Existing law, the California Beef Council Law, establishes the California Beef Council, comprised of 20 members and 20 alternate members appointed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to perform various advisory and other duties relating to the California beef industry. The California Beef Council Law establishes a $1 fee per head on each sale of cattle and calves to administer the California Beef Council Law, and requires the fee to be collected from the seller by the operator of the stockyard, live auction market, slaughterhouse, or feedlot, or from the seller along with brand inspection fees by the Bureau of Livestock Identification. Existing law also provides that the fee from the sale of calves exempt from brand inspection that is not collected in the manner specified above is required to be collected by the purchaser, for payment to the secretary. This bill would instead require the fee from the sale of cattle or calves exempt from a brand inspection that is not collected from the seller in the manner specified above to be charged and collected from the seller in a manner determined by the Department of Food and Agriculture. This bill would also establish the California Beef Commission Law (the law) to augment and support the work of the California Beef Council. The bill would create the California Beef Commission, which would be comprised of 11 members and 11 alternate members appointed by the secretary who may be members of the California Beef Council. The bill would provide for reimbursement of traveling and other expenses incurred by commission members in the performance of their duties, unless the expenses are incurred for discharging similar duties reimbursed by the California Beef Council. The bill would set forth the powers and duties of the commission, including administering any governmental program related to the California cattle, beef, and beef products industry, except for administering funds and performing acts under the jurisdiction of the California Beef Council. The bill would exempt the commission or any person acting pursuant to the law's provisions from various consumer protection laws, including the Cartwright Act and the Unfair Practices Act. The bill would provide for an assessment of $1 per head of cattle to be paid on each sale of cattle and calves to carry out the law's provisions. The bill would authorize the commission to expend those funds for purposes of implementing the bill, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the secretary to conduct an initial referendum of producers to approve a mandatory fee to implement the law's provisions and would make operation of the law's provisions contingent upon approval of producers by referendum, except as specified. The bill would require reapproval of the law's provisions by a referendum of producers every 5 years and would provide for suspension of the law if a majority of producers do not vote in favor of continuing the law's operation. 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.
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Existing federal law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , enacted various health care coverage market reforms that took effect January 1, 2014. PPACA required each state, by January 1, 2014, to establish an American Health Benefit Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health benefit plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. PPACA defines a "qualified health plan" as a plan that, among other requirements, provides an essential health benefits package. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange, also known as Covered California, to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975 (Knox-Keene) , provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. This bill, the Healthy California Act, would create the Healthy California program to provide comprehensive universal single-payer health care coverage and a health care cost control system for the benefit of all residents of the state. The bill, among other things, would provide that the program cover a wide range of medical benefits and other services and would incorporate the health care benefits and standards of other existing federal and state provisions, including, but not limited to, the state's Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) , Medi-Cal, ancillary health care or social services covered by regional centers for persons with developmental disabilities, Knox-Keene, and the federal Medicare program. The bill would require the board to seek all necessary waivers, approvals, and agreements to allow various existing federal health care payments to be paid to the Healthy California program, which would then assume responsibility for all benefits and services previously paid for with those funds. This bill would also provide for the participation of health care providers in the program, require care coordination for members, provide for payment for health care services and care coordination, and specify program standards. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would develop a revenue plan, taking into consideration anticipated federal revenue available for the Healthy California program. The bill would create the Healthy California Trust Fund in the State Treasury, as a continuously appropriated fund, consisting of any federal and state moneys received for the purposes of the act. Because the bill would create a continuously appropriated fund, it would make an appropriation. This bill would create the Healthy California Board to govern the program, made up of 9 members with demonstrated and acknowledged expertise in health care, and appointed as provided. The bill would provide the board with all the powers and duties necessary to establish the Healthy California program, including, but not limited to, determining when individuals may start enrolling into the program, employing necessary staff, and negotiating and entering into any necessary contracts. The bill would also require the Secretary of California Health and Human Services to establish a public advisory committee to advise the board on all matters of policy for the Healthy California program. This bill would prohibit health care service plans and health insurers from offering health benefits or covering any service for which coverage is offered to individuals under the program, except as provided. The bill would authorize health care providers, as defined, to collectively negotiate rates of payment for health care services, rates of payment for prescription and nonprescription drugs, and payment methodologies using a 3rd-party representative, as provided. This bill would prohibit this act from becoming operative until the Secretary of California Health and Human Services gives written notice to the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly that the Healthy California Trust Fund has the revenues to fund the costs of implementing the act. The California Health and Human Services Agency would be required to publish a copy of the notice on its Internet Web site. 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.
