Existing law establishes the Instructional Quality Commission and requires the commission to, among other things, recommend curriculum frameworks to the State Board of Education. This bill would require the commission, during the next revision of the publication "Health Framework for California Public Schools," to consider including, and recommending for adoption by the state board, specific content related to sexual health instruction to educate pupils about dating abuse and digital violence, as described.
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 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 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, 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. 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 authorizes designated health care services providers, employees, volunteers, and patients, and individuals who face threats of violence or violence or harassment from the public because of their affiliation with a designated health care services facility, to complete an application to be approved by the Secretary of State for the purposes of enabling state and local agencies to respond to requests for public records without disclosing a program participant's residence address contained in any public record and otherwise provide for confidentiality of identity for that person, subject to specified conditions. Existing law defines "designated health care services" to mean gender-affirming health care services or reproductive health care services. Under existing law, any person who makes a false statement in an application is guilty of a misdemeanor. Existing law prohibits a person, business, or association from knowingly publicly posting or publicly displaying, disclosing, or distributing on internet websites or on social media, the personal information or image of any designated health care services patient, provider, or assistant, or other individuals residing at the same home address, with the intent to incite a third person to cause imminent great bodily harm to the person identified in the posting or display, or to a coresident of that person, as specified, or to threaten the person identified in the posting or display, or a coresident of that person, as specified. Existing law additionally prohibits a person, business, or association from soliciting, selling, or trading on the internet or social media the personal information or image of a designated health care services patient, provider, or assistant with the intent described above. Existing law establishes a cause of action for injunctive or declarative relief for a violation of these prohibitions. Existing law prohibits a person from posting on the internet or social media, with the intent that another person imminently use that information to commit a crime involving violence or a threat of violence against a designated health care services patient, provider, or assistant, or other individuals residing at the same home address, the personal information or image of a reproductive health care services patient, provider, or assistant, or other individuals residing at the same home address. This bill would, commencing October 1, 2027, similarly establish an address confidentiality program for a designated immigration support services provider, employee, or volunteer, as defined, who faces threats of violence or harassment from the public because of their affiliation with a designated immigration support services facility. This bill would additionally prohibit a person, business, or association from soliciting, selling, or trading on the internet the personal information or image of a designated immigration support services provider, employee, or volunteer with the intent described above. The bill would also, among other things, prohibit a person from posting on the internet the personal information or image of a designated immigration support services provider, employee, or volunteer, or other individuals residing at the same home address, with the specific intent that another person imminently use that information to commit a crime involving violence or a threat of violence that is likely to occur against such an individual. The bill would define various terms for these purposes. By imposing new duties on local agencies and creating new crimes, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. 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. 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, establishes the Medical Board of California to license and regulate the practice of medicine. Former law, repealed as of January 1, 2025, established the Licensed Physicians and Dentists from Mexico Pilot Program, which allowed up to 30 licensed physicians and up to 30 licensed dentists from Mexico to practice medicine or dentistry in California for a period not to exceed 3 years, in accordance with certain requirements. Existing law, operative January 1, 2025, instead, establishes within the act the Licensed Physicians from Mexico Program, which authorizes the board to issue a limited number of nonrenewable 3-year physician's and surgeon's licenses to licensed physicians from Mexico who meet specified criteria. This bill would require the board to issue a full and unrestricted physician's and surgeon's license to a person who has completed 2 3-year terms of the Licensed Physicians from Mexico Program or the former Licensed Physicians and Dentists from Mexico Pilot Program in good standing upon satisfaction of specified requirements, including having an offer of continued employment from a health care facility or practice in California. This bill would establish the California Physician Expansion Act, which would require the board to issue a provisional license to an applicant who holds a full and unrestricted license to practice medicine in another country who meets specified requirements, including that the applicant has not committed any acts or crimes constituting grounds for denial of a certificate, as specified. In this regard, the bill would require the board to submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint images and related information required by the department of all applicants for a provisional license to determine whether the applicant has a criminal conviction record, as specified, and would require the department to provide a state- and federal-level response pursuant to specified provisions for the board to determine whether the applicant is subject to denial of licensure, as specified. The bill would make the provisional license valid for 3 years and would authorize the board to grant a one-time renewal for an additional period of up to 3 years, as specified. The bill would require a provisional licensee to, among other things, be employed by, and practice medicine only within, a sponsoring entity, as specified. The bill would authorize the board to revoke a provisional license or take any other disciplinary action deemed appropriate by the board, as specified. The bill would deem a provisional licensee applicant who meets specified requirements, including having completed at least 36 months of practice under the provisional license without any disciplinary actions, to meet the professional instruction, preliminary education, and postgraduate training requirements for a certificate under the Medical Practice Act. The bill would require the board to establish application, initial licensure, renewal, and conversion fees for the provisional license, as specified. The bill would make findings and declarations relating to its provisions.
Existing law that governs the labor relations of public employees and employers, including, among others, the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, the Ralph C. Dills Act, provisions relating to public schools, and provisions relating to higher education prohibits employers from taking certain actions relating to employee organization, including imposing or threatening to impose reprisals on employees, discriminating or threatening to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees because of their exercise of their guaranteed rights. Those provisions of existing law further prohibit denying to employee organizations the rights guaranteed to them by existing law. This bill would prohibit a public employer from questioning a public employee, a representative of a recognized employee organization, or an exclusive representative regarding communications made in confidence between an employee and an employee representative in connection with representation relating to any matter within the scope of the recognized employee organization's representation. The bill would also prohibit a public employer from compelling a public employee, a representative of a recognized employee organization, or an exclusive representative to disclose those confidential communications to a third party. The bill would not apply to a criminal investigation or when a public safety officer is under investigation and certain circumstances exist.
