Existing law establishes the Inmate Welfare Fund of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in the State Treasury. Existing law requires that the money in the fund constitute a trust to be used for the benefit, education, and welfare of inmates of prisons and institutions under the jurisdiction of the department, as specified. Existing law requires the Department of Finance to conduct a biennial audit of the fund and, at the end of each intervening fiscal year, to prepare a statement of operations. This bill would authorize the use of moneys in the Inmate Welfare Fund for education programs, hobby and recreational programs, as specified, inmate family visiting services, leisure-time activities, and assistance with obtaining photo identification from the Department of Motor Vehicles, and would specify the intent of the Legislature that the moneys not be used for programs that the department is required to provide. The bill would require the warden of each institution and specified other stakeholders to meet at least biannually to determine how the money is used in that institution. Under existing law, funds from the Inmate Welfare Fund are prohibited from being used for specified expenses, including overtime for staff, television repair, and athletic or recreation supplies. Under existing law, moneys in the fund, as they relate to state prison camps, are continuously appropriated. This bill would authorize the use of fund moneys for educational programs, inmate family visiting services, leisure-time activities, and assistance with obtaining photo identification from the Department of Motor Vehicles, thereby making an appropriation.
Sponsored bills
(1) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California. Existing law requires the board to issue a license to an applicant who meets specified qualifications and requirements, including successfully completing a medical curriculum, as specified, in a medical school or schools located in the United States or Canada approved by the board, or in a medical school located outside the United States or Canada that otherwise meets specified requirements. Existing law requires the board to issue a license to an applicant who, among other things, (A) holds an unlimited license as a physician and surgeon in another state or states or a Canadian province or provinces, (B) has held an unrestricted license to practice medicine for at least 4 years, (C) has passed a written examination recognized by the board to be equivalent in context to that administered in California, (D) the board has determined has (i) not had disciplinary action taken against him or her, (ii) not been the subject of an adverse judgment or settlement, and (iii) has not committed any acts or crimes constituting grounds for denial of a certificate, in each case, as specified, (E) has completed specified postgraduate training, and (F) is board certified in a specialty, as specified. This bill would, upon review and recommendation, authorize the board to determine that an applicant for a physician and surgeon's certificate who acquired his or her medical education or a portion thereof at a foreign medical school that is not recognized or has been previously disapproved by the board is eligible for a certificate if the applicant (1) successfully completes a course of medical instruction leading to a degree of medical doctor, (2) holds an unlimited and unrestricted license in another state or federal territory and practiced for 10 or 20 years depending on whether the medical education was acquired from an unrecognized or previously disapproved foreign medical school, (3) is certified by a specified specialty board, (4) has successfully taken and passed specified examinations, (5) has not been the subject of specified disciplinary action or of adverse judgments or settlements, (6) has successfully completed 3 years of approved postgraduate training, (7) is not subject to denial of licensure under specified provisions, and (8) has not held a healing arts license and been subject to disciplinary action by specified healing arts boards. The bill would also authorize the board to adopt specified regulations concerning the acceptance of records when originals are not available and substitution of board certifications for years of practice or licensure when considering an application for a certificate pursuant to these provisions. (2) Existing law creates within the Department of Consumer Affairs the Board of Registered Nursing, and makes the board responsible for the licensure and regulation of registered nurses. Existing law requires the board to meet quarterly. This bill would require meetings of the board to be held in northern and southern California. (3) Existing law defines the term "approved school of nursing" and requires the board to approve and regulate registered nursing schools that are institutions of higher education or are affiliated with an institution of higher education, as specified. Existing law requires a school of nursing that is not affiliated with an institution of higher education to make an agreement with such an institution for purposes of awarding nursing degrees. This bill would delete the provisions requiring an agreement and would instead allow the board to approve a school of nursing that is affiliated with an institution of higher education, and that is subject to the requirements set forth in the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 to grant nursing degrees. The bill would specify that the term "approved school of nursing" includes an approved nursing program. The bill would subject all approved schools of nursing to specified fees for deposit into the Board of Registered Nursing Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Because the bill adds a new source of revenue to a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require the board to have a memorandum of understanding with the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education to delineate the powers of the board and bureau, as specified. (4) Existing law provides that it is unlawful for anyone to conduct a school of nursing unless the school has been approved by the board. This bill would authorize the board to issue cease and desist orders to a school of nursing that is not approved by the board and would require the board to notify the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education and the office of the Attorney General of such a school. The bill would also provide that it is unprofessional conduct for any registered nurse to violate that provision.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including telephone corporations, as defined. This bill would, until January 1, 2020, prohibit the commission from regulating Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Internet Protocol enabled service (IP enabled service) , as defined, except as required or delegated by federal law or expressly provided otherwise in statute. The bill would prohibit any department, agency, commission, or political subdivision of the state from enacting, adopting, or enforcing any law, rule, regulation, ordinance, standard, order, or other provision having the force or effect of law, that regulates VoIP or other IP enabled service, unless required or delegated by federal law or expressly authorized by statute. The bill would specify certain areas of law that are expressly applicable to VoIP and IP enabled service providers. The bill would provide that its limitations upon the commission's regulation of VoIP and IP enabled services do not affect the commission's existing authority over non-VoIP and other non-IP enabled wireline or wireless service and do not affect the enforcement of any state or federal criminal law or local ordinances of general applicability that apply to the conduct of business, the California Environmental Quality Act, or a local utility user tax, among other things.
