Existing law, the Psychology Licensing Law, provides for the licensure, regulation, and discipline of psychologists by the Board of Psychology. Existing law authorizes the board to refuse to issue a registration or license, to issue a registration or license with terms and conditions, or to suspend or revoke the registration or license of a registrant or licensee if the applicant, registrant, or licensee has been guilty of unprofessional conduct. Under existing law, unprofessional conduct includes, among other things, any act of sexual abuse, or sexual relations with a patient or former patient within 2 years following termination of therapy, or sexual misconduct that is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a psychologist or registered psychological associate. This bill would recast and revise the circumstances under which specified sexual acts constitute unprofessional conduct. The bill would provide that unprofessional conduct includes any act of sexual behavior or sexual contact with a client or former client within 2 years following termination of therapy and any act of sexual abuse or sexual misconduct. The bill would define those terms for its purposes. Existing law, as an exception to the provisions described above that authorize specified disciplinary action by the board, requires that an order of revocation of a registration or license be included in a specified administrative adjudication decision or proposed decision that contains a finding of fact that the licensee or registrant engaged in an act of sexual contact, as defined, with a patient or former patient within 2 years following termination of therapy. Existing law prohibits an administrative law judge from staying the revocation. This bill would also authorize an order of revocation to be included with any proposed or issued decision that contains a finding that the licensee or registrant engaged in sexual abuse, sexual behavior, or sexual misconduct, as those terms are defined.
Sponsored bills
Existing federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) , requires each state to establish an American Health Benefit Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health benefit plans by qualified individuals and qualified small employers. Existing state law creates the California Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) , also known as Covered California, to facilitate the enrollment of qualified individuals and qualified small employers in qualified health plans as required under PPACA. Existing law requires the Exchange, in consultation with stakeholders and the Legislature, to develop options for providing cost-sharing reduction subsidies to reduce cost sharing for low- and middle-income Californians, and requires the Exchange to report the developed options on or before January 1, 2022. Existing law requires the options to include, among other things, options for all Covered California enrollees with income up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level to reduce cost sharing, including copays, deductibles, coinsurance, and maximum out-of-pocket costs. This bill would require the Exchange to implement those options for providing health care affordability assistance. The bill would require the affordability assistance to reduce cost-sharing, including copays, coinsurance, and maximum out-of-pocket costs, if specified enhanced federal premium subsidies are made available for the 2023 and 2024 calendar years, and to eliminate deductibles for all benefits to the extent feasible. The bill would require the Exchange to adopt standard benefit designs consistent with these specifications. Existing law requires the Exchange to administer a program of health care coverage financial assistance to help low-income and middle-income Californians. Existing law authorizes this program to provide financial assistance to California residents with household incomes at or below 600% of the federal poverty level, and to provide other appropriate subsidies designed to make health care coverage more accessible and affordable for individuals and households. This bill would require the program to provide that financial assistance and other appropriate subsidies if funded through an appropriation.
Existing law establishes an Office of Health Equity in the State Department of Public Health for purposes of aligning state resources, decisionmaking, and programs to accomplish certain goals related to health equity and protecting vulnerable communities. Existing law requires the office to develop department-wide plans to close the gaps in health status and access to care among the state's diverse racial and ethnic communities, women, persons with disabilities, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning communities, as specified. Existing law requires the office to work with the Health in All Policies Task Force to assist state agencies and departments in developing policies, systems, programs, and environmental change strategies that have population health impacts by, among other things, prioritizing building cross-sectoral partnerships within and across departments and agencies to change policies and practices to advance health equity. Existing law establishes the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States to, among other things, identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies. Existing law requires the task force to submit a written report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature. This bill, until January 1, 2030, would establish in state government a Racial Equity Commission. The bill would require the commission to be staffed by the Office of Planning and Research. The bill would require the commission to develop resources, best practices, and tools for advancing racial equity by, among other things, developing a statewide Racial Equity Framework that includes methodologies and tools that can be employed to advance racial equity and address structural racism in California. The bill would require the commission to prepare an annual report that summarizes feedback from public engagement with communities of color, provides data on racial inequities and disparities in the state, and recommends best practices on tools, methodologies, and opportunities to advance racial equity and to submit that report, on or after December 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, to the Governor and the Legislature, as specified.
Existing law authorizes the board of supervisors of a county to consolidate the duties of various county offices in various combinations, including combining the duties of the sheriff and the coroner. Existing law also authorizes the board of supervisors of a county to separate the duties of consolidated offices. This bill would remove the board of supervisors' authority to combine the duties of the sheriff with the duties of the coroner. The bill would also remove the board of supervisors' authority to combine the duties of the tax collector with the duties of the coroner. The bill would require the board of supervisors of a county where the offices of sheriff and coroner were consolidated before January 1, 2023, to separate those offices, in which case the separation would become effective upon the conclusion of the term of the person elected or appointed, on or before January 1, 2023, to the consolidated offices of sheriff and coroner. By requiring counties to comply with these requirements, 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.
