Existing law provides compensation for reasonable advocate's fees, reasonable expert witness fees, and other reasonable costs to public utility customers of participation or intervention in any proceeding of the Public Utilities Commission. Any award for that compensation shall be paid by the public utility that is the subject of the hearing, investigation, or proceeding. Existing law provides that an award shall be allowed by the commission as an expense for the purpose of establishing rates of the public utility. An existing decision of the commission establishes the intervenor compensation program fund for quasi-legislative or rulemaking proceedings funded through commission reimbursement fees collected on an annual basis from electrical, gas, telephone, and water corporations. This bill would require an award related to a telephone corporation that is not regulated under a rate-of-return regulatory framework to be paid from the commission's intervenor compensation program fund.
Sponsored bills
This bill would declare the intention of the Legislature to enact legislation to require all state income and expenditure data be made available to the public in an electronic format.
Existing law requires the governing board of any school district to give diligent care to the health and physical development of pupils. This bill would require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health, the California Diabetes Program, and the State Department of Health Care Services, to recommend to the Legislature ways to address specific health-related needs of pupils on a school campus, by July 1, 2010.
Existing law regulates foreclosure consultants and, in this regard, defines a foreclosure consultant as a person who performs, or who solicits, represents, or offers to perform, for compensation, specified activities, including the obtaining of forbearance from a beneficiary or mortgagee. Existing law provides that a foreclosure consultant who receives any fee before fully performing every service for which he or she has contracted is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would make nonsubstantive, technical changes to these provisions.
Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture, headed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, to promote and protect the agricultural industry of the state. This bill would require, by July 1, 2010, the Department of Food and Agriculture, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health and the State Department of Social Services, to provide recommendations to the Legislature regarding actions that need to be taken to promote food justice in the state.
The Community Redevelopment Law limits the effectiveness of every redevelopment plan adopted on or before December 31, 1993, to 40 years from the adoption of the redevelopment plan or January 1, 2009, whichever is later, after which the agency has no authority to act pursuant to the redevelopment plan except to pay previously incurred indebtedness, to comply with provisions governing compliance with an agency's affordable housing obligations, and to enforce existing covenants, contracts, or other obligations. After 10 years from the termination of the effectiveness of the redevelopment plan pursuant to this provision, a redevelopment agency is prohibited from paying indebtedness or receiving tax-increment revenues, except as specified. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision.
Existing law states the intent of the Legislature with respect to administration of the laws governing financial support of the public school system. This bill would make various technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
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 also provides 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 all generally medically accepted cancer screening tests and requires those plans and policies to also provide coverage for the treatment of breast cancer. Existing law imposes various requirements on contracts and policies that cover prescription drug benefits. This bill would require health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies that provide coverage for cancer chemotherapy treatment to provide coverage for a prescribed, orally administered cancer medication, as specified, on a basis no less favorable than intravenously administered or injected cancer medications covered under the contracts or policies. The bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to review the percentage cost share, as defined, for oral cancer medications and intravenous or injected cancer medications and to apply the lower of the 2 as the cost-sharing provision for oral cancer medications. The bill would specify that its requirements do not apply to a health care benefit plan, contract, or health insurance policy with the Board of Administration of the Public Employees' Retirement System. 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. 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 that patients of skilled nursing facilities and intermediate care facilities have prescribed rights. This bill would add to these rights the right of every resident to receive all information that is material to an individual's decision concerning whether to accept or refuse any proposed treatment or procedure. This bill would make the physician responsible for disclosing the material information to the resident and obtaining his or her informed consent. This bill would require that informed consent, as defined, be obtained in accordance with the above requirements of the bill, with respect to a resident's decision to accept or reject the administration of a psychotherapeutic drug. This bill would also require the State Department of Public Health to inspect for compliance with this requirement during prescribed inspections. Under existing law, the Long-Term Care, Health, Safety, and Security Act of 1973, an attending physician and surgeon who seeks to prescribe, order, or increase an order for an antipsychotic medication for a resident of a skilled nursing facility is required to obtain the informed consent of that resident. A violation of this provision is a misdemeanor. This bill would extend these requirements to a physician and surgeon of a resident in an intermediate care facility. This bill would apply the definition of "informed consent" contained in the bill to this provision. Because this bill would change the definition 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 establishes, within the California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan, a low-cost automobile insurance program. Existing law establishes the low-cost automobile insurance program in several specified counties and makes the expansion to all other counties in California subject to a determination of need made by the Insurance Commissioner following a public meeting, as specified. Existing law provides for the issuance of automobile liability policies pursuant to this program under specified terms and conditions, and provides that a policy so issued satisfies specified requirements regarding financial responsibility. Existing law provides that the low-cost automobile insurance program shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2011. This bill would name the program the "Martha Escutia and Jackie Speier low-cost automobile insurance program." The bill would also provide that the low-cost automobile insurance program would remain in effect until January 1, 2016.