Existing law prohibits the governing authority of a school or other institution from unconditionally admitting any person as a pupil of any public or private elementary or secondary school, childcare center, day nursery, nursery school, family day care home, or development center, unless prior to their admission to that institution they have been fully immunized against various diseases, including measles, mumps, pertussis, hepatitis B, and any other disease deemed appropriate by the State Department of Public Health, as specified. Existing law authorizes an exemption from those provisions for medical reasons. Under existing law, notwithstanding the above-described prohibition, full immunization against hepatitis B is not a condition by which the governing authority admits or advances a pupil to the 7th grade level of a public or private elementary or secondary school. This bill would remove the above-described exception relating to hepatitis B. The bill would additionally prohibit the governing authority of a school or other institution from unconditionally admitting any person as a pupil of any public or private elementary or secondary school, childcare center, day nursery, nursery school, family day care home, or development center, unless prior to their admission to that institution they have been fully immunized against COVID-19. To the extent that the bill would create new duties for school districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. For purposes of the additional immunizations deemed appropriate by the department, and that would be mandated before a pupil's first admission to the institution, existing law requires that exemptions be allowed for both medical reasons and personal beliefs. This bill would repeal that provision, thereby removing the personal belief exemption from any additional immunization requirements deemed appropriate by the department. 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.
Sponsored bills
This measure would designate the month of November 2021 to be California's Sikh American Awareness and Appreciation Month. The measure would recognize and acknowledge the significant contributions made by Californians of Sikh heritage to our state and seeks to afford all Californians the opportunity to better understand, recognize, and appreciate the rich history and shared principles of Sikh Americans. The measure would condemn all hate crimes and bias incidents against Sikh Americans and encourage all Sikhs to practice their faith freely and fearlessly.
This measure would designate the month of October 2021 as California Hindu American Awareness and Appreciation Month. The measure would also recognize and acknowledge the significant contributions made by Californians of Hindu heritage to the state and seek to increase awareness and understanding of the Hindu American community.
Existing law, the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining with respect to wages, terms of employment, and other employment conditions, and authorizes employees to elect exclusive bargaining representatives for these purposes. Existing law requires the Agricultural Labor Relations Board to certify the results of an election conducted by secret ballot of employees in a collective bargaining unit to designate a collective bargaining representative, unless the board determines there are sufficient grounds to refuse to do so. Existing law further provides that if the board refuses to certify an election because of employer misconduct that would render slight the chances of a new election reflecting the free and fair choice of employees, the labor organization shall be certified as the bargaining representative for the bargaining unit. This bill would refer to the secret ballot election as a polling place election. This bill would also permit agricultural employees, as an alternative election procedure, to select their labor representatives through a representation ballot card election by submitting a petition to the board supported by representation ballot cards signed by a majority of employees in the bargaining unit. This bill would require the board to conduct an immediate investigation regarding the validity of the petition and the supporting representation ballot cards and, within 5 days after receiving a petition, to make an administrative decision as to whether the petition meets certain requirements and as to whether the labor organization submitted the requisite number of cards. The bill would require the board to certify the labor organization as the exclusive bargaining representative if the board determines that the labor organization has submitted the required number of representation ballot cards and the cards meet specified criteria. Existing law authorizes a person aggrieved by the final order of the board granting or denying in whole or in part the relief sought for an unfair labor practice, to obtain a review of the order in a specified court of appeal by filing in the court a written petition requesting that the order of the board be modified or set aside. This bill would require an employer who appeals or petitions for a writ of review of any order of the board involving make-whole, backpay, or other monetary awards to employees, to post an appeal bond in the amount of the entire economic value of the order, as specified, and would provide for the bond to be forfeited under specified conditions. This bill would state that its provisions are severable.
Existing law, the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act, establishes the California Department of Aging in the California Health and Human Services Agency, and sets forth its mission to provide leadership to the area agencies on aging in developing systems of home- and community-based services that maintain individuals in their own homes or least restrictive homelike environments. This bill would create the Office of the Patient Representative in the Department of Aging to train, certify, provide, and oversee patient representatives to protect the rights of nursing home residents, as specified. The bill would, among other things, require the office to establish appropriate eligibility, training, certification, and continuing education requirements for patient representatives and to convene a group of stakeholders to advise the office regarding the eligibility requirements. The bill would, among other things, require the office to collect and analyze data, including the number of residents represented, the number of interdisciplinary team meetings attended, and the number of cases in which judicial review was sought and to present that data in an annual public report delivered to the Legislature and posted on the office's internet website. The bill would require patient representatives to perform various duties including reviewing the determinations that the resident lacks capacity, as defined, to make decisions and no surrogate decisionmaker is available, as specified. Existing law requires the attending physician and surgeon of a resident in a skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility that prescribes or orders a medical intervention of a resident that requires the informed consent of a resident who lacks capacity to provide that consent and who does not have a person with legal authority to make those decision on behalf of the resident to inform the skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility. Existing law requires the facility to conduct an interdisciplinary team review of the prescribed medical intervention prior to the administration of the medical intervention, subject to specified proceedings. Existing law authorizes a medical intervention prior to the facility convening an interdisciplinary team review in the case of an emergency, under specified circumstances. Existing law imposes civil penalties for a violation of these provisions. This bill would require the physician and surgeon to document the determination that the resident lacks capacity, as defined, in the resident's medical record, and would require the skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility to identify, or use due diligence to search for, a surrogate decisionmaker, as defined. The bill would require, among other things, if the resident lacks capacity and there is no surrogate decisionmaker, the skilled nursing facility or intermediate care facility to provide written notice to the resident and to the Office of the Patient Representative, as specified. The bill would require a copy of the notice to be included in the resident's records and to include specified information, including notice that the resident has the right to a patient representative. The bill would require the Office of the Patient Representative to designate someone to serve as the patient's representative if no family member or friend is available to serve in that capacity, and would prohibit a patient representative from being, among others, an employee or former employee of the facility, as specified.
