This measure would designate February 28, 2026, as Rare Disease Day and, with respect to rare diseases and disorders, would recognize the importance of improving awareness, encouraging accurate and early diagnosis, and supporting national and global efforts to develop effective treatments, diagnostics, and cures.
This bill designates March 2026 as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month in California to highlight the disease's impact and promote screening efforts. It directly affects all Californians by encouraging early detection through regular check-ups and new testing options, particularly for younger adults and underserved communities facing higher risks. The resolution aims to increase public knowledge about prevention and treatment advancements without mandating specific actions or funding changes.
The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the tax imposed by that law. This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, would allow a credit against those taxes in an amount equal to 50% of unreimbursed costs paid or incurred by a taxpayer for the purchase of durable medical equipment, as defined, for use by a qualifying dependent, as defined, during the taxable year. The bill would limit the credit to $5,000 per taxable year for each qualifying dependent. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This 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, 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 provides for the regulation of disability insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires a health care service plan or disability insurer to allow an individual to enroll in or change their health benefit plan as a result of a specified triggering event. This bill, the PARENT Act, would make pregnancy a triggering event for purposes of enrollment or changing a health benefit plan. Because a willful violation of this provision 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 establishes the State Department of Public Health to implement various programs throughout the state relating to public health. The department administers the California Wastewater Surveillance Dashboard that provides an overview of data from testing wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 virus in California. The data in the dashboard is generated by those participating in the department's California Surveillance of Wastewaters (Cal-SuWers) network, including the Cal-SuWers program, WastewaterSCAN, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Wastewater Surveillance System, wastewater utilities, and academic, laboratory, and other state and federal partners. This bill would require the department, in consultation with participating wastewater treatment facilities, local health departments, and other subject matter experts, to maintain the Cal-SuWers network to test, as appropriate for public health use, for pathogens, toxins, or other public health indicators in wastewater. The bill would require participation in the Cal-SuWers network from local health departments and wastewater treatment facilities to be voluntary. The bill would authorize the department to coordinate with health care providers, local health departments, and emergency response agencies to ensure wastewater surveillance data is used for early intervention, outbreak response, epidemiological investigations, and public health planning. The bill would authorize the department to communicate to the general public, through a publicly accessible internet website, as specified, to provide transparency and public awareness of wastewater-based disease monitoring. The bill would authorize the department to utilize external funding sources, in addition to the department's existing, noncontinuously appropriated funding sources, to implement these provisions. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
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's requirements a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law also provides for 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 pursuant to a schedule of benefits. Existing law sets forth specified coverage requirements for health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies. Existing law generally authorizes a health care service plan or health insurer to use utilization controls to approve, modify, delay, or deny requests for health care services based on medical necessity. Existing law requires health care service plans and health insurers, as specified, within 6 months after the relevant department issues specified guidance, or no later than March 1, 2025, to require all of their staff who are in direct contact with enrollees or insureds in the delivery of care or enrollee or insured services to complete evidence-based cultural competency training for the purpose of providing trans-inclusive health care for individuals who identify as transgender, gender diverse, or intersex. This bill would require a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, renewed, or delivered on or after the bill's operative date that provides outpatient prescription drug benefits to cover up to a 12-month supply of a United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -approved prescription hormone therapy, and the necessary supplies for self-administration, that is prescribed by a network provider within their scope of practice and dispensed at one time, as specified. The bill would make the same prescription hormone therapy a covered benefit under the Medi-Cal program, as specified. The bill would prohibit a plan or an insurer from imposing utilization controls or other forms of medical management limiting the supply of this hormone therapy to an amount that is less than a 12-month supply, but would not prohibit a contract, a policy, or the Medi-Cal program from limiting refills that may be obtained in the last quarter of the plan, policy, or coverage year if a 12-month supply of the prescription hormone therapy has already been dispensed during that year. The bill would exclude a Medi-Cal managed care plan contracting with the State Department of Health Care Services from these requirements. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2035. This bill would prohibit a subscriber, enrollee, policyholder, or insured from being excluded from enrollment or participation in, being denied the benefits of, or being subjected to discrimination by, any health care service plan or health insurer licensed in this state, on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. The bill would define discrimination on the basis of sex for those purposes to include, among other things, sex characteristics, including intersex traits, pregnancy, and gender identity. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer from taking specified actions relating to providing access to health programs and activities, including, but not limited to, denying or limiting health care services to an individual based upon the individual's sex assigned at birth, gender identity, or gender otherwise recorded. The bill would prohibit a health care service plan or health insurer, in specified circumstances, from taking various actions, including, but not limited to, denying, canceling, limiting, or refusing to issue or renew health care service plan enrollment, health insurance coverage, or other health-related coverage, or denying or limiting coverage of a claim, or imposing additional cost sharing or other limitations or restrictions on coverage, on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability, as specified. Because a 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. Existing law requires a pharmacist to dispense, at a patient's request, up to a 12-month supply of an FDA-approved, self-administered hormonal contraceptive pursuant to a valid prescription that specifies an initial quantity followed by periodic refills. This bill would additionally require a pharmacist to dispense, at a patient's request, up to a 12-month supply of an FDA-approved, prescription hormone therapy pursuant to a valid prescription that specifies an initial quantity followed by periodic refills, unless an exception is met. 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.
