Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes, under the jurisdiction of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals constructed on and after March 7, 1973. Existing law requires that, after January 1, 2008, any general acute care hospital building that is determined to be a potential risk of collapse or pose significant loss of life be used only for nonacute care hospital purposes, except that the office may grant a 5-year extension under prescribed circumstances. Existing law also allows the office to grant an additional 2-year extension in specified circumstances. This bill would clarify that a general acute care hospital building described above may be used for purposes other than nonacute care hospital purposes if an extension of the January 1, 2008, deadline has been granted and, before the end of the extension, a replacement building has been constructed or a retrofit has been performed, as specified. The bill would authorize a hospital located in the County of Sacramento, San Mateo, or Santa Barbara or the City of San Jose that has received the additional 2-year extension to the January 2008 deadline pursuant to specified provisions to request an additional extension until September 1, 2015, to obtain either a certificate of occupancy for a replacement building or a construction final for a building on which a retrofit has been performed. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Sacramento, San Mateo, and Santa Barbara and the City of San Jose. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
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Existing law establishes the various campuses of the California State University under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University. Existing law provides for the membership of the Trustees of the California State University to include 5 specified ex officio members, 16 members appointed by the Governor and subject to confirmation by the Senate, one representative of the alumni associations, 2 student members appointed by the Governor, and a faculty member appointed by the Governor. This bill would revise the membership of the board of trustees by requiring the Governor also to appoint a permanent nonfaculty employee of the university for a 2-year term, as specified. The bill would require a systemwide staff council, as specified, to provide to the Governor a list of 2 nominees for the Governor's consideration, and would require the Governor to appoint one of the nominees. The bill would provide that the permanent nonfaculty employee member of the board shall receive actual and necessary travel expenses and $100 for each day he or she is attending to official business of the trustees. This bill would incorporate changes to Section 66602 of the Education Code proposed by AB 2324, to become operative if AB 2324 and this bill are chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2015, and this bill is chaptered last.
Under existing law, a person between the ages of 6 and 18 years who is not exempted by law is subject to compulsory full-time education. Existing law excludes a child under 6 years of age from the public schools, subject to specified exceptions. Existing law requires a school district maintaining a kindergarten to admit a child who will have his or her 5th birthday on or before certain specified dates during that school year. Existing law also requires that a child who will have his or her 6th birthday on or before specified dates be admitted to the first grade of an elementary school. This bill, beginning with the 2016–17 school year, would require a child to have completed one year of kindergarten before he or she may be admitted to the first grade, thereby imposing 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 these statutory provisions.
Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Under existing law, the California State University comprises 23 institutions of higher education throughout the state. Existing law requires the trustees to establish a series of uniform definitions for online education for the California State University on or before January 1, 2015, as specified. Existing law also requires the trustees to report performance data about online education to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2017, and every 2 years until 2021, and requires the trustees to report the performance data to the Legislative Analyst on or before January 1, 2017. Existing law further requires the Legislative Analyst to submit to the Legislature, on or before October 1, 2017, a status update regarding the university's implementation of these provisions and an assessment of the extent to which the university's online programs are operating in a manner consistent with legislative intent and statutory requirements. This bill would require the trustees to make available to the Academic Senate of the California State University and campus academic senates specified information relating to all matriculated students of the California State University who are enrolled in online courses, irrespective of whether the courses or programs in which they are enrolled are provided by faculty of the California State University or by another entity that is under contract with the university or one of its campuses. The bill would require this information to be provided in compliance with all relevant state and federal provisions of law safeguarding the privacy of the students involved.
Existing law establishes the Department of Food and Agriculture, which is tasked with, among other things, promoting and protecting the agricultural industry of the state, and seeking to enhance, protect, and perpetuate the ability of the private sector to produce food and fiber in a way that benefits the general welfare and economy of the state. Existing law also establishes the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative for the purpose of promoting healthy food access in the state. This bill would create the Office of Farm to Fork within the department, and would require the office, to the extent that resources are available, to work with various entities, including, among others, the agricultural industry and other organizations involved in promoting food access, to increase the amount of agricultural products available to underserved communities and schools in the state. The bill would require the office to, among other things, identify urban and rural communities that lack access to healthy food, and to coordinate with local, state, and federal agencies to promote and increase awareness of programs that promote greater food access. The bill would create the Farm to Fork Account in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund that would consist of money made available from federal, state, industry, and other sources, and would continuously appropriate the money deposited in the account without regard to fiscal years to carry out the purposes of the Office of Farm to Fork. By creating a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill, until January 1, 2020, would also require the department, in any year in which funds are received into or expended from the Farm to Fork Account, to submit to the Legislature an overview of the account's income and expenditures.
Existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, requires each state to establish an American Health Benefits Exchange to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans by qualified individuals and small employers. PPACA prohibits an Exchange from making available any health plan other than a qualified health plan, except for certain stand-alone dental plans. Existing state law establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange within state government, specifies the powers and duties of the board governing the Exchange, and requires the board to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans through the Exchange by qualified individuals and small employers by January 1, 2014. This bill would establish the California Vision Care Access Council within state government and would require that the Council be governed by the executive board that governs the California Health Benefit Exchange. The bill would require the Council to establish an interagency agreement with the California Health Benefit Exchange allowing the Council to utilize the executive, administrative, and other related resources of the Exchange and would prohibit the use of specified Exchange funds for purposes of the Council. The bill would require the Council to construct, manage, and maintain an Internet Web site to inform consumers about individual and employer-based vision plans offered by participating carriers. The bill would require the Council to work with the Exchange to establish a direct link between that Internet Web site and the Internet Web site of the Exchange. The bill would require the Council to refer consumer questions regarding health care eligibility and enrollment options to the Exchange and to licensed insurance agents, as specified. This bill would impose specified requirements on participating carriers and would also require the Council to establish other requirements for carrier participation and the standards and criteria for participating vision plans that are in the best interests of individuals and employers eligible to purchase coverage through the Exchange. The bill would require participating vision plans to be issued on a guarantee issue basis without preexisting condition provisions and would require a participating carrier to make available to consumers an electronic directory of contracting vision care providers. The bill would also enact other related provisions. This bill would create the California Vision Care Access Trust Fund, the moneys of which would be available to the board for purposes of the bill's provisions upon appropriaton by the Legislature, would authorize the Council to assess a charge on participating vision plans that is reasonable and necessary to support the development, operations, and prudent cash management of the Council, and would make the implementation of the bill's provisions contingent on a determination by the board that sufficient moneys exist in the fund to implement the bill's provisions. The bill would prohibit General Fund moneys from being used for any of these purposes and would require that any costs associated with the implementation of these provisions be paid from the California Vision Care Access Trust Fund. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to establish a program for the development, provision, and evaluation of genetic disease testing. Existing law establishes the continuously appropriated Genetic Disease Testing Fund (GDTF) , consisting of fees paid for newborn screening tests and states the intent of the Legislature that all costs of the genetic disease testing program be fully supported by fees paid for newborn screening tests, which are deposited in the GDTF. Existing law also authorizes moneys in the GDTF to be used for the expansion of the Genetic Disease Branch Screening Information System to include cystic fibrosis, biotinidase, and severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) and exempts the expansion of contracts for this purpose from certain provisions of the Public Contract Code, the Government Code, and the State Administrative Manual, as specified. This bill would require the department to expand statewide screening of newborns to include screening for adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) as soon as ALD is adopted by the federal Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP) . By expanding the purposes for which moneys from the fund may be expended, this bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan or health insurer to comply with specified minimum medical loss ratios and requires a plan or insurer to provide an annual rebate to enrollees and insureds if the ratio of the amount of premium revenue expended by the plan or insurer on specified costs to the total amount of premium revenue is less than a certain percentage. Existing law specifies that these requirements do not apply to specialized health care service plan contracts or specialized health insurance policies. This bill would require health care services plans that issue, sell, renew, or offer specialized dental health care service plan contracts and health insurers that issue, sell, renew, or offer specialized dental health insurance policies to, no later than September 30, 2015, and each year thereafter, file a report, to be known as the MLR annual report, with the departments that contains the same information required in the 2013 federal Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) Annual Reporting Form. The bill would require the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance, as applicable and, if a financial examination is determined to be necessary to verify the representations in the MLR annual report, to provide the health care service plan or health insurer with a notification before conducting the examination, and would require the plan or insurer to electronically submit to the appropriate department specified requested records, books, and papers. The bill would declare the intent of the Legislature that the data reported