(1) 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 create the Health Home Program for Medi-Cal enrollees with chronic conditions, subject to federal approval and the availability of federal financial participation. Existing law generally conditions the implementation of the program on no additional General Fund moneys being used to fund the administration and costs of services. This bill would authorize, commencing with the 2021–22 state fiscal year, the Health Home Program to be implemented using General Fund moneys upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would require the department to cease implementing the Health Home Program on January 1, 2022, or as specified, and would repeal the Health Home Program's provisions on January 1, 2023. (2) Existing law authorizes the department to enter into various types of contracts for the provision of services to beneficiaries, including contracts with a Medi-Cal managed care plan. Existing law imposes various requirements on managed care plan contractors, including network adequacy standards relating to time and distance. For contract periods commencing on or after January 1, 2026, the bill would authorize the department to require each Medi-Cal managed care plan and each health plan subcontractor of a Medi-Cal managed care plan to be accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, or an alternative entity, as specified. (3) Existing law, the Medi-Cal 2020 Demonstration Project Act, requires the department to implement specified components of a Medi-Cal demonstration project, including the Dental Transformation Initiative, consistent with the Special Terms and Conditions approved by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Pursuant to existing law, the department has created a multiyear initiative, the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal initiative, for purposes of building upon the outcomes of various Medi-Cal pilots and demonstration projects, including the Medi-Cal 2020 demonstration project. This bill would require, subject to federal approval, the department to implement the State Plan Dental Improvement Program, with the goal of further improving accessibility of Medi-Cal dental services and oral health outcomes for targeted populations, as a successor program to the Dental Transformation Initiative. Commencing no sooner than January 1, 2021, the bill would expand the Medi-Cal schedule of benefits for certain populations, such as Caries Risk Assessment bundle for eligible children who are 0 to 6 years of age, and would require the department to make supplemental payments to qualified dental providers for increased utilization of certain preventive dental services and for the establishment or maintenance of beneficiary continuity of care through a dental home. The bill would require the department to develop the methodology for making these supplemental payments to qualified dental providers, including safety net clinics.
Existing law, contingent upon the appropriation of funds for that purpose by the Legislature, establishes the Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) program, to be administered by the California Department of Aging, to provide information to consumers and their families on available long-term services and supports (LTSS) programs and to assist older adults, caregivers, and persons with disabilities in accessing LTSS programs at the local level. This bill would require the department to establish an LTSS Benefit Task Force, or utilize an existing board, commission, committee, or task force, to focus on LTSS benefit needs in the State of California. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature by July 1, 2023, on the specified findings and recommendations of the LTSS Benefit Task Force.
Existing law, the Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax laws, generally allow various deductions in computing the income that is subject to taxes imposed by those laws, including a deduction for a net operating loss as specified. Existing law suspends the deduction for a net operating loss, as specified, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2023. The Personal Income Tax Law and Corporation Tax Law generally authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. Existing law provides that, except as specified, the total credits allowable under those laws may not reduce the taxes imposed by those laws by more than $5,000,000, as provided, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2023. This bill, the Golden State Innovation Act of 2021, would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2023, exclude a taxpayer that performs research and development in biotechnology, as described, from the above-described suspension of the deduction for net operating losses and the above-described limitation on the total credits allowable. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. The bill also would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law, contingent upon the appropriation of funds for that purpose by the Legislature, establishes the Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) program, to be administered by the California Department of Aging, to provide information to consumers and their families on available long-term services and supports (LTSS) programs and to assist older adults, caregivers, and persons with disabilities in accessing LTSS programs at the local level. This bill would require the department to establish an LTSS Benefit Task Force, or utilize an existing board, commission, committee, or task force, to focus on LTSS benefit needs in the State of California. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature by July 1, 2023, on the specified findings and recommendations of the LTSS Benefit Task Force.