Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of that act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires health care service plans and health insurers to provide specified mental health and substance use disorder coverage, and requires a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, that provides hospital, medical, or surgical coverage to provide coverage for medically necessary treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, under the same terms and conditions applied to other medical conditions, as specified. Existing law requires health care service plans and health insurers, by July 1, 2019, to develop, consistent with sound clinical principles and processes, a maternal mental health program designed to promote quality and cost-effective outcomes, as specified. This bill would make findings and declarations relating to the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in California and the importance of outreach, education, and access to quality mental health treatment. The bill would extend the deadline for establishment of the maternal mental health program to July 1, 2023. The bill would revise the requirements of the program to include quality measures to encourage screening, diagnosis, treatment, and referral. The bill also would encourage health care service plans and health insurers to improve screening, treatment, and referral to maternal mental health services, include coverage for doulas, incentivize training opportunities for contracting obstetric providers, and educate enrollees and insureds about the program. The bill would define "health care service plan" to include specified Medi-Cal managed health care plans, as specified, and would require those plans to continue to comply with any quality measures required or adopted by the State Department of Health Care Services, notwithstanding the requirements of the bill. Because a violation of the bill 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.
Sponsored bills
Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to give diligent care to the health and physical development of pupils and authorizes the governing board of a school district to employ properly certified persons for this purpose. Existing law requires a school of a school district or a county office of education and a charter school to notify pupils and parents or guardians of pupils no less than twice during the school year on how to initiate access to available pupil mental health services on campus or in the community, as provided. Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health, in cooperation with the State Department of Education, to establish a Public School Health Center Support Program to assist school health centers, which are defined as centers or programs, located at or near local educational agencies, that provide age-appropriate health care services at the program site or through referrals, as specified. Existing law, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) , an initiative measure enacted by the voters as Proposition 63 at the November 2, 2004, statewide general election, establishes the Mental Health Services Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, to fund various county mental health programs, including children's mental health care, adult and older adult mental health care, prevention and early intervention programs, and innovative programs. Existing law authorizes the MHSA to be amended by a 23 vote of the Legislature if the amendments are consistent with, and further the purposes of, the MHSA. This bill would amend the MHSA by appropriating $250,000,000 from the Mental Health Services Fund, after all existing MHSA programs have been funded, to the State Controller to distribute to the Superintendent of Public Instruction to provide annual grants of up to $250,000 each to certain local educational agencies serving high school pupils to establish or improve school-based health centers that provide mental health services provided or supervised by an appropriately licensed or credentialed mental health professional, as provided. The bill would also define school-based health centers as centers or programs, located at or near local educational agencies, that provide age-appropriate health care services at the program site or through referrals. The bill would require grant funds to be used for activities that will help pupils to be healthy in body, mind, and spirit in order to learn successfully, and would authorize grant funds to be used for personnel to support pupil mental health, as provided. The bill would only authorize school-based health centers to use grant funds to develop new, or expand the scope of existing, programs. The bill would require the State Department of Education to identify criteria for the evaluation of applicants and the awarding of grants, require a grant applicant to certify that it has consulted with the local county mental health department in grant program planning and service delivery, and authorize the department to give preference to applicants whose grant application demonstrates greater program collaboration with the county. The bill would state the finding and declaration of the Legislature that these changes are consistent with, and further the intent of, the MHSA.
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 through various health care delivery systems, including managed care pursuant to Medi-Cal managed care plan contracts. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. This bill would, for covered benefits under its contract, require a Medi-Cal managed care plan to, among other things, make a good faith effort to contract with at least one National Cancer Institute (NCI) -designated comprehensive cancer center, site affiliated with the NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) , or qualifying academic cancer center, as specified within each county in which the Medi-Cal managed care plan operates, and authorize any eligible enrollee diagnosed with a complex cancer diagnosis to request a referral to any of those centers to receive medically necessary services unless the enrollee chooses a different cancer treatment provider. The bill would require a Medi-Cal managed care plan to notify all enrollees of their right to request a referral to access to care through any of those centers. The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific the provisions by means of all-county letters or similar guidance, without taking further regulatory action. The bill would require the department, in consultation with stakeholders, to develop a process for updating and further defining a "complex cancer diagnosis" on a periodic basis. The bill would require the department to seek federal approval to implement those provisions and would require the provisions be implemented only to the extent that necessary federal approvals are obtained.
