Existing law, referred to as the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 (MICRA) , prohibits an attorney from contracting for or collecting a contingency fee for representing any person seeking damages in connection with an action for injury or damage against a health care provider based upon alleged professional negligence in excess of specified limits. This bill would recast those provisions and base the amount of contingency fee that may be contracted for upon whether recovery is pursuant to settlement agreement and release of all claims executed before a civil complaint or demand for arbitration is filed, or pursuant to settlement, arbitration, or judgment after a civil complaint or demand for arbitration is filed, as specified. The bill would add and revise definitions for these purposes. Existing law provides that in any action against a health care provider based upon professional negligence, the injured plaintiff is entitled to recover noneconomic losses to compensate for pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, and other nonpecuniary damage. Existing law limits the amount of damages for noneconomic losses in an action for injury against a health care provider based on professional negligence to $250,000. This bill would remove the $250,000 limit on noneconomic damages and expand the recast provisions to include an action for injury against a health care institution, as defined. The bill would increase the applicable limitation based upon whether the action for injury involved wrongful death. The bill would specify that these limitations would increase by $40,000 each January 1st for 10 years and beginning on January 1, 2034, the applicable limitations on noneconomic damages for personal injury and for wrongful death would be adjusted for inflation on January 1st of each year by 2%. Existing law specifies that in any action for injury or damages against a provider of health care services, a superior court shall, at the request of either party, enter a judgment ordering that money damages or its equivalent for future damages of the judgment creditor be paid in whole or in part by periodic payments rather than by a lump-sum payment if the award equals or exceeds $50,000. This bill would increase the minimum amount of the judgment required to request periodic payments to $250,000. Existing law makes statements, writings, or benevolent gestures expressing sympathy or a general sense of benevolence relating to the pain, suffering, or death of a person involved in an accident and made to that person, or to the family of that person, inadmissible as evidence of an admission of liability in a civil action. This bill would specify that statements, writings, or benevolent gestures expressing sympathy, regret, a general sense of benevolence, or suggesting, reflecting, or accepting fault relating to the pain, suffering, or death of a person, or to an adverse patient safety event or unexpected health care outcome, as specified, shall be confidential, privileged, protected, not subject to subpoena, discovery, or disclosure, and shall not be used or admitted into evidence in any civil, administrative, regulatory, licensing, or disciplinary board, agency, or body action or proceeding, and shall not be used or admitted in relation to any sanction, penalty, or other liability, as evidence of an admission of liability or for any other purpose.
Sponsored bills
The California Coastal Act of 1976 regulates development along the state's coast and requires that oil and gas development be permitted in certain circumstances. The act requires that coastal-dependent industrial facilities be encouraged to locate or expand within existing sites, and, where new or expanded coastal-dependent industrial facilities cannot feasibly be accommodated consistent with other policies of the act, they may nevertheless be permitted if (1) alternative locations are infeasible or more environmentally damaging, (2) to do otherwise would adversely affect the public welfare, and (3) adverse environmental effects are mitigated to the maximum extent feasible. This bill would, in addition to the requirements listed above, allow permitting of new or expanded coastal-dependent industrial facilities only if the facility is not an oil and gas facility. The act requires that oil and gas development be permitted in accordance with the above-described requirements for coastal-dependent industrial facilities, if specified conditions relating to safety and environmental mitigation are met, as prescribed. This bill would prohibit new or expanded oil and gas development from being considered a coastal-dependent industrial use and would only permit those developments if they are found to be consistent with all applicable provisions of the act. The bill would instead require the repair and maintenance of existing oil and gas facilities to be permitted in accordance with the above-described requirements, if specified conditions are met. The act requires the permitting of new or expanded refineries or petrochemical facilities not otherwise consistent with the act if, among other conditions, it is found that not permitting the development would adversely affect the public welfare. This bill would remove authorization to permit new or expanded refineries or petrochemical facilities that are not consistent with the act. The bill would prohibit new or expanded refineries or petrochemical facilities from being considered a coastal-dependent industrial use and would only authorize the permitting of those facilities if they are found to be consistent with all applicable provisions of the act. The act makes certain findings and declarations related to these provisions. This bill would amend the findings and declarations to replace oil and gas developments and facilities with renewable energy facilities relating to the necessity to locate such developments in the coastal zone. To the extent the bill would create additional duties for local governments, 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.