(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. This bill would, until January 1, 2017, exempt from CEQA the design, site acquisition, construction, operation, or maintenance of certain structures and equipment of the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) , consisting of a long-term evolution broadband mobile data system and a land mobile radio system, if certain criteria are met at the individual project site. Because a lead agency, which may include a local agency, is required to determine whether a project qualifies for this exemption, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute because of unique circumstances surrounding the implementation of the LA-RICS. (3) 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. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing federal law provides for tax-qualified retirement plans and individual retirement accounts or individual retirement annuities by which private citizens may save money for retirement. This bill would enact the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust Act, which would create the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust to be administered by the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Investment Board, which would also be established by the bill. The bill would require eligible employers, as defined, to offer a payroll deposit retirement savings arrangement so that eligible employees, as defined, could contribute a portion of their salary or wages to a retirement savings program account in the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program, as specified. The bill would require eligible employees to participate in the program, unless the employee opts out of the program, as specified. The bill would specify risk management and investment policies that the board would be subject to regarding administration of the program. The bill would require a specified percentage of the annual salary or wages of an eligible employee participating in the program to be deposited in the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust, which would be segregated into a program fund and an administrative fund, both of which would be continuously appropriated to the board for purposes of the act. The bill would limit expenditures from the administrative fund, as specified. The bill would also authorize the board to establish a Gain and Loss Reserve Account within the program fund. The bill would, contingent upon sufficient interest and funding by vendors, as specified, require the board to establish a Retirement Investments Clearinghouse on its Internet Web site and a vendor registration process through which information about employer-sponsored retirement plans, and payroll deduction individual retirement accounts and annuities offered by private sector providers is made available for consideration by eligible employers. The bill would require the opt-out form disseminated by the Employment Development Department to be used to create an option for employees to elect to opt out of the program, as specified. The bill would, commencing 6 months after the program is ready to proceed, require the Employment Development Department to assess a penalty on any eligible employer that fails to make the program available to eligible employees, as specified. The bill also would make a statement of legislative findings. The bill would provide that the state would have no liability for the payment of the benefits under the program, as specified. The bill, upon sufficient funds being made available through a nonprofit or private entity or federal funding, would require the board to conduct a market analysis to determine whether the necessary conditions for implementation can be met, as specified. The bill would require moneys made available to conduct the market analysis to be deposited in the Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program Fund which would be created in the State Treasury. The bill would provide that the operational provisions of the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust Act shall be operative only if the board determines that, based on the market analysis, the provisions will be self-sustaining, and sufficient funds are made available through a nonprofit or private entity, federal funding, or the annual Budget Act, as specified, to allow the board to implement the program until the trust has sufficient funds to be self-sustaining. The bill would require the board to ensure that an insurance, annuity, or other funding mechanism is in place at all times that protects the value of individuals' accounts and protects, indemnifies, and holds the state harmless at all times against any and all liability in connection with funding retirement benefits pursuant to these provisions. The bill would prohibit the board from implementing the program if the IRA arrangements offered fail to qualify for the favorable federal income tax treatment ordinarily accorded to IRAs under the Internal Revenue Code, or if it is determined that the program is an employee benefit plan under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Existing law establishes the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System and vests the board with various powers and duties. This bill would authorize that board to administer funds in the California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust, as specified.
Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacies by the California State Board of Pharmacy. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies to provide coverage for specified benefits and requires contracts between plans or insurers and providers to contain provisions requiring a fast, fair, and cost-effective dispute resolution mechanism. This bill would impose specified requirements on an audit of pharmacy services provided to beneficiaries of a health benefit plan. Among other things, the bill would prohibit the entity conducting the audit from receiving payment on any basis tied to the amount claimed or recovered from the pharmacy. The bill would require the entity conducting a pharmacy audit to deliver a preliminary audit report to the pharmacy and to give the pharmacy an opportunity to respond to the report. The bill would require the entity to deliver a final audit report to the pharmacy and to establish, in its contract with the pharmacy, a process for appealing the findings of that report, as specified. The bill would allow either party who, following the appeal, is not satisfied with the appeal, to seek relief under the terms of the contract. The bill would provide that if an identified discrepancy for a single audit exceeds $30,000, future payments to the pharmacy in excess of $30,000 may be withheld pending adjudication of an appeal. The bill would prohibit interest accruing for either party during pendency of the audit, as specified. The bill would require that when the entity is using extrapolation, as defined, in calculating penalties or amounts to be recouped from a pharmacy, that the pharmacy be given an opportunity to provide evidence validating certain orders. The bill also would prohibit a pharmacy from being subject to recoupment of funds for a clerical or recordkeeping error, as defined. The bill would enact other related provisions.
