Sen. Bill Dodd

This measure would proclaim the Spring Equinox of every year as California Wildlife Day.

Existing law regulates real property acquired and operated by the state as wildlife management areas, and authorizes the Department of Fish and Wildlife, when income is directly derived from that real property, as provided, to annually pay to the county in which the property is located an amount equal to the county taxes levied upon the property at the time it was transferred to the state. Existing law further authorizes the department to pay the assessments levied upon the property by any irrigation, drainage, or reclamation district. Existing law requires those payments to only be made from funds that are appropriated to the department for those purposes. This bill would require, instead of authorize, the department to make these payments subject to appropriation by the Legislature.

Existing law prohibits a court from granting probation or suspending the execution or imposition of a sentence if a person is convicted of violating specified provisions of law, including rape by force, pandering, aggravated sexual assault of a child, and others. This bill would prohibit a court from granting probation or suspending the execution or imposition of a sentence if a person is convicted of rape, sodomy, penetration with a foreign object, or oral copulation if the victim was either unconscious or incapable of giving consent due to intoxication.

Existing law subjects an employer who is, or wishes to become, a contractor with the state for public works, or for goods or services, to various nondiscrimination requirements. Existing law authorizes requiring an employer to submit a nondiscrimination program to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing for approval and certification prior to becoming a contractor or subcontractor with the state, as well as requiring the provision of periodic reports of contractor or subcontractor compliance with that program. Existing law authorizes a contractor or subcontractor to file an affirmative action, equal employment, or nondiscrimination program subject to review and approval by a federal compliance agency with the department in lieu of that nondiscrimination program. This bill would enact the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act of 2016. The bill would require an employer with a contract with the state that amounts to $50,000 or more that either is required by federal regulations to submit an EEO-1 report to the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or has 100 or more employees in the state to submit a nondiscrimination program to the department and to submit periodic reports of its compliance with that program, no more than annually, on a schedule to be determined by the department. The bill would require the department to make these programs and reports available to the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. The bill would authorize the department to require approval and certification of the program. The bill would permit the department to require other employers to comply with those program and report submission requirements. The bill would require the department to define an employee for these purposes. The bill would require the nondiscrimination program to include policies and procedures designed to ensure equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees, a description of employment selection procedures, and employee compensation data, as specified. The bill would specify that a contractor or subcontractor may submit an EEO-1 report subject to review by the EEOC with the department in lieu of the nondiscrimination program. The bill would specify that its provisions are not to be construed to negate certain exemptions established by regulation that predate its enactment or to require the department to reevaluate the validity of these exemptions, as specified. The bill would make a statement of legislative findings.