pursuant to these provisions be considered by the Legislature in adopting a medical loss ratio standard for health care service plans and specialized health insurance policies that cover dental services that would take effect no later than January 1, 2018. The bill would authorize the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance, until January 1, 2018, to issue guidance to health care service plans and health insurers of specialized health insurance policies subject to these provisions regarding compliance with these provisions, as specified. Because a willful violation of the bill's requirements by a health care service plan would be a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law, the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, establishes a program of cooperative federalism for the regulation of telecommunications to attain the goal of local competition, while implementing specific, predictable, and sufficient federal and state mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service, consistent with certain universal service principles. The universal service principles include the principle that consumers in all regions of the nation, including low-income consumers and those in rural, insular, and high-cost areas, should have access to telecommunications and information services, including interexchange services and advanced telecommunications and information services, that are reasonably comparable to those services provided in urban areas and that are available at rates that are reasonably comparable to rates charged for similar services in urban areas. Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to supervise and regulate every public utility in the state, including telephone corporations, and to fix just and reasonable rates and charges for the public utility. Existing law establishes the state's 6 universal service funds in the State Treasury, including the California High-Cost Fund-A Administrative Committee Fund and the California High-Cost Fund-B Administrative Committee Fund, and provides that moneys in each of the state's universal service funds are the proceeds of rates and are held in trust for the benefit of ratepayers and to compensate telephone corporations for their costs of providing universal service. Moneys in the funds may only be expended to accomplish specified telecommunications universal service programs, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act or upon supplemental appropriation. Existing law, until January 1, 2015, requires the commission to develop, implement, and maintain a suitable program to establish a fair and equitable local rate structure aided by universal service rate support to small independent telephone corporations that serve rural areas and are subject to rate-of-return regulation by the commission (the CHCF-A program) . Existing law, until January 1, 2015, requires the commission to develop, implement, and maintain a suitable, competitively neutral, and broad-based program to establish a fair and equitable local rate support structure aided by universal service rate support to telephone corporations serving areas where the cost of providing services exceeds rates charged by providers, as determined by the commission (the CHCF-B program) . This bill would delete the provision stating that moneys in each of the state's universal service funds are the proceeds of rates and are held in trust for the benefit of ratepayers and to compensate telephone corporations for their cost of providing universal service and would instead provide that moneys in the funds are held in trust. The bill would encourage the commission, in administering the universal service program funds, and in administering state participation in federal universal service programs, to maximize the amount of federal funding to California participants in the federal programs. The bill would extend the repeal date of the CHCF-A program and CHCF-B program requirements until January 1, 2019. The bill would renumber the statute establishing the programmatic requirements for the CHCF-B program so that it is located in the code adjacent to the statute establishing the California High-Cost Fund-B Administrative Committee Fund, would delete outdated language, and would make other conforming changes. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order or direction of the commission is a crime. Because the CHCF-A program and CHCF-B program, that are extended under the provisions of this bill, are within the act and a decision or order of the commission implements the programs' requirements, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the definition 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 declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
(1) Existing law, the State Civil Service Act, permits the use of personal services contracts in order to achieve cost savings and in certain other circumstances, including when the services contracted are not available within civil service. Existing law requires a state agency proposing to execute a personal services contract in those certain other circumstances to notify all organizations that represent state employees who perform the type of work to be contracted, except as specified. This bill would exempt personal services contracts entered into by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training pursuant to its contracting authority, as specified, from that notification requirement. (2) Under existing law, state agencies are generally required to obtain at least 3 competitive bids for each contract. This requirement does not apply under certain circumstances, including, among others, when the contract is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, or safety, or protection of state property. This bill would add to these exceptions contracts entered into by the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training or the Office of Emergency Services when those contracts are solely for the services of instructors for public safety training.