This measure would proclaim April 2013 as the "California Wines: Down to Earth" month, to celebrate the sustainable leadership of California wineries and winegrape growers.
This measure would call on the United States Congress to pass the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, Senate Bill No. 47, authored by Senator Leahy, and ensure the sustainability of vital programs designed to keep women and families safe from violence and abuse.
Existing law prohibits the governing authority of a school or other institution from unconditionally admitting any person as a pupil of any private or public elementary or secondary school, child care center, day nursery, nursery school, family day care home, or development center, unless prior to his or her first admission to that institution he or she has been fully immunized against various diseases, as specified. Existing law exempts a person from the above-described immunization requirement if the parent or guardian or other specified persons file with the governing authority a letter or affidavit stating that the immunization is contrary to his or her beliefs. This bill would instead require this letter or affidavit to document which required immunizations have been given and which have not been given on the basis that they are contrary to the parent or guardian's or other specified person's beliefs. The bill would require, on and after January 1, 2014, the letter or affidavit to be accompanied by a form prescribed by the State Department of Public Health that includes a signed attestation from a health care practitioner, as defined, that indicates that the health care practitioner provided the parent or guardian of the person, the adult who has assumed responsibility for the care and custody of the person, or the person, if an emancipated minor, who is subject to the immunization requirements with information regarding the benefits and risks of the immunization and the health risks of specified communicable diseases. The bill would require the form to include a written statement by the parent, guardian, other specified persons, or person, if an emancipated minor, that indicates that he or she received the information from the health care practitioner. By imposing new duties upon local officials, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, 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 these statutory provisions.
Existing law imposes on the State Department of Public Health various duties and responsibilities regarding the regulation of clinics and health facilities, including general acute care hospitals, as defined. Existing law requires a general acute care hospital to annually offer onsite influenza vaccinations, if available, to all hospital employees. Existing law requires a general acute care hospital to require its employees to be vaccinated, or if the employee elects not to be vaccinated, to declare in writing that he or she declined the vaccination. A violation of these provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would require clinics, as defined, and health facilities to institute measures, including aerosol transmissible diseases training, designed to maximize influenza vaccination rates and to prevent onsite health care workers affiliated with the clinic or health facility and persons with privileges on the medical staff from contracting, and transmitting to patients, the influenza virus. This bill would provide that a clinic includes a licensed clinic, a clinic conducted, operated, or maintained as an outpatient department of a hospital, or an outpatient setting, as defined. This bill would require each clinic and health facility to annually offer onsite influenza vaccinations to its employees and to require its onsite health care workers affiliated with the clinic or health facility, as defined, and persons with privileges on the medical staff, as defined, to be vaccinated. This bill would require each clinic and health facility to annually record its vaccination rate, as defined, for each year and to make those records available online or upon request. This bill would require clinics and health facilities to maintain vaccination records of their employees and permit clinics and health facilities to require documentation of vaccination or vaccination refusal from an onsite health care worker or person with privileges on the medical staff. By increasing the responsibilities of clinics and health facilities, and adding instances where a clinic or health facility could be subject to a misdemeanor, this bill would expand the definition of a crime and would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would also require each clinic and health facility to develop policies to implement these provisions and to ensure nonmedical staff, as defined, compliance with vaccination requirements. This bill would require the medical staff to develop separate policies to ensure compliance with vaccination requirements imposed by the clinic or health facility. This bill would require, commencing January 1, 2015, each clinic and health facility to have a 90% or higher vaccination rate. The bill would require the department, by July 1, 2015, to develop a model mandatory vaccination policy, as specified, and for each year a clinic or health facility does not achieve the 90% or higher vaccination rate, would require the clinic or health facility to adopt the model mandatory vaccination policy for the following influenza season. Existing law establishes the Medical Board of California which approves accrediting agencies of outpatient settings. Existing law permits outpatient settings to apply to an accreditation agency for a certificate of accreditation. Existing law requires every outpatient setting which is accredited to be inspected by the accreditation agency. This bill would require an accrediting agency to ensure that an outpatient setting to which it has issued a certificate is in compliance with these provisions. 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, the Medical Practice Act, restricts the employment of licensed physicians and surgeons and podiatrists by a corporation or other artificial legal entity, subject to specified exemptions. This bill would authorize a hospital that is owned and operated by a licensed charitable organization, that offers only pediatric subspecialty care, that, prior to January 1, 2013, employed licensees on a salary basis, and that has not charged for professional services rendered to patients, to charge for services rendered to patients, provided certain conditions are met, including, but not limited to, that the hospital does not increase the number of salaried licensees by more than 5 each year, that the hospital accepts each patient regardless of his or her ability to pay, and that the medical staff concur by an affirmative vote that the licensee's employment meets a specified standard.