Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services and sets forth its powers and duties, including, but not limited to, the licensing and administration of residential care facilities for the elderly. Existing law authorizes the department to impose various civil penalties for licensing violations. Existing law sets the minimum civil penalty at $25 and the maximum penalty at $150 per day per violation, and permits additional civil penalties for repeat violations within a 12-month period. This bill would increase the civil penalties, including the penalties for repeat offenses, and would vary the minimum and maximum penalties depending upon the seriousness of the harm to the resident. This bill would, in the case of citations imposing civil penalties for violations that caused death or serious bodily injury to the resident, require that the decision to issue the citation be reviewed by the department's legal office and be approved by the deputy director prior to the issuance of the citation. This bill would require that the appeal procedure include notice to the complainant, affected residents, and, if possible, their legal representatives, the opportunity to participate in the appeal, and an option for review by an administrative law judge. This bill would, in cases involving death or serious bodily injury of a resident, require the department to prove that the violation was a direct proximate cause of the death or serious bodily injury, and that it resulted from an occurrence of a nature that the statute or regulation was designed to prevent. The bill would require dismissal of the citation if the licensee proves that the licensee did what might reasonably be expected of a residential care facility for the elderly licensee, acting under similar circumstances, to comply with the statute or regulation. The bill would specify that, in an enforcement action pursuant to these provisions, a licensee is liable for the acts and omissions of its officers and employees. Existing law authorizes the establishment of a fund and authorizes deposit of up to 50% of the revenue from these civil penalties into this fund, to be utilized, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of relocation and care of residents when a facility's license is revoked or temporarily suspended. This bill would, instead, establish the Emergency Resident Relocation Fund and would require deposit of 50% of the revenue from these civil penalties into the fund to be used for these purposes, upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would require the department, by January 1, 2016, to amend its regulations to accommodate changes in these provision made by this bill.
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Existing law authorizes a court to issue an ex parte protective order enjoining a party from engaging in specified acts against another party, including, among other things, threatening or harassing that party, and, in the discretion of the court, against other named family or household members. Existing law also authorizes a court to issue these protective orders and other orders relating to domestic violence prevention after a notice and hearing, including, among others, requiring a restrained party to participate in a batterer's program. Existing law authorizes a court to issue an ex parte order determining the temporary use, possession, and control of real or personal property of the parties and the payment of any liens or encumbrances coming due during the period the order is in effect. A violation of these court orders constitutes contempt of court, which is punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would additionally authorize a court to issue an order requiring a wireless telephone service provider to transfer the billing authority and rights to a wireless telephone number or numbers to a petitioner. The bill would require that order to be a separate order directed to the wireless telephone service provider that lists the name and billing telephone number of the accountholder, the name of the person to whom the number or numbers will be transferred, and each number transferred to that person. The bill would prohibit a cause of action against a wireless telephone service provider, its officers, employees, or agents, for actions taken related to the transfer of billing authority and rights to a wireless telephone number or numbers in accordance with the terms of the court order. Because a violation of this court order would be punishable as a contempt, a misdemeanor, the bill would create a new crime and, therefore, 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 provides that the Secretary of State is the chief elections officer of the state and requires the Secretary of State to administer the provisions of the Elections Code. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to adopt regulations to assure the uniform application and administration of state election laws. Existing law sets forth procedures for processing vote by mail ballots and requires that all vote by mail ballots cast be received by the elections official or by the precinct board no later than the close of polls on election day. Under existing law, a vote by mail voter is required to return his or her voted vote by mail ballot either by returning the ballot by mail or in person to the elections official from whom it came or by returning the ballot in person to a member of a precinct board at a polling place within the jurisdiction. This bill would permit a vote by mail voter to return his or her voted vote by mail ballot to the elections official from whom it came at a vote by mail ballot drop-off location, as defined. This bill would require the Secretary of State to promulgate regulations establishing security measures and procedures that a county elections official would be required to comply with if the county elections official establishes one or more vote by mail ballot drop-off locations and vote by mail ballot drop boxes, as defined.
Under existing law, a person is deemed unsuitable to hold a state gambling license to own a gambling establishment if the person, or any partner, officer, director, or shareholder of the person, has any financial interest in any business or organization that is engaged in a prohibited form of gambling, whether within or without this state, except as specified. This bill would except from the application of this provision a person or entity that has been licensed in good standing as an owner of a gambling establishment for at least 5 years as of January 1, 2013, and that has notified the California Gambling Control Commission and the Department of Justice, and been approved by the commission to obtain a financial interest in a business or organization that conducts lawful gambling outside the United States that, if conducted within California, would be unlawful.
