Existing law defines a "hate crime" as a criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of actual or perceived characteristics of the victim, including, among other things, race, religion, disability, and sexual orientation. Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to develop guidelines and a course of instruction and training for law enforcement officers addressing hate crimes. Existing law requires state law enforcement agencies to adopt a framework or other formal policy created by POST regarding hate crimes. Existing law requires any local law enforcement agency that adopts or updates a hate crime policy to include specified information in that policy, including information on bias motivation. This bill would include a statement of legislative findings and declarations and require the basic course curriculum on the topic of hate crimes to be developed in consultation with subject matter experts, as specified. The bill would, subject to an appropriation of funds for this purpose in the annual Budget Act or other statute, require POST to update the basic course to include the viewing of a specified video course developed by POST. The bill would also require POST to make the video available via the online learning portal, and would require all peace officers to complete specified training materials no later than one year after the commission makes the updated course available. The bill would require POST to develop and periodically update an interactive course on hate crimes for in-service peace officers, and require officers to take the course every 6 years. This bill would also require any local law enforcement agency that adopts or updates a hate crime policy to include specified information on recognizing religion-bias hate crimes, and would require those policies to include the discriminatory selection of victims as a form of bias motivation.
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(1) Existing law prohibits a person from being tried or adjudged to punishment while that person is mentally incompetent. Existing law establishes a process by which a defendant's mental competency is evaluated and by which the defendant receives treatment, including, if applicable, antipsychotic medication, with the goal of returning the defendant to competency. Existing law suspends a criminal action pending restoration to competency. This bill would repeal provisions regarding the restoration of competency for a person charged with a misdemeanor, or a violation of probation for a misdemeanor, including provisions regarding administration for antipsychotic medication. The bill would instead authorize the court to conduct an inquiry into a defendant's competency, as specified. The bill would authorize a court, upon finding the defendant incompetent to stand trial, to suspend the proceedings and take certain actions, including granting diversion not to exceed one year or dismissing the charges, as specified. (2) Existing law provides that a prisoner, who, for specified reasons, is confined in or committed to a county jail, industrial farm, or road camp, or a city jail, industrial farm, or road camp, shall, for each 4-day period of custody, have 2 days deducted from the prisoner's period of confinement, except as specified. This bill would extend the application of conduct credits to persons confined in a state hospital or other mental health treatment facility pending their return of mental competency. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 4019 of the Penal Code proposed by AB 1542 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1542 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law prohibits a person from manufacturing, selling, or distributing in commerce any bottle or cup that contains bisphenol A, at a detectable level above 0.1 parts per billion, if the bottle or cup is designed or intended to be filled with any liquid, food, or beverage intended primarily for consumption from that bottle or cup by children three years of age or younger. Existing law prohibits a person or entity from manufacturing, selling, or distributing in commerce any toy or childcare article that contains di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, dibutyl phthalate, or benzyl butyl phthalate, in concentrations exceeding 0.1%. Existing law prohibits a person from manufacturing, selling, or exchanging, having in their possession with intent to sell or exchange, or exposing or offering for sale or exchange to any retailer, any toy that is contaminated with a specified toxic substance. This bill would, on and after July 1, 2023, prohibit a person, including a manufacturer, from selling or distributing in commerce in this state any new, not previously owned, juvenile product, as defined, that contains regulated perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) , as defined. The bill would require a manufacturer to use the least toxic alternative when replacing PFAS chemicals in a juvenile product.
Existing law requires an organization that operates, conducts, owns, or maintains a health facility, and the officers thereof, to make and file with the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development specified reports relating to the facility's finances, including, among other things, a balance sheet detailing the assets, liabilities, and net worth of the health facility at the end of its fiscal year. This bill, commencing with fiscal years ending December 31, 2023, would, except as specified, require an organization that operates, conducts, owns, manages, or maintains a skilled nursing facility or facilities to prepare and file with the office an annual consolidated financial report that includes data from all operating entities, licenseholders, and related parties in which the organization has an ownership or control interest of 5% or more and that provides any service, facility, or supply to the skilled nursing facility. The bill would require a duly authorized official of the organization to certify the report, as specified. The bill would require the office to develop policies and procedures to outline the format of information to be submitted, determine if the annual consolidated financial report is complete, and post those reports and related documents to its internet website.
