delivered to the Fair Political Practices Commission for distribution to the news media and to persons who have requested to receive copies of such bills at least 12 days before passage in each house. This bill instead would require bills amending the act be in final form at least 8 days before passage in each house. However, the bill would require bills amending the act to be in final form at least 12 days before passage in each house if the previous form of the bill did not amend the act. Existing law requires the Legislative Counsel to make specified information pertaining to legislative measures publicly available in electronic form on a computer network, including the text, bill history, and bill status of each bill introduced in each current legislative session. This bill would require the Legislative Counsel to make available to the public the option to sign up to receive email alerts any time a bill to amend the Political Reform Act of 1974 is introduced, amended, or otherwise subject to an action triggering a specified notification. The bill would require these email alerts to be sent as soon as feasible, but no later than 9 a.m. the calendar day after the legislative action that is the subject of the alert. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Existing law authorizes the proponents of a statewide initiative or referendum measure to withdraw the measure after filing the initiative or referendum petition with the appropriate elections official at any time before the Secretary of State certifies that the measure has qualified for the ballot, as provided. Existing law requires, for the withdrawal of an initiative or referendum measure after the petition has been filed with the appropriate elections official, all of the proponents to file a written notice with the Secretary of State to withdraw the measure. This bill would instead require a majority of the proponents to file a written notice with the Secretary of State to withdraw the statewide initiative or referendum measure after the petition has been filed with the appropriate elections official. The bill would also authorize the proponents of a statewide initiative or referendum measure to file a notice of withdrawal with the Secretary of State that is contingent upon the enactment of a particular legislative measure, as specified. The bill would require the Secretary of State to deem a written notice of contingent withdrawal of a statewide initiative or referendum effective if the legislative measure identified in the notice is enacted and given a chapter number by the Secretary of State before the Secretary of State has certified that the statewide initiative or referendum measure has qualified for the ballot, as specified. If the legislative measure is not given a chapter number by the Secretary of State before the Secretary of State has certified that the statewide initiative or referendum measure has qualified for the ballot, as specified, or is amended after the notice of contingent withdrawal is filed, the withdrawal of the initiative or referendum measure would not be given effect.
Existing law classifies controlled substances into 5 schedules and places the greatest restrictions and penalties on the use of those substances placed in Schedule I. Existing law classifies the drug fentanyl in Schedule II. Existing law prohibits a person from possessing for sale or purchasing for purposes of sale specified controlled substances, including fentanyl, and provides for imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years for a violation of this provision. Existing law also imposes an additional term, and authorizes a trial court to impose a specified fine, upon a person who is convicted of a violation of, or of a conspiracy to violate, specified provisions of law with respect to a substance containing heroin, cocaine base, and cocaine, if the substance exceeds a specified weight. This bill would add fentanyl to the substances for which additional terms or fines can be imposed and would require a defendant who violates those laws with respect to a substance containing heroin, fentanyl, or cocaine, as specified, to know of the substance's nature or character as a controlled substance to be subjected to an additional term and authorized fine. By increasing the penalty for, and by changing the definition 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.
Existing law establishes the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) Grant Program, administered by the Board of State and Community Corrections, to award competitive grants for the purpose of violence intervention and prevention. Existing law imposes various taxes, including taxes on the privilege of engaging in certain activities. The Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, provides procedures for the collection of certain fees and surcharges. This bill, the Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Act, would, commencing July 1, 2024, impose an excise tax in the amount of 11% of the gross receipts from the retail sale in this state of a firearm, firearm precursor part, and ammunition, as specified. The tax would be collected by the state pursuant to the Fee Collection Procedures Law. The bill would require that the revenues collected be deposited in the Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Fund, which the bill would establish in the State Treasury. The bill would require the moneys received in the fund to be used to fund various gun violence prevention, education, research, response, and investigation programs, as specified. The bill would require the Director of Finance to transfer, as a loan, $2,400,000 from the General Fund to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to implement these provisions, as specified. The bill would require each licensed firearms dealer, firearms manufacturer, and ammunition vendor to register with the department for a certificate, as specified. The bill would also provide procedures for the issuance, revocation, and reinstatement of a permit. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. Because this bill would expand the scope of the Fee Collection Procedures Law, the violation of which is a crime, this 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 California Constitution prohibits the development, construction, or acquisition in any manner of a low-rent housing project by any state public body, as defined, until a majority of the qualified electors of the city, town, or county in which it is proposed to develop, construct, or acquire the same, voting upon that issue, approve the project by voting in favor at an election. The California Constitution, for purposes of this prohibition, defines "low-rent housing project" to mean any development composed of urban or rural dwellings, apartments, or other living accommodations for persons of low income, financed in whole or in part by the federal government or a state public body, or to which the federal government or a state public body extends assistance by supplying all or part of the labor, by guaranteeing the payment of liens, or otherwise. Existing law establishes exclusions from this definition of "low-rent housing project," including a development that consists of the acquisition, rehabilitation, reconstruction, alterations work, new construction, or any combination thereof, of lodging facilities or dwelling units using moneys appropriated and disbursed pursuant to specified provisions of the Zenovich-Moscone-Chacon Housing and Home Finance Act relating to affordable housing preservation, rental housing development awarded funds from certain multifamily housing direct loan programs, and housing for individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness and who are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic or other communicable diseases. This bill would expand that exclusion to include a development that consists of the acquisition, rehabilitation, reconstruction, alterations work, new construction, or any combination thereof, of lodging facilities or dwelling units using an allocation of federal or state low-income housing tax credits from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee or moneys appropriated and disbursed pursuant to the Zenovich-Moscone-Chacon Housing and Home Finance Act, and the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program, thereby excluding the developments that receive money from the specified funds and programs from the scope of the above-described constitutional provision.
This measure would, among other things, formally endorse the call for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, state California's agreement with the principle of the nonproliferation of fossil fuels, and urge the United States government to join in formally developing a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.
This measure would proclaim August 2023 as Breastfeeding Awareness Month of 2023 in California. The measure would recognize the unique benefits that breastfeeding provides, as specified, and would affirm that Californians should work to ensure that barriers to initiation and continuation of breastfeeding are removed. The measure would encourage Californians to work together to explore ways to, among other things, improve women's access to breastfeeding support services in medical, social, and employment settings.