Existing law declares that the fostering, continuance, and development of public transportation systems are a matter of statewide concern. Existing law authorizes the formation of the Sacramento Regional Transit District with various powers and duties with respect to transportation planning, programming, construction, and operations. Existing law creates the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, which has primary responsibility for the development, implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of air pollution control strategies, clean fuels programs, and motor vehicle use reduction measures for the County of Sacramento. This bill would authorize the districts, in consultation with the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, to jointly adopt, and revise as necessary to meet the region's changing transportation needs, a commute benefit ordinance that, at minimum, requires covered employers, as defined, operating within the area of the County of Sacramento that is common to the service areas of the districts to offer certain employees commute benefits, as specified, except that the bill would prohibit the ordinance from affecting employers covered by certain Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District rules or regulations. The bill would require the ordinance to specify certain matters, including consequences for noncompliance. The bill would, if the districts adopt a commute benefit ordinance, require the districts, before an unspecified date, to submit a report to the transportation policy committees of each house of the Legislature and the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality that includes specified elements. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Sacramento.
Sponsored bills
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and 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. Existing law prohibits a Medi-Cal managed care plan from restricting a beneficiary's choice of a qualified provider from whom the beneficiary may receive covered family planning services. Under existing law, the Medi-Cal program administers the Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment (Family PACT) Program within the department to provide comprehensive clinical family planning services to a person with a family income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. Existing law requires reimbursement rates for office visits billed as comprehensive clinical family planning services by Family PACT providers or Medi-Cal providers to receive a rate augmentation equal to the weighted average of at least 80 percent of the amount that the federal Medicare program reimburses for the same or similar office visits. This bill would specify that family planning services for which a Medi-Cal managed care plan may not restrict a beneficiary's choice of a qualified provider include sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing and treatment. The bill would, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature and any potential draw down of federal matching funds, authorize an office visit to a Family PACT provider or Medi-Cal provider for specified STD-related services for uninsured, income-eligible patients, or patients with health care coverage who have confidentiality concerns, who are not at risk experiencing or causing an unintended pregnancy, and who are not in need of contraceptive services, to be reimbursed at the same rate as comprehensive clinical family planing services. Existing law authorizes a specified health care provider who diagnoses an STD, as specified, to prescribe, dispense, furnish, or otherwise provide prescription antibiotic drugs to that patient's sexual partner or partners without examination of that patient's partner or partners. The Pharmacy Law provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacists by the California State Board of Pharmacy. The Pharmacy Law requires a pharmacist to dispense a prescription in a container that, among other things, is correctly labeled with the name of the patient or patients. This bill would name the above practice "expedited partner therapy." The bill would require a health care provider to include "expedited partner therapy" or "EPT" on a prescription if the practitioner is unable to obtain the name of a patient's sexual partner, and would authorize a pharmacist to dispense an expedited partner therapy prescription and label the drug without an individual's name if the prescription includes "expedited partner therapy" or "EPT." The bill would specify that a health care provider is not liable in a medical malpractice action or professional disciplinary action if the use of expedited partner therapy is in compliance with the law, except in cases of intentional misconduct, gross negligence, or wanton or reckless activity.
Existing law establishes 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 either through a fee-for-service or managed care delivery system. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law authorizes the department to enter into various types of contracts for the provision of services to beneficiaries, including contracts with managed care plans, and imposes requirements upon those contracted managed care plans, such as network adequacy standards. This bill would require the Director of Health Care Services to conduct a contract procurement at least once every 5 years if the director contracts with a commercial Medi-Cal managed care plan for the provision of care of Medi-Cal beneficiaries on a state-wide or limited geographic basis, and would authorize the director to extend an existing contract for one year if the director takes specified action, including providing notice to the Legislature, at least one year before exercising that extension. The bill would require the department to perform specified duties, including establishing a stakeholder process in the planning and development of each commercial Medi-Cal managed care contract procurement process, and receiving public comment on the model contract, procurement qualifications, and evaluation criteria. The bill would authorize a county to submit to the department its preferences for any commercial Medi-Cal managed care plan to provide services in that county, and to request and receive from the department any report on specified matters, such as beneficiary health outcomes. The bill would authorize the department to contract with any commercial Medi-Cal managed care plan only if the plan can demonstrate its ability to meet specified evaluation criteria set forth by the department, including the ability of a commercial Medi-Cal managed care plan to comply with time and distance requirements, appointment time standards, and performance targets, as established by the department. With respect to Medi-Cal managed care plan contracts generally, this bill would require those contractors to collaborate with identified stakeholders, including consumer advocates and public health experts in their respective Medi-Cal managed care plans' service area, on identifying and achieving health priorities in that service area.
Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of the state highway system and associated real property. Existing law generally requires vehicles to be driven upon the right half of a roadway, defined to include only that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel. Existing law generally prohibits the driver of a vehicle from overtaking and passing another vehicle by driving off the paved or main-traveled portion of the roadway. Existing law authorizes the Monterey-Salinas Transit District and the Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District to conduct a transit bus-only program using the shoulders of certain state highways as transit bus-only traffic corridors, subject to approval by the Department of Transportation and the Department of the California Highway Patrol. Existing law requires that the highway segments to be used for the program are to be jointly determined by the districts, the department, and the Department of the California Highway Patrol, as provided. This bill would authorize the Department of Transportation to establish a pilot program to authorize a transit operator or operators to operate transit buses on the shoulders of state highways, under a project selected under the program. The bill would authorize an operator or operators, in partnership with a regional transportation agency that meets specified requirements, to submit an application to the department to establish and operate a project under the program. The bill would authorize the department to select no more than 8 total projects under the program using guidelines developed with input from the Department of the California Highway Patrol and the public. The bill would require the department, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, and the operator or operators and regional transportation agency that submitted the application to jointly determine the state highways, or segment of state highways, that will be used in a project. The bill would require the applicable regional transportation agency to be responsible for all costs attributable to the project. Two years after commencing a project, the bill would require an operator or operators, in conjunction with the applicable regional transportation agency, to submit a report to the Legislature that includes certain information about the project.
Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to license and regulate facilities that provide residential nonmedical services to adults who are recovering from problems related to alcohol, drug, or alcohol and drug misuse or abuse, and who need alcohol, drug, or alcohol and drug recovery treatment or detoxification services. Existing law also requires the department to implement a voluntary certification procedure for alcohol and other drug treatment recovery services. Existing law requires all programs certified and licensed by the department to disclose, among other things, ownership or control of, or financial interest in, a recovery residence, as defined. Existing law requires the department to conduct a site visit to investigate an allegation of an operating unlicensed alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facility and issue a notice to cease providing services under specified conditions. This bill would require the department to take action against an unlicensed facility that is disclosed as a recovery residence pursuant to these disclosure requirements. The bill would authorize the department to refer a substantiated complaint against a recovery residence to other enforcement entities as appropriate under state or federal law. The bill would make a technical change to refer to licensed facilities in these requirements.
The Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act requires the State Department of Social Services to license and regulate home care organizations, as defined, and to establish and maintain a registry of registered home care aides and home care aide applicants on the department's internet website. The act requires the department, before approving an individual for registration, to check the individual's criminal history, as specified, and further requires the department to register a home care aide applicant if the applicant is issued a criminal record clearance or granted a criminal record exemption. The act authorizes the department to grant an exemption if the person's criminal history indicates that the person is of good character based on the age, seriousness, and frequency of the conviction or convictions. The department is required to develop regulations to establish the criteria to grant an exemption under these provisions. This bill would prohibit the department from requiring a home care aid applicant to provide a character reference when determining whether to grant a criminal record exemption if the home care aid applicant committed a nonviolent, nonsexual misdemeanor or felony and completed their sentence over 10 years prior to the date of submitting an application pursuant to this section.
Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income persons receive health care benefits. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law also establishes the Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment (Family PACT) Program, administered by the Office of Family Planning within the department, under which comprehensive clinical family planning services are provided to a person who has a family income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, and who is eligible to receive these services. Existing law provides that comprehensive clinical family planning services under the program includes preconception counseling, maternal and fetal health counseling, and general reproductive health care, among other things. This bill would expand comprehensive clinical family planning services under the program to include the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for persons of reproductive age.
Existing law, the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, makes unlawful specified unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices undertaken by any person in a transaction intended to result or that results in the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer. This bill would provide that a platform, as defined, is not liable for monetary relief, including attorney's fees and costs, for the distribution of false, misleading, deceptive, or unlawful material in any civil action arising from the distribution of that material if the platform meets specified conditions, including a requirement that the platform respond expeditiously to remove or disable access to that material upon written notification from a complaining party, as defined. The bill would prescribe requirements for the service and contents of the written notification. The bill would provide that a person who knowingly and materially misrepresents that material is false, misleading, deceptive, or unlawful to a platform is liable for damages, including attorney's fees and costs, incurred by the user that posted the material and incurred by the platform in relation to a civil action arising from the platform's reliance on that misrepresentation in removing or disabling access to the material. This bill would provide that a platform is not liable in any action arising from the platform's decision to disable access to or remove material if the decision is based on the platform's good faith belief that the material is false, misleading, deceptive, or unlawful, or is based on facts or circumstances from which the false, misleading, deceptive, or unlawful nature of the material is apparent. The bill would provide that this protection is applicable regardless of a court's determination on whether the material is false, misleading, deceptive, or unlawful. The bill, however, would only extend this protection if the platform fulfills certain conditions regarding the platform's notification to the user regarding the removal or disabling of access to that material. The bill would establish requirements for a counternotification from a user regarding the removal of material or disabling of access, including a requirement for a user to provide a specified statement under penalty of perjury. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would only make its provisions applicable to a platform that adopts and implements, and informs its users of, a policy that provides for the termination of user accounts that repeatedly distribute false, misleading, deceptive, or unlawful material. 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 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 either through a fee-for-service or a managed care delivery system. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, the Medi-Cal program comprises a department-administered uniform schedule of health care benefits. Existing law limits health care services, for purposes of the Medi-Cal program, to a schedule of benefits, as specified. This bill, commencing July 1, 2021, would add enhanced care management, as described, to the schedule of benefits for a beneficiary to obtain as covered Medi-Cal services. The bill would require these provisions to be implemented only to the extent that federal financial participation is available, and not otherwise jeopardized, and any necessary federal approvals are obtained. The bill would require the department to adopt regulations by July 1, 2023. Commencing January 1, 2022, the bill would require the department to provide a status report to the Legislature on a semiannual basis until regulations have been adopted. The bill would also require each Medi-Cal managed care plan to disclose the availability of in-lieu-of services on its internet website and in its beneficiary handbook and would make a conforming change related to capitation rates for managed care contracts that include in-lieu-of services.