(1) Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, establishes the Board of Registered Nursing within the Department of Consumer Affairs for the licensure and regulation of the practice of nursing, and requires the board to issue a certificate to practice nurse-midwifery to a person who, among other qualifications, meets educational standards established by the board or the equivalent of those educational standards. Existing law, the Licensed Midwifery Practice Act of 1993, provides for the licensure of midwives by the Medical Board of California. Existing law, the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act, provides for specified training programs for certain health care workers, including family physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. Existing law establishes a state medical contract program with accredited medical schools, hospitals, and other programs and institutions to increase the number of students and residents receiving quality education and training in specified primary care specialties and maximize the delivery of primary care and family physician services to underserved areas of the state. This bill would enact the Midwifery Workforce Training Act, under which the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, contract with programs that train certified nurse-midwives and programs that train licensed midwives to increase the number of students receiving quality education and training as a certified nurse-midwife or a licensed midwife, as specified. The bill would require the office to contract only with programs that include, or intend to include, a component of training designed for medically underserved multicultural communities, lower socioeconomic neighborhoods, or rural communities, and that are organized to prepare program graduates for service in those neighborhoods and communities. (2) Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to track data on pregnancy-related deaths, including specified health conditions, indirect obstetric deaths, and other maternal disorders predominantly related to pregnancy and complications predominantly related to the puerperium, and requires this data to be published at least once every 3 years. Existing law also requires the department to develop a plan to identify causes of infant mortality and morbidity in California and to study recommendations on the reduction of infant mortality and morbidity in California. This bill would, commencing August 1, 2022, establish the California Pregnancy-Associated Review Committee, and would require the committee to, among other things, identify and review all pregnancy-related deaths and severe maternal morbidity. The bill would require the committee to be composed of a minimum of 13 members, as specified, and would authorize the committee to request from any state department, commission, local health department, or coroner, among others, specified information, including death records, medical records, and autopsy reports. The bill would make all proceedings, activities, and opinions of the committee confidential. This bill would require each county to annually report infant deaths to its respective local health department. The bill would require local health departments, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to establish a Fetal and Infant Mortality Review committee to investigate infant deaths to prevent fetal and infant death under specified circumstances, and would require those local health departments that participate in the Fetal and Infant Mortality Review process to annually investigate, track, and review cases of term infants, as defined, who were born following labor with the outcome of intrapartum stillbirth, early neonatal death, or postneonatal death. The bill would require counties, hospitals, birthing centers, and state entities to provide to local health departments death records, medical records, and autopsy reports, among other information, that will help the local health department conduct the fetal and infant mortality review. By imposing duties on local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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 pursuant to a schedule of benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. This bill would require the department to convene a workgroup to examine the implementation of the Medi-Cal doula benefit, as specified. No later than July 1, 2024, the bill would require the department to publish a report that addresses the number of Medi-Cal recipients utilizing doula services and identifies barriers that impede access to doula services, among other things, and would require the department to post that report on its internet website. (4) Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program under which, through a combination of state and county funds and federal funds, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Existing law requires a recipient of CalWORKs to participate in welfare-to-work activities as a condition of eligibility, but provides an exemption to a woman who is pregnant and for whom it has been medically verified that the pregnancy impairs their ability to be regularly employed or participate in welfare-to-work activities or the county has determined that, at that time, participation will not readily lead to employment or that a training activity is not appropriate. This bill would remove the medical verification and county determination requirements, and would instead provide an exemption to any recipient who is pregnant. Because the bill would result in an increase in CalWORKs eligibility, thus increasing the duties of counties administering the CalWORKs program, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would, instead, provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of implementing the bill. (5) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (6) 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 authorizes a current or former resident or patient of a skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility, as defined, to bring a civil action against the licensee of a facility who violates any of specified rights of the resident or patient or any other right provided for by federal or state law or regulation. Existing law makes the licensee liable for up to $500. Existing case law interpreting that provision held that the $500 limit on civil damages applies to each action and not to each violation. This bill would also authorize the legal representative, personal representative, or successor in interest of a current or former resident or patient of a skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility to bring that civil action. The bill, for violations that occur on or after March 1, 2021, would make the licensee liable for up to $500 per violation and would prescribe required factors to be considered in assessing the amount of the damages, including, among others, the nature and seriousness of each violation.
