Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is in part governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires the department to implement an enhanced care management (ECM) benefit designed to address the clinical and nonclinical needs on a whole-person-care basis for certain target populations of Medi-Cal beneficiaries enrolled in Medi-Cal managed care plans. Under existing law, target populations include, among others, high utilizers with frequent hospital admissions, short-term skilled nursing facility stays, or emergency room visits, and individuals experiencing homelessness. Existing law authorizes a county, or an agency representing a county, to develop a peer support specialist certification program, subject to departmental approval. Under existing law, these specialists are individuals, at least 18 years of age, who self-identify as having lived experience with the process of recovery from mental illness, substance use disorder, or both, as specified. Existing law requires the department to seek any federal waivers that it deems necessary to establish a demonstration or pilot project for the provision of peer support services in counties that agree to participate. This bill would require the department to require, as a condition of providing ECM, that any ECM provider, whose caseload of members meets certain criteria, maintain an interdisciplinary care team that includes at least one peer support specialist or trainee, as defined, who is integrated into ECM service delivery and available to support ECM members. The bill would set forth the functions of a peer support specialist or trainee for ECM purposes. The bill would require the department to allow an ECM provider to satisfy the requirement through any combination of staffing models, as specified. The bill would require the department to ensure that Medi-Cal managed care plan contracts, policies, and guidance reflect the requirement and to establish monitoring and compliance mechanisms to ensure that ECM providers implement the requirement. The bill would require the department to recognize virtual, telephonic, and technology-enabled peer support service delivery as meeting the integration requirement. Under the bill, an ECM provider subject to these provisions would have until January 1, 2028, to achieve full compliance, as specified. The bill would prohibit the department, a county, a Medi-Cal managed care plan, or a Medi-Cal provider, as applicable, from disqualifying a peer support specialist solely or primarily on the basis of a criminal background check, fingerprint-based background check, or similar screening that is a condition of employment, contracting, certification, credentialing, enrollment, or participation in providing peer support services. Under the bill, this restriction would be implemented to the extent not in conflict with federal law, and the restriction would not prohibit background checks under specified circumstances. The bill would also authorize consideration of an individual's criminal record as part of their overall fitness for the position of peer support specialist if the criminal record has a nexus to that position or its duties. The bill would condition implementation of these provisions on receipt of any necessary federal approvals and the availability of federal financial participation.
Existing law, the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act, declares the intent of the Legislature to increase the number of students and residents receiving quality education and training in specified primary care specialties and as primary care physician's assistants, primary care nurse practitioners, and registered nurses. This bill would require the Department of Health Care Access and Information to maintain a New Nursing Graduate Support and Placement Program to award program grants to community college associate degree of nursing programs, through which support grants would be awarded to recent graduates for loan repayment assistance, relocation, transportation, housing assistance, childcare, and other financial support. The bill would specify grant eligibility criteria for community colleges and recent graduates. The bill would require the department to consider labor standards of hospital sites that employ support grant applicants when determining grant distribution. Implementation of these provisions would be contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would also express the intent of the Legislature to support and strengthen existing programs that train registered nurses under the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act.
