Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, to administer the California Guaranteed Income Pilot Program to provide grants to eligible entities for the purpose of administering pilot programs and projects that provide a guaranteed income to participants. Existing law requires the department to prioritize funding for pilot programs and projects that serve California residents who age out of the extended foster care program and pregnant individuals. This bill would require the Treasurer, on or before February 15, 2023, to convene a workgroup to advise the Legislature on the policy and funds necessary to establish trust fund accounts for children whose parent or guardian died from the COVID-19 virus and foster children most immediately, and eventually for all children born into low-income homes. The bill would require, no later than March 1, 2023, the workgroup to submit a report to the Legislature that includes its advice and considerations for the trust fund accounts and identifies the authority necessary to expand an existing trust fund program or create a new program to include all children born into low-income circumstances and assesses the funding to do that, among other things. Existing federal law establishes the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program to provide monthly benefits to qualified retired and disabled workers and their spouses, dependents, and survivors. This bill would, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature or a provision of federal or private funds for these purposes, require the State Department of Social Services to establish and oversee the California Survivor Benefit (CalSurvivor) Program, a county- or county consortia-administered program to provide cash assistance for a minor who is a California resident with a deceased parent, who was also a California resident upon their death, when the minor is not eligible for federal OASDI survivor benefits, as specified. The bill would require the department to require counties with an unspecified number of residents to establish an advocacy program to assist specified applicants and recipients of CalSurvivor benefits in the application process for federal OASDI survivor benefits if they do not meet certain verification requirements of the program. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature, by July 1, 2025, on the outcomes of the CalSurvivor Program and the advocacy programs. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions though all-county letters or similar instructions or emergency regulations. By requiring counties to administer the CalSurvivor Program, 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.
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Existing law establishes the procedure by which the Board of Parole Hearings considers an indeterminately sentenced incarcerated person's suitability for parole and generally requires a panel of the board, or the board, sitting en banc, to grant parole on the incarcerated person's minimum eligible parole date unless it determines that the gravity of the current convicted offense or offenses, or the timing and gravity of current or past convicted offense or offenses, is such that consideration of the public safety requires a more lengthy period of incarceration. This bill would prohibit the board from considering discriminatory factors when reaching a finding of unsuitability for parole, including, among other factors, the person's race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, cultural or religious affiliation, and cognitive, speech, or physical impairment.
The California Constitution and the Public Utilities Act vest the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the State Air Resources Board, to direct electrical corporations to file applications for programs and investments to accelerate widespread transportation electrification to reduce dependence on petroleum, meet air quality standards, achieve the goals set forth in the Charge Ahead California Initiative, and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Existing law requires that those programs proposed by electrical corporations seek to minimize overall costs and maximize overall benefits. Existing law requires the PUC to approve, or modify and approve, programs and investments in transportation electrification, including those that deploy charging infrastructure, through a reasonable cost recovery mechanism, if they are consistent with the above-described purposes, do not unfairly compete with nonutility enterprises, include performance accountability measures, and are in the interests of ratepayers. Existing law authorizes a community choice aggregator to aggregate the electrical load of interested electricity consumers within its boundaries and requires a community choice aggregator to file an implementation plan with the PUC, to register with the PUC, and to enter into an operating service agreement with an electrical corporation. This bill would, as part of the PUC's program described above, authorize community choice aggregators to file applications for programs and investments to accelerate widespread transportation electrification, as specified. The bill would prohibit the programs and investments proposed by community choice aggregators from deploying infrastructure in front of a meter. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of a PUC action implementing the bill's requirements 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 Reproductive Privacy Act, prohibits the state from denying or interfering with a person's right to choose or obtain an abortion prior to viability of the fetus, or when the abortion is necessary to protect the life or health of the person. The act defines "abortion" as a medical treatment intended to induce the termination of a pregnancy except for the purpose of producing a live birth. Existing law also 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 through, among other things, managed care plans licensed under the act that contract with the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, requires the Department of Managed Health Care to license and regulate health care service plans and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law also requires the Department of Insurance to regulate health insurers. Existing law requires group and individual health care service plan contracts and disability insurance policies to cover contraceptives, without cost sharing, as specified. This bill would prohibit a health care service plan or an individual or group policy or certificate of health insurance or student blanket disability insurance that is issued, amended, renewed, or delivered on or after January 1, 2023, from imposing a deductible, coinsurance, copayment, or any other cost-sharing requirement on coverage for all abortion and abortion-related services, as specified. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan and an insurer subject to these requirements from imposing utilization management or utilization review on the coverage for outpatient abortion services. The bill would require that for a contract, certificate, or policy that is a high deductible health plan, the cost-sharing prohibition would apply once the enrollee's or insured's deductible has been satisfied for the benefit year. The bill would not require an individual or group contract or policy to cover an experimental or investigational treatment. The bill's requirements would also apply to Medi-Cal managed care plans and their providers, independent practice associations, preferred provider groups, and all delegated entities that provide physician services, utilization management, or utilization review. The bill would require the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to adopt related regulations on or before January 1, 2026. Because a violation of the bill 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.
The Budget Act of 2021 made appropriations for the support of state government for the 2021–22 fiscal year. This bill would amend the Budget Act of 2021 by amending and adding items of appropriation and making other changes. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.
This measure would proclaim January 27, 2022, as Rose Ann Vuich Recognition Day, in recognition of Senator Rose Ann Vuich as the first woman elected to the California State Senate, to honor Senator Vuich's service to the Senate, and to appropriately reflect the Senator's stature and legacy.