Existing law provides for the regulation of various chemicals, including chemicals contained in drugs, dietary supplements, and food products. This bill would prohibit an entity, as defined, from manufacturing, distributing, or offering for sale in this state a product that contains tianeptine or that is marketed as containing tianeptine. The bill would make a violation of these provisions punishable by a civil penalty not to exceed $2,500 for a first violation and not to exceed $5,000 for each subsequent violation, upon an action brought by the Attorney General, a city attorney, or a county counsel. The bill would entitle a prevailing plaintiff to an award of reasonable attorney's fees and costs.
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 establishes the Independent Medical Review System within each department, under which an enrollee or insured may seek review if a health care service has been denied, modified, or delayed by a health care service plan or health insurer and the enrollee or insured has previously filed a grievance that remains unresolved after 30 days. This bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to annually report to the appropriate department the total number of claims processed by the health care service plan or health insurer for the prior year and its number of treatment denials or modifications, separated and disaggregated as specified, commencing on or before June 1, 2026. The bill would require the departments to compare the number of a health care service plan's or health insurer's treatment denials and modifications to (1) the number of successful independent medical review overturns of the plan's or insurer's treatment denials or modifications and (2) the number of treatment denials or modifications reversed by a plan or insurer after an independent medical review for the denial or modification is requested, filed, or applied for. For a health care service plan or health insurer with 10 or more independent medical reviews in a given year, the bill would make the health care service plan or health insurer liable for an administrative penalty, as specified, if more than 50% of the independent medical reviews filed with a health care service plan or health insurer result in an overturning or reversal of a treatment denial or modification in any one individual category of specified general types of care. The bill would make a health care service plan or health insurer liable for additional administrative penalties for each independent medical review resulting in an additional overturned or reversed denial or modification in excess of that threshold. The bill would require the departments to annually include data, analysis, and conclusions relating to these provisions in specified reports. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law creates the Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund in the State Treasury for the deposit of fines and administrative penalties collected pursuant to provisions licensing and regulating health care service plans. This bill would create the Managed Care Independent Medical Review Administrative Penalties Subaccount in the Managed Care Administrative Fines and Penalties Fund for the receipt and deposit of moneys generated from the administrative penalties described above with respect to health care service plans. The bill would create the Health Insurance Independent Medical Review Administrative Penalties Fund in the State Treasury for the receipt and deposit of moneys generated from the administrative penalties described above with respect to health insurers. The bill would authorize the moneys in the Managed Care Independent Medical Review Administrative Penalties Subaccount and Health Insurance Independent Medical Review Administrative Penalties Fund to be expended, as specified, upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would declare that its provisions are severable. 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 electors of a county may propose an ordinance to the county board of supervisors by submitting an initiative petition containing signatures by registered voters in the county in an amount equal to 10% of the number of votes cast within the county for all candidates for Governor at the preceding gubernatorial election. If the county elections official certifies that an initiative petition has been signed by at least that number of voters, the county board of supervisors is required to either adopt the ordinance or submit it to the voters at the next statewide election occurring not less than 88 days later. This bill would require any Fresno County initiative petition that has been certified as sufficient by the Fresno County Registrar of Voters on or before July 8, 2026, to be submitted, without alteration, to the voters at the November 3, 2026, statewide general election. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Fresno. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Under existing law, the State Department of Public Health is responsible for the licensing and regulation of various facilities and settings that provide health care services, as specified. Existing law, the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act prohibits, except to the extent expressly authorized by a patient, enrollee, or subscriber, or as otherwise permitted or required, a provider of health care, health care service plan, contractor, or corporation and its subsidiaries and affiliates from disclosing medical information for immigration enforcement. Existing law requires health care provider entities, as defined, to establish or amend procedures for monitoring, documenting, and receiving visitors to health care provider entities to the extent possible, and prohibits, unless required by state or federal law, a health care provider entity and its personnel from allowing any person access to nonpublic areas of the provider's facilities for immigration enforcement purposes, except as specified. This bill would, among other things, require a health care provider entity to, when there is a patient accompanied by an immigration enforcement officer, verify and document the identities and agencies of the accompanying immigration enforcement officers, to the extent possible. The bill would require a health care provider entity to ask an immigration enforcement officer to step out of the patient's room when discussing any matters pertaining to patient care, or performing any physical examination, or providing any medical care, except as specified, would prohibit an immigration enforcement officer from having any authority to make, influence, or participate in medical decisions on behalf of patient they accompany, and would require the health care provider entity personnel to report a refusal to comply with the requirements of this bill to the health care provider entity management, administration, or legal counsel, who is required to then document the actions, and, to the extent possible, the name and badge number of an immigration enforcement officer. The bill would also prohibit a health care provider entity from using blackout policies when admitting a patient who is accompanied by an immigration enforcement officer, except as specified, and defines blackout policies to mean any policy that is used by health care provider entities to conceal a patient's presence or identity at the entity's facility, including, but not limited to, registering patients under a pseudonym, removing the patient's name from the health care provider entity's directory, or prohibiting personnel from confirming that a patient is in the health care provider entity.
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.