Existing law establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) in the California Health and Human Services Agency to establish planning and implementation guidelines for emergency medical service systems, as specified. The guidelines are required to address, among other things, disaster response, and the authority is required to provide technical assistance to existing agencies, counties, and cities for the purpose of developing the components of emergency medical services systems. The EMSA is required to adopt rules and regulations, approved by the Commission on Emergency Medical Services, in order to carry out its duties. Existing law ratifies, approves, and sets forth the provisions of the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, an interstate agreement that provides for mutual assistance between states responding to emergencies and disasters. Under the compact, a person who holds a professional license, certificate, or other permit issued by a state party to the compact is deemed licensed, certified, or permitted by a state requesting assistance to render aid involving that skill to meet a declared emergency or disaster, as specified. Existing federal law establishes the Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP) program to support states and territories in establishing volunteer registration programs for disasters and public health and medical emergencies. Pursuant to the ESAR-VHP program, the EMSA established the Disaster Healthcare Volunteers program to register volunteers in California. Existing federal law also establishes the Medical Reserve Corps to provide for an adequate supply of volunteers in the case of a federal, state, local, or tribal public health emergency, as specified. This bill would enact the Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act, which would authorize the establishment of additional volunteer registration systems by additional entities. In this regard, the bill would require a registration system to be an ESAR-VHP program or a local unit of the Medical Reserve Corps, as specified, to be designated by the EMSA as a registration system, or to be operated by one of specified types of entities, including, among others, a disaster relief organization, as defined. The bill would require that a registration system be capable of supplying the EMSA with sufficient information concerning whether a volunteer is licensed to provide specified health or veterinary services in another state or territory of the United States and in good standing before that volunteer provides those services in this state while an emergency declaration is in effect, as specified. The bill would establish scope-of-practice standards for a registered volunteer health practitioner. The bill would authorize the EMSA to limit, restrict, or otherwise regulate, among other things, the duration of practice, the geographical areas in which volunteer health practitioners may practice, and any other matters necessary to coordinate the provision of health or veterinary services during the emergency. The bill would authorize the applicable licensing board and the host entity, as defined, to restrict or modify the health or veterinary services that a volunteer health practitioner may provide. The bill would require the EMSA and host entities to coordinate their activities with the Office of Emergency Services, as specified. This bill would exempt a registered volunteer health practitioner from the unauthorized practice provisions for a health or veterinary service unless they have reason to know of an applicable limitation, modification, or restriction or that a similarly licensed practitioner in this state would not be permitted to provide that service. The bill would authorize a health care licensing board to impose administrative sanctions upon a health practitioner licensed in this state for conduct outside of this state in response to an out-of-state emergency, and to impose administrative sanctions upon a practitioner not licensed in this state for conduct in this state in response to an in-state emergency, if certain conditions are met. The bill would also provide that volunteer health practitioners providing services in California shall be considered agents or employees of the state for the purpose of workers' compensation coverage while performing services in this state or traveling to or from this state for that purpose. The bill would authorize the authority to promulgate rules, after approval by the Commission on Emergency Medical Services, in order to implement the provisions of the Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act.
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 requires a health care service plan contract issued, amended, delivered, or renewed on or after January 1, 2000, or an individual or group policy of disability insurance or self-insured employee welfare benefit plan to provide coverage for mammography for screening or diagnostic purposes upon referral by specified professionals. Under existing law, mammography performed pursuant to those requirements or that meets the current recommendations of the United States Preventive Services Task Force is provided to an enrollee or an insured without cost sharing. This bill would require a health care service plan contract, a health insurance policy, or a self-insured employee welfare benefit plan issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2028, to provide coverage without imposing cost sharing for, among other things, screening mammography and medically necessary diagnostic breast imaging, including diagnostic breast imaging following an abnormal mammography result and for an enrollee or insured indicated to have a risk factor associated with breast cancer, except as specified. 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 requires the State Department of Public Health to conduct a program of epidemiological assessments of the incidence of Parkinson's disease and establish a system for the collection of information determining the incidence of Parkinson's disease. Existing law encourages the department to convene a task force comprised of researchers with expertise in Parkinson's disease, advocates for patients with Parkinson's disease, and other individuals with relevant expertise to provide support and advice for the implementation and funding of the program. Existing law requires the director to establish a statewide system for the collection of information determining the incidence of Parkinson's disease. This bill would require the department to establish the California Epilepsy Program for the purposes of epidemiological assessments of the incidence and prevalence of epilepsy and seizures. The bill would require the department to convene an advisory panel comprised of specified individuals to provide support and advice for the implementation of the program. The bill would authorize the department to seek private or public funding and to spend those funds for the purposes of the program, and would authorize the department to contract with various entities for the purposes of collecting and collating data. The bill would require the department to analyze available data, to prepare and publish reports on its internet website as necessary, and to publish on its internet website a listing of agencies that offer services to individuals affected by epilepsy, as specified.
This bill designates April 2026 as Parkinson's Disease Awareness Month in California. It directly affects state officials and the public by formally recognizing the importance of raising awareness for this specific health condition. The primary mechanism is a legislative proclamation that appears in the state statutes to mark the month. This action serves as an official acknowledgment of the disease without changing laws or funding.