The Gambling Control Act provides for the licensure and regulation of various legalized gambling activities and establishments by the California Gambling Control Commission and the investigation and enforcement of those activities and establishments by the Department of Justice. Existing law requires the commission to establish and appoint a Gaming Policy Advisory Committee of 10 members. Existing law requires the committee to be composed of representatives of controlled gambling licensees and members of the general public in equal numbers. Existing law requires the committee to be convened to discuss matters of controlled gambling regulatory policy and any other relevant gambling-related issue. This bill would instead provide that the commission shall appoint 5 representatives of controlled gambling licensees and 5 members of the general public to the committee. The bill would also provide that the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly shall each appoint one additional person employed by the Legislature to serve as ex officio members of the committee. The bill would include, among the issues that may be discussed by the committee, the extent to which the regulation of permitted games, game procedures, and gambling expansion impedes the economic growth of the gambling sector in California, the impact of those regulations on state and local tax and fee proceeds, and the impact of new technologies on gambling. Existing law requires the commission to investigate the consequences, benefits, and disadvantages of imposing a state tax on revenue generated by gambling establishments and the regulation of advertising for the purpose of limiting exposure of children to materials promoting gambling. Existing law requires the commission to report its findings on these matters to the Legislature and the Governor, as specified. This bill would repeal these provisions. Existing law authorizes the commission to adopt regulations for the administration and enforcement of the act. Existing law requires that, to the extent appropriate, regulations of the commission and the department take into consideration the operational differences of large and small establishments. This bill would additionally require the consideration of any fiscal and economic impact that may result from these provisions.
Existing law regulates the possession of firearms, including storage requirements to prevent children from gaining access to firearms, and other safety devices including gun safes. This bill would require the Department of Justice to conduct a study to determine effective firearm safe storage measures to reduce, among other things, unintentional injury and death caused by firearms. The bill would require the study to, among other things, analyze local firearm safe storage ordinances in this state and firearm safe storage statutes in other states, as specified. The bill would require the department to report the study to the chairs of the Senate Public Safety Committee and the Assembly Public Safety Committee on or before January 1, 2016.
(1) Existing law permits minors who are detained in juvenile hall for habitual disobedience, truancy, or curfew violation to be held in the same facility as minors who are detained for violating any law or ordinance defining a crime, if they do not come or remain in contact with each other. Existing law also permits the detention of minors in jails and other secure facilities for the confinement of adults if the minors do not come or remain in contact with confined adults and other specified conditions are met. Existing law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, authorizes the involuntary detention for a period of 72 hours for evaluation of persons, including minors, who are dangerous to self or others, or gravely disabled, as defined. This bill would prohibit a minor or ward who is detained in, or sentenced to, any juvenile facility or other secure state or local facility from being subject to solitary confinement, as defined, unless the minor or ward poses an immediate and substantial risk of harm to others or to the security of the facility, and all other less-restrictive options have been exhausted. The bill would permit the minor or ward to be held in solitary confinement only in accordance with specified guidelines, including that the minor or ward be held in solitary confinement only for the minimum time required to address the safety risk, and that does not compromise the mental and physical health of the minor or ward. The bill would prohibit a minor or ward from being placed in solitary confinement for more than 24 hours in a one-week period without obtaining specified written approval. The bill would require each local and state juvenile facility to document the usage of solitary confinement, as prescribed. The bill would exempt from these provisions any juvenile who commits an assault or battery while detained in, or sentenced to, any juvenile facility, or who is determined by correctional facility staff to be a high-risk offender. These provisions would become operative on January 1, 2015. By increasing the duties of local juvenile facilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law establishes a juvenile justice commission in each county, but authorizes the boards of supervisors of 2 or more adjacent counties to agree to establish a regional juvenile justice commission in lieu of a county juvenile justice commission. Existing law specifies the membership of these commissions, including that 2 or more members shall be persons who are 14 to 21 years of age, inclusive, and that a regional juvenile justice commission shall consist of not less than 8 citizens. Existing law requires a juvenile justice commission to annually inspect any jail or lockup that, in the preceding calendar year, was used for confinement for more than 24 hours of any minor, and to report the results of the inspection, together with its recommendations based thereon, in writing, to the juvenile court and the Board of State and Community Corrections. Existing law authorizes a commission to recommend to any person charged with the administration of the Juvenile Court Law those changes as it has concluded, after investigation, will be beneficial, and to publicize its recommendations. This bill would provide that 2 or more members of these commissions shall be parents or guardians of previously or currently incarcerated youth, and one member shall be a licensed social worker, licensed psychiatrist, or licensed psychologist with expertise in adolescent development, if there are available persons who meet those requirements, as specified. The bill also would increase from 8 to 10 the minimum number of members of a regional juvenile justice commission. The bill would authorize a juvenile justice commission, as part of its annual inspection, to review the records of the jail or lockup as to the use of solitary confinement, and to additionally report the results of the inspection, together with its recommendations based thereon, in writing, to the county board of supervisors. The bill would authorize the commission to present its report at an annual hearing on the condition of juvenile justice corrections as part of a regularly scheduled public meeting of the county board of supervisors, and to publish the report on the county government's Internet Web site. The bill would authorize the commission to annually inspect any facility within the county other than a jail or lockup that, in the preceding calendar year, was used for confinement for more than 24 hours of any minor, and to review the records of the facility as to the use of solitary confinement. The bill would authorize the commission to report the results of the inspection to the juvenile court, the county board of supervisors, and the Board of State and Community Corrections, to present its report at an annual hearing on the condition of juvenile justice corrections as part of a regularly scheduled public meeting of the county board of supervisors, and to publish the report on the county government's Internet Web site. These provisions would become operative on January 1, 2015. The bill also would authorize a commission to publicize its recommendations made to any person charged with administration of the Juvenile Court Law on the county government's Internet Web site. (3) 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 federal law provides for allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states. Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program for the allocation of federal funds received through the TANF program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Under existing law, for purposes of determining a family's maximum aid payment under the CalWORKs program, the number of needy persons in the same family is not increased for any child born into a family that has received aid under the CalWORKs program continuously for the 10 months prior to the birth of the child, with specified exceptions. This bill would repeal that exclusion for purposes of determining the family's maximum aid payment and would expressly prohibit the denial of aid or denial of an increase in the maximum aid payment if a child on whose behalf aid, or an increase in aid, is being requested was born into an applicant's or recipient's family while the applicant's or recipient's family was receiving aid under the CalWORKs program. The bill would specify that an applicant or recipient is not entitled to an increased benefit payment for months prior to January 1, 2014, as a result of the repeal of that exclusion or the enactment of that express prohibition. The bill would also prohibit the department from conditioning an applicant or recipient's eligibility for aid on the applicant or recipient's disclosure of specified information regarding rape, incest, or contraception, as specified. The bill would make related findings and declarations. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county aid grant costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would declare that no appropriation would be made for purposes of the bill. To the extent that this bill affects eligibility under the CalWORKs program, the bill would create 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.
(1) Existing law authorizes every person who is unlawfully imprisoned or restrained of his or her liberty to prosecute a writ of habeas corpus to inquire into the cause of that imprisonment or restraint. Existing law provides that a writ of habeas corpus based on intimate partner battering may be prosecuted if competent and substantial expert testimony relating to intimate partner battering and its effects was not presented to the trier of fact at the trial court proceedings, and is of such substance that, had it been presented, there is a reasonable probability, sufficient to undermine confidence in the judgment of conviction or sentence, the result of the proceedings would have been different, and that the burden of proof in this regard is on the petitioner. This bill would make those provisions applicable to cases in which competent and substantial expert testimony relating to human trafficking, as defined, and its effects was not presented to the trier of fact at the trial court proceedings and is of such substance that, had the competent and substantial expert testimony been presented, there is a reasonable probability, sufficient to undermine confidence in the judgment of conviction or sentence, that the result of the proceedings would have been different. (2) Existing law authorizes the Board of Parole Hearings to report to the Governor, from time to time, the names of any and all persons imprisoned in any state prison who, in its judgment, ought to have a commutation of sentence or be pardoned and set at liberty on account of good conduct, or unusual term of sentence, or any other cause, including evidence of intimate partner battering and its effects. Existing law requires the Board of Parole Hearings, one year prior to an inmate's minimum eligible parole release date, to meet with the inmate to review his or her suitability for parole. As part of this review, existing law requires the board to give great weight to any information or evidence that, at the time of the crime, the person had experienced intimate partner battering, if that person was convicted of an offense that occurred prior to August 29, 1996. This bill would authorize the Board of Parole Hearings to report to the Governor, from time to time, the names of any and all persons imprisoned in any state prison who, in its judgment, ought to have a commutation of sentence or be pardoned and set at liberty on account of evidence that the prisoner was a victim of human trafficking at the time of the offense. The bill would also require, as part of the review to determine a person's suitability for parole, the board to give great weight to any information or evidence that the prisoner was a victim of human trafficking at the time of the offense.
Existing law establishes various boards that license and regulate healing arts practitioners, including physicians and surgeons, chiropractors, physical therapists, and massage therapists. Existing law provides for the voluntary certification of certain practitioners, including the voluntary certification of massage therapists by the California Massage Therapy Council, a nonprofit organization. Existing law prescribes specified educational and other requirements for an applicant to obtain a massage therapy certificate. This bill would establish the California Traditional Chinese Medicine Traumatology Council as a nonprofit organization to provide for the development of standards for and certification of the practice of California traditional Chinese medicine traumatologists, as defined. The bill would require the council to issue a certificate to practice as a California traditional Chinese medicine traumatologist to an applicant who meets certain training and clinical experience requirements, passes a written examination, and pays a fee. The bill would require the council to develop, and report to the Legislature by January 1, 2016, its standards for approving education programs; evaluating the education, training, and clinical experience of applicants; the written examination; and a continuing education program. The bill would make the meetings and deliberations of the council subject to the open meeting requirements and public hearing requirements that apply to state bodies. This bill would prohibit treatment that constitutes the practice of medicine or chiropractic procedures, as defined. This bill would also make it an unfair business practice to use the title of "California certified traditional Chinese medicine traumatologist" without meeting these certification requirements and would specify the circumstances and methods for disciplining a certificate holder.