The Long-Term Care, Health, Safety, and Security Act of 1973 generally requires the State Department of Public Health to license and regulate long-term health care facilities and to establish an inspection and reporting system to ensure that long-term health care facilities are in compliance with state statutes and regulations. The term "long-term health care facility" includes, among other types of facilities, a skilled nursing facility and intermediate care facility. The act defines a class "A" violation as a violation that the department determines presents either (1) imminent danger that death or serious harm to the patients or residents of the long-term health care facility would result therefrom, or (2) substantial probability that death or serious physical harm to patients or residents of the long-term health care facility would result therefrom. The act defines a class "AA" violation as a class "A" violation that the department determines to have been a direct proximate cause of death of a patient or resident of the facility. The act defines a class "B" violation as a violation that the department determines has a direct or immediate relationship to the health, safety, or security of long-term health care facility patients or residents, other than class "AA" or "A" violations. Class "B" violations are also, unless otherwise determined by the department to be a class "A" violation, any violation of a patient's rights as set forth in specified regulations that is determined by the department to cause, or under circumstances likely to cause, significant humiliation, indignity, anxiety, or other emotional trauma to a patient. The act requires the department to prove specific elements to enforce a citation for a class "AA" violation, including the element that death resulted from an occurrence of a nature that the regulation was designed to prevent. This bill would redefine a class "AA" violation as a class "A" violation that the department determines to have been a substantial factor, as described, in the death of a resident of a long-term health care facility. The bill would increase the civil penalties for a class "A," "AA," or "B" violation by a skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility, as specified. The bill would delete numerous references to the "patients" of a long-term health care facility.
The Long-Term Care, Health, Safety, and Security Act of 1973 generally requires the State Department of Public Health to license and regulate long-term health care facilities and to establish an inspection and reporting system to ensure that long-term health care facilities are in compliance with state statutes and regulations. The term "long-term health care facility" includes, among other types of facilities, a skilled nursing facility. Existing law relating to health facility data reporting requires an organization that operates, conducts, owns, or maintains a licensed skilled nursing facility to file with the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development information as to whether the licensee, or a general partner, director, or officer of the licensee, has an ownership or control interest of 5% or more in a related party that provides any service to the skilled nursing facility. Existing law defines "related party" for those purposes as an organization related to the licensee provider or that is under common ownership or control, as defined in a specified federal regulation. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2023, expressly authorize the department, if a licensee provider fails to pay specified penalties in full when all appeals have been exhausted and the department's position has been upheld, to give written notice to the licensee provider and related parties in which the licensee provider has an ownership or control interest of 5% or more that the department may take appropriate legal action to recover the unpaid penalty amount from the licensee provider's financial interest in the related party. The bill would also require the department, if it determines after 2 notifications that the related parties are not financially viable or recovery is unlikely, to document that determination, as specified. This bill also would require the department to give written notice to related parties when a citation has been issued against a facility licensee, and to advise the related parties of the potential action if the violation is not remedied and penalties are assessed. Existing law specifies procedures for the appointment of a temporary manager to manage a long-term health care facility when certain circumstances exist. Existing law authorizes the department to use funds from the Health Facilities Citation Penalties Account to operate the facility after all other facility revenues are exhausted. This bill would state that funds from that account that are used for the purposes of the facility's management constitute a debt due to the state that may be collected pursuant to appropriate legal action taken by the department to collect the debt from the licensee, including from the licensee's financial interest in a related party. The bill would require the department, beginning January 1, 2023, to give written notice to related parties that it may take action to collect the licensee's debt, as specified. The bill would also require the department, if it determines after 2 notifications that the related parties are not financially viable or recovery is unlikely, to document that determination, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to impose a uniform quality assurance fee on each skilled nursing facility, with certain exceptions, in accordance with a prescribed formula. Under existing law, if a skilled nursing facility fails to pay all or part of the quality assurance fee within a specified time period, among other requirements, the unpaid amount constitutes a debt to the state that may be collected pursuant to specified provisions. This bill would also authorize the department to take appropriate legal action to recover the unpaid quality assurance fee amount, including any interest and penalties owed, from the licensee's financial interest in the related party and would require the department to give written notice to the licensee and related parties before the department takes such action.