This bill designates the month of March 2026 as Kidney Month in California to raise awareness about chronic kidney disease. It highlights the importance of early detection and screening, noting that many people with the condition are unaware they have it. The resolution aims to educate the public on prevention and the risks associated with kidney failure, particularly among marginalized communities.
Existing law requires that, as a condition of parole, a prisoner who has a severe mental health disorder be treated by the State Department of State Hospitals if the prisoner meets certain requirements, including, among others, that the severe mental health disorder was one of the causes of, or was an aggravating factor in, the commission of a specified crime for which the prisoner was sentenced to prison, and that prior to release on parole, the prisoner has been evaluated, as specified, and the chief psychiatrist of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has certified that the prisoner has a severe mental health disorder, that the disorder is not in remission or cannot be kept in remission without treatment, that the severe mental health disorder was one of the causes or was an aggravating factor in the prisoner's criminal behavior, that the prisoner has been in treatment for the severe mental health disorder for 90 days or more within the year prior to the prisoner's parole release day, and that by reason of the prisoner's severe mental health disorder, the prisoner represents a substantial danger of physical harm to others. This bill would instead require the chief psychiatrist of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to certify that the prisoner meets three of the following criteria: a severe mental health disorder, the disorder is not in remission or cannot be kept in remission without treatment, the severe mental health disorder was one of the causes or was an aggravating factor in the prisoner's criminal behavior, the prisoner has been in treatment for the severe mental health disorder for 90 days or more within the year prior to the prisoner's parole release day, and by reason of the prisoner's severe mental health disorder, the prisoner represents a substantial danger of physical harm to others. The bill would include sexual harassment and battery under physical harm.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, and the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law grants the University of California exclusive jurisdiction in public higher education over, among other things, graduate instruction in the profession of medicine. Existing law establishes the University of California Kern County Medical Education Endowment Fund in the State Treasury. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, existing law requires moneys in the endowment fund to be allocated to the University of California to support the annual operating costs for the development, operation, and maintenance of a branch campus of an existing University of California School of Medicine in the County of Kern, to conduct a feasibility study related to that campus, and to generate funding through investment earnings for the support of medical education in the San Joaquin Valley. Existing law also requires moneys in the endowment fund to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature and a determination by the Controller of sufficient funds in the endowment fund, to cover the University of California's estimated costs of applying for and obtaining approval and accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, as provided. This bill would, if the office of the President of the University of California has not taken formal, verifiable steps to establish a school of medicine in the County of Kern by July 1, 2027, additionally authorize the Trustees of the California State University, acting through California State University, Bakersfield, and the Board of Trustees of the Kern Community College District to establish a school of medicine in the County of Kern, as provided. The bill would authorize the establishment of a unit of local government, known as the Kern Medical Education Authority, to facilitate the establishment of this medical school in the County of Kern. The bill would require the authority to governed by a Board of Governors of unspecified size, and require the California State University, Bakersfield, and the Kern Community College District to each appoint an unspecified number of members to the board. The bill would, among other things, grant the authority specified powers and duties of a local unit of government within the state, as provided. The bill would authorize the authority to hire employees, as provided, and would require the authority to establish salary schedules, health benefits, and retirement plans that are no less favorable than those offered to comparable employees within the California State University system. The bill would authorize employees of the authority to form, join, and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations, as provided, and subject the authority to the jurisdiction of the Public Employment Relations Board. The bill would, among other employment rules, extend due process protections to authority employees. The bill would make employees of the authority eligible to participate in the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) or the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) , as applicable to their classification. The bill would authorize the authority to incur indebtedness and to borrow money and issue notes and revenue bonds in principal amounts that the authority determines to be necessary to provide sufficient funds for achieving any of its purposes, as provided. The bill would establish that an obligation of the authority is not an obligation of the California State University or the Kern Community College District, unless otherwise agreed to by the authority and the California State University or the Kern Community College District. The bill would authorize the authority, upon obtaining accreditation form the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, to develop curricula and grant the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Existing law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, generally requires that all meetings of a legislative body of a local agency be open and public and that all persons be permitted to attend and participate. The California Public Records Act requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection, unless an exemption from disclosure applies. The bill would subject the authority to the Ralph M. Brown Act and the California Public Records Act, with specified exemptions related to trade secrets. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Kern.
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.
