Existing law generally prohibits an employer from paying an employee at wage rates less than the rates paid to employees of the opposite sex in the same establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions. Existing law establishes exceptions to that prohibition, including, among others, where the payment is made based on any bona fide factor other than sex, such as education, training, or experience. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for an employer or other person acting either individually or as an officer, agent, or employee of another person to pay or cause to be paid to any employee a wage less than the rate paid to an employee of the opposite sex as required by these provisions, or who reduces the wages of any employee in order to comply with these provisions. Existing law also makes it a misdemeanor for an employer to refuse or neglect to comply with the above provisions of law. This bill would specify that prior salary cannot, by itself, justify any disparity in compensation under the bona fide factor exception to the above prohibition. By changing the definition of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 1197.5 of the Labor Code proposed by SB 1063 that would become operative only if SB 1063 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
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Existing law, the California Community Care Facilities Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of community care and residential facilities by the State Department of Social Services. Under existing law, the act does not apply to certain facilities, including, among others, any school dormitory or similar facility determined by the department. Existing law makes a violation of any of these provisions punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would define "private alternative boarding school" and "private alternative outdoor program" for purposes of the act and would make those facilities subject to regulation under the act. The bill would require the department, commencing January 1, 2018, to license private alternative boarding schools as group homes and, commencing January 1, 2019, to license private alternative outdoor programs as group homes. The bill would impose additional requirements on these facilities and programs, including, among others, requiring them to provide each prospective youth and his or her parent or legal guardian with an accurate written description of the programs and services to be provided and requiring their staff to receive training in specified subject areas. The bill would also establish rights for youth admitted to a private alternative boarding school or a private alternative outdoor program. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations implementing licensure of private alternative boarding schools by January 1, 2018, and to adopt regulations implementing licensure of private alternative outdoor programs by January 1, 2019, and would authorize the department to adopt emergency regulations in both instances. By making private alternative boarding schools and private alternative outdoor programs subject to criminal penalties under the act, this bill would create new crimes, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. This bill would incorporate additional changes made by AB 741 and AB 1997 that would become operative only if this bill is chaptered 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, and eligibility for government programs and benefits based upon specified personal characteristics. Under existing law, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency is charged with enforcement of civil rights violations, including discrimination. Existing law requires the department and other state agencies that administer programs or activities funded by the state or that receive financial assistance from the state and that enter into contracts for services to be provided to the public, as specified, to promulgate regulations to prohibit discrimination. This bill would reorganize various statutes regarding discrimination. The bill would also remove the requirement that those state agencies promulgate regulations to prohibit discrimination under these provisions and would require the investigation and enforcement of the above-described antidiscrimination provisions to be performed by the department. The bill would require that specified regulations implementing these provisions be transferred to the portion of the California Code of Regulations that is under the authority of the department and would authorize the department to add to, amend, or repeal the regulations, as necessary. Existing law authorizes the provision of housing for homeless youth, as defined, and occupies the field of regulation of housing for homeless youth. This bill would reorganize these provisions by making them part of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act. The bill would also make conforming changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12930 of the Government Code, proposed by AB 2707, to be operative only if AB 2707 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.
Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, among other things provides for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California. Under existing law, the board's responsibilities include enforcement of the disciplinary and criminal provisions of the act. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, including early and periodic screening, diagnosis, and treatment for any individual under 21 years of age. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law establishes a statewide system of child welfare services, administered by the State Department of Social Services, with the intent that all children are entitled to be safe and free from abuse and neglect. This bill would, until January 1, 2027, require the State Department of Health Care Services and the State Department of Social Services, pursuant to a specified data-sharing agreement, to provide the Medical Board of California with information regarding Medi-Cal physicians and their prescribing patterns of psychotropic medications and related services for specified children and minors placed in foster care using data provided by the State Department of Health Care Services and the State Department of Social Services, as prescribed. The bill would require that the data concerning psychotropic medications and related services be drawn from existing data sources maintained by the departments and shared pursuant to a data-sharing agreement and would require that, every 5 years, the