(1) 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 that health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies provide coverage for certain services and treatments, including emergency medical transportation services. This bill would require a health care service plan contract or a health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2020, to provide that if an enrollee, insured, or subscriber (individual) receives covered services from a noncontracting air ambulance provider, the individual shall pay no more than the same cost sharing that the individual would pay for the same covered services received from a contracting air ambulance provider, referred to as the in-network cost-sharing amount. The bill would provide that an individual would not owe the noncontracting provider more than the in-network cost-sharing amount for services. The bill would authorize a noncontracting provider to advance to collections only the in-network cost-sharing amount that the individual has failed to pay. The bill would authorize a health care service plan, health insurer, or provider to seek relief in any court for the purpose of resolving a payment dispute, and would not prohibit a provider from using a health care service plan's or health insurer's existing dispute resolution processes. 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. (2) Existing law, the Emergency Medical Air Transportation Act, effective until January 1, 2022, imposes a penalty of $4 until January 1, 2020, upon every conviction for a violation of the Vehicle Code or a local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code, other than a parking offense. The act requires the county or the court that imposed the fine to transfer the moneys collected pursuant to that act to the Treasurer for deposit into the Emergency Medical Air Transportation and Children's Coverage Fund. Under the act, moneys in the fund are made available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Department of Health Care Services for children's health care coverage and administrative costs relating to emergency medical air transportation provider payments. Existing law requires the assessed penalty to continue to be collected, administered, and distributed until exhausted or until June 30, 2021, whichever occurs first, and requires any remaining unexpended and unencumbered moneys in the fund to be transferred to the General Fund, to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified purposes, including funding children's health care coverage. This bill would impose the penalty until July 1, 2020, and would extend the above-specified dates by six months. (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.
Sponsored bills
Existing provisions of the Warren-911-Emergency Assistance Act establish the number "911" as the primary emergency telephone number for use in the state and require the provision of enhanced service capable of selective routing, automatic number identification, or automatic location identification. The act requires a telephone corporation serving rural telephone areas that cannot provide enhanced 911 emergency telephone service capable of selective routing, automatic number identification, or automatic location identification to present to the Office of Emergency Services a comprehensive plan detailing a schedule by which their facilities will be converted to be compatible with the enhanced emergency telephone system. This bill would require the Office of Emergency Services, on or before July 1, 2020, to adopt, by regulation, appropriate thresholds for what constitutes a community isolation outage, as provided, and issue a specified notice for that regulation by January 1, 2020. The bill would, upon the adoption of those regulations, require a provider of telecommunications services, as defined, that provides access to 911 service to notify the office, as provided, whenever a community isolation outage limiting the provider's customers' ability to make 911 calls or receive emergency notifications occurs, within 60 minutes of discovering the outage. The bill would make the office responsible for notifying any applicable county office of emergency services, the sheriff of any county, and any public safety answering point affected by the outage. The bill would require the community isolation outage notification to the office to be provided by a medium specified by the office, and to include the telecommunications service provider's contact name, a calling number to be staffed as specified, a description of the estimated area affected, and the approximate communities affected by the outage. The bill would require the telecommunications service provider to notify the office of the estimated time to repair the outage and when service is restored. The bill would require the office, except as provided, to keep the community isolation outage notifications confidential. 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which is permitted to adjudge certain children to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances, and prescribes various hearings and other procedures for these purposes. Existing law prohibits the court from terminating dependency jurisdiction over a nonminor who has reached 18 years of age until a hearing is conducted and the county welfare department has submitted a report verifying that specified information, documents, and services have been provided to the nonminor. This bill would revise and recast these provisions to, among other things, require the county welfare department to submit reports at the first regularly scheduled review hearing after a dependent child has attained 16 years of age and at the last regularly scheduled review hearing before a dependent child attains 18 years of age, and at every regularly scheduled review hearing thereafter, verifying that the county has provided certain of the above-described information, documents, and services, and additional financial literacy information, to the child. By increasing the reporting duties of county welfare departments, 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has jurisdiction over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Under its existing authority, the commission requires certain electrical corporations to implement the California Overhead Conversion Program to provide financial assistance to local governments to facilitate projects that are in the public interest and replace overhead infrastructure with infrastructure in underground trenches. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the Wildfire Safety Division of the commission for review and approval. Existing law also requires the division to oversee and complete a review of each electrical corporation's compliance with its plan. This bill would require each electrical corporation's wildfire mitigation plan to additionally include a description of where and how the electrical corporation considered undergrounding electrical distribution lines within those areas of its service territory identified to have the highest wildfire risk in a commission fire threat map. (2) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 8386 of the Public Utilities Code proposed by SB 167 and SB 560, contingent on the prior enactment of one or both of those bills. (3) Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission implementing the above provisions would be 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.
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. Existing law establishes the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection and vests the board with authority over wildland forest resources. This bill would require the board, as soon as practicably feasible, but by no later than February 1, 2020, to complete its environmental review under CEQA and certify a specific final program environmental impact report for a vegetation treatment program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2021.
