Sen. Nancy Skinner

(1) Existing law provides for a school lunch program under which eligible pupils receive free or reduced-price meals. This bill would require school districts and county superintendents of schools to consider incorporating into the free or reduced-price meals application packet or notification of eligibility for the free or reduced-price meals program a notification and request for a gluten-free meal if a child qualifies for free or reduced-price school meals and the child has a statement from a licensed physician supporting a need for gluten-free meals, as specified. The bill would require school districts and county superintendents of schools to consider making meal substitutions for a child who does not meet the definition of disability pursuant to federal law but does have celiac disease, a wheat allergy, or a gluten intolerance and the child has provided a written statement to the school signed by a licensed physician identifying the child as having one of these conditions. By imposing additional requirements on school districts and county superintendents of schools, the bill would create 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, 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. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which basic health care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid Program provisions. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments to be reduced by 1% or 5%, and provider payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 1%, for dates of service on and after March 1, 2009, and until June 1, 2011. Existing law requires, except as otherwise provided, Medi-Cal provider payments and payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs to be reduced by 10% for dates of service on and after June 1, 2011. This bill would, instead, prohibit the application of those reductions for payments to providers for dates of service on or after June 1, 2011. The bill would also require payments for managed care health plans for dates of service following the effective date of the bill to be determined without application of some of those reductions. The bill would require the Director of Health Care Services to implement this provision to the maximum extent permitted by federal law and for the maximum time period for which the director obtains federal approval for federal financial participation for those payments. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Under existing law, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board within the Department of Industrial Relations promulgates occupational safety and health standards for the state, including standards dealing with toxic materials and harmful physical agents. A violation of these standards and regulations is a crime. This bill would require the board to adopt standards to protect health care personnel and patients from the effects of toxic disinfectants, as defined. The bill would require the board, in adopting these standards, to consider current scientific evidence and recommendations adopted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. By creating a new crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law, commencing January 1, 2014, prohibits a person from discharging from nonvehicular sources air contaminants or other materials that cause injury, detriment, nuisance, or annoyance to the public, or that endanger the comfort, repose, health, or safety of the public, or that cause injury or damage to business or property, as specified. Under existing law, a person who violates this provision is guilty of a misdemeanor, as specified, or is liable for a civil penalty of not more than $10,000, unless that person alleges by affirmative defense and establishes that the act was not the result of intentional or negligent conduct, in which case that person is liable for a civil penalty of not more than $1,000. A person who violates this provision and who acts negligently, knowingly, willfully and intentionally, or with reckless disregard, is liable for a civil penalty in a greater amount, as specified. This bill would make a person who violates this provision liable for a civil penalty of not more than $100,000, as specified, if the violation results from a discharge from a stationary source required by federal law to be included in an operating permit program established pursuant to Title V of the federal Clean Air Act, the discharge results in a severe disruption to the community, the discharge contains or includes one or more toxic air contaminants, as specified, and 100 or more people are exposed to the discharge. The bill would prohibit this provision from applying if the violation is caused by unforeseen and unforeseeable criminal acts, acts of war, acts of terrorism, or civil unrest. The bill would require moneys collected pursuant to this provision to be expended in support of air quality programs. The bill would require that the recovery of a civil penalty under these provisions precludes prosecution of a misdemeanor for the same offense.

Existing law establishes various health research grant programs, including the Cancer Research Program, the Breast Cancer Research Program, and the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program. This bill, the California Blueprint for Research to Advance Innovations in Neuroscience (Cal-BRAIN) Act of 2014, would request the Regents of the University of California to establish the Cal-BRAIN program to leverage California's research assets and the federal BRAIN Initiative's funding opportunities to accelerate the development of brain mapping techniques, including the development of new technologies, in order to achieve certain goals. The bill would additionally request the University of California to convene certain stakeholders to develop a governing structure for the Cal-BRAIN program designed to do specified tasks, and to provide information about the program through an Internet Web site. These provisions would only be implemented to the extent that adequate funding is appropriated to the University of California, as specified.

Existing law requires that each live birth, fetal death, death, and marriage that occurs in the state be registered. Existing law charges the State Registrar with the execution of provisions regulating these and other vital records. Existing law requires the registrar to prescribe and furnish all record forms for use in carrying out those purposes, or to prescribe the format, quality, and content of forms electronically produced in each county for those purposes, and provides that no record forms or formats other than those prescribed by the registrar may be used. Existing law also provides for the registration of domestic partnerships and requires 2 persons desiring to become domestic partners to complete and file a Declaration of Domestic Partnership with the Secretary of State, who returns to the parties a copy of the registered form and a Certificate of Registered Domestic Partnership. Existing law also requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue drivers' licenses and identification cards. Existing law prescribes the form and content of Certificates of Registered Domestic Partnership, drivers' licenses, and identification cards. This bill would require the State Registrar to ensure that diacritical marks on English letters are properly recorded on all certificates of live birth, fetal death, or death, and all marriage licenses, including, but not limited to, accents, tildes, graves, umlauts, and cedillas. The bill would require the registrar to develop procedures to include other reasonable requests relating to names on certificates of live birth. The bill would impose similar requirements on the Secretary of State, with respect to Certificates of Registered Domestic Partnership, and on the Department of Motor Vehicles, with respect to drivers' licenses and identification cards. The bill would state findings and declarations of the Legislature relative to the use of diacritical marks on certificates of live birth and other forms of state-issued identity documentation.

Existing sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state, as measured by sales price. Those laws provides various exemptions from those taxes. This bill would, on and after July 1, 2014, exempt from those taxes the gross receipts and the sales price that do not exceed $750 from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, a qualified efficient clothes washer purchased for installation and use in this state. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing law authorizes districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in conformity with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Exemptions from state sales and use taxes are incorporated into these laws. This bill would specify that this exemption does not apply to local sales and use taxes, transactions and use taxes, and specified state taxes from which revenues are deposited into the Fiscal Recovery Fund, Local Public Safety Fund, the Education Protection Account, Local Revenue Fund, and Local Revenue Fund 2011. This bill would be in effect until July 1, 2015, unless the state of emergency declared by the Governor due to drought conditions on January 17, 2014, is terminated before July 1, 2015, and would provide that in that event, this bill would remain in effect only until midnight on the first day of the first calendar quarter commencing more than 60 days after the date of the termination of the state of emergency. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.