Existing law, until January 1, 2015, provides for the voluntary certification of massage practitioners and massage therapists by the California Massage Therapy Council. Existing law specifies the requirements for the council to issue to an applicant a certificate as a massage therapist, including, but not limited to, (1) successfully completing curricula in massage and related subjects totaling a minimum of 500 hours, a minimum of 250 hours of which shall be from a school approved by the council and the other 250 hours may be secured as specified, or (2) passing a massage and bodywork competency assessment examination, as specified. This bill would require an applicant for a massage therapist certificate to meet the other requirements for certification and to also successfully complete either (1) the 500 hours or the credit unit equivalent or (2) the competency assessment examination and curricula in massage and related subjects totaling a minimum of 250 hours, at an approved school. Existing law requires the council to immediately suspend, on an interim basis, the certificate of a certificate holder, if the council receives notice that a certificate holder has been arrested for and charged with, among other crimes, soliciting or engaging in an act of prostitution or an act punishable as a sexually related crime, and to provide notices of the suspension to the certificate holder and any business that employs the certificate holder, in each case, as specified. This bill would additionally authorize the council to immediately suspend the certificate of a certificate holder upon receipt of clear and convincing evidence that the holder has committed an act punishable as a sexually related crime or a felony that is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a certificate holder. The bill would also require the council to consider any available credible mitigating evidence before making a decision to so suspend a certificate. The bill would grant the holder of a certificate so suspended the right to a hearing to be held within 30 days and require the council to send notice of suspension to the certificate holder and to other specified businesses. Existing law requires the council, upon request of a law enforcement agency or local government agency with responsibility for regulating massage or massage businesses, to provide information concerning a certificate holder, as specified. This bill would authorize those agencies, upon request of the council, to provide information to the council concerning an applicant or certificate holder, including, but not limited to, information related to criminal activity or unprofessional conduct allegedly engaged in by that person. Under existing law, conviction of a felony that is substantially related to the qualifications or duties of a certificate holder is a violation and basis for the council to deny an application or discipline a certificate holder. This bill would also impose those consequences for a conviction of a felony, misdemeanor, infraction, or municipal code violation, or liability in an administrative or civil action, that is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a certificate holder. The bill would also require a certificate holder to provide identifying information, upon request, as specified.
(1) Existing law, the Corporate Securities Law of 1968, regulates the offer and sale of securities in this state by the Commissioner of Corporations. Existing law requires an issuer of securities to qualify with the commissioner the offer and sale of securities unless the transaction is subject to one of several specified exemptions from the qualification requirements. A willful violation of these provisions is a crime. Existing law exempts from the qualification requirements the offer or sale of any security made to no more than 35 people, as specified, and allows the commissioner to require the issuer to file a notice of transactions. Existing law provides that the exemption remains available to an issuer that fails to file the notice or files the notice after the time specified by the commissioner. Existing law requires an issuer relying on that exemption to file a notice within 15 business days following discovery of the failure to timely file the notice, or after demand of the commissioner, whichever is earlier. This bill would require the commissioner to require the issuer to file a notice of transactions in connection with that exemption. Existing federal law defines the term "accredited investor," for purposes of regulating securities transactions, including determining whether an offer and sale of securities is required to be registered pursuant to the federal Securities Act of 1933. This bill would require the commissioner to require an issuer that relies upon a specified exemption from the qualification requirements and that is principally engaged in the business of purchasing, selling, financing, or brokering real estate, for an offering to any person who is not an accredited investor in a transaction that is not registered pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, to provide information regarding the nature of the proposed offering on a form prescribed by the commissioner, as specified. That information would include, but not be limited to, the offering disclosure documents provided to prospective investors, and the names of the officers and directors of a corporate issuer and, in the case of other types of issuers, the names of other specified persons. The bill would also require the commissioner to prepare an annual report regarding the securities offerings and sales authorized by permit issued by the commissioner under specified provisions of existing law and to make the report publicly available by posting the report on the Internet Web site of the Department of Corporations. (2) Existing law exempts from the qualification requirements, subject to complying with specified requirements, a transaction that involves the sale of a series of notes secured directly by an interest in real property or the sale of undivided interests in a note secured directly by real property equivalent to a series transaction, having no more than 10 investors. Existing law requires a real estate broker to indicate in the real estate broker's transaction file the provisions of law pertaining to qualification or exemption from qualification under which a transaction is being