(1) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various healing arts professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Under existing law, it is unlawful for healing arts licensees, except as specified, to offer, deliver, receive, or accept any rebate, refund, commission, preference, patronage dividend, discount, or other consideration, in the form of money or otherwise, as compensation or inducement for referring patients, clients, or customers to any person, subject to certain exceptions. This bill would provide that the payment or receipt of consideration for internet-based advertising, appointment booking, or any service that provides information and resources to prospective patients of licensees does not constitute a referral of a patient if the internet-based service provider does not recommend or endorse a specific licensee to a prospective patient. (2) 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 contract issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2021, between a health care service plan or health insurer and a health care provider to require the plan or insurer to reimburse the provider for the diagnosis, consultation, or treatment of an enrollee, subscriber, insured, or policyholder appropriately delivered through telehealth services on the same basis and to the same extent as the same service through in-person diagnosis, consultation, or treatment. This bill would delete that date restriction, thereby extending the telehealth reimbursement parity requirement for all contracts between a health care service plan or a health insurer and a health care provider. The bill would provide that these provisions are severable. The bill would also enact the Protection of Patient Choice in Telehealth Provider Act, and would require a health care service plan and a health insurer to comply with specified notice and consent requirements if the plan or insurer offers a service via telehealth to an enrollee or an insured through a third-party corporate telehealth provider, as defined. For an enrollee or insured that receives specialty telehealth services for a mental or behavioral health condition, the bill would require that the enrollee or insured be given the option of continuing to receive that service with the contracting individual health professional, a contracting clinic, or a contracting health facility. The bill would exempt specified health care service plan contracts and Medi-Cal managed care plan contracts from those provisions. The bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services to consider the appropriateness of applying those requirements to the Medi-Cal program, as specified. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements relative to health care service plans would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (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.
The Assisted Outpatient Treatment Demonstration Project Act of 2002, known as Laura's Law, commencing January 1, 2022, requires each county to offer specified mental health programs, unless a county or group of counties opts out by a resolution passed by the governing body, as specified. Existing law authorizes participating counties to pay for the services provided from moneys distributed to the counties from various continuously appropriated funds, including the Mental Health Services Fund, when included in a county plan, as specified. Existing law authorizes a court in a participating county to order a person who is suffering from mental illness and is the subject of a petition to obtain assisted outpatient treatment if the court makes various findings including, among others, there has been a clinical determination that the person is unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision, the person's condition is substantially deteriorating, and, in view of the person's treatment history and current behavior, the person is in need of assisted outpatient treatment in order to prevent a relapse or deterioration that would be likely to result in grave disability or serious harm to the person or to others. Existing law requires the petition to be accompanied by an affidavit of a licensed mental health treatment provider. Existing law authorizes the petition to be filed by the county behavioral health director, or the director's designee, in the superior court in the county in which the person who is the subject of the petition is present or reasonably believed to be present, in accordance with prescribed procedures. This bill would, among other things, instead require that the above-described findings include a clinical determination that the person is unlikely to survive safely in the community without supervision and that the person's condition is substantially deteriorating, or that assisted outpatient treatment is needed to prevent a relapse or deterioration that would be likely to result in grave disability or serious harm to the person or to others. This bill would allow the subject of the petition or the examining mental health professional to appear before the court for testimony by videoconferencing, as specified. The bill would additionally authorize the filing of a petition to obtain assisted outpatient treatment under the existing petition procedures for a person if the court makes a prescribed determination, including that the person is an eligible conservatee, as defined.