Existing law prescribes various circumstances under which a minor may consent to their medical care and treatment without the consent of a parent or guardian. These circumstances include, among others, authorizing a minor 12 years of age or older who may have come into contact with an infectious, contagious, or communicable disease to consent to medical care related to the diagnosis or treatment of the disease, if the disease or condition is one that is required by law or regulation to be reported to the local health officer, or is a related sexually transmitted disease, as may be determined by the State Public Health Officer. This bill would additionally authorize a minor 15 years of age or older to consent to vaccines that meet specified federal agency criteria. The bill would authorize a vaccine provider, as defined, to administer a vaccine pursuant to the bill, but would not authorize the vaccine provider to provide any service that is otherwise outside the vaccine provider's scope of practice.
This measure, among other things, would declare the last week of September 2022, and each year thereafter, as Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Week, with the purpose of expanding the acknowledgment of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region's contributions to a higher quality of life for all Californians.
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 establishes, until January 1, 2023, certain time and distance and appointment time standards for specified Medi-Cal managed care covered services, consistent with federal regulations relating to network adequacy standards, to ensure that those services are available and accessible to enrollees of Medi-Cal managed care plans in a timely manner, as specified. This bill would extend the operation of those standards to January 1, 2026, and would require the department to seek input from stakeholders, as specified, prior to January 1, 2025, to determine what changes are needed to these provisions.
The Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , an initiative measure approved as Proposition 64 at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities, including retail commercial cannabis activity, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Cannabis Control. Existing law requires cannabis and cannabis product labels and inserts to include specified warnings about the safety of cannabis use. This 1 3 of the front or principal face of a product, is in the largest type possible for the area, is bright yellow, and includes a pictorial or graphic element, as specified, and one of a series of warnings. The bill would require the licensee to use a mandated rotating warnings approach where batches of products are equally divided between the prescribed messages."?> bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2025, to adopt regulations to require cannabis and cannabis product labels and inserts to include a clear and prominent warning regarding the risks that cannabis use may contribute to mental health problems, in addition to existing labeling requirements. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health and the University of California, including the University of California San Francisco Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, to reevaluate the regulations every 5 years, commencing January 1, 2030, to determine whether the regulations reflect the state of the evolving science on cannabis health effects and on effective communication of health warnings. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2024, and in consultation with the State Department of Public Health, to create and post for public use a single-page flat or folded brochure that includes prescribed information, including, among other things, the recommendation that new users start with lower doses and the dangers of purchasing illegally sold cannabis and cannabis products. The bill would require, on and after March 1, 2024, a retailer or microbusiness selling, or person delivering, cannabis or cannabis products to a consumer offer each new consumer a copy of the brochure at the time of first purchase or delivery and to have the brochures visibly available at point of service. The bill would require the department, commencing January 1, 2030, and every 5 years thereafter, to either recertify the information in the brochure or provide updated language, as specified.
Existing law establishes an entity in state government called the California Exposition and State Fair and requires the California Exposition and State Fair to be managed by a board of directors. Existing law authorizes the board to establish and maintain a bank checking account or a savings and loan association account, as specified. This bill would require the state, as soon as possible, but no later than January 1, 2023, to facilitate transactions via direct deposit by electronic funds transfer if the state allocates moneys to the California Exposition and State Fair, as specified. The bill would also express the intent of the Legislature to subsequently fund an item in the Budget Act of 2022 relating to the California Exposition and State Fair. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Health Care Access and Information, a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and after March 7, 1973. Existing law requires, by January 1, 2030, owners of all acute care inpatient hospitals to either seismically retrofit all acute care inpatient hospitals, or demolish, replace, or change to nonacute care use all hospital buildings not in substantial compliance with regulations and standards developed by the department in accordance with the act, as specified. This bill would require an acute care hospital in a building with a specified rating to submit to the Department of Health Care Access and Information the estimated cost for the hospital to comply with the 2030 seismic requirements. The bill would require the department to provide the Legislature with a report containing specified information that would provide, among other things, the Legislature with an assessment of projected costs to retrofit each hospital building in order to meet the 2030 seismic requirements. The bill would authorize the department to rely on the cost estimates submitted by the hospitals, and if the department relies on the estimates, the bill would require the department to clearly state in the report that the information was provided by the hospital and not verified by the department.