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to contract with Amtrak for intercity rail passenger services and provides funding for these services from the Public Transportation Account. Existing law, until December 31, 1996, authorized the department, subject to approval of the Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, to enter into an interagency transfer agreement under which a joint powers board assumes responsibility for administering the state-funded intercity rail service in a particular corridor. Existing law, with respect to a transferred corridor, requires the board to demonstrate the ability to meet performance standards established by the secretary. This bill would authorize the department, with approval of the secretary, to enter into interagency transfer agreements for additional intercity rail corridors, to be entered into between June 30, 2014, and June 30, 2015. The bill would require the agreements to cover the initial 3-year period after the transfer, and would authorize subsequent extensions by mutual agreement. If agreements are not entered into by that the expiration of that period, the bill would require the secretary to report to the Governor and the Legislature by June 30, 2016, as specified. This bill would specifically authorize an additional interagency transfer agreement to be entered into with respect to the San Joaquin Corridor, as defined, if a joint powers authority and governing board are created and organized. In that regard, the bill would provide for the creation of the San Joaquin Corridor Joint Powers Authority, to be governed by a board of not more than 11 members. The bill would provide that the board shall be organized when at least 6 of the 11 agencies elect to appoint members. The bill would provide for the authority to be created when the member agencies enter into a joint powers agreement, as specified. The bill would provide for future appointments of additional members if the service boundaries of the San Joaquin Corridor are expanded. Existing law requires the level of service to be funded by the state pursuant to a transfer agreement to not be less than the current number of intercity round trips operated in a corridor and serving the same endpoints. This bill would require the level of service funded by the state to remain the same during the first 3 years following the effective date of the transfer agreement, and would require the entity assuming responsibility for a corridor to provide that level of service. The bill would prohibit termination of feeder bus services except for specified reasons. Existing law provides for the allocation of state funds by the secretary to a joint powers board under an interagency transfer agreement based on the annual business plan for the intercity rail corridor and subsequent appropriation of state funds. Existing law states that the interagency transfer agreement may provide that any additional funds required to operate the intercity rail service during a fiscal year shall be provided by a joint powers board from jurisdictions that receive service. This bill, if local resources are made available for operating the intercity rail service, would require a vote of the local agency providing the resources, and would require the concurrence of the joint powers board in that regard. This bill would authorize the secretary to adopt new performance standards for intercity rail services. The bill would require the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority to protect existing services and facilities and seek to expand service, as specified. Existing law authorizes the department and any entity that assumes administrative responsibility for passenger rail services through an interagency transfer agreement to contract with specified entities for the use of tracks and other facilities and for the provision of passenger rail services. This bill would require a contractor under an agreement described above to agree that its labor relations shall be governed by a specified federal act relating to labor relations on railroads.
(1) Existing law authorizes a legislative body, as defined, to create an infrastructure financing district, adopt an infrastructure financing plan, and issue bonds, for which only the district is liable, to finance specified public facilities, upon voter approval. Existing law authorizes an infrastructure financing district to fund infrastructure projects through tax increment financing, pursuant to the infrastructure financing plan and agreement of affected taxing entities, as defined. This bill would revise and recast the provisions governing infrastructure financing districts. The bill would eliminate the requirement of voter approval for creation of the district and for bond issuance and authorize the legislative body to create the district, subject to specified procedures. The bill would instead authorize a newly created public financing authority, consisting of 5 members, 3 of whom are members of the city council or board of supervisors that established the district, and 2 of whom are members of the public, to adopt the infrastructure financing plan, subject to approval by the legislative body, and issue bonds by majority vote of the authority by resolution. The bill would authorize a public financing authority to enter into joint powers agreements with affected taxing entities with regard to nontaxing authority or powers only. The bill would authorize a district to finance specified actions and projects and prohibit the district from providing financial assistance to a vehicle dealer or big box retailer, as defined. The bill would create a public accountability committee, as specified, to review the actions of the public financing authority. (2) Existing law requires that an infrastructure financing plan created by a legislative body include a date on which the district will cease to exist, which shall not be more than 30 years from the date on which the ordinance forming the district is adopted. This bill instead would specify that the date on which the district would cease to exist would not be more than 40 years from the date on which the public financing authority adopted the resolution adopting the infrastructure financing plan. The bill would also impose additional reporting requirements after the adoption of an infrastructure financing plan.
Existing law establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is responsible for administering various programs and services for the benefit of veterans. This bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop outcome and related indicators for veterans, for the purpose of assessing the status of veterans in California, for monitoring the quality of programs intended to serve those veterans, and to guide decisionmaking on how to improve those services. This bill would require the department to report to the Senate and Assembly Committees on Veterans Affairs all of the outcome and related indicators developed by the department, recommendations on ways to establish a system for monitoring those indicators on a continual basis, and any regulatory or fiscal barriers that may hinder future progress on the development of a monitoring system, as provided. Under existing law, the information obtained in the administration of the Unemployment Insurance Law is for the exclusive use and information of the Director of Employment Development in the discharge of his or her duties and is not open to the public. However, existing law requires the director to permit the use of specified information for specified purposes, and allows the director to require reimbursement for direct costs incurred. Existing law provides that a person who knowingly accesses, uses, or discloses this confidential information without authorization is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would require the Director of Employment Development to permit the receipt of specified information to enable the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop outcome and related indicators for veterans. By providing this information to the Department of Veterans Affairs, this bill would expand the crime related to the unauthorized disclosure of this information, and 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. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 1095 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, proposed by AB 174 and SB 691 that would become operative only if this bill and either or both of those bills are chaptered and become effective January 1, 2013, and this bill is chaptered last.