Existing law, the Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act, requires the State Department of Developmental Services to contract with regional centers to provide services and supports to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. Existing law defines developmental disability for these purposes to include, among other things, autism. 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 also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan contract or a health insurance policy to provide coverage for behavioral health treatment for pervasive developmental disorder or autism, and defines "behavioral health treatment" to mean specified services and treatment programs, including treatment provided pursuant to a treatment plan that is prescribed by a qualified autism service provider and administered either by a qualified autism service provider or by a qualified autism service professional or qualified autism service paraprofessional who is supervised as specified. Existing law defines a "qualified autism service provider" to refer to a person who is certified or licensed and a "qualified autism service professional" to refer to a person who meets specified educational, training, and other requirements and is supervised and employed by a qualified autism service provider. Existing law defines a "qualified autism service paraprofessional" to mean an unlicensed and uncertified individual who meets specified educational, training, and other criteria, is supervised by a qualified autism service provider or a qualified autism service professional, and is employed by the qualified autism service provider. Existing law also requires a qualified autism service provider to design, in connection with the treatment plan, an intervention plan that describes, among other information, the parent participation needed to achieve the plan's goals and objectives, as specified. This bill would revise the definition of behavioral health treatment to require the services and treatment programs provided to be based on behavioral, developmental, relationship-based, or other evidence-based models. The bill also would revise the definition of a "qualified autism service professional" to include a registered, certified, or licensed associate or assistant regulated by one of a list of specified professional boards, and supervised by a qualified autism service provider practicing in the associate's or assistant's field of medicine. The bill would revise the training requirements for a qualified autism service paraprofessional by authorizing training to be provided by a qualified autism service provider practicing the evidence-based treatment modality that the qualified autism service paraprofessional will administer. This bill would require the qualified autism service provider to design an intervention plan that includes parent or caregiver participation, when clinically appropriate, that is individualized to the patient, or to develop an alternative plan if a parent or caregiver cannot participate, as specified. The bill would prohibit using the lack of parent or caregiver participation, implementation of an alternative plan, or the setting, location, or time of treatment as a reason to deny or reduce coverage for medically necessary services. Because a willful violation of the bill's provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, it 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, 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 a health care service plan contract issued, amended, delivered, or renewed on or after January 1, 2000, or an individual or group policy of disability insurance or self-insured employee welfare benefit plan to provide coverage for mammography for screening or diagnostic purposes upon referral by specified professionals. Under existing law, mammography performed pursuant to those requirements or that meets the current recommendations of the United States Preventive Services Task Force is provided to an enrollee or an insured without cost sharing. This bill would require a health care service plan contract, a policy of disability insurance that provides hospital, medical, or surgical coverage, or a self-insured employee welfare benefit plan issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2024, to provide coverage without imposing cost sharing for, among other things, screening mammography and medically necessary diagnostic breast imaging, including diagnostic breast imaging following an abnormal mammography result and for an enrollee or insured indicated to have a risk factor associated with breast cancer, except as specified. 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 a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, that generally requires employers to secure the payment of workers' compensation for injuries incurred by their employees that arise out of, and in the course of, employment. Existing law requires an employer to provide medical, surgical, chiropractic, acupuncture, and hospital treatment reasonably required to cure or relieve the injured worker from the effects of the injury. Existing law includes in the meaning of medical treatment services and supplies by physical therapists, chiropractic practitioners, and acupuncturists, that are licensed and within the scope of their practice. Existing law authorizes an insurer, employer, or entity that provides physician network services to establish or modify a medical provider network for the provision of medical treatment to injured employees, and requires that a network include an adequate number and type of physicians or other providers, as defined. This bill would include a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) as treatment the employer is reasonably required to provide, would expand the meaning of medical treatment to include the services of an LCSW, and would authorize an employer to provide an employee with access to an LCSW, as defined, acting within the scope of their practice. The bill would authorize medical provider networks to add LCSWs to the physician providers listing, authorize an LCSW to treat or evaluate an injured worker only upon referral from a physician, as defined, and prohibit an LCSW from determining disability, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations in support of allowing licensed clinical social workers to treat work-related mental and behavioral health issues. Existing law requires that when a self-insured employer, group of self-insured employers, or the insurer of an employer contracts with a health care organization for health care services to be provided to injured employees, those employees subject to the contract are to receive medical services in the manner prescribed in the contract. Existing law requires that each contract provide all medical, surgical, chiropractic, acupuncture, and hospital treatment that is reasonably required to cure or relieve the effects of the injury. This bill would include an LCSW as treatment that the contract is required to provide.
