Existing law makes it a crime for a person entrusted with the care or custody of any elder or dependent adult to willfully cause him or her to be injured or permit him or her to be placed in a situation in which his or her person or health is endangered. Existing law also authorizes county adult protective services agencies and local long-term care ombudsman programs to investigate elder and dependent adult abuse, but grants law enforcement agencies the exclusive responsibility for criminal investigations. This bill would require local law enforcement agencies, as defined, and long-term care ombudsman programs to revise or include in their policy manuals, as defined, specified information regarding elder and dependent adult abuse. By requiring local agencies to revise their policy manuals, 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, 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.
Sponsored bills
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires the commission to designate a baseline quantity of electricity and gas necessary for a significant portion of the reasonable energy needs of the average residential customer and requires that electrical corporations and gas corporations file rates and charges, to be approved by the commission, providing baseline rates that apply to the first and lowest block of an increasing block rate structure. Existing law additionally requires the commission to establish a standard allowance in addition to the baseline quantity of gas and electricity for residential customers dependent on life-support equipment. Existing law provides that this additional higher energy usage allowance be made available to a person who is being treated for a life-threatening illness or has a compromised immune system, if a licensed physician and surgeon or a person licensed pursuant to the Osteopathic Initiative Act certifies in writing to the utility that the additional heating or cooling allowance is medically necessary to sustain the life of the person or prevent deterioration of the person's medical condition. This bill would authorize a physician assistant to certify in writing to the utility that the additional energy, heating, or cooling allowance is medically necessary to sustain the life of a person being treated for a life-threatening illness or a compromised immune system or to prevent deterioration of that person's medical condition. Existing law prohibits a gas or electrical corporation from disconnecting service for nonpayment when (1) the customer or a member of the customer's household has a life-threatening condition or illness, (2) a licensed physician, a person licensed pursuant to the Osteopathic Initiative Act, or a nurse practitioner certifies that gas or electric service is medically necessary to sustain the life of the person or prevent deterioration of the person's medical condition, and (3) the customer is willing to enter into an amortization agreement, as provided. This bill would revise (2) above to additionally prohibit disconnecting service where a physician assistant certifies that gas or electric service is medically necessary to sustain the life of the customer or member of the customer's family or to prevent deterioration of that person's medical condition. The bill would require the commission to develop rules requiring each of the 4 energy utilities that have the greatest number of customers in California to demonstrate that they are working with the medical community to increase marketing and outreach to persons eligible for the above-described medical baseline allowance. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime or expanding the application of a crime. 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 recognize September 2018 as Green Port Month.
This measure would urge the federal government and the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission to take immediate action to adequately address cross-border pollution in the Tijuana River Valley.
This measure would designate specified exits on State Route 15 in the County of San Diego for reaching the cultural landmark, the "Little Saigon Cultural and Commercial District." The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost for appropriate cultural landmark signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.
Existing law requires each school district that has one or more pupils who are English learners, and, to the extent required by federal law, each county office of education and each charter school, to assess the English language development of each pupil in order to determine the pupil's level of proficiency, as specified, and requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to review existing assessments that assess the English language development of pupils whose primary language is a language other than English. This bill, commencing with the 2019–20 school year, would prohibit a middle school or high school pupil, as defined, who is classified as an English learner, except as specified, from being denied participation in a school's standard instructional program, as defined, by being denied enrollment in specified courses, including, among others, courses required for graduation and college admission. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, 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, 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.
This measure would urge President Trump, United States Attorney General Sessions, the United States Department of Justice, the United States Department of Homeland Security, and all other relevant federal departments to immediately cease the implementation of the "zero tolerance" federal immigration policy and to not propose any additional inhumane immigration policies in the future. The measure would further call for compassion and decency for all individuals, families, and children who arrive at our borders seeking a better life.
Existing law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources that are designated as basins subject to critical conditions of overdraft to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2020, and requires all other groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans by January 31, 2022, except as specified. The act requires the boundaries of a basin to be as identified in a specified report of the department, unless other basin boundaries are established, as prescribed. This bill would divide the San Luis Rey Valley Groundwater Basin into an upper and lower subbasin, as prescribed, and would designate the subbasins as medium priority until the department reassesses basin prioritization. The bill would require water beneath the surface of the ground within the Upper San Luis Rey Valley Groundwater Subbasin to be included within the definition of groundwater for the purposes of the act by any groundwater sustainability agency developing or implementing a groundwater sustainability plan and would except from this requirement certain water beneath the surface of the ground extracted and used as authorized under an existing appropriative water right.
This measure would designate November 2018 as Diabetes Awareness Month and would, among other things, encourage individuals to seek screening to understand their diabetes risk.
This measure would affirm the Legislature's support for science-based action to conserve, protect, restore, and effectively manage California's coastal and ocean ecosystems, which the state holds in trust for the people of California, in the face of challenges presented by climate change, ocean acidification, hypoxia, and other changing ocean conditions, and would urge federal and state government entities to take specified actions to preserve the state's ocean and coastal resources as well as protect disadvantaged and low-income communities impacted by these challenges.