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 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. CEQA requires a county to determine whether a project within its jurisdiction may result in a conversion of oak woodlands that will have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA requires the county to require certain oak woodlands mitigation alternatives if the county determines that there may be a significant effect to oak woodlands. CEQA exempts certain projects from this requirement. CEQA requires a lead agency that adopts, and a project that incorporates, one or more of the mitigation alternatives to be deemed to be in compliance with CEQA only as it applies to effects on oaks and oak woodlands. This bill would instead require a lead agency to determine whether a project within its jurisdiction may result in a conversion of oak woodlands, as defined, that will have a significant effect on the environment and to require certain oak woodlands mitigation alternatives, and would make conforming changes. The bill would provide that the removal of 3 or more oak trees within an oak woodland located within areas mapped by state or local agencies as areas critical to habitat linkage, natural resources protection, or otherwise related to biodiversity and conservation constitutes a significant effect on the environment. By imposing duties on local lead agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would delete the requirement that a lead agency that adopts, and a project that incorporates, one or more of the mitigation alternatives be deemed to be in compliance with CEQA only as it applies to effects on oaks and oak woodlands. The bill would provide that these provisions shall not be construed to prohibit a person from bringing an action to set aside a decision of a public agency, including actions that allege that the lead agency failed to adequately analyze and mitigate the impacts on oak woodlands of a project. 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 grants the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, which is within the Department of Industrial Relations, jurisdiction over all employment and places of employment, with the power necessary to enforce and administer all occupational health and safety laws and standards. The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, an independent entity within the department, has the exclusive authority to adopt occupational safety and health standards within the state. Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, requires employers to comply with certain standards ensuring healthy and safe working conditions, as specified, and charges the division with enforcement of the act. Other existing law relating to occupational safety imposes special provisions on certain industries and charges the division with enforcement of these provisions. This bill would require a motion picture production employer to hire a qualified set safety supervisor for all motion picture productions to perform a risk assessment, as specified, to be completed prior to the first day of production on a feature, an episode of a series, or a program, and to be on set daily to ensure cast and crew are not engaged in or exposed to an environment or activity that puts workers' health and safety at risk. The bill would allow the use of a firearm and blank ammunition containing gunpowder or other explosive charge on motion picture productions only for specified purposes and under specified safety conditions. The bill would require a qualified armorer, property master, or designee handling a firearm in the course of the motion picture production to have a specified state permit, to have completed certain training in firearms, and to have a specified federal document for the possession and custody of the firearm. The bill would require an employer to document and report to certain entities any incident involving a firearm or blank ammunition that occurs during a film or television production, as prescribed. This bill would prohibit ammunition on film, television, and commercial sets, except in prescribed circumstances, subject to certain safety rules and laws. The bill would require an employer to ensure that any employee responsible for handling, or in proximity to, firearms on set completes a specific firearm training or equivalent training, as prescribed. The bill would require an employer to comply with the bill and all safety standards adopted by the standards board. The bill would establish exemptions from its provisions for specified registered security guards and peace officers when they are on the perimeter of a set where motion picture production is happening. This bill would require the division to enforce its provisions and, before July 1, 2023, to propose to the standards board, for its review and adoption on or before January 1, 2024, a standard that protects the health and safety of motion picture production employees with regard to the storage, handling, and use of firearms and blanks on set and for use of ammunition. The bill would require the division, in the development of the proposed safety standard, to consider and incorporate, to the extent feasible and consistent with the bill, the provisions of specified joint industry-labor safety bulletins. The bill would also require the division to consider certain other safety standards as it determines to be relevant. The bill would establish civil penalties for specified violations. The bill would define terms for its purposes.
Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , approved by the voters as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, regulates the cultivation, distribution, transport, storage, manufacturing, testing, processing, sale, and use of marijuana for nonmedical purposes by people 21 years of age and older. AUMA authorizes the Legislature to amend its provisions with a 23 vote of both houses to further its purposes and intent. Under AUMA, a person 18 years of age or older who plants, cultivates, harvests, dries, or processes more than 6 living cannabis plants, or any part thereof, may be charged with a felony if specified conditions exist, including when the offense causes substantial environmental harm to public lands or other public resources. This bill would amend AUMA by making it a misdemeanor or felony to plant, cultivate, harvest, dry, or process more than 50 living cannabis plants, or any part thereof, and where that activity involves unauthorized tapping into a water conveyance or storage infrastructure or digging or extracting groundwater from an unpermitted well. The bill would also clarify that causing substantial environmental harm to public resources includes groundwater. By expanding the scope of 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.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to conduct biennial assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry supply, production, transportation, delivery and distribution, demand, and prices. Existing law requires the commission to use these assessments and forecasts to develop and evaluate energy policies and programs that conserve resources, protect the environment, ensure energy reliability, enhance the state's economy, and protect public health and safety. Existing law requires the commission to adopt an integrated energy policy report on or before November 1 of each odd-numbered year that contains an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state and presents policy recommendations, as specified. This bill would require the commission to adopt a strategic plan on or before November 1, 2023, that supports the resource additions included in individual integrated resource plans adopted by the Public Utilities Commission for California's load-serving entities and those adopted by the commission, that are planned for interconnection to the electrical grid, beginning on January 1, 2025. The bill would require the strategic plan to identify and recommend the actions required to implement investments needed to ensure reliability and meet future growth in electrical load and generation. The bill would require the strategic plan to be included in the integrated energy policy report adopted on or before November 1, 2023.