Existing law authorizes a person, firm, or corporation, or a group or combination of persons, firms, corporations, or groups, that owns or controls brush-covered land, forest lands, woodland, grassland, shrubland, or any combination thereof within a state responsibility area to apply to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) for permission to utilize prescribed burning for specified public purposes. Existing law requires, on or before January 1, 2020, the Forest Management Task Force, or its successor entity, in coordination with the Department of Insurance, to develop recommendations for the implementation of an insurance pool or other mechanism for prescribed burn managers that reduces the cost of conducting prescribed fire while maintaining adequate liability protection for lives and property when conducting prescribed burns. This bill would delete the provision requiring the task force to develop recommendations for the implementation of an insurance pool or other mechanisms for prescribed burn managers. The bill would establish, until January 1, 2028, the Prescribed Fire Liability Pilot Program, to be administered by CalFire, to increase the pace and scale of the use of prescribed fire and cultural burning, as defined, and to reduce barriers for conducting prescribed fires and cultural burning. The bill would create the Prescribed Fire Claims Fund in the State Treasury to support coverage for losses from prescribed fires and cultural burning by nonpublic entities, such as cultural fire practitioners, private landowners, and nongovernmental entities. The bill would require that, upon order of the Department of Finance, the $20,000,000 appropriated to CalFire by the Legislature in the Budget Act of 2021 be transferred into the fund, and would provide that all moneys deposited or transferred into the fund be continuously appropriated to CalFire for these purposes. By providing for the continuous appropriation of fund moneys to CalFire, this bill would create an appropriation. The bill would authorize CalFire to contract with any entity, including another state agency, such as the California Insurance Guarantee Association, to administer or assist in administering the fund, including managing and operating the fund, adjusting claims made pursuant to the fund, and paying claims from the fund, as provided. The bill would require CalFire to collaborate with other relevant state agencies, cultural fire practitioners, and burn bosses to establish guidelines governing the program and the administration of the fund and would prescribe minimum requirements for those guidelines. The bill would limit the state's liability for all claims for covered losses established pursuant to the program and the guidelines adopted by CalFire to the amount in the fund. Existing law creates the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA) and requires all insurers admitted to transact specified insurance lines in this state to become members. Under existing law, CIGA pays and discharges covered claims, which are the obligations of an insolvent insurer that meet specified requirements. Existing law requires CIGA to operate pursuant to a plan of operations, and subjects that plan and its amendments to prior written approval of the Insurance Commissioner. This bill would authorize CIGA, until January 1, 2028, to administer the Prescribed Fire Claims Fund, subject to prior written approval by the commissioner. The bill would grant CIGA the authority to handle losses arising from prescribed fires and cultural burning that are supported by the fund if the commissioner grants approval and CalFire contracts with CIGA for that purpose. The bill would limit the state's and CIGA's liability for losses arising from prescribed fires and cultural burning that are supported by the fund and associated costs to the amount in the fund. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires all children with disabilities residing in the state, regardless of the severity of their disabilities, and who are in need of special education and related services, to be identified, located, and assessed. Existing regulations adopted by the State Board of Education provide that a child who is assessed as having a specified health impairment or other health impairment is entitled to special education and related services. Those regulations define "other health impairment" as having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the environment that is due to a chronic or acute health problem and adversely affects the child's educational performance. This bill would require the state board to include "fetal alcohol spectrum disorder" in that definition of "other health impairment." By broadening the group of pupils eligible for special education and related services, 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, 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 requests the University of California to establish and administer the Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Program, until January 1, 2023, for the purpose of collecting units of umbilical cord blood for public use, as defined, in transplantation and providing nonclinical units for specified research. Existing law requires the University of California, by January 1, 2022, if it elects to administer the program, to provide a report to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Health that addresses specified information relating to the program, including the number of cord blood units collected and registered under the program, disaggregated by race and ethnicity. This bill would extend the provisions of the program until January 1, 2027. The bill would require the University of California, by January 1, 2026, if it elects to administer the program, to provide a report to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Health that addresses specified information relating to the program. Existing law requires any funds made available for purposes of the program to be deposited into the Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Program Fund. Under existing law, moneys in the fund are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the program. Existing law, until January 1, 2023, requires the collection of an $18 fee for certified copies of birth certificates, except as specified. Under existing law, $2 of the fee is required to be paid to the fund. Existing law, to be operative January 1, 2023, reduces the fee for certified copies of birth certificates to $16 and eliminates the requirement that $2 of the fee be paid to the fund. This bill would extend both of those dates until January 1, 2027. By extending the collection of the $2 fee to be paid to the fund for 4 additional years, the bill would impose a tax.