Under existing law, the Director of Health Care Services is authorized, for purposes of administering the Medi-Cal program, to suspend a provider of service from further participation under the program for specified reasons, including conviction of any felony or any misdemeanor involving fraud, abuse of the Medi-Cal program or any patient, or otherwise substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a provider of service. Existing law requires the director, upon receipt of written notification from the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services that a physician or other individual practitioner has been suspended from participation in the Medicare or Medicaid programs, to promptly suspend the practitioner from participation in the Medi-Cal program. Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, that generally requires employers to secure the payment of workers' compensation for injuries incurred by their employees that arise out of, or in the course of, employment. Existing law requires an employer to provide all medical services reasonably required to cure or relieve the injured worker from the effects of the injury. Existing law authorizes an insurer, employer, or entity that provides physician network services to establish or modify a medical provider network for the provision of medical treatment to injured employees and requires the administrative director to contract with individual physicians or an independent medical review organization to perform medical provider network independent medical reviews. This bill would require the administrative director to promptly suspend any physician, practitioner, or provider from participating in the workers' compensation system if as a physician, practitioner, or provider the individual or entity meets specified criteria, including if that individual has been convicted of any felony or misdemeanor involving fraud or abuse of the Medi-Cal program, Medicare program, or workers' compensation system, if that individual's license, certificate, or approval to provide health care has been surrendered or revoked, or if that individual or entity has been suspended, due to fraud or abuse, from participation in the Medicare or Medicaid programs. The bill would require the administrative director to adopt regulations for suspending a physician, practitioner, or provider from participating in the workers' compensation system pursuant to these provisions, as specified, and would require the administrative director to furnish to the physician, practitioner, or provider written notice of the right to a hearing regarding the suspension and the procedure to follow to request that hearing. The bill would also require the administrative director to promptly notify the appropriate state licensing, certifying, or registering authority of a physician's, practitioner's, or provider's suspension and to update the division's databases of qualified medical evaluators and medical provider networks. The bill would require the administrative director to notify the chief judge of the division of a suspension under these provisions, as specified, and post a notice on the department's Internet Web site. The bill would enact special lien proceedings for the adjudication of any liens of a physician, practitioner, or provider who has been suspended pursuant to these provisions because he or she has been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor that meets specified criteria. The bill would also require the Director of Health Care Services to notify the administrative director of a suspension of a physician from participation in the Medi-Cal program imposed pursuant to the provisions described above authorizing the director to suspend a provider of service from participation. Existing law establishes the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board to exercise all judicial powers vested in it, as specified, including workers' compensation proceedings for the recovery of compensation, or concerning any right or liability arising out of or incidental to the recovery of compensation. Existing law vests the appeals board with full power, authority, and jurisdiction to try and determine finally those matters, subject only to the review by the courts, as specified. Existing law authorizes the appeals board to determine, and allow as liens against any sum to be paid as compensation, as specified, a reasonable attorney's fee for legal services and disbursements in connection with those legal services. Existing law provides that a charge, claim, or agreement for those legal services or disbursements is not enforceable, valid, or binding in excess of a reasonable amount. Existing law also requires an attorney to furnish to the employee a written disclosure form describing the procedures available to the injured employee or his or her dependents and specified information regarding attorney's fees. Existing law requires that a copy of the disclosure form be signed by the employee and the attorney and sent to the employer, or insurer or 3rd-party administrator, if either is known, by the attorney within 15 days of the employee's and attorney's execution of the form. Existing law also requires the employee, the insurer, the employer, and the attorneys for each party to sign and file with the board a statement, signed under penalty of perjury, attesting that the signatories have not violated specified laws prohibiting conflicts of interest. Existing law authorizes the appeals board, a workers' compensation judge, or any party to the action or proceeding, as specified, to cause the deposition of witnesses in any investigation or hearing before the appeals board, and provides that the deponent is entitled to receive specified benefits, such as reasonable expenses of transportation, meals, and lodging, as specified. This bill would prohibit payment for legal services or disbursements in connection with those legal services, or expenses relating to the deposition of witnesses, incurred under the provisions described above, as specified, prior to the filing of the disclosure form with the appeals board and the sending of that form to the employer, or to the insurer or 3rd-party administrator, if either is known, by the attorney. The bill would require the disclosure form described above to contain a paragraph setting forth the exact location of the district office of the appeals board at which the employee's case will be filed and to include a specified statement. The bill would impose other requirements regarding the signing and content of the form, including that the form be signed under penalty of perjury by the attorney representing the employee, and would require the form to be filed with the appeals board. The bill would also require an attorney who subsequently assumes the representation of the employee in the same action or proceeding to complete and sign under penalty of perjury a disclosure form that meets the above-described requirements and the statement attesting that the signatories have not violated specified laws prohibiting conflicts of interest. The bill would require the attorney to file the form and statement with the appeals board, and send them to the employer, or insurer or 3rd-party administrator, if either is known, within 15 days of the employee's and attorney's execution of the form and statement. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury under these provisions, 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.

(1) The California Emergency Services Act requires the Office of Emergency Services, among other things, to develop in collaboration with specified entities a comprehensive statewide earthquake early warning system in California through a public-private partnership, as specified. The act requires the office to identify funding for the system through single or multiple sources of revenue, and requires those sources to exclude the General Fund and to be limited to federal funds, funds from revenue bonds, local funds, and funds from private sources. Under the act, the requirement that the office develop the system is not operative until funding is identified, and is repealed if funding is not identified by July 1, 2016. The act establishes the California Earthquake Safety Fund in the State Treasury to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for seismic safety and earthquake-related programs, including the statewide earthquake early warning system. This bill would discontinue the requirement that the funding sources for the system exclude the General Fund and be limited to federal funds, funds from revenue bonds, local funds, and funds from private sources. The bill would delete the provisions providing for the repeal and the contingent operation of the requirement that the office develop the system. This bill would establish, within the office, the California Earthquake Early Warning Program and the California Earthquake Early Warning Advisory Board to support the development of the statewide earthquake early warning system, as specified. The bill would require the board to include 7 voting members, as specified, and the Chancellor of the California State University, or his or her designee, who would serve as a nonvoting member. The bill would authorize the President of the University of California, or his or her designee, to serve as an additional nonvoting member of the board. The bill would require all members to serve without compensation, but would require reimbursement for actual and reasonable travel and meal expenses to attend board meetings. The bill would require the board to comply with existing state open meeting and public record disclosure laws and would prohibit the disclosure of any information in a public record that is a trade secret, as defined, of a private entity cooperating with the board or participating in the statewide earthquake early warning system or the program. The bill would make legislative findings in support of its provisions. (2) 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.