Existing law governs the bidding and awarding of public contracts by various state agencies. Existing law imposes requirements on contractors awarded various public contracts, including, among others, certifying that no equipment, materials, supplies, apparel, garments, or accessories provided under specified contracts are produced by sweatshop labor, forced labor, convict labor, indentured labor under penal sanction, abusive forms of child labor, or exploitation of children in sweatshop labor. This bill would establish the California Deforestation-Free Procurement Act. The bill would require a contractor, as defined, and specified subcontractors, for any contract entered into, extended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, contracting with a state agency for the procurement of any product comprised wholly or in part of forest-risk commodities to certify that the commodities were not grown, derived, harvested, reared, or produced on land where tropical deforestation occurred on or after January 1, 2023. The bill would exempt a credit card purchase of goods of $2,500 or less, not to exceed a total of $7,500 of goods per contractor per year, from these certification requirements. The bill would require specified contractors to have a forest policy, as specified, and would require the contractors to make the policy and corresponding data publicly available. On or before July 1, 2024, the bill would require the Department of General Services to make available an informational notice or memorandum on a Deforestation-Free Code of Conduct to be used by a contractor that includes specified information, including a list of forest-risk commodities subject to these provisions. This bill would impose sanctions on a contractor who knew or should have known that a product furnished to the state was comprised wholly or in part of a forest-risk commodity in violation of these provisions. The bill would make any person who certifies as true any material matter pursuant to these provisions that the person knows to be false guilty of a misdemeanor. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The State Contract Act governs the bidding and award of public works contracts by specific state agencies and requires an awarding department, before entering into any contract for a project, to prepare full, complete, and accurate plans, specifications, and estimates of cost. The act prohibits, except in specified circumstances, a state agency responsible for letting public works contracts from drafting bid specifications in a manner that limits the bidding to any one concern or product, except under certain circumstances. This bill would prohibit a state agency from including in bid specifications for public works projects any wood or wood product whose importation and use are prohibited under the federal Lacey Act. 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 provides for various programs at the state and local level for the treatment and support of people with severe mental illness, including providing emergency and outpatient mental health services. Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to perform various functions with regard to the statewide delivery of mental health services, including, among other things, implementing a system of required performance reporting by local mental health programs. This bill would require the department to prepare a study that describes models of supportive health care services and available treatment options and resources for individuals with severe mental illness. The bill would require the department to submit the study to the Senate and Assembly Committees on Health on or before January 1, 2024.
Existing law establishes the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program, which is administered by the State Department of Social Services, counties, and other entities, under which qualified aged, blind, or disabled persons are provided with supportive services in order to permit them to remain in their own homes. Existing law establishes 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. Existing law authorizes certain Medi-Cal recipients to receive waiver personal care services (WPCS) in order to permit them to remain in their own homes. Existing law sets forth various provisions relating to the determination of IHSS and WPCS provider wages. Under existing law, payments to IHSS and WPCS providers are made through the Case Management Information and Payrolling System (CMIPS) . Existing law sets forth the mechanisms for declaring a state of emergency or local emergency by certain public officials and the powers granted during those periods. This bill would require a wage differential to be granted to an IHSS or WPCS provider during a declared state of emergency or local emergency that is caused by a natural disaster. The bill would require the wage differential to result in an increase of at least $2 per hour over the county's current hourly wage rate for IHSS and WPCS providers. The bill would require the wage differential to be issued by the department through CMIPS and automatically be applied to a provider's existing hourly wage. Under the bill, the wage differential would be applied when the department is notified that a state of emergency or local emergency is declared and would be eliminated when the department receives notice that the declared state of emergency or local emergency is no longer in effect.
The California Constitution provides that voters may recall a state officer by majority vote and, in the same election, elect a successor with a plurality of the vote. The Constitution prohibits an officer who is the subject of a recall election from being a candidate for successor. The Constitution also prohibits a successor candidacy for the office of judge of the Supreme Court or a court of appeal. The Constitution provides that the Lieutenant Governor becomes Governor when a vacancy occurs in the office of Governor, and requires the Lieutenant Governor to act as Governor during the impeachment, absence from the state, or other temporary disability of the Governor or of a Governor-elect who fails to take office. When a recall of the Governor is initiated, the Constitution requires the Lieutenant Governor to perform the recall duties of the Governor. The Constitution requires the Governor to fill vacancies in certain judicial and executive offices by appointment, as specified. This measure would provide, in the event an officer is removed in a recall election, for the office to remain vacant until a successor candidate to hold the unexpired term of the office receives a majority of votes at a special election, or for the office to remain vacant for the remainder of the term if the nomination period for the subsequent term of that office has closed. The measure would allow an officer who was the subject of the recall election to be a candidate in the special election. The measure would require the Legislature to enact laws providing for the election of a successor. If the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney General, or a member of the State Board of Equalization is removed from office in a recall election, this measure would provide that a special election will not be held and instead would require the Governor to appoint a successor for the remainder of the unexpired term using existing procedures for filling a vacancy in such offices, provided that the officer who was the subject of the recall election may not be appointed to fill the vacancy in that office. If the Governor is removed from office in a recall election, this measure would provide that the Lieutenant Governor will become Governor for the remainder of the unexpired term. If the Governor is removed from office by recall before the close of the nomination period for the next statewide election during the first two years of the Governor's term, the measure would provide for a special election to be held to replace the Governor for the remainder of the unexpired term, to be consolidated with the next statewide primary election and, if necessary, the subsequent statewide general election. The measure would require the Secretary of State to perform the recall duties of the Governor when a recall of the Governor is initiated.