board, the State Department of Health Care Services, and the State Department of Social Services consult and revise the methodology, if determined to be necessary. The bill would require the board to contract for consulting services from, if available, a psychiatrist who has expertise and specializes in pediatric care for the purpose of reviewing the data provided to the board. Commencing July 1, 2017, the bill would require the board to report annually to the Legislature, the State Department of Health Care Services, and the State Department of Social Services the results of the analysis of the data. The bill would, until January 1, 2027, require the board to review the data in order to determine if any potential violations of law or excessive prescribing of psychotropic medications inconsistent with the standard of care exist and conduct an investigation, if warranted, and would require the board to take disciplinary action, as specified. The bill would require the board, on or before January 1, 2022, to conduct an internal review of those activities and to revise procedures relating to those activities, if determined to be necessary. The bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to disseminate treatment guidelines on an annual basis through its existing communications with Medi-Cal providers, as specified. The bill would require the board to handle on a priority basis investigations of repeated acts of excessive prescribing, furnishing, or administering psychotropic medications to a minor, as specified.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law establishes an administrative claiming process under which the department is authorized to contract with local governmental agencies and local educational consortia for the purpose of obtaining federal matching funds to assist with the performance of administrative activities relating to the Medi-Cal program. Existing law defines a local educational agency for these purposes as a local educational agency that participates under the process as a subcontractor to the local educational consortium in its service region. Existing law provides that specified services provided by local educational agencies (LEAs) are covered Medi-Cal benefits and requires the department to perform various activities with respect to the billing option for services provided by LEAs, including amendment of the Medicaid state plan to ensure that schools shall be reimbursed for all eligible services they provide. Existing law requires the department to file an annual report with the Legislature that provides information related to these activities, as specified. Existing law requires the department to regularly consult with the State Department of Education, school district representatives, county offices of education, the local educational consortium, and local educational agencies to assist in formulating those state plan amendments. Existing law funds these activities by requiring the department to proportionately reduce federal Medicaid payments allocable to LEAs, collect the reductions, and deposit them into the Local Educational Agency Medi-Cal Recovery Fund, as specified. This bill would additionally require the department to contract directly with an LEA, if the LEA chooses and the department has developed a process governing direct contracting, to perform school-based administrative activities necessary for the proper and efficient administration of the Medi-Cal program, as specified. The bill would designate the contracting between the department and participating local educational agencies, local educational consortia, and local governmental agencies to perform those school-based administrative activities as the School-Based Administrative Claiming process program. The bill would authorize the department to administer or oversee the administration of a single statewide random moment time survey, or a reduction in the number of quarterly random moment time surveys conducted in the state, for the purposes of the program. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations. This bill would require the department to prepare and post on its Internet Web site an annual report of the costs of administering the School-Based Administrative Claiming process program and the LEA billing option and list local educational agency participation in each. The bill would also require the department to include in that report the annual report related to the LEA billing option. This bill would require the department to enter into an interagency agreement or memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the State Department of Education to coordinate the efforts of both departments with respect to the LEA billing option and the School-Based Administrative Claiming process program. The bill would require the department to develop an appeals process, as specified, to contest an action of the department. This bill would require the department and the State Department of Education to establish and jointly administer a School-Based Health Program and Policy Workgroup, as specified, in order to assist the department in formulating state plan amendments required to implement the LEA billing option described above and for the purpose of advising the department on issues related to the delivery of school-based Medi-Cal services to students in the state, as specified. The bill would require the department to consult with the advisory group in connection with developing the interagency agreement or MOU described above. The bill would authorize the department and the State Department of Education to use moneys collected by the department to fund the LEA Medi-Cal billing option program activities and amounts withheld from LEAs by agreement with the department to meet the requirements of the interagency agreement or MOU described above and to fund staffing requirements for the workgroup.
Existing law establishes various programs, including, among others, the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program, to provide assistance to homeless persons. This bill would require a state agency or department that funds, implements, or administers a state program that provides housing or housing-related services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, except as specified, to revise or adopt guidelines and regulations to include enumerated Housing First policies. The bill would also establish the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to oversee the implementation of the Housing First guidelines and regulations and, among other things, to identify resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California.