Existing law requires every motor vehicle subject to registration to be equipped with an adequate muffler in constant operation and properly maintained to prevent any excessive or unusual noise and prohibits a muffler or exhaust system from being equipped with a cutout, bypass, or similar device. Existing law further prohibits the modification of an exhaust system of a motor vehicle in a manner that will amplify or increase the noise emitted by the motor of the vehicle so that the vehicle exceeds existing noise limits when tested in accordance with specified standards. Existing law establishes the motor vehicle inspection program, which provides for privately operated stations that are referred to as smog check stations and are authorized to issue certificates of compliance or noncompliance to vehicles that meet certain requirements. Existing law requires a certain number of stations providing referee functions available to consumers, which ensures uniform and consistent tests and repairs by all qualified smog check technicians and licensed smog check stations throughout the state. Existing law requires stations providing referee functions to provide for the testing of vehicular exhaust systems and the issuance of certificates of compliance for those vehicles that have received a citation for the noise limit violations described above. Under existing law, it is unlawful for an owner to request, cause, or permit the operation of any vehicle that is, among other things, not equipped as required by law. Under existing law, if there is a violation, an owner or any other person who was not driving the vehicle involved in the violation may be mailed a written notice to appear by the court. Existing law authorizes a court to dismiss any action in which a person is prosecuted for operating a vehicle in violation of the noise limit requirements mentioned above if a certificate of compliance has been issued or if the defendant had reasonable grounds to believe that the exhaust system was in good working order and had reasonable grounds to believe that the vehicle was not operated in violation of those requirements. Existing law also prohibits a person from modifying the exhaust system of a vehicle with a whistle-tip, operating a vehicle that has been so modified, or engaging in the business of installing a whistle-tip onto the vehicle's exhaust system. This bill would require a court to require a certificate of compliance for a violation of the noise limit requirements mentioned above for specified vehicles. The bill would require the court to utilize the notification procedures mentioned above and if a certificate of compliance is not provided to the court within 3 months of the violation date, the bill would require the court to treat this failure as noncompliance and inform the Department of Motor Vehicles by following specified procedures. The bill would require the department, before renewing the registration of any vehicle, to check whether the court has issued a hold on the vehicle registration for a violation of the requirements mentioned above and to refuse to renew the registration until it has received a notification from the court that a certificate of compliance has been issued. This bill would also require stations providing referee functions to provide for the testing of exhaust systems of motor vehicles and the issuance of certificates of compliance for vehicles that have received a citation for installing, operating, or engaging in the business of installing a whistle-tip onto a vehicle's exhaust system and for motorcycles that have received a citation for the violations mentioned above. Existing law requires an officer, if, after an arrest, accident investigation, or other law enforcement action, it appears that a violation, including, among other things, a mechanical requirement by law, has occurred, to prepare, and the violator to sign, a written notice containing the violator's promise to correct the alleged violation, and to deliver proof of correction of the violation to the issuing agency except if the officer finds that the violation cited was for a motorcycle that has a modification of the exhaust system in a manner that amplifies or increases the noise emitted by the motor so that the motorcycle is not in compliance with the law. This bill would eliminate that exemption. These requirements would become operative on January 1, 2027.