This measure would urge the United States Congress and the President of the United States to immediately restore and extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.
Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, establishes the Board of Registered Nursing to license and regulate the practice of nursing. The act prohibits a person from engaging in the practice of nursing without an active license but authorizes a student to render nursing services incidental to the student's course of study, as specified. This bill would additionally authorize a student to render nursing services if the student is a resident of the state and enrolled in a prelicensure distance education nursing program based at an out-of-state private postsecondary educational institution, as defined, for the purpose of gaining clinical experience in a clinical setting that meets certain criteria, including that the program is accredited by a programmatic accreditation entity recognized by the United States Department of Education and that the program maintains minimum faculty to student ratios required of board-approved programs for inperson clinical experiences. The bill would require the student to be supervised in person by a registered nurse licensed by the board while rendering nursing services. The bill would prohibit a clinical agency or facility from offering clinical experience placements to an out-of-state private postsecondary educational institution if the placements are needed to fulfill the clinical experience requirements of in-state students enrolled in a board-approved nursing program.
Existing law authorizes a county to establish a homeless adult and family multidisciplinary personnel team, as defined, with the goal of facilitating the expedited identification, assessment, and linkage of homeless individuals to housing and supportive services within that county and to allow provider agencies to share confidential information for the purpose of coordinating housing and supportive services to ensure continuity of care. This bill would authorize a county to also establish a behavioral health multidisciplinary personnel team, as defined, with the goal of facilitating the expedited identification, assessment, and linkage of a justice-involved person, as defined, diagnosed with a mental illness to supportive services within that county while incarcerated and upon release from county jail and to allow provider agencies and members of the personnel team to share confidential information, as specified, for the purpose of coordinating supportive services to ensure continuity of care. The bill would require the sharing of information permitted under these provisions to be governed by protocols developed in each county, as specified. This bill would authorize a behavioral health multidisciplinary personnel team to designate a qualified person to be a member of the team for a particular case and would require a member who receives information or records regarding a justice-involved person in their capacity as a member of the team to be under the same privacy and confidentiality obligations and subject to the same confidentiality penalties as the person disclosing or providing the information or records. The bill would also require the information or records to be maintained in a manner that ensures the maximum protection of privacy and confidentiality rights.
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 provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law sets forth specified prior authorization limitations for health care service plans and health insurers. This bill would prohibit a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2027, that provides coverage for physical therapy from imposing prior authorization for the initial 12 physical therapy treatment visits for a new condition. The bill would authorize prior authorization for physical therapy for a recurring condition, as specified. The bill would require a physical therapy provider to verify an enrollee's or an insured's coverage and disclose their share of the cost of care, as specified. The bill would require a physical therapy provider to obtain separate written consent for costs that may not be covered by the enrollee's or insured's plan contract or policy, that includes a written estimate of the cost of care for which the enrollee or insured is responsible if coverage is denied or otherwise not applicable. With respect to health care service plans, the bill would specify that its provisions do not apply to Medi-Cal managed care plan contracts. Because a willful violation of this provision 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.
