Sen. Richard Pan

This measure would designate the overpass at the interchange of Interstate 5 and State Highway Route 44 in the City of Redding as the Merle Haggard Memorial Overpass. The measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

(1) Existing law, including the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, the Ralph C. Dills Act, the Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act, the Trial Court Interpreter Employment and Labor Relations Act, and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Transit Employer-Employee Relations Act, as well as provisions commonly referred to as the Educational Employment Relations Act and the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act, regulates the labor relations of the state, the courts, and specified local public agencies and their employees. Existing law establishes the Public Employment Relations Board and prescribes its powers and duties, in relation to these acts. These acts grant specified public employees of these entities the right to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their choosing and requires public agency employers, among other things, to meet and confer with representatives of recognized employee organizations and exclusive representatives on terms and conditions of employment. This bill would require the public employers regulated by the acts described above to provide newly hired employees, as defined, a specified public employee orientation within 4 months of hiring, to be conducted in-person, during work hours. The bill would require, if employees are represented, that the exclusive representative be given notice not less than 10 days in advance of an orientation. The bill would require the pertinent exclusive representative to be permitted to make a presentation of 30 minutes in the first half of the orientation. This bill would require an affected public employer to provide the exclusive representative with the name, job title, department, work location, phone number, and home address of newly hired employees within 30 days of the date of hire. The bill would permit agreements between a public employer and an exclusive representative that provide for orientations that vary from the bill's requirements, but in absence of an agreement on orientations, the bill's requirements would apply. The bill would also require affected public employers to provide the exclusive representative with the name, job title, department, work location, telephone number, and home address of all employees in the bargaining unit at least every 90 days, except as specified. The bill would provide that affected public employers do not unlawfully support or favor an employee organization or encourage employees to join any organization in preference to another, as specified, by permitting presentations at employee orientations or informational programs, as described above, or consistent with a negotiated agreement. The bill would grant the Public Employment Relations Board jurisdiction over a violation of these provisions. The bill would except from its provisions public employers with respect to in-home supportive services providers, as specified. By creating new duties for various local agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) 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.

Existing law requires every employer, for purposes of workers' compensation, to establish a utilization review process to prospectively, retrospectively, or concurrently review requests by physicians for authorization to provide recommended medical treatment to injured employees. Existing law establishes timeframes for an employer to make a determination regarding a physician's request. Existing law requires the utilization review process to be governed by written policies and procedures, and requires that these policies and procedures be filed with the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation and disclosed by the employer to employees, physicians, and the public upon request. This bill would prohibit the employer, or any entity conducting utilization review on behalf of the employer, from offering or providing any financial incentive or consideration to a physician based on the number of modifications, delays, or denials made by the physician. The bill would authorize the administrative director to review any compensation agreement, payment schedule, or contract between the employer, or any entity conducting utilization review on behalf of the employer, and the utilization review physician. The bill would make any information disclosed to the administrative director confidential and not subject to public disclosure, except as specified. 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 measure would direct the attention of Californians to Double Ten Day, a celebration of Chinese independence, and encourage all to share in the joy and glory of the independence of the Republic of China on Taiwan.

Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to disburse funds, appropriated to the department for the purpose of supporting county veterans service officers pursuant to the annual Budget Act, on a pro rata basis, to a county that complies with certain conditions. This bill would require the department, no later than July 1, 2016, to develop an allocation formula based upon performance standards that encourage innovation and reward outstanding service by county veterans service officers, and would require those moneys to be allocated, upon appropriation by the Legislature, in accordance with that formula, as specified. The bill would require the department to annually report to the Legislature the efficacy, return on investment, work volume, and regional impact of the subvention funds on each county that receives those funds, as specified. The bill would also delete obsolete provisions and would make conforming changes.

This measure would recognize the month of October 2016 as Filipino American History Month and the 429th anniversary of the first presence of Filipinos in the continental United States.

Existing law prohibits biomedical research, as defined, from being conducted on any prisoner in the state. This bill would specify that biomedical research does not include the accumulation of statistical data in the assessment of the effectiveness of nonexperimental public health programs or treatment programs in which inmates routinely participate. The bill would authorize records-based biomedical research involving inmates that uses existing information, but which does not include prospective interaction with human subjects.

This measure would recognize California's Vietnamese Americans and "Little Saigon" communities.

This measure would encourage the State Department of Education, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Food and Agriculture to give federally designated Promise Zones priority consideration and preferred access to, and competitive preferences for, state funding, resources, and programs. The measure would urge California to explore implementation of models developed by federal programs that give preferences to Promise Zones.

This measure would recognize the year of 2016 as the 50th anniversary of California's community-based developmental services system, and would reaffirm the commitment of the Legislature to support this system. This measure would declare the importance of ensuring a sustainable system that protects the rights of individuals with developmental disabilities.