(1) Existing law requires a person, as defined, who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains an occupied dwelling or occupied structure in, upon, or adjoining specified types of land areas within a very high fire hazard severity zone to maintain defensible space around the structure, as specified. Existing law also requires the State Fire Marshal, in consultation with the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Director of Housing and Community Development, to recommend updated building standards that provide for comprehensive site and structure fire risk reduction to protect structures from fires spreading from adjacent structures or vegetation and to protect vegetation from fires spreading from adjacent structures, as provided. Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop, periodically update, and post on its internet website guidance documents on fuels management, as provided. This bill would require the Office of the State Fire Marshal to develop, in consultation with representatives from local, state, and federal fire services, local government, building officials, utility companies, the building industry, insurers and insurance research organizations, and the environmental community, a model defensible space program to be made available for use by a city, county, or city and county in the enforcement of the defensible space provisions. The bill would set forth required components of the program. The bill would require the model defensible space program to be updated when the guidance documents specified above are substantially updated, as provided. (2) Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to identify areas in the state, except as specified, as very high fire hazard severity zones based on specified criteria in order to enable public officials to identify measures that will retard the rate of spread and reduce the potential intensity of uncontrolled fires that threaten to destroy resources, life, or property and to require that those measures be taken. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to prepare and adopt a model ordinance that provides for the establishment of very high fire hazard severity zones. Existing law also requires the State Fire Marshal to annually review, revise as necessary, and administer the California Fire Service Training and Education Program. Existing law requires a local agency to designate, by ordinance, very high fire hazard severity zones within its jurisdiction. This bill would require the Office of the State Fire Marshal to develop and make available on its internet website a Wildland-Urban Interface Fire Safety Building Standards Compliance training intended for use in the training of local building officials, builders, and fire service personnel. The bill would also require the office to develop and update on a regular basis a Wildland-Urban Interface Products listing of products and construction assemblies that comply with specified fire safety building standards, as provided. (3) Existing law establishes the Building Standards Administration Special Revolving Fund in the State Treasury. Existing law provides that moneys in the fund, which include building permit applicant fees, shall be available, upon appropriation, to the Office of the State Fire Marshal, among other state entities, for expenditure in carrying out various provisions relating to building and housing standards, as provided. This bill would additionally provide that, upon appropriation, moneys in the fund may be available for purposes of carrying out the requirements described in (1) and (2) above, as provided.
Under existing law, a person injured in the course of employment is generally entitled to receive workers' compensation on account of that injury. Existing law provides that, in the case of certain state and local firefighting personnel and peace officers, the term "injury" includes various medical conditions that are developed or manifested during a period while the member is in the service of the department or unit, and establishes a disputable presumption in this regard. This bill would provide, only until January 1, 2025, that in the case of certain state and local firefighting personnel and peace officers, the term "injury" also includes post-traumatic stress that develops or manifests itself during a period in which the injured person is in the service of the department or unit. The bill would apply to injuries occurring on or after January 1, 2020. The bill would prohibit compensation from being paid for a claim of injury unless the member has performed services for the department or unit for at least 6 months, unless the injury is caused by a sudden and extraordinary employment condition.
Existing law establishes the Pierce's Disease Control Program in the Department of Food and Agriculture and requires the Governor to appoint a statewide coordinator. Existing law establishes the Pierce's Disease Management Account in the Food and Agriculture Fund and allows certain money in this account to be expended to combat Pierce's disease and its vectors, including the glassy-winged sharpshooter, and for purposes relating to other designated pests and diseases, as provided. Existing law makes these provisions inoperative on March 1, 2021, and repeals them on January 1, 2022. This bill would extend to March 1, 2026, the date on which the above provisions become inoperative, and would repeal those provisions on January 1, 2027. The bill would require the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to appoint a statewide coordinator. By extending the operative date for a partially continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. Existing law creates in the department the Pierce's Disease and Glassy-winged Sharpshooter Board, which consists of specified members, and prescribes the functions and duties of the board with respect to implementation of the Pierce's disease program. Existing law provides for an annual assessment to be paid by grape processors, as defined, into the Food and Agriculture Fund and continuously appropriates the collected funds for the purposes of, among other things, research and other activities related to the Pierce's disease program. Existing law repeals these provisions on March 1, 2021. This bill would extend the repeal date of these provisions to March 1, 2026, and would make related conforming changes. By extending the date until which the assessments are collected, the bill would make an appropriation.
(1) The Subdivision Map Act vests the authority to regulate and control the design and improvement of subdivisions in the legislative body of a local agency and sets forth procedures governing the local agency's processing, approval, conditional approval or disapproval, and filing of tentative, final, and parcel maps, and the modification thereof. The act generally requires a subdivider to file a tentative map or vesting tentative map with the local agency, as specified, and the local agency, in turn, to approve, conditionally approve, or disapprove the map within a specified time period. The act requires an approved tentative map or vesting tentative map to expire 24 months after its approval, or after an additional period of time prescribed by local ordinance, not to exceed 12 months. However, the act extends the expiration date of certain approved tentative maps and vesting tentative maps, as specified. This bill would, within the County of Butte, authorize the legislative body to extend the expiration date, by up to 36 months, of any approved tentative map or vesting tentative map that meets certain criteria, including that it was approved on or after January 1, 2006, and not later than March 31, 2019, and that it relates to the construction of single or multifamily housing, as specified. By adding to the procedures that local agency officials must follow, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require any legislative, administrative, or other approval by any state agency that pertains to a development project included in a map that is extended pursuant to these provisions to be extended by 36 months, as specified. (2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Butte. (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. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This measure would designate the month of November 2019 to be California's Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month. This measure would recognize and acknowledge the significant contributions made by Californians of Sikh heritage to our state and seeks to afford all Californians the opportunity to better understand, recognize, and appreciate the rich history and shared principles of Sikh Americans. This measure would condemn all hate crimes and bias incidents against Sikh Americans and encourage all Sikhs to practice their faith freely and fearlessly.