(1) Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature to preserve, upgrade, and expand the supply of housing to persons and families of low or moderate income, through the sale of specified surplus residential property owned by public agencies. Existing law establishes priorities and procedures that any state agency disposing of that surplus residential property is required to follow. Under existing law, specified single-family residences must first be offered to their former owners or present occupants, as specified. If the property is not sold to a former owner or present occupant, existing law requires that the property be offered to a housing-related private or public entity at a reasonable price for either limited equity cooperative housing or low and moderate income rental or owner-occupied housing, as specified. This bill would authorize a local housing authority to purchase and rehabilitate surplus residential property within Pasadena, South Pasadena, Alhambra, La Cañada Flintridge, and the 90032 postal ZIP Code. The local housing authority would be required to dedicate any profits realized from a subsequent sale to the construction of affordable housing. The bill would also require that, prior to offering the property to a housing-related private or public entity as specified above, that property that is a historic home, as defined, be first offered to a housing-related public entity or a nonprofit private entity dedicated to rehabilitating and maintaining the historic home for public and community access and use. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to deposit proceeds from sales of surplus residential property into the SR-710 Rehabilitation Account, a continuously appropriated fund, to be distributed, as specified, exclusively to fund projects located in Pasadena, South Pasadena, Alhambra, La Cañada Flintridge, and the 90032 postal ZIP Code. This bill would specifically require the department to deposit proceeds from the sale of surplus residential property from the department to a new owner in the SR-710 Rehabilitation Account. This bill would establish the Affordable Housing Trust Account within the Housing Finance Fund and require the net proceeds from a subsequent market sale of surplus residential property sold pursuant to these provisions at an affordable or reasonable price, as specified, be deposited in this account. The bill would continuously appropriate funds in this account to the California Housing Finance Agency to carry out specified activities for the benefit of persons residing exclusively within Pasadena, South Pasadena, Alhambra, La Cañada Flintridge, and the 90032 postal ZIP Code. (3) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for Pasadena, South Pasadena, Alhambra, La Cañada Flintridge, and the 90032 postal ZIP Code. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes various crimes relating to computer services and systems, including, but not limited to, knowingly introducing a computer contaminant, as defined. Existing law makes a violation of those crimes punishable by specified fines or terms of imprisonment, or by both those fines and imprisonment. Existing law defines extortion as obtaining the property of another, with his or her consent, induced by a wrongful use of force or fear. Existing law makes extortion a crime, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for 2, 3, or 4 years. This bill would define ransomware as a computer contaminant or lock placed or introduced without authorization into a computer, computer system, or computer network that restricts access by an authorized person to the computer, computer system, computer network, or any data therein under circumstances in which the person responsible for the placement or introduction of the ransomware demands payment of money or other consideration to remove the computer contaminant, restore access to the computer, computer system, computer network, or data, or otherwise remediate the impact of the computer contaminant or lock. The bill would provide that a person is responsible for placing or introducing ransomware into a computer, computer system, or computer network if the person directly places or introduces the ransomware or directs or induces another person do so, with the intent of demanding payment or other consideration to remove the ransomware, restore access, or otherwise remediate the impact of the ransomware. The bill would provide that a person who, with intent to extort money or other consideration from another, introduces ransomware into any computer, computer system, or computer network is punishable as if that money or other consideration were actually obtained by means of the ransomware. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would create 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.
Under existing law, the Department of Insurance, headed by the Insurance Commissioner, licenses and regulates insurers. Existing law divides insurance into various classes, including long-term care insurance, which includes an insurance policy, certificate, or rider advertised, marketed, offered, solicited, or designed to provide coverage for diagnostic, preventive, therapeutic, rehabilitative, maintenance, or personal care services that are provided in a setting other than an acute care unit of a hospital. Existing law defines "policy" for these purposes. This bill would, among other things, define "alternate plan of care" as a plan of care developed by a licensed health care practitioner that includes a specification of long-term care services required by an insured that are not specifically defined as a covered service under the policy. The bill would also define "alternate-plan-of-care provision" to mean a provision in a policy, rider, endorsement, or amendment that allows benefits for services specified in an alternate plan of care. The bill would authorize, for policies issued on or after January 1, 2017, the insured or an insurer to propose an alternate plan of care. The bill would also prohibit the maximum benefit available under the contract from being changed based on an insured utilizing an alternate plan of care but would authorize the maximum benefit to be reduced by the amount of any benefits paid under an alternate plan of care. The bill would also require coverage for services under an alternate plan of care to be in addition to, not in lieu of, coverage for services specifically defined as covered services under the policy. The bill would also require an insurer, within 60 days, to provide a written explanation to the policyholder or certificate holder as to the specific reason an agreement cannot be reached for policies or certificates that contain an alternate plan of care provision, as specified.
Existing law, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, enacted by Proposition 47, as approved by the voters at the November 4, 2014, statewide general election, among other things, established the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, which is funded by savings that accrue to the state from the implementation of the act. The act provides that, among other purposes, 25% of the funds shall be disbursed to the State Department of Education to administer a grant program to public agencies aimed at improving outcomes for public school pupils by reducing truancy and supporting pupils who are at risk of dropping out of school or are victims of crime. This bill would establish the Learning Communities for School Success Program for the purpose of implementing that grant program, subject to an appropriation to the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund in the annual Budget Act or another statute for the purposes of the bill. The bill would specify the administrative duties and responsibilities of the department with respect to the program, including administering grants and coordinating assistance to local educational agencies, as defined. The bill would set forth criteria to guide the department in awarding grants under the program, and would specify the purposes for which grant funds may be used. The bill would require the department to submit a final evaluation of the program to the Legislature on or before January 31, 2020. These provisions would become operative only if AB 1014 of the 2015–16 Regular Session is chaptered and becomes operative on or before January 1, 2017.