Existing law creates the Citrus Disease Management Account in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund, consisting of money from federal, industry, and other non-General Fund sources, to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature for the purpose of combating citrus specific pests, diseases, and their vectors. This bill would appropriate $9,616,000 from the Citrus Disease Management Account to the Department of Food and Agriculture for operating expenses necessary for the prevention and management of citrus diseases. This bill would declare that it makes an appropriation for the usual current expenses of the state, and shall go into immediate effect.
Existing constitutional law provides for the establishment of the State Board of Equalization and requires the board to consist of 5 voting members: the Controller and 4 members elected for 4-year terms at gubernatorial elections. Existing constitutional law prescribes the board's duties, powers, and responsibilities, and jurisdiction over the review, equalization, or adjustment of a property tax assessment; the measurement of county assessment levels and adjustment of secured local assessment rolls; the assessment of pipelines, flumes, canals, ditches, and aqueducts lying within 2 or more counties and of property owned or used by regulated railway, telegraph, or telephone companies, car companies operating on railways in the state, and companies transmitting or selling gas or electricity; the assessment of taxes on insurers; and the assessment and collection of excise taxes on the manufacture, importation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in this state. Existing statutory law prescribes the board's powers and duties regarding the administration of various taxes and fees and generally makes the board responsible for administrative appeals relating to those taxes and fees and for the administrative appeals of state personal income taxes and corporation franchise and income taxes, which are administered by the Franchise Tax Board. Existing statutory law authorizes the board to appoint its secretary, often referred to as the executive director, and to prescribe and enforce the secretary's duties. Under existing statutory law, the secretary holds office during the pleasure of the board and receives compensation as prescribed by the board. The board's legal department is under the direction of the chief counsel. This bill would require each member of the board who has had an ex parte communication with respect to any person who is the subject of an adjudicatory proceeding to fully disclose the communication on the record of the proceeding prior to the board decision on that matter. This bill would authorize the board to only select and terminate the secretary and the chief counsel. The bill would authorize a member of the board to only select and terminate the board member's staff who are exempt from civil service. The bill would make all personnel matters other than those described and related administrative functions the responsibility of the secretary. The bill also would clarify other duties of the secretary and the members of the board, as specified. The bill would require the board to submit quarterly reports to the Legislature summarizing the decision of each tax or fee appeal. The bill would require the secretary to submit a report to the Legislature summarizing the performance of work for or related to any member of the board by specified staff and the use of specified funding or other resources by a member of the board. This bill would require the Department of Finance to establish a separate line item in the annual Budget Act for any annual appropriations to members of the State Board of Equalization. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would create an Office of Inspector General within the State Board of Equalization.
This measure would proclaim the month of April 2017 as California Wines: Down to Earth Month, to celebrate the sustainable leadership of California wineries and winegrape growers throughout the month of April.
This measure would designate Monday, May 8, 2017, as California Peace Officers' Memorial Day, urge all Californians to use that day to honor California peace officers, and recognize specified California peace officers who were killed in defense of their communities.
Existing provisions of the California Constitution provide that the University of California constitutes a public trust, administered by the Regents of the University of California, a corporation in the form of a board, with full powers of organization and government, subject to legislative control only for specified purposes. These provisions give that corporation all the powers necessary or convenient for the effective administration of its trust. This measure, during any year in which the university provides more than 600 managerial employees with annual salaries higher than the Governor's, would prohibit the university from increasing systemwide student tuition and fees or from entering into a new, or renewing an existing, services contract with a for-profit company paying substandard wages, as defined, to its nonprofessional workers.