conducted. Existing law requires a real estate broker to file certain information with the commissioner relative to conducting these transactions that are exempt from qualification. Existing law requires a real estate broker to submit a copy of the information in the real estate broker's transaction file relative to qualification or exemption from qualification for a transaction to any investor from whom the real estate broker obtains funds in connection with the transaction. This bill would require that a transaction that involves the sale of a note secured directly by an interest in real property or the sale of an undivided interest in a note secured directly by real property equivalent to a series transaction be conducted in compliance with those requirements. (3) Existing law, the Real Estate Law, requires a real estate broker negotiating a loan, as specified, secured by a lien on real property or a business opportunity or the sale of a real property sales contract or promissory note secured directly or collaterally by a lien on real property, to provide a disclosure statement, containing specified information regarding the proposed transaction, to a prospective lender or a prospective purchaser, respectively. A willful violation of the Real Estate Law is a crime. This bill would add to the information required to be included in the disclosure statement a statement that the broker has a responsibility to make reasonable efforts to determine that the loan or the purchase, respectively, is a suitable and appropriate investment for the lender or purchaser, respectively. Because this bill would expand the scope of existing crimes, 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.
(1) Existing law makes it unlawful to engage in specified practices, unfair methods of competition, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in a transaction intended to result or that results in the sale or lease of goods or services, including making false or misleading statements concerning the existence of price reductions, or the home solicitation of a consumer who is a senior citizen where a loan is made encumbering the primary residence of that consumer for purposes of paying for home improvements. A consumer who suffers damages as a result of the use or employment of the prohibited acts or practices may bring an action to recover civil damages of at least $1,000, and, if the victim is a senior citizen and the trier of fact makes specified findings, including that the consumer has suffered substantial physical, emotional, or economic damage resulting from the defendant's conduct, to recover an additional amount of up to $5,000. This bill would expand that provision to include advertising or promoting any event, presentation, seminar, workshop, or other public gathering regarding veterans' benefits or entitlements that does not include a statement that the person disseminating the statement is not authorized to file an initial application for veterans' benefits or that the event is not sponsored by or affiliated with specified veterans' organizations, including the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The bill would also make a conforming change. (2) Existing law provides that all insurers, brokers, agents, and others engaged in the transaction of insurance owe a prospective insured who is 65 years of age or older, a duty of honesty, good faith, and fair dealing. This duty is in addition to any other duty, whether express or implied, that may exist. This bill would make it unlawful for an insurance agent who is not licensed as an attorney to deliver to a person who is 65 years of age or older, or for an insurance agent who is licensed as an attorney to deliver to a person who is 65 years of age or older, a living trust or other legal document, other than an insurance contract or other insurance product document, except as specified. (3) Existing law requires any person who meets with a senior in the senior's home to deliver a specified notice to the senior in writing and in 14-point type no less than 24 hours prior to that individual's initial meeting in the senior's home. This bill would additionally require the notice to be delivered no more than 14 days prior to the meeting. The bill would also require that the notice be a stand-alone document in 16-point, rather than 14-point, type, that the notice include specified information regarding the agent, including his or her full name and license number, and that the notice include a specified statement. (4) Existing law sets certain standards with regard to any advertisement, as defined, or other device designed to produce leads based on a response from a potential insured that is directed to a person 65 years of age or older, including, but not limited to, disclosing certain information, not using certain language, names, letters, or symbols, and not using specified deceptive or misleading practices and materials. This bill would change the definition of advertisement to also include worksheets, questionnaires, or other materials designed to collect personal or financial information about a prospective insured or annuitant. The bill would also add veterans organizations or agencies and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs to the list of those entities that cannot be used in specified deceptive or misleading advertising practices and materials.
(1) Existing law allows a charter school that serves at-risk pupils and operates under a charter approved before June 1, 1997, by the Los Angeles County Board of Education to operate until June 30, 2013. The existing statute requires the approval of the county board of education for the specified charter school or schools to continue operating after June 30, 2008. This bill would instead allow the specified charter school or schools to operate until June 30, 2018, subject to the approval of the county board of education for continued operation after June 30, 2013. (2) The existing statute requires that the specified charter school or schools receive funding for the attendance of pupils for each fiscal year up to and including the 2012–13 fiscal year at the same rates as community schools and community day schools in the same county. This bill would extend that provision to also cover the attendance of pupils in the 2012–13 to 2017–18 fiscal years, inclusive. (3) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles.